Been a while since the last post due to Christmas and New Year when not much radio was done. Last week was spent skiing in Font Romeu Catalunya and the only radio activity was opening the local repeater F5ZEZ on 145.6625 with my Icom IC-90 handheld. Repeater had a  few local QSOs on it – especially in the mornings.

Look closely and you may see the repeater (or not…):

Back in Blighty I had to pop to Lynchy’s to get my Yaesu DXC 1000 rotator controller repaired which was not turning on. Turned out to be a faulty capacitor – must have been a Friday afternoon fabrication job as the controller is less than two years old and has hardly been used.

However I took the opportunity to pick up a Sark 100 antenna analyser which is a very useful piece of kit. Read (and watch) all about it here: http://www.hamradio.co.uk/accessories-general-antenna-analysers/adonis/mydel-sark110-vector-impedance-antenna-analyser-pd-5427.php

Here is what the SWR and Impedance at 80m looks like on my trapped inverted L described in previous posts:

Recommended as a very useful tool if you do anything with antennas beside extending your handheld’s telescopic for the local repeater!