The summer of radio may be looking up after all

Indeed as I have managed to pull myself out of the predicament I was in and also have changed my car to a newer more reliable one (of the same make and model as I had before if you see an earlier post) I now find myself in a potential position to get on the air during the summer away from home again, though this is dependent on a few factors which I shall go into.

First and foremost is I still do not have a tent, though can acquire one from Go Outdoors for a decent price that meets the requirements, as well as a few other things required if I know where to look, of course that research has been ongoing since I scrapped plans to go camping at the National Hamfest last year, which I intend to do this year, which is less in doubt given the car I have now is not due an MOT until November, 2 months clear of the National Hamfest.

Other radio related things aside from operating /p from Tan Hill, Roseberry Topping (if possible) and at the National Hamfest with camping there is the year's rallies aside from the Hamfest itself, the Blackpool rally at the Norbreck Castle Hotel is on the 29th April and the Ripon rally on the 8th (which I always keep missing for some reason, then of course there is the National Hamfest and finally the Bishop Auckland rally at Spennymoor, I missed the latter last year due to having forked out for car repairs and not getting paid in time for the rally.

Of course I want my summer to be full of as much radio activity as I possibly can have, though at the same time balancing my other commitments.

First things first of course is to get the FTM-400XDE back in the car, though this time into the boot out of the way which should keep all wiring to a minimum, I also decided to add some 12-volt cigar lighter sockets to the boot as well to run other 12-volt equipment and have a 40A feed from the battery to the boot as well as a fusebox with a max rating of 50A (though the circuit will be protected to 40A), which should cover the demands of the radio and the sockets, these may be switched using the same switching relay as the radio (which I have since clearly labelled to ensure the terminal wires, if replaced, are not connected backwards as the relay I have has a diode across the coil), the relay is 40A rated.

With that as it is a sunny day I shall get the car washed and report back later after I've taken measurements of the boot.

73 de 2E0EIJ