I suppose I've achieved my original intention: to get myself a source of spare parts, it is just that now I'm going to have to cannibalise my shiny new antenna for parts (rather than the other way round). Has anyone else encountered this? If so, what was the impact on antenna performance if you used new elements on your old boom (or vice-versa)? 🧵🔚

in black and white: 70 cm elements indeed are different in my new purchase. I don't know if it's due to a new antenna revision since I purchased the original one, or is it down to the fact my original one was without the duplexer, whereas this is a model with the duplexer (I didn’t really need it, and was definitely reluctant to spend 50% more just to get it, but apparently in G at the moment it is impossible to purchase the #Arrow2Antenna without duplexer). 3/

Not only are the 70cm elements of different lengths than the old ones, the hole spacing on the boom is also different (which is a massive pain in the backside, given that I was going to use them with a 3rd party carbon-fibre boom, which weighs less than 1/2 the original one). I thought I was maybe overthinking this, that perhaps some plastic end element caps weren't fully fitted, but then I managed to find the original instalation instructions for comparison. And there it was 2/

After a rogue gust of wind tipped over my tripod-mounted #hamradio #satellite #Arrow2Antenna, its 2m reflector snapped (I guess I shouldn't complain, I'd had a "close call" in the past) I promptly ordered a new one from #amsatuk , thinking to myself at least I'll have one for spares should the worst happen again. I compared the elements side by side and noticed something peculiar: while "new" 2m elements are the same size as the "old" ones, the 70 cm are not the same. 🧵

@kelvin0mql @vees @silentLurker @ai6yr you made a very good point here. I use disposable credit card numbers when buying something from sites to whom I don't completely trust. Maybe my assumption that any site can be 100% trustworthy is somewhat too optimistic?

@kelvin0mql @vees @silentLurker @ai6yr That's fine but you're missing the point here: you _shouldn't_ need to do this, your data should be safe by default when you entrust it to a data processor, especially to an organisation like the #ARRL.

#ARRL continues to be bad at technology in the most amusing ways. #hamradio

@k7hpn @AF0CX to this date I haven't seen anything about what, if any, lessons have been learnt from this debacle.

N1CLC:
#SOTA Safety TIP 3 - Have a First Aid Kit and The Training To Go With

#SOTA #Ham

https://www.n1clc.com/2025/06/sota-safety-tip-3-have-first-aid-kit.html

I'm sad to hear the #newbury #hamradio rally has been cancelled this year. In my experience it was well organised and I always ended up buying useful :radio_tower: stuff. 🤞for next year https://nadars.org.uk/

Have you got any experience with #hamradio #satellite G4ZLP #DigiMaster azimuth/elevation #rotator controlled that you'd like to share? Its price point, at half the price of the no-name Chinese clones, makes it a very exciting proposition.
https://www.g4zlp.co.uk/unified/G-5500.htm

@dl2jml in hindsight- I should not have followed the installation instructions so closely. The radiator comes in 2 parts, and they ought to be screwed together prior to installing it onto the pole (which is where I got into this trouble). Had I 1st attached only the 1/2 of the radiator that needs fixing with this screw, I would've had vertical access to it. But I normally tend to think that I'm least likely to experience problems if I try to follow the enclosed assembly instructions.

@womble I don't mind the torx so much (even had the right one, T15, at hand) but the fact I couldn't approach it vertically caused me to both damage the screw bit and not be able to properly screw it in.

I am disappointed with 2m #Wimo #XQuad #hamradio #satellite antenna assembly experience. The radiator needs fixing with a self-tapping nut, vertical access to which is obstructed by the vertical radiator, so one can screw it in under some angle, resulting in not too firm fix. Oh, and the self tapping screws aren't of common "philips" (cross-head) type but a rather more exotic T15(?). Net result: a damaged screwdriver head and loose radiator. Not quite what one would expect for that price 🤬

@M0YNG ah so that's what it is! I was wondering how come out of the sudden I started getting numerous "QSLs" from this service.

Ascending orbits for visual spectrum #satellite images are usually not of interest for most (nighttime images). But for high latitudes in early summer, they can give great results 😍

This is #Landsat9 brightness temperature from band 10 at 22:30 UTC last night over #Iceland

Darker is colder 🌡️

@G8GDS well, to be fair, occasionally, there can be some really good technical articles in it. But letters to the editor.... 🙄

@oe1omk @g7kse There's definitely a certain demographic to which Letters to the editor section panders. Truth to be told, I never even entertained an idea of challenging some of the more ridiculous stuff there. I've got enough QRM troubles as things stand, I don't want to attract the more unhinged members to make my life more difficult when I appear on air.

The #rsgb must be trying a novel approach to attracting youth to #hamradio: printing conspiracy theory-ladden letters to the editor of #radcom 🙄 In this month's issue: global warming is just a hoax, and WiFi routers are, for some inexplicable reason, bad.

Space Weather

A year on from the "Gannon" Geomagnetic Storm: Dr Tamitha Skov has released this space weather mini-course to explain everything about the storm, and how to use online data products to understand it and space weather in general. She makes the point on many occasions that you should not pay attention to any hype surrounding space weather events, and follow the science and the scientists. There is way too much mis-information put out by poorly informed so-called "experts" and the tabloid media.

Link to the YouTube mini-course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8kId8ORyYY

At 1h16m Tamitha mentions the auroral maps available on my web site here: https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/auroral-propagation/

#spaceweather
#aurora
#gannonstorm