Many people are surprised to hear that I’m an amateur radio operator or a HAM. It shouldn’t be that big of a surprise since I’m a science geek but I have a family connection too. Both my dad and my brother became HAMs in the early 1990’s and have been active on and off for many years. Not long ago, they were talking about radios again and wanted to know what the heck they were talk about so, I went for my basic licence in early 2017. I passed the exam with a 85% meaning that I have my basic licence with honours. Just call me VE5PXG
I think most people are surprised that the hobby still exists with computers and cell phones but there’s lot you can still do. The traditional form of amateur radio still provides challenges for a hobbyist and with computers, there are funky new ways to combine the technologies. The public service aspect of the hobby is a serious interest for me and I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer at several local events helping out with communications.
Most of my experience in amateur radio so far has been VHF/UHF as my first radio was a small handheld (Wouxun KG-UVD1P) so I can check into nets and help out at events. Earlier this year, I procured a Uniden 2020 HF transceiver and I’m slowly but surely learning to use it but it’s a steep learning curve. But that’s the joy of the hobby!
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June 21, 2021 – Another ARISS event was set up for June 21 – June 26 and on day one, I already have two images!
June 21, 2021 at 10:23 am local time 
June 21, 2021 at 12 pm local time
December 31, 2020 – The International Space Station did another ARISS event and this one was great! In honor of 20 years of education, the ISS broadcasted 12 images over the span of a week. In Saskatoon, it wasn’t the best timing since all the passes were in the morning but I managed to wake up earlier enough to snag a few images.
July 1, 2020 – With COVID still running rampant, Field Day was a no-go. But the Canada Day contest was up and running! I have to admit that I completely forgot about it but with my brother in town, we drove around town looking for good spots to set up. I have to admit though, I was totally overwhelmed but it was still pretty cool to listen in! We even made some new friends!
I got my first amateur radio certificate!
From August 1st to August 4th, 2019, the International Space Station sent images down from the Russian capsule using SSTV (Slow Scan Television). Eager to try something new, I took my home-brew Yagi that I made for AMSATs, connected my VHF handheld, and using the Robot36 Andriod app, I was able to download the following images.
Aug 2, 2019 at 6:35pm local time 
Aug 3, 2019 at 4:08 pm local time 
Aug 3, 2019 at 4:11 pm local time 
Aug 3, 2019 at 7.23 pm local time 
These images are in celebration of astronaut and HAM Owen Garriott W5LFL who passed away this year on April 15th. An engineer, he was the first amateur radio operator to transmit on the amateur bands from space to Earth. It’s been great getting to learn a little about the history of amateur radio and human space flight at the same time!
July 1, 2019 was a special day for me in amateur radio – I called my first net as net control for the 8 pm 2M Saskatoon net on the 146.640MHz VE5SK repeater. It was very nervewracking but that was good a thing because I’m trying to get more comfortable speaking on the radio!
I now have a new baby! I picked up a used ICOM IC-7000. It’s a real switch going from something that was older than I am to a radio made in this century but I’m learning. And I’m really looking forward to going camping with it!
June 15, 2019 was the Motorcycle Ride For Dad which I often do with my dad, Chris VE5QV who is a prostate cancer survivor. This is always a great event and I look forward to it every year. Even when it rains!
May 5, 2019 was the date for the MS Walk in Saskatoon. This year was different for two reasons. First, the walk was moved from Archibald Arena and the downtown area to Praireland Park with the walk happening along the river. It was also a little shorter this year than in previous years. The second change was that instead of being outside alongside the walkers and other HAMs, I got to try my hand at doing base. This was a new position for me but luckily, I had help from Terry VE5TLC.
Here are a couple of my results from my WSPR beacon on 20m. I have to say that I’m finding this thing more finicky that I expected it would be. My Raspberry Pi crashes way too often and is picky about which method I use to remotely operate it. I’ll need to do more investigating but as much as I love using Ubuntu, I don’t have enough knowledge of Linux commands to really understand what to try.
March 7, 2019 – WSPR 
March 9, WSPR
The 80m antenna out side had a filter installed on it right from day one but another idea was to try a line filter right at the radio. So, once Amazon delivered the filter, my dad put it together and I ran to try it on my radio right away. Yes, it definitely cut down on a lot of noise but it also cut out the few voices that I could hear before. Once again, the hunt continues but I can’t help thinking that starting this hobby at a period when the bands aren’t doing so well wasn’t the smartest idea!
Another family-time HAM-venture I did was to head out to Diefenbaker Park with my brother to play with his mobile HF radio. Still being fairly new to the amateur radio world, I wasn’t sure just what an HF radio is supposed to sound like. It’s interesting though that we had such a good signal at Diefenbaker with those big power lines running through the park yet, every radio in the house is a noisy mess. The hunt for disturbances continues.
2019 Jan – HF at Diefenbaker Park 
2019 – Diefenbaker Park
My dad had the wonderful idea a while ago about an antenna using two 40m HAMsticks. But like most things in amateur radio, nothing works as planned and both our radios still produced more noise than sound. So, when my brother came to visit, we tried installing a transformer between the HAMsticks. Alas, it only helped a tiny bit. At this stage in my life as a HAM, my only contribution to the efforts was/is to provide muscle…and photographic evidence.
WSPR is one of those amateur radio things that I was instantly attracted to. I’m not sure why because there’s no real conversation that happens. But I love the idea of sending out the smallest signal into the void and having someone hear me. Unfortunately, I’m pretty green with electronics and every computer on the planet seems programmed to hate me so getting started was a tad more complicated than it should have been. I seized my opportunity for a bit of help when my techno-geek brother came for Christmas. It took a wee bit of time but eventually, I became a beacon, transmitting on the 20m band.
Jan 2019 – the 20m shield purchased from TAPR 
Jan 2019 – My WSPR-Pi set up…sort of 
Jan 7, 2019 – My first WSPR transmission!
The 28th annual Saskatoon Santa Claus Parade took place on November 18th, 2018 and as usual, local HAMs, including myself, stepped in to help provide communications.
AMSAT is something I’ve been wanting to do more of. The idea of bouncing my signal off a satellite seemed really neat. Using the article “Cheap Antennas for the AMSAT LEO’s Kent Britain — WA5VJB”, I built a cheap home-brew Yagi. Tracking is definitely a challenge but little by little, I’m getting the hang of it. So far I’ve only been listening in to conversations. It’s a fast QSO so until I can clearly understand what’s being said, I’m not going to bug anyone just yet!
