What use is an F-call?

Recently I had the opportunity to setup my radio in the bush. Having been around the metropolitan area for most of my Amateur Life to-date, that was a whole new, and I might say, very positive experience.

Laying out radials across the landscape was a challenge and having set-up against the corner of the veranda of the house where I was staying meant that I could only put them out in 270 degrees, the owner frowning on the notion of running 12 meter radials through the house for some reason.

The silence was amazing, no man-made noise, no clicking or buzzing from nearby appliances, overall worth the effort!

Honesty requires me to point out that the local atmospherics conspired to actually making contacts on 80 and 40 meters nigh-on impossible. At the time I was unable to determine what caused the problem and research since then indicated all manner of possible causes, ranging from background cosmic noise to the LCD TV in the next room with several other options in between. Armed with that knowledge I'll spend some effort hunting next time around.

I can recommend that you pick up your radio once in a while, put it in your preferred mode of transport and place yourself in another location to experience other conditions. It's a learning opportunity every time.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB