True Story, good neighbours should be cherished.

Here is a funny story that not many hams can tell, about me and the next door neighbour:

I was out in my back garden a few weeks ago and was admiring the hedge between myself and my neighbour, both of us had cut it the week previous, then I heard a voice call out to me, “Tony, I was looking up at your 2 vertical antennas coming up the road and they look very well, never looked at them at that distance before”, I quickly replied, “they are working well but I would like to have them a bit higher”, at that my neighbour replied, “would they work better higher up?”, I said, “of course they would”.  He then told me that if I am going to put them up higher to give him a shout and he will give me a hand… not too often a neighbour says that about ham antennas!!! Of course I was delighted but what he said next really surprised me even more… “Tony, would you not put a tower up at the bottom of your garden? I think a tower down there would look good”…  

Every night I say a prayer for that neighbour, wishing him good health and long life…

World's first TEP QSO on 70 MHz By OZ2M Published: 31 March 2011

Leo, SV2DCD, and Willem, ZS6WAB, have worked the very first trans equatorial propagation (TEP) contact on 70 MHz. Here you can see an Youtube video. The contact took place on 28 March 2011 at 1754 UTC on SSB and the signal reports were 52/53.

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Namibia on 70 MHz
By OZ2M
Published: 31 March 2011

Pieter, V51PJ, reports that Namibia has joined world of countries where radio amateur may operate on the 70 MHz band. The license conditions are similar to the ones for South Africa, i.e. 70,000 MHz to 70,300 MHz and 400 W in the SSB/CW section 70,000 MHz to 70,200 MHz.
Pieter has already worked South Africa several times on both meteor scatter and tropo.

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Status on the Polish 70 MHz access
By OZ2M
Published: 24 March 2011

According to Polski Klub UKF the Polish access to 70 MHz will be delayed about three months. This is due to the receipt of other frequencies and the need for their rapid development for the EURO 2012. This will be a project, involving a change of the national frequency spectrum takes into account the intended use for the amateur services, and currently undergoing legislative procedures frequencies referred to above.

A "J-pole" half-wave vertical for Four

I'm not sure who originated this drawing, but it was published in Four Metres News in September 1995, sent in by G7OGQ and G8CVF.