A fantastic Exmoor Trip

We have just returned from a great weeks trip to Exmoor having spent the week Geocaching and I played a lot of amateur radio operating portable from our caravan that we stayed in. Caravans make a really good /P operating base with all the comforts like hot water, heating and red wine. It was a great week and keeping to my physio recovery I walked the most I have done since leaving hospital last year so that was a real big positive for me.
On the radio front I had some really good contacts with my Kenwood 480 sat running 100W and a homemade 5meter vertical antenna! this got me all around Europe and even into Brazil on SSB, some great contacts on numerous bands.

 I had been lucky in finding good conditions on the 10 and 17 meter bands which along with 20 meter gave me good conditions for plenty of calls.
I am still trying to get my motivation going on morse code but I am finding it hard to get a positive start but I will keep trying as I am sure my contacts would double in numbers and distance without any real effort at all.

What I like about operating /P from Exmoor is the noise levels on the bands are very low almost zero on some bands it is a real treat to operate from here.Inbetween the HF operating I had the handheld radio listening to the local bands and its amazing to hear how active the bands are on some days, amateur radio is certainly well and active.

Geocaching is another of our favourite hobbies and its something that we have enjoyed all around the worldsince 2008 and it has taken us to many great places that we probably would have never seen or even heard of but we have found them with geocaching.
We have even done talks at clubs on how to start geocaching and we have brought many new members into the hobby. It is a great hobby for all types of people young and old and if your the outdoor type of person it really is a hobby for you or at the very least giving it a go.