What are in my shack at the moment

From top row:

1. OPEK 7-25 communication speaker

2. MFJ-259B HF/VHF SWR Analyzer

3. Linksys WRT54GL wireless AP/router

Middle row:

4. Yaesu FTM-10R dual band VHF/UHF

5. Diamond SX-200 SWR & Power Meter

6. TeleConcept SPS82500 switching power supply

Bottom row:

7. Yaesu FT-897 HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

8. MFJ-949E Deluxe Versa Tuner II

Side of the cabinet:

9. Digital clock/thermo/calendar - GMT

10. VOIP phone

What are up in the air:

11. Diamond X200 UHF/VHF antenna

12. Diamond CP-6 80m-6m HF antenna

13. Diamond W8010 dipole - broadband antenna but only 10m/20m portion is up there

What near the earth:

14. RG214 connecting the CP-6 to the tuner

15. RG214 connecting the W8010 to the tuner

16. RG8 connecting the X200 to FTM10R

17. Three Diamond lightning arrestors as insurance :)

What in the cupboard or hiding under the table:

18. Yaesu FC-40 automatic antenna tuner for long wire

19. Buddystick HF portable antenna

20. Yaesu G-250 rotator

21. Diamond A144S10R 10-elemement 2meter Yagi

22. 3-element 10meter Yagi antenna from 9M2RZL

Renewing your insurance and road tax - online, yes, in Malaysia the bolehland country.

When I was in Manchester from 2002-2007, I had always used online services to buy/renew my car insurance. Most if not all the time trouble-free. But I still need to drop by the post office to renew my tax, queuing up behind those people trying to withdraw their weekly allowance/council benefit. When I got back to Kuala Lumpur, it did not come across my mind that in Malaysia, you could do all these online.

After twice renewing my insurance & tax the normal way, by going to an agent or direct to the head office of the insurance company, yesterday, I tried to do it the fast way .. online with minimal charges. I was contemplating either to renew my insurance online and then go to post office to renew my tax.. but then again, there is this myeg (does it stands for my-e-government??) which could actually do this for me without leaving my home-office.

Getting a quote wasn't that hard and it seems that it is standard.. just fill in how much the value of your car. To get an indication, you could try this website:

http://www.einsuran.com/vmv.html

Next, go to either myeg or any insurance companies that have presence on the net and allow you to renew/buy insurance online .. and do the transaction. I chosen myeg since it says that it is secure to do the transaction online. I went to motortakaful.com and found out even when they said that they've secure site, the information that you need to fill up still in the non-secure website.

After I got quotation for both, my car and my wife's car, went ahead and paid through online too. Everything went smooth, print out the receipts and the cover notes and went ahead to renew the tax online too (btw, I did it one car at a time). There is an option to get the fuel rebate online too .. what the heck, did not cost me time .. only a fraction of the rebate (RM1.XX don't remember - fees for processing the rebate), so, filled up all the required fields and paid. This is done within few minutes. For those who're doing this for multiple cars, you might get a call from your credit card centre, as I did .. enquiring if I've done such transactions.

Now, time to wait for my tax stickers to come by Pos Laju I guess. But someone called from myeg this morning asking if he could deliver my tax stickers today. Wow, that was fast.. I was expecting that I'll get it by tomorrow. If everything goes smooth, than I'll recommend myeg, but if not .. you'll see me updating this blog again and surely will suggest otherwise.

Will keep you guys updated.

UPDATE:

Got my tax stickers today.. both of them.. efficient .. hopefully I don't have problem like others are having after this.

Finally, CP-6 installed ..!!!

Took a break from work this morning, too much work makes me dull for sure .. haa..haa. So, armed with few poles and self-made brackets, I braved myself to install the CP-6 which I bought last weekend. First, I need to move the existing Diamond X-200 to make a way for the CP-6. Since the CP-6 will be a bit heavier than X-200, it needs a sturdier setup. I did both, moving the -X200 .. tested and it seems to be okay .. and go ahead with installation of CP-6.

I am yet to finish the installation, I have not route the cable properly and it is not connected to my rig yet. I'll do that most probably tomorrow morning .. no more energy to do the rest. I will snap some photos and surely will post it here ..

Update: Connect it up to my rig, could receive audio on 20M from VK land alright and surely 40M .. but the SWR is quite high. So, need to go up again tomorrow and retune the radials. I guess having the MFJ259B is really handy for this sort of job.

Update 2: Radials had been retuned to resonance on the frequencies that I wanted. One man job for sure with the help of MFJ259B. Made couple of local contact on 10m but yet to get any DX stations. Propagation is surely not that good on 10m at the moment.

Update 3: Up till 01/03/09, I've worked with few local stations on 10m. The day the CP6 properly tuned, I had 9W2MZY (Kepong), few days after 9W2KGV (Damansara Damai), yesterday, I've got 9W2YCC (PJ) and just now at around 10:50MYT I worked with 9W2OO (Banting). I tried to work with 9W6SUE yesterday afternoon around 16:30MYT, but I guess there were a pile-up when quite a number of 9W2s trying to work with him from Peninsular.

9W2OMG is on the air!

Was trying to post this while we were down south, but could not get a good 'free' internet connection. Anyway, my daughter is now a licensed ham with a 9W2OMG callsign. Probably she is among the few 14 years old hams getting their licenses this year. 

Anyway, she has her own handy now, a Kenwood TH-F7E which has a lot of features which I didn't realised when I bought it. It has dual monitoring, it is a dual band HT and guess what, it is a scanner too which could receive SSB. That is interesting for sure.. 

Tomorrow will be a big day for me.. I'm going to make a bit of adjustment on my base antenna setup. I've bought a Diamond CP-6 vertical antenna .. and I guess it is the right time for me to put it up. I've surveyed my roof top and I guess, the X200 need to make a move for the CP-6. Helpers? Nah, don't think I need to organise an antenna party .. I'll ask my daughter help for sure :) Family antenna party may be .. haa..haa.. Will try to post any photos taken during the exercise..

Congratulations Aisyah!

Radio Amateur Examination result was out yesterday and guess what, my daughter passed her RAE in her first try. It seems there are quite a number of 14 years old taking up the examination last December and a number of them passed and becoming one of the youngest amateur radio operators (hams) in Malaysia. 

Now, a trip down south seems imminent .. but need to decide which is suitable set for her. Most probably a 5W VHF handy will be good enough for her activities in the Scout but will see what other options that we have in term of design and brands. And surely, killing two birds with a stone .. am looking forward for an HF vertical antenna too. 

My 10m and VHF yagi are now on the auction table. Anybody interested?