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Will Leitch GI6HKE

@willleitch.bsky.social
397 followers 343 following 324 posts

Northern Irish amateur radio operator. Also, journalist, broadcaster, podcast host and producer.

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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I had a lovely chatty ssb qso on 20m today with Giorgio, IV3EPO, in Northern Italy, where it was 30 deg Celsius. He told me he was jealous of Belfast’s gloomy and rainy 16 deg! There’s a first time for everything I suppose…
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Well cheers for that, Belfast. Top eclipse work there.
An extremely cloudy sky destroys the chance for people in Belfast to witness a once in a lifetime event 
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Two hours to 93% solar eclipse. Cloud cover in Belfast. Ten tenths. It’s little wonder some of the original astronomers at Armagh Observatory went mad. 
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Still fairly new to this POTA lark, but that’s a nice wee milestone. Getting out of the shack really does transform your experience and bring welcome levels of fun.
Certificate for passing 100 parks hunted on air.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Well that was nice. Put out a slightly-nervous “listening through” on GB3VM (2m FM) this morning and got a proper welcome from the locals. Great chats and craic. And it isn’t even a 145 Alive weekend. Imagine!
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
On holiday in G-land. Went up Titterstone Clee in Shropshire today and had some pota fun on 20m. Proper holiday activity.
Map of contacts from Shropshire - across Europe and over to USA.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The security camera company is desperate to sell me AI services. Won’t be happening. I’ve been on an unwanted “free trial” for ages. It keeps flagging up “Unusual Activity”. This consists of my wife and me going into and out of our house and getting in and out of our cars. Silly company.
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Mike Knell @blat.at · 07/07/2026
Everyone in Europe please try and keep the noise down, Belgium has a hangover.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Nice wee surprise in the post today… #AmateurRadio #dxpedition #J51A
Front of a QSL card from DXpedition J51A showing 5 operators standing by the sea on Bubaque Island off Guinea-BissauBack of a QSL card from DXpedition J51A showing qso details with GI6HKE and information about their station.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Had a slow start operating GB1500M yesterday, but a lively 90 min pileup on 40m last thing. Many ops, bands, modes in the UK home nations this week. Folk sad at ending broadcasting from 198LW - far more wondering when all that broadcast engineering expertise might be needed again… #amateurradio
Description of the shutting down of Long Wave broadcasting in the UK at oh 100 British summertime this coming Saturday.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Calling CQ with GB1500M on 7.189 SSB - marking the imminent end of 198LW transmission in the UK.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
USA V Australia. I love how every time the US tv director shows us celebs in hospitality the BBC commentators go totally silent. Because they, like us, haven’t a clue who any of them are.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
If you are anywhere in the UK having a bit of a warm spell, I just want you to know that in Northern Ireland we are having constant torrential rain, and although is keeping the streets empty, it is rather getting us all a bit down.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Loving the Curaçao national anthem for the sheer unending nature of it.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Few ssb qsos on 20m and 40m this morning but it was hard work for all of us. Golly those bands are noisy in this part of Western Europe. Thank you to everyone who persevered with my requests for repeated information. Will, GI6HKE
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Enjoying coverage of a quite amazing Northern Irish Road Racing event - the North West 200. Upwards of 200mph on closed public roads. Respect to my RAYNET colleague providing secure emergency comms. You can watch free here: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
bbc.co.uk
North West 200 - North West 200 Live - Saturday Racing
Watch live coverage of the 2026 North West 200 at the famous triangle circuit on the north coast of Northern Ireland.
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Martin Rosenbaum @mrosenbaum.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
I'm quoted in this: “There are import­ant under­ly­ing issues about how the civil ser­vice is man­aged and how pub­lic money is spent. They should release the inform­a­tion instead of try­ing to evade dis­clos­ure by hid­ing behind unjus­ti­fied claims about per­sonal data."
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
That was a hopelessly slow start this morning. I really have got to stop sitting up half the night listening to space travellers.
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DutchSpace @dutchspace.eurosky.social · 01/04/2026
Getting closer.... pad clear underway... #ArtemisII
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
My boss* is insisting I write scripts for 2 solid days, go to loads of meetings and record and edit on Thursday to “bring the pennies in, because we cannot live on air”. No time for fiddling with radios. What a git. *I am self-employed
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Sam McBride @sjamcbride.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
After finding a declassified government file in London which wasn't censored as it had been in Belfast, I investigated the reason - and found Stormont is now undertaking extreme censorship of these files. That means we'll understand NI's past less fully.
belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Stormont’s indefensible and unannounced policy of censoring declassified documents more heavily than in London
Top NIO man’s name and blunt comments censored for no justifiable reason, as officials admit they now engage in new policy of blacking-out names they don’t recognise — despite MLAs never approving suc...
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Me: (Listening happily to the Wolves Liverpool 5th Round FA Cup tie, on BBC Five Live.) Mrs Will: And do you need a big radio like that to listen to the football? Me: 😳
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Bullied myself down to a local wildlife reserve by the sea yesterday with an HF mobile rig and a 14mHz vertical for the car roof. One mother of all POTA pileups later, I was so glad I’d taken the trouble. Delighted so many ops called in. #pota #hamradio #amateurradio #fun
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
It’s up to all of us to now step up and call this absolute bull**** out
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
It was so nice to have a dry afternoon for once that I went outside, parked the car in an open space, put on my 3xmag mount, fired up the RigExpert and tuned my new 17m and 10m Ampro monobanders to a gratifying low swr. Bit more POTA happening soon. Made me happy.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
I drove 120 miles through a sunny County Antrim today. My part of of Ireland couldn’t have looked more beautiful. Or more surprised…
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Of course GB isn’t winning any medals at the Winter Olympics. One plays to one’s strengths. Now when they finally get around to introducing the Damp and Dreich Olympics, GB will dominate.* Suggestions for events? * every athlete interviewee will have to include the phrase “mustn’t grumble”.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Bit of research this morning.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
What on earth has happened to me? We got a letter from Belfast City Council saying they were introducing kerbside bottle and glass collections on our street, and I was really excited…
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
People of Ireland! You will need to spend some time today explaining to your children what this is.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I call this composition “Storm Chandra and the amateur’s anxious glance”…
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HIGNFY @hignfy.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
After Nigel Farage hinted that more leading influential Conservatives would defect to Reform UK, Suella Braverman has just joined the Party – so maybe she knows who Nigel meant
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Och give it a rest, sky, would you? Just…just change the record.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23/01/2026
Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Matt Reuter. #NewYorkerCartoons
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
It’s a rumble!
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Mark Urban @markurban.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Who's running Venezuela now anyway? And what about the democratic opposition? I've blogged on the perils of 'regime change lite' open.substack.com/pub/markurba...
open.substack.com
Venezuela - Who's in Charge?
And where do we go from here ...
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
This new war is not only illegal, reckless and deeply corrupt, it is the latest in a series of increasingly desperate distractions from the EPSTEIN Files. #ImpeachAndConvict47NOW
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Vee @veroniqueb99.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/01/2026
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Essex Ham @essexham.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Know anyone interested in getting their first amateur radio licence? Our next free online course starts this Sunday. We've helped over 14,000 and counting! Sign up for the free courses is at www.hamtrain.co.uk - Share and Enjoy...
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
In 2026 I will not be buying any more radios, radio gear, antennas or accessories*. * except the stuff I feel I really need or want.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Dear help me, I found this thread really exciting.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Brilliant night at the Sunflower Folk Club in Belfast. Remarkable series of performances from the floor, including one in Latin, one in French and some Portuguese squeezebox music. And then my lifelong friend - since we were 13 - Anthony Toner. Glorious songs and great good humour. What a night.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
It’s exactly this kind of dismal, prejudiced bollox from the Daily Mail that’s got us into the ruinous Brexit mess we’re in. What a moronic response to us rejoining Erasmus and all the benefits that brings. If they’re really worried about cost, they should push to cancel Brexit altogether.
Daily Mail headline 

£6BN COST OF STARMER'S NEW BID TO SUCK UP TO BRUSSELSIndependent headline 25 November 2025

Brexit costing UK up to £90bn in lost tax revenue a year, new analysis shows
Exclusive: Britons also up to £3,700 worse off, leading to calls for the Labour government to improve relations with the EU
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Finally submitted my log for the ARRL-10 contest at the weekend - first time I’ve tried one so a very lowly score. Had to learn new logging software that actually understood contest exchanges. Worked it out after poking at it for a couple of nights before it would upload. But fun was definitely had.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Spent the afternoon on 10m for the ARRL 10 meter contest. It’s night time here now and I’m taking a break. So far, shooting for a placing of: Last in the entire world…. Fun though. That’s the point.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Hardly surprising. And sadly, not the first time.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Saturday afternoon. Herself is away out shopping. I could do all the things on my “Must Do” list. Or I could sit here and watch The Desert Rats on BBC Two...
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Went up to the shack there to “tune around the bands a bit.” Anyway, I got two reports written for work. One has to be pragmatic about these things.
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Will Leitch GI6HKE @willleitch.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
I connected a fairly old Apple CDROM Drive to a Windows 11 laptop this afternoon, and got it working after downloading some Boot Camp drivers from the Apple Support website. I now I have a thoroughly inflated view of my own IT abilities. Also I can now view the only CDROM I own.
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Andrew Quemere @andrewqmr.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.
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