DXpedition Antennas by Don Field, G3XTT

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This week we will be joined by Don Field, G3XTT, who will be talking to us on the subject of DXpedition Antennas.

Don has been involved in Amateur Radio since passing his exam in 1968. He is the author of several books, namely the RSGB Operating Manual and the 6 and 4 metre Handbook.

He has also particated in a number of major DXpeditions, such as T32C, 3B7C and D68C to name a few and been involved with several RSGB comittees over the years.

Don has been the HF columnist for RADCOM for 15 years and has recently taken on the role of editor for Practical Wireless magazine.

With his vast experience in the world of Amateur Radio, this is sure to be an unmissable evening, so please join us from 7pm on Thursday 7th November to see Don’s presentation.

John Logie Baird’s work in Television, 1923 to 1946′ by Iain Baird

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In a change to this week’s programme for Thursday 24th, we will be joined by Iain Logie Baird, a Curator from the National Media Museum in Bradford.John Logie Baird

Iain will be speaking to us about his late Grandfather, John Logie Baird and his work in Television from 1923 to 1946.
Iain moved to the UK from Canada in 2007 and has worked in the Museum sector for a number of years both here and in Canada.

Iain has naturally researched his Grandfather’s work over the years and also has expertise on other subjects such as communications technology and sound reproduction technology.

This is one not to be missed, so please join us from 7pm on Thursday, 24th October for what is sure to be a very interesting and informative talk.

2011 Rockall DXpedition (DVD)

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RockallThis week, in a change to the printed programme, we will be showing the DVD of the 2011 Rockall DXpedition.

On 1st October 2011, a team of Belgian Radio Amateurs set foot on the tiny island of Rockall, EU-189, to begin what was perhaps one of the most extreme DXpeditions ever undertaken. Using the callsign MM0RAI/P, the first QSO was made at 15:50. Following massive pile-ups over the operating period, the team were finally evacuated at daybreak the following day.

This is the story of the DXpedition and the gale force winds their ship battled through even to just reach the island.

Please join us on Thursday 10th October to watch this excellent DVD.

Antenna Modeling with (and without) NEC

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This Thursday, Ron Mount will be speaking to us about Antenna Modeling with and without using NEC.

Ron has had an interest in radio and electronics for around 50 years, but only gained his licence and the call G7DOE in 1990. Ron’s interests so far have been exclusively at VHF and above, operating mainly on 2m, 70cm and 23cm. He is also beginning to edge into operating on 13cm. He says he seems to spend much of his time thinking and arguing about antennas, very often for bands he is not interested in!

Professionally, Ron joined Plessey’s Applied Research Laboratory at Romsey after leaving university, working on X band developments before moving solidly into electronics CAD. After that, it was computers all the way until he retired 5 years ago.

Ron is an active member of the Harwell Amateur Radio Society and is involved in their training programme as one of their instructors, often producing papers and question sheets to support their courses. Jonathan, M0ZGB, can certainly vouch for Ron’s knowledge on the subjects he speaks about after completing his Intermediate & Advanced licences with Ron & the team at HARS.

So, Please join us on Thursday 26th September from 7pm for what is sure to be a very informative (and entertaining!) talk.

Members Equipment Sale

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Find that Ham Radio bargain or sought-after part for your winter project! Bring along any Amateur Radio related items you have for sale or just browse & buy what others have for sale.

All welcome. Visitors £1, Tables £3, Refreshments £1 . Members Free. On-site parking available

Returning to Pine Trees

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August has been and gone and today is the first day of September. That means we are back at Pine Trees this week (5th Sept). Hope you all enjoyed the time we spent on Barbury.

Activity Nights @ Barbury Castle

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Barbury2013Throughout August we will be meeting out and about. We are meeting in the car park at Barbury Castle. If you don’t know where it is and you have a GPS… 51.483822,-1.777436

Barbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort situated in Wiltshire, England. It is one of several such forts found along the ancient Ridgeway route. The site, which lies within the Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has been managed as a country park by Swindon Borough Council since 1971. It is situated on Barbury Hill, a local vantage point, which, under ideal weather conditions, commands a view across to the Cotswolds and the River Severn. It has two deep defensive ditches and ramparts. The Old Ridgeway runs close by and the modern Ridgeway crosses through the castle. In the surrounding area are to be found round barrows, Celtic field systems and 18th-19th Century flint workings.

See you there.

G8SRC goes portable with easy-to-erect antennas for 6 and 20m.

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20130615-213852.jpgTypically on activity nights we use just one HF antenna – such as multi-band vertical or wire dipole and we manage to work a dozen stations on HF. However, this week we had two portable antennas at our club base at Pinetrees, giving us the opportunity to work two bands – 20m and 6m.

The 6 metre antenna, brought in by Paul 2E0PMV, was a commercially made Moxon loop supported on a Maplin extendible mast. Six was reported to be open throughout the day so we were keen to check out the E skip to see if conditions had changed. Having hooked up the PSU to the Kenwood TS 590S, by 8pm we were ready to put G8SRC on air.

Rob, M0GKG took to the mike first and comfortably worked a couple of stations in Eastern Europe. Then, Tony G4LDL followed suit, working some very strong signals from Spain. By nine o’clock, conditions declined we switched the rig to ANT2 and gave 20m a try using a homebrew portable 20m rotary dipole made by Ed M0OSM.

This very professionally built antenna was similar in appearance to the Buddipole. Mounted on an 8M painting pole, the antenna itself was made from two portable short verticals, screwed into a threaded dipole centre. This time, Rob worked several European stations with ease – Norway, Spain and Latvia all reported 59. And Phil M0PBZ couldn”t resist trying the M0OSM-antenna on the CW section of 20 metres. On 14048, 4Z4DX in Israel came in too strong to ignore and Rolf gave us a 599 report. Not bad for such a compact antenna. So all in all, we had a very active activity night.

For anyone wishing to explore Amateur radio, visitors are most welcome. Even in challenging weather conditions, we always aim to operate our club station on activity nights usually using SSB and CW modes. If you would like to come along to see Amateur Radio in action, contact us at [email protected]. And if you are a licenced Amateur, or an inactive licensee it would be great to see you.