Good to see the training room being used last evening. Our latest trainee to go through his practical with John M0HFH. Chance set of photo’s taken whilst I was operating the HF set sat next to them. Good luck to Ron on the rest of his practical and exam when he is ready.
Looking forward to many QSO’s when he is licensed.
Mark M6KMJ
Last year I purchased a pneumatic 11m mast that can support a head load of 35kg. Currently I use an SPID RAU rotator from AlfaRadio mounted at the top of the mast to rotate antenna’s. At 6kg the rotor is reasonably light but for a while I’ve felt it would be better placed at the base as this removes 6kg from the top of the mast.
This little project will need modifications to the masts support/tilt-over base, a new rotor – as the SPID won’t take the vertical load – and an interface between the rotor and mast.
The project has taken the first step. After drafting an engineering drawing of the rotor/mast interface a local engineering company made one for me. For reference the rotor is a Prosistel PST-641D and the mast is a Total Mast Solutions / Fireco 115mm (base tube) pneumatic mast.
I’ll post again next month when I hope to receive the new PST-641D rotor and progress the next stage in the project.
Andrew
G0RVM
‘Young’ Steve took and passed his Foundation Exam this Friday evening.
Steve completed the test in 25 minutes with an indicative score of 23 out of 26. Steve now needs to start thinking of a suitable callsign. The test was invigilated by Peter G4OST and Rex G4RAE, who both kindly gave there evening. Steve received most of his training from Andy and Peter.
Thank you gents.
Well Done Steve.
Paul
M0ZMB
For everyone interested in learning and improving morse code, check the following website for full details http://lidscw.org/
As those who were at the programme planning session last week know I rather haphazardly stepped into the planning for this years event!! Know I was really happy to honestly LOL.
On a serious note I will be asking for volunteers who may want to enlist their help and support on the event which we are considering is 2 instead of 3 days as was last year. Current dates set are 30th April – 2nd May and over the weekend we will be hoping to run a club equipment test day and still to be decided perhaps a personal equipment day?
We have new members amongst us since last years event. I am particularly keen to enlist them if I may and perhaps we can discuss your thoughts and what you feel you would like to be experimenting with.
For now then if can ask anyone interested in helping on the day, staying over the weekend and/or coming to specific theme if it were to run to post their thoughts to this page and more importantly their project request/s that they feel we should explore over the weekend. I am keen to make this a clear themed event this year e.g. frequency, band/s, antenna type, radio type, home brew etc etc.
We have some On Air Nights coming up so I intend to enlist a few people to help so be prepared to be volunteered!
See you all on Weds.
Mark M6KMJ
Ideas & suggestions for the rest of the year required for the programme.
Just a quickie to say that the slideware from the HF propagation talk in January this year by Peter, G4OST is now in the Lecture notes section of this website.
Andrew
G0RVM
A big thank you to Mike M1DPB for a fascinating talk about restoring vintage radio’s last night.
For those that could not attend, Mike brought along a couple of radio’s, pictured below, and presented the restoration steps he had taken plus described many of the pit-falls to watch-out for when reapplying power after many years.
There is something about the smell of old radio’s, its unique. It cannot be described; yet we can all identify it and it triggers memories from years ago 🙂
The slideware from the presentation will soon be appearing in the Lecture notes section of the website. The slides detail many of the steps which Mike discussed in his talk.
Andrew
G0RVM
A few weeks ago I was handed two images by Stan (G3RYM). They show some vintage radios being displayed at a TSGARC meeting. The gentleman in the purple top is Mike M1DPB.
If you can provide any further information such as photograph date or location that would be great. It would also be really helpful if anyone can identify the radio’s. Either let me know directly or by replying to this post.
Andrew
G0RVM
Electrically conductive cement. Invented around 30 years ago but I suspect forgotten, follow the link to Sankosha website for excellent ground resistance calculators and information on pro-ground systems: http://www.sankosha-usa.com/sanearth.asp