As a follow up, participants in our time and aerial limited IARU contest entry were Owen, G0PHY; Gareth, M5KVK; Ian, G3ORG; Martin, M0XMP; Andy, G4DAQ and Geoff, G4CEP.

As a result of not being able to field full club participation in the IARU contest, Paul, G1GSN suggested a ‘mini’ IARU set up for those members who wanted to experience contesting operations.   A suitable field was source from a friend and details of the proposed dipoles were explained.  It was hoped to enter in the low power section for multi operators,  single transmitter. Fortunately, the weather is forecast as fine for the weekend.

This is the last club meeting for the summer. Meetings resume on    the 13th of   September  2018.

From his deep knowledge of the subject, Steve, a retired Senior Systems Engineer for the Metropolitan Police Service gave a history of calls for help from the earliest times, before electricity, up to the very latest innovations in digital communications.

It was strange to hear the early police didn’t really want communications with the public other than face to face meetings. The onset of communications by electronic means brought improvements in general communications which the police could no longer ignore.

After the end of the second world war, mobile radio began to play an important part, When the mobile phones arrived 1986, it was apparent that an overall control of communications was required which lead to the development of Terrestrial Trunked Radio known as TETRA.

Modern emergencies such as terrorist activities, large rallies and events like the Kings Cross fire begin to show shortcomings and engineers are now looking to the most modern
of digital techniques such as MCPTT over 4G, (Mission-critical push to talk over the 4G phone network to include high availability and reliability, low latency with support for group calls and
one to one calls with caller ID, including device to device direct comms for emergency calling.)

The evening kicked off at 18.30 hours with a visit to the anechoic chamber used to test aerials looking for nulls and unwanted problems. The chamber is completely isolated from outside RF interference to enable near perfect test conditions.

We were also shown some of the vehicles used to monitor different frequencies in remote locations. These vans have been specially designed to enable RF to reach the equipment through plastic panels in the roofs. The vehicles are fitted with a variety of aerials to meet the specific test needs.

After a short tea break we were taken to the Spectrum Monitoring Operations Room where Iain gave us a comprehensive guide through all the different types of equipment used to monitor and analyse the frequencies under review.

The facilities are very impressive with the ability to analyse different bands as well as DF specific frequencies to locate interference. This equipment can accurately give a heading to within a couple of degrees, however it can also give the inclination of the received signal.

Different parts of the spectrum are analysed over a 24 hour period to check for unusual signals, there is also equipment to look for RSGB Intruder Watch requests.

The Station communicates with other similar organisation globally to pass on data to help resolve problems.

The station is manned 24/7 to help reduce RF interference. The station also provides a monitoring service on 3G and 4G frequencies to ensure that the coverage offered by suppliers meets their claims.

A big thank you to the Ofcom team for a splendid evening.

(report by David, G8UOD)

The visit to Moonraker went well. There were 22 visitors who were given an outline of the business, their market and the size of their customer base, much of which is mail order, covering a large geographical area selling products all over Europe. (www.moonraker.eu)

The business has changed over the past few years and the old small shop/showroom has now become large with a very broad selection of amateur equipment, including many transceivers, both handheld and base station. They sell a large variety of antennas and the accessories to go with them.

Some visitors made purchases of equipment, while others asked questions. For this visit the  group was split into two for a guided tour around the warehouse, offices and the workshop where aerials are made. The business has grown substantially over the recent past and Moonraker has become a market wholesaler as well as retailer.
Coffee, tea and soft drinks with biscuits were provided. All in all, an interesting evening.

(Report by David, G8UOD)

This year David, G8UOD was the ‘Fox’ and was ready for the start at 2000 hrs.

There were six hounds:

Ian G3ORG >
Martin M0XMP >shared a car
Paul G1GSN
Derek M0DLM *
Geoff G3XDE * Shared a car
Alan G4PSO

Ian and Martin were the first to find the ‘Fox’ in 6.4 miles. at 20.38 hrs.  Derek and Geoff were next, just in time at 10 miles. at 21.10 hrs.
Alan gave up and went home as did Paul, but he met up with us at the watering hole.
Everybody thought it was a good hunt and the hide was a good one.

(report by David, G8UOD)

A sudden change of plans for the evening. Instead of a video, Don brought ancillary radio items from Paul Godfrey’s bequest to the club for a sale. There were tripods and aluminium pole dipole supports along with many lengths of wire, coax and connectors. There were quality meters, speakers and  dipoles complete with commercial baluns. When all the equipment has been sorted and or sold a  donation to a charity will be made in Paul’s name.

Gareth M5KVK explained Summits on the Air (SOTA) and how the UK is divided into regions the same as the normal amateur regions, each region divided into areas. In England there are 10 districts with 175 summits. The summits are gauged by height to allocate a points system between 1 and 10, naturally, 10 being the highest.

This part of the hobby is well managed by associations for each region and information on who is on the air is uploaded to the web so those planning to participate have some idea of what activity there is. SOTA has world wide followers and, as we know, there are thousands of summits spread over Europe and other countries.

Gareth showed how his logging was done as well as going on line to show how much information there is on SOTA. He also showed his equipment which included a small Elecraft KX2 with an output of 10 watts on HF using a battery with a life of about 4 hours.

The evening was very interesting and members were surprised to find there is so much information and interest about the subject, in use and on line.

Text provided by David, G8UOD

Well, the title says it all!    After deciding to go the home brew route, John was faced with solving engineering challenges at every turn; from selecting materials to the finding of specialist connectors and attaching mechanisms.

Before building the beam, however, John wanted to move his mast away from the house and the possible overhang of the newly fitted solar panels. Of course, the original mast was mounted in a large block of concrete which needed to be broken up to release the mast mounting post.  The lifting of the post was done with the help of a hydraulic jack.

Those familiar with the look of the hex beam will know it looks a bit like a satellite dish facing upward. John started with extendable fishing poles but found they didn’t have the right amount of bend. Glass fibre poles did the job, and were used. Next was the choice of wire to make the elements. John tried several types and settled on flexweave.  Measurements confirmed low SWR for almost all bands, but a little adjustments brought all within useable range with good front to back and forward gain.

John said this was a real ‘labour of love’ and with the help of friends, specially Ian, G3ORG the beam is now up and working well.

Club members wished Dennis, M0JXM Happy Birthday for Friday, 25 May, when he will be 90.