As it was Maundy Thursday, we  decided not to have a meeting. Next week, 5 April is the Spring Junk Sale.  Arrive 19:30 for start at 20:00

Almost all registered members attended the AGM last evening. All reports were read and approved by the meeting. The Officers and Committee members   were returned, unopposed. They are:

Ken, G4YRF             Chairman
Bryan, M0BIK           Vice Chairman
David, G8UOD         Secretary
Owen, G0PHY          Treasurer
Don, G4LOO             Equipment Officer
Don, G4LOO             HF Contest Officer
Paul, G1GSN            VHF/UHF Contest Officer
Martin, M0XMP         Committee member
John, G6RHL           Committee member
Gareth, M5KVK        Committee member

Victor, G3JNB presided over the re-election of officers and committee members.

Cups and Plaques were presented to winners of the Construction Contest. They were:

Kit section: Don, G4LOO for his Scalar Network Analyser, the Dr Little cup and plaque
Weekend Special: Victor, G3JNB for a junk box wave meter with digital display: G2DPQ cup and plaque
Major Project: Paul Tewkesbury for the CS Series transceiver, a Commendation  Certificate.

The G3JKK Shield presentation for Club Support this year went to David, G8UOD.
Lastly, the Club Quiz Trophy was won by Team KT66 ( Bryan, M0BIK, Don, G4LOO, Geoff, G4CEP and Paul Schimmel.) The trophy was received on behalf of the team by G4CEP.

The club members present voted for the best talk by a member and the winner this  year by just one vote was: David, G8UOD’s presentation ‘The Most Secret Telephone Exchange’

Members participated in an evening of amateur radio related discussions and  Richard explained the latest club project.

A very good turn out attended Don’s presentation on the Arduino. First of all, Don explained the name, which to us sounds a bit strange. It comes from the name of the bar in Italy where some of the founders of the project used to meet. The bar was named after Arduin of ivrea, who was the King of Italy from 1002 to 1014.

These micro controllers come in over twenty official boards, each slightly different in design. Don gave the costs of the official boards and the amazingly low prices of copies from China.

He then went on to detail what the boards could do and gave an insight into the interfacing and programming.

The usefulness of these micro controllers was shown in the Spectrum Analyser with Tracking Generator he submitted in his Kit class winner of the Annual Construction Contest.  (Blog dated 8 Feb. 2018)   Other amateur radio related projects he has built include a battery discharge monitor and an electronic compass and supply monitor for his 10 GHz transceiver. Don ended his presentation with an Arduino unit sending “Any Questions?” in CW.

Unfortunately, after a week of below zero temperatures and the possibility of more light snow showers in the evening, it was decided that the roads might be too slippery to chance and the meeting was postponed till later in the year.