During the lockdown, Don wanted a better aerial for use while at home. He looked at the original design of the Cobweb by Steve Webb, G3TPW but decided to build the improved design by Steve Hunt G3TXQ (SK) which uses single wire dipoles and a 1:4 Guanuella current balun which simplified the overall design.
Using his own design for the centre mount, Stauff Clamps were used to hold the four glass fibre tubes in the necessary X format mounted on a nineteen inch square of aluminium. Don explained how he made the choke using eight turns of twin cable on a FT140-61 toroid.
The aerial is mounted on a pole attached to the side of his house; the mounting allows the pole and aerial to be tipped over into his garden when required and as the aerial is omni directional, there is no need of a rotator.
Of course, the Cobweb works very well, as his results in RTTY contests show, and all with only eighty watts of power.
Don, ran through the details of VHF NFD (2 – 3 July) for those who are new to the Society and asked how many members would be willing to attend. He explained the planned setup and the bands we hoped to be able to work.
The Video for this evening was provided by the RSGB and shows the Arctic IOTA DXpedition to Prins Karls Forland Island. The video is narrated by Allan Batievsky, EA3HSO.
Allan was a member of the Arctic IOTA DXpedition to the nature reserve west of Svalbard located in EU0-63 standing at 78 degrees North. A group of six operators activated the island in July for the first time since 2001 and made 16000 contacts to all corners of the globe.
If you missed the video or would like to see it again, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWk-evOr9hI
This was the second visit to the club by Elaine Richards, Managing Editor of RadCom, The first was fifteen years ago. She began by looking back at the two years of Lockdown and problems caused by the pandemic. She explained it was the first of March when the Technical Editor, Giles Read, G1MFG was taken ill and in the hospital. Then, only three weeks later, he became a silent key. Aside from the shock of loosing such an important member of staff, the event cast a cloud over Elaine’s planned retirement. Elaine explained that she was the only person available to answer questions about Amateur Radio, so please be patient when phoning in. She detailed her interest in the history of Amateur Radio and plans to update a database of all Amateur Radio members through the years, during her spare time after retirement.
Elaine told of the few men who were interested enough to start the London Wireless club after Rene Klein had a letter published in the English Mechanic in June 1913. A meeting of interested parties took place on the 5th of July and the London Wireless Club, with a membership of four, was born. By late November of the same year the membership was 150 members. Nearly half of the paid up members held transmitting licences.
Part of the challenge of archiving is linking different elements of a story together, There are QSL cards dating from 1923 that when examined show that many radio amateurs around the world who chose their own call letters held the same call sign! With international contacts on the rise, it made identification of the country of origin very difficult. Fortunately, the new IARU settled the country callsign problem by assigning each country the call letters we use today.
Her presentation looked at some of the humorous items in the archive. For instance, with rationing during the second World War, the ARRL (the American equivalent of the RSGB) sent some packages of Tea, but sadly they didn’t make it. They were not stopped by U-boats but the British Government who decided that any parcel containing more than two pounds of tea should be confiscated by the Ministry of food. Undeterred the ARRL promptly made smaller packages containing 1 ½ lbs of tea, 6 large chocolate bars and a small bag of candy – thus keeping both the weight of tea inside the rules but also the overall weight of the parcel that wouldn’t exceed 5lbs. True Friendship!
There were some questions at the end of the talk followed by a presentation of a bouquet of flowers. In addition, the chairman presented a call sign plaque made from vintage timber by David, G8UOD.
Elaine received the Call Sign plaque presented by Ken, G4YRF, Club Chairman. Photo by Paul G1GSN
Richard started by detailing the various systems of mains connections to private properties. Houses built from about 1970 are likely to be configured as PME: Protective Multiple Earth. For most houses this is sufficiently safe. However, radio amateurs face a possible catastrophic failure if there is a break in the protective multiple earth lead (possibly cause by nearby construction work etc.) and their station is conneted to an RF earth that becomes the earth for the PME system. These breaks have been reported about 400 times in the past year. Richard outlined what radio amateurs with the PME setup should be doing about the perceived need for an RF earth connection: Don’t do it! Richard’s full presentation can be read at our website under the tab ‘Practical Stuff’ titled ‘Earthing and RF’
An active amateur radio society with a wide range of activities and benefits for members.