Members gathering for the final evening of our 2021-2022 season were treated to three, thought provoking presentations by senior members of our Society.
David G8UOG opened with a talk on our hobby’s widely debated subject of directly matching a transmitter’s output to an HF antenna using a UNUN or BALUN, without an external ATU. Commercially available units or potentially those home brewed, in a range of ratios to contend with a wide range of impedances, offer the distinct advantage and convenience of rapid band changing and minimum effort in contrast to the manual operations required by conventional tuners, be it the historic Pi circuit a Z match.
He displayed a commercial balun, recently acquired to feed a long wire of a preferred length, that would enable him to transmit on all bands from 160-10m without manual tuning and always at an optimal standing wave ratio. The members spoke of their own experience in this field, and it is probable that we shall revisit the subject at a future meeting.
Paul G1GSN followed and spoke on the ever popular topic of transmitting aerial solutions for small gardens. He covered the distinct DX advantages of verticals and, in particular, the unusual concept of deploying just a single radial formed in a square around the base of the radiator.
Requiring minimal space and no elevated end supports needed, as for a dipole, he contended that his experiments were showing remarkable results for so simple an installation. Paul directed our attention to the video by Tom Schiller, N6BT https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/player.html?link=NTI4NTMwMzEx which endeavours to provide a fresh insight into the home construction of an efficient vertical antenna.
Finally, our resident ‘Old Timer’, Victor G3JNB entertained us into a light-hearted review of selected events in his life as an amateur, entitled … “Back in the Day’. Displaying items from his archives, Victor related what it was he had said to Princess Ellettra, Marconi’s daughter, at the IEE’s ‘100 Years of Radio’ convention and how delighted she and her son had been by the dramatic re-enactment of her father lecturing students on his apparatus for telegraphic communication over distance without the aid of wires. The Princess graciously autographed Victor’s volume of the official proceedings which now lays in our SADARS archives.
The members were treated to further reminiscences on the Marconi company, the Heard Island Dxpedition, Victor’s association with Jim Smith VK9NS of Norfolk Island, the Lovell telescope and the hand carved, native canoe trophy awarded for his winning entry in the Nevada competition for the most successful UK operator contacting the D68C Dxpedition to Comoros Island.
Victor concluded the evening by presenting the Society with the original master copy of his month long, detailed report on the historic 3B9C Dxpedition to Rodrigues Island by the Five Star DX Association, referred to by their President Neville Cheadle G3NUG as surely the ‘Magnum Opus’ of all QSL conformations and unique in the annals of DXing.
