First shown on RSGB Tonight @8, Peter started out with a brief rundown of the dipole antenna. After that the subject turn deeper into wave theory and radio waves travelling in a vacuum. Some interesting aspects were described. However, the subject is too long to detail here. If interested have a look at; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS2DVuYDo2A     for the entire story.

Near the end of the video there is an interesting Q&A from those who were watching the live presentation.

The subject was ‘what’s new and how to use it’ with regard to the equipment planned for use in this year’s CQWW SSB contest.  Don, G4LOO set up the K3 with a panadapter and logging program. Various controls on the K3 were pointed out and discussed. Some discussions followed about the panadapter and how it can be useful during the contest. A short run through of the logging program was followed by an extensive Q&A session.

Almost everyone who had seen the structure knew it was called the ‘Elephant Cage’ due to it’s giant circular structure. This receiving aerial was a step forward in direction finding and monitoring radio signals. Graham pointed out that there were a further eight similar aerials situated around the world enabling signals to be pinpointed almost any where on earth. The worldwide network was known collectively as ‘Iron Horse’

The construction at Chicksands began around 1960 and was completed by1962.  The outer reflecting screen had 1056 vertical steel wires supported by 96 120-foot (37 m) towers. There were three concentric rings of antenna elements. Each received radio signals from 1.5 to 30 MHz. depending on how they are tuned.

Graham covered early direction finding equipment and the nature of the signals monitored.

The structure at Chicksands was dismantled in 1996 as it was obsolete. Only a large indentation in the landscape remains.

As a PS:

Don began with a look at the results of a previous contest, the IOTA contest at the end of July. He compared the results received with past years, although past years were affected by the Pandemic.

Moving on to this October’s CQWW SSB contest, he said some of the assembley work will be done and tested prior to the setting up of the stations. With regard to the operations, he pointed out which stations to log for points and which to avoid.

The Rota for this contest has been posted on this website and listed is also the email to use to have your name entered into the slots for operations during the contest.