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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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Quick thanks to Phil G4UDU for dropping off some 18650 batteries this afternoon. I was just looking at used ones on eBay for my experiments, as the ones I ordered from China are slated to arrive at the end of March! I was so surprised to see you on the doorstep, I think I forgot to thank you, so you get your own post on the website :)
Cheers Phil. That is very good of you, and super fast delivery haha. Much faster than those scoundrels at DPD.
Berni M0XYF
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Cyprus Hall Community Association have today switched broadband providers, and the new network will take some re-configuration. I have offered my services to help set up their existing WiFi infrastructure with the new router etc, as well as applying the required changes to re-establish MSARS shack connectivity. The KiwiSDR will not be available until this work has been completed. The FlexRadio may or may not have connectivity issues, as I believe it uses a proxy server and it has an Ethernet cable to the LAN - i.e. it doesn't require any specific port forwarding. The eWeLink App should be OK once the ISP has activated the new service.
I will post again when I have any further news.
Berni M0XYF
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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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As many of you might know, I have been having health problems for a few years. This had put a stop to my DXing as concentration was a bit compromised by the treatments I have been having. As I have had a 'holiday' from hospital treatment recently I got the urge to get back to DXing.
For the New Year I set myself a couple of targets, the main one was to work 100 DXCCs during January.
Well, I got off to a good start by fixing my broken delta loop antenna, twice!
With that and the amp' properly set up I started, only to find Rob 'KPD/M had beaten me off from the start. For the next four weeks I was chasing him up the charts always trailing by 6 to 12 (it’s probably his early morning starts that did it) I settled to work any station I could hear on any band, and to give a few points in the contests I came upon. Using my 'Electronic wrist' I used CW as well as SSB, but none of these new-fangled data-modes, (I’ll try those in the future).
Early on I managed to work some interesting stations including Greenland, Australia, Indonesia, and several in southern Africa. As this year the WRTC is being held in Italy, there was a month-long activity by about 50 stations worldwide with awards (wallpaper) being awarded for working as many stations on as many bands and modes as possible. There were some 110,000 stations involved in the chase and my final place was 2001, just outside the top 1%. It was just for a bit of fun but frustrating trying to break through the pileups to China, Japan and some of the South American stations.
So, by the end of the month I had failed miserably with 'only' 91 worked - still behind Rob with his 102.
Still, I still hope to have another 11 months to work my targets. The next big one is Bouvet island in the South Atlantic, luckily the propagation predictions suggest afternoon and early evening as the most likely times for a contact.
Reports like this one used to be a regular feature of the old paper newsletters. If you are interested, I might be able to do regular updates for as long as possible. Just let the webmaster know.
73 Chris.
[Yes please Chris! - M0XYF]
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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A few members are probably wondering why I've been harping on about 2m recently. My answer to that is multi-fold, and as I'm feeling a bit cheeky today, I'll tell you:
- Because it's our least well-supported net and desperately needs defibrillating
- Because any potential new amateurs will probably start off with a 2m/70cms handheld and would benefit from listening-in before plucking up the courage to get involved
- Because I think Russell would appreciate a hand, given the years of personal commitment he's shown to supporting it
- Because 2m is awesome, and I can't imagine for a moment how up-in-arms we'd all be if we lost it to the French aeronautical lobby or whoever.
I'm the new boy around here, but other than NFD & RDF activities, what kinds of things have the club done on 2 metres in the past? Is there anything we could do to spice things up around here? Hint: now is your chance to bang on about the old days, how great it was when you could buy a bag of tripe for fourpence ha'penny and still have change for a donkey ride home. Yes, I'm trying to get a reaction.
It would be great to resurrect something that worked perfectly well before, and to re-introduce it to the current membership. Maybe stick some new knobs on it?
I don't know. Send me your thoughts. Let's plan a day out messing about with radio. It'll be springtime before you know it and none of us are getting any younger.
Meanwhile, we had six people on the net this morning, so thanks to Phil M5BTB, Terry M0TPJ, Adrian M0TCD/M, Russell G7TMR, Dick G1CWP and myself. Merv M0WVE nearly made it, but got roped into doing a bit of hoovering at the last minute 😝
Right, next Sunday on the net, let's go for eight stations. The club record is twelve I believe, and I'll resort to the Twittersphere if I have to!
Berni M0XYF
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Firstly, it was great to see Philip pop up on Zoom for the Enigma presentation by Mark Baldwin last Friday. Great to have Philip with us again for 2023 too.
What I did notice, is that last October he was sporting the callsign M7ANW, and here we are three months later and his callsign is M0LIP. Now I may have got the wrong end of the stick (wouldn't be the first time!) but that looks like a remarkable achievement to me?
I think he said he was also a volunteer at the NRC at Bletchley, so very well done on your impressive achievements in, and contribution to this great hobby.
Berni M0XYF
