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So, my 'new' 40m End-Fed Half Wave wire antenna (which I can manually tune on 80m as well) has finally deposed the trusty Cushcraft AV4 from its prime position in the middle of the back lawn. As it's 20m long and my back garden isn't, it's currently draped over the roof of my shed at one end, so far from ideal. Even like that, it still outperforms my old Cushcraft vertical, so I thought I'd try and benchmark it as it is, for future reference.
It's eventually going to be in a full 'inverted L' configuration, but for now it's more like a very pointy inverted V. The far end will be raised from its current lowly 2m height to a relatively lofty 10m which should improve both transmit and receive conditions significantly. It's also a few inches too long, but that's insurance for tuning once in its final position.
Anyway, I wanted to 'document' what it can do right now, hence my recording the net this morning, propagation conditions notwithstanding. I streamed it on Zoom and simultaneously recorded it to my hard drive. After a bit of basic audio editing for duration etc. I thought that there may be other people that would be interested in hearing it. Maybe some visitors to the website who don't currently have a radio and wonder what's going on, or some of our overseas friends who might like to compare the results to one or more of the popular WebSDRs. I could hear everyone bar Sean and Gerry in Ireland, though I'm suffering from a terribly high noise floor (and rampant common mode currents on transmit) in this lashed-up incarnation.
So download it if you wish. It's about 37Mb in size and runs for approximately 50 minutes. It's in .m4a format (playable with most media players).
Berni M0XYF
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Well, maybe not free exactly, but it was a significant milestone in the resumption of more normal club activities post C-19 (not that there will ever be such a thing, but you know what I mean).
Eleven members formed four teams of hounds chasing down the cheeky foxes who were apparently hiding out behind a distant hedge this year.
Russell G7TMR sorting the reflected signals from the real ones in the car park at the start of the event.
Foxes and hounds ruminating on another well organised tactical encounter (I'm making all this up by the way, as I wasn't even there!)
And the winners were... the foxes! Despite some of the hounds passing within 50 yards of the fox's lair, they remained sufficiently well hidden to avoid being nabbed.
The Friars Oak in Hassocks was the nominated debriefing venue, where outdoor drinking was just the ticket.
But the last word should definitely go to Tony G3XQM, who summed up just what it felt like to get out on a proper face to face event. Well done to Stella and Alan for organising. Thanks also to Mike G1TDL for supplying the photos. It's much appreciated.
Berni M0XYF
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THIS ITEM HAS NOW BEEN SOLD
Yaesu VX-6E Submersible with box, power adapter, operating manual and RT Systems programming software. The software also comes with the USB-57B programming cable.
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- Written by: Stella M6ZRJ
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Well done and many thanks to Stella, Alan, Kim et al for getting the club active in the open air once again. Please come and support the organisers if you can, even if you just come for the socially-distanced beer! Here are the details:
All the Hounds will be starting from Cyprus Hall Car Park.
Normally everybody meets there from approx 7.15pm.
Sealed envelopes will be passed out to those teams that take on the Foxes, inside will be the location of the Pub for those who give up!
The first transmission will be sent from the Foxes location at 7.30pm, we will be using 145.375Mhz +/- QRM, this will be 2 mins long and we will then be transmitting for 1 min every 15 mins after that at 7.45, 8.00 & 8.15 etc.
If nobody has found us by this point some general clues will be slipped out during the 1 minute chat so listen carefully or your drinking time in the pub may be short!
For those that are new to this you will need, ideally 2m handheld & small beam antenna, map (OS 198), pencil, ruler & compass for plotting signal direction.
Regards
Stella M6ZRJ
Alan G8YKV
For beginners, you may like to check out a useful guide that Alan has put together here:
https://midsussexars.org.uk/feature-articles/78-a-beginners-guide-to-amateur-radio-foxhunting
and there are many helpful pages on the internet on cheap and easy to construct antennas and attenuators.
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This is a very different version of the guidelines than the previous one. Gone are the old flowchart/decision tree logic diagrams and in come simplified if/then/goto/return directions that many of us may be familiar with from the BASIC programming of yesteryear or from completing the recent online census. In this case that may be for the best, as simplicity and clarity are surely what are required right now. It's particularly important when you consider the potential damage the whole EMF compliance issue may have on inducting new amateurs into the hobby. It really shouldn't be very difficult at all for new licensees to demonstrate compliance.
I was very happy to locate this nugget in the 'Other Questions' section at the end of the document too. It's something that I was hoping for. A common sense acknowledgement that you can 'assess for the worst case' and that would automatically cover any subsequent minor changes you make to your station setup which are only likely produce lower levels of exposure.
"You will only need to reassess compliance if you make changes to your equipment which is likely to increase the EMF exposure levels in any area where a member of the general public is or can be expected to be present. This could happen if, for example, you change or adjust the antenna or make other permanent technical changes to the equipment."
I think it indicates a reasonable approach to producing your compliance documentation, but it doesn't excuse you from doing the initial hard yards. You'll still have to have an assessment for each band/antenna/mode combination you operate on at a minimum. Note also the use of the word 'permanent'. The 'Pre-Assessed Configuration' concept otherwise referred to as the 'Compliant by design' approach is also a useful quick-fix, but come on... it's taken the RSGB months and months to come up with the documentation for a half wave dipole for goodness sake. What is any of that going to do to encourage experimenting with antennas?
One final highlight I discovered is that I have now correctly re-classified my good lady wife as a 'Worker' and so no longer have to worry about irradiating her. It was easier than asking her to sit the Foundation exam.
Here is a copy of the guidelines in full:
and here is a link to the RSGB website page which looks like it's being kept up to date with all the other various links to helpful resources:
Berni M0XYF
