On this page you will find illustrated reports of some of our activities during 2000. These are in addition to our main meetings and shack nights. The most recent activities are at the top of the page.
Renovating the Antenna Mast
Several shack evenings and a number of weekends during the second half of 2000 were spent renovating an antenna mast. Click here to read about this.
Inter-Club Quiz – Winners
All the local
radio clubs were guests of Flight Refuelling's Radio Club for the annual quiz
night on Friday 22 September 2000. We would have been a small team,
except that one of our members bought along some friends who were visiting, and
found ourselves the most numerous team after all. This was not an unmixed
blessing because it led to alternative answers being suggested to some
questions, and we twice managed to choose the wrong ones.
As on previous similar occasions the quiz consisted of ten groups of ten questions on various subjects - Current Affairs, Literature, Science, Music, Food and Drink, etc. and we managed to get 77 right - some nine points ahead of the next team. The Flights club laid on an excellent buffet, sufficient to feed a battalion at full strength, and a enjoyable evening was had by all. We even brought home the trophy!
Day in the Field
Following
a request from several members, we organised a day in the field for Sunday 3rd
September. It was deliberately left very much up to members to organise
themselves with whatever gear for what ever bands and modes they chose to bring
along.
In the end we ended up with a low-power (qrp) station on the hf bands. Using some poles and a Tennamast vehicle antenna pole support and a number of 2-inch poles, Tex arranged a convenient system to raise a wire antenna about 20 feet above the ground. Geoff used this to support a Long wire antenna and used it to make a number of contacts around Europe on 40m using Morse.
On 2m several members brought gear along. The main station consisted of an FT736 running 25Watts from a battery power supply into a 9-element beam fed with UR67 coaxial feeder. The day coincided with an all Europe 2m contest, and in the few hours that we operated, some good ssb contacts were made into England, Wales, Guensey, Scotland, Isle of Man, France, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Best DX was with HB2MS in Switzerland at about 760km (475miles).
For some time, the 2m station seemed to be working further than the hf station, but when the hf station moved to 20m using a small whip antenna, this all changed, with St-Petersburg being worked amongst the first contacts on that band.
Despite the sunny weather, the wind made it seem a lot cooler when sat down operating, so we packed up after a few hours or very enjoyable operations in glorious scenery. Several members requested another similar operation.
Hamfest
The Poole Radio Society stand at Hamfest in August did its usual roaring trade. The wonderful, state of yesterday's art, surplus equipment (a.k.a. Junk) having been collected from a variety of sources and, after careful screening at the shack on the previous Friday evening, was deposited in various car boots to be transported to site early on the Sunday morning.
Due to a variety of prior commitments this year, several of the usual stalwarts were unable to assist with putting up the tent, and collecting the trestle tables etc. Nevertheless, by 9:30 we had the tent up and the tables groaning under the weight of the surplus equipment to be sold as seen.
Business was
steady throughout the morning, with bargains such as a G2DAF hf rig selling for
the princely sum of £8. Another old valve rig brought a heated discussion
its frequency coverage. Many thought it was for 2m, but it turned out to
be an old 4m AM set (if the case is to believed). This brought back memories
of tuning the band from high to low for many visitors.
After this we were still left with a lot of surplus equipment, including a number of items of household wares. The second "As much as you can carry offer" saw the price drop to just 50p, with many customers spending the last of their change. Ladies appeared from nowhere to buy cake stands. There were still electronic bargains to be had, with one young lad picking up a BBC Micro Computer for all of the remaining 44p he had in his pocket!
The lack of skips for disposal of the remaining equipment, meant that the final reduction to "As much as you can carry for free" was brought into play. This left us with just two small boxes of equipment to be disposed of in member's dustbins, including a boxed loudspeaker with parts that even woodworm had found unpalatable. As is usual on these occasions, we can feel proud that everyone leaving the stand with a purchase has walked a way with a bargain, and boosted club funds. In addition we have done out bit for the environment by re-cycling so much equipment! At the end of the day we all went home tired, but happy.
10GHz Microwaves
A talk by Chris G8BKE inspired Colin G6MXL to dust off his 10GHz microwave gear. A DXpedition to Guernsey by G0FDZ and a 10GHz Cumulative Contest coinciding on Sunday 30th July seemed like the ideal opportunity to give a real try. Following a quick check at the club the previous Friday, it was planned to take the gear to Sea View, a high point just up the hill from the club on Sunday 30th July. Plotting the path to Guernsey, it became obvious that the Purbeck Hills would present a rather large obstacle, so we headed off for the East Cliff at Bournemouth.
We soon heard
Chris GU0FDZ/P on 2m ssb talk back, and started to listen around on 10GHz.
Initially we thought the strong carrier we could hear was from Guernsey.
When it didn’t go on and off as Chris was describing to another station, it
became apparent that the carrier was not from Guernsey.
Just as Tex
G1TEX joined us, we swung the dish round to the West we heard Allan G8LSD/P in
the Purbecks working another station. At the end of the QSO, we tail
ended and made a direct 2-way ssb QSO on 10GHz without any 2m talk-back.
We exchanged 59 reports over the 20km path. This was an encouraging
start.
Shortly afterwards we heard Chris GU0FDZ/P calling on 2m, and we then tried to work him on 10GHz over a sea path of over 140km. This contact was very marginal, and required Grahams CW skills to read his signal. Our signal was even weaker. Not having brought a CW key with us, we were really struggling. In the end we switched to FM and Graham used the microphone PTT as a CW key to send our report and serial number. In the end it was certainly worth the effort, as we believe this may have been the first 10GHz CW QSO from G to GU by an M5 licence holder. Graham will be sending off his QSL card to confirm the contact.
Colin’s 10GHz transverter uses a G4DDK 2.5GHz local oscillator to feed into a DB6NT x4 multiplier and mixer. On transmit this is followed by a DB6NT PA giving about 200mW out on 10368 MHz (3cm). This is fed via some circular wave-guide (copper pipe) to the 30cm dish. On this occasion it was mounted on a surveyors wooden tripod, which Colin says is much more stable than the photographic tripod he has used in the past.
Sopley School Fete
We staged our first exhibition station for several years at the Sopley Primary School Fete on Saturday 24th June. The morning was dull and overcast and promised nothing better.
During the
morning we set about erecting the mast and hf antennas, and added the 2m
antenna for slow scan television in the afternoon. A Morse reader
supplied by Tex, although small, performed well. Keys and oscillators
were available for those who might wish to try their hand at CW and simple
radio receivers, built by Paul’s son Sam, were also on display.
Paul and Sam had gone to much trouble to produce an information leaflet and the whole set-up was housed within the marquee. Sadly the HF station could not be used for, although it was performing brilliantly, it was being picked up on the PA system.
SSTV proved to be a winner, attracting much interest and, being a suitable mode for the noisy public conditions, is worthy of further consideration when planning future events. Members did a good job of engaging the public who showed interest in the activity in conversation. The general consensus was that it was a worthwhile activity and an enjoyable day out. The organisers expressed their thanks to the club for attending.
Visit to the Norman Lockyer Observatory
On Saturday 20th May, several members joined members of the Bournemouth and Flight Refuelling Societies and members of the local Astronomical Society in an interesting visit to the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth in South East Devon. Inside we were given a short illustrated talk in the Planetarium, before splitting into smaller groups to see some of the historical telescopes. Unfortunately our arrival coincided with the arrival of the clouds, thus obscuring our view of sunspots. After viewing the telescopes, we returned to the Planetarium for a short talk on weather satellites, followed by a chance to see the latest weather pictures received from both Polar and Geostationary satellites. We also admired the amateur radio station (GB2NLO) and the antenna farm, which gave visitors some food for thought.
Shops Close
Many of our local amateur radio shops closed in late 1999 / early 2000. We said good bye to Reg Ward in Axminster, whilst SMC at Chandlers Ford pulled out of the amateur market. In addition Tandy shut both their Poole and Bournemouth branches, and the Poole Logic shop in Kingston Road also closed.