Activities in 2001 2000 2002
On this page you will find illustrated reports of some of our activities during 2001. These are in addition to our main meetings and shack nights. The most recent activities are at the top of the page.
PRS News
According to the December 2001 Issue of Practical Wireless, Poole Radio Society's ‘PRS News’ came 8th out of 14 entries in the club newsletter competition held by Practical Wireless, with 32 points out of a possible 40. Judges comments "Very good 'club comment' section, good simple lay-out and extensive contact details".
LF Antenna
During August and September work continued on replacing the supports for the lf trapped dipole and returning it to operation. The antenna is a 40m/80m trapped dipole. It meant that for this first time we could run two stations simultaneously, one on lf and another on hf.
Inter-Club Quiz
The Poole Radio Society Team won the local Inter-Club Quiz with a score of 86 points out of 100. This year the Bournemouth Radio Society hosted the quiz.
HF Contests
We participated in the RSGB 21 & 28MHz ssb contests on Sunday 7th October 2001, and in the 21 & 28 MHz cw contest two weeks later on Sunday 21st October 2001. The VK2ABQ antenna certainly helped make the most of the good propagation for the ssb contest. In the few hours that operators were available, 5 continents were worked. After removing the numerous duplicates we found that we had made 55 contacts on 10m into 27 DXCC countries and 44 contacts on 15m into 21 DXCC countries. During the morning Eastern European stations dominated on both bands, whilst the afternoon brought many US stations onto the bands, some participating in other contests.
Conditions for the CW leg did not seem as good as the SSB leg, and with several contests competing for band space it was not surprising that the number of QSOs was comparatively small. The visual Aurora reported by several local observers overnight after the contest may well have been associated with the poor band conditions experienced during the contest.
Hamfest
As
usual the Poole Radio Society stand at Hamfest did a roaring trade. By
9:30 we had the tent up and soon the tables covered with sold-as-seen surplus
equipment. Within an hour of starting, the wind had got up sufficiently
for us to take down the tent rather risk having it blow away. Initially
business was quiet but steady. By lunchtime, the first of the now famous
"As much as you can carry" offers was brought into action, with
customers willingly parting with £1 to take away all sorts of equipment ranging
from 200 Volt light bulbs to new computer software with licenses and
manuals! As we got into the afternoon, the second "As much as
you can carry offer" saw the price drop to just 50p. This did the
trick, and by just after 2pm the table was all but empty.
In addition to manning the PRS stand, members were to be found conducting Morse tests, manning the RSGB stand and the Practical Wireless stand.
For those with time to look around, there were bargains to be had on other stands. With the PRS ‘Days in the Field’ in mind, the most popular amongst members were 12Volt Rechargeable batteries being sold at 5 for £1. Early buyers could find some 6AH batteries in the boxes, but most had to settle for the smaller, but still useful 3AH. Incidentally Strikalite sell a suitable charger.
Days in the Field
We
were very lucky with the weather for our first day in the field on Sunday 29th
July. The exposed hilltop and light sea breeze took the edge off the
heat-wave temperatures we left behind in Poole. Members set up two QRP hf
stations. One of these used a trap dipole antenna set up by
Tex G1TEX; the other used a variety of shorter antennas.
Colin G6MXL brought his 10GHz gear with 2m talkback, making 5 QSOs with 4 countries. Best 10GHz DX was Eric F1GHB/P at 264km in Brittany, subsequently confirmed by QSL card.
Unfortunately the weather was not so kind for our second day in the field planned for Sunday 2nd September, and it was rescheduled. Despite blue skies and warm sun in Poole, even the rescheduled event on Sunday 23rd September, had to be aborted. In the time taken to get to site the weather had changed for the worst with grey overcast skies and a cold wind blowing from the north. Before giving up, we set up a simple 4m station and had a couple of contacts before packing up.
Barbeque
We certainly managed to find some good weather for the barbeque this year. Members were joined by friends and family and enjoyed the food they had brought. A good time was had by all.
Working the D68C DXpedition
At least 7
members were amongst the 3,452 different UK amateurs who worked the
record-breaking D68C Comoros Islands
DXpedition, which made 168,731 QSOs. Some shack nights were
re-scheduled so that we had two operating evenings scheduled during the
DXpedition.
At our June meeting Mike G3SED, one of the D68C operators, told us what it was like at the other end of the world’s largest ever DXpedition and described some the logistics involved in getting dedicated multi-element antenna systems for just about every amateur band from 160m to 6m inclusive, plus dipoles, verticals etc., 10 x 40ft masts, 10 x transceivers, 6 x 1kw linears and over 3km of coax, half way round the world and on the air!
New HF Antenna
We spent several weekends working on our new VK2ABQ hf antenna system in early 2001. Click here to read about how we renovated the mast and built the antenna.
Bournemouth Rally
The Bournemouth
Rally took place on Sunday 18th March at Pelhams. in Kinson, Bournemouth.
It is a great opportunity to meet up with fellow amateurs in the area
face-to-face.
When we booked the table we had concerns whether we would find enough highly valuable equipment surplus to requirements (a.k.a. junk) to fill it. In the end we had more than enough to fill two tables and probably a third.
Some wonderful bargains were to be had. If any one wanted a cheap PC, one which cost £600 about 6 years ago, was sold for just £5 complete with mouse and keyboard!
The usual tactics of ‘As much as you can carry for £1’ were brought into play after lunchtime, with several customers taking advantage of this to reduce the remaining stock to a manageable amount. Thanks to everyone who contributed junk, helped transport it and sell it. As a result we made a useful contribution to club funds.
Annual Dinner
The annual diner was held in January at Le Chateau in Canford Cliffs, and was enjoyed by all who attended. As usual it was a chance for partners to meet up and for the topics of discussion to move away from radio for a change!