Category: Meetings

Usual meeting with random chat about forthcoming events and club projects.

Link to be sent on the day as usual.

Keep an eye on the Events calendar as the school is currently unable to confirm meeting dates more than a few weeks in advance so we may have to change some dates as we move to holding two meetings a month at the school during the summer months.

Incidentally, the Events calendar on our website https://www.m0xhs.uk/events/ has some links at the bottom that allow you to synchronise it with Outlook or Google or iCalendar so meetings will automatically appear in your normal calendar.  The online meeting is easy to do manually but the meeting at the school is harder as it’s the second Wednesday (12 days) after the online meeting.  Setting up synchronisation will make it much easier.

CQ Contest

While we can take advantage of the summer months we’re holding an extra meeting each month at the school, and as it turns out some of these coincide with the RSGB VHF contest evenings, so we thought we’d give it a go.

With Blazej’s FT-991A for all-mode VHF, and his yagi, together with JJ’s 33′ telescopic mast and X50 we had a respectable setup for both of this evening’s contests. Putting this together for the first time, and being our first contest, we aren’t expecting any silverware but we made contacts (hello Don Lamb G0ACK who many can thank for their Foundation training). And we scored points, not that they’re going to mean prizes on this occasion. But a lot of fun was had and next month we’ll be able to hit the ground running.

Teamwork

At the next meeting in just over two weeks time we’ll be back to our usual plans to get some DX and local FM in the log and maybe take another look at Meshtastic/Lora and other projests.

This is the first of our extra summer meetings and coincides with an RSGB 2 metre contest, on FM until 20:00 and SSB thereafter so we’re going to try our hand. Members have volunteered a suitable radio and antenna. The evening will run from 7:00pm until 10:00pm, but the room will be available from 6:30 onward if anyone wants to arrive slightly earlier (e.g. to set up equipment).

People coming by car are encouraged to use the gated carpark (to avoid neighbours complaining about parking). The roads in the area tend to be very busy until at least 6:30pm, so don’t arrive too early.

To access the room (and car park) you will need to be let in through the security gates. Once you’re right outside the gate Just summon someone using your handheld on 145.500MHz. If you can’t use a radio for entry then contact us in advance and we’ll provide a mobile number you can call instead.  (One planned task is to figure out how to mount a wireless doorbell near the gate so it’s subtly accessible but won’t be abused or stolen.)

Wifi is available in the annex, which also features hot drink making facilities (you’ll need to bring your own cups and ingredients), toilet, and you can bring your own beverages, alcoholic or otherwise.

Don’t forget that the Events calendar on our website https://www.m0xhs.uk/events/ has some links at the bottom that allow you to synchronise it with Outlook or Google or iCalendar so meetings will automatically appear in your normal calendar. 

As usual check the Discord server for up to the minute info and email if you don’t have a Discord link.

With some regular members away it was a quiet but nonetheless interesting meeting. JJ demonstrated his new Meshtastic devices which are like FT8 in that the mode can achieve impressive range on a matter of milliwatts, in our case tonight almost 10km with a tiny stubby antenna sitting on a table inside the classroom. And Meshtastic on Lora hardware is like Tasmota on ESP devices – it adds a managed communications framework that allows sensors and output devices to be easily added.

Commercially it’s used for purposes like environmental monitoring around large sites, but in our context it’s something of a solution waiting for a problem.

As it’ll now be light for the first hour of the meeting we can focus on new ways to erect aerials.

The evening will run from 7:00pm until 10:00pm, but the room will be available from about 6:30 onward if anyone wants to arrive slightly earlier (e.g. to set up any equipment). Nothing special planned other than trying to get radios working better than at the last meeting but if you have any suggestions post them on the Discord meetings channel.

People coming by car are encouraged to use the gated carpark (to avoid neighbours complaining about parking). The roads in the area tend to be very busy until at least 6:30pm, so don’t arrive too early.

To access the room (and car park) you will need to be let in through the security gates. Once you’re right outside the gate Just summon someone using your handheld on 145.500MHz. If you can’t use a radio for entry then contact us in advance and we’ll provide a mobile number you can call instead.  (One planned task is to figure out how to mount a wireless doorbell near the gate so it’s subtly accessible but won’t be abused or stolen.)

Wifi is available in the annex, which also features hot drink making facilities (you’ll need to bring your own cups and ingredients), toilet, and you can bring your own beverages, alcoholic or otherwise.

Don’t forget that the Events calendar on our website https://www.m0xhs.uk/events/ has some links at the bottom that allow you to synchronise it with Outlook or Google or iCalendar so meetings will automatically appear in your normal calendar. 

As usual check the Discord server for up to the minute info and email if you don’t have a Discord link.

We’ll be starting this meeting with a quick vote to adopt the revised constitution. Members will have been advised separately. Don’t forget to send a proxy vote if you can’t make this meeting.

Link to be sent on the day as usual.

Keep an eye on the Events calendar as the school is currently unable to confirm meeting dates more than a few weeks in advance so we may have to change some dates as we move to holding two meetings a month at the school during the summer months.

Incidentally, the Events calendar on our website https://www.m0xhs.uk/events/ has some links at the bottom that allow you to synchronise it with Outlook or Google or iCalendar so meetings will automatically appear in your normal calendar.  The online meeting is easy to do manually but the meeting at the school is harder as it’s the second Wednesday (12 days) after the online meeting.  Setting up synchronisation will make it much easier.

Alastair tried out an end-fed dipole, JJ tried the DP-200 on a taller tripod which David provided, and Gregor brought a Windom that he’d had for years but never tried … and it was very successful.

JJ has put together a 2/70 go-bag but we didn’t make any contacts with the aerial barely 3m above ground. However, we think we’ve got a way to safely mount a 7m or 10m GRP pole so we may have more success another time.

The 2/70 go-bag- FT-8100 with either a small PSU or battery and cables in an easy to carry bag.

David found that it was the school Wi-Fi that was blocking the remote control of his rig at home, so either we’ll have to approach the school to see if anything can be done, or see if we can source a sensibly priced 5G router.

The evening will run from 7:00pm until 10:00pm, but the room will be available from 6:30 onward if anyone wants to arrive slightly earlier (e.g. to set up any equipment). Nothing special planned other than trying to get radios working better than at the last meeting but if you have any suggestions post them on the Discord meetings channel.

People coming by car are encouraged to use the gated carpark (to avoid neighbours complaining about parking). The roads in the area tend to be very busy until at least 6:30pm, so don’t arrive too early.

To access the room (and car park) you will need to be let in through the security gates. Once you’re right outside the gate Just summon someone using your handheld on 145.500MHz. If you can’t use a radio for entry then contact us in advance and we’ll provide a mobile number you can call instead.  (One planned task is to figure out how to mount a wireless doorbell near the gate so it’s subtly accessible but won’t be abused or stolen.)

Wifi is available in the annex, which also features hot drink making facilities (you’ll need to bring your own cups and ingredients), toilet, and you can bring your own beverages, alcoholic or otherwise.

Don’t forget that the Events calendar on our website https://www.m0xhs.uk/events/ has some links at the bottom that allow you to synchronise it with Outlook or Google or iCalendar so meetings will automatically appear in your normal calendar. 

As usual check the Discord server for up to the minute info and email if you don’t have a Discord link.

Usual meeting on Friday 14th with chat about forthcoming events and a club project.

Link to be sent on the day as usual.

Incidentally, the Events calendar on our website https://www.m0xhs.uk/events/ has some links at the bottom that allow you to synchronise it with Outlook or Google or iCalendar so meetings will automatically appear in your normal calendar.  The online meeting is easy to do manually but the meeting at the school is harder as it’s the second Wednesday (12 days) after the online meeting.  Setting up synchronisation will make it much easier.

We had much the same radio setup as last month and Alastair achieved some success with his IC-705 and a length of wire but Dave and JJ spent some time configuring a new dedicated laptop and while we were able to receive plenty of FT8 before the bands shut down we were thwarted by the school firewall apparently blocking the ports used by PSKreporter and by an SWR problem with the DP-200 aerial or cable. The firewall also seems to be preventing HamClock from initialising so we’ll do some testing with VPNs between now and next meeting.

We welcomed another visitor who works nearby alongside two licenced amateurs who promise to attend when they’re able. He saw demonstrations of the radios and was given information about getting a Foundation licence.