Monday 17/12/2012

Our last meeting at the Banstead Scout hall before Christmas and the New Year. We had a good turn out and a lot of operating with two stations on the air.

Steve showed us his completed digital SWR meter kit which got used on one of the station. I should have got a picture of it in the case.

Lots of tea and coffee as always along with various discussions on radio topics.

We are closed until the 7^th of January 2013 but I’m sure you will find some of us on air over this period.

I would like to wish all our members and readers a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Monday 10/12/12

A good turn out on this Monday. Denis did a talk on antennas along with some indoor demonstrations. 

The evening was completed by discussions on various radio topics.

This coming Monday is our last meeting before the New Year.

Monday 3/12/12

I took my Wave meter to show John and Alex. This was to show them one way of testing for harmonics.

Alex has been doing some work with PIC controllers and running multiple displays on one PIC. This looks fun and I am sure Alex is learning a lot doing this.

Chris brought his collection of Hand helds so that John could see the different models available on ebay from China.

Some operating took place in the back room on the Kenwood TS2000

A good number of radio discussions took place on various topics.

At 22:30 we all went outside to watch the ISS pass over, unfortunately it was not a visible pass so we didn't see it.

On our way home Chris, Martin, Alex and I operated through GB3NS.

Monday 26/11/2012

Denis was playing with an indoor dipole for 10 metres and demonstrating the high voltages points with a 4 foot Fluorescent tube.  This also worked on the ladder line feeder. I have seen this demonstration done with a loop antenna but never with dipole. This may be worth showing on courses.

Denis has said he will do a talk on antennas on Monday Night the 10^th of December 2012. Neil is also talking about doing a liquid nitrogen demonstration which he shows in schools. Hopefully we can get both of these in before Christmas.

Chris and I were playing with a couple of Raspberry Pi Computers. These are great devices and I am sure we will soon have them controlling amateur radio projects. Some of the guys were playing with Items purchased at the CATS rally on Sunday.

All this as well as some good discussions and the odd YouTube videos.

Monday 19/11/2012

As you can see from below we were busy again.

Chris replaced the flex on his voice keyer.

Chris and the guys played with a 3d webcam, and watched some helicopter videos on YouTube.

Steve helped John set up an aerial for HF.

Monday 12/11/2012

John and I spent some time trying to get contacts on HF but the HF bands were dead. Chris was away this week so we can’t blame him for keeping us out. 

We did finalise this weekend’s training schedule for our foundation course

Monday 05/11/12

Tonight we had a very interesting talk by Bob Burns G3OOU on some of the projects he is working on. Bob told us he is trying to downsize his test equipment and plans to build a lot of units into a single nineteen inch rack system. Bob also showed us a Valve tester he is building to modern standards. All in all a very enjoyable talk.

Bob’s website where you can find out all about his designs can be found at: http://www.g3oou.co.uk/

Chris and John were playing with Johns Yaesu FT-767GX and Martin and I were trying to reprogram a Motorola HT750.

All this plus various topic discussed and lots of tea and coffee.