Members of the Secret Nuclear Bunker Contest Group (SNBCG) assembled at Kelvendon Hatch to try 144 MHz (Earth Moon Earth) EME and MS (Meteor Scatter) over the weekend of the ARRL EME event As a group we have tried with some success MS QSO and this helped lay the foundation for this weekend’s EME event. […]
I had an old 12m spider pole, these are very robust versions of the antenna pole and suitable for many applications. As this was a semi permanent solution, I tapped up the joints in the pole with self amalgamating tape. Its also possible to buy a clamp system, suitable for clamping each section of the […]
August has turned out to be another busy and rewarding month from my home station. By the end of the month I had logged an impressive 456 QSOs, working 406 different callsigns across 74 countries. That works out at an average of almost 15 contacts per day, so there has certainly been plenty happening on […]
LEFARS field weekend, in the middle of May can go either way with the weather. This year we were lucky, and while the sun did shine, the HF bands had other ideas. Equipment used IC-7300 Antenna 7 MHz – 1/4 wave ground mounted vertical with 4 elevated radials Power Car V2L The weekend’s HF operation […]
What is an End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) It’s a multi-band antenna that is a half-wave on the lowest band of your choice. The simple calculation is 144 / f (MHZ) 3.6 MHz = 144/3.5 = 41.15m of wire So we can construct a simple, handy table for construction Freq Length 3.6 MHz 41.15 m […]
In a previous article, I discussed the APRS LoRa 433 MHz project, and how these little units provided an impressive range on +20 dBm or 100mW. The range in the car can or course be optimised by a resonant antenna and the addition of a PA amplifier. The PA suggest its capable of a 13dB […]
On one of our summers days, LEFARS my local club organised a field weekend and it was sunny. The idea was to play some radio in the sun, with multiple stations operating from in the hired field. Members were advised to use band pass filters, this helps keep things friendly to multiple operators. The weekend […]