|
Written by M0MCX
|
|
Friday, 18 September 2009 12:01 |
|
 Fan Dipoles at 50 feet, 400 watts and lots of atmosphere. We scored just under 100 contacts mostly UK based throughout the UK.
After bumping into my friend Alan (G3LUA) on 80m, he jumped in his car and came to see us with his wife. Alan was one of my instructors at Solihull Amateur Radio Society when I first applied for a license and realised that I couldn’t do the RAE anymore, I had to do a Foundation exam. I did finally achieve my aim though, I took the last ever RAE ever held in Dec 2004 (I think). and passed..!
Lovely day, great fun and good excuse to roll out the toys again.
Wendy and her team were also out in force with Girl Guiding. Having both Guiding AND Scouting in the one family can be hilariously funny as we compete with each other. I won the tallest structure, she won the most colourful!
Pictured is James (2E0YOM) running the pile on 80m.
Callum. |
|
|
Written by M0MCX
|
|
Wednesday, 29 October 2008 12:34 |
|
 Massive success this year with the new antenna, generating huge pile-ups world-wide. We shall never go near 80m again for JOTA. 20m is the band that synchronises extremely well with passing Scouting messages around the world, particularly if you have a technically proficient station and crew.
I notice Tim (M0URX) has done a little write up of this event here:
Needless to say, if having ones Cub pack sending their greetings message to the Father in Law to the Crown Prince of Brunei isn’t one-upmanship, I don’t know what is :)
It is just for me to say thanks to Tim, James and Terry for helping me put on such a sterling event. The QSL cards have started arriving already! Fabulous.
73
Callum. |
|
GB1DSG hosts Thinking Day On The Air 2008 (TDOTA) |
|
Written by M0MCX
|
|
Saturday, 22 March 2008 12:07 |
|
Photos have just come in for Thinking Day On The Air event which we held down at GB1DSG’s HQ. We put up a single feed fan dipole for 40m and 80m at 65 feet which certainly hammered out a signal creating quite a pile up in the UK, particularly Sunday afternoon on 80m. We had no shortage of stations to talk to, so thanks all who hung in there waiting for an opportunity.The evening before, James and I held court through the night picking up ZL, VK, S and N America which is excellent and James’s first copy to VK on 40 meter band - this was very thrilling. Being a Scout Station - and being spotted continuously meant that we were creating quite a stir across the globe.
The day itself was excellent; we had a different Brownie pack through the door every half-hour. Each pack would have a fun chat outside by me before watching the “Hello” film from the ARRL. It’s very American but I can’t find anything short and to the point that can replace this wonderful little blast of interest for children. RSGB, if you have something - please let me know since I would love to show something a little more English.
After the film, they went to Chris and did a kind of “appreciation of morse code” where they could all send their names too. Morse bracelets were new this year - so thanks to the individual who thought this up, I can’t remember who you were now - a Pink bead for a DIT, a purple bead for a DAH and a white bead for a SPACE. They thoroughly enjoyed this activity. If only I could get Cubs to sit quietly and do these little crafts!
Finally they prepared their greetings message and Tim just maintained a pile up the whole afternoon so that when we had some girls ready, he would chose a strong station to get a greetings message through. If there was time, we had our own QSL design factory to top it all off!
That afternoon, we talked to many stations - many had been Guides or Scouts and some even claimed that their first ever radio experience themselves was doing JOTA and TDOTA - so it was wonderful not only to hear those stories but also to let the girls climb over their nerves to deliver a simple message on the radio. It didn’t help when I explained that only the WHOLE world was listening! I’m a rotter :)
Although we were gratefully thanked by the Guide District, I must say that it’s a pleasure to share our hobby with young people. We’re slowly building some budding M3s and I’m really proud of our achievements at Dorridge Scouts. If you are one of us and you are reading this, then be proud of what we do - and make sure that your local community understands that being a Radio Amateur is not a thing of the past, it’s bang up-to-date and happening now, on your door-step.
Photos here: Gallery
73 DE M0MCX |
|
Thinking Day On The Air (TDOTA) - GB1DSG |
|
Written by M0MCX
|
|
Thursday, 14 February 2008 11:54 |
|
On Sunday, 17 Feb 2008, the M0XXT boys hosted Thinking Day On The Air (TDOTA) for the local Girl Guide district. We were QRO as usual on 40m and 80m for UK and EU.
The night before we went live for the girls, we ran a pile-up grabbing DX, capturing Australia, Venezuela, Canada and even Ethiopia, all on 40m as well as an ear-splitting pile within EU. Asking EU for silence brought the DX in. We’re learing how to do this. A fascinating insight into the minds of pile-up runners :). Of interest, VK came through at 21:30 UTC which caught us off guard - being a little late.
Thanks to Rod at Ofcom, even after applying extremely late for GB1DSG, he approved our application with hours to go before the event. Thanks Rod!
Pictures and Log to follow.
73
Callum. |
|
|
|
|
|
Special Events
