Club Meetings

Location: Watermead,  Aylesbury  IO91ot  (51.833064°N - 0.809878°W) May 24^th 2009

On arrival at Watermead, Aylesbury,   I was greeted  by  Phil M0PSH,  Les  G0DFC and  Chris 2E0PPM.The assembly of the demonstration station  was well underway and  the  location  was  idyllic. Its  location   gave  us  plenty  of  exposure  to  those  attending the fete and  also  an excellent  take  off  to the North.  Being  positioned at  the edge  of  the  southern  shore  of the  lake, put  us  slap  bang  next to   the public  footpath adjoining two of the  areas  where the majority  of the  activities  were to  be  held.

The weather  was fantastic,  blue sky  and  very warm.

The  first hic-cup  was tools – or an immediate  lack of them. Thankfully, I had not completely emptied the   boot of my  MPV of the company’s tools,  so  the  toolbox  came  to the rescue  of  both  Phil who was trying to  release a SO239 aerial  mount  from  the roof  of  his  MPV for  use with an aerial and  Chris who was minus  the appropriately  sized  screw driver  to assemble  the  HF vertical aerial ( made  by Dennis  G7OGN ).

Everything  was going  well. Chris  avoided  getting  his  feet  wet as the pole  on which one  of  the  HF  verticals  was to be mounted,  was in the water at the  lake edge. That was  of  course until someone  noticed  the spelling of “AVRS” on the  banner  advertising the  station.  “He”  who shall  remain nameless,  must  write  out  AVRS,  100 times!

But that was the least  of our problems.

I  had  bought along  my Kenwood TS2000X,  a  PC all the  other  paraphernalia associated with  it and  the  HF vertical by  Sandpiper  Aerials,  the multiband  MV10 (6 -160M). The  plan,  to demonstrate a  HF digital station,  RTTY PSK,  SSTV etc.

I mounted  the  MV10  on   a  very  heavy steel parasol stand, the sort  that you use  on your patio,   at about  18 inches  off the ground right  on the edge  of the lake.  The  antenna  is a breeze to  set  up once  you  have  marked the  positions for  the  lengths  of the vertical  and  coil elements.  It  works great at  just  18 – 24 inches  above  ground. A simple  earth  system  (earth  rod) will suffice,  but buried  radials are  much  better, something  we  could  not afford  to do on the day. So an  earth  rod  was  driven into  the  wet  mud at the lake edge  and with the station almost set  up, the  coax  was connected.  A quick tune  on  20m with the  LDG KT100 auto tuner and  nothing – no  tune - SWR  out of the window  if we have had  one. The  same happened  on  all the  other  bands.  Yep,  a short  circuit  co-ax  feeder.  The source  of the short  circuit was  quickly  identified and  a  new  PL259 plug  solved the  problem. Then  disaster  I forgot the  USB  cable  to connect the external soundcard to the  PC.  (Thanks  to  Phil  M0PSH  for  the  loan  of). With  that  little  problem  out the way all  that we  needed  to  do  now  was to get  the  2M/70cms co-linear  up  which  we mounted on one  of the side  poles  of the tent.

Phil M0PSH had disappeared  by this  time and  we were now joined  by the  other  Phil,  G6PHH, who was  persuaded  to set up  the  ICOM rig from his  car  in the “shack“ for  SSB  operation through Chris’s  vertical aerial.

The  fete was due  to start at 13h00 local and we were now ready to  go.  Both  radios  were up and  running, the  “geny”  was doing her stuff – plenty  of QRM. The side table  was laid  out  with various pieces  of  radio equipment,  hand outs,  information  on the  RSGB, working  satellites, past  Radcom magazines,  QSL cards etc.

We  had been  listening around  on  20, 40 and  80 metres, but the  bands  appeared to  be very  quiet, albeit  with the exception of a very  loud  German contest station.   Phil, G6PHH, soon  went  back to  him on SSB and  got  a  59.

As we  had the  option  of  VHF  I though it  a good opportunity  to  demonstrate  IRLP. We  were  monitoring  MB7IDM on 145.3375mHz and  a  quick call  connected us through the  Irish conference  server  with Rudy DL3KAN who was  bicycle  mobile near Dueren in Germany (JO30dl).  He was out with his family on their bicycle’s,  on  his way to the hospital.  I think he  was off to  visit  a relative,  but  operating a  hand  held  whilst  cycling  is , I would  imagine,  a very quick method of  getting a ride  in an ambulance  to  hospital! Rudy  was fading  in and  out a  bit,  we were  not  sure  if it was the  location  or if he  was  powering the hand  held  off the  bicycle  dynamo.

Phil and  Les  continued trying their  hand on SSB,  when  we suddenly  found  we  had  lost  power to the radios and were off  air  mid QSO. Believing  we  had a 240volt supply  problem  from the  generator, we  were  quickly  told  “don’t  be  daft it  can’t  be,   the  PC  is  still running”.  In fact  we  both had  overloaded the  PSU by running the 2  rigs, the  ICOM QRO, so the  PSU  shut  itself  down.  At  least I  now  know  the PSU overload  protection actually works once  it see’s 25 Amps  or more.

With the  problem  of the  power  supply  resolved by  Phil  G6PHH going a  bit QRP and  dropping the  load on the PSU, the  next  little teaser found  us . The aerial Chris  2E0PPM had  loaned  would  no  longer tune on the  ICOM rig.  A  quick continuity check  revealed it had also developed a short  circuit   inside the co-ax – who says  lightening  doesn’t  strike  twice.  With another  hurdle  overcome and  a replacement feeder in place, service  was resumed. Many calls  were made  on  SSB,  on  20, 40  80 metres and  top band, but unfortunately,  the  bands  were not  playing  the game, they were very  quiet and  reception  was far from  ideal.

We continued  to  plug away and  in the   periods – long  periods, where we  could  not  contact anyone,  we had a few  visitors  to the stand and  passing  observers. This  including a group of elder  gentleman  who branded  us  CB’ers who were acting  illegally -  obviously their  prejudices  meant they couldn’t  read  either.  There were some  who thought  we were  operating the  numerous  radio  controlled  boats and  there were others who looked genuinely  interested  in what we were doing. About 3 Amateurs, (apologies for  not noting  names and  call signs), dropped by the “shack” and  we  were also visited by  Roger, G3MEH during the afternoon. We  also  had  3  enquiries about  “how  to  become  a  Radio Amateur” including the  one  from a  local  Scout  group  who  had  enquired if  the AVRS would be  prepared to give  the Scouts a talk  on  Amateur  Radio with the  possibility  of  offering  training  towards  the  Licence (contact details  have  been  passed  to  Phil  M0PSH).

The  digital  side  of the  station was the most  successful. The  best  DX was RV3WT, Vlad  in  Kirsk Russia (KO81ds) a distance  of 1570 Miles   on 20M  PSK31 running   35 watts from the  TS2000X into the  MV10.

The  best received DX, was Argentina on 17M PSK31, Jerry  W0ZD in  Williamsport USA (FN11lg), Vlad RA3NQ in Kostroma Russia (LO07lu),  both  on 20M, SSTV  and Vitorrio IZ2JPN in Milano Italy (JN45pm) on 20M RTTY.

The  confirmed contacts using  my  own  call G7DPE/P were,

Start Z     End Z      Station                     Band        Mode       Distance                  Sent         Recv                        My Power

16:25       16:31       OK2ZDL                  20m         RTTY      738.26                     599          599                          35

16:15       16:18       RV3WT                   20m         PSK31     1,569.55                  599          599                          35

15:51       15:56       YL3GBF                  15m         PSK31     937.50                     599          599                          35

15:12       15:17       YO3HFY/QRP         30m         PSK31     1,335.53                  599          599                          35

14:31       14:35       SP3QFV                  30m         PSK31     800.64                     599          599                          35

14:05       14:10       IW3IEH                    20m         PSK31     708.55                     599          599                          35

13:58       14:04       CT1FUH                 20m         PSK31     848.83                     599          599                          35

12:16       12:21       UA1WN                   20m         PSK31     1,220.16                  599          599                          35

12:05       12:15       DL3KAN/P               2m           FM           320.82     via  MB7IDM IRLP  link - Bicycle mob      10

12:01       12:01       M0PSH/M                2m           FM           0.00                         59            59                            10

All  in all I think everyone enjoyed themselves,  beer,  cakes  chips and  burger  included!  We were told  that about 6000 people visited the  venue, mostly family groups, so, a great success for  everyone.

We certainly  put  Amateur Radio and the Aylesbury  Vale  Radio Society  firmly  on the  map.

73  de  Jim  G7DPE

PS. Copies  of  my Log  and the  photos in digital form are available  on request. Email info at the  AVRS website  -> AVRS forum index -> radio club, or at QRZ.com. I shall QSL those stations we had a confirmed contact  with either via  eQSL or   the  Bureau.

73

G7DPE

M0PSH attended the Harwell Radio & Electronics Raly on 14th February 2010.

PW.QRP.Contest June 2008