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- Written by: Ken Gibson
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Most of you will know that the HF antenna at Cyprus Hall needs the 300Ω feedline repairing again following yet another break at gutter level and whilst this can be done it seemed sensible to consider if a different antenna might be more suitable and prove more long lasting.
After discussion amongst those members used to HF operations and with the help and assistance of Phil G4UDU it was decided that an end fed ½ wave antenna could be constructed that avoided the use of 300Ω feedline entirely and would fit between the existing poles on the roof of Cyprus hall.
Such an antenna could be matched on all HF bands using the MFJ tuner we already possess. The feedpoint would be at the end of the building nearest to the car park and would incorporate a matching unit which would act as the junction between the antenna wire and a coaxial cable (possibly mini 8) which would then be routed along with the VHF and UHF coaxial feeders into the shack. There would also be a small loading coil at the far end of the antenna near to the entrance in Cyprus Hall.
No more 300Ω feedline getting caught in the gutters, no more junctions between 300Ω line and coax subject to wind and rain. This proposition has been agreed with your Committee and a robust version of the antenna has now been constructed and will be tested on all HF bands at all power levels up to 400 watts before being installed hopefully in the very near future.
The installation of this new antenna will enable the HF transceivers at Cyprus Hall to put out a much better signal than the present arrangement. Much work has been done on this project but it does need MSARS members to use the new antenna or we shall have wasted our time. Remember, as I’ve said before MSARS is a radio club so let’s hear it on the air every time we have a meeting at Cyprus hall.
Ken Gibson
G3WYN
President, MSARS
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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Dear Members,
As you all know the dreaded Covid-19 is still with us.
Since August 2021 we have returned to our weekly meetings and have had several Talks and also our Autumn Surplus Equipment Sale.
However the attendance for these meetings has been very low, so we have taken the decision that as from 14th January 2022 we will be meeting fortnightly instead of weekly. This will save approx. 50% on our annual rent expenditure, and in view of this we will continue to leave the full membership fee at £25 for 2022.
As you will be aware, we still have other annual costs that we have to meet, namely Insurance, Fire Extinguisher Service, PAT testing (24 monthly) and Affiliation Fee.
This decision has not been taken lightly and maybe we will review the situation, although of course a new committee may take a different view.
We will also try to organise outdoor events that will give an opportunity to meet in between our fortnightly hall meetings.
Looking forward, the Society is made up of you the members and without your support and help, it will not be a functioning SOCIETY.
Regards
Russell M Nelson G7TMR
Hon. Chairman
MSARS
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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John's excellent talk from last Friday has now been professionally edited (by John himself, I should say!) and uploaded to Youtube. If you missed it, it's well worth a view. We're very lucky to have members who are willing to gift us these excellent learning opportunities. Amateur radio is a wonderful community.
See all our video back-catalogue on our dedicated page:
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- Written by: Ken Gibson
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Those of you who are considering installing a new antenna now that the new cycle is underway might like to look at the website of the University of Sussex G4AQC for a few ideas for your back garden 😀
No wonder that the University station is a really big signal when they are working contests!
[Webmaster: I'd like to put a link in here, but their webmaster is asleep on the job, and they have no security certificate in place - so just search for 'Amateur Radio Society G4AQG']
They are also mentioned in an article in Decembers Radcom dealing with EMC. The article points out that the University's 850 feet Beverage antennas are suffering from RFI on top band emanating from the substation at Twineham near Bolney which feeds the 150kV output from the offshore wind farms which come ashore near Worthing and are buried underground to Bolney where it is transformed into 400kV to feed the National Grid. Kim will probably know all about that but it was news to me.
As I think I've said before, it's all about antennas!
Ken G3WYN
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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The lunchtime net today was kind of crazy. I tried to hop onto the back-end, but couldn't get my foot in the door. Really weird conditions, with Barry SA7GDB suddenly coming in stronger than anyone else on the frequency (except Peter obviously!)
Barry was landing here in the northern reaches of Burgess Hill at S9+40 and crystal audio like he was on the other side of the road. Never actually heard his voice properly before, always too weak to discern any real tonality. From around 13:40 GMT until the end of the net at around 14:10 GMT it remained the same. Everyone could hear Russell, and well, basically everyone could hear everyone else. It was quite exciting! I could hear Bob and David despite the S7 noise level I experience here at home.
Given that, I thought I'd do a bit of late-night data hurling. At 1am 40M was buzzing. 80M doesn't tune very well on my antenna, but I managed to get a little bit of business done, and then I thought I'd have a listen on 160M to see if it was open. Not sure why, but I then decided to try and get enough of a tune on my 40M EFHW to put out a handful of watts. I've never transmitted on top band before but to my amazement, if I truly wrang the neck of my manual tuner, I could get 50W down the coax without too much buttock-clenching - far more comfortable than on 80M in fact.
So, a first for me - top-band QSOs! Very happy with that. Not sure why I didn't try it sooner. You live and learn as they say. In my case, a lot!
Click the image to enlarge.
Berni M0XYF
