The first Chili's grown in 2010 at the QTH YAY a few more days of sun should see them ripen.

Secondly I now have a rotator and kevlar guys for the masts, people will hear me on air from Heysham Classic Car Show using the call GX1MBR

I now have a hf dipole up too

I ran the M0SCG net last night as M0SCG/P that as usual was fun

So what are my plans for the new year?

• Mills on the Air.
• VHF Contesting.
• HF Contesting.
• Teaching.
• A build your own night!!**

As most people will note that there is a bit of contesting in the list. I want to improve my operating skills. I also intend on doing a lot more constructing including antennas and equipment for contesting on VHF. If I can I'd like to find a cheap way into microwave. We will see how things pan out. But rest assured there will be a lot more design and construction notes here in the near future.

So what did I learn.

1: that a biro is never as good as two pencils. The shack gets cold and pens stop working.

2: keeping track as controller initially isn't as easy as it sounds, callsigns, conversations ongoing and more.. it soon mounts up and the one sheet of paper that you may have had soon fills up.

3: DON'T use a fist mike, whilst fist mikes are usually very good, a good handsfree mike is quite honestly essential if your using your PC to take notes.

So what will I change?

1: I plan on knocking together a netmanager application that will run of the website with an xml backend, allowing on the fly re-positioning and a few other functions. Tagged notes and more.

2: Have a hunt for Radio related news first

3: Not be so concerned with pushing the net forwards, ie stop and talk myself rather than keep it flowing

4: Enjoy it, I know it sounds daft but the first time its hard to,

Advice from a Net Controller to Net Users:

By this I don't intend on being patronising to people with more experience than I have got but this is just stuff I picked up on last night.

1: Unless its the start, listen to see who is on

2: Give your callsign Clearly and your name too!

3: Don't Ever, shout "BREAK" we're not CB'ers. You wouldn't go into a Pub and Shout Oy! now would you? (If you would its maybe time to either jack in your licence, or ask your friend to change their name)

4: Enjoy yourself :)

I hope this helps :)

1: Antenna TX and RX gain are not reciprical. This is due to the fact that the radiation patterns differ. Its common sense really. How many times have you heard a station on the side of your beam, yet its harder to reach another station whilst transmitting off the side of the beam!! Some would feel this should be common sense, but as its often said in my QTH there is nought so uncommon as common sense.

2: Height doesn't matter on VHF once you've cleared the roof tops. Well clearly as long as your only planning on working locally and short range your fine, just having the antenna a couple of feet above the apex of your roof ridge, but if your planning to work DX then the higher your antenna the better. Similarly changing the angle of your antenna will effect this too. Look at pictures of VHF DX contest stations, and many angle their antenna's.

3: On VHF Polarity matters. Well, whilst it does make a difference massively on HF and microwave, its not as clear cut on VHF from around 6m up. You are also more prone to noise on VHF from car ignition coils and the likes in an urban setting. The issue here is that many amateurs transmit SSB and AM on a horizontal polarity, where as it doesn't make that much of a difference. Look at the ARRL handbook for much more information here, or MOXON's antenna handbooks.

4: Longwires are rubbish unless you like lots of S points of noise. Not so, the Longwire antenna is only as good as its designer. Sticking a random length of wire in the air, and connecting it to a 1.1 balun and then an earth is going to get you lots of noise. However a Variable UnUn and a well thought out system should get you as good results if not better than a commercial built vertical. It is possible to build very good antenna's with only relatively short wires, however the designer needs to be very careful to take into account that a 1.1 Balun clearly will not do, unless your aim is to destroy your finals. There are many people with clearly higher than average IQ that propergate the myth that longwires are rubbish, and then go on about their shop built verticals, my message to them is remember the basic rules. "Your shack is only as good as your antenna system" therefore a FT1000 with a £70 second hand antenna that hasn't been checked for height or tuning is as good as using a FT817ND. 100w into a 10% effieciency antenna = 10w out not 90w out!!!!

5: I have the highest licence in my country (Top callsign) so I know as much as I need I can stop learning. Incorrect to say the least, this attitude is as bad as using CB terms on the Amateur Frequencies. The courses teach you the basics to help you on your way. They do not teach you how to design brilliant systems, otherwise we'd all do college or university degree's and there would be no new designs in the world, because every system would be the same. What the current training courses allow us to do is understand and use the basics of construction, so we can build to our own expertise and learn from our own mistakes. This is very different from buying a load of equipment and throwing it on the air!

With that I will let people get the most or least from my thoughts, post thoughts as they wish and enjoy their day.

73's for now

I am now looking for Christmas holiday SKEDS

Martin

However I will review it, and it will follow the review of the TS-2000X

Well whilst sorting out other things I noticed the SOTA watch alert for Robert, who I hadn't worked before, so being me, I dived down into the shack, and nabbed another point maybe a 2nd certificate before christmas

• Chicken livers, with toast and salad
• Roast Beef with mashed potatoes and veg*.
• Apple pie and Cream

*Thanks Kev and Hazel for the extra brussel sprouts.

So on all a lovely evening with good company and good food. I'd also like to Thank Stephanie and Brian for the lift home.

Martin

• Firstly if your getting complaints of weak transmission
• Your power supply meter is going nearly full scale
• You have a few more devices plugged in than required

Maybe its time to make the time to check it all out. Firstly, do you really need to be monitoring Every band, and if they are all plugged into the same supply your in for Definate trouble. Secondly have you got a meter that tells you the status of your supply, how many Watts your drawing, and the status of batteries you have ? if not it might be time to invest in one. You might think they would be expensive but they are a few pounds each and worth every penny.

I will admit I've fallen foul of power on more occassions than I care to mention, so do yourself a favour spend a morning checking.

The lazy amateur may say nah not worth the problem, but watch them get bitten !

However I am a member of a few groups that are not clubs, for example SANDS contest group, SOTA, WaB, IOTA, RAYNet Why people would assume I am a member of mulitple clubs is a matter for some speculation. I understand that many people are not interested in Contesting, but for me its more about the challenge of learning from the hobby. I don't expect RAYNet to be everyone' cup of tea either. WaB and SOTA likewise are not for everyone but are good time fillers.

I've heard rumour that there are locally people trying to backstab me because I don't listen to their agenda, well good luck guys n galls, I've never listened to anyone elses agenda other than mine! Oh yes I have one alright, and You can read it here first...

"To learn the most I can out of the hobby with the time I have and then pass that on to other radio hams" Simply put thats it.

Seven and Three's

Martin

How many times have I heard about xyz new radio that such and such has in their shack, but have I ever heard them on Air? mostly the answer is No! so the person could be on air at limited times, or they could be what we should just class as Collectors of Amateur Radio Equipment and Memoribilia.

That said we also need to encourage New amateurs to get involved in the Radio Community more.

Thats my words of Wisdom for today.

Going to finish tidying the shack today then start on building some UnUn's and Baluns

73's

Martin

The problems are solved. This the second and final time that power is going to be the issue, honest.

I added a directory called /phpmyadmin-2.5.7/index.html which is a ghost, basically its got a html page that says the person is a hacker. But more than that is also uses a sub component on the server to grab IP addresses and more :)

200 different admin accounts tried all Failed!

The link to the Dish is here

Starting off I do have a page on stacking and Baying, but straight off I thought this email odd, so whilst doing a quick search on Gov. Comms eavesdropping systems using GoogleFu. In another firefox tab, I pulled up the QRZ for G7OKT, and the listing is for a Mr Smith, in Deeping St. James, not a Mr Joseph  Campbell as in the header. Interestingly I replied just saying thankyou for the comment, you guessed it the email address doesn't exist. Why do these people bother? I also had a look to see if I could find an email addres for g7okt but he's not listed, so I can't tell him he's being pirated in email.

If the author was wanting infomation on eavesdropping he had come to the wrong place. I am not likely to post anything of that sort to this site Ever.

So all in all thats the wierdest email from the site I've ever had.

One thing that is concerning me is the fact that I am permenantly run down at the minute. Its not a lack of healthy eating, nor is it ignoring my medications, I am upto date on those as well. Everyone seems to be ill a the moment. At least the throat will go away in time, which is more than can be said for the arthritus in my knees and ankles.

I've been meening to have a look at the Datamodes on the TS-2000X I am not convinced on how to go about it, I think it may require an extra cable or two, but must get the manual out to find out :)

80m Sprint on Saturday, and a rally too should be a good day

The major annoyance is that the TS2000X uses a different Data mode cable, so thats something else I am going to have to invest in fairly quickly.

Other than that and the VS3's inate ability to annoy even the deaf I am happy with the rig!

(the VS3 reads everything out, not just frequency changes, this is annoying to say the least when working with 1mhz changes in frequency)

Now many of my friends will be asking why not a K3? the K3 yes is nice but its HF only it needs transvertors to run VHF and above, and one of the things I love is my 2m RagChew sessions and SSB Contests.

So new shack pictures coming up I think.

A location I regularly have been wondering about the antenna system and then one evening I plugged in the antenna analyser (Yes I should have done it sooner) and the feedpoint impedence was 666 ohms from 50 ohm coax, So what was the problem? patched feeder, and water in the feeder too.

As a foundation student  I was taught by my tutor (2E0DLZ now M0WOW) that the more time and effort you put into your antenna system the better your signal will be. I have never ever forgotten this (shortcut it yes but never forgotten) So remember the better your antenna system the better your signal.

The people I thought I'd spend time on radio with it turns out I don't spend a lot of time on air with. But people in Devon and Cornwall I am starting to get on with quite well ;)

I can rebuilt the track thats blown away thats easy enough, but some of the components on the board are so small I won't be able to repair them.

The Weird thing is that the whole shack was powered down, and unplugged correctly! so how did it happen, I didn't hear or smell the rail going?! My XYL thinks it could be the ghost. Still I haven't got money for repairs at the moment so if its more than a track rebuild I am stuffed for VHF and repeater use on 2m and 70cms (I have the FT290R but the power output is so low I wouldn't get even a 1/2w out of the antenna)

More as I figure it out

I was getting to a point of needing to get away from the hobby for a while and then it dawned on me that what I really needed was the opposite. Some real radio time. So this morning I got a VHF contact with M0SJJ/p on SOTA Summit G/LD/029 and I am sorting out packet modes now for hf.

I am not going to stop because others are getting me down!

Radio I intend to get on to do some today maybe 2m maybe also 60m

Other than that I am pretty much flat atm due to school holidays, I don't want to put to much about my health issues here so instead they go to http://martinhazel.livejournal.com

www.viddler.com/explore/jonatkinson/videos/52/

VHF: regular nets, managed the PW 2m QRP contest, tried to do the International SOTA weekend, but couldn't get the 4 contacts

Weatherstation: After some problems with hardware its proven reliable, in time I'd like to upgrade it to include UV indicators etc

Aims for the rest of the year: HF and VHF special events station running eco, looking at sponsorship for that.

I've heard back from Thompsons Park regarding the SES on 10th June, they seem interested. So I am going to need to apply for a NoV for this asap

Now as someone interested in the environment and weather I don't believe them, 2 degrees is well to conservative two degrees is neither here nor there, a meen increase of 2degrees is within tollerable limits but the International community accepts that the figure is going to be more in the region of 5 to 10 degrees. I know that without the USA and China making massive cuts we can't do a lot. But I am going to do my bit.

I was thinking about getting a Special event station together for a weekend and powering the whole special event station by battery and solar, I don't have a wind turbine otherwise that would be an option also. I was thinking about also only using EQSO cards that way saving paper and haulage of mail. (IE saving fuel from mail vans, aeroplanes  etc. Some people won't like this but) Any takers on this idea, as I'd need to get the ball rolling pretty quick. I'd also appreciate any thoughts on locations that would be public enough to attract attention to the cause?

I would love for everyone to get on, and the Amateur Radio World be a great place. But thats about as likely to happen as North Korea becoming a democracy tomorrow, or Al Quada becoming a Aid charity. We have to agree that sometimes we disagree, and move on.

I hope if your in a position like the one mentioned above you will listen to my advice, and take a deep breath and let it pass you by. Its not worth wasting sleep over

I've only just come in now, because there was no shade left in the garden, and Its been nice.

I've been wanting to get some more work done in the shack but its too hot even in the cellar at the moment so I've been considering putting an outside point in so I can run either the 290 or the FT8900 outdoors, but then its a hastle if it rains.

Plans for the week are again posted to Livejournal or Facebook if you have that.

Yesterday  I went into town shopping and the street market was on, there is a trader I managed to get some ALIENS books off, the Steve Parry ones. I have seen the Graphic Novel versions but not the full stories, so I was impressed to get them cheap for those who didn't know Yes I am a big science Fiction fan and the aliens films are some of my favorate. I also like Star Trek but not as much as my dearest brother.

Hoping this week to get some more I went back, and unfortunately they didn't have any but what he did have was the following

Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park

What a good book, I've only just started it, and although it is by its very nature a wartime history, its also more a history of I.T. which I am interested in. One thing that bores me to tears is War films and nostalga, sorry it was a war, and by its very definition dangerous !!!

To Politics: Why no matter what club you join, no matter of what type of club it is, be it radio, computing, scifi or something different. Some people just cause trouble and strife for no reason! I Quit the Burnley ARS due to this sort of problem (They then sent me a letter saying that they had kicked me out even though I'd resigned my membership weeks earlier) and I've discovered that many clubs and organisations are as bad. I am planning on organising a Social gathering in Lancaster for HAMS, yet out of six emails sent four won't attend if "X" is there. Now don't get me wrong "X" is not one person! It drives me nuts.. Amateur Radio is about communication yet it doesn't seem to happen. I've been calling CQ on 2m FM for an hour now... and I know there are listeners but..... it aint happening right now..

actually that said I've just got M3LQP and M6AAG and M6MWC hehe

So now if anyone needs training they can either come direct to me or via MBARS.

I've been asked to run another course as well now we have at least three more for the foundation licence, and a full class for the intermediate. Finally my teaching paperwork came through too.

Heard from Dennis 2E0DLW and found out that the Pennine Amateur Wireless Society has moved venue, its nice to see they are still going well. Although it is a shame that the last venue robbed them blind with prices of £3 for a pint !!!!

I know this is also going to open a new can of worms with is this a "New Club"? well no  because the idea is it isn't a club, nor does it have a committee nor a membership, just likeminded hams interested in a social occassionally. Anyone any thoughts?

So the activation, Well as I'd been climbing and walking we'd had a radio on and managed to hear the total of one YES One radio transmission from a mobile station seeking a friend. At the top I set the dipole up in Horizontal polarisation, and tried for 30 mins to get any response, I tuned round the band and got sweet Nothing, So I pulled the Dipole down, switched the polorisation and again tried for another 20 mins, and guess what, still nothing. so both rigs, new batteries inserted one in SSB the other in FM and two calls later.. Nothing. Swap the SSB rig to FM, and the FM rig to SSB.... Guess what again Nothing, so we'd climbed to the top for Not one single QSO, no points, and it wasn't like we hadn't announced the Activation, ok it was a lovely day. But this is international Sota weekend, their can't be Nobody about can there. Obviously, I had my computer set up to record my CQ call when I phoned the PC from my mobile, and according to the PC software running, I was buzzing in at 5/7 into lancaster on FM and SSB from the dipole and 4/6 on the whip.

Today we'd planned Hutton Roof Tops but I don't think we'll bother.

But at least I can operate on 5mhz now

My dear wife and I noted that there where none of the normal pre-warnings of quakes, like ringing ears (Yes we're sensitive to them) or pre or post tremors. So that makes us question was it a quake? What other options could their be? Well the bay is being used for carbon capture, could something have gone wrong.

So whoever this was, Your most likely a Pirate, so don't even think about trying to work me, it aint happening.

Intermediate Licence: added pages for Inductors and Inductance, Capacitors and Capacitance and Tuned Circuits.

More to come, as I teach I will upgrade the pages to take into account the study material I am using.

Other than that I am going to have my work cut out, teaching my two little ones lessons for their foundation and doing a course for the Intermediate exam for MBARS

Saturday I ran the Morecambe Bay ARS Open Day, which I feel was rather sucessful. Next month we're planning on getting the Hustler antenna back up on the roof which will be useful, as long as I can get the club to organise paying for the Coax, we're going to need a bit, as I've noticed there is some real bodged cable. We could also do with getting a decent external speaker for the Clubs kenwood.

The Best News is the Weather station controller was returned today and is now fully operational although the history is not exactly correct at the moment.

73's to all my readers for now

Martin

I spent the Sunday, thru Wednesday in bed feeling really bad, and not coping well at all. Today I've been up and been into town to get random bits. I've been working on a power splitter, which involved lots of soldering bananna plugs (I hate screw in rubbish) I got three plugs on and then ran out of the right grade solder, I got back to the shop bought some more along with a set of Helping hands, and a few other bits which was rather necassary to stop me burning myself (Normally I have tremmors due to the lyme, but today its flu talking), Had a tidy round the shack and I've got a fair bit done that needed but I do need a fair bit more done. I've had the 4m on SSB and Morse today which has been good.

Started work on getting the weather station permenantly mounted, and fixing the damage done, with the storm the other week. Now we're just awaiting the Main Controller replacing. Anyways back to the Dead for me and hopefully I will be more human tomorrow.

Nothing more has happened with the power source, I'm still awaiting build plans until then not much going on on HF for me. I did get a lovely book on VLF reception and that looks like a possibility for a new build soon also. I really really need to find the cash to re-cable the shack, I need some decent cable. I have a 75' length of four core with an earth screen rated at 50 ohm. I've been wondering for a bit if it would work and as two lengths and replace the three I have already and take some extra antenna's down the other cores. But I am not sure and don't have most of the metering tools I need to work it out. I'd have thought not though due to the screening not being totally brilliant. It is darn expensive cable though.

I was planning to get some work done on the main antenna's this weekend, but I can't get hold of ladders atm, I really need to either buy some *Money again* or borrow some (vehicle dependent) Maybe I should hire some and get them delivered.

I managed to buy some decent antenna wire, a couple of books and a lovely morse key that I managed to pick up for a mere snippet of a price. £18.00 Its a Chromium Plated CT Asia S/N 141 manufactured in 2005. I tried its action at the event, and it was slick, had a really quick action which I am going to need, I knew I really needed it, to do. I got home and thought I'd do a little research and it turns out its worth nearer £120 according to Radioworld, but I am not going to part with it just yet, I've got that incling I am going to try and get to 45wpm

I've had a fantastic day, I will write more tomorrow, when My brain works as opposed to now when my head is asleep :)

What more could they ask for, they are getting a Professional Photographer in to photograph the place, that isn't cheap. A top programmer working on their site for free... again this could be mega expensive. But its a club I am a member of so why should I see it suffer?

The only thing I hope they won't mind about is one banner on the main page that promotes football shirts (again not my thing but..) which is an affilliate program thing that may just eventually cover some of the costs of developing the site.

To Save time I've used the same CMS as this site uses, with a few tweeks, and a different theme (Must build some new ones)

The S (signal level) report, on a scale of 1 – 5, is effectively an assessment of how well the signal stands out above the background receiver noise.  Details of the assessment are given in Table 2 below.  Note that we ask that you record a “not heard” as S=1, when it is known that the station is actually transmitting on channel.

Oh I do hope very little people have found this contest, even though I haven't got AM or SSB running yet as I need a power convertor

Twitter Updates

I demo'd the 4m at MBARS last night with great appreciation

Now personally I do not mind people listening in on my QSO's after all we all started as SWL's didn't we. But Amateurs have the ability if they hear something they don't approve of, of  course they could chime in by saying "Break" and getting our attention and joining the net but do they. Well frankly no they don't. If they did there wouldn't be so much bitching and backstabbing going on in the world would there. For the record, I've made stupid mistakes in the past by using throw-away comments that I should have known better. We all have. But now I am fairly careful. I've seen whole clubs disintergrate over one or two people's personal issues and I don't want to see any more go the same way.

I try and Promote Amateur Radio, I try and get people to see sense where they need to, and reason likewise. If people want to pick a fight with me, they really should try someone else, as I have no interest in fighting, none at all. I feel that all people should be able to have their own opinion, as long as it is not to the detriment of the individual it should be accepted as the persons opinion, and left at that. Once more I now refuse to argue with someone whom has been drinking. Its just not worth the hastle.

Enough Said. But if you want to comment please feel free, I won't screen it, just be as kind as to use your name or callsign please.

Secondly Why is it that when you need something they are always golddust? I won't tell you what it is, becuase then there will be less of them as you know :Dys

Thanks as always for reading

Last night we had some rather strong winds, and they seem to have totalled the connections in my longwire somewhere along the  line, so now as a matter  of essential maintainance I have to find someone who will loan me a rather long ladder. I also have to re-orient a hallo too so that can be done at the same time. the problem is the mast is 6.6' of the ground and 25' tall So I could do with someone who is also not afraid of heights to help as well. Maybe we can get the mast higher at the same point??

I also wish I could afford some better quality lower loss cabling too but in time that I am sure will happen.

I have also ordered a couple of t-shirts and a new set of business cards from vista print now that the 2e0dmz ones are finally out of date.

I have managed to get onto the Thursday net this week, and managed a few QSO's  over the weekend also.

Tomorrow I have to see the Doctors regarding my Lyme Disease and Latex alergies, so I won't get much more done to the site until then.

The Station was bought for me as a belated Yule present from my beloved wife Kath.

Until I have built a new set of controls that will allow better intergration with this sites ASP.NET nature

I am also looking at getting a NoV for 500khz I will have to look at building a rig for that though. But still it should be interesting as long as I can get the NoV

But thats not really the reason for this post, the real reason is I'd like to thank everyone that has helped get me ready for the exam, www.amateurradiotraining.org/ and Ian and Kevin "The Hat" for their time and patience, Mostly however I'd like to thank everyone that has todate spent time explaining things to me so that I built the background knowledge up to be able to pass the ticket.

These days there isn't enough community and I am proud to be a part of the community that is amateur radio, because I can now put back some of my knowledge into the group. Thanks everyone. And remember, each of you is responsible for helping every newbie pass their exams. Well Done all

I am not talking bandplan changes, technology upgrades or the like, what I am more interested in is "Power Cuts" We're used to dealing with lots of QRM from other peoples power lines, lack of conformance etc. So when last week we had a 6 hour power out what did I do?

I keep a pair of large 12v batteries in the Shack, and swapping over to them was easy, How many amateurs where on air during my power out? not many but what happens if the power goes out for more than 6 hours, and what if its not just local. Many amateurs I know would jump in the car, plug their rig in there etc, what about those of us that don't want to drive out, or want to. Lets face it. Where isit that most of an amateurs money spent on kit? yes the QTH so why not add an extra power supply?

Remember that you will also need a way of charging your batteries too. What I have is a large solar panel and when the power is up I have a standard trickle charger. You could also consider a wind turbine, available from loads of online traders including ebay, or build your own! As a Word of Warning when charging batteries, fumes are generated so please remember to use a well ventilated room.

We as amatuers are always complaining about QRM, shouldn't powerouts be something we're looking forward too? Personnally I am. Maybe you hadn't thought about it personnally but they are going to happen, so why not prepare.

I hope this has got others thinking, its already got me thinking about a turbine as my next project

Not a dig just a giggle.

I also worked 2E0WNT/P on G/LD-053 (Sota) Thanks tom for helping with that my 191th Point :) 

4m in Lancaster is again Dead, it may be time to consider a Yagi or raising the Antenna a few more feet, to see if this helps. I know that I am running horizontal polarization but that shouldn't make that much difference on 4m. I also need to get am and SSB sorted for 4m

Oh and Sean (M6IRU) got his first chaser point also from Tom !

I've found a new weather station, So that will be getting fitted and reviewed But I've also decided at the same time to fit an internet aware datalogger so that the weather station will be live on these pages in a few weeks all things permitted. ML&S sell a weather station but I've heard the quality control isn't as good so I've found something that looks similar but the Quality Conrtol and software are better even though I plan to dump the software straight away. The site hasn't managed to raise anything towards the weather station so I am planning on putting a donation button on the weather reports pages for regular users of the data.

I've also got repairs coming in as well.

Plus a new GPS unit is on the way for my ARPS project

Hopefully I can get some more done with IH and get the site known about more. Following that I can get some SEO done on it and see if we can make it more popular.

I pulled an all nighter due to the fact that I downloaded the updated version of QADV, installed it and scored rather low on the first all areas 30 questions. So spent the entire night working through the sylabus.

Tuesday saw the Exam, I arrived at 1800 for the exam, feeling nervous after the last one. By half past the rules and regs had been read out and the first page of the exam paper turned over. I read through the paper in entirety and Panicked, there where a lot of questions there that where in my opinion very badly worded. I filled in the ones I thought where obvious first, went back then did the ones that I thought where 90% right and went from there. 45 mins in and I'd finnished. I didn't check through it, I didn't edit anything. I left the exam first at one hour. AND promptly panicked, I was thinking of re-apply there and then for April 1st. But when the other candidates came out we discussed our answers. Most of the ones we'd panicked about we all had the same answer so I am a little less worried but worried never the less.

So its no use panicking today, nor the next fortnight but after that I will be like a cat on a hot tin roof. I really want to get it this time, I've put in enough study.

What about Repeater Use? I thought that repeaters where to be used a) when your mobile or b) when there is no path between two points. Not for local communications.

Here is another little Bugbear: What is the Highest Frequency allowed to a foundation Holder in the UK?

Ask all your friends and you will get different answers the correct one however is 10ghz (3cm's) but what use is that to a Foundation Licencee who hasn't the money to access a expensive kit, there are none that I am aware of. Plus 3cm's is mostly Dead. why not instead give them 23cm's which has manufactured kits and also manufactured rigs ie Kenwood's TS2000 has a 23cm module.

When I pass I am going to put in for my tutors licence, then maybe I can help you when you need it. Or anyone else that wants to learn

Which is annoying because I was enjoying the net :S

So there you have iit M3/M6 Users can use PMR 4m sets I suggest the Philips FM1000 and PA4DEN conversions

Surely there are better people available for the role?

I got home plugged the rig in and it works superbly, I Also tested the PA4DEN rig and it now works again, but I noticed its a whole lot more noisy!

• State your callsign in phonetics
• State your callsign clearly
• don't keep transmitting your callsign, only do so when invited
• If there is a pile up turn your power down (you get worked quicker)

Don't get annoyed with rude operators, just ignore them.

• DSTAR modems becoming more available
• Kits becoming more mainstream due to the recession
• More all mode radio's
• APRS more apparant in both mobile and handies
• Standardised Calling Frequencies. Across the VHF/UHF/SHF freqs

There is already talk on the DSTAR forums of people making DSTAR modems for laptops, so this is pretty much a taken as read. Kits have become more of a mainstay in magazines and as such people who see a bargain, and see the only downside of it being a few burned fingertips. 

All mode Radios seem to be fairly thin on the ground, which is bad, maybe with more people becoming involved in Summits on the Air we will see a boost of interest from the manufacturers.

APRS: Nuff said its useful.

Standard call freqs: Well IARU has said it will happen so hopefully it will happen

73's

Martin

M6IRU