EGM and Antennas presentation
23 January 2024
After club members had reviewed and voted on some proposed changes to the club's constitution, Bob Burns gave a presentation on antennas, covering different designs, matching, earthing and local EMF considerations.
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Early History of the BBC
27th February 2024
In this Zoom-based meeting, Elizabeth Bruton gave an illustrated talk on how the British Broadcasting Company (forerunning to the modern Corporation) was formed from early experiments by amateurs, its original vision and purpose. It included many examples of early radio receivers, and later television sets.
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Ashdown Forest Repeaters
26th March 2024
At our first in-person meeting of the year, Paul Phillips G7KBR and Richard Hadfield G4ANN gave a presentation on their work to set up 2 VHF repeaters at St Leonard's church, Turners Hill, West Sussex. The hand-built GB7MH (70cm digital) and GB3MH (2m analogue) repeater equipment is in the church tower, and the antennas are concealed inside the hollow flag pole to give good elevation and coverage area, which extends as far as Dorking.
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RF Test Equipment
23rd April 2024
Bob Burns G3OOU brought a collection different oscilloscopes and spectrum analysers and gave a presentation about how they worked and some advice on their use. Bob also brought an antenna to analyse local RF levels, some sample filter circuits to demonstrate their operation, and some electronic components to show their RF limitations and resonances.
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Intermediate and Full Licence Topics
28th May 2024
Colin Berry M0GXV explained how the exams worked and addressed some of the areas of the intermediate and full licence exams which could benefit from some explanation, such as the electronics theory and maths. The syllabus changed recently for exams taken from September 2024, and the changes were described.
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Devil's Dyke Evening
25th June 2024
Members of the club operated portable stations from near the National Trust car park at the Devil's Dyke on the South Downs, making use of the club's callsigns GX7DOR and GX3CZU. After a fine warm early evening, the group enjoyed a meal at the nearby pub at Poynings.
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Headley Common Evening
23rd July 2024
Members of the club operated portable stations from the vicinity of the main National Trust car park at Headley Common, using the club's callsigns GX7DOR and GX3CZU.
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Summer Social
27th August 2024
Members of the club and their families met for an enjoyable outdoor fish and chip supper (and desserts!) on a warm fine evening at a member's home.
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Special Event Station
14th September 2024
The club set up and operated on 40m and 2m at Christ Church, Epsom Common, as part of the the CHOTA (Churches and Chapels on the Air) event. The callsign GB4CEC was used for this inaugural activity at the site and in the event. The 80m/40m trapped dipole was hung between the top of the bell tower and a tree branch - although 80m was unusable due to high QRM.
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Home made 80m vertical antenna
24th September 2024
Tom Ellinor, G4DFA, brought the portable vertical antenna he has built and gave an illustrated talk about how it was designed and built from commonly available parts. It used an ingenious system of replaceable traps, radials and sections to be tunable to multiple bands including 80m.
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Spark SDR Demonstration
22nd October 2024
Alan Hopper, M0NNB, set up and demonstrated several Software-Defined Radio configurations, using his Spark SDR software application. This ran on both Windows and Linux, and could interface with various types of SDR dongle / front end. It also supports transmission using a software-controlled transceiver.
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Annual General Meeting
26 November 2024
The club held its AGM, including presentation of reports from the chairman and treasurer, and election of officers and committee members.
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Christmas Social
12 December 2024
Members of the club gathered for an enjoyable meal together in the function room at the Stepping Stones pub at Westhumble. We were joined by an ex-member from Germany and his friend.
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