Friday’s meeting went off well again! Despite many members being away with colds, duties at home and the curse of work, we had in attendance Carl M7DBB, John G4IWA, Jim G4AEH, David G8OMB, KevG0LDP, Will M6WRU, Brian G3YYT, Michel G4GHJ and Al M0SLO. Matt G5MAT’s 40m EFHW was pressed into service again along with the Yaesu FT857D to explore the bands on CW, and with Michel G4GHJ at the key. Michel is willing to do short slow CW training nights on air on a regular basis and we’ll ask who would be interested on getting their Morse up to speed (either for the first or second time!). We’ll do a poll on Facebook shortly…
Al showed a direction finding antenna that’s cheap to make and is good for interference finding as well as direction finding generally from UHF down to at least 14MHz. The pdf version of the powerpoint presentation is attached to this Facebook article. There are a couple of kits available, and members are welcome to borrow a dipole to try and resolve their own interference problems – there’s a lot of it about!
The project table got some use, with Kev bringing his transceiver in for a second opinion, with the new illuminated magnifier being immediately useful to the club. Carl brought his 12v DIY LiFePo4 battery in for testing too.
We discussed club affairs over drinks and Jaffa cakes.
– Members were brought up to speed on the club’s equipment, with the very impressive 50 foot professional trailer mast having moved locations. Thanks John for putting it up for so long & thanks Matt for being the new keeper!
– The committee shared some ideas to bring our venue closer to Nuneaton as members have requested via the club questionnaire Once we’ve done due diligence we’ll come back to members for agreement. While Fillongley Village Hall is a fantastic venue for us with an excellent hall and adjacent field, travelling there on winter roads is less than ideal. Watch this space, we’ll make a further announcement when we’ve developed this further.
– A trip to see the Bletchley Park and the nearby National Museum of Computing was discussed, and I’ll put out a member survey on Facebook. These are an excellent place for a club trip out, to cater for any interests, with the National Radio Centre at BP. Entrance to BP is free with RSGB membership. We propose car sharing as a way of getting down, lunch in the canteen, and a stop on the way back if everyone’s up for it!
– Next month’s meeting is on 9th December at FVH. This is our Christmas do, and this is a special request for as many members to attend as possible for the festivities. There will be a quiz, and everyone is asked to bring something over to share, with drinks allowed!