Clifton Country Club Net Sunday 18^th November 2007

It was a typical winter’s afternoon strong southwest winds, threatening fast moving clouds that promised sleet showers. When Peter (G3PJB) was the first station to call in at 14.30 hrs, shortly followed Dennis (G3OKY) and then David (G0WQQ).

To avoid a beacon type of pulsing on 3.690 Mhz we moved down to 3.688 Mhz. It was good to be able to hear Dennis. He had reconfigured his antenna to a 66ft length of wire fed against a counterpoise tuned for 80m. This proved to be very effective with his signal improving during the afternoon to peak at 59+. Dennis said he was pleased with the performance of the antenna and was hoping to add another counterpoise in order to give him access to 14 Mhz.  It just goes to show that with a little ingenuity a station can get on the air. Dennis told the group that Pam was showing steady signs of improvement but that there was still a little way to go.  The gathered company passed on best wishes to Pam.

Peter (G3PJB) said that he had spent more time on his ‘pooter’ this month but had listened to the recent 160m contest, and noted an apparent drop in the number of stations. Peter did not have an antenna for 160m. He was considering acquiring a Q-tek Penetrator vertical to work 160m. I told of my experiences with a Butternut HF2, 32 foot vertical fitted with top band coil at my former QTH in London. It was susceptible to electrical noise and was a poor radiator.

Interestingly, on the evening after the net I worked a station (G0JMI) in Alton on 160m who was using a form of ‘loaded’ G5RV, and not apparently in the normal format of a ‘Marconi T’ against ground. His 10watts produced 599+, so Peter that may be worth considering in lieu of the vertical with their associated vulnerability to QRN.

David G0WQQ apologised for missing the previous net, but he had been busy with a programme of home maintenance fitting a new porch, new glazing and repairing the damage following a catastrophic leak in the central heating. On a more cheerful note David had made good progress on his model locomotive project and was hoping to be in steam soon. He said that he was still plagued with extremely high levels of electrical noise that made operating his radio almost impossible. For example he was experiencing an S9 of QRN although he could hear me he was having great difficulty with the rest.

I had received apologies by e-mail from the following:

And as a first! I received apologies in CW during a Sunday morning net on 5.366 Mhz from:

I told the group that during the past few weeks I had worked a number of ‘DO’ calls (German novice stations) around 3.568 Mhz. Calling for QRS contacts, their CW and operating was admirable. It is a pity that not all the stations that worked them were prepared to send slowly.

Since the last net I had worked Clive (GW0PPO) on 5 Mhz from his Pembrokeshire QTH on two separate occasions. This band is ideal for inter-G contacts.

Most Sunday’s at 10.30 hrs Keith (G4TJE) and I have a CW sked on 5.366 Mhz as our primary and 5.278 Mhz as our secondary QRG. Notwithstanding that Keith is restricted to an indoor antenna he puts out an extremely good signal on 60 meters. Albeit he occasionally suffers from high levels local electrical noise.

Peter (G3PJB) said he had been pleasantly surprised to find 15 meters ‘open’ one afternoon when he had worked, San Marino, Croatia, Tenerife and Uruguay. It just goes to prove it is always worth listening on the higher HF bands even in these times of low sunspot activity, you may be surprised.

We went on the identify the faces in the photograph shown on page 53 of December’s Rad Com. To spare blushes I will not take this further, but it is very encouraging to see the club back in print.

Dennis said unfortunately he could not recognize anyone from the photo (don’t worry Dennis I had to use a magnifying glass!), but he did recall the fun he had in the 1960’s on Field days with the Clifton and it was nice to see the tradition still continued.

David (G0WQQ) said he had now finished making a replacement metal plate for a 1154 wireless transmitter which is an exhibit at the RSGB museum, he was hoping fit the plate to the set later this month. David’s QRN was even worse so he was going to sign out and hoped to be on next month.

Hopefully in the meantime David will be able to find a method of suppressing the ‘electronic soup’ I am sure he would welcome any suggestions and assistance, so if you have any ideas I will gladly forward them to David.

Personally I think the fist step would be to identify and eliminate any ‘home-grown’ QRN by switching off various circuits from mains consumer unit while running the transceiver on battery power. If that proved clear, then move to locating outside sources and that is where the fun begins!

At this point Peter (G3RQZ) thundered in 59+40, apologising for being late, but also stating that is was very good to hear Dennis since the antenna improvements at G3OKY.

There followed a short discussion on possible sked times with Jakey (ZL2 JKY) the consensus was to listen on 14.025 to 14.035 Mhz around 07.30 GMT whenever you can.

If you to hook up with Jakey can you please send me any details for future skeds which I will circulate to all CC members.

As the time approached 15.35 hrs and the QRM from European station increased we closed the net.

It was agreed the Pre Christmas Country Club Net would be on Sunday 16^th December at 14.30 Hrs on 3.690Mhz +/-.

 Peter (G3RQZ) having recently received his NoV for 5 Mhz asked me retune to 60 Meters to enable Peter to obtain his first contact on 5 Mhz.

Following the net I received e-mail from Steve (M0BPQ) who had been listening on his Elecraft K2 but was unable to join in as he was dealing with the intricacies of rebuilding a rotator. Oh! Yes Steve I think we all know that sinking feeling after reassembling the casing only to find that nut and locking washer sitting on the bench Hi Hi!

We look forward to hearing as many as you as possible on the wireless next month

73 fer nw de Tony es Suzanne.