Tuesday, 1 January 2013

A long overdue update

Well its about time, and frankly a well over due Blog update. I’m currently sat in the living room suffering with a very ill family. We all seem to have gone down with the winter vomiting bug, which I can share is not a nice experience. But as a a location to write a blog update I do recommend the downstairs loo. Its  a great place to gather your thoughts without distraction.

So since my last update what has happened in my world ?

September saw me start my first “end to end” foundation training. Under the watchful eye of Steve (G0FUW) and Lewis (G4YTN) I took 13 students of various understandings and ages through to the end. All but 2 students passed, but I am pleased to see that even though I had 2 failures it was only just and they have since sat re sits. The majority of the class went forward and took part in the intermediate training with Steve, Lewis & Myself.

October was another busy month of being here there and everywhere, but I did manage to squeeze in the RSGB convention with Dave (M0SFT). And Lewis. And wow what a convention. It was great to bring Lewis this year along and share my passion for the convention with him. By the end of the weekend he was already asking ”when do we book for next year” so game on for October 2013. It is very clear that the convention is not really advertised well, nor for newcomers is it particularly well documented where / when you should be there. Maybe this should be looked at. Horwood house again did a great job, in a fully booked up conference.

November & December were 2 months that have really passed by very quickly and it was difficult to play radio as my main shack Antenna is a bit broken. Not sure what is happening but I have a loose or intermittent connection on the antenna somewhere. When rotating the antenna the SWR changes when the antenna is stopped or “rocked” back and forth. In the cold snap it all burst into life, so I managed a couple of  QSOs while it was working. Once the rain came back so did the high SWR. Will have to investigate, and pull it down.

January has come from nowhere. This month sees me building a secret project (shhhh) I am taking lots of  photos however so I will upload my project details once complete. This project is inspired by a talk given by Steve G0KYA at the convention.

January also sees the annual Bath Buildathon where this year we are building the GQRP Sudden receiver.  Steve (G0FUW) and I have just finished building the prototype and reference project for the fellow builders and wow what a great little kit it is.  I’m very much looking forward to the Buildathon, it’s a great experience for novices or experiences alike.  If I do have time, I will write a small piece on the buildathon and share.

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