posts by Tag

80m

SW 80m data net experiment - results

9 December 2020 5 minute read

This 80m data net took place yesterday at 9pm to about 10:30pm, I have collated the results from the participants and listeners. We have a way to go to get a...

AGM

IoAARC AGM 2022 on Friday 27th May 2022

4 May 2022 less than 1 minute read

We will hold the the Isle of Avalon Amateur Radio Club AGM, to be held on Friday 27th May 2022. Full version is available as a PDF. Update This has been h...

IoAARC AGM 2021 held on Friday 30th April 2021

30 April 2021 1 minute read

See below for headlines only, the full version is available as a PDF with more details of the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary’s report, and wider plans for...

Notification of the IoAARC AGM 2020

7 December 2019 less than 1 minute read

It’s the time of year to start thinking about what we want to achieve in 2020, this is formal notice of the Isle of Avalon Amateur Radio Club AGM, to be held...

AMSAT

Satellite Project

2 April 2022 2 minute read

Dear all, as the token AMSAT member I get to do this, in the hope of attracting more interest. Anyone motivated by any of this to get involved please do so....

APRS

Anytone AT-778UV

Programming the Anytone AT778UV using CHIRP

9 March 2024 3 minute read

At the club last night I programmed John G8VZA’s Anytone AT778UV(VOX) using the hand mic and the front panel. It was tough going - over a quarter of an hour ...

C4FM

CAIRO

CHIRP

Programming the Anytone AT778UV using CHIRP

9 March 2024 3 minute read

At the club last night I programmed John G8VZA’s Anytone AT778UV(VOX) using the hand mic and the front panel. It was tough going - over a quarter of an hour ...

Christmas

Christmas Meal Celebrating A Successful Year

20 December 2019 less than 1 minute read

We celebrated a successful 2019 at the Christmas meal - we took four people through the exams this year and took part in Exercise Blue Ham three times with g...

Book now for IoAARC Christmas Meal

11 November 2019 less than 1 minute read

Please could everyone let us know their plans for the Christmas meal at the Brewer’s Inn, Glastonbury with their choice and cost of their meal. We are bookin...

DMR

Digital voice

FLDigi

FLDigi over Android on 70cms FM with andFLmsg

27 August 2023 7 minute read

This an Amateur Radio take on a similar theme as Meshtastic which we experimented with last year, text comms in an group out of mobile phone range, this time...

South-West HF Data Net - Datamodes

17 December 2020 5 minute read

Datamode Net We have been experimenting with datamode nets which are a way of getting signals out with much less power and bandwidth requirements than SSB v...

Using FL Net with British callsigns

15 December 2020 4 minute read

One of the challenges with running digimode nets is getting callsigns into the program when people are next up. You either end up trying to type them into th...

SW daytime Data Net results, 14th Dec

15 December 2020 3 minute read

This is a follow-up to the 80m SW wide net, it was a lot more successful than the last Tuesday evening’s attempt. All stations were able to copy each other, ...

SW 80m data net experiment - results

9 December 2020 5 minute read

This 80m data net took place yesterday at 9pm to about 10:30pm, I have collated the results from the participants and listeners. We have a way to go to get a...

Data Net 80m Experiments

1 December 2020 1 minute read

On Tuesdays we often have a data net on 10m at 28.118MHz centre frequency, which was initially chosen so that we could mess about with a low risk of botherin...

Data Net Experiments On 10m

29 September 2020 3 minute read

We have been experimenting with data modes, using the 10m frequency of 28.118 MHz. Beforehand, all stations had been in the Glastonbury area, and signal stre...

FLNet

Using FL Net with British callsigns

15 December 2020 4 minute read

One of the challenges with running digimode nets is getting callsigns into the program when people are next up. You either end up trying to type them into th...

GB7FI

HEMA

Glastonbury Tor HEMA Activation

21 July 2023 1 minute read

Glastonbury Tor is our local hill, 158m high. This is a HEMA summit G/HSC-006. Glastonbury Tor is a popular tourist attraction - this is St Michae...

Halloween Activation of Glastonbury Tor for HEMA

31 October 2019 less than 1 minute read

Mike 2E0RWW activated Glastonbury Tor this Halloween. The Tor is our local HEMA summit, designated G/HSC-006 in HEMA The Tor was very busy on Halloween, so ...

ISS

ARISS award

27 June 2021 1 minute read

The club received this diploma for our participation in receiving images from the ISS in June MX0IOA ISS participation award The explanatio...

IoAARC admin

IoAARC AGM 2023 on Friday 30th June 2023

26 June 2023 less than 1 minute read

We will hold an AGM this Friday 30th June 2023 at Site 2 Full agenda is available as a PDF. Update This has been held, minutes are available as a PDF. Is...

Have Your Say Meeting

2 September 2022 less than 1 minute read

We held a Have Your Say meeting to canvass ideas for what radio activities people wanted to see. We had nine people at the meeting, the results are in the mi...

IoAARC AGM 2022 on Friday 27th May 2022

4 May 2022 less than 1 minute read

We will hold the the Isle of Avalon Amateur Radio Club AGM, to be held on Friday 27th May 2022. Full version is available as a PDF. Update This has been h...

IoAARC AGM 2021 held on Friday 30th April 2021

30 April 2021 1 minute read

See below for headlines only, the full version is available as a PDF with more details of the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary’s report, and wider plans for...

Notification of the IoAARC AGM 2020

7 December 2019 less than 1 minute read

It’s the time of year to start thinking about what we want to achieve in 2020, this is formal notice of the Isle of Avalon Amateur Radio Club AGM, to be held...

LoRA

Meshtastic Revisited

25 February 2024 7 minute read

You do not have to be a licensed radio amateur to use Meshtastic, anybody can use it, provided you use the correct frequency bands for Europe. Meshtastic ...

Trying Out Meshtastic

7 December 2022 10 minute read

Meshtastic isn’t amateur radio, but it’s interesting stuff done with radio, worthy of interest. It uses LoRA, but in a peer-to-peer mode rather than infrast...

Marconi

Marconi Day SES at Somerton Radio Station

30 March 2024 less than 1 minute read

John G8VZA together with Mid Somerset Amateur Radio Club have been looking at putting the old Marconi radio station at Somerton on the air for Marconi Day. I...

Meshtastic

Meshtastic Revisited

25 February 2024 7 minute read

You do not have to be a licensed radio amateur to use Meshtastic, anybody can use it, provided you use the correct frequency bands for Europe. Meshtastic ...

Trying Out Meshtastic

7 December 2022 10 minute read

Meshtastic isn’t amateur radio, but it’s interesting stuff done with radio, worthy of interest. It uses LoRA, but in a peer-to-peer mode rather than infrast...

Morse

Tuesday Digital Modes And Morse Net

29 June 2020 2 minute read

Following last night’s experiments on 10m by a few club members, it was decided to start a regular digimodes net, beginning next Tuesday evening, at 2100 loc...

OHIS

Olivia

South-West HF Data Net - Datamodes

17 December 2020 5 minute read

Datamode Net We have been experimenting with datamode nets which are a way of getting signals out with much less power and bandwidth requirements than SSB v...

SW daytime Data Net results, 14th Dec

15 December 2020 3 minute read

This is a follow-up to the 80m SW wide net, it was a lot more successful than the last Tuesday evening’s attempt. All stations were able to copy each other, ...

SW 80m data net experiment - results

9 December 2020 5 minute read

This 80m data net took place yesterday at 9pm to about 10:30pm, I have collated the results from the participants and listeners. We have a way to go to get a...

Data Net 80m Experiments

1 December 2020 1 minute read

On Tuesdays we often have a data net on 10m at 28.118MHz centre frequency, which was initially chosen so that we could mess about with a low risk of botherin...

Data Net Experiments On 10m

29 September 2020 3 minute read

We have been experimenting with data modes, using the 10m frequency of 28.118 MHz. Beforehand, all stations had been in the Glastonbury area, and signal stre...

PMR446

PMR446 coverage experimentation

19 September 2020 2 minute read

This is a follow-on to yesterday’s Friday Night Net experiments I have three PMR446 rigs, a Retevis RT24 and a Floureon bright orange rig from Amazon and a ...

Pi-Star

QRP

Kanga Mini Transmatch Kit

10 January 2024 1 minute read

I built this mini-transmatch in advance of getting a QDx transceiver. The QDx has a rep for being persnickety about loading, in particular the BS170 finals s...

Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi Lan Remote Setup

4 March 2021 8 minute read

I am lucky enough to have an outbuilding with mains power, which is the obvious place for the radio gear. I have used FLdigi successfully for digimodes with ...

SAQ

Christmas Eve with SAQ at 8 am

24 December 2023 1 minute read

SAQ came up this morning sending out a Christmas Eve message on their VLF frequency of 17.2kHz The signal was received quite clearly. An 8kHz sampled copy o...

SAQ loud and clear on World Radio Day 15:00Z

13 February 2023 3 minute read

SAQ is a mechanical low-frequency TX at 17.2kHz, designed in the 1920s to send telegraphy across the Atlantic, over an open-water route, to Riverhead, Long I...

SOTA

Weston Rally and Worlebury Fort SOTA chase

25 September 2022 2 minute read

Matt 2E0FNT and I went to Weston Rally, we met some other radio amateurs, this time neither of us bought anything. I was tempted by a vacuum capacitor, but I...

Wills Neck SOTA activation

4 August 2022 9 minute read

I activated Wills Neck on the Quantock Hills near Exmoor today, using a handheld Yaesu FT3DE and a flowerpot antenna. This was much less of a battle than Bea...

SOTA Activation of Beacon Batch

14 June 2022 5 minute read

Matt 2E0FNT and I decided to activate Beacon Batch G/SC003, travelling up to time things to match with the club 70cm net at 21:00 BST. The weather was fine, ...

Yaesu FT3DE mic connector pinout and wiring

7 April 2022 5 minute read

I have a Yaesu FT3DE with on-board APRS, FM and Fusion/C4FM. I wanted to plug an external mic into it, and use an earpiece for the audio. Because: SOTA among...

SSTV

ARISS award

27 June 2021 1 minute read

The club received this diploma for our participation in receiving images from the ISS in June MX0IOA ISS participation award The explanatio...

Somerton

Marconi Day SES at Somerton Radio Station

30 March 2024 less than 1 minute read

John G8VZA together with Mid Somerset Amateur Radio Club have been looking at putting the old Marconi radio station at Somerton on the air for Marconi Day. I...

Special Event Station

Marconi Day SES at Somerton Radio Station

30 March 2024 less than 1 minute read

John G8VZA together with Mid Somerset Amateur Radio Club have been looking at putting the old Marconi radio station at Somerton on the air for Marconi Day. I...

VLF

Christmas Eve with SAQ at 8 am

24 December 2023 1 minute read

SAQ came up this morning sending out a Christmas Eve message on their VLF frequency of 17.2kHz The signal was received quite clearly. An 8kHz sampled copy o...

SAQ loud and clear on World Radio Day 15:00Z

13 February 2023 3 minute read

SAQ is a mechanical low-frequency TX at 17.2kHz, designed in the 1920s to send telegraphy across the Atlantic, over an open-water route, to Riverhead, Long I...

WS38

Wireless Set WS38 from the Second World War

29 July 2023 2 minute read

Amateur radio covers a variety of interests, more so nowadays since technology lets you do more, often with less. Club members have been into digital voice, ...

WSPR

WSPR with a Raspberry Pi

3 May 2019 8 minute read

We have been looking at setting up an event aerial at the Scout Hut, and the trouble with aerials is that propagation varies so dramatically. WSJT-X has a mo...

Yaesu Fusion

antenna

An 80m Spiral Loop

27 October 2019 4 minute read

It’s always tough to get on 80m. Two of us in the IoAARC have an interest in Worked all Britain (WAB) who have their nets on 80m - propagation often favours ...

balun

A Simple Ferrite rod 1:1 HF balun

15 June 2019 1 minute read

This was a follow-up from the earlier QRO balun I ran the same tests using an antenna analyser, based on W8JI’s basic balanced quality test for current balun...

Testing a 1:1 Guanella current balun

8 June 2019 2 minute read

One of our members has crafted a QRO balun for our upcoming attempt at Exercise blue Ham on the 60m band. This is a 1:1 Guanella current balun (Theoretical t...

blue ham

Exercise Blue Ham result

27 March 2022 1 minute read

We made many contacts on the second day of Exercise Blue Ham, another lovely sunny day. We used the same setup as on the first day. A good start in the morn...

Exercise Blue Ham Day 1

26 March 2022 1 minute read

Great day on Exercise Blue Ham, we have set up the club station with a 60m flat NVIS dipole which Chaz, Mike and Matt rigged on Wednesday. We caught the prob...

Blue Ham Setup

23 March 2022 1 minute read

We were rigging the antenna for Blue Ham in 2022, and to get it out of the way fo the car park we thought we would try it a bit more east-west than north-sou...

doing Exercise Blue Ham as a team again

16 October 2021 1 minute read

It was a relief to be able to do Exercise Blue Ham again as a club, after the tumultuous interruptions of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also the 80th annive...

Exercise Blue Ham - a placeholder performance

6 June 2020 1 minute read

The coronavirus pandemic meant that the club had a very reduced effort on this exercise. The 60m band is restricted to Full licensees only, so Richard G7LEE ...

Exercise Blue Ham - a successful weekend

7 March 2020 5 minute read

The station was set up on the day before and the antenna tuned. AARC Chairman Matt 2E0FNT at the dipole centre We used the Club callsign MX...

Exercise Blue Ham Setup

6 March 2020 less than 1 minute read

Matt 2E0FNT and I have have set up the club station with a 60m flat NVIS dipole at 5.8m height above ground, engineered by Chaz. We learned from last time to...

Exercise Blue Ham October

12 October 2019 4 minute read

Mike 2E0RWW has raised our game with Exercise Blue Ham where Amateur radio operators contact military stations staffed by air cadets from RAFAC on the shared...

Exercise Blue Ham Certificate

24 June 2019 less than 1 minute read

Between 16-17 June the Club took part in Exercise Blue Ham, in which trainee Service operators obtain on-air experience by contacting amateur stations. The C...

Exercise Blue Ham June

16 June 2019 2 minute read

The club continued the tradition of taking part in Exercise Blue Ham, our score for this weekend is 10. That is fewer contacts than we made in March, however...

Exercise Blue Ham Certificate

4 April 2019 less than 1 minute read

Between 16-17 March the Club took part in Exercise Blue Ham, which is an annual event in which trainee Service operators obtain on-air experience by contacti...

What We Learned From Exercise Blue Ham

18 March 2019 4 minute read

Between 16-17 March the Club took part in Exercise Blue Ham, which is an annual event in which trainee Service operators obtain on-air experience by contacti...

Exercise Blue Ham Day 2

17 March 2019 less than 1 minute read

Another good day on Exercise Blue Ham, we brought up the cadet station contact score up to 12 Blue Ham 2019 score table (NB this is only live on the 16-17 Ma...

Exercise Blue Ham Day 1

16 March 2019 1 minute read

Great day on Exercise Blue Ham, we have set up the club station with a 60m flat NVIS dipole at 5.8m height above ground, engineered by Chaz and rigged by Cha...

cheap test equipment for amateur radio

contest

RSGB MGM contest 20-21 April 2019

20 April 2019 7 minute read

Contests are the Marmite of amateur radio, you either love them or hate them. They are a numbers game, rather than a way to get to know your fellow amateurs ...

datamodes

FLDigi over Android on 70cms FM with andFLmsg

27 August 2023 7 minute read

This an Amateur Radio take on a similar theme as Meshtastic which we experimented with last year, text comms in an group out of mobile phone range, this time...

South-West HF Data Net - Datamodes

17 December 2020 5 minute read

Datamode Net We have been experimenting with datamode nets which are a way of getting signals out with much less power and bandwidth requirements than SSB v...

Using FL Net with British callsigns

15 December 2020 4 minute read

One of the challenges with running digimode nets is getting callsigns into the program when people are next up. You either end up trying to type them into th...

SW daytime Data Net results, 14th Dec

15 December 2020 3 minute read

This is a follow-up to the 80m SW wide net, it was a lot more successful than the last Tuesday evening’s attempt. All stations were able to copy each other, ...

SW 80m data net experiment - results

9 December 2020 5 minute read

This 80m data net took place yesterday at 9pm to about 10:30pm, I have collated the results from the participants and listeners. We have a way to go to get a...

Data Net 80m Experiments

1 December 2020 1 minute read

On Tuesdays we often have a data net on 10m at 28.118MHz centre frequency, which was initially chosen so that we could mess about with a low risk of botherin...

Data Net Experiments On 10m

29 September 2020 3 minute read

We have been experimenting with data modes, using the 10m frequency of 28.118 MHz. Beforehand, all stations had been in the Glastonbury area, and signal stre...

digimodes

Tuesday Digital Modes And Morse Net

29 June 2020 2 minute read

Following last night’s experiments on 10m by a few club members, it was decided to start a regular digimodes net, beginning next Tuesday evening, at 2100 loc...

digital voice

exam results

IOAARC Exam training passes

20 September 2019 1 minute read

We have been busy over the past few months training up our candidates to get through the Amateur Radio examinations. This Friday night we celebrated the resu...

freetrak

frequency control

Frequency testing with GPSDO

6 May 2022 3 minute read

I use quite an old Yaesu FT897, getting on for 16 years old. Not old enough to be venerated as vintage, but old enough to be getting on for decrepit and occa...

hamfest

Weston Rally

22 September 2019 1 minute read

Six members of IoAARC travelled to Weston-Super-mare for the radio rally there. Communications between the two vehicles were interrupted by one of us opening...

Yeovil ARC QRP Convention

7 April 2019 1 minute read

Several members of IoAARC travelled in a minibus to Sherbone, where Yeovil amateur radio club were holding their 35th annual QRP convention. A good time was ...

mic connector

Yaesu FT3DE mic connector pinout and wiring

7 April 2022 5 minute read

I have a Yaesu FT3DE with on-board APRS, FM and Fusion/C4FM. I wanted to plug an external mic into it, and use an earpiece for the audio. Because: SOTA among...

net

Tuesday Digital Modes And Morse Net

29 June 2020 2 minute read

Following last night’s experiments on 10m by a few club members, it was decided to start a regular digimodes net, beginning next Tuesday evening, at 2100 loc...

ofcom

OFCOM changes to the amateur radio licence

21 February 2024 less than 1 minute read

This is a pretty big deal in the UK amateur radio world, while not one of our events specifically: General notice of decision to vary amateur radio licenc...

propagation

SW 80m data net experiment - results

9 December 2020 5 minute read

This 80m data net took place yesterday at 9pm to about 10:30pm, I have collated the results from the participants and listeners. We have a way to go to get a...

repair

reviews

Rig Expert AA-650 Zoom review

16 January 2021 6 minute read

The AA-650 Zoom is a new product from the renowned Ukrainian company Rig Expert, and was obtained from Martin Lynch & Sons for £572 delivered. This is a ...

show

Royal Bath And West Show

29 May 2019 1 minute read

We joined with MidSARC1 to staff a public exhibit and special event station GB0RBW at the prestigious Royal Bath and West show. the Amateur Radio ...

training

Emcomms Experimentation And Enquiry

16 September 2020 21 minute read

NB this is the author’s personal opinion, not the view of the Isle of Avalon Amateur Radio Club To most UK radio amateurs, Emergency communications means Ra...

Training And Exam Changes

2 April 2020 1 minute read

We have observed an uptick in people looking to do Foundation during this pandemic and the lockdown. We are offering a Foundation online course given by Mike...

Crystal Oscillator For Intermediate Practical

8 January 2020 2 minute read

The Amateur Radio training syllabus was changed last year, and the practicals are more extensive and more prescriptive. At Intermediate there is a new sectio...

IOAARC Exam training passes

20 September 2019 1 minute read

We have been busy over the past few months training up our candidates to get through the Amateur Radio examinations. This Friday night we celebrated the resu...

80m VFO for intermediate practical training

12 April 2019 2 minute read

The Amateur Radio training syllabus requires a VFO, for trainees to calibrate by finding the band edges. I chose 80m for this - there is a standard circuit u...

vintage

Wireless Set WS38 from the Second World War

29 July 2023 2 minute read

Amateur radio covers a variety of interests, more so nowadays since technology lets you do more, often with less. Club members have been into digital voice, ...

westrally

Exercise Blue Ham June

16 June 2019 2 minute read

The club continued the tradition of taking part in Exercise Blue Ham, our score for this weekend is 10. That is fewer contacts than we made in March, however...