AmateurRadio.com

I do love my radio. I really enjoy getting on air and always like the qso’s I have, even the rubber stamp ones. But recently, I’ve started to think about other aspects. The cost of equipment is one such thing (I’ve blithered on about that before) and the other is that in general you don’t see a very diverse age group in the hobby. There are you people who get into it through a number of different means and I’m fairly sure many drop the mic / key / keyboard. I suspect that getting on air is a costly business and that the pub may be a more alluring draw. A large portion of the people I have met or are involved with Ham Radio are ‘of a certain age’ ; i.e not in the 16-24 year old bracket. A bracket that I left behind nearly 20 years ago.

So I thought I’d write to the RSGB to see what their thoughts were and they decided to publish my letter. I didn’t offer any solutions but merely an opportunity to open the debate. I think its safe to say that the door has been shut now. The response to the letter was fairly swift and I read it is ‘We’re doing alright’. I remain unconvinced. I am very disappointed that they seem reluctant to grasp the nettle.

I’m a clanky by trade and the IMechE (along with just about every other professional body no doubt) make it part of your chartership that you must spend time mentoring the next generation. I spent 2 years teaching to 6th form students and thoroughly enjoyed it. Other ways include being on the young members board, who were represented at a national level. I firmly believe that the next generation is the key to this hobby and engaging them will bring us strength, diversity, enthusiasm and energy. I don’t know how much it costs to sponsor a trophy but I’ll be looking into it as a way reward the next generation. If there are any ideas I’d love to hear about them.

It’s fashionable for British hams to knock the RSGB. But I have never been much influenced by fashion.

The RSGB will be 100 years old in 2013. No doubt there will be all sorts of celebrations, a special event station and so on.

To mark the occasion I will display the RSGB centenary badge on my blog and my website until the end of 2013. I think it would be a good idea if more RSGB members who have blogs and web pages did the same.

Here is a snippet of code to make it easy for you to add this to your website:

It’s an image not text so you can’t cut and paste it – Blogger kept interpreting it as HTML code so this was the only way I could find to include it!

Its probably not news to many people but whilst I was thinking about a suitable site for the UKAC 144Mhz contest next Tuesday (4th December) I remembered about a coverage prediction programme called Radio Mobile.

Now seeing as things on the internet are steadily replacing things on the desktop I had a go with comparing sites with the model outputs. As a contest novice I am entering in ‘in the spirit of’ contesting. Any site needed to be quite close to home and easily accessed / operated from.

Radio mobile confirmed what you’d expect, the site closest to home that I can get to with the car isn’t the best but its a whole load better that operating from the house. So armed with the knowledge that I’ll get some contacts at least I’ll take the plunge and aim not to be at the bottom of the pile.

The key kit will be

1. A warm coat (its 20.00UTC – 22.00 UTC) – So it’ll be chilly

2. FT817 and extra power supply – Seeing as it runs out of puff within a few minutes

3. Sotabeams 3 element yagi and fishing pole

4. A flask of tea and chocolate hobnobs

The output from a 4w Tx at the Sandwith site is below. More than enough to get a couple of contacts I hope.

We’ll have to see how I get on next week, but if you’re in earshot listen out for the weedy signal from Cumbria (rather than the stronger on from G4VFL, who has nabbed the Corney Fell site – perhaps I should tramp up Scafell Pike to out do him on height!)

The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast, episode 48 is now available to download or stream.  You can subscribe via iTunes, Zune or stream directly from MyAmateurRadio.com.  Want to stream on the go from your favorite smart phone device?  You can do that as well from our mobile site.

In this episode I discuss all that awaits those US Technician class operators once they upgrade to the general class license.  Of course, I’m talking about the world of HF.

As a member of both the ARRL and RSGB, I share what I feel is the importance of both belonging to and supporting our national organizations.  I discuss briefly the RSGB upcoming extraordinary general meeting taking place on 19 November and encourage all RSGB members to educate yourself and vote.   Links are provided in the episode 48 show notes available here.

During our featured website segment I introduce listeners to the DXCoffee.com website.  Tomas Mesta, K6THM provides the featured Elmer Connection article on MyAmateurRadio.com.  Finally I round out some of my own amateur radio adventures in the last month.  Thank you for listening. 

Yesterday I received a personally addressed letter from our cash-strapped radio society, the RSGB. What had motivated them to write to me? Apparently it was to tell me the annual subscription is to rise to £47 a year – the first increase since 2006 – and to ask if I would donate to the Spectrum Defence Fund – which I already have, once, and a lot of good that did – or the Radio Communications Foundation.

Why could this letter not have been put in the same mailer as RadCom, the monthly magazine that all members receive, or even published in the magazine itself? Why did this even merit a letter, rather than a page of the magazine, in the first place?

A few months ago I read that the RSGB was to use a bequest from a silent key member to employ a professional fund raiser. This, presumably, is the result. What a waste of money.

The RSGB has negotiated with Ofcom to allow UK radio amateurs to use a special call to celebrate the wedding of H.R.H. Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The call may be used during a period of 11 days from the date of the wedding, 29 April 2011, until 9 May 2011. The call will use the letter “R” after the first letter of the call, replacing the regional designator for Scotland, Ireland, Wales etc. where used. So G4AAA would become GR4AAA, 2E0ABC would become 2R0ABC, GM3ZZZ would be GR3ZZZ and so on.

UK licensed amateurs wishing to use the special call must apply for a Notice of Variation (NoV) to their license. This NoV may only be applied for online using a simple online form and the NoV will be delivered by email. Who says that the RSGB is not progressive?

Personally I will be trying as much as possible to avoid all the ballyhoo over this wedding so I shan’t be applying, but I thought that the information may be of interest.