Is There Anybody Out There?
An interesting day of contrasts where Rob ZL4ROB participated in an AREC exercise using Winlink, Mark ZL1MRT trialled a move in transmission frequency for his encoded CW data communications and Martyn ZL3CK, Harry ZL1BK and Graham ZL1TOF used tried and true GROTA technology. A minor problem: two were operating on… [Read More]
Enough of the annoying noise; today it has to go. Dave arrived early and set about looking at previously unexplored possibilities. CCTV cameras weren’t to blame, but something closely associated with them was definitely dodgy. For one of the outside facing cameras, we had installed an IR source for night… [Read More]
On checking into the MP SDRs on Friday night 25th Oct, there was considerable interference evident at the lower HF frequencies. Starting at around 2.5 MHz, the noise extended up through the 80 and 40m bands. As no one was reporting the noise elsewhere, it appeared the the source was… [Read More]
It had been noticed that the general alarm led on the front of the 5775 repeater had a habit of blinking on momentarily; typically when the repeater was keyed up ( it was also seen to flash during a transmission ). PC based software for the repeater has a diagnostics… [Read More]
A big congratulations to Gabriel who sat the test today at MP. Having easily passed and quickly submitted the required paperwork, he is now the proud holder of ZL3LOL ! Martyn has made a QRP balun for an endfed, so with the weather being perfect for outdoors antenna testing, we… [Read More]
Today, Neil ZL1NZ delivered a fascinating talk on the early days of amateur radio in NZ, leading up to the first 2-way contact from NZ to the UK.
Today was microwave bands day and Simon ZL1SWW brought along a selection of toys to demonstrate the ease with which contacts are made in the upper UHF / SHF region. Fickle weather not only made outside operations slightly difficult at times, but no doubt the damp on foliage and in… [Read More]
On arriving at the station, we noticed a large amount of broken glass on the parking area. A quick check showed no broken windows – the glass appears to have come from a number of picture frames. A strange collection of smashed, and partly burnt items was scattered around the… [Read More]
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam ( with apologies to Monty Python ); The Spam Group ( Society for the Preservation of Amplitude Modulation ) has invested in a brand new Version 2 Kiwi SDR. With no permanent location yet sorted for its installation, we are hosting it at MP. Now one… [Read More]
John ZL1OJ has put up a commercial non-resonant endfed HF antenna. The antenna, approximately 20m in length promises to cover ham bands from 80 through 6 meters. An endfed wire will typically have a feed impedance somewhere between 400 and 600 ohms for frequencies where it does not resonate. A… [Read More]