2E0SQL

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RSGB Convention

Posted: 30 Nov 2014 12:11 PM PST
http://www.2e0sql.co.uk/2014/11/30/r...nvention-2014/


Ive been meaning to write a quick post about the RSGB Convention for weeks
but other things got in the way, this year it moved into central Milton
Keynes at the Kent Park Conference Centre, however instead of staying at
the venue a few of us opted to stay at the Hilton down the road as it was
cheaper.

Thankfully the move seems a good choice, the lecture rooms were bigger, the
internet worked and there was at least Three UK mobile coverage so I could
keep an eye on business stuff while away, unlike previous years I was free
from giving any official talks so managed to attend a larger number of the
DXpedition and technical talks which was nice.

I did however do a demo of Cloudlog in the Software Developers forum which
was interesting and also streamed online via Youtube which is a first for
this event I believe.
M0PCB, M0SPF, M0MJHÂ*& 2E0SQLÂ*being presented the RSGB IOTA Multi-Op LP
Expedition Trophy

Sunday saw the presentation of awards and for a change this year we had one
to collect being the 2013Â*RSGB IOTA Multi-Op Expedition Trophy our thoughts
that we made major improvements in our operating style & setup and looks
like we put in a good effort for 2014 as well.
RSGB IOTA Multi-Op LP Expedition Trophy

The post RSGB Convention appeared first on 2E0SQL.


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SSB Field Day 2014 - G8PX/P

Posted: 12 Sep 2014 07:27 AM PDT
http://www.2e0sql.co.uk/2014/09/12/s...day-2014-g8px/

Antennas at G8PX/P

While SSB Field Day is clear in my mind still I thought I’d write down some
after thoughts, its been two years since I last took part seriously, my
contesting is normally the big events like CQ & IOTA events so the first
thing to do is to clear up the fact it doesnt compare with those.

This year I took part with the local radio club the Oxford & District
Amateur Radio Society, from a farmers field in Worminghall just next to the
M40 it was an ideal location for logistics as the clubs tower is stored in
a near by facility along with other assorted bits.

The team gathered on Friday to assemble the Force 12 C3 beam with 40m, plus
a Hustler 6-BTV vertical to use for the Mults listening station plus two
frame tents one for operating and the other for cooking and socialising it
was then back home for a good sleep before reassembling Saturday morning to
put up the 80m dipole which took some work due to the technique used to
stick it on its storage drum, sadly it somehow got wrapped up with the 160m
dipole which we wasnt going to need. However a small group sorted that out
and it was soon in the air and some adjustments was made to make it
resonant in the SSB part of the band.

Inside the operating tent Ray (G4FON) had setup his Elecraft K3 and KPA500
as the RUN station and the clubs Yaesu FT-950 for Mult spotting all
connected up to laptops and a small network for sharing information between
the two positions.. before the contest I had a play in the AA Contest using
one of the other club callsigns and managed a nice small run of Japanese &
South Korean stations on 15m, however soon as it hit 13:00 UTC and I
switched to G8PX/P it proved to be the wrong band to be on as much as I
CQ’d no one came back soon having to move to 20m and later on to 40m which
seemed a bit early for my liking!
G7IVF Operating

Sadly due to other commitments Ray had to leave, and typically within
minutes we started to have issues with the logging software (which is made
by Ray and used for FDs and IOTA) where the spotting station was unable to
pass call signs and frequencies across for the RUN station, a few bug fixes
later it worked but soon failed later and in the end nothing seemed to fix
it so sadly the RUN station had no easy access to the cluster as I didnt
know how to configure the software back into single station mode. so this
cost us dearly for working mults in between CQing and in the end we had to
manually pass mults between the two stations on post it notes which worked
to some extent.

Conditions continued to seem challenging throughout Saturday afternoon
however seemed to pick up when I took over again and moved to 80m and we
had our best rate for the whole of the weekend with a constant string of
Germans, as always night-time proved slow but picked up around sunrise when
we moved to 40m and worked a few North & South American stations and more
European portables before shifting upwards to 20m as the morning
progressed, we even managed to work a few South American and Europeans on
10m briefly before finishing up on 15m working some much needed multipliers.

Despite the problems it was an enjoyable weekend and allowed some of the
less experienced members a chance to operate in a contest style environment
and hopefully will encourage others to have a go next year.Â*We ended up the
weekend with 758 QSOs which is a bit low but overallÂ*not too bad
considering conditions at our location seemed poor for theÂ*high bands, more
impressively is that we only had 12 dupes as itÂ*certainly felt like more!

The post SSB Field Day 2014 G8PX/P appeared first on 2E0SQL.


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UK Space Agency - UKube-1 Cubesat

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 05:14 PM PDT
http://www.2e0sql.co.uk/2014/07/12/u...ube-1-cubesat/


Tuesday the 8th July, saw the launch of the UK Space Agency 3u cubesat
called UKube-1 built by Clydespace in Glasgow, what makes this satellite
even more exciting is the fact it includes a set of Funcube-2 boards
covering both STEM activities and a transponder for amateur use meaning
there’s something new to demo to people and use at the same time!



19:16 UTC was the first UK Pass and it turned up on-time sending its CW
Beacon and then BPSK telemetry both super strong signals. It then did
another pass at 20:58 UTC which was much higher and again using the Funcube
Dongle Pro Plus was able to see both the telemetry and CW beacon
transmitting away.
Spectrum Display of UKube-1 Pass

It’s great to see the 3u cubesat now in orbit and look forward to having a
QSO via it in the future once it’s been fully commissioned.

The post UK Space Agency UKube-1 Cubesat appeared first on 2E0SQL.


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Ham Radio 2014 - Friedrichshafen, Germany

Posted: 09 Jul 2014 09:35 AM PDT
http://www.2e0sql.co.uk/2014/07/09/h...hafen-germany/


Last month I was able to visit the Ham Radio 2014Â*hamfest in
Friedrichshafen, Germany along with some of the Camb-Hams, this HamFest is
dubbed as being the largest amateur radio hamfest in Europe and compared to
the UK it certainly is spanning 3 large halls packed every pretty much
everything you need for the shack this year it there was also a Maker World
taking place in a fourth hall on the Saturday/Sunday.
Optibeams 40m 2el Moxon

On display and for sale was pretty much everything you might need to
purchase for your ham radio shack, but not only that its a great time to
meet up with friends from across Europe for a chat and a beer or two.

Although I didnt really need that much in the way of purchases I did get
the few bits I did require in the way of large purchases but did pick up
powerpole items, a bias-t as im too lazy to make one and also a impulse
purchase in the form of a battery powered soldering iron.
Trip Purchases

You can see more photos from the trip
atÂ*http://magicbug.smugmug.com/Amateur-...riedrichshafen



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