Geoff Crowley MM5AHO/MM, who has given many LRS talks in the past on his /MM activities (CLICK), returned to talk about:
"Radio from far-flung places - How to fit our hobby into business- and other travel"
Having "unretired" in late 2021 after retiring earlier that year from many years running hot dip galvanizing plants, Geoff formed a consultancy advising others in this industry in how to more effectively run these plants that provide corrosion protection coatings for steel. Visiting some 22 countries in 2022, Geoff took his 2m handy with him and will relate how 2m as a visitor to many places can be an easy way to combine our hobby with working. We might also learn a little about this molten metal process for reducing metallic corrosion, which costs the UK, and most developed countries over 4% of GDP.
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Zinc, the essential element in galvanizing, to protect steel from rusting.
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A steel component being galvanized.
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Here's an unusual picture taken in Nairobi, Kenya. It's the feed transformer to a galvanizing plant that Geoff was visiting. The 3.3kV terminals are about 2m above ground. The mess below the transformer, 1m agl is only 415V.
Mind your fingers!
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Geoff's yacht Contender which has featured in hi sprevious talks on his Maritime Mobile trips to lighthouses islands, etc.
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Geoff's simple single-band 2m handheld proved very effective in making local contacts in many of the locations he visited in 22 countries worldwide, especially through Repeater stations.
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Comparison of the number of repeaters relative to country populations. In this list, Sweden, and New Zealand (where Geoff comes from) have the highest relative populations of Repeaters.
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Geoff's route when visiting Australia.
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Calgary may lie way out in the west of Canada, but has many Repeaters.
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By comparison, India, with its huge population, soon to exceed that of China, has very few repeaters.
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Motor-bikes greatly exceed cars in India with less use of mobile radios and Repeaters.
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Geoff participated in a huge circular dance in India
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- where the wearing of the appropriate costume is obligatory!
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Looks like Geoff is going to have a busy year again in 2023, with at least some Maritime Mobile activity.
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After his excellent talk Geoff was thanked by Pete GM4BYF and presented with a bottle of liquid fuel.
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