Net #47 on 24 Feb: Apols: Colin GM4HWO & Alan GM3PSP. Controller Pete GM4BYF. Participants: Peter GM4DTH, Briain GM8PKL, Mike GM8KCS, Melvyn GM4HYR, John GM8OTI, Brian GM8BJF, Brian GM4DIJ. Visitor Mike GM0MMN Kirkcaldy.
Peter has taken delivery of a Key KM80 commercial mobile on 4m to be used for the GB2RS service. This should lead to an improvement in audio quality. Testing will take place over the next few days. Briain has had a new aerial bracket heavily chromated bringing the day it will be in the sky ever closer. Mike had been working in Glasgow and communicated /M with Peter on 2m AM at the junction for Airdrie. Melvyn was the first to report aerial damage after yesterday’s gales. His 60m dipole had disintegrated and his large magnetic loop had broken free from its mountings. John hoped he had cured the problem with the relays ‘chattering’ in his amplifier. He suspected an EMC issue and improved the screening of the relay’s circuitry. Still in construction mode he is developing a regulator to use with a four cell Lipo battery to power 12V equipment. Finally he was recommending watching NASA’s video of the landing on the rover ‘Perseverance’. Brian BJF, in Peebles, was audible to the majority on the net. He had been renovating his 2m aerial and the general feeling was an improvement of his signal. He reported that his noise level was lower than usual The final Brian of the evening (DIJ) said that his 23cm aerial needed attention after the gales. In the 4m contest he worked Terry GM3WUX, Malcolm GM4TAL and Mike GM4IGS. Pete reminded everyone how long his chromated Tonna 2m beam had lasted. His 23cms preamplifier was still unserviceable He pointed out in the past he has an EMC issue with intermittent self keying of a transmitter being trigged by spikes from his refrigerator. He warned the net not to buy furniture from direct from an Cornish online retailer which delivers direct from their warehouse. What they did not reveal is the warehouse’s location which is in Vietnam. It seems that they have adopted some of their trading practices of the fictional character ‘Arthur Daley’. Report – tnx Peter. Audio file tnx Peter.