Author: G3VRE Admin

Tonight we took the opportunity to work as many bands as we could and initially started on 50mhz (6m) and despite little in the way of Sporadic E Dave G8TTI and Jamie 2E0MHG managed to contact Portugal.

Dave and Jamie working Portugal on 6m SSB

Meanwhile Jacek M0PLS set up his Buddipole on 10m but had SWR issues and ended up on 20m and got great reports from stations in Hungary and France.

Over in the the Club shack Jenni M0HZT represented the club on the June 2m UK Activity Contest working 14 stations as GX3VRE including Denmark and Germany. Great tropo this evening.

GX3VRE ops in the 144mhz UKAC

Back in the hall we then wondered whether our 6m Hawkins antenna would work on 4m 70mhz and surprisingly the SWR was around 1:8:1 s0 after a quick Auto ATU button press we had a perfect match and we started calling on 70.450 FM, qsy’ing to 70.475.

We made several contacts on 4m including G1ERM in Swindon, G4MUF in Royal Wootton Bassett and Mike 2E0OND in Chippenham. Both Chris G4HCW and John 2E0GTQ joined in on the 4m fun and made QSOs on the band.

So another enjoyable Club night and plenty of on air activity. All in all a great evening with many attendees getting on the air.

Until next time have a great week ahead and best 73 from all at Chippenham and District Amateur Radio Club.

Tonight we focused on 10m SSB courtesy of Jack M0PLS and his Discovery 599 transceiver and Buddipole in an inverted L configuration. With conditions reasonable Jack worked several countries via Sporadic E.

Some tests were also carried out in a vehicle mounted set up using an Anytone Ares ii and a Sirio 145 on a magmount. Some very strong signals received on 10m SSB as well as SSB on 27Mhz CEPT frequencies.

Meanwhile back in the shack Andy 2E1GQX fired up the Hytera MD785 and made QSOs via Phoenix DMR via GB7TC at Swindon.

Jon G0IUE made several CQs on 145.500 (2m) and worked Darren G1ERM from Swindon followed by Club member Mike 2E0OND.

Back at the DMR radio a change of operator with John G0JYL ‘navigating’ his way to the South West Cluster on GB7BS and working Neville G3LMO near Salisbury.

A good turnout despite being half term and a Bank Holiday week and an enjoyable time had by all.

No Brian G6HUI this week who was unwell and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Have a great week folks and enjoy the Sporadic E on 6/4 and 2m bands.

Another enjoyable evening of Ham Radio at the Club this evening. With news breaking that Chippenham will hopefully soon have it’s own DMR Repeater (GB7WW) there was a lot of excitement about this new project.

Tonight’s HF operating used a new antenna, a UK Antenna’s 20m end fed with the Kevlar wire upgrade. On test with our IC-7300 SWR was <1:2:1 on 14.200Mhz and the internal ATU worked fine on 40m/17/15&12m bands.

Jenni M0HZT our Club Secretary worked several stations on 20 & 17m.

Jenni operating HF as GX3VRE

Meanwhile our regular 2m FM activation continued apace with half a dozen stations in our log book this week. Best DX being George G8AOJ in Coleford.

Phil 2E0CXH brought some Chinese handhelds in for programming but only one was updated as the version of Chirp we used did not have a UV10R Programme. Nice radio Phil but it wasn’t to be this week.

Jack M0PLS recently took part in his first 2m SSB contest and was keen to share his successes. Jack made 31 144mhz QSOs and his best DX was Sheffield. Not bad for 50w and a 9 element tonna!

Gary M0OTL provided advice on rotator servicing and shared his knowledge on how to bring a broken one back in to service.

Club member Mike 2E0OND provided us with QSOs on 2m FM and also 20m SSB. Great to hear you’re on the mend Mike.

UK Antennas 20m End Fed on the drive on mount and Spiderbeam 12m mast.

Well that’s about it for this week. Another enjoyable evening spent with friends. Great to see Karen M3KIR and Vicki M3HUI back at the Club after a period of absence.

73 till next time. Have a great week folks!