2017/18 winter ragchew

EDMUND M0MNG REPORTS ON

GB2WFB, THE SPECIAL EVENT STATION AT THE

WORTHING FIRE BRIGADE OPEN DAY

Plus What is it?

JONATHAN G1EXG HAS BEEN PLAYING WITH THIS MYSTERIOUS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT HE PICKED UP AT THE LAST JUNK SALE.

JONATHAN G1EXG’S SHORT CIRCUIT PRESIDENTIAL PONDERINGS CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER CORRESPONDENCE RALLIES

Winter 2018

Worthing & District Amateur Radio Club Established 1948 Website: www.wadarc.org.uk

E-mail: info@wadarc.org.uk President: Chris Smith G3UFS WADARC meets every Wednesday at 8pm in the Lions Hall, 21 Roberts Road, Lancing BN15 8AR. All who have an interest in radio communications and associate subjects, whether a licensed amateur or not, are welcome. We can also arrange training for the radio amateur Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced licences.

The WADARC Committee 2017 – 2018 Chairman Alan Baker G4GNX Vice-Chairman Leslie Sampson G3JSU Secretary Andy Braeman M6RFE Treasurer Roger Ferrand G7VBR Raymond Ellett M6IKO Norman Jacobs 2E0RKO Ian MacDonald M0IAD Alex Slee 2E0UMD These Committee and Members have volunteered to accept the following responsibilities: Membership Manager Ian MacDonald M0IAD Ragchew Editor Roger Hall G4TNT Website Andrew Cheeseman G1VUP / Alastair Weller M0OAL Special Events Stations Peter Head G4LKW Online Content Coordinator Alan Baker G4GNX Outside Events Coordinator, Facilities and Bookings Norman Jacobs 2E0RKO Training Coordinators Alastair Weller M0OAL / Andrew Cheeseman G1VUP Exam Secretary Alastair Weller M0OAL Press and Publicity Coordinator Les Sampson G3JSU Quartermasters Andy Braeman M6RFE / Raymond Ellett M6IKO Club Calendar Coordinator Vacant Weekly News Email Phil Godbold G4UDU, Alan Baker G4GNX, Jonathan Hare G1EXG

WADARC Club Nets (all times are local) 07.30

Sunday

3.725MHz ± QRM SSB

19.30

Monday

145.425MHz (V34/S17)

11.00

Thursday

7.106MHz ± QRM SSB

CONTENTS Editorial .................................................. 4 Presidential Ponderings .......................... 6 Chairman’s Chatter ................................ 8 What is it? by Jonathan G1EXG ......................... 10 Outside Event – GB2WFB by Edmund M0MNG .. 16 Short Circuits by Jonathan G1EXG .................... 18 Correspondence ...................................... 21 Rallies ..................................................... 23

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EDITORIAL

W

elcome once again to the latest edition of Ragchew. As always, I would like to start by thanking everyone who took the time and trouble to send in contributions. They make Ragchew, I just compile their contributions.

New Venue The big news this time is that just as this issue was being finalised, our Club has moved to a new home. Instead of meeting in the Parish Hall in Lancing, as of January 17th, we now meet every Wednesday evening at 20.00 at the Lions Hall, 21 Roberts Road, Lancing BN15 8AR. The Parish Hall has been the Club’s home for many years and for most of that time we were very happy there but, unfortunately, things have not been so good in recent times. Admittedly, the Parish Council very kindly allowed us to put up antennas for HF and for our repeater GB3WO and when they had to be moved, the Council paid for the work to be carried out.

However, that wasn’t quite as generous as it sounds because it was the Council that made moving the antennas necessary when they asked us to vacate our usual room and told us we’d have to use the main hall and small bar area instead. That was okay but the room(s) were not really suitable for our purposes, especially as they would quite often not be available because other users wanted them for plays, orchestras, rehearsals and so on.

I think the final straw for us was the problem with their fire alarm. When we keyed up a Club radio on HF, it would often set off the alarm, which meant they had to reset it and I believe it happened so often it even got as far as the Fire Brigade taking an interest.

To anyone technical it’s obvious that their alarm was faulty. It clearly was not capable of stopping RF getting into its circuitry, as most modern equipment is required to do nowadays.

However, to the layman who knows nothing about technology, it was obvious it was WADARC causing the problem – we press a button, it sets their arm going. To them, it’s a straightforward case of cause and effect and the solution is simple, stop us pushing the button and their alarm won’t go off. It reminded me of a cause and effect story about pop

4

C singer Bono. He was in one of his lecturing moods at a concert so in between songs he stood on the stage for a few moments, not saying a word, just snapping his fingers roughly once a second. “Do you know”, he said eventually, “every time I click my fingers, a child dies in Africa?”

There was a short silence and then a voice called out from the back of the hall, “Well stop doing it then!”

In This Issue Jonathan G1EXG had an unusual piece of equipment thrust on him at the last Junk Sale and it’s taken him a while to figure out what it is, if it’s working and what he can do with it.

Edmund M0MNG took part in the Special Event Station that was on the air during Worthing Fire Brigade’s Open Day and he’s kindly sent in a report of his time there.

In his Short Circuit column this time, Jonathan G1EXG explains the theory behind collinear arrays and tells you why you might want to use them instead of a traditional Yagi.

A ‘cattle class’ trip to Australia left Ted G3EUE pining for the good old days of travel as illustrated by Negley Farson’s book of about flying in bygone days and he’s written to Ragchew to share a lengthy extract from it with Club members.

There’s no Club Calendar this time because the dates for forthcoming events are still being finalised so we finish this issue with a list of upcoming rallies.

Finally Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this issue of Ragchew. I literally could not have done it without you.

If you have anything you’d like to contribute to the next issue, please do get in touch with me at ragchew@wadarc.org.uk 73, Roger G4TNT

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PRESIDENTIAL PONDERINGS

F

irst, let me start by wishing all our members and their families a slightly belated very happy and prosperous New Year. From the Club’s point of view, it was quite a tumultuous ending to 2017, with continued question marks on where we are going to settle in 2018.

LPC Problems I feel we were very badly let down by Lancing Parish Council when they ejected us from the room we have occupied for many years and transferred us to the large main hall, which is underheated, as is the small side room where the bar is that that we also use.

Another disadvantage with the main hall is that we will be denied access to it whenever other parties need it to rehearse or put on shows on the main stage.

On the plus side, we have been able to erect antennas for LF/HF and for our repeater but there have been problems with RF breakthrough into the Council’s old and vulnerable fire alarm system.

All in all, it’s generally agreed that a move to new premises is now a priority. It’s a work in progress and we will release more information about what we’re doing and our progress as and when there is something to report.

Christmas Meal I regret not being able to attend the annual Christmas Meal, which I understand was a great success, so I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those there who were awarded certificates and cups.

I have a particular interest in the Construction Competition and I feel that members should be given more encouragement to get them into it because constructing a piece equipment gives the builder a great sense of achievement and, of course, enhances his or her technical knowledge as well.

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C A Political Tangent I’d like to go off on a political tangent for just a moment because this time I’m very pressed to find subjects to reflect upon. To my mind, increasingly the world is turning into a very dangerous place and there appears to be no one who is able to stop it. We are in the hands of politicians, many of whom should not be in the positions they currently occupy.

Finally Just before Christmas a card was pushed through my letterbox. It was from my paperboy/girl/man/woman/whoever and inside it was written “To No 50, (my house number) From your paper boy/girl etc.”.

There was no name or anything else to identify the person who had left the card but there was this killer line was written along the bottom – “Don’t forget the tip”.

Normally, that wouldn’t have been a problem and I would have been happy to oblige but this came just a week after the delivery person hadn’t pushed my papers through the letterbox. Instead, they’d left them outside on the hedge in the rain and they’d been completely ruined. That meant I had to go to the newsagent with a plastic bag full of sodden papers to request another copy of the Sunday Telegraph along with all of its ruined supplements!

One has to wonder how some of our young people have been brought up.

That’s all for now, let’s hope 2018 proves to be better than 2017 and we find a suitable sustainable venue for our clubroom.

73, Chris G3UFS

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CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER s I sit writing this, 2018 is fast approaching so I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope that you will all look forward to taking WADARC into newer, brighter times.

I believe one of the worst things any club can do is slip into a rut because this only produces the same old, same old. Amateur radio is changing and I hope we can embrace those changes and learn new skills as well as supporting the traditions that have been with us for many years.

A

70th Anniversary As 2018 is WADARC’s 70th anniversary, I’d really like to see us ‘put ourselves about a bit’ and proudly celebrate the Club’s survival for all this time. To assist us, I’ve applied for a special licence for WADARC and I’m trying to obtain the callsign GB70WOR from Ofcom.

I’m hoping they will allow us to use this callsign from our homes because that will then give each member the opportunity to promote the Club from home. If lack of equipment is your problem, the Club has some really good rigs that members can borrow so provided you have an antenna, you can get on the air.

Membership Numbers Members, more members and even more members are needed to help our Club survive. I know that Chris, our President, has written elsewhere that he’s concerned that the number of members has depleted.

Unfortunately, some have become Silent Key and obviously there’s nothing we can do about that but other members have left the club over the years and maybe they could be persuaded to return.

As for those who have commented on the cost, regardless of what some ‘meanies’ might say, I think that we’re value for money at £35 per year. My local bowls club costs me in excess of £100 a year plus there’s a ‘locker fee’ and I have to pay £4.50 for a 3-hour session each week, as well as doing all the work myself to provide my entertainment. C’mon

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C people, WADARC is not too expensive! If you know of someone who you think might like to (re)join, please do your best to persuade them.

Come Along Of course, we do have some new members, especially those who are newly licensed, but where are you all? The Club meets on a Wednesday evening so please come along to and make yourself known.

There’s no need to be shy or feel that you’ll be out of your depth. Our membership is made up of a mixture of old timers and newcomers with varying amounts of knowledge and experience between them but the common factor is we are all willing to help whenever we can.

Post Training Support We’ve focussed a lot on training in the past and we will continue to do so in the future but I believe there’s also an obvious need for the Club to offer some form of post training support as well.

To me, it’s a bit like driving after you’ve taken the driving test – you pass the test but that doesn’t make you a good driver. Only experience can do that.

To my mind, it’s much the same with amateur radio – you’re shown a rig and you get to pass a couple of messages, all within the space of half an hour. Then you get your licence and you can go on the air but you have no experience so what do you do next?

This is where I believe the Club could help. We should help newcomers set up their stations and give them some confidence by showing them how to actually use their radios or, if somebody doesn’t have a radio, they could be taught on Club equipment. If you have yet to visit the Club, we’re here to help and highly approachable so please do pop in to see us.

73, Alan G4GNX

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JUNK SALE FOLLOW-UP What is it?

Jonathan Hare G1EXG tries to find out what that thing was that he had thrust upon him at a recent junk sale.

D

uring one of the recent junks sales there was so much gear it wasn't clear how we were going to get through it all in the allotted time. As a result, when someone brought something, they often got extra bits of 'interesting' gear added as 'ballast' to the purchase!

Apart from the piles of components, plugs and sockets and electrical gear there was also miscellaneous test gear and apparatus that was too good to throw away, but which may not have been of enough interest for anyone to actually buy at the time. Our auctioneer, Phil G4UDU, noticed one particularly intriguing device that he brought for a small sum and then gave to me to play with, saying something along the lines of "Whatever it is, Jonathan will do something with it!" The question we all asked then was, "What is it?" So, I thought the least I could do to thank him was to document what I have found out about it so far.

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C What is it?

The first photo shows the device with some of its accessories. It is military specification apparatus, probably dating from the late 1960s (there is a capacitor inside marked Oct. 65). It's in a rugged steel box about 30 x 15 x 15cm with sockets for mains in, probe i/p and o/p as well as an ON/OFF switch and an indicator lamp. The mains plug looks relatively new but everything else looks original.

On the underside of the removable lid are various connectors and leads and what is labelled a 'Cathode follower RF probe'. The device has a stamp on the top cover: ZD 04495 Amplifier, Wideband, B.P.L. TYPE WA. 1157 Equipment. British Physical Laboratories, Radlett Herts, Instrument Number 11824. According to a weathered sticker that's difficult to read, it looks like it might have been last calibrated in 1983.

In addition to the ON/OFF switch, mains power indicator and input probe it has a coaxial o/p socket (marked max 2V RMS).

The front panel has a three-position voltage gain switch marked: x 10, 20c/s to 50Mc/s x 50, 40c/s to 40Mc/s x 100, 50c/s to 15Mc/s In the removable lid there’s a rectifier Unit (Z.D. 04497 B.P.L. A107/17), a small rectangular box with a plug jutting out one side that fits the o/p socket of the amplifier. The unit also has two thumb screw connections for wires (e.g. a chart recorder connection?). There’s also a Probe Cathode follower with a 5ft fly lead with a multi-way plug that fits the i/p of the amplifier.

What Can We Do With It? Bering in mind the above information, when I opened up the unit, I found a well-made, clean and rust free four valve (CV3998) circuit. As the o/p is marked 2V max, its obviously not a power amplifier but a pre-amplifier (with x 10, x 50 and x 100 gain). It looks like something that could perhaps go between some kind of RF pick-up device (for example, an antenna or a loop) or a transducer and some kind of spectrum analyser or oscilloscope for measurement, testing or repair of radio equipment. It could also be a piece of test equipment for telephone systems.

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C It’s possible Companies like Schlumberger might perhaps have used such a broadband amplifier with transducers during seismic tests for oil exploration. I don't know how accurate the quoted gain versus bandwidth specification is nor do I know how well the amplifier will cope with a range of strong signals coming in at once ... but it's an 'interesting' box of tricks!

Does it Work?

I wired the unit up via its mains lead to a variable transformer and slowly turned up the AC voltage to see what would happen. The front panel light came on and the four valves and rectifier tubes glowed nicely, which was promising.

There is a cathode follower probe that plugs into the preamplifier and the input goes via this.

There are two fixing screw posts at the end of the probe for the input, which is rather strange for a preamplifier as one would expect a coaxial input of some kind (e.g. a phono socket or a BNC connector perhaps).

I opened up this little metal box (see photo) and found another CV3998 valve with a capacitor coupled (non-balanced) input. When I powered up, this valve also glowed so it seemed to be ok. A quick search on the internet shows the CV3998 is a high-quality RF beam pentode (with gold pins connections) "intended for wideband amplifiers in telephone carrier systems, radar equipment and measurement equipment".

A Simple Audio Test As the preamplifier claims to have good gain at very low frequencies (ca.

20Hz), my first test was simply to wire a makeshift microphone into the amp and feed the output into a power amplifier with a loudspeaker. The result was that it was obvious the preamplifier was working well – the sound was louder than without the preamplifier and the quality was excellent.

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C As expected, switching to higher gains made quite a difference to the loudness. A little instability was also noted at high gains but as my microphone was just a loudspeaker wired in with non-screened leads, I expect a little RF was also being picked up, amplified and sent to the power amplifier. Overall, it seemed to be working well at audio frequencies.

Possible Uses and Experiments A wideband preamplifier like this should not be put directly between an antenna and receiver because it is not tuned or filtered in any way so it would probably just tend to overload my receiver front end.

The same goes for using the device as an IF amplifier in an experimental radio.

As it has a nice wideband response and good gain, one thought was to put an ultrasonic transducer on the input and send the rectified output to an audio amp and use the device as a bat detector. You should be able to hear the ultrasonic clicks from bats this way. However, it's not exactly portable and it needs a mains connection, of course.

One thought I had was that I might use the device in a speculative experiment to see if I could measure the total RF 'coming in' at any one time at my QTH. This way I could see how 'total band conditions' vary over the day, from day to day and over the seasons.

Amplifying the RF from an antenna and rectifying the result should give an interesting snapshot of the total radio 'power' coming in summed from below the long wave to above the 10m band.

My LZ1AQ active loop antenna [1] has a very broad frequency range that would match the preamplifier and might do this job quite well.

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C Diode Detector The amplifier unit even comes with a diode detector that could go straight to a digital oscilloscope or data logger. It would, however, be worth including a logarithmic amplifier between the preamplifier o/p and data logger to cope with the large variations in signal that might be expected.

As it happens, I acquired just such a device (based on the AD8307 chip) at the same junk sale where I got the preamp! I will let you know if it all works out [2].

I would like to thank Phil G4UDU, Andrew G1VUP and the late Peter Dodd G3LDO, whose equipment made up much of the sale items, including the pre-amp and log amplifier discussed here.

Information and Links [1] for more information about the LZ1AQ broadband receiving antenna, take a look at this page on my website: www.creative-science.org.uk/loop_lz1aq.html [2] If I get any interesting results from my experiments, I will post them on my website at: www.creative-science.org.uk/g1exg.html 73, Jonathan G1EXG

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OUTSIDE EVENT GB2WFB Edmund M0MNG reports on GB2WFB (Worthing Fire Brigade) Special Event Station that he helped with last year at the Worthing Fire Station Open Day.

I

arrived on site at 0800 on the Saturday morning to find the tent had already been erected and the antenna was in place. Once again, our HF antenna was the Carolina Windom, supported by a conveniently-located tree at one end and the training tower at the other! I believe that the two Petes (G4LKW and 2E0FVL) had set up on site on the Friday evening.

Getting Started During the day, there were lots of ominous dark clouds but thankfully the rain held off until the afternoon, apart from one heavy shower around 0830 which only lasted five minutes.

We switched on the Club’s Icom IC-7300 slightly earlier than the official 1000 opening time and headed straight for 40m.

The band was in better condition than it has been in recent months and certainly better than the year before. In 2016, GB2WFB had to call CQ regularly during the day with big gaps between QSOs but this year, although we stayed on 40m SSB throughout, we rarely needed to call CQ. In fact, we stayed on 7.132MHz virtually the whole time. This was despite being interrupted by a couple of brief power cuts when somebody accidentally unplugged us at the generator! Ironically, the decision was made not to be connected to the mains

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C this year. Apparently, in 2016 there were a number of interruptions to the mains supply, but none of us could actually recall this happening! To the best of our recollections, we have always used the mains without any noticeable problems in the past.

HF Contacts Our first half-a-dozen or so contacts were with nearby countries – for example, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Then propagation changed and we started to hear UK stations.

There has tended to be deep and rapid fading on 40m in recent months, accompanied by a long skip distance. In the event, QSB was present but nowhere near enough to cause problems.

I had thought that we would hear few stations in the southern half of the UK but I was very pleased when this fear proved unfounded. We had a QSO with a station in Oxford who was 59 to us; I doubt we would have heard him at all on many other days.

We didn’t work any DX but this was more than compensated for by good inter-G conditions. The number of contacts we managed in 2017 must surely stand head and shoulders above our total for 2016.

Repeater Contacts As WADARC runs its own 70cms repeater, GB3WO, we had QSOs through it with three local stations – Dorian 2E0FSI/M on the A27 near Shoreham, then Laura M0LJK plus her dad Leon G4FFE in Worthing. We also had QSOs through GB3IW on the Isle of Wight with stations in Southampton and America (the latter via Echolink, obviously!)

GB2WFB on 70cms.

Weather The one downside was the weather. All the forecasts predicted that it would rain heavily in the afternoon but not until 1500 - 1600.

Unfortunately, the skies darkened and the heavens opened at about 1315.

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C The initial burst did not last long but it continued to rain and drizzle continuously after that.

Sadly, the downpour pretty much ended the event by putting the crowds to flight. The occasion had been extremely well attended until then, so it was a great pity that the rain made all the visitors leave prematurely. If we had been blessed with wall-to-wall sunshine, I believe this year we would have seen a record number of visitors to the Worthing Fire Station Open Day. The rain had such an impact that the organisers decided to officially close completely at 1500, an hour earlier than advertised. They could quite easily have closed it even earlier because there was only a handful of visitors remaining. By 1500, we were well into dismantling the GB2WFB tent.

Finally I don’t have a copy of the log, so I’m afraid that I do not know how many QSOs we made or which country proved to be our best DX. I remember hearing a total of around 80 QSOs being mentioned.

Some of the members in attendance were Pete G4LKW, Pete 2E0FVL and Brian G0SIU – I apologise to those I might have missed.

73, Edmund M0MNG

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G1EXG’S SHORT CIRCUITS Jonathan G1EXG takes a look at the theory and design of collinear arrays and explains the benefits of using them instead of a Yagi.

SHORT CIRCUIT NO. 17: COLLINEAR ARRAYS

D

ipoles can be connected together to produce a larger antenna called a collinear array. Like a Yagi beam, the arrangement produces an antenna with greater directivity and higher gain but the collinear array has better bandwidth.

Theory In free space the half-wave dipole radiates most power at right angles to the wires, producing a symmetrical doughnut shaped pattern. Very little is radiated along the line of the wires. This non-spherical radiation pattern means the dipole has a small gain over a hypothetical isotropic antenna that radiates equally in all directions. The gain of an antenna is Photo 1 always due to some change in the directivity and/or radiation pattern of the device. It is not due to some mysterious amplifying action. In other words, when we create an antenna with gain, it is because power that might previously have been radiated in an unwanted direction is now being added to power radiated in the direction we want.

We can add dipoles together to create a larger antenna with more interesting properties. For example, we can space dipoles a half a wavelength apart and by paying special attention to the way we wire them up to power them, we can make the dipoles work together – this is a collinear array.

Benefits Using such as antenna improves your set up in several ways. For instance, the station you are transmitting to receives a better signal from you and you receive a better signal from them. In addition, the improved directionality means you often also receive less noise or interference from nearby sources of radiation because they don't happen to lie in the beam of the collinear array, which means the overall improvement can be even better than expected.

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C Practicalities The spacing and wiring between the dipoles is important (they’re usually a half wavelength or one full wavelength apart) so that all the antennas work together, that is, they work in-phase.

As we increase the number of dipoles in the array, the radiating (and receiving) pattern changes from the doughnut shape of a dipole to one that looks more like a squashed figure-of-eight bidirectional pattern, as shown in the diagram. The main pattern will become narrower and sharper as the array grows. There will also be other minor lobes but the main power is now directed out from the antenna much more intensely than with a single dipole.

A point to note; if you have too many elements in an array, it becomes difficult to share the power evenly. In this case, you can divide up the antenna into a number of smaller arrays that are connected to a power splitter. Reflector elements, or conducting sheets of metal or mesh, can be spaced about half a wavelength behind the array to create a unidirectional antenna of even greater gain.

Photo 1 shows a vertical array of three 2m band dipoles (with a 5-element Yagi to the left for comparison). In this antenna, the correct phasing between the dipoles is created by using quarter of a wavelength (QW) long delay lines made from open wire feeder (see diagram). This gives a half-wave (180°) delay or phasing once the power has gone to the end of the quarter wave line and back again.

The antenna is fed at the centre where the impedance is about 200Ω (giving a good match to 50Ω when a 4:1 coax balun is used). With the antenna mounted vertically it is still omni-directional, like a dipole, but the three dipoles working together mean more power is delivered at lower angles (where other stations are) rather than wasting power radiating at angles that simply go out into space.

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C Photo 2 shows an array of dipoles I built for 1296MHz experiments.

Each dipole is supported at the centre (voltage minimum).

There is an aluminium gauze reflector behind the array to make the pattern unidirectional.

In this antenna you can see that each dipole is fed at the end using open wire feeder lines that cross over between adjacent sets of dipoles to ensure the correct phasing. In my prototype I feed the antenna with 50â„Ś coax at the centre of the array using a matching Photo 2 network.

More information and details of a 3-element vertical collinear array for the 2m band can be found on this website. Just click on the link below to open your browser and to be taken directly to the site if your computer is currently connected to the internet. www.creative-science.org.uk/3D_2m_3ele_collinear.html 73, Jonathan G1EXG

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CORRESPONDENCE FLYING AS IT USED TO BE Ted G3EUE has written in to share Negley Farson’s recollections of flying as it was in bygone days when a trip to India could take a whole week. few years ago I had the doubtful pleasure of a ‘cattle class’ flight to Australia. Its sole redeeming feature was a relatively quick transit time but, nevertheless, it was disappointing that nothing was seen of the journey itself other than a stop-over in a city.

On reflection, I think I would have preferred more leisurely travel, such as was the norm in the distant past. Whilst in Tasmania I found a 1938 copy of Negley Farson’s book The Way of a Transgressor, which marvellously describes the period from pre-First World War to the 1930s.

In 1930, as a journalist he was sent at very short notice to India and wrote about his experiences there and of the flight. As you will see, it was a far cry from today's hustle.

"24 hours later I was on an Imperial Airways plane flying to Karachi. At 5.30 I was going through the rain to Croydon. We dropped in at Brussels for a cup of cocoa and that night with the only other passenger we were drinking cocktails in Nurnberg. ‘Wake up!’ at 4.30 the pilot was slapping my face with his flying helmet – ‘Do you want to sleep all day? We are flying to India!’

“So at dawn I was looking down from my seat in the cockpit next to the pilot. Down the Danube to Vienna, on to Budapest for lunch and overnight in Belgrade. Next day a stormy journey, a nasty headwind, grinding along, almost stationary in the black clouds, whilst we looked nervously at the indicators – the oil supply was beginning to give out until the pilot sideslipped the 105ft wing-spread, 3-engined Heracles, swished-tailed landing that brought them to rest almost on the tarmac at Salonika.

We took off in the hydroplane and landed in Egypt at sunset. On the way we dropped in at Athens and Crete. Flying down through the islands of the Aegean was a beautiful experience, historic names, rocky, grey, cloaked with pines and little white cities lying in their harbours. We cut in to Mirabelle Bay, over the little fort of the leper colony then lunch on the Imperial Airways yacht. As they had just fired the cook lunch was slabs of thick bacon cooked by the engineer. With 10 minutes of daylight to spare

A

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C they dropped in among the shipping of Alexandria harbour, the first flip from Salonica across the Mediterranean to Alex. in one day. Off to Cairo by train.

“Off from Heliopolis to follow the canal from Port Said to Suez and over the solitude of the Sinai desert for which section we carried an extra water tank strapped to the plane's floor.

“Beyond the Dead Sea the sight of ancient fortresses, 80 miles of basalt and then yellow sands with a faint scratch which was the famous Plough Track made by the Royal Air Force for 600 miles as a guide for the first motor cars to cross the Syrian desert.

“A landing at Fort Rutbah, some 250 miles from Baghdad. Take off from Baghdad under a full moon to Basra where their unexpected arrival found the whole camp asleep and they had to circle again and again to wake the mechanics to put out the landing flares.

“On to Bushire, Jask and Lingeh where there was a plague so they couldn't venture from the landing ground. Finally, Muscat, said to be the cheapest place in the world for cigarettes at 7/6 a thousand. The last long jump over the Indian Ocean to Karachi. The whole journey took 7 days.”

Footnote I know I’m nit picking – in the above, Negley Farson refers to the Heracles as a 3-engined aircraft. At that time the 3-engined aircraft used by Imperial Airways was the DH66 with a different wingspan from that quoted. This aircraft was withdrawn from Imperial Airways service in 1935 but continued in use in the Far East for a number of years after that. The last known one was destroyed by enemy action in New Guinea in 1942.

It is believed that these aircraft, and possibly later models, were generally known as Hercules. A later 4-engined Imperial Airways aircraft was individually named Heracles.

I think the hydroplane referred to for the crossing to Egypt was probably a Short S8 Calcutta flying boat.

73, Ted Jones G3EUE

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FORTHCOMING RALLIES FEBRUARY 4th – Canvey Radio Rally Paddocks Community Centre, Long Road, Canvey Island, Essex SS80JA 10th – Ballymena ARC Rally Ahoghill Community Centre, 80 Cullybackey Road Ahoghill BT42 1LA 11th – Harwell Radio and Electronics Rally Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road, Didcot, Oxon OX11 8AY 18th – Radioactive Rally Nantwich Civic Hall, Cheshire CW5 5DG 25th – BRATS Medway Radio Rally The Victory Academy, Magpie Hall Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 5JB 25th – Pencoed ARC Table Top Sale Pencoed RFC, The Verlands, Felindre Road, Pencoed CF35 5PB

MARCH 4th – Grantham ARC Radio and Electronics Rally Grantham West Community Centre, Trent Road, Grantham NG31 7XQ 4th – Exeter Radio & Electronics Rally America Hall De La Rue Way Pinhoe, Exeter EX4 8PW 11th – Dover Radio Club Rally Whitfield Village Hall, Sandwich Road, Manley Close, Whitfield CT163LY 24th – Laugharne Radio Rally & Microwave Symposium Millennium Memorial Hall, Clifton Street, Laugharne SA33 4QG 25th – Callington Radio Rally Callington Town Hall, Callington, Cornwall PL17 7BD 25th – Wythall Radio Club Hamfest Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ

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APRIL 8th – Ripon & District ARS Rally and Surplus Equipment Sale Hugh Ripley Hall, Ripon , North Yorkshire HG4 2PT 15th – West London Radio & Electronics Show (Kempton Rally) Kempton Park Racecourse, Staines Road East, Sunbury TW16 5AQ 15th – Yeovil ARC QRP Convention Digby Hall, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3AA 21st – International Marconi Day Various events around the country.

22nd – Cambridge Repeater Group Rally Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge, Cambs CB22 6RN 29th – Blackpool Rally Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool FY2 9AA

MAY 6th – Thorpe Camp Hamfest (Formerly Dambusters Hamfest) Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre, Tattershall Thorpe, Lincoln LN4 4PL. 6th – Southern Electronics & Radio Fair (Eastbourne Rally) Eastbourne Sports Park, Cross Levels Way, Eastbourne BN21 2UF 7th – Dartmoor Radio Rally Tavistock College, Crowndale Road, Tavistock PL19 8DD. 17th-20th Dayton Hamvention® Greene County Fair & Exposition Center, Xenia, Dayton, Ohio, USA. 20th – SARCOM Braehead Radio Electronics Rally Kings Inch Road, Glasgow G51 4BN 26th – RADARS Flea Market Indoor Sale St Vincent de Paul’s, Caldershaw Road, Norden, Rochdale, OL12 7QR. 27th – Durham District ARS Radio Rally Bowburn Community Centre, Durham road, Bowburn , Co. Durham DH6 5AT

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