Month: October 2021

As advised by email from the Secretary recently the next regular online meeting will also be the AGM. We’ll try to keep the formal part of the meeting to a minimum (30-40 minutes) and all regulars are welcome, but to vote on a resolution or for the election of officers you’ll need to be a paid-up member on the night.

We’ll also discuss meeting dates over the Christmas period, partly because the calendar doesn’t work out well over that period but specifically whether we’d like to have a social event such as a meal and The Albion, the pub round the corner from the church hall where we used to meet have offered a reserved area upstairs on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

A bit quieter than last time as a few people were put off by the rain but we had an in-depth discussion about David2’s aerial possibilities and the best bands to try to work on, and we taught him the microwave test for suitable aerial materials. John K told us more about the old rigs he’d unearthed in his garage.

The AGM which will take place in next months online meeting was discussed but no further candidates for the committee posts came forward.

There was general interest in having a Christmas meal or social even but it was noted that meetings for the end of the year may present a problem since the current schedule would put the December pub meet three days before Christmas when pubs will be packed and many will have conflicting events. We could therefore do it in place of the November pub meet or simply bring it forward resulting in three meetings in a short time and then a long gap to the first meeting in January. But there’s nothing to stop us having the Christmas event around the end of November/early December and perhaps an extra online meeting over the Christmas period. Should we throw it open to guests? Have a think and we’ll discuss at the next online meeting.

[Footnote] I’ve since checked with The Albion, the pub round the corner from the old church where we met, and they’d be delighted to reserve the end of the upstairs bar, and they do decent giant-sized pizzas along with a range of other meals and snacks.

We’ll try to nab that same area as last time in the central section on the right.

There was an impromptu demonstration of FT-8 culminating with Gregor making QSOs with several others via remote operation of his station in Poland.

John K. showed us some of the spoils from his garage clearout including some Yaesu rigs from the 1980s in immaculate condition.

Blazej reminded us that James Ryan has invited us to clear him out of thirty years of radio magazines so Blazej and David will try to visit to get an idea of the scale.

Members were reminded that the next online meeting on 12th November will be the AGM and nominations for committee posts are invited.

Don’t forget the next pub meeting at The Pear Tree on Wednesday week, 20th October, and the next month or more of events is on the calendar at Upcoming Events – m0xhs

We’ll meet online but this week we’ll use Jitsi which has proved to be fine for both Gozo Amateur Radio Society and London Hackspace Radio Club. As usual a link will be posted nearer the time.

If you have any ideas for topics that either you’d be prepared to talk about for as little as ten minutes or you think someone else has done and you’d like to hear them speak about.

The current arrangement of one online and one physical meeting each month on the second Friday and second following Wednesday seems to be working well but we should re-affirm that we’re happy with that for the foreseeable future. The November meeting will be the AGM where decisions like this can be ratified.