We hit the road running with our first meeting of the new year being among the best yet.
We had a decent turnout and were able to operate two stations. The first was a shiny new Yaesu FTdx10 currently on loan to the club with the amazing HamGeek DP-200 portable telescopic vee aerial that David introduced us to some months ago. The other was Alastair’s equally shiny new IC-705 and his new JNC MC750 telescopic vertical aerial. Both aerials punched above their weight as simple portable freestanding aerials go, and between them we made voice contacts into mainland Europe and FT8 into the far east.
We had a new visitor wanting to learn about amateur radio so it was fortunate that we could demonstrate several facets of the hobby.
JJ talked briefly about the new antenna project and showed a 3D printed spacer as proof of concept. By next month we should have most of the necessary parts and be in a position to begin assembly, with a view to being able to tune and test it in March when hopefully the weather will be a little kinder.