Monday the 21st of November 2016 was the last Essex Skills Night of the year, and with just over 60 people signing in, it was a busy one.
In October, we saw a slight drop in the number of newcomers to the Skills Night, but that was rectified this month with 3 new M6s turning up for the first time, and over 10 SWLs, at least six of whom are studying towards their Foundation (many with the help of our online training course). Lots of new faces, and visitors from Essex, Kent and Norfolk – thanks for making the trip.
The rather busy evening consisted of the following demos and activities:
Hellschreiber Demo:
For the first time, the data mode Hellschreiber was on display. Many thanks to first time visitor Graham G8HAJ for diving in with an excellent demo of Hellschreiber. The demo included the first ever transmission on 475kHz from the Skills Night, albeit over a distance of 10cm. You can find more details on this data mode and Graham’s experiments with Hellschreiber here: g8haj.uk/?page_id=47
Radio Programming:
Great to have two people on hand to help with handset programming – Charlie M0PZT and Paul G7BHE with leads for Baofeng, Yaesu, TYT, icom and other radios. Several handies were successfully programmed, including two for chaps studying for Foundation at SEARS.
Testing, Testing:
Mike G4NVT returned with his spectrum analyser, and was working with Steve G4GHO on testing his recently-constructed crystal filter, based on a design in Radcom.
Digital Voice:
Paul G7BHE was kept busy with his DMR demo, plus help and advice on D-Star and Yaesu Fusion.
Ham Goodies
Charlie returned after a short break, with a collection of goodies including various RF adapters, RTL SDR dongles, 40m Pixie kits, the new Zastone D900 DMR handset, plus various components and Arduino/Pi accessories. Take a look at www.hamgoodies.co.uk for the full range of products on offer.
M6 Corner & Getting Started
Thanks to Nick M0NFE for running the Getting Started table for Essex Ham. Exam help and advice was on offer for all three levels, the usual collection of getting started guides were on offer, and Nick was kept busy helping a few prospective newcomers to the hobby, including a local scout leader who may be looking to get his troop interested in radio.
Also on the Essex Ham stand, a scrolling demo of three data modes, and a screening of the Radio Caroline GB5RC feature from the current episode of TX Factor (TX Factor 13), played from a £4 Raspberry Pi Zero.
Construction Corner:
Alan M0IWZ and Steve G4GHO were looking after construction in the Hawkins room, helping with testing, soldering and projects.
Essex CW Club:
Thanks to Rob M0KCP, Dean G4WQI and Oliver M0WAG from the Essex CW Club for demoing their mode of choice. Great to have some live QSOs on 40m from this month’s Skills Night.
Callsign Badges:
Jim 2E0JTW and Glynis 2E0CUQ plus their engraver created a few new callsign badges – including one for “Mr Dorothy”… nice!
CARS Quiz:
This month’s quiz was hosted by guest quizmaster Murray G6JYB – Ten questions, just for fun, with a historial twist.
Logistics
As always, a big personal thanks to Myra and David for their continued logistical support, this month helped by Zena. Also, a big thanks to Ann Salmon for the top quality home-made cakes, and of couse, to Sarah, the event’s “dedicated greeter”.
That concludes the third year of the Essex Skills Night – As one of Murray’s questions confirmed, 33 Skills Nights – a formula that has now been rolled out at other clubs around the UK – created here in Essex. Thanks to everyone who’s supported Skills over the last three years. We’ll be back in January 2017.
Thanks all, and 73,
Pete M0PSX
Event Photos
Related Links
- Essex Skills Night – Event information from Essex Ham
- Previous Skills Night Reports – Our reports on Skills Night Events
- skills”>Chelmsford ARS (CARS) Skills Night Page
- The Skills Night Formula – How to run your own Skills Night
