Last night saw a keen crowd join the county’s newest club for a Show-and-Tell session on Canvey Island.
The Thames Amateur Radio Group meets on the first Friday of the month at Jubilee Hall on Canvey, and this month’s meeting was a well-attended get together to see various bits and pieces being demonstrated, and to try out a few new ham radio goodies.
After various announcements from the Chairman, Mark M0IEO gave the audience a good introduction to the world of soldering, followed by the opportunity for those new to the art, to get hands-on with the cold end of a soldering iron – helpful to M6s looking to move to Intermediate level. It was good to see so many people give soldering try for the first time.
There were various other items on display, including a demo of the JT65 data mode upstairs in the club’s shack, and a demo of the impressive little Fun Cube Dongle (USB receiver that covers 64MHz to 1.7GHz). Signals for this tiny SDR were received using Pete’s home-made Slim Jim 2m antenna, which is a handy roll-up antenna great for suitcase travelling. (More: How to make a Slim Jim antenna)
Other ham kit on display included some nice 2m and 70cm antennas made by Innovantennas, and a tape measure Yagi made by Norman M0FZW. Ironically, one of the raffle prizes was a tape measure – the raw ingredient needed for this novel and popular 2metre beam.
Also in attendance was the team from Ultimate Workwear, the company that produces the range of merchandise for both the Thames Amateur Radio Group, and for Essex Ham (More: Essex Ham Merchandise)
As with all of this club’s events, plenty of tea and cakes were on offer, and one rather special cake was presented to the Vice Chairman, Tom 2E0TNC, as it’s his birthday. Awww…. bless!
Finally, a few of you picked up some of our new Essex Ham Car Stickers. If you’d like one, keep an eye out for Pete M0PSX at the Canvey Rally tomorrow, or at one of the various upcoming ham radio events in Essex.
