Monday the 17th of October 2016 was a busy Essex Skills Night. With just shy of 60 people signing in, it was the third busiest Skills Night this year in terms of attendance, and the busiest in terms of planned activities. The evening was hosted by the Chelmsford ARS Training Team at the Village Hall in Danbury
Although there was a slight drop in the number of M6/2E visitors, there was an increase in SWLs, including at least three studying towards Foundation (two using our Foundation Online course), and poor George who’s waiting patiently for his pass to be confirmed by RSGB/Ofcom, so he can get his callsign.
The rather busy evening consisted of the following demos and activities:
Kits and SMD:
Thanks to Dave G4HUP for returning with his collection of kits and accessories. As Dave pointed out – every product deliberately has at least one part that you’ll need to complete yourself, to give you that sense of achievement. For Dave’s full range, see www.hupRF.com.
Icom ic-7300 & 4metres:
Many thanks to Selim M0XTA for agreeing to bring along the very strokable Icom ic-7300 – great to see one in the flesh at Skills Night. Selim was also offering advice on 4m, and was able to promote his new weekly 4m net, which pulled in 8 participants plus many SWLs on the first night – not bad for a first net on a band that a good percentage of amateurs don’t have access to.
PC Data Connectivity:
For the first time, we were joined by Paul M0CNL, who not only showed his modified version of the Easy Digi interface board (handy for data modes as SSTV), but also brought along some kits to allow people to make their own cheap interface for data modes. Also on Paul’s table, his UV kit for printing PCBs. Paul very kindly donated one of his kits to the Chelmsford ARS, which will be the star prize at an upcoming CARS social evening at Oaklands Museum.
Digital Voice:
By popular demand, more on DMR and D-Star this month. Paul G7BHE returned with demos and advice on D-Star, DMR and Yaesu Fusion digital voice modes.
D- star Hotspot & Satellites:
Sticking with DV, Steve M0SHQ demonstrated his Blue DV personal hotspot for use with D-Star (and DMR). The allows connectivity from a handheld over Bluetooth to an existing Wi-Fi or 4G connection. The unit can be powered from a 5V mobile phone battery pack, offering a truly portable D-Star connection over RF without the need for a repeater.
Steve also attempted a live QSO via the SO-50 satellite during the 7pm overhead pass – sadly contact couldn’t be made (I blame the drizzle), but some QSOs were audible, and the gathered crowd could see the process and kit required to make a satellite contact.
Testing, Testing:
Well done to Steve G4GHO for getting quite a pile-up on the testing table. Steve brought along various bits of test equipment including a network analyser, ‘scopes and a signal generator, with quite a bit of interest.
Constructing from bits in the box:
Melvyn 2E0DNS brought along a few examples of how to make use of components from odd sources to make other things. Hopefully, visitors got a few ideas for novel ways to make use of obsolete parts.
Construction Help and Antenna Construction:
Under the guidance of Alan M0IWZ and Chris G0IPU, some Slim Jim antenna construction took place in the smaller of the two Skills rooms.
Apologies to those who may have had to wait – due to an incident beyond our control on the night, Chris was not able to get to his hotseat in the Construction Corner as early as planned.
Getting Started with Essex Ham:
A busy evening meant that it wasn’t possible for me to run any live demos this month, but the usual mix was present – Getting Started leaflets, the Raspberry Pi Zero running the latest promotional videos, details on the online Foundation training course, the event’s wi-fi, and copies of the latest Radcom and PW for browsing.
Essex CW Club
Rob M0KCP, Dean G4WQI and Oliver M0WAG were active on the Essex CW Club stand running a live station (making contact with Finland, if I recall), and helping to promote and encourage use of the Morse mode.
Callsign Badges:
Jim 2E0JTW and Glynis 2E0CUQ engraving callsign badges on demand – a great service offered at Skills.
CARS Quiz
Another tricky batch of 9 questions, plus an anagram that baffled everyone, “Mr Island Fold”. Questions courtesy of Murray G6JYB and lovingly presented by Chris G0IPU. Fancy writing some questions for next month? Get in touch!
Logistics (!)
As always, a big personal thanks to Myra and David for their continued logistical support, and also to Ann for the amazing cakes (including lemon curd tarts this month). Thanks also to Sarah, who after the piece in this month’s Practical Wireless, is officially the “Dedicated Greeter”…
Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the evening, despite some IT issues with the Quiz laptop, and some unplanned ‘activity’ in the foyer. Thanks again to everyone for their continued support of the event.
The final Essex Skills Night of the year is on the 21st of November. Skills remains a free event that’s open to everyone regardless of licence level. No need to be a member of any clubs, and everyone’s welcome.
Thanks all, and 73,
Pete M0PSX
Event Photos
Related Links
- Essex Ham’s Skills Night Information
- Previous Skills Night Reports
- Chelmsford ARS (CARS) Skills Night Page
- The Skills Night Formula – How to run your own Skills Night
It was really nothing for me to donate a kit to such a worthwhile cause. I hope it helps them to raise the much needed money such a group needs to further promote Amateur Radio, in which it excels. I can’t believe and feel honored that you consider one of my kits that were purely put together to tie Pete’s M0PSX demo on data modes and the upcoming SSTV net (1st Nov 19:30 144.500) in together with my what started out as being a demo on making PCB’s at home, a star prize.
If anyone who bought one of the kits does have any problems or questions then please feel free to contact me via the email address on the back of the kit pack.
I do have a couple of kits still available and am only mentioning it here as I know a couple of people were interested but didn’t have any money with them. Look me up on QRZ where you will find the info to contact me and we can sort something out or I might have one in the car if I can make it to the next skills night. Alternatively just mention it to me on the Monday night net and we can figure something out off air.
I really enjoyed the evening and talking about something that really interests me and it seems others too. My only regrets about doing it on that particular night were that I didn’t get the chance to ask all the questions I have about working satellites, and advice on an antenna for 4m so as I too can participate in the net.
Anyway, I have rambled on far too long (just like my epic overs on the DA Monday net ;-) ) but I would just like to finish by saying thank you to Pete and the whole team that manage to put on such interesting skills nights month after month.
73’s
Paul M0CNL
PS Did you have to use such an awful picture of me.
Pete that was a great evening. Will you be arranging another cabaret in the lobby next month as I will bring popcorn!!