Essex Skills Night – Requested Topics

We’re one week away from the April 2017 Essex Skills Night, and over the next few days, I’ll be putting together the agenda for the evening.

As many of you will be aware, we ran an Essex Skills Night survey in March, which highlighted some interesting findings. One of the questions asked, was “what activities would you like to see at future events?”. Here’s a summary of some of the answers. Are you able to help with any of these?

Essex Skills Night Requests…

Here are some of the suggestions for topics & demos:

• Digital Voice: DMR, D-star, Fusion (plus the latest dongle/hot spot technology)
• We haven’t had a High Altitude Balloon or Drone table for a while
• More hands on demos for newcomers
• More people presenting different areas of the hobby.
• Might be nice to see a RAYNET display
• A DF hunt
• A “build it and prove it” session – several junk boxes with some transistors/crystals/Rs and Cs and copperclad or veroboard, maybe a meter, etc.
• More focus on “getting started” and encouraging those who have (or are in the process of) taking their Foundation/Intermediate regardless of club
• Introduction to digital modes
• An ATV demo
• I have never seen a RTTY demo, and I really want to understand this mode.
• Arduino/Raspberry Pi
• A niche interest is Microwaves
• Amateur Radio Direction Finding ARDF
• More guided activity tables and skill sharing for beginners please.
• I would like to see more of people’s construction projects. I know not very many people still do construction, but I do and I find it to be a very interesting aspect of the hobby. It would be nice to see what people are building if anything
• Some more advanced show and tell. I understand it’s targeted at M3/M6, but something for the ‘modern’ advanced licence would be welcome.

If you think you could contribute or help with any of the above topics, please let me know. The agenda and table layout is normally planned on Thursday, so please let me know by midday Thursday if you’d like a table or fancy helping out. (Contact Pete M0PSX)

Thanks to everyone who supports the Essex Skills Night, and hope to see you next Monday.

Any suggestions missed? Please add them below…

Pete M0PSX

What is the Essex Skills Night?

The Skills Night is an informal monthly get-together in central Essex, where anyone with an interest in radio can come along, try something new, share ideas, get help and advice, and socialise with others interested in the hobby.

Here are some of the pictures from the March 2017 event:

Skills Night 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