No, not counting to One thousand.. but actually reaching One Thousand Subscribers!
Well.. what am I going to do? Upload more videos, got a few ideas just need to work out how I'm going to do it. Just a small update anyway, now what Beer shall I celebrate with?
So waaaay back in 2017, about a year after I got my Foundation licence the radio club that I was a member of was having a clear out. Telford HAMfest was approaching and is was a good time to get rid of old components/radios/test equipment that was surplus to requirement. The good thing about this was having first dibs, and having spotted an old radio I thought it would make a good project!
The Uniden model 2030 2 Meter FM transceiver, from the 1970s!
It uses radio xtals, two per frequency. One is for transmitting and the other for receiving. It looks like the previous owner had inserted a "Tone Board" so it could be used on repeaters. Unfortunately modern repeaters use ctcss tones, so the board had to be taken out.
After taking the board out I had too find what wires were cut out before the board was put in! I looked on radiomuseum.org and found the schematics. So it looks like I am going to be doing a bit of wire tracing!
I'm going to get some of this on video, and will hopefully upload the entire project in one video, but it might take a while! Also Ive got a lot of learning to do so it will keep me occupied for a while!
As we are all in lockdown (Ie cant go out unless we are a Key worker, collecting medicines or shopping for essentials). I thought Id try and get on to a few amateur radio bands that I have not been on before.
I have been licenced since 2016 and have only been on 2 Meters (144Mhz), 70cms (433Mhz), 80 Meters (3Mhz), 20 Meters (14Mhz) and 40 Meters (7Mhz). The HF bands I could get on whilst operating away from home and up a hill somewhere. In the back garden? No chance!
I thought about what other bands I could get on without breaking lockdown rules, and had managed to get on 10 Meters using a CB radio mag mount that happend to be resonant on the FM part of the band. I had shot part of a video back in January and was going to go out in my car when Spring had finally sprung. Unfortunately Covid-19 hit us and that was that... Well not quite!
I had messaged a friend to see if he had 10 Meters capability and would he try and see if I could get a contact.
Not long after the band opened up, but I had no chance of getting anyone. But its something to add to the list of things to do when lockdown is over!
So that was 10 Meters, what about The Magic Band?
The Magic band is an odd band to use, it sits at the lower end of the VHF spectrum, and when it opens (when propagation allows) you can work long distances, not that Ive ever done that. I had seen a plan for a dipole antenna using buddipoles, and having ordered them I realised that I would not fit in the garden and would be a pain to rotate it! Well If you cant go horizontal, you can go vertical!
It actually worked, well FM Simplex and via a local repeater at least. I did manage to pick up a local CW beacon too! Just need to do some more tests!
So whats everyone been up to? any Antenna or Radio projects you wish to share? Put them in the comments below!
