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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment.

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Old 2nd Apr 2020, 10:57 pm   #21
dave walsh
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

That's very impressive Cecil but I'm guessing that you and your neighbours have reached an accomodation over the years in such a remote but close community. Either way, a RAYNET type set up will always be welcome in times of need whether it's a remote or Urban location. Look what happened with the American Radio relay League during Hurricane Katrina! Nobody else was very bothered and the Internet was down.

Dave W
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 9:07 am   #22
G4XWDJim
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

Hi Cecil,

Good to hear from you. I remember many years ago when I used to work you on the 80 metre vmars net with a sea path to you from my location in Norfolk. Those were the days.

Jim
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 9:52 am   #23
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

I do a fair amount for my neighbours... fixing electronic things, welding stuff together, pulling their son's car out of floodwater (AA won't do this) and stuff like that. Relations are very good indeed. They do things for me. My place is too small for serious aerials, but I've got a dual-band colinear above the ridge line, and an inverted V doublet for HF.

No complaints of interference except once, in the 80's a guy from a few streets away who was really on the boil... I had to shut down right now and stay shut down! he told me his garage door was opening and closing, opening and closing and he had lots of valuable stuff in there. My response was to ask "You're just telling the guy you think knows how to open your garage how valuable the things in there are? We tried it with a hand held. Nope. we tried it with a CB. Yup. We tried my HF rig, another nope except 10m. It was probably a CBer close to him as I hadn't been using 10m at all. I explained that he had a security problem, anyone could open his garage. He wanted to complain "To the Authorities" I'd looked at the thing added to the door opener and explained that main post offices stocked the necessary forms, but he might want to look into the licence status of the device he was using. "The Authorities" will check his equipment as well, and what's quaintly called "the wireless telegraphy act as amended" allows jail and unlimited fines.

Never saw him again. It had been one of those naughty add-ons from Ingliston Sunday market.

David
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 9:57 am   #24
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

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Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
More likely to have been the ubiquitous CB half-wave verticals often seen tottering on top of half a ton of scaffold pole held up by string. They were a very common sight at one time. (I had one as well, but it was mounted on the gable end of the house on a short mast on T&K brackets).
At a village called "Twenty" near Bourne, Lincs I often drove past a small 2 storey house with a very tall heavy looking pole on flimsy wall standoff brackets topped by a large cb aerial. This was on the gable end. I often thought it looked unsafe. One day, I drove past and the top half of the whole house end was a heap of rubble in the garden. The house was demolished afaik. I often thought of a picture with the title "CB - The downfall of ones home".
The village sign "Twenty" was once on tv. Someone had made a very good sign attached to it saying "Twinned with the Moon". Scrawled below was "No atmosphere". I wonder if anyone else remembers that?
Rob
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 11:16 am   #25
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

During the time I was licensed and active at my folks' place I never had a complaint about interference from my transmissions despite running a couple of hundred watts on HF.

It just amused me that a 14 year old schoolboy with a few simple receivers posed a threat to the neighbourhood. Colour TV had not long arrived and so any glitch in reception was bound to be due to a wire to a pole at the bottom of the garden.

By the time I was an adult I understood far more about people and their various personality types and traits. I could relate plenty of stories unconnected to ham radio. Disputes and fallings-out with various locals seemed to be commonplace and enduring. One learned to avoid getting dragged into often petty stuff.

My original post on this thread was actually a response to the absurdity of the comment on the newspaper site. There are very many reasons for the decline of amateur radio but that is the least of them. I see plenty of large aerials about today - there are several in my locality - not to mention the plethora of satellite dishes some of which are monsters.
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 12:23 pm   #26
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

To clarify:

One learned to avoid getting dragged into often petty stuff that invariably originated from a particular quarter.
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 1:21 pm   #27
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

What this thread has shown me is that there's a lot of interesting stuff around amateur radio.

I've never had a go myself and don't have the wherewithal to get my own kit, but I have enjoyed reading everyone's responses. It's not just the broadcasting part that's interesting
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 2:45 pm   #28
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

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and don't have the wherewithal to get my own kit,
Now that's a myth put about by the importers of large, expensive boxes from Japan.

Amateur radio licence isn't just a licence to operate a radio transmitter, it's a licence to design one, build one and effectively MOT it yourself.

There are people building very effective radios out of handsful of small components and not using much power. ! watt on the right band at the right time witha bit of luck has been known to drive a signal to Japan.

Have a look at the G-QRP club,

You can build a shortwve station out of junk. You learn more as well, than do those who simply max out their credit cards.

The Chinese are flogging little hand-held VHF transceiver for about 30 quid.

The less you do it with, the more you learn.

David
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 4:08 pm   #29
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The Chinese are flogging little hand-held VHF transceiver for about 30 quid.
I got a Beufang (spelling) dual band (144/440) handheld for 12 quid, next day delivery with battery, desk charger and antenna. It is remarkably good, my branded ones have a few more features and "feel" nicer but are not much better RF wise.
 
Old 3rd Apr 2020, 4:43 pm   #30
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

I have no interest in amateur radio but can certainly understand the joy of building a stable transmitter and then discover how far it actually transmits!
It appears to me that with the arrival of plug and play boxes from the far East, all the excitement vanished.
Nobody wants to build anything anymore or learn how it works. it's an age thing. John.
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 5:10 pm   #31
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

Briefly OT: I still have one of those 20m Mizuho Handhelds, although mine is branded 'Jim'. I can't quite claim the achievements of GM0EKM, but those stations I do make contact with (on SSB) always sound rather sceptical when I tell them I'm using 2 Watts.
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Old 3rd Apr 2020, 8:41 pm   #32
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

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Originally Posted by G4XWDJim View Post
Hi Cecil,

Good to hear from you. I remember many years ago when I used to work you on the 80 metre vmars net with a sea path to you from my location in Norfolk. Those were the days.

Jim
Hi Jim, I still listen to the net on Saturday mornings but really struggle with severe qrm from Norwegian ssb stations very close to the frequency, I usually have to resort to Hack Green.
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Old 4th Apr 2020, 10:12 am   #33
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Default Re: Article on RAYNET - amateur radio

That’s terrible Cecil particularly when I consider how good our reception conditions were at that time.
Where I live now in Littlehampton radio conditions are so bad that it’s virtually impossible to hear the lower frequencies. Fortunately I’ve more or less lost interest and have other hobbies that aren’t affected by such technical failures so it doesn’t feel to me like the disaster it really is.

Stay safe

Jim
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