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Derek Hughes (G7LFC)The musings of a Radio Amateur September 16 McRae gone - but never forgottenIt appears that one of the world's most talented rally drivers has died in a helicopter crash near his home in Lanarkshire. I was fortunate to marshal on many of the British Championship rallies that saw McRae develop his skills and become the coveted British Rally Champion. He was quick, very quick, and always a delight to watch. I also witnessed the famous doughnut at Chester racecourse when he won the RAC rally and World Championship in 1995 - memories that will live on forever.
It is a sad, sad, day for all who love rallying. January 12 RSGB policy review on advertisingApparently, the RSGB is reviewing its policy of not providing advertising inserts in RadCom. It believes that it is now common practice for inserts to be placed in newspapers and magazines and these inserts can be a lucrative source of income. I wonder if a member of the board has visited it's local WH Smith recently. I recommend they take a trip and have a look at all the advertising inserts littering the floor. That's right, people who buy magazines don't want piles of crap falling out of their new purchase all over the floor at home, requiring the purchaser to then bend their back, (risking a major injury) just so that they can pick them up and put them in the bin.The best thing the RSGB could do is take the money and the leaflets, pocket the money and then do us all a favour and put the leaflets in the bin for us - saving us the effort and possible major back injury. November 21 SOS Radio Week is GO!!!Having secured the support and assistance of two fellow members of the Southport & District Amateur Radio Club (SADARC), I am pleased to announce that the SOS Radio Week is officially launched.
January 26th is the Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s SOS Day. This is an annual event which sees employees and students paying £1 to dress down for the day to raise money for the training of RNLI crews.
SADARC has declared the previous week, building up to SOS Day, a celebration of the invaluable work that RNLI volunteers perform in selfless acts of bravery to save those in danger at sea. Our plan is to run SOS Radio Week from the 20th to the 26th January. Participants will obtain sponsorship to make as many unique contacts as possible during the week, taking the opportunity to make new friends on the air whilst also supporting the RNLI.
We have created our stationery and web-site (http://www.sadarc.org.uk/rnlisos) and are ready to start publicising the event to as many people and groups as possible.
Every operator who takes part in the event will receive a certificate in return for a £1 donation that will cover the cost of printing and postage with any surplus being added to the amount raised and presented to the RNLI at a major Amateur Radio rally.
Please help to make this event a great success and let's raise at least £1,400 - enough to train one Inshore crew member. Register now, download your sponsorship form and let's start raising that cash. November 12 Rememberence special event stationWell I've gone the full hog and upgraded my whol Amateur Radio station.I've just purchased a secondhand Yaesu FT-1000MP to go with allthe new equipment from Hong Kong. I have to say that it was a great purchase and I'm very pleased with it. It was fitting that the first station worked with the new purchase was the Special Event Station transmitting from Passiondale in Belgium commemorating Armistice Day. November 09 G7LFC instigates national price dropWell the kit arrived from Hong Kong in excellent condition and working order yesterday, just six days after it was ordered - how's that for service. To my surprise, both transceivers were European spec, though the VX-177 did come with a two-pin charger (I can live with that for the savings made).
I'd like to take the credit for alerting the UK Amateur Radio community to the amazing savings that can be made by purchasing direct from Hong Kong, but truth is, I doubt anyone's actually reading this - hi. However, life's a bitch - what arrives in my mailbox today? Notification from Waters & Stanton that the FT-7800 has been reduced to just £170 with free carriage for e-Newsletter subscribers.
Never mind I got a good deal whilst W&S were charging a considerable higher price - I will sleep easy tonight. November 02 Buying from Hong KongNo doubt there are a thousand reasons why you shouldn't buy Amateur Radio gear from Hong Kong, but I've done it before without a problem.
Having said that, I've ever actually purchased transceivers in the past, just accessories which surprised me by actually being genuine manufacturers parts and not compatibles. The price saved was significant over the cost of the same items purchased from one of the big-three suppliers in this country - even taking the postage and packing into account.
This time, I've really done it - I've purchased a couple of tranceivers. I know they'll be American spec, but I've checked and they cover at least the frequencies allocated in this country. I've checked the rest of the specs with the UK models and everything else seems the same. The FT-7800 even comes with the microphone that would be optional on UK-spec variants. Best of all, the price saving was rather special. At £150 including carriage, as opposed to £229 from one of the big three - I couldn't afford to ignore it.
I'm gambling that the legendry Yaesu build quality will work in my favour and mean that a warranty return is not required. I'll let you know how I get on.
Oh, the other transceiver was a new VX-177, saving about £40 even with the carriage included. |
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