This month’s Essex Skills Night, hosted by the Chelmsford ARS training, was held on Monday the 21st March 2016 at the Danbury Village Hall. Here’s Essex Ham’s look at another busy Skills Night:
The evening was the traditional mix of hands-on practicals and show-and-tell session, with a few new features this month, and one of the highest turnouts of first-time visitors coming along to get a taste of the Skills Night experience.
We recorded a time-lapse video of this month’s event being set-up, and we’ve added some of our favourite images from the evening:
Here’s what was on offer this month:
Software Defined Radios: Thanks to Chris M6EDF for his demonstration of the HackRF SDR (transmitter & receiver), plus help and advice on setting up and using SDR# with a Realtek SDR dongle.
Working /P: – With warmer weather (hopefully) around the corner, our thoughts are turning towards getting out and working some portable. Charlie brought along his home-brew FT-857 frame, plus a selection of Ham Goodies including the new RTL dongles and a selection of aerial adapters and handy /P accessories. Charlie was also busy with handset programming.
Multi SDRs
Andy G7TKK regularly surprises us with something new, and this time he set up a small collection of computers running the RTL SDR dongles. He demonstrated that he can get four of these impressive low-cost dongles running on one machine to get great coverage various bands. A tricky demo to get running, but it pulled a crowd, and made several of us jump when the audio kicked in. Thanks Andy!
AM Receiver Test Kit
Melvin 2E0DNS brought along an interesting collection of bit of test equipment he’s used over the years to make repairs on AM radio receivers. His display was hopefully of interest to those looking to get started in the world of construction.
M6 Corner: Many thanks to Nick M0NFE for putting together his first M6 Corner – Nick was armed with all three levels of exam books, the Essex Ham “How to Guide” range and an assortment of props aimed at helping new starters into the hobby to get their questions answered, and to steer them in the right direction.
Getting Started / Essex Ham: Alongside Nick M0NFE’s newbie table, the stand was running scrolling demos of PSK31, JT65 and SSTV, a promotional video running on a Linx 8″ Windows 10 tablet, plus a scrolling video of the RSGB’s Youth and Volunteering videos, rotated with the Canvey Rally video – all running on a £4 Raspberry Pi Zero. We were also providing the event’s free wi-fi.
CARS Construction – Alan M0IWZ and others from CARS were looking after the construction room. When we checked in, a vintage radio was exposed for all to see:
Morse and More – Dean G4WQI and Rob M0KCP flying the flag and supporting CW, with a live CW station, demonstration equipment and access to the Reverse Beacon Network.
Chelmsford ARS – The CARS table was manned by CARS Chairman Chris G0IPU and Ray 2E0GVE.
The Quiz – Run by CARS Chairman Chris G0IPU, with a mix of questions from Murray G6JYB, and a “guess the mode” audio test!
My thanks…
I’d like to express my personal thanks to those who turned up to help make the March Skills Night such a great night, and to those who continue to support the Essex Skills Nights at Danbury.
A big personal thanks to Ann, Myra and David for handling the catering for the event – Chocolate cornflake cakes just can’t be beaten – thanks Ann! Also, thanks to Jim 2E0RMI for deputising for Sarah at front-of-house!
A reminder that the next Essex Skills Night is on Monday the 18th of April.
Thanks all, and 73,
Pete M0PSX
March 2016 Skill Night Photo Gallery
Thanks to Trevor M5AKA for some of the images from the evening that we missed!
Related Links
- Chelmsford ARS (CARS) Skills Night Page
- Essex Ham’s Skills Night Information
- Previous Skills Night Reports
- The Skills Night Formula – How to run your own Skills Night
