The April 2016 Essex Skills Night, hosted by the Chelmsford ARS training, was yet another busy event,. Just under 60 people came along on Monday the 18th of April, and here’s our quick look at the event:
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.
Echolink and the TH-9800
Thanks to Jim 2E0RMI for the live demo of Echolink, and the low-price 4-band TYT TH-9800 Pro Quad Band (with 10m, 6m, 2m, and 70cm)
SOTA
A demonstration on a part of the hobby that’s difficult to sample here in Essex – SOTA, Summits On The Air. Thanks to Peter G1FOA for the show and tell on how to activate a peak and have to travel lightly when trekking on an activation.
Testing, Testing
Mike G4NVT was kept very busy in the Hawkins room with a demonstration on how to use a spectrum analyser. As well as showing how to use it for testing, Mike offered advice on VSWR testing, filter testing and set up.
Programming, Data and Ham Goodies
As always, a busy table – Charlie M0PZT offering the familiar mix of rig programming, data and logging advice, plus demonstrating his array of Ham Goodies and /P essentials.
Essex Ham
Thanks to Nick M0NFE for manning the M6 Advice table, with a mix of Essex Ham’s Getting Started Guides, plus friendly helpful advice for those new to the hobby. On the adjacent table, data demos, how to get started with Ham Radio Deluxe, the Linx tablet, and the RSGB’s new video, A World Of Possibilities, running on a £4 Rapsberry Pi Zero
Morse and More:
Thanks to Dean from the Essex CW Club, and learn more about their mode of choice.
Chelmsford ARS:
Ray 2E0GVE was manning the CARS membership table, with support from Chris G0IPU
Callsign Badges:
Jim 2E0JTW and Glynis 2E0CUQ both busy on new callsign badges, which we’re now seeing in multiple counties!
Quiz:
Chris G0IPU ran the quiz, with the traditional mix of random radio questions, just for fun!
Periscope
For the first time, we tried a live broadcast from the Essex Skills Night using the new social media platform Periscope. We clocked up 17 live viewers with more watching the video afterwards. Thanks to those who joined us virtually. For more live videos, follow @EssexHam on Twitter and Periscope
My thanks…
I’d like to express my personal thanks to those who turned up to help make the April 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 – Multiple variants of jam tarts – thanks Ann!
A reminder that the next Essex Skills Night is on Monday the 16th of May.
Thanks all, and 73,
Pete M0PSX
April 2016 Skill Night Photo Gallery
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
