Ramblings update

Well, I did pass the Intermediate Exam and I now have my call sign (2E0ENN).

Plans afoot at the home QTH include raising my military fibreglass mast by a further six feet and replacing the ill - advisedly used RG58 with RG8 mini. After looking at the loss figures for a long run of RG58 I have opted for mini 8 as the loss for that is half that of 58. Of course, if I'd have looked beforehand and not been so miserly I would have done this from the beginning - lesson learned.

The recently acquired 2m beam will be added to the mast as well but, with no means to rotate it, it will be fixed in an easterly direction for now as that is the least obstructed direction for me. Who knows,  maybe a bit of Continental DX on 2m SSB might come my way during the 'E' season.

Speaking of antennas, I have built the 2E0ENN 2m portable horizontal dipole  for use /P for the UKAC 2M contest.  I'm rather pleased with my efforts and,  with a cost of about £6 plus a length of coax it should prove useful. SWR comes in at 1.1 : 1 in the centre of the band and 1.2 : 1 at the band edges - not too shabby.

I'm currently waiting for Stewart (M0SDM), who is coming over to help with extending my mast, and should be back on air this afternoon with (hopefully) much better performance.

As Club Secretary for the South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society I have been getting to grips with organising our first major event of the Summer, which is the Swaton Vintage Day on June 28th. This show also includes the International Egg Throwing Championship - and we will be running a Special Event Station (GB2EGG) and Andrew (M0NRD) will hopefully (weather and CAA clearance permitting) be launching "Eggsplorer1", a HAB which will take an egg to the edge of space and we will be demonstrating tracking the flight with SSDV. There will be a camera on board and the flights progress and images will be transmitted to the HAS website. Check out Eggsplorer1 on Twitter and Facebook, and the Eggsplorer1 website or on our club website www.skars.webs.com.

We are recruiting for members of the club, so if you have an interest in radio - of any kind - or would like to join in in our activities and our various talks and discussions check the website or email me at m6enn@mail.com.

That's all for this update - further developments will be forthcoming as we get confirmation.