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GM7HUD > BEACON 02.12.03 02:21l 46 Lines 1906 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 0F0599GM7HUD
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Re: History of the amateur beacon
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0EA<DB0RES<ON0AR<VK3TE<GB7ESX
Sent: 031201/2029z 25114@GB7ESX.#31.GBR.EU $:0F0599GM7HUD [Witham, Esx]NNA V3.1
Fascinating stuff Bob.
For someone who grew up with easy access to solid state electronics and
microcomputers, reading about mechanical keyers is really interesting. I'm
fascinated about how people solved problems which today can be done with a
few chips and a line or two of software.
> 5 inch radar tube (5BP1????)
Sounds about the right part number to me. I've got one of it's little
brothers somewhere from when I was going to make a 'scope, a 3in 3BP1.
> As far as I know VK6VF was the first VHF beacon ever; it was followed soon
> after by JA1IGY as the International Geophysical Year commenced.
IIRC, the 1st UK VHF beacon was GB2IGY which came on in 1957 so you could
well be right there Bob. Anyone know when GB3VHF started operation?
> VHF is fascinating stuff. You never know what is going to bob up. All you
> have to do is keep an eye (or an ear) on the bands.
I've never understood why people made such a fuss to get HF. So you can
work paths as long as VK<>G on HF with "relative" ease. But I've always got
more excitement when working 750km paths or more on 2m. Of course a 6m
VK<>G QSO would be nice to have :-)
28MHz CW section was chock full of signals during the contest, now it's
dead. I wouldn't be too surprised if the propagation is still there, just
nobody can be bothered to work for a QSO. Much easier to look up on the
cluster what's happening and tailend other QSOs...
I guess you're not far enough South to do much meteor scatter Bob? That's
one advantage we have in the North, there's a lot of European and US
stations North of 50degs, the Southern hemisphere is a bit empty that far
South.
Rugby, tabloids, dare I say deserts... that's just noise to keep the
frequency occupied when there's no traffic to send, just like the
commercial RTTY services with their RYRYRYRYRYRYRY!
More of the same please Bob.
73 de Andy GM7HUD
Waiting for the next instalment..
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