GM0JHE

Has it really been 2 years?

2011-01-16T06:12:00.000-08:00

Well, has it? It appears that I've not posted to this thing since the 1st of February 2009! What have I been doing since then? Absolutely nothing, or so I thought. I was looking at some old photographs and found one or two with an Amateur Radio theme.

Firstly, from May 2009. yet another shot of the Magnum Rally:

Is it my imagination, or are there more people at this one than in previous years? No, you're correct, it is my imagination. I didn't bother to take a camera in May 2010.

Next, here's a photo from Blackpool in April 2010. I decided to jump on a train or two and have a day out at the seaside. This picture was taken on a mobile phone, which explains why the quality is even worse than usual.

Believe it or not, it was actually quite busy, though not as busy as it used to be, according to two gentlemen representing the RSGB. I was still amazed by the amount of stuff there and felt that it was well worth the journey. I hope to go back this year, and maybe spend some money, though I may have difficulty remembering where to go. I'm getting old, you see; so old that it was suggested that I join the RAOTA (Radio Amateur Old Timers' Association). It must be the way I walk.

Latest news

2009-02-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

Haven't you noticed that this blog is like buses? You wait for ages then three come along!

Apart from blogging about ancient history, today I have been mostly trying to update my web page on qsl.net and making a copy of it on Demon. There is much work to be done. Isn't there always?

GM0JHE on qsl.net
GM0JHE on Demon

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside 2

2009-02-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

Look familiar? Yes, it's Irvine, again.

Look familiar? Yes, it's a sparsely attended Magnum Rally, again. (Honest, it's not a photo from 2007.)

I won't be attending this year, unless I've nothing better to do. If it's scheduled for the same weekend as the last 2 years, I do have something better to do, and shall not darken the door of the Magnum in 2009. Sadly, this means I will be unable to get lost trying to get in and out of Irvine. I'm gutted.

And finally...

2009-02-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

(The impact of this momentous item of news is lessened somewhat by the fact that it's taken 15 months to report it!)

At long last, I have started another logbook. Don't get too excited, though. I'm still on the first page, some 15 months later...

Farewell, old logbook. It was nice knowing you.

So near, yet so far away

2007-07-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

CQ contest, CQ contest...

I'm not a great conversationalist, and I run relatively low power (about 25 watts on 40, 20 and 15 metres, and 5 watts on 10 metres) into a number of wire dipoles that hang on the walls above my head. This makes it almost impossible to have 'proper' QSOs with any station on HF. In order to make use of my (now free) licence, I tend to operate only when there's a contest on. This allows me to prove to myself that the signal is actually getting out. Sometimes, I work a bit of DX (though not the rare stuff); most of the time I can only get into central Europe.

I've held a Full licence for nearly 20 years but, in spite of passing the 12wpm morse test, I can't do CW for toffee. I don't need anyone to tell me that I'd fare better with my current working conditions if I ditched SSB (not the easiest mode for a female operator) and went on the key. I also don't need anyone to tell me that I'd fare better if I didn't use a straight key. I do, however, need someone to tell me how to use a paddle!

Anyway, even though I'm hopeless on the key, I still have been known to give it a go. I didn't get a chance to check out the CQ WW WPX contest at the end of May (not the SSB one, as I reported earlier), so I decided that I would try to give away a few points during NFD at the beginning of June. I managed a dozen contacts, including some Gs and a GM on 40 metres (where I use a dipole that goes round half of the flat!). This little haul completed the page I was on in my logbook, leaving three pages to go before the end of the book. Why is this significant, I don't hear you ask? Well, I've been on the same logbook since I was licenced in 1988!

I bought a new one on my first and only trip to the Leicester show in 2003, and joked with the guy at the RSGB stand that I'd see him in another 17 years. I don't think he realised how serious I was. 2003 was really my last little burst of activity on the bands and, the way that conditions have been going since then, it may turn out to be my very last burst of activity!

Until today, that is. Yes, my second-favourite contest, the IARU Region 1 contest, took place this weekend. The bands were fairly quiet at the start, and for the first few hours, but I managed a few contacts on 20m in the evening, as well as the Polish HQ station on 40m. This is real DX for the likes of me, as no one can hear me on this band! Things were quiet this morning, too, up until about 09:00z, and then 10m came alive. I worked anyone who could hear me on 10, 15 and 20 but, try as I might, I couldn't raise the dead on 40. I did, however, eventually get the RSGB (GB7HQ) on 40m CW. At 12 noon GMT, it went quiet. It was all over. I had made 48 contacts, two short of the end of the second-last page of my log. 6m was open, but all stations were too weak for me to contact. I had a short QSO with a special station from Dunkirk, but that was that. It was not to be. I wish I hadn't had that tea-break at 11am...

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

2007-07-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like being topical, is there? Here are a few words and pictures about something that happened nearly 2 months ago:

It wasn't a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon; driving down from Glasgow in the sunshine and going for a short walk by the sea. In no time at all, I was in Irvine and, after experiencing the bracing sea air, I strolled up to the Magnum Centre for what may be the last time to attend the annual Rally. It's just as well I did, as very few others seemed to think it was worth the journey.

I don't blame them. When faced with such a pathetic selection of stalls selling anything from old and utterly useless computer junk to various screwdrivers you'll never use, why on earth would you want to make the trip? OK, so Jaycee was there, and this gave me the opportunity to take my first look at the IC-7000 (nice). Sandpiper was also there (top right in the photo above), and that reminded me that I bought an HB9CV for 70cm two or three years ago and it's still to come out of its plastic bag to be assembled, let alone tested or used. There was an RSGB stall, but I'd bought some books a couple of weeks earlier at the AGM. There was a guy selling military surplus, but I couldn't think of anything I wanted. Lastly, there was the CSFMG stand and, as I actually had enough money, I joined. Apart from that, I chatted to a couple of the rapidly-diminishing band of Scottish amateurs I know, then, feeling thoroughly uninspired, I decided to go back home. There was nothing else to see.

On the way home, I thought to myself that, "if decent traders don't go to rallies, people won't turn up. Sadly, if people don't turn up, the decent traders won't bother turning up in future, either. Surely we can't blame computers for everything? Surely we have to blame ourselves for not being sufficiently active? That's it! I've only got myself to blame. I should go to more rallies. I'll look up RadCom when I get home". Well, I did, and I identified a couple of events within striking distance, in places I'd not mind going for the weekend. Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire? Nope. Couldn't make it. York? Couldn't make that, either, I'm afraid. What's next? Well, that'll be Leicester, and I doubt that the reason I couldn't go to Derbyshire or York will have been resolved, so I'll just have to face it: Amateur Radio rallies are going the way of the dinosaur or the British merchant fleet, and it's all my fault.

RSGB AGM, Saturday 28th April, Edinburgh

2007-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

I've no idea how many times the RSGB AGM has been held in Scotland in my lifetime, but I remember one in Dunoon sometime last century. I figured that I should pop over to the Athens of the North and attend the 2007 meeting before I forget what amateur radio is, or even who I am.

The meeting was held in the shiny new Hawthornden Lecture Theatre in the Weston Building of the National Galleries of Scotland. The top brass of the RSGB (well, the General Manager, Peter Kirby G0TWW; the President, Angus Annan MM1CCR and a sizeable number of admin staff, Board members and Regional Managers) descended on our Nation's capital wearing their big red badges. They brought with them the RadCom editor, Giles Read G1MFG; the new RadCom News and Features Editor, Tracy Treanor (who brought her camera with her); an RSGB book stall and the sun, as you may be able to see from the above photo. After standing in a queue to register and get my voting card (and a handshake from the President), it was time for me to make another couple of additons (that I'll probably never read) to my amateur radio library , then take my (rather comfortable) seat.

The first part of the day consisted of the business part of the meeting; voting on things like retaining the auditors for another year and adopting the minutes of last year's AGM. Believe me, it's a more enjoyable experience than I'm portraying it! This was followed by the presentation of awards, and I couldn't help thinking about Monty Python: "David Attenborough can't be here tonight, but he sent his fridge", or something like that. It seemed to me that hardly anyone turned up to receive their trophy. OK, one recipient was recovering from an operation and another, in his 90s, was participating in a shooting contest! Anyway, I'm half expecting next month's RadCom report on the meeting to be full of photos of the President posing with a succession of different trophies. Once the formalities had been dispensed with, it was time for lunch. Unlike some, I decided to avoid the £7 buffet lunch and take a walk outside to eat the sandwiches I brought with me from home. Anyway, I bet they weren't selling 99s in the National Galleries' restaurant.

After lunch, it was time for presentations by some members of the Board. This part of the proceedings was meant to last just over an hour, but went on for almost two. That's not to say that the time dragged on. It certainly didn't. There is always a feeling that Radio Amateurs aren't always the best communicators in the world, and one or two presentations didn't help de-bunk that theory. However, when Brian Reay G8OSN took to the podium, it was obvious that something had changed since I last attended an event like this. Mr. Reay mentioned that he was a teacher, so his lecture on Amateur Radio education was presented with passion, and by a man who was articulate, knowledgeable and more than qualified than most to talk on such a subject. Contrast this with the quiet-spoken Colin Thomas G3PSM. I still can't remember what he spoke about! Another excellent presentation was made by John Pink G8MM, whose portfolio includes events such as the HF Convention. One Scottish-based amateur, a YL, brought up the subject of there being nothing (apparently) for YLs to do at such rallies. I am not sure if the General Manager understood that she was licensed, and wasn't after a programme of alternative events away from the Convention site, but he kept talking about women becoming bored by visiting the same places every year, and pointed out that the 2007 convention will be held in a different part of the country (St. Neots, which I always thought was in Cambridgeshire, but appears to be in Bedfordshire), not just a new venue. His confusion was not helped, in my opinion, by the fact that this issue was raised at all. If a woman with an amateur radio licence has no interest in the engineering or technical aspect of the hobby, or in operating a station, why on earth did she bother to become licenced in the first place? I'd not avoid attending such an event because there was "nothing for YLs". I'd not be there, most likely, because I'd feel like a bit of a fraud at the moment, as I've not been taking an active part in the hobby for a long time. I also find that a lot of these events are so far away from Glasgow that the expense involved, and the amount of extra leave needed to travel from here, is something I can only justify every 5, 10 or 20 years, or so. I didn't become a Radio Amateur to speak to other women. I could do that at a knitting circle or at the bingo, or whatever. OK, that's MY rant over. What about the other restless natives?

The day concluded with the Open Forum which, in the past, has been the scene of some unpleasantness, as the usual self-obsessed, egomaniacal suspects attempt to score points over the Society. Thankfully, this was a far more civilised affair, even if one elderly GM-based amateur insisted on shouting at the chair about slow morse transmissions. I can't agree or disagree with his point, or the Society's reply, as I don't know the background, but it was an example of lively debate initiated by someone who cared about the issue raised. Here's a different slant on the open forum:

The voting card shown earlier had space on the rear for questions from members who didn't want to speak. I'm not sure that the idea behind this was for people to stir things up after they had, in fact, left the hall. However, this is what happened. I shall not mention the gentleman's callsign, as it would unfair to accuse him of being a shit-stirrer when I can't recall if he actually WAS the person who wrote into RadCom with a ridiculous point (especially when I can't even remember what he wrote!). He was complaing about an amateur from the North/NorthEast of Scotland area who wouldn't stand for election to the board but wanted, instead, to be co-opted, in spite of the fact that he had no intention of attending any of the board meetings. I often wonder why these people join such societies then, when they don't get their own way, throw their toys out of the pram and go around bad-mouthing the organisation to all and sundry. Of course, they take any benefits going.

I know it seems that all I'm doing is ranting about the meeting when, in fact, I found it enjoyable and insightful. In fact, I was proud to be there, and perhaps I should get up off my big, fat backside and attend one a bit further afield. After all, most of the assembled throng on Saturday appeared to be non-GM operators.

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2007-04-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Is this frequency in use?

Hello. Welcome to the blog for GM0JHE, an amateur radio station from Scotland operated by Karen Hunter.

Rather than do something useful, like build a wee accessory for the station, make an antenna more efficient, wipe the cobwebs off the morse key or even write out some QSL cards, I decided to start a blog. Unknown to the world of amateur radio, or to the real world, I've already got a blog, and I've posted on it half a dozen times since I set it up about a year ago. When you consider that I've still to finish the logbook I started when the station was licenced in March 1988, I think it's obvious that there won't be a lot of action on this blog, either.

Every spring, I promise myself that I'll get back on the air and that I'll start to re-learn the morse I've forgotten. I have fanciful ideas about taking the radio on holiday in the summer and operating from the hotel or the car or even go portable, and I always seem to pick a book from the shelf and look for a circuit to build. Like good Scottish weather, this enthusiasm is short-lived. There's not much point in having serious plans for this blog, as none of them will come to fruition, so I'll just play it by ear. Perhaps I'll report on a rally I've been to (the Magnum is coming up in a few weeks, for example) or a contest I've tried to make a few contacts in (there's CQ WW WPX SSB at the end of May) or I'll remember to turn on the 6m rig when I come home from the salt mines and there'll be some Sporadic-E. Maybe not.

Anyway, I'm just posting this to try out a layout for the blog.

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