In this audio I grab a chat with professional locksmith and passionate ham noob Gavin ‘Gav’ Jeffries M7UQT.

We talk about how easy it is to get obsessed with all things radio, how he found his way here and how radio is a part of his day job.

This unedited actuality was recorded on my phone while we sat in a car.

You can find Gavin’s YouTube channel here and his Instagram here.

If you would like to hear more chat’s like this please consider supporting this channel with a full subscription… Thanks for listening.

73 from G5DOC is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or even better, a paid subscriber ;-)

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

Greetings from the shack…

This is the eighth piece of audio I’ve shared to this newsletter. Subscribe to the podcast if you want them delivered to your podcatcher of choice.

Nothing fancy here. Just some audio moments shared from the National HamFest at Newark. I recorded straight into my phone with a wind shield pulled over the end. I’ll add a little more context in the next email which should not be too far behind this one.

The voices alongside mine that you will hear are:

> Martin Lynch G4HKS (HamRadio.co.uk)

> Callum McCormick M0MCX (M0MCX.co.uk)

> David Howlett M0VTG President of H.A.R.S.

> Simon M0GBK from Lamco

> Mike 2E0HQT from Ceecom-antennas.com

73 from G5DOC is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, the podcast and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

FINALS

Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.

Liking and commenting gets this publication seen but please do share this wherever you think it might resonate.

You are some of the more curious people in radio ;-) And I thank you.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

This is Dave G8BKG.

I popped over to his QTH to take a look at some issues he was having issues with the GPS settings on his radio. While there I recorded this audio on my phone.

Dave has been around long enough to have done the RAE (Radio Amateurs Examination) which was designed to test an individual's knowledge of radio theory, regulations, and operating practices.

The RAE was first introduced in the UK in 1919 and administered by the British government's Post Office. It was a written exam, covering things like radio wave propagation, circuit theory, and Morse code. Over the years, the RAE evolved and eventually became a multiple-choice exam that could be taken at various test centres around the UK.

Dave took the exam in the 50’s but didn’t pass the Morsecode side of things so focused on girls till some years later when he picked up a licence restricted to UHF and VHF. This is really when he made up for lost time and got stuck into amateur radio.

In 2003, the RAE was replaced by the certification system we now have in the UK called the Amateur Radio Licence. There are currently three levels of licensing: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced. Up until recently, these licenses were obtained by passing a practical assessment and a written exam. In fact I did a basic practical for the Foundation licence in 2019 but shortly after the practical was scrapped so the exams could be taken entirely online.

Dave and I chatted around a few things. From how he started in radio, building his first radio, the Heathkit Hw17A as well as experiments in TV-DX. He also gives a shout out to Willy’s net on 80m with G3BYG, Shefford and District Amateur radio Society, HARS plus the now silent key Ron G8GRT and his spidery radio constructions.

Thanks to Dave for his time.

FINALS

And thanks to you for listening/reading and I hope subscribing.

There is an RSS feed for this podcast but also some episodes for supporting subscribers only.

I’d like to do more face to face conversations with Amateur Radio operators. If you are interested please let me know.

Feel free to comment on the web version of this email. Also, please share this wherever you think it might resonate.

Thank you for your time.

Till next time.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

Well if I told you that that radio operator was Bob Heil all might become clear.

Recently I was exploring The Podcast Show in London and stumbled upon the Heil Sound booth. Stood behind a few amazing looking microphones was Ash Levitt, President & CEO of Heil Sound, also known as KD9JQS.

Ash went on to tell me all about how Bob Heil, a keen ham radio enthusiast and his small music store flew into action and made sure The Grateful Dead could play at the Fox Theatre in St Louis. Bob supplied a large scale live sound system and went on to custom build other systems for many bands, including The Who. Heil sound is the only manufacturer to feature in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum.

Licensed since 1956 Bob said…

“I learned how to design and build special equipment from what I learned from my early days of Amateur Radio. It is a great honor and very humbling to have this display open in the Rock Hall museum,  located right beside the Les Paul room and around the corner from the historic Sun Studio.”

I wonder how many other music legends can thank a ham radio nerd for ensuring they got heard.

Thanks for the chat Ash, and thank you Bob K9EID for helping out a great band.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

The 18th of October 2022 marked 100 years since the formation the British Broadcasting Company. This eventually became the British Broadcasting Corporation six years later. To mark this momentous date, members of the BBC Amateur Radio Group were invited by Arqiva to operate for the day at Daventry transmitting station. Home to so much of BBC shortwave broadcasting over the years.

In the audio above I chat once again with Steve Richards G4HPE at the end of a great day of radio. The images were all taken on site during the day.

I was really pleased to have managed to operate with G2LO but also to get the call in my own log with a quick 2m QSO. ;-) Thank you Brian G4BIP for helping make that happen, but also for keeping the log while I was operating.

Don’t forget that although G2LO will be around again in the years to come, the GB100BBC call will only be around for the remainder of this year. Listen out for it.

Here are a few other operators that were working either GB100BBC or G2LO.

G4HPE / G4IXT / G0OQK / G4BIP / G1EIX / G8FRS / G0NXA / M0NTX / G7URP and G4ZJH.

If I have missed anyone out please let me know in the comments.

Here are a few of the many QSL cards sent after contact with GB100BBC.

And here are some BBC related QSL cards. Some never to be repeated.

Thanks again to Harri Stephens G1EIX and his associates from Arqiva for hosting everyone and looking after us throughout the day.

FINALS

Thanks for listening/reading and I hope subscribing.

The music used in the intro and outro in the podcast was composed by Andre Louis and modified by me.

Please comment on the web version of this email or if you’d like to contribute.

Also, please share this wherever you think it might resonate.

Thank you for your time.

Till next time.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

[The above audio is a chat with Steve G4HPE and Jim G4AEH at the G8BBC 2022 field day.]

It’s the latter half of September and I’m pleased to say I was still in shorts as I arrived at the Northamptonshire QTH of Brian & Hilary aka G4BIP & G7SOI.

As we parked next to a shiny new shack we were greeted by the house with a hot breakfast, pastries, tea and coffee.

As G8BBC club members arrived, a few including myself headed over to the shack looking forward to get on the air.

There were two HF stations (upper and lower) and a SDR station tuned to geostationary amateur radio transponder Qatar OSCAR-100.

In the words of Brian…

“It’s using SDR Console talking over a long USB cable to a small green box of goodies right behind the dish. In that box is a very clever little USB device called a Lime Mini SDR. This device has both RX and TX SMA connectors and can operate full duplex. Its RX is tuned to the output of the standard TV style LNB at about 740Mhz. The software adds some 9.7Ghz to the displayed frequency to show the actual received RF frequency of 10.489GHz. The TX side directly generates signal of about 1mW on our 13cm band at about 2.4Ghz that goes through a band pass filter and a 20w PA that is very under-driven to about 2W output to about 0.5M of top quality coax to a patch antenna that shares the same focal point as the LNB.”

I’d never made a contact via satellite before, but it was on my list of radio things to do. Although I had no idea where to start, I did get to watch Brian kneel at the alter of extra-terrestrial radio and watch how it was done.

A few minutes later I was sat at the desk wrangling a pile up while operating GQ8BBC/P via OSCAR-100. My first contact was with Ernst Stroeer DL5SD via microwave up and downlink.

And I went on to chat with a few stations in France, Germany (lots), Finland, Brasil (a few times) and Wales.

Thanks to Brian, having everything set up, there was little else for me to do other than adjust the levels on my mic and headphones and then click the mouse to talk.

You really had to focus with all of the other CQ-ing in the background. But contacts were made and logs were getting filled.

Once the sun had passed the yard arm it was easy to get distracted by the bucket of cold booze, the conversation, and the occasional fly-by from G0OQK’s drone.

Nick of course left the drinking to me and I left the flying to him.

More food came out and the barbecue was fired up with M7DHR in control, flipping burgers and (for want of a better phrase) tonging sausages. To finish the day we chatted over drinks and people popped in and out of the shack till late evening.

This was the first in person meet up for this incarnation of G8BBC. Hopefully the first of many. Thanks again to Brian and Hilary for all they did to make this such a special day.

Some of the operators, family and friends in attendance were (left to right):

G4BIP, G7SOI, G4OYX, Tommy, G4AEH, G0NXA, G5DOC, G7JBT, G5JPR, G4HPE, M0NTX, Julian, G1MME, Liz, M7DHR and G0OQK, took the photo.

If you would like to join G8BBC there are membership categories covering full time BBC staff, freelance, and the retired. Guest and associate memberships can also be considered for those connected in some way with the BBC and or Broadcasting.

Here is a twitter thread from the day.

FINALS

Thanks for listening, reading and I hope subscribing.

Please share this wherever you think it might resonate. You are some of the more curious people in radio ;-) And I thank you.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

In case you’ve not heard the term before, a ‘Silent Key’ is a deceased amateur radio operator. The ‘key’ is a reference to a telegraph key used to transmit morse code (CW). Over the last few years we’ve lost a few local radio operators, but most recent is Peter Rosamond G4LHI.

A member of Huntingdon Amateur Radio Society (HARS) Peter gave so much of his time and knowledge to the hobby and assisted countless people on their quest to learn CW.

Although active for many years as a shortwave listener (SWL), Peter was not licensed until 1981. Aged 54. And for the following 40 years he honed his skills and shared all he knew.

Today saw the funeral of this ‘true gentleman’. An inspiration to many, Peter will be sadly missed by club members, family, students and friends across the world.

HERE

I’m sat in the shack having just uploaded the audio embedded above which was captured on my Icom 7100 during my first CW lesson with Peter. Radios are currently off and there is an angry pigeon sat on the roof. It’s been loudly cooing at me for ages. If you listen carefully you can hear it in the recording. Weirdly it sounds a little like morse code.

This is the same pigeon who’s life I saved earlier this week when a bunch of professional hedge trimmers asked me if they could shoot it an eat it. I said no, and this is the gratitude I get.

Still, I think I know why the pigeon is still mad at me. In preparation for the sky loop I have not only paid people to reduce the height of a hedge, but I’ve made it a personal mission to trim a few trees. In order for me to get access to one particular tree I needed to climb onto the top of another.

This is not as dangerous as it sounds as on the top of a large evergreen I have installed a pallet covered with a grid of copper wire and a metal panel. Why? Good question. Back in the day, when I knew even less than I do now, I wanted a high spot to stick a CB antenna and rather than sticking a car roof up a tree (or buying a massive twig) I went for the pallet + panel + mag mount set up.

It worked! I trailed the coax into the garden bar and I had a decent few miles of range to at first work 27MHz and then when licensed my ATAS and HF.

Anyway. Getting to the tree required some innovative ladder placement. Innovative meaning creative but not necessarily safe. It got me into the tree no problem. But when I stepped off it the tree sprung back and pushed the ladder over.

Luckily I not only had my phone in my pocket but I also had a cheap HT round my neck with a bunch of repeaters programmed in. So there was no shortage of communication options. Besides the neighbours heard the crash of the ladder and were also aware. Not that they could get in to help me.

I decided that as I still had some tree trimming to do, I’d snip away and join the morning net. The guys on GB3OV found the fact I was ‘stuck’ up a tree highly entertaining. Especially when I called my better half to help and after taking one look at the shifty ladder set up, she took a photo for Facebook and returned inside. (That’s the image above right).

I decided that climbing down into the bowels of a dark, dusty, spiky tree was the best option and that’s what I did. I got shouted at by a couple of wood pigeons whom I think have not forgotten.

And so I’ve left the trees as they are. I’ll try, as we all do, to just get the antenna higher.

THERE

Outside of a trip to the Wirral I’ve been pretty much travel free this last week. I did also get out on my bicycle with my HT and after repeatedly passing some interesting antennas behind a house in St Neots, my curiosity got the better of me. As I was on the pushbike it was easy to pull over and knock the door. On last years ride from London to Edinburgh I did the same and love that you can just rock up at someone’s front door and as it opens give your callsign. It’s like a password only a specific geeky fraternity can know. A verbal handshake for the Brethren from the shack of Ohmic Resistance.

I rand the bell and the door opened. Despite sporting semi-mamilian attire all I needed to do was mention my callsign and I was greeted warmly before being invited across the threshold.

Marc M0YWO smiled and we walked through to the back garden so we could talk antennas. His homebrew sky loop was the crowning glory and I was pleased to hear that it gives him great results. We had a lovely chat and I thanked Marc, chuffed that I’d made a new radio buddy.

After the chat I was even more excited to get my own lesser shop-bought sky loop out of the box and up in the sky, where it belongs.

GEAR

Somewhere in the post a parcel is winging it’s way to me. It contains a second hand MFJ-926B HF Automatic Remote Antenna Tuner, with the MFJ4117 Bias Tee. (No idea what that is. Some kind of controller I hope) It will take 200W but I only have the ability to do 100. (Got a spare power amp you don’t need?)

In other news, there is a lot of speculation about the possible spec of the Yaesu FT-710

It looks portable-ish but it’s not as small as the FT-911 and is certainly not an iCom IC-705 killer. Looks like a weird addition to the Yaesu family.

ELSEWHERE

* Chemists use DNA to build the world’s tiniest antenna - The fluorescent Nanoantenna.

* And just incase you wanted to see the world’s largest antenna, here it is.

* Learn Morse code in 15 mins? Hmmm back in my day this kind of claim would be met with an “Ichy chin!”

* Raspberry Pi converts encrypted messages to Morse code.

* Here is a podcast for those who would like to hear the news in Morse code at 15wpm

FINALS

Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.

I’m new to all this and sharing my discoveries and musings keeps me interested and curious. Please comment on the web version of this email or if you’d like to contribute something more in depth, like a personal project or story, reply to this email and we can chat more. Supporting subscribers get a mention/ad/section to plug something they care about.

Maybe you knew Peter and would like to share a story. The comments are open.

Also, please share this wherever you think it might resonate. You are a select and curious few who read this. Thank you for your time.

Till next time.

“Don’t be afraid.” ~ Peter Rosamond G4LHI

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe

HERE

I’m back in the shack after being on the road. Just finished a 2m SSB QSO with Gordon 2E0HVQ. He is one of the handful of supporting subscribers that chuck a little cash towards the running of this newsletter in the form of a monthly subscription. This gives me a kick in the pants and a little inspiration to ensure I at least get something out sporadically. Cheers Gordon!

This week we have an amalgamation of audio, words and pictures. All the spelling mistakes are intentional and nothing to do with jet lag.

THERE

I’m fresh back from another jolly jaunt to Austin Texas. It was hot. 40 degrees C at times. That’s 104 degrees F.

Most of the time I basked in air-con but as I adjusted to the temperature I headed downtown.

I’m getting to know the place a little better with every trip I take out there. Mostly thanks to the hams I reach out to on the local repeaters. Justin AI5OS (in the audio above) is one such friendly operator. We had been chatting for a couple of minutes when I decided I wanted to remember the QSO and hit record on the handheld.

We talked about storytelling, radio dramas, Android Vs Apple and of course amateur radio. The audio is straight off the FT5D and a little distorted but should still be listenable.

After we finished the QSO I could not remember if he recommended I have A breakfast taco or a burrito for breakfast. So I had both.

GEAR

If you are an iPad user and just so happen to have an iCom 705 then SDR Control by Marcus Roskosch DL8MRE might be for you.

In other news I have bitten the bullet and bought a sky loop. Not from Chameleon. Weirdly I managed to get it cheaper in the UK.

I also took the recommendation of Gareth, M5KVK and treated myself to a new USB-C soldering iron.

It’s a fantastic bit of kit. Really easy to use and fully hackable should I want to get in that deep.

I also bought a 7m pole and some straps to help me get the sky loop up.

But there is a lot of things to prep before I can get the antenna up.

I also bought a telescopic duel band antenna for my FT5D. It was cheap so I’ll let you know if it works.

ELSEWHERE

* How to build a loop antenna for 40 and 80.

* Sweden’s new Archbishop is a ham radio operator.

* A quick tip from DXCommander.

* This cobweb looks like an interesting option for those with limited space.

FINALS

Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.

Please share this wherever you think it might resonate.

It’s chucking it down here and I’ll not be putting up my sky loop till I can get some trees and hedges trimmed. That might be some time.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit g5doc.substack.com/subscribe