Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.

It has been a topsy-turvey week on the shortwave bands with the forecast solar radiation causing some very poor conditions if my monitoring has been anything to go by. This is one of the thrills or disappointments of the active peak in a sunspot cycle; the good conditions can be unbelievably good and the poor are something that is best forgotten.

With about a month to go, the announcements of JOTA/JOTI are appearing on various internet platforms and hopefully, amateurs and radio clubs have been preparing for this annual event. Like us, the Leaders in the Scouting movement give up their time to participate in activities and we have that common understanding and bond in promoting jamboree events such as the one currently being run for the Cubs.

However, the international nature of JOTA for radio amateurs gives us the opportunity to show the best of our pursuit in the various fields of STEM and at the peak of a sunspot cycle when recourse to the internet is not inevitable.

I hope we are able to hold the traditions of joint activities between Scouting and hams to a once again successful outcome whether we work from our home shacks or from facilities provided by the Scouts.

Then to move along to something that got me thinking this past week. I happened across a video on YouTube which showed the adaption of a mains-powered domestic TV to run on an off-grid supply such as we would use in our shacks, that is, a nominal 12V DC source. I was intrigued as I haven’t looked behind the back cover of a modern flat screen recently. The unit was an internationally known European brand and the power supply circuit board had the pads and components installed ready for a plug to be inserted.

It really was an elementary type of adaption but the techniques used in this video, I felt were far from the standards of safety required. A drill was used to put a hole in the metalwork holding the rear section of the TV. Fine, you say, but without covering the surface mount components below the hole, the swarf was allowed to fall over the electronics, a simple knot tied in it to prevent the wire from stressing the board connection. The freshly drilled hole wasn’t filed smooth nor was an adequate cable clamp used.

The reason I detail this story is that it provides a very good basis for safety presentations at clubs and training sessions. Whilst not directly addressed in the practical tests that many of us have completed it certainly is common sense to share what are proper standards when we dare to put our hands inside equipment and make modifications. We don’t always need a guest to give a good presentation as so much material is available on the Internet. So will we take the opportunity to take the examples and help others see and understand what safety is about?

I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think....how about you?

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2023 Social Scene

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