Less than 12 hours to go

Today is the day of the start of the new Amateur radio club, they have even managed to get a story in local newspaper The Northern Echo, which in turn made an appearance on Southgate Amateur Radio News.

The aims and objective of the club and it's founders is to get as many people involved in Amateur radio as possible, given this age of social media and mobile phones, and happily for me they are going to offer at least Foundation and Intermediate training, although I do enjoy what I do on 11-meters and PMR446, I know I can do so much more with radio, listening to GB3IR is one thing but being able to use it will be another.

I look forward to being at this new radio club tonight and I will be reporting back with how it went later on.


73 de 26CT730

T2LT progress update

Today, as the weather was nice, I dug out the beginnings of my T2LT antenna and got to work measuring it up and finishing it off, though I have yet to tune it yet.

Tuning will take place as soon as a suitable pole can be acquired, the pole MUST be a fibreglass pole, a carbon or steel pole will upset the antenna and make it useless, given how busy I have been of late with other things it's been a bit difficult to find time to get the T2LT sorted, hopefully I can get it tuned down and it will work nicely, a temporary solution to a problem I shouldn't even have and perfect for hilltop DX, which I hope to do before the weather starts to turn bad, so I'll get on with it sooner rather than later.

Also it's a couple of weeks to go before the Amateur radio club supposedly starts, I will still be going to Colburn that evening but if it's a no-show there is not a lot I can do about it, but if not then it's progress for me.

So I most certainly will be on CB soon, and possibly the Amateur bands not long after.

73 de 26CT730

Follow up to previous Amateur radio club post

So I returned to the Post Office where I saw the information the following day and bothered to take note of it, the date was 18th September with a start time of about 7:30pm (or this is what I put in my calendar). and it will be taking place in Colburn, if they do not offer training of any sort I can simply go to Bishop Auckland anyway, but to have an Amateur radio club closer where I do not have to travel miles is a great help so it will be a bonus if they do offer the training and I can get my foundation at the very least, maybe even my intermediate, aiming for full license by 2015 if possible, though it could take longer depending on what my employment prospects hold.

So, about a month or so to wait, and I'll be able to begin my journey to licensed amateur, it's been a few years in the making but it might well be happening very soon, also it will allow me to meet new people who share a common interest.

So let's see what happens


73 de 26CT730

New Amateur radio club possibly starting in local area in September

At a local Post Office today, one that is at the very back of a Co-Operative supermarket, I saw a flyer for what appeared to be a soon to start Amateur radio club in the village of Colburn, a stone's throw from my current work, and about 15 minutes travelling depending on traffic, weather, and other external factors.

Their first meeting is scheduled to be a date in September, when this is I did not record as I had other things to do such as make my way back home after work, however it does mean that for general club activities I do not have to travel to the Bishop Auckland club at Stanley Crook, I may still have to do this for my exams however, though this is a one-off hassle per exam, I now have a target set, get my foundation license by the end of the year, I have the "Foundation Licence Now" book, so I suspect I am best getting to the revision again.

I am very pleased by this turn of events, and all I intended to do was post a large letter and pick up something for dinner, I will be going back over to the Co-Operative store in question to get the dates noted down in my phone, it's an opportunity to get more involved in the Amateur side of things, I may as well take advantage of it, and with a bit of luck you may hear me on the bands and GB3IR with an M6 call, of course I'll still be on CB and PMR446 with my CT callsign

I'll update this with more soon

73 de 26CT730