Team Skittles Radio Club

Soon to be ARRL afilliated

KDØLOS — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:26:49 +0000

Hey guys…..

Just thought I’d let you know that we are in the process of becoming ARRL affilliated…. Follow our twitter feed for more info.\ http://twitter.com/#!/TeamSkittles is the link to our twitter page. Let us know if you have any questions.

-Joe KDØLOS

Hamr: 13 colonies

Almost_Famous_1983 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:00:23 +0000

A fellow ham – Craig KD8NJZ – Tweeted earlier that he was going to try and contact stations during the 13 colonies event. I had no idea what this was and when he Tweeted a short time later to say he had contacted K2A I asked him if there was a website with info. Here is the link: 13 Colonies

Above is an example of the certificate you could get for working the 13 colonies!

73s Tammie M3ENF (and thanks Craig KD8NJZ!)

WOTA: Windmills On The Air 2011

Almost_Famous_1983 — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:48:04 +0000

On a weekend in May each year radio amateurs set up stations in windmills and watermills all over the country. Apart from being an exciting time for those involved, the event promotes both the site itself and also amateur radio since members of the public encounter enthusiasts at work. The event is organised in conjunction with SPAB.

SPAB

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) was founded in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive ‘restoration’ of medieval buildings being practiced by many Victorian architects. Today it is the largest, oldest and most technically expert national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage. Their membership includes many of the leading conservation practitioners as well as homeowners living in houses spanning all historical periods and those who simply care about old buildings. Thousands of buildings survive which otherwise would have been lost, mutilated or badly repaired without their intervention.

How the event started

Some nine years ago, Jasmine Marshall, G4KFP, a member of Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society (DDARS) spotted a request in the RSGB news asking for any radio amateur willing to put on a station at one of their windmills or watermills. She contacted SPAB and initially agreed a plan for six groups of amateurs to establish at six buildings. As the word spread however this number rocketed to 30. DDARS then designed QSL cards and log books for the event and also created an award certificate to be issued to any individual or group having worked ten stations or more. After Jasmine, Brian – G0BFJ and Tony G4LLZ continued to organise the event and the centrally produced QSL cards were dropped as organisers prefered to produce their own. Indeed the competition is such that some beautiful cards have been sent out by the special event stations.

Current organisation

The event organiser today is Gerald Edinburgh, G3SDY. He has recently retired from work so has more time at his disposal for operating amateur radio and organising Denby Dale club events. He is and has been Chairman of Denby Dale Radio Club on and off for many years.

Gerald will begin the next process in January 2010 by e-mailing parties he knows have been involved before, inviting them to participate again. He has started to compile a list which grew to 39 by the time of the event this year. If you wish to operate from a mill, contact him as soon as you are able, so that details can be included on the Denby Dale Club web site.

We were very pleased to read the publicity given to the event in the radio publications and would like to thank the groups involved. Feel free to refer to this website in any pre-publicity and contact us if you need any help in this respect. It is the responsibility of groups to make their own arrangements with the mill they wish to operate from. They may obtain a special event call sign from the RSGB, for example GB2GW has been used for Gleaston Water Mill (see the ‘Special Event Callsigns’ pages in this Year-book). Groups should arrange with the trustees of the mill any advertising in the press or local radio and perhaps invite dignitaries. The radio equipment and aerials they use and the bands and modes that they wish to work are entirely a matter for them.

In the past certificates have been issued to stations working 10 Mills (most were sent by email) This year we would like to extend the invitation to historic steam powered Mills. (Even modern eco-friendly wind generators may wish to be included).

Please email g3sdy@aol.com with your opinions.

Operating a GB station

To create the best impression with members of the public visiting the mill, make sure they are able to see the operators and hear clearly what is going on (it looks awful if all they see are the back of people wearing headphones). Greet them and explain what you are doing. Give them publicity material, so that any who are interested in finding out more about amateur radio can easily do so. It is also useful to consider which are the most appropriate bands to use, because most members of the public are likely to find the operation far more impressive if they hear someone in a foreign land being contacted, in addition to making your station available to UK collectors on the usual LF bands and VHF UHF. It would be nice to hear more use being made of 160m this year as we go through sunspot minimum

Blue Skittles!

Almost_Famous_1983 — Wed, 04 May 2011 11:23:15 +0000

M3ENF here…

Seeing as we’re all about the #skittles here on the Team Skittles Radio Club, I thought I’d post up a pic of the latest addition to the UK Skittles range… blue Skittles!

Field Day

ac0ur — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:00:57 +0000

Wow, it’s come around again, yes it’s almost that time of year where I’ll be abusing my ears, brain and body sitting in front of a radio for the majority of a weekend. Yes it’s Field Day time again soon. And the excitement is brewing at my shack as I start prepping my gear for the long haul out to the field. Odd that I get ready for this once a year event that is supposed to be a test of year round preparedness? Truth is that I do have a system for packing the gear to take out into the field at a moments notice. So I am prepared for almost anything. But there is still something special about Field Day that makes me put the polishing touch on my go pack. I think it might have something to do with the fact that you and the rest of the public will get a chance to see my station in a condition that most might never get to see it in. Radios will be packed in my case with power supply, antennas taken down ready to toss into the back of a pickup, extra mast kit ready to go, coax rolled up. Yes I plan to do some real-time blogging and micro-blogging from Field Day again this year. You can find most of my Field Day plans on my club’s site.

I am looking forward to exploring the idea of “Why Field Day” over the next two months as we lead up to this fun-filled weekend. And if you’re not a ham operator, your more than welcome to check out the ARRL and find out more about how you can join us in your community. See you in the field and 73s.

Next Generation Radio Club

ac0ur — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:49:59 +0000

So I was kinda wondering what the next generation Amateur Radio Club would look like. I actually doubt they will look anything like traditional radio clubs. I belong to the local club which is geographically based (that is members are all hams that live in my local area). But the future radio club will be more widely spread geographically, and be more interests based. After all radio waves are not contained by geographical lines and boundaries.

There has always been a list of “nationwide” clubs but I can see with the Internet and social networking being the linking factor for new hams, that nationwide and international radio clubs will be more common than the local club. Now before you all go and shoot me for predicting the death of local clubs. I will not say that the local club will no longer be relevant because it most certainly is, local clubs will just be taking on a new role then what they formerly had.

So what do you foresee in the future of Amateur Radio?

Hello world!

ac0ur — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:21:20 +0000

The Team Skittles Radio Club site has been born! So break out the party size bags of skittles and turn on your HF radio’s.