Sunday 21 February 2010

Radio Rally part 2


Well I attended the radio rally, held by Swansea ARS  today and was quite impressed especially considering the change of venue. I believe however a number of people were disappointed at the poor parking facilities. In fact one local amateur having driven around 20 miles to attend the rally and being unable to park, turned around and went home. Lets hope if this venue is used again the parking is better organised.

I think it is important to try and support local radio rallies, certainly they are not as numerous as they were in these days of web shopping and mail order.
I came away with what I needed- not much- a new logbook (I still keep a paper log), some rechargeable batteries and some antenna wire. I also had the opportunity to say hello to a few people who I know are licensed but I never hear on the air!
Its always best not to take a cheque book or credit card to rallies and to remember the difference between " I want" and "I need". In any case, on this occasion my wallet emerged reasonably unscathed! There was some interesting gear for sale including the vintage FR50B receiver pictured above but for now at least I won't be adding any additional equipment to the shack.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Kevin, I think I had this receiver once. A Sommerkamp isn't? I like that old stuff really. 73 Paul

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  2. Glad you enjoyed the rally and got the bits and pieces you wanted. BTW NAVTEX broadcasts are very few and far between. You will need to check out a schedule on the internet. This is probably the most up-to-date list I have found:

    http://www.beaconworld.org.uk/files/navtexschedules.pdf

    I should have thought from your QTH you should pick up Niton, maybe Corsen in Brittany, and possibly the test station at Malin Head. Your Wellbrook will certainly come in handy! I managed to received Archangelsk in Russia and Rogaland in Norway late last night on my longwire.

    Bye for now, Adam

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  3. Yes, Paul that's the Sommerkamp version of the Yaesu FR-50B which was the first amateur bands only receiver I ever owned. I had the matching FL-50B transmitter too, but as I only had a class B VHF only license I only ever used it with a transverter on to 2m. I think I hoped it would act as an incentive to pass the Morse and get a full license, but Morse was (and still is) a huge struggle for me and I didn't make the grade until several years after I'd sold it to get better 2m rigs.

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