Projects
The main project this year has been the renovation of the club's new (to us) RV. It is a 35 ft Bendix anno 1979 which was donated to us. It was somewhat neglected but well set up inside.
Activities included a complete mechanical checkup and fixing where required, an overhaul of the electrical system and general cleaning and some painting.
Here is a view forward from the entrance.
There are a couple of workstations amidships with 120 Volt power and one has 12 Volt DC
There is plenty of storage space and it also has a small kitchen area with a sink, a coffee maker and a microwave.
An aluminum box on the back has a more extensive galley with fridge, water cooler and propane grill. All perfect for Field Day!
Club Web Site Update
You are looking at it. It is an on-going project to modernize our web site. We're still working on format and content. Note that the webmaster is an amateur :-)
Establishing a Permanent Station
We need to equip the RV with an HF station. To that end the Club has purchased a Yaesu FT-710 transceiver. The FT-710 is a direct-sampling Software Defined Radio (SDR) which has received excellent reviews. The FT-710 was first used during the 2023 Field Day.
We have ordered a hex antenna. The advantage of this antenna is the quick assembly time and it is lightweight so easy to handle for 1-2 people. The antenna is expected shortly.
We have acquired a 30 ft telescoping mast that is strong enough to handle the hex beam - even in normal summer winds. Frank (VA7FWA) has made a sturdy base for the mast, which allows us to erect the antenna without guys - unless we get strong winds, of course.
Antennas for 80 and 40 metres will be one or more wire antennas that are easy to set up during Field Day and other club activities.
We now have a couple of filters which allow us to operate two transceivers at the same time. One low-pass filter for operating 160, 80 and 40 m; and one high-pass filter for 20 - 10m.
A couple of simple audio distribution systems allow for two headphones or one headphone and one speaker with individual volume control at each of the two operation positions.