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uncletony has held an
Amateur Radio licence since 1964. He initially started operation
with a UK Class 'B' licence and was a member of the Grafton
Radio Society in Holloway, North London for several years.
Tony did a lot of home construction, mostly on the kitchen
table, much to his mothers annoyance! His first transmitter
was 100% home-brew - 10Watts of crystal-controlled output
on 433-odd Mhz (8032 kHz x 72) from a QQV03-20 twin-tetrode
valve, modulation was AM. It was awesome to have a QSO in
the dark and watch the flickering blue electron beams in the
KT-66 modulation valves. What a beast! Lots of volts, lots
of heat...!!
While
he was working in the Middle East he studied with ADMA radio
operators for the 12 words-per-minute Morse code exam in Abu
Dhabi. He eventually passed the test (March 14, 1969) and
was granted a full licence (MP4Dxx).
Later
uncletony was transferred
to Bushire on the Iranian side of the Gulf. The Iranian authorities
were not at all enthusiastic about issuing him a licence so,
not wanting to attract considerable attention, Tony quietly
shelved the idea of becoming an EP4...
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This
was the transceiver
used to make all uncletony's
MP4Dxx contacts
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uncletony
returned to the UK in 1980. Once settled he re-kindled his radio
interests by getting on to the newly approved UK Citizens Band
radio (27MHz/FM), using the 'handle' "GammaRay".
He joined the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society (AARS)
and eventually became one of the first candidates to sit and
pass the Morse test administered by a local Radio Club.
He
got his full Class A licence on November 6, 1986. Tony was
a member of the AARS for many years (even becoming
vice-president for one session).
As a keen constructor he won the Lamb Trophy a couple of times
for the quality and complexity of home-brew projects. He has
converted several FM and multi-mode CB's for use on the Amateur
10 metre band.
Tony
has also 'had a go' at many facets of amateur radio hobby
- HF, VHF and UHF bands and AM, FM, TV, Morse (CW), RTTY and
Packet (AX-25) modes. He has even had a confirmed contact
from the MIR space-station!
These
days you'll find uncletony
mostly Mobile on S-22 (145.550Mhz) during weekday morning
and evening rush hours in the Aberdeen area.
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Links
to very useful sites
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| Useful
and Interesting Radio Stuff |
Conversion
dBW - Watts
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dBW
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Watts
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dBW
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Watts
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dBW
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Watts
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-20
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0.01
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1
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1.259
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14
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25.12
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-15
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0.032
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2
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1.585
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15
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31.62
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-10
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0.1
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3
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1.995
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16
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39.81
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-9
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0.126
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4
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2.512
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17
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50.12
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-8
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0.158
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5
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3.162
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18
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63.10
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-7
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0.200
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6
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3.981
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19
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79.43
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-6
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0.251
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7
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5.012
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20
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100.00
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-5
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0.316
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8
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6.13
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21
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125.89
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-4
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0.398
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9
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7.94
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22
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158.49
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-3
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0.501
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10
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10.00
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23
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199.53
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-2
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0.631
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11
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12.59
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24
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251.19
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-1
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0.794
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12
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15.85
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25
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316.23
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0
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1.00
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13
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19.95
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26
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398.11
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RF
Frequency (ƒ) and Wavelength (λ)
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| Frequency
(ƒ) in kHz |
=
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300,000 / Wavelength (λ) in Meters |
| Frequency
(ƒ) in MHz |
=
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300 / Wavelength (λ) in Meters |
| Frequency
(ƒ) in MHz |
=
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984
/ Wavelength (λ) in Feet |
| Wavelength
(λ) in Meters |
=
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300,000
/ Frequency (ƒ) in kHz |
| Wavelength
(λ) in Meters |
=
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300
/ Frequency (ƒ) in MHz |
| Wavelength
(λ) in Feet |
=
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984
/ Frequency(ƒ) in MHz |
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Speed/Velocity
of Radio Waves
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300,000
meters (or 186,000 feet) per second
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Useful
Links to Radio allied sites
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For
an easy-to-read explanation on radio wave propagation go
here.
Interested
in aurora ? Go
here. You can sign up for automatic email alerts when
a geomagnetic storm is starting (which indicates a high chance
of amateur radio auroral activity and possibly visua aurora
borealis displays in the UK).
Also, visit this
site in Alaska which is experimenting with auroral
predictions.
Record
Keeping
It is a legal requirement that a record of all 'contacts'
between amateur radio stations - usually called the 'Log
Book'. For a FREE
computer based Log Book visit the web-site of G0CUZ, and download
'WinLog32'.
In addition to being a formal contact record it allows quick
cross-reference between countries, states, counties, date,
time, frequency band, maps, etc.
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