Hello and welcome

Here is the 1st "Ray Reviews" of the last month of 2025.

Or on this day in ....

"1887, Sherlock Holmes 1st appears in print and 32 years later in 1919, A A Milne's comedy play 'Mr Pim passes by' premieres in Manchester"

Now on with the review of the Monday Night Channel 14 PMR net held on the 01/12/2025

My location for the night was a wet and windy Radio Corner, Ashdown 🌲 Forest in the county of East Sussex, were the wind was blowing about 25 mph and gusting up to 50 mph (that is what various weather apps were saying)

The net is scheduled to start at 20:30 🕣 and finish from 23:00 🕚 onwards (local UK time).

My set up the night, was the CRT Space U powered by a car battery 🔋 and a "Dean" made Di-pole up on a fibreglass pole that was bending in the wind and then bent a bit more when it gusted.

With the when, where and what time established, on with my list of check in's and who heard and or worked who

RHP 285 -- Steve -- Reigate Hill -- Surrey 🥇
C V M -- Nigel -- Ashdown 🌲 Forest -- East Sussex
LT 243 aka TM 3006 -- Mike -- Brighton -- East Sussex
Delta 31 -- Adam -- Hastings -- East Sussex
CT 9484 -- Mark -- Haslemere -- Surrey
Jonny 5 aka CT 5480 -- John -- Plumpton -- East Sussex
CT 4013 -- Tony -- Brighton -- East Sussex
Ratty 248 -- Chris -- Reigate Hill -- Surrey
London Calling -- Mark -- East London
Tango 187 -- Toby -- Ashdown 🌲 Forest -- East Sussex
CT 4362 -- Chris -- At work in the car park -- Surrey -- Pedestrian mobile and using a handy
CT 1829 -- Dean -- Edenbridge -- Kent
CT 3466 -- "Radar" Ray -- Ashdown 🌲 Forest -- East Sussex
XR 41 -- Jerry -- Hailsham -- East Sussex
Shaggy aka CT 5363 -- Lewes -- East Sussex
CT 5365 -- Des -- Pembury -- Kent -- Using a handy
and me
CT 2290 -- Ray -- Ashdown 🌲 Forest -- East Sussex -- In the Chair 💺

Score on the Doors
1 Flapjack eaten (thank you Nigel)
3 Counties worked
1 London borough worked
17 Stations worked
1 Police visit

Thank you to the listening stations and to all who called in. Sorry if you tried and wasn't heard, give it another try another Monday night.

That brings this episode of "Ray Reviews" to an end

Let me know if you have spotted a mistake or I have left anything out.

Best 73

Ray 2290 with the paper and pens 📝

Hello all

Here is a video by Mike (CB, PMR & licenced radio operator) showing how to make a "sputnik" antenna for 70cm.

Just change the lengths of the 4 ground planes and the driven element and the same principle can be used to make a PMR antenna.

Hello and Welcome

Here is my report for the Southern Area and South Coast SSB held on the 27th of November 2025
(1 week before the 9th anniversary of this net)

My working conditions for the night was the Anytone AT-6666 (no amp no power mic) powered by a car battery 🔋 and a Solarcon A-99 antenna on a 3 metre pole.

Channel 39 on the mid-block or 27.395 MHz is where the net is held and is on LSB

Band conditions were quiet, so no skip no ground wave.

My location of luxury was Radio Corner, Ashdown 🌲 Forest in the county of East Sussex.

The net is scheduled to start at 20:30 🕣 and finished at 23:00 🕚 (this was so we could run the 2nd 10m test net on 28.350 MHz USB)

I no order, he is my list of check in's and who heard and or worked who.

MR 121--Matt--Copthorne--West Sussex 🥇
FB 857 aka Mr Magoo--Paul-- Rye--East Sussex
TW 001--Vince--Hastings--East Sussex
JR 6969--Jim--Sutton--South London
CT 4515--John--Ditchling Beacon--East Sussex
CT 4952--Julian--Brighton--East Sussex--Using the reactivated Burgess Hill Kiwi SDR and his radio
Delta 31--Adam--Hastings--East Sussex
CT 4013--Tony--Brighton--East Sussex
XR 41--Jerry--Hailsham--East Sussex
TC 156--Steve--Gatwick--West Sussex
LR 096--Mark--Kings Lynn--Norfolk
AV 301-- J D (Shane)--Dagenham--East London
DT 372--John--Pinner--Northwest London
JS 7--James--Rochester--Kent--Chairman 💺 of the Southeast Sunday morning Net held on 27.285 MHz USB
555--Jimmy--Chingford--East London--Welcome to the net 👍
TM 3006--Mike--Race Hill--Brighton--East Sussex
009--Tom--East London
GE 167--Murphy--Eastbourne--East Sussex
4031--Brian--Billingsgate--East London--Welcome to the net 👍
and me
CI 2290--Ray--Ashdown 🌲 Forest--East Sussex--In the Chair 💺

Thank you to Toby (Tango 187) for the use of his camper van and test run for next weeks 9th anniversary net.
Thank you to all who called in and to the listening stations. If you tried to call in and wasn't heard, give it ago another week. A word of advice, use a name, handle or callsign to get the chair's attention, coz 3 stations all calling "break break, QSK or on the side" sound the same.

We are only days away from the 9th anniversary of the SSB net, I hope to get you in the log.

Nets stats for the night
2 new stations called in
4 counties worked
20 in the log
4 London boroughs worked

Best 73

Ray 2290 with the pen and paper 📝

Lets try and make it the best yet. Listen in from 8.30pm (local) Thurssday 4th December and if you hear anyone please call in.
If you don't have a callsign, NO problem use your name/Handle or whatever.

For those who like to earwig there are many SDR's worldwide, a good start is KIWI SDR
You can select from the list or as I prefer click on the KiwiSDR Map button & zoom in.
Ray & possibly others can be heard 0n 27.395MHz lsb on Thursdays from 20.30 hours on the Burgess Hill SDR.

ps. You need to type the frequency as 27395.00MHz

So, using what I had managed to learn from building my coat-hanger folded dipole yagi, this time I built a 6-element one using aluminium. I used the recommended coax and length for the 4:1 balun; this time, I have 1.01:1 SWR.

I haven't managed to test it yet, and it will only be a loft job, but it is portable too. See what I can get on the Monday night PRM net.   

Ah who knows, I now have some Aluminium tubing to make a better one, so I'll see how that goes. It might get a couple of extra bars over to you!

Following the 11M net on Thursday 27th November Ray (Razz229) the chair changed band & led the 2nd 10M test net under the supervision of Toby (M0KXU).
Below is A QSL card to mark the event:

Well done John, it's great to see the efforts of members.
The million doller question is 'will it help getting over the large mound of chalk to Brighton'?

Thought I'd share the pictures of my 446mhz Coat Hanger - Folded Dipole 3-element Yagi, as I was very pleased with the results. Tested in my loft, mounted to the end of a PVC pipe, which I was holding, this time the antenna was lower than my usual antenna, which I use for the weekly Monday night PRM net.

I could hear some comms from Ashdown Forrest coming through on Ch14 at full bars, so that was promising, made contact with Nigel CVM, who was at his home QTH, full bars back, I don't normally get him full power from him at that location, so even more promising, then tested on my usual Slim Jim, and power was down a couple of bars, about 13 out of 15 bars with a little crackle.

SWR reading was around 2.3:1, which I managed to get down to 2.1:1. I had fitted a 4:1 Coax balun loop as recommended; however, the loop and feed line were 50ohms, where it was recommended to use 75ohms for the loop and feed line, then into your usual 50ohms run of coax.

I believe from what I have managed to read and find on YouTube, I can improve on the SWR by using the 75ohms coax and the length of the centre lines into the folded dipole, oh, and the correct length of coax balun loop to match the wavelength. 

Anyway, all in all, as crude as the finished product looks, I was pleased with the results. I think I will now build a version out of aluminium tubing with the correct recommended coax ohms and 4:1 coax balun length, and see how that goes.

It was fun to make and see some results from testing.

Design calculator from https://3g-aerial.biz/en/online-calculations/antenna-calculations/dl6wu-yagi-uda-antenna-online-calculator