Hello & good day

Welcome to another episode of "Ray Reviews" the Monday Night Channel 14 PMR Net held on Monday 02/03/2026

and did you know that on this date in history. . . . .

Queen Victoria escapes an assassination attempt while boarding a train at Windsor and the 1st surface crossing of Antarctic is completed after 99 days

Now on with some information about the net

The net is scheduled to start at 20:30 Hrs 🕣 and finish anytime from 23:00 Hrs 🕙 UK time onwards

My location was Radio Corner, Ashdown 🌲 Forest in the county of East Sussex, which is near the town of Crowborough. The weather on the night was cold, clear with some scattered cloud that allowed the full Moon 🌕 to cast Moon shadows across the car park.

The net is held on PMR analogue channel 14 or 446.16875 MHz. We don't use any kind of tones or codes to join the net and even if you are a listening station thinking of joining to the net, you don't need a callsign or handle, just call in with your name and location.

My set up for the net was the "Dean" made Di-pole on a fibreglass pole, transmitting about 10 watts from a battery 🔋 powered CRT SPACE U

With the when, where, what time and weather forecast done, on with the list of check in's and who worked and or heard who.

CT 5464 - Matt in the Garden - Hailsham - East Sussex - Using a handy 🥇
CT 5159 - Neil - Hastingleigh - Kent
CT 1829 - Dean - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex
CT 940 - Richard - Reigate Hill - Surrey
Dragon Slayer #1 - Reigate Hill - Surrey - Shotgun with Richard
KP 441 - Steve - Mobile - West Sussex
CT 4610 aka RHP 342 - Andy - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex - 1st location of the night
Delta 31 - Adam - Hastings - East Sussex
Luke - Horsham - West Sussex
TK 8 - George - Tonbridge - Kent
London Calling - Mark - East London
Ratty 248 - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex
Witchy Women - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex
RHP 285 aka Joker - Steve - Reigate Hill - Surrey
CT 5480 - Jonny 5 - Plumpton - East Sussex - Using a handy & Umbratenna
CT 4362 - Chris - Reigate Town - Surrey
Tango 187 - Toby - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex
GE 167 - Murphy - Eastbourne - East Sussex
R J - Reigate Town - Surrey - In the loft with a handy
GE 2020 - Matt - Ore Village - East Sussex
CT 3466 - "Radar" Ray - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex
Phil - Wanstead - East London - 10-5 by Mark
CT 4515 - John - Brighton - East Sussex
CT 5502 - Paul on the Patio - Outwood - Surrey - Working a handy
XR 41 - Jerry - Hailsham - East Sussex
Split Sac - Paul - Forest Row - West Sussex - Welcome to the net and in the bakery with a handy 👍
CT 4013 - Tony - Brighton - East Sussex
RHP 342 aka CT 4610 - Andy - Reigate Hill - Surrey - 2nd location of the night
and me
CT 2290 - Ray - Ashdown 🌲 Forest - East Sussex - In the Chair 💺

Thank you all who called in and to the listening station.
Sorry if you tried and wasn't heard, it was a busy night as the Scores on the Doors will show.

Topics of the night, the dog/human fouling 💩 at Radio Corner by a horrible minority, and can we make a piece of string soaked in salt water, into an antenna??

The Score's on the Doors

2 New voice's heard on the net
28 in the log. Which meant an average of 1 call in, every 7 minutes!
5 stations using handie's
4 counties worked
2 London stations heard/worked

That brings this episode to an end and if you have spotted a mistake, let me know and I will correct.

Best 73

Ray 2290 with the hammer, chisel and piece of granite.

Philippe from Cherbourgh was blasting in to me 5/9 @ 2.30ish.
He was in a QSL with Charlie (from Brighton) although I don't know where he was TX'ing from as I couldn't hear him.

I don't see the diagonal lines on the video waterfalls that I had so undecided.
I checked 27.395MHz again yesterday evening and no noise again!
My plan is to check each evening until/if it happens again. It has to be someone near me as I always have the same power bricks/supplies on whenever I'm on radio, Also 'Station Manager' always has the same for the LED lighting etc.

Thank you Toby & Ray for another test net. Also well done for your contacts on other frequencies, eg. Brazil  

ps. James Stapleton replied to the post I added to his Sunday Morning Net Group:

QuoteJames Stapleton
didn't see this until now otherwise i would of jumped on earlier

Hello Chaps

I look forward to future plans for 10m net Mr Ray 2290/M0KXU Under supervision    .
Once again Thx for both of your support on my activation .

Cheers John   

Hi Everyone
Thank you for the congrats etc. It was great. Jonny5's  yes it was setup on that day I waited for a good day and bingo we got it.

cheers John

Hello and welcome

Here is my report for the 10m Test Net held on Saturday 28/02/2026

Keeping within the very loose idea of using the net for test purposes, it was decide, last minute, to run the net on a different day and at a different time.

So I headed to Radio Corner, Ashdown 🌴 Forest to meet up with my supervisor Toby M0KXU.

We set up 2 antennas, my Solarcon tuned up for 10m which gave us a SWR of about 1:1.7 which is well within acceptability and a whip antenna on a tripod with 2 ground planes, this gave us an almost perfect 1:1 on the NanoVNA.
The radio of choice was the Alinco DX-70 set at 50 watts powered by a car battery 🔋.

Due to 28.350 being held by a strong North American station, we moved down to 28.330 which was quiet as a church mouse. After checking the frequency was clear, a call went out to see who was about.

A few calls from Toby M0KXU and Tony M9JVQ called in, followed by John M7RLP.

We tested the 2 antennas and reports suggest just a slight difference in audio and signal strength between the 2 antennas.

Then super strong stations came in from Florida and pushed us off the frequency, 50 watts doesn't stand a chance against 800 watts through a 4 element beam.

With the net over, and not wanting to waste the day, we searched up and down 10m and made a few contacts and got in the log of a few POTA activations. We then adjusted the whip antenna for 20m and made a few more contacts.

Overall a good day out. We made contact with the Seychelles, Ukraine, England, Azores, USA and Brazil to name just a few. We even got to hear John M7RLP activate a new POTA site.

The award 🏆 for the furthest listening station goes to Michael M7ROE. He was on the SDR from Bulgaria.

The end of March has been pencilled in for the next 10m Test Net

73

Ray 2290/M0KXU under supervision

Hi John

No picture of the Donkeys 🐴

Well done on the activation and the contacts you made.

Us listing stations were cheering you on 👍

Looks like a nice little location as set up there. Was that today?

Congrats John for the first to activate GB-5779.