I've just purchased a Comet CSB7900 "Super Beam" Antenna. I decided to get this to improve my signal strength and reception from my car for both Raynet and general use.
This antenna is 1.56 meters long and is quite heavy. I don't think I have the courage to use it on a motorway quite yet!
The main reason for this is the trouble I have mounting antennas on my company car. I currently use a clamp arrangement fitted to a roof rack bar. This has been reasonably succesfull for VHF and UHF use. (It is no use at all for HF as it puts the antenna up in such a way that the ground coupling is very bad and the antenna doesn't resonate properly. VHF antennas don't seem to cause this affect due I suspect to capcitive coupling to the car. The roof rack clamps are rubber faced and hence the rack bar is effectively floating from earth at HF frequencies.)
However the new antenna is quite heavy and the fixing clamp is flimsy as it is hinged and held in place basically by just one screw!
Early testing show the antenna as considerably better than the earlier antennas that I have used. However my rant today is that these antennas are Japanese manufactured and all the documentation and instructions are in Japanese!
You can extract the specifications easily enougth from web sites or the bag of the antenna / data sheet but that is all you can extract. There is a two sided white on black A4 instruction sheet including what looks very like a warning but I have no idea what it says!
The antenna is a 7/8 wave on 144MHz and three stacked 5/8 wave antennas on 430 MHz. It has a gain quoted as 5.1dBi on 144MHz and 7.7dBi on 430MHz. I think it is rated for 150W FM transmissions.
I will try to add a photo later!
The antenna was purchased from Nevada (Portsmouth) http://www.nevada.co.uk/
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Peter G4DCP
Friday 7 December 2007
Sunday 2 December 2007
Why do companies ignore their technical people
There was a time when I thought that most companies used the expertise of their people and that the management of companies have a firm hand on the tiller of their businesses.
How naive can one be.
I've worked for the company that I am part of for over thirty four years and now I have studied many other companies as well.
I can honestly say that companies do NOT use the expertise of their people and that management is NOT in any sort of control of their businesses.
Most people will say this is not a surprise and point at Dilbert http://www.dilbert.com/ as a clear indication that companies blunder onward rather than deliver to a plan.
However it is a clear landmark in ones life when one realises that this is not humour --- it is real life.
What seems strangest is that the people who totally wreck companies success get rewarded rather than penalised. I do wonder if any companies do respect their staff?
Anyway as you can see I am in a sour mood today.
How naive can one be.
I've worked for the company that I am part of for over thirty four years and now I have studied many other companies as well.
I can honestly say that companies do NOT use the expertise of their people and that management is NOT in any sort of control of their businesses.
Most people will say this is not a surprise and point at Dilbert http://www.dilbert.com/ as a clear indication that companies blunder onward rather than deliver to a plan.
However it is a clear landmark in ones life when one realises that this is not humour --- it is real life.
What seems strangest is that the people who totally wreck companies success get rewarded rather than penalised. I do wonder if any companies do respect their staff?
Anyway as you can see I am in a sour mood today.
Sunday 25 November 2007
Emergency Radio
I've been a Radio HAM for many years, mainly as a licence holder who has been totally inactive.
Is HAM Radio dead and becoming a smelly corpse of a hobby? Well no it isn't. That is because HAM Radio has as a hobby a real valuable side seperate from being a black hole into which a near infinite amount of money can be poured!
Some radio hams are also "into" emergency communications. In particular I am a member of the local Raynet group. http://www.sehr.co.uk/
Even my wife feels that emergency communications are worthwhile. I suppose however it is the voluntary work carried out in providing communications for various events that need communications. (She runs Denmead Horse Shows http://www.denmeadhorseshows.co.uk/)
This support of events has a real use to groups like SEHR (South East Hants Raynet) and that use is providing oportunities to practice for a real emergency.
PS. The National Raynet site is http://www.raynet-uk.net/.
--
The ancient Ham
Is HAM Radio dead and becoming a smelly corpse of a hobby? Well no it isn't. That is because HAM Radio has as a hobby a real valuable side seperate from being a black hole into which a near infinite amount of money can be poured!
Some radio hams are also "into" emergency communications. In particular I am a member of the local Raynet group. http://www.sehr.co.uk/
Even my wife feels that emergency communications are worthwhile. I suppose however it is the voluntary work carried out in providing communications for various events that need communications. (She runs Denmead Horse Shows http://www.denmeadhorseshows.co.uk/)
This support of events has a real use to groups like SEHR (South East Hants Raynet) and that use is providing oportunities to practice for a real emergency.
PS. The National Raynet site is http://www.raynet-uk.net/.
--
The ancient Ham
Why Blog?
Everyone seems to have a blog these days.
Do they have any real value?
About the only way to find out is to have a blog of ones own. I feel that no one could possibly be interested in the Musings of an ancient radio ham. However lets give it a try.
Oh you ask what is the callsign of this ancient ham? Well as you can see I'm now hearing hypothetical questions! I suppose I better answer it as I don't have a FAQ as yet!
So what's the answer you ask? Well it is G4DCP and from that you can if you wish learn an enormous amount of information about the real owner of this insane Blog!
--
The insane ancient radio ham
Do they have any real value?
About the only way to find out is to have a blog of ones own. I feel that no one could possibly be interested in the Musings of an ancient radio ham. However lets give it a try.
Oh you ask what is the callsign of this ancient ham? Well as you can see I'm now hearing hypothetical questions! I suppose I better answer it as I don't have a FAQ as yet!
So what's the answer you ask? Well it is G4DCP and from that you can if you wish learn an enormous amount of information about the real owner of this insane Blog!
--
The insane ancient radio ham
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