Last week CARC members Graham Parsons (2E0XDZ) and Biton Walstra (2E0WAO) both obtained their Intermediate Licences. Each had self studied for some time before taking the examination on the same Saturday afternoon. However in Biton’s case he had to pass the Foundation first, so success at two levels within a few hours. Congratulations to both candidates and once again thanks to Dick Lupton for invigilating.

Of course all necessary practical assessments had to be undertaken prior to sitting their exams and this was accomplished some weeks earlier during an all day session in Hut 18. I think both students enjoyed the day and learnt a lot, especially while calibrating an analogue VFO, one of the more interesting required elements, particularly in these days of synthesised radios. None of this would have been possible without the able assistance of fellow trainer Ted MacDonald.

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last couple of weeks there has been an interesting discussion on rsgbtech@yahoogroups.com (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rsgbtech/) on the subject of T&K brackets. The simple question that started the thread was which way round to the two brackets go?

Although one normally sees T&K brackets mounted with K at the bottom, I pointed out that there was some useful information here: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/polesandbrackets.html#PictureOf12&24T&Ks , which says :
There are two opposing views as to which should go at the top. The K is obviously the more robust bracket and the received wisdom is that this should go at the bottom because, being further down, the wall is stronger there. However the top bracket is probably under the most stress (certainly if the wind is blowing the pole away from the wall) and so some think the K should go there instead ! Basically one has to work out the relative importance of the two factors for the particular install being undertaken. For an install at the peak of a gable I would put the K at the bottom, whereas on a strong flat top wall I`d put the K at the top. Basically it`s six of one, and half a dozen of the other, but,if in doubt put the K at the bottom

More information can also be found at http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/

Read the rest of this entry »