Cretan Blog – August 2011

With the temperature pegged around the high 30’s, greetings from a pleasantly warm SV9!

I usually receive my RadComic about three weeks after you get it in the UK but the July issue arrived a lot earlier than usual and so I sat and took my time reading it (OK, some of it).

Several things require comments I think, and the first has to be the Antenna article by G3LDO. Does this guy never have any ideas of his own? Interesting it may be, but for only a handful of people, for the rest of us it is a total waste of paper. Question: How many readers under the age of 60 would actually know what a Bowden Cable is? His ‘apology’ for the error in his last Loop article just proves that he does not fully read what he actually writes! In contrast, the article about radials and how many to use was excellent, but this was not by ‘LDO, so it was bound to be.

I was also glad to see that Don Field, G3XTT, had a pop at some of the twaddle written by M5FUN in the Start Here series. M5FUN seems to think he is the Bees Knees and knows everything. To me, and a growing band of people, be knows less than a solid piece of 4 x 2.

OK, so here is a question for you: On page 11 there is a short piece about the Kent Air Ambulance collecting a cheque. If the Air Ambulance is from Kent, why does it have a German registration? Der deutsche Flugzeug ist billiger?

However, I am departing from my agreement with ‘The Committee’ as I said I would not use this Blog Thing to keep having a pop at the RSGB but would be positive about things and give an idea about radio life from the outer reaches of the Ancient (Broke) Greek Empire.

This past month was somewhat different for us. Some time ago I was advised to expect a call from a visiting Russian Ham and in early July I received an email from Serge, UA9CSA, saying the day he was arriving in Aghios and could we meet up etc. We swapped emails and a few hours after arriving, he ‘phoned and we arranged to meet.

At the appointed hour we met him, his XYL Irina and their son, Kirill, and set off to show them Aghios. We walked round the town and had a pleasant meal at ‘La Casa’, a restaurant we know very well and while Serge and I talked radio, my Missus and Irina got on famously talking about shopping and other female pursuits. Apparently, shopping knows no language barrier.

I had checked my logs to see if I had worked Serge in the past but drew a blank. However, it turns out that I had in fact worked his ‘fist’ in several contests as he is one of the operators at RF9C and their previous call, RK9CWW. This is the Ural State University station in Ekaterinburg and it just so happens that Irina works there and their son attends lectures there as well . . . I have worked RF9C and RK9CWW many times and quite often on 40m where they are always a big signal. This week I found out the reason, they have a 2 ele 40m Quad on the roof. This is next to the 4 ele quad for 20-15 &10. (See picture below)

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Although Serge spent 95% of his time ‘on holiday’ with his family, I did manage to get him over to the Radio Club in Heraklion where he used the Club rig on 40m CW and was a great hit for an hour or so. Some of us then took him out for a meal which lasted until the wee small hours while we compared notes about aerials, rigs, regulations in our relevant countries, band condx, some forthcoming changes to the Russian system and just about everything else. Needless to say that when I returned him to his hotel, the sun was coming up!

In the next few days we have ‘Judge’, G4KAR and Pat, his XYL, visiting. They will stay with us for two weeks so I expect that very little in the way of radio operating will be done but there will be plenty of eating, drinking and chatting about ‘the good old days’ as ‘Judge’ and I went to school together from the tender age of 12.

Back in the late 50’s we moved to Herstmonceux and about the second day on the bus to school, Judge noticed me reading Short Wave Magazine (the original) and being interested in Short Wave listening, he introduced himself. After that it was all downhill . . . So why the name ‘Judge’ you ask? Well with a surname like Jeffries, what else would you be called?

I see that the RSGB have published the results of its questionnaire. Just a couple of things: I was pleased to see that one of my own comments was produced, word for word! I also mentioned this some time ago, that is the use of ‘Management Speak’ in their reporting. Page 39 says “Work out a new USP…” Eh? What is a USP? Maybe it is a new way of plugging things into a computer, I don’t know, but it sure sounds like Management Gobbledegook to me. I also think that the actual wording and descriptions of the various graphs could have been a lot better. In some cases it read as if it was written by a seven year old and a lot of the ‘answers’ and comments were vague and non committal. In August RadComic, page 8 column 3, they even admit that there were flaws in the questionnaire and their wording.

However, I see no real change coming from the questionnaire because events at Bedford have overtaken a lot of the comments about the organisation. I will reserve judgement for 12 months and see how things change with a new General Manager.

Rumour has it that Dave, ‘VGR, has been approached.

In the middle of July I saw the July/August edition of the Greek equivalent of ‘Practical Wireless’ and in it was a quick review of the Wouxun KV-UV920R FM mobile transceiver. This, according to Lynch’s advert in RadComic, is not due until late 2011.  Also in the magazine were adverts for these little VHF/UHF 2.5 watt handhelds for €59. These are branded here under the ERMiS label, model number UV-3R. Several SW9’s have the little 2m/70cm Wouxun and I am constantly being asked to get going on VHF with something similar. There are two reasons why I resist (Well, three actually)

1. I could not access the nearest repeater from this QTH without the aid of a 9-ele Tonna,
2. If I used the little HT while out and about, who would I talk to? I mean, all the locals being Greek and me not speaking the lingo, and
3. I am not a ‘VHF minded’ person. I know I will get hung, drawn and quartered for saying this but why go on a band where the only people you can work are those you can see, unless you get help from a machine stuck up on some hill or other?

Yes, I know, I’m a Neanderthal when it comes to such things, but hey, if it wasn’t for me, you’d have no one to have a go at! . . .

Now, where’s that suntan cream?

Yammas.

Dick. ‘XBN.