Group:Amateur Radio

From London Hackspace Wiki
Amateur Radio
Amateur-radio-logo.png
When First Saturday of the Month, from 14:00
Members
Inside our current radio shack (Feb 2020)

Welcome to the London Hackspace Radio Club, established in 2013.

We're proud to be a part of the London Hackspace: the world's largest co-operative workshop (by membership).

In 2015, we won the prestigious Radio Society of Great Britain National Club of the Year

The call sign of London Hackspace is M0HSL.

The shack's Maidenhead locator is IO91UN.

What is Amateur Radio, Why Do it

It's the original 'nerd' hobby- building and playing with all sorts of communication over the airwaves! For those that are curious, more info available here.

Amateur radio complements many other interest groups in the space by providing a basis for the electronic and communications technologies that allow us to effectively explore and create cool stuff.

Radio Society of Great Britain Club Affiliation

London Hackspace are an RSGB affiliated club. This means we can enter RSGB contests, get news coverage in RadCom and GB2RS easily and probably get some general promotion for the space, generally good things.

Meetings, Events & Radio Shack Availability

Meetings are monthly and normally held on the first Saturday, at 14:00 (usually preceded by brunch in a pub).

The radio shack is available to members of the amateur radio club (and supervised guests) 24 hours a day. Use of transmission facilities is restricted to licensed UK/CEPT/HAREC amateurs only. Access is restricted to those who have completed an induction to the shack.

We have created some guidelines for shack operation - please study if you intend to transmit.

Study Courses & Exams

There are three levels of licensing in the United Kingdom: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced. One new radio enthusiast's testimonial of acquiring all three licenses at another club is here.

As the London Hackspace community tends to be familiar with the basic concepts of electronics involved in the amateur radio qualifications, our courses are self-study for the theoretical portions of these exams. There are usually assessors around during meetings who can handle practical assessments on an ad-hoc basis. London Hackspace is a RSGB registered exam centre. Exams are run as needed, based on demand and on the availability of invigilators (who have to give up several hours of their undivided attention).

If you're interested in doing your amateur radio qualification at London Hackspace, let us know on our mailing list.

Our training team consists of:

  • JJ - instructor, accredited assessor
  • Nigle - instructor
  • Marrold - Exam Secretary
  • mich181189 - instructor, accredited assessor

...and anyone we've forgotten please add yourself or consider volunteering in the future!

Projects and Goals for the Club

  • Activities Master Spreadsheet via Google Docs - contact another member for edit access
  • Hacktenna
  • Morse Code
  • Clark Trailer Mast – 30M Clark Trailer Mast
  • Encourage more active licensing of atypical amateur radio enthusiasts (younger demographics, women, minorities) - it's a multicultural world, after all.
  • Build a complementary bridge between other group efforts - encourage other regional radio clubs to link up with other hackspaces
  • Antennas - Mount and install a variety of antennas on the shack (Rebuild the Yagi, install the 2 m Diamond antenna, rearrange cables in shack)
  • Participate as a club/team in some contests and possibly field activities like SOTA
  • Explore more digital HF modes - digital data as well as newer digital modes like FreeDV/Codec2
  • More Intermediate (second-level) licensing activities
  • Club Wish List - an equipment wish-list for the club - please consider donating / loaning equipment to the space!
  • BaofengUV5R-TRRS
  • APRS iGate/Digipeater - because APRS coverage in London sucks
  • Packet Radio is cool again.

Informative

  • Repeaters that everyone can get to (even if it's RX only).
  • Getting Started. So you've got your Foundation licence and callsign, what now?
  • Heavens Above Amateur Radio Satellites passing above the Hackspace

Slightly out of date

Useful links

There are many places on the web for news about amateur radio, but one of the risks is that a lot of the information is outdated and incorrect. Here are some recommended sites for various bits:

UK Specific Discussion Boards, Exam Prep, and Official Info

General News, Info & Discussion

Current

Historical

Rigs

Other Hackspace Radio Clubs

Available Resources

Contact & Keeping in touch

Please get in contact with us! We have many active forms of communication.

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