Group:Amateur Radio

Amateur Radio
When	1st Saturday, from 14:00
Members
Filbert Futureshape Padski Paul Ridpojken Tgreer Wiggler Wyan

Inside our radio shack

The call sign of London Hackspace is M0HSL.

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.

The radio shack is available to members of the amateur radio club (and stewarded guests) 24 hours a day.

Study Courses & Exams

There are three levels of licensing in the United Kingdom: Foundation, Intermediate, and Full. The first licence content (classroom and practicals) is typically taught on a Saturday with the exam on the following Sunday. Intermediate courses usually take a bit longer as it includes more practical coursework (soldering, kit assembly, radio operation) and assessment. The final licence stage is often done through a combination of guided and self-study.

We are currently planning our courses for 2015. So far we have the following:

• Foundation Course 7-8 March 2015
• Intermediate Course 3 days across Jan-Feb-March 2015
• Full Licence Self-Study Guidance & Subject-Matter Catch-Ups

One radio enthusiast's written account going through all three licence stages is here.

Training Team

Our training team consists of:

• tgreer - examination secretary
• Kraptv - instructor, accredited assessor
• JJ - instructor, accredited assessor
• Ruben (wyan) - instructor, accredited assessor
• MattP - instructor
• Paul - instructor
• Mentar - invigilator
• Mat Stace - invigilator
• Niklas (Ridpojken) - practicals assistant

...and anyone I've forgotten please add yourself.

Contact

• Mailing list
• Internet Relay Chat (IRC), #lhs-radio on chat.freenode.net (or via web browser).
• Twitter, @M0HSL
• Member's Callsigns – Hackspace members' callsigns

Projects and Goals for the Club

Projects

• Activities Master Spreadsheet via Google Docs - contact another member for edit access
• Antennas - Mount and install a variety of antennas on the shack (Rebuild the Yagi, install the 2 m Diamond antenna, rearrange cables in shack)
• Hacktenna
• Morse Code
• Mast – 30M Mast Trailer

Goals for 2015

• Encourage more active licensing of atypical amateur radio enthusiasts (younger demographics, women, minorities)
• Build a complementary bridge between other group efforts
• Participate as a club/team in some contests and possibly field activities like SOTA
• Explore more digital HF modes
• More Intermediate (second-level) licensing activities

Informative

• Repeaters that everyone can get to (even if it's RX only).
• Amateur Radio/Getting started. So you've got your Foundation licence and callsign, what now?

Slightly out of date

• London Hackspace Radio Club

Useful links

• Transmission1
• HamTests
• Ofcom WTR
• Ofcom Amateur Radio
• ukrepeaters
• RSGB
• Protective Multiple Earthing and the Radio Amateur

Rigs

• Useful resource for the Baofeng/Pofung UV-5R and Miklor UV-5R (and derivatives) Documentation