Welsh Radio

September 13th, 2008

So I wake up in Wales this morning to a lovely sunny day and I pinch myself, no it’s reality all right. Chain’s wandering about somewhere in North Wales so I brought my 2M radio, I was meant to fit it in the car this week but I am still undecided about a mount for the antenna. With my old Dagenham Dustbin the choice was obvious, drill a bloody great hole in the roof! Job done, but the new car is quite clean and tidy and I don’t really want to be drilling holes in the bodywork, though it is still an option. The plan is to venture onto a hill somewhere, there’s one or two to choose from, and try to access a repeater near him, a technical challenge that I’m quite up for. As I don’t have an antenna fitted on the car I have brought with me my homemade J-pole (click diagram) that I built a couple of years ago and proves to perform quite well, plus I can just stick it in the ground. Until then I need to do some research on the local geography and find out which repeater it is that Chain can access so I can set up the CTCSS tones etc. I think a yagi (directional) antenna would be more appropriate for the situation but I don’t have one.

Entry Filed under: Technical