The meeting today was split into two activities. Firstly Derf, G8ZGK, gave a short presentation about the proposed Amateur Radio regulations which have been publish by Ofcom on their web site. No major issues could be seen with the proposals.
The second activity was a demonstration of a Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) aerial by Malcolm, G7VRT. Derf set out some bamboo cains on the grass which were around 3 foot long and attached a 5 MHz dipole to these.
Swift connection to Derfs 15 watt Elecraft and whilst he was tuning around an explanation on how this type of aerial layout worked. A good guide can be found at this link. In the meantime derf had tuned his set to 40 metres and had exchanged a contact with, GB0BAL, at Cosford. A special event station to mark the anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. More details here.The first proper test, this time on 60 metres, was conducted by G7VRT and made first contact with G6EED in Exter. Some spare components were available and Laurie, G1FNC, constructed his own dipole using the one in use a pattern.