agenda

Assessing your station against ICNIRP EMF levels  –  John M0JAV

Ofcom is implementing changes to all transmitting licences to require licensees to comply with ICNIRP general public limits on EMF exposure. This will include previously licence exempt users who transmit at powers of more than 10W EIRP. John will introduce the work of the RSGB and ARRL experts in assessment of exposure to EM fields.

RSGB responded to the Ofcom consultation (on behalf of UK amateurs) and we are now preparing guidance on compliance with the new requirements. The talk will outline these requirements and introduce four ways to conduct and record the results of the assessment include calculating required separation, use of known compliant station configurations and potential mitigating actions.

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Introduction to Meteor Scatter communications  –  Gavin MM1BXF.

Have you ever thought about making more QSOs over a longer range on VHF? This talk will give you the background on how to achieve that through bouncing your signal off meteor trails. During the talk Gavin will show you how and why Meteor Scatter communications work: what software you should use, how you should use it, and when you should use it.

He’ll also look at what tools are available to help you to maximise your QSO count.

Repeaters: how they are built, planned, commisioned and used  –
Steve F4VTF/G8SFR

Voice repeaters have been with us in UK for almost 50 years a lot has changed in that time. We all are aware of repeaters but how many of us have considered what’s involved in getting one commissioned?

In his presentation, Steve will cover a wide variety of information about repeaters, including the following:

• What is a repeater, even in its most basic form?
• What is required to put a repeater on air?
• Are all repeaters connected to the internet?
• Is it important to support your local repeater group?
• Don’t just listen….put out a call, respond to other people’s calls even if you don’t know them!
• Is a Simplex Gateway an alternative to a voice repeater?
• What does Emerging Technology Co-ordination Committee(ETCC) do?
• Where can you find out more information

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Bitx to SBitx: The journey and development of this exciting and affordable range of transceivers by Ashhar VU2ESE.

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Using the Pluto and RPi4 for Amateur TV and narrowband  –  Noel G8GTZ.

Following on from his “Advances in Amateur Television” talk at the 2017 RSGB convention, Noel Matthews, G8GTZ will be presenting on the latest developments in the ever-evolving world of Amateur TV.

Noel will give an overview of ATV activity in the UK and in particular how the use of Reduced bandwidth (RBTV) signals has enabled ATV QSOs on the lower VHF bands. He will give an introduction to the QO100 geostationary satellite which has enabled QSOs with fellow DATV operators as far away as Brazil, India and South Africa.

Noel will also be describing how the development of Software Defined Radio (SDR) based hardware and powerful single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi has revolutionised the development and capabilities of amateur radio dedicated products.

He will describe how it is possible for radio amateurs to build an advanced touch screen multimode narrowband and Digital ATV transceiver covering 50 MHz to 10GHz for under £350.

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