Hello from Chandlers Ford Hampshire

[PaulM0PHBParticipant]

Hi all,
My name is Paul M0PHB. I studied with EssexHam’s online tutorial for my Foundation Licence and as a result of their excellent course I passed the exam in May 2022. I spent a lot of time online looking at various YouTube videos etc and this year decided to attempt the Intermediate after studying with GM6DX ‘Gettin tae grips with the UK Intermediate Exam’ again a great resource for the necessary info. I took the exam in February 2023 and passed. The bug was well and truly implanted and I wanted to get my full licence, so I found an android app (UK Amateur Radio) which had lots of exam example questions to back up all three licence handbooks. I applied for my full exam and spent a week revising from any resource I could find, then sitting the exam in April 2023. I passed and and extremely chuffed I went from nil to Full in 11 months. I have to say it is down to EssexHam’s initial training that helped.

[M0PWXParticipant]

Hi Paul

you took a similar path to me, i did the Essex ham course in September 2020, passed in October, intermediate with the GM6DX course and passed in November, then i used the Cornish Radio Amateur Club YouTube videos and the RSGB exam handbook and exam secrets books and passed full the last few days of February 2021

i can’t praise Pete M0PSX’s Essex Ham course enough

Billy GM6DX’s intermediate course is great as well

how did you find the full exam, as it is heavy on electronic theory, i was lucky as i have a background in electronic repair

Peter

M0PWX

[PaulM0PHBParticipant]

Hi Peter,
I didn’t find the electronic theory too much of an issue, as I had started building kits from an early age and was comfortable with transistors, Ohms Law etc. I did find the antenna theory mystifying, and still do! I wish I was capable of understanding a lot more, but now in my early 70s I find understanding and then retaining info a lot harder. I would say the Full exam is taxing. I think it has to be. If you think of the privileges having a full license gives you, having responsibility and understanding what you can and cant do is imperative, and I think the Full exam covers those points.

Kind Regards,
Paul
M0PHB

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by PaulM0PHB.

[M0PWXParticipant]

yep, antenna theory where you put what seems to be a short circuit across a feeder but as it’s resonant its not a short circuit ???

the bit i find a black art is propagation

it fascinates me the difference in bands and range you can achieve at not only different times of day, but as the seasons change

the biggest mystery is grey line propagation, you can get silly places when either end of the path is an hour either side of sunset

there was an article about greyline propagation in RadCom this month

regards

Peter
M0PWX

[Ace93Participant]

It IS fascinating. The usual explanation doesn’t fully satisfy:

The “grey line” is a band around the Earth that separates daylight from darkness. Propagation along the grey line is very efficient. One major reason for this is that the D layer, which absorbs HF signals, disappears rapidly on the sunset side of the grey line, and it has not yet built upon the sunrise side. Ham radio operators and shortwave listeners can optimize long distance communications to various areas of the world by monitoring this band as it moves around the globe.”

To understand why this works the way it does I guess we would need live measurements of D-layer behaviour to compare with propagation results? For example, what do specific thicknesses of the layer allow for in terms almost of a temporary ducting? Boundaries are always where the interesting stuff is hidden.

Oh for a lab-sized D-layer to probe!

[M0PWXParticipant]

i saw this blog that seemed to provide a bit of explanation for greyline propagation https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2023/12/twice-around-globe-on-21-mhz-and.html the little diagram showing the hops and chordal refraction of the signal seems to make a little sense

peter
M0PWX
(Not Pete M0PSX who runs this site)

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