We look to meet regularly on a monthly basis. During the good weather months we have been meeting at the cabin (see our Facilities page for more details of the cabin). During the winter months we meet at an venue at an indoor venue.
At present we are looking for a new venue to meet in which is more central to St Albans. If you have any suggestions we would welcome your thoughts and we will follow those up.
Our next meeting will be on Monday 15th September 2025.
Our regular Foxhunt takes place on Monday. We start at the cabin at 19.30 BST for a 19.45 kickoff. Monitor GB3VR for instructions and call for help when we are lost!!
The Foxhunt is in two parts, initially on 2m which we cover mobile in cars, and the second stage is on 70cm where we walk to find the final fox.
The 70cm Fox is located within walking distance of a pub where we will undoubtedly end up!
Please bring friends and family and anyone that would be interested. Look forward to seeing you there!
Previous Meetings
August’s meeting is going to be portable operation at the cabin trying to work VARC member Greg who will also be portable on the Canary Islands!
September will be the popular FOXHUNT.
Previous meetings
July 2025:
With a ‘Club visit to Sizewell B also on 21st, the July meeting was an informal at the Cabin.
June:
This was our summer BBQ at our cabin site where we hosted Freestar Networks GOTA (Gateways on the Air). This was to try and work as many Gateways as we could connected to the Freestar Network from our Cabin. It was a chance to learn a little about our Internet linked repeaters at the cabin and the area.
May
Shack Tour!
Was a very interesting talk given by Steve Dodd M0SNZ (A Triple Paraplegic)
Steve gave an inspiring and insightful presentation from a most innovative amateur radio enthusiasts. We had a glimpse into the radio shack of Steve, a dedicated operator who hasn’t let having a disability stop him enjoying his hobby!
Through custom-built tools and adaptive interfaces of his own design, Steve has crafted a fully functional and active amateur radio station. In this talk, he walked us through his setup, shared how he overcame the challenges of accessibility, and demonstrated how passion and ingenuity can break through any barrier.
April:
We had a very interesting meeting which was presented by Matt G4IYT on FSTV. He showed us how easy it is in the modern digital world to put together an effective station.
March:
Our March 2025 monthly meeting was ‘VARC’s Remote Radios; Introduction and Demonstration’ by Jeremy M1CVZ‘
February meeting:
Our February monthly meeting included our Annual General Meeting (AGM) where the Committee for the next Club year remained much the same but with the addition of Steve G5SRO joining the team as Publicity officer. We also took a looked at our subscriptions and it was decided for this year to keep them at the present level of £36 but were encouraging those who made use of the cabin and it’s facilities to increase their’s with a voluntary subscription of £50.
Following that we had a demonstration and explanation of FT8 mode from Will (M7WIW – now 2E0OWM – congratulations Will!). The link to his home setup was not good enough to display correctly, but with the more readable connection to Matt (G7HMV) set up we had a very informative demonstration. It is planned to have another look at this in the future too.
January meeting:
We had an excellent meeting where Matt G4IYT presented a talk on software antenna modelling. He showed how this is a cheap and powerful way of testing antenna designs without leaving the comfort of the shack, and is accessible to anyone with a computer.
He covered the basics of antenna modelling with MMANA-GAL, and showed us how to analyze common antenna types like dipoles, long wires, and verticals.
November meeting:
We had a freewheeling ‘presentation’ of what has been going on at the cabin recently (a lot!).
The meeting started with the Satellite Group attempting to access the ISS using the new remote system at the Cabin. Unfortunately the tech was not playing ball, but we did manage to catch it on the next pass at the end of the meeting.
We also heard from Ambrozy (M7MLU) on the intricacies of satellite working and
Alex (2E0KUD) gave a very good insight into the world of contesting.
Peter (G4HSO) gave an account regarding our position as tenants at the cabin site and the plans we have for the upkeep and work to be done to improve on the cabin facility.
October meeting 2024:
Our October meeting featured Alex 2E0KUD who gave us a very interesting talk on ‘An introduction to nanoVNA. He covered VSWR, impedance, smith chart, measuring coax and its other useful functions around the shack.
Thank you Alex for a very well thought out and practical demonstration of the nanoVNA.
September meeting: Was our annual Foxhunt that was organised by Matt G7HMV.
This was an excellent well attended event with around 12 members in four teams who took on the challenge of direction finding the fox. Matt used the repeater GB3VR to pass on details and for lost souls to find their way to the final destination.
The foxhunt was in two stages, the first being done with cars direction finding their way to the main site. All teams arrived there within the hour.
The second stage was on foot to find the hidden fox. This ended us up at The Wicked Lady pub on the Wheathamstead to Sandridge road.
The fox was found by Ivor who didn’t found the fox without any equipment – he saw it glowing in the dark perched on top of a fence at the cricket club there.
Many thanks to Matt for organising this event, we all look forward to the next one!
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