{"id":26364,"date":"2021-02-01T21:00:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T21:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/?p=26364"},"modified":"2021-02-02T16:06:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:06:48","slug":"1-february-starting-out-on-the-microwaves-bands-by-neil-underwood-g4ldr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/blog\/tonight-at-eight-archive\/2021\/02\/01\/1-february-starting-out-on-the-microwaves-bands-by-neil-underwood-g4ldr\/","title":{"rendered":"1 February 2021 &#8211; Starting out on the microwave bands by Neil Underwood, G4LDR"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lNWG7dLhh7s?start=100\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Neil&#8217;s presentation<\/h3>\n<p><em>Starting Out on the Microwave Bands<\/em> provides basic information needed to understand the microwave bands and how to become operational on them.<\/p>\n<p>Topics covered include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the microwave bands?<\/li>\n<li>Propagation properties and microwave beacons<\/li>\n<li>What classes of licence can use which microwave bands?<\/li>\n<li>Equipment requirements including antennas and transverters<\/li>\n<li>Examples of typical equipment, including simple wideband systems<\/li>\n<li>Operating on the microwave bands, including satellites, contests and activity periods<\/li>\n<li>Resources to help you get going on the microwave bands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those who become operational on the microwave bands will find there are plenty of opportunities to\u00a0try the many aspects of this part of the hobby.<\/p>\n<p>These include operating portable from a hilltop using relatively simple equipment; satellite operating; DXing; trying different operating modes including CW, voice, digital and even DATV; right through to probably the most challenging part of the hobby, moonbounce or EME.<\/p>\n<h3>About Neil<\/h3>\n<p>Neil\u2019s introduction to amateur radio was in his early teens when his aunt took him to visit an amateur\u00a0who worked at the old GPO radio station near Dorchester, Dorset.<\/p>\n<p>It was another 10 years before Neil joined the Salisbury Radio Club and became licenced as G8SIX.<\/p>\n<p>In 1981 Neil was seconded to work at an Australian research establishment in Melbourne; before leaving the UK and wanting to keep in touch with UK amateurs he took his Morse test and obtained the call sign G4LDR.<\/p>\n<p>He was then able to obtain the call sign VK3DHJ.<\/p>\n<p>Neil\u2019s main interest has always been in VHF and up so it was inevitable that he would transition to the\u00a0microwave end of the spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>Neil is operational on all bands from 50MHz to 122GHz\u2014and very occasionally HF.<\/p>\n<p>He is active on terrestrial communications, Digital Amateur Television (DATV) and Earth Moon Earth (EME) and can usually be found operating during the full range of UKAC and other VHF and up contests.<\/p>\n<p>Neil currently jointly holds\u2014with G8GTZ\u2014the world distance record for DATV on the 76GHz band (35km).<\/p>\n<p>Neil was elected Chairman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microwavers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>UK Microwave Group<\/strong><\/a> (UKuG) in 2019, and was formally activity editor for the UKuG <em>Scatterpoint<\/em> publication.<\/p>\n<p>Neil has represented the UK on a number of inter-governmental committees and working groups, as well as spending time working with the United Nations.<\/p>\n<h3>Watch live<\/h3>\n<p><em>Tonight @ 8<\/em> webinars are live-streamed for free on our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/theRSGB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube channel<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/batc.org.uk\/live\/rsgb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">special BATC channel<\/a><\/strong>, allowing you to watch the presentations and ask questions online.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Find out more<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Read <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsgbshop.org\/cgi-bin\/sh000042.pl?WD=handbook%20microwave&amp;PN=Online_Catalogue_Microwave_11%2Ehtml#a388\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>International<span class=\"actsearchhighlightcolor\"> Microwave<\/span><span class=\"actsearchhighlightcolor\"> Handbook<\/span> &#8211; 2nd Edition <\/em><\/a>&#8211; edited by Andy Barter, G8ATD<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsgbshop.org\/cgi-bin\/sh000042.pl?WD=handbook%20microwave&amp;PN=Online_Catalogue_Microwave_11%2Ehtml#a388\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Microwave Know How<\/em><\/a> &#8211; edited by Andy Barter, G8ATD<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Watch<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>RSGB 2015 Convention lecture &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uBTYA5uOvyM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>A low cost start on the GHz bands from an HF CW ops perspective!<\/em><\/a> by Simon Jude, G7SOZ<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>RSGB 2016 Convention lecture &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TjVz0KQ0c7s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Moving up to 1.3GHz<\/a> by John Worsnop, G4BAO<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take a look<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microwavers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>UK Microwave Group<\/strong><\/a> (UKuG)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neil&#8217;s presentation Starting Out on the Microwave Bands provides basic information needed to understand the microwave bands and how to become operational on them. Topics covered include: What are the microwave bands? Propagation properties and microwave beacons What classes of licence can use which microwave bands? Equipment requirements including antennas and transverters Examples of typical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20358,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tonight-at-eight-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20358"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}