The title of this article might seem odd to many radio amateurs but through the years when my brother in law, Nico ZS4N visit me we have a tradition which dates back to the early 90's. We play amateur radio when we get together. The XYL's and Juniors do their own thing but we play "Draadjie, Draadjie" as the XYL's call it when we get together. This time it was no different.
Through the years we played radio from:
- Rhodes - Rally and Mountain Excursions
- Drakensberg Mountains - Daily Amateur Radio Excursions
- Barkley East - General Amateur Radio
- Aliwal North - General Amateur Radio
- Bloemfontein - SARL AGM, General Amateur Radio and Weather Chasing/Photography
- Mossel Bay - General Amateur Radio
- Buffalo Bay, Knysna - Amateur Radio Holiday Excursion
- De Rust - Mobile VHF Simplex Experimentation between Mossel Bay and De Rust
Amateur Radio Activities during this latest visit:
- HF Mobile Operation - Screwdriver Antenna
- VHF / UHF Operation - Repeaters, Nodes and DMR Repeater
- 6m Experimentation with the newly constructed Delta Loop Antenna. Thank you to Fred ZS5SAM/1 in Barrydale for making all the effort to assist with the experimentation using a 4 Element Yagi and 100 w on 6 Meters.
- Homebrew Construction - 49:1 Balun 100 watts
- HF Rag Chewing - Yaesu FT450 and Yaesu FT817
- Erecting and setting up an HF Field Station - Rally Trap Antenna / Linked Dipole for 20, 30, 40 and 80 Meters (Link Dipole = 20 + 30 Meters. Rally Trap = 40 + 80 Meters) Homebrew Traps using 25 mm PVC former and RG174.
- Check all antennas - prune and tune - when necessary - EFHW Dipole Antenna
- Playing with a variety of amateur radios, repeaters, nodes, links etc. - ZS Link Network
- Antenna Experimentation - EFHW + Delta Loop + Rally Trap + Linked Dipole - 5 to 100 Watt
- 6 Meter Beacon Demonstration - Southern Cape New Generation Beacons
- Looking into setting up a ProxMox Server - Amateur Radio Dell Server
- Traditional Family Braai to "celebrate" the "Draadjie, Draadjie DX-Pedition and Homebrew Indaba" - Family Gathering and Birthday Celebration
- Next "Play Amateur Radio" Event - Who knows with the new price of Petrol??
Thank you to all the radio amateurs who assisted with all the experiments and also to those who returned our CQ Calls. Highly appreciated!!
To us amateur radio is not a Hobby but an Obsession when we get together. Thank you Nico for visiting and for playing amateur radio in Mossel Bay. We had a ball of a time and I trust that we will continue the "tradition" of "playing" radio every time we get together.
Images: Click on images for larger view.
