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www.southgatearc.org
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• 'Green' Radio Equipment I always enjoy facing a challenge myself - especially if I think there's a chance of success! The letter from Brian Catchpole M0TAD (letters this month) from the 'city of roundabouts' - Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire is in reality a challenge itself. Brian recalls the old days when we could enter Tottenham Court Road in London's West End at 9am, to explore the surplus equipment to be found in radio shops and only get half way towards Goodge Street underground station by 5pm! Unfortunately, those days have gone forever and we must look into the future! Brian himself is mounted firmly in the present time because he challenges me with the suggestion that PW is actually 'missing a trick' here by not publishing articles using modern surplus equipment, ranging from scrap mobile telephones to computers, etc. He also mentioned surplus p.m.r. equipment, which was extremely popular a few years ago. Indeed, my own first mobile rig was a Pye Reporter valved v.h.f. transceiver, converted for 144MHz by my kind friend Alan Partner G3HKT. Despite the success of converted p.m.r. gear in the past there's a big problem now and it can be summed up as 'availability'! The PW Availability Nightmare! Availability of surplus equipment (and also specialised components for projects) for conversion and possibly an article, is a nightmare for the PW crew! Specifically, I can remember a conversion article featuring the Pye Olympic for 50MHz by Ken Ginn G8NDL (September 1995). As soon as we published the article the transceivers literally disappeared from the market, despite Ken G8NDL's efforts to trace more. The project was too popular and I had to face many unhappy, disappointed readers as a result. So, here comes the challenge for Brian M0TAD and other potential authors considering basing articles on surplus material: Produce a constructional project using recycled radio telephone/computer or other equipment using readily available (as far as possible using a guaranteed source of the equipment) and the PW staff will be pleased to consider it for publication. However, before you submit your article/idea to us - please remember what I refer to as the 'PW specialised component jinx'! This comes into play just as we are going to press. We would have already checked on specialised components with the author, the supplier and very often the manufacturer too. But when we've published the project we find that the manufacturers (keen to empty their shelves of otherwise unwanted stock) made the component/chip obsolete or unavailable just as PW appears on the shelves. Tex Swann G1TEX and I have had the unenviable job of scrapping some
good projects due to this jinx. However, you may be immune or be able
to overcome its malevolent presence! Rob G3XFD
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