The Shack is up again only on 2m mind but thats a start. more when i have it.

I ran the M0SCG net last night as M0SCG/P that as usual was fun

Believe it or not its snowing heavily outside, and its lovely. It reminds me of being a child again.

For the first time in a while I've become clear on what I'd like to do with the future. I think its about to suprise a fair few people too. Firstly I am sure people are convinced that I am going to stand for Secretary at MBARS next year, well I don't plan on standing. I've decided that I would better be suited to remaining where I am as communications officer for another year. There has already been some rumour mongering going on in the background. One thing about being communications officer is that I get all the gossip but not only from the club, but from the members of the social club that meet there too. In fact even taxi drivers have an opinion on what is going on. Now standing for secretary would put me in the firing line for too much with other things going on in my life.

So what are my plans for the new year?

• Mills on the Air.
• VHF Contesting.
• HF Contesting.
• Teaching.
• A build your own night!!**

As most people will note that there is a bit of contesting in the list. I want to improve my operating skills. I also intend on doing a lot more constructing including antennas and equipment for contesting on VHF. If I can I'd like to find a cheap way into microwave. We will see how things pan out. But rest assured there will be a lot more design and construction notes here in the near future.

Today I got my new membership for my full ticket, so now I can work people using M0ZIF on my DMC #1929 certificate :) so keep a digital ear out for the chance to work me on VHF and HF :)

Last night I ran the sands net from 2000 to 2100 using the club callsign M0SCG/p on 145.575 FM whilst it was a daunting experence I must admit I did enjoy it. Whilst I am going to try and do a few more one thing that is essential is organisation which is essential especially with big nets and operators with bad practices. Now I accept that when I get flustered or am having a dyslexic minute or two I may miss someone or worse be get something wrong, but I do appologise for that. There is no excuse ever for rudeness and it doesn't make any difference if your a seasoned amateur or brand new to the hobby.

So what did I learn.

1: that a biro is never as good as two pencils. The shack gets cold and pens stop working.

2: keeping track as controller initially isn't as easy as it sounds, callsigns, conversations ongoing and more.. it soon mounts up and the one sheet of paper that you may have had soon fills up.

3: DON'T use a fist mike, whilst fist mikes are usually very good, a good handsfree mike is quite honestly essential if your using your PC to take notes.

So what will I change?

1: I plan on knocking together a netmanager application that will run of the website with an xml backend, allowing on the fly re-positioning and a few other functions. Tagged notes and more.

2: Have a hunt for Radio related news first

3: Not be so concerned with pushing the net forwards, ie stop and talk myself rather than keep it flowing

4: Enjoy it, I know it sounds daft but the first time its hard to,

Advice from a Net Controller to Net Users:

By this I don't intend on being patronising to people with more experience than I have got but this is just stuff I picked up on last night.

1: Unless its the start, listen to see who is on

2: Give your callsign Clearly and your name too!

3: Don't Ever, shout "BREAK" we're not CB'ers. You wouldn't go into a Pub and Shout Oy! now would you? (If you would its maybe time to either jack in your licence, or ask your friend to change their name)

4: Enjoy yourself :)

I hope this helps :)