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"Titch" - A freelance 0-4-0 tank loco built by Tony as practice before starting the current project, which is a 3 1/2" gauge 4-6-2 "Britannia Class" locomotive. Titch is about 14 inches long, weighs 28 lbs and burns steam coal or anthracite. This little loco can pull a truck carrying an adult.
Two views of a dividing head made by Tony for use on his lathe. Tony made all the components, apart from machining the worms and the teeth on the associated gears. This project took 300 hours to complete.
Three views of a Stuart Vertical Engine recently completed, apart from painting, by Tony. The model is six inches high and incorporates a mechanical oil pump, cylinder drain cock and regulator systems that are Tony's own design. The engine has been run on compressed air but not yet on live steam.
This cross-stitch sampler is one of Anne's artistic creations. It measures 350mm by 450mm and there are approximately 20000 separate stitches, using 33 different coloured threads. It is shown here mounted in a picture frame.
This photograph was taken during a "Walking Weekend" in Wales, organised by the Horsham Amateur Radio Club. From left to right:- Jane (G1XFM), Ian (G4MWD), John (G3WZT), Tony (G3NPF), Janet (XYL of G3WZT), Marilyn (G7EYL) and Bryn (G3SWC).
A typical operating position at HF SSB Field Day. John (G3WZT) (in the red shirt) is operating and Robin (G3OGP) is logging. The Transceiver is an FT990 and the linear amplifier, on the far end of the table, was built by Tony (G3NPF).
Tony G3NPF, in the white T-shirt, and Robin G3OGP at a typical HARC Junk Sale. Tony and Robin are the resident auctioneers on these occasions and this photo shows Robin in auctioneer mode, holding the current lot aloft, with Tony examining the next sale item. HARC meetings are held in the Girl Guide Headquarters. Hence the portrait of the Queen and various Guide related pictures on the wall. These were not items for sale!!!
This is a photo of the Thakeham village war memorial, which is situated in the village churchyard. Our house was located within the parish of Ashington but the locals say they think of themselves as being more allied to Thakeham or Washington. The Boundaries Commission have decided to re-align the local parish boundaries, such that our house and the surrounding area is now in a new ward of Washington Parish, called Heath Common. Prior to the change, the area was covered by the parishes of Thakeham, Ashington, Sullington and Washington. The new arrangements took effect on 1st April 2003.
This is a photo of the village sign, which is situated just outside the village of Washington. As stated above, the parish boundaries have recently been re-aligned, such that our house is now located within the Heath Common Ward of Washington Parish. This picture shows the view looking east from the junction of the road into Washington village and the main A283 to Steyning and Shoreham, which is on the left of the picture. The small hill directly behind the sign is called Chanctonbury Hill, upon which is a circular clump of trees called Chanctonbury Ring. This hill counts as summit reference SE-009 for the amateur radio "Summits On The Air" (SOTA) program.
This is the G3NPF/M1AIM QTH. This picture was taken before the erection of any amateur radio antennas. The garden is approximately half an acre in area. Return to "Facts and Figures" page.
This picture shows the horizontally polarised VHF beams together with crossed dipoles for 137MHz weather satellites. The beams were pointing north when this picture was taken. The lowest antenna is a 5 element yagi for 50MHz, with a 9 element yagi for 2m above it. Above that is a 19 element yagi for 70cms, with a 23 element yagi for 23cms at the top. All the beams are made by Tonna and the entire system is electrically rotated from the shack.
This picture shows the Carolina Windom and the remote automatic aerial matching unit. The antenna is 30 feet above the ground and can be seen outlined against the sky. The white object is the impedance matching transformer, and the feeder can be seen hanging vertically down from it. The ATU is housed in the waterproof enclosure that can be seen in the bushes. The feeders from the shack and the earthing system are buried beneath the lawn. The antenna is suspended between two trees. It is therefore necessary to prevent movement of the trees putting excessive strain on the wire. This is achieved by passing one of the support ropes over a pulley and tensioning the wire by means of a weight. The next picture shows this arrangement. The weights are concrete blocks removed from Anne's old washing machine before we took it to the dump. Never throw anything away as it may come in useful one day!!!!
This is a close-up view of the remote ATU used to match the "Carolina Windom" to the buried coaxial feeder, and the Line Isolator used to minimise effects of the RF currents that exist on the "outside" of the feed coax with this type of antenna. The ATU was built by G3NPF but the isolator is part of the commercially made antenna. The ATU is the "Picatune" designed by Peter Rhodes BSc (G3XJP) and described by him in an excellent article published in Radcom.This is a view inside the ATU's weatherproof box. The rectanglar black component on the left wall of the enclosure and one of the two devices at the top are relays used to bypass Picatune entirely, if required. The other relay at the top is used to enable the inner and outer of the vertical coaxial feeder to be connected together and isolated from earth, thus allowing the antenna to be configured as a "T" antenna, tuned against ground. The blue, rectangular, components are relays used to select the required matching capacitance and inductance. The tapped inductance is on the right. The control logic is contained within the larger brass box and the smaller brass box houses the SWR bridge. The long white object at the bottom is a breathing desiccator.
This is the control box that is installed in the shack and used in conjunction with the Picatune ATU. This unit also contains the mains power supply. We do not use the coax cable for sending power to the ATU, as was used in the original design, as this causes problems when using the high power linear amplifier. The Picatune cannot cope with powers in excess of 200W, and is therefore switched out of circuit when using the linear. The necessary relays are located in the weatherproof enclosure.
These are the concrete blocks used to tension the Windom antenna, whilst allowing for movement of the supporting trees in the wind.
This picture shows the 18AVT-WB vertical antenna for the HF Bands. This antenna does not cover 160m, the experimental 5MHz band or the WARC Bands of 30m, 17m and 12m. It is used as the reserve antenna and does not require an ATU. The feeder to the shack and the extensive earth radial system are buried beneath the flower bed and lawn.
This is the main G3NPF/M1AIM shack. Anne also has a 2m rig in her sewing room/study. Return to Amateur Radio page.
G3NPF's QSL Card. This is now a very rare item, as I no longer send or collect QSLs, apart from those for the special "GQ" Jubilee Prefix. (Note that the address and QTH locator refer to my previous QTH). G3NPF's jubilee QSL card is shown below. Anne's QSL card is similar, apart from call-sign and RSGB logos. Anne does send and collect QSL cards.This jubilee card was sent to all stations contacted during June 2002 and to all SWLs who sent me reports during that period. Anne used a similar card overprinted with her Jubilee Callsign, MQ1AIM. Return to Amateur Radio page.
Tony aged about ten years with Anne aged about fifteen years and as we are today.
The present day pictures were taken on the narrow-gauge railway at the Hollycombe Steam Collection at Liphook, Hampshire. Despite the grim expressions, we were enjoying ourselves, honest!!!!!
Tooley, our pet cat. Sadly, she died in the Summer of 2000, aged nineteen years and three months. Tooley - April 1981-June 2000
This is a picture of GB0CVS, an exhibition station set up by HARC (Horsham Amateur Radio Club) at a Classic and Vintage Vehicle Show held near Billingshurst. Looking after the station are Helen (2E0AVH, now M0DEY), Pete (G4LKW) and Alister (G3ZBU), Helen's Dad.
This is part of an image received from the American NOAA 15 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) weather satellite in April 2002. It clearly shows the clouds affecting Northern Europe, the British Isles, France, the Iberian Peninsula, part of the North African coast and Italy. The Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the snow on the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain are clearly visible. The image was obtained using a simple crossed dipole antenna at 20 ft above the ground and a modified Pye Westminster PMR receiver. The receive frequency was 137.50MHz. The audio signal was decoded by the station computer running Windows 98 and "WxSat" software, the latter being a Freeware program downloaded via the Internet. Return to Sound Studio. Return to Amateur Radio page.
This is part of an image received from the Russian Meteor 3-05 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) weather satellite in April 2002. It covers a similar area to that of the NOAA image shown above but was obtained on a different day, hence the different cloud formations. The orbital paths of NOAA and Meteor satelites are not the same and this accounts for the different orientation of the images. France, the Iberian Peninsula and the North African coast are clearly visible but the British Isles are covered in light, patchy cloud which disappears abruptly over the coastline. It is therefore possible to locate the Country's position, by observing the "speckled" cloud directly North of France. The image was obtained using the same equipment as that used to receive the NOAA image, but with the receive frequency changed to 137.30MHz. Return to Sound Studio. Return to Amateur Radio page.
Watch this space!!
More to come soon.
When you have finished looking at the photos, press the "Pictures" button on the left to return to the Main Page, or press an appropriate button to go to a different section. If there are no buttons on the left, you probably got directly to this page via a search engine. Select normal access to go to the G3NPF/M1AIM home page.
