HERE
I’m in the shack with an FTM500 pinging APRS from my desk while I attempt to remember all that has happened recently.
Thanks for the great response to the last couple of posts. And many thanks to Paul, Michelle and Richard for becoming supporting subscribers. This email will always be sporadic and free but I really appreciate those that support my time.
This week I got an interesting email from David M1EMG that prompted me to contact my car insurance provider. Something I’ll only normally do if I need to renew.
David mentioned that hard wiring a radio into a car may be seen as a permanent modification. So if not recorded as such with the insurance provider, there’s a chance you’ll be refused a claim should you need to make one.
No idea what country you are reading this in, but it might be you have a similar issue to here in the UK.
My insurance company confirmed that hard wiring a radio or dash cam into the car is a permanent modification that does in fact need to be logged on your insurance file. If you are just using USB or a 12v cigarette lighter socket then it’s perceived as a temporary installation.
I think anything that needs to be removed by a tool is deemed permanent. Same goes for bolting an antenna mount to the car vs using a mag mount. A mag mount is temporary, a gutter mount or clamp of some kind is permanent.
These were the words of the agent who told me that this is how she deciphers internal guidance. But not all insurance companies are the same. In fact this is starting to look like a huge grey area to me. I ended up calling a few insurance companies.
Some companies follow strict guidelines stating that a modification is something that enhances the performance of the vehicle. Others will class a modification as something that just changes the original factory spec.
I’d love to see the RSGB get involved in this. If only to educate some of the brokers. A couple of the agents I spoke to had no idea what Ham Radio was. It was only when I said “…like a CB radio?” that they sort of understood.
One company told me that this claim clampdown was because the cost of repairing damaged cars has gone through the roof. They sited that windscreens once costing £300 now cost £800 due to the increase in the cost of the gas used in manufacturing them.
This sort of ties in with what my insurance company told me. They said things this tightening up was due to the cost of living crisis in the UK. More people are making claims for things they’d normally try and fix themselves. She said that last year a massive increase in claims of less than a thousand pounds had brokers put their prices up and start to refuse payouts in order to cut losses.
I just wish there was more clarity on this. Like perhaps a list of car insurance companies friendly towards ham radio operators that do not see amateur radio gear a a permanent modification.
Next time I drop my radio into its little pouch on my pushbike I’m going to ponder for a moment just how affordable this form of transport is.
THERE
Last week I attended the Thinking Digital Conference in Gateshead. I’ve lost count how many I’ve attended since 2010 but it’s almost all of them. I always have some kind of role to play. Over the years I’ve talked and delivered workshops on a whole range of topics but this year was the first time I got to chat about amateur radio.
The image at the top of this post was taken during my talk. where I made the argument that Ham Radio was the world first realtime global social network. I also added a bit of history into the mix. But mostly I talked about my personal radio journey from my Grandad’s SWLing, my CB on my bike in the 80’s, up to present day.
The HF demo did not really go to plan as I didn’t leave enough time to set up a decent station. Plus the ‘garden’ I was originally offered to set up in was effectively a large open topped metal box with 50ft high walls. So I took the attendees on a little trespass across the road to a piece of unused land.
On the upside with all the handhelds and a large fibreglass pole we probably looked like a crew of surveyors. On the downside I’d hurriedly stuck a fibreglass pole up against a metal billboard hoping my linked dipole would be far enough away. But it didn’t really matter as thanks to the sun’s poles flipping, conditions were pretty bad.
Thankfully locals Alistair M3ZNE and Malcom M0VNA were in the group with a bunch of radio toys we could play with. He even had a hacked pager running Pocsag. Something they do for fun in Newcastle.
Anyway people had fun, I really enjoyed the talk and even managed to convince attendee and scout leader Stephen Moretti to take his ham radio exam. I was a bit cheeky and got him to swear an oath in front of the class in exchange for a Quangsheng radio. ;-)
I chatted with him today and he has his Essex Ham course booked in, bought a programming cable for the radio and been listening to air traffic. It’s a slippery slope but a fun one.
GEAR
I’ve been assembling a portable HF kit to take on an Alpine hike i’m planning.
The pouch pictured above weighs 1078g and contains a:
1x (tr)uSDX 5-Band HF radio 80/60/40/30/20
1x wire antenna & balun
1x length of coax
1x patchlead
1x counterpoise
1x USB battery pack
1x mini logbook and pen
I’m pretty sure I can get that weight under a kilo if I switch to a single band resonant dipole. Or maybe build one of these K6ARK antennas.
The pouch is also overkill and can be trimmed down. I also plan to pack a 2/70 HT as well as a Meshtastic node. And that’s on top of a camping hammock, sleeping gear, food, water, clothes and so on. I already know how I’m going to feel on the 6 hour accent. It nearly killed me last time I did it, and that was 25 years ago.
The US gets all the best Meshtastic stuff. But if I order to the UK I get stung lots on import duty. I’d love one of these solar enclosures and a WisMesh Pocket. These are using the nRF52 that will run for 7 days on the same battery that only runs for a day on ESP32 boards.
ONAIR
Been chatting a bit on 4 and 80 meters this week. Friday night (24th) I plan to be on 3.757 at 7pm for Willy’s net. Willy G3BYG is 101 years old.
ELSEWHERE
Instead of struggling to find software for the Mac perhaps I should use a ham radio themed Linux distro.
Tonight at my radio club there was a lot of chit chat about the AT 5555PLUSN 10M transceiver because if you lift the lid and it will also do 11M. I’m pretty sure it’s the same radio as my old CRT SS 6900N which does the same with a little more power.
Here is a guide for sending emails with your ham radio.
The British Amateur Television Club at EMFcamp
This is my other more regular, slightly more eclectic email.
FINALS
Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.
Please share this email wherever you think it might resonate.
Next week I’ll be hanging out with a bunch of wonderful makers, hackers, crafters, scientists, radio nerds and who know who else at EMF Camp.
Here is a list of some of the villages there. And some of the talks.
You are some of the more curious people in radio ;-) And I thank you.
Over
73 de Christian G5DOC
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