…. that I sat the RAE.

Monday 17th May, 1982.

In those days the examination was run by City And Guilds and consisted of two papers, the first one was Licensing conditions and Transmitter Interference and the second was Operating Practises, Procedures and Theory and one had to get at least PASS grade in both so that the Radio Amateur’s Certificate could be issued.  It was only on issue of that certificate that a licence would be given.

I was only 15 years old when I sat my RAE after nearly a years worth of evening classes at the East Herts College, Turnford.  I remember my dad used to drive me over and then go and see his brother in Enfield while I did the classes and then we’d go home and I’d have a late night before school the next day.  I tried to persuade my school to get a grant to pay for the classes and the exam but with no luck.

My RAE Exam Timetable for 17th May 1982

I really don’t remember too much about the exam itself, what I really remember is the nearly three months of waiting for the results – It was very different to how it is now with the exam paper being marked straight afterwards and the results being known straight away.  I’d love to get hold of a copy of the exam paper from May 1982 to have another look through it after all this time.  There are a load of old written papers available for download here but none since it switched to multiple choice.

I hadn’t realised it was thirty years ago until a couple of weeks back, I was looking through an old folder I keep all my important radio related stuff in and found the exam timetable which I’ve posted above (click for a larger version).  It doesn’t seem that long ago, it makes me feel quite old!

About three years ago a working party descended on my QTH and we did some major upgrades to my VHF aerial system.  We put up a longer pole, replaced the rotator with a bigger one, swapped all the cables out and fitted a masthead preamp.

Everything worked well and I was happy with the installation except for one thing.  When the wind blew, it creaked and it creaked badly.  It was lessened slightly by guying everything firmly in place but it still creaked when the winds came up.

I’d checked everything multiple times to ensure it was all tight but the creaking persisted.  I put it down to the vastly increased weight on the mast, the bigger rotator, the longer stubmast, the Barenco bracket for the rotator and I just lived with it.

Following the lightning strike last year, I took the whole VHF aerial system down and moved the 10m vertical from the back of the house to the front but once the weather turned, I noticed that it was still creaking.  I didn’t really think much about this until today when the weather got worse and the wind kicked up and the creaking returned.

I called Tony, G0MBA to discuss getting a couple of new T&K brackets and moving the mast to try and resolve this but he mentioned something which made me think.  When we upgraded my VHF aerial system back in 2009 we positioned the pole so that it was sitting in a protective metal cup directly on the flat roof on the side of the house – Like this:

9 ele 2m beam in foreground, mast resting on flat roof

You can see my old 9 ele Vargarda in the foreground with the mast sitting on the flat roof – In the background is my old 10m 5/8 which has now been replaced by a Sirio Gain Master.

The mast was touching the flat roof to take some of the vertical strain off the brackets, as you can see, there’s a lot of weight up that mast and it’s only supported by the three kevlar guys (which are rubbish by the way, they kept snapping).

Tony suggested popping onto the roof and just lifting the mast a couple of inches so that it’s away from the flat roof.  I did that today although I only raised it about half an inch from the roof and it instantly cured all the creaking problems.  The pole only has the Sirio Gain Master on it now so there’s hardly any weight there.

It seems really strange to be sitting in the shack now and hear the wind blowing strongly outside but not to hear a single creak coming from the mast.  It’s lovely!