Sands Mid-Summer Meal at The Bridge Inn Tatham

As lockdown started to be lifted Baz G1JYB asked members if they would be interested in meeting together for a group MiD-Summer Meal at one of our favourite meeting places The Bridge Inn at Tatham now that lockdown has gradually lifted. The original idea was to eat out in the open air allowing us to isolate and all was going well with nice sunny days and sweltering hot temperatures but sadly the weather forecast for the day was against us predicting heavy rain and thunder. The Bridge Inn has some history behind it around in the English Civil War, originally a coaching inn built onto the side of an earlier cottage.

(This picture was found posted on Trip Advisor) The Inn is circa of 1744 when the King of England was George II. The cottage, now a dining room, was built circa 1642 in the reign of Charles I.

We gathered at around 6.30pm meeting for a short time in the Bar before moving to a private room solely for our use away from the general public.

Everyone made sure they were covid free before attending and tried to stay socially distanced in the bar area

Baz G1JYB had the forethought to check the weather forecast and although we were disappointed not to be able to eat outside felt as safe as we could be with the arrangements made.

Atfer everyone had gathered we made our way to an upper room that had been prepared for us to sit, socialise and enjoy a varierty of exellent cuisine. Kathy started the evening with an impromptu yoga class

Jonathan G7UBU and his wife Charlotte G7UBP joined us as guests

along with Eric G1YYD

This is the first event James M3APO has been able to join as a member of the group and he thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Andrew G0LWU enjoying the evening with Julie, along with Kathy M3YOG, Baz G1JYB (Pretending to be happy!) and at the top of the table Dave 2E0DTG.

Andrew was one of the first to be served with starters which he told us was delicious. If you would like to look at the menu please click here https://www.tathambridgeinn.com/menu

James has a puzzled look on his face "Wheres the pineapple?"

However he loved every mouthful... James did wonder about upgrading his 8oZ gammon steak to the 16oz horseshoe steak with exra eggs etc. but was happy with what he had.

I opted for the Bridge Steak & Onion pie Home-made of course, choice pieces of British steak cooked in rich gravy. Topped with a puff pastry lid. Served with Chips & Vegetables it was delicious. There is nothing I enjoy more than dunking my chips in that rich gravy..... my only complaint is that its served in a round dish and theres is nothing more infuriating than chacing the last of the meat and gravy round the bowel!

Dave was looking forward to his Steak pudding, no ordinary pudding you understand, this was a giant one. (image taken from Trip Adviser)

(This image taken from Trip Advisor) It was a three course meal for those who wanted it finished with coffee and a mint chip chocolate. James and I had homemade apple crumble and custard, while Eric enjoyed something just as nice but a little lighter.

A good night was had by all as we enjoyed good food and each others company..... The night finished as predicted with a bang around 9:30pm.... The heavens opened with torrential rain and I got back into the Morecambe area we was treated to a lightening display around Morecambe Bay & Lancaster. At the time of writing this blog, lockdown has been lifted and Clubs are able to meet again with members able to greet, meet and exchange there knowledge hopes and asperations for the future.... I hope you have enjoyed the blog and it has given you the urge to support your local pubs and clubs whilst taking care to be safe and careful.........unless otherwise stated all pictures have been taken by me.... Best 73 Brian G0RDH

Last Of The Summer Wine Beach Party

Thursday 22nd of July was a memorable evening when a small group took the opportunity to make their way to Middleton Sands and have a beach party. We met at Hughies around 6.30pm with Dave, Ben and Hughie travelling in one car with Brian following in his own. The weather was perfect a nice sunny evening with a light breeze. Here we can see Hughie G4UME operating at the start of the evening.

Those in attendance for the evening were Dave 2E0DTG, Hughie G4UME,Ben 2E0WTL, Brian G0RDH Heres a short video of Ben 2E0WTL operating under his own callsign.

Ben managed to break a pileup to Brazil on 20m which was quite something. The equipment was all setup with around 15 minutes and consisted of a Kenwood TS-480SAT, although a few years old now this radio works great for mobile and special events. The TS-480SAT as far as I know is still in production and readily available on the used market.

We used 2 antenna, Dave made a homebrew 20m veritcal that was mounted on a screw in ground spike and fibreglass pole with 4 groundplanes (Dave tells me it has now been increased to 6 groundplanes). The antenna worked very well. The second antenna was purchaced by the group a few months ago, we thought it would be great for portable use and for special events like those documented in the blogs from Heron Corn Mill. The antenna was also thought to be excellent because of its ease of assembly and small footprint (taking around 15 minutes to assemble....we took our time) compared to other antennas the group currently owns, which are great to use from our base at Oysterber Farm where we have access to pleny of private ground to experiment. The antenna is a G4YKB Inverted Delta Loop covering 40m thru 4m made in Bolton by G4YKB Ham Radio Solutions. The antenna tuned on all bands via the internal ATU within around 2 seconds on all the bands it covered. Hughie was a little worried when we first tried the antenna because it wouldn't tune, this was found to be because there was a fault with the coaxial feed, all was well after it was replaced with some RG58 Mil Spec coaxial cable. The Inverted Delta loop was mounted on top of a a 2 part swaged alluminium mast around 11ft in length the fibreglass poles once extended gave an overall height of around 22ft.

The bottom picture is a balun with an so239... I would have preferred the so239 to have been mounted at the bottom of the case to reduce stress and make it more waterproof. One of the group members suggested feeding the coax over to the top of the perspex to relieve stress on the so239.

Both antenna worked well with very little difference between them signal wise although it was noted that there was less noise on the inverted delta loop in line with what the manufacturer claimed.

Ben 2E0WTL at the end of the evening on 20m running the group callsign MX0SCG/P. He did really well over the course of the evening making many contacts.

Pictured here is Dave 2E0DTG enjoying a break at the end of the evening.

And in the best traditions of the Two Ronnies heres an "And Finally" Hughie and Dave paid a second visit to Middleton Sands on Monday 2nd August and joined the "Owls Nest Net" Dave called in before I started the net Telling James M3APO that according to his watch it was 7.30pm and I was late...His watch was 4 Mins fast.... Dave could do with an updated watch, his is a classic:-)

Hope you have enjoyed the Blog.... Best 73 Brian G0RDH