Amateur Radio Activities Trivandrum: VHF Slim JIm Antenna Workshop 2013

The VHF antenna workshop 2013 was conducted by the Trivandrum Amateur Radio Society at Kerala State Science and Technology Museum & Priyadarsini Planetarium on 24th February 2013. The type of antenna that was constructed at the workshop was the Slim Jim antenna. This is a high-gain type vertically polarized omnidirectional end fed antenna. Because there are many VHF operators in the Trivandrum city area and with few external antenna set up at their location, we have decided to go ahead with this type of antenna. It really helps with the station contact through the simplex mode which is mostly the direct station to station contact, that extends up the range and communicability of small handheld devices and much better with the base stations. So it is possible with these external devices to maintain a connection between stations around 15 to 20 kilometer radius within Trivandrum city.

The timing of the antenna workshop was 9:30 in the morning till 4:00 o'clock in the evening, and it was a Sunday, which is mostly a holiday after the regular church sessions. The workshop was conducted by Allen, VU2AUZ and the coordinators were Joseph, VU3DDE and Saji, VU3SQG. Alexander, VU2PAG was the convenor. Old man Rajan, VU2RJR inaugurated the workshop. Other distinguished faces were old man Binoy, VU3BRD and old man Zakir Hussain VU3OOH. Everything went according to the plans and we had a fantastic antenna workshop get together. Around 30 participants in and near Trivandrum attended the session. Those who are enrolled in the workshop need to pay for the workshop and they were able to take their constructed antennas back home. It is a pleasure that myself, VU2LVJ have also made an antenna number for my location.