In just over a month’s time members of the Quantum Technology Club will be making the trip down to the EMF Camp in Eastnore Dear Park, near Ledbury. From Friday 30th May, until Sunday 2nd June they will be there demonstrating some of the technology we, as a club, get to play and experiment with.
Amongst the features will be a demonstration of how you can communicate around the world, wirelessly and without the Internet, using a Raspberry Pi 5. They will be establishing an amateur radio special event station (callsign GB9EMF) and will endeavour to make as many contacts as possible with other stations around the world.
EMF Camp is an amazing event. Approximately 3,000 techies, artists, makers and like-minded folk will get together in a huge field to explore, lear, exhibit, socialise and, most importantly, have fun. It’s like a mini-town full of tents, gazebo’s and motorhomes; all provided with mains electricity and Internet access through a massive ethernet network. The fun starts at whatever times people can awake from their slumber and last well into the night.
Certainly, the sun will play a big part in it all – we hope and pray for sunshine for the whole event. But from Quantum’s perspective, the sun will play a major role in their demonstrations. Whilst most people will relish the thought of seeing the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), amateur radio operators are not so keen. Aurora are the results of emissions from the sun that crash into the earth’s ionosphere and this can affect how well radio waves travel around the world. However, the systems used by many amateur radio operators to see how well their signals are propagating in real time will be on display for you to see and experience for yourself.
If you are a licensed radio amateur but can’t get to EMF Camp, and nearly all tickets are sold out now, you can listen out for us on the HF bands and make contact using the FT8 mode.