Issue 07 - Nov 15

QUA Welcome, to the October 2015 edition of the Stockport Radio Society (SRS) Newsletter Written and compiled by SRS members, ‘QUA’ (Have you news of… ?) is your source of news, views and informed opinion on all matters relating to - and about - your hobby.

Diary Dates 2015 Monday 5 Oct Advanced Tutorial 3 of 6 Tuesday 6 Oct 3D Printing with Carl Stone Thursday 15 Oct On Air from Members QTH Monday 19 Oct Advanced Tutorial 4 of 6 Tuesday 20 Oct Antenna Party Glenn Bates Sat/Sun 24/25 Oct CQWW SSB Contest 48 hr Tuesday 27 Oct Skills night from HQ

Winners Again!

Peak Contest Group get a 1st in NFD and also win the RSGB Bristol Trophy Website : www.g8srs.co.uk

Tel : 07506 904422

Tuesday 3 Nov Society Meeting Monday 9 November Advanced Tutorials 5 of 6 Thursday 12 Nov On Air from Members QTH Tuesday 17 Nov Society Meeting Monday 23 Nov Advanced Tutorial 6 of 6 Tuesday 24 Nov Skills night from HQ Sat/Sun 28/29 Nov CQWW CW Contest 48hr Tuesday 1 Dec Society Meeting Monday 7 Dec Advanced Examination

Review of Events - Peak Contest Group SRS Links:

NFD 2015 Success

Stockport Radio Society www.g8srs.co.uk

Congratulations for all involved (both operating and supporting) with this years NFD entry where G3LX/P won the 'Open Section' for the 3rd time in 4 years.

RSGB - www.rsgb.org RSGB Region 3 www.rsgb-region-3.org.uk

Interestingly G6MC/P, winners of the Restricted section, scored the most points!

UK FM Group Western www.ukfmgw.org.uk

Take a look at RSGB Contest Results NFD 2015 for the details.

Ofcom www.licensing.ofcom.org.uk ARRL - www.arrl.org QRZ.com - www.qrz.com UK Repeaters www.ukrepeater.net Raynet - www.raynet-uk.net Summits on the air www.sota.org.uk

Local Radio Clubs: GB3PZ.com

G3LX/P Stockport Radio Society winners of the Bristol Trophy

Macclesfield Wireless Society GX4MWS

in the 2015 RSGB CW Field Day Contest.

Manchester Wireless Society, G5MS

We have recently been informed that G3LX/P have won the RSGB Bristol Trophy in the 2015 RSGB CW Field Day Contest.

Mid Cheshire ARS, G3ZTT

This trophy will be presented at the RSGB Convention on the morning of Sunday 11 October 2015. Carsten G0SYP will be at the convention and will be collecting the trophy of behalf of SRS.

Oldham Radio Club

North Cheshire RC, G0BAA Northern Amateur Radio Societies Association (NARSA)

Our next AGM takes place on December 15, 2015.



Minutes of the last AGM



Treasurers Report



Reports from Committee Members



Trophy Presentations

RSGB Region 3 Website Radio Millennium Lodge, M0RML Rochdale & DARS (R.A.D.A.R.S), G0ROC South Cheshire ARS, G6TW South Lancashire ARC, M0SLR South Manchester Radio & Computing Club The Simpson Amateur Radio Society, M0SRA

Then social evening with a buffet and general socialising. This is always a fun filled night — try and come along

2

Warrington Radio Club West Manchester RC, G4MWC

Members Profile

A Tribute to ‘Raynon SK’ by Eric G3GMM

Membership

In the June issue of QUA we were informed of the sad news received from the Radio Society of Thailand of the death of Ray Gerrard HS0ZDZ/G3NOM who was a member of Stockport Radio Society.

Apart from myself and a few older members within the club who knew Ray, I feel that a few words in tribute to his time with our society is called for.

As a fellow amateur Ray was a well respected and long standing member both for his Ray in his element of NFD in the late 80s personality and ability to organise which showed in his enthusiasm for contesting, especially NFD (National Field Day). Calm in nature and very pleasant in personality.

G3NOM (Left Operator) with Barry (Right Logger)

Ray joined SRS as a young man around the early 1960s. Living in Edgeley he was employed by the then GPO Telephones in a technical capacity which helped lead him to obtaining his amateur licence and callsign G3NOM. Over the years he became affectionately known as ‘Raynon.

A year or so after Ray joined another young man, Barry Simpson G3PEK who now lives in Australia with the callsign VK2BJ, also joined SRS. Both he and Ray became firm friends and top operators with Ray eventually taking over the running of contests after the death of the former Chairman Ray Phillips G3FYE. After the loss of his wife and now working in management Ray went to India and the Far East to oversee communication projects which over the years enabled him to travel around many countries. He finally settled in Thailand and married Lawan where he had a house built and fitted out with a 100 foot self supported tower which he climbed to fit a HF Yagi antenna.

You can become a member of Stockport Radio Society by completing a membership form and, either emailing it to treasurer@g8srs.co.uk or hand the form to the Treasurer at any Society Meeting.

Payable Annually Dec 1st Senior

£12.00

Family

£12.00

Country

£ 7.00

Pensioner

£ 7.00

Junior

£ 1.00

Meeting Admission £ 2.00 per meeting or an annual meeting admission fee of £36.00 ’Guide to Membership’. A copy can be requested or can be downloaded from our website

Ray subsequently acquired his new callsign HS0ZDZ and involved himself in the organisation of local clubs and many DXpeditions which provided much of the material he used in his articles for SRS and Thai Radio Society magazines.

With Lawan, Ray returned to the UK several times never failing to visit old friends and members at the Club until sadly he suffered a stroke.

Over the years, I spent many hours with Ray during NFD covering the night shift which was convenient for us as we travelled together. Ray living in New Mills and myself in Reddish. Not exactly on the doorstep when the contest site was at Woodford or G4BUX’s Mellor QTH. During the hours of darkness we had to deal with all sorts of issues from irate neighbours over noisy generators distributing sleep, to visits from the police and livestock wandering around the tents and guy-ropes plus all shapes of WX to contend with.

His demise at the age of 75 is not only a sad loss to all that knew him but to the amateur radio world all over.

Fond remembrance

Eric McFarland G3GMM 3

Above Ray & Harry (From the archives) Below a QSL Card

Morse and Information Page Morse Code

Morse Conundrum Stockport Radio Society have a regular morse class at the start of every society meeting 7pm to 7.30pm run by our own ‘Tintwistle Tapper’ Mike Carter M6MPC Just for Fun - Morse Conundrum - Which Member and Call sign is below Using the morse letters below, re re--arrange to solve the conundrum

._. . …. . …. ._ _ / … _ _ …. _ ….

...

Answer :

Yaesu FT991 All Mode Transceiver Review by Darren M6FCJ In January one of our new members Darren took his foundation exam, and of course, passed. With lots of compliments to the XYL, he bought himself a Yaesu FT991 and started to set up his shack.

I have asked Darren for his views on this rig, as there has been a lot of bad press around the launch.

Darren’s view on the Yaesu FT991

A

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B _...

C

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D _..

E

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F

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G

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H

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I

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J

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K

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L

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M

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N

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O

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P

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Q

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R

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S

…

T

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V

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W

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X

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1

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The build quality is excellent and the personal viewer on the front screen, which is touch screen is, bright and easy to use, and with the built in scope its shows the band conditions, and also has a waterfall display. They have used chrome clarifiers, and the VFO is also black chrome instead of plastic. It also has an internal ATU and no heat sink but a cooling fan that is nearly silent.

Phonetic Alphabet Alpha

Bravo

Darren has thought of using the FT991 as a mobile station, but preferred to kit out the shack and use as a base station.

Charlie

Delta

Echo

Foxtrot

Golf

Hotel

India

Juliet

Kilo

Lima

Mike

November

Oscar

Papa

Quebec

Romeo

Sierra

Tango

Uniform

Victor

Whiskey

X-Ray

Yankee

Zulu

The proportions of the radio are very similar in size to the FT897. The first few models went over to Australia and the US, and were classed ‘on the forums’ as a bit ropey. Darren found that many people on the forums were asking silly questions, whereas if they had read the manual they would be able to answer these themselves.

As Darren is new to this hobby – now joining the ‘licenced boys and girls’ he found this rig very easy to use.

It also has an internal ATU and no heat sink but a cooling fan that is more or less silent.

Darren has managed to contact Italy, Germany, France and America, although at the moment, due to work and family commitments is finding it a little difficult to get time to get on the air. Darren has received a crystal clear audio report whilst using a stand microphone whilst operating on VHF/UHF. Although this is on the expensive side (around £1300) for a first radio, it was worth the wait. With regular software updates – Darren said he would definitely buy it again.

4

Courses Foundation

Repeaters

The next Foundation courses take place in 2016. The dates are as follow:

www.ukfmgw.co.uk

GB3MN



Saturday & Sunday 16&17 January 2016 9am to 5pm



Saturday 23 January 2016 10am Examination 2pm

145.650 Mhz FM Analogue Digital Fusion Stockport

GB3SM

Intermediate The next Intermediate course takes place in 2016. The dates are as follows 

Saturday & Sunday 6&7 February 9am to 5pm



Monday 15 February 7pm to 10pm



Monday 22 February 7pm to 10pm



Monday 29 February 7pm to 10pm



Monday 7 March 7pm to 10pm



Monday 14 March 6.30pm Examination from 7pm

433.3250 Mhz FM Analogue Stoke on Trent

GB3ST

433.2250 Mhz FM Analogue Stoke on Trent

GB3SE

This course is now fully booked. Please email courses@g8srs.co.uk if you are interested in taking the above course.

1297.0750 Mhz FM Analogue Stoke on Trent

GB3SX

50.790 Mhz FM Analogue Stoke on Trent

Advanced

GB3MR

433.3500 Mhz FM Analogue Stockport

GB3PZ

430.9000 Mhz FM Analogue Dukinfield

GB7WC

439.4875 Mhz Digital Warrington

GB3WP

430.9375 Mhz FM Analogue Hyde

GB7MA

145.600 Mhz Digital Bury

The next Advanced course takes place in 2015. The dates are as follows: 

GB3MP

Monday 14 September 2015 7pm to 10pm

145.7500 Mhz FM Analogue Denbigh



Monday 21 September 2015 7pm to 10pm



Monday 5 October 2015 7pm to 10pm



Monday 19 October 2015 7pm to 10pm



Monday 9 November 2015 7pm to 10pm



Monday 23 Movember 2015 7pm to 10pm



Monday 7 December 2015 6.30pm Examination from 7pm

GB3VT

145.7250 Mhz FM Analogue Stoke on Trent

GB3LI

Course Fees

433.2500 Mhz FM Analogue Liverpool

Foundation

GB7DV

439.6125 Mhz Digital St Helens

GB3CR

433.1500 Mhz FM Analogue Marches

GB3MF

433.0500 Mhz FM Analogue Macclesfield

£45.00 - Based on a minimum of 6 students

GB3LL

Intermediate

434.000 Mhz FM Analogue Llandudno

£90.00 - Based on a minimum of 4 students Other costs :

GB3MA

433.0250 Mhz FM Analogue Bury

Kit from Kanga : £26.00 inc P&P / Text Book RSGB : £6.99 plus P&P

Not Operational - GB3MF/GB7MA

Advanced

All information provided above is sourced from www.ukfmgw.co.uk If you use a repeater on a regular basis please support them by subscribing to them.

Individual £12.50 Family £20.00 per year Information correct as at July 2015

£95.00 - Based on a minimum of 4 students A deposit of £20.00 secures your place on a course Prices correct at publication but maybe subject to change

5

HF Ladder Report by Evan M0TJU Snapshot of HF Ladder

Frequencies

(22 September 2015) With the passing of the autumn equinox only a few days ago and the leaves now turning, it seems the right time to take stock of summer’s operating as it relates to the HF Ladder.

The leaderboard has shifted in one significant way since the last snapshot of the Ladder was taken, on 30 July, with the uploading of Mike M6MPC’s list of contacts onto Club Log. Mike – who rarely uses more than a few watts’ transmitting power – is only a single slot away from being equal second place in the CW category. Meanwhile, Eric G3GMM, who is not on Club Log, has more than trebled his (all-CW) tally in recent months, moving him to the centre of the leaderboard.

Looking at the Ladder overall, the shares of the slots across the various bands have changed only slightly since the end of July, as neither the lower, middle nor high HF performed exceptionally during this period. The absence of darkness and the relatively low ionisation of the upper atmosphere – typical of summer – in addition to near-incessant solar particle streams, presented poor opportunities on the low and the higher HF bands, alike.

Autumn offers hope of better conditions: Enough sunspots should be around to keep the solar flux at reasonable levels, meaning that 10 metres could be regularly open from the UK to points east and west during daylight hours. Much hinges on the level of particle streaming from the Sun and the consequent instability of Earth’s magnetic field. A string of days during which solar flux north of 100 is combined with a little-disturbed geomagnetic field could result in MUFs of up to 30MHz across 3000km circuits. We’ll see what happens.

Even if the daytime performance disappoints, the long autumn nights will present opportunities to reel in some slots on the lower, ‘medium frequency’ bands: 7MHz and below. The earlier sunsets mean that the absorptive D layer of the ionosphere – a killer of MF signals – dissipates earlier. Also, the (unlit) F-layer is given time to deionise, putting relatively distant stations into the propagation ‘sweet spots’ on the lower HF bands. So, those Baltic stations on 3.5MHz that were elusive during the summer evenings should be gettable as the nights draw in.

LF (Low Frequency) 2000m : 135.7 - 137.8Khz

MF (Medium Frequency) 630m : 472 - 479Khz 160m : 1.81 - 2.0Mhz

HF (High Frequency) 80m : 3.5 - 3.8Mhz 60m : Consists of 11 spot frequencies check band plan 40m : 7.0 - 7.2Mhz 30m : 10.1 - 10.15Mhz 20m : 14 - 14.35Mhz 17m : 18.068 - 18.168Mhz 15m : 21 - 21.45Mhz 12m : 24.89 - 24.99Mhz 10m : 28 - 29.7Mhz

Note for operating on 60m Only available to advanced licence holders and also requires a NOV from RSGB

Club Log (HF Ladder)

VHF (Very High Frequency)

If you wish to join Club Log and also get entry into the HF Ladder with the end reward of entry in the HF Ladder competition at the end of the year, and you chance to win a trophy for the year, follow the information below.

If you wish to join SRS DXCC league in Clublog, please follow these instructions:

6m : 50 - 52Mhz 4m : 70 - 70.5Mhz 2m : 144.0 - 146.0Mhz



Register your details with Clublog at www.clublog.org



Click ‘settings’ and then go to the ‘clubs’ tab

UHF



Select SRS - Stockport Radio Society and click ‘join club’

70cms : 430.0 - 440Mhz



Your membership of SRS will show as pending until approved by the Administrator

23cms : 1240.0 - 325Mhz

The SRS DXCC League can be viewed from this link http://www.clublog.org/league.php?club=99 6

(Ultra High Frequency)

HF Ladder with Evan M0TJU as at September 22, 2015 CW (Morse) G0SYP M0TJU M6MPC G3SHF M5KJM G3GMM M0DCG GM4UYZ-SRS G3ZOD

Carsten S. Evan D. Mike C. Bernard N. Kieron M. Eric M. Tom S. Bob G. Graham S.

160m 0 0 3 0 0 15 0 0 0 18

80m 60 16 20 18 4 3 9 5 1 136

60m 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

40m 30m 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m 77 13 60 39 68 24 54 44 16 52 20 47 11 23 50 22 61 19 29 8 30 24 25 38 23 30 7 6 0 0 44 12 32 21 13 9 0 25 0 17 0 4 22 3 8 2 4 0 1 0 0 31 0 5 0 0 3 0 6 1 0 0 0 229 79 325 116 232 71 131

6m 32 14 0 8 0 0 0 0 14 68

Total 427 243 242 179 126 73 49 41 25 1,405

Digimodes (PSK, RTTY, etc.)

G0SYP M0TJU GM4UYZ-SRS M1REK M6MPC

Carsten S. Evan D. Bob G. Ray K. Mike C.

160m 80m 0 10 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 15

60m 0 0 0 0 0 0

40m 30m 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m 30 3 51 13 62 5 29 33 6 39 5 31 6 22 2 0 14 0 1 0 3 5 7 16 11 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 71 16 120 29 104 11 54

6m 0 3 0 0 0 3

Total 203 149 20 50 1 423

Kieron M. Alan G. Nigel R. Bob G. Evan D. Carsten S. Tom S. Pete R. Ray K.

160m 80m 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 7 0 6 0 6 0 0 0 27

60m 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

40m 30m 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m 0 0 43 4 49 14 38 22 0 24 34 24 17 17 0 0 29 0 1 0 29 2 0 6 0 29 0 0 13 0 12 3 4 3 1 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 5 0 1 50 0 120 44 112 34 88

6m 5 11 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 27

Total 156 154 59 39 50 15 15 6 13 507

Phone (SSB, AM, FM) M5KJM G0ROW G0RXA GM4UYZ-SRS M0TJU G0SYP M0DCG M1PTR M1REK

Total:

2,335

Summary of the HF Ladder continues on a separate sheet

A big thank you to Evan M0TJU for his continuing help and support with the HF Ladder and various reports for QUA 7

Other Information / Contacts Contact Details

Renewal of Licences After passing my foundation exam recently, callsign M6HNS, one of the questions that came up quite regularly was the renewal of your licence every 5 years. I have come up with a suggestion, that for those members who would appreciate it, I would be willing to set up a date for renewal of licences and send you a reminder a few months in advance of the renewal. We all know that time passes, and these things can get forgotten.

If this is of any interest to you, please let me know with your callsign and date you obtained your licence, and I will (under strict confidentially), set up a system for renewal.

Stockport Radio Society Walthew House 112 Shaw Heath Stockport SK2 6QS 07506 904422

SRS Emails General Info@g8srs.co.uk

Email me (Heth M6HNS) on srswebsite@g8srs.co.uk if you are interested.

Secretary secretary@g8srs.co.uk

Archives We are currently digitally archiving all the SRS letters, minutes, certificates and newsletters.

If you have anything that you think should go into archives please let Heather know.

The picture to the left was found in the archives - I wonder how many of our male members can relate to this.

Treasurer treasurer@g8srs.co.uk Website / QUA srswebsite@g8srs.co.uk Training Courses courses@g8srs.co.uk Skills Nights/Clothing info@g8srs.co.uk Contesting peakcontestgroup@g8srs.co.uk

Websites SRS www.g8srs.co.uk

Peak Contest Group CHECK OUT OUR DEDICATED CHANNEL STOCKPORT RADIO SOCIETY

Date of Next Issue of QUA 1December 2015 - Articles to be with QUA by November 18, 2015 If you have news, events, contest information etc that you would like to share with your fellow members, please email : srswebsite@g8srs.co.uk

go to www.g8srs.co.uk and click on Peak Contest Group

Social Media @G8SRS @Peak_Contest

StockportradioSociety peakcontestgroup

QUA is sponsored by Manchester Office Supplies 8

The Peak Contest Group is the ‘Contesting Arm of Stockport Radio Society’