QUAlite Issue 38 - February 2022

Issue 38

info@g8srs.co.uk

www.g8srs.co.uk

February 2022

QUAlite

Page | 1

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 informed opinion on all matters relating to - and about - your hobby.

March 2022 Programme

2022 RSGB AFS Results The results have been announced for the recent round of RSGB AFS contests on 40 and 80 Metres.

Entering the “local clubs” section of each contest, our teams secured the following places.

1st: Online Social Event by Webex 2nd: G5O Maintenance Day @ CBF 3rd: Club Net via GB3MR (7.30PM) 7th: SRS Contest Group Review Meeting (7.15PM) 8th: 2 Metre Net 145.550MHz (7.30PM) 10th: Club Net via GB3MR (7.30PM) 13th: 10 Metre Net 28.575MHz SSB (10.30am) 15th: Practical Evening at Walthew House

8th January 2022 – CW – Stockport Radio Society A Team – 11th place out of 65 (M0UNN, G3SHF, G0LZL, M0DCG).

16th: G5O Mast Moving Day Common Barn Farm

8th January 2022 – CW – Stockport Radio Society B Team – 44th place out of 65 (M0TJU, M5KJM).

21st: Club net via Zello (7.30pm)

22nd January 2022 – SSB – Stockport Radio Society – 16th place out of 65 (G3SHF, M1PTR, M0DCG, G0RXA).

24th: Club Net via GB3MR (7.30PM)

Thank you to all who took part on our behalf.

27th: CQ WPX SSB Contest

17th: Club Net via GB3MR (7.30PM)

22nd: Radio Evening at Walthew House

26th: CQ WPX SSB Contest

29th: 2Metre Net 145.550MHz (7.30PM) 31st: Club Net via GB3MR (7.30PM)

@G8SRS @SRSContestGroup StockportRadioSociety1920

RSGB Regional Representatives Elections Region 3: Derek Hughes G7LFC

It is also permitted to use the /70 suffix with the GQ/MQ/2Q prefix if desired.

We are pleased to announce Derek has been appointed to the position of RSGB Region 3 Page | representative with his three-year term of tenure 2 commencing at the 2022 RSGB AGM.

The RSGB would like to thank Ofcom for its support of the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations.

We would like to welcome Derek into the role and look forward to working with him and his team to further the hobby of amateur radio in the northwest of England.

The date of this year’s Northern Amateur Radio Societies Association Blackpool Rally has changed.

The rally will now take place on Sunday 24 April at the Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool, FY2 9AA. https://narsa.org.uk/

NARSA Rally, Blackpool

District 34 (Cheshire): Les Brown M0LPB

Joining Derek’s team is Les Brown M0LPB who I am sure is no stranger to you all being a society member for a number of years.

Les will be looking after clubs in the Cheshire area in which SRS is a part.

Once again, we welcome Les to the role and look forward to working with him. In fact, Les has already volunteered to look after some of our “on air nets” and I am sure he will welcome any suggestions you may have to further the interests of SRS, the RSGB and amateur radio in this area and beyond.

The society will be taking a team to Blackpool to exhibit our activities to the many visitors from around the region and beyond. We would welcome any members who would like to be part of the team to join us in Blackpool for what promises to be an interesting day.

If you can spare the time, please let our chair, Tony M0SAV know at any meeting, or by email to info@g8srs.co.uk.

Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations The RSGB have just published the Notice of Variation that will enable radio amateurs licensed

by Ofcom to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen by using the special RSL ‘Q’.

The Notice of Variation (NoV) is available for use throughout June 2022 but you can apply for it now: https://rsgb.org/.../licensing.../online-novapplication/

The organisers of the event have let us know the reason for the change of date was due to a clash of events at the hotel.

Following a request by the RSGB, Ofcom has indicated that stations wishing to retain their usual Regional Secondary Locator to identify their DXCC entity may use the suffix /70 to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Its use is proposed throughout June for those who would like to do so.

We have also been notified that due to the disbandment of the Chorley club, who were responsible for setting up the tables, there is a need for volunteers who can attend on Saturday 23rd April to help with that task. Again, if you can help, which will be hugely appreciated please let Tony know.

Article courtesy of EI-News, the monthly newsletter of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS).

If you are thinking of starting a construction project for the New Year or just want to update Page | your knowledge, then you need 3 to look no further than the January 2022 issue of Practical Wireless and the exciting first article of a seven-part series by Dr Samuel Ritchie EI9FZB on Building an SDR. The project is a hybrid with a hardware frontend and a PC backend running the SDR software.

It is apparent that this project has been painstakingly researched as Samuel details his choice of individual components and analyses the design of the quadrature phase detector in Part 1.

This is an opportunity for those whose radio began in the comforting glow of a 6L6 to have exposure to some of the latest devices and systems, even if they themselves are not a home constructor. As an example, the article succinctly discusses the high-performance Tayloe mixer and methods of generating the local oscillator signal both by the use of DDS and of 74AC74 D-type flip-flops.

But there is also some very sound and straightforward advice about cutting corners to save money which could be applied to any home construction project.

The constructor, as the article states, has the choice of building from scratch, assembling some parts from a kit or even occasionally buying an already-made module, The article also points to sources to capture the schematic and have the PCB manufactured.

Samuel has made more information available on his personal website at www.samuelritchie.com.

What a far cry from Noorgard’s seminal paper on Single Sideband Reception by the Phasing Method and how gratifying to see a such well-designed upto-date project for 2022.

March Society Meetings 1st: Online Social Event by Webex We will once again be meeting online by Webex where topics for discussion will be made known close to the event.

Recently during these events we have been discussing members wishes regarding our activities and opportunities to help those new to the hobby.

If you are unfamiliar with accessing these online events, Webex is available using your internet browser, or by downloading the desktop app. It is also available for use through a tablet or mobile phone.

Further information and details of the access link can be obtained by emailing info@g8srs.co.uk or calling 07598 892795.

15th: Practical Evening at Walthew House A popular evening often referred to as a “burnt fingers” evening, we will once again be breaking out the soldering irons to put them to good use.

A number of kits have been obtained which will help those taking part to hone their soldering skills and there will be helpers on hand to provide guidance.

22nd: Radio Evening at Walthew House Time to dust off our radio gear and make some contacts from Walthew House. With VHF and HF gear available here’s an opportunity to air the club’s callsigns from our HQ and give members an opportunity to use our station.

Considering a new rig to grace your shack? Neil M6NAE will be exhibiting the Yaesu FT-891.

At all Walthew House events, Morse code instruction and practice led by Evan M0TJU takes place from around 7pm.

H F Ladder

You can log in to club log to see the league table although a quick way to view the current HF & 6 DXCC ladder scores is via the link below. www.m1ptr.com/SRSDxccLadder.php

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Contest Group News CQ WPX SSB Contest: 26th and 27 March 2022 The first outing for the contest group in 2022 will be at the end of March when the team takes part in the SSB leg of this year’s WPX events.

Preparations are already underway in time for the station build to begin a week or so before the contest.

A traditional activity for our members is the HF ladder which has been around for many years. Originally looked after by Geoff & Eva Lomas G4SYC and G0KZO, then John Hrycan M0BEX, thanks to Jim Barlow G3VOU the ladder returned to our list of activities shortly after the millennium.

Kieron M5KJM has now taken over the reins from Pete M1PTR, and we are keen to see members take up the challenge of working as much DX as possible especially with band conditions showing some improvement

The plan is for the usual two stations operating on all contest bands, 10 metres through to 160 Metres for the full 48-hour length of the contest.

With restrictions being eased around the world, this promises to be one of the biggest contest events of the year and an opportunity for the group to once again “stretch their legs”.

It is also an opportunity for those participating in our HF Ladder to gain some valuable points.

The rules are simple: Points are awarded for each different DXCC entity worked per band 160m through 6m.

A worked DXCC is only counted once per band regardless of how many different modes are used to work the DXCC. Any mode can be used but contacts must be via RF propagation only.

The competition runs from 00:00 hours 1st January until 23:59hrs 31st December and the overall winner is the recipient of the Jim Barlow G3VOU trophy. year.

To include your log in the HF Ladder please sign up to Club Log then join the SRS club league. You can then upload your files from your logging programme throughout the year.

This guide will help you to get started. HF Ladder Guide.

Common Barn Farm, nr Rainow.

Upcoming contests CQ WPX CW Contest: 28th & 29th May 2022 RSGB NFD 2022: 4th & 5th June 2022

Yaesu FTM-6000

Features:

Review by Neil Rydings M6NAE

50W Stable High-Power with Heavy Duty Heat Sink with FACC (Funnel Air-Convection Conductor) *Selectable 50W/25W/5W.

A review of the new Yaesu FTM6000, the new 2/70 vhf-uhf mobile radio and a replacement for the FTPage | 7900.

5

3W of Powerful, Clear and Crisp Audio Speaker.

New User Operating Interface: E2O-III (Easy to Operate-III).

PMG (Primary Memory Group) Function allows instantly recall of the frequently used frequencies registered in the PMG.

After trying the radio for over 10 days, I have found the FTM6000 a good solid work horse. It is very easy to program, however it does have 2 Yaesu menus to choose from. The first menu is all the basic stuff you will need at a touch of a button with the second menu being more in-depth, the 60 settings menu which we are all familiar with. I have received good audio reports on RX and TX.

MAG (Memory Auto Grouping) Function allows memory channels to be automatically categorized in all memory channels, AIR band, VHF band, UHF band and others and can be quickly recalled by band groups.

The radio stays cool after a full 8 hours of use, but I have found one little niggle. When you scan the band, you would normally see the frequency start to climb however, the display just shows the word scan which is very fast.

Wide range receive coverage from 108MHz to 999.995MHz.

The radio was purchased from Martin Lynch & Co for £239.99 including free delivery which makes the Yaesu FTM-6000 the cheapest VHF/UHF mobile at today's prices.

I have also uploaded a video of the radio to the club's YouTube channel if you wish to view it. But I must say the radio seems to be very good at receiving and beats my Icom IC-2730 hands down.

Yaesu have used the chassis from the Yaesu FTM 300 in building the Yaesu FTM6000 to cut the cost.

Below are all the specs on the radio.

VFO Band Skip Function.

Memory Data Transfer to the VFO Register.

Wireless Operation Capability with the Bluetooth Headset *Requires the installation of an optional Bluetooth Unit BU-4.

Detachable Front Panel to be mounted at the desirable operating position.

1,100 Memory channels alphanumeric tags.

with

character

Supplied Multi-Functional DTMF Microphone SSM-85D. The new FTM-6000R/E is a basic feature packed mobile transceiver employing a new User Operating Interface - E2O-III (Easy to Operate – III).

The FTM-6000R/E delivers reliable and stable 50W transmit performance. The heavy-duty heat sink is equipped with FACC (Funnel Air-Convection Conductor). The speaker delivers 3W of clear and crisp receive audio which has been specifically tuned for radio communication. Front panel of the

FTM-6000R/E is detachable and can be mounted at the most desirable operating position. The new FTM-6000R/E supports optional Bluetooth wireless operation using the SSM-BT10* Headset or a commercially available Bluetooth headset*.

Page | 6 E2O-III provides three (3) user-intuitive operating

modes to assign functions and settings: (1) The most frequently used function can be registered to the “F1” key and then recalled with a single touch of the “F1” key. (2) Other frequently used functions can be assigned to a Function List and then recalled by simply pressing the “F Menu” key and rotating the dial. (3) All functions and items other than those registered to “Most frequently” or “Other frequently’, are selectable by pressing and holding the “F Menu” key and rotating the dial.

microphone - SSM85D; Scanning Functions – VFO Scan, Memory Scan, PMG Scan, Programmable Memory Scan.

Supplied Accessories: DTMF Microphone SSM-85D Mounting Bracket + Bracket for Controller Control Cable 10ft (3m) USB Cable DC Power Cable Operating Manual Specifications: Frequency Ranges:

Up to 5 channels can be registered in PMG (Primary Memory Group). Frequently used PMG frequencies can be shown in an easy-todistinguish display just by pressing the “PMG” key.

The MAG (Memory Auto Grouping) function automatically groups memory channels so they may be easily recalled by band: All memory channels; AIR band (108MHz – 137MHz); VHF band (137MHz – 174MHz); UHF band (400MHz – 480MHz); and other bands (174MHz - 400MHz / 480MHz – 999.995MHz).

The new FTM-6000R/E VFO Band Skip Function permits unused bands to be skipped, while the registered memory channels can be recalled, even if the frequency is in the skipped band. By pressing “SQL BACK” key when the memory channel is displayed, the contents of the currently selected memory channel can be transferred into the VFO register. Depending on the operating situation, either the VFO or Memory channel operations are separately useable.

Some of the other features of the FTM-6000R/E are: Wide-range receive coverage from 108MHz to 999.995MHz; 1100 Memory channels with character alphanumeric tags; supplied DTMF

RX: 108 - 137MHz (Air Band) 137 - 174MHz (144MHz HAM / VHF Band) 174 - 400MHz 400 480MHz (430MHz HAM / UHF Band) 480 999.995MHz (USA Cellular Blocked) TX: 144 146MHz, 430 - 440MHz. Circuit Type: Double-Conversion Superheterodyne Modulation Type: F2D, F3E: Variable Reactance Modulation RF Power Output: 50W/ 25W/ 5W Case Size (W x H x D): Radio Unit 5.47"x 1.66"x 5.2" (139 x 42 x 132 mm) w/o Fan Controller 5.51"x 1.6"x 1.38" (140 x 40. 5 x 35 mm) w/o Knob Weight: 2.43lbs (1.1kg) Controller, Control Cable

with

Radio

Unit,

Membership News and Information 2021/2022 Annual Subscriptions Payable annually from 1st December.

Should you have a question about subscriptions, please do not hesitate to email me at treasurer@g8srs.co.uk

Club Nets

Rates are:

Page | 7 Senior

£15.00 (18-64 years of Age)

Family

£15.00

Country

£10.00 (must live more than 50 miles of the Stockport Boundary)

Pensioner

£10.00 (65 years and over)

Junior

£2.50 (up to 17 years of Age)

On air net are an important feature of any radio society’s activities and we are no different.

To cater for members with different interests out nets take place on various bands and modes.

Presently are arranged nets are as follows.

Thursday Weekly at 7.30pm local – 70 CMs via GB3MR Repeater

Payments can be made by: •

Bank transfer to the society's account with Barclays Bank PLC. Sorting Code: 205377 Account number: 40346314 Account Name: Stockport Radio Society Payment Reference: Your Name, Callsign (if held) and the word “Subs”.

• •

•

•

•

•

Cash or Cheque at any society meeting.

Cheque forwarded to the Treasurer C/O Walthew House, 112 Shaw Heath, Stockport, SK2 6QS. Cheques should be payable to "Stockport Radio Society" and to help the Treasurer please quote “2022 Subs”, your name, callsign and address on the reverse.

Please note, with a payment by cheque there may be a considerable length of time between our receipt of it and its cashing.

We, now, can accept payment by credit and debit cards (Visa and MasterCard); we will have our ‘SumUp’ card reading device ready and waiting at our Walthew House meetings.

For receipts of payment, if you communicate with SRS online, we will send an email message in lieu of a paper receipt. If you do not, we will endeavour to get a paper receipt to you by post, or perhaps with the subsequent edition of QUA.

Please be aware that subscriptions not renewed by the end of February will result in membership of the society lapsing.

2nd Tuesday of month at 7.30pm local – 2 Metres FM (145.550MHz +/- QRM).

2nd Sunday of month at 10.30am local – 10 Metres SSB (28.575MHz +/- QRM).

Daily Teatime Morse at 4pm local – 80 Metres CW (3.564MHz +/-).

Teatime Morse with Bernard & Tom • • • • • • • • •

Days: Daily unless specified Time: 4pm local time Frequency: 3.564 MHz +/- QRM Email: morse@g8srs.co.uk Teatime Morse library: Click Here RSGB Morse Code pages: Click Here Jodrell Bank WebSDR: Click Here PROPquest: Click Here Webex Meeting ID: 181 492 2539 (Password: G8SRS)

Your comments and signal reports are very welcome either on air, via email to the dedicated address (see above) or a message can be left using the society’s dedicated phone line 07598 892795.

Also, just a reminder to visit our dedicated web page, link above, which contains some useful information including abbreviations and Q Codes commonly used

by CW operators, and our growing library of previous sessions dating back to March 2020.

2022 Interim Committee

GB3MR Repeater

Chair:

The repeater is located to the south of Stockport on high ground close to Lyme Park, Disley, an area known locally as Bowstones.

Anthony Smithies M0SAV

Page | Vice Chair: 8 Treasurer:

Secretary:

Post Vacant Evan Duffield M0TJU Nigel Roscoe G0RXA (Acting)

Committee Members: Bernard Naylor G3SHF Kieron Murphy M5KJM Nigel Smithies M0VNL On air Net Co-ordinator: Roy Anstee G6RSU

Contact emails:

The GB3MR repeater details are as follows: • • • •

Output Frequency: 433.350MHz Input Frequency: 434.950MHz Locator: IO83XH CTCSS Code: 82.5Hz

For more information about GB3MR, please visit https://www.ukfmgw.co.uk/tx/gb3mr/

Presentations We are always on the lookout for speakers who can deliver radio related presentations to the society either in person or through the Webex system.

If you are aware of anyone who may fit the bill or indeed if you would be happy to speak about a radio topic of interest to you and which may interest others, please contact Evan M0TJU at any meeting or by email to treasurer@g8srs.co.uk.

General Enquiries:

info@g8srs.co.uk

Treasurer:

treasurer@g8srs.co.uk

Membership:

membership@g8srs.co.uk

Contesting:

contesting@g8srs.co.uk

Alternatively, a message can be left using our telephone number 07598 892795.

Teatime Morse:

morse@g8srs.co.uk

QUA Delivery

Postal Address Stockport Radio Society Walthew House 112 Shaw Heath Stockport SK2 6QS

Telephone:

Aware some members would prefer to receive future editions online, please make your preference known to our Treasurer at the same time confirming your preferred email address.

This will also help us to ensure future notices from the society can be directed to you by the preferred method.

If, however, you are viewing this edition online and haven’t received a posted copy it maybe we do not have your present address. In that case, please could you let the Treasurer have your current postal address.

07598 892795

Stockport Radio Society is an affiliated member of the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) and NARSA (Northern Amateur Radio Society Association)