Rcmayjune2014

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Thirty Years of Listening to SSB on 80m

The Falklands, Norway and Downing Street with Ben 2E0BSF

Plus A Member Profile of Ted G3EUE & The Diary of a Morse Trainee

May - June

Worthing & District Amateur Radio Club Established 1948 Website: www.wadarc.org.uk

E-mail: info@wadarc.org.uk President: John Slater G8FMJ

Life Vice President: Peter Robinson G8MSQ

WADARC meets every Wednesday at 8pm in the Lancing Parish Hall, South Street, Lancing BN15 8AJ. All who have an interest in radio communications and associate subjects, whether a licensed amateur or not, are invited. WADARC can also arrange training for the radio amateur Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced licences.

The WADARC Committee 2013 - 2014 Phil Andy Dawn John Jonathan Peter Norman Andrew Andrew Peter

G4UDU M6RFE 2E0ESK G8FMJ G1EXG G4LKW 2E0RKO G1VUP 2E0TCB 2E0FVL

Chairman Secretary Treasurer President Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member

WADARC Ex Officio 2013 - 2014 Publicity Membership Manager Awards Manager Contest Manager Ragchew Editor Website Training Officer

John Peter Chris Graham Roger Andrew Andrew

G8FMJ 2E0FV G3NDJ G4FNL G4TNT G1VUP G1VUP

WADARC Club Nets (all times are local) 07.30

Sunday

3.725MHz ± QRM SSB

19.30

Monday

145.425MHz (V34/S17)

11.00

Thursday 7.106MHz ± QRM SSB

CONTENTS From the Editor’s Keyboard....................................... 4 Presidential Ponderings ........................................... 5 Chairman’s Chatter .................................................. 6 Thirty Years of Listening to SSB on 80m .................. 7 Member Profile – Ted Jones G3EUE ........................ 14 G1EXG’s Short Circuits ............................................ 16 Morse Tuition Diary ................................................... 18 A Private’s Progress.................................................. 21 Club Diary 2014 ........................................................ 26 Rallies in May & June................................................ 27

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FROM THE EDITOR’S KEYBOARD

W

elcome to the latest edition of Ragchew. I must start by thanking everyone who responded to my pleas for contributions last time. I have had some great material sent in so I’ve managed to fill this issue with articles that I hope you will all enjoy reading.

Jonathan Hare G1EXG kindly supplied an in-depth article that explains his fascination with listening to SSB on 80m. After reading it, I’m tempted to move out of my comfort zone on VHF and try my hand at 80m too. It’s a long article so only the first part is in this issue, the second part will be in the next one.

Jonathan has also written the second in his series of Short Circuits. This one shows you how to light an LED with just a couple of simple components and the signal from your mobile phone.

Last time I mentioned that I would like to introduce a Member’s Profile page, based on Norman 2E0RKO’s idea that it would help us all get to know each other better. I’m pleased to say that Ted Jones G3EUE stepped up and supplied me with his profile. It makes fascinating reading and I’d like to thank him for providing it. Now that Ted has broken the ice, perhaps some other members will be encouraged to take part too. I do hope so.

Phil Godbold G4UDU has been distributing a Morse course and several members have been trying it out. Edmund Spicer M0MNG is one of them and in this issue he tells us how he has been getting on.

I wasn’t expecting the contribution from Ben Streeter 2E0BSF and I was pleasantly surprised when it came in via Phil G4UDU. It’s an interesting account of his time in the Band of the Royal Marines and his various travels, visiting amongst other places the homes of penguins and Prime Ministers.

Finally, if you have any comments on the content or look of Ragchew, please let me know. Maybe we could start a Readers’ Feedback page. It needn’t be just about the magazine; it could cover anything you want to pass on to other members. For example, a recent event you’ve taken part in, interesting contacts from your log or just something you’d like to share. My e-mail address is roger@radiouser.co.uk and if you’re reading this on your computer, you should be able to click on the address to open your e-mail program. Similarly, clicking on any of the blue links in the rest of the magazine will open your web browser and take you straight to the relevant page.

73, Roger G4TNT

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PRESIDENTIAL PONDERINGS

W

elcome to another edition of Ragchew. We are now well into 2014 and I’m finding it difficult at times to come to grips with how well the club is going at the moment.

There is no doubt that the resurrection of the training programme under Andrew’s management has had a huge impact on the club’s standing and gained us many new members.

Anyone who was at the last AGM might remember forecasts of us struggling to reach a total of 50 members. How wrong can you be – we now have in excess of 70 members and hopefully we can make the club one that they will want to be a part of for many years to come.

The special events and contests that we regularly get involved in will soon be coming up and if last year’s level of support is anything to go by, we should be in good shape but, as always, we could do with the odd extra pair of hands so don’t be shy, come forward and get involved.

Attendances at our weekly meetings are at an all-time high, I would like to think that this was down to my efforts in getting an interesting programme in place but, in reality, it is more to do with the overall ambience and atmosphere at the club these days, which members seem to enjoy so much being a part of.

As with all things, there are ups and downs. This is certainly the case with the recent news that Vicky G3NDJ/2 is now a silent key, something that none of us were prepared for. I hope that Chris knows that he has the full support of us all, should he need it. It is a sad loss for all of us who knew Vicky.

On a personal note, I have decided that after nearly 50 years at my business that I should now semi-retire and the shop is in the process of being sold. I should be a free man by June 1st. Watch out then because I will have much more time to get on the radio – you have been warned. It also means that this is the last Ragchew that my advert will appear in…shame.

See you all soon and 73, John G8FMJ

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CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER

H

ello, it's time for another issue of Ragchew. WADARC has been a very busy place over the last couple of months, what with our full program of evening events and the very busy training schedule that has been taking place, every club night has been an evening not to miss.

The balance between discussion evenings and presentations is now about right and both are very well attended. It’s always interesting to see just how many subjects are brought up on our chatter nights. We’ve had a wide range of talks over the past couple of months and the selection arranged by John G8FMJ for the next few months will be every bit as interesting.

I’ve been very busy on the HF bands, working the DXpeditions that have been on air. I’ve also visited various radio rallies, which I will report on in future issues of Ragchew, and I’ve been organising my big trip away, which will include the Dayton Hamvention and backpacking into the Grand Canyon.

I’ll tell you all about both of these on club evenings in the next few months.

I’ve also been taking part in the club’s busy training schedule. I must thank Andrew G1VUP for managing all training sessions and exam bookings. It takes a considerable amount of work to synchronise everything with meeting room availability. It’s a challenging task and he is making an excellent job of it. This in turn has resulted in new members to our club and I would like to remind them that we have a lot of members with a very wide range of technical experience so if you need to know anything about setting up a new radio station, please speak to them. If you don’t know who could best help you with your questions, just ask me and I will point you in the right direction.

We all had to start from the beginning.

This time of year brings a start to our outside events season. The club participates in several different types of event and this year the first will be Windmills on the Air, which is held at High Salvington Mill in Worthing. Both HF and VHF stations will be operating there and we usually have a busy day with many contacts. After this is the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest.

Please keep an eye on the events calendar section on the website and in Ragchew and be sure not to miss one of these special stations.

Finally, I’ve had some questions about the website members’ section. It is currently unavailable because it is being redeveloped by Andrew but it will be functional soon. In addition, all members with an e-mail address will be registered on our club reflector and if for any reason you are not receiving the messages, please contact me and I will make sure the system is updated.

73, Phil G4UDU

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LISTENING Thirty Years of Listening to SSB on 80m

by Jonathan Hare G1EXG (Part 1)

got the electronics and radio bug in the 1980s. I had an amazing science teacher (Captain Reese James) who introduced me to electronics. He ran a science club at school where we could make our own ZN414 chip radios.

Dad would often drop me off at GWM Radio (Portland Road, Worthing) on Saturday mornings, safe in the knowledge that I would be entertained for several hours while he went around town. When it came time to pay for my large bag of 'bits and pieces' the kindly man behind the counter always said, "50p?", which was, of course, exactly what I had as pocket money!

For me a great draw of amateur radio was the way it explored the world with homemade gear. I still love making things to explore nature. I started to build radios and in the process I ‘discovered’ the 80m band and it has been a constant companion ever since. I've grown up with the 80m band. It was a virtual world long before the internet or the World Wide Web. Over the years I got to know the subtleties and peculiarities of the band and the characters who like to spend time on this small part of the spectrum – the 80m band 'community'.

I

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The 80m Band 80m is a great band for short wave listeners because there is nearly always something interesting to listen to. During the day you have a lot of UK stations chatting, in the evening European wide contacts can be heard and at night and early morning long distance (DX) worldwide communications can be heard.

Although 80m can be a DX band at night at any time of the year, it is generally best in the early hours in winter. It’s also a superb band to start short wave listening on because homemade equipment can be made fairly easily.

My First Communications Receiver – the MK I DC Rx My first experience of amateur radio was using an old Nimco valve radio (a marine radio that worked with 240V AC or DC) with a homemade BFO to resolve the CW and SSB stations. I then moved on to make my own ‘communications receiver’.

My MK I 1980s setup (Fig. 1) included the following homemade gear: direct conversion receiver (DC Rx), BPF audio filter, preselector, inverted V (full-sized 80m dipole), ATU and a pair of SG Brown high Z headphones. The DC Rx was based on the one outlined in Pat Hawker’s A Guide to Amateur Radio1. I modified the audio circuit to include a homebrew speech processor circuit.

Although it was designed to be used between the microphone and the transmitter, I found it worked well as a band pass filter (BPF) preamplifier to drive the high impedance headphones.

I used a beautiful brass Jackson reduction drive I salvaged from an old piece of test equipment. This little MK I radio got me hooked Figure 1: My radio gear in the late 1980’s. Top row: DC Rx for 10m next to my 2m band FT290R. Second row: SWR meter and 40m DC on 80m. From November Rx. Bottom row: 80m pre-selector, the 80m MK I DC Rx and on the 1982 to January 1987, I right a 20m DC Rx. heard 106 countries on the 'top’ (the DX) end of 80m – it taught me geography! The first time you hear the

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twang of accent on a weak ZL or VK station on equipment you have made yourself really is a truly wonderful experience.

This radio also won me the 1983 Worthing and District Amateur Radio Club constructional contest!

Signal Reports

Exploring the radio frequencies with a relatively simple homemade radio with no AGC (see later) and no S-meter means you learn to listen. You develop 'safe cracking’ fingers on the tuning knob, ‘peaking’ skills on the preselector controls and the imagination to guess what the faint signal in the noise is trying to say!

In my receiver logbook I only ever give a 59 to local UK stations. To me, 59 means a very strong signal which can be perfectly copied. If you don’t have an S-meter, then the signal report defines how strong the signal is compared to the noise (or other interference). So, when I heard ZL1BMW recently and gave him a 54, for me it was a really good report for a DX station. I know others in the UK were giving him 59 + 20dB but as I could also hear the noise of the band around him and the crash and bangs of distant lightening, there is no way I would log him as 59, even if an S-meter might say ‘many dB’s over S9’.

Two SSB 80m log book entries from around Christmas 1984 and October 2013.

MK II Design

I learnt a lot from the MK I DC receiver and so based on this experience, in 2002 I built a MK II version. This had a better front end BPF – two back-to-back tuned circuits with as small a coupling as I could get away with and still get a signal through! It uses an NE602 double balanced mixer driving a differential preamplifier and audio stage with BPF.

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I made the radio with a decent amplifier so it could drive low Z headphones but also tapped on the volume control to drive high Z ones if needed. I also included a 20m front-end mixer stage so I can switch between the two bands.

The Preselector A simple one transistor (FET) preamplifier with tuned circuits on the input and output can make a very useful preselector. This gives a useful 10 to 15dB of RF gain and greatly improves the selectivity of a simple radio and helps reduce breakthrough problems with strong broadcast stations and so on. My version was based on one described in the RSGB’s Radio Electronics Cookbook2 that works really well. I wound the coils just for 80m and a dual-gang capacitor allows peaking. I wired in a simple antenna switch so I can swap between two antennas and I have also included a bypass switch.

I often use a headphones splitter cable so that I can also plug in a small MP3 recorder. This way I can record DX. Archos used to make a very useful battery powered MP3 player (the Archos Ondio) that takes a 3.5 mm stereo jack input so you can make MP3 recordings. Note: some switch mode power supplies are noisy so a battery powered recorder is preferred.

The MK II DC Rx (bottom) with pre-selector (top) circa 2002.

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Direct Conversion Receivers If you want to make a radio just for a single band, say 80m, then a Direct Conversion (DC) receiver is a lot easier to set up and get working well than a superhetrodyne device. With a good choice of mixer and audio strip, you can make a sensitive and selective radio. There was a useful article in RadCom a few years ago about perfecting DC receivers3.

My dual conversion superhet IC706 transceiver is definitely better than my MK II DC Rx, but it’s not far off. It’s about the same as the 706 with its 10dB attenuator in-line.

A drawback of DC receivers is that because the mixer output is at audio frequencies, at any spot frequency you can, in principle, hear two frequencies at once. This is because both sidebands around a carrier can be resolved by a DC receiver. For example, if a DC receiver is tuned to 3.75 MHz, it would hear a 1kHz CW tone if a CW transmission was at 3.750 + 0.001 = 3.751MHz or at 3.750 - 0.001 = 3.749MHz. So a DC receiver appears to have twice the receive bandwidth of a comparable superhet. This can make a busy top end of 80m seem even busier!

Another problem with DC receivers is that all the main gain of the radio is obtained in the audio amplifier. You can add RF gain using a preselector (1015dB) and the NE602 mixer can be configured to have about 5-10dB gain but basically all the filtering and main gain of the radio is in the audio stage because that stage is the IF of a DC receiver. Therefore, generally, you have to use a high gain audio stage.

You also need to be careful to remove any RF from the mixer output to avoid instability problems (audio howling). With so much audio gain, it's wise to use a common earth point to minimise hum loops. You have to take extra special care to decouple all the stages of the radio. That’s why battery power is much better than a mains power pack – it greatly reduces hum problems.

No AGC - Beware When Using Headphones!

A simple DC receiver does not have an automatic gain control (AGC). All you have is your hand on the volume control, which can be painful if you are

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wearing headphones. For example, when DF2BO (Tom, a German DX chaser with a very strong signal) is working DX, I have to be very careful when he transmits. This is because he really is 59 (!) and the sudden loudness of his signal is often quite painful when I have just been mentally tuning into a very weak DX signal. A pair of back-to-back diodes across the H/P might help clip the sudden peak before my reflex kicks in to turn down the volume.

However, this lack of AGC gives DC receivers a quick response, so you can listen to the DX immediately a strong station stops transmitting. In that sense, a DC receiver is a great CW or small signal SSB radio. I have played around with some designs for a DC receiver AGC using a voltage controlled amplifier but that is still work in progress.

DC receivers usually need quite a strong local oscillator drive into the mixer and you have to make sure that none of this radio energy goes back into the antenna. A simple FET buffer input stage can solve this problem.

Finally, if you are going to leave an antenna permanently connected to your homemade radio, its worth putting a couple of silicon diodes back-to-back on the antenna input otherwise the input stage will eventually get fried by natural static electricity build-up or nearby lightening. After nine years using my MK I radio without protection diodes, one day I found it was rather deaf because the 2N2819 FET on the input had finally died.

Headphones The old SG Brown high impedance (high Z) phones had a nice peak in the audio response so it was as if they had their own built in CW filter! They also worked fine for SSB as well. I spend so much time listening on these headphones that I sometimes wonder if my ears have adjusted their response to match. I seem to be very sensitive to the wheel squeak and brake noise on mainline and the London underground trains and I wonder if it’s a legacy of those headphones!

Typical stereo or Walkman type headphones, although generally much wider band and better quality then my old SG Brown high impedance phones, are not ideal for short wave listening. Milian make studio noise reduction headphones. These are not noise cancelling headphones but they do offer

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noise reduction. They are basically workman's ear defenders which have been modified to contain quality earphones inside them.

Over the years I have brought all three types: the travel set, the medium range and the studio quality phones for listening to music. The middle range ones turn out to have a superb response for SSB and are actually quite sensitive for low Z phones. The soundproofing properties of the ear defenders coupled with the perky response makes them one of the best headphones for short wave listening I've come across.

I have often had problems with instability when using the popular LM380 audio power amplifier and find the LM386 is much more stable. The latter easily provides enough power for a small loudspeaker or a pair of headphones.

While we are on the subject of headphones, please don’t forget to put resistors (56Ω or thereabouts) in series with the headphones and the audio amplifier output (don’t do it to Milian low Z noise reduction and SG Brown high Z headphones. the loudspeaker circuit!).

At first sight this might seem to be a strange thing to do but they really do greatly reduce the background hiss you have to endure coming from the amplifier. We are not usually aware of this hiss coming from a speaker but because the speaker inserts are so close to your ears when using headphones, the amplifier hiss is very noticeable. In practice, the loss in audio from the series resistors is easily compensated for by simply turning up the volume.

References 1 A Guide to Amateur Radio, P Hawker (my version is the 17th Edition, 1978. ISBN 0 900612 43 6) 2 Radio & Electronics Cookbook, page 261, RSGB, 2001. ISBN 0 7506 5214 4 3 Improved Direct Conversion Receiver Design, N. Hamilton G4TXG, Radio Communication, April 1991

(The concluding part of Jonathan’s article will appear in the next issue of Ragchew.)

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MEMBER PROFILE In the first of an occasional series profiling club members, we learn about the life and interests of Ted Jones G3EUE.

I

n the 1930s, I was keenly involved with the Scouts, less so school army cadets, and club cycling. I left school in 1938 and in 1939 was employed by the organisers of the London and then, later, the NEC Birmingham motor shows.

In 1940, our Scout group was given a talk by L. H. Thomas G6QB. He suggested that as we were all due to be called up soon, we should consider volunteering now for the service of our choice and apply for signals training. I did so and I was accepted into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a wireless operator. In the meantime, I was in the Local Defence Volunteers (Home Guard) until April 1941, when training started at Blackpool and then Compton Bassett. I completed the course but was found unfit for aircrew so I spent a few weeks here and there and then joined a Wireless Observer Unit and was posted to Iraq.

On arrival, the unit was reduced in size and several of us were moved to other units.

I ended up at RAF Habbaniya – AirHQ, Persia and Iraq Forces, about 50 miles from Baghdad. I spent some 18 months there on point-to-point traffic, taking daily Metrological Broadcasts from Russia and other duties. All traffic was by hand-sent CW five-letter groups or very rapid five-figure groups. The main receivers we used were R1084s (superhetrodyne) along with R1082s (straight sets). Keys were the Type D. All the equipment dated from the early to mid-1930s.

In 1943, I joined a unit to go to Egypt but it was disbanded. I then spent several months at a landing ground by the Nile, operating a CW landline. I took an opportunity to remuster as a Wireless Operator Mechanic by attending a six-month course in Cairo (instead of three years, which helps to explain why I didn’t learn very much).

I was then posted to Cyprus and I spent a year there on an HF DF outstation, most of the time servicing diesel/electric sets. In 1945, I became time expired for overseas service and returned to the UK, doing another year until I was demobbed. Two weeks later, I was back with my old employer and pleased to be out of the Services.

When I was introduced to amateur radio, I joined the RSGB and became a BRS. Later, I applied for a transmitting licence and I was allocated G3EUE in 1948. Then, my interest lay in low power and for a number of years I built one-valve QRP transmitters, spending almost all my time operating on 80m, particularly in low-power contests.

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I became a member of the Surrey Radio Contact Club around 1953 and enjoyed many years operating at NFD. A friend of mine there once said to me, “Ted, I always know when you are on, you have a very distinctive note!” which I thought was quite kind. I ran through the usual range of receivers, 1155, AR88, HRO and then transceivers, Kenwood 520, 530 and the 570. At one stage, I became involved with a CW monitoring service, which was interesting, and when it closed down I was able to buy my HRO for a fiver!

My employer was a trade association so I had the opportunity to work in several areas. I spent some Ted Jones G3EUE 20 years in the Overseas Department where, under I was born, 1922, I married Daphne in an export promotion scheme with the old 1950 and we now have four sons Department of Trade and Industry, we used to AMATEUR RADIO organise groups of motor industry companies to Clubs exhibit at major motor and specialist trade WADARC exhibitions around Europe. Another activity that FISTS kept me busy was acting as Secretary to the British RAFA Motor Industry’s Motor Sport Committee. It worked RAFARS RAF Habbaniya Association closely with the RAC and was involved in Fellowship of the Motor Industry establishing national and international saloon and touring regulations (not Formula events). One Successes requirement was to use a couple of grandstand CQ Worldwide DX Contest; winning the 1959 28Mc/s CW division in England seats at the British Grand Prix – well, someone had with 1533 points. to do it. I retired in 1985 but continued doing this (I suspect that the reasons for my and that in those areas for another five years. success were a lack of entries and my We were lucky that our youngest son lived at reading of the small print!)

Coming Second in the RSGB Low home so we decided to spend time in Australia Power Contest in 1965 where our two elder sons and their families live.

DX entities worked 187, with 115 Regular trips allowed us to visit other places en confirmed by QSL card route and to undertake long-distance mainland Failures journeys by caravan. Now the boys come over here Disappointment at not getting beyond to Bramber, which is where Daphne and I moved to the middle 20s wpm as a CW operator in 1983. We enjoy living in here and I did a stint on Lifelong failure to really understand the Parish Council and became involved with one or electronics two other local groups.

When we moved, I also joined the Worthing Club. My operating activities haven’t progressed very much; I stick to HF and it is only recently that I have ventured into using SSB. The gear is my Kenwood 570 feeding a 60-foot end-fed wire down a small garden and a 10m band whip. It does what I want and I happily accept its limitations.

Amateur radio has been a marvellous hobby for me for so many years and I have made numerous friends as a result of it. 73, Ted G3EUE

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G1EXG’S SHORT CIRCUITS

J

onathan Hare G1EXG continues his series of short circuits with a look at how we can detect the radio waves emanating from our mobile phones.

Short Circuit No. 2: Radio Waves From Your Mobile Phone

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PAGE 2 To detect the radio waves that come from our mobile phones, all we need is a 30cm (7.5cm per side) full-wavelength Quad or loop antenna connected to a germanium diode and a hyper-bright LED. The loop can be made of copper wire, thin sheet metal or a track on a pcb.

Care should be taken to make sure the diodes are wired correctly.

I think the germanium diode is needed because the LED probably has too great a self-capacitance to perform at the very high frequencies that are generated by the phone (900 or 1800MHz).

To show that the mobile phone generates radio waves, put it near to the loop and dial a number (use a free phone number, for example, your voicemail) or send a text. The radio waves will induce a voltage into the loop that is large enough to light the LED. The LED will flash indicating the digital data being sent by the mobile phone transmitter.

If it doesn’t work, you might need to set your phone to GSM 900/1800 by switching off the 3G network in your settings menu.

Germanium diode: Maplin Electronics: 47-3114

Electronics: QH71N or Rapid

LED: Maplin Electronics: UF72P or Rapid Electronics: 55-0085 For more information see: http://www.creative-science.org.uk/mobile_LED_simple.html

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MORSE TUITION DIARY Edmund M0MNG is trying to learn Morse code using the memory stick course supplied by Phil G4UDU. Here he describes his progress so far.

T

he two facets of the amateur radio hobby that I enjoy most of all are Special Event Stations (SES) and operating through repeaters on 2m and 70cms. These two activities appear to have little in common at first sight but there is a link – CW, which is why I am very keen to learn the code. Let me explain.

Why I Want to Learn Of all the SES weekends that take place each year, the Lighthouses and Lightships on the Air event is my absolute favourite. The next one will take place on 16/17th August 2014. If you take a look at their website (www.illw.net), in the Reports 2013 section you will see a few reports from single operators who ran QRP CW-only stations, typically using a Yaesu FT-817ND and a small battery or sometimes even solar panels.

My major reason for learning CW is that I would like to obtain some QSL cards for my fledgling collection from working such stations.

The minor reason is so that I can identify repeaters on 2m and 70cms more easily. Sometimes during lifts I hear CW idents from distant repeaters that I don't recognise or I hear unfamiliar repeater callsigns whilst I am driving around outside of our local area.

I plan to go on holiday in June to an area of France not far from the Belgian and German borders. It is perfectly possible that I will be in range of several repeaters that I can work through under flat conditions. Being able to identify them by understanding their CW idents would obviously be very helpful.

The Course The course I am taking has been organised by Phil G4UDU. He managed to obtain a supply of cheap memory sticks from the Mid Sussex Club and he has been loading them with some of the letters of the alphabet. To listen to them, I have pressed into the service the 512MB MP3 player that I won for ÂŁ1 at the WADARC second-hand sale a few years ago!

As the course progresses, Phil will load the memory sticks with more and more MP3 files of CW letters for us to listen to. The code is sent reasonably quickly but with relatively large gaps between letters. As we progress through the course, the speed of the letters stays the same but the gaps decrease in length. The idea is that we will not encounter the infamous barrier or plateau

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PART 2 that can occur if you start learning the code at very slow speeds and then try to speed up subsequently.

I believe that these audio files are freely available on the internet and are not Phil's personal creations. However, the difference is that downloading from the internet brings you the whole set of files at once. This could lead to the temptation to try to learn all the letters in one go, which I am sure would lead to frustration and slow progress – if not throwing in the towel eventually.

The idea is that, after approximately 12 weeks, we will have learnt CW up to 12wpm, which I believe was the standard required to obtain a class A licence prior to the early years of the 21st century. Whether by ‘learn’ we mean the ability to receive alone or to send as well, I'm not sure.

Progress So Far It has been many years since I have learnt anything completely from scratch. I have also heard it said that people who have a musical ear (whatever that is!) can sometimes find it easier to learn CW. Whilst I love listening to many different kinds of music, I never learnt how to play an instrument.

I am writing this about a month after the course started. The letters I have learned so far are A to L inclusive. Only A and F are relatively unknown to me because I hear B in the Brighton repeaters' callsigns (GB3SR and GB3BR); the letter C is famous from CQ and I'm sure everybody knows what that sounds like, even if they know no Morse at all; and D and E are familiar from DE. There is only one dit difference between D and B so I find myself confusing those two and consciously counting dits for the time being. It's not too bad at this stage with only half the alphabet to contend with but I can still get myself confused and into a flap when the letters are being sent quickly. I also seem to confuse D and G – dah-di-dit and dah-dah-dit respectively.

Starting out in learning CW reminded me of my early days of learning French.

I remember some of the pearls of wisdom shared with us by our very first French teacher at Chatsmore in 1989: “I've known many people fail to learn French through lack of perseverance.

I've known very few who fail through lack of talent.

“If you make up your mind in advance that you can do something, or you make up your mind that you can't, then you are very likely to prove yourself right.

“If you don't make lots of mistakes, you're not trying hard enough.”

Several people at the club have referred to knowing CW really well as like having a reflex. At this stage, only the letter C truly feels like that – it is so

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PART 3 familiar from CQ, of course. I suspect the letter K will feel the same way too, from the 'invitation to transmit' tone on the GB3SR repeater. Dah di dah!

Unfortunately, when characters are being sent in quick succession, I become flustered - if that's the right word - and I lose my concentration and train of thought. I tend to miss the next couple of letters, which I know is a bad habit that I must address.

It's very hard to judge my progress thus far accurately. I would say that I've made a slow but fairly steady start, rather than an exceptional one. My feeling is that the whole exercise will take a lot longer than 12 weeks but I will get there eventually. Several people have already kindly offered to have QSOs with me on the CW portion of the 2m band, so I take heart from that. People are certainly being very supportive and helpful.

Next Steps I have bought an iambic keyer from Pete 2E0FVL, which I am having fun with!

Obviously, though, it has not been connected to any rig and nor will it be any time very soon. I am not concerned about speed at all; I would far rather send 100% accurately at a slow speed than to make lots of mistakes at a higher speed.

I mentioned music earlier. The ‘tune’ of the letter J reminds me of a part of the 1980 hit De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da by The Police. Maybe the letter U will remind me of the opening notes of Walking on the Moon. Perhaps I will be able to learn the entire alphabet using their songs!

The other letter that I have memorised in a similar fashion is F. I remember reading in a book years ago that the code had the same rhythm as the phrase “Did it hurt yer?” (di-di-dah-dit). One possible affirmative answer could start with the letter F! The second instalment of this saga will appear in the next Ragchew, when I will have taken on the challenge of the letters M to Z, numbers, prosigns and proper words!

73, Edmund M0MNG

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BEN STREETER 2E0BSF en Streeter 2E0BSF updates us on his time in the Band of HM Royal Marines and regales us with tales of his travels around the world.

B

A lot has changed for me since I last wrote a Ragchew article! I have now passed all of my exams at the Royal Marines School of Music in Portsmouth and I am now currently serving in the Band of HM Royal Marines in HMS Collingwood, Fareham.

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PAGE 2 The Band of HM Royal Marines School of Music, before I passed out in December.

I took my final exams in December last year, after undertaking two years of music training, a lot was riding on a final 60-minute practical test! Soon after I passed my exams, I was lucky enough to go on my second trip to the Falkland Islands before I left the school of music. It was a great experience, playing on the back of a ship in the middle of the islands and meeting some of the small communities around the islands again. And I did, of course, get to see some more penguins!

I also got to play outside number 10 Downing Street before I left the school, which was probably the highlight so far!

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Just before Christmas, I officially left the RMSoM, ready to go on Draft to Collingwood Band in January.

I joined my new band in early January and then I was straight into a busy term, especially with this year being our corps’ 350th anniversary. I started off by doing a few gigs around this part of the country and then I was lucky enough to go to the Allied training camp in Asegarden, Norway to perform for the First Sea Lord and members of the training team. It was very cold but it was another great experience.

This all led up to the Mountbatten Festival of Music (MFM), a huge massed bands concert that is held each year in the Royal Albert Hall. This was a great experience but it was also very nerve-racking knowing I had to march down the steps at either side of the stage without looking down or falling over! After performing at MFM, we started preparing for some more gigs over the term, including parades, concerts and Corps of Drums Mess Beatings displays for numerous events.

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PART As you probably heard on news broadcasts, the Band, along with members of the Royal Navy at HMS Collingwood, were put on standby for the flooding operations earlier in the year. I didn’t get called out in the end but many of my colleagues did and it made us realise the other roles that we have along with our usual musical one.

Later on this year, we have big celebrations happening for the Royal Marines’ 350th anniversary, from our corps of drums world record attempt to Beating the Retreat on Horse Guards Parade in June.

The Corps of Drums are hoping to break the World Record for the longest continuous drum roll. They’re going to try to achieve 64 hours of non-stop rolling while on the top of the Sun Bus in the middle of London!

We are aiming to raise £166,400.00 from the drum roll.

We are getting a lot of coverage in the Sun newspaper and we’re hoping there will be a lot of TV coverage too, so please keep your eyes out for us!

After this, we begin to prepare for our massed bands performance on Horse Guards Parade in June, which is going to be one of the biggest parades seen on the Parade for many years, with nearly 500 people on parade. We have all five of our bands, from HMS Collingwood, in Fareham, Portsmouth, Scotland, CTC Lympstone and Plymouth, on parade. We are also going to be accompanied by the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps band and the US Marine Corps Band will

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PAGE 5 be joining us for our celebrations – something I don’t think I will ever forget!

I am also lucky enough to be going to Norway again in May to perform for the Norwegian Military Tattoo.

Then I’ll be performing some ‘London Duties’ nearer the summer, which include Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor Castle. This hasn’t been carried out by the Royal Marines for many years and it won’t happen again for a long time so that’s another experience I don’t think I will be forgetting that in a hurry!

Now I have passed out, I want to start getting back on the radio because I now often have a little bit more free time on my hands. It might have to be a portable station but that would be better than nothing. I don’t think the naval base would like me too much if I started putting up huge antennas outside my accommodation block – they might start getting suspicious!

As for the rest of the year, there is a lot going on, including two possible trips to Switzerland – I will keep you updated so you can hear about my latest adventures!

I would love to catch up with the club again sometime soon. Maybe it’ll have to be at breakfast!

73 for now, Ben 2E0BSF

Videos MFM 2014 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHj7zTB0_FI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu1hyPeS5ZI

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CLUB DIARY MAY 4th .......................... Monthly breakfast meeting at the Goring Café 5th .......................... 80m CC SSB Contest 7th .......................... A Talk With RSGB Regional Manger Mick G4EFO 11th ........................ Mills on the Air, High Salvington 14th ........................ 80m CC Data Contest 14th ........................ Discussion Evening 21st ........................ 10 Trips to the Haute Savoie by Jonathan G1EXG 22nd ....................... 80m CC CW Contest 28th ........................ GX3WOR On-The-Air evening 14 ...............................

JUNE .......................

1st .......................... Monthly breakfast meeting at the Goring Café 2nd ......................... 80m CC Data Contest 4th .......................... Phil G4UDU on his visit to the Dayton Hamvention 11th ........................ 80m CC CW Contest 11th ........................ Discussion Evening 15th ........................ PW QRP Contest 18th ........................ Annual Club DF Competition 19th ........................ 80m CC SSB Contest 25th ........................ GX3WOR On-The-Air evening

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RALLIES MAY May 4th – The Dambusters Hamfest Thorpe Camp Museum, Tattershal Thorpe, Nr. Coningsby, Lincolnshire LN4 4PE May 5th – The Dartmoor Rally Tavistock College, Crowndale Road, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8DD May 11th – The Lough Erne Rally Share Discovery Village, Smith’s Strand, Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh BT92 0EQ May 13th – The UK CubeSat Forum Workshop UK Satellite Applications Catapult, Electron Building, Fermi Avenue, Harwell OX11 0QR May 16th/18th – The Dayton Hamvention Hara Arena, 1001 Shiloh Springs Road, Dayton, Ohio, 45415 USA May 18th – DDRC Amateur Radio Car Boot Sale Stockwood Park, Farley Hill, Luton

JUNE June 1st – The Spalding Rally Sir John Gleed Technology School, Halmer Gardens, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE11 2EF June 8th – The Junction 28 QRP Rally Alfreton Leisure Centre, Church Street, Alfreton, Derbyshire DB55 7BD June 14th – The Rochdale Flea Market St Vincent de Paul’s Church Hall, Caldershaw Road, Norden, Rochdale OL12 7QR June 15th – The Newbury Rally Newbury Showground, Priors Court, Hermitage, Thatcham, Berkshire RG18 9QZ June 21st – The South Lancs Summer Rally Bickershaw Labour Club, Bickershaw Lane, Bickershaw, Wigan WN2 5TE June 22nd – The East Suffolk Wireless Rally Orwell Crossing Lorry Park, A14 Eastbound, Nacton, Ipswich IP10 0DD June 22nd – The Barnsley LAMFEST Building 21, Elsecar Heritage Centre, Wath Road, Elsecar, Barnsley S74 8HJ June 27th/29th – The Friedrichshafen Exhibition Messe Friedrichshafen, Neue Messe 1, 88046 Friedrichshafen, Germany June 29th – The West of England Radio Rally The Cheese & Grain, Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BE

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ITEMS FOR SALE If you have any equipment you would like listed here, please send me the details via e-mail (roger@radiouser.co.uk).

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