Member Profile
Alan G4GNX
Edmund G0MNG’s Morse Tuition Diary Jonathan G1EXG’s Short Circuit Rallies & Club Diary
January – March 2015
Worthing & District Amateur Radio Club Established 1948 Website: www.wadarc.org.uk
E-mail: info@wadarc.org.uk President: Chris Smith G3UFS
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 2014 - 2015 Phil G4UDU Andy M6RFE Dawn 2E0ESK Jonathan G1EXG Peter G4LKW Norman 2E0RKO Andrew G1VUP Andrew 2E0TCB Peter 2E0FVL Dawn 2E0DSK
Chairman Secretary Treasurer Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member
WADARC Ex Officio 2014 - 2015 Membership Manager Contest Manager Ragchew Editor Website Training Officer
Peter Graham Roger Andrew Andrew
2E0FVL 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 Presidential Ponderings ............................................ 8
Editorial .................................................................... 4 Chairman’s Chatter .................................................. 6
Member Profile of Alan Baker G4GNX ...................... 9 G1EXG’s Short Circuits ............................................ 15
Morse Tuition Diary ................................................... 18
Committee Meeting Notes ......................................... 20
Rallies ...................................................................... 21
Club Diary ................................................................. 22 3
EDITORIAL
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elcome once again to a belated latest edition of Ragchew. It’s a bit late because I’ve been having trouble finding enough material, especially as there are no event reports this time. You might have noticed that the cover now says that this issue covers January to March. That’s because the Committee has decided that Ragchew should now fall in line with conventional publishing practice and appear quarterly. Normally, magazines are weekly, monthly or quarterly so publishing Ragchew every other month was a bit of an anomaly. It’s always a struggle finding enough to fill Ragchew so weekly or monthly wasn’t feasible but now it’s quarterly, it should be much easier. Inside This Issue The Committee has also decided to use Ragchew to publish notes from its meetings. This is so that members can be kept up to date with what’s happening with the Club. Andy M6RFE, our Club Secretary, has provided the main points from the latest Committee meeting and his notes can be found on page 18. Also in this issue, Jonathan Hare G1EXG has kindly supplied the fifth in his series of short circuits. This one is an explanation of how resistors work along with an account of how they’re made and a list of the various types that are available. The second and concluding part of Alan G4GNX’s Member’s Profile also features in this issue. Many Club members have told me how much they’ve enjoyed reading articles about fellow Club members and how they would like to read more of them so are there any takers for the next one? The final article this time is Edmund M0MNG’s account of his progress with learning Morse code. Despite some major distractions along the way, he’s been making progress and he’s still aiming to take part in CW events in the future.
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w Although there are no event reports this time, there are lots of events coming up so there should be plenty of reports next time. With that in mind, in would be very helpful if anyone who either takes part in or helps organise an event could take a photo or two, jot down some notes and then send them to me. There’s no need to worry about the notes being disjointed or me getting too much material; I can sort it all out. Readers have said that they enjoy reading about Club events and even though they’ve not been able to take part, the articles in Ragchew about them have given them an insight into what’s been happening and, in some cases, they’ve said they now feel encouraged to take part in future events. Facebook Pete 2E0FVL wrote in asking me to mention the WADARC Facebook page. It’s an open group and as Pete says, “…it’s yet another way to advertise the club and our events and, of course it's free!” It’s also a good way for members to keep in touch with each other and to find out about forthcoming meetings and events. Pete went on to say, “We have a few followers from outside the Club so it's working, if a bit slow at the moment.” so more subscribers are needed. The more people who sign up, the more interesting the page will become. If you’d like to find out more simply click on this link: www.facebook.com/wadarc.org.uk Finally, if you’d like to comment on Ragchew or if you have something to contribute, please contact me at roger@radiouser.co.uk 73, Roger G4TNT
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CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER t’s the start of another year and we already have a busy schedule for WADARC club members. After the last AGM we had a meeting to listen to ideas of what the membership want from the club; meetings with speakers, getting into home construction and outside events came out as priorities and this has been put into place.
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Scouts Winter Camping Weekend Outside special stations are usually summer events but this year we are setting up a station for a local Scouts Winter Camping Weekend. This will give us a chance to try out the Club’s new HF station now we have bought John G8FMJ’s Elecraft setup. This event will allow us to demonstrate our hobby and it might encourage some new candidates for our training scheme that’s available to all those who want to take up amateur radio. Construction Talk Starting in February we have a three-part talk by Ron G3SKI on home construction. He demonstrated his skills by winning the last Club Construction Competition and with the aid of his technical expertise we hope to get many new projects off the ground. If you have an idea for something to build, please make sure you have the details with you on Ron’s evenings. He will be able to advise you on the best way to plan and construct the project and you might find there are others who want to join you with that or a similar item. Band Conditions The downward stages of the current solar cycle have certainly not helped the VHF bands, with 6 and 4m both having a lean time. However, the HF bands have been amazing. There have been some short term increases in the solar flux and this has resulted in excellent conditions but the interesting fact is that the actual state of the bands
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W is better than the scientific numbers should allow. This raises the question, are our radios better now? Certainly the improvement in digital signal processing (DSP) compared to that available 11 years ago in the last solar cycle is considerable and with the new ‘Super DSP’ computer modes now available we can hear signals at levels never considered possible before. However, the simplest straight basic communication with CW is also better, but why? Put Out a CQ Call It’s a typical scenario, one station is calling “CQ” while everyone else is tuning up and down or looking at waterfall displays on the computer but without calling so nothing happens. It used to be a requirement of your licence logging conditions that you recorded your CQ calls in the log. When I look back at my first logbooks, there were many entries and, yes, some were “CQ Call - no answer” but the call was made. It does not matter what licence you have, put out a call, look for the band with the big signals and give it a try. With the right conditions, QRP really works. I answered a CQ call from a VK2 yesterday with 30W and because I was the first station to hear him, he answered. It’s an interesting fact – rare DX stations frequently answer CQ calls because if they initiate their own call, it is always put on the DX Alert Cluster and a massive pileup usually results. Sometimes they just want a simple chat with a fellow radio amateur and by answering your call they can do this. After the QSO, they often move away and look for the next CQ call. 73, Phil G4UDU
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PRESIDENTIAL PONDERINGS
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i fellow members and in this first issue of Ragchew for 2015 I’d like to wish you all a happy and, if possible, a prosperous New Year. I want to call my theme this month ‘Getting to Know You’. This is because it seems to me that when we welcome new members to meetings, they give us their names and perhaps callsigns but five minutes later we have probably forgotten them (perhaps that’s just an age thing with me!) and they have almost certainly forgotten who we are because they have just met a dozen or so new people. With that in mind, I would like to propose that all members attending Club evenings or outside activities wear a callsign/name badge. I think we older ones should do this so that newer members know who they are talking to and vice versa. I also think it is particularly important for members who are on the Committee to have badges showing that fact so members can address their thinking and ideas to the right people. I am currently talking to Phil, our Chairman, with a view to the club funding the cost of new badges containing our logo and other relevant information and I’ll let you know how that progresses. I recently brought up this subject at one of our Natter Nights and a straw poll showed that almost everyone there was in favour. However, that was just a small proportion of the membership so now I’d like to hear what you think. If you’d like to share your thoughts, you can write to Roger at roger@radiouser.co.uk and he will include them here in Ragchew or if you’d prefer to just let me or Phil know, we’re at the Club most weeks and we’ll be happy to hear from you. Finally, although 2014 was a good year for the Club with contests entered and Special Event Stations activated, it was also a very sad year because we lost John, our previous President, whose ability to manage just about any problem thrown at him will be a particularly missed, Chris, our own news reader and Trophies Manager, and Vicky, his wife and companion. All three will be greatly missed – RIP. All that’s left to do now is to thank everyone for their support and to ask that you continue to further the Clubs fortunes and support your Chairman and Committee. 73 and 88s, Chris G3UFS
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MEMBER PROFILE In the concluding part of this feature, Alan Baker G4GNX brings us up to date with his life and interests.
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remember one particularly interesting contact I had on 2m FM while I was mobile in the London area. A station put out a call on one of the repeaters and as I was able to hear him clearly on the input, we moved to a simplex channel. I think he called himself Fred and we had a long chat. It was only later I discovered that my contact was in fact King Hussein of Jordan who used to visit the UK regularly. He was a keen radio amateur and an honorary member of the Harrow Radio Society. In Jordan his callsign was JY1 but then he used a G5+2 letter callsign. It takes all King Hussein of Jordan JY1 sorts and sometimes it really is a small world. BADARS The 1980s were an interesting time for me. I got together with Chick Tutt (of Tutt's Radio, a little shop in a converted alleyway in Hollingdean Road, Brighton) and we set out to form the Brighton and District Amateur Radio Society (BADARS). Our initial meetings were held in Kemptown but several moves took us to a room at Bellerby's College (courtesy of G3ZYE), a YMCA hall in Hove and, eventually, the Brighton Racecourse (with the help of Frank G3DVL). I was heavily involved with one of the Society’s activities, setting up the Sussex Mobile Rally at Brighton Racecourse. I was also chairman of that committee with Mick G8JVE as vice chairman and we formed a consortium of local clubs and societies, including WADARC, to do the heavy work and to take a share in the profits. Repeaters In fact, Brighton Racecourse featured quite a lot in local amateur radio, especially at VHF/UHF, because two repeaters, GB3BR and GB3SR, were housed there for a while. The Sussex Repeater Group used to meet in Holland Road, Hove (courtesy of John G4BLJ). GB3BR was initially under the auspices of Gerry G8ETL. I played a small part in
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repeater construction and maintenance and supplied two cavity filters and a device called a circulator for GB3SR. I well remember clambering about on the Racecourse roof, installing lengths of Heliax. Another rooftop I remember well from the 1980s was when the Region 1 IARU Conference came to the UK. Of course we locals set up several stations to commemorate the occasion and for the use of delegates. I ended up on the roof of the Hotel Metropole on Brighton seafront, erecting antennas with the The IARU Region 1 Conference in Brighton likes of Len G8GEZ and Robin G3ZYE. There were no safety harnesses then but we were very careful! Other lofty heights included a farmer's field close to Devil's Dyke that BADARS used for VHF National Field Day and the occasional trip to a field near Beddingham for another Field Day event. I'm surprised we didn't cause problems with the police repeater near there. It certainly made its presence felt on 2m when ‘Black Channel’ was used, even in Newhaven! Whatever power were they running? VHF/UHF and repeaters have always featured in my amateur radio life. I was on the road a great deal and when not travelling the road network, I would find a hill somewhere and chase VHF DX with nothing more than a 7/8 ground-plane and 10W of RF from an Icom IC-240 or sometimes a Yaesu FT-480R. There was a spot just south of the peak of Devil's Dyke where I was often able to QSO with stations in HB9, using a couple of watts from an ‘electronic handbag’! One station I worked regularly was Roy G4GPX, who always wanted to know why I wasn't at work and who was encouraged by his XYL and Club member Joyce. Of course, I often worked John G8FMJ, who seemed to have a permanent monitor on in his shop. Another repeater pastime was chasing jammers in London. There was one in particular who used to ‘squeak’ and play music. Bill G8GYP, myself and Ron G8DPP went out one night with a 3-element Yagi around the streets of Battersea. We found a ‘pool’ of RF apparently coming from the middle of the road but then realised that right above us lived a well-respected licenced amateur. A knock on his door, the jamming stopped and we took him to a pub for a drink where he agreed that he'd been busted and he was never heard jamming again (well not
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in that area). It was a better result than some of the heavy handed tactics used by others when feelings were running high. Work I’d been working for Centronics Data Computer (UK) Ltd for some time, first in Burgess Hill, then as Chief Software Engineer in London, when I was lucky enough to be sent out to the USA to work for a while in a ‘small’ town called Troy, just North of Detroit, Michigan. Leisure time was spent clubbing, socialising or sleeping but I did fit in a visit to a hamfest and another to Pizza & Pipes in Pontiac, Michigan to hear the Wurlitzer organ. I never did get to operate a radio in the States. The company was eventually taken over by Genicom and I was more or less forced to commute between Newhaven and Farnborough. The Bolney bypass had not been built, the M25 was only three lanes and the M3 wasn't fantastic – I hated it all. I think the only thing that kept me sane (well almost) was having chats on amateur radio, especially those through GB3SN at Four Marks and to such well-known amateurs as Constance G8LY. She was always very polite, she knew her mind and she was a great source of inspiration. Fortunately (in one way) those journeys came to an end but, unfortunately, I had to give up work to take care of my first wife, Christine who had suffered severe strokes. Amateur radio for me really went downhill after that. There was too much daily life to cope with. When Christine eventually died, I moved out of Newhaven, first to Brighton and then to Hove, where I remarried. However, there was still a lot of daily life to cope with, including house renovation and building a new business, so again, there was no time for much amateur radio activity, although I did keep an old Yaesu FT23R handheld for 2m. My other equipment had been sold some time back. Luckily, I’d kept in touch with some local radio amateurs, especially Geoff G8YFG, and I was also introduced to the Compton Theatre Pipe Organ in Portslade Town Hall. Ten years came and went and then I was hit by divorce and I moved from Hove to my current QTH at Shoreham. Organs I met the millionaire Michael Hunt, who owns the Wurlitzer organ at Singing Hills Golf Course in Albourne, and was commissioned to expand and refurbish it. It was two years of work and anti-social hours so I slept a lot in the daytime, with not much thought of radio.
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I then became (and still am) involved with the largest Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ in Europe, which is located in a hotel complex in Uckfield. Although I'm now officially retired, I still have a mandate to complete the automation of the organ lift and its pneumatic cover, which is all good for earning extra pennies! I was also asked to do some accounting and counter work to help out at East Beach Post Office and spent two days a week there for a while, apart from a three-week break to visit the Caribbean islands with my cousin Neil. I can’t understand what I was thinking not taking a radio with me! In the meantime, eight years ago, I married Maureen at Alan in Antigua. The Little White Wedding Chapel in Kissimmee, Florida (as you do) and she then moved from her home in Littlehampton to Shoreham. Then the fun started, with lots of tasks in our home needing attention, but at least I'd completed some major jobs a few years beforehand, such as a block paving driveway, a new conservatory and even a replacement inspection chamber in the sewage system. I still had no serious thought of amateur Alan at the Little White Wedding Chapel. radio and to make matters worse, we had a new kitchen extension built just before I took on another two-year job. This involved having an organ console shipped into my workshop where it was stripped and gutted and then fitted with new components and a new music production system, then shipped out to the client in Wales. As computers developed, I designed and installed various The Wyvern conversion. websites and I also became interested in theatre pipe organ music involving sampled sounds and I joined a Yahoo
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internet forum. A few years back I was approached through that forum by a guy called Joe Hardy in the USA who was looking for someone to write software for the (then) new Hauptwerk software platform for virtual pipe organs, to simulate a pipe organ and run the samples that he'd recorded. I knew that his work was top quality so I was happy to associate with him to form a small internet company - Paramount Organ Works. It took nearly a year to perfect the first instrument the way we wanted it and we actually still offer it as a free to use instrument (a loss leader). Since then we've developed four further models and I'm currently writing a sixth so part of my days is still taken up with working, despite retirement, which at least save the brain from stagnating! For the inquisitive, I have two relevant websites at: www.virtualtheatreorgans.com and www.paramountorganworks.com Return to Radio About ten years ago, I bought a Yaesu FT8100R 2m/70cm mobile rig and a 10A PSU from Mark G8XJS. It just sat in its box in my workshop until last year when it almost fell off its perch. This prompted me to take notice and I thought I'd better make use of it before it got damaged and that's when it all (re-)started. The bug bit with a vengeance and a voice in my head seemed to quote a famous line from the film Independence Day, "Hello boys, I'm back!" I suspect that Maureen treats it as a second childhood or the seven year itch but at least I didn't try to run off with another woman! Still, she does know how bloody-minded and cussed I can be. For example, I wanted one of those over-the-range microwave ovens that you find in kitchens all over the USA but there were none to be had anywhere in Europe. My answer was to fly to the States, have a good holiday and order a microwave oven whilst I was at it. I then persuaded Virgin Atlantic that it was really a suitcase and then I carted the thing on to the return aircraft. It’s now installed and fed by a 110V 2kVA transformer and I'm chuffed to bits. Then there was the unwelcome surprise a few short years back when I was told that I needed to lose weight or I'd be in big trouble. Not wishing to pop my clogs just yet, I set about it and have so far lost in excess of 8 stone (about 51 kilos)! Cussed? You betcha! When the 10A PSU died, probably due to me using it to drive a 12V halogen lamp continuously, I bought a new 25A switched-mode type and set up the 8100 with an old 5/8 whip on a mag-mount that I sat on top of my metal saw bench. I also set about refurbishing the FT23R, which
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badly needed a new battery and charger and a CTCSS module for repeaters. Shortly after I got back on the air on 2m, I joined WADARC, re-joined the RSGB and bought the RSGB Rig Book so that I could compare what might be available in rig facilities. For the immediate future I decided that the Icom IC7100 best suited my needs, providing 160m right up to 70cm, all modes and so on. For HF I've erected a vertical antenna and I plan to erect a wire antenna, either a half-size G5RV or similar and I'll probably experiment with others. Through the WADARC notice board and John G8FMJ, I found that Barry G4GPW wanted to sell the Altron tiltover mast he’d bought for a project but never used. I also bought his Diamond X-50 colinear for 2m/70cm and that now sits atop of the rotator stub pole on top of the mast. I was extremely lucky to have some local amateurs transport the (heavy) mast from Sompting to Shoreham for me and after some research and some pondering, I decided that the best place to park it would be alongside the bungalow partly hidden from the neighbours. I won't go into installation details here but for anyone interested, I will shortly be publishing a blog describing the entire process on one of my websites. As you can see from the photograph, I have now installed a 19-element horizontal Tonna for 70cms along with a crossed 9-element Tonna for 2m on a stub pole driven by a refurbished rotator from Chris G3NDJ. I'm also QRV on 4m using the vertical antenna kindly donated by Phil G4UDU and I run 2m/70cm FM from the car from a Yaesu FT-7900. I'm now keen to be more active on all bands, with emphasis on promoting activity on 2m/70cms and supporting WADARC where I can. I've decided that the shack in my workshop is going to be too cold and inconvenient in the winter and as I'm too mean to heat it, I'm shortly going to move all of the radio gear indoors. Meanwhile, on with the 1,001 jobs to be done, the music software and looking after our three gorgeous pussy cats... 73, Alan G4GNX
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G1EXG’S SHORT CIRCUITS This time Jonathan Hare G1EXG takes an in-depth look at resistors, explaining what they do, how they work, how they’re made and the different types available.
Short Circuit No. 5: Resistors
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esistors control current, making them very useful and important electrical components. They come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and resistance values (Ohms, R, Ω). In my own circuits I have used resistors as low as 1/100 of an Ohm to ones that are many 10,000 millions of Ohms in value. If you apply a voltage (V) across a conductor, the electrons in the atoms of the material will drift in the electric field; we call this an electrical current (I). You don't usually get a perfect flow due to the electrons colliding and losing energy in the atomic structure of the conductor. We call this resistance loss (R); it’s like an electrical friction. For many materials, if you double the voltage, you will double the current and this relationship is called Ohms law: I = V / R or R = V / I. It would be impossible to make (or to store) every single possible value of resistor you might need so several series of 'preferred values' have been created to cover as large a range as practicably possible given the tolerances of the resistors. These series have been given E numbers. The E6 series has six values in each decade: 1.5, 2.2, 3.3, 4.7, 8.8 and 10. So you can get 15, 150 or 1.5kΩ resistors but not 1.4 or 230Ω resistors in this series. The E12 series has twelve values in a decade so it gives you more choice. Construction Resistors can be made from a length of thin wire wound many times around an insulating former. Unfortunately, a changing current flowing through such a coil creates a changing magnetic field, which gives these resistors an inductance. That means they don't work well in AC circuits. However, if you wind half the turns one way and the other half the other way, you can cancel the fields and greatly reduce the
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inductance. Resistors made this way are called bifilar wound resistors and although they are useful, they are costly to make. In the 1930s, resistors started to be made from carbon, which alleviated this problem, allowing quality audio and RF circuits to be created. Large carbon resistors are still used for dummy loads for testing transmitters as they have little inductance. Modern thin film materials that have excellent temperature stability, good power handling and low inductance can be cheaply fabricated. Film resistors manufactured from these materials can be made very tiny with millions fabricated on a tiny microchip circuit.
In Use If you wire resistors in series (like a daisy chain) and pass a current through them, the voltage will be shared across them with the largest resistor getting the greatest share. The total resistance is simply the sum of all the values, that is: R = R1 + R2 + R3 and so on.
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If you connect resistors in parallel (one across the other) and apply a voltage, the current will be shared, with the smallest resistance getting the greatest current share. In this case, the total resistance is more complicated because it’s given by: 1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 and so on. Different Types There are several different types of resistor. For example, if you touch a third wire somewhere between the two ends of a resistor, you can pick off an intermediate resistance and then you have a variable resistor or a potentiometer. Cadmium sulphide is a naturally occurring semiconductor that can be used to make a device called a light dependant resistor (LDR). It has a conductivity that is dependent on the light level falling upon it (typically many millions of ohms in the dark to 100ℌ in light). Thermistors are resistors that change their resistance with changes in temperature. The so-called Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, which was discovered in 1988, can be used to create resistors that are sensitive to magnetic fields. This effect is observed as a significant change in the electrical resistance that depends on whether the magnetisation of adjacent ferromagnetic layers are in a parallel or an antiparallel alignment. The overall resistance is relatively low for parallel alignment and relatively high for antiparallel alignment. These resistors can be made very small and they have a fast response, allowing them to be used to sense tiny fluctuations in magnetism on disc drives. This discovery has created the memory revolution that we are enjoying today where we have gone from millions of bits per drive in the 1980s to many million million bits on the surface of modern hard drives. 73, Jonathan G1EXG
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MORSE TUITION DIARY Edmund M0MNG has been trying to learn Morse code using the memory stick course supplied by Phil G4UDU. Following on from his initial report last year, here he brings us up to date with his progress so far.
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am writing these lines less than 24 hours after the end of the annual Essex CW Amateur Radio Club (ECWARC) activity weekend. If you are proficient in CW already, you can join the ECWARC as a full member. If you’re learning from scratch or brushing up your half-forgotten skills from yesteryear, you can still join as an associate member. Either way, membership is free. My original plan was to learn CW well enough to be able to participate in this event. Unfortunately, the best laid plans don't always come to pass! I know that people can always find compelling reasons for not doing things, including putting off learning CW. However, 2014 saw (amongst other things) the death of my mother in August and my wedding to Paula in September. As excuses for not dedicating time to learning CW go, I think those two are pretty respectable! Optimistic I have several reasons for taking heart though. I had a listen on and around the ECWARC club frequency of 7.022MHz over the weekend. There was quite a lot of reasonably slow CW to be heard. This made a nice change from the 100mph transmissions I hear slightly further down the band! Even though I couldn't copy it, I felt the prospect of me doing so in the future was realistic. Another reason to be optimistic is that at the Kempton Rally on Sunday November 9th, I had a chance to listen to the GB3NS repeater on the 70cms band whilst sitting in the car park. The output is on 439.675MHz with the input 9MHz lower and a CTCSS tone of 82.5Hz is necessary for access. This repeater has an enormous coverage area thanks to its excellent antenna location on a commercial mast. If you live in a favourable location, you may well be able to access it, or at least hear its output. Normally, the repeater just sends its callsign in CW every ten minutes but every half hour or so it sends a longer one. I was able to read the ident of “GB3NS CATERHAM D” with no problem. The fact that I knew
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the repeater's QTH already obviously helped but the main reason I could read the ident was that the CW was sent extremely slowly. I'm guessing it was somewhere between 5 and 10 words per minute and I believe that 5 wpm was the required speed to gain a novice M5 licence in the 1990s. Even to my untrained ears, the speed of the repeater's ident sounded very slow indeed. Incidentally, the letter at the end of the ident (D in this case) indicates which CTCSS tone is in use. The Future So I'm feeling encouraged for the future. I have learnt most of the letters, although for some reason P, W, X, Y and Z don't seem particularly memorable. I haven't learnt the numbers or prosigns yet. My original plan was to be proficient enough in CW to use it during the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend (ILLW) in August 2014 and the ECWARC activity weekend in November 2014. The aims are still the same but the year has slipped to 2015 now! Incidentally, you can see a brief write-up of GB8SL (Shoreham Lighthouse aka Kingston Buci), along with my own exploits from home, in the Reports 2014 section on the ILLW website. In addition to CW-only lighthouses and the ECWARC activity weekends, a further motivation is that I would like to experience operating CW on the 30m band. WARC bands are close to my heart in any case because they are contest-free havens! However 30m has a big advantage over 17 and 12m because I would normally expect 30m to be open even when the other two are not. In addition, it‘s frequency is closer to my HF-band-of-choice 40m than it is to 20m; there are too many contests on 20m and the band seems dominated during my waking hours by languages that I don't speak! Finally, CW helped me identify what I was hearing when I went on a daytrip to Calais at the start of November. I took a handheld with me and was monitoring 145.750MHz, hoping to hear the output from the distant F5ZBH repeater at Albert (Somme region.) However, thanks to a CW ident, I discovered that the repeater I actually heard on that frequency was GB3FK in Folkestone – the town where, a few hours before, I had left the UK through the Channel Tunnel! 73 for now, Edmund M0MNG
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COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES The Committee has agreed to publish short notes taken from the minutes to keep Club members up to date with its discussions. We start with the most recent meeting, which was held on December 9th 2014.
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he meeting started with the Chairman giving a verbal update and welcoming new Committee members. The Secretary then reported verbally and following that, a printed report detailing the Club accounts from the Treasurer was presented to the Committee along with the news that a date has been agreed for them to be audited. (Update, the auditors have now examined and agreed the accounts – Ed.) It was highlighted that an audit and valuation of club assets is required. Events The program of events was presented to the Committee. It was suggested that another talk by RSGB representative Mick Senior G4EFO would be welcomed. The Club now has a calendar of events for presentation to the RSGB and all dates for forthcoming events are to be placed on the Club website. Ragchew The Committee was told that more articles for publication are required and Committee Members put forward some suggestions for content. Membership In the membership report, the Committee was told that membership is currently 55 and 14 members have not renewed. An e-mail will be sent to non-renewing members advising them that their details will be removed from the club reflector. Website A membership feature will shortly be activated and the minutes of the AGM held during October 2014 will be published on the website. Publicity During a discussion on how club publicity could be increased, press releases to newspapers and local radio and television along with podcasts were suggested. Contests Arrangements for SSB field day 2015 were discussed, including the number of operators that will be required. Training The club training program was discussed and suggestions made as to how this could be extended. Interaction with local colleges was suggested. It was then agreed that the next meeting will be held on February 10th 2015.
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RALLIES JANUARY 25th – Horncastle Winter Rally Horncastle Youth Centre, Lincolnshire LN9 6DZ
FEBRUARY 1st – The 30th Canvey Radio & Electronics Rally The Paddocks, Long Road, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 0JA 8th – The British Vintage Wireless Society Auto Jumble The Angel Leisure Centre, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1SF 8th – The Harwell Radio and Electronics Rally Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road, Didcot TI S22 15th – The Radio-Active Rally Civic Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5DG 22nd – The Brats Rainham Radio Rally Rainham School for Girls, Derwent Way, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent ME8 0BX 22nd – The Pencoed Arc Table Top Sale Pencoed RFC, The Verlands, Felindre Road, Pencoed CF33 5PB
MARCH 1st – The Exeter Radio & Electronics Rally America Hall, De La Rue Way, Pinhoe, Exeter EX4 8PW 8th – The 30th Wythall Radio Club Rally WRC HQ, Wythall Park, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ 15th – The Dover Radio Rally Whitfield Village hall, Sandwich Road, Whitfield, Dover CT16 3LY 22nd – The Hack Green Bunker Rally Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 8AL 22nd – The Laugharne Radio Rally Millenium Memorial Hall, Laugharne SA33 4QG 22nd – The Devon & Cornwall Repeater Group + Callington ARS Rally Callington Town Hall, Callington, Cornwall PL17 7BD
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CLUB DIARY JANUARY 20th ........................ Advanced Course (Training 21st ........................ Computer Viruses and Trojans "What are they?" 24th ........................ Beeding and Bramber First Scouts Weekend 25th ........................ Beeding and Bramber First Scouts Weekend 28th ........................ GX3WOR On-The-Air Evening 1 ............................. FEBRUARY 1st .......................... Monthly breakfast meeting at the Rainbow Café 3rd .......................... Advanced Course (Training) 4th .......................... Home Construction Part 1 - Ron Bravery G3SKI 11th ........................ Discussion Evening 17th ........................ Advanced Course (Training) 18th ........................ Beginners Guide to Astro Photography Part 2 25th ........................ GX3WOR On-The-Air Evening 28th ........................ Foundation Training and Exam (Training)
MARCH ................. 1st .......................... Monthly breakfast meeting at the Rainbow Café 3rd .......................... Advanced Course (Training) 4th .......................... Home Construction Part 2 - Ron Bravery G3SKI 7th .......................... Advanced Course (Training) 11th ........................ Discussion Evening 18th ........................ New Advances in Noise Cancelation with Graham M3ZGS of bhi. 25th ........................ GX3WOR On-The-Air Evening
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