Happy New Year! New Year - new start. Let’s all make a resolution to try something new in our hobby..

Malcolm, G8NRP

ANOTHER OVER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Here we are at the start of another new year. Last year has had some highs – and lows – for us at HARS. We have done well in the Club Championship Contests but we sadly lost Robin, G3LBA and Barbara, G6PKZ, wife of Roger, G1HKT. However, we must move on and the committee is thinking of ways to commemorate their role in Amateur Radio. If you have some ideas about how we could do that, please speak to a committee member.

Last month’s meeting was of course the AGM where we elected a new committee. The officers were returned unopposed, but we had an election for the six ordinary members. Following the election, we had some festive refreshments in the shape of mince pies and mulled wine!

This month we have the ‘Rally prep’ meeting followed by one of John, G6LNU’s quizzes.

Over the Christmas period, namely the 26, 27, 28 and 29 December, the Christmas cumulative contests were held. These were on 6m, 4m, 2m and 70cm on each day, making a total of 16 separate contests! Did you take part – or did you work any other interesting DX over the holiday period? If so, why not write a short piece for QAV?

On New Year’s Day about 25 people braved the cold to take part in the Chairman’?s New Year DF hunt. We finished up at the Lord Nelson in Wantage where some excellent food was on offer. Bob, G0ADH even managed to sit at his favourite table!

Since New Year’s Day, the 2011 contest season has already started with ‘CUL being heard on 80m CW on 3/1/11 and then 2m SSB on 4/1/11! The next contest is 80m SSB on Wednesday 12 January. Please do come on in these Club Championship contests if you can – and then send the logs in!

There will be an Intermediate RCE course held on 2 weekends in February, if you want to join in – or know someone who wants to – then please let Tony, G7ETW or myself know. There are limited places due to the size of the examination room! More Foundation courses are due later in the year.

A number of club members took part in the 2m AFS contest at the beginning of December and the results have just been posted. Harwell ARS has been placed 12th, but I think that is wrong and I have emailed the relevant member of the contest committee. I believe we should really be in 9th place!

We have the club annual dinner later this month and Colin, G3NNG must have your menu return by the end of the club meeting on 11 January.

Happy New Year to you all and let’s hope for some more DX conditions this year!

Mike, G8CUL

CONTEST CORNER

I once heard someone say ‘amateur radio would be a great hobby if you didn’t have to keep talking to people’. I think it was someone who was keen on constructing!  We should all try and get on the air as often as we can, whether it is in a regular net, using a local repeater, by joining in one of the many contests that pervade the calendar or simply switching the rig on and having a listen from time to time.  When did you last work someone?

Like them or loathe them, contests are an ideal opportunity of making contacts, albeit brief ones, on many bands. Their popularity seems to have grown in the last few years as the contest organisers have embraced the fact that few of us can afford a whole weekend contesting and that short, week-night contests suit the modern lifestyle.

This said there are plenty of contests each month to attract you, whether you are a seasoned contester or just someone who wants to have a few contacts of an evening. Here are a few that might interest you in the coming month:

If you take part in any of these contests and are not sure how to submit your entry for the contest, please ask – help is always at hand.

From time to time the club enters weekend contests from the clubroom.  This is an opportunity for members to practice their contesting and logging skills and for some to clean out the shack and do a bit of maintenance.  We normally have a takeaway sometime during the evening and there is plenty of time for a good rag chew.

We would like to enter the CQ Worldwide Contest on 26-27 March.  It offers a good opportunity to work lots of stations on different bands and we had a great time entering it last year. Please let us know if you would be interested in coming and joining in that weekend.

We hope to enter some VHF/UHF contests during May (more of that next month) but please put 2 -3 July in your diary which is VHF NFD.  There are various sections that we can enter operating from the clubroom and even some awards that we can work for.

If you have any questions regarding forthcoming contests, please ask:

contestmanager@g3pia.org.uk or ann.stevens@btinternet.com or 01235 816379.

Ann, G8NVI, Contest Manager

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT FOR THE 2010 AGM

Good evening and welcome to the 2010 HARS AGM.  Amongst other things, tonight we will be electing officers and ordinary members to form the committee for 2011.

First of all I’d like to briefly recap events during 2010.

January

We started the year with the traditional Chairman’s new year DF hunt.

This was held in North Morton, ending up at the Bear at Home where a number of club members, partners and guests enjoyed the afternoon. 

The club meeting was the usual Rally preparation with Ann G8NVI doing her act of persuading members to take on the various Rally jobs.  Later in the month we held the annual club dinner, again in Faringdon where about 25 members, partners and guests enjoyed the fare.  Thanks must go to Colin G3NNG and especially Valerie for organising the event.  Unfortunately, Ann and I were unable to attend due to a family birthday commitment.

February

On the 30 January and the 6  February we held our first Foundation RCE course. 

This was a success with a large majority of the candidates passing.  We learnt a lot from that first course and hopefully we have now got better.  On the 9th we had our annual construction contest where Robin, G3LBA won first prize.

More about Robin later.  Other prize winners were Mike, G0MJW and Ray, G3LQC. 

The main event in February is of course the annual Rally held at the Didcot Leisure Centre, this year on the 14th.  Luckily we didn’t have the repeat of the snow that we had in 2009.

We had the usual good turn out from club members to help and visitors to come and spend their money on the ‘bargains’. 

March

Our monthly meeting was due to be a talk by Colin, M0DDT on his 6m operations.  Unfortunately, he was unable to give his talk so we had one of John’s, G6LNU quizzes and some short talks by club members.  We held our second Foundation RCE course,

and one week later one of the successful candidates, Declan, M6DEC operated on a major HF Contest.

April

This month we had a talk by Liz, M0ACL on her trip to the Falkland Islands.  Unfortunately, Ann and I were away so we missed it.  Later in the month the Microwave Round Table was held in the RAL Social Club, but due to volcanic ash, Mike, G0MJW was unable to attend.  I suspect he was somewhere between Barcelona and Amsterdam on a bus while Ann and I were working behind the bar!

May

This month Colin gave us his talk on 6m operation which was postponed from March.  It was interesting to hear what can be worked on this ‘magic band’ with modest equipment and aerials.

June

This month Roger, G0AOZ gave a talk on his work in the computer repair business and how he started.  It’s quite amazing how these things unexpectedly happen.

July

It has been the convention for a number of years to hold a summer DF hunt in place of the July meeting.  Ron, G0BNC had us running around West Oxfordshire searching for him.  Many members successfully found Ron at Yarn Mound and we all enjoyed a pleasant evening in the Bystander at Wootton afterwards.  In the pub, the winner, Bob, G0ADH was presented with a small ‘Fox’ trophy which was given to the club by Alan, G3RTM.

Le ‘Tatty Pièce de Papier’ award was run again in July and August when the ‘CUL group, assisted by the ‘LNU group went on the annual holiday to Normandie.  Before the 2-week stay in Normandie, Ann G8NVI, David M6YHS and I spent a week in Brittany where we did a small amount of operating, mainly on 40m

using a Clansman mast and 2m whip.  After the trip into Normandie, we operated and awarded points on 3 bands, including HF

 and VHF.

  About 20 different club members were worked on the 3 bands during the 2 week stay in Normandie.  While we were away we found some more interesting aerials in Falaise!

August

This month we held our annual summer BBQ, again at the RAL Social Club premises.  This event is becoming more popular and so this year we had an outside caterer do the cooking.  This eased the load on John, G6LNU.  In general, it was a great success and both the caterer and we have learned some lessons to improve it next year!

September

In September we had a ‘natter night’ at the usual club meeting, preceded by the presentation of the ‘Tatty Pièce de Papier’ awards.

October

We were due to have a visiting speaker this month, but unfortunately we couldn’?t contact him prior to the meeting so Ray, G3LQC kindly brought a DVD containing a programme about radio receiving work at Bletchley Park and other places during the 2nd World War.  It was a fascinating thing to watch!  We held another Foundation RCE course on the 2nd.

Sadly, also this month Robin, G3LBA died from the cancer he was diagnosed with in April.  A number of club members attended his funeral where there was standing room only in the church in Longworth.  His radio activities featured greatly in the eulogies.  The JOTA event this year was held in Manor School in Didcot, and was run by Steve, M6EMW.  A number of young people attended over the weekend and a fair amount of HF operation took part

as well as some construction.

November

This month we had a visiting speaker from the European Space Agency who gave us some insight into the Agency’s organisation.  Again sadly we lost a former member, Barbara, G6PKZ, wife of Roger, G1HKT.  Barbara had been very active within the club in earlier times helping with the refreshments during previous RAE courses.  A number of club members attended her funeral and burial in Didcot on a cold but bright day.

December

This month started with the 2m AFS contest.  A number of club members were active during the 8 hour event.  The AGM follows the December 2m fixed station contest and that then completes another year and full circle for the club. 

Contests

As usual, contests, both HF and VHF/UHF are a large part of our club activities.  These include the evening events on both HF (part of the year) and VHF (every Tuesday evening).  Because our club nights are on the same evening as the 70cm event, the club has little presence on that band, but the contests on the other bands (80m, 6m, 4m, 2m and 23cm) are operated in by a lot of club members and HARS is doing well and making its presence known.  It would be very nice if this could continue and grow in 2011.  All it takes if for you, the members, to take part, work as many stations as you can and submit an entry!  A few members have also taken part in other contests using the club callsign, G3PIA or G3RRS.  In fact HARS entered VHF NFD this year on at least 2m and 70cm.  I’m not sure what happened to the 6m logs!

Thanks…

There are of course a lot of people to thank.  The club is no more than a group of people with a common interest but it still takes people to do things to keep it all running and make things happen.  The Foundation RCE courses and JOTA are two cases in point.  Due to the former, we have now got 19 new licensed Amateurs in the area, hopefully with many more to follow.

I must thank the committee for coming up here to meet once a month, sometimes when the weather is such that it would probably be a better idea to stay at home.  Without them, many of the things we do would not happen.

Finally, I thank you, the members, for coming along to meetings and other events.  Without your support, none of this would happen.

ANNUAL CLUB DINNER

Last orders, please, for seats at  our Annual Club Dinner that will be held on Saturday 22 January at Sudbury House Hotel, Faringdon,  sitting down to eat at 1930hrs.  Menus must be returned to G3NNG  ASAP. The cost will be £20 for two courses and £25 for three courses both including coffee. 

RADIO AND COMPUTING RALLY

12 -13 February, Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road, Didcot OX11 8AY

If you haven’t already done so, please put the weekend of 12 - 13 February in your diary.  As usual, we will be setting up the rally on Saturday 12th from about 1500 hrs and then will be working on 13th from about 0730 hrs onwards.  If you are new to the club, please come and join in and help at the rally. Whatever your talents, we can find a job for you! If you have missed the January meeting and would like to help at the rally, please email or ring me to add yourself to the rota.

We need people to help with:

• putting up road signs to guide the visitors in

• putting up aerials on Saturday afternoon

• setting up the Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon/early evening

• welcoming traders on Sunday morning/ putting up signs near the Leisure Centre

• car parking

• taking the money on the door

• Talk-in

• running the HARS junk stall

• helping with our demonstration station (hopefully to be manned by some of our new Foundation Licensees)

• clearing up at the end

• and many, many other jobs!

Please remember the HARS Junk Stall.  Have a clear out and bring a box (or several) of junk to donate to the stall.  It is always a very popular stall and makes a considerable contribution to our overall total each year.

BRAIN TEASER

The anagram for this month is “ASTRONOMER", so get your thinking caps on.

COMPUTING IN AMATEUR RADIO

Do you have some tips that we could publish in this column?

FOURTH TUESDAY

The next Shack Night will be on Tuesday 25 January.  So please come and operate our equipment and perhaps even work a few stations if the 6m CC contest happens to be on.  We may also be able to operate a rig clinic.