March 2008

Editor: Malcolm Andrew G8NRP

COMMENT

It is good to see some discussion on the HARS reflector recently on a range of topics. That is what it is meant for. I have just looked and there are now forty-one subscribers, not all HARS members, which is a considerable increase on six months ago. If you are not a member then click here and join in.

RSGB ON THE MOVE

After twenty five years at Potters Bar, the RSGB is moving its headquarters to Bedford.

Modern IT technology and business practice, mean that Lambda House is no longer cost effective to run as an HQ and due to the age of the building it is proving increasingly costly to maintain.

The move, which the Society hopes to complete by the end of March 2008, will also involve a relocation of the museum, shack and library. Discussions are taking place with the Bletchley Park Trust, the aim being to establish a heritage centre dedicated to Amateur Radio and the RSGB at Bletchley Park.

The Society has purchased a modern office building located on the Priory Park, Business Park on the eastern side of Bedford. This will house the admin operation.

It is envisaged that the Bletchley Park site will be the centre of the Society’s training activities and will also be the home of the RSGB HQ station GB3RS which it is hoped will be on the air daily.

Malcolm, G8NRP

FEBRUARY CLUB MEETING

The February club meeting was the long running Annual Construction Contest. This year there were 5 entries -

• Dave, 2E0ZMM with his 2m receiver, tuned for 14.180 - 14.220 MHz.
• Ray, G3LQC with his audio amplifier.
• Mike, G8CUL with his 80m Softrock low power SDR transceiver.
• Robin, G3LBA with his modification for a Bird wattmeter so that it reads PEP.
• Mike, G0MJW with his 4-band beacons on 40.050, 50.050, 60.050 and 70.050 MHz.

The results were as follows -

1st Robin, G3LBA

2nd Dave, 2E0ZMM

3rd equal Mike, G0MJW and Mike, G8CUL

Congratulations to all who entered. It shows that home construction is not yet dead in HARS!

ANOTHER OVER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Time seems to be flying this year with this being my third chairman’s piece for QAV. Since last month Ray has completed collating the questionnaires that most of you kindly filled in. As I’m sure you know, the outcome of the questionnaires was that the vast majority of you, the members, wanted to have the use of a clubroom (shack) with operating facilities, equipment etc. We ended up with three possibilities.

1. A clubroom (shack) at the old Bampton radio site (now a business park)
2. A small hut and compound next to a tower at Bampton on a farm
3. Using the existing Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) clubroom.

The committee visited the sites during February and I think they all impressed us. Bampton Business Park has a lot of space for aerial systems, good security, but the cost was £1200 per year plus services. The compound with the tower is small but the tower is over 100ft tall (30m) and the hut is small but ideal for a cosy shack. RAL has an existing clubroom with a Social Club right next door with other facilities. There are pros and cons at all sites making the decision not a simple one.

We have discussed the results in great detail in committee, eventually ending up with a vote and a narrow majority for more development of ties with the RAL radio club with the eventual aim of being able to use their clubroom for operating. As the RAL club is situated within the RAL site, the main thing to sort out is getting access through the site to it. This should not be a problem and preliminary discussions with the security staff there has indicated that they are keen to help. Watch this space!

It was at last year’s AGM that the suggestion was put forward to take part in a contest at the RAL site sometime in the New Year. Ann also announced it at a club meeting as well as via the reflector and last weekend (1/2 March) was the date chosen and a number of us set up the station and operated in the 6 hour, open section of the contest. We operated on two bands, running full legal limit on 70cms and just 1.25 dB less on 2m. The RAL club already has two towers next to their clubroom, one with a 12 element 2m beam and a 70cms beam (the number of elements I have already forgotten). For the contest, we put 3 x 21 and 1 x 20 element 70 cm aerials (we had lost one element) on their other tower so we could operate on both bands independently of each other. Colin, G3NNG had reminded me that the HARS callsign, G3PIA, has its main station address as the Harwell site, and, as that also encompasses the RAL area, it meant that we could use G3PIA as well as their callsign G3RRS. This meant that for the first time for a long time, G3PIA was heard on a UHF contest! For me, and I hope the rest of the operators, it was really good to hear it used again.

I think we all had a good time, and also did well. This was not originally intended to be a HARS event, but in the end with all the participants being HARS members, and bearing in mind the recent decision about a clubroom, maybe it ended up being one. The best DX on 70cms was over 730 km so I think the site there may well be very good for VHF/UHF operation. We are planning more contest operation from there so please let us know if you wish to join in. See photographs below.

There has not been much progress on the SoftRock SDR radio this month. The main limitation of it is that it only gives about 48 kHz coverage of the band. To improve this, I have designed a DDS VFO that should give continuous tuning from well below 160m up to around 12.5 MHz in steps of 0.2Hz. With this and a small PA, a compact 4-band station is possible.

Mike, G8CUL

CONTEST NEWS

Thanks to the efforts of Bob, G0ADH, Colin, M0DDT and Mike & Ann, G8CUL we have extended our lead for 3rd place in the 2m Club Championship. The current standings are Cray Valley RS 2000pts; de Montford Uni ARC 1666pts; HARS 1163pts and Bracknell ARC 825pts. In the individual Fixed Station category Colin, M0DDT is 9th and Bob, G0ADH is 21st. In the Open category Mike & Ann, G8CUL are 3rd. We have a good entry for March so we should consolidate our position.

The results of the 80m AFS CW have been announced with the HARS team coming in 22nd of 89 with a score of 5930pts. Many thanks to Bob, G0ADH; John, G3VPW; Colin, M0DDT and Brian, G4IYC for taking part.

The 80m CC contests are now well under way with logs entered for the February Data from Bob, G0ADH and Angus, G0UGO and the CW from again G0ADH and Brian, G4IYC. Bob and myself again entered this months Data event. The February SSB result placed us 26th of 36.

In conjunction with the RAL club, HARS entered the March 144/432MHz contest in the 6 hour Open section operating from the RAL shack (see above). By all accounts a great time was had by all who took part and, as this is written, RAL, G3RRS were 1st in class, 3rd overall and likewise for HARS, G3PIA. This was a great collaborative effort and hopefully the first of many.

Angus, G0UGO Contest Co-ordinator

WHAT IS AD?

Six out of ten people don't know what Audio Description is. Do you?

Audio Description (AD) is a free TV service available on over 70 channels for people who have difficulty seeing what is happening on the screen. Like a narrator telling a story, an additional commentary describes body language, expressions and movements - allowing you to hear what you might not be able to see, so you don't miss a thing.

Audio Description: making the story clearer

To find out more about AD visit www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/tech/audiodescription

NEW MEMBER

The Editor has asked me to write a few words for QAV to introduce myself to the club.

Like many, I first became interested in Amateur Radio in the late 1950’s in my early teens. War surplus was cheap and an easy way to listen to Amateurs from distant lands contacting UK stations. I was hooked, and R1155, R1132, BC348, Command receivers, RF27’s etc were duly acquired (funded by a paper round).

I passed my City & Guilds Radio Amateur Exam in 1960 (the same year as my A levels), and promptly got interested in ATV. Does anyone else remember 931A’s and flying spot scanners? My first licence was as G3RTM/T in 1965, and I experimented with 405 lines B/W TV on 70cm for a while. Then my YL became an XYL, and a family came along. My interest in Amateur Radio waned for a while, but I finally came back in 1981, when I became re-licensed as G6GNW, and re-started on 2m FM.

A job change brought us to Faringdon in 1982 and some mutual QRM from Colin, G3NNG whenever we were both on 2m…

I took early retirement in 1997, and we moved to Charmouth on the coast of Dorset. An idyllic view, but a lousy VHF QTH (other than for working across the Channel)

In Nov 2001 the RSGB called for volunteers for the Foundation licence Morse assessment - I made the trip to Potters Bar and G3SKR was very patient and managed to understand my pathetic attempts at Morse Code. I became licensed as M3APC as from 01 Jan 2002. I found this a great new challenge, and the highlight was working ZL on a genuine 10w. My antenna was a low slung long wire, with a SG230 doing the matching. I also found WAB nets on 40/80m an interesting way to get reports from all over the UK (I had become a keen WAB’er on 2m SSB whilst in Faringdon)

When the licence regulations were changed in mid 2003 I decided to celebrate with another call sign, so along came the paperwork for M0GNW.

Finally, we decided to move back to Oxfordshire in mid 2007 - our son and daughter-in-law have a growing family of 3 grand-children, and we were missing seeing the kids. Our QTH now is in Milton. At the moment I have a co-linear for 2m/70cm, and an inverted L for the HF bands. I am not a serious contester, but will happily give away points to anyone I can hear, and can also be heard occasionally on 80m during the day, grandchildren and XYL allowing….

Alan, G6GNW/M3APC/M0GNW

HARFORD NET

Did you know there is a regular net on 2m? It is called Harford as it is used by both HARS and Oxford members. Please come and join in. 145.325MHz FM every Sunday and Wednesday 20.00 - 21.00hrs.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Have you paid your subs for 2008? If not please send payment and completed membership (click here for the form) to Marian Durban, HARS Treasurer, 62 Westfield Way, Charlton Heights, Wantage, OX12 7EP

CONGRATULATIONS

Avid readers of the monthly RSGB publication, RadCom, at one time known as ‘The Bulletin’ (before 1978. Ed) will have noticed a note on page 88 of the March 2008 edition.

Under the heading ‘Congratulations’ Colin, G3NNG is listed as having reached fifty years continuous membership of the RSGB.