January 2010

Editor: Malcolm Andrew G8NRP

COMMENT

I am very pleased to be able to announce that following the entry of HARS to the RSGB Region 10 (Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire) Club of the Year Award we were told last Sunday that we have won. 

We will be presented with a shield kindly sponsored by Adur Communications of Upper Beeding in West Sussex.  We will now be entered into the RSGB National Club of the Year Competition. 

The weather beat us for the first time that I can remember but I hope you will all come to the February meeting and volunteer to help in some way at the Rally.

Malcolm, G8NRP

ANOTHER OVER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Another year over and a new one started.  We have achieved a lot in the last year of which we should all be proud.  We strengthened our ties with the RAL club and moved our meeting location.  We held an open day, inviting local amateurs and interested parties alike and we ran a JOTA event for the first time in many years.  Our membership has also increased by about 20%.

Last month’s meeting was of course the AGM where we elected a new committee.  There were a few changes in the committee - Marian Durban who has been Treasurer for a number of years decided to step down and Angus, G0UGO had taken on that rôle.  I would like to thank Marian for her hard and efficient work as Treasurer.  She will be a hard act to follow, but I’m sure Angus will be up to the task.

We also lost Dave, G0LJX from the committee.  Dave has been a committee member for many years and has always supported the committee and club in whatever it has done, always being there on work days.  He will be sorely missed by the committee, but I know we can count on his continuing help.  Where would we be at the rally without Dave looking after the electrics?

I welcome both Dave, M0NUT and Mike, G0MJW to the committee.  I think their ideas and enthusiasm will help to move HARS forward.

About 10 teams braved the cold to take part in the Chairman’s New Year DF hunt after which we had a pleasant meal at the Bear at Home in North Moreton.  This was held on the 2 January as Ann and I were returning on the 1st from a short ‘Cruise’ celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary.
Our first Foundation RCE course is due to take place over two weekends later this month and early February.  This must be our ultimate aim to get new people into the hobby and the club.

The club contest activity has moved up a gear this year.  As I type this, I note that the 6m results have just been posted.  It is very pleasing to see that HARS has won the Club Championship on 6m (out of 33 clubs) as well as coming 3rd out of 51 clubs on 2m.  A few club members have also been entering the 23cm section of the UHF contest and the club has come a creditable 4th on that band too.  All these results bode very well for next year.  If we can keep the enthusiasm up, we could improve even more.  Well, OK, maybe not on 6m, but on the other bands maybe.

The contests have started again for 2010, with the first one being an 80m CW CC on 4 January, closely followed by 2m on the 5th.  Even I managed a few CW contacts on the 4th and there were around 15 club members active during the 2m event on the 5th, despite the heavy snow fall.  In fact, at ‘CUL towers, we lost at least the last half hour when the aerial become so caked in snow that the SWR rose to over 6:1.  Interestingly, the transmitter kept going but the aerial completely lost any directionality and was just acting as a random bit of metal 45’ in the air!

Good luck to you all for 2010 and I look forward to working you on the air in contests or other activities during the year.

Mike, G8CUL

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT TO THE AGM

Good evening and welcome to the 2009 HARS AGM.  Tonight we will be electing officers and ordinary members to form the committee for 2010.  HARS has moved forward and achieved a lot during 2009 and I will try to briefly highlight the main activities and achievements.

January

We started the year with the traditional Chairman’s new year DF hunt.  This was held in and around Culham village, ending up at the Wagon and Horses where about 25 club members, partners and guests enjoyed the afternoon.  The club meeting was the usual Rally preparation with G8NVI doing her act of persuading members to take on the various Rally jobs.  Later in the month we held the annual club dinner, this year in Faringdon where again about 25 members, partners and guests enjoyed the fare.  Thanks must go to Colin, G3NNG and especially Valerie for organising the event.

February

The main event in February is of course the annual Rally held at the Didcot Leisure Centre.  This has been held in February for many years and although we’ve come close to bad weather, we have never had snow.  Until this year that is!  For a few days leading up to the Rally we had about 6” of snow and on the day of the Rally itself, we still had a lot lying around.  The decision was taken to carry on - how do you inform 500+ visitors that you are cancelling when you don’t know who they are?  In the end we did have fewer traders and visitors, but it was a successful event, albeit we didn’t make the same profit as in other years.  Later in the month we held our annual construction contest where Dave, M0NUT won 1st prize, Robin, G3LBA 2nd and Howard, M0CIW 3rd.

March

Our monthly talk was by Robin, G3LBA on surface-mount techniques and how to use those darn small devices.  During March John, G3VPW was taking his final trip to the Falkland Islands and we were very pleased to be able to work him as VP8KF both from home (as M0CUL) and from the clubroom using G3RRS.  I hope John was as pleased as I was to make these contacts.

April

We are a club of mature members but it is still always a shock and with sadness when one of our members dies.  On 8 April Eric, M0CJP died.  His funeral was attended by HARS representatives and we hope that Magda and his family are now beginning to get over the shock.  Our monthly meeting was on kite HF aerials presented by Roger, G4ROJ.  Unfortunately we (that is Ann and I) were away for the meeting so John, G6LNU took charge.  I believe it was one of the best attended meetings we’ve had.  All it needed was a good strong wind for the kites!

May

This month we held an open day to which we invited local amateurs who were not already club members and any other interested parties.  The intention was to try to introduce the hobby to newcomers and increase our membership base.  The open day was held the RAL Social Club and we had about 35 visitors who came along to see what we had to offer.  We had a number of radio-related demonstrations running and from that event we gained some new members.  In May we also held our first club meeting in the RAL Social Club where we didn’t have a visiting speaker but introduced the new facilities to the members of HARS.  The club has borne the cost of Associate Membership to the Social Club for a large number of the HARS membership.  Those members that don’t have Associate Membership can be signed-in as visitors.  The RAL Social Club has far better facilities than were available at the RBL in Harwell Village and the RAL Radio Clubroom is right next door too.  A number of HARS members also took part in a 2m Contest from the RAL shack, entering the 6 hour section. 

June

One of our members has had a basin-full of medical procedures this year.  In June Bob, G0ADH had some surgery and after some initial infection problems he was up, well and enjoying a cool lager at ‘CUL towers!  Tim Kirby, G4VXE gave us an interesting talk on Mapping and Radio software.  We had organised an internet dongle for the talk, but unfortunately it failed to operate correctly.  This has now been corrected by changing to an alternative provider.

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 has us running around West Oxfordshire searching for him and all was going well until the heavens opened and we were treated to some torrential rain.  Many members successfully found Ron and we all enjoyed a pleasant evening at the Rose Revived.  Le ‘Tatty Piece de Papier’ award was run again this month when the ‘CUL group, assisted by the ‘LNU group went on the annual holiday to Normandie.  This year we operated and awarded points on 3 bands, adding both 2m and 6m to the already well established 80m activities.  About 20 different club members were worked on the 3 bands during the 2 week ‘vacance’.

August

This month we held our annual summer BBQ, again at the RAL Social Club premises.  This year the Social Club renovations were complete so no marquee was required.  John, G6LNU performed his usual miracles with the catering and we also had the bar open for the first time.  To achieve this, 5 club members did some ‘bar and till training’ to allow us to draw the bar keys and open the bar ourselves.  The BBQ was a great success with over 45 people coming along and, having done the training, we could continue to open the bar for normal club meetings or for any other club event.

September

The club 6m beam was put up on the VHF Versatower so 6m activity can now take place from the clubroom.  The club meeting was one of John’s, G6LNU famous quizzes and I presented le ‘Tatty Piece de Papier’ awards.  This year 1st place was taken by Mike, G0MJW narrowly beating Roger, G0AOZ into 2nd place.  Mike managed to work us on every occasion on 80m and well as on both 2m and 6m, the latter using CW.  I admire him for being able to read my CW!  Roger only missed out on being tied in 1st place by having to go to a ‘wrap party’ on the last Thursday.  The club was active on the September 2m Trophy contest, entering the 6 hour section.

October

The meeting this month was supposed to have had Paul Cullen talking about Linear Amplifiers.  Unfortunately he couldn’t make it at the last moment, so Robin, G3LBA, Ron, G7DOE and Ray, G3LQC stepped in to talk about current work on an HF linear (Robin), 23cm (Ron) and then we showed an American-produced film about the start of Radio (Ray).  All 3 were interesting topics and thanks to those members for stepping into the breach.  We also held a JOTA event this month where about 35 young people came to join in.  We put on a radio station using a special event callsign as well as a number of other radio-related activities for them to take part in.  The feedback from the Scout Leaders was very favourable and a number of the young people (and some of the leaders!) have put their names down to do the first stage of the RAE - the Foundation Course.

November

Five of our club members attended a ‘train the trainers’ course in Reading as the first stage for us to start putting on RAE courses.  Janet Proudman, 2E0LLM came and gave us a fascinating talk on nutrition.  Although this was not in the normal line of our talks, it was really interesting and generated aconsiderable amount of post-talk discussion.

December

This month started with the 2m fixed station contest 2m AFS.  Unfortunately, the ‘CUL household was away for the weekend and Ann only managed to operate for the last hour on the contest.  In that time, 40 stations were worked, including DF, PA, ON, GM, GD.  I was writing this report!  The AGM follows the December 2m fixed station contest and that then completes another year and full circle for the club. 

Contests

I haven’t really mentioned contests except those club-entered events that took place at the clubroom.  Throughout the year, the weekly VHF/UHF contests have continued with a large number of club members taking part in the 2m and to a lesser extent the 6m and 23cm events.  Unfortunately, the monthly meetings coincide with the 70cm event so we tend to miss those.  Last year HARS as a club came 2nd in the 2m event but with the change in rules, we are likely to ‘only’ achieve 3rd this year.  I say only, this is in competition with 50 other clubs so we are doing well.  In general, it is difficult to do very well on 2m from the middle of the country - just where we are.  We would expect to work much the same stations as other entrants, but being where we are our average distance is less.  On 6m, due to the increase in interest from the club since our 6m activities from France in July, we are doing very well, and HARS is quite likely to win the event for 2009.  HARS members also took part in the 80m club championship contests which occur on phone, data and CW throughout the first part of the year.  We have managed to achieve 24th place out of 80 this year.
Thanks…  Any club is just a group of people with a common interest.  To keep the club going and make it the success that it currently is, requires this group of people to work hard and pull together to achieve our goals.  We have done new things this year - the Open Day and JOTA being just 2 of them.  Both of these were successful and the hobby and HARS itself will benefit from them.  They both required the dedication of the members to come along and make them a success.

Since our move to the RAL Social Club, and the subsequent opening of the bar, there have been a dedicated few who have served behind the bar for club meetings.  They deserve our thanks for those efforts, especially when they have difficulty actually hearing the speaker from behind the bar!
I also want to thank the committee for turning out each month to meetings, sometimes in the most inclement of weather.  Without their dedication and drive to get things done, we would not have moved on so much this year.
Finally, I thank you, the members, for coming along to meetings and other events. 

Without your support, none of this would happen.

CONTEST NEWS

We start the New Year with much to celebrate having come 3rd in the 2m Club Championship and, more importantly, we WON the 6m Club championship.  Congratulations to all who took part in both events through the last year.  The hard part will be to defend our 6m title and go better in 2m in 2010.  Congratulations should also do to Mike and Ann G8CUL who after a close contest came 2nd in the AR section of the 6m UKAC.
These two events and the 80m Club Championship will be the main events supported by the Club.  As has been said many times, analysis of the results shows that to do well you need a lot of stations entering low to modest scores.  You still need some big hitters but most clubs only have three or four of them so if you come on air and only work two stations it can make a difference.  The Club will endeavour to enter some of the weekend events where there is a six hour section and participate in at least one of the major HF contests.  More on these later.

Angus, G0UGO

G7ETW WAITS FOR AN OVER

Can you write me something for QAV, said Malcolm.  Happy to, said I.  What could be easier?

So I’m sitting here in the study with a blank screen and two radios on for company.  One is a Sony 2001, on LW and I’m listening to the cricket in South Africa.  Sometimes I think there are two England teams, one that can play well (but regard it as bad form to look like they can) and the other consisting of plucky but hopeless identical twins.  I’ve not worked out which team are playing today; a draw seems the best we can hope for.

The other radio is a venerable FT230, a 2m FM radio I bought for £35 at the Andover rally last year.  It’s on S20, and it’s very quiet.  No, make that totally dead.  At first I thought the radio was maybe not working, but I’ve checked it on a repeater (no CTCSS; I had to whistle it up like we used to do), and it’s working fine.

No, there really is no one out there.  I could understand it if I was on SSB; between contests that really is dead.  In the Christmas break you’d have thought there was someone on FM calling CQ.  Surely.  There must be amateurs with new antennas or radios to test, if only as a way to escape the washing up.  Perhaps they’re all too far away.

My goodness, it’s cold out there.  The sky looks like snow, but, mission accomplished, I’ve got the linear, which has a pre-amp in it, from the car.  Change the PSU, re-do the wiring, plug it in.  Noise comes up but er, nothing.  At least not yet.

Still, at least it allows me to concentrate on writing this.  Another wicket has gone, by the way.  I haven’t played since I was 17 and I wouldn’t have fallen for that one.  And there’s a girl with a stripey top just dropped her ice cream.  Fancy that.

Where was I?  I can remember getting rid of a perfectly good Trio TW400A when 2m went to narrow deviation to increase the number of channels.  True, we’ve got more repeaters, the new ones slotted in on the half-channels.  And there are a few more channels given over to non-voice use such as Echolink and DSTAR, but activity has gone down on 2m, not up.
Even mobile commuter repeater usage has dropped off.  In the 90s I worked in Reading and drove in from Slough every day.  GB3RD, in Basildon then, was so busy of a morning that I might only get 3 overs in a 40 minute drive.  For a new amateur (I was only licensed in 1989) it was fantastic.  With club nets, RAYNET events, special event stations and even the space station transmitting on FM, a simple handheld gave access to a world of ham radio.  I hope we can make it as exciting for the new amateurs we shall be meeting when we start our Training program in January.

They’ve stopped for tea now, in the cricket, and I’ve switched the Sony off for a while.  Another I’m-just-an-ordinary-cricket-fan interview with a celebrity who just happens to be in the ground I really can’t stand.  I might as well switch the FT230 off too, but I live in hope. 
A horrible thought has just occurred to me though.  What if there are dozens of amateurs, like me, forlornly listening.  Every one, like me, thinking there’s no one there.

‘CQ, CQ, CQ this is G7ETW in Wantage calling CQ on 2m and standing by’.
All it takes is one, you know……

Tony, G7ETW

BOB, G0ADH WRITES

I would just like to let our membership know that I have resigned from the RSGB Contest Committee.  For some time, I have felt that I would like to step down but didn’t want to have the guilty feeling of letting anyone down.  Fortunately, Rob, G4LMW, foolishly said that he wouldn’t mind taking on the HF Championship table which I have been responsible for since 1996, so I took this as a golden opportunity.

I have enjoyed being part of the committee but I did feel that the time had come to call it a day.

Bob, G0ADH

BILL, G4MFP WRITES
I have been out of commission for two months.  I stupidly tripped on the door and shot into the kitchen landing on my hip, breaking it.  I have had a half hip replacement and after two months I am hobbling about at home.  I hope that you have a good 2010 and the Club goes from strength to strength.

Bill, G4MFP

HARS ANNUAL DINNER
The Club Dinner will again be held at Sudbury House Hotel, Faringdon on Saturday 23 January 2010.  The menu for this annual event has been distributed by Colin, G3NNG.  Please return your choice to Colin, G3NNG as soon as possible.  For those who want to stay overnight, Bed and Breakfast is available at good rates. 

RALLY UPDATE
Harwell Radio and Electronics Rally - Sunday 14th February.  The annual radio rally is fast approaching and the January Club Meeting will, snow permitting, be devoted to the organisation of the event.

New members may not be aware how much effort is involved in the Rally so I will briefly describe how the weekend will pan out.

Saturday 13 February
We will need a Road Signs Group - to put up signs from the A34 right through to the Leisure Centre.

At 3pm a team will assemble at the Didcot Leisure Centre in order to erect aerials for the talk-in and demonstration stations.

At 5pm tables, chairs and floor coverings will arrive by lorry - we will be joined by the Didcot Air Cadets to help us offload the lorry and erect the tables etc in the Leisure Centre.  We need as many able-bodied people as possible to help.  The refreshment ladies will start to set up the refreshment stall in the upstairs hall.  Setting up should be completed by 6.30(ish).  Doughnuts are usually provided!

Sunday 14 February
We will need the following groups to help:
Road Signs Team - to put up any final town signs and the car parking signs.
Welcoming Team - from 7.45ish (Leisure Centre opens 8am)
Parking Team - from about 8am for traders and 9pm for visitors.  The Air Cadets will also be available to help with this task.
Junk Stall - several people to help run the HARS Junk Stall - from as early as possible.
Notices Team - to put up internal and external notices - from 8.30am.
Talk-in - from 8.30am.
Entrance Team - to collect the money and give out programmes - from 9am.
Demonstration Station Team - from 10am.

We also need a large team to help clear up from about 3.00pm onwards
This is probably the largest event that HARS ever tackles and it is dependent on everyone pulling together whilst having a great time!
If you were unable to make the February Meeting and would like to help, please email me (ann.stevens@btinternet.com), ring me 01235 816379 or contact me via the reflector.  I will circulate a rota a week or so before the rally so that everyone knows what they are doing!

Many thanks.

Ann, G8NVI

SOME HELPFUL TIPS ON USING THE HARS REFLECTOR

Do you subscribe to the HARS reflector?  If not why not join and get all the latest club news, views and gossip when it happens.  Simply visit www.g3pia.org.uk and select ‘email list’ from the main menu and complete the simple form.

The HARS reflector is available to anyone who wishes to subscribe to it.  In fact about half of the subscribers are not members of the club.  The HARS committee reserves the right to remove the subscription of anyone who abuses the reflector.  The reflector is moderated by a member of the club and by default the size of any posting including attachments such as photos is restricted.  It also has a very efficient spam filter and to date no spam has been sent via the reflector to subscribers.

Please remember when replying to a message sent by the reflector that you should only use the ‘reply’ function on your email system if it is important that all subscribers see your reply.  If you just wish to ‘send’ your reply to the author or a limited number of subscribers then just use the ‘forward’ function on your email system and enter individual email addresses.

Please remember that there are two types of subscription to the reflector.  You can either receive each message as they are sent or your can receive a daily digest that contains all messages sent.  You should bear in mind that not everyone will see your message or comments straight away.
Don’t use the ‘reply’ function to send a message that is a change of subject from the original message - send a new message.
If there is anything you need help with or clarification, please contact me direct at:
secretary@g3pia.org.uk.

REVISED CONSTITUTION

The HARS revised constitution is now available at www.g3pia.org.uk or request a copy from the Secretary.

HARS EMAIL ADDRESSES

We have recently introduced new email addresses for the Officers in HARS.
Please use them rather than the personal addresses. They are as follows:

In addition, if any member would like a new email address, (anything-decent@g3pia.org.uk) with excellent automatic spam rejection, please send your request to editor@g3pia.org.uk. There is no charge for this service, all you need is an Internet connection.

FOURTH TUESDAY

Some of you will remember that when we had our shack in the Portakabin on the north side of the site, we had an activity night on the fourth Tuesday of the month when members were invited to come and use our equipment and to air the clubs callsign.

The shack will be open to all members to 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.
The shack will be open from 2000hrs clock time and access is via the back gate as per the club meeting nights. 

It is the place to be - and be seen!  See you there!

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.

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