SWEARING
ON THE AIR
by GW0ABLClick on the above 'news ticker' and you will be redirected to the appropriate news pages.
LLAIS Y DDRAIG
CYLCHLYTHYR CLWB RADIO AMATUR Y DDRAIG
http://www.gw3vvc.freeserve.co.uk/dragon.htm
Cynhelir cyfarfodydd y Clwb yn Neuadd Ebeneser, Lon Foel y Graig, Pentre Uchaf, Llanfairpwll ar Nos Lun y cyntaf a’r trydydd o'r mis am 7.30 ar gyfer 8.0 o’r gloch. Croeso i ymwelwyr ac aelodau newydd.
Club meetings are held at Ebenezer Hall, Foel y Graig Lane, Upper Village, Llanfairpwll on the first and third Monday evenings of the month at 7.30 for 8.0 o’clock. Visitors and new members are welcome.
OS GWELWCH YN DDA, pob gohebiaeth at yr Ysgrifennydd. PLEASE ADDRESS all communications to the Secretary:- Les Hayward MW0SEC, Cefn Cribbin, Carmel, Llanerchymedd, LL71 7BU. 01248 470606 les@corfecastle.demon.co.uk
PWYLLGOR/COMMITTEE
Cadeirydd - Geoff Spencer GW4DRR - Chairman
Is Gadeirydd - John E. Parry GW3VVC - Vice Chairman
Ysgrifennydd - Les Hayward MW0SEC - Secretary
Trysorydd - John Brimecombe GW3GUX - Treasurer
Aelodau/Members - Billy Williams GW0IQZ
Gwilym V. Williams GW2DLK,
Stewart Rolf GW0ETF
J. Dafydd Williams GW4WLZ
Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon LL61 5JY. tel. 01248 713647
RHAGLEN/PROGRAMME
Mawrth/March
20th.........................Mr Clive Brisco “Light gauge local railways”
Ebrill/April
3rd.................................................................................Film Night
17th.......................................................Club Night (Bank Holiday)
22nd..............................Special Event - International Marconi Day
GB4MD (Waunfawr) - GB4HMD (Holyhead)
Mai/May
1st............................................................ Club Night (Bank Holiday)
15th..............................................................Sale of Surplus equipment
Mehefin/June
5th......................................Mr James Thompson “Radio Astronomy”
19th..............................................................................To be arranged
Gorffenaf/July
3rd...............................................................................To be arranged
17th..............................Mr Mark Francis of WATERS & STANTON
Awst/August
7th...............................................................................To be arranged
21st..............................................................................To be arranged
The Club’s Programme for 2006 is being planned and there are still a few dates to be filled either by a demonstration, talk etc. If you can fill a date either yourself or with a speaker that you can arrange, please let the Chairman know.
Also, do not wait to be asked to help at Special Events but let the Station Managers know that you are available and what you can do to assist either in setting up or operating.
One volunteer is worth a multitude of recruits.
TRAINING
One Foundation class has just finished and two more classes are due to start, one in Holyhead and the other in Llanfairpwll. It is also possible that another class will be held in the near future at Carmel, Ynys Mon.
An Intermediate class of 6 candidates is nearing the date of examination and have completed their practical assessments. Once this class has finished it’s course, the team of Instructors will be planning the first Full Licence Course to start in the near future.
If you know of anyone who wishes to become a Radio Amateur, please tell them to contact GW0ABL or the Club’s Secretary.
SWEARING
ON THE AIR
by GW0ABLThis subject was brought up in a recent Club meeting, when concern was felt about the deterioration in behaviour on the Amateur Bands especially locally on VHF and UHF. This refers to the amount of swearing that is now heard on the air, not only mild expletives but extreme words which are offensive to most people. This can be heard in both Welsh and English and is becoming quite common usage. This comes as quite a surprise in that up to a few months ago, locally, the use of foul language was very rare.
It also comes as a surprise that those using such language do not seem to realise that it can be heard by everyone who listens in, either other amateurs or those using scanners etc. This can include young children, their parents, friends and very often members of various organisations and societies who can help and foster our hobby of Amateur Radio (it is surprising who has a scanner). What a person does in the privacy of his own home is a matter for him or her, but that does not extend to the Amateur bands which is a very public place. Each time we talk on the air, we are both the face and character of Amateur Radio and how one operator behaves reflects on us all.
Thankfully I have never had to suffer foul language at home or at work nor did I during my service days in the RAF (once my feelings on the matter were known). Don’t get me wrong, I have been known to vent my feelings but not by using offensive words in the normal course of conversation.
There is a problem which has to be addressed and the Dragon Amateur Radio Club feels that swearing or any form of bad behaviour on the Amateur Bands must be stopped, whether it be caused by members or non-members. Various suggestions have been put forward as to how to tackle this and will be discussed. Have you any suggestions how to tackle the problem? What are your views on the matter?
Let us clean up our act and see that Amateur Radio is presented to the public (including parents and the authorities) as a worth-while hobby for the coming generations.
REFORM OF AMATEUR RADIO LICENSING.
At last Ofcom has decided to implement the following reforms as from the 1st October 2006
To issue lifetime amateur radio licences which will remain valid for as long as the licence details remain correct or until such time as the licence is either revoked by Ofcom or surrendered by the licensee. There shall be no end date on the amateur radio licence. Such licences will be personal to the licensee and will not be transferable.
To provide an online, web-based, self-service licensing service as an alternative to the postal service
To issue electronic licences (probably PDF documents) to users of the online, web-based, self-service licensing service. Users of this service would print a hard copy of the licence which must be kept at the main station address.
To continue to make paper licences available (but subject to a small administrative charge).
To modify the original proposal by requiring licensees to validate their licence details at least once every five years in order to maintain their lifetime licence.
Ofcom’s full policy decision is set out in their policy statement at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/aradio/statement/
It is intended that as from the 1st October 2006 amateur radio licences will be issued by Ofcom and not the Radio Licensing Centre. But be aware that if your licence expires before that date you must renew it with the RLC and pay the appropriate fee if applicable (over 21 and under 75 years of age). Failure to do so will cause difficulties in obtaining a free licence for life on the anniversary of your licence. In the meantime you will not be able to use your licence, it will be deemed to have elapsed and you will have to apply a new for a licence.
Make sure that you understand what happens every 5 years so that you can continue to hold a licence.
QSL MANAGER’S CORNER.
The last batch of cards processed was on 7th March 2005. The following cards replied to were:-GB2TD – 46, GB4HMM – 2, GB4HMD – 6, GB4HLB –5, GB4MD – 19. The following cards were received on 10th Jan 2006:- GB2TD – 62, GB2ANG – 51, GB4MD – 24, GB4HLB – 4, GB100HD – 2 a total of 143 cards. Cards are being processed at the present time and will be on their way before this is published. All cards old and new are designed and produced by myself and Paddy MW0PAD who also assists me in writing out the replies. My thanks to him for his valuable assistance.
I have had a request from Mike MW0CNA of Swansea, our Special Events QSL Manager if the Club would consider putting on Special Event stations for the following ;-
(1) GB2SDD (ST DAVID’S DAY) in March this year.
(2) International Air Ambulance Day in July for North Wales as they will be doing one for South Wales.
(3) His website details are:- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mw0cna/
[We are out of time for St David’s day this year but I think is worthy of note for future years GW2DGD (Dydd Gwyl Dewi) perhaps. Also the Air Ambulance is a worthy cause, like lifeboats it is run on voluntary contributions. Committee please note GW0ABL]
I do store our incoming QSL Cards, if any one wants to see any of them, contact me on gw4wlz@tiscali.co.uk or tel 01407 762589
I have in my garage about 10 multi drawer cabinets full of electronic components. There are resistors, capacitors, various chips and sockets, switches etc etc, far too numerous to mention.
I rescued them from a house/shed demolition!! Don’t be stuck, give me a ring. Cost will a small contribution to Club funds.
Dafydd GW4WLZ, QSL Manager DARC
[Many thanks to Dafydd for his very welcome report on what must be a very arduous job on behalf of the club. Diolch yn fawr iawn Dafydd]
CQ World Wide
Contesting is not every ones idea of fun and I must say that I didn’t have any interest in contesting until some years ago when I entered my first 3hour AFS event, largely ‘for the club’. Since then my appetite has been whetted by the shear enthusiasm shown by several of our local contesters.
Although to be completely truthful, I did attend my first NFD when I was in my ‘teens about 1957 when I was first a member of the Wirral ARS. What really impressed me, as a youngster, was watching science master, Norman Kendrick G3CSG, (ex Navy) operating during the 24hrs. NFD. Rolling a fag, holding a conversation, drinking a cuppa and making a contest return which he’d been listening to !
The method of ‘dupe’ checking was comparatively archaic, but common at that time. A large board painted black, had rows of cup hooks screwed into it, and tags with the c/s of stations required, hung on the hooks. The c/s was on both sides of the tags, one side of which was black, the other white. At the beginning, all the tags were white side out, by the end all the tags should have been turned over to show that that station had been ‘worked’. Logging was on paper and all the equipment was either ex-services or homebuilt.
That event was ‘under canvas’, XYLs ran the mess tent, we had an automatic telephone exchange between the ‘A’ stn, the ‘B’ stn and the mess tent and the whole event took place on the top of an enclosed and elevated reservoir. Considered to be an advantage as it was possible to erect all the aerials on top of the water in the reservoir.
All that was to be in complete contrast to my latest bit of contesting. To help Steve GW0GEI enter the CQWW contest, as a multi - two entrant (up to two transmitted signals simultaneously across six bands, 160m to 10m), from his new purpose built shack in the roof space of his garage, at his home QTH in Rhostrehwfa. This international contest ran from midnight on Friday 25/11 to midnight on Sunday 27/11, a full 48hr. marathon . On the Friday morning we had some weather damage repairs to make, on Steve’s ‘antenna farm’, we needed to replace a length of waterlogged coax and refit a part of an element that had become separated and dropped to the ground during recent appalling weather. With these tasks completed, I left Steve to re configure the N1MM contest software installation with a backup broadband modem connection, after the broadband router failed the night before. A last minute connection and tune up of the 40/80m vertical was also completed in a sleet shower just before it got dark, after several hours of trying to trace a fault on the 80m dipole and/or coax! A problematic HF amplifier and a shortage of the original planned 5 or 6 CW operators, meant the contest would be undertaken with less than competitive power levels on both stations and with a stretched small team of 3.
I returned to the warmth of the shack about an hour before the start, Stewart GW0ETF, who had arrived earlier, had been helping to organise Steve’s 200w FT1000 into one operating position, with the 20m 4 ele monobander and the 160m dipole @ 80ft, switchable, and Stewart’s own FT990 with the 80 / 40m vertical, and the 8 ele log-periodic beam, switchable, into the other operating position. Each position had a networked laptop with the N1MM contest software bandmaps showing DX cluster info in individual vfo windows, each side of the screen. The centre of each screen was taken up with more mini windows, these might show QSO rates, scores, ‘dupes’, or a multitude of other info selectable by the individual operator manning that position.
Steve & Stewart kicked off at midnight, and I ‘sat in’ for a while to try to get some idea how the N1MM logging programme, I would have to contend with myself next day, is operated. It certainly seems to be a good programme, but like all computerised things, the operation seems only to mystify, at the beginning of the learning curve. I believe, both ops took to their beds during the small hours, Steve going ‘home’, while Stewart slept on the floor in his sleeping bag. Operations were resumed in the early morning, so as to gain the advantages of greyline propagation on 160m and 80m.
My ‘shift’ was from midnight to about 06.00 on the second night. When I returned at about 23.00 on the Saturday, they both seemed in quite good spirits, and a goodly number of contacts had been logged. Steve went off ‘home’, Stewart stayed for a while to answer my questions about N1MM. However, after about an hour I had got the idea, having fumbled and poked the wrong buttons for a while (always remember to press enter to log the contact, Snowy!). Stewart went off to his sleeping bag and I pressed on through the night single handed. I must admit to being a bit overawed – with two high quality rigs to choose from and four good antennas too! All that was missing was a competent op - hi! The DX cluster showed up the mults, of which I tried to work as many as possible, in between numerous cups of tea and butties. The CW speed was mostly way above my ability, but if you listen hard, you can pick out the c/s even if it is letter by letter, at 28 – 30 wpm, which is how the fast boys go, though there are quite a few operating at 22-24 at which I would probably get it in two goes. CQWW is one of the major annual international contests and I was struck by the number of ‘contest callsigns’ on parade. I have to admit that my concentration started to flag after about four & a half hours, and my head was ringing with CW! But I think I got to understand the N1MM logger a bit better and wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
John MW0BER (complete with flu!) joined the team briefly during the early afternoon of Sunday, making Steve and Stewart a welcome brew prior to Steve’s XYL serving up a mound of scrambled eggs, laid by the hens at the bottom of the antenna field that morning! Steve and Stewart carried on through the afternoon and evening until the contest closed at 12 midnight. On completion, the final draft score was 1963 qso's with 350 countries worked across the 6 bands, in 91 different CQ zones, for a total draft score of 1,461,033. The breakdown of qsos, points, countries, and zones worked per band is shown below:
Band QSOs Pts Cty ZN
1.8 318 455 51 11
3.5 306 443 68 14
7 451 662 90 24
14 747 1515 89 25
21 138 232 50 15
28 3 6 2 2
Total 1963 3313 350 91
Final Draft Score: 1,461,033 points
Overall an enjoyable weekend of contesting, which made up for the last minute router and antenna/coax problems and snow storms! Future plans include entering a multi operator team in the 2006 ARRL DX SSB and CW contests, CQ 160m contests and 2006 WAE and CQWW contests. In the meantime, plenty of practice will be undertaken in the shorter RSGB and other contests in order to prepare antennas and operators for AFS CW and SSB and the 2006 RSGB Club Championship series of contests, to try to get the Dragon ARC further up the results tables. Steve GW0GEI is interested in training up any new operators who fancy helping out in future multi op contests, or who wish to develop their contest skills to take part as single ops in AFS or other RSGB contests – contact Steve at any Club night or via steve@rjtraining.fsnet.co.uk .
[Thank you Martin for this excellent report and to Steve and his XYL as the host and hostess making this event possible. And of course to all who took part. Do not forget Steve GW0GEI’s very kind offer of training]
WANTED
A two needle SWR meter1.8 - 150 MHz.
Please contact Rick MW3RWZ 01407 810794
After a very enjoyable drive down, with friends Bob & Lin from Liverpool, we have worked in the yard for over three weeks, Well say worked – but a fair amount of the time was spent recovering from over indulgence (only in work, food and ‘pop’, I hasten to add!) as others in the yard organised birthday parties, BBQs and ‘boat-jumbles’. All very nice, at the time, but after a while you get ‘Yard Fever’, work slower & slower, until eventually you get your boat in the water, late. It’s good to meet new friends, one lives as close as Colwyn Bay! But we have found many of our old friends have moved on. Friends Karen and Andy, fellow Vancouver owners, stopped by on their way to Turkey, it was lovely to be on a moving boat again, we had to feel a bit envious. Of course, as usual, Anne has ‘adopted’ many four legged friends, who will miss their extra food after we leave the yard.
We are now in the water 6 days and have been enjoying some good sailing. This year the weather seems to be different, providing us with a little more wind than we have experienced at the same time of year previously. We now have Tombie rigged as a cutter, that means she carries two smaller sails forward of the mast, rather than the (massive) 450 square foot Genoa we used the last three years. She now feels very much more comfortable in a good breeze (F5+) and is much easier to manage, so much so, that I can stay below and laze in my bunk, enjoying an extra tot of Rum while Anne tends our good ship! Anne – “that’s what you think”!
Since we launched, we’ve returned to places we know, (beating to windward in F7) and to new and beautiful, and very quiet bays – loverly! The forecast is for W-SW, so we’ll try to make Paxos again, an Island just south of Corfu, which we both love.
Lakka was surprisingly quiet, for the middle of May. We went for a meal in a taverna that is usually packed, due to the scrumptious roast leg of lamb on the spit, and we were the only people in there. The weather was also very unsettled during our first few weeks afloat, with quite a few showers and thunder -storms, fortunately they did not last very long. From Paxos, we ventured over to the mainland, to a village called Ammoudia, which is at the mouth of the river Acheron. The river is navigable by boat, so we decided we would go by dinghy and armed with the outboard we proceeded up the river, there was a lot of water and a very strong, current against us, but was very pretty and lots of beautiful turquoise blue damsel flies about. We also saw an otter, a very rare sight. We were hoping to reach the ancient village of Nekromanteion, which is near the Mycenean settlement of Ephyra, 13th century B.C. This is where the ancients thought was the entrance to the kingdom of Hades, according to myth, Hermes leading the way for the dead through the waters of Acherousia, guided the souls to Hades. Unfortunately, when we went, the river was blocked by fallen trees, and we could not get up far enough, however, we turned back, and the current just took us gently downstream. It was so peaceful, just the song of birds – one of those occasions, when I wish I was a little more knowledgeable on birdsong. We shall visit the ancient city later either by car or go back again by boat. Next day we motored down to Lefkas and when passing Prevesa, and about two miles offshore, we managed to pick up a lot of rubbish on the prop. So in the middle of the sea, as it was such a calm day, Martin donned his fins and snorkel, and had his first swim of the season, to go down under the boat and clear the propeller. It was a bundle of plastic string, fishing twine, and any other imaginable rubbish you can think of. However, good job done, we proceeded down to Lefkas and through the canal, anchoring for the night off a village called Nikiana.
Next day we sailed to Nidri, a real centre for yachties, and met up with lots of old friends, including Bob and Lin, with their son and his fiancé on board. They are also on their way to Turkey, so we will have plenty of contacts there when we arrive. Caught up with washing , shopping and e-mails, and had my hair cut. I have been lucky to find this hairdresser, she is an Austrailian Greek, so speaks good English, which is helpful, unless you want to look like Yul Brynner. Passed an interesting evening in a taverna listening to Greek Music, and chatting to a couple from the Chech Republic, very interesting to hear different lifestyles. It was then up to Vliho, another yachties haunt, but also such a huge anchorage, it is ideal if you want some peace and quiet, we spent two or three days there just lazing around enjoying the sunshine and doing a few jobs. Went ashore on Saturday night and joined friends in a taverna, this developed into a real good singsong, as one Irishman had a guitar, and there were people from all over the U.K. so each area had to render their songs, and it was a really lovely impromptu evening.
We then made our way leisurely back to Preveza, as I felt I needed to get a doctor to have a look at my thumb. This injury I had sustained before Easter in U.K., which my G.P. had told me would clear up in 6-8 weeks, had not. I was experiencing great difficulty bending my thumb, and then it would go with a click, and an amount of pain, it was therefore rendering me rather useless on the boat, (or more useless than usual). Managed to book an appointment with the Orthopaedic surgeon for two days forward (unbelievable). He diagnosed, I had torn the tendon and would need an operation to repair it, “when would you like it done” he asked! However, as my Aunt was arriving on the Sunday, we decided to leave it until she had returned home in two weeks time. Went back to Aktio Yard the next day, as a lot of our German friends were launching their boats and there was to be a party. What a really enjoyable evening, the Germans really know how to enjoy themselves, we sang (one of the Germans has a keyboard which he brings with him in his camper van), all sorts of drinking songs. With many ups and downs and swaying from side to side, and then plenty of dancing, it was a really fun evening, we were the only English couple there. Later that week, friends of ours Lars and Orla, who now live in Sweden, were coming out to their boat, unfortunately, to get her ready to sell. We are very sad to see this, as they are a young couple who sold their house to buy the boat, but find now they have to keep steadier jobs and therefore have not the time to spend on the boat, hopefully we will either see them in Wales sometime or they will come and visit us in Turkey. They came aboard for a meal, visiting in the Dinghy, arriving with very wet trousers, but a really fun evening we spent with them.
Next day my Aunt was arriving for a two week visit from Portugal, she is 75 years of age, and has never been on a boat in her life before, we were a little concerned how she would fair, but we needn’t have worried, she was absolutely amazing, and settled to life on our little boat naturally. We have had a really lovely time with her, showing her most of the Ionian Islands and the mainland, within the fortnight, it was a real holiday for us all. I hope she will be able to come again.
Back to reality, catching up with washing, shopping etc., and also a visit to the hospital (on my birthday!!), I am to go on Wednesday night to have tests etc., and then have the operation on Thursday, but only a ‘Local’. I am a little concerned, as the Dr. has no English at all and the Nurse only has a little, so just hope they attend to the correct limb (one good thing about being awake!). We then find out my E lll has expired due to me putting a date on it, so there is a mad panic to get it renewed, another visit to the equivalent Social Services, who are as unhelpful as ours, and also do not speak English. However finally we get the necessary forms on the internet from Martin’s son, and all is in order. The Greek hospitals are very very basic and archaic, and no general nursing care is given at all, therefore Martin had to be taught how to bed bath (only joking). However, I can say that the standard of care I received was really good, I had a private room to myself, and the food was reasonably good. Roast lamb and pasta first day with a Greek salad, and 1 peach, second day 1 whole fresh fish, with potatoes mixed in a little oil (I think) tossed in raw carrot, onion and parsley – it was really tasty. The staff were lovely, especially one young nurse who could speak a little English, she came and kept me company when she was able. The Dr. although he could not speak English, was full of fun, everything was very laid back, nothing was any problem, I certainly would not hesitate to go there again. After a few days I had to go and have the dressing removed, to see it was healing OK, then another visit to have the stitches out, and hey presto, everything back to normal.
We decided that this would probably be the last visit to the Hospital, so, as it was pointless taking the boat back to Prevesa, a journey of approx. 17 miles, but by sea 3 hours in the wrong direction, we hired a car, and took the opportunity of doing a mammoth shop at Lidls and a Greek Supermarket called Dia, clearing them out of Gin &Tonic, beers, and all the important bottles that one needs. We then went on up to Ammoudia, to the Acheron Nekromanteion, to the Palace of Hades, where we had earlier attempted to go by dinghy, but had to turn back. This is the sacred room where the ghosts of the dead appeared to communicate with those consulting the oracle. Fortunately they were not there when we called. Later that day, when back in Nidri, we met up with friends Bob and Ann who have ‘Seamogs’. They took us to a taverna up in the mountains overlooking Nidri. The views from this taverna were really spectacular, overlooking Nidri Bay, Skorpios, and way out to sea to the mainland mountains in the distance. They’re returning to England on Sunday, so it was goodbye to them for the present.
We have felt that we have been kicking our heels a bit over the last few weeks, and are eager to get on our way to Turkey, but it has given us the chance to say goodbye to our many friends and the places we love, at least for a while, as it is really time to move on, in more ways than one, the weather is getting very hot we are recording temperatures of 35C in the boat, and the place is filling up with Italians and Charter Boats. It is the 10th July, so it’s definitely time to move on. We will take the journey very slowly, it’s not the optimum time of year to cross the Aegean Sea, as the renowned Meltemi blows in the summer months, but there should be plenty of shelter available on the Islands, (I sincerely hope so) . But it will be interesting to see new ground, which after all, is why we have the boat.
[ Many thanks are due once again to Martin and Ann for their fascinating account of life “afloat” and I am sure you will all look forwards to part 2 in the next issue.]
[The following article appeared in the Nov 2005 Journal of the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Soc and submitted by the author]
THE BEST LAID SCHEMES OF ……….
GW4WLZ
To celebrate the arrival of our new lifeboat in Holyhead in 2004 we ran a Special Event station GB4HLB (Holyhead Life Boat) which was a huge success. The RNLB “ Christopher Pearce” No 17-41 was named by HRH Duke of Kent KG on Thursday 6th May 2004 in Holyhead and is a new Severn Class lifeboat.
This year (2005) we decided to repeat the event. The NoV was duly obtained and arrangements were made with the Hon. Sec and the Cox’n. As Station Manager I needed permission of the Sailing Club next door to use one of their halyards to support one end of the dipole. The date was set for 9th and 11th September 2005. A good pal of ours from Bangor, Ross MW0BYT made the antenna - a 133ft dipole with 1:1 balun centrepiece and fed by 75 ohm co-ax so we could include 80m.
On Friday the 9th, Paddy MW0PAD, Ross MW0BYT and I gathered at the lifeboat station to erect the antennas, it was lashing down with rain and we got thoroughly soaked in the process. We set up station using Ross’s Ten Tec transceiver with my trusty Trio TS530SP as a standby. On Saturday morning at 0900hrs we opened up GB4HLB. Our first contact after an hour’s trying was one of our local operators – Bill MW0BLU!!. We could get no joy on any band, so one started to imagine many possible reasons. We changed rigs to my 530 SP with no avail. By now a steady stream of amateurs were arriving - all keen to have a go. We checked all interconnecting leads, PSUs, receivers etc. I decided to apply the golden rule of an ex-TG-op Crew Commander “ CHECK THE COAX FEEDER”, so the antenna was duly hauled down, meter in hand!
All the usual checks were made but no fault was found .
It became apparent that sun spot/sunburst activity was afoot ! It transpired that on that particular weekend the fourth biggest solar flare and electromagnetic storm recorded in the last 15 years had occurred. Over the two days we made 14 contacts, surprisingly (or not) one of them being in America.
My thanks go to the staff of the Holyhead Lifeboat Station, Holyhead Sailing Club and all my pals from the Dragon ARC.who helped in the event (8 or 9at least).
I suppose the moral of the story is to check out Solar Activity beforehand!
The next event planned is GB4TBL (Treaddur Bay Lifeboat) some time in October, Station Manager MW0AQZ (RNARS). So watch this space – we are optimistic that sunspots do not strike twice.
POSTSCRIPT...
But then came…….. The next Special Event Station – call sign GB4TBL.
The station was duly set up on the October Saturday morning and was opened at 0900hrs by the Station Manager Wyn MW0AQZ(RNARS) and Paddy MW0PAD. I joined them at 0951 hrs in the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station proper. The antenna was a 133ft dipole with 1:1 balun centrepiece, fed by 75 ohm co-ax. I took my new rig, a Kenwood TS570D which worked extremely well. Owing to the extingencies of the service we could only operate on one day. Hf conditions were surprisingly favourable, in fact much better than when we tried GB4HLB. We made about 60 contacts in the UK and Europe. (20m did not open well enough for contacts across the pond unfortunately).
The postscript moral of the story, lads, is to keep on trying and success will follow. A good day for all, our thanks to Officers Cox’n and Crew of the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat for their kind hospitality and help.
DON’T FORGET THE RSGB HF CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Stewart GW0ETF is still working hard on the Club’s behalf on these HF Club Championships held on 80m between 2000 to 2130 hrs LOCAL TIME once a month separately on each of three modes SSB, CW and data. Unfortunately some clash with our Club meetings (but not always) and I know that when possible Stewart would like to see other members join in. Submitting the logs is in the Cabrillo format preferred by the RSGB. If you are not certain of this, other members who take part can possibly help.
2006
March 6th Data – 15th CW – 23rd SSB
April 3rdCW – 12th SSB – 20th Data
May 1st SSB – 10th Data – 18th CW
June 5thData – 14th CW – 22nd- SSB
July 3rd CW - 12th SSB – 20th Data
TOPAZ
Everything for the radio enthusiast PMR- AMATEUR- MARINE- CB.
Servicing and repairs. Plus Radio Scanners.
Skyline I.T Services
Used PC’s components, Accessories. PC Repairs and upgrades.
Printer Ink and more.
Russell 2W0AWN Both at 01248 714251
Greenwich House, Holyhead Road, Llanfairpwll.
MEMBERSHIP LIST. This is enclosed in the newsletter, but will not be printed on the club’s website.. Any changes or corrections should be addressed to the Treasurer or Secretary..
THE DRAGON'S VOICE
GW4TTA / GC4TTA
CYLCHLYTHYR CLWB RADIO AMATUR Y DDRAIG
NEWSLETTER OF THE DRAGON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
http://www.gw3vvc.freeserve.co.uk/dragon.htm
Cynhelir cyfarfodydd y Clwb yn Neuadd Ebeneser, Lon Foel y Graig, Pentre Uchaf, Llanfairpwll ar Nos Lun y cyntaf a’r trydydd o'r mis am 7.30 ar gyfer 8.0 o’r gloch. Croeso i ymwelwyr ac aelodau newydd.
Club meetings are held at Ebenezer Hall, Foel y Graig Lane, Upper Village, Llanfairpwll on the first and third Monday evenings of the month at 7.30 for 8.0 o’clock. Visitors and new members are welcome.
OS GWELWCH YN DDA, pob gohebiaeth at yr Ysgrifennydd. PLEASE ADDRESS all communications to the Secretary:- Les Hayward MW0SEC, Cefn Cribbin, Carmel, Llanerchymedd, LL71 7BU. 01248 470606 les@corfecastle.demon.co.uk
PWYLLGOR/COMMITTEE
Cadeirydd – Geoff Spencer GW4DRR – Chairman.
Is - Gadeirydd - John E.Parry GW3VVC - Vice Chairman.
Ysgrifennydd - Les Hayward MW0SEC - Secretary
Trysorydd – John Brimecombe GW3GUX - Treasurer .
Aelodau/Members – Billy Williams GW0IQZ,
Donald Roberts GWOGHG, Gwilym V. Williams GW2DLK, Stewart Rolf GW0ETF.
Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon LL61 5JY 01248 713647
RHAGLEN / PROGRAMME
Tachwedd / November
5 North Wales Radio Rally
7 Annual General Meeting
14 To be arranged
Rhagfyr / December
5 Club videos ( from 1986 onwards)
19 Christmas Party
If there are enough members wanting to attend there will also be a Christmas Dinner at a local hostelry, price approximately £16. Please book as soon as possible with the Chairman.
Listen out for dates of Special Event at the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat station. Help would be appreciated in erecting and in operating the station. Contact Dafydd GW4WLZ, Paddy MW0PAD or Wyn MW0AQZ.
NORTH WALES RADIO RALLY. 5th November
Do not forget to give your support at this rally where we will have both a Club sale stand and a Club publicity table. If you have any pieces to sell, the club charge a 10% fee on the price. Anything you may have to donate to the Club for sale would be appreciated. A word of Warning to newcomers, at the Aberconwy Centre if you hold a disabled badge, park in a disabled space otherwise you MUST pay if parked in an unmarked parking bay .
CONGRATULATIONS are due once again to our stalwart CW teams who took part in the January 2005 RSGB AFS CW contest. The ‘A’ team consisted of:-
GW0GEI, GW0ETF, GW3EIZ, GW3PRL and GW8IRZ ( max. 5 in a team) came 15th out of 88 clubs who took part . Our ‘B’ team, consisting of GW3HCL on his own, naturally came further down the list – just one other station joining him would have upped the score. An excellent result all round, giving the Club a place amongst the big ones.
Diolch yn fawr, many thanks chaps.
We managed a bumper one this time with more contributors than usual- please keep them coming- especially for the next issue which will be the Christmas / New Year issue. Unfortunately, there has been a delay this time, this abomination of a computer decided to go its own way ( better whisper that in case it hears). Thankfully, I managed to get hold of a good trainer (John GW3VVC) who whipped it into submission.
It means that the next Newsletter will be upon us very soon, so lets be hearing from you.
GB4HLB
TOMBIES TRAVELS 2004, By Ann and Martin ( GW3PRL)
(continued from the last Newsletter).
Back to the mainland now, our aim this year is to circumnavigate the Peloponnese and we started with a wonderful sail, a broad reach for 25 miles making 5-7 knots, taking us to Katacolo. We stayed on anchor the first night but later met up with some other cruising folk and went ashore for a meal with them in a restaurant run by the harbour pilot. Katacolo has been modernised and is now a “cruise ship” port (many of the shops only open when a big ship is in harbour!!) and there is also a new marina for yachts – an ‘EU special’ – no water, no electricity and free.
While we were in Katacolo marina, where we could leave Tombie safely tied up to the quay, we took a trip to Olympia and thought it rather apt to be there in the year of the Olympic Games coming home to Greece. Thought in a different form than the original games which were held in 776 BC, when only Greek males were allowed to compete, later Romans were also permitted. In those time the competitors wore no clothes at all. Women were not allowed to enter the stadium as participants or spectators and those who tried to enter were thrown to their death from a nearby rock. Writers, Poets and Historians also read their works in the sanctuary at the time of the games. Sadly, all is in ruins now, though small areas are being reconstructed and the Museum is well worth a visit, with some fascinating exhibits –and Air Conditioning !
After visiting Olympia we sailed for Pilos, on our way down the west coast of the Peloponesse, 50 miles of noisy motoring! We had to motor our way around most of the Aegean Coast line, which was not what we had expected, though we enjoyed most of it. Before reaching Pilos we were tempted into abay on the small island of Nisi Proti, for a swim and stayed there for the night. Next day with temperatures of 32C and humidity of 58% we motored the last 10 miles to Pilous and entered the EU 'Special' marina there. Later on when it was cooler we did some shopping and in the evening went to a Taverna where we sat in a beautiful terraced garden at the rear. By pure coicidence, the crews of the other two boats we had met in the harbour, also chose to eat there. They could not have seen us, in the enclosed Garden ! So another convivial evening was had by all.
Next Day, having taken water, we sailed the remaining 5 miles down the West Coast, to Methoni in order to get some “air”. Marinas are great places to be in bad weather, but stifling on hot windless days, so we prefer to be on anchor which is generally much cooler. Methoni has a large anchorage with just a few shops ashore- wonderful we thought! Just about 6pm (Gin and tonic time) a 45ft schooner comes crashing into the anchorage, drops his anchor and pays out so much chain he finished up less than a boats length away and refuses to move. This is not untypical of French boats. So in order to be able to sleep that night we moved Tombie to safety and the air round Tombie was ‘blue’ - not a dark blue you understand – but an ‘Electric’ blue!.
After a further day at anchor, we moved to Port Longos, an anchorage on a nearby island, here we had lunch and later sailed to an anchorage on the other side of the headland from Methoni – the only boat there and beautiful clear water, so another swim! Next day we anchor off the sailed the seven miles to Koroni and dropped old town with its Venetian Fort. We walked up to the fort, which is now mostly taken up by a monastery took some photos and walked down through the narrow higgledy – piggledy streets with cobbled steps. That evening we ate ashore and stopped in bar for a night-cap, for no reason the bar owner bought us a drink, friendly Greeks! Its lovely at night to sit and watch, the Greeks are great ‘Promenaders’ and parade up and down the town quay, all dressed up in their best. At 5am, we were woken up by the boat pitching heavily – the wind had changed and was blowing right into the anchorage, we decided to make a move and by 7am we had breakfasted and were on our way to Kalamata, about 20 miles N.E. Kalamata is a large commercial port serving the busy town and has a well run marina where we were greeted by a security man. This being Sunday, the place was a bit ‘sleepy’ but we were directed to a berth and given access to the facilities – a well run shower block! And of course, the inevitable Port Police, who wanted to see the boats ‘papers’. We were treated to some new arrivals – Mum and Dad Duck had come ashore to produce 3 young ducklings and had made themselves a comfortable ‘Maternity Unit’ under a bench seat outside the security office. The ducklings were three days old when we arrived and by the Tuesday when we left they were strutting up and down the quay and venturing down the slipway into the water.
After resting and taking on water and diesel, we left Kalamata on a windless morning and motored on to Porto Kayio a harbour just east of the second (middle) finger at the bottom of the Peloponesse. We arrived to find our German friends Harald and Seta aboard Naxos already at anchor there, so, much chatting and catching up on the news. Aboard Naxos they had decided not to continue. The weather forecast had been giving F 7-8 for some time and was still giving strong winds. In Porto Kayio we noticed a different style of building, these were ‘Maniote’style housing, as apparently they were very tough people who lived in ‘Clans and feuds were common. The Mani remained independent, both Rome and the Turks failed to defeat them. Now it was a very peaceful village with a couple of tavernas and a supermarket. After several days and the weather quite favourable in the Aegean, we decided to press on and have a look. Motored most of the way with hardly any wind, but in the afternoon it freshened until we had two reefs in the main and Genoa like a pocket hankie, with 31 knots (F6) of wind from the NE. With this, we beat into the bay at Elafonisis. What a beautiful place, just like a lagoon, clear turquoise water and lovely sandy beaches and sand dunes, here we spent a comfortable night. Next day with one reef in the main and staysail we were ready to go round the last ‘finger’ and into the Aegean proper. ( For non-sailing friends – renowned for strong and unpredictable winds ).
We left the shelter of the bay and motored east. About half a mile short of the headland we were sailing into about 28knots (F6) of wind which lasted for about a mile and gradually eased until after about 2 miles we had to start the engine. Later that afternoon we motored into Monemvasia, mooring in the harbour. The old town there is built on an island which is connected to the new town, on the mainland, by a causeway. By chance we had arrived on the very day they celebrate the liberation of the Greeks from the Turks. In the evening about 20-30 boats sailed from the bay to the Old Town – one towing an old Caigue boat – with flares being let off and horns sounding. All the boats then returned to the bay and set light to the old Caigue Boat, which set off a fireworks display as the boat burned. There was a concert of Greek Music and at midnight an absolute spectacle of fire works - it really was a memorable evening.
[ Whew, what an (dare I use the word) odyssey and with more to come in the next issue of the news letter, when they were able to entertain family and friends on board. AND found an unpleasant stowaway who was cast adrift.
Very many thanks to Ann and Martin for letting us share their idyllic Mediterranean holiday. ]
MEDIUM-WAVE DX AND THE R1155
By Dr Stewart Lyon GW3EIZ
A note on the R1155 receiver in a recent Newsletter of another Club takes me back to a long period in my life when my transmitting licence was allowed to lapse. I was licensed in 1948, but in 1950 a career move took me from Liverpool to London and it was not convenient to set up a transmitter in my lodgings. The receiver I had built and used at home with a home-brew transmitter was a TRF 1-v-1 but in 1952 I acquired a R1155 and modified it to include a mains power supply. Some of my listening continued to be on the amateur bands but I had recently become hooked on medium-wave DX, for which the sensitivity and selectivity of the 1155 proved to be well suited. It meant listening late at night and into the small hours: not a good recipe for my examination studies! Initially the broadcast stations received were in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and eastern seaboard of the USA and Canada, mostly using 50kW transmitters, but in time quite low-powered stations were added to the log and also stations in the Mid-West. One night in November 1952 VUD in Delhi was logged opening up, but otherwise Asian stations were hard to come by apart from Siberians on long- wave.
In 1953 we were close to a solar minimum and there was excitement on the morning of 7th October. I had woken at about 0410 to find conditions good and CBA in Sackville, New Brunswick on 1070 kHz signing off. Then at 0500 on the same frequency KNX, Los Angeles, identified itself - my first West Coast medium-wave DX. Although it was soon blotted out by a carrier (presumably European) there was more to come, because at 0600 there was station identification from KOMO, Seattle, Washington on 1000 kHz. It was already daylight in Woolwich, where I was staying and KOMO faded out at 6.20. A few days later WOAI, San Antonio, Texas (1200kHz) and KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah (1160kHz) were added to the log in the small hours.
On 11th November, back in Liverpool, KOMO was heard late as 0800 signing off. The previous day KGA, Spokane, Washington (1510kHz) had been logged at 0600. Then on the 2nd January 1954 KOA in Denver, Colorado (850kHz) was heard at 0235. New countries that winter were Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Surprisingly, in the following August quite a lot of DX was logged, more South than North America and including Nicaragua for the first time.
In December 1954 I was living in Richmond, Surrey, the powerful (1000kW) Voice of America station in the Philippines (1140kHz) was heard at 1630 and on 2nd January its companion in Okinawa (1180kHz )was recorded at 1500. The season also yielded Peru, the Netherlands and Pakistan.
My medium-wave DX log perked up in October 1955, when reception of the two VOA stations was outstanding on more than one occasion. After that my listening reverted mainly to the amateur bands. Then in 1958 I took the plunge and got married, which effectively put a stop to night-owl radio. I later discovered that, after November 1953, the next time there was authenticated reception in the UK of West Coast medium – wave DX was in September 1964, in other words at the corresponding stage of the next solar cycle. Whether similar conditions occurred in subsequent cycles I do not know, but another minimum is not far off.
What kind of antenna had I been using? I found that a horizontal wire spread along the corridor room was the most effective for medium-wave DX, because any significant vertical element increased the European QRM. Those were the days when most Europeans went off the air during the night, but nowadays they stay on and medium-wave Dxing can’t be much fun. I haven’t tried it for a long, long time and one day, I can’t remember why, I said goodbye to my R1155.
By way of a postscript, the North American frequencies given above were in use as recently as 2003 and probably still are.
[ Stewart’s article brings back a lot of fond memories of the “good old days”, I never did get my R 1155 to work, but used instead an old US forces domestic wireless set, 110V smelly mains dropper et al. And bags of what we called ‘ acceptable’ hum ! ‘Midnight in Munich’, ‘AFN Saturday night theatre’, the big bands etc etc. But unfortunately not the DX that Stewart reports. Many thanks Stewart ]
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE??????
A reward of 500 microfarads is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Hopalong Capacity, the unrectified criminal escaped from the Weston Primary Cell, where he had been clamped in ions awaiting the Gauss chamber. He is charged with the induction of an 18 turn coil, Milli Henry, who was found choked and robbed of her Joules. Armed with a battery of carbon rods, Capacity is a potential killer.
Hopalong Capacity is also charged with driving a D.C. motor over the Wheatstone Bridge and refusing to let the band pass. Be careful not to put him in a trap, as in reactance he might offer serious resistance.
The Electromotive Force spent the night searching for him in the magnetic field, where he had gone to earth. They failed to detect him and now believe Capacity retuned home via the short circuit. He was last seen riding a kilocycle with his friend Eddy Current who was playing “Ohm on the Range” on his harmonic.
You Have Been WARNED –
Hopalong Capacity is a dangerous Ham.
From Official Records – Located by G3XON.
[Again a thank you to Stewart who sent this extract from “The Natter”, The Guildford and District Radio Society, whom I hope do not mind letting us share their humour]
The Martin-Baker Automatic Life Jacket Initiator
By Les. Hayward (MW0SEC).
On the occasion of the recent club trip to R.A.F. Valley, I was surprised and pleased to see that some Martin-Baker equipment which I had helped to design, was still in service, some sixteen years after acceptance by the R.A.F.
The initiator is responsible for automatically inflating the pilot’s life jacket should he land on water, and in the event of his being unconscious or unable to do so manually.
During the 1980’s I was technical director of a small company (Eastpoint ltd.) which operated from the former railway station at Corfe Castle. (This has since been re-established at a railway station). One of our customers was the famous firm of Martin-Baker, pioneers of the ejection seat. This company was a real pleasure to deal with and they had an uncanny knack of choosing small sub-contractors who could handle some of the awkward jobs which did not fall within their main role of precision mechanical engineering for aircraft. We had already fulfilled a number of contracts for the company, so it was no surprise when we were called in to see John Martin at their H.Q. in Denham. John explained the requirements for the proposed life jacket initiator (LJI) and showed us quite an elegant little circuit that one of their own chaps had suggested, which used a silicon controlled rectifier as the latch. For some reason which I can not recall, this had been rejected and I was asked to choose and develop an alternative.
On contact with water, a trigger had to be set and the signal thus obtained had to be amplified to the extent of firing an explosive detonator. This in turn would puncture the seal on a carbon dioxide cylinder, permitting the gas to inflate the life jacket.
The system I eventually used is that shown in Fig 1. Not rocket science, and whilst the circuit basic design could be completed on the back of an envelope, the engineering of this into a completely reliable unit, meeting the full requirements of airborne equipment and to full military and environmental specification, took a little longer!
One of the major problems was that the 3Volt battery which provided power to the unit looked less and less like a power source as the temperature fell to the minimum required by the operating specification. It was necessary to hunt down a transistor for the final stage which had a very low VSAT i.e. the voltage across the transistor when switched hard on, in order to maximise the poor performance of the battery at low temperatures. All of the components had to be of full military specification and obtained via approved and traceable sources. When complete, the unit had to withstand considerable mechanical shock and in addition perform well in the high field strength of nearby radar. False triggering was definitely out. Should this happen within the cockpit it would be like trying to drive a car with the air-bag inflated.
The units were manufactured on a batch basis, 28 units on a large “biscuit” p.c.b. At this stage they were tested by a specially built microprocessor controlled test-set which we produced, which checked and printed all relevant parameters. A batch on test is shown in Fig. 2 The units each had to be signed off by myself.
After test, the small boards were coated and sent to Martin-Baker for fitting in the precision-milled housing which they manufactured. The area of the p.c.b. was then filled in with silicone compound.
From then on, testing was done on a routine basis using a hand-held tester which we provided. A socket was provided on the finished unit to allow connection.
Circuit description
A lowering of resistance across the sensor terminals due to water ingress, causes the complementary bistable circuit formed by the first two transistors to latch in a condition such that both are drawing current. This current is then magnified by the following transistors to a value sufficient to fire the detonator. This was typically around 150 m.A., but considerable over-specification was required. When fired, the detonator usually went open circuit, but this was not guaranteed! Hence the current limiting resistor in series. On a number of occasions I accidentally fired a detonator. Not a very loud bang, but enough to make one jump!
I never expected that I would meet this equipment again, many years on from the late 80’s, on an airfield I had not heard of, located on an island I had never visited at the time.
This picture shows a group of initiators undergoing automated testing (Fig. 2).
GUGLIELMO MARCONI
“The only reason that Marconi ‘invented’ Wireless Broadcasting was to teach people how to pronounce his first name”
LIGHTHOUSES AND LIGHTSHIPS WEEKEND
This year the event was held over the weekend of August 20th and 21st, and as usual attracted operations from many Lighthouses and Lightships around the world. According to the organisers, last year saw a record number of stations and it could have been even more this year. Not being a contest, the whole weekend was in general much more friendly and casual (at times!) having a better standard of operating than with some other events!
As in previous years we operated, by kind permission of H M Coastguard (or Maritime and Coastguard Agency as they are now called), from their lookout at Penmon Point - Trwyn Du - hence our call sign GB2TD. This location is a very civilised place to operate from with all 'mod cons' wonderful views and even a chance to study the boats and birds through the marvellous German 'Doppel' binoculars there. As usual, the basis on which we are allowed to use the lookout is that if there should be any kind of call-out or emergency, then we clear out ASAP. Saturday was the Beaumaris Lifeboat Day and as there were no call-outs or emergencies, we had the place to ourselves for the whole time
Dave ‘DAA and I went to the look-out on Wednesday evening to get the station set up. Last year the wind was so strong there was no chance of getting a line over the mast, but this time, even though there was a good breeze, we were able to fire an arrow, with light line attached, over the cross trees of the mast and so get the aerial a bit higher than last year.
As with last year, Dave brought along his Windom which was cut to the 80m band with a balun at the feed point and was fed with 75 Ohm co-ax back to the building. The far end of the aerial was as before, taken to a redundant electricity pole near the road. Initial tests were made with the Club’s MFJ ATU, but it was found that the internal tuner of the FT990 would do as good a job as the MFJ, so no separate ATU was used.
Dave also brought along a 20m caged dipole to try. This was configured as a ‘sloper’ between the anemometer tower on the roof and a bush lower down the bank. The new aerial analyser was used to check the SWR bandwidth of this new aerial, which was found to be nearly 400Khz at the 1.5:1 points.
The question of the access road came up again as always. This time when I contacted Sir Richard Williams-Bulkely (who owns the road down to the ‘Point’), he wanted paying, but we reached a compromise of a flat fee (£10.00) to cover all trips by Club members for the whole event.
The earthing at the Penmon Lookout is always a problem, due to the very rocky nature of the ground thereabouts. A couple of years ago we did manage to drive a copper spike in for a few feet and that seemed to be reasonably satisfactory. It went in so well that to date it is still there. After a few tests with the Windom, especially using the internal tuner of the FT990, we decided that a separate earth was not required, so we did not bother with it especially as it would have required quite a long run of cable – not a good thing for an earth for RF!
The weather over the whole weekend was beautiful, it was really too good to be inside, so it reflects even more credit to those who came along to help and/or operate. For much of the time we were able to operate two stations (Dave ‘DAA brought his own rig on Saturday and John ‘VVC on Sunday, both using the caged dipole), with only slight mutual interference - after moving the dipole! On Sunday I took my little 2m handheld, so for a short time we had three stations on the go.
As in previous years, conditions over both days seemed to favour the use of 20 metres, and the vast majority of the contacts were made on that band, with roughly equal number of contacts on CW and SSB. Saturday started well for 80m but after about an hour that band just died. 40m was very poor on SSB but a bit better for CW, also 30m was quite good.
Sunday was much better on 80m and 40m for SSB. On 2m FM only 5 contacts were made, using 5w and a ‘slim jim’ taped to a 15ft fishing pole (my sota set-up). This was partly due to the 200w of CW from John ‘VVC wiping out a number of the VHF channels even at the end of the pathway!
With a grand total of 488 QSOs over the weekend, of which 221 were made on CW (who says that morse is dead!), we have reached an all time record for this event. A superb effort by all concerned.
Visitors and operators, in no particular order, were:
Saturday. Dan ‘HCL. Dave ‘DAA. Dewi ‘ABL. Stewart ‘ETF. John ‘GUX
Sunday. Dan ‘HCL. Gwilym ‘DLK. Dave ‘DAA. John ‘BER. John ‘VVC
John ‘JDW. Dewi ‘ABL. Billy ‘IQZ. John ‘GUX.
As always, thanks go to everyone who participated in this event in any way, but particularly to Dave ‘DAA for the use of his aerials and help with setting up. We hope to do it all over again next year – can we beat this record?
John GW3GUX.
A few years ago I gave the EU Sprint CW event a go but found the whole experience for someone only dabbling in contesting so strange and such hard work I gave up after only a few minutes. This autumn I decided to give it a more determined try. I stuck it out but still struggled due in part to the alien feel of the contest and also a computer/software problem which caused me to eventually give up on the automatic CW keyer and send everything instead by hand. Well into the second half of the session I felt I was starting to get the hang of things and began to appreciate the advantages and unique nature of this particular contest; hopefully I’ll have another go next year.
I said earlier that the QSY rule is clever because it’s kind of self policing – it’s also clever because it has knock on effects which affect the whole mode of operation. For instance, it means that the exchange has to include both callsigns so that any station dropping on that frequency will be aware who is staying and who is going and therefore which of the two stations is available to call. The convention is that the station ending the exchange with his/her call now has the frequency. Names are also part of the exchange so if a station sends <GWØETF 045 JOHN de GW4TTA> you know GW4TTA is taking over the frequency and GWØETF is moving along the band. On the other hand <GWØETF de GW4TTA 045 JOHN bk> indicates that GW4TTA initiated the contact and will be moving off and leaving GWØETF free to be called. Another consequence is not being able to listen to a very fast operator for a few contacts to get the call and serial worked out before you call because he’s gone after just one qso. Hopefully you may have got the details of the original calling station because that’s the one you need to call now but you only get one chance before he’s gone too…..!
Notice the lack of the obligatory and meaningless 599 report, another target of the critics of contesting. This is not required in the exchange for this contest and is sensible as it fulfils no real function anyway. Funnily enough though it is surprising how you miss it when it is no longer there in the exchange and the reason is it’s role as a sort of cue for the brain to listen for the serial number which will follow; when the cue is not there the serial can take the tired listener off guard so maybe it does have a use after all – though not the one originally intended.
So if you want a contest with a difference try this. It is certainly more taxing on the brain cells than the usual formats but they do say there is no gain without pain and I felt pretty satisfied with my very modest score all things considered. I’ll be more than satisfied if I can simply improve on my score next time around…..
Stewart Rolfe – GWØETF
PS – Web site for anyone interested is at http://www.eusprint. com
CLUB ACTIVITIES.
VISIT TO RAF VALLEY- 31ST AUGUST 2005.
Our Secretary, Les GW0SEC, after some setbacks was finally rewarded with our members being able to visit RAF Valley at the end of August. Those who attended were not disappointed, we had good weather and a well organised tour of the facilities which I can safely say was enjoyed by all. I am afraid that the amount of walking from one department to another was nearly too much for me ( a buggy type transport would have been a great help) but our guide managed to slow down the pace a little and keep to the schedule timing.
We started off with a talk on the history of the RAF station and were accompanied by Jack GW2DXQ (Llangefni) who is the noted Historian for the station. Jack has attended the Club meetings in the past and he was invited to attend again in the future. We walked through several sites to the parachute section where we were given a demonstration on the packing of the various safety devises into the injector seat of the aircraft, (See previous article by Les on the development of one of the devises).
This was followed by a look at the aircraft maintenance section where we were able to examine one of the planes and the pilots cockpit in detail.
We concluded the tour at the Control Tower, where after a talk on the control of aircraft within the air zone of Valley we were given a guided tour of the two control rooms where there was a constant traffic of aircraft on display.
Although there was very strict security vetting, I was surprised to get permission to use the camcorder and camera and there did not appear to any restrictions ( The results can been seen soon on a club evening). My personal impression was how young all the personnel looked and how many young ladies held important duties. One young lady, a squadron leader, was in charge of the air controllers.
TELFORD RALLY.
Well we went to Jodrell Bank, we went to the Blackpool Rally and early in September we went to Shrewsbury – three trips in one year !! There was a change of venue this year, the rally being held at the West Midlands, Agricultural Showground, Shrewsbury. Thankfully it had been well signposted by the rally people and we were able to find the grounds, although we got slightly lost trying to get out of Shrewsbury on our way home.
I though that the Rally was a bit better than the last time we had a trip to the RAF Museum Site venue. The main dealers and the ‘bring and buy’ stall were under cover, but there were many smaller dealers lining one of the showground avenues. Thankfully it was a nice warm dry day, I shudder to think what would have happened if it had been a rainy day. They may have had some alternative emergency plans ?
I managed to get a couple of minor goodies, but a good bargain slipped through my hands, I hesitated too long. Still it was an excellent day out in good company and in a well driven comfortable minibus..
TRAINING.
The demand for Foundation Licence training seems to be slowing down with only a handful making the effort this year. There is a demand for an Intermediate Course which it is hoped will start very soon. This may well have to be held in a different venue (perhaps the W.I. Hall). Prospective candidates will be circulated as soon as everything is finalised.
Congratulations are due to Stewart GW0ETF on being appointed a lead instructor under the RSGB Training Screen, this brings the total for the Club to four ( Dewi ABL, Les SEC and Dafydd WLZ).
At a recent club meeting James Humphreys aged 12, was presented with a pass certificate in the Foundation Licence Examination and congratulated by our Chairman Geoff GW4DRR. James, a member of the newly formed Maesgeirchen Amateur Radio Club, is one of the youngest of our candidates to pass. He was also congratulated by Terry MW3JKQ aged 83 who recently passed his Foundation Licence Examination.
It is hoped that James’s example will lead other young people into the hobby and it is hoped that at least another three youngsters will be applying, towards the New Year.
TOPAZ COMMUNICATIONS
ROBERT DAVIES prop.
Sales, Services, Repair.
Maritime, PMR, Amateur, CB.
Accessories, components, connectors.
Radio Scanners, Metal Detectors.
Used Equipment as arranged.
Greenwich House, Holyhead Road, Llanfairpwll.LL61 5YK
01248 714251.
THE DRAGON'S VOICE
GW4TTA / GC4TTA
CYLCHLYTHYR CLWB RADIO AMATUR Y DDRAIG