The 10TH MARCHwill be the first anniversary of the MID-LANARK ARS(based out of Newharthill, Motherwell) 4 Metre Net, initiated (and hosted) by Gearoid (Gerard) – MM6NRK on behalf of the Club.
As a consequence of Covid restrictions, over the last couple of years, many CLUB NETSwere established, though none in GM on 4 Metres.
If you haven’t had a chance to join Gerard, Mid Lanark, and many WoSARS Members, and you fancy trying 4M, there are quite a collection of ex PMR (private mobile radio) radios on sale on various sites that can be converted for this band.
In March 1942 the first sorties of the AVRO Lancaster aircraft took place. This commemorative event for Lancaster aircraft is being simultaneously partnered in the UK by callsign GB80LAN; and, in Canada by callsign VE80LAN organised by Hamilton Amateur Radio Club, and Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and, in Australia by callsign VK80LAN organised by the Western Australian VHF Group. They want to commemorate those involved with the Lancaster.
Also of interest, is that the Lincoln Short Wave Club will be operating GB6IBC from the International Bomber Command Memorial on 5th March 2022.
Unusually Ofcom has given permission for the call to be used at several different locations. Currently confirmed operations will take place from the three active RAF Station Amateur Radio Clubs at RAF Waddington, RAF Cosford and RAF Halton. Also the call will be on the air from ex RAF East Kirkby which is now the home of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre and Lancaster “Just Jane”.
CURRENT SCHEDULE:- (subject to amendment)
RAF WADDINGTON 2nd – 8th
RAF EAST KIRKBY 9th – 12th
RAF COSFORD 15th – 21st
RAF HALTON 1st & 22nd – 28th
In Australia, the WA VHF Group requested for the special event call sign VK80LAN to be available through March. VK80LAN hopes to be operating from the radio room in the Lancaster Bomber at the RAAFA Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek, a suburb of Perth. A roster of operators wishing to take advantage of operating the special event callsign during the month is being drawn up.
Further info is available from the QRZ pages and Museum links as only snippets have been included here – https://www.qrz.com/db/VK80LAN
Also, checkout the WoSARS CALENDAR entry as to who is working the stations.
(First Published 14 July 2021 – Updates 3 Nov; 21 Nov; 29 Nov; 14 Dec; 17th Dec (COX))
BACKGOUND
The first one-way amateur radio QSO across the Atlantic that took place on 12 December 1921. The ARRL have joined with a group of UK operators who plan to recreate the event in December this year.
To celebrate the centenary of Paul Godley – 2ZE’s success, in collaboration with North Ayrshire Council, special event stations GB2ZE and GB1002ZE respectively will be operating from 1 to 28 December 2021 (added to CALENDAR).
An attempt was made using GM4AGG to contact W1AW. A report was produced by Jack GM4COX on the Club’s Programme Forum – HERE as to the outcome.
A YouTube Video Of The W1AW End Of The Proceedings
KLARC OPERATIONS (Copied off KLARC Website)
“……..Kilmarnock and Loudoun Amateur Radio Clubwill activate a special event station adjacent to the original location of the Paul Godley experimental station at Ardrossan, Scotland in 1921. The activation will be on air from 1200 UTC on Saturday 11 December 2021 until 1200 UTC on Sunday 12 December 2021. The callsigns will be GS2ZE(licence holder Jason GM7VSB) and GB1002ZE (licence holder Bob GM0DEQ) using CW, SSB and data modes on bands between 160m and 10m. GB2ZE (licence holder Bob GM0DEQ) will be used by the Ardrossan station for the first hour of the ARRL/RSGB 160m QSO Party (0200z – 0300z). During this first hour of the 160m QSO Party at Ardrossan, GB2ZE will be exclusively on CW. The GB2ZE callsign will be taken over by members of the GMDX Group on an hourly rota for the remainder of the QSO Party. An attempt will be made to re-enact Godley’s original successful reception of transatlantic amateur radio signals at exactly the same time and on the same date as 100 years ago. Attempts will be made to record any US re-enactment signals received at Ardrossan and also at other UK locations for sharing with the amateur radio community…….”
And a KLARC summary of the Event over the weekend of 11/12th December – Copied off their Website:
We were on the air ahead of schedule and had our first QSO with DL1DCT on 30m FT8 at 11:37 UTC on Saturday 11 December 2021. The first SSB QSO was with LY3YY on 20m. Band conditions on HF turned out to be very poor overall and the highest band we made QSOs on was 17m. We made 401 contacts in 60 different DXCC countries using three callsigns – GS2ZE (licence holder – Jason GM7VSB), GB2ZE and GB1002ZE (licence holder for both – Bob GM0DEQ). The final QSO was at 11:21 UTC on Sunday 12 December 2021 with RM9W on 20m SSB. The callsign used for the majority of the activation was GS2ZE.
Thank goodness we had an FT8 station on air – it came to the rescue under the challenging HF propagation conditions we had and got some very good DX into the log. The map below, produced by Barry GM5BDX, shows the geographical spread of our contacts.
At the start of the 160m Godley Trans-Atlantic QSO Party (0200 UTC) we used the callsign GB2ZE . We tried to have a QSO with the ARRL station W1AW on 1814 kHz. We heard them calling us and tried to respond but they couldn’t copy us unfortunately. A video of our attempt is on The KLARC YouTube Channel – see below for link. The plan we had was for NA2AA to call GM3YEH initially and then change callsigns to W1AW and GB2ZE if contact was established. We then operated in the QSO Party using GB2ZE for 22 minutes and worked quite a few US, Canadian and European stations on CW (Morse Code) before going into radio silence to take recordings of the period during which the re-enactment transmission from W2RCA was to take place. A video of us operating in the QSO Party is on the KLARC YouTube Channel.
One major target was to try and hear and decode the re-enactment transmission of the original message that Paul Godley 2ZE heard at Ardrossan, Scotland 100 years earlier. At 02:52 UTC – exactly the same time and date that Godley copied his message in 1921 – we copied W2RCA (The Radio Club of America) on 1825 kHz sending the same message…SUCCESS! We have a video recording of this momentous event on our KLARC YouTube Channel. In addition to the KLARC Members and some others on site, the historic successful reception was witnessed by Stewart Bryant G3YSX, President of the RSGB. Also on the KLARC YouTube Channel is a video of how the W2RCA re-enactment transmission was heard by Don G3BJ in Shropshire, England.
After our spell using GB2ZE and the recording of the W2RCA re-enactment transmission, we used the callsign GS2ZE for the remainder of the time we were in the QSO Party. During this period we listened for the transmissions from W2AN/1BCG on 1820 kHz but heard nothing from that station.
We had 139 contacts on the network assisted FreeSTAR station running with GS2ZE callsign. The first contact was Oscar 2E1HWE in Essex. The farthest station to call in was ZL1BOB who congratulated the KLARC team and wished us well from New Zealand. There were several operators who were thankful for being able to call in through the network as they did not have HF capabilities at their location or could not reach us due to propagation conditions at the time.
We had a lot of visitors to the site including local folk and various radio amateurs, some of whom had travelled a distance to get to us. The visitors we had on site from southern climes apparently thought we had bad weather, but those of us from Ayrshire were not too troubled by the horizontal driving sleet, in fact it seemed slightly better weather than we had anticipated. The endless shared stories, jokes and banter that went on all weekend kept us all very cheery. On reflection, I think I agree with the guys who have said we should do this again…but maybe in the summer 🙂 We don’t need to mention all the people who contributed to make this activation such a massive success – there are far too many and you all you know who you are. It is, without a shadow of doubt, the highest profile event that KLARC has ever delivered…genuinely fantastic!
“……………………During the ARRL Convention held in Chicago that year (August 31 – September 3, 1921) is was announced “to a wildly enthusiastic audience” that a second series of Transatlantic tests would take place in December and that a well-known American amateur (Paul Godley, 2ZE) would be going to Europe……………………..
………..Godley duly arrived at Southampton on November 22, 1921……………………”
Members of the BBC’s radio club, The London BBC Radio Group, have been granted an exceptional all-year Special Event callsign to help celebrate the BBC’s centenary year in 2022.
Ofcom will permit GB100BBC to operate throughout the year, starting at midnight on New Year’s Day, from the headquarters station in Broadcasting House, London.
Operating slots will then be allocated for use by individual members and local groups of operators, from their home QTH, or BBC premises throughout the UK.
(Additional information for the article supplied by GM4COX)
For the ‘centenary’ of the first official authorization of an amateur station, the REF (THE FRENCH TRANSMITTER NETWORK) will use the call sign ‘TM100AA’ from 1st to 15h September 2021
The call sign “8AA” was assigned to André Riss on September 3, 1921.
André was born in 1894, in Boulogne and was authorized at the age of 27 to use a transmitter of his own construction with a power of 1 kilowatt.
It became “eF8AA” (Europe France 8AA) in 1927, then “F8AA” in 1932.
He joined the REF in August 1927, n ° REF 423.
André was active until his death on March 2, 1982.
IQ3DD will be active during the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina, Italy from the 7th to the 28th of February. A special QSL card will be available.
The Christchurch ARC (NZART branch 05) is pleased to announce an informal award to celebrate the club’s centenary.
A special callsign of ZL100RSC will be active throughout February. You can use any band and any mode, including repeaters, digital voice reflectors, EME, Satellites, VHF, UHF, and HF. Endorsements will be available for working all contacts on a single band or mode.
The award is free! Send your logs to awards@nzart.org.nz or zl3dw@outlook.co.nz
A Certificate will be emailed out to any station achieving 100 points during February. ZL100RSC is a compulsory contact worth 25 points, the club station ZL3AC is worth 10 points and Christchurch ARC (branch 05) members are worth 5 points each. Double points will apply on 15th February (UTC for DX stations), the 100th anniversary of the first club meeting.
There have been some remarkable contacts made on 144 MHz recently via Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) from the Caribbean to South America with many in the region of 4000 to 5000 kms. One of the most impressive was a contact between P41E on the island of Aruba and LU2EPO near Buenos Aires in Argentina, a distance of just over 5400 kms……………….CLICK for more.
Ms Hoogeveen M827 / PI4MRC &- SS Rotterdam/ PI4HAL During the weekend of 1 and 2 June, the Museum Ships Weekend will be held again. From all kinds of old and special ships, the amateur bands are broadcast worldwide to enable unique QSOs.
It’s not a contest; that means that it is possible to switch to the WARC bands if required.All information about the participating ships and about a certificate to be obtained, can be found on the following website https://www.qsl.net/w/wa2tvs//museum
There is also such a special ship in Den Helder, the former mine sweeper Hr. Ms Hoogeveen. From the time the ships were still made of wood and the guys were made of steel. From the time that the Navy had a large mine service to keep our ports and shipping routes free from the mines that had been laid during the Second World War.
Hr. Ms Hoogeveen M827 Launched during May 1956 and retired from service in 1994, De Hoogeveen, moored at the quay of Willemsoord (former Rijkswerf) in Den Helder, is now managed, refurbished and maintained by the Friends of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Together with all volunteers and donors, they are committed to preserving this ship as a cultural heritage. The Marine Radio Amateur Club (Marac) have succeeded in returning the radio cabin to its original working state.
To mark the occasion, it was decided this year to take part in the Museum Ships Weekend from Hoogeveen. The call sign which Hoogeveen uses is PI4MRC and broadcasts are mainly on HF bands, in all modes and 2 x 24 hours. PI4MRC is the clubstation of MARAC (Marine Radio Amateur Club), The Clubstation of the Dutch Naval Radio Amateur Club.Given the list of participating ships, Hoogeveen is in good company. The SS Rotterdam will participate under the call sign PI4HAL from Rotterdam. 29/03/2019/ in General News / by Fred Verburgh PA0FVHhttps://www.veron.nl/nieuws/museum-ships-weekend-1-en-2-juni
PI4HAL – SS Rotterdam 60 years ago, on September 13, 1958 the SS Rotterdam was launched in Rotterdam.PI4HAL is the call-sign of the amateur radio (aka Ham radio) station, active on board the former cruise steamship (SS) Rotterdam, permanently moored in Rotterdam. PI4HAL will participate in the festivities by using a special callsign between October 2018 and October 2019 to celebrate this anniversary. PI4HAL operators will be active with Morse telegraphy and give demonstrationshttp://www.pi4hal.nl
