Nothing compares to the carefree pathway of youth. Not a worry. Not a concern. The future is endlessly bright. And at the radio dials in 1977, this idealism could not be closer to the truth. Our solid-state and tube type radios glowed in the waning light of sunset and revealed an endless expanse of fully utilized radio spectrum. The voices were often hard to separate and determining a radio frequency often came down to guesswork or crafty use of band spread dials, crystal calibrators and interpolation charts. But that was our youth and the approaching salad days of International Broadcasting. I had been finding my voice in clubs like CIDX, SPEEDX and the IRCA - learning the ropes of journalistic hobby contributions. Half the fun of the radio hobby was the sharing with the sisters and brothers of the hobby. And here we were. And here I was - at 17. That sounds like a song by Janis Ian and I guess it was. At 17 my ears were full and my heart was well stocked with hope for the future.
Here is part two of my 1977 “Greatest Hits” Interval Signal Series - recorded in Victoria B.C. Canada on my DX150B table-top communications receiver.
In 1977, I had been SWLing for a solid 5 or 6 years. I seemed like I was something of a veteran DXer by then. I have been making tapes since 1972 (but only really kept a solid and organized library since the Spring of 1975. I approached each cassette like it was a concept album. I was learning to play guitar so it made sense - that if my recordings were to make sense in the future that I need to catalog them properly and they needed to have some kind of theme. In my wisdom, I started producing what I would call “My greatest hits” cassette of that year - everything carefully logged and noted. One of the results was my “ID’s and Interval Series” in 1977 that mimicked to a certain extent, Ian McFarland’s Language series of ID’s with Doctor Richard Wood. Here is the result with the youthful sounding 17 year old me!
Our Dad David John Albert Stephens, G4CMQ passed away in Prince George House Care Home in Ipswich on 1st November 2021 after a short illness. He was a Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy in the 1950s and always a keen amateur radio enthusiast thereafter. Dad tapping away in morse code in the loft of […]
It was another time and place. The 1970’s. Radio was alive and well with no sense whatsoever than the decade to follow would not be exactly the same - well, it was in part… but change would come. Even in the late 1970’s, many old stations had a folksy feel to them - Radio Luxembourg was no exception. Based on whatever they were playing you had no idea what was coming next. In this little recording, we have RTL on 6090 playing a mixed bag of what sounds like light German big band music - or folkie pop - or what have you. Station ID at the end…. drifting into a snippet from our old friend CFRB in Toronto on 6070 Khz. All received on a DX150B and an Inverted-L antenna located on the West Coast of Canada.
Most of you will have experienced RF interference problems of one sort or another over the years. Many will have noticed that the incidence and intensity has increased. In this world of advanced digital technology and increasing wireless connectivity, the probability of interference is high and increasing rapidly. This is giving rise to an ever-increasing […]
Recording of Voice of America in English, November 7, 2021 at 13.58 UTC (shortwave frequency of 15580 kHz)
Station: Voice of America Place of reception: Europe Frequency: 15580 kHz shortwave Date: November 7, 2021 Time: 1358 UTC Transmitter location: Botswana Transmitter power 100 kW Transmission direction: Africa Receiver: SONY ICF SW1 portable Location of receiver: outdoor (far away from buildings to limit the man-made noise interference) Antenna: internal telescopic 0,5 meter long Recording device: SONY portable cassette tape recorder
The Scottish Borders Repeater group membership is well down for this year. Subs are normally due at the AGM in May, but due to the Covid pandemic there hasn’t been an AGM for two years. If you would like to join the group, supporting six repeaters in the Scottish Borders, please go to sbrg.co.uk.
Can you lend a generator? The Kilmarnock & Loudoun ARC Team at Ardrossan are trying to borrow a 240V generator of 5 to 10kVA output for an event in early December. Please email klarcinfo@gmail.com if you can help.
CLUB NETS
Wigtownshire Amateur Radio Society has a net on Sundays from 7.30pm on GB3DG, which then usually moves to Zoom at around 8pm. Thursday sees a net on GB3DG from 7pm, a Zoom meeting follows at 8pm. There is also an open RAYNET net daily on GB3DG from noon. www.gm4riv.org
Stirling and District Amateur Radio Society is open today for operating from 11am. It will also be open on Thursday from 7pm. secretary@gm6nx.com
Kingdom Amateur Radio Society has nets on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 7pm on 144.750MHz. Steve, MM0SKX, 0771 105 9343
The Lomond Sunday night net takes place from 8pm via EchoLink gateway MB7IBH and also locally on RF using 144.9625Mz and later moving to DMR TG23559 from 9pm.
West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society has its Solder Group on Wednesdays and its main meeting on Fridays at the Rose Street HQ. Some meetings are also on Zoom. There are nets daily from 11am on 145.425MHz. Wednesday sees a net from 8pm on 433.425MHz and on Friday there’s an open net on 145.425MHz from 8pm. www.wosars.club
Dundee Amateur Radio Club holds nets on Sundays and Wednesdays from 7.30pm on GB3AG and GB3DD. This Tuesday sees the club 2m contest. Martin, 2M0KAU, 0776 370 8933
This Friday is the annual pre-loved equipment sale at Ayr Amateur Radio Group. The club also runs a net on Sundays from 7pm on 144.295MHz CW and from 7.30pm on 145.450MHz FM. There are daily nets around 7.035MHz from 10.15am, moving to 7.065MHz and 145.450MHz at 10.30am Contact via derek.secaarg@gmail.com
Kilmarnock & Loudoun Amateur Radio Club holds a net on Sundays from 2pm around 3.720MHz SSB, later moving to around 3.540MHz CW. Tuesday sees a net on 145.475MHz from 7.30pm. klarcinfo@gmail.com
The Viking Amateur Radio Net runs on Sundays from 6pm on 3.660 or 3.639MHz. Details are on their Facebook page
Glenrothes & District Radio Club has open nets daily from 10am on 3.790MHz except Sunday. Morse training is now available on request. Tam, 0775 352 6498
Paisley Amateur Radio Club holds a net on Mondays from 8pm on 144.550MHz and on Zello. Tuesday sees a DMR net in room 4415 from 8pm. On Thursday, there is an FM net on 144.550MHz and on Zello from 7.30pm. Stuart, MM0PAZ, 0742 665 0757
On Monday, Edinburgh & District Amateur Radio Club has its net at 8pm on 433.525MHz FM. Norman, GM1CNH, 0774 094 6192
DV Scotland has a multi-mode net on Monday from 9pm to 10.30pm using GM5DVS. Access to the net is via All-Star Hub and Brandmeister DMR. dvscotland.net
Livingston & District Amateur Radio Society has a net on Tuesdays from 7.30pm on 145.575MHz FM. Wednesday sees a net on DMR Scotland TG23550 from 8pm. The club will be open on the 16th of November. Cathie, 2M0DIB, 01506 433 846
Inverness & District Amateur Radio Society has a net on GB7BI from 8pm and on GB7II from 8.30pm on Wednesday. Adrian, MM0DHY, InvernessRadioSociety@gmail.com
Falkirk Amateur Radio Club has a net via GB3FE from 8pm on Wednesday. Peter, gm8gax@tiscali.co.uk
On Wednesday Lothians Radio Society is holding Viral Net number 80 at 8pm on 144.350MHz SSB. All are welcome. secretary@lothiansradiosociety.com
Mid Lanarkshire Amateur Radio Society meets every Friday from 7pm at Newarthill Community Education Centre 50 High Street Newarthill Motherwell ML1 5JU. Wednesday sees a net on TG 23550 from 8pm and on Thursday there’s a net on 70.425MHz from 8pm. The Friday net on Zello and GB3KV have now ceased. www.mlars.co.uk
On Thursday Lomond Radio Club meets from 7pm at the John Connelly Centre in Renton and this year’s AGM will take place this Thursday at 7:30pm.
Barrie, gm0kzx@googlemail.com
Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society meets at 7.30pm on Thursday for a talk on The History of Communications in Mountain Rescue. http://www.aars.org.uk
On Friday, Strathclyde Park Amateur Radio Club has a net from 7.30pm on 145.400MHz, and also on the BATC channel from 8pm. Bill, MM0SFB, gm0syv@btinternet.com
Details of club activities can normally be found on each club’s website. To have your net listed on the WoSARS website or to report any changes, contact Tony, MM0TMZ by email to rr1@rsgb.org.uk. Please also keep GB2RS updated via email to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for GB2RS submissions is 10am on Thursdays.
Tap or click the link below to download this week’s GB2RS news script GB2RS News Script for 14 November 2021 (14-page/424KB Microsoft Word document) Problems downloading the GB2RS news script? Try this alternative link
