GB2RS(Snips) – 12th May
- Midland series ARDF event in Leicestershire
- Monk Apollo, SV2ASP, Silent Key
- BBC explains amateur radio emergency comms
An interesting item about amateur radio was broadcast on the BBC World Service this week. It dealt with the importance of amateur radio emergency communications during the recent cyclone in India. You can listen to the broadcast, Digital Planet – Ham Radio Aids Cyclone Relief Effort, at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csy664
A BBC Earth PodCast featuring Eleanor Griffin, M6NWZ talking about her experience with an ISS link from Kings High School, Warwick was broadcast this week. Go to www.bbcearth.com/podcast, scroll to the bottom and listen to the one called ‘Looking Up’
Recently added to the Syllabus 2019 updates on the RSGB website is a presentation on Digital Signal Processing Without The Maths
Dayton Hamvention® takes place on the 17th to the 19th of May at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center, Dayton, Ohio, USA.
Members of Tynemouth ARC, G0NWM, are travelling to the Isle of Mull, IOTA reference EU-008, from Friday the 17th of May until Friday the 24th, where they will be operating using the callsign GS0NWM. Subject to conditions the group will be operating up to four stations across the HF bands on SSB, CW, RTTY, FT8 using Fox and Hound mode and they hope to have a go at VHF/UHF satellite operation. QSL is via m0urx.com.
This weekend you can expect to hear special event stations taking part in SOS Radio Week, Pubs and Clubs on the Air and Mills on the Air. Several of these stations are mentioned in local news this week.
Also today, the 12th, the Worked All Britain 40m phone contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB area.
Next weekend the 144MHz May Contest runs from 1400UTC on the 18th to 1400UTC on the 19th. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. On Sunday the 19th, the 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
Dundee Amateur Radio Club is taking part in Mills on the Air today. Tuesday sees a club night with training. Contact Martin, 2M0KAU, on 0776 370 8933.
For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .
GB2RS(Snips) – 5th May
An introduction to QOscar 100
Noel Matthews, G8GTZ, Dave Crump, G8GKQ and Phil Crump, M0DMY gave a presentation at AGM 2019 on Qatar Oscar 100
RSGB ARDF Championships
This Bank Holiday weekend sees the annual three day RSGB ARDF Championships taking place in the Thames Valley
NRC visitor figures rising
There were 9,092 visitors to the RSGB National Radio Centre in April 2019
Pubs and Clubs on the Air is taking place between the 10th and the 12th of May. More details can be found at www.g6tw.org.uk.
Windmill Amateur Radio DX Group will take part in Mills on the Air on the 11th and 12th of May from Wilton Windmill, Wilton near Marlborough Wiltshire, using the callsign GB1WW
The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 4th of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is just your four-character locator.
Today, the 5th of May, sees the UK Microwave Groups contest runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Tuesday the 144MHz Machine Generated Modes Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC with the exchange of signal report, serial number and four-character locator. It takes place at the same time as the 144MHz FM Activity Contest.
Cockenzie & Port Seton Amateur Radio Club has activity days until next Saturday. On Friday it’s the first 144MHz DF Hunt, meeting in the Old Pool car park, 6.30pm for 7. More information from Bob, GM4UYZ, on 01875 811 723.
On Tuesday Dundee Amateur Radio Club is having a club night and taking part in the VHF contest. Next Saturday and Sunday sees activities for Mills on the Air. Contact Martin, 2M0KAU, on 0776 370 8933 .
Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society is preparing for Mills on the Air on Thursday, and participating in the event at Bellabeg next Saturday and Sunday. Contact Fred Gordon, GM3ALZ, on 01975 651 365
For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .
Nazis Pressed Ham Radio Hobbyists Into Third Reich
Morse Is 175 Years (Young)
Andy – MM0FMF & Jack – GM4COX Awarded The Jock Kyle Award For 2019
Copied from a Post off the GM13 Site.
It was surprise for both of us to receive a letter from the Board of the RSGB to the effect that we were to be awarded the trophy at the April GMDX CONVENTION for our work in promoting the use of 13cms in Scotland.
It is a great honour (and humbling) to be nominated by your peers for such a prestigious award. Thanks everybody.
And we are both looking forward to even more activity on 13 (and up) this year. (If the old bones can stand it – in my case (;>)
Andy & Jack(:>J
RSGB Citation – Jock Kyle Memorial Trophy
Prompted by a talk about the 13cm band at the GM Microwave Round Table in November 2016, Andy Sinclair MM0FMF and Jack Hood GM4COX have been working successfully together to promote 13cm activity throughout Scotland. They started by organising a discount order for ready-built transverters for members of the Lothians Radio Society and beyond, and then encouraged and supported the buyers to get on the air. They have shared their enthusiasm for 13cm by giving their own talks at the GM Microwave Round Tables in 2017 and 2018, and to other radio clubs in Scotland, and have stimulated others to become active both from home and out portable.
In January 2017 Andy and Jack set up the Scottish Amateur Radio 13cms Microwave Group at gm13@groups.io, which has now grown to 54 members. Although initially intended to publicise and coordinate their SOTA expeditions, the group now helps to drive 13cm activity more generally in Scotland and neighbouring areas, and is open to all radio amateurs wherever they are.
For demonstrating how two people taking the initiative can make a real change, Andy Sinclair MM0FMF and Jack Hood GM4COX are deserving recipients of the Jock Kyle Trophy for 2019.
Proposers Rob Ferguson GM3YTS, Gavin Taylor GM0GAV, Mike Eccles GM3PPE, Ian White GM3SEK, Martin Hall GM8IEM, Geoff Crowley MM5AHO and Malcolm Hamilton GM3TAL
GB2RS(Snip) – 21st April
Former US astronaut and long-duration spaceflight pioneer Owen Garriott, W5LFL, who operated the world’s first amateur radio station from space, died at the age of 88 on the 15th of April 2019.
The May RadCom includes a report that an authentic World War 2 Spy Set was recently donated to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park
The Syllabus 2019 edition of the Foundation Licence Manual is now available from the RSGB in both in hard copy and Kindle version.
Special callsigns 4Z64EURO, 4X64S, 4X64O, 4X64N and 4X64G will be active from the 18th of April to the 18th of May for the 64th Eurovision Song Contest.
EI0MAR will be part of International Marconi Day on the 27th of April, operating from the Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth.
For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .
GB2RS(Snip) – 14th April
The National Museum of Computing located at Bletchley Park will be holding its first-ever ElectroJumble on Sunday the 21st of April.
GB2DAY is on the air for its final day today, the 14th of April, to promote the opening of the Teleprinter Building at Bletchley Park, which houses a fantastic D-DAY exhibition entitled Interception / Intelligence / Invasion.
A special event station to commemorate the Battle of Culloden will be on the air on the 16th and 17th of April
As mentioned in the main news, on Tuesday Inverness & District Amateur Radio Society will be running a special event station to commemorate the Battle of Culloden. Contact John, GM0OTI, via email to InvernessRadioSociety@gmail.com for further details.
For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .
GB2RS(Snip) – 7th April
Two new videos are now available on the RSGB YouTube channel. They are Improving your Morse Code Skills by Ray Burlingame-Goff, G4FON and FT8 performance secrets by Neil Smith, G4DBN.
Also on the 14th, the Hack Green Bunker Rally will be held at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, French Lane, Hack Green, near Nantwich, Baddington, Cheshire CW5 8AL.
The Windmill Amateur Radio DX Group will put GB1RY on the air today, the 7th of April. Operating from RAF Ramsbury near Marlborough in Wiltshire, they are taking part in Airfields on the Air over the weekend.
2019 will see the 50th anniversary of landing men on the Moon. One of the places that the astronauts trained was the mile-wide Meteor Crater in Arizona. During 2019, Northern Arizona DX Association will set up and operate K7M until the 13th of April from the Meteor Crater National Natural Landmark.
On Wednesday the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report and serial number.
On Thursday the 50MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1900UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and four character locator.
The April 2019 Edinburgh Repeater Keepers Consultation. They are keen to hear from users and potential users of the Edinburgh repeaters on topics including the current service and what features could be added to encourage more repeater use. This part of the consultation is concentrating on GB3ED. Please help inform the development of the analogue UHF repeater that covers the Edinburgh and Lothians area by completing the survey at www.dmrscotland.co.uk/survey.
On Wednesday Lothians Radio Society is having a surplus equipment sale. Contact Mike Burgess, MM0MLB, via email to secretary@lothiansradiosociety.com.
For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .
Joe GM3HOM A SK (:>(
The 26th of January 2019 saw the sad passing of Joseph (Joe) Reilly, GM3HOM.
He was a continuous member of the Radio Society of Great Britain from November 1948 until his death. His 70th anniversary of Membership was marked in the November 2018 edition of RadCom.
Following his service in the RAF, Joe was hired by Decca. Working within their Navigation section, he was involved in the UK’s Blue Streak ballistic missile project in testing ranges in remote parts of Australia. Closer to home, and still with Decca, found him working in the Middle East and, latterly, remote parts of Scandinavia. Following his world sojourns, Joe was employed locally by Strathclyde Police, finishing his working career within their Radio Workshops.
Joe was an active member of local amateur radio clubs. He was associated with the RSGB (Glasgow) Club in the 1950s, the Radio Club of Scotland (RCS) in the 60s and, from 1970 up until his passing, the West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society (WoSARS).
Primarily an HF CW operator, Joe was also to be found on 2 metre FM chatting to fellow members of WoSARS and the local Glasgow amateur fraternity. And whenever he was home, he would give a club talk about some exotic location where he had been ‘posted’, or a piece of ‘kit’ that he had built or was building. Joe always finished his projects specifically in Hammerite Blue, because he reckoned it made the electrons within flow better. He also took the opportunity to take part in CW NFD with other club members on every occasion that it was possible.
Joe is sadly missed by his family and friends around the world, whether they be radio amateurs or not.
Tribute by Jack Hood, GM4COX
Secretary, WoSARS
RSGB Notification – HERE .