Official
Magazine of the Torbay Amateur Radio Society
|
Number 68 |
For Committee contacts
and Diary Dates see Main Web pages for details |
Winter
2006/7 |
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|
Chadwell Radio Club – Sue Bingham |
HF Contest News – G3LHJ |
Member of the Month – G1EUA |
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|
Chairman’s Chat – M1ARW |
Just Supposing – G4VFG |
Membership Matters – G6CLD |
Tips and Techniques for the workshop – 5
– G4FCN / G4VTO |
|
Etching PCB’s – G4FCN |
Lifetime Licences – G7SME / G6FSP |
Obituary – G3BVW
– G3LHJ |
Training Topics – M1ARW |
|
Meeting and Events reports – G4VTO |
TARS 30 Award – G3LHJ |
Webmasters report – G1EUA |
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|
Adverts –
Wysebyte – |
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Chairman’s Chat
Larry M1ARW
2006 has passed and the club is going from
strength to strength with new members joining and more members attending on
Friday nights – The graph below illustrates the success of our new club
HQ.
The Christmas party and quiz night was
a great success with TARS winning the cup for the second time in a row, thanks
to every one that supplied the food – what a spread! And there was plenty
left for the doggy bags. Special
thanks should go to Sylvia, Marlene, Ged, Ursula, and Pam for managing the
“food” room.
We have a lot going on this year as
it’s our 60th anniversary starting with an open day using the call sign
of GB6OTR.
This year I would like us to enter some
contests but it’s down to you to volunteer and put your name down for
them speak to the contest manager, John G0CDB, if interested.
That’s it for now, so best wishes
and have a good new year in 2007.
Regards
Larry M1ARW
From the keyboard of the TARS Secretary
Mark G7LJN
“We shall not cease from exploration. And the
end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place
for the first time.”
T. S. Eliot,
Little Gidding
British
(US-born) critic, dramatist & poet (1888 - 1965)
Perhaps this famous quote shines a bit of
light on the question why we humans climb mountains, or indeed invent and
discover.
Radio of course is itself a tremendous
invention that required exploration of the deepest mysteries at the limit of
technical knowledge by those who developed it. When I use a radio I somehow
feel that I explore that original mystery again. That’s about as
adventurous as I get mind you, no mountains for me!
We are now embarking on our TARS 60th
Anniversary Year 2007, what was in the minds of radio enthusiasts and
adventurous folks in 1947 when TARS was founded? It was just after the war when
adventure had been military and deadly, times were and would continue to be
hard, however the spirit of exploration was strong.
It was the year of Thor Heyerdahl and his
amazing Kon-Tiki expedition that used Amateur Radio for its communications.
Thor Heyerdahl was a noted Norwegian
anthropologist and adventurer who theorized that the South Pacific islands were
colonized from South America, rather than from Asia or
The Kon-Tiki
Expedition crossed 4500 miles of open ocean in 101 days to reach the Polynesian
atoll Raroia in the
Radio onboard Kon-Tiki.
World War II was a great incubator of
radio skills. The resistance workers in
Torstein Raaby was famous for secretly
transmitting data about the German battleship Tirpitz, ultimately leading to its sinking by RAF bombers. Knut
Haugland, the expedition's chief radio operator, was part of the team that
dropped into Rjukan and blew up the Norsk Hydro heavy water plant, effectively
stopping the Nazi nuclear bomb experiments. Several years later, it was not too
surprising to find Haugland and Raaby on a balsa-wood raft in the Pacific
running a set of watertight, 10-W-input, hand-cranked rigs for Heyerdahl's
expedition.
The conditions on the raft were primitive,
to say the least. What is remarkable is how well their three simple
transmitters--with the 40/20, 10 and 6-meter rigs made up entirely of 2E30
tubes--performed. As an emergency backup they also carried a British Mark II
Transceiver originally produced by the SOE in 1942. All the gear was powered by
dry batteries.
The receiver was a National NC-173.
The expedition, with the amateur call sign
of LI2B, maintained regular communication with a number of American, Canadian
and South American stations that kept the Norwegian Embassy in
The success of these QSOs was due to the
skill of the operators. On August 5, Haugland worked Amundsen back in
The gear was soaked upon landing on
Raratonga. In his book Kon-Tiki,
Heyerdahl described how the NC-173's maximum operating frequency slowly rose as
the unit dried out--finally reaching the frequency of 13,990 kHz, where the
crew had been forced to move its 20-meter operation because of a crystal
failure. The crew used a hand-cranked emergency transmitter to send out an
"all well, all well" message via LI2B just in time to head off a
massive rescue attempt.
Heyerdahl also led anthropological
expeditions to the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island, sailed the Atlantic in papyrus
rafts (under the UN flag) and explored the
Amateur Radio has always been at the edge
of exploration, at the frozen Poles, on the sea, up mountains and now in space.
Never let it be said then that it is a dead hobby, or is purely the domain of
those who have mega-rigs and megawatts, its for you and me with 10mW or 1000W,
the crystal set or the latest “Yaywood”, we are all explorers
following in the footsteps of those who have gone before.
Please make a resolution to enthuse
someone with the Amateur Radio spirit this year, or as our American Ham friends
have it, be an Elmer!
Happy New Year,
Best 73
Mark G7LJN
Membership Matters
Ged – G6CLD
Welcome
to another year – Many thanks to those of you that have given your subs
for 2007, a reminder to those that haven’t done so yet. We have 66 of you who have renewed so
far – so that may will be a record for this time of year so well done to
you.
Subs
are the same as in previous years:
Full: £15.00
Joint: £20.00
Junior (u16): £
5.00
Associate: £10.00
Family: £22.00
Life: £500.00
Honorary: £15.00
We
have a few more new members since the last edition - we welcome you to TARS (or
even welcome you back).
Our
new members are:
G1TUU Michael
Dixon Paignton 01803
557941
G6UPR Bryan
Hingston Marldon 01803
557853 bhingston@tiscali.co.uk
SWL Valerie
Hingston Marldon 01803
557853 bhingston@tiscali.co.uk
G1WUU John Neate Paignton john.g1wuu:blueyonder.co.uk
G3WWT John Teed Staines 01784
458583 johnteed@fish.co.uk
M3RMU Andrew Teed Newton
Abbot 01626
356176 11427@coombeshead.devon.sch.uk
R3M Russian
Union of Radio Amateurs, Regional Department
G0DDF David
Fairchild Torquay 01803
314822 davefairchild@davefairchild.plus.com
G0IVZ Jan
Fisher Callington 01579
362652 Jan.fisher@virgin.net
G3LQX Mike
Nicholls Teignmouth 01626
773934 Mikea-nicholls@virgin.net
Some
minor amendments from last time:
M3DCQ
is now 2E0DCQ
SWL
John Maltby is now 2E0ZEO
G3GHS
new e-mail address is jgholland@totease.eclipse.co.uk
G0CEL
new address is ngevely@aol.com
And
finally my apologies to Nigel G7URW - his callsign is G7URW not as in the
membership handbook which shews G7URM .
Must
now email this to the Editor before the dead line.
73
and 88
Ged.
Member of the Month
Brian G1EUA / VE7BRN
Webmaster is asking for a photo and short
text of all members in their shack to present as a feature on the website.
As
an example I include a picture of my shack:
Would members please submit their copy
directly to webmaster@tars.org.uk or directly to Brian at veloce1@tiscali.co.uk
or by hand at club meetings.
The Webmaster needs to assemble a bank
of these photos in order to obtain continuity of publication so get out your
digital camera and get a shot of yourself in your shack and send it to Brian
These photos would be held in a bank and
presented in a feature on the website
Brian
Wall G1EUA / VE7BRN
webmaster@tars.org.uk
(Editors Note: please be aware that if your picture is
published and you subsequently suffer loss or damage TARS will not be held
responsible – any pictures submitted are at the member’s own risk).
Meeting and Event Activity Reports
October Monthly Meeting
A talk by
Steve also showed how a badly matched aerial will
not work either even when used with an ATU, Ok the ATU will match to the rig so
it doesn’t lose any signal power but the feed to the aerial will still be
ineffective as heat will be lost in the ATU. The ATU cannot improve the inefficiency
of the aerial although if an SWR meter was placed between the rig and the ATU
it would appear to be doing so.
The age old problems of bad terminations were also
explained and of course the old favourite of water entering the co-ax through a
badly sheathed connection, after all, it must be remembered that co-ax is only
a hosepipe whether it carries radio signals or water.
A very enlightening evening – thank you
Steve.
73’s - Peter G4VTO
Lifetime Licences
Pam
G7SME and Dave G6FSP
How to get a licence - an
idiots guide
There
you are, a pass certificate in your hands just itching to get on the
airwaves. Now all you have to is
get your licence.
Having
just experienced the “joys” of navigating the Ofcom website to
register a new M3 licencee, it wasn’t as easy and straightforward as I
was led to believe.
You
have to log on and register yourself, supplying of course your name, address
candidate number, date of birth.
You are also asked to generate a password and also a question with an
answer should you need to verify yourself.
You
then have to wait for at least five days for the registration confirmation
letter to be posted to you (if you are lucky!).
Time
and Ofcom permitting you log on again.
If you use the website address on this letter, you have to navigate
“round the houses” again until you reach the page for registrations
and new call signs.
We
have found an easier route, log onto:
www.ofcom.org.uk/licensing/olc
This
will take you straight to the correct page.
You
are asked for your registration confirmation (on the letter) and then the
password you were asked for in your original registration request.
Click
onto the done box, eventually it will come up with a new page with your name
address and other details.
Click
onto the confirm box and it takes you to another page where you are asked for
your candidate number from your pass/fail certificate.
You
then have the opportunity to choose your own call sign.
There
is a little icon to the right of the call sign field, I found it impossible to
choose the call sign I wanted, and so I left it up to the computer to choose
one for me.
Once
a call sign has been generated, click the confirm box, and you are on another
page where you are asked to click “ticks” in question boxes,
basically they are confirming you age etc.
You then are asked to read the terms and conditions of you new licence,
if you are happy with this, click on save and confirm. Print the pages – sorry there are
24 pages to the licence, but it does include terms and conditions and it is a
requirement of the licencee to keep a paper copy.
Please
don’t take too much time reading the conditions, I did and the page timed
out, making it really awkward to get back to this page again.
Once
the pages have been printed, you can get on the air.
Have
fun with you new hobby, we’ll see you on the air (so to speak).
Converting your existing
licence into a lifetime licence
You need to log onto the Ofcom Web site as
above and register your details.
You will need your first and last names, an e-mail address, specify a
password (which must be between 7-15 letters long and include upper and lower
case and numerals), and a challenge question and answer in case you forget your
password. Please bear in mind that
you will need to remember your password and associated question for use again
in five years time! It will be a
good idea to write down the user name and password that you used with your
licence as in five years time you may not be able to remember it!! (or at least
keep the Ofcom letter with your paper copy of the licence but this does not
include your password).
You will be sent user name conformation
letter in the post. You will then
have to log onto the same site address, using you log on name that is sent to
you in the post and the password that you specified before.
This will then take you to a screen that
will list the licence’s that are registered to you personally at your
address – this will not include group or club licences
If you then click onto the Licence link
then follow the instructions to validate your licence as appropriate and you
will end up being able to print out your licence.
When you go back to your home screen again
you should see that your licence has now been validated.
We have found that you do not need to wait
until your renewal date before you can validate your licence.
Some of the frequently answered questions
from the Ofcom Web site are as follows:
·
What will happen if I don’t renew my radio licence before
the new lifetime licence regime starts?
Ofcom will not send you a lifetime radio licence. If you choose to
use your radio equipment you will be operating illegally and subject to
enforcement penalties.
·
What is a validation reminder?
If you have not made any amendments over the past five years,
Ofcom will send you a validation reminder once every five years. You are
required to positively respond to this reminder by informing Ofcom that still
required your radio licence, or if you wish to surrender your radio licence.
·
What will happen if I don’t validate my radio licence after
five years?
In line with the terms and conditions of the radio licence, Ofcom
will issue you a "Proposal notice of revocation". From the date of
this proposal notice you have one calendar month and one day to make
representations that you wish to keep your radio licence. If you do not respond
or you are unsuccessful in your representation, Ofcom will issue you a
"Notice of Revocation" which means you can no longer use your radio
apparatus in accordance to the letter and the terms and conditions of the radio
licence.
·
What are Notice of Variations?
The following is a list of NoVs:
- Contest
Call sign
- Special
Events
- 5MHz
Experiment
- Repeaters
- Repeater
with Internet Gateway
- Simplex
Internet Gateway
For more information on NoVs please contact the Ofcom Licensing
Centre (Tel. 020 7981 3131).
·
I am under 18, do I need to pay for my amateur radio licence if I
submit it using a paper based form?
Yes, if you apply using a paper based application form it will
cost £20 but if you choose to apply on line it is free
·
I am over 75, do I need to pay for my amateur radio licence if I
submit a paper based application form?
No. Paper based applications will only be free for applicants that
are over 75 years of age and over.
·
I represent a registered charity, how do I qualify for a discount
on my radio licence?
Ofcom would like to advise the charity to use the online system.
On supplying the correct information, the licence will be issued electronically
for FREE. A paper application form will attract a £20 administration fee.
·
What is a club licence?
It covers all users that belong to that
particular licensed club.
An application for club licence must be
supported by 2 other named individuals who all hold individual amateur Full
radio licences.
·
How do I apply for an Amateur Club Licence?
·
To apply for the Full (club) radio
licence, the applicant should use the Full radio licence application form. You
can’t apply for a Full (club) radio licence online. The charge for this
will be £20
·
Do I need to keep a paper copy of my radio licence?
Yes
We
hope that this gives you an insight into how to apply for or validate an
Amateur Radio Licence.
If
there is anyone out there that wants to save themselves £20.00 for the
paper licence as they have not access to the internet, please feel free to contact
Dave G6FSP or Mark G7LJN and we will do it for you on line. The fact that you have not got an e-mail
address is not a problem; we will supply one for you via TARS. We would also add that we are bound by
the Data Protection act to protect your privacy (in case you are worried about
identity theft) and we will destroy any details that we may hold about you once
your licence has been validated.
Also feel free to call us if you are having problems with your on-line
application.
Licence
changes
Now
we have seen the printed copy of the new licence, the main changes are
involving:
·
Unattended
operation
·
Withdrawal
of allocation frequencies in the 75.5-76.0GHz and 142 – 144 GHz Bands
·
New
allocation of frequencies in the 28 -29.7Mhz band for Foundation and
Intermediate Licence holders.
·
The
re-introduction of the /A suffix for use at alternative address –
contrary to what we were told this does not need separate notification to the
local Ofcom office – so look out for G3NJA/A from the Torbay Area soon!
·
Third
party traffic is now allowed for all licence holders – this was formally
restricted to just full licence holders only. This is a major step forward and means
that Foundation and Intermediate Licence holders, who were previously
prohibited, due to their licence terms and conditions, may now take an active
part in Emergency communications exercise’s and events.
The
restrictions on maritime mobile and operation in a foreign country still exist
for Foundation and Intermediate licence holders.
We
would suggest that all members should register for their new licence when they
can so that they may benefit from the new terms and conditions as the new
conditions have not been published in the gazettes (to the best of our
knowledge).
We
hope that this review is of some help and do remember we are to help you
– so give us a call and we will do our best to assist. These are our own interpretation of the
new Licence arrangements.
Dave
and Pam
T.A.R.S. 60th Anniversary, 2007
GB6OTR – Special
Event Call Sign -
Derrick G3LHJ
The
Call Sign of GB6OTR has been confirmed for the month of February and will be
operational from the Society’s HQ on Friday Evenings, all day on Saturday
24th February from HQ which is the 60th Anniversary
day. I propose to apply for the
Call sign to operate from my QTH during March, so I will be looking for other
members to come forward for the rest of the year, I will do the paper work,
just let me know which month you are prepared to operate as GB6OTR.
During
GB5OTR we used the logging program LogEQF, not to worry if you don’t has
a PC, a paper log will do.
QSL’s
cards have been printed and the aim is to QSO as many stations as possible in
your spare time.
Any
more info required, please give me a call.
Anniversary
QSL Cards for Members – Colin G4FCN
As advertised in the last edition of TARS TALK
members can order anniversary QSL cards that they can then write in (or print
for those with technology) their own details.
The QSL card which has been produced in sepia (as
depicted on the front cover) shows the Torbay Amateur Radio Society’s
Field day site in 1947.
The cost to members is £10 per
100, collected either from G4FCN’s QTH or Club Headquarters on a Friday
Evening.
If you would like them posted to you
then the cost will be £11.75 per hundred. (
Colin - G4FCN
Anniversary
Day Arrangements – 24th February 2007
The HQ will be open from 08.00
for setting up the various stands.
At present we have the following people providing stands:
·
Henry
Westlake – for all you components.
·
Worsley
– for your rig and antenna supplies.
·
GB3TB
Television Group – a demonstration of Television activities hopefully
with live feeds from around Newton Abbot and
·
TARS
Training, Membership and information desk – we need help to man this desk
from people who can explain amateur radio in layman’s terms, trying to
skip the jargon.
·
RSGB
Books – for all your reference books and information about Amateur Radio.
·
GB6OTR
special event station demonstrating CW, Voice, and Data-modes. We will need help from you again with
this stand as Derrick (our President) will be needed to meet and greet people
as required.
·
Refreshment
Room – There will be light refreshments during the day; this will take
the form of sandwiches with tea and coffee. A small charge (25p) will be made for
this. Help is needed from people,
preferably that have a food hygiene qualification, as the event is open to the
public.
The doors will be open to the
public from 10.00 to 16.00. The
Mayor will be in attendance sometime during the day.
There will be no charge to visit
the event BUT you will need to “pay and display” in the car
park. There are no concessions even
for those providing and managing the stands. These rules are Teignbridge council’s
and not ours. The car park charges
are as follows:
Next to the event:
£2.60 up to four hours, £3.60 all day.
Asda Car Park:
£1 - One hour, £1.50 - Two hours, £2 – Three hours
(Maximum).
We hope you enjoy the day and we
look forward to seeing you there.
Webmasters Report
Brian - G1EUA / VE7BRN
Firstly
let me wish all members of TARS a very prosperous New Year and many happy hours
on the air.
Those
of you who view the website regularly will see that numerous small changes
occur from time to time; this is to keep the website up to date and also to
show that the website is constantly under review. The website has now been
updated with a new look. There is
no longer a fixed menu at the left side of the pages. This has been replaced by a sliding menu
at the left side of the page, activated by passing the mouse over the
protruding edge of the menu. This
menu is resident on all pages except those that are behind the protection of
the Members Login page, each page has been checked and verified that all links
are correctly accessed with no delay.
I would ask all of you to access the web site and look at every page and
also activate the links.
A lot of effort and time has gone into this update by me with inspiration
from Colin. If you have any comment on
the website please let me know
Since
the last webmaster report the website has undergone a relocation of server to
overcome the problem of download speed, you should all have noticed a great
improvement on this and also with the download speed of the PDF documents
within the website.
For
those who are unaware the previous host server was at QSL.net in the
We
have been very fortunate in having David M1AEI allowing Tars to use part of his
server as the host for Tars website and for this we are very grateful to David
for this facility.
This
server is hosted in
That
is all the news from the webmasters shack for this time and it just remains for
me to wish you 73 or 88 as appropriate.
Brian
Wall G1EUA / VE7BRN
webmaster@tars.org.uk
The
TARS 30 Awards
Three
new TARS 30 Awards have been issued since the last TARS TALK:
- Number
66 to John M0HEM - a non member of the society
- Number
67 to Eddy M0EDY
- Number
68 to John 2E0ZEO.
Congratulations
to you all.
Two
other members took up my offer to replace their old looking Certificate with
the re designed one, and they were George G3BIT and Brian G1EUA.
So,
if you would a nice new looking TARS 30 Award for your shack wall then the cost
is £1. Don’t worry if
you can not find your old Certificate - I have all your QSO details and
certificate number issued.
If
you want to obtain further “Stickers”, (they are issued for
additional 10 different members), again if you have not got your previous
claimed list of QSO’s, let me know and I will give list of your current
points.
Good
hunting and see the TARS WEB site for full details of the Award.
73/88’s
de Derrick G3LHJ
TARS
Awards Manager.
Tips and
Techniques for the Workshop - 5
Colin
G4FCN and Peter G4VTO
Testing
multi-pack
If
you need to check the current drawn by a piece of equipment that uses multiple
cells in its battery pack, a small piece of double side printed circuit board
with a pair of wires soldered on will slip in between two cells in the pack and
allow the multi-meter to be easily connected. Keep it with your meter.
A
further refinement to this tip would be to solder a pair of sockets to the pcb
to allow the connection of the meter test leads.
Drilling
round antenna booms:
Ever
built a VHF/UHF multi-element Yagi antenna, using a round boom? When you look
down the boom, do the elements look like a cork-screw?
The
easy way round this is to put an exhaust clamp round the boom and fix a small
spirit level to it. Before drilling the element hole at the previously marked
position, ensure that the level indicates that the clamp is truly horizontal.
You will get an antenna with the elements all in perfect alignment.
Note
that you DO need to use a pillar drill for this – don’t try free
hand drilling, else the spirit level will be a waste of time.
Using
Washing up liquid as a workshop tool:
1.
When
using a grinder or power sander on aluminium, rub some soap or a squirt of
washing up liquid on the grinding disc – it will stop the aluminium dust
clogging the disc.
2.
Another
useful tip for washing up liquid – a small drop on the thread of a wood
screw before driving it into a plastic rawlplug will make the job much easier.
3.
If
you are doing some concreting, a squirt of washing up liquid will take the
place of commercial plasticiser which helps bring the surface to a reasonable
finish and makes the concrete or cement easier to work up.
Colin
G4FCN and Peter G4VTO
Obituary
of Pat Townley G3BVW. 1917 - 2007
Pat passed away in the presence of his family on the 27th
December 2006 at his home in Moretonhampstead, a double sadness in that Pat
lost his Xyl Jane just 2 months ago.
Pat was born on the 8th October 1917 in
He was the Post Master of the village Post Office in Whiddon
Down with the help of his Xyl Jane. And on retirement they moved and settled
down in Moretonhampstead, where we started to hear G3BVW, Pat joined TARS
around 1985/6, I got to know Pat when I worked for British Gas and had to call
on Pat to see to a problem on his Central Heating, and there is no secret where
I landed up after fixing his problem – his out-side wooden Ham Shack. Pat
loved his Radio and was quite active, mostly on CW with his home brew wire
Antennas, he did surcome to the “PC” but they did not get on very
well as a few of our TARS member PC buffs will know Hi.
Pat was very deaf, but that did not deter him enjoying his hobby
with the help of special hearing aids, he was not a very regular visitor to
TARS HQ, but when he did make it through winding roads from Moreton, we enjoyed
his interesting stories.
Pat was a member of RAFARS Nr 2020 & G-QRP-Club Nr 3970.
From TARS Our Deepest sympathy to his 3 children Hugh, Rob,
Caroline & Family with which George G3BIT & I met and chatted to at
Pat’s Funeral on Monday the 8th of January 2007.
Derrick
Webber G3LHJ.
Just Supposing
Peter G4VFG
It’s
February 2007 and TARS is celebrating its 60th birthday. At a local Scout HQ there is much
excitement because it is the Saturday birthday bash. Everybody who is anybody has turned up
to welcome the masses of people expected to visit the Society open day. The chairman has requested maximum
effort to encourage newcomers into the hobby of ham radio. Now there’s a thing. Just supposing someone asks you what the
hobby is all about, and why you get excited about it, using one or two sentences? What would you say? aargh! Front end overloaded! It was such a long time ago that most of
us have forgotten how it all started and why?
Here
then is where the story starts:
Our
man Fred thought, upon receiving such a question, and answered that it was
about talking to people, making friends, learning about the world, learning to
use technology, and above all having fun.
Fred hoped his answer was a good one because this first encounter could
start a lifetime’s interest, or cause the newcomer to disappear as fast
as on opening on ten metres!
Noting
that he still had the person’s attention he followed by asking ,
“Now can I ask what you are interested in, how much time to spare, how
much space do you have for aerials, and last but not least, how much money you
wish to spend.”
Fred
always someone not afraid to cut to the chase, added that somebody with no
time, no space and no money would not last five minutes. He could hear the “Ah buts, Yes
buts, no buts”, but knew that the guy with the big beam, big linear, and
big bucks would get most of the action.
Perhaps he had listened to too many Americans, but then he enjoyed
talking to them and liked their sense of humour. A 1Kw, a 10 element log periodic at 100
feet and an FT 2000 - just a modest set up. Yeah right!
The
young man thought, and replied that computers, photography, and modern
technology were of interest, and perhaps in the future foreign travel. Fred was impressed, and relieved that
the young man, who was called Jason, did to his mates, zapping bad guys on the
X-box, drinking Alco pops and digging urban sounds down the club, and all that
old YDPF stuff.
In
the club room there were such delights as Digital communication, TV, Echolink
the DX cluster and all manner of pastimes which could use computers. Of course there were several ham radio
setups use more traditional methods of phone and morse. It was strange to reflect that now morse is no longer obligatory, it
has become even more popular, and like the vinyl record is not about to lie
down and go away. Fred left young
Jason to the computer buffs, and for a cup of tea. He thought that being a few years away
from a free bus pass, and a fuel allowance, he was not mentally wired up for
computer work at least not for fun anyhow.
For
Fred it was the old Marconi all band wireless set, then the first Crystal set
he built. This was “real
radio” he reflected, and the fun of using wire aerials and low power to
communicate still gave endless pleasure.
Eventually
Jason caught up with Fred and remarked that having watched one of the club
experts on a 1000MP it was too expensive and had too many knobs! At one time a Ham would buy a receiver
and spend time listening, to gain experience. Today in the world of the instant hit,
thought Fred, the best advice he could give was to go ahead and buy a
transceiver with general coverage and even better VHF and UHF Air band and VHF
broadcast for when the bands are flat!
Fred answered that being a Yaesu man, he would advise looking at their
range. He however added that
getting a cross section of opinion from local club members would be sound, and
then looking at stalls at radio rallies, plus a read of Practical Wireless
would prove useful. Fred wondered
if he had done enough to fire this young person’s imagination. Perhaps after cars, girls, music and
beer, he would take the plunge and join the hobby, or maybe he would be one of
the unique band of diehards who eat, sleep and breathe Ham Radio. Time would tell.
There
the story takes time out. The
characters are fictitious and any resemblance to any living persons is
coincidental!
Happy
New Year to all, and may the force be with you, and as always the very best of
good listening.
Peter
G4VFG
ISWL
G20322
Chadwell Radio Club
The TARS Committee have kindly agreed to allow us to invite
members to a new Radio Group which is being formed by three of our club
members. We have acquired a meeting
room at the Chadwell Centre. This is a Disability Centre in Preston,
Paignton (TQ3 2DW for those with Sat-Nav) – just off the main Paignton to
Torquay sea front road by the Shell garage next to
Club evenings are on a Thursday from 7 - 9 p.m. We hope you will be able to come along,
have a coffee and a chat and talk with other Amateur Radio enthusiasts. As the Group is new, our aims are to
welcome any member and any ideas or suggestions for club evenings. There is no
membership to the group at this stage, only a small fee of 50p is charged each
evening.
If you are interested, or have any queries, please e-mail Sue
Bingham on jbinghamc@aol.com or ring/fax on 01803 - 528360.
We
look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sue
Bingham – SWL
Training Topics
Larry
M1ARW
We are planning a full
program of courses again this year:
Foundation:
Two Courses, one on 13th/14th April and one in
October/November.
Intermediate:
One course in the
summer.
Full:
One course this year.
All courses will be
subject to a minimum of five people to make it worthwhile to run. If we are inundated with applications
for any course we will run extra ones to satisfy demand. So get your
applications in as soon as possible.
If any member knows of
someone that is interested in sitting the exam, please get them to email or
write to the Training coordinator for an application form.
If any one is interested
in helping in running a course but not sure what is involved you can look a the
syllabus of the course on the RSGB web site www.rsgb.org/tutors/
Larry M1ARW
HF Contest News
Derrick - G3LHJ
We
are still coming to the bottom of this Sun Spot cycle and conditions have been
very changeable making a few of the contests quite a challenge, especially if
you entered the QRP sections, but things can only get better.
We
have gained another keen contest member, John 2E0ZOE, on all modes which will
be a big help in the forthcoming 80M Club Championships that start again in
February. I will be sending out my
little leaflet with all the dates, times etc before it starts. If you did not receive a leaflet last
year and want to join in with this year’s effort then come and see me or
give me a call.
It’s
TARS Contest time again and all entries to be handed in at the January 2007
Monthly Meeting, all the details/entry forms are on the TARS Web Site under
“Contests”. Please read
the rules and use the entry forms - the dead line date is 31st Jan.
Friday
March 23rd is TARS Presentation Evening when we will know who has
won what.
CONTESTS ENTERED BY MEMBERS
2006
Russian Radio RTTY Contest.
Ken G3SNU
– 32 Q’s –
28Mults – 170Pts – 4700 Total Points.
Derrick G3LHJ - 13 Q’s
2006
CQ WW RJ RTTY Contest.
Ken G3SNU - 219 Q’s – 134 Mults
– 476 Pts - 63,784 Total
Points.
Derrick G3LHJ – 170 Q’s – 69 Mults – 352 Pts –
24,288 Total Points.
2006
John 2E0ZEO – 39 Q’s – 33 Mults – 39 Pts – 1287
Total Points.
Ken G3SNU - 36 Q’s – 21 Mults – 36
Pts – 756 Total Points
Derrick G3LHJ – 36 Q’s – 18 Mults – 36 Pts – 648
Total Points.
2006
JARTS RTTY
Ken G3SNU - 245 Q’s – 113 Mults
– 572 Pts – 64,636 Total Points
John 2E0ZEO - 208 Q’s - 79 Mults - 448 Pts -
34,392 Total Points.
Derrick G3LHJ – 94 Q’s
- 47 Mults - 210 Pts - 9,870 Total Points.
2006
October FOC Bill Windle Qs0 Party.
Derrick G3LHJ - 55 Q’s – only 8 Q’s
this time with non FOC Members.
2006
CQ WW DX SSB Contest.
John 2E0ZEO – All QRP Section – 105 Q’s – 71 Mults
– 110 Pts – 7810 Pts
Derrick G3LHJ – 35 Q’s – (just picking up countries for TARS
Contests).
2006
Ukraine DX RTTY Contest
Derrick G3LHJ – 135 Q’s – 62 Mults – 573 Pts –
35.526 Total Points
Ken G3SNU - 108 Q’s
2006
RSGB Top Band Club Calls Contest.
Ken G3SNU – 83 Q’s.
Peter G4VTO 36 Q’s.
John 2E0ZEOI – 30 Q’s.
Geoff G3GHS – 17 Q’s.
G3BIT – 5 Q,s. (I tried but NG wid 80M loaded Dipole)
2006
Edgeware Activity Period.
John 2E0ZEO – 16 Q’s.
Geoff G3GHS – 31 Q’s,
GX3NJA (op G3LHJ) 19 Q’s
2006
WAE DX RTTY Contest.
John 2E0ZEO – 130 Q’s – 217 Mults – 132 Pts –
28.644 Total Points
Derrick G3LHJ – 120 Q’s – 78 Mults. – 120 Pts. –
9.360 Total Points
Ken G3SNU – 63 Q’s. –.
2006
PSK63 Contest:-
John 2E0ZEO – 228 Q’s – 171 Mults – 907 Pts –
155,097 Total Points
Eddy M0EDY – 158 Q’s - ?? Mults – 579 Pts – 78,165
Total Points.
2006
Russian DX CW Contest
John G0RDO – 15M LP – 50 Q’s – 7700 Points.
2006
King of
John – 15M LP – 44 Q’s – 1979 Points.
2006
CQWW CW Contest:
Steve G4EDG –SO QRP 160M – 291 Qs – 69 Mults – 359 Pts
– 24,771 Pts
Derrick G3LHJ – SO QRP 20M – 372 Q’s – 97 Mults –
748 Pts – 72,556 Points
John G0RDO – SO Low Power 15M – 156 Q’s – 64 Mults
– 334 Pts – 21,376 Pts
2006
TARA Meleey RTTY test
Ken G3SNU – 35 Q’s
Derrick G3LHJ – 22 Q’s
2006
OK DX RTTY Test
John 2E0ZEO – 150 Q’s
Ken G3SNU – 65 Q’s
Derrick G3LHJ – 32 Q’s.
2006
ARRL 10M CW Contest
Derrick G3LHJ 13 Q’s (Conditions terrible)
CONTEST RESULTS
2005
Derrick G3LHJ – 15th &
2005
ARRL 10M CW Contest.
Derrick G3LHJ –
2005
OK/OM DX CW Contest
John G0RDO – SO 15M LP –
2005
Russian DX CW Contest
John G0RDO – SO 15M
2005
RSGB Championship
Derrick G3LHJ –
2006
RSGB ROPOCO 1
Derrick G3LHJ –
2006
John G0RDO – Restricted – 31st
2006
RSGB IOTA Contest
Derrick G3LHJ – SO - 12 Hr CW – 2nd World.
2006
RSGB Low Power Field Day.
Derrick G3LHJ – 10W Fixed – 10th
2006
RSGB ROPOCO 2
Derrick G3LHJ – 20th.
2006
SPDX RTTY
Derrick G3LHJ – 257th – 7th G , out of 356
entries.
2006
EPC PSK63 Contest
John 2E0ZEO –12th & 1st G – (Won 2M H/H)
Eddy M0EDY – 72nd
out of 188 Entries.
FORTHCOMING
CONTESTS
JANUARY
2007
Sat
– Sun 27-28th Jan – 00:00 – 23:59 – CQ 160
Meter Contest – CW
Sat
– Sun 27-28th Jan – 06:00 – 18:00 – REF
Contest – CW
Sat
– Sun 27-28th Jan – 12:00 – 12:00 – BARTG
RTTY Sprint Contest . Ex RST + S/N
Sat
– Sun 27-28th Jan – 13:00 – 12:59 – UBA DX
Contest – SSB.
FEBRUARY
2007
RSGB
Club 80M Championships 20:00 – 21:30 Local
SSB – Mon 5th Freq: 3.600 – 3.650 and 3.700 –
3.750Khz
DATA – Wed 14th Freq: 3580 – 3590Khz.
CW – Thur 22nd Freq: 3510-3590Khz
Sat
– Sun 3-4th Feb - 00:00
– 23:59 – YLISSB QSO PARTY – SSB/CW
Sat
– Sun 3-4th Feb – 18:00 – 17:59 –
Sat
– Sun 10-11th Feb – 00:00 – 23:59 – CQ
World-Wide WPX RTTY Contest. Ex RST + S/N
Sat
– Sun 10-11th Feb – 12:00 – 11:59 – Dutch
PACC Contest – SSB/CW
Sat
– Sun 10-11th Feb -
21:00 – 00:59 – RSGB
1st 1.8Mhz Contest – CW. Ex RST + S/N + TQ
Sat
– Sun 17-18th Feb –00:00 –23:59–ARRL
International DX Contest – CW.
Ex RST – Your Power Output.
Fri
– Sat 23-24th Feb – 21:00 – 21:00 – Russian
PSK WW Contest – PSK31
Sat
– Sun 24-25th Feb – 00:00 – 23:59 – CQ WW
160 Meter Contest – SSB
Sat
– Sun 24-25th Feb – 06:00 – 17:59 – REF
French Contest - SSB
Sat
– Sun 24-25th Feb – 13:00 – 12:59 – UBA
MARCH
2007
RSGB
80M Club Championships – 20:00 – 21:30 Local
DATA – Mon 5th Freq: 3580 – 3590Khz.
CW – Wed 14th
Freq: 3510-3590Khz
SSB – Thurs 22nd Freq: 3.600 – 3.650 and 3.700 –
3.750Khz
Sat
– Sun 3/4th – 00:00 – 23=59 – ARRL Int DX
SSB Contest- ex RS+PWR
Sat
– Sun 10/11th – 10:00 – 10:00 – Commonwealth
CW test – ex RST + s/n
Sat
– Mon 17/19th – 02:00 – 02:00 – BARTG Spring
RTTY Contest.
Ex RST, S/N & Time (GMT)
Sat-Sun
24/25th - 00:00 – 23:59 – CQ WW WPX SSB Contest, ex
RS+S/N
APRIL
2007
RSGB
80M Club Championships – 20:00 – 21:30 Local
CW – Mon 2nd Freq: 3510-3590Khz
SSB – Wed 11th Freq: 3.600 – 3.650 and 3.700 –
3.750Khz
DATA – Thurs 19th Freq: 3580 – 3590Khz.
Sun
1st 07:00 – 09:00 -
RSGB ROPOCO CW – on 3520 – 3570 Khz Ex RST + Postcode received
Sat
– Sun 7/8th 16:00 – 16:00 – EA RTTY Contest, ex
RST + S/N
Sat
– Sun 14/15th 07:00 – 13:00 – Japan Int DX CW
Contest, ex RST+
Sat
– Sun 28/29th 12:00 – 12:00 – SP DX RTTY Contest,
ex RST + S/N.
Sat
– Sun 29/29th 13:00 – 13:00 –
All
contest times are GMT, if there is no exchange details stated then listen to
what’s being exchange before you have a go, and as I have said before
there are quite a few more smaller contest listed in SM3CER web site calendar.
Jon
G0CDB our Field Contest Manager is trying to drum up support for TARS to enter
some Major Field Days contest again this year, regrettably I had to give up
organizing of those events due to health reasons, but it would be great if some
of you would support Jon in putting on Field Days again, we did so well in the
past.
That’s
it for this time, good luck with your contesting and let me have your results.
Derrick
– G3LHJ
Etching PCB’s
Colin - G4FCN
Several
members have asked me how I etch my pcb’s, so I thought, as our editor is
always on the lookout for copy for the magazine, I would put fingers to
keyboard and try to describe the construction of the etching tank I am
currently using. It does have its faults but all in all it works very well for
smaller boards.
As
can be seen from the picture, above, the tank is constructed using (an empty)
Ferrero Rocher choccy container. Look out for the older ones that have a square
removable lid, rather than the later hinged lid variety. Some of the containers
have rounded corners, these can also be used, the important thing to check for
is that there are no splits or cracks present.
The
motor and pulleys were recovered from a defunct video recorder. The motor used
is a 12 volt device which will run quite happily on 6 or 7 volts, although
still runs too fast. We are looking for an agitation speed of something like 60
– 75 rpm, hence the pulley arrangement. Belts are small elastic bands:
Start
the construction by mounting the motor on the inside of the box lid, taking
care not to split the plastic when drilling the spindle and fixing holes. The
centre hole may need to be made quite large if the motor pulley cannot be
removed from the shaft. The spindles for the intermediate pulleys are also
fitted into the lid and secured with epoxy adhesive. When looking for pulleys
and spindles, try to find ones with a mounting boss at one end, it makes them
much easier to fit to the lid and to ensure that they remain square to the mounting.
You will need to experiment with pulley sizes and motor speed to get the final
paddle speed correct, although it’s not critical (slower is better than
fast – too fast and you will throw all the etchant out of the tank.
You
will have to use your own ingenuity for the construction of the paddle. Mine is
made from the sleeve of a BIC biro pen with a small piece of flat plastic glued
into a slot cut in one end. The other end is a push fit over the boss of the
centre pulley.
When
cutting the stem, the bottom of the paddle should be between 5 and 8 mm from
the bottom of the box with the lid in place. Too big a gap will require more
etchant liquid, too small and it may touch the board being etched.
In
use, about 15 to 20 mm of etchant fluid is put in the box, the board put in and
the lid and paddle assembly replaced, and the motor switched on. (Don’t
switch on the motor before placing in the fluid, and make sure it is turned off
before removing it).
Periodically
check the board during etching and remove when all the unwanted copper is
removed. When complete, remove the board, thoroughly wash and dry it, remove
the etch resist, drill and complete the construction of the project.
Improvements.
With the single centre paddle, the maximum board size is about 50 by 25 mm to
maintain an even etching. By
fitting the a suitable motor in the middle of the lid, and with suitable pulley
sizes, a paddle could be fitted at each end of the box. This would allow a more
even agitation when etching larger boards. A bigger paddle could also help.
I
hope that this helps.
73’s
Colin G4FCN
Disclaimer
TARS
TALK is the magazine of the Torbay Amateur Radio Society. It is published four times a year in
April, July, October and January. Articles
for consideration for publication in the magazine can be e-mailed to
Editor@tars.org.uk or posted to the editor TARS TALK, PO Box 155, Newton Abbot,
Devon TQ12 6XP. The editor reserves
the right to alter any article submitted to fit to the space available in the
magazine. The views expressed are
those of the individual authors and may not be those of the editor or those of
the TARS Committee or the RSGB.
Acceptable
electronic formats are from the Microsoft family of software (up to and
including word 2003), preferably unformatted.
Next
date for copy to be received by the editor is 1st April 2007 for
publication by 27th April 2007.
Advertising
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*****For TARS 60th
Anniversary PEN’s ***************************** Black
ink with a maroon colour body – ideal for filling in your logbook. Comes with an LED Torch and laser pointer
in a snazzy felt bag. Engraved
“TARS 60th Anniversary 1947 – 2007” £3.00
each - £3.50 Post and Packing (Oversea’s postage on application) Contact Colin
– G4FCN |
|
*****For TARS TALK
ON CD ***************************** £8.00 each for members,
£10.00 for non members. Available from G4FCN at the Club on Friday
evenings or by post if required, carriage and packing £1.00. |
*****For RSGB
2007 Yearbooks ***************************** At a discounted price of
£14 per copy which is even cheaper than buying direct from the RSGB
– at the same price as last year For your copy
please contact Pam G7SME |
|
Advertising
in TARS TALK If you are an up and coming
Local Company and you think TARS can help you, you can place an advert in
TARS TALK. The rates are: Single
Issue: Back Page £25 Inside Page £15 Half inside Page £8 4
Consecutive Issues Back Page £85 Inside Page £50 Half inside Page £30 Would
be advertisers can contact Colin Coker – G4FCN. Members
may place small ads by contacting the editor@tars.org.uk or via the post
office box. |
*****For Anniversary
Polo Shirts ***************************** Different
Colours available: Gold
embroidery on a Blue shirt or Black embroidery on Grey shirt.
Size’s: 24”,
26”, 28”, 30”, 32”, S, M, L, XL, XXL Cost: £15.00
(24”, 26”, 28”, 30”, 32”,) Sweat
Shirts available for £20. Contact
Pam G7SME with your order |
