BARSCOMDUNMOW
STEBBING
NOTLEY
RAYNE HALSTEAD
WITHAM
COLCHESTER
COGGESHALL
Monthly Communication of theBraintree and District Amateur Radio Society
GX3XG
G3XG G6BRH
BRAINTREE
Feb 2020
BADARS @ SEARS Canvey Rally 2020
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Jan 20
UPDATE !
February already and the nextChairman's chat!
Not too much to report on this month.The first meeting of the year was anatter night with a good turn out andsome radio equipment in use. Becauseof the amount of radio equipment theclub is holding on behalf of others afterlast years junk sale we had an extra junksale at the last meeting to give membersan extra chance at the silent key saleitems before the club takes it to theCanvey rally. It was good to see a goodturn out for the junk sale.
One update to tell you all. The electricalsafety testing of club equipment will bedone away from the club meeting andwill be done over a weekend at it’sstorage location. So the safety testevening will now be for club membersequipment. Focusing on any mainspowered equipment that memberswould normally bring along to ourpublic events. Also the rig clinic willbecome more focused on membersequipment with the club equipmentbeing checked outside of club meetings.
One last thing Currently GB3BZ has anissue with the analogue function, theDMR function fine. The analogue sidewill be back on line as soon as possible.
73 Dave, G0DEC
Contents Chairman’s Chat …………… 2 That was the year that was .... 4M0XG ....…………………… 8Two Metre Operation Abroad 9 Contest Corner …………… 11 Club Calendar ..……..……. 12 Rallies ..…………..………. 13 Contests...……………..….. 14 Committee Info ……..……. 14Club Info …………………. 15
Chairman’s ChatDave, G0DEC
Thought for themonth
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
- Walt Disney (1901-1966)
Next Meeting
Quiz NightFeb 11th
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Jan 20
A look back at 2019 from theCommittee perspective.
2019 was the year that saw significantchanges within the club, with increasesin membership, the up-dating of theassets register of the club, looking atage and use of items, this has enabledthe club to dispose of a number ofitems. This has lowered the burden forcommittee members who store itemsfor club use.
Activities.The regular house keeping eventscontinued: Pat Testing Rig Clinic Aerial Clinic Surplus equipment sale Coax testing.Presentations G3ZPS 999 communications CW Introduction History of Braintree Computers in the shack Ins and outs of metal detecting.Social Sausage and mash Christmas Social Bar B Q Some TX Factor and natter nights.
That was the Year thatwas.
Edwin, G0LPO
Non meeting nights external specialevents.
Mills on the air. Summer Camp ROTA JOTA Ridgewell Air Museum.Statuary
Annual AGMEXTRA ACTIVITIES.
Contesting
During this year the club has embarkedon the revival of contesting as a clubactivity. This is being led by G1GNQwho has a report in this issue ofBarscom.
Training
Many of you will recall that some timeago it was suggested that the clubconsider providing FoundationTraining,
At the time this was felt to be beyondthe clubs capabilities, however with theintroduction of new foundation licenceand the change of venue, it was decidedthat the club could host the foundationtraining.
With the support of the committee atraining team was formed comprising:-
Edwin G0LPO as Exam SecNeville G8RDG Lead Trainer
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Jan 20
John M5AJB AssessorGeoff G1GNQ Assessor
Key Dated were:-
10th MarchApplication to RSGB fornamed assessors and trainer
26th MarchApplication made to RSGB forthe venue to be registered.Invigilators Appointed andapproved by RSGB PaulaMorgans and Dave Kingshott
1st SeptemberNew Syllabus Goes live
10th SeptemberAmendments made to new
syllabus,2nd October
Exam papers requested12th October
Training Commences (10) candidates6th October
Exam Date28th October
Completed papers sent to RSGB
Exam and Course content
Exam old regs based on a 72 pagesyllabus with 26 exam questions to becompleted in 55 minutes.Exam new regs based on a re numbered72 page syllabus with 26 questions to
be completed in 60 minutes.
A prerequisite to taking the exam wasthe successful completion of 6 practicalassessments, all signed of by theregistered assessors.
The practical assessments were asfollows:
10A1 MorseDemonstrate the ability to sendcorrectly and receive by ear textprovided by the RSGB with amax of 30 characters, note notime limit.
10A2 Demonstrate the ability to make a contact using SSB.10A3 Demonstrate the ability to make a contact using FM simplex.10A4 Manually adjust the physical length of an antenna for lowest SWR10A5
Match an antenna system forlowest SWR in at least twobands, using a transmitter and amanual AMU.
10B1Correctly connect up a station,to include as a minimum,mains PSU, Transceiver,microphone, an external item(eg VSWR/ Power meter,AMU, filter and antenna. Otheraccessories as appropriate.
19-01-17 …7
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Jan 20
The task of obtaining a two letter call isnot so simple and after two longtelephone conversations with a veryhelpful operative at OFCOM the callM0XG was issued upon the surrender ofthe three letter call. This was arequirement as the current rules onlyallow one full club licence perorganisation.We now have the advantages that theFull Club Licence offers and as suchALL special event calls in the future willbe applied for via M0XG. Anyonewishing to apply for an event call for aclub activity should request this throughthe committee where the application canthen be made on line through the clublicence. The full club licence also fits in with therequirements for our use at the trainingcourses that the club now run and to thisend our entries on the RSGB web sitehave been updated to reflect the new call.M0XG will be used at club contests andis registered on QRZ.com as well as E-QSLThe existing calls, G3XG & G6BRHthat have been with the club for manyyears and ably looked after by MelvinG0EMK will of course remain asnovation’s for Melvin and will continueto be used for the club nets etc.
- - - - - - - - . . - - - .
The recommended number of traininghours for the whole course wassuggested to be 12 including theassessments, in our opinion this was alittle tight and left very little leeway forthe tutors.
What NextWe have just commenced the nextFoundation course, seeking applicationsfor a course on the 18th and 19th April.We will be seeking assistance from clubmembers in support of the practicalassessments, Any member able to assistshould contact Neville, Geoff or Edwinin the first instance.
During the last year, the club has runseveral special event stations with GBprefixed call signs being used vianovation’s against individual member’slicences. In order that these event callscould be applied for using a Full ClubLicence a new Club Licence was appliedfor. Initially we were issued withM0XBG being a full club licence andhaving two officers of the committeenamed thereon This call was first usedon air at the 2019 summer camp,however the general opinion was that atwo letter call would be better.
M0XG
Geoff, G1GNQ
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Jan 20
on the southern side and Duncan onVancouver Is. We then departed forPemberton just north of Whistler, thefamous ski resort and from there I wasable to make contacts into WhistlerVillage. On the way back to Vancouvercity we stopped off for coffee atSquamish (a lovely American Indianname) and contacted VE7GDH Keith,who resides in the town and he came tomeet us. Back in Port Coquitlam I madeseveral contacts via repeaters one ofwhich is on the top of a mountain onVancouver Is so you can imagine thecoverage.We then contacted the same car hire firmwe used on our previous visit and had thesame model Buick as in 1993 but brightred with driver insurance the same forfour drivers as for one as this time mywife’s brother and his wife came with usto the Rockies. This time we set offtravelling parallel to the Canada/USAborder through the Okanagon regionwhich is there fruit growing area andholiday resort skiing in winter and
Two metre operationabroad (pt2)
Brian, G3TGB
In Pt 1 I wrote of our trip to BritishColumbia in 1993 using a Sainsburypromotion of up to one third off the faredepending on expenditure in the store.In early 1994 I spotted a newspaperadvert for Canadian Affair, a travelcompany, for cheap inauguration flightsof a new airline. A short while later Ifound the newspaper open on the table atthis page, guess by who !. Was this a hintfor a second trip, if so I was all for it. Iwas retiring in 1994 and did not haveenough holiday leave but just told thecompany I was off for three weeks andwe were back in BC in June.Our base once again was PortCoquitlam, an eastern suburb ofVancouver City, from where I madecontacts to Vancouver centre, Langley
FOR SALE
Any Tone 868 DMR HANDHELD(fully programed & Includes charger )
£115
reason for sale getting Any Tone 878Contact John, G6LJF tel. 07967673453
Jan 20
10
boating, hiking and swimming in theOkanagon River/Lake in summer.Continuing east we crossed the borderinto Alberta and put our watches forwardone hour (Canada has 7 time zones) andeventually turned north. Using theOkanagon route was a big mistake as theroad to Calgary was prairie land for some200 miles with only corn as far as onecould see and the Rockies on the horizonto the west.After an overnight stay in Calgary, nextmorning before setting off, through thelocal repeater I made two local QSO's(one an ex pat from Worcester) and oneto Edmonton via a link from the Calgaryrepeater. We acquired a map of Calgarybut at every turn we arrived back wherewe started until we realised the map wasprinted with North at the bottom andSouth at the top !The next stop was Banff and Lake Louisewhere I worked VE6DJJ/M, via the Banffrepeater, who was travelling homebetween Banff and Calgary, whilst wewere taking in the wonderful view of theVictoria Glacier and the mountainsaround the lake. Then travelling up on theIcefields Parkwaywe saw Moose, Mountain Goats, BrownBears, solitary and with young, and a herdof massivedeer grazing on a green area in the centreof Jasper.Arriving in Jasper we could not find a bedfor the night so I put out a call, VE6GRBresponded and attempted to findaccommodation but drew a blank. Thankgoodness the car was large and comfy !
Next morning we hit the road, turned westand passed through the Rockies andheaded SW to Vancouver via Clearwater,Kamloops, Merritt and Shuswap (anothertwo good names) making repeater QSO'sin each of the townships. In ClearwaterVE7TKQ, Roy, ex G fromElstree/Chichester,ex Plessey.Back in Port Coquitlam more QSO's weremade via repeaters that were easilyaccessible and made one more trip toWhistler with contacts to Victoria Is,Horseshoe Bay, Nanimo, and MapleRidge in the city area. Horseshoe Bay andNanimo are both ferry terminals to theisland.On each trip 1993 & 94 I visited theBurnaby club participating in a field daycontest that was like a big family affairwith all the children, BBQ, big antennaeand keen operators and even the Mayorturned up and gave me the enamel lapelbadge.Leaving this time was not so hard as Iknew we would be going again but itturned out to be a 19 year wait to 2013.
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Jan 20
Contest Corner
Geoff, G1GNQ
During 2019 Braintree & District A.R.S.took part in several of the RSGBcontests both HF & VHF, this was aftera considerable amount of time sinceprevious contest activity. Encouraged by some of the newermembers 2019 started off with the 80/40metre AFS HF championship contest,Neil M0NAS finished in first place inthe 100watt section with G0LPO,G4WQI & G1GNQ also taking part.This gave a result of twentieth positionfor the club, in all a very good result forus.
Throughout the year various stations tookpart in the 80metre CC contest and logswere submitted from each station for theclub. The culmination of this resulted in58th position for the club in the AFSSuper League 2018/19.The club also took part in VHF NationalField Day and HF SSB Field Day Events.These contests were /P and based fromthe clubs contest site at Stisted. Clubmembers were well represented at theevents with many hands to assist withsetting up and operating/logging as wellas helping to dismantle and stow away allequipment. These events also became asocial gathering with many XYLs joiningthe activities and also the catering.2020 has started with the 80/40 MeterAFS contest with just two stationssubmitting logs. The result for this is arespectable 36th place.
Braintree & DARS G1GNQ M0VZA
achieved
36th in the Local Section of the
RSGB AFS 80m-40m Contests Phone 2020
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
G1GNQ
achieved
37th in the 100W Section of the
RSGB AFS 80m-40m Contests Phone 2020
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
Braintree & DARS G3XG/P G1GNQ M0NAS G0LPO G4WQI G6LJF G0IAG M6NCU
achieved
9th in the Low Power Assisted Portable Section of the
SSB Field Day 2019
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
Braintree & DARS
achieved
58th in the
AFS Super League 2018-19
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
BADARS growing collection of Contest Results
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Jan 20
2020DATE MEETING TOPIC or
EVENTFeb 11th Quiz Night / Canvey feedbackFeb 25th Members equipment Pat Testing /Natter NightMar 10th Rig Clinic
Mar 24th M0ONH Demo 3D printingApr 14th G0JMT Talk on Radio at seaApr 28th Sausage and mash
May 8-10th Mills on the Air
May 12th Mills on the Air Results/update
Dave Cutts RSGB Talk
May 26th The AGM
Jun 6th National Field day (CW)
Jun 9th Satellite Tracking / sdr dongleJun 20,21 Museum on the air
Jun 23rd Club BBQ at Stisted
DATE MEETING TOPIC orEVENT
Jun 27,28 Museum on the air
Jul 14th Construction Contest
Jul 28th Aerial Clinic
Aug 11th Meeting at Stisted (operating evening)
21/08/23 Summer camp
Aug 25th Members Patch Lead CheckingSep 8th Natter NightSept 22nd Railways on the Air PlanningSept 26,27 ROTAOct 13th JOTA Planning
Oct 17,18 JOTA
Oct 27th TBA **
Nov 10th TBA **
Nov 24th Surplus Equipment saleDec 8th Christmas social
Dec 22th Maybe a natter night
Club Net - 08.00 pm local time, 2 Metres (S15) (145.375 MHz)First, third & fifth TUESDAYS
Club Meetings, Activities and Nets
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Jan 20
Rallies
16 FEBRUARY 2020
RADIOACTIVE RALLY
Nantwich Civic Hall, Cheshire,CW5 5DG.
Contact Stuart Jackson on 0788073 2534.
16 FEBRUARY 2020
LOMOND RADIO CLUBBRING-n-BUY EVENT
John Connolly Centre, Main Street,Renton G82 4LY
Contact Bill [email protected].
23 FEBRUARY 2020
RAINHAM RADIO RALLY
The Victory Academy, MagpieHall Road, Chatham, Kent, ME45JB.
Contact 0782 583 8877 or [email protected].
23 FEBRUARY 2020
RED ROSE WINTER RALLY
St Joseph’s Hall, Chapel Street,Leigh WN7 2PQ
Details on www.wmrc.co.uk
1 MARCH 2020
EXETER RADIO &ELECTRONICS RALLY
America Hall, De la Rue Way,Pinhoe, Exeter EX4 8PW.
Details from Pete, G3ZVI on 0771419 8374 or [email protected].
8 MARCH 2020
PENCOED ARC TABLE TOPSALE
Pencoed Rugby Club TheVerlands, Felindre Road PencoedCF35 5PB
Details from Madeline Roberts on0773 837 5775.
See RSGB website for full listing.http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/
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Jan 20
CommitteeChairman: Dave, G0DEC 07974267421 26 Falkland Court, Braintree
Secretary: Edwin, GØLPO 01376 324031 42 Panfield Lane, Braintree,
Treasurer and Membership Sec: Neville, G8CDG
Ordinary Members: Geoff, G1GNQ Colin, M6NCU
ContestsSat 2-Sun 3 Mar. 1400-1400 March 144 432MHz VHF Championship5 Mar 2000-2230 144MHz UKAC5 Mar 1900-2000 144MHz FMAC
HF8 Feb 1900-2300 1st 1.8MHz Contest HF Championship12 Feb 2000-2130 80m CCDATA
17 Feb 2000-2130 RSGB FT4 Contest27 Feb 2000-2130 80m CC CW2 Mar 2000-2130 80m CCDATA
11 Mar 2000-2130 80m CC CW
VHF12 Feb 1900-2000 432MHz FMAC12 Feb 2000-2230 432MHz UKAC14 Feb 2000-2230 50MHz UKAC
14 Feb 1900-2000 50MHz FMAC
19 Feb 2000-2230 1.3GHz UKAC
21 Feb 2000-2230 70MHz UKAC
21 Feb 1900-2000 70MHz FMAC
24 Feb 1000-1200 70MHz Cumulatives #126 Feb 1930-2230* SHF UKAC
http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/
Braintree and District Amateur Radio SocietyThe club meets every 2nd and 4thTuesdays of each month at StPeters Church Hall, St PetersRoad, off The CausewayBraintree. Doors open at 7.30 pm,meetings run from 8.00pm to10pm.
Membership is £18.00 annually;Senior Members (State RetirementAge) and Junior members , under18 pay £12.00. A door fee of £1.00is also payable at each meeting bymembers and visitors.
BARSCOM the clubs magazine issent to members as an e mail
attachment, normally during thefirst week of the month. Wheremembers do not have access to email, they should discussalternatives with the Secretary.
The Club Net operates on 2 meterson the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of themonth and will use V30 (S15)145.375MHz starting at 20.00hrslocal time.Where the month has 5 Tuesdaysthe 5th Tuesday net will be onGB3BZ Input 438.450MHzOutput 430.850MHz CTCSS110.9
Please send articles for publication [email protected]
The deadline for submissions for the next edition is 1st of the month. Items will be published in the first
available edition subject to space availability.
For more information and pictures of events and projects seeour Web Site at www.badars.co.uk
Please contact our Chairman for details about commercialadverts.
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