SURREY RADIO CONTACT CLUB81st Anniversary Year - Founded in 1935

JULY 2016 – No: 887

CLUB NET 1.905 MHz Sunday 9:30amCLUB NET 70.300 MHz Thursday 8:00 pmCLUB NET 145.35 MHz +/- 25kHz Friday 8:00 pm

CLUB Internet WEB Site: h ttp:// ww w.g3src.org.u k

Hon. Sec. John Kennedy G3MCX 22 Croham Park Avenue SOUTH CROYDON Surrey CR2 7HH 020-8688 3322 E-Mail: secretary@g3src.org.uk

NORMAL MONTHLY MEETINGS 1ST AND 3RD MONDAYS 7.30 FOR 7.45pm

Meetings at Trinity School, Shirley Park, Croydon CR9 7AT ***************************************************

1st MEETING: Monday 11 July. Fix-t, Move-it-On, Informal Chat led by John G8MNY

2nd MEETING: Monday 18 July. Summer Barbecue

at QTH Prim G4CCY and Maurice G4DDY

SRCC Committee 2015/16

Chairman & Club Meetings G4FDN Pat McGuinness 020 8643 0491Vice-Chairman M0LEP Rick Hewett 01689 851472Secretary & Communications G3MCX John Kennedy 020 8688 3322Web Master (ex Committee) G4FYF Steve Jones To be AdvisedTreasurer & Membership Records G4FFY Ray Howells 01732 357474Contest Co-ordinator, Newsletter Editor G8IYS John Simkins 020 8657 0454Chief Fund-raiser, Liaison, Recycling, Equipment G4DDY Maurice Fagg 020 8669 1480Committee Member G3WRR Quin Collier 020 8653 6948Co-opted Committee Member G3ZPB Peter Burton See Members'List

Dear Members & Friends,

Hello and welcome to the July 2016 issue of the SRCC Newsletter, edited by John G8IYS.

Editorial Intro

I am starting to write this on Monday 4 July, with the shadow of VHFNFD on the immediately preceding weekend still hovering over me. What that means is that my upper eyelids are giving me trouble right now. No sleep for 24 hours followed by sleep for 12 hours is possibly no longer sufficient since I passed 74 turns on the coil. Maybe too, it was the experience that the VHF propagation conditions at Woldingham, on

the Surrey North Downs, were the worst that many of the team can remember over the last 30 plus years. Maybe more, the forecast for Tues 5th

through Thursday 7th shows a major lift ahead....

More on 4 metres: My dual band 4m/6m beam is complete. It is currently awaiting final trimming and erection to the top of my crank-up mast. It is currently clamped to my mitre-saw bench on the back garden lawn – about eye level for my 4 yearold grandson, so I am under some pressure to get it out of harm's way! Some photos follow which illustrate the beast. Frankly, the physical reality is just a tad larger than I had in my mind when I started construction. However, when it is up in the air, it will look much smaller???

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Those readers who are bored out of their mind by 4m stuff can rest assured that, after this piece,more will only be presented if initiated by others – probably on the 4m Slim-Jims, produced from the Club Construction Project, but (fair warning) Martin G4FKK has assured me of his interest in the dual bander which I have built. Just in passing, based on 160 W at the antenna end of the feeder, the antenna produces a forward lobe erp of 1.6 kW on 4m. On 6m, with 300 W at the antenna terminals , a forward lobe erp of 3kW can be expected. Pics follow: .

6m/4m Dual Band antenna awaiting erection

The launcher, comprising r to l: 4m open-sleevecoupled driven element, 6m driven element,

6m 1st director. Below the boom is the coax balun

Close up of the launcher

Stabilising PTFE strip to ensure no feed

impedance changes arise from differentialelement waggling in the wind.

Note the stainless steel self tappers too.

NEXT CLUB MEETINGS

1st Meeting: Monday 11 July. Fix-it, Move-it-On, Informal Chat. Led by John G8MNY 2nd Meeting: Monday 18 July. Summer Barbecue at QTH G4CCY/G4DDY. If coming, be sure to email secretary@g3src.org.uk

PREVIOUS CLUB MEETINGS

First Meeting Monday 6 June 2016How to use an oscilloscope by John G8MNY

I am sorry, but it is not possible to present a report at this time. It will appear in the August Newsletter

Second Meeting Monday 20 JuneChat and Fix-it evening.Report by Hon Sec John G3MCX

John still had the radio equipment in his van afterhis visit to Brooklands Museum over the weekend to put GB1BM on the air. He took advantage of the situation and put an HF aerial up on the flag pole to make a few contacts from the Meeting.

Slim Jim antennas, made by Peter G7PWV and Rick M0LEP, were tested and both had a high SWR. The lengths of each were found to be one centimetre out, Peter’s was short and Rick’s was long.

There were thirteen Members present and our Chairman made a couple of announcements: There would not be a meeting on Monday 4th. July to allow those involved VHF NFD time to

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recover. The next Meeting would be a Chat and Fix-it Meeting on Monday 11thJuly. Ted Jones G3EUE has been in touch and says he has fond memories of the SRCC and all his friends there. He is still keeping up his CW activity. Pat also asked those present who would be going to the BBQ (apart from Committee). Six Hands went up, Andrew G4ADM, Gareth G4XAT, Alvin G6DTW, Kim G6JXA, Peter G7PWV (possibly Carole) and John G8MNY.

Chairman's Blog by Pat G4FDN

Forthcoming Club BBQ Monday18th July – Are

you coming? As in previous recent years thiswill be hosted by Prim G4CCY and Maurice G4DDY at their Wallington QTH. Kick-off

will be 7.30pm. Salad, bread, rolls, potatoes, desserts, tea, coffee and water will be provided as will plates, bowls, glasses and cutlery. Please bring your own meats, wine, beer and soft drinks.Chief BBQ Chef will be Peter G3ZPB assisted byJohn G3MCX and XYL Sandra. If you have already advised, and many did verbally at the last at the last meeting, there is no need to re-confirm. If you have not advised yet but intend to come, can you as soon as possible please email secretary@g3src.org.uk or phone G3MCX also advising any guests coming with you. This will greatly assist in ensuring we have appropriate quantities of the items mentioned above. Anyone who would like to come but needs a lift should also let the Hon. Secretary know and we will do our best to assist.

4 Metres: A further opportunity to have your Ladder line Slim Jim antenna tested will be available at the meeting on the 11th July. I will be also bringing along a 4m AnyTone AT588 FM transceiver with laptop and programming software and cable.

A visit to The Lizard, Cornwall: Myself and my wife Cece recently had a short four day visit to Cornwall staying in a house overlooking KynanceCove. With this being a short distance to Marconi’s sites at The Lizard and at Poldhu I tookthe opportunity to visit both which are managed by the National Trust.

Marconi’s Wireless Station, Bass Point, The Lizard Cornwall

The tiny museum in the original wooden huts overlooking Bass Point, about a mile from Lizard Point, have been restored by the National Trust and look as they did in 1901 when Marconi made history by setting the distance record for a radio signal of 186 miles sent from the Isle of White. In 1910 the station with call sign GLD made history again by being the first coastal radio station to receive an SOS call when,on the 18th April, the Minnehaha radioed for help.

An amateur radio station GB2LD occasionally operates from the site. The picture below shows their doublet antenna and a 2m collinear.

The other Marconi station at Poldhu was famous for the first transatlantic transmission to St John’s, Newfoundland in 1901. The small visitor centre is highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of radio. Members of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club act as guides for visitors and also have a permanent amateur radio station either using the call GB2GM or GK3MPD. We were given a very friendly welcome on our visit.

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G4FDN sitting at the operating position ofGK3MPD at Poldhu

The array of amateur radio antennas and masts atPoldhu

EI Operation: I will be operating from Co Mayo and Co Cork in July and August while on holiday there. NB this will be a holiday with some radio operating fitted in and not the other way around! 40m is usually the most reliable band for contacts to the UK. I hope to also be operational on 4m FM in case of any openings. NB: the EI band limits are narrower from 70.125 to 70.450MHz so responses cannot be made on theUK calling frequency. Most EI-UK contacts are on70.4MHz or 70.425MHz. If anyone is interested in trying a sked on HF let me know on. I have worked several SRCC members in previous visits. My call sign there is EI2JW.

Sign-off: I hope to see many of you at the informal meeting and fix-it on the 11th and also at the club BBQ on the 18th.

From 76 Years Ago in the T&R Bulletin (A Journal for Radio Experimenters) by Pat G4FDN

At the 2012 CATS Bazaar I came across and bought some old bound volumes of the RSGB’s T&R Bulletin, which, as most of us know, was later retitled “RadCom”. They contained many snippets of interesting local news from that time and I decided to reproduce asome extracts concerning former SRCC members that included Nell Corry G2YL, Bernard Wynn G8TB, and Ray Herbert G2KU.In the August T&R Bulletin of 1940 the followingadvert appeared:

At this time Nell was the 28MHz band correspondent with a monthly column in the T&R bulletin, often which would also often include humorous cartoons. Because this was wartime, and transmitting licences had been revoked in the UK, all reports were based on stations heard.Luckily the war didn’t stop all amateur transmissions around the world otherwise there wouldn’t have been anything to hear. Since the start of the war, the regular column in “The Bull” called “The Month On The Air” had been retitled

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“The Month Off The Air” and this was written by Arthur Milne G2MI.

In the following month’s (September) T&R Bulletin of 1940 there was a write up of the event:

Given the reference here to Mr & Mrs Corry it is assumed that these were Nell’s parents. The picture that follows below also includes another YL, Constance Hall G8LY who wrote “The Bull’s” “The Ultra-High Frequencies column.

The following month’s “Bull” (October) had another mention of G8TB:

The November “Bull” reporting on “District 7” which Croydon fell into, mentions the SRCC and also Ray Herbert G2KU –one of our founding members.

G8TB gets a further mention in the December“District 7” notes written by G2KU.

Within a month it appears that G2KU has upped and gone to sea as the 1941 January “District 7” notes records:

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The following picture is from the 1941 February “Bull’s” “Khaki and Blue” column. Once again G8TB is there (but where?)

So that is it for the history extract, but I must say I am fascinated by perusing magazines from long ago. The adverts, technical articles,hints and kinks all contain something to learn for those of us who were not yet born at that time. Pat McGuinness G4FDN

GB1BM on International Museums Weekend. Reports by Peter G3ZPB and Rick M0LEP

8 o'clock in the morning on Sunday 19th Juneat Brooklands Museum, saw John G8MNY and Kim G6JXA meet up with Peter G3ZPB to set up the station on an area of the museum near the famous "banked track". Shortly afterwards, Rick M0LEP arrived to help with the setting up, followed later by Maurice G4DDY.

By 9.30 everything was ready and contact with the Club Top Band Net was made (albeit with somewhat weak signals).

An hour later, having changed to 40m, operation started in earnest for the "main event". Over the next 6 hours, 98 stations were worked including 12 other Museum Stations with Kim and Rick doing most of the operating and John most of the logging. This is about 20 more stations than were worked last year.

After the event, Peter uploaded the logs into the official GB1BM logbook. For anyone interested the logs can be viewed at http://hrdlog.net/ViewLogbook.aspx OR http://logbook.qrz.com/ OR http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/OutBox.cfm OR https://www.hamqth.com/GB1BM.

Thank you to all who helped this year and maybe we will do it all again next year. Peter, G3ZPB, GB1BM.

Now from Rick M0LEP: We made 99 contacts in all, including one participant on the SRCC Sunday morning top-band Net. All other activity was on 40 metres SSB using 400 watts into a G5RV in a rather low (27 ft) inverted-V configuration. Band conditions were variable, with some periods of severe fading, and brief periods of relatively long skip.

The following DXCC Entities were worked: England, Scotland, Germany, Netherlands, Eire, France, Belgium, Wales, Northern Ireland, Austria, Poland, Spain and Switzerland.

13 other Museum stations were worked:

5002 GB0SNB Secret Nuclear Bunker 5013 GB0YAM Yorkshire Air Museum 5023 GB2NAM North East Land, Sea and Air Museum 5024 GB2CPM Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre 5026 GB4SMH Signals Museum at RAF Henlow 5167 GB2MOP Internal Fire Museum of Power 5179 GB4WWM Wellesbourne Wartime Museum 5287 GB2WRM World War One Museum 5296 GB5GFW Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse 5329 GB1AFP Ulster American Folk Park 5331 TM53IWM Musee de l'Evolution Agricole 5338 GB0HGB Heugh Gun Battery 5353 GB6OSD Stevenage Museum

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73. Rick M0LEP (Rick's pics follow:)

SRCC Meetings for 2016

11 Jul Fix-it, Move-it-On, Informal Chat

18 Jul BBQ @ QTH Prim & Maurice

Aug 1 Kenya Safari by Peter G3ZPB

Aug 15 TBA Fix-it, Move-it-On, Informal Chat

5 Sep Test Equipment with Bob G3OOU

19 Sep Fix-it, Move-it-On, Informal Chat

3 Oct Surplus Equipment sale

17 Oct Fix-it, Move-it-On, Informal Chat

7 Nov The GB3XP Repeater Project by Neil, M0ZEY

21 Nov Fix-it, Move-it-On, Informal Chat

5 Dec Club Construction Contest

19 Dec Informal Pre-Christmas Get-Together

Further ideas for topics volunteers and contacts will be very welcome Repeat: very, very welcome.

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OTHER CLUBS' MEETINGS

Wimbledon & District ARS

No information published.

Contact Jim Noon M6AVV - 020 8337 4940. email jamesanoon@hotmail.co.ukWeb site:- http://www.gx3wim.org.uk

Meetings @ 8pm on 2nd & last Fridayof each month at Martin Way Methodist Church, Merton Park, SW19 9JZ.

21 Jul

Sutton & Cheam RS

Fault Finding with Leslie G0CIB.

Meeting at Vice Presidents Lounge,Sutton United Football Club, GanderGreen Lane, Sutton. Normally 8pm.

Sec: John G0BWV 020-8644 9945

19 Jul

Bromley & District ARS

Direction Finding.

Normal Meetings 7.30 for 8.00 pm @ Victory Social Club, Kechill Gardens, Hayes, Bromley, Kent.

Contact: Andy Brooker G4WGZ 01689 878089

5 Aug

Crystal Palace R & EC

Summer Social

All Saints Church Parish Rooms, Beulah Hill from 7:30pm. Bob G3OOU01737 552170 (Meet normally monthly on 1st Friday) http://www.g3oou.co.uk/

26 Jul

Dorking & DARS

South Downs Evening

Contact: David Browning M6DJB djb.abraxas@btinternet.com Website: www.ddrs.org.uk. Meetings held 7.45 pm at The FriendsMeeting House, Butterhill, Dorking,RH4 2LE. Web site:- www.ddrs.org.uk

11 Jul

Coulsdon ATS

TBA

Meetings held 8 pm on 2nd Monday each month @ St. Swithun’s Church Hall, Grovelands Rd, Purley. Steve Beal G3WZK. Secretary@ catsradio.org. Tel: 01883 620730.

7 Jul

Horsham ARC Britain's Biggest EMC Challenge with John G8MM

Meetings held at 8 pm on 1st Thursdayeach month at: Guide Hall, 20 Denne Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1JF. Contact: www.harc.org.uk. Hon Sec Alister Watt email: g3zbu@hotmail.com

Crawley ARC

Unable to find meeting info for July.

Meetings at Hut 18, Tilgate Recreational Centre, Tilgate Forest, Crawley, West Sussex

Note that this is NOT a mailing address. Any letter sent there will not bee seen by the club us for several weeks, if at all. To get in touch with the club please use email.

Contact M0TZZ secretary@carc.org.uk

Sign Off. That brings us to the end of another one. Vy 73. John G8IYS Editor.

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