News
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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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First may I add my condolences to our late friend Bob N4XAT who passed away on the 13th. I was fortunate enough to meet Bob on several occasions on his visits to the UK. I would like to pass my good wishes to Kathy and the rest of Bob's extended family. RIP.
The month started off well. On the 3rd. Four contacts including YS3, 9V1 and FP, which bought my DXCCs to over 200 for the year. As a bonus the postie delivered a handful of bureau cards including HL3EIL, I've attached a scan of this as the format is a bit interesting.
The weekend of the 11th and 12th was the IARU contest. Unfortunately I was not up to operating a contest, however I did give away a couple of points. On the 13th, our postie did it again; 3Y0K Bouvet Island from the southern ocean. This Isl' is rated as No 38 on the ClubLog all-time most wanted list.
Having worked RI0SP (The drifting Russian research ship) on a number of occasions, each time in a different grid square, I thought I would describe the situation near the North Pole. On the 12th he was in JQ09, on the 13th KR01, then I heard him in KR11 and within the hour I worked him in KR21. How can you get round these so fast? Imagine a peeled orange or a Terry's chocolate orange made up of 18 segments. The bit in the middle is quite thick while at the top or bottom really thin. For radio purposes the 18 grid segments start at 'A' on the international date line and travel via 'J', the Greenwich meridian, and on to 'R'.
As the world is 360 degrees round, dividing by 18 leaves each segment 20 degrees wide. Likewise, dividing each segment by 10 gives us 2 degrees. The latitudes are divided the same way, however they are pretty much he same size from the equator to the poles. This time 'A' is in Antarctica and 'R' is in the North Pole, so 'I' or 'J' straddle the equator. As far as permanent stations are concerned, VY0ERC, Eureka on Ellsmere Island grid ER60, is only about 600 miles from the North Pole. Working stations up there is a bit tricky as auroras interfere with the signal paths. I think that is enough technical stuff for now as I have a headache! HI
Back to operating in a quiet month. My logger program has a colour code for stations worked, new grid squares, wanted this year, and ATNO. This month I have had only 4 new ones for the year showing on the screen so I have reverted to working anything - 8 islands, 7 states, 10 Chinese and 5 Japanese stations. Very lean pickings indeed and a taste of things to come as the sun cycle starts to decline again.
And, just as the month came to an end I worked RI0BU for AS-057 and JR6AG. I thought this was just another Japanese station until I looked it up.
AS-017, Okinawa.
See you next time.
Chris, G4ZCS
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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This news will be very upsetting for many of our members, as we say goodbye to a great ambassador for amateur radio and friend of many in our society.
Bob has been one of our most respected and loved members for many decades, but he sadly passed away yesterday, finally being beaten by a complex combination of various cancers.
Deepest sympathies to all his family and his many friends around the world.
He will be sorely missed.
Ken G3WYN is writing a little something and passing on a couple of photos which I will post here on the website. If anyone has any thoughts, memories, pictures or whatever that they would like to share, then please send them over to me and I will try to do them justice.
RIP Bob. I hope the DX is good up there.
Berni M0XYF
Bob's Obituary
Robert G. D'Imperio, age 90, of Southampton, NJ, previously of Villas, NJ, passed away peacefully on July 13, 2026 surrounded by his loving family.
Robert was born on September 17, 1935 to the late Helen and Daniel D'Imperio in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia, PA. He proudly served our country for over 30 years in the United States Navy where he served as a cryptologist. Robert was a member of the US Navy Cryptologic Veterans Association, the Royal Navy Amateur Radio Society, the Deutscher Marinebund (German Naval Association), and the Mid-Sussex Amateur Radio Society. He enjoyed amateur radio in his free-time.
Robert is survived by his daughter Lisanne Merrill (Burney); his siblings, Elaine M. Falcone; Kathryn D'Imperio and James D'Imperio (Karen); many nieces, nephews and cousins. Robert is predeceased by his daughter, Karen Cosgrove and his brother, Daniel D'Imperio, Jr.
Thoughts From Ken G3WYN
I first met Bob in 1988, 38 years ago when I visited Mike Brown, N4MAD in Pensacola Florida as part of my regular visits to that area.
Mike was already participating in our daily 15m nets and Bob soon joined in on both SSB and CW. Indeed he was so regular a participant that he was made an honorary member of MSARS. A move by Bob from Pensacola to New Jersey to join his family did not prove a problem and Bob continued to join in our nets on a daily basis. When HF conditions were better he and I were able to enjoy very low power CW contacts with no trouble.
Bob, then living with his sister Kathy, made several visits to Cuckfield and Stella and I visited Cape May, New Jersey on holidays over the years. Bob and I were members of his local club, the Cape May County Shark Radio ARC and Bob made regular trips to the battleship New Jersey BB62 to operate the on-board amateur radio station there in Philadelphia, where his 30 years of naval service made 30wpm CW contacts a breeze.
I last spoke to Bob about 4 weeks ago via a zoom link set up by the Pennine Ham group and have lost a good friend of many years standing. I shall miss him.
Bob and his sister Kathy, Christmas, 2018
Bob with his wife, Mike N4MAD and Ken G3WYN, Pensacola, 1994
Mike N4MAD with his TH-7 7 element Yagi, Pensacola, 1991
Memories From Dick G1AFU
I have a few photos from Bob’s visit when he stayed at Mike Mundy’s, G0GNV and also with Gavin G6DGK.
Bob, Fraser and I planned to meet up at the site of U-Boat U995 in Germany in 2024, but Bob’s health had deteriorated and our plans were put on hold.
We stayed in touch via the radio for over 33 years and he will be sadly missed for sure. He has a wonderful video collection of which I contributed many recordings on the subjects he was interested in.
There were many occasions when I was the only person hearing his ultra-weak signals while operating from the Jack & Jill site facing directly to Bob in New Jersey.
Bob had a passion for operating from museum ships, especially submarines. He was as resident operator on the USS New Jersey, an Iowa class battleship. In the last few years he got into Parks On The Air (POTA).
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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Just a quick note regarding my availability and involvement for the rest of the year.
I've taken on a bit of a 'project' in my personal life which is going to suck up most of my free time for a good few months, and just wanted to apologise for my poor attendance on the various club nets and at club meetings etc. This will unfortunately last as long as it lasts, and although I will try to keep up with essential maintenance of the website, it will limit what else I can contribute quite significantly. I'm afraid I won't be able to create much online content during this busy period, but will endeavour to get back to a more responsive and proactive position when I can.
I'll at least try and get on the radio once in a while!
Regards,
Berni M0XYF
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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Chris 2E0GZZ has this pair of tripods/antenna masts (or whatever) for sale. I seem to remember he purchased them at a junk sale, where they attracted a fair bit of interest. Here they are, back on the market for £60 the pair. Chris says they are approximately 10ft tall when extended.
If you're interested, drop me a note here, and I'll pass on your details.
Berni M0XYF
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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Ken has alerted me to a recent article on the BBC website on the current-day use of Morse Code.
it follows Paul Roberts, chair of the Shirehampton Amateur Radio Club, performing a POTA activation just outside of Bristol and encouraging some younger operators to get involved.
It's nice to see that traditional media outlets are still acknowledging the activities of our fellow hobbyists and technicians.
All such exposure is welcomed of course.
Read the article yourself here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwye0dlzgejo
