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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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Another quiet-ish month for me this June, as I was feeling a bit rough for several weeks.
As usual Murphy’s law kicked in just when I started to feel better - the sun flared again. So, no contact with the American Field Day or the King of Spain SSB contests.
I did, however, manage a second 'insurance' contact with Rockall, this time on CW, and I am glad I did as there had been a problem with their electronic log. A simple fault with the wrong time zone being entered, luckily sorted out now and a QSL is on its way.
By way of a cheer-up, I found that I had been awarded a Silver Award for working the Chinese Amateur Radio Festival stations early in May.
I also got some 'wallpaper' for working the CQWW contest, plus I received confirmation of my contact with East Timor (try finding that on the map).
Having more time at home these days, I have been able to dive into the shack at all times of day to check on conditions. This brings up some of the rarer contacts I have been getting. Watching propagation and grey-line times seems to bring success. It also helps when the Mediterranean countries have gone to bed! I was also reminded of the North South seasonal variation when I spoke to Bob, Ken’s mate down in the Falklands. It is our mid-summer, but their mid-winter and their weather was a bit cold and rough!
I did a short spell as a SWL when Cal, out on Rockall, raised a Mayday for an evacuation. Not many are aware that the main coastguard HF daytime radio frequency is close to our 5Meg allocation, so it’s easy to listen in to the emergency traffic. Last time I heard this much action was during the Lockerbie plane disaster when live feeds from the SAR helicopters could be heard here in Sussex. The comments and reactions from the airborne observers cannot be repeated but gave a true impression of the scale of the incident in real time.
So back to my activity, nothing too special but Ethiopia, Singapore, and The Vatican City were added to my score. A chat with Ken and Dick on the lunchtime net reminded me that we have not heard the Sovereign Military Order of Malta for some time. This is a similar entity to the Vatican, and is on the other side of the Tiber in Rome and not in Malta as some might think. The Order also has a presence near Putney bridge in London (not a lot of people know that...) but I’m not aware of any radio activity from there.
As some 'homework', I checked ClubLog and the LOTW for updates and to my surprise I had lots of confirmations. One of these was for a North American island that means I can now apply for the IOTA North American certificate (even more wallpaper).
Next month, if there is room, I will cover slot chasing and other interesting stuff!
Below is a copy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta QSL, and the best I could do on the previous (failed) attempt to activate Rockall.
Chris G4ZCS
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Burgess Hill Summer Fayre (Town Day) 25th June 2023
To be quite honest I wasn't really sure if Mid Sussex ARS were going to attend this year, but I made up my mind that somehow we would show our face to the public.
Saturday evening I loaded my car with what I needed from the club. Sunday morning I loaded up the car with my radio gear from home along with the generator kindly loaned to me from Kim G7AIE and the petrol can from Alan G8YKV, filled with the correct grade of fuel.
Arriving at the entry point to St Johns Park 20 minutes before my allotted entry time, I was very happy to be let in early. After following a marshal at the obligatory speed of 5mph I arrived at my pitch for the day.
Having spoken to the organisers, I was granted permission to keep my car on site which gave me a good base for any antennas to be put up. So the assembly began - I wasn't sure how the gazebo was going to go up being on my own but was pleasantly surprised having worked out that if I pinned one corner down I could pull it out and then extend all four corners one by one. This process was made even more enjoyable watching how the other groups were coping with even more people helping.
I then unpacked the car and set up the tables with my radios and got them connected to the antennas. My trusty Yaesu FT7 was connected to a 9:1 unun with a long wire which runs very well on 20m, and a Xiegu X1M connected to an Ampro 15m antenna.
I had also brought along my DMR setup which unfortunately I wasn't able to run owing to the fact that my DMR hotspot had developed a fault and wasn't working properly.
Monitoring GB3HY through the earpiece connected to my handheld, I heard Adrian M0TCD calling and after a short conversation he arrived on site.
My next job was to get the Flex Radio at the club connected and working with my laptop and external monitor using my phone as an Internet hotspot. This proved to be a bit problematic but after a quick trip to the club to look at the Flex - leaving Adrian to look after everything for me - we were up and running.
My second visitor was John M3UKI who popped in for a while (thank you for the ice cream). Phil G4UDU was my third visitor and brought with him a WSPRlite, which after some fiddling around with, we were unable to get running properly.
The weather was glorious and certainly brought the crowds out. We had a few enquiries regarding training and obtaining an amateur licence - not as many as I would have liked - but I had achieved what I set out to do and showed the club's face at a community event, with the Flex radio running perfectly.
So to end this article I would like to thank Kim G7AIE for the loan of the generator, Alan G8YKV for the use of the petrol canister, John M3UKI and Phil G4UDU for taking the time to come along and say hello. My biggest thanks of all goes to Adrian M0TCD for spending the whole day with me, answering any questions I couldn't and helping me to pack up afterwards and take everything back to the club.
Chris M7VJE
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For me, May is usually a quiet month with gardening and outdoor jobs to do, so not too much radio.
This year I managed a total of 264 contacts, mostly run of the mill nets and European contacts, but with several surprises along the way.
The month started off with a huge number of Russians celebrating the 78th anniversary of the ending of WW2. Mixed in were a number of Chinese stations on the higher bands, both CW and voice, mostly club stations.
On the 20th the annual King of Spain contest was on, so an opportunity to work The King? No, but I did work the royal station. During the following week, several VK stations, Reunion Isl', and a new island off Hong Kong were contacted on several bands.
On the 27th the annual CQWW CW contest was on, a real free for all! I was a bit sluggish this year so only made just over 100 contacts but had a couple good ones. The best, an ATNO, was KH8W on American Samoa in the middle of the Pacific. These contests give the opportunity to fill the logbook and add to your annual and all-time contact counts. Usually just a quick-fire 59 # but in the midst you get a surprise “hi Chris how’s things?” from a DX station, its all good fun.
To add to the surprises, on the 31st I managed a quick 15m SSB chat with Nobby out on Rockall for a new island, he said he’d been sunbathing (!) and I had been chasing this one for about 20 years.
So, I’m still short of my 200 DXCC target but getting close.
This month’s illustrations are a QSL card from the Spanish Royal station in 2014, and a card celebrating their new King from the same year.
Cheers & 73
Chris, G4ZCS
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MSARS Training Academy is an ongoing and long-term project.
In the absence of in-person training opportunities, I feel that it provides an accessible learning platform - and that right now, it's the best that can be achieved. Whilst it may not float everyone's boat, the advantage it unquestionably does have is reach, and therefore this summer I'll be promoting it nationally.
Of course, a training academy is only as good as the courses and learning material that it offers, and crafting that is a time consuming business. I've found it difficult at every stage - trialling and selecting the correct educational platform, installing and configuring that software, working out how to use and maintain it, and figuring out how best to load training content onto it. I know it's taken a long time; I knew it would, but if it inspires just one person to learn more about radio technology and have fun whilst doing so, then I'll call it a win.
I personally wanted to fulfil an ambition which I shared with MSARS members last year, but also whilst making a case for our council-awarded grant last October. I really wasn't joking when I said I wanted to be able to offer free training to every single person in Burgess Hill, Mid Sussex, and the entire UK.
But let's not get carried away. It is, as I said, limited by the content which can be made available.
Like most amateurs I'm really interested in just a subset of everything that's on offer as part of the greater amateur radio community. Therefore, I've focused on getting some modern and cutting-edge technology based material loaded up. That doesn't mean that as a club we can't add more traditional offerings at a later stage, but that's not my focus. Other clubs and societies already have much of that covered in my opinion, and I for one will not be wasting time duplicating that effort when they have already done such a good job.
The academy currently has one main course available. It's entitled 'Understanding Radio Communications Using Software Defined Radio'. This was kindly donated to the society in its entirety by UK company SDRplay, and that is why they are identified as a sponsor on our website.
Now I'll be honest, I haven't completed the full course myself. I just haven't been able to find the time, but I've seen most of it, and have used all the tools it employs on previous projects and training courses. There are also a lot of hands-on practical exercises included, and you will ideally require an SDRplay RSP1a SDR receiver to complete those. Chances are that if you have an interest in SDR technology, you have one of these fantastic little boxes anyway. I also have two available for club members to borrow if not.
For more information, you can get an overview of the course on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sdrplayeducators4304
MSARS members may request access using the regular website registration form.
You may then access the MSARS Training Academy itself from the Training Menu above, or directly: https://msarsacademy.org.uk
Please feed back if you find any errors or encounter any problems etc. There is a discussion forum available as part of the course platform for this purpose.
The course is designed to be given by a 'teacher', but I'll just have to try and provide support on a best-efforts basis. The latter part of the course requires an Arduino-based transmitter module. I have made one, and can make it available at club nights if required, or you can make your own. It's actually a bit of fun, and instructions are included in the teachers notes. If you need help, then just ask in the forum. There are quizzes and additional activities available, and it's up to you whether you choose to submit these for assessment. There is no requirement and I promise not to fail you!
Take your time, and enjoy the course.
Berni M0XYF
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A great turnout for the setup of our HF Mills Station on Saturday. Loads of members there, and thanks to everyone who pitched in. Particular thanks to Alan and Stella for dragging the trailer up the hill, to Kim for the loan of the Honda generator and Phil for the loan and setup of his vertical antenna and SGC Smartuner.
Everything was conducted in fabulous sunshine, with a gentle cooling breeze to keep the workcrew fresh. Everything worked perfectly right off the bat.
Apart from the radio.
The club shack's Yaesu FT-847 appeared to be working when tested on AM, but when switched to SSB, there was nothing more than a carrier. That's going to need looking at to see if it can be saved from the 'spares or repair' section of eBay.
Luckily, Alan had also bought along his Icom IC-7100 as backup, and it was quickly pressed into service. It performed well all day, the antenna tuned on every frequency we requested from it (we tried virtually all bands, but quickly settled on 40m and stayed there pretty much all day) and the generator kept up with the demand from the trailer without issue.
The bands weren't really playing ball though. First contact was to Ken G3WYN for a quick test, followed by a good handful of G stations including a sprinkling of MOTA participants.
Things seemed to die-off in the middle of the day, and I'm not sure how the afternoon panned out, as I popped home for lunch before making my way over to Chailey to see how the chaps were getting on over there.
Chailey Heritage Windmill is in a beautiful location up on Red House Common and looked stunning in the afternoon sunshine. If you've never been, make sure you get over there next year. Myself, Merv and Steve all popped in to see Chris, Kevin and Gavin doing well despite the state of the bands (again 40m being the most fruitful) and the delta-loop antenna seemingly reluctant to match particularly well to the radio. That was later traced to a slightly misleading tuner configuration, which just need an inductor adjustment.
GB0CHW achieved a respectable number of QSO's, again with a good few mills in the log, including a few Dutch callsigns.
Thanks again to all the MSARS members that participated, and to the Downland Radio Group for the invite over to Chailey.
Looking forward to next year already, although there are a range of other celebratory xOTA activations going on throughout the summer. Watch this space.
73
Berni M0XYF
