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This weekend saw a few extremely committed members take on what was by far (I imagine, though I’m happy to be corrected) the biggest and most expansive demonstration of amateur radio equipment the club has ever attempted.
There were a few apprehensive visits to various weather websites on Saturday evening and a restless night for some, but once Sunday morning rolled around we were thankfully greeted with dry conditions underfoot and a uniformly pale grey sky. I for one would have been royally cheesed-off if I had found an event cancellation notification in my inbox, but fortunately there was Nothing Heard.
Myself, Mervyn M0WVE, Chris M7VJE, Phil G4UDU and Peter G4AKG rocked up in St. Johns Park at 9:00am with all the gear and plenty of ideas. A sensible amount of planning had gone into assembling something cohesive for Town Day, but it certainly wasn’t onerous. Each individual’s preparation efforts though, were clearly erudite and thoughtful.
We were also relying on our innate ability to make things happen with whatever we had packed in the cars and I never doubted that we would be able to put on a decent display, and so it proved.
Were there things we could have done better? Of course, but I was hugely proud of what our little group achieved, and we were grateful for the support early-doors of Adrian M0TCD and Russell G7TMR, and I can’t thank them enough for being there. Every single member would have been welcome to join us, and whilst I appreciate that several people have very real reasons for not being able to attend, I’m sad that the rest of you missed out on what was a historic landmark in the club’s history.
I’m not overstating that point either. It’s a seminal moment when the club puts on the biggest public-facing display of radio technology in it’s history, and there wasn’t a single SSB phone contact made all day. In fact I’m not sure we even had a microphone with us, let alone a Morse key and yet we made multiple contacts via DMR handhelds across the internet, had QSO’s via CubeSats passing overhead in Low Earth Orbit, and logged many FT8 contacts across multiple HF bands.
We had our very own KiwiSDR running on screens within a welcoming open-sided event shelter, and hardware SDRs running on other laptops and monitors (in fact we had more laptops, displaying more engaging, relatable information, maps and data than I could have realistically imagined). There were multiple laptops and iPads running FlexRadio’s SmartSDR remote client software too, all hooked up to Phil’s HF station at home. Most sub-stations were tethered to phones or using 4G dongles.
We had digital hotspots, an EFHW ‘inverted L’ HF antenna resonant on 40m 20m 15m and 10m (you simply have to have a big ‘ole antenna up at these gigs, if only to get you noticed) a Tarheel multi-band antenna on a tripod and the little Procom wideband antenna I’m currently testing up on an 8 foot pole. There was a big 32” flat-screen continually playing-out RSGB promotional videos and AMSAT tutorials etc. whilst other monitors were displaying various slices of radio spectrum and waterfall visualisations.
All this was kept fed by Phil G4UDU’s fantastic little Honda generator, which was more than up to the job, and which ran whisper-quiet all day. A 1kW generator was probably overkill, or so you would have thought - but we were actually consuming more than half of that output to keep all the amazing tech powered up!
The fair did endure a couple of light rain showers during the morning, and that undoubtedly affected visitor numbers generally, but things cheered up again in the afternoon and a few more people showed up. Given the relatively small attendance, I thought we did really well in attracting several interesting people to our pitch. A long-term CBer considering the foundation exam, a leader from the Air Cadets keen on working with us on a collaboration, a professional comms. engineer who was genuinely impressed with what he saw, a couple of SWL’s potentially interested in taking their hobby further and three of four licenced amateurs who checked in, all of whom either already follow our website updates or who went away having scanned our URL QR codes.
We also had constructive discussions with Scout and Guide leaders around future radio-related opportunities. Everyone who visited went away with a slick colour RSGB leaflet, and the resonating sound of can-do MSARS attitude in their lug-holes.
We even caught the eye of the new Town Mayor, Peter Chapman AKA Mr BHU accompanied by fellow town councillor Anne Eves. I hope they appreciate the up-tick in their kudos gained from their association with the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society :)
It was great to have Adrian there, and we did manage to have a brief chat about training during the day, but we intend to get together soon to flesh out what we think can be achieved on that front, so watch this space.
As it happens, Adrian is also the caretaker of the QRZ pages for the club’s various call signs, and this proved useful on the day as he was required to make another landmark change for the club, because for the first time ever we were operating the G5RV callsign on digital modes! This was explicitly contradicted by the existing QRZ entry, and that was therefore duly updated to reflect its new status as of Sunday. I will manually get those QSOs uploaded somewhere online ASAP for the benefit of all those that clamoured to get that one in the log. A collector’s item for sure.
We also used our personal callsigns on the day, as well as our Special Event Callsign for Burgess Hill Town Day - GB1BH.
Yes, all those years of discounting the illegal use of Louis’ legendary callsign by unscrupulous operators around the world, and then we broke out the big guns officially on Sunday. We absolutely battered the globe with our treasured and much vaunted identifier, and I hope Louis would approve of its use in signalling the start of a new chapter for our club in this digitally enhanced world. The G5RV callsign racked up 844 reports and was heard in 54 different countries in one day. Now that's never happened before!
There is now undoubtedly a solid core of members with the foresight, enthusiasm and determination to usher the club forward, because it’s desperately in need of a technology transfusion.
I’m also happy to note the positive outlook of many of the club’s elders, and I have to register my respect for that. Clubs that can’t assimilate the latest technological advancements will not fare well in the coming years. There is room for all disciplines within amateur radio, and that’s what makes it great in my opinion. Now let’s crack on, because this is happening!
Berni M0XYF
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It has been interesting hearing from various people who have logged into the test setup of the KiwiSDR I've got running here at my home QTH.
I've just finished configuring it all and bolting it into it's permanent enclosure etc. and will be writing a whole series of articles on the process from start to finish. I'm really encouraged so far by the positive reception (no pun intended) it's received, so that's all good stuff.
You'll all just have to be a little bit patient on that front though, as well as on the results of testing various receive antennas, as my focus is now on preparations for this weekend's festivities at St. Johns' Park. As a quick aside, several of us had a very good Zoom meeting last night to finalise practicalities for the Burgess Hill Summer Fair, and I can promise you that it's going to be impressive. Massive thanks to Peter, Merv, Chris and Phil without whom this would not be happening.
Anyway, returning to the subject in hand, the SDR required much problem solving and head-scratching, and entailed a long session working with the KiwiSDR developers to resolve some show-stopping technical issues. I'd like to say at this point that they were astonishingly helpful and it was actually really good fun. I love it when tech doesn't work, and if that makes me weird, then so be it!
After getting over the software build issues (the Kiwi software, based on Debian 8, is dynamically built on the device rather than just installing binaries, which is interesting and I'm glad they've stuck with this method) everything went very smoothly. The KiwiSDR community is one of the best I've come across. It's supposed to be a proper hardware/software project after all, and not just something that you pick up in town with your bread and milk.
It took some quite extensive back-end configuration once built, and I'll be covering all that in a future article too, but I'd like to thank Chris M7VJE who has been doing a little bit of beta testing for me. More tuning will be required over time, no doubt.
I've 'branded' all this as MSARS, because that's obviously what I want to achieve, but at the moment it's all self-funded and set up at home. To facilitate testing, I have it connected to my main EFHW antenna, and so I've been sitting in the comfort of my lounge and monitoring the bands - MSARS nets in particular. For that reason, and also because I now have no transmit antenna, I wasn't able to reply to Ken when he was calling me earlier today!
I definitely agree with Dick G0LFF though, that we ultimately want to locate a receive antenna in a new very RF-quiet location with mains power and good (10mbps uplink) broadband. Anyone got any ideas or contacts? Get your thinking caps on, because that's where radio reception is going to have to happen in the near future. Peter tells me that there are often S9 noise levels in the club shack.
Anyway, lots more to come from me soon, but for now, see you all on Sunday!
Berni M0XYF
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Town Day is nearly upon us - in fact it's THIS SUNDAY 19th June at St. Johns Park in Burgess Hill, and once again the club are represented with our own pitch. This year is going to be a little bit different. We're going with less comfort and more technology.
It sounds pretty exciting considering it's almost been thrown together in a few days. Gone is the Club's operating trailer, gone is the heavy-duty Clarke mast and guy wires and gone is the G5RV. With less members committing to attend, and more paperwork and safety stuff to worry about than ever before, we're going relatively lightweight but with a strong emphasis on high-tech visuals and graphic displays. Laptops, SDR's, hotspots and large computer monitors will be in evidence, and we won't be doing that much operating - this is not just a jolly day out for us - we'll be trying to hook unsuspecting members of the public into the world of modern radio communications.
Alan and Stella have printed out some full-colour RSGB leaflets, and several members will be bringing their own hardware and software, antennas, event shelters, generators and sun-screen, because it looks like we're going to need it. What we could also do with is a couple of extra folding tables and a few more smiling amateurs to make the whole thing really convincing, so PLEASE come and support us if at all possible on Sunday 19th June from around 10:00am until we pack up at just after 15:00.
This is absolutely the best opportunity of the year for us to promote amateur radio to the general public. If you care about the future of the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society, you'll be there at some point during the day.
Here is a not-to-scale layout of the park, showing where all the relevant pitches will be, including ours marked 'C':
Our on-site location is not dissimilar to previous years, which means we may well be able to make use of a nearby tree to help elevate an antenna wire or two, which is handy.
Talking of which, although the famous G5RV antenna won't be on-site, excitingly the callsign will most definitely be in use, and it'll be going digital for the first time ever!
Can you imagine the pileup on FT8? No, neither can we, so we'll press some buttons and see what happens. We've also registered the Special Event Station callsign GB1BH for the day.
Please support us if you can, and bring your family for the 2022 return of the Burgess Hill Summer Fair.
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A fair few members congregated at Jack & Jill Windmills public car park last Friday evening to celebrate the 56th anniversary of the formation of Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society.
Those that got there early (I think I was there at around 18:45) enjoyed some early evening warmth from the sun, but as the evening crept on, caps and hoods were increasingly donned and collars turned up against the chilly wind. Maybe a dozen of us were present, and it was nice to see a couple of other interested folks who turned up to chat and admire the views. Bob N4XAT also joined us via a video app. on Dicks phone, which was excellent, and we all had a turn chatting to him. It was obvious that he would dearly have loved to have been up there with us in person.
Merv M0WVE had bought his little Tarheel which was mounted on a tripod. He had succumbed to the overwhelming truth; that the path of least resistance is to control your radio and squirt some data back and forth with a Windows laptop and a USB soundcard. Yet still it was not straightforward, and we all stood around pointing and shouting at various Control Panel options before finally shuffling away in defeat. I suppose we really should have checked that the radio audio input and output cables were connected round the right way. Never mind. I'm sure it will all be sorted for Town Day on Sunday.
I got to the car park early because I wanted to do some more testing on the wee Amphenol Procom wideband antenna currently on loan from Phil G4UDU. I'm testing a number of options for consideration as a 'fit and forget' receive-only antenna for Cyprus Hall such that we can run WebSDR's and the like from the club shack. I'll produce an article on how that's going soon, but suffice to say for now that it performed remarkably well up on the Downs. Unfortunately, at home it happily pre-amplified more spurious noise than you can shake a stick at. My next testing location is going to be the public car park behind Cyprus Hall. That will be pretty telling I think. Lets hope I don't get arrested for hacking again.
Anyway, a pleasant evening was had, even though I seemed to be the only one observing the shorts-and-T-shirt dress code. I can see that next year we'll have to have bouncers on the gate.
73's
Berni M0XYF
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This Friday 10th June 2022, we celebrate 56 years of our society. Come along and share in both our amazing history and our exciting plans for the future.
It would be really nice to see some interested non-members turning up as well, in one of the most beautiful places in Sussex. Maybe some ex-members too? Come on... how about it? You'll be made to feel very welcome.
You can see more details of the event on our Calendar, here: https://midsussexars.org.uk/calendar/eventdetail/61/-/msars-birthday-party
For old times sake, here is a copy of the minutes from that first ever committee meeting:
And for those struggling to read it, my best attempt at a transcription, including original typos.
Result of inaugral meeting 15/6/66
Meetings
To be fortnightly, 1st & 3rd Weds ea month.
To start straight away, without any breaks. First 2 - 6th & 20th of July at G3PEQ.
Newsletter
Discussed - agreed not necessary yet, to start when need arises. Any odd absent members to be kept in touch by the sec.
Title
In abeyance for consideration later.
Possibles
Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Club (Society)
Southdown Amateur Radio " "
Programme
Not too keen on formal lectures, but one meeting per month devoted to this, with the other strictly informal.
The feeling at present is that we use our own resources & entertain ourselves.
Morse classes
To be included in the 'informals' at least, preferably in both meetings with weekly instruction by individuals & recorders.
This to be arranged.
Formation of club
Decision unanimous to form one.
Officers
| Chairman | M. Brown | 3BZO | |
| Sec. | E. Letts | 3RXJ | |
| Treas | P. Tony | ||
| Committee | A Campbell | 3PEQ | |
| B. Walker | |||
| D. Dawson | 3AJE | ||
| Bennett | 3VAB |
Agreed 7 comittee, 5 to be a quorum.
Subscription
£1 annual suggested - seems agreed, but is dependant on...
