Amateur radio in West Sussex - Training, Exams, Contests and Special Event Stations

Weekly Bulletin – August 25 2019

WADARC meets at – TS Vanguard, 9a Broadwater Road, Worthing. BN14 8AD

THE PAST WEEK

Last week’s Tea and Chat meeting was mostly taken by reports of the previous weekend’s Lighthouses On The Air event at Shoreham. There was also a live demonstration on how to correctly re-fold the club’s tent and some discussion on parts needed to ensure that the tent doesn’t try to ‘take off’ next time it’s used when it’s windy.
This Tuesday sees the 3rd leg of the 2 metre foxhunt. TS Vanguard will be open for all members who are not taking part on the road. Here are instructions from the ‘Fox’ (Dorian, 2E0FSI):

I will start transmitting at 7:30pm on 145.425 MHz FM. I will transmit the 1st 3 calls at 10 minute intervals, the next six at 5, on the 6th call I will reduce power from 5w to 1w and transmit every 2 minutes. I will be using a basic antenna. This is in line with the previous format to help people find me. Clues will start at the end of hour 1. I will be in a car. The North boundary will the Top of the Downs, East – Portslade, West – Angmering.

There have been some enquiries from members who have received an online payment request for their club subscription, although they think they may have already paid it. This can be due to several reasons:

  1. You actually haven’t paid it.
  2. You have set up a bankers order, which has not been paid out yet.
  3. You have paid by some other means and it has not yet been recorded by Roger/Ian. This will happen soon!

Subscriptions are not actually due immediately and you will not be thrown out of the club for non-payment. Please ensure that your payment has actually been made and if you still receive reminders, let Roger or Ian know.

CLUB MEETINGS AND EVENTS

  • 3rd leg, VHF Foxhunt – Tuesday 27th August – 7.30pm-9.30pm – TS Vanguard WILL be open as usual at 8.00pm
  • Sunday Breakfast – Sunday 1st September – 9.00am-10.00am – Morrison’s, Worthing
  • Subject of meeting TBA in the next ‘Bulletin’ and on WADARC website – 3rd September – 8.00pm-10.00pm – TS Vanguard

For further information as it occurs, please visit the WADARC website: http://www.wadarc.org.uk

NETS

Monday – 2 metres 145.425 MHz, FM, 7.30pm (local)

Thursday – 40 metres 7.106 MHz +- QRM, SSB, 11.00am (local)

Saturday – 70cms on GB3WO, 7.00pm (local)

Sunday – 80 metres 3.712 MHz +- QRM, SSB, 7.30am – 8.00am (local)

RALLIES

Local, national and some international rallies can be found by visiting this excellent website: http://www.g4rga.org.uk/All.html

RAGCHEW

Spring 2019 edition published – http://www.wadarc.org.uk/ragchew/spring-2019

PROPAGATION

HF and VHF

RSGB propagation information can be found by following this link: https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/propagation-news/2019/08/23/propagation-news-25-august-2019/

BEACONS

VHF:

GB3WSX – IO80QW – 70.007 MHz

GB3BAA – IO91PS – 70.016 MHz

F1ZXK – JN18KF – 144.438 MHz

F5ZSF – IN88GS – 144.409 MHz

GB3VHF – JO01EH – 144.430 MHz

ON0VHF – JO20HP – 144.418 MHz

UHF:

F5XBA – JN18KF – 432.830 MHz

GB3UHF – JO01EH – 432.430 MHz

ON0UHF – JO20ET – 432.567 MHz

DX NEWS

HF:

WADARC members (and others) can subscribe to the DX News service without joining ARRL.
Send an email to this address: w1aw-list-request@arrl.org

In the subject line put the word Subscribe followed by your email address

ARRL will send an acknowledgement and you will receive the weekly DX News as an email, usually on a Friday

VHF/UHF:

The RSGB VHF/UHF Contest and Activity calendar is available via this link: https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/readcal.pl?year=2019

FINALÉ

I’m pleased to report that after a short discussion at last week’s meeting, I have solved the issue of successfully fitting the heavy duty 45 amp and 70 amp Anderson Power Pole connectors. Despite using the approved crimping tool, I found that the larger cable needs some extra pressure to crimp it successfully. If the crimp lugs are not sufficiently flattened, the contacts will not pass through the orifice in the outer housing and the end of the contact is unable to fully engage the pressure spring. I hope this info will help others who use Power Pole connectors for construction.

73,

Alan. G4GNX