THE PAST WEEK
Wednesday’s Christmas dinner at the Old Tollgate, Bramber was good fun, despite the noisy atmosphere. Many thanks to all who helped to organise the event and to everyone who donated raffle prizes. Special thanks to Ron, G3SKI and his son who provided a splendid Christmas cake and to 3 special YOUNG ladies who chased us all to buy raffle tickets. Last but not least, thanks to Phil, G4UDU for presenting the annual awards.
As always, there was more food than anyone could eat, so nobody went home hungry and hopefully everyone thought they got good value for money.
Some more progress on the Lions Hall. We’ve heard back from their committee and we’re now discussing the cost of maintaining a shack and where aerial supports could go. We’ve also had a very uncooperative email from Lancing Parish Council regarding their fire alarm. From the tone of the email, it would seem that they would prefer us not to be there any more. The first reaction is to rebel and raise hell, especially after all the time and money that’s been spent on moving us from one hall to another. However, it may not be worth the effort, if we can move to Lions Hall in the near future. Any comments from WADARC members, please send them to: committee@wadarc.org.uk
ANNUAL AWARDS
The 2017 awards, presented on Wednesday 13th December are as follows:
Roger, G4TNT – The G8HY Merit Award for untiring effort editing Ragchew.
Graham, G4FNL – Award for Best Lecture – the Botswana DXpedition.
Chris, G3UFS – Winner of the Construction Competition with a well made dummy load.
Pete, G4LKW – Club Merit Award for efforts in arranging and operating WADARC special event stations.
Pete, 2E0FVL – Club Merit Award for efforts in arranging and operating WADARC special event stations.
Alan, G4GNX – Club Championship for 6m, 4m, 2m and 70cms.
Alan, G4GNX – Chairman’s Award (by Andrew, G1VUP) for holding the club together and being awesome!. If it was not for Alan we would not have a club running in 2017.
CLUB MEETINGS & EVENTS
- Discussion, what is the future for WADARC – Wednesday 20th December – 8.00pm – 10.00pm
- Annual traditional Christmas morning net on 145.525 MHz/S21/V38 Simplex – Monday 25th December – 10.00am – 12.00pm
- Multi Band Nets on the air from home – See the website for updated details – Wednesday 27th December– 8.00pm – 9.30pm – Note: LPH CLOSED.
- Tea and Chat night at Lancing Parish Hall – Wednesday 3rd January 2018 – 8.00pm – 10.00pm
For further information as it occurs, please visit the WADARC website: 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 – 70 cms on GB3WO, 7.00pm (local)
Sunday – 80 metres 3.712 MHz +/- QRM, SSB, 7.30am-8.00am (local)
RALLIES
29 December 2017 Yeovil ARC Tabletop Rally [Friday]
Sparkford Village Hall, Church Road, Sparkford, Somerset BA22 7JN.
Open 10:00 to 15:00. Admission £3. Free parking. Light refreshments.
Details: Bob, 01963-440167, wjh069@gmail.com
Details of other UK rallies can be found on this excellent website: http://www.g4rga.org.uk/All.html
RAGCHEW
Autumn 2017 edition published – http://www.wadarc.org.uk/ragchew/autumn-2017-ragchew
PROPAGATION
HF:
LATEST SOLAR NEWS (Courtesy of Spaceweather News):
(Dec 13 1253UTC) Solar wind is calming. Solar flaring is absent. All is calm in geospace with the next intense solar wind stream expected to impact Earth in ~24hours.
For further info please visit: http://spaceweathernews.com/
Morning propagation on 40 metres has been sporadic and directional once again. Conditions and signal strengths have changed in a matter of minutes. Although more applicable to the upper bands, some disturbances may be due to the Geminids meteor shower which peaked on Thursday night.
VHF/UHF:
Conditions in our area have been poor once again, with beacons sitting just above the noise and occasionally disappearing altogether.
Beacons often heard in our area:
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:
This week’s bulletin was made possible with information provided by the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.
VIET NAM, 3W. Dirk, DF2XG is QRV as 3W9XG from Hai Phong while here on work assignment. Activity is in his spare time on 40 to 10 meters using CW. His length of stay is unknown. QSL via operator’s instructions.
GEORGIA, 4L. Vlad, UA4WHX will soon be QRV as 4L/UA4WHX. Activity will be on 40 to 17 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. His length of stay is unknown. QSL to home call.
CYPRUS, 5B. Alex, 5B4ALX is QRV as special event station 5B4XMAS until December 31. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and various digital modes. QSL via IZ4AMS.
SENEGAL, 6V. Members of the Amateur Radio Association of Senegal are QRV as 6V1A from Goree Island, IOTA AF-045, until December 17. Activity is on the HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL via 6W7JX.
BARBADOS, 8P. Ernest, J69Z is QRV as 8P9JB until January 2, 2018.
Activity is on 80 to 10 meters. QSL direct to home call.
PALESTINE, E4. Elvira, IV3FSG is QRV as E44YL from Bethlehem until December 18. Activity is on the various HF bands using SSB and possibly digital modes. QSL via IK3GES.
SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E5. Mauri, AG1LE is QRV as E51DXX from Rarotonga, IOTA OC-013, until December 29. Activity is holiday style on the HF bands using SSB, PSK31 and FT8. QSL to home call.
CANARY ISLANDS, EA8. Rieder, HB9FIH is QRV as EA8/HB9FIH from El Hierro Island, IOTA AF-004, until the end of March 2018. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters, and possibly 6 meters, using CW, RTTY, PSK, and some SSB. QSL to home call.
SOLOMON ISLANDS, H4. Shane, VK4KHZ is QRV as H44DA from Busone, Malaita Province until early January 2018. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters, and satellite SO-50, but with a primary emphasis on 6 meters. QSL direct to home call.
REPUBLIC OF KOREA, HL. Special event call DT23WOP is QRV until February 28, 2018 during the Winter Olympic Games that will be held here. QSL via HL1IWD.
DJIBOUTI, J2. Dane, S53T is QRV as J28ND until December 17.
Activity is in his spare time on the HF bands using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via S57DX.
SVALBARD, JW. Morten, LA4JSA is QRV as JW4JSA from Bear Island, IOTA EU-027, until June 1, 2018 while on work assignment. Activity is in his spare time on the various HF bands. QSL to home call.
BELGIUM, ON. Members of the Club Radio Durnal will be QRV as OT100BCA on December 17 from the Royal Castle of Laeken. QSL via ON4RCD.
POLAND, SP. Special event station SN20WHL is QRV until December 20 to draw attention to the city of Torun that was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List 20 years ago. QSL via SP2TMT.
CORSICA, TK. Georg, NZ1C will be QRV as TK/NZ1C from December 16 to 24. Activity will be holiday style on 40 to 10 meters using mainly CW, with some SSB, RTTY, PSK and FT8. QSL via DD5ZZ.
UKRAINE, UR. Members of the amateur radio club Band are QRV as EM25IWW until the end of the year to celebrate the club’s 25th anniversary. QSL via UR7IWW.
INDIA, VU. Members of the Manipal Institute of Technology radio club are QRV as AT6MIT until January 7, 2018 to celebrate the institution’s 60th anniversary. QSL via VU3BUN.
ROMANIA, YO. Special event station YP2018HNY will be QRV from December 15 to January 15, 2018 to celebrate Christmas and the New Year 2018. Activity will be on the HF bands. QSL via YO3KPA.
THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO
The ARRL CW Rookie Roundup, NCCC RTTY Sprint, 80-Meter QRP CW Fox Hunt, NCCC CW Sprint, UN DIGI Contest, AGB-Party Contest, Russian 160-Meter Contest, Feld Hell Sprint, OK DX RTTY Contest, Padang DX Contest and the Croatian CW Contest are all on tap for this upcoming weekend.
The Run for the Bacon QRP CW Contest is scheduled for December 18.
The CWops Mini-CWT CW Test, Phone Fray and 40-Meter QRP CW Fox Hunt are scheduled for December 20.
Please see December QST, page 73, and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details
VHF/UHF:
All times – Local
26th – 29th December – 50/70/144/432MHz Christmas Cumulatives Contest – 14.00-16.00
FINALÉ
Although it’s close to Christmas and folks are no doubt busy preparing, we do have one more meeting at Lancing Parish Hall before the New Year. It would be really beneficial to the club if as many members as possible can attend, as it’s a discussion evening on the future of WADARC. We really need to find out from members what you want from the club and welcome any suggestions. We don’t want to lose any more members and of course we want to recruit new members. Obviously if we’re not catering for members’ interests, this is not going to happen, but of course we need to know what those interests are. PLEASE try to get along to the meeting and support YOUR club.
73,
Alan. G4GNX
