ANNOUNCEMENT
There has been some discussion on the club Discuss reflector, as you might expect, regarding the Covid 19 virus and there have been a few sensible suggestions. I’ve also been contacted by one Committee member who is more concerned. It would seem to be the sensible thing to do is to follow Government guidelines and add a few sensible ‘extras’ of our own. For the time being, regular Tuesday meetings at TS Vanguard will continue, but of course this may change if necessary. As many of our members are in an upper age group and therefore vulnerable, we must take some precautions.
Meetings:
If you have ANY of the symptoms of Covid 19 i.e. A recent persistent cough, a sore throat, a high temperature or fever or any recent breathing difficulties, PLEASE STAY AWAY. If ANYONE turns up with any of those symptoms, they will be asked to leave and not return for ONE MONTH. I hope that all of our members are sensible and care about other members, so this won’t be necessary. If you have a common cold, please stay away – the rest of us don’t want it! Finally (and obviously) if you’ve been abroad in the last two weeks or been in contact with anyone with the virus, PLEASE STAY AWAY.
When you enter the building, please immediately go to the appropriate toilet and WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WARM WATER FOR 20 SECONDS. If you have to go outside again and come back in, please repeat the process. If you have the need to occasionally cough or sneeze, please TURN AWAY from anyone near you and USE A TISSUE, which should then be put in the nearest waste bin. DO NOT SHAKE HANDS – “Hello” is sufficient! If you touch any metal surfaces e.g. Door handles, door ‘plates’ and even spoons, with your hands, WASH YOUR HANDS afterwards ASAP. Unless you are directly involved in making tea, please STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN.
As TS Vanguard is a semi-public building, some extra care will need to be taken regarding ‘surfaces’. I will be bringing some wipes to clean the door handles and any tables we may use. Unfortunately it’s just too big a task (and probably unnecessary) to sanitise every chair and other surface. The sensible thing to do is for each member to get their own chair out from under the stairs, only use that chair and only return your own chair afterwards. After any handing of chairs, HAND WASHING is a good idea.
Finally, if you know of a club member who is unlikely to be able to read this notice, please try to print a copy and give it to them. Care for yourself and everyone else is the key to the Club continuing to function with all of its members intact.
73, Alan – G4GNX – Chairman.
THE PAST WEEK
Apart from the antics of some people and the hoarding of toilet rolls (no Club members implicated!) it’s been fairly uneventful, excepting that yours truly has braved the kitchen roof and finally installed a single dipole for 4 metres, with good results. NOT a WADARC net, but Tony, G8XRX runs a Worthing area 4 metre net every Friday evening at 7.30pm on 70.400 MHz FM, vertical polarisation.
Last Tuesday’s meeting saw the commencement of the construction of the Club’s new KPA500 linear amplifier. We worked through a few pages of instructions and mounted parts on the bottom and side panels. This coming Tuesday, we will continue where we left off, with construction of the rear panel and other parts as time permits. Once again, all are welcome to either take part or just watch. Thanks to all those who helped last week, especially Alex for taking time out to make the tea.
CLUB MEETINGS AND EVENTS – All subject to change at short notice
- Construction Night – Building Elecraft KPA500 Kit – Tuesday 17th March – 8.00pm-10.00pm – TS Vanguard
- Podcast or Video – TBA – Tuesday 24th March – 8.00pm-10.00pm – TS Vanguard
- Tea and Chat Night – Tuesday 31st March – 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
Winter 2019/2020 edition published – http://www.wadarc.org.uk/ragchew/winter-2019-2020
PROPAGATION
HF and VHF
RSGB propagation information can be found by following this link: https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/propagation-news/2020/03/13/propagation-news-15-march-2020/
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=2020
FINALÉ
Because of the utter lunacy of some members of the great unwashed public and the great 2020 toilet paper famine, it may be a good idea for those attending TS Vanguard, to listen carefully in case someone attempts to sneak through the unlocked door to steal the bog rolls! <grin>
73,
Alan. G4GNX
