THE PAST WEEK
The results of Alastair’s Doodle Poll so far show only 18 people have registered an interest. Are the rest of the Club members really not interested in an online club activity, can’t even be bothered to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or are some of you not receiving the emails? Is this perhaps the ‘lockdown blues’ or are over half of WADARC members abysmally apathetic? We hear loud complaints when the Committee spend money, but for something that is FREE, only 18 members are interested. The Doodle Poll is still running and can be found at: https://doodle.com/poll/4yizg5qst7daxtvi Please note, you are only registering an interest in online Zoom lectures, you do NOT have to commit to being available if it doesn’t suit your schedule.
Seems like there is some activity by club members actually getting on the radio. Good for you! Chris, M0VUE apart from running a daily net, has been active on the HF bands and reports very favourable conditions, along with some really good DX on 20 metres in particular. Phil, G4UDU also reports a lot of activity on 6 metres FT8. There have also been some comments on our reflector about lack of activity and of course at least one sensible reply about what has always been know as “licensed listeners” – If you hear nobody and you don’t call CQ, the result is ZERO QSOs and people muttering about dead bands. Even VHF/UHF simplex and repeaters suffer the same way. If you don’t call, nobody will know you’re there!
Sorry there’s no news on the Club re-convening at TSVanguard. I can’t really say I expected anything from the government and medical advisers yet, so I’m afraid we just have to put up with it for a while longer and we will reopen when we’re told it’s safe to do so.
The SDRPlay unit has been out to its first recipient and will be despatched soon to the next member. It’s hoped that Roger, G4TNT will write a full review at a later date.
Stay home – stay safe………………. but don’t stay alert. Britain has more than enough lerts, so be a loof instead.
CLUB MEETINGS AND EVENTS – All suspended for the time being and replaced by nets. Coming soon – online talks – watch this space.
- Net on GB3WO – Tuesday 12th May – 8.00pm-10.00pm
- Net each evening (Mon-Thurs) on 3.712MHz – 6.00pm onwards
- Net on GB3WO – Tuesday 19th May – 8.00pm-10.00pm
- Net on GB3WO – Tuesday 26th May – 8.00pm-10.00pm
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)
Tuesday – 70cms on GB3WO, FM, 8.00pm (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)
Weekday evenings – 80 metres 3.712 MHz +- QRM, SSB, 6.00pm (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/spring-2020
PROPAGATION
HF and VHF
RSGB propagation information can be found by following this link: https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/propagation-news/2020/05/07/propagation-news-10-may-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
The latest 4 metre activity is proving to be really helpful and good fun. I’m finding it quite interesting to compare differences in propagation between different antennas. Either a multi-band rig that already has 4 metre capability, a transverter (very cheap on eBay) or an old PMR radio (re-programmed) will get you going and antennas are not too big or difficult to handle.
Vy 73,
Alan. G4GNX
