Cray Valley Radio Society

G1RCV, G3RCV and M8C

www.cvrs.org

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CV-RS/

10m Sunday morning net @ 11:00 local: 28.570 MHz +- QRM

4m net – Fridays in weeks where there is no club meeting @ 20:30 local: 70.450MHz, then QSY to

70.425 or 70.475MHz

QUA January 2015 Editor: Bob Treacher M0MCV

DIARY DATES

15 January 2015 - Annual planning meeting – G4JED and G4BUO

17 January 2015 - 40/80m Affiliated Societies’ Contest – G4BUO

18 January 2015 - Intermediate course – Day 1

24 January 2015 - Intermediate course – Day 2

30 January 2015 - Intermediate course – Day 3 + Foundation resits

Looking further forward

3 February 2015 - 2m UKAC

5 February 2015 - Farne Is DXpedition – G0VJG

19 February 2015 - PAT testing – G0FDZ

5 March 2015 - Annual Construction Contest – G0FDZ

19 March 2015 - The Kirkaldy Testing Museum

HONORARY OFFICERS, 2014/15 COMMITTEE AND CO-OPTED MEMBERS

President Bob Treacher M0MCV bobrcv@ntlworld.com Vice-President Chris Whitmarsh G0FDZ chris@g0fdz.com Vice-President Owen Cross G4DFI closehaul@btinternet.com 2014/15 Committee Chairman Frank Rhodes G4WNF g4wnf@mac.com Vice Chairman Colin Wooff G3SPJ g3spj@btinternet.com Secretary Richard Cains G7GLW rcains@btinternet.com Treasurer Martin Rast M0MDR mrast@gmx.net Members Cliff Ayling G4HSU cliffayling@btinternet.com

Dave Lawley G4BUO dave@g4buo.com Tom Kenney G1FAD g1fad@talktalk.net

Co-opted members

Examinations secretary Frank Parradine G0FDP francisparradrm@aol.com Trophies manager Guy Roberts G0UKN guy@g0ukn.com Programme secretary Keith Bird G4JED keithlbird@aol.com Equipment manager Cliff Ayling G4HSU cliffayling@btinternet.com Reflector manager Slim Haines G4IPZ g4ipz@g4ipz.com

EDITORIAL

Happy New Year!

What will 2015 hold for us? You will have your opportunity to help shape the year at our annual

planning meeting on Thursday 15 January. Keith G4JED, in his last task as programme secretary will lead

the discussion on offers and suggestions for lectures and presentations at our twice monthly meetings.

Dave G4BUO will lead the second half of the meeting to listen to your ideas for external events and

contest participation.

However, once we have your thoughts on this year’s meeting programme, how do we take the ideas

forward? As you know Keith Is taking a well-deserved break so he can concentrate on his Kent DRM

duties. If you think you can step into the role, Keith is looking forward to hearing from you.

Our plans to establish a club shack at our meeting place have suffered a setback. Unfortunately, it

appears that a local resident has advised the Royal Borough of Greenwich about the mast that was

recently erected. We have been asked to submit a planning application. A small sub-group is taking this

forward and an application should be submitted by the end of the month.

Plenty of news to catch up on as the last QUA was issued seven weeks ago! Hope you like the new look!

SUBSCRIPTIONS: MARTIN M0MDR

2015 subscriptions are now due.

Subscription details are:

Full Members £23

Associate and Overseas Members £20

Student Members (18 to 23) £15

Student Members under 18 £7. 50

Bank details are as follows:

Cray Valley Radio Society: Sort code: 60-09-10 Account No: 46186352

Your call-sign preceded by ‘sub’ should be used as reference.

Overseas payments may be made using international transfer to:

Cray Valley Radio Society: BIC NWBK GB 2L IBAN GB05 NWBK 6009 1046 1863 52

We encourage payment by bank transfer as this minimises the time spent on administration. If you

prefer paying by cheque please make it payable to Cray Valley Radio Society (in full) so that it can be

read by the bank’s paying in machine. Your cheque can be posted to me: Cray Valley Radio Society c/o

Martin Rast, Flat 21, 137 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 1PZ.

If you do not intend to renew your membership please accept the committee’s thanks for your past support and let me know your intentions so I can amend our records and avoid sending you any unnecessary reminders.

NEW CVRS FOUNDATION CALLSIGNS

Akimoto M6FBN; Jon M6HSN; Steve M6EYD: Dorn M6YMJ; David M6EYC; Harry M6HGC; Richard M6EYJ

and Adnan M6XML.

INTERMEDIATE COURSE

Seven of those who were successful in the recent Foundation exam signed-up for the forthcoming

Intermediate course. There are nine candidates in all. Three candidates will resit their Foundation exam.

Dates for the Intermediate course are Sunday 18 January, Saturday 24 January and Saturday 31 January.

LICENCE REVISIONS

Some members have started to receive letters from Ofcom regarding the intended changes to the

licence following last year’s consultation. Some of the letters are showing callsigns with an extra ‘E’, i.e.

GE3, ME0.

Ofcom have confirmed this is an error and not a change in policy. They intend to publish an explanation

regarding this on their website, which the RSGB will replicate.

So, the situation regarding RSL's remains unchanged, and the "E" is only used by Intermediate licence

holders in England.

Those hoping to develop a pile-up with a special GE or ME prefix are therefore disappointed!

2014 CATCH UP!

Several snippets submitted for publication towards the end of last year could not be published due to

lack of space. With thanks to Chris G0FDZ, Cliff G4HSU, Slim G4IPZ, Richard G7GLW and Dave G4NOW,

these conclude the offerings received last year.

Bob M0MCV presenting the Cray Valley Award to Mike WM5DX A happy bunch at a recent meeting!

Pete 2E0SQL and Tony G2NF (ex G0OPB) – both previous CVRS members

at 2SZ captured by Dave G4NOW.

Although not actually Cray Valley activities, here are

two links to member activity: the BBC radio article on

2SZ with Dave G4BUO, and an article by the Havering

club on a recent lecture given by Chris G0FDZ.

90 years on: First UK-New Zealand radio link

recreated, 18/10/2014, Today - BBC Radio 4

http://www.haveringradioclub.co.uk/2014/10/millimetric-microwaves-by-chris-g0fdz/

FARNE ISLANDS DXPEDITION: RICHARD G7GLW

In the summer, Nobby G0VJG asked whether I would be interested in being part of a small team to

activate a rare IOTA on the Farne Islands (EU-109), having seen the run that the other team had on ‘The

Minkies’, EU-099, this year, I said yes.

I then googled the islands and looked on flickr at photos of previous groups who had been there. I soon

realised that my conception of an island and the reality was something completely different as it was

highly likely we would be camping outside of the lighthouse on one of the remotest pieces of rock in the

North Sea.

I still said yes, and found myself packing the car with Nobby on the Friday morning before the contest

weekend. The Cray Valley Team participants were Nobby and I with Charles M0OXO and Dave EI9FBB

making up the team, both are also experienced DXers and contesters.

The car was packed and we set off. I had agreed to do all the driving both there and back, which was

over 400 miles each way. I had hoped for the opportunity to stop and take photos on route and to stop

at The Angel of the North, however my Sat Nav had other ideas and not only did we not go over the Hull

Bridge but we didn’t go anywhere near the Angel of the North either! That aside we did have a pleasant

9 hour drive each way and apart from stop-start on the A14, the traffic was reasonable.

We had sorted out hotel accommodation for the Friday night and again on the Sunday night, the Sunday

night we stayed at the Bamburgh Castle Inn, which was a lovely place to stay with great food. In both

cases, we were able to park our heavily laden cars safely.

Early on the Saturday morning we made our way to the docks and met our boatman. Everything was

carried by the others onto our boat down a very steep set of steps. After the long drive I was very wary

of damaging my back, which many of you will know I mention at all our events.

We were ferried out to Longstone Island which is the furthest out into the North Sea. The trip out was

choppy but we were all excited about the event so the water didn’t put any of us off at that stage.

The M0UKI/P shack on the Farne Islands The Longstone lighthouse

We arrived at the island and true to word it is a long shelf of rock with the Lighthouse at one end, we

decided to pitch our tents on a sandy area that looked totally dry and on the high tide in the day

remained in the dry. It wasn’t until 3am and in pitch black we realised that our sleeping tent with yours

truly in was in danger of being washed away and the tide had already come in around it. We all

managed to retrieve everything and decamped to the one main operating and resting tent which in

hindsight also kept us a bit warmer as none of us were prepared for just how low the overnight

temperature was! We were totally frozen.

The island was complete rock which gave us challenges in putting up the antennas, eventually we were

ready and got going just in time for the SSB FD contest. Conditions were extremely difficult and we wish

we could have done better, if we do return there again we’ll certainly make sure we have better

antennas in place. We made 516 QSOs with 70 multipliers for a checked score of 129,360, which gave

us 10th place out 29 entrants to the restricted section. Our best band was 40m with 374 QSOs.

The return journey to the mainland was eventful. It was a stormy afternoon and at one point our boat

was vertical in the waves. Unlike me, I couldn’t move to get the camera out and take photographs. We

also rescued the wardens from Inner Farne whose dinghy had broken down. They said they had been

riding the waves for over an hour, something I was struggling with in our much bigger boat so dread to

think what it was like for them.

This did give some members of the team a chance to set foot on the inner island and have the photos

taken. I stayed where I was as just wanted to get back to the mainland as quickly as possible!

In all the weekend was certainly an experience of what a small contest team could achieve. There are

already plans for future events in 2015 for the M0UKI/P Team (UK Islands). Watch this space to see

where we go next.

GERRY WELLS - RIP

Some members may not have heard the sad

news that Gerry Wells of British Vintage Wireless

Museum fame passed away just before

Christmas.

Many will remember Gerry with great fondness.

The photo opposite shows Gerry on the air with

Guy G0UKN when they were using the AM

transmitter on HF during the GB2AF special

event celebration. More recently, a small group

visited him in 2013 and enjoyed a pleasurable

chat.

CHRISTMAS IN CRAY VALLEY

Our two Christmas festive meetings were well supported this year. 38 members and guests attended

our Christmas meal at the Lord Kitchener in Welling, while 20 members attended the Christmas drinks

evening at the Park Tavern in Eltham. Both events were captured by Cliff G4HSU. A selection of

photographs follow.

LETTERS FROM AMERICA 1: TIM W9/G4DBL

There should be a handicap for those of us who have eight symbols in our callsigns….especially when

one of them is a “dah dit dit dah dit”!

Another foray in the car got me on the air from W9-land during

my third business visit to Chicago. Working at a lab which is in

the middle of a nature reserve, it would have been rude not to

make the most of it. I moderated the eccentricity of my previous

2 ele beam for the roof of the car, and settled on two simple

quarter-wave whips as a 2ele beam, the parasitic tuned as a

director. Actually, I tried again to run long whips as 2 x 5/8-wave,

but my coil-tapping matching technique was too optimistic;

limited time-budget didn’t allow fabricating anything that would

offer a kind enough match to the solid-state P.A. I’d picked-up -

In the spirit of Monty Python, it was a bargain; second-hand,

good nick, bought through a dealer at US $ prices, it was a small fraction of the cost back home.

A quick chat with a security guard (different from the one who investigated me the night before fiddling

with 20’ whips in the car park!) meant I could use a clear cropped hay-field and keep things legal – and

well away from the bison-grazing area! Winter in Illinois can have its challenges, but the weather turned

out to be very British – mild, grey, damp. The season gave me peace of mind over the plethora of

unidentified furry objects which darted around when I was here in the Autumn heat – including one

which sprayed a colleague with such an obnoxious scent, he had to buy new clothes.

The match and directivity on the short whips were great, but height-gain was probably going to be

height-loss! The Icom 7100 and Ameritron mobile 12V P.A. coped without a murmur; I reckon I was

stoking about 300W into the driven element. Mixed-mode ops gave some interesting results. I seemed

to be getting out pretty well, despite the simple and low set-up. Most Qs were not a struggle; I had to

persist in only a few of the big pile-ups, and abandon even fewer. Rotivation was done, on a shift-basis,

by turning the car!

Some highlights were:

1. Saying hello, on the air, to a few fellow-countrymen in the morning

2. Hearing multiple round-the-world echoes on the big US stations – conditions are still pretty good

on 10m

3. Working KH6, JA and ZL with ease on SSB, as well as the key.

4. After the contest, talking to a W6 who was using a 2.5W handheld and 2’ long whip!

5. Curious looks from dogs and their walkers

6. Oat and honey granola bars (that’s about as healthy as it gets over here!)

Yet again, work commitments eclipsed any chance of preparing for an all-weekend bash, so operating

was limited to about six hours on the Sunday. 166 Qs (92 mults) doesn’t seem a lot to show, but I was

pleased to demonstrate what could be done from the car and a clear spot.

I’m looking forward to more experimentation with the whips and coils during the Christmas break; they

could be very versatile for quick static-mobile set-ups once I’ve settled on final dimensions per band. If

life allows enough breathing-space next year, maybe I can find a chance to do a write-up, in case anyone

else wants to try. One important thing worth mentioning…. If you do try something like this with longish

whips, do be careful, of course, to avoid power-lines, otherwise, it’s an easy but disastrous mistake in

the offing.

It looks like I’ll be back here yet again in early 2015. Hope to catch some members on the air from one

or other side of the pond!

LETTERS FROM AMERICA 2: MIKE WM5DX

Hope you all had a good Christmas, and a Happy New year to you all. Thought you might be interested in how we spent our Christmas in W5 land. We had a great holiday period. The annual K5GDX Christmas dinner was held on 6 December at the Great Southern Club in downtown Gulfport. A great venue on the 15th floor of an office building with terrific views over Gulfport harbour

and the Gulf of Mexico. About 40 guests dined on prime rib of beef with the trimmings. Guests included a contingent from Louisiana, the ARRL Delta Division director Dave Norris K5UZ, and our featured speaker for the evening Bob Allphin K4UEE. Bob was a member of the FT5ZM team to Amsterdam Island in 2014 and will be on the team to Navassa Island in 2015. He gave a fascinating talk and slide/video show on the Amsterdam island expedition. [Ed: There are a few goodies on their way to me to share with members.] During the evening Dave Norris presented Brandon Byrd, KF5NYQ, with his DXCC certificate for his 100 countries confirmed. Brandon earned his license at 9 years old and worked his 100 when he was 10, the youngest DXCC'er in Mississippi!

Brandon receives his DXCC certificate from Dave.

DX IN CRAY VALLEY

Band conditions over the festive period were not the best, even 20m offered little in the way of interesting DX. The LF bands were poor. Several early morning forays to 40 metres ended very quickly when there were no signals to be heard. It seemed that only after sunrise did the band come to life, and then only around G and the near continent. The band also closed remarkably early. Inter-G became difficult almost as the sun set, and the band closed completely as early as 17.30 on several occasions. The 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th supported strong signals from Europe, exceptionally as late as 20.19z on the 6th. It was good to be called by A41MO, JA0PI and A61QQ around 18.30z on the 5th, and on the 7th at 17.13z Saif, A71AM, called. We exchanged 59 reports and spoke for five minutes about his visit to 2O12L. With 2014 behind us, Fred G3SVK remarked that it had been quite a good year with a few 10M openings

and a nice crop of DXpeditions, but also commented that conditions had been ‘a bit odd’ during the first

few days of the year. On a couple of nights, even in the early evening EU stations had an auroral flutter

and weak signals, whereas other times, he could work some very interesting DX from JA to ZL and South

America all at the same time. The main activation over the Christmas period was the 1A0C operation

from the Sovereign Order of Malta. Fred was pleased to crack the enormous pile-ups with his dipole

antennas. He was also happy to grab the PY0F/PP1CZ (Fernando da Noronha) expedition,

FM/F9IE (Martinique) and 9V1YC (Singapore) on 40M. Fred worked 243 DXCC in 2014. All CW and all

with dipoles. A great achievement. He will collect our HF Shield and the G3VLX 40M Challenge Cup at

the Annual General Meeting.

Des G6WCX is back on HF with a long wire and a short indoor dipole. He had been successful in working

around Europe, particularly on 40M.

Simon, 2E0CVN, is also back on HF after a six year

absence. He is running 50w from his FT1000MP, which

was shipped by Parcel Force down to Devon just before

Christmas, into a Pro-Whip vertical antenna. He has an

MFJ atu (from the recent surplus sale) and a Heil headset.

His station is set up temporarily in his garden shed, and

dismantled when not in use. Operation so far has mainly

been during late afternoon and early evening on 40M, but

the antenna appears to tune well on the other bands – we

had a QSO, albeit scratchy on 80M. He has worked 13

DXCC and was active for a short time during CW AFS,

working Mark M0DXR. The temporary 2E0CVN shack, with two budding M6’s?!

He is looking forward to catching up with other members on the air in the coming months.

HF COUNTRIES TABLE: 2014

Callsign Bands

160 80 40 30 20 17 15 12 10 Total DXCC 2014

G3SVK 2 49 178 152 196 186 125 100 138 243

M0MCV 17 58 86 0 109 32 93 22 72 155

M0MDR 0 4 19 0 25 1 38 1 32 71

NEXT QUA DEADLINE

The deadline for the next QUA is 31 January 2015. Articles in Calibri 11pt,

please.

…AND FINALLY

Cray Valley Radio Society is affiliated to the Radio Society of Great Britain

The Society has adopted the RSGB’s Child Protection Policy, which shall be adhered to at all

Society events

Cray Valley Radio Society is an Equal Opportunities society

QUA is published monthly by Cray Valley Radio Society. Any opinions expressed herein are not

necessarily those of the Society

Cray Valley Radio Society committee meeting minutes are available on request to the Secretary