The Journal of Horsham Amateur Radio Club - January 2021 - Est. 1938
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Club Call G4HRS Est. 1938
The Journal of
Horsham Amateur Radio Club
January 2021
Sponsored by: Affiliated to:
1
Contents
In this issue
3. Notes from the Editor
Feeling positive, virtual thinking and a stationery movie!
4. Turn your beam
The fox reveals the scores
7. Alister’s competitive roundup
2020 contest results
11. Mega puzzle
The answers!
12. Listen here
Latest news from around the world and the Editor gets digital
16. Diary of events
Full listings for the month
Cover photo: RSARS 559 Contest Trophy
Published by Horsham Amateur Radio Club
HARCNEWS is produced at home by G4JHI
2
Editorial
At the time of writing this, things at last were starting to look a bit more positive
as far as the Coronavirus pandemic is concerned. However, that said it could
still be sometime before we can all meet face to face for regular meetings
and activities. In the meantime we have the regular Covid and established
club nets, contests in somewhat different formats and I predict that another
‘virtual foxhunt’ will take place soon!
On the evening of 25th November the HARC-CARC Challenge 2020 took place. The quiz master was
John, G3PEO. A virtual meeting was set up via Webex and Crawley attendees had the option of Zoom
also. There were a few technical issues to start with but once we got going things started running
more smoothly. 50 questions were asked broadly divided into two categories: 1) Amateur Radio. 2)
Communications - General Knowledge, many with multiple choice answers.
Here is an example of the type of questions that might be asked within these categories:
Q) What is the prefix for the Dominican Republic A) HI
Q) What is the Dead Zone? A) When a signal is reflected from the ionosphere there is an area beyond
the ground wave before the reflected signal can be heard.
Many questions were much harder than that! Scoring was 1 point in many cases and sometimes
additional points were available with multipart questions. The final questions with 10 bonus points
were as follows:
Q) What colour is the door of the Guide Hall in Denne Road? A) White
Q) Who does the hut next to CARC belong to? A) Crawley Camera Club
Thanks to Adrian G4LRP, Jon M0TWN, Mike G8CKT and myself for taking part.
In early December a drive-in cinema was set up at the Toat Café just to the north of Pulborough
which I drive past twice a day on the commute run. Films of the family variety are screened at 4 and
7pm and on one occasion the car park was almost full! There are refreshments available including
‘popcorn’ and fast food. The sound is transmitted to your car radio using the FM broadcast band
but I cannot tell you what the power is or what frequency it is since I haven’t attended a screening.
The only drawback that I can see is cars where your stereo system stops running after a period of
time once you are stationery. My car’s electrics including the radio shuts down after 3 minutes unless
you have the engine running and some will find that there is a time limit of 60 minutes on their radio.
The solution is to take with you a portable ghetto blaster that runs on conventional batteries. No
doubt this drive-in cinema will be back later this year.
https://www.duskduchyevents.com
73 and Happy New Year! David G4JHI
Copy deadline for emailed items for February edition 20th January
- For hand written items the deadline is 12th January.
For items sent by email please send to this address:
harc.news@g4jhi.co.uk
3
HARC November Virtual Fox Hunt Results
A record eleven hunters took part in our third HARC Virtual Fox Hunt. The Fox (alias
Mike, G8CKT, and Yvonne, G6CKT) was located in the lane outside the Old School in
Itchingfield, near Horsham (67 m ASL). To avoid putting very strong signals back into
Horsham, Freddy kept his output power to 3W from a vintage Icom IC-240 transceiver
and 6dBi mag-mount antenna.
Participants reported signals ranging from S7 to S9 and only one station reported the
need to use an attenuator. Most hunters were able to obtain accurate and reliable
bearings but, as a result of low signal levels, several entrants grossly over-estimated
the distance to the Fox station. It was good to welcome Steve, M7PWK, to the Fox-
hunting fraternity!
The results were as follows:
Position Callsign Distance Suggested location
1 2E0NKC (David) 0m Lane outside the Old School in Itchingfield
=2 G7DFV (Gavin) 180 m St. Nicholas Church, Itchingfield
=2 G3OGP (Robin) 180 m St. Nicholas Church, Itchingfield
3 G3ZBU (Alister) 1.26 km Bridge over the railway at Christ’s Hospital
4 G4EFO (Mick) 1.6 km Railway station at Christ’s Hospital
5 G3SWC (Bryn) 2.9 km Slinfold (near the end of Hayes Lane)
6 G4TPO (Steve) 3.3 km Green at Broadbridge Heath
7 M7PWK (Steve) 6.5 km Black Horse pub. at Nuthurst
8 G4LRP (Adrian) 17.9 km Petworth Park near the Tillington Gate
9 G4JHI (David) 22.1 km White Horse Café car park, Bury Hill
10 G3WZT (John) n/a “Opened the envelope and went to the pub”
Congratulations to all participants and in particular to 2E0NKC, G7DFV and G3OGP
who correctly identified Freddy’s location to within a few metres. Looking forward to
the next one and hopefully not “virtual” in 2021!
Mike and Yvonne (G8CKT and G6CKT)
4
Figure 1. Fox coverage plot (from Radio Mobile Online)
5
Figure 2. Fox coverage report (from Radio Mobile Online)
6
G3ZBU’s Contest Activity 2020
Congratulations are in order for Bryn, G3SWC, who took 1st place in the 10W Unassisted Section
of the Autumn Series CW 2020!
Also operating in this CW contest series are
7th place Robin, G3OGP
12th place Peter, G3LET
16th place Alister, G3ZBU
which helped Horsham to achieve overall 11th place, out of 33, in combined SSB/CW/Data
These CW contests are quite interesting as conditions are varying with both the coming of Winter
and also the new solar cycle. It is also a good excuse to dust off the morse keys and get some
practice, though our Hon. Chairman may not necessarily agree
G3SWC
achieved
1st in the 10W Unassisted Section of the
Autumn Series CW 2020
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
7
On VHF, the RSGB's Marconi 2m CW contest was held early in November. Peter G3LET decided
to see what it was like so I also joined in
There were 69% more log entries submitted since the previous year
30th place Peter M5O (G3LET)
33rd place Alister G3ZBU
Horsham reached 15th out of 51 in the Club Championships
In the CW leg, Bryn was overall 2nd, and also operating were G3OGP, G4TPO and G3ZBU
Bryn was overall 3rd in the Data leg
G3LET, G3SWC and G3ZBU put in an appearance in the RoLo CW section
HQP Hope QSO Party 1
11 G3OGP (QRP)
14 G3SWC (Low Power)
17 G3ZBU (QRP)
30 G3SWC (High Power)
Commonwealth Contest: 28th for Bryn G3SWC
The Junior Rose Bowl goes to the winner of the Restricted Unassisted section and for the fourth
year running Peter Hobbs G3LET, with an outstanding score operating VP5O, leads this section. In
second place is VK3MI
VP5O
Operated by G3LET
achieved
1st in the Restricted Single Operator Unassisted Section
of the
Commonwealth Contest 2020
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
8
RoLo SSB Contest: 18th position for Bryn G3SWC
The 80/40m AFS Phone contest 2020 was also won by Bryn! The RSGB stated:
For the third year running G3SWC leads the 10W section
Bryn came second in the Datamodes section
Robin achieved 10th in the CW leg
G3SWC
achieved
1st in the 10W Section of the
RSGB AFS 80m-40m Contests
Phone 2020
President of the RSGB Dave Wilson, M0OBW
9
In non-RSGB contests, I entered CQ World Wide WPX CW, and 10m opened up, so I entered the
10m QRP section and reached overall 4th position
2020 CW
G3ZBU
Recently there was the CQ WW CW contest, and I entered the all bands section, again with 5W
QRP, and reached 41st out of 78, and 4th in G, out of 5! Highlight of this contest was a few hours
opening of 10m and I heard Hong Kong at a genuine 579, but he could not hear me. However I was
having loads of problems with the 5W grinding SD to a halt. I suspect it was getting in the keyer, so
I have built a new one in an aluminium box and will test that today
G3SWC, G3OGP and myself have also entered the various UKEI Contests. Apart from their DX
contests, most are 1 hour long and the only exchange is one's locator. Points are calculated on
distance, so using the highest power is an advantage. However if you want to come top, the QRP
sections seem to get zero entries, so you could come top with just one QSO!
Last contest entry: I won the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society 559 contest. It has 4 two-
hour legs with 80/40m and CW/SSB. So I have a great trophy to enjoy. The Royal Signals has been
in existence for 100 years and as part of the commemoration, special callsigns will be operating in
December and January, and I have been offered the use of one, so please listen out for GB5RS!
10HARC Monster Christmas Crossword Solution
Mike, G8CKT
D M A S T B U F F E R Y R S G B
X A P R A M A E
C A T H O D E L H D R I V E N S C A N
C C R S U E W C S O
H A C O R N R E L A Y R U N U N
L D N T V O A R R L
S I A G C Z E N E R P B T O
B E A C O N M H O O G
N C M I X E R O F O U R
T T I M E O U T T N M M A
R E U R E F L E
C T E D O D
F I N A L S M A R I N S E R T A
N T K N T O D O P
Y A G I S R T D R R T
F M U L T I P L I E
R F E T P R O B E
A L C E O S M A I I L R
R T A T E R M I
N A L O A
H A N D H E L D O E S T N F
D R R R E
F L E C T O R U
R C Q O R S S
C A B R I L L O T R P A C K E T
H C O S P E C T R U M R H O
O I O S E T E W
K L R P S U P E R H E T E R O D Y N E
E Y E R
11Broadcast Listener
Roundup
by David Ansell 2E0NKC - A happy new year to all my readers!
All times UTC and frequencies in kHz or MHz
Utility
From Sidney, Nova Scotia, Canada and Newfoundland (VP4) the coast guard were heard with wx
reports at 07:40 on 2749 and 2598 USB respectively. Time signal station WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado,
USA heard at 15:00 on 15000 with low audio.
Medium-wave – AN 200 loop antenna
Radio Riyadh, Hafar Al Batin, Kuwait heard on 1467 with heterodyne from Iran with Arabic talk
at 19:37, in parallel with 1440. Radio Nemzetisegi, Hungary logged on 16:00 on 873. For several
evenings a station has been testing on 927 with music and ID’s with announcement “Ladies and
gentlemen please stand by as we are testing our systems”. China Radio International, Urumchi signs
on in Chinese then Russian at 17:00. BBC Radio Devon, Exeter noted at 20:30 on 990.
Radio Benue, Makurdi, Nigeria at 20:45 on 918 with discussion in local language. Country Radio,
Prague noted on 1063 at 15:40 with ID. In Bad Ischl, Austria an enthusiast has started Museum
Radio on 1476, heard at 21:05 with 100 watts with the idea to revive radio in that country, ID’s
in German and English. Radio Moldova, Actualitati heard on 1494 in Romanian. VOCM, St. Johns,
Newfoundland heard at 21:30 with new programme on 590.
TWR, Gavar, Armenia heard at 17:10 on 864 with “jingle” and on same frequency at 20:30 Egypts
Koran Radio, Santar was received. Spirit Radio, Carrikroe, Eire, excellent signal at 15:30 on 549.
BBC Radio Gloucester, Burton-on-the-Water on 1413 at 1650 was received for the first time. Radio
Patria, Nitra, Slovakia heard in Hungarian on 1098 at 16:30. Downtown Radio, Belfast was a new
log at 17:00 on 1026, “Northern Ireland’s only Christmas station”.
Short-wave
Bangladesh Betar, Shavar heard at 16:30 on 4750 with domestic service. Radio France International
on 21690 and Radio Romania on 21470 both noted at 12:00. WRMI, Florida, received at 15:00 on
21525 with Radio Africa Network. BBC Far East Relay signs on just before 15:00 and 22:00 with “bow
bells” interval signal on 7485 and 3915 respectively. Mystery Radio has moved to 4870 evenings. Bit
of a mystery this one! VOA, Greenville heard at 21:00 on 11720 in English. This station broadcasts
from Botswana in the 19 and 49 metre bands.
Beyond Australia, Kununurra heard at 13:45 on 11875. Radio New Zealand National service heard
at 14:00 and 15:00 on 6115 with news and wx reports. FEBC signs on at 12:00 on 12120. National
Unity Radio, Seoul heard at 12:00 on 7200 on 40 metre amateur band. A report of this was sent to
RSGB Intruder Watch. Radio DARC has amateur radio news Mondays only at 16:00 on 9670. But
you will need to understand German! Radio Japan, Yamata heard signing on in Russian at 12:00 on
5985.
12QSL’s received
Radio Taiwan International, Tamsui – Card for reception of test transmissions
Radio Prague, via WRMI – Card showing Liblice tx tower which at 335 metres is the highest structure
in the Czech Republic
Country Music Radio, Prague – Report verified and car sticker
GB2RS via G4HPE – Personal letter and QSL cards
1314
Digital
by David Miller G4JHI
DAB
Following successful trials at 10 sites across the UK since 2015, Ofcom has now advertised the first
25 small-scale DAB radio multiplex licences. Areas included are Basingstoke, Edinburgh, Isles of
Scilly and Winchester. The closing date for applications has now passed and the trial multiplexes
are currently licenced until 31st December 2021. The nearest trial services to the Horsham area are
London and Brighton both using (Block 9A). Some time ago I successfully received the London trial
multiplex during a ‘big lift’ using my roof aerial which is directed towards the Reigate transmitter.
Future areas to be licenced are:
North Sussex & Reigate (7D) which will include Horsham
Guildford & Woking (9C)
Haywards Heath, Heathfield, Uckfield (TBC)
Southwest Sussex (7D)
It should be noted that it may not be possible to receive multiplexes from adjacent areas as coverage
will be strictly controlled by Ofcom.
This web document link includes maps of the existing trial multiplexes:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/91371/SSDAB-Final-report-26-Sep.pdf
This web document link includes maps of the future small-scale multiplexes:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/193662/statement-licensing-small-scale-
dab.pdf
15Diary
Jan 1st, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
IRTS 80m Daytime Counties SSB/CW 17:00 - 18:00
Jan 2nd, 80m-40m AFS CW (Super League) 13:00 - 17:00
Jan 4th, Christmas HQP #2 RTTY 1 09:30 - 11:00
Jan 5th, Christmas HQP #2 Phone 1 11:00 - 12:30
144MHz FMAC 19:00 - 19:55
144MHZ UKAC 20:00 - 22:30 (All modes)
Jan 6th, Christmas HQP #2 FT4 1 12:30 - 14:00
Jan 7th, Christmas HQP #2 CW 1 14:00 - 15:30
Club Night *** CANCELLED ***
Jan 10th, 80m-40m AFS Data (Super League) 13:00 - 17:00
Jan 11th, Christmas HQP #2 FT4 2 09:30 - 11:00
Jan 12th, Christmas HQP #2 CW 2 11:00 - 12:30
Jan 13th, Christmas HQP #2 RTTY 2 12:30 - 14:00
Jan 14th, Christmas HQP #2 Phone 2 14:00 - 15:30
Jan 16th, 80m-40m AFS SSB (Super League) 13:00 - 17:00
For details on the above contests use this link and follow to the appropriate section
https://rsgb.org/main/radio-sport/what-is-radio-sport
All Christmas HQP contests are 3.5-28MHz
All above times are UTC
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