BARSCOMDUNMOW STEBBING

NOTLEY

RAYNE HALSTEAD

WITHAMBRAINTREE

COLCHESTER

COGGESHALL

Monthly Communication of theBraintree and District Amateur Radio Society

G3XG GX3XG G6BRH

April 2013

A table full of Morse keys, old calculators ora table full of food - which would you pick?

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April 2013

Club ActivitiesTony GØIAG

Club Dinner11 of us met at Timbers, Blake End,on Saturday 2nd March at 7.30 pm.8 club members and 3 xyl,s sat down

to a good meal at 8pm. We all hadchosen in advance from the a-la-carte menu, and were rewarded withample portions of nicely cooked andwell presented food. During the mealthere was good conversation andlight hearted banter.

The restaurant staff were attentiveand helpful throughout the evening,and every one seemed to have a goodtime. Those who did not attendmissed out. The lack of interest bymost of the club members makes mewonder if organising social eventsof any sort is really worth while,however I will to organise somethingduring the summer.

Rally reportSunday 3rd March saw Edwin and I,along with Edwin,s xyl, Jennyattending the annual Cambridge &District ARC rally, at the WoodGreen Animal Shelter.

The first thing to mention is theweather, it wasn't snowing, in fact itwas almost pleasant. After arrivingabout 10.45 am, we had a good lookround, and armed with our wantslists, proceeded to start ferreting.There seemed to be a few stallsmissing, but we managed to findquite a lot of the components wewere looking for. Dave G3PEN wasthere with his stall -

ContentsTony GØIAG

Activities Cover

Club Activities 2

Club Meetings and Nets 4

Chelmsford Morse Classes 6

Club News 8

Obituary 9

Calculators 10

Rallies 12

Club Info 13

Contests 14

Committee 15

Members’ Info 15

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April 2013

Club Meetings and NetsClub Net - 08.00pm local time

2 Metres (145.375Mhz)70 cms (433.575Mhz)

April1 Equipment Safety Testing - II8 Club Net - 2 Metres15 RSGB Regional Officer22 Club Net - 70 cms29 Club Net - GB3BZ Repeater

May6 Mills w/e Planning - Natter Night13 Club Net - 2 Metres20 AGM27 Club Net - 70 cms

June3 Essex Air Ambulance10 Club Net - 2 Metres17 Construction Contest24 Club Net - 70 cms

July1 Rig Clinic8 Club Net - 2 Metres15 Evening DF Hunt22 Club Net - 70 cms29 Club Net - GB3BZ Repeater

August5 Club BBQ12 Club Net - 2 Metres19 Aerial Clinic26 Club Net - 70 cms

September2 Junk Sale9 Club Net - 2 Metres16 TBD23 Club Net - 70 cms30 Club Net - GB3BZ Repeater

October7 JOTA Planning21 TBD

ErrataIn Tony’s article last month, on theLincolnshire airfields, the pictureat the bottom of page 7, showed 2of the red ARROWS in the servicehanger with a HAWK trainerwaiting for a livery change beforejoining the display team. Thepicture was taken at RAFScampton , the home of the RedArrows (not the Red Devils).

Most hires are 20p per session. (Itis hard to collect a weekly rate)

Contact Howard for the latestacquisitions from the recent rallies.

BADARS Club LibraryHead librarian, Howard

G6LXK

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April 2013supervised by Pat G6TAF (hisxyl and boss); I understand hehad a reasonable day selling.

Also we met our esteemed chairman,Howard clutching a metal detectorhe had purchased for a friend, andsome books for the club library.

After a break for lunch, the three ofus returned to the hall looking forlate bargains and we found some. Ibought a home brew power supply,a project box (new), and some otherbits for £4.50. Edwin bought a 2ndworld war Morse key and a very nicenew transformer for £15.50, thetransformer was only 50p.

We enjoyed the rally but thoughtit could do with more stalls sellingcable, pcb’s etc. We left about 1.30pm having enjoyed the rally.

Club meeting 4th MarchWe were lucky enough to have avisit from members of the EssexC.W.club. Jonathon G0DBJ, alongwith Andrew G0IBM and SteveG4ZUL, gave us a brief history ofhow and why the Essex C.W. clubwas formed. A few years ago a fewstalwart fans of Morse code did notwant to see it disappear as a medium,and set up the club. Having done this,word had travelled, and after a whilethe club drew members from othercounties and countries.

The theme of the talk was toencourage us full licence holders toremember and re-use the oldest formof data transmission, and to get theother licence holders to give it a try.With the aid of slides and awonderful display of Morse keys,Jonathon demonstrated how torecognition the the sounds andrhythm of Morse code letters andslowly increase listening speedbefore using a key.

Daily practice is important and whenyou are happy with your listeningspeed then choose a key that suitsyou and start practicing your sending.

After a very interesting talk, whichwas appreciated by all, some of ushad a go on the key and nearlyeveryone managed to send C.Q. Ohwell, it's a start.

I for one have decided to get backinto C.W. How about you?

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April 2013

Chelmsford Morse ClassTrevor M5AKA

The Morse class run by ChelmsfordAmateur Radio Society (CARS)member Andrew Kersey GØIBNrecently restarted in a new venue. Itis now held at 7pm every Thursdayevening in the friendly atmosphereat The Bell Bar and Bistro, 128 MainRoad, Danbury, CM3 4DT.

There are two classes one forbeginners, the other for the moreadvanced. If you are a beginner youwill be made very welcome, Andrewcan start you off on this great aspectof our hobby.

If you would like to improve, or justneed encouragement to get on theair, please join the class. Instructionis also given on all aspects of CW -which include good manners on theair; how to have that CW chat; DXmanners; Contesting and operatingskills on the pump key and twinpaddle keying.  Andrew alsooperates Slow Morse transmissionsat 5, 7 and 10 wpm on 3.550-3.560kHz +/-QRM at 2015hrs(local) every Wednesday evening.

Tests are not compulsory but theyenable the student to have a target,an essential part of the learning CWprocess. Andrew is an RSGB CWExaminer so contact him if want totest your skills and obtain acertificate for the shack.

The Morse classes are open to all,for further information speak toAndy Kersey GØIBN on 01621868347 orgØibn@kersey1.freeserve.co.uk

The attached picture shows:Chelmsford Amateur Radio SocietyMorse Class From left to right:

Colin Wilson M1OCN, Oliver PrinMØWAG, Robin Davies G7VKQ,Brian Debenham M3OGM, AndrewKersey GØIBN (instructor), JohnRoe G4IMS

Don’t forget! Meet Your Regional RepA chance to talk with your RSGB regional officer - April 15th at 20.00

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April 2013

The meeting commenced with 13members in attendance with 3apologies.

The planned talk on Baluns byG0EMK Melvin had to be postponeddue to ill health but will be rescheduled for a future date. Theevening reverted to a natter nightwith a difference; the followingtopics were covered.

The new club transceiver the FT897was demonstrated and hooked up forthe first time to a matching autotuner, the LG FT817 plus.

I provided a project update showingthe prototype regulator board for hispower supply project.

Roy White G6XCY, a long standingmember of the club, had donated anumber of items and books to theclub. These were viewed withinterest and members were givenfirst option to purchase prior to anyitems being sold on e bay for theclub. The items included:-

Scanner2m mobile transceiver4m Converted PMR set

VHF HandheldUHF HandheldMulti Charger Unit

Offers for the hand held transceiverswere made and accepted. Theremainder will be placed on E Bay.Roy also donated a number of booksfor the Library.

Brian G3TGB offered a pair of hi fispeakers to the club any memberinterested should contact Brian.

The Club Polo and Sweat shirts, andbaseball hats had arrived and thesewere distributed to members whohad ordered them. The club hasspare items if any one missed thefirst round. Stocks held are asfollows:

Polo Shirt Med and Large - £10.72each

Sweat Shirt Med & Large - £12.19each

Base ball Caps Single size at £6.59each

The committee asked memberspresent if they had any spare storagespace which may be used by theclub. More details from JohnM5AJB.

Meeting Report March 18Edwin, GØLPO

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April 2013Sandford Mill Radio CollectionOpen Day

73 Trevor M5AKA

The radio collection at the SandfordMill Museum in Chelmsford will beopen to the public on Saturday, April27 from 10am-5pm to celebrate thebirthday of Marconi who was bornon April 25, 1874.

The Sandford Mill museum is hometo an extensive collection of historicradio equipment, including sparktransmitters from the late 1890's anda fully equipped Ships Radio Room.

The Chelmsford Amateur RadioSociety (CARS) will be operatingGX0MWT from the historic 2MTWrittle Marconi hut inside themuseum.

Displays at the museum include,ship’s radio cabins 1900s to 1970sand historic collections fromMarconi and other Chelmsfordindustries. There are also specialdisplays on the New Street factory,ship’s radio officers and the steamyacht Elettra - Marconi’s floatinglaboratory. Plus, there will be plentyof family fun with mechanical Morsecode sending and activities withsound, light and electricity.

Sandford Mill is run with the help ofthe Friends of Chelmsford Museumsand other ex-industry volunteers. Itrelies on the support of severalvoluntary bodies includingChelmsford Amateur Radio Society,the Radio Officers' Association, theMarconi Veterans Association andthe The Susan Trust. Susan is the lastwooden Chelmer Barge and ismoored at Sandford Mill.

The museum is open to the publicbetween 10-5pm on Saturday, April27. Admission and parking are free.

A map showing Sandford Mill(Postcode CM2 6NY) can be seenat: http://tinyurl.com/7mh7b

Chelmsford Councilhttp://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/marconi-day-sandford-mill

CARS at Sandford Mill

http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/sandfordmill/index.htm

2MT hut teaches pupils of past

http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2010/2mt_hut_teaches_pupils_of_past.htm

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April 2013

Next MonthLatest News from the RSGB

For Sale and Wanted

Plus the usual …Events, Rallies, Contests, etc.

And …Your Photos, Articles, etc. ???

Blocked e-mailsARRL

The ARRL was notified in earlyMarch that Microsoft had blockede-mail to more than 20,000 memberswho use the arrl.net e-mailforwarding service to forward e-mailto Microsoft domains (hotmail.com,msn.com, live.com andoutlook.com).

In addition, the blockage affectedmembers of the ARRL’s FieldOrganization and other ARRLvolunteers who use an arrl.org aliase-mail address to have e-maildelivered to an address with aMicrosoft domain. The issue wasresolved by the middle of the month.

Digital modes for FranceRSGB

Pierre, F1SHS, President of DigitalRadioamateur France, reports that alldigital modes and experimentationsare now possible for Frenchamateurs. Until now, French radioamateurs had been banned fromusing digital modes such as D-Star.It is reported the new draft regulationwas signed by the Minister onWednesday morning, March 6.

ObituaryMargaret Andrews

It is with sadness that we have toreport the death of Margaret,Andrews. Margaret, 86, died onWednesday 6th March in KilkeyLodge, Braintree, where she hadlived for some years. Margaretwas the wife of the late GeorgeG1XWN. Margaret had remainedan honorary member of the cluband looked forward to reading herBARSCOM.

Our thoughts and best wishes goout to her son Nigel and his familyat this sad time.

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April 2013

CalculatorsGeoff G1WRH

Recently rummaging in a cardboardbox I came across my collection ofa handful of Sinclair calculatorsadded to at last year’s club junk sale(Front cover picture). Common fortyyear old models can be picked up foranything between five and fifteenpounds compared with the originalpurchase price in the mid 70’s ofabout £27 which, using an inflationcalculator, works out at about £140in today’s money. I bought one, aSinclair Scientific (centre in picture),in 1974, and it still just about firesup. It took nearly two months fromthe date of ordering until it wasdelivered.

Sinclair, and other developers inCambridge’s Silicon Fen did nothave any “cornseed” or venturecapital and so taking the money(sometimes well) in advance ofdelivery was pretty much abusiness model which eventuallypartly became Sinclair’sdownfall. Although innovative,there was little choice amongstthese early calculators, withHewlett Packard (HP) being oneof the few other developers. Sowhilst thankful for their existence,

on the other hand we had to put upwith their shortcomings. One of theissues was the narrow viewing angleof the light-emitting diodes (LED’s)and the short running time of thebattery powered models as a resultof the current drain of these displays.Battery life in the Executive, theflagship model costing £79.95 in1972, was extended by pulsing thepower to the LED display and thena further development was to rapidlypulse the calculator main chip.Capacitance within the chip retainedinformation during calculation.Good working Executive modelsnow change hands at two or threetimes the original cost price.

Another problem was corrosion ofthe battery contacts from leakingzinc carbon batteries, and finally thepoor slider switches (illustration)

which were prone to fuse into the“on” position from the use of

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April 2013cheap nickel coated contacts, whichwere affected by oxides from air,exacerbated by battery leakage. Mostof the 40 year old models which Icome across these days notsurprisingly also have a keypad ordisplay fault.

Sinclair’s entire personal computingrange and the “Sinclair” brand namewas sold to Alan Sugar’s Amstrad in1986 after predicted Christmas 1984personal computer sales failed, incombination with customers tiringof Sinclair’s business model.

Part 2 Next month

Last weekend (16-17 March) theVoice of America (VOA)Radiogram program conducted adigital test sending streams of text(and one image) while invitinglisteners to submit reception reports.According to Radiogram host KimAndrew Elliot, KD9XB, theresponse from the amateur and SWLcommunity was impressive withreception reports from 16 countriesand many US States.

Thanks to the successful test,Radiogram will officially debut thisweekend as a regular VOA programwith continuing digital transmissionexperiments.

Radiogram airs:Saturday from 1600 to 1630 UTC at17860 kHzSunday from 0230 to 0300 UTC at5745 kHzSunday from 1300 to 1330 UTC at6095 kHzSunday from 1930 to 2000 UTC at15670 kHzReception reports are welcome atradiogram@voanews.com. Moreinformation is available at theRadiogram website.

Digital Test TransmissionsARRL

Spectrum PlanningRSGB

Two IARU spectrum planningcommittees are meeting in late Aprilthis year. All UK amateurs areinvited to comment on the paperssubmitted for this meeting. They canbe found online at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukc4discussion & http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukc5discussion.In early April 2013 the RSGB IARUCommittee will review all commentsand agree the brief for the RSGBdelegates at the meetings.

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April 2013

Rallies7 APRIL

CAMBRIDGE REPEATER GROUP RALLY - Foxton Village Hall,Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge, Cambs, CB22 6RN. OT 10:00(07:00), £2, TI, TS, B&B, C, DF. Lawrence, M0LCM, 01223 711 840,rally2013cambridgerepeaters.net. Website: www.cambridgerepeaters.net

LOUGH ERNE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB ANNUAL RALLY- ShareDiscovery Village, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh BT92 0EQ, N Ireland.Access from Erne/Shannon Waterway. OT 11.30, CP. B&B. TS, LB, C,DF. Contact Iain, 028 6632 6693, iainlearc.eu.

NORTHERN AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETIES ASSOCIATIONEXHIBITION (Blackpool rally) - Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre,Blackpool FY2 9AA. TI, CP, TS, B&B, SIG, MT, LB, C, DF, RSGB bookstand. OT 10.15 /10.30. Dave, M0OBW, 01270 761 608,dwilsonbtinternet.com.Visit website: www.narsa.org.uk

SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE AMATEUR RADIO RALLY - ScoutActivity Centre, Woodhouse Park, Almondsbury, Bristol BS32 4LX. OT10.00, B&B, CP, C, CBS, TI S22 (V44). Mike, M1DPB, 07806 310 095,southglosradiorallycoordinator@gmail.com. [southglosradiorally.org.uk

21 APRILWEST LONDON RADIO & ELECTRONICS SHOW (Kempton Rally) -Kempton Park Racecourse, Staines Road East, Sunbury on Thames, TW165AQ. TI, free CP, OT 9.50/10.00. TS, FM, B&B, SIG, C, DF, WIN, LEC.Details Paul, M0CJX, 08451 650 351, inforadiofairs.co.uk.Visit website: www.radiofairs.co.uk

28 APRIL29th YEOVIL QRP CONVENTION - Digby Hall, Hound Street,Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3AA (adjoining the central shopping car park). OT9.30am, TI S22, CP, TS, LEC, B&B, C, DF. Steve, G7AHP, 01803 666407, steveg7ahp.co.uk.

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The next edition will be published on May 1

The deadline for submissions for the next edition is April 26

© Barscom Editor on behalf of BADARS 2013 - E.& O.E.

For more information and pictures of events and projects see our Web Siteat www.badars.co.uk

Braintree and District Amateur Radio Society

Braintree and District A.R.S. meetsevery 1st and 3rd Monday of themonth at The Clubhouse, BraintreeHockey Club, Church Street,Bocking. Doors open from 7.30 pmfor an 8 pm start to the meeting.Prior to 8 pm, and during therefreshments break, when a cup oftea or coffee is available free ofcharge, members have theopportunity to sell or exchangeequipment etc. Meetings normallyfinish at 10 pm.

The Club Membership fee is £16annually; Senior members (StateRetirement age) and Junior members(under 18) pay a reduced clubsubscription of £10. Door fees arepayable per meeting. Rates are £1for members and visitors.

A Club Net operates on the 2nd and4th Mondays (excluding BankHolidays) under the callsignsG6BRH and G3XG. The netcommences at 20.00 local time onV30 (S15) - 145.375MHz and SU23- 433.575MHz, unless QRM. Inmonths with 5th Monday the netoperates via GB3BZ 430.850Mhz.

BARSCOM is sent to members bye-mail on the first of the month;paper copies are available at thefirst meeting of the month. Membersunable to attend club meetings maylodge S.A.E.s with the Editor forprinted copies. Usual deadline forcopy is the 28th of each month.

Members advertisements arepublished free of charge.

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April 2013

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April 2013

ContestsVHF/UHF

April2 0900-1200 First 70MHz Contest7 2000-2230 144MHz UKAC9 2000-2230 432MHz UKAC14 0900-1200 First 50MHz Contest16 2000-2230 1.3GHz UKAC23 2000-2230 50MHz UKAC23 2000-2230 SHF UKAC30 2000-2230 (Local) 70MHz UKAC

May4 1400-2200 432MHz Trophy4 1400-2200 10GHz Trophy4-5 1400-1400 432MHz-248GHz7 2000-2230 144MHz UKAC12 0900-1200 70MHz Contest CW14 2000-2230 432MHz UKAC18-19 1400-1400 144MHz May19 1100-1500 144Mhz #1 Backpackers21 2000-2230 1.3GHz UKAC26 1400-1600 70MHz Cumulatives #328 2000-2230 50MHz UKAC28 2000-2230 SHF UKAC

HF

April1 1900-2030 80m CC CW7 1900-2030 RoPoCo SSB10 1900-2030 80m CC SSB18 1900-2030 80m CC DATA

May6 1900-2030 80m CC SSB15 1900-2030 80m CC DATA23 1900-2030 80m CC CW

Jun1-2 1500-1500 NFD3 1900-2030 80m CC DATA12 1900-2030 80m CC CW20 1900-2030 80m CC SSB

June4 2000-2230 144MHz UKAC9 0900-1300 2nd 144MHz Backpackers11 2000-2230 432MHz UKAC15-16 1400-1400 50MHz Trophy Contest18 2000-2230 1.3GHz UKAC23 1400-1600 70MHz Cumulatives #423 0900-1200 50MHz Contest CW25 2000-2230 50MHz UKAC25 2000-2230 SHF UKAC