We closed our summer season, in preparation for our break over August, with a Summer Supper in the clubroom.

Some brought their own food, some chose to sample the Fish & Chips from next door.

We had erected a 20m inverted vee outside and Dave G4FKI and Owen G0PHY operated G3FJE on 20m SSB.

They had a most unusual voice contact with a Robot identifying as Anton at EA8BW in La Palma, who ominously stated in a typically monotonic robot voice at the end of the QSO “The Robots will Win”. Dave reminded Anton that he is human and can switch robots off 🙂

That was fun Anton, thank you!

We wish everyone a happy summer holiday and look forward to hearing about your activities on our return on Thursday 11th September.

David’s talk covered an introduction and demonstration of both APRS and EchoLink.

He explained APRS’s origin lay in Packet Radio. Its versatility was improved by the advent of affordable and compact GNSS or GPS receivers, which could be readily embedded within a VHF or UHF radio. This allows the radio to report its position to anyone tuning into it.

APRS can also sent text messages, weather information and other data.

In most cases, a network of DigiPeaters or iGates (internet gateways) are used, to extend the range of the radio, and present the data over the internet, so that anyone can track the position of a registered receiver.

David demonstrated how he used APRS to track his journey whilst on holiday in Italy and Switzerland, viewing the data on the APRS reporting  web page www.aprs.fi

David then went on to introduce EchoLink as a novel extension to analogue FM repeaters. EchoLink connects the soundcard of a repeater’s computer to the internet, allowing 2 way simplex speech to be passed through the repeater using your mobile phone or PC. This means you don’t even need a radio to make contacts with amateurs anywhere in the world, so long as the distant user has an internet connection and the EchoLink app

David demonstrated this to great effect, by putting out a CQ on 2m via his home EchoLink node, and instantly received a reply from Phil, W9PMA/MM in Indiana, who was floating on a lilo in his swimming pool, using his mobile phone as a link to EchoLink. Take a look at W9PMA’s QRZ.com page and you will see the very pool he was floating in during ther contact.

Geoff, G4CEP also demonstrated the ease of making an EchoLink contact with his phone and called David via 2m with instant success..

Amazingly easy and a great means of making contacts if you are travelling or unable to erect an antenna at home!

David’s talk closed with a busy Q&A session – thank you David for a most interesting talk!

We ended the evening with a belated presentation by Paul G1GSN (L) to Brian, G8GHR (R), who deservedly received the prize for the best talk given to the Club during 2024 – very well done Brian!

Bruce began by telling of his grandfather giving him a wonderful AR88 for his 7 th birthday! They followed that up by buying him a Philips Electronics Engineer kit for his 8 th birthday.

Within a week he had constructed every project in the kit- and he was hooked! He soon realised what his career was going to be.

Bruce’s first QRP rig was the Heathkit ‘Twoer’ Super regen, RX wide as a ‘barn door’, a few watts crystal controlled TX. Built from a kit which began his love affair with Heathkit.

Bruce then went on through the years and described the many rigs he had built and used and the stations around the world he had worked! All with a simple aerial and a few watts of power.

The video can be found on YouTube at RSGB 2004 Convention: QRP- fun or folly?

A good turnout, mostly for the Live radio, saw Graham, G4JBD and David, G4FKI using the club’s callsign G3FJE and CW (and SSB)  contacting stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy and UK on 40M to an inverted dipole at 10M. All accomplished in a short time period when 40M band conditions were listed as POOR.

G4FKI at the key on 40M

The 40m V dipole

A good turn out for a chat that continued till closing time, while near by a small group took CW practice, showing good progress.

Matt began by looking as some of the older Amateur TV formats and frequencies, including analog and digital. He pointed out that analogue was easy to start out with, but the quality was often not up to standard. He said that all amateur bands above 432MHz were available for ATV including 70cm, 13cm, 3.4GHz and 10GHz. Experimental NoVs are available for 71MHz and 146MHz.

He pointed out that analog was widespread till 2015, mostly on 70cms, 8MHz AM, 23cms 16MHz FM, and 13cms 16MHz FM. Some FPV drone gear is still using analog on 5.6GHz because it’s easy to start with but limited and now there are fewer analog repeaters.

Digital is now predominant using DVB-S/DVB-S2 standards, originally for satellite TV. Various modulation modes i.e. QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, and 32APPSK. The Coding/FEC options are 1/3 up to 9/10. MPEG transport streams, modern compression. H264, H265, hardware and software encoding and symbol rates 66ks/s to 4Ms/s

Modulation represents digital data as symbols. Such as: Symbol rate = base data rate + FEC. TX Data rate = bits x symbol rate. Higher symbol rate means faster transfer but wider bandwidth. 333Ks/s to 1Ms/s common in DATV.

As for operation, there is Simplex for contesting, /p. and Repeaters such as GB3TV at Dunstable Downs on 23cm and GB3TZ at Caddington on 13cm, plus there are 30 plus more around the UK. Satellite can also be used on QO-100 Wideband (Geo stationary)

Looking back in time, some might remember the lift in the 70s and 80s where 44-55MHz analog signals could be seen worldwide. Rob M0DTS used 100W on 29.250MHz with a 3 element yagi and worked a 5,500km path!

Matt went on to describe a “basic” set up and other more specialised equipment.

He pointed out a good source of information,,The British Amateur Television Club and AMSAT-UK. A Q&A session followed with lots of questions and answers.

my thanks to Matt for providing the necessary data to write this piece.

We were treated to a fascinating evening by Jim Bacon – G3YLA, who is world renowned for his research into Sporadic-E propagation, which can produce exciting long distance openings on the upper HF and VHF bands.

As we are just entering this year’s sporadic E season, his talk came at the perfect time to help us understand how best to experience this fleeting but effective mode of propagation.

Jim expained that Sporadic-E is a complex yet rewarding subject, influenced by many forces of nature.

It still holds many mysteries, making it a rewarding subject for those with an enquiring mind.

Jim narrowed down the main factors which produce sporadic-E openings to:-

• Meteorite trails, the ‘seeds’ of Es, containing long-living metallic ions, capable of reflecting radio waves.
• Jet streams, whose complex interactions and vortices can concentrate the density of the meteorite’s metallic ion remnants, further enhancing their ability to reflect radio signals.
• Atmospheric Gravity Waves, providing further energy input to compress and move the layer of particles to altitudes which can further enhance the propagation benefits of the Es layer.

Other influences include storms, weather fronts, ridges and the KP index. A high Kp index is harmful to the formation of sporadic E conditions, due to its disruptive energy. Ideally, we need calm solar conditions to allow the Sporadic E active layer to form.

 

Jim recommends you keep an eye on propquest.co.uk which he has developed and fine tuned over many years to become a uniquely useful tool for everyone interested in propagation

His ‘Es Probability Index’ (EPI) will give you a good feel for the likelihood of Es conditions being available in the short term.

Also look for ridges, storms and a high FoEs value.

We can expect the useful frequency to be around 8-10 times the reported FoEs value.

Openings tend to occur twice daily. Early, just after dawn, when most meteor activity occurs and later in the afternoon, due to diurnal atmospheric tides.

Keep your receiver tuned to 50.095Mhz during May to August and you will almost certainly be rewarded, with patience, with a Sporadic E opening – this could be the start of a whole new fascinating aspect to your hobby!

Good luck! And thank you Jim, for a really fascinating talk!

This evening the assembled members chose the RSGB 2024 Convention video by Don Beatie, G3BJ titled ‘Spanning the Globe, the dawn of global radio communications’

Don began by saying this isn’t a long time ago, you know. He said he had been licensed 60 years so not very short of the one hundred years we now celebrate as the first radio contact between New Zealand and the UK.

It all came about when Cecil Goyder, (G)2HM an under graduate at what is now the Imperial College London and Frank Bell, a sheep farmer in South Island NZ made a two way radio contact one hundred years ago in October 1924. The frequency was 3.2MHz!  Of course all transmissions were made at such a low frequency back then.  

Putting all in context, Don said ‘Marconi’s Atlantic leap’ had only happened 24 years before. That was spark transmission and a coherer progressing to valves. Wireless Experimenters numbers were growing and problems due to increasing interference due to the spark transmissions, the Post Office imposed restrictions. Through all this came the ‘Great Leap from UK to NZ’

Don took up 11 key points between 1898 and 1927 which saw progress in radio design and operations.

The entire story can be seen on You Tube by looking up 2024 RSGB.org/conference, and find the title ‘Spanning the Globe, the dawn of global radio communications’ by Don Beatie, G3BJ / G5W
 
 

A group gathered to hone their Morse code receiving skills with Richard G3NII and Ken G4YRF operating the keys.

We also had a demo from Victor G3JNB, allowing us to hear his amazing little all-band all-mode receiver in action. We strung up a simple wire antenna and signals from all over Europe were heard coming in loud and clear on 20m CW and 40m CW. The receiver also performed impressively on Band II, the FM broadcast band, with Classic FM crisp and clear.

We later had a small huddle, discussing plans for our forthcoming outdoor demo station at the Shefford Summer Fete, on 1st June 2025.

Ken then showed us a fine AI-generated poster on the notice board, which he and his son had prepared, to publicise our club to other users of the hall.