A banner with SHEFFORD AND DISTRICT AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY was fixed to the side of a Land Rover 110 announcing our presence in the Memorial Hall.

The hall was opened at 6:15pm and equipment carried in. Dave, G4FKI, set up a two metre repeater station. Using a 20ft push up mast for 2m with a co-linear. Contacts was made with former member John G4AHM in Maulden who has recently got back on the air.  Further contacts were made via Dave G4FKI echolink 2m fm node in Ampthill to various stations in North America.
One notable visitor was Alan Waring, a member from the 1960s he now runs the community radio station Biggles fm in Potton.

The banner attracted the attention of a Polish radio ham. He came in to enquire about operating in the UK. He left suitably encouraged and with documentation to get a UK licence. Later a husband and wife came in and spent time talking with several members. They too were interested in becoming licenced.

Report by Paul G1GSN

Eight members attended and a rehearsal of the equipment, posters and demonstrations were completed. Tea was served and seven members enjoyed fish chips.-

Report by Paul G1GSN

This year the Islands on the Air contest will take place this week end 27 July to 28 July,

The set up will begin at 10.00 (clock time) today (Friday) and the pack up will take place starting at 13.00 (clock time) Sunday. Don passed around a copy of the rota for any member who would like to operate.

Don explained the contest details, i.e.  SSB and CW on all bands except 10 MHz, 12 and 17 MHz. The club will be running two stations, “Run” and “Multiplier”  A run down of equipment to be used followed. Aerials to be used were listed and where each station would be located. Station 1 will be the Run station attempting to work as many stations as possible by calling CQ. The multiplier station must not operate on the same band as the Run station and should use the Cluster to find multipliers. Often hearing a station report their IOTA number will be a clue.  “World” stations i.e. will not have an IOTA number so will not count as a multiplier. The only details to be exchanged to make a valid contact are Callsign, Signal report (usually 59 or 599 for CW), Serial Number and IOTA reference e.g. EU-005 .(if applicable)

Don continued with descriptions of equipment to be used etc. and made the reminder that equipment will be taken down Sunday at 13.00 (Clock time)

Good Luck

The Club, along with a few visitors from the Stevenage club, paid an afternoon visit to Chicksands, the home of the Military Intelligence Museum. It was a pleasant afternoon but a somewhat tiring walk about, but there were seats and chairs for our use.  For anyone familiar with WWll it was a look back at what was being planned and accomplished at the time. Most of the displays featured aspects of British  operations. Only one small corner was devoted to the USAF radio activities and their famous aerial, locally known as the “Elephant Cage”, which is no longer there.

Don began with a question: What is a Utility Station? He continued by saying that the term utility station is used to describe fixed radio broadcasters disseminating signals that are not intended for reception by the general public.

As radio amateurs we often pass a hill or field with aerials and wonder what they are for and who is using them. We seem to spot them the way a botanist spots rare flowers. It turns out that most fall into the category of either Military (aeronautical), Civilian Aeronautical (commercial), Maritime (commercial) or Signals Intelligence (GCHQ).

First on the list was Croughton Airways, the USAF facility for military air traffic to and from Europe and further afield. The main aerial seen from the road is a receiving type as the transmitter is located far away to stop interference.

Don showed many aerial locations as found on Google Earth, although many are difficult to discern from the aerial photos, the shadows were the main source of info.

Prior to 2003 British services used their own individual comms systems, The RAF had six sites in the UK and the Navy had twelve.  In 2003 the MOD decided to merge all the existing HF comms systems into one. This was to be called the Defence High Frequency Communications Service (DHFCS). The DHFCS became operational in 2008, and uses three pairs of transmitter receiver sites

With regard to Maritime services, the Coastguard established NAVTEX to broadcast weather warnings covering 270 miles of sea. as well as other facilities for Maritime use. More photos of the aerials used were shown. Don said for the time being other weather reports are broadcast on MF from six sites around the UK.

Working at the BBC, Steve experienced all sorts of problems. The greatest being those dealing with outside broadcast, but his start was in the studio for the BBC TODAY PROGRAMME where he dealt with  microphones, audio tape editing, sound mixing desks and making sound effects! He explained the sound of military marching was done by putting gravel into a cardboard box and turning the box from side to side.

Steve continued working in the studio but moved to News and Sport where he stayed for five years, followed by a short time in Schools Radio. When the chance arrived, he moved to Outside Broadcasts. He says the skills are the same but in a temporary environment. He stayed in OB for the rest of his career totalling forty years working as Engineering Manager. The job was varied but always contained the same challenges, but now in locations such as Glastonbury, Kings College, Ibiza nightclubs, Royal Ceremonials and an almost endless list of locations around the world including the Brazil World Cup. As the Engineering Manager he was responsible for things like planning set ups at large events including power generation, cable routes and rigging plans, microphone locations, wiring connections back to the studio, radio licences, Health and Safety and the cost of it all!

Steve’s presentation to the club was very professional and most entertaining, lots of slides of events and the almost tons of wiring and equipment needed to do outside broadcasts.

After the meeting Paul G1GSN, our Club Chairman presented two cups which he was unable to present during the March AGM

Brian G8GHR received the Cup for the best talk last year.               Paul, G8IUG received the cup for the best week end project in the Construction Contest.

First up was CQWW SSB 2023 on 28 – 29 October 2023. Don began with our claimed score and gave a comparison to the year before. It appeared our score was a bit lower than last year. Most of the problems were listed starting with logging errors. A chart showed where the mistakes were made in incorrect calls, incorrect exchanges and duplicates as well as some calls not in the recipients log. Of course all errors lower the score in the end.

Don continued by showing who was first in the world, then first in EU and finally, who was first in the UK in our section. The tally showed we were sixth. Don also showed a comparison as to where we finished in years past. The totals seemed to change with the conditions each year.

The next contest to be looked at was the CQ WPX RTTY of 11 – 12 Feb 2024. The score looked high and was much better then last year coming third in our section!

The BIG question of the evening was have we made enough points to continue with our callsign G3B?  The answer was YES!

Last evening Paul, G1GSN presented the prizes to the winners of the annual construction contest.

Victor, G3JNB won the Kit Class in The Construction Contest

Graham, G4JBD won the prize in the Major Project class

Owen, G0PHY accepted the trophy on behalf of the winning team in the Annual Quiz,

Brian, G8GHR won the prize for Best Talk

The plaque awarded for Club Support went to Victor, G3JNB

The winner of the prize for the Week End Project was Paul, G8IUG  who was not present on the evening.

The evening ended with the showing of RSGB 2023 Convention – video of the Rockall DXpedition

My last visit to the Signals Museum was on the 20th of April during a Shefford Radio Club visit. The club turn out was very low, but we enjoyed a good look around. I was told I could take photos so long as other visiors  were not in view and no photos outside. So I missed a good view of the Radar antenna outside  the front of the building. The photos are not in any order. Double click for larger view and use back arrow to return to this page.Typical Y service set up with a Hallicrafter S27 receiver

The venerable AR88

Diversity SSB receiver, type  HR24

VHF Type R1132A receive positions

Close up view of the VHF receive positions Type R1132A

Lorenz LO15 Teleprinter

General view of display

Morse training RAF Cranwell (circa 1930)

Racal RA17 receiver

Various Valves

Airmec type C864 receiver

The “business side” of one of the display

T1154M Transmitter as used in Halifax and Lancaster aircraft

Receiver type 1084  Must be one of the original “Boat Anchors”

There are many more photos but not enough space to display them.   All photos by Ken Amos, G4YRF

A fair turnout for the meeting with good participation in the CW practice at medium and fast speeds.