NARC Live SPRINGVIEW Interactive special - Wednesday 19th May

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Published: 14 May 2021

Last Updated: 14 May 2021

Last Spring NARC Live featured an interactive wildlife special and it was really popular.

So we are doing an Interactive special which we are calling SpringView on Nature and Wildlife this Wednesday May 19th, BUT we depend on you for your pictures and videos and we need to start collecting them now as it takes us quite a few hours in advance to put this sort of programme together.

Ideally they will be your own pictures, but if they are from someone else or found online please make sure you tell us who or where they were from so that we can keep it legal and credit © them. Remmeber they dont have to be stunning pictures taken by a professional camera, just capture images of your spring using your cameraphone and send them to us:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   

We look forward to seeing your pictures and videos - if the videos are large files you can use something like  wetransfer.com  to get them to us, or contact us for help and advice. Please send them as soon as possible by 6pm Tuesday please as we will be putting all the media together Tuesday evening. Even if you can't join in live please send your pictures as you will be able to watch the programme later.

And why not join us live - you could even share some of your pictures or videos live on Wednesday night. This time we are using Zoom and as always Sonny will be there from 7pm to help you test your camera and microphone - Zoom works on most devices and if you have not used it before there is a small free app which it will download the first time you use it. Joining details and link below.

Please don't forget to send us your other stories, projects or pictures (and your shack if you have not already done so) to reach Tammy and David by 3pm Wednesday latest:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you very much for your support!

Tammy M0TC and David G7URP

To join live and interact here are the zoom details:

Topic: NARC Live! SpringView Wednesday May 19th
Time: May 19, 2021 07:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86509333928?pwd=aUhqV1NoRUhDR3gvSk5LM2tXTm5Wdz09

Meeting ID: 865 0933 3928
Passcode: 561435

Or just watch live on either Facebook or BATC:

NARC Live starts at 19.30 on Facebook:  (note that our Facebook page also has every previous episode of NARC Live to play back)

www.facebook.com/norfolkamateurradioclub

and live on BATC:

https://batc.org.uk/live/NARC  

Some recent recordings of NARC Live together with other NARC Videos are on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/norfolkamateurradio/videos

Please send in your pictures for NARC SpringView - all of these were taken on a phone camera!

Who works from a shack like this... ?

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Published: 14 May 2021

Last Updated: 14 May 2021

Each week we show you the shack of a NARC member and ask you to guess whose shack it is.

Have a close look at the photo below - do you know who this weeks shack belongs to?

Theres a clue there, after all in this persons job the microphone is always hanging up...

If you think you know whose shack it is (or just have a guess!) please email David & Tammy with your guess to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  by 3pm on Wednesday and be sure to watch NARC Live on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm to find out who's it is!

We really are on last few shacks now!

After a different shack on every show since March 2020 we are now running low but will keep showing them until you send no more, so if you would like us to feature your shack on this fun quiz please send it to us NOW as we will be changing to a different competition once we have used the last shacks....     

Last weeks shack belonged to Steve G0KYA - congratulations if you got it right.

Club news (including NARC Live programme notes)

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Published: 14 May 2021

Last Updated: 14 May 2021

NARC Live Spring-View next Wednesday - We need your pictures and videos NOW!

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Published: 07 May 2021

Last Updated: 14 May 2021

Last Spring we ran an interactive wildlife special and it was one of the most popular NARC Live we did. So as promised we are doing an Interactive special we are calling Spring-View on Nature and Wildlife on Wednesday May 19th, BUT we depend on you for your pictures and videos and we need to start collecting them now as it takes us quite a few hours in advance to put this sort of programme together.

We announced we would be doing this back in March so hopefully you have been already starting to capture your spring using your camera or phone, so please start sending them to us at the usual address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   

Ideally they will be your own pictures, but if they are from someone else or found online please make sure you tell us who so that we can credit © to them.

We look forward to seeing your pictures and videos - if the videos are large files you can use something like  wetransfer.com to get them to us, or contact us for help and advice.

Thanks for your support!

Tammy M0TC and David G7URP

This is one of the first pictures we have received from Mike M0TVG - his daughter Vicky M3ZWV took this from her bedroom window.

GB2CW - Morse Corner - May 15th

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Published: 14 May 2021

Last Updated: 14 May 2021

..............................GB2CW News - NARC Newsletter......................................
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The Newsletter will be taking a summer break as from next week. THe GB2CW report next week will be the last until late September, unless there is any "breaking news".

So, if you have anything to impart as news to NARC, please let me have it before Thursday May 20th.  Use the down time to make some CW QSOs, do your usual practice

at home and try for a better RufzXP score. The first Newsletter of the winter Semester will be the week ending September 25th. Classes will be publicised in that Newsletter to

enable you to decide which you want to join.  You can join as many as you like of course. Classes will commence the week beginning October 4th. The 80m Net will continue as normal.

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CW 80m Net
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Norfolk Amateur Radio Club CW Net.
This is an informal net, to enable people to become familiar with operating in a net, netting properly and being short and to the point overs.
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NARC Net: 3545kHz plus or minus QRM.
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Chris G4CCX was Net Controller this week. We had seven taking part, but we are keeping the speed down to 20wpm to try to encourage others to join, seemingly with little success!
Joining Nets is good experience so please try to join in if you can. We don't bite, and it's all good practice!
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There will be a rotation of Net Controller to give every attendee a chance of becoming Net Controller. Malcolm has circulated tha rota now for Net Controller:

17th May Phil G4LPP

24th May Dick G3WRJ

31st May Malcolm G3PDH

14th June Roger G3LDI

The Net Controller will call CQ at 8.30 p.m. local time on Monday evenings. Call with just your call sign once until he acknowledges you.
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1 Keep a note of the order. This will be sent.
2 Net on to the Net Controller to the nearest Hz if you can.
3 Keep overs short with brief comments, no waffling, and pass transmission to the next on the list.
4 There is a 2m discussion after the Net on 145.250MHz
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The RUFzXP Challenge

I do hope you decide to try for yourself. If so, please send your wpm score to Jim G3YLA by Thursday evening latest. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Morse Classes for winter 2020 are going well. However, at a recent meeting of tutors the following was decided:

GB2CW Tutor Meeting April 12th 2021-04-12

A Zoom meeting was held today of all the GB2CW tutors in the Norwich area to discuss the future of the various classes in the best interest of the students. Classes as they are at present have been going since first initiated way back in 2007. Yes it was as long ago as that, although then we did not have as many tutors as we have now.
We discussed lots of options and have come up with the following suggested changes in the arrangements.
First of all the GB2CW year will run from October 1st until May 31st each year. The summer break will enable both tutors and students to have some down time to do other things. Holidays and gardening usually interrupt the schedule anyway. This is not to say that there will be any relaxation of the Big P word!

Starting October 1st 2021, this will be the proposed new schedule: Times are all local.

Mondays 1000 – 1100: Head Copy with Roger G3LDI. This will encompass a wide range of copying ability. i.e. 15 – 25 WPM.

Tuesdays 1000 – 1100: Higher Intermediate Class with Chris G4CCX 20 – 25 WPM

Tuesdays 2000 – 2100: Lower Intermediate Class with Jim G3YLA 10 – 15 WPM. Jim is proposing to make this change in the next couple of weeks.

Thursdays 1000 – 1100: Intermediate Class with Chris G4CCX 15 – 20 WPM

Thursdays 2000 – 2100: Advanced Class with Malcolm G3PDH 25 – 30 WPM

Fridays 2000 – 2100: Raw Beginners Class with Phil G4LPP which will be for just beginners, those knowing absolutely nothing up to 10 WPM
(not sure when Chris was planning his speed change from I am planning to change mine from when Jim says he’s ready to change !) Phil.

The following table, submitted by Jim, shows it in much better form:

You will be in the appropriate class until the tutor suggests that you change to the next level. It will be entirely up to the student how long he spends in any one class. This is dependent, of course, on the Big P word. No progress can be made without practice.

Sending Techniques.
Without Bootcamps, it is impossible to ascertain the technique of the individual, whether it be straight key or paddle. To that end it is proposed that we hold Zoom classes online to advise on sending techniques. You should have either straight key or a paddle and a keyer / the side-tone on your rig, available. Sending practice will hopefully take place once per month with tutors taking turns. This will not happen until the autumn so please watch this space.

Real QSOs will be run on the air for one – to – one practice, times and freqs to be confirmed.

NARC Net.
Some people have been nervous about joining the Club net because of the speed at which we run, normally around 24 – 27 WPM. It is proposed to drop this to 20 WPM from the start of May this year to encourage more to join, so please do consider that.

If you have any input, suggestions etc., please do let us know. You can send comments to : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Report from G3LDI, the Bad Cop, on the Monday Headcopy session. 145.250MHz 1000 local time.

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Just the usual two this week, Chris and Phil. Remember that classes will soon be in recess for the summer. To maintain the practice, use both RUFZXP and Morserunner, two very good training programs.
This week, I tried some country names, together with the usual torture!
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Report from Jim, the Good Cop, on his 25wpm session. GB3NB repeater 2000 local time Tuesdays

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GB2CW 10-15wpm 8pm Tuesday 11th May 2021 GB3NB

A bit thin on the ground this week with just Dave G0ELJ joining in for an hour of CW practice. We covered abbreviations and QSO sample texts as well as figures and plain language.

The current CW classes are drawing to a close at the end of this month for a summer break, so there should be plenty of time to get some important air time in on the bands. It is always good to spend time listening on the bands and having QSOs. It doesn’t matter how scruffy they are, we have all started in the same place and you will not get past this stage unless you are prepared to have a few scrappy QSOs to find your feet.

So before next week spend some time on the bands and just absorb the atmosphere of hearing a conversational CW QSO, complete with all the mysterious abbreviations, and it will eventually sink in.

Until next week
73 de Jim
g3yla

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Morse with Anubis - Tuesdays 1000 on 145.250MHz. Thursdays on GB3NB 1000 local time.

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GB2CW Report 14-05-21

This week's Tuesday class attracted five students, G4PNF, G4LPP, G4TUK, G0OOR, and 2E0FHF.

We practiced QSO format, number groups, letter groups, and plain language, concentrating on QSO format, with various types ranging from chatty ones to those with extensive use of abbreviations. Speeds were in the mid range of 23wpm.

I must apologise for oversleeping, and missing the time for the Thursday session. I put some calls out at 10:15 AM, and received a call from Phil G4LPP. I must make sure that I make it in time next week!

For callsign practice I recommend using the MorseRunner software, which emulates a CW contest format. This also helps sharpen your keyboard entry skills. RuFZxp is also great fun, and you can make use of the competitive element, by submitting scores to the weekly table published on the club website.

Hopefully the slower speeds on the Thursday session will attract some more students, and encourage others to move up from the other classes.

Look forward to meeting you on the classes.

Class times for Morse with Anubis are

Tuesday 10am - 11am 145.250 mhz FM simplex. Speed range 20 - 25 wpm.
Thursday 10am - 11am GB3NB repeater. Speed range 15 - 20 wpm

73 de Chris G4CCX

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Morse with Doctor Phil.
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Report from GB2CW beginners class, Friday evenings at 8pm on 145.250MHz.

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Report from GB2CW beginners’ class Friday 7th May 2021.

The class was once again attended by Tim M1MIT and his other half Nikki M7SUP.

We ran at a character speed of 14wpm and an overall code speed of 6 wpm. We covered 9 new letters in detail plus those from last week. Good results were achieved and it’s nice to hear them both egging each other on!

Looking forward to continuing the work next week.

As before, always happy to take new starters. We’re still at the very early stages so it will be easy to fit them in.

The class runs at 8pm each Friday on 145.250MHz immediately followed by the NARC contest net on the same frequency.

73 from Phil G4LPP / GB2CW.

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The beginners class is on Friday evenings at 8pm on 145.250. I use 100W to either a 9 element vertical beam or a white stick, whichever is appropriate for the participating stations and am based in Sutton near Stalham.

New beginners are always welcome. Code speeds will not go above 10wpm in this class. Anyone progressing beyond this speed is welcome in Jim, G3YLA’s class on the GB3NB repeater on Tuesday evenings at 8pm where speeds are 10 to 15 wpm.

73 de Phil G4LPP / GB2CW

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Phil's email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Email him if you wish to join in.
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By the way, Phil is a GOOD cop, so you will be treated kindly!
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Report from the Executive Club, Malcolm G3PDH - Thursdays GB3NB 2000 local time.

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No attendees for this session this week.
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73 Malcolm G3PDH

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The CWOPS CWT activity periods are still as popular as ever.

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A newcomer to the local participants was observed this week! It was Chris G0TZZ. Good to see you taking part Chris. Let me know if you would like to be a member of CW Ops and I will nominate you, unless somebody does it before me! 

If you aspire to join CW OPS, prove your worth with a few >20wpm QSOs, chatty ones, and you can get in! It is a lot of fun operating in the CWTs, and terrific practice too.
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A New Slow Speed CW Contest for Europe

The K1USN Radio Club, in conjunction with CWops, are planning to expand their existing and popular weekly Slow Speed CW Contests, held on Mondays at 0000-0100 UTC, to include a second one for the benefit of budding European CW contesters. This will run from 2000-2100 UTC every Friday beginning on February 5th 2021 and will share the same rules and format; it will also be fully supported by the N1MM contest logger. There is no formal log submission; instead participants are encouraged to upload their QSO totals and scores to the 3830 reporting website - easy! See www.3830scores.com

These contests will be conducted at 20 wpm or less and are aimed at CWops Academy students and any other novice CW contesters who are not comfortable with normal contest speeds. Everyone is welcome to take part and is a great opportunity for established CW contesters to come on and help encourage our new ops. Please see www.k1usn.com/sst.html for rules, easy to follow instructions and lots more.

If you're new to CW contesting or are experienced and wish to help please join us if and when you can.

73,

GW0ETF & G3WZD (CWops)

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The link below is to FAV22. THis is a military station on 3881.00kHz and runs at varying speeds with groups of letters, numbers, punctuation and procedural signals. It is on 24/7 so take a look It is well worth the practice.
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https://www.r-e-f.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=715&Itemid=444
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Another freq to check is 6.825MHz.
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If you look up this link in Google Chrome, it will translate into English for you.
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The following comes from Tom DF7TV. It could prove quite useful practice for both receiving and sending. CLick on the link and have a read.
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In January/February 2021 I started to do some experiments to increase (1) accuracy and (2) speed in Morse Code copying(receiving) and sending at speeds above 25 wpm. I have prepared several files containing common English words to assist the training. The main idea I had was to keep the setup and exercises as close as possible to real world conversational QSOs.

My actual setup for exercises is shown at:
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https://www.qsl.net/df7tv/morse-code-training.html

I would like to know what you think about this way to improve Morse Code proficiency.

Thank you for your comments!

73
Tom DF7TV
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'Turn your difficulties into opportunities'
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Email me with input, queries, keys, paddles, classes and so on. Hopefully I can help or know a man that can!
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73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. May the Morse be with you.

Propagation News, Friday 14th May 2021

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Published: 13 May 2021

Last Updated: 13 May 2021

HF News

Last week was a real roller coaster ride in terms of HF propagation. While the solar flux index remained in the 70s, we have had C-class solar flares and a coronal mass ejection that hit the Earth on May 12, ultimately pushing the Kp index to seven.

This was largely as a result of the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field going sharply South, meaning the solar matter more easily coupled with the Earth’s magnetic field.

F2-layer maximum useable frequencies were impacted with the MUF over a 3,000km path falling to just over 14MHz for a time and their were widespread reports of visible aurora.

The good news is that Sporadic-E has been this week’s saviour, bringing lots of openings on 10 metres. As well as openings to Scandinavia and Europe, plus short-skip to Scotland, there were reports of openings to the Caribbean as well. Whether this was multi-hop Es, or an enhancement brought about by the geomagnetic disturbance is hard to say.

And it wasn’t all FT8 for a change. Gary G0FWX reported working Puerto Rico, Canada, USA, Paraguay, Western Sahara, Gibraltar, and Saudi Arabia on 10-metre SSB.

This goes to show how 10 metres may be the band to be on this month.

Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 70-84. Sunspot regions 2818 and 2821 will rotate into view next week, which may give the SFI a helping hand.

Geomagnetic conditions may be unsettled this weekend with NOAA predicting a Kp index of five on the 16th. We may then have a few quieter days before it goes up again, due to coronal hole activity.

VHF and up

We had some very welcome Sporadic-E last week and, after the high activity closer to the peak of the Eta Aquariids meteor shower and recent lull early this week, Wednesday was boosted by an aurora. Contacts were reported to GM and GD on 6m in the afternoon and widespread Es later in the day.

The overall weather contribution seems to suggest a repeat of the showery theme through to the end of next week. So once again good for GHz bands rain scatter. An obvious result of the low pressure and showery weather is a lack of Tropo conditions with no significant areas of high pressure on the current runs of the models.

Sporadic-E becomes more commonplace as we go through May and the usual advice is to check regularly throughout the day, but if time is limited, go for mid-morning and late afternoon/early evening.

The stronger events could reach 4m and perhaps even 2m, particularly for FT8, but it is worth checking the other modes from now onwards.

Since the position of jet streams in the weather part of the atmosphere can be good indicators of where Es might occur, the prospects are looking good with a strong Atlantic jet stream across Spain and southern Europe, which means beaming to the south or southeast for best results.

For the bigger stations, it's also worth trying paths to the Caribbean and the north of South America on 6m in the evenings, since later in the summer the jet streams are not so well placed for this path.

With the Moon at peak declination this weekend, we’ll have long visibility windows and high peak Moon elevations. Path losses are falling as we are past apogee for the month.

No significant meteor showers this week so be active around dawn for the best random meteors.