NARC Live Wednesday 27th October - Having fun with a small station!

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Published: 23 October 2021

Last Updated: 23 October 2021

Many of us just do not have the space for a large radio station, but tonight Joe Chester M1MWD will show us how you really can have fun with a small station - and as you will see he should know when you realise where his shack is!

As well as Joe's talk we need your news, pictures and stories, and we will reveal this weeks 'What on Earth is this...' and show a new one

73

Tammy M0TC and David G7URP

Join us Live at 19.30:

On BATC:

https://batc.org.uk/live/NARC

or Facebook Live:

www.facebook.com/norfolkamateurradioclub

Tonights guest, Joe Chester:

What on earth is this...?

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Published: 23 September 2021

Last Updated: 23 October 2021

This is our competition where each week we show an unusual object, tool, gadget or thing-me-bob from one of the NARC members and you have to guess (or you know!) what it is for...

Have a close look at this weeks object - What on earth is this...?!  or maybe we should ask What on earth is this for?!

Please email your answers with the subject 'What on earth' to David & Tammy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 3pm on Wednesday and on NARC Live we will read out all of the entries and tell you what it is!

Whats your mystery object?

We also need your photos of unusual items to feature in future weeks. To enter please send us a good quality photo of your 'What on earth is this' along with a brief description and ideally a second photo of it in use by email to the same email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Surely everyone has one of those 'must-have' kitchen gadgets they bought at a show or one of the strange inventions by Ronco or KTel that you just had to have at the time, but only used once! Please use your own photo if you possibly can, but if you do send us a photo from someone else please be sure to tell us who owns the © copyright.

73 

David G7URP & Tammy M0TC 

Remember please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. not reply to the newsletter or any other email address or Facebook or David & Tammy will not receive it directly and may never receive it!   

Last weeks 'What on Earth is this' was a Cabkle tie pulling& cutting gun - Many thanks to Bob G6PWS for sending us this!

Club news, NARC Live show notes and catchup details

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Published: 02 October 2021

Last Updated: 23 October 2021

73 88

David G7URP & Tammy M0TC  

NEW

Weekly CW Training by NARC, all on repeater GB3NB:

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.

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

Thursdays 1500 - 1600 Sending practice on ZOOM, NEW!! see below.

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

Narc Contest News (4) Friday 22nd October 2021

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Published: 21 October 2021

Last Updated: 21 October 2021

Narc Contest News (4) Friday 22nd October 2021

Welcome to week four of NARC’s contest news.

Firstly a reminder that the NARC contest net takes place every Friday evening at 9pm clock time on 145.250MHz. This is a useful place to exchange contest information and get help with logging and station setup issues etc.

There have been several contests over the past week in which NARC members have participated.

I've had no input from anyone with news updates or requests this week except last minute reports from John G8VPE and Mike G4DYC on 145.450 featured further down the page. If you would like anything mentioned or have any news please contact me on the email address at the end of this article.

We are always on the lookout for new contesters to add to our team and welcome people of any ability who either wish to add their score to ours or develop their skills.

This year we have won the local club section of the CC contest series which runs on 80m including CW, SSB, and RTTY/PSK modes.

We are active in the Autumn series of 80M RSGB contests at the moment and are currently in overall first place in the local clubs section having stretched our lead in thelast two sections.

We are currently lying in overall 16th place in the UKACs out of 74 clubs in the General section.

Recent activity :-

Over the last few days there have been several interesting contests.

The first of note was the 80m RSGB ROLO or rolling locator CW contest. For those who don't know how this works, in your first contact you send your own locator but in each subsequent contact you send the locator you last received. This is great practice for copying reliably and it's interesting to see your own locator return to you after a while having done the rounds. Some do come through horribly mangled! Narc members were out in force for this contest with 8 members submitting logs all with good scores.

On Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th October the 48h JARTS RTTY contest ran, I had 54 contacts including two with the host country (Japan) and 31 other countries. John G8VPE was the only other NARC member I have been made aware of who participated - he worked 47 stations in 35 countries.

Sunday 17th October saw the 50MHz AFS contest with reasonable conditions and a brief burst of es towards the last few minutes allowing qsos to Poland and Italy for some. There were 5 entries from NARC and generally good activity from JO02.

This Tuesday saw the latest leg of the UKACs with the 1.3GHz session taking place. Conditions were fairly poor although some DX was available. 4 NARC members have submitted entries.

This Thursday 21st October saw the 70MHz UKAC Three of us from NARC were involved, G4DYC, G4KQY and myself. Conditions were fairly flat. Best Dx from here was GI4SNA.

Finally and not quite a contest but worthy of mention, last weekend, Mike G4DYC took part in 'Exercise Blue Ham'. This event is run by the military cadet forces on the 5MHz shared band allowing report exchanges between amateurs and cadet stations, Certificates are provided for > 10 contacts. Conditions were mainly northerly long skip to the North of England and Scotland.

Upcoming contests in the next 2 weeks:-

On VHF / UHF / SHF (all times in UTC)

Tue 26th Oct 1830 to 2130, SHF UKAC
Tue 2nd Nov 1900 to 2130, 144MHz UKAC
Wed 3rd Nov 1900 to 2100, 144MHz FT8 AC

On HF (all times in UTC)

Wednesdays throughout the year, CW ops 1 hour mini tests 13:00, 19:00, Thurs 03:00 exchange Name and G or CWOPS number
Sat Sun Oct 23/24th, UK/EI Dx Contest SSB (see wa7bnm for rules etc)
Sat Sun Oct 23/24th, Stew Perry Topband challenge (see wa7bnm for rules etc)
Thu 28th Oct 1900-2030, Autumn Series SSB - Another big one for NARC please try to take part!
Mon 1st Nov 2000 to 2130 Autumn series Data - Ditto!

All RSGB contest rules and further details plus log submission at RSGB contest site
Look to WA7BMN’s contest calendar for other contests and links to rules etc at WA7BNM weekly contest calendar
A link to John 2E0TWQ’s site’s Narc contest history page - 2E0TWQ's NARC contest results page

Submissions or comments for this news to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

73 until next week,

Phil G4LPP

GB2CW Morse Corner Week ending 22.10.21

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Published: 21 October 2021

Last Updated: 21 October 2021

GB2CW Morse Corner Week ending 22.10.21
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Join in with the class you think appropriate for your level of competency.
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Morse classes will take a while to establish again. However, we would like everybody to attend them again. Those who improved in their class last year, can move into the one above their speed range. This is the way we would like it to work. It is the only way that you will improve your speed anyway.
Chris G4CCX had no students at all this week, most disappointing.
Beginners are most welcome. Phil had only one in his class last week so we look forward to seeing some others. Don't worry if it "seems" too fast when you first listen. Phil may have a beginner from last year, but he will cater for the "raw beginner", so please join in.
Don't forget that ALL the work is down to you and the time you are prepared to donate.
Malcolm G3PDH had only one attend his high speed class and that was Chris who was practising his keyboard skills. This class is for the advanced student, and we do have a few of those, so please try to attend. Classes are as below:
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The sending class is on Zoom. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for sign-in string.
The Zoom class this week proved very useful for Les G0DFC. We adjusted his straight key technique and he is going to practice it from scratch again to get it right. Tony G0OOR attended this week too. Apart from a few minor audio problems the session went well. Both were able to adjust their approach to using the paddle in a more relaxed way and both will be practising.

Zoom is very useful for detecting bad habits etc.

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The RUFzxp table has also started as below. Send your new score to Jim G3YLA by Thursday evening
at the latest. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. No new scores so far this winter.

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The BUG Roundup.
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I don't possess a BUG key ( the name for a semi-automatic key ) but if you do and you fancy some practice with it, along with lots of others, then this event is for you.
W6SFM is sponsoring this event and full details can be found here:
https://w6sfm.com/bug-roundup/
It's not until November so you even have time to practice! Personally I would not have one in the shack these days, but there are officiandos who love them. I know not why, the Morse is questionable at best, but is full of "character". It's much like living in a really ancient cottage with low beams, outside toilet and reeds on the roof. If you like it it's great! However, that oldie worldie character is really for the history books. Most people use a keyer and paddle these days. Having said that, we still have Straight Key nights so it's horses for courses.
Take a look, you might enjoy it!

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Winter will be at least 6 months long so you have lots of dark evenings to practice.
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Why not join the real world instead of the impersonal FT stuff?
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Lets make it a record year for NARC!

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73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. May the Morse be with you.

Propagation News, Friday 22nd October 2021

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Published: 21 October 2021

Last Updated: 21 October 2021

HF News

After a week of sunspots and DX fun it looks like we are back in the doldrums again.

The Sun currently has just one sunspot visible, meaning the sunspot number is 11. This represents one sunspot (1) in one group (10).

There has been DX to be had, mostly thanks to DXpeditions, including Guinea Bissau (J5T), The Kingdom of Eswatini (3DA0WW), and Sao Tome and Principe (S90K).

These have been relatively easy to work and brought much-needed excitement to the HF bands.

Geomagnetic conditions have been mixed, with the Kp index hitting four on Tuesday. This was the result of a large coronal hole that was Earth-facing earlier in the week.

Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will climb again to the high 80s, ending the week in the low to mid 90s. This is likely due to a large active region that is visible on the STEREO Ahead spacecraft’s imager and which should rotate into view over the next few days.

This may bring a surge in activity again, which should be welcomed by HF operators.

VHF and up

After a reminder of how unsettled autumn can be, this weekend will see a weak and transient ridge crossing the country, and a possible brief Tropo window, especially to the east across the North Sea.

Apart from that, the unsettled autumn flavour continues through the whole of next week and, as we have seen recently, that can mean some pretty wet and windy weather.

Rain scatter on the GHz bands is, of course, an option in these conditions, but there is little else to bring cheer, unless meteor scatter and aurora come into play.

Today the Moon is at apogee, so EME path losses are at their maximum. Moon declination reaches maximum positive declination again on Tuesday so we’ll see the Moon reaching its highest elevations at its zenith.

The Orionids shower is still active and the Leonis Minorids peaks today, so still some interest for meteor scatter enthusiasts. The best time for reflections is, as always, around dawn.