Local time UK BST(A)
Fact of the Day
The Sheffield Amateur Radio Club is proud to present on Monday 6th October 2008
Enigma Talk by John Alexander G7CGK
on the WWII German Enigma and mechanical
cipher machines , an interesting talk not to be missed.
Wireless Times
The Riotous Retro Radio Recreation
After delighting and bemusing audiences at the Edinburgh
Fringe and the Manchester Comedy Festival and fresh from
the delights of Cheriton Fitzpaign
The wireless times outside broadcast crew are ready to come
"down our alley" to Sheffield Amateur Radio Club
Panache and sophistication are just two of the words in the
wireless times official pronunciation dictionary that have yet to be
used about us.
Arriving 7:30pm for 8pm start
Bar and refreshments available
Venue:Sheffield Amateur Radio Club, Sheffield Transport Club
Greenhill Main Road Sheffield S8 7RH
73
SARC
www.sheffieldarc.org.uk
This year we raised a score of over 2 million points, our best ever so were looking to secure a place in the top 20! We were on Arran again this year operating from the same QTH as previous years. If you would like to be part of the team in 2009 then please email Colin G3VCQ at IOTA2009@sheffield-live.co.uk. The team raised £750 for charity and we would like to thank everyone who supported our effort. Thank you, your money has gone to our chosen charity The Gambian Schools Trust who will put it to good use. See their website to see what your money can do for the Children of Gambia.
Missed your chance to sponsor us last year and want a place on the famous MM3M
T shirt and web site (12 Months of Free Advertising!!) then please contact MM3MIOTASponsorship@sheffield-live.co.uk
BE PART OF SOMETHING GREAT
FORGET THE REST AND JOIN THE BEST
JOIN OR SUPPORT THE
MM3M IOTA CONTEST TEAM 2009
SPORT RADIO IS FUN FOR ALL AGES
Sponsor for MM3M QSL cards
LAM Communications - sponsor of the MM3M IOTA Contest Team 2008
Special Event News
GB8CMC, celebrating 801 years of The Coleshill Market Charter, will be on the air from 25 to 31 August on 80m through to 6m on SSB. It could also be on the air occasionally until 21 September so if listeners would like a sked, please e-mail john.jacks<at>btinternet.com. GB1CM, which is to commemorate the first anniversary of the loss of the rally driver Collin McRae, will be on the air during the month of September on 80m through to 6m on SSB. GB2TIN will be on the air on 31 August to celebrate the opening on 1 September of the museum of Hard Rock Mining at Geevor Tin Mine in west Cornwall. On the weekends of 24 August and 29 to 31 August, the Orkney Amateur Radio Club will be will be operating GS8R from Scapa Bay as part of a programme of activities to commemorate the 850th anniversary of the death of St Rognvald [pronounced Ronald]. In Norway, their sister special event station will operate from within a few hundred metres of where Rognvald was born. .
Look for special event stations BT1OB, BT1OJ, BT1OH, BT1OY and BT1ON to be QRV from 18 May to 17 September in celebration of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The last letter of each callsign corresponds to the colour in Chinese of each of the rings of the Olympic flag. QSL via BA4EG.
GAREC -2008 in Friedrichshafen, Germany
The fourth Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference, GAREC-2008, will take place on Thursday, 26, and Friday, 27 June 2008 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in combination with HamRadio 2008 (27-29 June) in the Conference Center of the Friedrichshafen Messe.
GAREC-2008 will focus on the co-operation among IARU member societies and with specialized groups working on emergency communications in the Amateur Radio Service.
The event will be organised by the IARU Region 1 Emergency Coordinator, Seppo Sisatto, OH1VR with the team that has already organised the GAREC Conferences in Tampere, Finland, in 2005 and 2006
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The Latest News Headlines 
Sheffield Amateur Radio Club has a new call sign! Earlier this year one of the clubs founder members Howard Booth sadly passed away, in his honour the club wanted to keep his memory alive with his G call - G2AS. Further to this we shall also honour his name by naming our training centre after him. The Howard Booth Training centre will be opened on the 1st of September 2008 and we shall activate a special operating evening using G2AS from the training centre on 80m and 40m from 2000 - 2200. Each room within the TC shall be named after Howard in some way i.e. Training room 1 has his VK call and Training room 2 has his G call! Come and join us on the night and enjoy a glass of bubbly and a sandwich! 73 Colin G3VCQ SARC Chair. | Finding UK Repeaters | | | | | | Charles, M3XYU has created a web page that uses the Google API to find your nearest UK amateur radio repeaters. Check out the site at www.charlescoverley.co.uk/ham/ | | E-petition against interference | | | | | | Devices that use the mains to link computers or TV set-top boxes to the internet can cause interference to radios in nearby houses. An e-petition has been created on the UK government website calling for such devices to be banned. The petition is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveShortwave/. The primary problem seems to be with the Comtrend devices that BT Vision are offering as part of their domestic installations. While these appear to be notched for the HF amateur bands there is no notching for the broadcast bands. Since the advent of the UKQRM group that we mentioned on last week's news, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of logged complaints of 'spectrum abuse' reported to Ofcom. This has resulted in at least one installation having to be hard wired by BT Vision with other installations being investigated. The October RadCom will contain more information on problems with domestic mains networking. 2012 - Brittain hosts the Olympic Games.. the countdown begins.....1432 days to go as we go to print! (But who's counting!). There will be many activities on the run up and during the games but G3VCQ is arranging an international event for every country entering the games. Amateur Radio becomes part of the games where you could win Gold for your country! Watch this space as we release the details of the greatest contest ever! |
Have the latest Ham radio news e-mailed to you daily!
Just click the link below which will take you to the Google alert request page - fill in your details and the latest Ham radio news will be sent to you daily! Keep in touch with whats happening in The World of Ham radio.
Current Solar Data (from NOAA)
Solar X-rays:
Geomagnetic Field: |
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From n3kl.org
First, a look at the monthly smoothed sunspot numbers. The figures are for November and December 2007 and January 2008 which are the latest available, which are 5.7, 5.0 and 4.2 respectively. By the 17th of August we have had 28 days with the solar disc void of any spots. This equals the same number of days for this minimum without sunspots which took place between the 9th of October and the 5th of November 2007. Solar activity was very low. The solar flux increased slightly from 65 units to 67 by the 17th. The average was 66 units. The 90 day solar flux average was 66 units, that's one unit down on last week. The lowest 90 day solar flux average last minimum was 69 units. Geomagnetic activity was quiet everyday. The average was Ap 6 units. The ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decline from 660 kilometres per second on the 11th to 310 by the 16th. Particle densities were low except for the 16th which increased to 29 particles per cubic centimetre on the 16th. Bz varied between minus 5 and plus 4 nanoTeslas, however, on the 16th varied between minus 7 and plus 6 nanoTeslas. The solar forecast. This week solar activity is expected to continue at very low levels with no end in sight of the present lack of sunspots and activity. Solar flux levels are expected to remain within the 60's all week. Presently there are only two coronal holes on the Sun and this week neither will be looking Earthward. Therefore, geomagnetic activity should be quiet all week. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes should be about 18MHz for the south and 15MHz for the north. The darkness hour lows should be around 9MHz. Paths this week to South America should have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per cent success rate of about 23MHz. The optimum working frequency with a 90 per cent success rate will be around 18MHz. The best time to try this path will be between 1200 and 2000 hours UTC. During the past week there were good sporadic-E openings on several days, at times reaching 70MHz. However, we are now well past the seasonal peak. So, while there is a good possibility of further openings during the coming week, they are likely to be briefer and less intense.
Contest News.
26 August sees the RSGB 50MHz Activity Contest taking pace from 1900 to 2130 using all modes. The exchange is RS and serial number plus locator. On 27 August it's the RSGB 80m Club Sprint on 3.5MHz SSB from 1900 to 2030. The exchange is both callsigns, serial number and name or nickname. Over the weekend of 30 and 31 August, between 1200 and 1200, The International Short Wave Championship of Romania will be taking place using CW and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands. The exchange is RST and serial number
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DX News
Compiled from the 425 DX News and other sources
CN33M will be on the air from Morocco until August 26. QSL via CN2DX.
F5NHJ will be operating as FK/F5NHJ from Grande Terre, New Caledonia until 29 August. Activity will be mostly on CW and the digital modes on 30m.
Members of the Hong Kong Amateur Radio DX Association, HARDXA, continued to be active as VR2008O until August 31, to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Operations are from 40 to 10 meters and 6 metres, using primarily SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL direct only to VR2XMT, Charlie Ho, PO Box 900, Fanling Post Office, Hong Kong. There will be no e-QSL or LoTW.
CU6AY/P will be active from Pico Island until 4 September. QSL direct to his home callsign, see QRZ.com.
Click to join SheffieldDXNet
New Microwave Beacon - GB3KEU A new 6cm microwave beacon, GB3KEU, is up and running from the Sheffield Amateur Radio Club location at Meadowhead, Sheffield. We "threw the big switch" at 11.15GMT Sunday 6 April. The beacon is now on air. Please listen for it and give me a frequency check on the zero beat carrier. | Callsign: | GB3KEU (In memory of Tim Leighfield, G3KEU, a keen 6cm op and now SK) | | Frequency: | Nominally 5760.925MHz | | Antenna: | Slotted wave guide. Omni. | | Power out: | 25W erp | | Keying: | FSK, nominally 400Hz shift. | | Line up: | G8ACE OCXO-> DB6NT 5.7 beacon module -> DB6NT PA (at reduced o/p) | We all owe a debt of gratitude to Peter, G3LRP (nr Wakefield) for his extremely generous donation of both DB67NT modules to this project. He's been waiting a very long time to hear this beacon! Many thanks also to the Telford club, G3ZME very kindly donated (via G3UKV) a beautifully made slotted waveguide antenna. At present the beacon is mounted on a short mast, projecting just above the roof of the club shack. Reports to: G3PHO
HAM RADIO ON THE NET: IRC MORSE COMES TO THE WWW
It was bound to happen and now it has, Morse code over Internet Relay Chat or IRC.
According to its host website, CWirc is a plug-in for the X-Chat IRC client. It is designed to transmit raw
Morse code over the internet using I-R-C servers as reflectors. The transmitted Morse code can be received
in near real-time by other X-Chat clients who are equipped with the CWirc plug-in.
CWirc tries to emulate a standard amateur radio rig. It has the ability to send and receive Morse over
virtual channels, and it can listen to multiple senders transmitting on the same channel. Morse code is
keyed locally using a straight or iambic key connected to a computers serial port, or using the mouse
buttons, Sound is played through the soundcard or through an external sounder.
Note that CWirc doesn't do any Morse decoding. It simply transmits and receives C-W timing events. The
program and your computer does the rest to give you a Morse code experience without the radio, the
antenna or any T-V-I.
More about CWirc is on-line at users.skynet.be/ppc/cwirc/ The website also has historic information on the Morse code and the telegraph. (Southgate)
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