Peter G1FLL, Andy, Gerry G6KGG and Les G1LQB

Well done to the Foundation Course team.

Andy Walters, second from left, is our latest successful candidate for the Foundation Course having passed the examination on Saturday 7th August. 

Les congratulating Andy.

This was quite a thrill for Mark 2E0ZLO as it was his first Aeronautical Mobile contact.

I presume that everyone knows that vertical aerials suffer from high noise levels followed by dipoles and the quietest aerial for noise levels, is the loop aerial and people tend to think of the magnetic loop. But wait the magnetic loop aerial has low efficiency!!!!! So What!!!!! That’s only on transmit it is a very efficient high Q receive aerial.
There is a lot of information available about aerials on the internet so instead of repeating what others have published I shall put links to already published articles.

RST & Signal Strength

Before carrying on about aerials and noise just a slight deviation to the RST report and the Signal Strength meter.
The “Signal Strength” meters or receivers or transceivers are only accurate if they have been calibrated at regular periods with a standard meter. (I worked on instrumentation at Ruston Research.) Personally I take the reading on my transceiver with a pinch of salt and do not rely on it.
Moving on to Readability, Signal Strength and Tone, which I also take with a pinch of salt. A station gives you an RST of 599 then asks you to repeat something; it can’t be you that’s bad as he has given you a 599 so it must be him who is the bad operator as he could have added QRN, QRM and QSB.

Noise and Signal Strength, this is the bothersome bit if the noise level is the same as the signal strength of the station you are working. You don’t need a meter to tell you, just use your ears.
This is where we start to think, how could we reduce the noise level and make the signal more prominent. If you can reduce the noise level by 2S points and even if the signal is reduced by 1S point, the signal now becomes more readable. How about having a low noise receive only aerial and switch between this and your main aerial when operating.

RF Sensing

I can hear the groans thinking about physically switching between transmit and receive aerials when conducting a QSO but Wait!!!!! Transceivers have a switching circuit involved in transmitting and receiving perhaps this circuit could be implemented in switching my aerials. Preamps have an RF sensing circuit, perhaps I could I build an RF sensing circuit to switch the aerials. (Perhaps someone could comment article on RF sensing circuits or know of a good circuit that would be of interest to everyone.)

Recieve Aerials

This link takes you to an article from “Technical Topics” column of the June 1986 edition of “RadCom” http://www.qrss.thersgb.net/G8CQX-Loop-antenna.html which is about a low noise active receiving loop aerial. This loop has been updated by Des (M0AYF) and can be found at http://www.qrss.thersgb.net/active-loop-receiving-antenna.html.
 A good article on a magnetic receive only loop by Simone IW5EDI can be found at http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/29/a-small-wire-loop-antenna-for-160-to-10-meters

PLEASE DO NOT USE A MORSE KEY UNTIL YOU CAN READ MORSE AT 12 WPM AS YOU MAY PICK UP BAD HABBITS AND END UP SENDING RUBBISH and add to the multitude of bad operators on the bands.

To make my observations credible, I was taught Morse code to 20 wpm in 1965 when I joined the RAF and was a Special Operator Telegraphy for many years. During that time I had to take weak signal CW and also with a lot of QRM or QRN up to speeds of 35 wpm as it was part of my job.

What I have to say next may upset some operators but these views are not only held by myself, but also held by a lot of experienced CW operators World Wide,

I completely disagree with slow Morse and was appalled by introduction of the 5 wpm Morse test which was introduced in the 1980’s. I was a Morse Examiner for the DTI & RSGB at that time. To become a Morse Examiner you had to take a 20 wpm Morse test and then be interviewed to be able to qualify to examine people on the 12 wpm. Morse Test. I am currently a registered RSGB  Morse examiner up to 30 wpm

If you bear with me things do get better. Read this article first by David G. Finley, N1IRZ “So You Want to Learn Morse Code“before coming to any conclusion about my article.

To set the record straight I will not work slow Morse stations but I will work stations sending Morse slowly. (Characters sent at 12wpm with long space)

As a member of FISTS The International Morse Code Preservation Society I will actively encourage people to learn and use CW but will discourage the teaching of slow Morse and encourage people to learn the code using the Koch method. (If you have read the article by David Finley on the link above then you should know what I am talking about. If not please read the article NOW as it saves me repeating what he is saying, saves my fingers typing and reduces the length of my article.)

It may sound funny as I am a member of FISTS, but I will not teach Morse code, but I will give advice about learning it. This is because today nearly everyone has a computer and there is software that you can run on the computer today will teach you Morse better than taking it from another CW operator. It is also beneficial to listen to the good CW on the bands as it is slightly different from computer sent Morse.

Ray Goff G4FON has written a superb program using the Koch method of training which is internationally renowned and I will always recommend his program to learners and experienced Morse operators alike as not only can you learn CW but it can also be used to improve the standard of experienced operators as well. The “Koch CW Trainer” is freely available from Ray’s website.

To end, I will freely give my advice to anyone having problems learning CW or having problems in using the Koch CW trainer and hope to work you on the bottom of the bands soon.

All accounts that have invalid emails will be DELETED by the 11th of August 2010 and the users will have to register again with a valid email, to use the website.

Any queries please Email me

The National Hamfest organised by Lincoln Short Wave Club in association with the RSGB will be the first event of the first Ham Week UK. The week hopes to raise the profile of the hobby. Clubs are asked to arrange events to interest the General Public. Permanent special event callsigns will also be asked to go on the air that week.

LSWC will activate their permanent special event callsign GB2CWP from the East Kirkby Avaition Heritage Centre. The vintage T1154 and R1155 will hopefully be on the air and club members would like to arrange skeds with other users of vintage gear. (The set up is pictured in the article below).

Club members will also be activating GB10NH a few days before the National Hamfest and at the event. During Ham Week UK it will also be on the air from the club HQ.

L-R Ian G4XFC, James G0EUN, Gerry G6KGG, Roger G3PVU & Bob G3VRD checking out the T1154/R1155

Roger,left and Bob sorting out the crystal oscillator

The Lincoln Short Wave Club in association with the RSGB are organising the event at the Newark Showground on Cotober 1st and 2nd.

The event will mark the start of the first HAM WEEK UK. A special event station will oerate from the show and during the following week using the callsign GB10NH

Details of the show can be found at www.nationalhamfest.org.uk