Contents March
2002
1. M.A.R.T.S.
Committee. 2. New Structure
4. Morse 5.
Obituary
6. EMC
7. Word Search Puzzle 8. Jokes and Comments. 9.Time Travel
10. Items
for
M.A.R.T.S. Committee.
President. G8VJU Kevin Earl.
Vice President. G1JYT Ken
Gibbons.
Chairperson. G7MPZ
Treasurer. G3FTH John Hale.
Secretary. 2E1HRY Pauline Odle.
Committee Member. M1ALD Brian Moran
Committee Member. G4INO George Morris.
Committee Member. M0CGJ
New Structure for
Licensing in
I have been involved with some discussions on the new call sign’s which
we should be hearing in the coming year and after that, And, I appeared to have
been mistaken in the advice I gave some operators on 2 metre’s, so I am
restating the details given in RADCOM with the usual compliments to the RSGB,
and apologies from your scribe.
The previous structure of
Licensing was based on three levels, the Novice, Class A/B and the Full
licence. Both Novice and Full Licences had two categories, one providing access
to all amateur bands, the other restricted to those at 50MHz and above.
Earlier this year the
European Conference of Postal and Telecommunication (CEPT) recommended that the
Morse requirement for their Class 1 licence (equivalent to a
With effect from
The final change to the
amateur radio licensing structure prior to WRC 2003 will be the introduction of
a new ‘Foundation’ licence at the beginning of 2002. This licence will provide
to most of the amateur bands, and restricting licensees to a maximum of 10
watts RF output. Transmitting equipment will be need to be commercially
manufactured items, or properly designed commercial kits.
Study for the foundation
licence may be undertaken over a weekend, and is based on the tradition that
amateur radio is a hobby learnt mainly through self-training. The Foundation
syllabus is based on the concept of producing ‘safe and competent’ radio
amateurs.
It is intended that from
So ‘The Structure’ as I see it is
effective
Class A Licence…………………. G2.G3.G4.G5.M0.M5…(plus
G6 and G8 two-letter
call
signs) 400 W all Bands, Full RAE & 5 WPM Morse Test.
Class B
Licence………………….G1.G6.G7.G8. M1…400 W VHF and above, Full RAE
and
no Morse Test.
Class A Intermediate
Licence…2E0……………………50 W all bands, Novice RAE
5 WPM Morse Test.
Class B Intermediate
Licence…2E1……………………50 W VHF and above, Novice RAE
And no Morse test.
Foundation
Licence……………M3……………………..0.1357-0.1378 MHz
1W (ERP)
Foundation Licence course,
OR Full Class B…………1.810 –24.990 MHz 10W
“
Or Intermediate Class B
licence for more than one …50.00
-438.0 MHz 10W “
Year plus ‘Morse
Assessment’ completion.
M.A.R.T.S. Annual Dinner.
Alan H
Stanley G1OMH Past President & Chairman
The Medway Amateur
Receiving & Transmitting Society held their annual dinner on Saturday 2nd
February at the
This was another very successful year for the
annual dinner. It is purposely held after Christmas so that we have adequate
time to enjoy ourselves and do not have to be rushed through the evening’s
formalities. An excellent three-course meal with wine and some cheese and
biscuits was followed by a few presentations, a large raffle, together with a
very convivial atmosphere and the usual friendly banter being the order of the
evening.
We had the main hall
upstairs to ourselves together with a bar and adequate space and the layout for
usual seating arrangements adopted. Friendly and helpful staff were evident.
Attendance figures
have rapidly progressed to over sixty this year although some attendees dropped
out for various reasons. The attendance figured this year would have been
approaching eighty if all of those interested had been able to attend.
There were present visitors from other local Clubs
together with the Southend Amateur Radio Club who the M.A.R.T.S. has a long
association with over many years.
The very reasonable
selection of food, pre-booked from the menu offered, was good and we also had
“silver service”, Special diets were catered for by pre-arrangement. The
delivery of food to the table was well timed and nobody seemed to be kept
waiting. It was nice to see heated trays on each table for the dished
vegetables to enable a help yourself service. Members nearby made comments to
me that the quality of food was good.
Dress was smart
casual and Black Tie optional. Several of the older members preferred to dress
up and I must admit that they looked very smart.
During the course of
the evening our President, Kevin Earl, G8VJU, was presented with the official
chain of office. This has been brought back after many years of the President’s
Cup being the recognised award. This caused much jocularity, shared by all, as
he was unaware that the presentation held not the usual surprise contents of
the parcel as usually awarded for his birthday by one of the members. The
committee has now agreed to adopt the “Chain of Office” and add presidential
details each year, beginning with the current President.
The large raffle made a profit, which went towards
the club’s subsidy towards the meal costs involved. Together with some
excellent donations towards the raffle prizes, about two hundred pounds worth
of prizes were given away.
The evening finished
with coffee and this year finished at about eleven thirty. The society chairman
organised a collection and a large donation was given to the staff for their
good service. What may only be described as those present had an “excellent
time”.
Morse
Code
Now that the test has
been reduced, this may be of some help to those aspiring to pass the foundation
requirements where crib sheets are allowed and possibly 5 wpm without knowledge
of the code.
Morse code is
usually presented as a list in alphabetical order. This is unsatisfactory since
the whole letter has to be heard and the alphabet searched, OK for a dit but
not for - -- -- - which is 16th on the list. The only practical way
then is to rely on memory. Not So!!!!!
There is a logical
way of arranging the code so that decoding can be performed by tracing a path
through a decision network as the individual dots and dashes came along, no
checking through lists or backtracking. Decoding this way can be so efficient
that slow Morse can be decoded in real time.
A Morse code letter
can be thought of as a binary number of variable lengths. A mere letter with
four elements (Dits and Dahs) is like a binary number with four digits. So P-
-- -- - might be represented by 101. The total number of such four digit number
is 2x2x2x2 = 16. Morse code makes the use of characters of length 1. 2. 3. 4.
Units. There are two Binary numbers of 1 digit, 4 with 2 digits, and 8 with 3
digits. So there are 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 = 30 possibilities, four more than
required.
Obituary
Once again we have to record the passing of a well
known Radio Amateur, Norman Richardson, G0AES, Norman was a great devotee of
TOP Band operation, and until early last year he was very regularly heard on
the ‘Round Robin’ the ‘Frankly Speaking net’ as well as ssb on his favourite
frequency 40 metre’s, together with many visits to other frequencies and many
other amateur’s will have recorded his call sign in their log’s, he was also to
be heard on the various 2 Metre’s F.M. net’s and was always meticulous in his
reports.
Norman unfortunately had to be hospitalised in 2001
and latterly was confined to a Nursing Home in Boro Green, Norman will be
remembered by the few that had been invited to view his collection of period
radio sets, which included many carefully restored pre 1930 family radio’s I
understand that this will be retained by another collection which will be
recorded as originally collected by him.
Norman was a single man, he had been a dispatch
rider in the Royal Signals during the last war, and enjoyed many motorcycle
meetings up and down the country, I have enjoyed listening to him recounting
many of his contributions to that sport, he lived in Maidstone with His mother
until she passed on a few years ago.
As had been said many meetings would be devoid of
Many Radio Amateurs were present at his final
departure, which was on Friday 18th January at the Medway
Crematorium, and
EMC
Extract from ‘RADCOM’
There are two aspects, emissions and immunity. In
the context of amateur radio, ‘immunity’ means that electronic equipment
operates as intended in the presence of signals from a nearby transmitter and
‘emissions’ refers to unwanted interference emitted by electronic equipment
that may effect nearby radio receivers.
There have been many
items in this column recently about emissions because of new developments that
raise some important issues. Nevertheless, tackling immunity problems remains
the priority and some general advice may be useful, particularly for new
licensees.
Advice to members.
For an RSGB member who has an EMC problem, the first point of contact should be
the nearest EMC Coordinator. There is a list in the RSGB Yearbook or on the EMC
committee website.
In many cases, this
person will be able to give all the necessary advice but, where this is not
possible, the problem will be passed to an EMC Committee member who specialises
in that particular type of problem.
Before you contact
your EMC Coordinator, please; make sure you have done everything possible to
solve the problem yourself. Collect as much information as possible which will
be useful to the Coordinator, particularly makes and model numbers of effected
equipment, if available.
Remember that the
Coordinator is a volunteer, so please ring at sociable times, remember also
that the scheme only offers telephone advice, at present no visits will be
made.
Word Search
Puzzle
John
Hale. G3FTH. Treasurer.
F R
K L M
T W M
W S
T O
W F O
I D A
R S
H T
O E R
T N R
C E
T S
C K S
N F C
L L
D I
O D E
L E O
A E
L S
A T F
V P N
X R
D N
N C S
I L I
L I
I A
L Y D
A O A
F W
A R
F A
E Q M
S V F
Q T
E R E
K A E
P S
This puzzle
contains 12 words connected with Ham Radio
Jokes
A snail is sick and
tired of his reputation for being to slow so he decides to buy a sports car. He
decided that the BMW Z3 is the car to get, so he goes to the nearest car dealer
and says he wants to buy a Z3, but he wants the badge changed to S3.
The dealer asks;
‘Why “S”? The snail replies; “S” stands for snail. I want everyone who sees me
roaring past to know who’s driving.
The dealer doesn’t want
to lose the unique opportunity to sell a car to a snail, so he agrees to have
the car repainted for a small fee. The snail gets his new car and spends the
rest of his days happily roaring down the motorway. And whenever anyone sees
him zooming by. Say’s
‘Wow! Look at that S-car go!’
A little girl and a
little boy are at nursery school. The girl approaches the boy and says; ‘Tommy,
do you want to play mummies and daddies?’ He says, ‘Yes, what do you want me to
do?’ The girl replies; ‘I want you to communicate your thoughts.’
‘Communicate my
thoughts?’ says a bewildered Tommy. ‘I have no idea what that means.’
The little girl
smirks and says; ‘Perfect, you can be the husband.’
Two golfers approach
a tee. A fence separates the fairway from a road that runs parallel to the
course. The first golfer tees off and the ball goes over the fence and bounces
on the road, where it hits the tyre of a moving bus and is knocked back on to
the fairway.
The other player
asked him; ‘How did you do that?’ Without hesitation, he says;
‘Oh it’s easy.
You just have to know the bus timetable.’
Two hydrogen atoms
walked into a bar and one says to the other, ‘I think I’ve lost an electron’.
The other says, ‘Are you sure?’ The first says, ‘Yes I’m positive.’
Men are like fine
wine. They start out sweet as grapes, and then women stomp on them and keep
them in the dark until they mature into something nice to have dinner with.
A man says to another man: ‘I’m going to chop off
the bottom of one of your trouser legs and put it in a library.’ The second man
says: ‘That’s a turn up for the books.’
A man says to a
friend: ’I’m really scared. I got a letter from a man who said he’d break my
legs if I didn’t stop seeing his wife.’
‘Well,’ replies his
friend, ‘I suppose you’ll have to stop seeing his wife.’ ‘That’s easy for you
to say,’ says the first man.’ ‘Do you like her that much?’ the friend asks.
@No, declares the first man. ‘The sender didn’t sign his name!’
Why do elephants
drink?
To forget
Did you hear about
the Buddhist who refused a dentist’s injection?
He wanted to
transcend dental medication
A Computer
assistance story.
“Ridge Hall computer
assistance, May I help you?”
“Yes, well, I’m having trouble with Word
Perfect.”
“What sort of trouble?”
“Well I was just
typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away”.
“Went away?
“They disappeared.”
“Hmm, So what does
your screen look like now?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“It’s blank, it won’t accept anything when I
type.”
“Are you still in
Word Perfect or did you get out?”
“How do I tell?”
“Can you see the C, prompt on the screen?”
“What’s a
sea-prompt?”
“Never mind. Can you
move your cursor around on the screen?”
“There isn’t any
cursor; I told you, it won’t accept anything I type.”
“Does your monitor
have a power indicator?”
“What’s a monitor?”
“It’s the thing with
the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells
you?”
“I don’t know?”
“Well, then look on
the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see
that?”
“Yes I think so?”
“Great. Follow the
cord to plug, and tell me if it’s plugged into the wall.”
“Yes it is.”
“When you were behind
the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of
it, not just one?”
“NO”
“Well, there are. I
need you to look back there again and find the cable.”
“Okay, here it is.”
“Follow it for me, and
tell me if it is plugged securely into the back of your computer”.
“I can’t reach it.”
“Uh HUH. Well can
you see it?”
“No”
“Even if you maybe
put your knee on something and lean away?”
“Oh, it’s not because
I don’t have the right angle it’s because it’s dark.”
“Dark?”
“Yes the office
light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window.”
“Well, turn on the
office light then.”
“I can’t.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because there’s a
power failure.”
“A power…… a power
failure? Aha, we’ve got it licked now.”
“Do you still have
the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?”
“Well, yes, I keep
them in the closet.”
“Good. Go get them,
unplug your system, and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take
it back to the store you bought it from.”
“Really? Is it that
bad?”
“Yes, I’m afraid it
is.”
“Well, all right
then, I suppose. What do I tell them?”
“TELL THEM YOU’R
TOO………………………STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER.”
This is a true story
from a recording monitoring the customer care department. Needless to say the
Help Desk employee was fired, however, he/she is currently suing the Word
Perfect organisation for “Termination without Cause.”
Time
Travel
Bob Oxley G3WWI
It was a cold,
clear, frosty December Night. He stretched out in front of the cosy open fire.
Random thoughts and questions drifted through his mind. Was time travel possible?
If so, why had nobody done it? Perhaps they had. Now I don’t see why we should
need special machines, how could machines change time.
Now let’s see, he
thought. Can you go backwards in time? There is a bit of a problem there, if
you went backwards in time, say you met yourself in the past. Now that would be
a bit of a paradox. You could not have two of you walking about at the same
time, or even in the same place. People would think you were twins. Would he be
able to reach out and touch himself? What would be happening in the present
(future) when he was not there? NO, to many difficult questions. It can’t be
possible to go back in time. All right then, how about going forward?
He settled down into
the comfy chair. Going forward in time you would not meet yourself. Mind, you
he thought, he would not be able to come back because he just ruled out going
backwards in time. How far should he try and go into the future? How about a
year? What about Rosemary’s birthday next month he ought to be there for that
and indeed his own birthday. No, a year was to far, too much to miss. All right
then, how about a month? The thing is he would miss that little get together
with the family at Christmas. Oh dear! How about a week then, Rosemary gone
into the future you will see me in a week “No, I can’t do that she wouldn’t
understand. She might think I had gone off with Carole, old Wiggin’s secretary.
What about an hour, well it is half past eleven now. He had told Rosemary he
would not be long. All right then, ten minutes, there can’t be a problem with
that.
Now, how would he
know he had gone forward in time ten minutes? Ah yes, the clock. He could watch
the clock. Now, he would have to watch it carefully. Would it go fast or
suddenly jump ten minutes. Well here goes; the clock says twenty to eleven. Now
just concentrate, concentrate, c-o-n-c-e-n-t-r-a-t-e………………………………………”
“My God I’ve done
it!” he said out loud. The clock says ten to eleven. I have actually travelled
forward in time ten minutes. “What have you done?” said Rosemary’s voice from
the doorway. “I thought you were coming to bed and there you are talking to
yourself in the chair” He smiled to himself and got up out of the chair.
“Coming” he said.
Items for
Bob
Oxley G3WWI
Yamha KX Cassette
Deck.
Dolby B & C,
HX-Pro, Frequency Response Metal 30- 20kHz, Signal to Noise Ratio 76dB,
Dolby B&C, Auto bias switching for
metal, chrome and Ferrite, Remote Control, Colour Silver, Optional teak sleeve.
£50.00
Sony ST-S370 UHF
Tuner.
87.5 – 108MHz, Radio Data System, Digital and
Barograph Signal Meter, variable IF Bandwidth, Switch able Attenuator, Station
Name input (For non-RDS). Display Dimmer, Also Long and Medium Wave Bands, 30
Memories, Colour Black.
£75.00
Scan-dyna 3000 Tuner
Amplifier.
UHF FM and Medium
Wave, 2 X40W into 8ohms, 2 x 50W into 4 ohms, Twin Analogue Power Meters,
Speakers off, A,B,A+B, High and Low Filter, Loudness Control, Silver Front,
Teak Sleeve.
£40.00
Tokyo-Hy Power HL63U 70cms Linear Amplifier.
Variable Gain, Pre-amp/Attenuator, Barograph
Output. Indicator, 0.5 to 25W input, 50W output for 10W input. Protection
circuit.
£60.00
Eck U354 UHF FM Table Radio.
Built in 8” X
5” loudspeaker, Tone control, Colour White.
£30.00
Late
News
Foundation Licence
Courses.
Very Many amateur
radio clubs are now offering Foundation Licence courses. Listings of the majority
of these can be found on page 6 of the January and February RadCom’s. The list
of clubs offering courses will be kept up to date on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/foundation
Our nearest club
which is running ‘Foundation preparation or full time courses,’ is ‘The
Bredhurst Amateur Radio Society’ meeting at the Working Men’s Club,
And do not forget the
‘Rainham Radio Rally’
National Science Week
takes Place from the 8th to 17th of March
The 65th
at
1000UTC on the Saturday the 9th of March and finishes 24 hours later
on Sunday.
GB50 Special Event Station Celebrating the Queen’s
Golden Jubilee between the 29th of
May and
GB2RAF, the Royal
Air Force Amateur Radio Society’s permanent special event station, will be on
the air, Sunday the 3rd of March, from the RAF Air Defence Radar
Museum at RAF Neatishead