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- Written by: Mike G8KMP
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Tony Bailey RIP
Tony Bailey came along to one of our meetings on 7th September 1966 just a few months after MSARS started and signed in with a BRS 27845 certificate. A year later on the 6th September 1967 Tony had the callsign G3WPO.
1974 Tony gave a lecture to MSARS on 'Oscar 7' and 'FM Transceivers' to 25 of our members, including G5RV.
In 1975 Tony had designed the 'WOPPO' box, a ten channel scanning transceiver that several of our members built. A 25 years certificate was awarded to Tony in 1998.
Tony died on Friday 12th April 2024.
May he rest in peace.
Mike G8KMP
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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A new historical video has been uploaded to our videos page thanks to Mike Pollock G8KMP (source material), Gordon King G3XTH (editing) and of course the artist K J Farmer.
It makes interesting viewing and I'm sure it will bring back some memories for many of our long-standing members.
The original painting still resides in our shack of course, and the club is also proud to retain Louis' famous G5RV callsign.
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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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If you read last month’s edition you will not be surprised that the last remaining US states got into my log in the first couple of days of March. Alaska and Vermont made it a full house. Now to try for some elusive DX; Galapagos, Nepal and of course New Zealand.
One day I’ll turn the wire direction from N-S to E-W and work Antarctica and over the pole to the Pacific. Still, just over 140 DXCCs this year on my wire loop with 100W. I don’t think the pigeons and squirrels would appreciate it if I wound the wick up to 1 kW!
This month has been good for me, as I have contacted 4 ATNOs (All Time New Ones). I’m getting close to the big 300. All the outstanding ones are remote islands with the exception of Syria. March was also good for islands, 26 in all; 4 in Europe, 6 in Asia, 8 in North America, and 8 in Oceana.
As promised last month, a few tips based on personal experience, on how to get the DX in the log. First of all, get a logbook (or a computer log) HI. Then turn on the radio, check the antenna, PSU, tuner and anything else you might need.
I find it useful to pick a band that is active, so read up on propagation or watch one of the web-based sources. There is little point in shouting into the mic’ if there is no propagation. All pretty obvious so far.
If you are a bit short of experience, voice might not be your preferred mode. Don’t forget there is CW and numerous data modes to choose from as well.
I find that a quiet band is OK provided you can hear something going on. If you hear any station calling CQ answer him to get warmed up, then be brave and find a quiet spot and call CQ yourself. You might have to wait for a number of calls before you get a reply, however, remember if you don’t put out any calls no one can reply!
I have found that using FT8 with my CQ call loaded into the system can produce surprising replies including some of my rare DX! Quite often you can call a rare station for a long time with no luck, however, I have found that without telling anyone the DX has a 'list' it is easy to give up - but unknown to you, you might be next on his list. This happened to me with Fiji. After 8 minutes of calling, I stopped but I kept listening and two of his contacts later I was sent a signal report!
So go on give it a try, but remember listen, listen, listen then make a noise.
This year I managed to get to the club’s AGM, it was great to catch up with some of the 'old' faces again after such a long break. It is noticeable that the club is growing again with new faces & callsigns. Some of the new tech’ is leaving me behind but it was great to see Bob N4XAT, Phil EA8 portable and others more local joining in from afar. All overseen by our RSGB regional rep’ Keith. I had an interesting chat with him about training and the changes Covid has brought to our hobby.
That’s enough for this month, now let’s see what April can bring.
Chris G4ZCS
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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It was brought to the committee's attention at the AGM that the committee meeting summaries for the last two 2024 meetings were missing from the members section of the website. Alan agreed to ensure that they were forwarded to the webmaster for inclusion. I have now received them, and have duly posted them in the members-only section.
Don't all rush to log in at once, but they do make interesting reading, and if you don't log on, you won't know what your committee is doing with your club and it's funds.
Log in here: https://midsussexars.org.uk/members-only
Forgotten your Username? You can find it by following this procedure: https://midsussexars.org.uk/component/users/remind?Itemid=101
Forgotten your Password? What are you like? 🙂 Get a password reset organised here: https://midsussexars.org.uk/component/users/reset?Itemid=101
Regards,
Berni M0XYF
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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I was glad to meet one or two members at last weeks AGM that I had not met before and encouraged them to take part in one or more of the nets operated by MSARS to help keep members in touch.
We run HF, VHF and UHF nets on most days of the week and the operating times are set out in the website. The HF nets have been running for more than 45 years and now include members and friends spread across 3 continents with other amateurs spread even further afield sometimes calling in just for a chat.
These nets help MSARS members to set up their equipment and improve their efficiency and have proved very helpful now that the recent Ofcom licence changes permitting increased power output levels have come into force. You don’t need a beam or high power, wire antennas and 25 watts will be enough.
All the MSARS nets are primarily there to encourage members to keep in touch with each other, no rules just keep the overs short and the net controller will (try to) keep things in order.
You don’t have to come on every day or stay for hours at a time so why not warm up your gear and drop your callsign in when the net controller calls for joiners. You will be made very welcome.
73, Ken G3WYN
President MSARS.
