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Welcome to Crawley Amateur Radio Club

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The Crawley Amateur Radio Club (CARC) was formed over 40 years ago and moved into its present premises Hut 18 Tilgate Forest Recreational Centre, in the early 90’s. We are an affiliated club of the RSGB. Membership, currently standing at around 55, ranges from a member in their twenties to several octogenarians. The monthly talks and presentations cater for a diversity of technical backgrounds from absolute beginners to well-qualified professional engineers. Members of note include a past President of the RSGB the late John Graham G3TR, and the late Ron Vaughan G3FRV (now VK6RV), General Manager of the RSGB in the late 60’s. Current members include Stewart Bryant, G3YSX (past President of the RSGB, and currently RSGB Chair), Caspar Pierce (Winner of the RSGB Kenwood trophy), and Eugene Sully G0VIO of Big Brother fame who does much to actively promote interest in radio communications and the Sciences in general. Facilities at the spacious Clubhouse include: A contest-grade radio station...
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Recent posts

The LF operation from the Decca station at Puckeridge 11th April and14/15/16 April -

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This article first published in the CARC Newsletter of April 2000 remembers the pioneering work on LF done by Derek G3GRO and Lech G3KAU sadly both now SK. Having just about recovered from the weekend’s activity and travelling upto Puckeridge again yesterday (Tuesday18th) to recover the remaining bits of gear including tables and chairs etc and the loading coil and variometer used by all of the operating groups involved, I  thought that I would post an initial report of the activity pending a more detailed study of the logs and incoming reports. Firstly, thanks to all those who participated and to all those sent in signal reports and messages of encouragement. The exercise was arranged at very short notice and word spead around the LF operators living within reasonable reach of the site to invite one or two groups of operators to take part. Apart from the Decca mast and an RF thermo-couple ammeter , none of the original equipment such as loading coils etc was used. For 136Khz ope...
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NVIS

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First published CARC Newsletter April 2000 For a little while I have been interested in a type of HF propagation mode known as NVIS sys tems. This short article summarises what I have found out about subject.  WB5UDE (see below) gives a good introduction to the subject. “NVIS, or Near Vertical Inci dence Skywave, refers to a radio propagation mode which involves the use of antennas with a  very high radiation angle, approaching or reaching 90 degrees (straight up), along with selection  of an appropriate frequency below the critical frequency, to establish reliable communications  over a radius of 0-200 miles or so, give or take 100 miles. Many of us have used this mode when  making nearby contacts on 160 meters or 80 meters at night, or 80 meters or 40 meters during the  day. We may have thought of these nearby contacts as necessarily involving the use of  ground-wave propagation, but many such contacts involve no groundwave signal at all, or, if the...
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XLT125 Scanner Repair

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Club member Eddie was disappointed when the centre pin of his antenna broke inside his Uniden UBC XLT125 radio scanner .  Rather than send the radio to landfill, Eddie decided to repair it. After asking advice from other club members, he purchased a replacement BNC aerial chassis mount socket from RS , The job took took about two hours to complete, and the finished result looks very impressive. Nice work Eddie!
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Repairs to the driven element of our SteppIR antenna

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Last week, members of the club were busy lowering their antenna mast, reinstalling the driven element of our SteppIR, and replacing the damaged 80m dipole. We invited new member Oliver to write a few words on how he found the experience, and his overall view of the club. “A repair was made to the main club mast antenna as a new member this was my first opportunity to see everything up close as the antenna mast had to come down to perform the repair. I found seeing everything up close very interesting. When I did have a few questions about what things did, fellow club members were more than willing to explain. As a wheelchair user myself, I   sometimes find some human and physical barriers. However, joining Crawley Amateur Radio Club I have found that everyone was willing to help and come up with solutions. When I first started coming to the club I was asked if there was anything they could do to adapt things to make it easier for myself in the hut. Club members have also be...
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Crawley Amateur Radio Club Open Day!

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Crawley Amateur Radio Club would like to thank everyone (including visitors, members, and guests from other clubs and organisations) who came to our October 2025 open day, and helped make it such a success. If you missed our open day, then you are always most welcome to visit us on a Sunday morning between 11am and 1pm.
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New (Free) Map Program for Amateur Radio

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 Some of you may be familiar with the software of Simon Brown, G4ELI.  While still working full-time he was the creator of the then free Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) suite of software which he sold a few years ago. Since then he launched the excellent SDR Console software which is a "must have" for anyone experimenting with SDR Radios.  I'm sure some of you this installed on your shack PCs. Less well known is a great little utility simply called "Simon's World Map".  The newly released V1.5.1 is available for download here  https://www.sdr-radio.com/world-map   As ever with Simon's software, it's richly featured with satellite tracking and rotator control.  The presentation is widely customisable allowing overlays such as ITU or CQ Zone, sun and moon overlays and space weather information plus greyline visualisation. Take a look as the price is right, FREE. Regards Mike, G0KAD
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