GB70E Special Event Station

12th May 2022 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

CARC is pleased to have been granted use of the GB70E special event callsign on SSB for both 19th and 26th of June. We will be operating the club shack on both days and encourage all members to take a turn at the microphone for what promises to be two very enjoyable days on the air.

Her Majesty The Queen

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has ruled for longer than any other Monarch in British history, and is a much loved and respected figure across the globe. Her extraordinary reign has seen her travel more widely than any other monarch, undertaking many historic overseas visits. Known for her sense of duty and her devotion to a life of service, she has been an important figurehead for the UK and the British Commonwealth during times of enormous social change.

Her Majesty continues to carry out a full programme of engagements, from visits to charities and schools, to hosting visiting Heads of State, to leading the nation in Remembrance and celebratory events.

The Queen sees public and voluntary service as one of the most important elements of her work. She has links – as Royal Patron or President – with over 600 charities, military associations, professional bodies and public service organisations. These vary from well-established international charities to smaller bodies working in a specialist area or on a local basis only. Of course, the Queen’s husband HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, was patron of the RSGB until his death in 2021.

The RSGB is very pleased to join with the radio amateurs throughout the Commonwealth and the World to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen’s exceptional reign.

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state.

Special Event Stations

RSGB Special Special Event Stations are being activated from the four UK Home Nations and three Crown Dependencies: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

The UK regulator Ofcom, has licensed some special call signs that will be active only during June 2022, including from 2-5 June 2022, which is Jubilee Holiday celebration weekend in the UK.

These call signs are: GB70E, GB70M, GB70W, GB70I, GB70J, GB70U and GB70D.

Operation will be on multiple bands and modes. Some of the Special Event amateur stations will be open to the public. Please check the QRZ.com pages for each call sign for details of activations.

RSGB Celebrations

Full details of the RSGB celebrations can be found on our website.

QSOs with the Special Event Stations will count towards our Award 70 program.

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RSGB Convention 2022

8th May 2022 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

For the first time in three years, the RSGB Convention will be taking place in person over the weekend of 8/9 October. It’s open to all so no RSGB membership is required.

The convention is a super event, based in Kents Hill Park, a comfortable residential convention center in Milton Keynes. There are five streams of lectures running constantly each day catering to every level of experience and covering most aspects of amateur radio. These will be published and refined in the coming months.

Of course, there are plenty of opportunities to mingle with new and old friends from “the air” over the free tea, coffee, and biscuits available in the lounge.

Martin Lynch is sponsoring the event so they will have a good selection of shiny kit on display and there is usually a top-line radio operating on HF to drool over.

Tickets have just gone on sale here. There are many options available with pre-booked day tickets starting at £20 (£15 for Sunday) a discount of £5 over on-the-day prices. Of course, the convention has accommodation on site and some may opt to stay for two nights B&B with a seat at the Gala DX Dinner on Saturday evening. Every option in between is possible.

An excellent 3-course lunch is available each day at a very reasonable price, parking is free and a shuttle bus runs to and from Milton Keynes Central station with direct trains from East Croydon should you wish to visit by train.

So there’s really no excuse. Several CARC members will be heading that way so sharing a lift is one of the best ways of getting to the convention.

Hope to see you there (I’ve already bought my weekend ticket).

Mike, G0KAD. CARC Chair

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CARC Mills on the Air 2022

25th April 2022 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

CARC will be taking part in the Mill on the Air event on Sunday 8th May. We will be establishing an HF station at the Ifield Mill operating as GB0IWM (Ifield WindMill).

If there are any CARC members who would like to help set up, operate the station or discuss Amateur Radio with visiting members of the public please get in touch with David Wilde, M0WID or make contact through the website.

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Clubhouse Re opened

30th January 2022 By Phil Moore Leave a Comment

As of Sunday 13th February 2022 the Clubhouse resumes normal operations and is open for Sunday and Wednesday meetings. The Committee will continuously monitor the situation going forward.

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CARC Resume Meetings at Hut18

15th September 2021 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

The committee met last night via Zoom and top of our agenda was restarting the twice-weekly meetings at Hut18. Since the last national lockdown restrictions were removed some 6 weeks ago, the statistics have beaten even the most optimistic “expert” models. While COVID remains in wide circulation around the UK, hospital admissions remain relatively low and the worst consequences of the virus even lower. The picture is even better for the double vaccinated. This is excellent news and with booster jabs being rolled out from early next week the committee voted to resume both Wednesday evening and Sunday morning meetings at Hut18.

Of course, this is not a time to be complacent and we will keep a keen eye on the national and local situation going forward.

There are a few things that we can all do to keep each other safe:

Social distancing remains a key measure to help reduce transmission. Wherever possible give each other space and be respectful if members want more space
Ventilation. We will be keeping doors open for as long as the weather allows
Masks help protect others. While not mandatory, they are a real demonstration of your concern for fellow members
Testing. Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) are available to everyone free of charge from the NHS. Please consider using them before attending meetings.
Reporting. If you test positive for COVID in the days after attending a meeting, it is vital that you report this to BOTH the NHS Test and Trace AND to CARC (chair@carc.org.uk)
Signing in using the normal club book at the entrance is now mandatory. This allows us to quickly inform all close contacts to enable their testing if necessary.

I hope to see you at the club this Sunday 19^th September, our first Wednesday meeting will be on September 22nd with a talk on VHF NFD which the club entered back in July. This will be available both in-person and via Zoom to maximise participation, something we intend to continue going forward.

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Stewart Bryant G3YSX Elected RSGB President

24th April 2021 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

Congratulations to our own Stewart G3YSX on his election to the position of RSGB President.

More to follow…

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Museums on the Air 2020

19th June 2020 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

CARC will be participating in the International Museums Weekends with the special event call GB1CTM, representing Crawley Town Museum. The International Museums weekends take place over the last two weekends in June each year – so this year that is the 20th/21st and 27th/28th June (this weekend and next). More information can be found at https://www.radio-amateur-events.org/IMW/ including a list of other museums registered to take part.

Due to COVID it is not possible to operate from the museum itself, and OFCOM have removed some of the restrictions on Special Event Calls. The requirements to operate from the location and that the station be open to the public have been relaxed. Other demands such as operating within the license restrictions still apply. For this reason, operating the club station in person or by remote is limited to full licence holders only.

How to take part?

Members can operate either the club shack having prebooked a slot, operate the shack station remotely having booked a slot, or operate from home during a prebooked slot. Booking is via the form at the bottom of this post.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CAR PARKS AROUND THE HUTS ARE STILL FENCED OFF THOUGH THE PAY AND DISPLAY CAR PARK IN TILGATE PARK IS NOW OPEN. WE HOPE THIS WILL CHANGE SOON BUT ACCESS TO THE CLUB CURRENTLY REQUIRES A WALK FROM THE NEAREST PARKING.

COVID restrictions still apply so we will only allow one operator at a time (or perhaps more than one person from the same household) in the shack. Suitable precautions to clean the equipment, desks, etc must be carried out before and after their slot. Instructions on how to operate the shack station will be printed out.

If operating the shack station remotely then of course sanitising is not required!

If operating from home then the licensing situation is unclear and the recommendation is to use your own call together with the special event call, for example, M0WID/GB1CTM.

FT8 is not banned but doesn’t really fit with the spirit of this event as no information about the museum can be exchanged.

Logging
If operating the CARC station either locally or remotely then Log4OM will be running on the club PC. Please use that. If operating your own station then use whatever logging system you use and export the contacts as ADIF so they can be imported into a combined log later?

Crawley Town Museum
Some background on the Crawley Museum can be found on their website. Until recently located in Goffs Park the museum has now moved to a central location close to the shopping area and post office. The museum tells the history of the town and local area from pre-history, medieval settlement, Victorian town, and modern New Town. It would be great if anyone has actually visited the museum and can add some more! The museum’s blog is perhaps the best way to find out more https://crawleymuseums.org/blog/.
Also of interest is that John Leech who illustrated Charles Dickens Christmas Stories lived in the museum building when he was a medical student in 1833.
The museum is keen to add to their collection, and perhaps some members could contribute with stories of their time working and living in the Crawley area, and the changes that have taken place.

Have Fun!
Please feel free to have fun and use this as an excellent excuse to take to the air operating the special call. Hopefully next year we will be free of restrictions and be able to set up at a Museum or Mill and publicise amateur radio to members of the public which of course is one of the main objectives of these Special Events.

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RSGB / Ofcom EM Field Exposure Consultation

31st May 2020 By Mike Davies 1 Comment

On the 21st February 2020, Ofcom launched a Consultation on EM-Field exposure —Proposed Measures to Require Compliance with International Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields. Our view is that while we appreciate the need for ICNIRP guidelines we feel that the proposals from Ofcom are not proportionate and indeed potentially onerous for all amateur licensees.

All amateurs are encouraged to contribute to the consultation, full details, and the return can be found here: https://rsgb.org/main/technical/emc/emf-exposure/

Please do take some time to understand what is being proposed, how it might affect you, and MOST IMPORTANTLY send in your response.

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RSGB Get on the Air to Care

22nd April 2020 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

The RSGB is supporting clubs and societies to get on the air during the current COVID situation. Click on the picture above to find out what’s happening and to take part in the activities.

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CARC During COVID

2nd April 2020 By Mike Davies Leave a Comment

Times are certainly strange. I hope that you and yours are all well. Life at KAD towers is slightly strange. My wife works at Crawley Hospital and is leaving home each morning, as usual, I am working from home this week while my kidults (21 and 18) are home and bored.

We’re all getting used to spending much more time indoors and of course, the club is closed for meetings at Hut18.

At CARC, we’ve been experimenting with a few different things to keep the club active and the committee are very busy ensuring the club continues to serve our members.

Below, I’ve added a few of the activities we’ve been running both online, on the air and a mixture of the two.

CARC Talks Online

Stewart, G3YSX has used his experience of working from home to organise series of WebEx talks and discussions for club members online. We are sending invitations for these by email to all members. Click on the link just before the advertised time and if haven’t already done so you can choose to install the WebEx application or continue using your internet browser. I would recommend installing the application as it gives a consistent experience and access to some of the advanced features such as text chat, multimedia and voting. You don’t need a WebEx account just add your name when joining the talks as a guest.

WebEx supports both voice and video (if you have a webcam). I use a simple USB computer headset with a boom mic though this isn’t required to join in.

The CARC website event calendar will have details of these talks but you will need to use the link in the email to join as we can’t support more than 50 participants and want to keep access available to our members.

CARC On-Air Nets

We currently have two nets organised, one for Sunday morning (10:30BST on 80m 3.720MHz +/- QRM hosted by “Net Controller” Richard G3ZIY and the other on Wednesday evenings (19:30BST) on GB3MH, our local 2m FM repeater hosted by “Net Controller” Phil M0TZZ. Join us for a natter.

CARC Whats App Group

We have created an online WhatsApp Group for members. You should have received an invitation to this by individual email. At the time of writing, we have 24 members online in the group. WhatsApp is a messaging platform primarily for smartphone use but there is also very good web browser connectivity to use from a home PC or laptop. You’ll need to supply a mobile number when signing up to WhatsApp and this appears to te group as part of your identity so if you’d rather keep your mobile number private, this isn’t for you.

CARC Web SDR

To help members who don’t have access to an 80m radio we’ve added an Airspy HF+ receiver located at Hut18, connected to the 80m dipole to the Spyserver network. This means that members can access and tune the radio from home using the free SDR Sharp software.

Download the free software here, install and configure to connect to the CARC receiver.

Configuration is simple. Open the SDRSharp program on your computer and follow the steps in the pictures below:

Run SDR Sharp and follow the two steps above.

Find the CARC SDR using the two steps shown above.

Click as shown to connect to the receiver.

I’ve set a limit of ten connected users at any one time. The first one to connect can tune the radio, others will be able to listen to whatever is tuned. Give it a try.

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