On 19th October, Scouts from 1st Langley Green, 5th Crawley and 7th Crawley took part in the Jamboree On The Air at an event run by Crawley Amateur Radio Club (CARC) in their hut in Tilgate Forest. As the name suggests it’s a chance for Scouts from around the world to “meet” each other over the airwaves. CARC provided a range of activities, starting with a brief explanation about How it All Works, including how radio waves going in a straight line can reach round the other side of the world. HF radio is the answer, which bounces off layers in the atmosphere after being transmitted from this huge antenna.

The Scouts had the opportunity to take part in a number of activities. Here’s one group making “Snail” Morse keys, so they could learn and practice sending messages in Morse code. It’s the shape of the key that gives it the name.

The Scouts also had a go using PMR446 hand held transceivers. Or “walkie talkies” as they’re known as by everyone outside of radio world. Using the phonetic alphabet and correct RT procedure they passed short messages.

Out in the forest, the Scouts had a game of hide and seek, using radio location beacons and directional antennas.

The main objective of the day was to contact other Scout troops using amateur radio. Atmospheric conditions weren’t brilliant and the airwaves were a bit crowded due to a couple of competitions being held. However as well as talking to Scouts in nearby Merstham, contact was made with two stations in the Netherlands and one on Scotland plus places in between.

Huge thanks to CARC for all their hard work. The event, as well as being great fun helped the Scouts work towards the World challenge badge and the Communicator activity badge.

Words and images used with the permission of the 1st Langley Green, 5th Crawley and 7th Crawley Scouts

The club newsletter for July 2024 is now available to download here. The newsletter will now open directly in your web browser without having to use Adobe PDF Reader.

Features in this issue include:

• GB3MH update
• CARC 2024/25 Club Project(s) – An Outline – G4PEO
• RSGB Discovery scheme relaunched in new format
• Events Calendar

CARC is an RSGB Brickworks accredited club. Brickworks is an exciting and fun way to build on what you have learned on your Foundation Course. It enables you to learn more about your new hobby, build your confidence, gain a greater understanding of how to get the best out of your equipment and enjoy new experiences.

By being an accredited club, CARC shows that it is committed to helping all licensed amateur radio operators discover what the hobby has to offer.  Brickworks Accredited Clubs are welcoming and friendly places that will support both those new to the hobby, and those who are already licensed, who want to explore the hobby more fully. We will give you advice, guidance, and help. CARC will work with their Brickworks participants and provide them with a refuge when things go a little wrong. It’s the scheme that we all wish had been in place when we were newly licensed.

Brickworks consists of 23 varied activities centred around five themes. You can find more details here.

Although Brickworks is primarily aimed at newly licenced Foundation licence holders, its open to any radio amateur. If you are interested in learning more please contact Richard G3ZIY.

You can find more details on the RSGB website.

The Crawley Amateur Radio Club held their annual WSPR contest throughout the month of April. There were three categories; Transmitting (other stations hearing you), Receiving (you hearing other stations), and QSOs (both stations hearing each other). The 20m band was used and the only rule was that the maximum power was 5W.

The transmitting contest really went down to the wire with the final results for the top three being very close.

Thanks to Stewart (G3YSX) for running the contest and regularly updating members with updated statistics. The club hopes that everyone enjoyed it, either as a participant or as a spectator.

We asked the top three positioned members what kit they used, and if they had any useful tips.

Stewart (G3YSX) – TX 1st Place, RX 2nd Place, QSO 2nd Place
I started using a QRP Labs QDX, but when that failed I moved to my ICOM 705 running 2W. The antenna was the 2el SteppIR. When the winds were light the antenna was pointed at 40’, but when the winds were high (a lot of the month) at 25’. When the winds are low the heading is fixed as NS.

David (M0WID) – TX 2nd Place, RX 1st Place, QSO 1st Place
Radio was my Hermes-Lite2 SDR running 5w (out of the radio, much less at the antenna feed) for some of the time, 0.2W for most of the time. SparkSDR was the software used, running mostly on an ancient Fujitsu thin client under Lubuntu. SparkSDR does not require WSJT-X to be running as it runs the decoder directly. Antenna was a homebrew off-centre dipole which is roughly half-wave on 80m, up at around 10m. It is very off-centre as the feed point is at around 17% of the length. The 4:1 transformer and choke also homebrew. Feed is around 50m of lossy RG58. An old KW107 antenna tuning system located in the shack provided the perfect match.

Peter (M0LMG) – TX 3rd Place, RX 3rd Place, QSO 3rd Place
My radio was an ICOM 705 running at 5W. Due to me not having setup waterproofing and temporarily running my feeder through my shack window, I could only operate when it was dry, and I didn’t operate at night (apart from the last three days). My antenna was a UK Antennas Multi-band end-fed antenna. Close to the antenna feed point I used a 1:1 Common Mode Choke (also from UK Antennas). 10m of RG58 was used to get into the shack. The software used was WSJT-X. I would recommend to not use the default 1500Khz position, and watch the ALC level on the rig.

We should also mention new member Geoff (M7GID). Geoff put a call out to club members for assistance in setting up his Yaesu FTDX-10, and also hadn’t used any digital modes before. Richard (G3ZIY) and Peter (M0LMG) enjoyed Geoff’s hospitality and set everything up for him. Geoff entered the competition a week after everyone else, but still performed very well indeed (TX 4th Place, RX 5th Place, QSO 5th Place).

Full results were as follows:

TX Category

Posn    Call    Stns    SQ      Score

1       G3YSX   1350    544     734400

2       M0WID   1358    521     707518

3       M0LMG   1349    523     705527

4       M7GIM   1113    504     560952

5       G4PEO   1094    491     537154

6       G4ANN   839     386     323854

7       2E0XDZ  745     359     267455

8       M0JGH   687     330     226710

9       G3ZIY   652     326     212552

10      M0HQM   634     300     190200

11      GX3WSC  597     293     174921

12      M1YAP   561     302     169422

13      M0EPX   571     279     159309

14      M6JGW   212     119     25228

15      M0IJP   205     110     22550

16      M5SB    142     80      11360

17      G0UPL   1       1       1


Rx Category

Posn    Call    Stns    SQ      Score

1       M0WID   1555    1102    1713610

2       G3YSX   1416    1028    1455648

3       M0LMG   1017    714     726138

4       G4ANN   927     649     601623

5       M7GIM   643     432     277776

6       G4PEO   585     386     225810

7       M1YAP   483     333     160839

8       G3ZIY   432     330     142560

9       GX3WSC  324     226     73224

10      M0EPX   255     175     44625

11      M0HQM   145     95      13775

12      M5SB    96      73      7008

13      2E0XDZ  40      36      1440


QSO Category

Posn    Call     Hrd by  Hrd     QSO

1       M0WID    1358    1555    504

2       G3YSX    1350    1416    486

3       M0LMG    1349    1017    392

4       G4ANN    839     927     273

5       M7GIM    1113    643     266

6       G4PEO    1094    585     228

7       G3ZIY    652     432     131

8       M1YAP    561     483     130

9       GX3WSC   597     324     95

10      M0EPX    571     255     80

11      M0HQM    634     145     63

12      M5SB     142     96      18

13      2E0XDZ   745     40      8

Crawley Amateur Radio Club will be taking part in the Mills on the Air event this year. The event happens on Sunday 12th May 2024 and the club will be at Ifield Watermill. We hope to be up and running by 12pm, and we will be using Callsign GB0IWM.

This event sees radio amateurs set up stations in windmills and watermills all over the country. Apart from being an exciting time for those involved, the event promotes both the mill itself and also amateur radio since members of the public encounter enthusiasts at work. The event is organised in conjunction with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).

Everyone is welcome, so come and say hello! Club members wishing to help out or participate should contact David M0WID.

Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia.