CLUB NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2009

A NEWSLETTER TO KEEP MEMBERS IN TOUCH AND UP TO DATE.

29 Dec 2009

H.A.R.S. News
[Hambleton Amateur Radio Society]
Club Call : G0JQA / GX0JQA
Club Net : Every Tuesday 19.30 clock time on 145.625 [HG Repeater]

Club Websites:
www.radioclubs.net/hambletonars
www.communigate.co.uk/ne/hars

December 2009 edition
Its been quite a gap between the last newsletter so this one will takes us into 2010 and the AGM.
Quite a bit has happened during that time including our ‘Railways on the Air’ event station with a report included.
On behalf of the Chairman and Committee, best wishes are sent to all Club members for the coming Christmas and New Year.

HARS Calendar
9th Dec Club Meeting – Xmas Social
2010
13th Jan AGM – this will be confirmed after Dec 9th meeting
10th Feb Club Meeting – chinwag and club equipment on air.

all general Club night activities start at 8.15pm – doors open at 7.30 pm.

N.B. we are looking for suitable club night topics - if any Club member wishes a topic to be covered in a Club Talk or suggestion for an activity, please discuss with one of the committee members and we will see if we can arrange it.

Club News
Our best wishes go out to Frank G0LEL who is currently in hospital with heart problems. We wish him a speedy recovery.
The Club put on an event station for ‘Railways on the Air’ from Darlington Railway Museum in North Road. The museum is on the site of the still operational station that runs a service to Bishop Auckland. It is also the site of the first passenger railway hauled by the engine ‘Locomotion’ in 1825 from Darlington to Stockton on Tees. Alongside is the workshop where A1 replica ‘Tornado’ was built to become the last steam train to be built in 2009.
The station was run by Frank G0LEL, John G1JER, John M0JWR, Ian M3XNM and Michael M3YNV using special callsign GB4DSR [Darlington Stockton Railway]. Contacts were steady throughout the weekend and QSL’s have already been received.
The Museum was keen to stage the event and all are looking forward to it running again in 2010.
During the same weekend, Tim G0TYM and Duncan G0VIW were guests at the Scorton Vintage Machinery Rally station run in conjunction with Riggwelters Event Group from Ripon. HF and VHF were run throughout the weekend with best DX - Brazil on 15m.
During the period between Christmas and New Year, the G-QRP Club run their annual ‘Winter Sports’ event on HF. This is not a ‘speed’ contest and anyone wanting to hear or work CW would be advised to give it a go. Look out for the Club President Brian – G3KJX - who will be looking for CW contacts - try around 10.116Mhz and 14.060Mhz

Club 2m Net (s)
The club net operates each Tuesday at 7.30pm clock time with call-in on GB3HG [145.625 FM].

Club Meeting Reports
Following the Summer break, the club have had operating nights on September 9th, October 7th, 21st and November 11th . All these were using HF PSK which really is ‘popular’ on club nights.
A talk was given by G0TYM on September 23rd covering different aspects of aircraft recognition from visual, construction numbers, flight numbers, registration numbers, ACARS and finally ADS-B transmissions utilizing a demo of the Kinetic Aviation gizmo SBS-1 Virtual Radar for the PC. Contact Tim if you would like a copy of the talk notes which includes some useful listening frequencies to monitor.

Other Local News
FM listeners will be aware that MinsterNorthallertonFM is defunct along with DurhamFM and AlphaFM as they have combined to form a new station Star Radio. Content will still be ‘local’ and frequencies remain as 103.5 for Northallerton and 105.3 for Darlington. See the report on our website. Any interest in a station visit ?

Does anyone else [other than the editor] think that conditions are improving ? Bands up to 15m are opening more, with ‘Stateside’ and even ‘Far East and Australia’ heard well, at the right time of the day….. things as they say, can only get better.

Club 25th Anniversary
Ideas and activities for our anniversary were plenty but not many came to fruition so the end of 2009 sees us planning for our next anniversary – suggestions so far …. Club 26th Anniversary / 1 year since club used CW / 5 years since club used SSB ……etc…..all ideas to be put to committee to try and organise.

Finale
There are many folklore myths about getting rid of Moles should you be unlucky to have them visit your garden. One I have seen used, was to buy children’s windmills on a stick from the local toy store and place them in the earth runs between your Mole hills. ‘Theory’ was that the constant noise transferred into the ground drove the moles away. Does that mean that these 100’ high windfarms will drive all the moles from our shores in search of less green orientated countries ?

Dit dit – 