Recent News and Events

RAF Burtonwood Military Weekend: 24-25 September 2011

The Old Hall museum (Burtonwood Heritage Centre) located in the grounds of Gulliver's World Theme Park held its annual Military Weekend over the 24th and 25th September. Visitors were able to enjoy military re-enactments, films, displays, memorabilia and props at the centre, which was built in 1987 on part of the former RAF Burtonwood Air Base.

Warrington ARC club members setup HF and VHF stations alongside the other exhibits and re-enactments also taking part in the weekend's events.

The HF and VHF stations were operating the special event callsign GB0BAB for Burtonwood Air Base and the club callsign G0WRS/P also operated in the Practical Wireless 70MHz Contest during Sunday to add some variety to the weekend's radio activities.

Some pictures of the event are below.

Assembling the Aerials	Mike G4VSS attaches the aerials to the mast	The Mast is Raised
Mast and Tents	Distant View of Mast and Aerials	Alan G8WQE and Paul G7ODJ Operating HF
Inside The Museum	Keith G8MKO and Steve M6NLW Operating HF	Martin M0RAN and Bill G0PZP Take Their Turn on HF
Tom G0MYN Operating the Second HF Station	Part of the Outdoor Military Display	Not What it Appears to Be!

Photos by Mike, G4VSS and Vincent M0LCR.

GYCA Fun Day: September 2011

The Grappenhall Youth and Community Association put on its annual Open Day Fair with childrens' rides, an art exhibition and many arts and craft stalls including books, gifts, jewellery, handbags, home made preserves, hampers, knit wear, cards, cup cakes etc.

Warrington Amateur Radio club also put on their own club exhibition to promote and demonstrate Amateur Radio. It had many visitors through the day who were interested to hear more about amateur radio. The recently appointed 128th Mayor of Warrington, Cllr Mike Biggin also visited the club and met with club chairman, Alan G8WQE.

Setting Up the Exhibition and Data Station

Mike G4VSS and Paul G1DVA Operating the HF Station

Warrington Mayor, Cllr Mike Biggin, Visits the Club

Photos by Jeff, G1DYN.

Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP Contest: June 2011

2009 had been great weather. 2010 was overcast but acceptable. The weather's downward trend continued and the forecast for the 2011 Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP Contest had not looked promising. After arriving on site, we had hoped that the rain would hold off, at least until after the station was set up but unfortunately it didn't.

Club members were treated to a constant, fine drizzle that seemed to get in everything and slowed the progress of the station build. It was 10 minutes past the start time before the first CQ calls were put out and we started our entry in the wettest contest for some time.

The gazebos we erected were better suited to garden parties on warm summer days and the punishment they received at the top of Raw Head (IO83pc) had us wondering whether they would last the contest.

The rain was pretty relentless and varied from blowing drizzle to torrential rain accompanied by high speed gusts of wind. There were a number of occasions where the "crew" tent was lifted by the wind only to be saved from blowing away by the quick reactions of the team grabbing the tent frame and clinging on until others could safely stake it down again.

Sitting in the operating tent was not much better as the side walls were constantly bowed inwards by the wind pushing things off the desks and letting in rain at the corners and the tops of the walls.

Equipment, log books, the radio, batteries and operators; everything got wet. Sitting operating for more than an hour at a time was unpleasant and had several people shivering with cold at the end of their session.

One of the major changes to 2010 was the use of Dave's M0TUB, 12m Clarke pneumatic mast. It had a rotator fitted to the top to give the operator more autonomy in aerial direction but this failed less than an hour in to the contest and the armstrong method had to be employed as in previous years along with shouts of "back a bit", "no the other way" etc.

At the end of the contest we had worked 136 with one dupe. There were a couple of unknown locator squares which we had to deduce post-contest from their Post Code. A total of 22 multipliers (squares) were worked.

Post-contest log checking seemed to indicate a higher number of QSOs that needed fixing compared to the previous year. We are still suffering from inaccurate logging and typos which really hurts our score. Maybe this year's weather had its part to play in the lower overall QSO count compared to last year.

The final country breakdown was 11* GW, 6* GM, 3* GD, 1* GI, 1* F, 2* ON. The rest were G.

Non-UK stations were TM7T, ON8DM and best best overall DX was ON4POO in JO20dp (approx 14 miles South of Brussels) a distance of 553 km (344 miles).

Best UK DX was GM4JOJ in IO97an (near Peterhead, approx 30 mi North of Aberdeen) a distance of 499km (309 miles).

This year's operators were Bill G0PZP, Mike G4VSS, Paul G7ODJ, Dave G7SKR, Alan G8WQE, Dave M0TUB and Steve M6NLW. There was additional help from Ron G0WJX and Ken G3VBA with station assembly, disassembly and generally holding the place together.

SUCCESS! After adjudication, we came second place overall and were the leading UK Station. We lost one multiplier and 12 QSOs leaving us with 124 QSOs (the highest count from all the stations that entered) and 21 multipliers. Final score 2604. Persistence through the dreadful weather conditions to the bitter end of the contest certainally paid off.

Assembly of 12m Clarke Mast	The Rain is Coming...	Ready to Raise the Mast just as the Rain Arrives
Dave G7SKR and Dave M0TUB Start Raising the Mast	Problems with the Compressor So Out Came the Hand Pump	Putting Up Antennas in the Rain Isn't Fun
Bill G0PZP Takes His Turn Operating in the Cold Wet Conditions	Water Gets in Everything	Sides of the Tent are Constantly Blown Inwards Pushing Things off the Desk

Photos by Ron, G0WJX.

New Club Radio Arrives

After a well supported drive to raise club funds for a new HF radio, presentations were given by three club members in support of the three radios chosen for consideration.

Keith, G8MKO, was first up to recommend the Elecraft K3 alongside its matching panadapter and gave a good presentation including a demonstration of his own equipment. George, G3OGQ, had carried out considerable research to pitch the new Yaesu FT-DX5000 against the other radios and backed it up with summarised specifications and test results. Mike, G4VSS, presented the popular Icom IC-7600 as the radio to choose noting its heritage from the excellent IC-7800 and IC-7700 radios.

A Question and Answer session followed where the panel were quizzed on the merits of the various options before a secret ballot was held to decide which radio to buy. The FT-DX5000 won hands down with 28 votes, the K3 was second with 8 votes and the IC-7600 was third with 3 votes.

The club's equipment manager Paul, G1DVA, chaired the evening and was quickly on the phone to order the radio the very next day. Braving winter weather, Paul and Mike collected the radio from Lam Communications and were quick to install the radio and interface it to the SteppIR and shack's logging computer.

The inaugural QSO was conducted by Mike and was videoed and uploaded to YouTube. You can view it here: New Radio QSO

GB0BAB Battle of Britain Commemoration

GB0BAB was again operated from RAF Burtonwood Heritage Centre by club members to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain during World War II. The conditions on the bands were considered poor but a good mix of HF and VHF contacts were made totalling 78 and 71 respectively.

During the weekend, there were a number of attractions on display including military vehicles and equiment.

Photos by Jeff, G1DYN.

Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP Contest: June 2010

Last year's PW Contest entry had proved that the site we had chosen was suitable for 2 metres and by building on the experience gained we hoped to put in an even better score this year.

An early start saw the station set up and ready to operate with almost 20 minutes to spare before the start of the contest. The main differences to last year were that the mast-head preamp had been wired for RF/VOX (it was hard switched last year) and the rig used was an Icom IC-7400 in preference to a Yaesu FT-817. There was no spotting station used this year.

There was a good start with several local stations being worked but the signal strength reports we received seemed rather low. This caused some concern that 3 Watts wasn't enough to switch the preamp out when transmitting but after checking the current drawn by the preamp, it was found that as long as the operator "talked-up" the compression, the preamp would switch reliably. Softly spoken operators were reminded to speak up and make the most of the miniscule power feeding the 20 metres of RG-213.

Station operators were rotated between operating, logging on computer, logging on paper and check-logging locator squares on a map in an attempt to improve our logging accuracy over last year's 11% of QSOs lost due to errors.

Attendees were: Bill G0PZP, Ron G0WJX, Jim G3NFB, Ken G3VBA, Paul G7ODJ, Dave G7SKR, Alan G8WQE, Ian M0BXR, Owen M3RZI, Leigh 2E0LDJ.

VHF conditions seemed pretty flat and some light rain that appeared later in the afternoon didn't spoil the day and we ended with 153 QSOs which included 1 dupe. We worked 23 unique squares, a step up from last year's 18 to give us a final submitted score of 3496 points.

ODX was down on last year, but still a reasonable 434km (270 miles) to MJ0RZD in IN89xf. Other non-UK stations worked were ON4ZN/P in JO11id, 429km (267 miles) and TM7T in JO00uv, 389km (242 miles). Countries summary: G GW GM GD ON F GI GJ.

The Contest in Full Flow (L to R) G0WJX, G8WQE, M0BXR, G3VBA and M3RZI	Operator and two Loggers Alan, Ian and Ken	Alan Logging on the Laptop using SDV
Owen Logging Locator Squares and Multipliers	View and Take Off to the North West	Beaming South West to Chase More Multipliers

Photos by Dave, G7SKR.

NARSA Rally, Blackpool: April 2010

The 2010 NARSA Amateur Radio Rally was held on the 11th April at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool. The Club Stand was showing the latest developments on the CDG 2000 Transceiver developed by Colin G3SBI, Dave G8KBB and George G3OGQ. Alongside was a practical demonstration of a homebrew N2PK Vector Network Analyser (VNA) and PC control software by Dave G8KBB.

This year we were again successful in the club competitions and were awarded the Construction Award Trophy and Best Club Stand Trophy.

The Club Stand Attracted Considerable Interest Throughout the Day	Fred Jones G2IV NARSA Chairman Chats To George G3OGQ as he Inspects The Club Stand
Alan G8WQE, WARC Chairman, Accepts The Constructors Cup from Dave Wilson M0OBW on Behalf of The Winner Club Member Dave Roberts G8KBB	Mike G4VSS Receives the Best Club Stand Trophy from RSGB President Dave Wilson M0OBW

Photos by Ron, G0WJX.

Contest Trophy Arrives in Warrington

This year's RSGB Convention was held over the weekend of 10th to 11th October at Wyboston Lakes Conference Centre was a good mix of technical, DX, operating and contesting seminars. It was a well attended event with many UK and overseas visitors in attendance.

The HF Contest Trophy Presentations were held on Sunday morning for HF contest awards that had been won during the preceding year and a member of Warrington ARC picked up their first piece of silverware for winning a category in the prestigious IOTA Contest.

The David King, G3PFS Trophy, is awarded to the leading UK entrant in the Single Operator 12hr SSB category in the IOTA Contest. The 2008 winner was Dave, G7SKR, who collected the trophy in person from Don, G3XTT, the RSGB Contest Committee Chairman at the convention.

Prior to the 2008 IOTA Contest, Dave had started taking part in the RSGB Club Championships in the same year to support Warrington ARC's entry and decided that a 12 hour category in one of the bigger international contest would provide some good fun. The IOTA contest was the first one that came along where the timing was right and so that was the contest chosen.

He was delighted to find that he had won the UK SO 12hr SSB category and be awarded the trophy. The problem is that now the bar has been set, Dave only hopes he can keep up the momentum and add to the contest awards in the future.

Don, G3XTT (left), presents the G3PFS Trophy to Dave, G7SKR (right)

Dave is happy to receive his first contest trophy

Photos by Mike, G4VSS.

Sport Radio - ARDF Practice Evening: September 2009

Over the last few weeks, club members have been building 80m ARDF Receiver kits in preparation for a club ARDF mini-contest in a few weeks time. To give everyone a chance to become accustomed with their receivers, a practice evening was arranged by Paul, G1DVA.

Transmitters were hidden in the vicinity of the club and the hunt began. The early evening darkness added to the amusement as members disappeared into various corners of the car park, trees, hedges and other herbaceous undergrowth in search of the transmitter.

Although nearly everyone converged on the approximate location quite quickly, spotting the small transmitter in the darkness was a little more tricky. In the end, only one transmitter was found without additional "non-radio" assistance when Tony, G0YSS, found the transmitter above the old meeting room door.

The other transmitters were almost trampled on but remained undiscovered even though they were in plain sight and despite having a torch shone on them on more than one occasion. The darkness certainly added an interesting twist to the evening.

The real event takes place in a few weeks time... In daylight.

L to R: Dave G8KBB, Mike G4VSS, Dave G7SKR and Paul G1DVA

Dave Looking Puzzled

Paul G7ODJ and Bill G0PZP continue searching in amusement

Photos by Jeff, G1DYN.

Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP Contest: June 2009

It was an early start and club members were on site before 9AM local time getting the station set up ready for the 10AM (0900 UTC) start. Recent practice runs were put to good effect and the main mast was up and ready to go with no major issues. Final station assembly was completed and tested with almost 10 minutes to spare!

The contest was started on time and we were underway. The band was busy and QSOs were being logged at a good rate. Everyone that wanted to operate the station took their turn and good fun was had by all. The weather stayed warm thoughout although it did cloud over later in the aftenoon.

Attendees were: Bill G0PZP, Paul G1DVA (not operating), Jim G3NFB, Paul G7ODJ, Dave G7SKR, Alan G8WQE, Ian M0BXR, Dave M0TUB, Owen M3RZI.

The final log had 100 QSOs which included, 1 dupe, 1 no locator, 2 FM contacts, 3 club members worked (G4VSS, M0ANM, M0TUB) and 18 unique squares. ODX was 574km (357 miles) to OQ4U in JO20KV. ODX UK was 421km (262 miles) to GM7PKT/P in IO76LP on the summit of Bidean nam Bian, SOTA reference, GM/WS-007.

Bill, G0PZP and Jim, G3NFB Start of Aerial Erection	Putting Up The Shack	Ready to Push? The 12el Yagi and Masthead Preamp
Bill, G0PZP and Paul, G1DVA Pushing Up The Mast	Tying Down The Top Guy Ropes	The Latest Yagi Design Technology
Ian, M0BXR, With The Spotting Aerial	The Main Station 12 element Yagi	Jim, G3NFB and Dave, G7SKR, Start Assembling The Station
Owen, M3RZI, Checking the Antenna Bearing	Is That Another Contest Station Over There?	Final Tweaks to the Yaesu FT-817
Ian, M0BXR and Alan, G8WQE Setting Up The Spotting Station	We're Off! Dave, G7SKR, Starts... CQ Contest, CQ Contest, G0WRS/P	Alan, G8WQE, Operating
Jim, G3NFB, Logging Station Using SDV by EI5DI	FT-817, Speaker, 12V Car Battery and separate 12V SLAB with Homebrew PreAmp Sequencer	The Contest in Full Swing

Photos by Dave, M0TUB and Dave, G7SKR.

NARSA Rally, Blackpool: April 2009

The 2009 NARSA Amateur Radio Rally was held on the 5th April at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool. The Club stand had a D-STAR theme again, this time with the emphasis on non-ICOM equipment. Two Yaesu FT-817s were used with a Satoshi D-STAR board to demonstrate a store-and-forward digital voice repeater.

Paul, G1DVA, in conjunction with UK FM Group (Western) demonstrated D-Star between their stands and used the data capability of D-STAR to transfer live web cam images.

The WARC stand also offered rally visitors the opportunity to have their newly purchased D-STAR radios programmed with the UK's D-STAR repeaters.

This year we were again successful in the club competitions and were awarded the Construction Award Trophy and Best Club Stand Trophy.

Setting Up the Club Stand	Door Duty
Albert, G3ZHE, Giving Directions on the 2m Talk-In Station	The First Visitors Enter The Rally
WARC Members man the Club Stand	Paul, G1DVA, Takes to The Stage
Paul, G1DVA, Receives the Construction Award Trophy	Mike, G4VSS, Takes His Turn on Stage

Mike, G4VSS, Receives the Best Club Stand Award

Photos by Ron, G0WJX.