Recent News and Events

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.

Barbecue Evening: July 2008

The BBQ was held on 22nd July at the Grappenhall Community Centre. Paul, G1DVA, was ably assisted by Karina and Carmel, M3CFI.

A good variety of fare was on offer including steak, chicken, kebabs, burgers and sausages. The event was attended by about 20 members and wives.

Photos by Ron, G0WJX.

NARSA Rally, Blackpool: March 2008

The 2008 NARSA Amateur Radio Rally was held on the 16th March at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool. The Club stand had a D-STAR theme with Icom IC-2820 rigs being used.

Paul, G1DVA, demonstrated D-Star and received messages via a 2820 D-Star transceiver from another D-Star stand in the main hall.

A web page was used to display the messages that were received from the main hall D-Star stand. Paul wrote custom software to process the messages.

The club had a successful day and received an award for the best Club Magazine which was collected by Chris, G7GZB.

The Club Stand with D-Star Demonstration by Paul, G1DVA

The Sales Table

Chris, G7GZB, receiving Best Club Magazine Trophy

Photos by Ian, M0BXR.

Social and Dinner Evening: January 2008

On Tuesday 15th January a social and dinner was held by the club at The Culcheth Sports Club. The evening was well attended by about 20 members and wives.

The meal was enjoyed by all and there was an informal quiz.

Annual awards for the IQE and constructors Trophy were presented and this year the constructors award went to G3OGQ who continues to build variants on the CDG2000 design to a very high standard. G3OGQ was also presented with the IQE award. Paul, G7ODJ won the interclub contest. The awards were presented by the chairman, Paul G1DVA.

Paul (left), G1DVA, presenting the IQE trophy to George (right), G3OGQ	Paul (left), G1DVA, presenting the interclub contest award to Paul (right), G7ODJ
Jim, G3NFB	Cliff, M0MRC
Ron, G0WJX	Paul, G7ODJ

Photos by George, G0MSF.