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NEW!
After enquiries from prospective members overseas, the Committee has discussed the posibility of Associate Membership and decided that applicants for membership greater than 25 miles radius away from Cardiff (or applicants within Endland that fall within the 25 mile radius, but would need to swim to meetings!) will be able to have an Associate Membership costing half of the normal Membership fee.
For more details see the Joining the Highfields Amateur Radio Club page.
Tickets are now available for the Highfields-ARC Christmas Party. The date is Friday 11 December, the venue is the BBC and the cost is just £5.00 per ticket.
Entry is by ticket only so it's no good turning up on the night unless you've reserved a ticket as you won't get in!
Places are limited so get your orders in soon to me, Brian, MW0GKX, either at club meetings or via e-mail (brian.mw0gkx@ntlworld.com, for those that don't know yet!).
I realise that this is not strictly Club news but it is local to us an could affect many members.
The Bristol Channel Repeater Group (responsable for GB3BB, GB3BC, GB3GU, GB3MG & GB3SG) AGM was held on Friday 30 Oct and, although better than last year (just), the turn out for this important once-a-year event was abysmal! Of 80 or so members, 13 turned up and only 1 non-attendree had the courtesy to send an apology!
The main points covered were:
With regard to point 2 above: If no suitable replacement tech(s) and NoV holder(s) can be found within 6 months then all the repeaters will have to be closed down! This situation may happen earlier than the 6 months Mike suggested, it all depends on his health. Remember a NoV holder and/or technician must be able to visit the repeater site(s) to carry out maintanence, in-situ repairs etc. and Mike's health is not on his side!
With that in mind if you are technically minded and think you may fit the bill, or if you know someone who may fit the bill, even for just one of the repeaters, get in touch with a member of the BCRG committee! If you can't get in touch with one of them then email me at: brian.mw0gkx@ntlworld.com with your contact details and I'll pass them on.
Mike has done stirling work during the years that he has been responsable for the repeaters, often against huge odds and massive stumbling blocks. I will be sorry to see him leave but it is only fair that someone else takes over now so that Mike can concentrate on his, more personal, health issues.
Remember: No new Nov holder(s) or Tech(s) by April (at the latest) = No Repeaters!!
The Committee would like to apologise to members and guests for the problems experienced on the first regularly scheduled On-the-Air night on Tuesday 8th September.
The chairman who, in the absence of a Shack Manager or Assistant Shack Manager, had the keys for the antenna termination box, was unable to attend the club due to his vehicle being off the road for essential, but unforeseen, work. Had he realised that he had the only 2 keys for the box in his possession he would have ensured that at least one key made it to the club for the evening.
Steps are being taken to ensure that this will not happen again and if any regular attending member would like to step up and apply for the post of Shack Manager or Assistant Shack Manager please approach a committee member and make yourself known.
the Committee came to the unanimous decision that the Webmaster, Brian MW0GKX, would be asked to re-join the committee as a co-opted member.
Brian reviewed his reasons for resigining and decided that he still had a lot to offer the club. Although he is having a stressful time at home at the moment, he accepted the committees' offer and is now a member of the committee again. He hopes to be able to serve the members well until, at least, the end of this committee session.
The Committee page has been updated to reflect this change.
Having consulted with a couple of committee members at the meeting on 4 August it has been decided that I (Brian, MW0GKX) will continue to manage the club website until, at least, the end of the current committee session.
Much of the "old" club website used to be "general interest" and not actually club related. However, this will not now be the case. The "club site" will be a stand alone sub-section within my personal site (it will be a whole site in itself) and will mainly have just club related information. Links to my personal site for general information will be placed where necessary and links to the club site will, likewise, be placed on my personal site.
It may sound complicated but it is easy really (it must be, I'm doing it!), both sites are totally seperate but link to each other, giving 2 separate sites in the same server space. For ease of identification (for sighted visitors) the background of the club site is the club logo on a solid light grey background and the home page link image (top left corner of nearly every page) is the club logo, while the personal site background is the "crumpled paper" look and the home page link image is an Icom IC-2820.
The Site Search will encompass both sites and search results may take you to the "other" site if a relevant match is found to the entered query.
On Tuesday 16 June Roy, GW1XZI, came to the club to talk about RAYNET, its' foundations, activities and excercises etc. Roy is active in the South Glamorgan RAYNET group which has the Cardiff area within its' boundries.
For those that don't know, RAYNET (The Radio Amateurs’ Emergency Network) is the UK’s national voluntary communications service provided for the community by licensed radio amateurs. It was formed in 1953 following the severe East coast flooding. At that time there was no provision for Amateur Radio licence holders to pass on messages for third party services. The licence was soon altered to allow for this when it was shown that an independent communications service was available in times of need when the official services' networks were either not working or overloaded with radio traffic.
Nowadays RAYNET provide communication assistance on many hundreds of events and incidents each year, from local events, like sponsered walks, to major incidents, such as the Lockerbie disaster in 1988. The Gwent RAYNET group also own and run GB7CD, the local D-STAR node, which is available for any licenced amateur to use (providing they have a D-STAR equipped radio).
Roy was well received by the members present and the club presented him with a cheque for £100 toward purchase and operating costs of GB7CD.
HARC chairman Steve, GW6CUR (left), presenting Roy, GW1ZXI, with the donation cheque.
To learn more about RAYNET in the UK visit their National website.
The GB7CD Website reports (and an email from Steve, GW6CUR, confirmed) that GB7CD is now linked to the internet. Dongle users and world-wide stations may now call through so any D-STAR users in the local area keep an ear on GB7CD.
Connection status for the node to internet is listed on the GB7CD site as "GB7CD Reflector".
Those of you within the footprint of the GB3BC 2 Metre Repeater will be aware of the illegal and malicious interference being caused to legitimate traffic on the repeater.
I can report that there is a small group of Radio Amateurs that have had enough of this situation and have taken a pro-active stance on this.
The offending signals are being tracked back to their origin and reports of the observations of the interference, and the originating locations, are then handed to Ofcom, who are taking the necessary legal steps to remove the offenders from the airwaves.
What this means to the offenders is that they could lose their Amateur Radio Licence (and possibly any other Radio Licences they hold), possibly lose the chance of ever being able to hold one again, have all their equipment seized and forfeited, be presented with a fine and end up with a criminal record.
One recent offender has been tracked down to a location in the North of Bridgend and reports have been filed. Others are pending.
If you receive VERY strong interfering signals on the input frequency (145.150) and you have UHF capability a quick check on 435.450 (the third harmonic) will tell you if they are VERY close to you.
If you wish to report signal levels, dates and times observed etc (and please include at least the date, time, your location, frequency and signal strength) then either go to the GB3BC Website and report it to one of the email addresses shown or send it to me (Brian, MW0GKX) and I'll pass it on.
