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I have started a thread on the forum. Please chime in there to confirm you have worked (or heard) the DXpedition T32C where G4LDL (Tony) or G3YBY (Ian) are currently active with the FSDXA.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Pye recording “The Radio Ham”. It will be rebroadcast today on BBC Radio 4 Extra (DAB) between 1400 and 1500BST today. It will be available on iPlayer afterwards.

If you wish to buy it as an MP3, Amazon have it available.

The 3el 160M yagi rotated at OH8X. On the same tower also 5el for 80M and 4 over 4 for 40M.

Some of you may have noted that the Advance Party on Christmas Island have been active from time to time this week, checking out propagation. The solar flux has been high and T32C has already worked Europe on 28MHz!

Get ready for the weekend!

Don, G3XTT, FSDXA Publicity Officer, sent out the following press release on September 16th:

It’s been one of those years. Spratly and Jarvis had to be postponed and now our own, T32C, expedition has hit some logistical problems in that our container with its 6 tonnes of kit got as far as T30 (Tarawa), but onward shipping to T32 has proved impossible despite our best efforts and promises from those involved in 3D2, T30 and T32. The ship that was due to bring our container from Tarawa has broken down and is being towed to Fiji for repairs.

WHAT NOW — So what happens now? The answer is that we will go ahead anyway. The team is complete and set to go, the hotel is expecting us, and the sunspots seem to be on the increase.

Thanks to Yaesu, our Global Sponsor, we will have ten FT-450D radios, which we will hand carry to T32, along with several lightweight linears. Yaesu’s support has been absolutely outstanding.

We will also take enough hardware to set up verticals and vertical arrays for all bands 160 through 10. It may even be possible to run multiple stations on some bands, though not to the extent that we had previously planned. All our computer equipment was to be hand-carried in any case, so daily log updates to ClubLog (see Bulletin 3) will be unaffected.

Unfortunately, unless our container makes an unlikely late arrival on the island, 6m EME will have to be abandoned, and we will not have the 4-square arrays for 30 and 40. But we will do our best to set up phased systems or other antenna configurations to achieve gain, especially towards Europe where will continue to focus our efforts.

TIMINGS — The expedition dates are unaffected, but we cannot realistically expect to have stations running on nine bands by the first weekend, though we will aim to be on some bands, at least. As we will not have everything pre-kitted, there will be a lot of building and configuration work to do once we arrive at Christmas. The good news is that we are there for nearly four weeks and will be operating through four weekends, so there should be plenty of opportunity to get into our log.

WEBSITE — As always, but especially in these new circumstances, the trick is to keep a close eye on our website. Do keep checking it for updates, both before and during the expedition: www.t32c.com

You will also find details there of how to interact with us once we start operations– your feedback will be especially important so that we can maximize every band opening.

Amateur licensees are reminded that their licence (now “lifetime”) must be validated at least once every 5 years in accordance with the terms, conditions and limitations of their licence.

Due to the anticipated workload at the time of the London Olympic and Parlaympic Games in 2012, exceptionally, Ofcom has automatically validated Amateur licences which were issued from November 2006 to August 2007, extending by one year the latest date that these particular licences would need their first validation – i.e. November 2012 to August 2013 or 6 years from their respective dates of issue.

Licences issued after August 2007 will need validation as usual in the normal way – at least once every 5 years.

It only takes a few minutes to register your details and make any necessary updates to your licence online.

If you are experiencing difficulties or need assistance in processing your licence on-line, please call 0300 123 1000 or 020 7981 3131 or Textphone: 020 7981 3043 or 0300 123 2024 (please note that textphone numbers only work with special equipment used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing).

Why has Ofcom taken this decision?

Ofcom has taken this decision to avoid having a large number of validations to process around the time of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

How do I know if my licence is affected?

Your lifetime licence will have an issue date between 1st November 2006 and 31st August 2007. Please make sure you have the most up to date version of your licence document as the issue date would have changed if you have made any amendments or validated the licence recently.

My licence details are incorrect and needs updating. What do I do?

Register your details with the Ofcom online licensing services and make the necessary changes to your licence online. This includes changes to station and mailing addresses.

Do I have to validate my licence?

Yes You must validate your licence at least once every five years from the date of issue (even if there have been no changes to your licence details). You do not have to wait for 5 years. You can validate your licence any time you wish to. Your next validation period will commence from the latter of the dates that you either re-validate your licence or that you make any changes to your station and / or mailing addresses.

The easiest way is to register your details with the Ofcom online licensing service and validate your details online. This only takes a few minutes.

Why is it important to validate?

It is important to validate because it is part of the terms, conditions and limitations of the licence. Ofcom must be notified of any changes to the details of the licence.

Will I get a new licence document after Ofcom extends the validation period?

Ofcom will not be issuing any new licence documents to affected licensees. The main point to note is that if your licence has an issue date for instance 31st March 2007 then its new validation due date will be 30th March 2013. This is within six years as opposed to the normal five years.

When should licences that were issued after August 2007 be validated?

Licences issued after 31 August 2007 will need their initial validation as usual at the latest, five years after the relevant date of issue.

What do I do if a licensed family member or a friend is deceased and someone needs advice?

Ofcom would require a written notification with a copy of the death certificate or power of attorney to cancel the licence.

Here’s a FUNcube Dongle kit.

http://www.ham-radio.ch/kits/sdr-radio.com/Beta/SDR-RADIO_v1.4b763.exe

Some help: http://www.sdr-radio.com/Specification/FUNcubeDongle/tabid/475/language/en-US/Default.aspx

*** No direct mails please, use these forums only ***

Simon Brown, HB9DRV
http://sdr-radio.com

This week, there will be a chance for all members to try out one of the new rigs purchased as part of the Lottery grant. For this activity night, James M1DST will be exploring data modes and CW using a laptop computer – which easily connects to the TS590S.

We will also be experimenting with Software Defined Radio (SDR)

There will also be a ‘Then and Now’ theme in which members can bring in an item of equipment from their shack that typifies modern ham radio, and also something from the previous generation.

All local amateurs and SWLs welcome. Doors open at 7.00 pm.

An ATU, AMU or transmatch forms an essential part of the HF radio shack, allowing us to use our transceivers with often less than ideal antennas and give us the multi-band and wide band coverage that we need. This week, Peter, G3RZP, looks under the hood at ATUs to reveal a little more about how they work, how they are constructed and examines the various techniques used for making an effective antenna matching circuit. Various methods are explored, including the classic L and T matches, and the commercial Z match. Peter shows us some homebrew tuners including a very impressive design made in a machine shop. Peter also looks at measuring antenna impedance, a process which forms the starting point when planning a matching network for any antenna and examines the real requirements for a remote tuner when things go wrong.

The talk will appeal to homebrew builders and antenna experimenters alike, and will help anyone aiming to optimise their HF antenna system using tuning networks.

Location: Saverake Street, Swindon, Time 7:30pm. Visitors: £1.

A warm summer evening was the backdrop for the largest turnout of hunters so far this year in this evening’s SDARC 2-metre Direction Finding Competition.

The fox, sitting tantalisingly close to Sainsbury’s and Toys R Us (!) but actually much closer to the White Hart pub in Stratton, witnessed not only the largest group of hunters so far this year but also the fastest ‘find’ at just under 30 minutes! Yes the high speed hunter, Chris G1YGY, was supping an early ‘arf’ at the White Hart having skilfully used his HB9CV to get three very precise fixes on the fox before the end of the fox’s third transmission!

Geoff, G3TPQ’s 70 minute season record was ‘toast’ thanks to Chris’ major effort and even Geoff was some five minutes behind his season average time this evening, having decided that the fox’s sense of humour would have placed him in the Toys R Us car park (…well, his thinking … “playing radio” ….was wickedly good!! )

In the end, we managed to go QRT early this evening when the “G3” team of Frank JOT and Deryck YKC found the fox with a large measure of time to spare, having overcome their technical difficulties during the June event and despite Frank sporting a very definitely “keep-it-to-yourself” summer cold.

The group, joined by Graeme M6XIR and Kevin G6FOP, finally got together as the evening came to an end at the White Hart where the group just ‘tweaked’ the night’s takings with a sensibly small sampling of their wares before heading off home – a 100% success in the bag …all teams having located the fox within the allocated timeframe.

Congratulations to all for your efforts but particularly to Chris for his Olympian’s performance. If you weren’t there this evening, you missed a good one!

See you in the August event?

Do check the website for the date and rules and give it a try.

Anyone else fancy making up an impromptu team for the night to have a go?

From the fox’s earth, may your aerials always be 50Ω resistive* !

73

Den M0ACM

* ..and if they aren’t, you will REALLY want to be at NEXT Thursday’s live talk by Peter G3RZP on the subject of ATUs