GM4RIV

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This is a simple circuit that can be used to test all those coaxial cables that we have or make. It only uses a few components and will test if the cable is OK, has any shorts between screen and inner and if both screen and inner are continuous. The circuit is shown below along with components required.

Note: switch shown in “SHORT TEST” position.

As we have announced previously, the club will run a Special Event Station for the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) on August 17th and 18th 2019. Location is the Mull of Galloway.

This will be a fantastic weekend and we hope that many of you will take the time to visit and help out. Every little bit helps, even if you can’t spend the whole weekend!

For those who can make themselves available, setup will begin Friday the 16th. The station will operate Saturday and Sunday, and will be taken down Monday the 19th.

Sleeping and catering accommodation will [ … ]

On the 20th and 21st of July 2019 (Saturday and Sunday), members of WARC will help run a Special Event Station at Dumfries&Galloway Aviation Museum. The callsign for the station will be GB0DAM.

This is an event for all radio amateurs from the area and everybody is welcome to join in. Please let us know if you can help in any way!

There is a Military Vehicle show on Sunday 21st of July, which should attract additional attention.

Please contact Clive GM4FZH for details, or feel free to use the contact form.

The first WARC mobile meet happened on January 26th this year, and it was a great success in spite of the rain! At our committee meeting last night we decided to arrange a second date for the same location:

April 27th 2019, 1pm

The meeting location is once more the public car park on the High Street in Gatehouse of Fleet, and we will proceed from there to the nearby cafe for a tea or coffee. Everybody is welcome, and those with mobile equipment in their cars can have a chat via the DK and DG repeaters on the way [ … ]

The club will be running a station at the Mull of Galloway for the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW). This is the weekend of 17/18th August 2019. Please put this date in your diary as we will need help to establish the station and operators. For further details of this event see https://illw.net/ . All are welcome.

This post has been contributed by Edward Beck. Thank you very much!

I’ve been asked to do an article about Zello, or internet radio. Network Radios have taken off in UK in a big way, with many thousands of more specialised phones being sold for this new market. Most of us don’t need a specific phone for this hobby, a smartphone, tablet or computer will do. Therefore, you can join up free today!

Radio hams seem to be on two specific internet groups, and the most popular is using the Zello app, available on Android or Apple. If [ … ]

If you are a Foundation licence holder, the Intermediate level is the next step for you. WARC is planning to offer a distance learning course for the Intermediate licence to begin in April 2019. The course will take 10 weeks to complete and you will be required to come to the Aird Unit in Stranraer three times during that timeframe for the practical work.

If you would like to hear more or sign up for the course, please get in touch using the Contact Form.

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Introduction

You may well have come across impedance expressed in the the terms real and imaginary (or resistance and reactance) when using equipment such an Antenna Analyser or impedance in the form R + jX. This may mean something to some readers whilst it probably means nothing and is somewhat baffling to many others. In this article I am going to try to explain in SIMPLE terms what it is all about. Please do not “get turned off” because it contains some mathematics, it’s all [ … ]

Our amateur radio trainer Clive Smith GM4FZH is currently busy preparing things for the next iteration of his successful Foundation Course (4/4 passing last year, I was one of them!).

If you are interested, please get in touch via the Contact Form as soon as possible, since the course will begin soon!

WARC members from across our long county of Dumfries and Galloway joined us last night for a very enjoyable talk by Ian Macdonald GM8AVM – MM5WIG.

This was the Club’s first time using the Community Centre in Gatehouse of Fleet, part of our plans to hold occasional meetings further east than WARC’s weekly clubroom base in Stranraer. The venue worked well and shows promise for future events.