GM4RIV

Many thanks to Nadine White MM0WNW for the text below, and for the photos taken at the in-person event!

In order to continue to provide support over the wide geographic area of our membership, WARC has continued to organise weekly Zoom meetings, which served the Club so well during the Covid years. But in addition, the Club has arranged at least one monthly ‘in-person’ meet, usually on a Saturday at the Clubrooms at The Aird Unit in Stranraer.

Practical Weatherproofing was June’s timely topic The summer months are a good time to ensure that our stations are ready for the winter’s wet and challenging weather. Club members had the opportunity to enjoy two linked presentations on the topic.

Ian White GM3SEK, gave a Thursday evening Zoom talk on the subject followed a few days later by an in-person meeting and practical demonstration at the Clubroom in Stranraer. Ian is able to draw upon personal experience and many years of hints and tips gleaned through writing RadCom’s In Practice Column. As he said: ‘no one is born knowing this stuff’ – we all benefit from the experience (successes and failures) of others. There was good discussion, plus some additional tips contributed by those in attendance – a very productive way to spend the afternoon.

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Bring your surplus items to sell at the WARC tables (#43-44 by the cafe area)

Meet the folks you talk to on the air!

Doors will be open from 10am to 4pm

FREE PARKING

Location:

Braehead Arena Foyer
Braehead Shopping Centre
150 Kings Inch Road
Glasgow G51 4BN

https://braeheadradiorally.wordpress.com

Directions by Road:

Take the Braehead spur off the M8 westbound (Jct 25A).
At the large intersection, turn Right onto King’s Inch Drive.
Immediately take the Left lane and at the next roundabout, turn Left onto Marlinford Road (signed “Green Car Park”).
Braehead Shopping Centre and free parking are ahead and to your Left. Inside the Shopping Centre, the Arena Foyer entrance is on the 1st floor near Pizza Hut.

If you need to unload large items then don’t park – keep on driving to the Arena loading area….
Keep going on Marlinford Road, all the way to the end. The road swings left as you see “Krispy Kreme Donuts” ahead.
Ignore the “No Private Vehicles” sign and just ahead of the entry barriers turn Right (may be signed “Krispy Kreme Drive Thru”).
Krispy Kreme is now ahead on your right…
The River Clyde is in front of you…
and on your left is the Arena loading area.
Turn Left when you can, and drive along to
where all the other cars and vans are parked.
The Arena Foyer is up above you on the
1st floor overlooking the river.
You will see plenty of other amateurs
who can help you to grab a trolley, and go up in the lift.
If you need help unloading, come up to the Foyer and find the WARC tables (between the lift and the cafe area).

Our first presentation in 2023 was delivered last Thursday by Len Paget GM0ONX. Below you can find the recording of the presentation.

This will be a short talk about Ofcom’s Baldock listening station, where they do all their monitoring of interference etc. Len had been invited down there to see their facilities as an RSGB Board Member. WARC has known him for many years as our RSGB Rep and a good friend of the Club. Whenever Len gives a talk to WARC it’s always about some practical subject of interest (and then, if asked, he will answer questions about the RSGB).

As usual, WARC pauses Zoom meetings at the end of December, and this year the break includes one date in January.

The following dates will not have a club meeting on Zoom:

• 22th December 2022 — NO ZOOM MEETING
• 29th December 2022 — NO ZOOM MEETING
• 5th January 2023 — NO ZOOM MEETING

We wish you a fantastic holiday! Many thanks for being a WARC member, and see you next year!

It’s becoming a tradition: Clive has prepared his annual Christmas Quiz for 2022. Join us on Zoom, 8pm on the 15th December 2022 for an 8.15pm start of the quiz.

Download a PDF document

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On October 13th, Ian kindly presented his talk on 6 Metres and its special magic. The recording is now here, please check below for a PDF download of the slides Ian used on the evening.

Slides

Click here to download the slide deck in PDF format

The slides have been updated to include several web links, and for convenience these are replicated right here:

Propagation

• https://uksmg.org/new-to-six.php
• https://www.dxmaps.com/propagation.html
• https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html
  Set up the command line to read:
  On 6m, show signals sent/rcvd by anyone using all modes over the last 24 hours and then press Go!
  Zoom into the World map to see what’s been happening in NW Europe.
  Shorten the timescale to see what’s been happening most recently.

Moxon Antenna Construction

• G1YBB design and construction
• Moxgen design program for any frequency (Only for bare wire. For insulated wire, see corrections by G1YBB.)
• Ideas from YouTube
  Top picks: X-frame, Rectangle of PVC conduit, PVC conduit with 45deg bends

Following the sad news of the Queen, it was clear that most people wanted to be with their families last Thursday evening. As the scheduled time for Thomas Witherspoon’s talk followed so closely afterwards, we went ahead and recorded the talk with a small audience. The recording is now available below. In the event, Tom presented a slightly different talk about choosing QRP radios for the shack and for portable use, so we hope to ask him back later for the planned talk about Listening Skills.

WARC will meet on Thursday, the 15th September 2022 at the Aird Unit in Stranraer, for our Annual General Meeting.

Please download the AGM agenda here.

Zoom access details will be provided by email before the event. We will do our best to include those joining online, but please consider coming to Stranraer since we cannot guarantee or influence Zoom reliability.

The ADIF Processor is an online tool I originally developed to help me record additional, useful information in my log files. It metamorphosed into a way of viewing QSOs in Google Earth. Let’s create a log file together and see how QSOs come alive, as well as discovering some of those amazing antennas out there on the way.

Many thanks to Mark Wickens M0NOM for his excellent presentation yesterday evening! The video recording is now available below.