Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society
G0MWT, GX0MWT, GB5HF, GB5SM, GB2TAM, GB100MWT, G100RSGB & GB5RVA

CARS Meetings   October - December 2018


Award for All


October Meeting
Tue 2-Oct-2018, 7.30-10pm
Oaklands Museum, Moulsham Street
"AGM"
By CARS Members

October saw the Annual General Meeting of the Society which was well attended by the membership. Peter Davies M0PSD the retiring Chairman opened the meeting with a few announcements and notices, giving an outline of the evening.

The evening began with the presentation of Certificates for the August Constructors Competition: with John Bowen being awarded the third prize for his weather conscious 2mr Antenna mast installation. Second prize was awarded to Peter G3SUY for his homemade valve based 2m 50W FM/AM/CW transmitter. Due to the unavoidable absence of Peter SUY on Competition night his entry had been shown and described on his behalf by Colin G0TRM. The first prize was won by Andrew 2E0ONH – he showed his totally portable field-day equipment, setup for running digimodes. Andrew also received the Anthony Martin M1FDE Constructors Shield

 
President Tony G4YTG making the Constructors presentations to Andrew 2E0ONH and Peter G3SUY

Chairman’s Report
Peter began his report by saying he intended to stand down as Chairman of CARS but would most certainly continue in his role as Training manager, a role he much enjoyed. He spoke of the successful year the Training team had had and was sure it would continue as future candidate figures looked good. He gave figures for Foundation, (18) Intermediate (16) and Advanced (3) successes achieved thanks to CARS training at Danbury Village Hall. A number of candidates trained elsewhere sat their exams at Danbury it being an established exam centre.

Peter spoke of the good membership figures which had shown an increase and told of Pauline’s work in that direction and thanked her. He stated that Pauline would be standing down as Membership Secretary, due to numerous other commitments.

Peter spoke about the financial status of the Club which is in very good condition, which meant that the subscription remains at £15 per member. He told of a number of purchases he had made in terms of new equipment and training aids. A list of surplus amateur equipment put up for sale at the Tabletop sale awaits purchasers.

The question of Skills Nights was raised and Peter firmly stated that they would continue albeit in a somewhat different format, most but not all of the usual activities would continue with a few extras, one being a monthly mini TT sale, perhaps involving some three pre-bookable tables. A bring and buy sale would also feature.

Election of New Committee for 2018 - 2019
It was then time for the Presidents report and Tony G4YTG spoke about the efforts made by members of the Committee to keep the Club running smoothly in general and the arrangements for the monthly meetings. He thanked those concerned for all their hard work. As part of his duties as President he duly started the election process. Firstly he retired the standing Committee. The position of Chairman was now vacant as Peter M0PSD stood down from that position; he has however agreed to continue until as Chairman for 3 months to enable for a new Chairman to be sort. It was proposed that Elliot Riddle 2E0JSE be elected as Vice-Chairman. A vote by all Club members present was held and he was duly elected. It was also proposed that all standing members of the Committee be re-elected. This was also agreed by Club members. No new members were elected to the Committee.

Vacancies exist for Chairman, Membership Secretary and Newsletter Editor. With business over for the evening, Break was declared.

 


Thank-you presentations to Myra M0MYR & Ann Salmon, Dorothy M0LMR and Richard G7OED

After the break the Raffle was drawn with the usual good selection of prizes. Following the raffle CARS Secretary Colin G0TRM gave a brief resume of the talks he had arranged over the past year together with ideas for the next one in the pipe line. He asked the audience for ideas for future talks, no full evening ones resulted, but two talks suitable for the ‘Short Talks’ evening were suggested and quickly noted .


Chris G0IPU won the top Raffle Prize

Murray G6JYB then took the floor and as usual presented an excellent quiz which went well, with lots of questions covering a wide range of topics. With a few final words Peter PSD closed the meeting at 9.40 PM.

AGM Minutes/Write-up by Colin G0TRM, CARS Secretary



November Meeting
Tue 6-Nov-2018, 7.30-10pm
Oaklands Museum, Moulsham Street
"Propagation"
Gwyn Williams G4FKH

The November meeting featured a talk by HF expert and long time club member Gwyn Williams G4FKH. Gwyn's work features every month in RadCom propagation predictions.

His talk started with the solar emissions that influence the Ionosphere and HF Radio Propagation. His introduction covered topics such as Sunspots, Coronal Holes and Flares. These can emit extra radiation and charged particles in addition to the Suns ultraviolet light, towards the Earth and its magnetic field, creating complex variations in the ionosphere and its layers.


Gwyn introducing his talk to the attendees

The current long term trend on the 11-year sunspot cycle was discussed. We are now at the minimum of Cycle-24. The likelihood is that the forthcoming Cycle-25 will start in the first half of next year, but is forecast to be another fairly weak one.

 
Historic and current sunspot cycles

Gwyn uses the ITURHFProp prediction engine for RadCom predictions. this is derived from ITU-R P533 (and has succeeded earlier methods such as VOACAP). The basic software can be downloaded for free from the ITU (~100MB zip file) 'Software for the prediction of the performance of HF circuits based on Recommendation ITU-R P.533' - it also requires a Perl interpreter and a spreadsheet such as MS Excel or Libre Office. His Predtest website uses this and can plot in a wider variety of formats.

 
www.Predtest.uk Online Predictions can be in various formats

Following the break, the CARS Raffle was drawn. Gwyn was then presented with a CARS Speakers Mug by vice-Chair Elliot 2E0JSE and Colin G0TRM. Peter M0PSD then rounded the evening off with the latest training updates.

 
CARS famous raffle and Gwyn getting his speakers mug

Useful Links:-

  • ITU-R SG3 - Software Page - ITURHFProp
  • ActiveState - Perl Interpreter
  • Predtest - Online Predictions



    December Meeting
    Tue 4-Dec-2018, 7.30-10pm
    Oaklands Museum, Moulsham Street
    "Xmas Social"
    By CARS Members

    The CARS December meeting was well attended and had a seasonal and socialising theme...

    The refreshments included: Warm Mince Pies, Mulled Wine, Stollen, Sausage Rolls & Cheesecake - and there were two lovely homemade creamy cakes. Our thanks to John G8DET and Jamie's XYL for that - and to Ann and Myra serving the tea and coffee.

     

    Entertainment included Tony G4YTG on his Yamaha piano and a fun season quiz by Murray G6JYB

     
    Tony G4YTG brought his Electric Piano (Photo: John G8DET) - whilst Murray had an Xmas Quiz

     
    Some of the Quiz Questions

    Following a very enjoyable socialising time, the CARS Raffle was drawn. Vice Chairman Elliot 2E0JSE did the honours and the raffle prizes also had quite a seasonal flavour too...

       
    Elliot calling out the Xmas Raffle - Prizes included Drinks and Choccies (Photos: Murray G6JYB, John G8DET)

    Footnote - some others were present too...

    Xmas attendees had the opportunity to witness a live demo by Bees...

     
    A live demo at Oaklands Museum


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