Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society
G0MWT, GX0MWT, GB5HF, GB100MWT & GB100-2MT

CARS Meetings: April - June 2023


April Meeting
Tue 4-Apr-2023, 7.30-9:30pm
Danbury Village Hall		 "Constructors Competition"
CARS Members

April saw the return of our annual competition - complete with Cash Prizes!

Electronics, metalwork or even software are all valid entries. The only entry rule is that it must be safe. Cash prizes were on offer for 1st 2nd and 3rd and newcomers. Murray totted up the voting preferences from the audience and in the event we had five entries so the latter was split evenly for fourth place as there wasn’t a newcomer entry. The Prizes and certificates were thus:-

  • 1st Place - £30
  • 2nd - £20
  • 3rd - £10
  • 4th –equal (ex Newcomers - £10+10) CARS President Tony Gilbey G4YTG was on hand to do the honours and present the winners certificates/cash


    1st : Main Isolating Variable AC PSU
    Tony presenting 1st prize to Andy G1GKN

    2nd : End fed dipole – Martin G4TOO
    Tony presenting 2nd prize to Martin

    3rd : Morse Oscillator – John M0JOC
    Tony presenting 3rd prize to John M0JOC

    4th = : CW Practice & Repeater – David M0HBV
    Tony with David Ingrey M0HBV

    4th = : Multipurpose radio and audio/speaker
    Tony with John G4IMS - CARS Treasurer


    Andy G1GKN with the Winners Shield


    May Meeting
    Tue 2-May-2023, 7.30-9:30pm
    Danbury Village Hall    		 "Practical / Social Night"
    CARS Members / Visitors

    The May meeting was the second event based on CARS registration as a RSGB Brickworks club. The occasion proved to be popular for socialising etc whilst the practical topics included:

    • CW Software Demo (RufzXP, Morse Runner)
    • On-line software define radio by Jim 2E0RMI
    • Refreshments & Raffle
    Jim Salmon 2E0RMI gave a demo on the on-line web software defined radio at the University of Twente in the Netherlands (websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901). The system is currently composed of a "Mini-Whip" antenna, a homebuilt SDR board which samples the entire shortwave spectrum and sends all of this via a gigabit ethernet link to a PC, where a special version of the WebSDR server software processes it.

    Jim tuned in to a variety of stations to show what the system could do including Radio Caroline on medium wave from Orford Ness, and the Russian "Buzzer" (UVB-76) on 4625 kHz. There followed an interesting debate about the "number stations" from the cold war, which can still be found on the air today.

    Paul G4PVM demonstrated two free software programs which can be downloaded and used for CW practice:-

    RufzXP was written by DL4MM. "Rufz" is the abbreviation of the German word "Rufzeichen-Hören", which means "listening to callsigns". The software sends 50 callsigns which you log on your computer. You choose the starting speed and, if you get the callsign correct it gets faster and, if you get it wrong it goes slower, until you find a comfortable speed. The software can de downloaded here: www.rufzxp.net.

    Morse Runner was written by VE3NEA. It simulates a contest where you call CQ and log stations who respond. You can select what speed you want, and you can even add QRM, QRN and QSB, as well as "lids" (bad operators) causing interference. It can be downloaded from here: www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner.

    Unfortunately, the Web SDR prompted so much discussion we ran out of time for the quiz! Never mind - we'll save it for next time...

    Watch out for the next event, set for the July 4th meeting - it should be fun

    June Meeting
    6-June-2023, 7.30-9:30pm
    Danbury Village Hall    		 "Essex Air Ambulance"
    By EHAAT

    Presentation on the work of the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust – all welcome.

    Our 6th June talk attracted a large audience for a presentation by the Essex and Hearts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT – www.ehaat.org) .

    Roger Smith gave a deep insight and examples of their operations by helicopters and medics. It is a charity with free life-saving service provided 24/7 by helicopters and by rapid response vehicles in the hours of darkness.

    Fundraising is vital to support their high running costs, so CARS were delighted to present a cheque on the evening for £631 from silent key sales and club donations.


    EHAAT Volunteer Roger Smith giving an overview of the Trust, its bases and helicopters
    Andy G0IBN assisting

    CARS Chair Elliot presenting our cheque
    Roger answering questions


    CARS Donation to Essex Air Ambulance

    Background info: www.ehaat.org

    To RETURN to the Meetings Page - Click Here

    To RETURN to the CARS Home Web Page - Click Here

    • ©Copyright CARS