Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society
G0MWT, GX0MWT, GB5HF, GB100MWT & GB100MZX

CARS Meetings: Jan - March 2023


January Meeting
10-Jan-2023, 7.30-9pm
Danbury Village Hall		 "Brickworks & CARS"
David De la Haye M0MDB

For our January 10th meeting (yes second Tuesday), David de la Haye M0MDB, RSGB Region-12 Representative, introduced the RSGB Brickworks Initiative which supports 'Building Experience' for both newcomers, but also for existing amateur and clubs. He had both a video and slides to explain all.

This is very much about supporting both existing as well as new amateurs - and new topics to try. There are several themes and lots of potential activities you may wish to join in or even volunteer for.

After Dave's presentation there were a few slides by CARS on how some of our future meetings will be using those themes to support it, such as demonstration how to set up a station or some new aspect of radio you may not have tried before

Our thanks to David - who we see again a few weeks later at Canvey

February Meeting
Tue 7-Feb-2023, 7.30-9:30pm
Danbury Village Hall		 "Marconi Telegraph Stations in Essex"
Paul Reyland G0PGR

For February, local author, amateur and former telecomms engineer Paul Reyland G0PGR gave a fascinating and extensively illustrated talk about Marconi Wireless Telegraph Stations in Essex - notably the Ongar and Brentwood Stations.

Following earlier experiments from Poldhu, Clifden (Ireland) and Caernarvon, both Ongar and Brentwood were established in the early 1920s near Chelmsford to provide international wireless communications.

They played a key role in European and Global HF communications. Paul's slides showed the extent of the antennas and transmitter halls, the latter getting regular upgrades over the years.

1922 Ongar 15kW Transmitter - Open Valves Ongar - Long Wave Antenna Ongar Tx in 1970 - Synthesized , auto tuning etc Services extended across Europe and Worldwide

They continued until Brentwood closed in 1965 and Ongar in 1987. A huge thank you to Paul for a great insight. Paul had some copies of his book with him, which is also available on Amazon for ~£9.

PS: The Book is available via Amazon

March Meeting
7-Mar-2023, 7.30-9:30pm
Danbury Village Hall		 "Practical / Brickworks Evening"
By CARS Members

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


CARS HF 18MHz Bandpass Filter being measured on a SV4401A Vector Network Analyser over 1-30MHz.
  • Yellow = input match, 5dB/div
  • Blue = insertion loss, 10dB/div
The SV4401A features include coverage up to 4GHz and Touchscreen display

It has parallels with former Skill Nights, but we now run this under the umbrella of the RSGB Brickworks scheme where participating amateur radio clubs have committed to helping all licensed amateur radio operators discover what the hobby has to offer, offer guidance etc. So it is wider than its strapline - not just Foundation - but for all amateurs in the spirit of self-training and 'Building Experience'. Note that many of the listed activities can be at home and/or on air as well as club nights. CARS is an awarding body for the scheme certificates if you do have a serious go.

Murray had brought a long one of the latest analysers in the amateur market (SV4401A from Martyn Lynch) so people could try the VHF Dipole tuning practical; or as per the photo see how good one of our new bandpass filters is (which enable multiple HF stations to operate together)

Later on we also had the return of the Quiz! - based on CARS Training Foundation question that still challenged a few more experienced folk

Watch out for the next event, set for the May 2nd meeting - it should be fun

The SV4401A is available from Martin Lynch.
More about Brickworks: www.rsgb.org/brickworks

And thanks to the kitchen volunteers! - helping things along

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