Our club meets every month, normally on the third Tuesday. Our meetings typically involve a radio based talk or presentation followed by a chance to catch up over a cuppa.
Do you have an interesting radio related topic to share? We are always looking for interesting presentations and ideas for our club meetings. If you have a story to tell and fancy sharing some interesting aspect of our hobby then please get in touch with our Membership Secretary by emailing membership@verulam-arc.org.uk.
In January we will be presenting the RSGB Video on VHF Propagation. We showed the HF one last year and it generated a very interesting set of conversations afterwards. This video is 20 minutes long so also plan to use this meeting to host our Bun Fight as we had to cancel the one in December due to adverse weather conditions. Hosted by Dr Roger Bleaney (M0RBK) Wireless is not limited to Morse code, telephony and data modes. One of its major uses is to transmit moving images by the means of what we now know as television. The speaker intends to give a brief outline of how television was developed putting emphasis on how an image is converted into an electrical signal, transmitted and reconstituted as a picture. The Shefford and District Amateur Radio Society will be having their Spring Junk Sale on the 5th of April 2018 at their usual venue in Shefford next door to the chip shop. Doors open at 19:30 and sales start at 20:00. Any items brought in for sale and not sold must be taken away. Parking in front of the building and on the street, so come along! Contact Ken (G4YRF) for more information. That said there’s still plenty of opportunities for the smart Ham to keep active on the HF bands. By paying attention to conditions, station equipment and adjusting our operating techniques there’s no reason why you can’t keep filling those log books. In his talk, Alex, M0UKR gives his top ten tips on how to overcome the challenges presented by low solar conditions. All the tips suggested can be taken advantage of by just about any Ham and are guaranteed to increase your activity and contact successes on a low budget. The purpose of the talk is to trace the development of Scientific views on the nature of Electromagnetic Radiation from Michael Faraday’s view of oscillations of magnetic lines of force, to Current day Quantum Field Theory. The talk gives an overview of wave-particle duality, quantum mechanics and, from this, how Quantum Field theory developed. This talk will be presented by Fred Lupton (G0MDR) who has an M.Sc. in Physics. His talk will rely heavily on video clips to support the concepts he will be presenting. We have our joint social gathering this month. The users of GB3VH and those of Verulam ARC are welcome. Bar food and car parking are available. All are welcome, hope you can pay a visit. Hear ye, hear ye! Announcing this years VARC family BBQ, to be held July 7th from 2pm. Please bring something to cook and perhaps drink along with some good WX. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and salad provided! Also to hand will be a trampoline for the more energetic of you, and some radios for the more sedate, along with some very good company. I hope you can make it with your better halves and family, so put it in your diary now while you think of it! For more details contact Peter (G0OIK) Rose & Crown PH Sandridge Nr St Albans Table location in the "Snug" at front of bar area. We have our joint social gathering this month. The users of GB3VH and those of Verulam ARC are welcome. Bar food and car parking are available. All are welcome, hope you can pay a visit The talk will tell their story and now, at last, they are being credited for their work. The following article may prove interesting: http://www.duncancampbell.org/PDF/1976-may-time-out-the-eavesdroppers.pdf. STARTING AT 7:30pm - at Bernard's Heath Recreation Ground, on the north side of St Albans. Bring along a 2m receiver and a directional antenna. A limited amount of loan equipment may be available just before the start. 'Teams' may be formed on the day for a car based hunt. Bernard's Heath Recreation Ground lies on the north west side of the B651 Sandridge Road with Boundary Road and Chaucer Close opposite. Post Code AL1 4AP for sat nav. Periodic transmissions will be made, probably on 145.375MHz, (145.350MHz fallback) vertical polarisation, staring at 7:30 pm from the fox's hide-out and ultimate meeting place. A basic map and instructions will be provided, together with a sealed envelope giving the fox's location should hounds run out of time. Computers are finding their way more and more into our radio shacks and this film, recorded at the RSGB 2017 Convention, is a presentation by Mike Richards (G4WNC) covering the history of the Pi and how it can be used for amateur radio. The film covers digital modes, Packet, APRS, GPS tracking, SDR Server, Spy server, security cameras and a trail camera.
With the current solar cycle proving to be the worst in 200 years it’s no wonder HF radio propagation is suffering and with still 2 years to go before we reach the minimum it’s not going to improve for several years.
Radio operators were in short supply in Britain in World War 2 and a major training program was begun to provide operators for the military services. In addition there was a need for highly skilled operators in the world of Signals Intelligence where the ability to copy fast Morse code under difficult conditions was essential. All three of the military services required such operators as well as other organisations. There were several thousand in all and the great majority were recruited from the amateur radio fraternity.