THE CATSWHISKER - JANUARY 2001
Newsletter of the South Dorset Radio Society
Editor - John Rose, M0BQO - 45, Ringstead Crescent, Weymouth, DT3 6PT, UK
You can e-mail John at: m0bqo@g3sds.org.uk
A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2001 TO ALL OUR READERS
According to some, this is the time to celebrate the real millennium, but in any event towards the end of the year we will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the South Dorset Radio Society.
Best wishes, and compliments of the season, John Rose, M0BQO - SDRS Secretary
Club Lunch - Please, everybody, try to book up for the Club's New Year lunch, to be held at the Glenburn Hotel on Sunday 14th January.
Thus far, there are nearly twenty people on the list but this represents just nine members and their guests and I hope that number will be vastly increased - it doesn't even make a quorum at a meeting! Otherwise, words like 'apathy' will come to mind which would be very disappointing considering the amount of work and organisation done by the Committee on behalf of the SDRS and its members.
So, please let me know positively, and also your selection of dishes as printed in the December Catswhisker. My various addresses - postal, e-mail, packet and phone - are shown on the information page and I am waiting to hear from you; other committee members' addresses are also there, should they be easier for you to contact.
CU then, hopefully, John, M0BQO
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
January 2nd - Annual Quiz. This time, Robert G0RYL and Carol have one for us to enjoy.
January 14th (Sunday) - SDRS Club Lunch. Please do your utmost to book this date, in the year of SDRS's 40th anniversary.
February 6th - Demonstrations of Digital techniques including packet, UI-view and WX satellites.
March 6th - Bring-and-buy sale. Please note change.
April 3rd - SDRS Annual General Meeting.
A MAJOR SDRS INITIATIVE
From: Neville Bridle, 2E1HFY 2e1hfy@g3sds.org.uk
Design a QSL Card - Free Competition & Rules.
Prize (Worth over £10:00) - A years free membership of the South Dorset Radio Society
Rules- The design should be the size of a standard postcard.
The following words should also be incorporated into the design or picture, or be seen somewhere on the front of the card.
South Dorset Radio Society : Affiliated to the RSGB :
To Station . . . . . . . . . .
From . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Frequency . . . . . . . . MHz.
Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Additional information to influence your design if wished:
2001 is the 40th year of the South Dorset Radio Society.
Important. On the back only of your QSL entry should be your NAME plus Callsign or address and phone number please.
As many entries as you like per person.
All entries should be received by the end February 2001. No entries received after that date will be included in the competition.
The judging will take place at the committee meeting in March and the winner will be announced at the AGM on April 3rd 2001.
No members of the South Dorset Radio Society Committee will be allowed to enter as they are the judges and will not know whose entry they are looking at until the judging is over, thus the reason for your name and details only on the back of your entry.
Entries should be sent to the club secretary:
Mr J Rose M0BQO at 45 Ringstead Crescent Weymouth DT3 6PT.
Or handed to a member of the committee in a sealed envelope and marked QSL competition. Thank you.
ANNIVERSARY BOOKLET
I recently requested members and friends to contribute some anecdotes or reminiscences for the fortieth anniversary booklet. The South Dorset Radio Society was inaugurated in October 1961.
Was there any response? No.
Then I'll try again on a different tack. Our archives are poor pre-1980, in particular the 1960s is a blank area. (Have you read SDRS History John? - Geoff) Has anyone got any Catswhiskers or equivalent pre-1980 that I can borrow? Is there any other archive material stashed away in your cupboards and boxes? Who were the Chairmen and Treasurers in the early days? Where were the meeting places then?
If you can help, or know someone who can,. please let me know. Don't assume that someone else will: that way, nothing gets done.
J. Rose. M0BQO
MORSE KEY WANTED
Bill Turnbull is looking for a secondhand Morse key in reasonably good condition.
He can be contacted on 01305 776085 (Chickerell).
MORSE TESTS
Neville, 2E1HFY advises us that his QTH will be available for taking Morse tests.
Dates already arranged are on Saturdays March 3rd, July 7th and November 3rd 2001.
All this is a great encouragement to all concerned, but the matter of greatest concern is that while you can take instant Morse tests at a number of rallies and functions, a long period of notice is needed to do it by arrangement. This unsatisfactory situation is the subject of a conversation between Neville and the RSGB, and there appears to be some movement behind the scenes.
Watch this space, as they say, for there may be more to report soon.
SUCCESS !
Congratulations to Mark, M1EPD and Richard, 2E1HSI who successfully took their Morse tests at 5 wpm at the Nevada Open Day. With their new callsigns they will be able to talk to the world! We all look forward to hearing them.
RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AGENCY
REPORT OF DECEMBER'S CLUB MEETING
Colin le Comte and Andy Hayes gave a Powerpoint Presentation about the Radio Investigation Service which turned out to be interesting and informative.
In its present form the RA was established as an executive agency of the Department of Trade and Industry in 1990 but its history and various ?owners? goes back to 1918 when the Wireless Telegraphy Board was set up to investigate radio interference.
Andy reported strange happenings: after 1904 you could be imprisoned, with hard labour, for operating an unlicensed radio transmitter. In 1920 the Government banned entertainment broadcasting when some records played by an early experimental station interfered with equipment aboard a Vickers Vimy aircraft (reading a railway timetable over the air was deemed OK).
The RA really blossomed when TV was widely available and more homes had such interference generators as motor-cars, sewing machines and hair dryers.
A current problem concerns car door security systems (auto makers can make them safe for 60p) while the future involves spectrum management and pricing, yet another bone of contention.
In the questions session, only about 15 minutes could be devoted to comments on a foundation licence and easier entry into the hobby but points were made and noted.
The RA has a web site should you wish to write your own comment on this subject: www.radio.gov.uk (also see Future of Amateur Radio)
AND FINALLY
Apart from adding a few more frightening roller-coasters to my tally, what most impressed me about our Florida holiday was the visit to the Kennedy Space Centre.
'You are about to see the greatest machine ever made', the man said. It was the Saturn rocket, slung lengthwise in the very building which had been the headquarters of the Moon launch in 1969.
It was absolutely mind-blowing. Impressive it may have been when vertical on its pad, but to see it close-up, and witness its length and size was just awe-inspiring. I took a photo of my little grandson with it and it dwarfs him.
Now for the Shuttles: 18,000 miles an hour is fast and the acceleration is better than my motorbike, but just how fast? Well, just eight minutes after launch the empty fuel tanks - the biggest, most visible parts of the cluster - fall into the Indian Ocean.
John, M0BQO m0bqo@g3sds.org.uk