THE FIRST CLASS C.W.

OPERATORS CLUB

NEWS SHEET 599

(http://members.aol.com/focuk)

Editor: G4BUE

September 1999

A man should keep his friendship in constant repair - Samuel Johnson (1755)
(3525, 7025, 10120-10125, 14025, 18080-18085, 21025, 24905-24910 and 28025kHz)

BANDS OF THE MONTH FOR SEPTEMBER ARE 40 & 15 METRES

THE 1999 LORDS ANNUAL DINNER

Saturday 2 October 1999 See Page 47 of FOCUS 39 for full information
Tickets 31.50 each from Maud Slater, Wychwood, Park Lane, Maplehurst, West Sussex. Telephone 01403 891342.
This is the last update before we meet again at Lords. If you dont have your ticket yet reach for your pen, telephone or tie a knot in your antenna to remind you! So far we have 4X1FC, 5B4AGC, EI3CP, F5VCT, K1AJ, K2VUI, N4TO, PABW and VE6BF confirmed as overseas visitors and 9H1EL, DL7AKC and OZ8RO hoping to attend. Tickets are available from Maud Slater, see above. The ticket price includes refreshments (coffee and tea most of the day), the use of the suite all day from 9am (including the G4FOC station) and the dinner at 7pm. For those who would like to join us for the day only there is a small charge of 5 to contribute to the cost of these facilities. The CW Centre will again have their stand with a diverse selection of keys and keyers to examine. The Lords Tavern are primed to serve lunch and refreshments are available most of the day. The dinner menu is:Chargrilled Chicken served in a bowl of Caesars salad Roasted shank of Lamb in a minted gravy Herb roasted olivette potatoes Selection of seasonal vegetables Raspberry and strawberry crumble served with traditional English custard or double cream Coffee and mints A vegetarian alternative is available - please let G3PDL know in advance if you would like one ordered for you as he has to give the final numbers to the caterers on the Tuesday before the Dinner. Incidentally that is also the time beyond which we shall not be able to refund any cancellations. The discounted rooms at the Hilton have all been taken but there are several other options within easy striking distance. The Travel Inn, 141 Euston Road, London NW1 2AU has a fixed room price of 59.95 for double rooms (regardless of the number of occupants) and an English breakfast is 6.25 per person. Unfortunately no special deals are possible and it is a little further from Lords but apparently a comfortable walk. Their telephone is 0171 554 3400 and their fax 0171 554 3419. G3IZD says the Moat House Hotel at Elstree has a good deal on Barclaycard (Visa) reward points. The hotel is not as close to Lords as the Regents Park Hilton but Ivan says it is very close to the northern end of the Jubilee Line (underground train) which goes directly to St Johns Wood station. One gets two nights for 700 points and 27, and it has ample car parking. Page 47 of FOCUS 39 gives details of The Colonnade and the Travel Inn hotels and the August News Sheet gives details of how to get discounted Apex fares to London on British Railways. Please make an effort to attend this last Annual Dinner of the Millennium. Several raffle prizes have been donated so far - if you would like to contribute too it would be most welcome. The raffle makes a major contribution to the cost of the event. We are looking at alternatives to Lords for next year and beyond and G3PDL or G3WGV are anxious to hear your views and suggestions. Shall we see you there?

The major issue at present is development of new licensing arrangements, as addressed by G3WGV in this column. We thank Fred Laun, K3ZO, for the following response. He says: I found Johns, G3WGV, comments in the July News Sheet very interesting, especially so as it treats in a rather positive light the eventuality of the downgrading in importance of Morse code knowledge as a prerequisite for expanded HF operating privileges. I approve of this realistic approach to the future by John. I would be cautious about one aspect of Johns comments however. He says Then there is a proposal to make the bandplans part of the licence conditions and therefore mandatory. As a way of protecting CW spectrum I can think of no better move. Unfortunately I would not be too sanguine that there will really be any noticeable effect of this possible eventuality. The whole direction of amateur radio administration these days is toward less regulation. I could be wrong, but I really doubt that the RA actually plans to increase the budget it allots to in-band monitoring of the amateur radio frequencies. The trend worldwide is to depend more and more on what amateur radio organisations have always trumpted to the world themselves; our tradition of self-policing. It is also true that the maintenance of CW subbands creates some rather bizarre results in parts of the world. Since I hold the call sign HSZAR and operate from Thailand every now and again, I have become acutely aware of a serious problem in that part of the world in the form of loud SSB operations all through the portion of the 40 metre band from 7000 to 7035kHz by Indonesian commercial logging interests. Since Indonesian radio amateurs regularly operate on SSB from 7035kHz on up, it appears as though the commercial interests, realising that that part of the band is occupied, do not go there. But, not understanding what is happening in the CW portion of the band, they operate there with abandon. (When the Indonesian delegates to international amateur radio conferences have had their attention called to this commercial interference, they invariably apologise but indicate that should they complain to their government formally about the presence of these intruders, it is the radio amateurs who might suffer, since these logging interests have far more local political influence than do the radio amateur organisations.) Having said this, I am constantly amazed at the lack of confidence that some of our supposed CW enthusiasts exhibit in the ability of A1 Morse transmission to hold its own when faced with QRM from other modes of transmission. In the case I mention above, despite the strong SSB QRM I am always able to make a goodly number of QSOs with all parts of the world

TOPICAL ISSUES by G3SXW

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION by G3MXJ

Starred List
3. 9V1YC: G4HZV, K5NA, N3BB, N6NT, VK2BJ (+N1DG, JA1NUT, N3RS). 3. EA6ACC: EA6ZY, G3UOF, K9QVB, W4QM, 5B4AGC. 2. KF7E: G3WGV, K4EWG, KT5X, KC7V, 9J2BO (+ZL2AGY). 2. WUA: G4CEO, JA1NUT, K2SG, K2VUI, W1WEF. 1. W4ML: G4HZV, W4PM, W4QM, W4YE, VK4XA (+K1AO, SM3BCS). 1. OK1CF: G4ZDB, OK1KT, N6NT, N6QR, W4QM (+KF2AT, OK1RR).

Invitations have been sent to K5CA, K2UFT, W5ZR and KC4YDP .

Additional Nominations

6. N7DR: G4BUO. 6. SM6CLU: W2MEL. 6. JH1GNU: W6IJ. 4. N6TR: VK6VZ, G3YXX, 4X4NJ. 4. G4PDQ: G3JJG, G3SWH, ZL1MH, 5B4AGC. 4. G3ZGC: GORH, G3RVM. 3. GJWB: G3LPN, G3MCK, GADE. 2. S57NW: DL4CF. 2. G4UZN: G4YNU. 1. LY3BA: K4BAI, G3HZL. 1. OK1TN: OK1KT.

New Members

1718 LA8XM (Trond) - T. Olsen, Lillosetervn 19, N-0957 Oslo, Norway; tel - 22 16 69 07; email - <trond.olsen@npt.no>. 1719 W4LZ (Mike) - M. J. Royle, 107 Thoroughbred Way, Georgetown, KY 40324; tel - 502 868 7512; XYL Kathleen; e-mail <kroylem@bellsouth.net>.

Amendments

OZ8RO (494): new address - PO Box 73, N-3832 Lunde i Telemark, Norway; change call LA5HE. K1RH (1361): Silent Key. W9FKC (535): Silent Key. NNM (1714) (ex-3DACA): new address - 878 College Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA; Tel - 540 801 0766; e-mail - <jcsd@rica.net>. ZL1MH (1608): change address - PO Box 581, Kaikohe 0400, Northland, New Zealand. whenever I operate on 40 metres from Thailand. It would be far more difficult to do so on any other mode that we have at our disposal, whether SSB or digital modes. Indeed, during our annual domestic Sweepstakes contest here in North America, when the use of CW regularly expands to include all of the 7000-7100kHz portion of our band, it is inevitably the digital folks that complain about CW QRM and not the reverse. For that reason I am surprised that anyone who uses Morse on a regular basis would be concerned about eventual encroachment from other modes of transmission. I think history has shown that we can hold our own quite nicely, thank you. There is a double-edged nature to the idea that codification of bandplans into formal national

regulations would better preserve the CW-only segments of the bands. One can foresee the time when no-code interests, alleging diminished numbers of Morse enthusiasts, would pressure authorities to grant ever more exclusive spectrum to sub-bands featuring other modes of operation. I have more confidence in my own ability to hold on to what I have than I do in any governmental body to hold onto it for me. For this reason I have my doubts about the benefits of adoption of band plans as formal regulations. 4X1FC: Daniel is now QRV on 6m with a full size loop, but his only member QSO so far is with 9J2BO. He will be arriving at the Regent Park Hilton on 28 September for Lords. 9H1EL: Jeff is working in the Gulf of Mexico for two months but is hoping to take a break at the end of September to visit the UK for Lords. AC5K: Does Wes win the prize for the most unusual Windle of the year? He says, Last evening I was on my bicycle and worked N8GZ while pedalling! I have a NN1G DSW-20 rig running about 1.5 watts to a Ham Stick on a homebrew antenna mount on the bicycle. I built the rig for the bicycle and hope to have many CW QRP QSOs while riding. I do not yet have the key mounted, so my keying was not good especially as two dogs attacked me just as Ted returned my call! It is lots of fun though. DJ3KR: Juergen made 900 QSOs in the WAE CW Contest as W9/DJ3KR from K9ANs QTH and thanks Steve for his hospitality. He then went to Svalbard where he was QRV as JW/ DJ3KR again. EA8CN: Andy will be QRV 9 September from EA8 again. He has built a K1AO CV array for 20m at his SM3 QTH and says he is hearing things I never heard before. F5VCT: Marianne and Bo have booked their hotel and flight to London for Lords. GIHM: Ursula is returning to Florida on 19 October and will be QRV as W4/GIHM again. G3IZD: Ivan will be QRV 4/13 September as CT/G3IZD with his trusty 706 and doublet. G3LTV: Bill visited LA3FL aboard the MS Crystal Symphony when it berthed in Liverpool in August. He writes this was a marvellous experience which unfortunately Kathleen had to miss, and she was really disappointed after reading the local newspapers and realising what a high profile this luxurious ship is. Per arranged for me to bring a pal who is a Chief Engineer on BP Tankers and after a superb deck lunch, he took us on an exclusive tour including the engine room. Our thanks to Per for his superb hospitality. G3MCK: Gerald writes There seems to be more commercial CW in Norway than LA3FL indicated in News Sheet 597. Last night (11 August) I was listening to the Norwegian coast station Rogaland on 8574kHz. He was sending

MEMBERS NEWS by G4BUE

in CW, the normal list of working frequencies and call signs, and these included 500kHz! Both Rogaland and Vardo lie at high altitudes, 58 39 and 70 22 respectively, and this is probably the reason that both still use 500kHz as, I believe, that geo-stationary satellite coverage ceases about 60. GM5VS: Older members will be saddened to hear that Alec became a Silent Key on 31 July after a long illness. He joined FOC (1470) in January 1984 as G5VS when he was the owner of Amcomm in South Harrow, London and moved to Scotland when he retired. Alec resigned from FOC in February 1994. GM4SID attended his funeral on 5 August. Our condolences go to his wife Margaret and family thanks G3LNC, G3XNG & GM4SID. K8ONV: W4VQ says Marys call has been assigned to her local club, the Englewood ARS. KF2AT: Percy is using a new version of his indoor loop antenna for 40m but despite it working better, the balun core gets quite warm due to some unbalanced current present. He says I am using the work done by Chu as a goal, in that the theoretical minimum Q of a dipole is never reached in practice because the immediate space around the antenna is not used efficiently by the near fields. Ive been playing around with phase and impedance trying to meet this criteria, most everyone else has approached it using different antenna geometry, like the Goubeau antenna or the new approach of Fractal shaped radiators. I would have liked to have used a dipole length of eight feet, that would have given me a reasonable Q to work with but that would not fit in my living room of course, so I went for a little under six feet. The Q follows an inverse cube of the radius function so small changes in radius have big effects on the Q. With the shorter antenna the tuning is more critical since the bandwidth is a little under 40kHz and it becomes very fiddly to balance the antenna and keep RF of the feeder. Im going to keep working on it. Percy maybe in Wales in September to visit his parents. LA3FL: Per entertained OZ4UN and Connie on board the M/S Crystal Symphony while it was berthed in Copenhagen in July, OH2EA while in Helsinki for their first meeting for 15 years, SMCCE and Margareta while in Stockholm on 3 August followed by Per visiting their home. Per writes I am slowly but surely progressing in my effort to make DXCC FOC Eyeball mode and it is great to meet some of the fine CW operators and FOC members that I have QSOd, throughout my travels around the world. Per is next home on leave in October. N7BG: Tony will be in the UK at the end of September for a convention but unfortunately wont be able to make Lords as he will be in Dublin. Looking ahead to November he writes, Jorma, OH2KI, and I will be QRV in the CQ CW Contest from the station of Miku, VU2WAP , as a multi-single operation and we are looking

for another operator. We will have two complete stations on the air at all times and prefer someone who likes to chase multipliers but who will also have some hours on the run station and who has operated from the other end of the pile up. This is a serious operation although we expect to have our share of fun and some sightseeing as well. Miku has a fine station with a tri-bander at 110 feet and wire antennas for the low bands. I am taking an all band vertical for the multiplier station which will be mounted some 250 feet away from the primary antennas. Mikus QTH is in the southern part of India at Bangalore and he enjoys excellent propagation. During a six week period in December 1998 and January 1999 he worked 150 countries on 80m SSB using only a simple inverted vee antenna! OZ8RO: Congratulations to Rag on his retirement and move to Norway where he will now be QRV as LA5HE, with occasional trips back to Copenhagen to keep OZ8RO active. He adds I will make an effort to come to Lords this year, as I expect business no longer requires me to travel to the Far-East at that time. PAVDV: Joeke will be QRV 7 October/15 November as PJ2/PAVDV again. Congratulations for his world high score as PJ9/PAVDV in the LP CW Class of the 1998 ARRL 10m Contest. VK2AYD: David will be QRV 17/26 November as N3AFU while he and Dee are touring PA, USA. They will then drive south with their friends Dick, W3HJZ, and his wife Meredith, W3HJX, to attend the Florida Dinner. They leave Orlando on 6 December to fly to KH6. VK8AV: Alan had a mini-dinner in Frankfurt with some of the DL gang at the end of August on his way to a visit to Russia, but will not now be visiting the UK. He says PAABM heard a station (believed in Russia) pirating Alans call on 10m recently and several other stations have referred to his recent 10m activity which Alan does not know anything about!

(callsign in brackets indicate G4FOC operator)

FOC CALENDAR

September - 40m & 15m (G3PDL) 4 Committee meeting 4/13 CT/G3IZD (599) 9 EA8CN QRV from EA8 (599) 14 VQ9QM by W4QM (598) 24 MBYO by N4TO (598) 28 October N/Sheet deadline October - 80m & 17m (G3KTZ) 2 Annual Dinner at Lords W1NV: Carl is selling the bungalow in Hampshire and will no longer be spending summers in the UK. His FT102, a Vibroplex presentation key, ATU and SWR bridge are for sale via G3LWI. W2QM: Beverly and Dave arrive in Australia 9 October for a 23 day visit to VK, ZL and 3D2 and would be happy to meet any FOCers on the way. Dave and W2JB are among a NJDXA group to be QRV 1/8 December from St Martin. W2SR: Robbie was in hospital for an operation on kidney stones at the beginning of August and is now in a nursing home. W5GEL: Hurricane Bret missed Bob by about 60 miles and although his antennas took a good shaking they survived the 70mph winds apart from the 80m inverted vee that Bob broke trying to loosen it! W9FKC: Mike sadly became a Silent Key on 4 August aged 91 years. He was first licensed when he was 15 years old, had 378 DXCC, was a charter member of W9DXCC and was a member of the ARRL for 62 years. Our condolences go to Lucille and the family - thanks W4QM & K9QVB. W9SFR: Ex-member Steve (1260) is listed in QST as a Silent Key. He joined FOC in December 1974 and left in April 1992 - thanks K4BAI. WL7E: After receiving the permit to put up his new tower (without any height restriction!), Joe has been busy putting in the guy anchors. He hopes to have the project finished in September.

Score updates can be passed to G4BUE or any committee member. An asterisk against the call indicates the score has been updated this month. Scores received by 0800z 31 August 1999.
9H1EL* 373 W4QM* 353 LZ1AF* 320 EA8CN 305 YV1NX* 290 K1AO 276 DL6TQ 273 F5VEX 267 W1HMD 267 N6NT 259 G3KTZ 253 SV1AOW 253 G4ZDB 250 G4OEC* 249 G2FFO* 240 G4BUE* 231 GW3KGV*229 G3SXW* 227 N9RD* 224 G3LIK 220 G4PKD 220 G3JZV W2GW G4HZV* VE1BN K2VCO W6OV* G3HZL G2FDF* W6CYX W3NZ AA5DX OH2FOC DJ5ZN* G3IY* GIVZ G4BJM K5DQ W8XM K4II G3NKS8 K4BAI* 218 215 211 206 205 205 200 195 194 189 188 186 184 180 179 178 174 174 171 170 167 AC5K* 166 N3BB 165 W6TZD* 161 K4EF 159 GORH 158 W8KJP* 156 W9GW* 156 PABW* 153 GW3KDB 151 K4XU 150 VK8AV* 147 G3TXF* 144 G4BUO* 144 K1JD 144 SM5COP* 143 N4AF* 139 VE1BN 137 W4ZYT 136 LA1IE* 134 G3IZD* 131 WB2YQH*131 G3MCK* 130 G3WGV 130 W1WEF 129 SM6AOU* 126 YO4PX 125 G3LHJ* 123 N4TY 121 ZP6CW* 121 OZ4UN 120 W5GEL* 119 4X1FC* 117 KF2AT* 117 G3KKQ 116 G8VG 116 N4JT* 115 W6IJ 115 K8KJP 114 G3LTV 113 K6TS 111 OK1KT* 111 VK6RU 110 W4YE* DK4LX G3HEJ GW3SB* F3AT OZ8RO* G3RVM WIAK GCHV ZS6AL* JA7SSB K9BG W1NV* LA3FL VK4XA K7UOT ZL2AGY VE3DZZ GM3HUN G3JJG 110 108 108 108 107 107 103 102 101 100 99 98 97 95 95 94 94 91 90 88 OK1RR G3NOH GM4SID8 G4AFU KC7V KT5X* PALOU G4SFO GM3JKS PAINA G3LZK* K6DC OH2KI* VK6VZ GDMN GW3SYL W4TAJ GBQV* K2SX VK3XB 86 84 84 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 78 78 78 78 77 75 75 73 74 74 W2MEL N1DG W1FZY W2DX K2LE DJ9SB* W3ABC* G4VXE ZL1AH G2HKU W1HT W4CK* VK3KS VA3LK* ZL1MH WA4SNI G3IEW G3PQC IXXR OH2EA* 73 72 72 72 71 70 70 69 69 68 68 67 65 64 62 60 59 55 55 55 W6THN K2VUI* VE3AR HB9QO GW3HCL W9NN GIHM* N4TO N4WJ W1FJ W9VNE* W1RM DF2IC K6RA KL7PJ NNM ZS6QU K6WG KL7PJ OZ1LQH 55 51 47 46 45 45 42 41 40 37 37 36 34 34 30 20 20 19 13 3

THE 1999 WINDLE AWARD