THE FIRST CLASS C.W.

OPERATORS CLUB

NEWS SHEET 633

(http://www.firstclasscw.org.uk)

Editor: G4BUE

July 2002

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 JULY ARE 40 & 12 METRES

THE 2002 LONDON FOC DINNER

Saturday 5 October 2002 See page 2 of FOCUS 50 for full information
Tickets 29.50 each from Maud Slater, Wychwood, Park Lane, Maplehurst, West Sussex. Telephone 01403 891342.
Bookings for our Annual Dinner at Greenwich are starting to build up. If you have yet to buy your tickets, or inform Maud that you are coming if you are an overseas member, then perhaps it is time you did. Recently we have heard that John, ZL1AH, is coming and that he has kindly offered to bring a gift for the raffle. Many thanks to you John. Also known to be coming from overseas are Bill, K6LQA; Bob, 5B4AGN, and George, 5B4AGC. Travel Directions For the benefit of both UK members and overseas members who may be arriving by train the following information should prove useful. Do not lose this copy of the News Sheet! If you are arriving at Gatwick Airport there is a railway station situated within the airport with a direct route into London on the Thameslink service. The journey takes about 45 minutes and the train stop to look for is London Bridge. Change here for Greenwich where you can book into your hotel in that area. There is a station at Maize Hill, which is slightly nearer the Trafalgar Tavern, should you be going directly to the Dinner on the day. If you are arriving at Heathrow Airport, again there is a direct rail link into London on the Piccadilly Underground Line which takes you into Green Park station. Change here onto the Jubilee Line for Canary Wharf. At Canary Wharf follow the signs for the Docklands Light Railway and take a train to Cutty Sark which will bring you out in the centre of tourist Greenwich. The hotels are situated in this area and the Trafalgar Tavern itself is just a short walk eastwards along the Thames past Greenwich University. Incidentally the last train from Heathrow leaves at 2334 and the total journey should take 1 hour and 50 minutes. Enjoy your views around London! Gatwick is the easier option but no doubt the choice of route will be dictated by whichever airline you are flying with. Meals Thanks to the facilities offered by The Trafalgar your have a choice this year of either lamb, salmon or vegetarian main dish. Please let Maud know of your choice of meal and dont forget to hang onto your ticket to mark your place and meal at the table. Members requiring an information pack on Greenwich can contact Dennis, G3MXJ, by e-mail. Friday Party June and Chris, G4BUE, will be hosting their Party on the Friday before the Dinner at their QTH in the West Sussex countryside. All overseas members and their wives are invited. More details, including travel arrangements from London, will be published in a later News Sheet, but at this time you are asked to please let Chris know that you will be attending so June can judge numbers for the catering.

This is an update of my whereabouts. After I returned home from JW land (Bear Island, EU-027 and the small remote island called Hopen, EU-063) last summer, I had been home for an entire year for the first time in my grown up life. I have been QRV daily when home, making at least a few QSOs, even on days when I have been busy with other activities during my sabbatical year. One afternoon last week I received a telephone call asking me if the next morning I could join the British registered accommodation platform SSV (Semi Submerged Vessel) Safe Caledonia that was arriving from the Mexican Gulf to Bergen, where she was to be overhauled and have her various certificates renewed. Well, it was very short notice but I accepted the offer, only to be telephoned during the following night that I could get an extra day at home before going on board. The first week on board, along a pier at the offshore service base, I was so busy doing administrative (purser) work that I did not have time to familiarise myself with the equipment. I was running single-handed the reception facilities for up to 200 people, plus despatching taxi cabs etc. After eight days on board, the company provided a reception attendance to relieve me from this work so that I could get time to become familiar with the communication equipment on board, although I still have to do some administrative work for the rigs management. The overhaul job is expected to be completed between 3 and 7 July, and then the Safe Caledonia will move to the North Sea oil fields off Stavanger, Norway for a four or five month long contract. She will then be moved to Australian waters where a Singaporian crew is likely to man most of the positions, including the radio officer positions, except for some management jobs on board. If things go as planned for me, I should be working in the North Sea until the end of November, on a two weeks on board and two weeks home rotation. I do hope to be QRV on the bands most days when I am home. After leaving the Safe Caledonia, around 4 July, I should be home until 16 July (I need some time to travel to and from this platform), and the next period I will be home is between 31 July and 14 August. With reference to the Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2001 published in the June News Sheet (632), the second column should be headed 2000 not 2002.

PER IS AT SEA AGAIN by LA3FL

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION by G3MXJ

Starred List
3. TL8DV (Dave): W5ZR, WIAK, W3MC, G4OEC, G3LCS, G4HZV, OZ5DX, K4BAI, GM3POI, DK8IT, N3JT, 9J2BO, OK1CZ, ZS1EL, G3JJG. 3. WK2G (Merill): VE3DZZ, K5DQ, W4AN, G3XNG, LZ1AF, G4SIE, KT5X, DJ5ZN, G3IY. 3. G4TSH (Justin): G3WGV, G4BJM, GIVZ, ZF2NT, G4ZVJ, K4AO, G3VMW. 3. W8FJ (John): N3RS, K8MFO, ZS6QU, N3RD, K4LTA, GW3KGV, N2UU, ZS1AAX, W2DX. 2. HS/OZ1HET (Finn): LA5HE, G3UOF, OZ5DX, K8JP, SMKV, SM6CLU, LA8XM, LZ1AF, JA1NUT. 2. S53R (Robert): VK6VZ, OK1RR, G4ZVJ, S5A, N8GZ, 4X4NJ. 1. G3HJF (Jim): GM3JKS, G3MCK, G4BJM, VE1BN, G8VG, W4QM, ZL1AH. 1. DU3NXE (Chuck): G4ZVJ, W5ZR, K8MFO, G3NOH, G4UZN, N3RD, G3WGV, VE3HX, DU9/NNM, SV1AOW.

Invitations will be sent to G4OHX and HS/ G3NOM

Other Nominations
6. LA2TD (Odd): LA1IE. 6. SM7EH (Goesta): SM7BVO, SM6CLU. 6. K4OGG (Jay): K4BAI, W4AN, K4EWG, K4LTA. 6. LX1DA (Andre): OK1RR, SM3BCS. 5. N1TO (Ed): N4JT, W4QM. 5. SV1LV (Castor): SV1AOW, VK8AV. 4. ON4WW (Mark): VK6VZ, G4ZVJ, PAVDV. 3. G3PDH (Malcolm): G3LIK, GADE, G4YNU, G3MCK, G8VG. 3. G3OWO (John): F5VHC. 3. GGKH (Dave): G3LPN, GJWB. 2. GWKJ (Chris): G3WUX, G3LIK, GADE, G3LPN. 1. K1DG (Doug): S5A. 1. N9RV (Pat): K8MFO. 1. W4CI (Dave): K5DQ.

New Members
1779 NSS (Tom) T. S. Hammond, 5417 Scruggs Station Rd, Lohman, MO 65053; XYL - Jeri (KRPH; tel - 573 893 2813; e-mail <n0ss@earthlink.net>. 1780 ZL2TX (Nigel) N. A. T. Hardy, 20 Greenwood Blvd RD #1, Otaki 5560, New Zealand; XYL - Christine; tel - 6 364 5202; email - <zl2tx@ianz.co.nz>. 1781 G3MBN (Brian) B. Gibbs, 15 Moor Barton, Neston, Corsham Wilts SN13 9SH; XYL - Margaret; tel - 01225 810621; e-mail <brian@hamfist.co.uk>. 1782 4Z4KX (Mark) M. Stern, PO Box 3033, Rishon 75130, Israel; XYL - Frida; tel - 3 9694769; e-mail - <4z4kx@iarc.org>.

ACCOUNTS by GW3KDB

Amendments

F5VHC (1511): tel - 5 49 87 05 44. VA3UZ (1740): new call - VE3DZ (correction to News Sheet 632)

COMMITTEE by G4BUE
Ken, GW3KGV will be standing down from , the Committee after the September meeting. Nominations for Committee service should be sent to Tim, G4VXE, by 31 July and a ballot will be held if necessary. Nominees should, of course, be willing to undertake Committee service if elected, and will probably be responsible for a particular area of the Committees work.

AL SLATER, G3FXB MEMORIAL TROPHY by G3LIK

Members are reminded that nominations for this years trophy should be submitted to me by 1 August. Nominations must include a full biography of the nominee together with full details of the specific activities for which it is considered an award is appropriate. The criteria for the award is described on page 7 of the Call Book and you are reminded that recipients need not be members of FOC. Previous recipients of the Award are: 2001 Frank Donovan, W3LPL 2000 Roger Western, G3SXW 1998 Lou van de Nadort, PALOU 1997 Peter Watson, ZL3GQ 1996 Northern California DX Foundation 1995 Fred Laun, K3ZO 1994 Chiltern DX Club 1993 Bill Maxson, N4AR

WRTC 2002 by G3SXW

There will be a FOC get-together at WRTC in Finland on Thursday 11 July organised by Jorma, OH2KI, <jorma@salor.pp.fi>. A large number of FOC members are attending WRTC either as competitors, judges, referees or social guests and a report will be forthcoming after the event. I am already aware of 20 members attending: 4Z4KX, G3SXW, G4BUO, G4BWP G4VXE, , JE1JKL, K1AR, K4BAI, K6NA, LY1DS, N2AA, N2NT, N3BB, N5TJ, N7BG, OH2KI, S5A, SM3EVR, VE3DZ and W4AN DJ6SI: Baldur was QRV for 12 days in June as 3XA8DX from Conakry, Guinea. F3OA: Mike hopes to be QRV again as CN2OA for a few days in October or November. F5VEX: Val and Derek will be on holiday in southern Spain near Gibraltar during the last two weeks of August and Derek will be QRV as EA/F5VEX.

MEMBERS NEWS by G4BUE

GIHM: Ursulas brother said at the beginning of June that Ursula is Doing well, her spirits are still high. The challenge she told me is to keep her mind clear. A later update from him said As from today (23 June) Ursula will be at Room 11, Salford House, Salford Priors, Near Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 5UX. Her computer is set up so she can type or write when she has the energy. I notice that she still gets words a bit mixed up, but other than that she is quite clear minded. She should have a telephone number mid week. I will let you know in due course. She is doing well, and the first tiny signs of movement in her right hand are visible. She has a very pleasant room in a residential care home. It is a lovely Georgian building with very kind and caring staff. Finally, on 2 July he said Ursula is now back on e-mail at <UrsSdl@aol.com> - thanks G3LPN. GORH: Ken, Richard, G3ZGC, and Ian, G3RVM, will be operating from the Isle of Wight, Stenbury Downs (EU-120) in the IOTA Contest as G5XV . G3IY: Jim went back into hospital for tests after complaining of a severe pain in his back, a recurrence of a previous problem - thanks G2FFO. It appears that Jim suffered a heart attack and was due to stay in hospital for another five days - thanks G3LTV. On 29 June, Jim says, I left hospital in Southport a week ago. Much to my surprise I was told I had had a heart attack sometime previously. Jane and Jim enjoyed the Con-Din in Luxembourg and plan to be at Harrogate and Jim at Greenwich. G3LIK: Congratulations to Allison and Mick on their wedding on 22 June. Mick took part in the Jubilee Contest and made 762 QSOs but was disappointed by the lack of Commonwealth people taking part. G3MRC: Joe planned to be QRV as 7Q7BP during the RSGB Jubilee Contest - thanks Daily DX. G3VMK: Dale was QRV as 5B4/G3VMK at the end of May. G8VG: Helen and Pete are hoping to spend some time in Spain next winter to escape the bad weather in the UK. The K2 continues to give Pete QRP DX QSOs with 9M6, 8P 6Y, , A6, JY and JA being worked in the WPX CW Contest. GW3HCL: Dan writes, I never take any notice of the Band of the Month. It does not have any effect on my operating pattern so I would not miss it should it be dropped. What do other members think? Do you agree with Dan or is there a better way of enabling members to find each other on the air?

HA7PB: Joci will be QRV from VE3 land from 4 July. K4LTA: Ruby says Bill had surgery on the left carotid artery today (27 June). Surgical time was about two hours and all went well and as expected. A patch was put in the artery, as was done on the previous one, to enlarge it a little bit. He went to a step-down unit to be cared for over night about 5pm. I saw him about 5.40pm and he was awake somewhat and was anxious to know if he would be able to listen to the Braves game tonight. I will see him again at 8pm and if all goes well tonight he will come home tomorrow - thanks KL7HF. K9DX: John was QRV as VP5/K9DX in the middle of June. LA3FL: Per writes, I am now home semiretired but looking for a new suitable job. I am QRV every day. N3RS: Sig says, Please inform the gang via the News Sheet that during the ARRL CW Contest I operated 20 metres and most of 10 metre here at N3RS. In the WPX CW Contest all of the QSOs with KF3B also count for me, as I was single operator in that one using Alans call. N6XI: Rick says, I Had a lot of fun in the WPX CW Contest. For those seeking FOC points, I was the operator for most of the 10 metre QSOs by 6Y2A during the contest. I also spent a few hours on 80 metres on the Saturday night, but it will be difficult for me to confirm which QSOs are mine. We made about 10,000 QSOs in the contest and another 10,000 as <callsign>/6Y5 prior to and after the contest. About 6000 of those were on the WARC bands. This was a Team Vertical production. After the contest, N6BT (Mr Force 12) posed for a photograph holding the 80-10 metre antennas in his arms - all at once! Thanks to all the FOC members who worked us on various bands. It was heartening to hear the familiar calls and some unexpected 161s!.

UT4UZ by VA3UZ (632) 4 VE3/HA7PB (633) 6 Harrogate Get-Together (FOCUS 50) 10 Committee meeting 29 Deadline for August News Sheet 31 Deadline for Committee nominations August (G4BUE) 1 Deadline for G3FXB Trophy nominations 1/8 HR/W4CK (631) 17 EA/F5VEX (633) 23 Deadline for FOCUS 52 29 Deadline for September News Sheet September (G3WUX) 28 Deadline for October News Sheet October (G3LIK) 4 June & Chris, G4BUE, Party (633) 5 Annual Dinner at Greenwich (FOCUS 50)

July (G3LIK)

(callsign in brackets indicate G4FOC operator)

FOC CALENDAR

VE3DZ: Yuri was QRV with Serge, MSDX, as 8P4A in the WPX CW Contest (multi-single) and made 5782 QSOs. He was also QRV as 8P9AL outside of the Contest. VE3HX: Alan Went up to VE2AEJ and did a field-day type operation (amongst the mosquitos) for the Queens Golden Jubilee Contest to hand out a few VE2 call area QSOs. I managed to provide points for 31 different Club members (both within and outside the Commonwealth) and was fortunate to work Nigel, GQ3TXF, and Ken, GQORH on all five bands. Look for Alan to be QRV from VE2AEJ again this summer as he and Lise plan to visit Lac du Cerf a few more times before the now flies and the site becomes snowbound for the winter!. W4QM: Dale was having a couple of weeks off from chasing Windle points in June while he went on a trip to W8 land. W9NN: Wayne and Betty, good friends of Bob, report he is not so good following a visit to the clinic on 30 June - thanks W3MC.

Score updates can be passed to G4BUE or any Committee member. An asterisk against the call indicates the score has been updated this month. The table shows scores received by 0800z 3 July 2002. The two scores are the total points and the number of different members worked.
W4QM* W5ZR* G3LIK* SV1AOW* W3NZ* YV1NX LZ1AF LY5BA* G4BUE* G3KTZ LY2PX* W6TZD G4BJM* KT4P 750/360 650/318 600/339 466/240 430/263 425/256 398/259 385/249 378/262 352/232 328/214 299/204 290/203 270/178 GORH* DJ5ZN* G5LP* G4HZV* G3ZGC* G3JJG* EA6ACC* G2FFO* KZ5D OK1RR* W4CK* W8KJP K6LQA 264/184 235/168 226/158 225/163 217 209/159 205/161 203/151 193 193 191 188/131 186 G3JZV F5VEX* W4ZYT N3RS* N3BB K4EV WCGR ZL1AH* W4LZ K6TS K5DQ G4PKD* PABW* 184/176 180 179/145 175 174/137 173/136 170/106 169/147 166 164/119 161/130 149 145/111 K2VCO* K1JD* K4EF W8KJP/M F3AT VE3DZZ G4XRV* G3IY* ZP6CW* G3NKS G3NOH* G3KKQ* ZS1EL* 143 140 140/118 131/108 126 122 121/99 118/111 114/93 109/102 103/96 108/96 103/84 W8LX* 102/76 N1DG* 101/83 K5RC 101/81 KC7V 101 VE3HX* 96 K4XU 95 GW3SB* 94/86 HB9QO* 89/80 GW3HCL* 88 W2DX 83 N4TY 82 OZ4FF 78 G2HKU 77 W1FJ* K4LQ* G8VG* G3MCK W1HT G3LHJ N4AF G3LCS K5CA LA5HE OH2EA* K6WG OZ6XT 76/62 73/61 72 71/70 68 65 56 55 51 42 41 29 8

THE 2002 BILL WINDLE CENTENARY AWARD