TONIGHT Monday 25th January - Monday night NARC informal net

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Published: 23 January 2021

Last Updated: 24 January 2021

NARC Live Wednesday 27th January - The King and I

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Published: 22 January 2021

Last Updated: 24 January 2021

Our guest speaker tonight is Laurie Margolis G3UML. Most of us will have seen him at some point because he is a long time BBC News correspondent and producer, but he is joining is tonight in particular to talk about his famous amateur radio contact with JY1 when he was just twenty.... JY1 was the callsign of King Hussein of Jordan. As always Laurie will be  us live, so you will also be able to ask him questions.

All this plus your news, Tammys 'Little People' and make sure you send in your guesses for 'Who works from a shack like this'. 

** NB  as of Sunday night we have not received any members news or views, so please try and send us something for club news. Thanks 

Please drop us a quick email with your news, stories and pictures and anything else for the show to   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Join us at 19.30 for NARC Live!

How to watch:

NARC Live starts at 19.30 on Facebook:  (Note that our Facebook page also has ALL previous episodes of NARC Live to play back)

www.facebook.com/norfolkamateurradioclub

or BATC:

https://batc.org.uk/live/NARC 

(© : If you send us any images or videos made by someone else we can probably use it, but we need to know where its from to 'credit the source' because unlike closed zoom calls we are publically broadcasting, so if you found it on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook etc just tell us that when you send it in - Thanks) 

Who works from a Shack like this......

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Published: 08 January 2021

Last Updated: 22 January 2021

Every week we show you the shack of a NARC member and ask you to guess whose shack it is.

The shack below belongs to one of our club members from some years ago and shows the actual shack in his overseas home at the time. We have deleted his callsign from the shack picture but there are plenty of other clues... maybe you even made a QSO and said allo-allo to him while he was there...

If you think you know whose shack it is (or just have a guess!) please email David & Tammy with your guess to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  by 3pm Wednesday and be sure to watch NARC Live on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm to find out who's it is!

We really are on final shacks now!

After a different shack on every show since last March we are now running low, so if you would like us to feature your shack on this fun quiz please send it to us NOW as we will be changing to a different type of competition once we have used the last shacks....    

Last weeks shack belonged to Mark G0LGJ, NARC treasurer and fan of Amateur Television. Well done if you got it right!

Last Wednesdays NARC Live - Interactive Unboxing special

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Published: 22 January 2021

Last Updated: 22 January 2021

Last weeks NARC Live...

We are sorry that we were blighted with bad internet problems last Wednesday and in fact many viewers also suffered similar problems particularly around 1900-2030.

Because of this contiuing problem, particularly affecting vision, we decided to postpone the 'Unboxing Special' part of the evening as several people had put a lot of effort into putting together pictures and making videos for us to run, so we will now be running this in the near future - date to be confirmed.

Of course this means that you also have time to prepare something with us to share... :o)

Many thanks for your continued support.

73

David G7URP & Tammy M0TC

CW Ops...

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Published: 20 January 2021

Last Updated: 22 January 2021

News shared by Chris G0DWV...

The K1USN Radio Club, in conjunction with CWops, are planning to expand their existing and popular weekly Slow Speed CW Contests, held on Mondays at 0000-0100 UTC, to include a second one for the benefit of budding European CW contesters. This will run from 2000-2100 UTC every Friday beginning on February 5th 2021 and will share the same rules and format; it will also be fully supported by the N1MM contest logger. There is no formal log submission; instead participants are encouraged to upload their QSO totals and scores to the 3830 reporting website - easy! See www.3830scores.com

These contests will be conducted at 20 wpm or less and are aimed at CWops Academy students and any other novice CW contesters who are not comfortable with normal contest speeds. Everyone is welcome to take part and is a great opportunity for established CW contesters to come on and help encourage our new ops. Please see www.k1usn.com/sst.html for rules, easy to follow instructions and lots more.

If you're new to CW contesting or are experienced and wish to help please join us if and when you can.

73,

GW0ETF & G3WZD (CWops)

GB2CW - Morse Corner - January 23rd

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Published: 22 January 2021

Last Updated: 22 January 2021

LOCKDOWN CONTINUES!
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We are in a more restricted time yet again for a few more months. What better time could you wish for to learn Morse? Why should you do it? Well, one good reason is that you are missing out on lots of things:
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1 47% of the amateur radio frequencies that are available.
2 A lot of fun which can be had every day.
3 A lot of contests, activity periods, DX-peditions, IOTAs, SOTAs, etc.
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You will also be able to listen to the CW end of the band and not hear just a load of interrupted tones at varying speed. You will hear people, even friends, and make new friends. It will all come to life once you have mastered the learning of the code.
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But hey, you DO have time now. Stop the frivolous activities, such as watching TV, and join one of the classes locally. You will not regret it if you are interested in global RADIO communications.
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We do it, not because it's easy, but because it's hard, but the rewards await you.
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The RST reporting system.
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Just in case you thought that every QSO had to be reported as 5nn 73, this is the original translation of the RST reporting on CW signals. Please try to report QSOs ( real ones I mean! ) in this way, trying to adhere to the list given here. Let's try to abolish the 5nn brigade and report a signal properly. After all the intention was to give some idea of how the other guy's transmission was being received!
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READABILTY
1 Unreadable
2 Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable
3 Readable with considerable difficulty
4 Readable with practically no difficulty
5 Perfectly readable

SIGNAL STRENGTH
1 Faint signals, barely perceptible
2 Very weak signals
3 Weak signals
4 Fair signals
5 Fairly good signals
6 Good signals
7 Moderately strong signals
8 Strong signals
9 Extremely strong signals

TONE
1 Sixty cycle AC or less, very rough and broad
2 Very rough AC, very harsh and broad
3 Rough AC tone, rectified but not filtered
4 Rough note, some trace of filtering
5 Filtered rectified AC but strongly ripple-modulated
6 Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation
7 Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation
8 Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation
9 Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind
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Infrequently used is the addition of a letter to the end of the 3 numbers. These are: X = the signal is rock steady like a crystal controlled signal; C = the signal is chirpy as the frequency varies slightly with keying; and K = the signal has key clicks.
X is from the early days of radio when such steady signals were rare. Today most all signals could be given an X but it is hardly ever used. It is helpful to report a chirpy or clicky signal by using the C or K, e.g. 579C or 579K.
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CW 80m Net
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Norfolk Amateur Radio Club CW Net.
This is an informal net, to enable people to become familiar with operating in a net, netting properly and being short and to the point overs.
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NARC Net: 3545kHz plus or minus QRM.
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The Net Controller, normally Malcolm G3PDH, will call CQ at 8.30 p.m. local time on Monday evenings. Call with just your call sign once until he acknowledges you.
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1 Keep a note of the order. This will be sent.
2 Net on to the Net Controller to the nearest Hz if you can.
3 Keep overs short with brief comments, no waffling, and pass transmission to the next on the list.
4 There is a 2m discussion after the Net on 145.250MHz
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We had nine people on the net this week. Great result! Thanks for joining in the fun.
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Morse Classes for winter 2020 are going well.
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Report from G3LDI, the Bad Cop, on the Monday QSO format session. 145.250MHz / 3.521MHz 1000 local time.

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This week we had a real mixture. Joining the fun included Phil G4LPP, Chris G4CCX, Les G0DFC and Tony G0OOR.
The mix included QSO format at 25wpm, EISH5 groups at 30wpm, random words at 30wpm and we really pushed back the boundaries with the number groups. A top speed of 54wpm was achieved with outstanding success!
An hour of this is just about enough but it does show what progress has been made.
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Join in and see how well you can do. We have a lot of fun and laughs on there, especially with the EISH5 groups!
You will be most welcome.
73 de Roger, G3LDI
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Report from Jim, the Good Cop, on his 25wpm session. GB3NB repeater 2000 local time Tuesdays

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Beginners CW 25wpm Week2 Tuesday 19th Jan 2021

The sessions continued with four turning up to hear a second set of 5 characters, D E X 7 3.

This along with the five from the previous week means that we now have ten characters on the practice list. Those who submitted to the process on GB3NB repeater this week were: Tony M0XTF, Thomas M0TEO, John G8VPE and Dave G0ELJ.

I think that in these early stages of learning, the main focus should be on getting these characters firmly planted in the memory. It seems that hearing a long string of the single wanted item is not as useful as when they are sent as random groups, so we’ll be doing lots more of those next week.

I would also like to suggest a really useful program for practicing user defined groups of characters. There are many wonderful software tools to help with the learning process and one which works for me at this stage of learning is CW-PLAYER.

f6dqm.free.fr/soft/cwplayeer/en/cwplayer.htm

On the user screen select Quiz.
Click in the current lesson box and type in the characters you want to practice
For example; lesson1 is cnq59 and lesson2 is dex73
You could even add a combination of Weeks1&2 in lesson3 cnq59dex73 to learn all the characters
Then click Set Lessons and select which of those three you want to try.
Then make sure you have 25wpm set on the left hand side
Set the number of characters you wish to try in a session, say 100
Set the Delay between characters, say 3s
Click Play and then enter the correct character when you hear it

This cementing the fundamentals is crucial to being able to advance. Spend a little time on this each day and you WILL notice improvement and furthermore it gets some practice time on the keyboard!

There is no time limit on learning CW, but it will definitely be easier if you practice.

73 de Jim
g3yla

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Morse with Anubis - Tuesdays 1000 on 145.250MHz. Thursdays on GB3NB 1000 local time.

GB2CW Report 21-01-21

Once again, there were two 'coffee break' morse sessions this week.

On Tuesday, we started with some plain language format at 23 wpm, which is now the starting speed for the session. After a successful plain language session, we concentrated on amateur radio related copy.
The next section involved WAB (Worked All Britain) exchanges, and we left the speed set to 23 wpm. Not so popular at the moment, but this can be a very interesting format for working all the UK. Next, we concentrated on QSO format, and the speed was 24 wpm.

Thursday's session started on GB3NB, but moved to 145.250, as there was a qrn issue on the repeater with a crackling noise. Plain language and QSO format speeds as before, but we also had some callsign practice at 24 wpm. Also a fast session with figures, ending at 30 wpm, with ten groups of five numbers in each transmission. With six sessions, there were a total of 300 numbers sent to three students, with only one wrong character received. How's that for accuracy!

Some useful PC software to try:-

Teach 42 - Morse trainer.
CW Player - Morse trainer
Morse Runner - Contest simulator and trainer
RUFZXP - Callsign trainer.
Pile Up Practice - REAL pile-ups from history, see how you get on.

All can be found with a google search.

Class times for Morse with Anubis are

Tuesday 10am - 11am 145.250 mhz FM simplex
Thursday 10am - 11am GB3NB repeater

73 de Chris G4CCX

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Morse with Doctor Phil.

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Report from GB2CW beginners class, Friday evenings at 8pm on 145.250MHz.
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Report for cw narc news :-

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Week 12 of the beginners GB2CW class completed this evening 15th January. There were four keen attendees, Martin 2E0MSY, David G0ELJ, John G8VPE and David 2E0DBS. Progress is being made although as is always the case practice is needed! The sessions seem to be helping identify areas which need focusing on.

Overall speed has increased by decreasing the amount of Farnsworth and decreasing gaps between words also sending many items without repeats. I’m not sure participants appreciate just how much they have all progressed in the last 3 months. The gradual increase in effective speed keeps the level of errors up rather masking progress!!

Looking forward to hearing everyone next week and as always new participants are welcome.

73, Phil G4LPP / GB2CW.

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Phil's email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Email him if you wish to join in.
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By the way, Phil is a GOOD cop, so you will be treated kindly!
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Report from the Executive Club, Malcolm G3PDH - Thursdays GB3NB 2000 local time.

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Advanced CW session.
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On Thursday night Pete G4RAV and Chris G4CCX joined in on the air whilst Paul M1AFQ copied on the side due to an SWR problem on his antenna.
Speeds started at 26wpm then quickly moved up to 32 to 36 on plain language, code groups, mixed groups and short QSO format. This was followed with figure groups at 40wpm. Excellent levels of accuracy were made by Pete and Chris and Paul reported in briefly at the end to say that he had managed to copy quite a bit including some of the higher speeds and was pleased with that despite being above his expectation.
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If you are confident with copy at 20 to 25 then you are ready to try around 30wpm.
73
Malcolm G3PDH

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The CWOPS CWT activity periods are still as popular as ever.
There will be several medallions heading this way in the spring, of varying colour, several gold, silver and at least one bronze.
If you aspire to join CW OPS, prove your worth with a few >20wpm QSOs, chatty ones, and you can get in! It is a lot of fun operating in the CWTs, and terrific practice too.

Tony G0OOR has taken part in a few of these now and so has Mike G4KQY. On the lunchtime activity period we had ten people participating, great stuff!

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The link below is to FAV22. THis is a military station on 3881.00kHz and runs at varying speeds with groups of letters, numbers, punctuation and procedural signals. It is on 24/7 so take a look It is well worth the practice.
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https://www.r-e-f.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=715&Itemid=444
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Another freq to check is 6.825MHz.
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If you look up this link in Google Chrome, it will translate into English for you.
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Another interesting video is the link below. Paul G4ZBA kindly sent this in. Sadly it demonstrates that those mostly interested in CW are of a certain vintage!
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Email me with input, queries, keys, paddles, classes and so on. Hopefully I can help or know a man that can!
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73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. May the Morse be with you.