Our first meeting of 2025 is an in person meeting at CNS School.

It has a special theme of 3D Printing and Martin G7UGB will give an informal demonstration and talk about this fascinating technology for 21st century Makers.

Tammy M0TC will also be bringing the Christmas present from her husband to show - a low power laser cutter for wood and plastics (well she already had plenty of Channel No 5 ;-).  

If you have a 3D Printer, laser cutter or similar Maker tech please come and share it too!

We meet from 1900-2130 in the CNS 6th form common room at the front the school (first building immediatelyon the left as you drive in) - Cold drinks and biscuits will be available to purchase and there is also a hot drink vending machine in the adjacent canteen room.

Membership renewals and new applications can also be made during the evening - subs now just £10 per person for the whole of the year (under 18's free when accompanied by an adult). Newcomers most welcome.

Please do not enter the school until our hire from time 19.00 - thanks.

David G7URP

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

GB2CW Morse Corner 03.01.25
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This is the first Morse Corner of 2025. I received no comments on the last one of the year, not that I expected any. If anybody did read it and look at those videos I hope you enjoyed them. A very Happy and Peaceful 2025 to all who see this and I hope for a successful one as far as the Morse classes are concerned.
Just to show that some folk do take it seriously and stick with it, I received this from Les MM0UMH. Les was a student when he lived in Norfolk and is still doing very well. As I have pointed out, the more you do it the more natural it feels. Head copy improves, overall speed improves and a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction ensues.

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Here is the email from Les:
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I hope you are well and having a good Christmas.

I'm still bashing the brass and enjoying it very much. I don't claim to
be an expert, but I am becoming more proficient, allbeit slowly.

Although I claim not to be competitive, I continue to take part in the
Fists Ladder and find it great practice. Once again, it looks like I
will be the top entry located outside DXCC entity 223 and I was only
five points short of the top of the ladder at the end of November, so
could still get the top spot overall.

CWOPs membership came rather suddenly thanks to being nominated by my
CWOPs advanced course tutor and then receiving a flurry of seconding
from my NARC pals. You dropped a heavy hint that I should return the
favour by taking part in the CWTs so, of course, I did. It took me a
while to get N1MM set up as I hadn't used it for over ten years, but
once I did, I began to enjoy the CWTs. You will have seen my scores,
they're not great, but they are getting better. What did surprise me,
although it shouldn't have, was that the CWTs helped enormously with
improving my head copy at speed. Although I didn't start until the
middle of March, I have been able to clock up 85 participation points
which will qualify me for a silver gong.

My other modest success this year was to finally achieve CW DXCC.

I have kept up my NARC membership, as there isn't much point in joining
a Scottish club given that I am rarely on the Mainland. It is always a
pleasure to work another NARC member of course. I did work Stuart M0JKB
just over a year ago and was very sorry to hear of his passing. I got to
know him when we were both in your CW classes a good many years ago.

So all the best for 2025 Roger, give my regards to the gang, and thanks
again for all your helpful advice.

Best,

Les MM0UMH.
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It was very gratifying to receive the email and I hope it inspires others to carry on and do just as well.
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Morse Classes.

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THE FIRST BEGINNER'S CLASS WILL BE THIS WEEK, FRIDAY 3RD JANUARY

I have decided the new tactic will continue this week for the beginner's class. I am doing something I have not supported before but since progress is slow anyway, it can't hurt to try. I shall concentrate on the first five letters of the alphabet only and numbers 1 to 5 plus the four punctuation marks. I shall then progress through the alphabet like this and by the time we get to Z there should be NO thinking time. Copy should be instantaneous with no pondering!
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Repeating the same thing from last week: In order to progress, the Big P word is all important. Without that NO progress will be made. The tutor can tell if the student has done any Practice so stick with it and you will progress.
If you are considering learning Morse ( CW ) PLEASE join the beginner's class. You will find it very difficult to make any progress without doing so. I have heard it said that " I have listened to Morse, but nothing seems to sink in". Of course it won't. It is much like saying I listened to a good pianist on the radio but nothing sinks in!
It does not happen by miracle or hypnotism. It is the hard work that YOU as a student in YOUR time and nothing more that will produce results. You do need a tutor to report to each week in order for him to judge your progress and correct any errors you may incur along the way.
I felt it necessary to repeat this again because some people seem to think that just listening to Morse will enable them to copy it. It won't! Constant Practice is the only thing that will solve that puzzle!
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There is still time for new beginners to join my class on Friday evenings. No need to worry even if you haven't started yet. Please call in on GB3NB at 7.30 p.m. and I will be pleased to see you. Providing you do the necessary practice you can soon catch up.
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KEY OF THE WEEK

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This week I am featuring a straight key. It is an RAF Model D straight key. It is on a thick bakelite base and made of brass. It has a proper knob and skirt arrangement that every straight key should have to enable the proper technique when sending. If you can find one of these, grab it, they are a super straight key and command a good price too. It should have a case but many do not. I have one without the case.

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The NARC CW Monday Night Net.

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This now takes place on 3543 at 8 p.m. on Monday evenings. We have a Net controller each week and the idea is to encourage you to conversational Morse. If you can read and send at 23wpm, do come and join us. 23wpm is the speed at present and we may be increasing that as time goes by. The overs are short but protocol is adherred to and just a few comments from each attendee is all that is needed. Give it a try!
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Les G0DFC joins in each week again but is suffering from pain in his keying hand. If Les does not mind the few errors he makes due to his pain, surely there are a few more quite capable of joining the net to try your hand at conversational Morse. I think there are a number of locals who, although capable, use Morse to crack a pile-up with the use of macros and very rarely use a paddle in long QSOs.
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There is no need to be shy. Learning conversational Morse is a skill in itself. Anybody can work a DX pile-up by using macros or sending their call and 599 TU. Try holding a conversation for about an hour and see how you get on. If you aspire to CWOPS or FOC it's the only way you will get in to those clubs, by showing and proving your proficiency with a paddle.
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Not only that, but it really is very satisfying to be able to hold a conversation for that long at around 25wpm with minimal mistakes. PLUS of course you can then monitor the CW end of the bands and hear just conversations and not just dits and dahs.
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CW OPS

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Propagation was rough again this week and the 3 a.m. session saw myself, Mike and Phil trying a run-through to make the necessary 10 QSOs. Luckily we all made it!
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I see I have dropped in the listing. I think the same will apply again this year but for most of the year I shall try to maintain the four sessions each week.

Glancing at the  CW OPS listing for medallions I see there are quite a number coming to Norfolk! At least four gold a silver and a couple of bronze.

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/CWTmedals2024.txt

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General CW Operating.
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For those of a nervous disposition, try joining FISTS. FISTS caters for the more casual, laid back operator who does not feel comfortable at more than 23 wpm. They also have a LADDERS competition on 40m which is good practice. Actually for what you pay for membership it really is a great deal with a quarterly magazine too called Keynote. It contains lots of interesting articles.
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That's it, open the cage, play the music.
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If you have any input, please email me.

73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. May the Morse be with you.

Author Roger Cooke

Welcome to week one hundred and seventy two of NARC’s contest news. As we move into a new year and a new season of contests I hope you've all had an excellent festive season.

Results:-

On VHF

The results of the 50MHz UKAC of 12th December were released on 2nd January. Our 7 entries performed well giving us a good 4th place result. Congratulations to Mike, G4KQY for being our highest scoring competitor this time with a 14th place in the Restricted section and to Roger, G3LDI for a well-earned 4th place in the Open section. I was pleased to see that several QSOs I had been uncertain about were good as was Roger with best Dx for us being OY1OF. Link to all results from the 50MHz series which is now complete for 2024 here. 


In the overall UKAC we are still running 4th out of 58 in the General clubs section. Link to this here 

We're now almost up-to date with VHF results from the RSGB, just awaiting the final 2 UKAC results from this month (1.2GHz and 4m).

NARC is running 10th at the moment in this year's VHF championships out of 84 clubs. Link here 


On HF

No new HF results I could see this week.

2024 results overall :-

NARC won the 80m Club Championships - Link here 

NARC came 4th in the AFS super league - Link here 

NARC won the 80m Autumn series - Link here 

Several NARC members featured well in the HF Championships - Link here 

If people are entering other contests of whose results I am obviously unaware please e-mail me to let me know the outcome and I'll mention it here.

Contests:-

On VHF

The Christmas series of VHF and UHF contests ran over the past week with several entries from NARC members. These were on 50, 70, 144 and 432 MHz each lasting 2 hours. Links to the claimed scores here :- 50MHz, 70MHz,  144MHz,  432MHz

The 2m FT8 ACs 2h and 4h took place on 1st January - It looks like the only club members who entered were Terry G0BIX and Roger EI8KN. Link to 2h claimed scores here.

On HF

The Stew Perry Top Band contest took place last weekend on 28th December. This was CW only as usual. Link here to logs received. I have received the following report from Stewart G4AFF who entered:-

I took part in the Stew Perry contest this weekend. This is a 160m band only contest in which the scores are calculated based on the distance of stations worked. You also gain extra points for working QRP and low power stations. 100w entrants also multiply their score by 2 and QRP stations can multiply their score by 4. I made 311 QSOs, best DX was VK6VZ at 14452km distance. Scores are not available until all the results have been tabulated due to the multiplication factor for some stations. I only worked about 6 UK stations, with no local activity. I was probably the only JO02 station active. Conditions were not good, but it was still fun. I strung up 3 beverages - one each to the west, north and east. They worked well giving quite a difference in front-to-back and noise reduction. The transmit aerial was a 71ft vertical with 4 top hat wires and 50 or so radials. I hope the effort pays off!

73 and HNY!
Stewart
G4AFF
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I've not had any reports of other activity although there were several good contests to choose from!

Please let me know if you were on in any other VHF or HF contests and I'll put a summary in next week's news.

Upcoming contests in the next 2 weeks (all times in UTC):-

On VHF / UHF / SHF

Before each of the 2m and 70cm UKACs there is an FM leg starting 1 hour before for 55 minutes. I hear almost no activity in this from here but others may have more luck! Rules etc on RSGBCC site.

* Tue 7th Jan. 2000-2230 144MHz UKAC
* Wed 8th Jan. 1700-2230 432MHz FT8AC 2h and 4h sections
* Thu 9th Jan. 2000-2230 50MHz UKAC
* Tue 14th Jan. 2000-2230 432MHz UKAC
* Thu 16th Jan. 2000-2230 70MHzUKAC

Also of interest for some on the vhf / uhf bands are the EU FT8 activity tests - see the following link for more information. These are on the first (144 MHz), second (432MHz) and third (1.3GHz) Wednesdays of each month. 1700-2000 Hrs EU FT8 series website

On HF

NB:- Note the RSGB has changed several of the rules for HF contests in 2025 - Link here to changes.

* Sat 4th Jan. 1300-1700 RSGB AFS 80m and 40m CW (AFS Superleague and HF Championship) - Link to rules here.
* Sat 4th Jan. 0000 for 24h PODXS 070 Club PSK fest (PSK31) - Rules here.
* Sat 4th Jan. 0700-2100 Marconi club ARI Loano QSO party day CW - Link to rules here.
* Sat 4th Jan. 1200 for 24h WW PMC Contest CW / SSB - Link to rules here.
* Sat 4th Jan. 1800 for 36h ARRL RTTY Roundup - Rules here.
* Sat 4th Jan. 2000-2300 and Sun 5th JAn 0400-0700 EUCW 160m Contest - Link to rules here.
* Sat 11th Jan. 1200-2400 SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - Link to rules
* Sat 11th Jan. 1200 for 24h UBA PSK63 Prefix contest - Link to rules
* Sat 11th Jan. 1800 to Sun 12th Jan. 0559 North American QSO party CW - Link to rules
* Sun 12th Jan. 0900-1059 DARC 10-Meter contest CW and SSB - Link to rules
* Sun 12th Jan. 1300-1700 RSGB AFS 80m-40m Data (AFS Superleague and HF Championship) - Link to rules here.  


See Link to WA7BNM for other contests not mentioned above.

Wednesdays throughout the year, CW ops 1 hour mini tests 13:00, 19:00, Thurs 03:00 and 07:00, exchange Name and G if not a member or CWOPS number if you are a member.
See CWOPS website for more details.
Also on Fridays 2000 to 2100 and Mondays 0000 to 0100 each week CWops runs the K1USN slow speed CW contests. Any speed up to 20wpm is acceptable. For rules see :- CW OPs SST page these contests are open to anyone.

All RSGB contest rules and further details plus log submission at RSGB contest site
Look to WA7BNM’s contest calendar for other contests and links to rules etc at WA7BNM weekly contest calendar
A link to John 2E0TWQ’s site’s Narc contest history page - 2E0TWQ's NARC contest results page

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Contesting can be great fun but I know there's a reluctance to step into unknown waters. It's a great way of improving many aspects of our hobby including one's own performance and the quality of your station. If you have any interest whatsover please call in to the contest net on Friday evening at 9pm on 145.250MHz FM or speak to any of the regular contesters on 450. Or indeed email me!
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Submissions or comments for this news to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

73 until next week,

Phil G4LPP

HF News

We started the new year with a bang, or more precisely a Kp index of eight and widespread visible aurora. This was caused by a partial halo CME associated with an eruption in the Sun’s southeast quadrant on December 29th.

The strong (G3) to severe (G4) geomagnetic storm peaked at about 1800hrs UTC on January 1st as the solar wind speed moved past Earth just above 500 km/s, but then subsided as the Bz component settled into a north-pointing position.

HF propagation suffered as a result with the MUF down for the rest of the evening. By the morning of January 2nd, things had improved and MUFs over a 3,000km path were back above
28MHz.

The solar flux index remained above 200, which no doubt helped, but from a space weather point of view, we are in rocky times.

A large coronal hole will become Earth-facing on Friday, January 3rd, which will undoubtedly cause some geomagnetic disruption around Sunday 5th, if the Kp index rises.

NOAA predicts the solar flux index may decline this week, possibly ending in the 160s-170s. Geomagnetic conditions may also be in for a rough ride around the 10th and 11th when the Kp index is forecast to reach four.

From a radio point of view, January is a peak time for low-band DXing. The nights are long and dark so make the most of 160m and 80m. You may also get DX during the late afternoon on 40 metres.

During the daytime keep an eye on 10 metres, which may throw up the odd interesting DX station while the SFI remains high.

VHF and up

To start the year the main feature is low pressure over the country, but in the depths of winter, it's good to remember that snow and rain both provide scattering opportunities for the GHz bands.

There is a glimmer of Tropo hope for the end of next week, 11 and 12 January, as high pressure builds over northern Britain. This will be a cold air high which tends not to be the best for Tropo, but it's worth a look next weekend nonetheless.

The solar conditions provided an aurora on New Year’s Day with a brief Kp=8 during the afternoon. With other disturbances possible it is worth keeping up to date with solar conditions and prospects for geomagnetic storms on spaceweather.com. This is one propagation mode where CW is so much easier to copy under the difficult conditions of aurora.

Meteor scatter propagation is driven by the Quadrantids in the first week of January. It peaks on January 4, but spans the period up to January 12 at the end of next week. This is a productive shower with an hourly rate of 120, and since it’s the last major excitement until the late April Lyrids; make the most of it before we’re reduced to chasing random meteor activity during the rest of winter.

I have mentioned the chance of out-of-season Es in mid-winter and we still have the next week to keep alert, especially in view of the Quadrantids adding fuel into the E region. The ionised trails of the meteors provide long-lived metallic ions, which is the material that gets focussed into Sporadic-E if we are lucky.

The Moon starts the weekend with a negative but rising declination, going positive on Sunday so Moon windows continue to lengthen. Path losses are low with perigee on Wednesday. 144MHz sky noise is low all week.

Happy New Year!
We start the year with a NARC (almost) Live which was launched at midnight.

Catch it on YouTube channel 'Norfolk ARC' or directly from here.

https://youtu.be/2dgXr6vrWcY

May 2025 bring you Health and Happiness.
73, David G7URP & Tammy M0TC

Background

World Radiosport Team Championship committee to NARC members on 11th December at CNS. The WRTC is, like the olympics, a 4 yearly event and in 2026 it is coming to the UK; But not only the UK but East Anglia and with many of its 50 stations, who will be operated by 100 amateurs from all over the world, based in Norfolk!! Mark M0DXR, chairman of WRTC 2026, along with Andy M0NKR, Steve M1ACB and Andy G4PIQ came to tell us all about this exciting event and you can see their full presentation along with questions from those at CNS on the night.  

With Best wishes for 2025,    

73

David G7URP & Tammy M0TC  

Next Wednesday  

Our first in-person meeting of 2025 will be at CNS school on 8th January from 19.00-2130 when we will be having a special 3D Print and laser cutting demonstration evening - members welcome to bring their gear to show!