RSGB General Manager

The RSGB has issued the following statement concerning the RSGB General Manager:

http://www.rsgb.org/news/articlelinks.php?id=0122

20m and above

After a long poor spell of HF Band conditions, with 20m often closing early evening, for the past 10 days the 20m Band has been alive with DX until late evening. I have been working N. American stations W/VE etc. with S9 reports on SSB most days using my Windom wire antenna and 400W RF which seems to put a good lobe into the USA enabling good chat QSOs and not just rubber stamp variety. Also this morning about 11:30am local there were VK stations coming thru at a very comfortable 5-8 / 5-9 on SSB. Strangely there seeme to be a lot of strong LA/OH stations predominant from EU rather than the usual EA or IK7 etc.

20m was absolutely packed over the weekend with the CQ World Wide Contest event.

Its worth taking a look on 20m and above. Sunspots may be coming back again at long last.!

73, Derek Atter G3GRO

Windows 7 v Windows XP

It is now practically impossible to buy a new PC with Windows XP. This is a shame as much of the Amateur software written over the past few years has trouble running under Windows 7.

Some examples which I've found recently are virtual comm post software by Phil N8VB . This is included in Ham Radio Deluxe and is needed for some remote control applications. Another possible problem lies with the excellent Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) which is great for many SDR functions. I think this might be solvable but I've not managed it yet.

I'm sure that others will have found examples where there old software doesn't work fully.

Recognising this, Microsoft has produced an XP virtual machine which can be downloaded for free if you have Windows 7 versions Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise. Follow the link:

www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

So if you're buying a new laptop try and make sure it has Win 7 professional or better. If you've already got a Windows 7 machine with a lower spec OS, it is possible to upgrade using the Anytime Upgrade option easily found in the Start menu. Depending on which version you have and which you wish to upgrade to, there will be a cost.

So you can get two OS's for the price of one!

Good Luck
73
Mike
G0KAD

CARC February Meeting - ATUs

For the meeting on 23rd February we had another Members Evening – this time on Antenna Tuning Units (ATU’s) – or more correctly Antenna Matching Units (AMU’s). Whichever definition you subscribe to we had a reasonable number of samples, both commercial and homebrew, brought along by members.

From LF and up through the HF bands an ATU is required to match the nominal 50 Ohms output from a transmitter to the impedance presented by the antenna. If the antenna already is a reasonably close match then the ATU doesn’t have to do much work. However, if the antenna has to be an all-band antenna (really a misnomer as it may or may not be resonant on any of the amateur bands), such as a Long Wire, the ATU has to be capable of converting the transmitter 50 ohms output to a wide variety of impedances on the different bands. This is where things can get more difficult.

However, one of the attractive things about ATU’s from a constructor’s viewpoint, in particular, is that they are relatively straightforward, typically comprising just three components – two variable capacitors and one inductor - and there are plenty of designs out there with construction articles to guide you. Providing you follow the basics about the types, quality and RF power-handling capabilities of components you shouldn’t have too much trouble putting one together.



For the intrepid homebrewer there are three or four basic ATU designs to choose from, the pi-network, t-network, and SPC around which you can build various switching facilities, such as bypass, internal or external dummy load, and metering (VSWR and power meter) for example. There is also the classic Z-match, which is a little different, and several other designs using balanced circuits to match the transceiver to a balanced antenna.

Over the years there have been some classic commercial designs built on these basic circuits, including the Johnson Matchbox, the Collins 180-S, a pi coupler with variations, the Drake MN2700, and not forgetting the popular made-in-Britain KW Z-match. In recent years manufacturers such as MFJ and Vectronics (now part of MFJ) have produced a multiplicity of designs but all are variants of the above basic circuits.



What has now changed however, is the growing number of auto-tune ATU’s appearing on the commercial market, with LDG, MFJ and others producing some nice units. However we again have to remember that these are still variants of the same basic circuits: the electronic relay selection of the tapped L and C components directed by a PIC or microprocessor taking the place of your hand carrying out the tuning manually. A big advantage of the auto-ATU of course is that it can be positioned remotely from the shack and does not therefore have to take up space on the operating desk.



Fig 1. The W3EDP antenna tuner by Ted G4TTY

The selection brought along by members to the ATU Evening was broadly representative of the above. We had a couple of commercial units by Vectronic and MFJ, together with a venerable but clean KW Easy Match, and some very nicely constructed units built by Peter G4LEG, Ted G4TTY and dare I say it, myself G3VLH.



Fig 2. Peter G4LEG’s very neat QRP Z-Match



Fig 3. G3GRO demonstrating his Variometer-tuned VLF ATU

The most different of all was that built by Derek G3GRO, which he put together to support his VLF operation. This design uses a variometer (a rotating coil within a fixed outer coil, the axis of the inner rotating relative to the fixed axis of the outer), and thereby varying the total inductance.

All in all this was another enjoyable and well supported Members Evening, and it was an added pleasure to welcome Mike G0KAD, home on leave from distant parts, and son Matthew.



Fig 4. Mike G0KAD and Matt eyeing John G3VLH’s ATU

FOOTNOTE
For those who have an interest in digging deeper into the design characteristics of ATU’s you are referred an excellent 2-part article “How to Evaluate your Antenna Tuner” by Frank Witt AI1H in the April and May 1995 issues of QST, which describes, analyses and compares a number of the classic designs. For anyone interested I will be happy to provide photocopies.

John Longhurst G3VLH

Low power wireless networks - IET Event

Low power wireless networks, are an interesting and important topic that may be of interest to club members. The technical level for these lectures is normally such that most of you will understand the content.

When: Date 06 April 2011 18.45 for 19.30
Location: Studio Theatre, The Hawth Theatre, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, RH10 6YZ
About this event

Abstract:

“Wireless products and technology for sensing & control applications are quickly becoming a reality. Numerous analysts, technology providers and product integrators agree that widespread adoption of wireless technology is only a matter of time.”

This view has been stated many times by different experts. Just how near is this to the real truth? Richard is involved directly in trying to make this a reality and will give his views on this topic in a unique and well informed manner. Successful applications will be discussed.

Please register online for this event at http://localevents.theiet.org/register.php?event=bcca98

The event is free of charge and open to all.

http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/southeast/sussex/wireless.cfm

The Battery

By Henry Schlesinger




The Battery is a "popular" i.e. a semi-technical history of the battery. The battery is one of the pivotal technologies that enabled the modern technical world.

What began as a long-running dispute in biology, involving a dead frog's twitching leg, a scalpel, and a metal plate, would become an invention that transformed the history of the world: the battery. From Alessandro Volta's first copper-and-zinc model in 1800 to twenty-first-century technological breakthroughs, science journalist Henry Schlesinger traces the history of this essential power source and demonstrates its impact on our lives.

Volta's first battery not only settled the frog's leg question, it also unleashed a field of scientific research that led to the discovery of new elements and new inventions, from Samuel Morse's telegraph to Alexander Graham Bell's telephone to Thomas Edison's incandescent lightbulb. And recent advances like nanotechnology are poised to create a new generation of paradigm-shifting energy sources.

Schlesinger introduces the charlatans and geniuses, paupers and magnates, attracted to the power of the battery, including Michael Faraday, Guglielmo Marconi, Gaylord Wilshire, and Hugo Gernsback, the publisher and would-be inventor who coined the term "science fiction." A kaleidoscopic tour of an ingenious invention that helped usher in the modern world.

The book is full of interesting factoids, for example the origin of the popular expression "OK" derives from the telegraphers term "Open Key and Prepare to Transmit". It also dispatches a few myths, for example "The pony express, which still occupies a cherished place in America's mythology, was actually a financial disaster, in large part because of the telegraph. Launched in April 1860, the relay mail service that spanned a continent couldn't compete with the telegraph which opened for business in October 1861. Within weeks, the pony express, which carried a letter coast to coast in ten days, was closed down after loosing money for its backers.

Aside from the lack of technical detail, my biggest disappointment is the lack of detail regarding the technology innovations of the last 10 or so years. Non-the-less this is an interesting work that I very much enjoyed reading.

Stewart/G3YSX

Blackbird Rising

by Donn A. Byrnes and Kenneth D. Hurley

Given that many club members are interested in aircraft as well as radio and electronics, there may be interest in this book that describes the conception, design, and commissioning of the Oxcart aka SR71 Blackbird as a system.

The book describes what it is like to be a system engineer and test pilot on an ultra secret project. It talks about the challenges in designing and commissioning the airframe and propulsion, but then does on to describe the issues of getting the sideways looking radar to work with this optical correlator which required a wet film processing unit flying along in a near vacuum at over Mk3. The infra-red sensors (which only partially worked) required an onboard liquid helium system. A fascinating book well worth reading, which I found difficult to put down.

To give an insight into the book I include a short section to whet your appetite:

Mercury vapor lamps overhead cast harsh shadows on the ramp below, isolating individuals and pieces of equipment in the predawn chill. Little of this light reflects off of the dusky black fuselage and wings of an SR-71, Blackbird number 955, as she undergoes her final grooming for the day's flight. The smell of jet fuel floats in the still desert air and clings to our clothes.

Start-cart exhausts pop and grumble as the matched pair of V-8s in each cart warm up. The clink of exhaust flappers provides an irregular punctuation to the activities taking place below the wings where ground crew members wait for a signal to pour the power to the Buicks. Not just converted auto engines, these machines were Buick Wildcat engines fresh from the southern California shop of racing legend Mickey Thompson. Each cart's engine pair drives a single transmission which, in turn, through an hydraulically extended shaft, reaches up inside the Blackbird's massive J-58 engines and spins them to starting rpm.

Perched on a maintenance stand ten feet above the ground I sit cross-legged level with the aircrew's shoulders. Seated in the pilot's cockpit is Bill Skliar and in the Reconnaissance Systems Officer's (RSO) cockpit is Noel Warner. I see each crew member's lips move as they talk behind the sealed faceplates of their helmets. Their voices crackle through my headset. I speak to them and members of the ground crew through an intercom system where the microphones are strapped over our mouths to keep out the surrounding noise. It's not too hard to hear right now, but once the engines start, no conversation is possible without the intercom. Anticipation is strong as all of us work our way through the preflight preparations.

Open in my lap is the all-important checklist. Every single step and action needed to prepare, start, and launch this aircraft are written in this book. These pages also contain special instructions for engineering changes, changes which will be tested on this flight. Everyone on the intercom circuit, air crew, ground crew, including myself is going through the checklist item by item. I read, they respond. I am the flight test engineer for Number Six. Her tail number is 955, but we all call her by the production sequence number. Standing on the ground near the front of the aircraft is Earl, my crew chief, an Air Force tech sergeant. At just five feet nine inches, he was full of guts, determination, and ingenuity, an aircraft mechanical genius. We were both there when this elegant creature was born, and we have been her constant companions ever since. At 6 a.m. the desert is showing only the very first signs of morning light. I am still reading the checklist by overhead light. Earl and I have been here since 3 a.m. patting and smoothing the feathers on this bird. The ground support guys came in at four.

She is full of fuel, liquid oxygen is on board for the aircrew, and fifty gallons of liquid nitrogen for fuel tank explosion suppression is loaded. All the other fluids and parts are ready. The complex and picky cameras are filled with film and installed. Even the infrared system detector has cooled down nicely in its own supply of liquid helium. In each engine nacelle the TEB tanks have been filled with triethylene borate, a hypergolic chemical used to ignite the SK-1 fuel when the engines start. Just one shot for each engine is all it takes. TEB replaces the usual jet engine igniter plugs because the Blackbird's special fuel is much more difficult to light than standard JP-4.

Number Six left the hanger for her outside prelaunch parking space at 4:15 a.m.

The personal equipment technicians and aircrew got here by 4:30 a.m. Now we are working our way through the checklist to the engine start sequence.

Many aircraft maintenance and operations people treat the ground support troops like dirt, but not Earl and me, not in the Blackbird game. We do everything but send these guys flowers. How else could you get four master sergeants to roll out of bed and arrive at work by 4 a.m. when they could have sent us a couple of three stripers? How else could you get a start-cart and crew for each engine at this hour of the morning? Today is a big day for Earl and me, for Number Six, and for Bill and Noel, who are doing the flying. Today is the day we fly the route called Hester.

Hester is an awful name, and this flight route is equally terrible. Four hot legs of nearly eighteen hundred miles each, three refuelings, and about eight hours of flying time. This flight profile consumes everything the bird and crew have. They will return with roughly four thousand feet of exposed film of various widths, empty liquid nitrogen containers, the infrared detector's liquid helium almost gone, the tape recorders out of tape, and the crew exhausted. Because cruising above Mach 3 heats the airframe to very high temperatures, even the inside surface of the pilot's windscreen reaches 275°F. When Number Six parks after the last leg, parts of her will be too hot to touch. This mission was designed to simulate the toughest operational mission we could imagine. If Number Six makes the whole trip successfully today, she will get another red silhouette of a blackbird painted beneath the canopy rails, with a white H, for Hester, stenciled on the silhouette. Earl and I are hopeful, but the batting average for this mission profile is not very high.

Still seated on the maintenance stand, I turn to Bill in the front cockpit and ask, ";Ready for engine start?";

His helmet turns to face my way and nods affirmatively.

I look to Noel in the back seat. He nods and I hear, ";Ready for engine number one.";

Earl does a careful review of the people under the wing and the area behind the engines. ";Okay Major, we're ready down here.";

I start my chant. ";Let's crank number one. Pilot call ten percent. Ground confirm the TEB shot. Call when you see fire in the tailpipe. Pilot confirm rise in exhaust gas temperature.";

This is a great job! Where else could a scrawny kid from Texas sit beside the world's fastest aircraft and tell everybody what to do?

- Copyright ©1999, Sage Mesa Publications. All rights reserved.

Stewart/G3YSX

Insect hearing inspires new approach to small antennas

From the University of Wisconsin-Madison News 25th February 2011 (www.news.wisc.edu/19033 )by Sandra Knisely

Ormia ochracea is a small parasitic fly best known for its strong sense of directional hearing. A female fly tracks a male cricket by its chirps and then deposits her eggs on the unfortunate host. The larvae subsequently eat the cricket.

Though it doesn't work out well for male crickets, such acute hearing in a tiny body has inspired a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher as he studies new designs for very small, powerful antennas.

Nader Behdad, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received a 2011 Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) award and grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue a novel approach to a challenge that has thwarted electromagnetic researchers for more than a half century.

For a structure like an antenna to effectively transmit or receive an electromagnetic wave at a given frequency, the size must be comparable to the wavelength at that frequency. Making the structure's aperture size physically smaller than a wavelength becomes a critical performance issue. These small antennas aren't as efficient and don't work well beyond a narrow band of frequencies. Additionally, many applications, such as satellite TV and radar systems, require antennas that can distinguish signals from specific directions, and current small antennas don't have these precise directional capabilities.

"Designing small, directional antennas is one of those things we tell students can't happen," Behdad says. "But the question is, what if it can be done?"

Behdad decided to address the challenge through a new lens, one not often used in his field. He is looking to nature for some design guidance, an approach known as biomimetics or biomimicry.

He started by exploring the human auditory system. Humans are equipped with a fairly good sense of directional hearing, thanks to two ears separated by a head large enough to attenuate sound. Humans also have a brain complex enough to calculate the time difference between sound arriving in each ear and the intensity of the sound to determine its origin. "We're like a large antenna," Behdad says.

His research gradually led to smaller creatures, such as mice and insects, and eventually, Behdad came across the Ormia ochracea. "Some insects can hear in the same manner we can. But their body size is small, so the time difference of the sound arrival is significantly smaller," he says.

Usually, an insect's "ears" are not even located on the head, but instead are close together on its thorax or elsewhere, depending on the animal. Yet despite the small time and intensity differences, some insects have directional hearing capabilities surpassing those of humans. The parasitic fly, which appears to be among the smallest with superb directional hearing, can detect the direction of a chirping cricket with an accuracy of one to two degrees.

"These are small antennas that actually work better than large antennas," says Behdad, who took this knowledge and began designing circuits that could mimic an insect's auditory system.

"There hasn't been any work done to design antennas that mimic the hearing mechanism of different insects," he says. "We've designed a basic proof-of-concept antenna and have some preliminary results. But at this point, we still need to understand what the physics are."

Behdad's designs are for a type of antenna known as super resolving, which is capable of distinguishing signals coming from different directions. If he can create very small, efficient super-resolving antennas, the technology could result in significantly more wireless bandwidth, better cell phone reception and other applications in the consumer electronics industry, as well as new radar and imaging systems.

Behdad also is interested in eventually using his CAREER research to explore small super-directive antennas, a class of antennas that could capture a lot of power coming from one direction. Though this type of antenna is still far from reality, the result could be a tiny antenna with the capabilities of a giant one.

VHF National Field Day. An Invitation to New (and old) Members

With Christmas now well behind us and with an eye on warmer weather to come, I again turn my thoughts to the highlight of CARC's summer season, VHF National Field Day.

Thanks to the efforts of Malcolm and his team of trainers CARC have helped several newcomers in gaining their Foundation and Intermediate licences over the winter months, my son Matt being one of them.

Amateur radio is a very wide hobby with plenty of fascinating aspects to choice from. An area that has always intrigued me is VHF/UHF propagation and DX. In common with most amateurs I lack the perfect QTH both in terms of height and space in which to erect antennas. The XYL might not be too impressed with a 60' versa-tower appearing in the garden!

One of the benefits of belonging to an active club such as CARC is access to shared equipment both at the club and for events such as VHF NFD. New members might not realise but in addition to the large tower at CARC we also own two trailer towers for "portable" use. One is nearly 100' tall raised using a power winch.

Each year we join forces with our friends at RATS, the Reigate Amateur Transmitting Society to take part in the RSGB's biggest annual VHF/UHF contest, National Field Day.

More so even than with HF, one of the most important factors in a successful entry is Location. In past years we have been fortunate to use a site on top of the cliff behind Folkestone in Kent. This site benefits from a fantastic views across the channel to France and provides an excellent radio path to Europe. Typically we will expect to work stations as far away as Spain, Austria, Switzerland and sometimes even Poland and Scandinavia. This under normal VHF conditions over 24 hours.


Unfortunately the site has a few draw backs. It can of course be quite windy being on top of a cliff next to the English channel. This can be interesting at best and even hairy when erecting and lowering large amounts of aluminium. Being close to Folkestone and the channel tunnel rail terminal it can also be a little noisy in RF terms. This is most undesirable. The site is a long narrow strip of pasture between the slope and a minor road giving some problems when selecting sites for the four stations we need to operate. While we have an excellent 'view' to Europe, the path up the UK is less good and with the majority of activity over the weekend being from the UK we could do better in this respect. The site has few close neighbours with two notable exceptions. Ironically our closest resident amateur is G0BPS, a leading light in the GQRP club! Needless to say we do not run QRP but full legal limit on all bands. In 2010 we were surprised by the appearance in an adjacent field of the Maidstone Radio Club also entering NFD. It is an unfortunate fact that two high powered stations on the same band cannot hope to operate in such close proximity at anything like full performance. Maidstone ARS are fortunate to have purchased the plot of land adjacent to the Battle of Britain Memorial in Capel le Ferne and are planning to enter NFD from there again this year. We wish them well and cannot help but be jealous of their good fortune in having such a great site permanently at their disposal.

Now even with all the negatives outlined above, Folkestone has served us well over the years. We enjoyed our best ever result from there in 2009 winning NFD. Last year we dropped to second.

With all this in mind we have been actively looking for a better site which improves on the already excellent features of the old site. Thanks to the efforts of Peter G0VVE from RATS we believe we have found such a site. I'll keep the details under wraps for now but CARC members can find out more at club meetings. Operating sites are among the most important aspects of contesting and are very tightly held!

The new site is big, really big! It has much better 'take off' to the UK, is away from any large towns and so RF quiet while still being good for Europe. We will be sufficiently far away from neighbouring competitors that we should not interfere with each other. The site is still in East Kent giving us an important advantage both for DX to Europe and to maximize scores in the UK.

So with the site nicely organised what else is involved in contesting. As with most contests the aim is to work as many other stations as possible in the period of the contest. NFD lasts 24 hours, 3pm on Saturday to 3pm on Sunday (BST). As the name implies all operation must be portable using generators for the power. Equipment can only arrive at the site 24 hours before the start of the contest meaning that all the tents, antennas and stations must be assembled, tested and operating from scratch starting no earlier that 3pm on the Friday afternoon.

Scoring for NFD is very similar to other VHF contests. Each QSO must consist to an exchange of callsigns, signal reports, contact serial number and QRA locator. The locator is used to calculate the distance between the two stations and this is the score for that QSO. Simple! Not quite. To win it is necessary to work a lot of stations (700+) is the best on 2m in 24 hours during NFD. Also these stations need to be at some distance, on 2m a typical AVERAGE distance is around 350km with best DX nearly always at around 1000km under normal flat conditions, it can be much more with favorable conditions.

I've used 2m as an example as that's the band I know best. Clearly you can't achieve this with an FT817 running 3W into a small antenna. Over the years we have assembled a formidable selection of equipment ranging from the trailer towers mentioned earlier to multiple high gain antennas, power amplifiers able to run full legal power at high duty cycles for 24 hours, top of the range transceivers and the substantial generators needed to run them all. Of course we are always looking to improve and keen members normally add a few bits and bobs over the winter. Improvements for this year include a much better receiver for 4m, a even better high performance radio for 2m, another trailer tower bringing our total to 4 between CARC and RATS and probably some new LPA antennas.



This may all sound daunting to the newly licensed amateur and indeed it is a formidable setup. However CARC and RATS unlike many other specialist contest groups actively encourage our new members to join in, learn and enjoy the experience. That is the main purpose of this rambling piece.

What does this mean in practice for a first time participant. Well simply you get the chance to operate a top line station for the price of a share of the petrol needed to run the generators. Well nearly! Of course we hope that you will also help in the preparation and assembly of the stations and antennas in the run up to the contest. Personally I find this as rewarding as the operating itself.

As you might have gathered, VHF NFD requires operation on multiple bands. There are five available to enter, 4m (70MHz), 6m (50MHz), 2m (144MHz), 70cm (432MHz) and 23cm (1296MHz). Some require 24 hour operation, some only 6 hours and others we close down overnight due to lack of activity. The full rules can be found at the RSGB VHF contest committee website http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/ . The best scores from four of the five bands go towards the final entry and we have yet to decide on our strategy for this year.

In practice what this means is that we divide into smaller teams to erect and operate the stations. The systems are tried and tested and there is always an experienced contester around to lead the effort and explain how it all works. Once the antennas are up and tested, usually by Friday evening, we turn to assembling the stations. These consist of the transceivers, pre-amps, power amplifiers and rotators controllers. We use computers to log our QSOs, produce real time scores and also to save our voices by acting automated CQ callers when the going gets slower. Typically a station is run by two operators at most times, an operator and a logger. The operator makes the contact, records it on a logging slip while the logger acts as a second pair of ears working with the operator to make sure all the details are copied correctly. They also enter the details into the computer log. Logging is a vital job as an error in the log will result in lost points during adjudication and can make the difference between winning and losing. A good team will also complete a QSO quicker meaning they can move on and work another station. Remember the score is the total number of kilometers worked so the more contacts over the longest distances are important.

Logging is a great way for a newcomer to get the feel for contesting and really contribute to the effort. It gives a chance to experience first hand the varying conditions on different bands. How propagation effects signals over long distances with signals fading and strengthening over time, copying weak signals and the best way to eek out those difficult stations from the background noise. Even experienced operators need to get their ear in and it is quite normal for the team to rotate first as a logger and then onto operating before taking a break and letting others have a go.

As a newcomer you should not expect to open the operating on 2m which can be frantic in the first couple of hours but other bands are not so high pressure and certainly into the evening as the QSO rate slows, anyone who wants to try their hand will be able to do so. Fear not as an experienced logger will be on hand to smooth the way during those first nerve racking contacts.


If you have a look at the VHFCC website, you'll see that NFD might be the biggest contest of the year but it is hardly the only one. There are a whole series of Tuesday evening contests on various bands every week. The club station is equipped for 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm. These short 2 1/2 hour contest produce lots of activity and from the club it should certainly by possible to work 50+ contacts in the period. Even a 2m SSB radio from home with a vertical antenna will allow a few contacts to be made. With a horizontal beam this will shoot up even with 10W.

For VHF NFD you don't need to be an individual RSGB member to take part, as long as you're a member of CARC or RATS that's fine. You can also enter all the Tuesday night VHF/UHF Activity contests as well as the 144Mhz and 432MHz AFS contests. To enter all the others listed on the website you will need to be an individual RSGB member. This doesn't of course mean that you can't take part just that you won't be eligble to submit an entry.

During VFD even if you're a foundation license holder you can operate as the callsign we use is G5LK/P which is a club callsign and you will be supervised by a full license holder.

Well that about covers the basics. If you've read this far and are still interested then have a word at the club or alternatively drop me an email to vhf@g0kad.com .

73 and see you on the hill.

Mike
G0KAD