MKARS News

Intermediate Course Success

We are pleased to welcome the 6 off Intermediate course students who took the exam yesterday evening to their Intermediate licenses after passing the exam.

The 6 students were:-

Andy Lyman, Dirk Fair, Gary Kattenhorn, Keith Charlton, Peter Gatward, Wally Byers

Well done!

The Training Team

Frank Jackson & Rupert Campbell-Black

Breaking News....New Location, Club Activities and Shack Nights

Breaking News.....From January 2019

New Club Location

We have now moved forward with our plans for relocating the Club to more suitable premises, and from January 2019 most of our meetings will be upstairs at the Irish Centre (Manor Fields, Watling Street, Bletchley, MK2 2HX).

New Meeting Schedule & Club Diary

We are also changing our meeting schedule.  Our club meetings from January 2019 will be on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month. This helps to avoid the impact of public holidays on our meetings programme. All meeting will start at 19.30.

A full programme is shaping up for the year ahead, and dates, locations and speakers etc are all detailed on the Club’s diary page. (See column to the left of this page.). Please note that one meeting is being held in February at the NRC, so we will occasionally be back at Bletchley Park.

Shack Nights - the 3rd Monday of each Month

Until we have a shack established at the Irish Centre (expected sometime in the spring), TS Invincible at Bletchley Park has kindly agreed that we can still use our shack there.

From January 2019 we will regularly have a monthly shack night on the 3rd Monday of each month. Come along and operate our station (GB2BP), discuss operating technique, and ask questions about CW, HF and digital operations.

Arrangements For November/December 2018

We still remain at TS Invincible at Bletchley Park for November and December 2018.

We have the following meetings planned - all at 19.30: 

26th November - a GB2BP Shack night in the TS Invincible shack. 

3rd December - Xmas Mince Pies & waffle (chat!) Night coupled with a radio video presentation - TS Invincible.

17th December - a GB2BP Shack Night in the TS Invincible shack.

Presentations in Nov Meetings ; Voice Keyers & Antenna Baluns

We had two interesting presentations in November.

Trials and Tribulations of Building a Voice Keyer and Sequencer For Older Rigs' by Phil G4FVZ.  If any member wants a copy of Phil's slides and further details of the ISD1820 or ISD1760 voice modules then see him at a club meeting or a PM via the Forum or QRZ.com. He also has more details on the DE8BQA FA-SM voice/CW/sequencing unit.

 'Cooking with Antenna – the dessert course' by Will G1YYU. Will gave a facinating talk on the practical aspects of building baluns and demystifying the process.  He also provided information on where to obtain the ferrites and the high voltage capacitors.  He is now available for balun consultaion to Club members!

Weekly Club Net on GB3MK - Sundays 8pm

There is a weekly net on the clubs 70cm repeater GB3MK. All members and prospective members are welcome.

RSGB Contesting

Why not have a go at one of the RSGB contests?

There are regular contests on the VHF/UHF bands.You dont need high power and big antennas, there are FM and SSB contests and it's a very polite and civilised activity.  Registering your results is easy and will gain the club some points, and a good way to test your setup. Contest dates are posted in the club diary on the left. If you want some guidance come and talk to Me (Tim G6GEI) or Malcolm (M0GXZ) one club night.

RSGB contest schedule here  Guide on submitting your contest log here

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