Tonight we meet at CNS School for a Table Top Sale!  Free to Buy, Sell and mardle for all paid up NARC members, or you can join us on the night for just £10 for the rest of this year and all of 2025!

You can also bring FREE stuff too - just make sure its clearly marked!

As usual we meet from 1900-2130 in the CNS 6th form common room - Cold drinks and biscuits will be available to purchase and there is also a hot drink vending machine in the adjacent canteen room. Please do not enter the school until our hire from time 19.00 - thanks.

David G7URP

radio@dcpmicro.com

This Saturday is the regular monthly sked with our friends in our Twin City Koblenz radio club on 7.123MHz at 10.00 local time.

There is also a local 2m call-in net on 145.250 MHz run by Malcolm G3PDH. We hope that 

Please join us - everyone welcome!

At the members forum earlier this year members expressed an interest in the club arranging a coach trip to Bletchey Park and the National Radio Centre near Milton Keynes - a wonderful place .

As you can imagine the cost of the trip will depend on how many people go, so in order for me to come up with a price I am asking all who are interested in going to email me so that I can get an idea of how many people will go, so if this trip interests you please email me (without obligation) as soon as possible. It will be open to everyone, members or non members including families and friends, and members of the RSGB are able to get into Bletchley Park for free with a downloadable voucher, so our cost will be travel only and travel with entrance fee.  Pickup points with free parking will be offered at Blofield on the East of Norwich and DCP near Attleborough.

Please drop me a quick email if you are interested with a note of how many people you would like to come with.

Thank you, David G7URP     radio@dcpmicro.com  

Deadline for expressions of interest is 14th November 2024.   (**just 1 response as of November 3rd**

I am pleased to publish details and the booking form for our annual Christmas dinner at The Village Inn in Little Melton on Wednesday 18th December; Arrival is from 1845 and Dinner will be served from 19.30.

Dinner comprises a three course meal with varied menu selections to suit all tastes and dietary requirements will cost members and their family or friends just £15 per head, being subsidised by NARC. The only thing you will need to buy on the night is drinks!

All details are on the booking form which I have attached to the weekends newsletter and printed versions are also available at CNS meetings. With well over a month to book I ask everyone to please help me arrange this event by making sure they book asap and by the deadline of 27th November at the latest - you can pay by cash at CNS, BACs or Paypal friends and family. If you prefer me to email a booking form to you please drop me an email.  

In addition to the dinner we will be holding a secret santa raffle to raise funds for our member nominated charity of the year, Prostate Cancer UK. If you can we ask everyone attending to bring a small wrapped gift which will be raffled after the dinner.  

**ONLY 12 People booked so far!  Please book as soon as you can** 

David G7URP

radio@dcpmicro.com

HF News

We had another week of high solar flux and good conditions on HF.

Solar activity remained at high levels thanks to an impulsive X2.3 solar flare around active region 3883 at 13:40 UTC on November 6th, but the event was not responsible for a coronal mass ejection (CME).

The Kp index remained below 4.5 all week, with a solar flux index in the range of 240-260. That was more than enough to keep the ionosphere very active.

A recent report on spaceweather.com suggested that the solar cycle may have peaked in the Sun’s southern hemisphere, but may still have a way to go in its northern hemisphere.

It's usual for there to be two peaks in a solar cycle as the two hemispheres are seldom synchronised. We will have to wait and see, but it could mean another three to six months of high SFI numbers as the northern hemisphere catches up.

A solar filament located in the southwest quadrant erupted on November 7th). A coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred but appeared to be off the Sun-Earth line, so no major impacts are expected.

A sunspot group turning into view from off the southeast limb has been assigned active region 3889 and is producing M-class solar flares. The probability of further M-class flares stands at 80%. Meanwhile, the risk of an X-class flare currently stands at 35%.

A coronal hole is currently Earth-facing and could cause some disruption sometime around Saturday 9th.

The solar proton flux has decreased to normal levels, so polar paths should now be unaffected.

Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI could decline into the range 165-185. Geomagnetic disturbances are forecast for the 11th and 12th, and again on the 15th, with the Kp index predicted to reach four.

Meanwhile, we do urge you to get on 10 metres, which is currently experiencing some fine DX openings. This month and next will probably give the best chance of good 10-metre propagation for a while.

VHF and Up

Another week has just passed with daily F2-layer propagation on 50MHz with morning openings to Southeast Asia and the Americas in the afternoon. Expect more in the coming week.

The current spell of high pressure has had a good run with some excellent Tropo conditions with the best DX along the side of the high pressure.

This weekend, the 9th and 10th, will see the high finally giving way as weak Atlantic fronts move in from the west. This will soon be replaced by a new high building in the colder air behind the weekend fronts. It may look like Tropo should come back, but this high may be less productive.

The major change of weather pattern comes before mid-week, when it may turn more unsettled as low pressure moves closer to eastern areas from the North Sea. This general move towards more unsettled conditions will continue through the end of the week.

In terms of propagation, good Tropo will be replaced by some patchy rain scatter opportunities for the GHz bands from about the middle of next week.

Staying with scatter modes, meteor scatter looks promising with the Taurids peaking on Tuesday 12th and the Leonids due to peak on the following weekend on Sunday 17th.

The solar conditions continue to offer chance occurrences of aurora due to solar flares or CMEs so, as usual, keep a watch on the Kp index going above Kp=4.

An occasional reminder of the possibility of out-of-season Es for the digital modes is timely since recently the critical frequency of the Es layer has reached 7MHz on the Dourbes ionosonde plotted on www.propquest.co.uk and in theory this would be good enough for a 6m band path.

For EME operators, Moon declination reaches is negative but rising, going positive again on Tuesday the 12th. Path losses are falling as we approach perigee next Thursday the 14th. 144MHz sky noise is moderate to low this coming week.

Welcome to week one hundred and sixty four of NARC’s contest news.

Results:-

On VHF

The results of the SHF UKAC of 22nd October were released on 5th November. Our only entrant was, as usual, Graham , G3SGC. He entered on 2.3GHz coming 11th in the Restricted section and scoring 480 points and for the first time on 10GHz where he came 7th in the Restricted section scoring 377 points. Link to results here 

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

In the overall UKAC we are still running 4th out of 56 in the General clubs section but our hold on 4th is being gradually eroded by Gower/Gwyr CC. Link to this here 

On HF

The results of the 80m Autumn series DATA contest of 16th October came out on Friday 1st November. Our 13 entries secured success once again in this one scoring 7,470 points with Newbury in second place on 5372. Highest scorer for us this time was Malcolm, G3PDH with 1000 points winning his section. This leaves us after 6 legs of the series in first place overall on 46,256 points with Bristol second on 30,117 points. Link to results 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 2m CW Marconi Memorial contest ran over the weekend 2nd and 3rd November. Conditions were good and three of us entered from NARC. Myself, Stewart, G4AFF and Jim, G3YLA. We all benefitted from the enhanced propogation working into many OK, OM, DL, OE and even YO stations. Link here to claimed scores 

************
I've received this write-up of his experiences in the Marconi CW contest from Stewart, G4AFF:-

The Marconi 144MHz Contest is a major annual Europe-wide CW contest. Some years conditions can be dire, others spectacular. I planned to do a 6 hour entry, which I planned to spread over the 24 hours of the contest. I had never done the contest from anywhere other than GM, so it came as some surprise to find the band full of CW on Saturday afternoon. Once I started I realised that conditions were spectacular, with stations from DL, OK, OM, HA and even as far as YO (Romania), so I decided to continue running for my 6 hours on the Saturday as I doubted whether the conditions would last through until Sunday. I was wrong; on Sunday things got even better! Sadly I had used my 6 hours! The best conditions appeared to be like a large sausage spread across Europe with one end in England and the other approaching Romania, with stations as far north as southern Denmark and as far south as northern Italy. Activity in the UK was pretty sparse, but there was a bottomless pit of DL, OK and OM stations to work.

************

The 144MHz UKAC ran on Tuesday 5th November. Conditions were still fairly good though not as amazing as they had been at the weekend. NARC fielded 9 logs with several PB scores and good DX being worked, this time up into Sweden. Welcome also to new club member Steve, M5BFL who has joined our UKAC team with his first entry here.  Link to claimed scores here 

On Wednesday 6th November, the 2m FT8 AC ran with 2h and 4h sections. NARC members in evidence were G0BIX and EI8KN. Link to logs received here (2h sect) 

On HF

On Monday 4th November the 80m Autumn series DATA contest ran. Conditions seemed quite good for this one with the FOF2 staying well above the band. NARC posted 15 entries with the best from Ray, G3G (122 claimed contacts) and Andy M0NKR (120), Paul, M1AFQ made a PB 61 QSOs. On initial check we seem to have won this one! Link to logs received here 

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.

***********
I've received this write-up of his CQ WW SSB experience of last but one weekend from Stewart, G4AFF:-

It's been a long time since I did CQ WW SSB from home. I've spent the last two years assembling my new station so it seemed like a good time to give it a shot. I only have a single tower so monobanders are out of the question so a Steppir for the HF bands does the job. On 160m I have an inverted L between the tower and a tree and on 80m I have a 1/4 wave vertical. 40m is difficult on which to get a reasonable antenna so I had to live with an HF2V vertical and a dipole at 50ft between the tower and the 80m vertical. I also had an R6000 available on the second radio and a Ewe for LF receive. The lack of a decent receive antenna was obvious. Radio-wise I'm using an Elecraft K3 with an SPE 1.3KFA amp and an FT1000mp driving an ETO 91b. I use a DX Doubler as a two radio controller. Cross band interference was non-existant, which was a blessing, probably because none of the aerials are shared.
I had a short sleep before the contest started and sat down at 2345z. I stayed in the chair, apart from the odd comfort break and a meal, until about 0300 on Sunday morning. Conditions were fantastic and 10m was open to the US until very late. I slept for 4 hours on Saturday night and then it was back to it all Sunday until the end. I made a huge tactical error by trying to spread my 3 point QSOs across all the HF bands, but I realise now I should have just stayed on the highest band that was open and run hell for leather. I also concentrated far too much on finding multipliers on Saturday, which I figured would give me a good foundation to run for 3 pointers on the Sunday. Sadly conditions were not so good on Sunday, so this plan failed. I do have a huge multiplier total though, which is some consolation!
In the end I made 3448 QSOs, 154 zones, 556 countries with a total score of 4,566,720, which gave me DXCC on 20, 15 and 10m! As usual, I thought I had done better than I actually did, but I'm pleased with the result as the only competition I was against was myself. I entered the Single Op All Band Assisted category and in the raw scores released today I see that I'm 43rd out of 1369 entries.
***********

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 12th Nov. 2000-2230 432MHz UKAC
* Wed 13th Nov. 1700-2100 432MHz FT8 AC 2 and 4h sections
* Thu 14th Nov. 2000-2230 50MHz UKAC
* Sat 16th Nov. 0000 to Sun 17th Nov. 2359 ARRL EME contest - Link to rules here 
* Tue 19th Nov. 2000-2230 1.3GHz UKAC
* Thu 21st Nov. 2000-2230 70MHz UKAC

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

* Sat 9th Nov. 2000-2300 Club Calls 1.8MHz AFS super league and HF Championship
* Sat 9th Nov. 0000 for 47h 59m WAE DX RTTY contest - For rules see here 
* Sat 9th Nov. 0000 to Sun 11th Nov. 2359 PODXS 070 Club Triple Play Low Band Sprint- PSK31 Rules here 
* Sat 9th Nov. 0001 to Sun 10th Nov. 2359 10-10 Int. Fall Contest, Digital - Rules here 
* Sat 9th Nov. 0700 to Sun 10th Nov. 1300 JIDX Phone Contest (Japan) - Rules here 
* Sat 9th Nov. 1200 for 36h SKCC Weekend Sprint CW - Rules here 
* Sat 9th Nov. 1200 for 24h OK/OM DX Contest CW - Rules here 
* Sat 9th Nov. 1900-2300 and 0100-0500, Nov 10 (Phone) and 1900-2300, Nov 10 (Phone) and 0100-0500, Nov 11 (CW/Digital) CQ WE Contest - Rules here 
* Wed 13th Nov. 2000-2130 80m Autumn series SSB
* Sat 16th Nov. 1900-2300 2nd 1.8MHz Contest (CW), part of RSGB HF Championship Link to rules here 
* Sat 16th Nov. 1600-2359 All Austrian 160m Contest CW - Link to rules here 
* Sat 16th Nov. 1700-2400 REF 160-Meter Contest (France) CW - Link to rules here 
* Sat 16th Nov. 1200 for 24h LZ DX Contest CW and SSB - Link to rules here 
* Sat 16th Nov. 1800 for 27h South American Integration CW contest - Link to rules here 
* Sat 16th Nov. 1900-2059 Feld Hell Sprint - Link to rules here 
* Sun 17th Nov. 0000-2359 FISTS Sunday sprint CW - Link to rules here 
* Sun 17ht Nov. 1300-1500 (40m) and 1500-1700 (80m) Homebrew and Oldtime Equipment Party CW - Link to rules here 
* Mon 18th Nov. 2000-2130 RSGB FT4 contest

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 

************************

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!
************************

Submissions or comments for this news to thedoctorphil@gmail.com

73 until next week,

Phil G4LPP

GB2CW Morse Corner 08.11.24    News and Views each week

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Morse Classes.

.

Classes are still progressing well but it would be nice to see a few more join them. For example:
.
Jeffrey G0VJH, Stephen M6KYF, James M1TES, Steve and Marie M0YRU and M7YRU, Frankie M7EQR plus those who said they would be joining this autumn. Well, we are well into that season now so no more excuses, let's see you join a class and get it done. WINNERS NEVER QUIT, BUT QUITTERS NEVER WIN.

.
Chris G3XVL Emailed me about the use of a bug. Used incorrectly it can sound terrible. Normally it is the dot/dash ratio that is bad and that tends to make the whole of the sending poor. Here is a video that shows how to "correctly" adjust a Vibroplex Bug key.
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https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=correctly+adjusted+bug+key+for+Morse#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7b9896be,vid:qekmyx31Uxw,st:0
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Then of course you have to learn how to use it properly. That requires a lot of practice. Surprise surprise!
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With all the aurora activity in this solar cycle, it really is great fun working lots of DX on 10m 6m 2m and 70cms with the usual characteristic auroral buzz with the signals being distorted by the aurora. This is exciting to do but NOT so if you are one of the lazy people who use Code Readers. They cannot read CW that sounds like that! Wow, another good reason for LEARNING to use CW properly.
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https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=auroral+cew+signals#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:edb441cd,vid:KwDfu_KvJm8,st:0
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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!
.        Still nobody joins us on Monday evenings. 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 even FOC it's the only way you will get in to those clubs, by showing and proving your proficiency with a paddle. 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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Jeffrey G0VJH is one of the secret listeners apparently. Glad you do listen Jeffrey, but you would be more than welcome if you called into the Net and joined in. Jeffrey has at least now joined NARC, so hopefully he will be joining the NET soon, and one of the Morse Classes too.
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CW OPS
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The four sessions are still going well and we have managed to get decent scores each time. This is a great way of making friends with other amateurs. You may not think that the case, but it is surprising how you do get well known in those sessions and further QSOs follow on. You also receive a very nice Newsletter after you join.
.

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. roger@g3ldi.co.uk May the Morse be with you.

Author Roger Cooke

This is our regular competition where we show an unusual object, tool, gadget or thing-me-bob sent in by one of the NARC members and you have to guess (or maybe you know!) what it is for...

Have a good look at the picture below - what on earth is this or what is it used for  ...?!

You have until 3pm on the next NARC Live to let Tammy and David know... 

We are running low on What on Earths.... please see if you can send a picture of something unusual for the competition - don't forget to tell us what it is too!  Thank you

Please email your answers with the subject 'What on earth' to David & Tammy radio@dcpmicro.com by 3pm latest on the WEDNESDAY OF OUR NEXT NARC LIVE and we will read out all of the entries and tell you what it is!

73 

David G7URP & Tammy M0TC  

Remember please email radio@dcpmicro.com not just reply to the newsletter or any other email address or Facebook otherwise David & Tammy will not receive it directly and may never receive it!   

The last mystery object was a bottle stopper pourer - well done to everyone who got it right and thanks to Paul G3VPT

We are pleased to tell you that we have managed to continue full NARC membership for 2025 at just £10 per member for the year.  This is principally because we are fortunate to have more members than we used to have and although school hire costs have risen by more than 35% we meet less often at CNS than we used to and we do not have any cost incurred in producing NARC Live online.

We appreciate the cost of living pressures are still on us all, so we are again taking a leap of faith in keeping our full membership price to the lowest since the 1980's in the hope and belief that everyone will renew their membership for this very modest outlay for a club which meets weekly and organises many other activities and events for less than 20p per week. 

Club Contesters Note that if you are a CC contester please remember you need to be an up to date paid member to enter valid scores into the club championship contests.

So we invite you to rejoin (or join) NARC now for 2025 and pay us ideally by direct bank transfer (be sure to use your callsign/surname as reference). If you are not a current member please also complete and email the membership form so we have your details.

The new 2025 membership list will be updated weekly and can be viewed on our website, but if you would like a personal receipt please email the treasurer when you pay and he will send acknowledgement within 5 days.

Ways to pay:

Pay directly to our Bank is preferred please

Bank: HSBC
Name: Norfolk Amateur Radio Club
Sort Code: 402008
Account: 31432222 (this is classed as a business account - some banks ask)

IMPORTANT - please be sure to use your callsign as the reference or if you are not licensed your initial and surname and email the treasurer as below

OR

Paypal


1) If you wish to pay direct using Paypal please pay £11.00 to paypal@norfolkamateurradio.org - the extra £1 is to cover their fee charged to us.

Or if you Use Paypal Friends and Family option just pay £10.00 but be sure to use your callsign as a reference. Example below highlighted with yellow box.

Completed Membership forms (for new members only) please email to membership@norfolkamateurradio.org or post to
Mark Taylor G0LGJ
c/o NARC
6 Welden Road
Scarning
Dereham
Norfolk
NR19 2UB

If you pay via bank transfer please inform the Membership Secretary via an email and give the reference you used in your online transaction as banks do not always pass on references.
membership@norfolkamateurradio.org

Download and print Membership Form 2025

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