Club News - Archive (2020)

Club Net - Change of frequency - 145.375 MHz

28 Dec 2020

Please note the change of frequency for our regular Sunday evening 2m Net & Activity Night. For the past two Sundays the old frequency of 145.425 MHz has been occupied, possibly by another net some distance away, so we are proposing to use a new frequency of 145.375 MHz.

The Net will now be held:
Every Sunday evening at 7:00pm Local time, on 145.375 MHz FM
The main aim of the net is to promote and encourage more local activity, so remember the the net is open to everybody, you do not have to be a club member to join in.

A Message from the RSGB Region 6 Rep.

25 Dec 2020

We have received a Message from the RSGB Regional Representative for North Wales (Region 6)

Hi All

We are coming to the end of a challenging year which has seen many clubs use virtual methods of keeping in contact with Zoom meetings, outdoors (socially distanced) activities including SES's and virtual talks. Obviously, this looks like continuing into 2021 but, with vaccines on the horizon, hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel.

We also welcome a new (revived) club into RSGB. Rhyl and District ARC have recently become affiliated and I wish them all the very best for the future and look forward to them taking part in joint Club activities. So, I send my very best wishes to you all for Christmas and for a better New Year 2021. Please distribute this to your members via your websites and Club Facebook pages.

I have decided to stand for the post of Regional Representative for Region 6 North Wales. I was co-opted earlier this year but that only stands until the 2021 AGM of the Society. If I wish to continue in the role I need to stand for election. Once Christmas is over I shall be asking for 10 nominators so if you feel you can support me I would be grateful. The procedure is done on line and any nominators must be members of RSGB. If there are multiple candidates there will be a formal election and I would appreciate you asking your members to vote. Voters also need to be members of RSGB. Thank you.

It just remains for me to say Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

73 Liz (Cabban)
GW0ETU
RR6

Merry Christmas!

23 Dec 2020

Wishing all our club members, and all Radio Amateurs, both locally and afar, A Merry Christmas and a Happy, and Healthy New Year.

Club 2m Net/Activity nights - Sunday evenings

21 Dec 2020

Our regular Sunday evening 2m net/activity night is held at 7pm on 145.425MHz FM. (Though we may have to consider choosing another frequency as last night we suffered a little QRM)

After our net last night a few of us QSYd to 144.250 MHz SSB as a test, and found that even using the same antennas and power levels that we were using on FM, it was much easier for all stations to copy each other. Between us we were using a mix of vertical and horizontally polarised antennas, and even with the cross polarisation loss it seemed to be better.

Not all of our club members are equipped for 2m SSB, and the whole point of the net is to encourage more local activity, so we want to include as many people (both members and non-members!) as possible, so we cannot move our main net over to SSB. However, if there is enough interest we will try to meet up on SSB after the FM net has finished every week in future.

Club RSGB Affiliation

18 Dec 2020

Our RSGB Affiliation has now been confirmed. Although our membership officially starts on 1st January 2021, our benefits start immediately. We can now enter any of the contests organised by the RSGB, and we are also covered by the RSGB third party liability insurance during any of our club activities.

Online Club Meetings

12 Dec 2020

We are currently considering the feasibility of having regular weekly or monthly online video meetings, in addition to our weekly net on 2m FM.

There are several alternatives we could use - Zoom, Facebook Rooms, or Skype etc. Zoom charges around £20 per month so is out of the question for now, Facebook Rooms are free, but would exclude almost half of our members who are not on Facebook!. So we are looking at the possibility of using Microsoft Skype Meetings, which allows up to 100 people for free.

Please let us know if you would be interested in participating. Hopefully we can chat about it on our usual Sunday evening 2m net tomorrow.

144MHz FMAC contests

08 Dec 2020

Now that we have reapplied for our Club RSGB Affiliation, would anyone be interested in taking part in the 144MHz FMAC (FM activity contests) next year??

We are suggesting this contest for starters as it is the simplest contest to enter, and just about everyone is equipped for 2m FM from home.

For those that may not know, all you do is go on 2m FM (from home, the car, or /P on top of a hill somewhere), for 55 minutes on the 1st Tuesday of every month (1900-1955 local time), and work as many people as you can. You exchange call-signs, serial number (starting at 001 each session) and locator square (e.g. IO83gh). At the end of each session you submit your log (We can help you with that if necessary). Your personal scores are then calculated, and the scores of all club members are added up to represent the club score.

There’s no pressure, it’s just for fun. Obviously with our location and membership numbers we have no chance of winning, but it would be nice if we were not last! The chances are that each of us will probably only make half a dozen or so contacts each session, but it’s a bit of fun and helps to encourage more activity.

You don’t even have to be a member of the RSGB, you just need to be an official member of our club for your scores to count for our club total.

(To check if you are on the club membership list, go to the About Us page - if you are not on the list just click on the Join Us button at the bottom of that page, there are no membership fees!)

For full rules and dates - RSGB 144MHz FMAC

Anyone interested in having a go??

Club Net/Activity night - 145.425MHz Sundays 7pm

04 Dec 2020

Just a reminder that we now have a regular Club Net / Activity night every Sunday evening at 7:00pm, on 145.425MHz FM. We had a trial run over the last three weeks and it has proved very successful, so it is now going to be a regular weekly feature. The net is open to anyone, not just club members, so if you can hear us, please join us. Even if you don’t have the time to stay on and chat for a while, please just call in and say hello, everyone is welcome.

RSGB Affiliation

28 Nov 2020

We are intending to re-apply for our RSGB affiliation in the very near future. Although we are currently operating as a “Virtual Club” with no regular formal meetings or membership fees, we would like to be able to take part in some contests and special events as soon as the Covid-19 situation allows. (Hopefully early to mid 2021, depending on the vaccination program). Entry to some contests requires RSGB affiliation, and the third party liability insurance provided by the RSGB to affiliated clubs would be very useful, so we have decided to re-apply.

To apply for affiliation we need to send to the RSGB a copy of our constitution (there's one on our website), a list of current officers of the club, and a statement of how many members we have and the proportion of them that are RSGB members.

If anyone else would like to join the club before we apply (there are no fees!), then please use the "Join us" link on the website, and don’t forget to select whether or not you are an RSGB member!

Club Net - 145.425MHz Sundays 7pm

11 Nov 2020

It has been proposed by Martyn GW6ITJ that we try an informal club net, or activity evening, on two metres FM (simplex), to see if we can generate a bit more activity locally. We are suggesting 145.425 MHz FM (S17 / V34 if you prefer channel numbers), at 7pm, on Sunday evenings.
Our first net will take place on Sunday 15th November 2020 at 7pm. Please call in if you can, anyone/everyone is welcome, you don’t have to be a club member.

Note added 16 Nov 2020: We had quite an encouraging start for our 1st club net for many years. Five of us were on, GW6ITJ, GW8NZN, GW4EHZ, MW0IDX, & the club call GW4ARC (op. by GW4HDR). Thanks all for joining in, and hopefully next week we will get even more.

Coronavirus social distancing and self-isolation

20 Mar 2020

These terrible times of danger and uncertainty caused by the Coronavirus/Covid-19 Pandemic, where we are all practicing 'Social distancing', and many are 'self-isolating', present a great opportunity for increased use of Amateur Radio.
Most of us are spending a lot more time at home than we used to, and many will be missing the social contact of family and friends already. Amateur radio is a great way to help by allowing us to keep in touch with friends, old and new, while not leaving the comfort and safety of our own homes. With our busy lives amateur radio has been neglected over recent years, but now is a great time to get back into it.
So why not make a brew, go into the shack, and fire up a radio or two, and come and join us on the bands. Let’s see if we can get a local net or two going, where we can all regularly keep in touch and cheer ourselves up.
2m FM is the ideal band for local nets as most amateurs are likely to be equipped for it, so give a call out on 145.500MHz and let’s see if we can get some activity going.

Ray GW3MDK SK

10 Jan 2020

We have been informed today by his close friend, Brian GW3HGL, that Ray Jones, GW3MDK, sadly passed away yesterday afternoon aged 84. Ray was a very keen and active member of the neighbouring Conwy Valley Amateur Radio Club for many years, and was also a member of our club for a while. He was well-known to most local radio amateurs and will be sadly missed by all. R.I.P. GW3MDK SK

Happy New Year

01 Jan 2020

There seems to be a welcome revival of interest in Amateur Radio at the moment, with all the new Foundation, Intermediate and Full callsigns appearing on the bands. I wonder if 2020 is the right time to start thinking about the possibility of re-starting formal meetings of the club? Do you think there is enough local interest to restart the Rhyl & District Amateur Radio Club as a fully functioning club?? If you would be interested please get in touch with us and let us know.
Happy New Year to everyone...

Club Website move

30 Dec 2019

I've moved the club website to a new web hosting account today. I've also taken this opportunity to redesign the site to make it more mobile-friendly. If anyone has any useability issues with the new website design please contact us and let us know.
I'm also considering re-instating the old "Messageboard". Even though we now have our own Facebook group, I'm very aware that many people prefer not to (or downright refuse to!) use Facebook, so the messageboard could provide a useful way for those people to keep in touch with us.
I'm going to have to recode the messageboard pages and create a new database for it, so this may take me a few weeks, but the messageboard will eventually return.

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