Category Archives: News

Club Christmas meal @ the Masons Arms

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A Club Christmas meal is being planned for approx. 7:30pm Wednesday 9th December at the Masons Arms on the A38 at Rudgeway. Partners are welcome two.

Would all those who wish to attend please add your name and menu choices to the list and ensure that your payment of £8.79 is forwarded to the Chairman prior to Saturday 10th October.

Please choose from the menu below:

STARTERS

HONEY ROAST PARSNIP SOUP
Served with bread & butter

CRUNCHY BUTTON MUSHROOMS
With garlic mayonnaise dip

PRAWN COCKTAIL
Prawns, crisp baby gem lettuce and seafood sauce with bread & butter

MAINS

YOUR CHOICE FROM OUR CARVING DECK

OR

SUN BLUSH TOMATO & SQUASH KIEV
Sun blush tomato, butternut squash, chickpeas and red peppers mixed with a hint of garlic and encased in breadcrumbs

HELP YOURSELF TO FRESHLY STEAMED OR ROASTED VEG, POTATOES, STUFFING AND GRAVY

PUDDINGS

DAIRY ICE CREAM
Help yourself to all you can eat ice cream and sauces then add your choice of topping

CHRISTMAS PUDDING*
Served with brandy sauce or custard

KENTISH BRAMLEY APPLE PIE
Served with a choice of custard or ice cream

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE YULE LOG
Served with fluffy cream

PROFITEROLES
With Belgian chocolate sauce

Paul
M0ZMB

D STAR

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Rather inspired on by Peter’s G4OST talk on D Star capablities wondered if any other member might like to join me in ‘further investigation’ perhaps even a club interest group!?  I like the idea of broader band capabilties and use of internet gateways particularly as technology advances. I spend a lot of time working away and like the idea of a simple desk top set up that sees to be relitively low cost and easy to port.

I have also come by (as you do) a very cheap I Com IC E2820 FM Transciever (link) with DV mode capabilities and with it’s software module (UT-123) pre-installed. John G6HIV (Essex) was selling one radio as he has two in the shack already using D Star.

Like to try that out at our (a) next on-air night if anyone else is up for that ? Be a bit of stab into the unknown for me although I do use ecolink a far bit?!…. but I like my technology so should be ok.I’ll bring the radio anyway and we can go from there.

Catch you all at club

Best

Mark

 

 

Royal Signals Visit

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On Saturday 29th September the Thornbury and South Gloucestershire Amateur Radio Club visited the Royal Signals museum at Blandford Forum. The visit was instigated by Rex, Peter and John who provided CW coaching to the general public at the 2014 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta as part of a BBC World War one exhibit.

Royal_Sigs_Mus

A good day was had with many exhibits to be viewed from the early semaphore systems and the reasons why to modern day encrypted systems as used in Afghanistan.

The on-site Cafe served us very well with mid-morning snacks and an excellent three course lunch hihi.

In addition to the museum a well stocked gift shop allowed members to purchase gift items and also some equipment as used by the services today. Some members also visited the Camp shop where more equipment was available.

Royal_Sigs_Group

Four vehicles travelled to Blandford as a single vehicle and a loose format convoy carrying 12 people. My thanks to the drivers.

M0ZMB
Paul

 

DIY Wouxun Programming Cable

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I use a Wouxun KG-UVD1P handheld radio for all my operations. A few extra features can be used with the addition of a programming cable. These include:

  • Expanding the Tx and Rx range of the radio
  • Programming HAM repeaters into the memory
  • Changing some advanced settings

The cable required currently costs £5.69 from Ebay (link). Looking at the specification of the cable, I decided to look into the option of making one myself.

Parts List

Build

The build process is very simple. Three connections need to be made, as shown in the below diagram.

Circuit Diagram

As I used a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable, I simply cut it in half, and used a multimeter to match the wires up to the correct connections on the plug. I used some heat-shrink to make everything look nice, and then I was finished. I made sure to check the connections before using the cable.

Image of the cable I madeUsage

In order to use the cable, you need to install a driver, and Wouxun programming software.

  • Download and extract the Windows 8/8.1/10 driver from Prolific’s website (link).
  • Open “Device Manager”
  • You should see “Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port” under the “Ports” submenu
  • Right click on the device, and click “Properties”

Screenshot of Device Manager

  • Go to the “Driver” tab and click “Update Driver…”
  • Click “Browse my computer for driver software”
  • Choose “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
  • Click “Have Disk”
  • Navigate to the driver that you downloaded earlier, and choose the “ser2pl.inf” file
  • Click “OK” to install the driver

Once that is done, you should be set to go. You can download the Wouxun programming software from their website (link). To program the radio, plug in both headphone jacks, and turn the radio on. Wouxun’s programming software will work automatically and is fairly easy to use.

Conclusion

Despite being slightly harder to set up than the official cable, this DIY option is much cheaper and does the job. Hopefully you find this guide useful, and if anyone has any questions, just post them in the comments below.

-Peter Barnes

Directory / email problem

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There is a problem with sending mail from our website directory.  This problem appears to only effect mail sent to members with Gmail accounts.

The problem has been ongoing since 10th August.

I am investigating and will post an update once resolved.

Andrew
G0RVM

Pizza’s at Paulos

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All members, their partner’s and children are cordially invited to an afternoon and evening of Pizzas produced in my Wood-fired Pizza Oven.

The usual toppings will be provided along with standard and Gluten free bases but please bring any special toppings you like along with your favourite drink.

The  afternoon is planned with your arrival around 3pm Sunday 16th August however if you would like to be present for the lighting please arrive just prior to 1pm (however you will need to entertain yourselves whilst I then finish preparation).

Please RSVP to myself with numbers by Thursday PM.

My address can be obtained within the members area or by sending me an email.

 

Paul
M0ZMB

 

 

Website directory

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How many people know that our website has a members directory?  You do, great 🙂  But do you know what can be done with it?  No, read on….

Unsurprisingly our directory contains a list of all members and their contact information. 😉  All members receive a login account to the website when they become TSGARC members.  This account can be used to publish articles or news items, such as this, but also to access the directory.  When a website login account is created or removed the directory is also updated to ensure they are both aligned but unfortunately its a manual two-step process.  Website updates to create member accounts and ensure the directory is aligned are performed by the Secretary or Webmaster, if you spot a problem with the directory please let them know.

The directory lets members identify the contact information of other members.  But it also has two other nice features relating to email.  The first allows members to email another individual member directly via the website.  The second allows members to email an entire group of members.  Let me explain.  Each member has a role or position in the club.  Chairman, Treasurer, Webmaster are examples of positions but there are others too.  One really cool position is Members.  Emailing the Members position will send an email to all current TSGARC members.

Another example. Lets say you wanted to email the Treasurer but you’re not sure who that is.  Well, you can email the Treasurer position and let the directory and website work out who that is 🙂

In addition to simple information such as name, telephone, email etc the directory can contain other information such as a photograph.  So, if you have a photo you are invited to add it to your entry in the directory.  For an example see my entry 🙂

Access to the directory can be achieved by selecting the Member contact link from the TSGARC home page.  Its the first item on the SUB-MENU which is located towards the top right hand side.

Hopefully this short update is useful.

Andrew
G0RVM
Webmaster

RSGB national SSB field day

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The RSGB SSB field-day takes place over the weekend of 5 & 6th of September.  I agreed earlier in the year to organise something but now realise I am not available that weekend so organising a field event is difficult.

Would someone else like to organise this event?

To take part in the contest our station would need to comply with these RSGB guidelines.

Andrew
G0RVM

HF Net

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Guys we have dabbled with having an agreed HF net in the past. I for one would like to see us have a regular QST HF net on a designated day, time etc. Has anyone got any thoughts on this…band…frequency…day etc. I’d also like to put forward a suggestion that we consider a mobile HF net at some point. Even dabble with HF mobile set ups etc for those that are not mobile yet or even considered it. Comments??? Mark M6KMJ