Please join us for our monthly sked with twin town Koblenz this Saturday.
The sked will start at 10.00 BST UK time and be on 7.123MHz plus there is also a local VHF call in to the net controller on 145.250MHz
Everyone welcome!
After 2 years break because of Covid, NARC will again be activating Happisburgh Lighthouse during International Lighthouse Weekend which this year takes place of 20th and 21st August 2022.
This commemorates the many years of Lighthouse and Lightship operations around the world and the association of maritime radio communications.
We will install and operate an HF station using CW and SSB throughout the daytime over weekend as well as a VHF station on Saturday 20th.
The station will be operated from within the Lighthouse and the public will be attending the open day on Sunday 21st. An operating roster will be drawn up shortly, however, in the meantime please advise directly if you wish to assist with either setting up of the station or operating to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
73, Malcolm G3PDH
NARC President
This year the BBC is 100 years old and the BBC Radio Club, which is made up from Radio Amateurs who work or have worked for the BBC, has been granted the special event callsign GB100BBC which can be operated by club members from their homes or BBC premises.
I am a member of this club and applied to use the call from my QTH and I am pleased to say this has been granted for 7 days starting tomorrow Saturday 13th August, although most operating will be done this weekend. I realise that many will have worked this callsign already as it has run since January, but I hope the opportunity for amateurs to work it relatively locally will be nice, especially on shorter range bands such as VHF, UHF and hopefully 1.3GHZ for those who have that capability (including through 23cm repeater GB3NO) where we have erected specific antenna for this. I will also work on HF and hope conditions enable this through the multiband antenna erected on Friday. I expect most contact will be by voice but I may also work some digital modes, especially if conditions are difficult. However we make contact, hopefully there will be time for a little chat instead of just a quick exchange.
As well as in the newsletter this article is also on the Norfolk Amateur Radio Club website and I will endeavour to add notes on when and what band the callsign will be used, so please visit www.norfolkamateurradio.org to find out the latest.
Everyone will be very welcome, especially newcomers who may not be able to use much power, and as well as this weekend I will operate occasionally over the following 5 days, so if you particularly would like to work this call and do not manage to work me over the weekend then drop me an email and I will try and tell you when and where I intend to work during the week.
Please note that details about QSL exchanges and the BBC Radio Club centenary callsign are on the GB100BBC page on www.QRZ.com
Finally I would like to express sincere thanks to my XYL Tammy M0TC and Kevin M0UJD for their tremendous work and support to enable me to do this.
Look forward to a QSO with you...
73, David G7URP
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(LOC JO02LN, 3 miles southwest of Attleborough, Norfolk).
NB: For practical reasons my APRS Digipeater GB7URP will be off the air until August 20th.
The club is considering setting up a station for SSB Field Day over the weekend of 3rd & 4th September.
As well as SSB being a mode which most people can do, the informal event is an ideal way for beginners to see how remote field stations can be set up and contests operate. Its also a great opportunity to get together in person and meet, talk and eat.
However we need to ensure there are enough people to support setting up and running the event, so please contact Malcolm G3PDH by return if you are interested in helping set up and running the station so that we know whether it is viable or not and prepare.
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Thank you
GB2CW Morse Corner Week ending 12.08.22
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The NARC Net.
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Well, regardless of SK night, we are now starting the NARC Net at 20 wpm. On a paddle, this provides reasonable speed and good Morse to encourage those trying out their skils for the first time, or even those not comfortable at higher speeds. This is what the Net was instigated for in the first place so please try to join in. The Net controller will call ON TIME at 8.30 and will listen ONLY for beginners to start with so please DO NOT call before time and DO NOT call until sufficient time has been given to those beginners. There must be dozens of them just busting to join in so let's hope this produces some results!
Once the Net controller has called for those beginners a couple of times, then we can also join in. Then, we can run at 20 wpm for the complete Net or if the controller wishes, he can increase the speed to a suggested level, say 25 wpm.
I am not sure if NARC has any youngsters in the club wishing to learn CW but this week I worked Ryan EI8KW in the CW OPS session.
Following Megan EI5LA at 15 years of age is Ryan EI8KW. Ryan is only 12 and is also taking part in the CW OPS sessions, great stuff! SPeed did not seem to bother him, and I had a chat with him to welcome him to CW OPS. I did slow down a bit though....
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The younger we can get 'em the easier it is!
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Autumn Classes.
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Classes will recommence on Monday October 10th. The first class will be my headcopy class at 1000 local time on GB3NB. I hope there will be more joining the class in October. This date is fast approaching so please think about it and email me if you wish to attend one or more of the classes. The same applies to the idea of a November Bootcamp. I have only had one response so far. However, I have had a few more asking about the date so I guess we will soon have to choose one. Perhaps Phil could suggest a suitable date to not clash with any major contests? Also, would a Saturday or Sunday be preferable?
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RUFZXP
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Phil has surprised us yet again! Congratulations on a great score Phil. Not only that but Phil did get 108 QSOs in one CW OPS session this week, so again, congratulations! Great score there too. Is there no holding him?
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I guess everybody is too busy in the garden or doing antenna work to bother with sitting in the shack practising! The autumn term will find you out, so beware!
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Send your new score to Jim G3YLA by Thursday evening at the latest. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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It would be nice to see some more new entries in this table.
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NARC NET
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3543.00KHz 2030 local time on Monday evenings. Join us for a chat.
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Net Operator's list:
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Malcolm G3PDH
Chris G4CCX
Phil G4LPP
Dick G3WRJ
Roger G3LDI
Les G0DFC
Jim G3YLA
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This is the current list and for Monday 15th August the Net Controller will be Phil G4LPP. You can work out when it will be your turn and please let me know if you cannot do it on that particular night, in which case we will just follow through.
So, Phil, please call, at 20 wpm, for beginners only to check in FIRST. If we have any, please adjust your speed to match theirs and we will all do the same. I shall highlight the next Controller in red for the Monday following the Newsletter.
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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. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. May the Morse be with you.
Welcome to week forty six of NARC’s contest news.
Last year we came first in the local club section of the CC contest series and also first in the RSGB Autumn series. Having now won every leg so far with only one to go in the CC series this year we hope to make a clean sweep.
Results:-
No RSGB contest results have been received here this week so far.
Futher results for the CDXC LF marathon on 160 and 80m this year saw Andy M0NKR win salvers for 160m and 80m as well as 3rd place certificate for MGM modes.
Contests:-
Andy M0NKR entered the IOTA contest achieving 900 QSOs.
The 144MHz Low power test ran on 6th August and the 70cm one ran the next day. I believe I was the only entry for NARC with 40 QSOs on 2m and 22 on 70cm.
The 432MHz UKAC ran on tuesday 9th August. Conditions were quite good with tropo and activity was high with 183 logs submitted. There were 4 entries from NARC.
The 50MHz UKAC ran on Thursday 11th August. At the time of writing there had been 61 logs received. 10 stations were active from NARC with 9 who will be entering logs. Conditions were annoyingly poor with the good Es opening to Italy fading here just as the contest began. It faded just a bit later elsewhere allowing some outside our area to work one or two long haul stations. 9 NARC entries is, I believe, a new record for this contest.
There have been no RSGB HF contests this week.
We are always on the lookout for new contesters to add to our team and welcome people of any ability who either wish to add their score to ours or develop their skills.
Note, NARC contest net takes place every Friday evening at 9pm clock time on 145.250MHz. This is a useful place to exchange contest information and get help with logging and station setup issues etc.
Contest reports are always appreciated from any club members.
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The CW open series of championships is due on the first Saturday in September. It is, as the name implies, open to all amateurs. It would be great if as many of us as possible can take part to put the club on the map!
See below for an email from the contest manager, Bruce N1LN :-
Here is information about the upcoming CWOPS open championship, open to everyone, not just CWOPS members:-
Get ready for one of the most TIME FLEXIBLE and fun CW contests of the year. The CW Open contest is managed by the CWOps club with Trophies and Plaques sponsored by ICOM America. The CW Open contest is comprised of three individual sessions, each four hours long. These sessions are all on September 3, and spread across a 24 hour period so as to level the propagation playing field globally. Here is the schedule for the three sessions.
Session 1: Sept 3 (00:00 – 03:59 UTC)
Session 2: Sept 3 (12:00 – 15:59 UTC)
Session 3: Sept 3 (20:00 – 23:59 UTC)
Below are a few of the contest details, but for a complete description go to: https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/cw-open/
Each session is separately logged, checked and awarded. 3 separate contests!
Who: Open to all amateur radio operators, worldwide
Modes: CW only
Operator categories: Single operator
Power categories: HP (more than 100 watts); LP (more than 5 watts up to 100 watts); QRP (5 watts of less)
Use of spotting: No limitations on using clusters, RBN or skimmers, but please, no self-spotting.
Exchange: QSO number + given name (e.g. 12 John).
Scoring: 1 point per QSO per band (each session); 1 multiplier for callsign the first time it is worked (each session). Scores start at 0 for each session. Work someone once per band per session.
Reporting: Separate logs for each session. Logs must be in Cabrillo format and may be submitted via https://cwops.contesting.com/ Paper logs are NOT accepted!
Logging: CW Open is supported by many logging programs. See https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/cw-open/
Teams: Team competition is supported (see https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/cw-open/#team for signup). No geography limitations.
Awards:
Trophy, high score, each session, each ITU Region (max of 9 trophies)
Trophy, high combined score (all sessions), each ITU region (max of 3 trophies)
Plaque, high score, each of HP, LP and QRP, each session, each ITU region (max of27 plaques)
If the same entrant wins multiple awards, the awards may be combined.
Minimum of 100 QSOs (after log checking) is required to qualify for and win an award in each session
Thanks in advance for your participation. Hope you will have fun!!
73,
Bruce N1LN
CW Open Manager
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I received an e-mail from Jim G3YLA alerting me to the results of the RSGB international LowPower HF contest of 17/7/22. I'm pleased to report several successes for NARC members. Jim G3YLA came 7th in the UK 5w Fixed section, Peter M0RYB came 3rd with a certificate in the same section, Dick G3WRJ came 5th in the UK 5w portable section and Mark G0TMT was portable in this test achieving second place in the UK 10w portable section and gains a certificate. Congratulations to them all.
I received this e-mail from the organisers of the WW Digi DX contest, worth a mention here for those with an interest in such things - 1200 Sat August 27th for 24h:-
Please consider participating in WW Digi DX Contest.
FT4 and FT8 are used, with separate contest subbands as described in
https://ww-digi.com/ .
Normal FT8 QSOs are valid in the WW Digi contest, so you can
give points and multipliers on standard FT8 frequencies:
please allow stations already worked to call you again and
answer CQ with TX1 (giving your locator).
We kindly ask you for your LOG even if you made just few normal QSOs in
contest 24 hour period.
Adif format can easily be converted to cabrillo format on
https://ww-digi.com/adif/ page.
Thanks a lot, 73 and CU contest
Don, AA5AU
Ed, W0YK
Iztok, S52D
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Note that the Autumn series of 80m club contests will begin shortly after a 1 month break. We are hoping many club members will wish to join in. Rules at RSGB contest site.
Upcoming contests in the next 2 weeks:-
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.
* Fri 12th August 1500 to Sun August 14th 1459 MMMonVHF/DUBUD 144MHz MS sprint contest - see WA7BNM
* Sun 14th August 1400-1600 70MHz Cumulatives #5
* Tue 16th August 1900-2130 1.3GHz UKAC
* Thu 18th August 1900-2130 70MHz UKAC
* Tue 23rd August 1830-2130 SHF 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 https://ft8activity.eu/index.php/en/
On HF
* Sat 13th August 0000 to Sun 14th August 2359 WAE DX CW contest - see WA7BNM
* Sat 13th August 1200 to Sun 14th August 2400 SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - CW - see WA7BNM
* Sat 13th August 1200 to Sun 14th August 1200 Keyman's club of Japan Contest - CW - see WA7BNM
* Sat 13th August 1200-1300 SARL Youth sprint - 40m SSB - see WA7BNM
* Sat 13th August 1600-1800 FISTS Saturday sprint - see WA7BNM
* Sat 20th August 1800 to Sun 21st August 0559 North America SSB QSO party - see WA7BNM
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 this contest is 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
Submissions or comments for this news to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
73 until next week,
Phil G4LPP
All these events
• Facebook Live:
www.facebook.com/norfolkamateurradioclub/
• BATC Streaming service:
www.batc.org.uk/live/NARC
August 3: NARC Live online featuring Eric Schwartz WA6HHQ - the man behind Elecraft
August 17: NARC Live online featuring ‘The use of RIBs on Expeditions’ with Hal W8HC
August 31: NARC Live online featuring talk on Ham Radio Deluxe
August 10: Meeting at CNS School - social plus informal round table discussion (subject suggestions welcome!)
August 24: Meeting at CNS School - social plus informal round table discussion (subject suggestions welcome!)
Use the links below to contact us
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Exam Sec
CLUB MEETINGS - NARC Live!
During the current Covid-19 pandemic when the club cannot physically meet, the club now broadcasts its own magazine show NARC Live! every Wednesday with news, features and guests.
It is streamed online live from 19.30 BST at the following places:
• Facebook Live:
www.facebook.com/norfolkamateurradioclub/
• BATC Streaming service:
www.batc.org.uk/live/NARC
The club meets virtually every Wednesday throughout the year in the sixth form centre of the City of Norwich School, Eaton Road, Norwich, NR4 6PP from 1900-2130.
We welcome anyone of any age, gender or ability and who enjoys experimenting with radio and electronics to come and meet us and see what we do in our hobby.
Please see above ONLINE tab for details of the club programme and below this piece for contacts of club official.
WATCHING PREVIOUS NARC LIVE's...
If you missed a NARC Live we now we record most shows in the studio and upload them to Youtube within 2 days. So you can watch almost any previous recorded NARC Live show by going to YouTube, searching for "Norfolk ARC", click on Videos and choose the programme you want to watch. https://www.youtube.com/c/norfolkamateurradio/videos