July Meeting

Car Boot Sale at the Brizen Centre.

Please bring along your unwanted radio and electronic stuff, set up in the car-park and sell to the assembled multitude!  Please only radio related stuff, no domestic items, toys etc.

Sellers – restricted to CARA members only.

Visitors and prospective members will be made welcome, as always.

Thursday 21st July at the Brizen Centre, Up Hatherley Way, located between the Shurdington Road and Morrison’s superstore.  Beware of the height barrier when entering the car-park.

Training Courses

CARA is please to announce dates for the next round of amateur radio licence training courses:

Foundation: 30/31st July 2016

Exam: Monday 1st August 7.30pm

Intermediate: 20/21 August 2016

For more details see the Training page on this website.

To book, send an email to training@caranet.org

We are planning to hold a Full Licence exam in, probably, September. Keep checking this website for details.

Fun Field Day

Over the weekend of 4/5 June CARA members set up camp near Withington. The main aim was to have fun playing with our radios out in the countryside away from urban QRM and with plenty of space in which to erect aerials. We also took the opportunity to take part in both HF CW NFD (National Field Day) and the UK Six Metre Group contest running that weekend.

General view
General view

An advance party arrived on the Friday to set up tents and catering facilities. The main fun began at 9am on Saturday with a splendid cooked breakfast prepared by Smurf 2E0OAV. Work then commenced erecting the stations, masts , towers and aerials. On the contest scene 6m operations commenced at 2pm and HF CW NFD at 4pm.

G0LGS (left) and 2E0MDJ working 6m.
G0LGS (left) and 2E0MDJ working 6m.
M0NQN operating G5BK/P in HF CW NFD.
M0NQN operating G5BK/P in HF CW NFD.

By mid-afternoon many members had arrived on site so the planned barbeque was well attended and much enjoyed, thanks again to Smurf.

2E0OAV preparing the barbeque
The barbeque

A small group stayed on site overnight to man the contest stations, and more members appeared and re-appeared on Sunday morning for another great day out in the country. The weather was glorious, a real scorcher of a day.

By mid-afternoon the contests had ended and with many hands to help everything was quickly dismantled, packed and carted away. Many thanks to everyone who helped.

The event was clearly very popular – more members attended than we sometimes see at our monthly meetings. Many very favourable comments were received along with a repeated plea “Please do it again!”. There are plans!

More photos, from various sources, at:

Photo Albums

June Meeting

This month we are pleased to welcome Peter Chadwick G3RZP as our guest speaker.  Peter is well known in both amateur and professional radio circles.  Over the years he’s written many articles and given numerous talks, some at international meetings.  Peter is a keen HF DXer and is an expert on many radio subjects, especially those relating to”real radio”!

He will be talking to CARA about Aerial Tuning Units (ATUs), or Antenna System Matching Units (ASMUs) if you prefer – a subject which will of interest to many.    The talk will be well illustrated with video pictures.

Thursday 16th June at the Brizen Centre, Up Hatherley Way, Cheltenham, located between Morrison’s superstore and the Shurdington Road.  Beware of the height barrier when entering the car-park.  Doors open by 7.30 for an 8pm start.  Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available after the talk.

Visitors and prospective members will be warmly welcomed, as always.

May Meeting – Report

Another very successful auction!  Auctioneer Tony did a splendid job, with much humour, encouraging us to bid, even for lots we didn’t really want or need!  As a result all but a couple of the lots went under the hammer and club funds benefited significantly  largely thanks to the generous gift to the club of SK items.  Many thanks to everyone who made purchases, without whom the evening would not have been a success.  Thanks also to the following for their contribution to the smooth running of the auction: Auctioneer Tony G3YYH, Record Keeper Barry M0HFY, Money Collector Peter G3YJE, Gatekeeper G8PZD.

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A happy Tim G8PZD next to Smurf 2E0OAV.

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Colin G3TA (on left) and Ken G3LVP.

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Jon M0JMM admiring his purchase.

May Meeting

Another auction!  Yet more “Silent Key” equipment for disposal including an FT-1000MP Mk V Field, an FT-990, a TS-940S (not working), a TS-711 2m multi-mode and many other items including cables, headphones, Morse keys, nuts & bolts, and tools.  Some 80 lots in total.

A full list of items to be auctioned will be published in May’s CARA News prior to the meeting.

The rules governing CARA auctions are published under “The Club” and will also appear in May’s CARA News.

Payments must be made at the end of the evening preferably in cash,  cheques will only be accepted by prior arrangement with the Treasurer (generally limited to CARA members).

The auction will be held on Thursday 19th May at the Brizen Centre, Up Hatherley Way, at 7.30 for 8pm.

To avoid overcrowding, visitors may attend only if invited to do so by a CARA member.

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available as usual.

April Meeting Report

This meeting was a significant meeting. It’s not often that we welcome a Fellow of the Royal Society to speak to us, and it was a great privilege to have Professor Sir Martin Sweeting come to us. Martin (G3YJO) is Executive Chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology (SST) and Chair of AMSAT UK; he came to speak to us about constructing and launching satellites, something he’s been doing for 40 years.

In a report such as this, it’s not possible to cover all the ground that Martin did in his presentation. Martin showed us pictures of the first satellite, in the 1970s, with him and his small team of colleagues, with long hair and young energy, learning how to build a satellite and co-operate with the international space community. SST now turns over £500M and employs 500 staff, and has built and launched around 50 satellites. It’s at the top of the global game with many countries as clients and is still closely associated with Surrey University.

Perhaps it’s the anecdotes that go along with a success story like this that speak most clearly. SST has never had the funding of a NASA, so all development has a different, pragmatic focus.

How do you test your first satellite to ensure that it will still operate after the shock of launch? You put it in the boot of your car, over-inflate the tyres and drive repeatedly at speed on the cobbled High Street of Guildford.

When you need a rapidly rotating and elevating dish to receive and transmit signals to and from your satellite, what do you do? You procure a Bofors gun mount from the Royal Navy, remove the gun and replace it with a dish and other appropriate antenna. You also provide a thrill to the onlookers at Surrey University who want to see if the brick-built tower it’s being craned up to is strong enough.

When you’re struggling to find a launch vehicle, where do you go? You buy a Russian ICBM still in its underground silo for $1M; the Russians remove the warhead and modify the guidance software, and you load your satellite as a peaceful payload.

One bad day, your satellite transmitter is stuck on transmit and is blocking the receiver, so you can’t send command signals to correct the situation . . . so you approach friends who happen to have a huge dish and can use a 3MW signal to sort things out.

It was a privilege to welcome visitors from GARES and the local RAYNET group, and overall about 50 persons were present, including partners and children. Martin’s presentation was fascinating, engrossing and encouraging, encouraging that in the UK we still lead in many areas of technological development.

Martin’s recreation is the restoration of wartime radio equipment. He showed us pictures of his current project, a Wireless Set 53, which is looking great and is expected to be on-air shortly.

Tony G3YYH

April Meeting

Thursday 21st April, 7.30 for 8pm.

We are very pleased indeed to have Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO visit CARA this month. He will be telling us about the Construction and Launching of Satellites. Martin is very well placed to do so as he is the founder of Surrey Satellite Technology and chair of AMSAT-UK. So this will be a very special meeting and we are looking forward to a good attendance. Members of other local radio clubs are welcome to attend, as are visitors and prospective members – please introduce yourselves to a member of the CARA Committee.

The meeting will not take place at our usual venue but at the Cheltenham Area Civil Service Sports Association (CACSSA),Tewkesbury Road, Cheltenham, GL51 9SL. This is located on the left (southern) side of Tewkesbury Road going out of Cheltenham towards Coombe Hill. From the Kingsditch roundabout (by Homebase, PC World, MacDonald’s etc) head towards Coombe Hill and Tewkesbury, passing Sainsbury’s and Aldi. If you reach the new(ish) Fire Station you will have gone too far! There should be plenty of car-parking space available, however there is a charity skittles event being held there the same evening so early arrival is recommended.

March Meeting Report

The club’s annual Constructors’ Exhibition was well attended and there were some very interesting exhibits on display.

Peter G4ENA and Colin G3TA kindly agreed to judge the entries. They complimented the constructors on the quality and variety of their work, and after careful deliberation made the following awards.

The Bill Brown G5BK Memorial Cup for “Best in Show” to Graham G3VKV for his superbly built 144MHz to 3,400MHz Transverter, 50W amplifier and PSU.

The Pat Moore G3IKR Memorial Cup for “Innovative Construction” to Tony G3YYH for his R1155/T1154 PSU, his first major constructional project, ever!

The Roger Kendall G0UPU Memorial Cup for “Best Software or Computer Related Project” to Matt 2E0MDJ for his Air Navigation and Weather Station powered by a Raspberry Pi III.

It was a very enjoyable meeting with much to look at and to talk about, and plenty of time to chat and socialise.

Many thanks to Alan M0NRO for volunteering to man the kitchen and provide us with tea, coffee and biscuits – now free of charge!

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Cup Winners. Left-to-right: Graham G3VKV, Tony G3YYH, Matt 2E0MDJ.

March Meeting

Thursday 17th March at the Brizen Centre, Up Hatherley Way, 7.30 for 8pm.

Annual Constructors’ Exhibition, open to members only.
Three awards on offer:
The Bill Brown G5BK Memorial Cup for “Best in Show”.
The Pat Moore G3IKR Memorial Cup for “Innovative Construction”.
The Roger Kendal G0UPU Memorial Cup for “Best Software or Computer related Project”.

Full rules on this website at Activities/Constructors’ Exhibition.

Visitors and prospective members will be warmly welcomed.

Beware of the height barrier when entering the car-park.