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.

February Meeting – Report

The annual “Sale of Surplus Equipment” was well attended, with 38 people signing in.  We were please to welcome at least a couple of new faces;  we hope to see you again.

The quantity of stuff for sale was not as great as in previous years but there were bargains to be had and everyone seemed to have a good time.  Some stayed very late to enjoy a good chat!

 

February Meeting

The meeting to be held on Thursday 18th February will be  the annual “Sale of Surplus Equipment”, although these days it might be better called a “Table Top Sale” as we get a lot of stuff being offered in addition to equipment, such as aerials, cables,  components, connectors and computer bits and pieces.

Members are invited to bring along items which they wish to dispose of, find space on a table and then start to sell to – not forgetting to have a good haggle in the process!  Please only bring along stuff related to radio – definitely no household goods let alone fluffy toys!

The meeting is timed at 7.30 for 8pm and will take place at the usual venue: the Brizen Young Peoples’ Centre, Up Hatherley Way, located between the Shurdington Road and Morrisons superstore. Beware of the height barrier when entering the car-park.  Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available – now free of charge!

Visitors and prospective members will be warmly welcomed.

January Meeting – Report

A well attended meeting heard Giles G0NXA tell us about the Smith Chart and how it can be used to help match an aerial to a transmission line.  He had downloaded a program from the internet and used this to demonstrate what could be achieved with the Smith Chart.  We’re grateful to Giles for taking so much trouble to present this long delayed follow-up to his talk on aerial matching last August.

Also at the meeting, two awards  for 2015 were presented.

The John Holt G3GWW Trophy, awarded to a member performing exceptional service ,  went to Andrew (Smurf) 2E0OAV, a relative newcomer to amateur radio.  The award recognised his enthusiastic approach to the hobby,  his work introducing amateur radio to members of his Scout troop,  his involvement with Jamboree on the Air, his efforts negotiating the use of a portable site at Withington for use by CARA for the 2015 Fun Field Day and his extensive contribution to that Field Day.  The photo shows Smurf receiving the Trophy from Chairman Tony G3YYH.

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The Bernard King G3CEG Memorial Cup went to Iain M0PCB for his noteworthy and praiseworthy on-the-air activities.  He has been very active in contests.  Some examples: in March 2014 he operated as VP2MXI from Monserrat in the Caribbean for the RSGB Commonwealth Contest with much success and in 2015 he was a member of, and sole CW operator for, a leading multi-mode station in the RSGB’s IOTA contest.  Also in 2014 he was a member of the Special Event Station team at Mill Hill School celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first ever radio contact between Europe and New Zealand.  In 2015 he took part in the C5X DXpedition to Gambia which handed out very many QSOs to amateurs worldwide.  The photo shows Iain receiving the cup from Chairman Tony G3YYH.

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Thanks go to Mike G3LHU for manning the kitchen and providing us with much appreciated cups of tea and coffee – plus biscuits of course!