1

Est. 1938 Club Call G4HRS

The Journal of

Horsham Amateur Radio Club

September 2019

Sponsored by: Affiliated to:

2

Contents

In this issue

3. Notes from the Editor

QRN and identical?

6. Test the pings

Spectacular nights

9. Tuned in

Lifts, regular news update and space reception

15. Diary of events

Full listings for the month

Cover photo: August club curry evening at Haldi

Published by Horsham Amateur Radio ClubHARCNEWS is produced at home by G4JHI

3

I’ve gone into the Ip camera industry… well I purchased one which fitted the bill and had everything I needed and worked perfectly. Hours later I thought it might be wise to check if there were any EMC issues with it and I am glad that I did. Using my hand held on the 2 metre band there was pulsating interference although was undetectable using my dipole at roof height.

Editorial

I then checked 70 cms and that was even worse and could be heard over a much larger range. I then did some scanning and found that the racket peaked on the wireless exempt band at 863MHz. Since I use wireless speakers around the house which also use this latter frequency it was causing severe issues! I put the camera contents back in the box and arranged a return complete with a full description of the radiated interference.

The unit itself and the box it came in was CE marked but I would certainly question as to whether it does in fact meet the EMC standards. I soon found a replacement which cost a bit more but was similar in size and there was no detectable interference on any of the aforementioned frequency ranges. However I did find that a racket is transmitted around 50MHz!

This was only a problem when connected via an Ethernet cable so if it is an issue one can connect the camera to WiFi which appeared to resolve the issue. The camera that I kept had much of the same features and is controlled by a smartphone app and can use either an Ethernet or WiFi connection of which I use the former. Unfortunately only DHCP can be used so one cannot set for a particular wanted ip address of which I prefer. A small SD card is used for recording and cloud storage recording is also available if you so wish on a subscription basis.

Questions have arisen regarding the photo that appeared on the front cover of the July 2019 edition and the cow that was spotted during Glastonbury coverage. I can inform readers that they are not directly connected. However strange, both photos relate to something in the same ball park……..!

Mystery cattle to be revealed in 2020! Glastonbury cow

David G4JHI

Copy deadline for emailed items for October edition 20th September - For written items the deadline is 12th September.

For items sent by email please send to this address:

harc.news@g4jhi.co.uk

4

5

HARC AUTUMN JUNK SALE

Thursday October 3rd 2019

2000 Hours start Doors open 1930 for viewing and arrival of items Free entry Food available The Guide Hall Denne Road Horsham RH12 1JF See you there!

6

Meteors

By Alister G3ZBU

August is the season we see the arrival of the Perseid meteor shower, or rather the Earth's orbit takes us through the debris of the comet known as Swift-Tuttle. Because amateurs have been using meteor scatter as a method of long-distance communications on VHF for many years, the subject is quite relevant.

The advent of SDR receivers around the world has enabled their detection on a 24-hour basis. The meteor trail reflects radio waves and the upper atmosphere wind speed causes a Doppler shift on the return signal.

In the past, they were typically only observed at night even though meteors appear all the time. Early morning is the peak time. A very useful website shows meteors detected by a 143MHz radar as a waterfall-type display. During August it records over one hit per minute. There are events detected throughout the whole year.

See https://www.meteorscan.com/meteor-live.html

7

Another UK group have set up an optical system using composite-output video cameras. If something is detected then the image is downloaded onto their web page.

30 cameras have been set up all over the country including Bideford, East Barnet and Chard. Even Pete Lawrence, one of the presenters of 'The Sky at Night', is listed.The last pictures were taken at 04:28 this morning (19th August). I must say that seeing anything interesting in these snapshots is not easy.

See https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/live/#/

RADIO & COMPUTER BOOT SALES 2019

Nr ANDOVER

Organised by The Andover Radio Amateur Club For further details please e-mail arac@arac.org.uk

CLUB WEBSITE - www.arac.org.uk Tables in the Hall £10

£8 per Boot & £2 Buyers Postcode for your Satnav - SP11 ØJE

Sellers 9am - Buyers 10am

SUNDAY 28th APRIL SUNDAY 8th SEPTEMBER

8

9

Broadcast Listener

By David’s 2E0NKC and G4JHI

All times BST and frequencies in MHz or kHz

FMOn the 27 and 28th June a big lift was in full swing causing havoc with normal VHF broadcast reception. On the latter day whilst trying to receive BBC Radio Sussex at 08:00 for the local news, travel and weather forecast on 95.1MHz from Horsham Arts Centre a distance of about ¾ of a mile from the Editors QTH it was simply wiped out by the continent!

A quick retune to 104.8MHz which is the Burton Down (near Arundel) transmitter and that wasn’t any good either! Finally clear reception on 104.5MHz from Heathfield! This was using a Sony portable and a solution probably would have been to retune to DAB but this particular receiver doesn’t have that! It was noted that band 2 was full up of French stations in between and over some of the normal UK stations!

There have been some good ‘lifts’ on VHF this summer. On June 28th going down the A24 in the car at Buck Barn cross roads it was found by 2E0NKC that BBC Radio Sussex (Horsham) was “overtaken” on 95.1 by France Bleu, Le Harve. Back at home using a portable receiver and a telescopic antenna France Culture, Caen on the same frequency, Rouen 94.0 and Neufchalet-En-Bray on 96.0 and unknown transmitter on 98.0 were heard with the programme “Le Journal”. On 95.5 BBC Somerset from Mendip was coming in like a local. On July 23rd two UNID Spanish stations were heard at 16:50 on 90.5 and 91.6, at 16:50 but they vanished suddenly!

Medium-waveCzech domestic station CRO Plus has introduced news in English Monday to Friday from 21:34 to 21:39 heard here on 1071. Transmitter sites are Ostrava and Ceské Budejovice. Panjab Radio and Love Sport Radio have swopped frequencies. Love Sport is now on 1584 and Panjab Radio is now on 558 from Crystal Palace (see separate letter below).

Short-wave“DP – 07” is a summer only weather forecast in German and English for the North Sea and Baltic on 6005 via Kall, Germany. Id heard as “all ships, all ships this is DP-07”. Radio Babanga is a service for South Sudan heard at 16:30 via Vatican. Radio Dabanga is run by Dutch “Free Press Unlimited” for the Dafur region of South Sudan accordingly to the WRTH. WBCQ, Montecello, Maine, USA is testing a new 500Kw transmitter and antenna system.

Heard at 08:00 on 9330. The project is being financed by Worlds Last Chance Ministries which will use the ‘steerable’ antenna to different parts of the world. New station Radio for Peace International heard in French at 2100 on WRMI, Florida on 15770. Chinese engineers have repaired the China Radio International at Bamako, Mali heard with CRI in English at 21:00 on 13630. Voice of Nigeria is now using new 11769.9 in the early evenings including English. Voice of Vietnam, Son Tay, has English at 20:00 on 7280.

10

On July 22nd All India Radio English to UK was noted on 9500 instead of 9445 at 21:45. This probably was an error at the Bengalaru transmitter site as back daily now on 9445. Trans World Radio, Swaziland signs on with jingles and English Id Mondays to Fridays on new 13580 (ex 15105) with big signal. Harmony Radio heard some weekend’s evenings on 5780. Radio Echo of Hope, Taereung, South Korea broadcasts to North Korea heard at 21:00 in Korean on 4885 with lightning QRN. QRN static from storms over the UK and Europe has been severe some evenings on frequencies below 7000.

11

12

QSL’s receivedKBS World Radio, Seoul, 9515 via Kimje – card + information folder for report sent in October 2018

Voice of Mongolia, 6005 via Kall – card showing Mongolian artists drawing scene in Gobi desert

Japanese Short Wave Club, 7290 – card, club information, postcard of Mount Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture for report of JSWC DX Report on Adventist World Radio DX show ‘Wavescan’ on Italian Radio Relay Service. Card direct from Kamakura, Japan. Sent $2 for return postage

Voice of Korea, Kujang, 13760 – card showing pictures of Kim Hyok and Kim Jong. Winners of mixed doubles in 52nd World Table tennis Championship

Punjab Radio, 558 from Crystal Palace – letter from Jessica Memon, Operations Manager

African Pathways Radio, 11965 via Mahajanga Amparemahitsy, Madagascar – card saying transmitter on a 120 DB gain antenna beamed to Central Africa

Radio stations available on satelliteWe have had a request for information about International radio stations available via satellite. So this time we will be looking at audio coming through your TV speakers, HiFi or soundbar courtesy of the Editor. Even though most radio stations around the world are available via the Internet there is still much enjoyment to be had from space and perhaps in higher quality!

Transmissions from the following are in either DVB-S or DVB-S2 formatEutelsat 5 West A at 5.0°WThere are many domestic stations from France to be heard on this bird. Examples are:NRJ FranceFrance MusiqueFipFrance BleuCheck out the following transponders: (Frequency/Polarization/Symbol rate/Fec)(Note that some receivers may not be able to decode those using low symbol rates)11456 H 2400-3/411458 H 543-1/211465 H 667-3/511489 H 3215-3/412564 V 29950-2/312690 V 29950-3/4

Astra 4A at 4.8°EFancy a bit of Ukrainian? Examples are:Hromadske RadioRadio Holos Nadiyi12073 H 27500-3/412284 V 27500-3/4

13

Eutelsat 9B at 9.0°EHere one can find Hungarian and a station from West Africa:Duna World RádióRadio Sénégal International11958 V 27500-2/311881 V 27500-2/3

Hotbird 13B/13C/13E at 13.0°EHere one can find English:IRIB World Service Radio 7WRN English EuropeVoice of AmericaRadio Oman FM10775 H 29900-3/510949 V 27500-3/412226 V -27500-3/412654 H – 27500 5/6

Eutelsat 16A at 16.0°EHere one can find Rumanian and Albanian:Radio România International 1/2/3Radio Tirana International11512 V 29950-2/312640 H 10833-3/5

Astra 3B at 23.5°EHere one can find the Czech Republic:Cro PlusRadio Praha12344 H 29900-2/3

Hellas Sat 3 at 39.0°EHere one can find the Sultanate of Oman:Radio Oman FM12424 H 27500-5/6

Türksat 3A/4A at 42.0°EHere one can find Turkey:Voice of Turkey World11054 V 30000-3/4

14

15

Diary

Sep 5th, Club Night: Life with Auntie - Richard Drinkwater G3ZIY

Sep 7th-8th, SSB Field Day 14:00 - 14:00

Sep 8th, Andover Radio & Computer Boot Sale 10:00

https://www.arac.org.uk/

Sep 19th, Social Evening: The Five Bells - Smock Alley

https://thefivebellsinn.com

Sep 20th-22nd, HARC Weekend Away - South Devon (pre-booked only)

Sep 22nd, Belgium Radio & Computer Rally 09:00 - 16:00*

50km south of Brussels https://www.on6ll.be

Sep 27th-28th, The National Hamfest 2019

Fleamarket access from 09:30 - George Stephenson Hall opens at 10:00

Newark and Nottingham Showground https://www.nationalhamfest.org.uk

Oct 3rd, Junk Sale

Oct 10th, Committe Meeting

For details on the above contest use this link and follow to the appropriate section

https://rsgb.org/main/radio-sport/what-is-radio-sport

All above times are BST except * = CET