The Journal of Horsham Amateur Radio Club - April 2019 - Club Call G4HRS
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Club Call G4HRS Est. 1938
The Journal of
Horsham Amateur Radio Club
April 2019
Affiliated to: Sponsored by:
1
Contents
In this issue
3. Notes from the Editor
Splash out with tea urn and on the cheap calls
5. Spend your money
Review of Spring junk sale
7. Traffic jams!
What you need to know to avoid the queues and a Rally invitation
9. Rectangle eyes
The Editor answers your questions and advises you what to watch
12. Diary of events
Full listings for the month
Cover photo: Mike G8CKT auctioneering a hob!
Published by Horsham Amateur Radio Club
HARCNEWS is produced at home by G4JHI
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Editorial
Having been looking for a new smartphone for a while I finally made the
decision as to which brand to buy which turned out to be a Nokia having
been using Samsung for several years. Some have said to me “is it the 3310
remake” of which I replied “no”. It has a 5.8” screen and a nice 12 megapixel
camera, lots of apps of which many more can be installed and most important
a good alarm clock which I use at lunchtime on some work days!
I have tried running the Hack Green WebSDR on it and it worked as long as one uses Firefox as it
doesn’t support Google Chrome. I found navigating on the site though very fiddly and difficult and
in the future will continue using one of my desktop computers! I have laptops too but they tend to
be a bit sluggish on those. The WiFi has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz options and since I upgraded my
router last year the new one also supports both frequency ranges.
Therefore I now use the 5GHz WiFi on the phone when at home and it does appear to work faster
than the lower frequency, but the range is much less and outside of the house the signal drops
rapidly as expected! The best feature of all is that I can use the phone to make a cup of tea. At the
top there is a little recess where the supplied spout can be fitted. At the bottom end of the phone
is a slot which one fills with water and the tea app is started and then select boil and away you go.
I will point out that a normal teabag will need to be put into the teacup or mug! The first result was
very good and the recommended brewing time is one and a half minutes.
A good cup of tea
Still on the subject of an original invention created by Alexander Graham Bell I have also purchased
a new twin home phone system. The handsets have colour screens which are quite impressive, a
wide variety of ringtones and a selection of nuisance call blocking features.
There is also a 40 minute answerphone and the phone book can store up to 3 numbers for each entry
set including the type such as home, mobile or work which is very useful. Once the phonebook is
programmed the second or other additional handsets will automatically get the full list too. Although
today many use services such as Skype to keep in touch with family and friends including myself from
time to time, I also use override providers on the landline to make cheap calls to UK and overseas
numbers.
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The ones I use the most are 18185 and Toolani and there is also 1899, 1866 and Best Minutes to
mention but a few. With most of these one uses a prefix before the number dialled but beware some
of them may incur an extra charge from your phone provider! With Toolani you set up the numbers
that you will be calling in your online account and a UK number is automatically assigned which goes
straight through to the recipient. I have several setup with the option to call from my landline or
mobile and you will need to load up some credit on the account but it will last ages! Recently they
have added a mobile app which can be used with WiFi or data.
http://18185.co.uk
http://1899.com
http://www.call18866.co.uk
http://toolani.com
http://www.bestminutes.
co.uk/index2.php
Dect phone with
colour screen
David G4JHI
Copy deadline for emailed items for May edition 20th April - For
written items the deadline is 12th April.
For items sent by email please send to this address:
harc.news@g4jhi.co.uk
2019 Subscriptions
Subscriptions are now due for the 2019 Club membership.
Please forward £15 to the Treasurer Paul G4TMC.
Payment can be by cash, cheque (payable to H.A.R.C.) or via electronic transfer.
Anyone wishing to pay electronically should send an email:
paul.g4tmc@gmail.com
You will then receive by return the HARC bank details.
Postal address: Paul Barnett, 8 Parsonage Road, Horsham, RH12 4AR.
4
March 2019 Meeting
Junk Sale
Your cast
Mike G8CKT - Auctioneer
Robin G3OGP - Auctioneer
Richard 2E0XRT - Hander outer
Mick G4EFO - Catering
David G4JHI - Door Duty
Adrian G4LRP - MC for start of evening
Another evening of junk sale delight took place at the March club night which included the regular
attendance from Simon GW0NVN and our friends from Crawley, Mid Sussex and Worthing. A good
selection of items were up for auction which at first appearance seemed to be more than seen for
a while or perhaps it was just spread out more! Items of interest started in the form of an Avo 7,
dependable timers, lamps and torches.
Adrian G4LRP starts the event
Robin G3OGP auctioneer
5
What came up next was a cooking hob which isn’t something we have seen before as far as the
Editor knows. Then we had a nice tool case, Impedance Bridge, 446MHz walkie talkies, mega and a
meter which included capacitance reading capabilities. Other items of interest included a TomTom,
PSU that blows fuses!, boxes of components, JVC black and white and colour cameras, several
microphones and three scanners. It has to be said that the frankfurters that Mick produced were as
good as always! Thanks to the entire cast.
Mick G4EFO on sausage duty
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News from HARC
Major Roadworks
No doubt you have noticed roadworks have sprung up everywhere….. Well there are more to come!
So here are details of some roadworks around Sussex and Surrey that readers may like to be aware
of.
Crawley
Cheals Roundabout which has been ongoing since last October is due to be completed at the end of
May or early June – Avoid at all cost during peak times and even during the daytime unless you like
sitting in long queues! This includes weekends!
M23 Pease Pottage Junction 11 improvements to reduce traffic congestion. Delays expected, some
junction closes from time to time. Ongoing until November this year.
Salfords
A23 Between Horley and Redhill night time road closures for resurfacing works during April (8pm –
6am)
Slindfold
A281 Roman Gate Roundabout carriageway resurfacing overnight (7pm – 6am) with road closure
and signed diversion. 4th - 6th April. Note: this starts on the next club night!
Horsham
Major works start on April 1st around Broadbridge Heath and Farthings Hill interchange. The old
bypass which has access to Tesco is being downgraded and improvements for busses, pedestrians
and cyclists will take place. Traffic will need to use the new link road to get from the A24 / Horsham
to the A264 (Five Oaks) and A281 (Guildford). The wok will be ongoing until mid-December.
Sussex - http://westsussex.cdmf.info/public/traffic_tab.htm
Surrey - https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/roadworks-and-maintenance
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Nr ANDOVER
RADIO & COMPUTER
BOOT SALES 2019
SUNDAY 28th APRIL
SUNDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Sellers 9am - Buyers 10am
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
8
TV Addict
by David Miller G4JHI
Sky Q receiver
Since the article about SKY Q which appeared in this column in the February edition of this year it
has raised a few questions so I have decided to give a Q & A session in response.
Q What happens if I stop subscribing to Sky Q?
A You are legally bound to return the equipment (less dish) to Sky since it available on a loan
basis
Q Have any new features been implemented?
A Yes, Spotify is now available and can be linked to your account the same as with the Skype
app
Q Will a Sky+ or Sky+HD viewing card also work in the Sky Q boxes?
A The short answer to that is no!
Q If I don’t return the equipment what will happen and can it be used for free to air channels?
A Sky will charge a fee and have the right to disable the unit so that it is non-functional. If it is
not disabled it will receive free to air channels but will have limited functions
Q Can Sky Q be used for other satellites?
A In theory yes but is not recommended as navigating to other channels is difficult and there
are no actual signal meters on these receivers
Q Can one view Sky content abroad?
A Streaming services from Sky are available across Europe and the full details are available on
their website
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Q Will my Sky Q box work in my holiday home abroad?
A If you have a dish pointed at 28.2° east then one should be able to receive channels but that
does depend on where you are. The full range of channels on small dishes should work in
Northern France, The Netherlands and parts of Germany. Further afield mostly the channels
on the wide beams will be available and large or very large dishes will be required to receive
the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 and others on the narrow beams and may not work at all! Note
that taking equipment overseas may be against the Sky T & C’s!
Q What type of dish do I need?
A A mini dish will normally be used along with a wideband LNB and Sky will fit as part of the deal
Q If I have an existing non-standard dish system for use with Sky, will the engineer be able to
adjust for Sky Q?
A Generally they won’t do that and you should seek advice from an independent company
beforehand
Q What are the current three favourite TV programmes that the Editor watches on Sky Q?
A 1) Hawaii Five-0 (Sky One)
2) Aircrash Investigation (National Geographic)
3) X-Ray (BBC One Wales)
https://www.sky.com
TV News
New TV series
By the time that you read this the following new series are scheduled to have started. Please consult
your TV listing for details:
Blockbusters - yes Blockbusters is back! This time with Dara Ó Briain and on Comedy Central
The Gadget Show – Channel 5’s flagship programme looks at the latest technology, visit’s shows and
tests out all those wonderful gadgets
Victoria – Season 3 of this period drama is being screened on ITV and if you liked Downton Abbey
it is sure you’ll like this. Shame is you missed the first 2 seasons!
10New episodes
You may have noticed that BBC Two has been screening various railways journeys with presenter
Michael Portillo. One recent episode of Great British Railway Journeys visited Burton on Trent famous
for production of Marmite! An interview took place with Marmite enthusiast Tracy Matthews. Beer
loving Edwardians were introduced to a darker and more divisive delicacy ‘Marmite’ and 50 million
jars are produced a year. The product was sent to trenches of WW1 to help ailments.
In a trench
Unfortunately one of their radio transmitters got broken and a Marmite box was re-used and they
created their own version.
Transmitter in a Marmite
box
11Diary
Apr 1st, 80m CW Club Championship 20:00 - 21:30
Apr 4th, Club Night: 50 years of computer programming - Jon M0TWM
Apr 10th, 80m SSB Club Championship 20:00 - 21:30
Apr 11th, Committee Meeting - QTH G3ZBU
Apr 14th, West London Radio and Electronics Fair - Kempton Park 10:00
http://www.radiofairs.co.uk
Apr 18th, Social Evening: The Three Compasses - Alfold
http://www.thethreecompassesalfold.co.uk
Apr 25th, 80m Data Club Championship 20:00 - 21:30
Apr 28nd, Andover Radio Amateur Club Spring Boot Sale - Wildhern Village Hall 10:00
http://www.arac.org.uk
For details on the above contests use this link and follow to the appropriate section
http://rsgb.org/main/radio-sport
All above times are BST
Committee/Club Meetings and Socials start at 20:00
12You can also read
