THE FIRST CLASS C.W.

OPERATORS CLUB

NEWS SHEET 596

(http://members.aol.com/focuk)

Editor: G4BUE

June 1999

A man should keep his friendship in constant repair - Samuel Johnson (1755)
(3525, 7025, 10120-10125, 14025, 18080-18085, 21025, 24905-24910 and 28025kHz)

BANDS OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE ARE 10 METRES & VHF

TOPICAL ISSUES by G3SXW

Pressure on the CW spectrum is the big issue in my book and it is very encouraging that band-plans are to form part of the new future licence in the UK, (page 11 of the June RadCom). What is not so encouraging is the recent spread of data communication modes on 20 metres. Chris, G4BUE, writes as follows: I have noticed in recent weeks that a new form of RTTY (Feld-Hell) is being used on 20 metres down to 14059kHz (the IARU Region 1 Bandplan restricts data communications to above 14070kHz). This is in addition to some stations already using the new PSK31 mode just below 14070kHz. It appears that as each new data communications mode comes into use, stations start using it lower in the band. I have been in contact with GRDI, Chairman of the RSGBs Data Communications Committee (DCC), and rather predictably, Iain says the problem is going to get worse (possibly much worse) before it gets better, and the resolution can only be to allocate more spectrum to digital modes. This means that someone is going to lose some allocation.... This someone is likely to be CW, (including the international QRP calling frequency on 14060kHz). Iain adds that MIBME (Secretary of DCC) began a project to investigate what (if anything) RSGB and DCC might do to alleviate the problem, but I have not been able to obtain a progress report from him to report here. Is anyone else aware of this potential problem or have any other information about it, perhaps from other areas of the world? I am raising the matter with the G-QRP Club who

also have an obvious interest about it, but should FOC be doing something to try and preserve the CW band allocations? Any ideas, comments and suggestions will welcome.

Despite the Washington DC Dinner and the Con-Din, what a sad month May has been! Three Silent Keys to report - K1RH, U3DR and VK3XB. Our condolences go to Reavena, Valentina and Mavis. My thanks to G2ALM, G2HKU, G4GLL (see page 2) and ZL1AH who have provided information about the Z codes to GW3HCL following his request in the May News Sheet. I shall incorporate the information into an article for FOCUS on this fascinating subject. Reports from the USA say the attendance at the Washington DC Dinner was down from last year to 65, with lots of familiar faces missing for one reason or another (June and me for two!), but those that were there had a great time once again. The weather was good and the K3ZO and W3LPL open houses successful once again. Look for a full report and photographs in FOCUS 39. Would Internet users please note we have changed our e-mail address to <g4bue@ infinnet.co.uk>. Finally, June and I will be on holiday 23 June to 13 July with Betty and Bill, N4AR, at their holiday homes in Michigan where I hope to QSO some of you as W8/G4BUE. Congratulations to Bill who will be retiring in June. June and I will be in semi-retirement after the RSGB decided to cease publication of the DX News Sheet and the DX News Magazine at the end of June. We will publish the July News Sheet and mail it with

EDITORIAL by G4BUE

FOCUS 39 before we leave for the USA and I have, therefore, had to bring the deadline for the July News Sheet forward to 18 June. I know this is very early but is preferable to it waiting until we return.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION by G3MXJ

Starred List
3. ZL2AZ: G4BUE, VK2BJ, W1RAN, ZL1MH, ZL2AGY (+VK6VZ). 2. LA8XM: GEBW, OZ8RO, SM5COP, K8MFO, W1HMD (+SM3BCS, DJ3KR, G4PKT, SM3EVR, K9QVB, ZL2AGY). 2. W4LZ: G3FBN, G4PKT, K5DQ, N4TY, VE1BN (+PA5TT, G3KTZ, EA8CN). 1. K5CA: EA8CN, G4ZDB, KF2AT, VE1BN, W6IJ (+W1HMD, W9NN, W2DX, W1WEF, N9RD, G4HZV DL6TQ). , 1. K2UFT: EA8CN, G4ZDB, K1JD, K4BAI, KT5X (+ VE3DZZ). 1. W5ZR: G4ZDB, K2ZR, VA3CH, VK6RU, W1WEF (+ G3LZK, VE1BN). 1. KC4YDP: G3VTT, G4ZDB, K5DQ, VE3DZZ, WIAK (+N4JT).

Members are reminded that nominations for this years trophy should be submitted to me by 14 July. See News Sheet 526 for the procedure for making nominations. The criteria for the award is described on page 5 of the Call Book and you are reminded that recipients need not be members of FOC. Previous recipients of the Award are: 1998 Lou van de Nadort, PALOU 1997 Peter Watson, ZL3GQ 1996 Northern California DX Foundation 1995 Fred Laun, K3ZO 1994 Chiltern DX Club 1993 Bill Maxson, N4AR

AL SLATER, G3FXB MEMORIAL TROPHY by G3MXJ

Invitations have been sent to K6ZSR, 3DACA, GKDZ and OZ4FF.

Additional Nominations

It was decided at the last Committee meeting that GW3KGV will take over the respon, sibility for dealing with objections to entries on the Starred List under Rule 6 from G3MXJ. Dennis will continue to deal with all other aspects of membership, including nominations for membership, but in future please address any objections to Ken.

OBJECTIONS

Regarding GW3HCLs request in the May News Sheet for information, I have some information for Dan. The Z codes were introduced for military communications where the standard Q signal did not fill the requirement. The definition Military applied to communications between any of the armed forces of the British Commonwealth and the United States, and the use of both Q and Z signals were authorised. They consisted of groups ZAA to ZZZ inclusive, but never seemed to get used on the grander scale of the Q code, and there were many gaps in the encode section. The Z code includes a number of references to RTTY, facsimile, and SSB. My information came from the British Joint Communications Publication No.2(B.J.C.P .2) dated 2 June 1948.

THE Z CODES by G4GLL

6. KW1C: K1RH, KF2AT, W4TAJ. 6. KF7E: 9J2BO, KT5X, K4EWG, KC7V, ZL2AGY. 5. WUA: G4CEO, K2SG, W1WEF. 5. OK1RP: G2FDF, G4PKD. 5. 9V1YC: N3BB, N6NT, K5NA, N1DG, G4HZV . 5. EA6ACC: EA6ZY, G3UOF, 5B4AGC, K9QVB. 5. K6OQ: W6IJ. 4. KFW: W8EGB. 4. W4ML: W4PM, W4YE. 4. KY7M: KC7V . 4. TA2DS: K4EWG. 4. HA7PJ: K4EWG, W2MEL, HA7PB. 3. N7DR: G4BUO. 3. SM6CLU: W2MEL. 3. JH1GNU: W6IJ. 1. OK1CF: OK1KT. 1. VE9XB: EA8CN. 1. N6TR: VK6VZ. 1. G4PDQ: G3JJG. 1. G3ZGC: GORH.

New Member

1712 N4AF (Howie) - H. N. Hoyt, 549 Bluebird Trail, Blounts Creek, NC 27814; XYL Lynn; Tel - 252 322 4646; e-mail <n4af@qsl.net>.

Amendments

EA8CN (1656): add alternate address - SM/ EA8CN, Smamursvagen 98, S-805 96, Gavle, Sweden; tel: 70 674 7216. U3DR (1574): Silent Key. VK3XB (517): Silent Key VK8AV ( 1526): change address - PO Box 3718, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia; tel-

ephone - 61 1715 7791. K2VCO (1691): amend telephone - 559 226 4978. K5XK (1641): new address - 1913 Pearl Drive, Jonesboro, AR 72401, USA. K9BG (1394): new address - (from 14 June) 3719 Mesa Lane, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA; telephone - 813-824-3850.

MEMBERS NEWS by G4BUE

AA5DX: Ron went QRT 26 May as VQ9DX. EA8CN: Andy will be in Sweden from 4 June until mid-September and is planning to try the loops described by K1AO in FOCUS 38. He will be QRV in the SAC Contest as SM3CUN, but otherwise as SM3/EA8CN. G2FFO: Dick sends an extract of an article in the Burnley Express by the Millennium Commission commenting on the suggestion that the new millennium will not actually start until 1 January 2001, with the year 2000 being the last of the old millennium. The Commission accept the argument but state they have a remit to celebrate both the year 2000 and the beginning of the third millennium. Dick refers to the proposed FOC Millennium Award to be held in 2000 and infers we should not promote anything that supports the presumption that the year 2000 will be part of the next century millennium. G2HKU: Ted sent GW3HCL information on the Z codes following Dans request in the May News Sheet and was rewarded with a MD1D QSL from him for a QSO on 14 December 1947 when Dan was in Libya. Ted is finding the noise reduction system on the IC-746 very nice on 160 metres in the evenings. G3MCK: Pat and Gerald will be attending the Harrogate Get-together again. G3MRC: Joe is QRV again as 5X1P length , of stay not known. G3IY: Jim reports on a successful Con-Din and thanks DL1PM and Irmgard for conveying him to and from the airport and for the stopover at their house for a lovely meal. G3KTZ: After the DC Dinner and Dayton, Ron stayed on in the USA until 30 May and was QRV as W4/G3KTZ from W4QM and N4TOs QTHs.

G3NKS: Derek also believes that FOC should move away from 025 as a gathering place, certainly on 20 metres and above, and arguably on 160 and 80 metres also. G3SWH: Phil will be QRV again 16/23 June as SV8/G3SWH from Mykonos Island (EU067). G3VTT: Hilary and Colin will be in Prague, Czech Republic at the end of May and for a week from 24 July on board the Radio Caroline ship where he will be QRV /MM using the ships big shipboard Marconi Tee and 100 watts (not its usual 10-50kW!). G3YXX: Liz and David will be at Harrogate and are planning to attend the Washington Dinner next year. David enjoyed the recent meeting with G4HZV, G3IAF, G3HEJ and N3JT while Jim was visiting the UK for a few days. G4AFU: Paul is now using a two element triband beam for HF. He says it is a three element built to two elements to let the neighbours get used to it! The third will be added one dark night in the future. GM3JKS: Frank visited VE7NH on a recent trip to Pender /island and was impressed with Dougs car registration number GM3CXE, which is Dougs old GM call. Frank also called on VE7BS and saw the handy tall trees that support Bobs wire antennas. GW3SB: Chas says the BBC rescheduled the Morse Story for transmission on BBC Radio 4 to 10 June (see April News Sheet). K1AO: Ron has been in Florida lately with his parents who have been having health problems. K1RH: Ralph sadly became a Silent Key on 23 May, peacefully in his sleep, after being in and out of hospital for the last two months thanks W2BA. K2VUI attended his funeral on 25 May and is writing an obituary for FOCUS 39. K5XK: Ron has moved to a new QTH in the same locality. He says after my girls looked the town over after having moved to a rental nine months ago, they selected a house just half a block away!. K6NA: Glen was QRV as ZD8A again at the beginning of May. K9BG: Jerry is in the process of moving QTH from Illinois to Indiana.

KL7PJ: Chuck was in hospital at the beginning of May and had a pacemaker fitted and want to say thanks to all the gang who have inquired as to my health. I hope to be back on the air shortly. The doctor, incidentally an amateur, said the transmitter wont bother me at all. Thank goodness for small favours! LA3FL: Per is home on shore leave until 15 July. His company now run the Crystal Symphony with two sets of crew and in future he will work three months on and three months off. There was still patches of snow around his QTH on 16 May and he will have 24 hour daylight for the next two months. LZ1AF: Dimiter is QRV (with other operators) as LZ1PV for periods between now and the end of the year. N4AF: If you QSOd NY4A in the CQ WPX CW Contest then it was new member Howie (1712). U3DR: Bill, G3DOJ, was told by RU3AO that U3DR became a Silent Key on 29 April. Evidently RU3AO was a good friend of Vlad but I have not received any further information about the report. VE3AR: Bill replaced his Mosley TA-53M with the larger seven element PRO-57B last autumn and says it has made a huge difference in reports received. VK3XB: VK3MJ passed me the sad news in a 20 metre QSO on 22 May that Ivor had become a Silent Key earlier that day. I knew he had been ill but not that the end was that close. Our condolences and sympathy go to Mavis at this difficult time.

FOC CALENDAR
(callsign in brackets indicate G4FOC operator)

June - VHF & 10m (G3WGV) 16/23 EU-067 by SV8/G3SWH (596) 18 July N/Sheet deadline 19 Harrogate Get-together 24/26 June Friedrichshafen 27 GBWEL by GORH (595) July - 40m & 12m (G4BUE) 24 G3VTT/MM Radio Caroline 17 Committee meeting 29 August N/Sheet deadline August - 30m & 10m (G3MXJ) 25 Deadline for FOCUS 40 28 Sept N/Sheet deadline

VK8AV: Alan went on a rushed four day trip to 9M2 recently, but is now home and QRV with his beam, which is now back up. W1HT: Ralph was hoping to visit the UK in May but Lindas health problems may mean a postponement. W1WEF: If you QSOd KX1A in the CQ WPX CW Contest then you QSOd Jack who borrowed the call for the contest. W2DX: Jay had major heart surgery in April and is now out of hospital recovering - thanks YV1NX & G3LIK. W3LPL: Congratulations to Frank on being inducted in to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame at Dayton in May. ZL2AGY: Tony is moving into the modern age with a computer logging program, and is using one by GMDO with a Compaq laptop bought at a local auction.

EA8CN* 9H1EL W4QM* LZ1AF* W1HMD* G4ZDB* F5VEX* K1AO G3KTZ* DL6TQ* ZF2NT G4OEC* W2GW* G3SXW* VE1BN N9RD G2FFO

Score updates can be passed to G4BUE or any committee member. An asterisk against the call indicates the score has been updated this month. Table shows the scores received by 1100z 29 May 1999.
305 300 272 269 267 250 245 243 237 227 220 215 215 210 206 204 203 W6CYX G4HZV* G4PKD* GW3KGV YV1NX GIVZ G4BUE* G2FDF* G3LIK G3HZL SV1AOW G3JZV GORH K5DQ* W3NZ W8XM* GW3KDB 194 192 190 189 183 179 171 170 170 168 166 160 158 156 152 152 151 K4XU 150 G4BJM 149 G3NKS* 139 OH2FOC 137 VE1BN 137 K4II* 136 K2VCO 135 AC5K* 131 G3IY* 131 YO4PX* 125 SM5COP* 121 K4EF* 120 OZ4UN 120 W6IJ 115 K8KJP* 114 G4BUO 112 K1JD 110 VK8AV* G3HEJ G3IZD F3AT* DJ5ZN WB2YQH G3MCK* W4ZYT G3KKQ* G3RVM G3LHJ* JA7SSB* K9BG* VK4XA W5GEL* ZL2AGY* VE3DZZ 109 108 108 107 107 107 106 106 103 103 102 99 98 95 94 94 91 W6TZD GW3SB* PABW WIAK K6DC N4TY W8KJP GCHV DK4LX G4AFU* OK1KT N4JT* ZP6CW* G4SFO GM3JKS PAINA W1NV* 90 89 89 89 84 84 84 83 82 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 80 VK6VZ GDMN ZS6AL G8VG GW3SYL K2SX VK3XB N1DG K2LE ZL1AH W2MEL* LA3FL* VK3KS SM6AOU* G2HKU* G3WGV ZL1MH 78 77 77 75 75 74 74 72 71 69 68 66 65 64 63 62 62 OH2KI* W1FZY WA4SNI* G3IEW G3JJG IXXR* W6THN W4CK* K6TS W1HT* G3PQC* VA3LK W4YE VE3AR* W2DX HB9QO 60 60 60 59 59 55 55 55 54 54 53 52 52 47 47 46 N4AF* W9NN KC7V DJ9SB N4TO N4WJ* W1FJ* DF2IC K6RA* W3ABC* GW3HCL KL7PJ* ZS6QU K6WG KL7PJ OZ1LQH 41 45 44 44 41 40 37 34 34 34 33 30 20 19 13 3

THE 1999 WINDLE AWARD