THE FIRST CLASS C.W.

OPERATORS CLUB

NEWS SHEET 635

(http://www.firstclasscw.org.uk)

Editor: G4BUE

September 2002

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 SEPTEMBER ARE 40 & 15 METRES

THE 2002 LONDON FOC DINNER

Saturday 5 October 2002 See page 2 of FOCUS 50 for full information
Tickets 29.50 each from Maud Slater, Wychwood, Park Lane, Maplehurst, West Sussex. Telephone 01403 891342.
By the time you read this you will have four weeks to decide about attending the London Dinner! Final numbers must be submitted to the Tavern on 2 October. As promised here are the directions to the Trafalgar Tavern from the various car parks and the Orbis Hotel. The Trafalgar is situated at the end of Park Row on the river edge. The nearest car park is at the other end of the road and a three minute walk away. There is a further car park at the Cutty Sark historical ship, in fact on its port side and underneath, which is in Welland Street. If you are staying at the Orbis Hotel they have a 22 place car park on a first come first allocated arrangement, so it will pay to arrive early. Failing that, immediately behind the Orbis is the Burney Street car park which like Park Row is large and well lit with CCTV presence. Walking time to the Trafalgar from the Burney Street/Orbis Hotel is 12 minutes and from Welland Street seven minutes. There are of course fees to be paid at the car parks but these cease at 6.30pm. From Greenwich main line railway station you will find the Orbis almost opposite to the left in Greenwich High Road. To reach the Tavern from this area it is a simple walk along Greenwich High Road into Greenwich Church Street. You can either turn right into Romney Road and take second left into Park Row or, perhaps a more picturesque route, follow Church Street to the Cutty Sark and turn right at the river edge and follow the Thames Pathway. This takes you past the University of Greenwich, (formerly Royal Naval College), and the Trafalgar Tavern will appear on your right hand side. From Cutty Sark Station on the Docklands Light Railway, brings you into the area of Greenwich Church Street and you can either follow the Thames Pathway or go south along Greenwich High Road to the Orbis. Maze Hill station is perhaps the closest main line railway station, leave the station approach road and turn right into Maze Hill and left into Trafalgar Road. Park Row is the third turning on the right. Walking between any two places in Greenwich is difficult as there are just too many interesting little shops to stop at. I have confirmed that both City Cruises and Catamaran Cruises are running trips to the Thames Barrier and Westminster on 5 October, should any visitor require a break. The cruises take an hour or so and prices are 7 to 10. The food on Greenwich Pier is quite cheap and I can also confirm both the Saigon and Noodle Time restaurants will be running a lunch buffet on the day along with a myriad of other pubs and restaurants. There will also be a food fair in Greenwich Market. Arrangements have been made with the Trafalgar Tavern for specially selected wines to be available at competitive prices on the day. Overseas members attending additional to those previously published are 4X1FC, EI3CP , F5VCT, HB9QO, N3BB, PABW, W9KNI and Jean, EI5IY/2. Don, W4ZYT, and Fred, G4BWP are once , again offering to check QSLs for the ARRL DXCC Award. Should members require it, there is a possibility of a short Committee Forum regarding Club matters, and as usual the Dinner will conclude with speeches and presentations. Those of you attending June and Chriss, G4BUE, Friday Party by train from London are asked to catch the 11.02 am train to Portsmouth (via Horsham) from Victoria Railway Station. Ask for a cheap day return ticket to

Billingshurst, where the train is due to arrive at 12.9pm. Chris and others will meet the train. You will see from G4VXEs note below that I have resigned from Committee. I decided not to seek re-election last year, primarily because June and I had decided to spend our winters in Florida, but changed my mind and continued. I have now decided that I cannot do proper justice to being a Committee member while spending six months of the year abroad. You can only do so much by e-mail. I congratulate Ian, G3RVM, and Dave, G3RXP , on their appointment as Committee members to replace Ken, GW3KGV and myself and wish , them all the very best for the future. The Committee have agreed for me to continue as Editor of the News Sheet, FOCUS and the Call Book, which I am very happy to do, as I can do this from either the UK or Florida via the Internet. My thanks to Derrick, G3LHJ, and Pete, G8VG, for responding to my request in the August News Sheet to take over the mailing of the UK News Sheets from Maud. This News Sheet will be the last to be mailed by Maud and on behalf of all UK members since the time when Bill Windle (the original G8VG) had the News Sheet printed in Dartford, Kent, when Maud has mailed it to UK members, I would like to publicly record our very big thanks to her. Starting with the October edition, Derrick will mail the UK News Sheets (and the non North American ones when we are in Florida). Pete has agreed to be our reserve. A big thanks to both of them for volunteering. Further to the note in the July News Sheet asking for nominations for Committee service as GW3KGV is standing down, G3RVM and G3RXP were both nominated. Since then G4BUE has resigned from Committee and therefore Ian, G3RVM, and Dave, G3RXP will , join the Committee at the first meeting after the Greenwich Dinner to replace Ken and Chris. Recently one of our members questioned whether listing the Bands of the Month in the News Sheet was relevant. Since I am a relatively new member I thought I would offer an idea for the Club to consider. Why dont we arbitrarily select two or three Activity Days each month? We could encourage all members to make a concerted effort to get on the air on the Bands of the Month at least at some time during these Activity Days. With all of us so very busy, often when we do find time to operate, there are not any other members around. If we select two or three Activity Days each month, perhaps all of us can find one or more of these days to be a convenient time to get on the air and then we can try

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION by G3MXJ

Starred List
3. G3HJF (Jim): GM3JKS, G3MCK, G4BJM, VE1BN, G8VG, W4QM, ZL1AH, N4AF, ZS1AAX, YV1NX. 3. DU3NXE (Chuck): G4ZVJ, W5ZR, K8MFO, G3NOH, G4UZN, N3RD, G3WGV, VE3HX, DU9/NNM, SV1AOW, N3BB, W4LZ, K4XG. 3. GWKJ (Chris): G3WUX, G3LIK, GADE, G3LPN, N4AF, N3BB, W4PM, KT4P . 1. G3PDH (Malcolm): G3LIK, GADE, G4YNU, G3MCK, G8VG, YV1NX, K1JD, W4LZ, WCGR, KT4P.

EDITORIAL by G4BUE

ON4WW has indicated that he does not wish to be considered for membership of FOC.

Additional Nominations

5. G3OWO (John): F5VHC. 5. GGKH (Dave): G3LPN, GJWB. 3. K1DG (Doug): S5A, N6NT. 3. N9RV (Pat): K8MFO. 3. W4CI (Dave): K5DQ. 2. DJ1YFK (Fabian): PA5XM, YO4PX. 2. DL1BUG (Red): DL7AKC, PA5XM 2. K6TA (Ken): K6TS, N6NT 1. DK7VW (Joe): KT4P . 1. N2JZ (Mike): N4UB. 1. K5ALU (Red): W1WEF. 1. G4GZG (Larry): G3LPN. 1. G3ILO (Steve): N3RS.

New Members

COMMITTEE by G4VXE

MORE QSOS WITH MEMBERS by KZ5D

1785 TL8DV (Dave) D. Vittum, GBIV Box 588, , Winona Lake, IN 46590; XYL - Jean; tel - (+236) 61 6823; e-mail - <dvittum@gbim.org>. 1786 W8FJ (John) J. R. Schrader, 35 Jody Drive, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-2125; XYL - Karen; tel - 215 233 3958; e-mail <w8fj@aol.com>. 1787 G4TSH (Justin) J. M. S. Snow, 104 Redfern Avenue, Hounslow, Middx TW4 5LZ; e-mail - <justin@g4tsh.demon.co.uk>. 1788 WK2G (Merrill) M. J. Brown Jr., 20 Brearly Drive, Sicklerville, NJ 08081; XYL Maryanne; tel - 856 629 4624; e-mail <lucky@snip.net>. 1789 HS/OZ1HET (Finn) F. Jensen, 53/722 Krissadanakorn, Chaeng Watthana Rd, PakKret, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand; tel - 02 503 1262; e-mail <fco.jensen@excite.com>. 1790 S53R (Robert) R. Kasca, Beblerjeva 2, Idrija 5280, Slovenia.

Amendments

AA5DX (1620): new address - PO Box 7643, North Port, FL 34287. F5VHY (G3MXJ) (744): address - Coupelle, 47120 Levignac de Guyenne, France; telephone - 553 89 30 51. G3JZV (1223): new call - G2JL. G4ZVJ (1664): new call - G3AB. K4DL (1661): new address - 2012 Sage Lane, Oak Harbor, WA 98277; telephone - 675 7975. K6WG (1621): new address - 14207 SE 6th St, Apt H106, Bellevue, WA 98007; telephone - 425 644 5080. the Bands of the Month where, hopefully, we will be able to find members. For those of us with busy schedules, we can

concentrate on operating at least on one of the Activity Days. Others may well be able to get on for all three. To make this work , I suggest one of the days be a week-end day (alternating from month to month on Saturday or Sunday. The other two days during the month would also rotate among the weekdays. My idea would be to select days at random but separated by at least two or three days. For example, one month the Activity Days could be the 1st, 19th, and 26th. If the Bands of the Month were 30 and 15 metres, there would be a very good chance we could chat with a number of members around the world on one frequency or the other. This idea seems relatively simple to administer. I do hope the Committee will give this a try. Perhaps some input from other members might be appropriate before starting it off. How about trying in during the last three months of 2002? If it works, we could make it a regular feature in the News Sheet, but if it doesnt, then we could drop it at the end of 2002. AA4Z: Congratulations to Bruce on receipt of his VP6DI QSL to give him all 335 DXCC entities confirmed with 358/335. AA5DX: Ron was around the UK in August and made a port call at Weymouth where he had a game of golf with G3LIK. He made some QSOs on 40 and 80 metres and is due to be relieved on the ship by N5TP in September. Suzanne and Ron have sold their New Mexico home and moved to Florida where they are looking to buy a new home in Charlotte or Sarasota County. DU9/NNM: Jon is now QRV for the low band season and has added radials to his vertical and put up two pennant antennas for receiving. He plans to be QRV 0945z for USA and his evening and will also get up at 2100z on weekends for Europe on 1828.3kHz - thanks Daily DX. F5NZY: Steph writes, I just had a QSO (crossband) with Tim, G4VXE, on 5281kHz and with his ten watts and end-fed antenna, Tim was 599+20. A very interesting band to test. F5VEX: Derek was QRV as EA7/F5VEX in August on holiday in Marbella - thanks G3LIK. GOPB: Tony was QRV from 9M6AAC in the middle of August. G3JZV: Mort has changed his call to G2JL, which was held by the late Bob Allbright. He will be QRV 5/25 September from SV5 (Lipsi Island) with his FT-817 while on holiday. G3KKQ: Dennis will be QRV 22 September/2 October as OK8ADW while visiting OK1CZ. G3KSH: The Autumn 2002 edition of QRV, journal of RAFARS lists ex-FOC member Alec Gilding as being a Silent Key. He was member 1428 between November 1980 and January 1995 - thanks ZL1AH. G3MRC: Joe was QRV on 25 August as 7Q7VP on 10 metres - thanks G4UZN. G3MXJ: Dennis will be QRV as F5VHY when staying at their holiday home in France.

MEMBERS NEWS by G4BUE

G3SWH: Phil will be QRV 5/19 November as 5R8HA again while he and Jan are on holiday. He will initially be QRV from the main island (AF-013) but will spend a few days at the end of the trip on Nosy Komba (AF-057). G3WGV: John has had major work done on his new home in Cumbria, including fitting a complete new central heating system and bathroom. Other building work necessitated vacating the shack for about six weeks, so he apologises for the recent lack of activity. Normal activity levels, including experiments on the new 5MHZ UK allocation will resume from the suitably enlarged shack shortly. G4OHX: Sam was QRV 22 August on 20 metres as XE3/G4OHX - thanks W6TZD. G4ZVJ: Andy is now G3AB, previously held between 1937 and 1983 by his late uncle. G8VG: Pete worked HF9JP through a pile-up on 17 metres while running five watts with his K2. This brings his DXCC total to 123 in about 15 months with the K2. GW3NJW: Clive writes, I worked Tim, G4VXE, on 5281kHz this afternoon (7 August), it felt like my first QSO back in 1959! This was my first FOC and first QSO on 5MHz. Does anyone else claim a prior FOC/FOC QSO? Clive was QRV as GW7X in the WAE CW Contest. K3ZO: Fred will be at the Korea DX Convention in Cheonan City at the end of August and will then be in Thailand for the annual Thailand DX Association meeting. He may be QRV with his HSZAR call - thanks Daily DX. K4BAI: John will be QRV in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest as 8P9Z and 11/17 December as 8P9HT, 160-6 metres. He will not be QRV from Barbados in the CQ WW CW Contest, as he has been almost every year since 1986, as W2SC, the station owner, will be QRV this year. K4DL: Jens has moved back to the country on 2 acres and is QRT until he gets antennas up. K6LQA: Congratulations to Bill on reaching the top of the DXCC Honor Roll with QSLs from P5 and VP6DI after only 46 years of DXing. K6WG: Stan has moved to Bellevue, WA to work with Icom of America in their land mobile department. He says he be QRV from the Icom America Club station, N7IH. K8JP: Joe is going into hospital for bilateral carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve work, so both his hands and arms will be out of commission for a while, he thinks about two weeks, but Bev thinks longer!. LA5HE: Referring to the 5MHz Experiment in the UK, Rag says Norway has permitted amateur stations to use a few frequencies on 5MHz - but only for emergency traffic and training. LY3BA: Gedas writes, I owe words of thanks for the QSOs and points from members during the IARU HF Championship using my contest call LY9A. Gedas used the same call in the EU HF Championship. LZ1AF: Although Dimiter has been retired for ten years, he started working part-time a year

ago and now has less time for amateur radio. Despite that he is still fifth in the current Windle table! N7BG: Tony and Jorma, OH2KI, will be two of the operators at the multi-multi PT5A station from PP5JRs mountain top QTH in the CQ CW Contest. Tony will be QRV on the 20 metre station with W6NV . N9RD: Jurgen plans to be QRV 26 September/ 28 October as DL/N9RD/P with his IC-706 while he and Kathy visit his sister in Coburg. Jurgen is now back on top of the DXCC Honor Roll with recent cards from P5 and VP6DI. OZ6XT: Judith and Peter will be staying at the Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas on holiday 20 September/4 October and plan to meet N5TP in Dallas. They then tour NM, AZ, NV and CA before returning home from Los Angeles on 12 October. Peter hopes to be QRV as W5/OZ6XT with his FT-817 from Texas. PAVDV: Joeke likes the Band of the Month and asks it continue. He will be QRV 9 November/1 December as PJ/PAVDV from Curaao, Netherlands Antilles, CW only on the HF bands. TL8DV: Dave went QRT for 13 days in August due to local politics, just a week after receiving his FOC number! Fortunately, an exemption was subsequently negotiated by the US Embassy for missionaries and he is now QRV again. VK6VZ: Steve visited the UK during May and June to help his father nurse his mother in the latter stages of cancer. He would particularly like to thank G3LIK for his friendship during this difficult time. Since returning to Australia, Steve has been busy preparing the shack for a Panda Cub transmitter donated by Mick and getting an old Drake C line back on the air. W4CK: Congratulations to Laura and Mark on expecting their second baby in March 2003. Mark made 225 QSOs during his Honduras trip in August. Soon after arriving home he flew to the UK on business and was planning a first time meeting with G3WPF. W4LZ: Mike writes, Suggestions by G3KTZ and

(callsign in brackets indicate G4FOC operator)

FOC CALENDAR

September (G3WUX) 5/25 SV5/G2JL (G3JZV) (635) 9 HL9DX & HL9CW by W8KJP (635) 20/4 Oct W5/OZ6XT (635) 22/2 Oct OK8ADW by G3KKQ (635) 26/28 Oct DL/N9RD/P (635) 28 Deadline for October News Sheet October (G3LIK) 4 June & Chris, G4BUE, Party (633) 5 Annual Dinner at Greenwich (FOCUS 50) 6 Mauds Open House (634) 11/13 RSGB HF & IOTA Convention 28 Deadline for November News Sheet K6TS to revert to the three area format for the tick-sheet is a great start although I dont see the point of alpha numeric order. I think the original system will find members more easily, especially WB2YQH etc. This is my opinion and Im sure members have others. W6IJ: Congratulations to Tommy on attaining #1 DXCC Honor Roll after 42 years DXing. W8KJP: Del will be QRV from 9 September again as HL9DX and HL9CW, mainly 15 and 20 metres 1000-1500z and possibly 2200-0100z. W9NN: Just after I published the August News Sheet came the sad news that Bob passed away very peacefully in his sleep at 10.30am on 1 August aged 96 years. His niece Betty, WD9AUC, was at his side along with the hospice nurse. He was one of the longest licensed radio amateurs in the USA, having been a radio amateur for more than eight decades. An obituary will be published in FOCUS 52. YV1NX: Fergus visited Florida on 4 July and soon after became ill. Following tests, he had an operation in Miami on 30 July and after recovering, was planning to return home at the end of August - thanks K4WJ.

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 0800z 1 September 2002. The two scores are total points and number of different members worked.
W4QM* W5ZR* G3LIK* K9QVB* LZ1AF* YV1NX SV1AOW* W1HMD* LY3BA* G3KTZ* W3NZ K8JP* LY2PX* G4BUE* LY5BA KT4P* G3RVM* G4BJM* 900/380 774/342 742/340 586/316 565/296 565 550/252 540/310 511/296 510/298 500/278 483/303 479/257 411/272 385/249 380/222 352/220 350/226 N3JT* W6TZD* DJ5ZN G3JJG* N3RS* W4LZ* GORH G4HZV* KZ5D G2FFO* OK1RR K1JD* G2JL* N3BB* WCGR* G5LP W3MC G3ZGC 335/190 333/207 322/204 306/211 292/196 273/163 264/184 263/183 251/163 246/175 241 236/173 230/214 229/168 228/129 226/158 221/154 217 W4ZYT* K6TS W8KJP EA6ACC ZP6CW* W4CK K6LQA F5VEX W9GW K4EV ZL1AH G4PKD* K5DQ W8LX* F3AT G4XRV* G3IY PABW 213/161 209/138 208 205/161 198/131 191 186 180 175/138 173/136 169/147 166 161/130 157/100 156 149/119 145/131 145/111 K5RC* DL8LBK* K2VCO K4EF G3MCK 4Z4KX* ZS1EL* G3KKQ* G3NOH* VE3DZZ G3LCS* GW3SB* G3LHJ* W8KJP/M LA8XM G3LPN G3NKS W4YE 144/101 143/106 143 140/118 139/107 135/103 128/101 126 124/105 122 120 120/105 115 114 112/96 110 109/102 109/94 W8FJ* N1DG VE3AR KC7V DK4LX VE3HX K4XU HB9QO G8VG* GW3HCL G2HKU G3VTT* N4JT* N6FB* W2DX N4TY K6WG 104 101/83 101/80 101 100 96 95 89/80 88 88 87 87 84/69 83/67 83 82 78 OZ4FF W1FJ K4LQ W1HT KY7M N4AF K5CA W6RGG* OH2EA TL8DV* LA5HE W1FZY AA5DX* W9VNE* W6IJ* OZ6XT W1RM 78 76/62 73/61 68 61 56 51 51 50 48/48 42 33 28 28 17 8 1

THE 2002 BILL WINDLE CENTENARY AWARD