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Martin Atherton G3ZAY gave us an interesting talk on the RSGB IOTA program. Martin spoke about the history of the program, from its humble beginnings to what today is a international awards program with some 1,200 separate islands to work. The IOTA program is today run by the RSGB and further details can be found at  http://www.rsgbiota.org

Martin also shared some fascinating stories and pictures of his visits to   OX3 - Ammassalik Island, Greenland, VE8 King William Island, Nunavut and Monhegan Island & Star Island.

The club would like to congratulate the following for passing their exams today!

Foundation: Derek, Tony, Spencer, Michael and Lee.
Intermediate: Sukhdev and Martin.

Well done guys!

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Just an update to the previous post below, ARISsat-1 is no longer operational as it re-entered the earths atmosphere this morning. More information can be read here.

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At the time of writing ARISSat-1 is losing 3.6km per day from it's orbit, this rate of decay means it is due to burn up in the atmosphere sometime this week.

Using the satellite tracking and SSTV reception features from within the Ham Radio Deluxe suite of programs this morning I caught this SSTV picture.

The downlink was on 145.950 fm and giving the TTL predicted for ARISSat-1 there are only a few more days for others to receive SSTV from this bird.

Receiving the pictures are simple, all you need to do is to tune your radio to 145.950 fm when the bird is overhead (see here) for the next pass over your postcode and SSTV software such as DM780, MMSTV etc.

You will also hear a CW ident and greetings messages in 12 different languages.

Arrisat will issue a certificate for anyone who receives the SSTV pictures, the satellite telemetry broadcast or hears the "secret word" broadcast during a pass

Details of the certificates are available here, Tracking is available here and Roland, PY4ZBZ has lots of photos and telemetry on his website.

Just a reminder to all members that the Constructors Cup takes place next Wednesday (30th November). The club has 2 cups, one is the novice cup, for (M3/M6/2EØ) and the other is the advanced cup (for MØ/GØ etc.)

If you have any electronics / radio equipment you have built and want to take part, be sure to bring it along!

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Back from the Pacific, our intrepid cameraman makes a welcome return from filming the story of one of the world’s most successful DXpeditions to date, T32C. Fred, G3SVK, a keen DX chaser and member of the Havering and District Amateur Radio Club has spent several weeks with the Five Star DXers Association (FSDXA) on the island of Kiritimati (Christmas Island), capturing all the excitement and nail-biting moments as the team reaches a world record number of QSOs.

Fred will share his story with the club on Wednesday November 16th with photos and video clips.

More exam success this week.

The club congratulates Sudekh for passing his foundation exam and Bill for passing his intermediate exam. Well done lads!

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A perfect day for some kite flying! Warm october sunshine & a steady wind on a pleasant Sunday afternoon prompted Dave, M0TAZ to do some portable operating from Hornchurch Country Park using a long wire supported by a kite. We worked close on 50 stations from all around the UK & Europe.

Operating equipment: Icom 7000 powered by a 65Ah leisure battery, RF around 60w, 80m Long wire antenna kite supported at ~60 metres.

This week, Dave M0TAZ gave a talk to the club members about contesting. The presentation went on for an hour and was very informative, especially to the new club members.

The presentation slides, which provided the basis of the talk, are available as a PDF document →

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In this months RadCom, Dave M0TAZ and John M0UKD published an article about their SOTA activation of Skiddaw in the lake district (G/LD-004). The photo on the front page was taken by Dave, of John holding the 2m 5 element beam and shows the fabulous view looking north.

The full article can be read on pages 50 and 51. A PDF version of the article can be read here.
(Made available with permission from RadCom)

On 18th and 19th June 2011 Havering and District ARC (G4HRC) once again took part in the 50 MHz Trophy Cup. We used a ICOM 7400 and 300w from a Hunter Six Linear Amp into a 6 element beam. The magic band once again came alive supporting contacts into Europe and beyond. We did hear stations from the East coast USA but the propagation was just not right to make the QSO. We worked 194 contacts from 31 countries,our best DX was over 3,000 km into 5B4AIF in KM64.

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Congratulations to Dave for passing his foundation exam tonight!

• 8th

"The Golden Days of Radio" by John Whitehead

• 15th

Informal Club Evening

• 22nd

"The "B" in Electronics" by Ollie G3TPJ

• 29th

Informal Club Evening

• 7th

"QSL cards and QSLing" by Dave M0TAZ

• 14th

Informal Club Evening

• 21st

"Ham Radio Olympics" by Roger Western G3SXW

• 28th

Informal Club Evening

• 4th

Second business meeting (Q1 Review)

• 11th

Informal Club Evening

• 18th

"RAYNET" - an overview. By Paul Harrison (G8MJH) & Phil Williams (G6AQP)

• 25th

Informal Club Evening

• Mondays 8pm

Monday Natter Net
145.525 MHz* FM

• Thursdays 8pm

Havering Radio Club Net
145.525 MHz* FM

• Fridays 8pm

Friday Natter Net
145.525 MHz* FM

• Saturdays 2pm

Top Band Afternoon Net
160 Metres (1910kHz)
LSB