The weekend of 22^nd/23^rd July was a very busy one for the Club. We set up a special event station at the site of the former Royton Hall to take part in the public open weekend run by the Royton Local History Society.

For several weeks prior to the event the RLHS had been excavating the ruins of the Hall which had stood on this site for hundreds of years prior to its demolition in 1939. The RLHS had started planning the project in 2002 culminating in the first part of the excavation in 2005 and the event this year was part 2 of the 2 year project. For more details of the history of the hall and the 2005 event please refer to the October 2005 edition of Old Hams News. Also the DVD detailing the history of the Hall and the 2005 dig produced by club member Geoff Oliver G0BJR is still available at £5 if you want a copy (profits from the sale go to the RLHS who still have bills to pay to cover the projects costs). The overall project was called "Royton Lives through the Ages" and this was reflected in our choice of callsign GB4RL "Royton Lives".

We had an early start on both days, arriving at the site by 09:00 to set up. The tent was soon erected and the antennae followed soon after. Keep it simple was the motto here with space at a premium. For HF we used a G5RV and for VHF/UHF a dual band colinear. Our portable, sectional mast was erected on top of the mound of spoil removed from the site. The proved a good location as it gave us a few feet of extra height and was not accessible for public access. As there was no electrical power on the site we set up our generator to feed our rigs, the Yaesu FT990R for HF and the Yaesu FT847R for VHF/UHF. On the Sunday we put on a display of SSTV, transmitting photos of the site. This created much interest not only in our visitors but also ‘on the air’ as several contacts were made using this mode. We were also able to supply other exhibitors with power for their displays which again assisted the RLHS to put on a full and comprehensive event covering archaeology, family history, and stone masonry in addition to the tours around the dig site and displays of their finds.

As the excavation covered a different area of the Hall our location was much better this year compared with last. It meant that we had a higher profile and as a consequence we had many more visitors to our tent. They were all left with a good impression of our club and our hobby. A new publicity document had been prepared for this event and all our visitors were encouraged to take a copy with them when they left. The Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Bernard Judge visited the event on both days and spent a considerable time in our tent on each occasion. In fact on the Sunday we photographed the Mayor and his wife and transmitted this via our SSTV station. This transmission triggered many contacts. Councillor Judge took the opportunity to ‘play radio’ as well. He had a long conversation with John in Canterbury and proved to be a very good operator showing no signs of mike shyness, mind you he is a politician and therefore never short of something to say.

On the radio side of things we had a very good weekend logging contacts in most European countries. Probably of most interest was one in Montenegro, a place not often heard. On VHF there were many local contacts, some of which renewed old acquaintances resulting in a few personal visits to the event and our tent. The important task of logging and QSLing was undertaken by Bertie Whitcher G7JUL and he slogged away all weekend at this task to make sure all stations contacted will receive a card. He worked so hard that he deserved this little snooze we caught him having after an exceptionally busy period.

After the success of his video of the 2005 Dig which raised much needed funds for this further excavation, club member Geoff Oliver G0BJR had been commissioned by the RLHS to do the same again. Geoff had made several visits to the site recording it through from start to finish this time. He took considerable footage at the open weekend and our club will feature strongly in the new video he produces.

Overall this event proved to be a very successful one in all respects. And all members who took part worked and played hard and had a very good time. They are listed below. We would like to thank the Royton Local History Society organisers for inviting us once again, in particular Frances Stott and Doug Ashmore. Many hundreds of people attended the site and a large percentage of them visited our station. Included amongst their number was a representative from the National Lottery Heritage Fund who was a major sponsor of the Excavation.

Just a final word about the excavation itself. This year the project Archaeologist Adam Thompson wanted to find the front of the house and to see what the unique spiral staircase unearthed in 2005 connected to. As Adam said, "Last years dig raised as many questions as it answered and we hope to find solutions to them this year." He was successful in his aims. The front of the house was found. The excavation was much deeper than last year and it unearthed the main entrance, including gateposts (left front). Another doorway into the cellars was found which had a mullioned window alongside it (right front). Also many interesting drains dating from the original building and a complete Victorian drain sitting on top of the originals. It was also clear that original estimates of the dates of construction were incorrect as indications of much earlier times were found. Interesting items of pottery, some dating back to the 13^th Century, were also unearthed. These have been sent to specialist laboratories for detailed examination.

Club member Phil Ellis M3LQA is also a member of the RLHS and he spent many weeks digging and recording finds so it is worth showing a final photograph of the site showing him hard at work.

The following members are due grateful thanks for their help and expertise throughout the weekend.

Photographs used in this article were provided by
Chris Mackay M0TVL, Jeff Hollowood G7LMI and Geoff Oliver G0BJR

It has been some time since we had a group photograph taken. Therefore it was thought that just before the AGM, when we anticipated a large turn out of members, would be an ideal opportunity to do this. With this in mind Chris Mackay M0TVL brought his camera and tripod and took this picture. 

During July 2 members passed a remarkable milestone. George Gee G0TKW and Eric Barnes G0WHL became Octogenarians, ie they became 80 years of age. As is now the norm at OARC when reaching this landmark they automatically qualify for life membership. This means they benefit from a rather dubious perk, they can’t leave the club whether they want to or not. But probably more importantly, they do not have to pay any subs.

They are joining an exclusive sub section of our club which is steadily growing and long may their number continue to swell.

George’s birthday was in July just prior to the AGM but Eric’s was back in February and unfortunately was overlooked by our checking system. George was born in Gorton and was part of a family of seven. His working life was spent as a Turner and therefore didn’t serve in the armed forces as this was a reserved occupation. He joined OARC in 1990 and did our RAE course. He has no children but dotes on his Great Nieces and Nephews.

Eric spent 3½ years in India as a radio operator with the Army during the war years. Prior to that he was a telegraph boy with the post office from the age of 14. After the war he returned to the post office doing various jobs until his retirement at 60 years of age from his position of Postmaster in Rochdale. He has been married to Barbara 2E1DPC for 55 years and has a daughter, a grandson and a great granddaughter.

Geoff Oliver G0BJR presented George and Eric with their Certificates just before the AGM. Geoff wanted to make the presentation before his retirement as Chairman.

Another little ceremony was performed just after the AGM. Newly elected Chairman Mike Crossley M1CVL congratulated Geoff Oliver G0BJR on his appointment as President of OARC.

Photographs by Chris Mackay M0TVL

The dreaded day is here again. It seems to come round faster each year. But there’s no avoiding it. It’s time for our subscriptions to be paid once again. Treasurer Peter Rushton G7PMZ will be looking out for you on Thursday evenings if you have not already paid.

Please note that as per the decision made at the AGM that subs are now £25 per annum with the OAP rate at £12.50.

Those members under the age of 18 still have free membership but you must register as such with ‘The Hand" to keep your membership current.

Don’t forget that this article is the only written reminder you will receive and if your subs remain unpaid your membership will cease and this edition of Old Hams News will be the last one you’ll receive.

Ofcom has announced significant changes to the UK Amateur Radio Licence document. They have clearly listened to the feedback on their original draft document issued on July 4^th and incorporated a number of improvements.

Key features in the new document are:

• Amateur Satellite Service granted to Foundation Licensees
• 28 MHz band granted to Foundation Licensees
• 10 GHz band (1 Watt max) granted to Foundation Licensees
• Rigs used by Foundation licensees no longer need to be CE marked. This will enable the use of cheap ex-PMR equipment for the 50/70/144/430 MHz bands.
• Kits for Foundation merely need to be ‘commercially available’ as per IR2028
• Foundation holders can now transmit Digital or Analogue Amateur TV
• Foundation and Intermediate licensees may use up to 500mW ERP to remotely control their station
• During disaster or emergency exercises, any UK Radio Amateur licensee can offer to pass exercise or emergency traffic
• Intermediates now get all higher Microwave Bands, preventing the loss of 76GHz+ access
• Greater Clarity has been introduced for unattended Personal Beacons in the new Schedule-2
• Full licensees have unprecedented scope in Section 10 for unattended and remotely operated stations and beacons (for personal use) via secure links that may use Internet, WiFi or other amateur bands.
• /A (Alternative fixed station) has been reintroduced and /P & /M are now more clearly defined for temporary and mobile stations
• Callsign suffixes /A, /P, /M and /MM are now optional.
• Club prefixes remain optional (a change from the initial draft version)
• Restrictions on emission types abolished, permitting greater experimentation
• Logbooks no longer mandatory, except for interference investigations

Surprisingly the document does not allow Intermediate Licensees to supervise the On-Air contacts which are required as part of the Foundation Course Assessments. In any other walk of life people can run courses providing they have themselves attained the level at which they intend to teach. Amateur Radio is unusual in that even those who’ve achieved Intermediate still cannot run all of a course for the entry level Foundation.

While this is not currently a problem it may in time become an increasing issue in Schools, Scouts, Guides and other youth groups where there may simply not be any Advanced licence holders available.

Ofcom are to be congratulated for consulting widely on the new document and for taking note of the feedback provided by Radio Amateurs.

Related URL's:

Ofcom Amateur Radio Licensing Consultation:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/aradio/

IR2028 Specification
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/tech/interface_req/ir_2028.pdf

Comments on the original July 4th Draft BR68 that this replaces:
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2006/br68_first_impressions.htm

By Trevor Hawkins M5AKA

The recent announcement by OFCOM represents the most radical shake-up of BR68 since it was first introduced and is sure to generate considerable discussion. A major surprise is that it is a statement rather than a full consultation as is usually the case. I believe it is a mistake not to hold a consultation on such an important document.

The statement is on the Ofcom website at
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/aradio/lifetimelicence/

The PDF is at
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/aradio/lifetimelicence/licenceformat.pdf

Club Callsigns
There is no mention of the special club regional designators used in club call signs. These are currently optional and their absence presumably means they’ve been dropped. Some clubs invested considerable sums of money and volunteer effort in using their club call sign with the Club Regional Designator (eg X for England) for Internet domain addresses, publicity material, QSL cards, clothing etc. OFCOM’s proposal will mean all that work will have to be scrapped and redone.

Changes like this should not be imposed suddenly. Those clubs that wish to continue using Club Regional Designators should be allowed to do so for at least 6 months after the 1^st October to ensure an orderly changeover.

Foundation Licence
Foundation Licence holders will have access to the 10 Metre band.

The requirement for CE approval on the equipment used by Foundation holders has been dropped. Note the wording change to "commercial equipment". This is a welcome change, as it should permit the use of cheap ex-PMR equipment which is not CE approved for 70, 144 and 430 MHz.

While Foundation will have access to all bands between 136 kHz and 440 MHz and all modes including Meteor Scatter, SSTV, DATV, FAX, RTTY, PSK-31 Packet etc they are, for some inexplicable reason, denied access to the Amateur Satellite Service. They can legally transmit on frequencies used by Amateur Satellites but are banned from carrying out QSO’s via those satellites!!

The UK is the only country to deny its Entry Level licence holders use of the Amateur Satellite Service. Allowing Foundation access to satellites would permit Self-Training in areas such as Doppler shift and orbital mechanics.

The regulator agreed in 2003 that Foundation holders would be allowed to have QSO’s with Astronauts in space. Astronauts operate under the regulations governing the Amateur Satellite Service. Since this matter is not mentioned elsewhere in the document this privilege appears to have been removed by the new BR68.

Identification
The old BR68 said you only need to identify "at the beginning and at the end of each period of communication". Now period of communication is taken to mean a QSO so all you currently have to ID is at the start and end of each QSO and at 15 minute intervals if the QSO lasts longer than that. The new BR68 says you have to identify in each transmission.

Now a transmission is the pushing of the PTT (yes CW especially full break-in CW does complicate the issue!!). With the current BR68 if you were having a QSO with somebody and they asked you a question you can reply "Yes" with no call sign, under the new BR68 you would have to say "M0xxx Yes".

You will now be able to identify in the mode that you are transmitting in. This is a sensible change as previously in the case of data transmissions it was necessary to send a separate 20 wpm CW ID.

Identification – Net Operation
The new BR68 says identification shall be "at least once every 15 minutes during net operations". This is a significant change from the existing BR68. Current Amateur practice is that participants in traditional round-robin nets identify when it is their turn for an over. For a net with 8 participants each taking 3 minutes an over it can be 24 minutes before each participant gets a chance to ID. OFCOM appear to be saying that you must identify every 15 minutes regardless of whether it is "your over" or not.

Identification – Full Duplex Operation
Clause 13(b) appears to be badly worded. It doesn't cater for full duplex operation. If two Amateurs were having a cross band full duplex QSO they could transmit for hours without giving a callsign. It should have the phrase "and every 15 minutes during the transmission" added.

Messages
The old BR68 said

"3(3) The Licensee shall:
(a) have no pecuniary interest (direct or indirect) in any operations conducted under this Licence; and
(b) except as provided by sub-clauses 1(2) and (3) and except in the case of activities on behalf of a non-profit organisation established for the furtherance of amateur radio, not use the Station for business, advertisement or propaganda purposes including (without limiting the generality of the foregoing) the sending of news or messages of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit or information of, any social, political, religious or commercial organisation."

The new one removes the "pecuniary interest" clause also the text relating to transmission of "propaganda" and news or messages on behalf of a religious organisation. There is no mention in the new BR68 of any specific ban on political discussions or the transmission of music.

Remote Operation
Up until now it has been necessary to apply for a separate NoV if you wished to control your station remotely. Ofcom propose making remote operation a part of BR68, this eliminates the need for separate NoV’s. It is however, unclear as to why Ofcom have imposed a 100 Metre limit on remote control using amateur frequencies.

Log
The mandatory requirement to keep a log has been removed. This has never been an ITU requirement and there has never been a valid regulatory reason for Ofcom to insist on mandatory log keeping. In practice I’m sure Amateurs will continue to keep logs because it’s of benefit to themselves.

/A, /P and /M Suffixes
The use of /A, /P and /M has been made clearer but I have never understood why Ofcom make them mandatory. There is no ITU requirement to use them and it is unclear what regulatory benefit Ofcom gets from their use. From the regulators viewpoint all they need to know is the stations approximate location. It is already a requirement to give your location to within at least 5 km if you are not at your home address, that and your call sign are all that should be required.

QinetiQ are currently developing an Automatic Nationwide Direction Finding system for Ofcom. This system will enable the regulator to pinpoint any radio transmission to within a few metres. They will certainly be able to tell if a signal is mobile.

There would be nothing stopping Amateurs continuing to use /A, /P and /M suffixes if they wished and I’m sure most would, it just doesn’t have to be mandated in BR68.

Operation by Licensee in CEPT Countries
Clause 16 only covers operation in CEPT countries for Full licence holders. CEPT have recently introduced additional licence classes that are the equivalent of our Intermediate and Foundation. As yet the UK is not a signatory to these but hopefully this will change in the near future.

CEPT Novice (Intermediate) level licence
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/jun2005/cept_novice_licence.htm

CEPT Entry (Foundation) level licence
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2006/cept_entry_level_licence.htm

Modes
Ofcom has missed an opportunity to make BR68 "Technology Neutral". Why does schedule 1 specify Morse, Radio Telephony, RTTY, Facsimile etc? It should be up to Amateurs as to which modes they use and where through the voluntary band plan system. The only concern of the Regulator should be that the emission is contained within the limits of the Amateur Band and does not cause any interference to a primary user.

Internet Gateways
OFCOM appear to wish to maintain the existing cumbersome NoV system for Attended Internet Gateway systems. This severely inhibits the ability of Amateurs to experiment and develop ad-hoc systems to meet short-term requirements. There is no valid regulatory reason why Amateurs shouldn’t be allowed to connect their rigs to the Internet as part of the standard licence.

Repeater Operation
The ban on setting up attended cross-band repeaters as and when required remains. It is unclear why. In the United States the FCC has no problems with allowing Amateurs to operate both in-band and cross-band repeaters as and when they require.

It would be a good idea to add a clause along the lines of FCC 97.205 into BR-68. (Paragraph (C) covers co-ordination issues). Such a clause should be applicable to both repeater and Internet Gateway operation.

FCC97.205 Tiny URL:http://tinyurl.com/pchzy

Full URL
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgibin/getcfr.cgi?TITLE=47&PART=97&SECTION=205&TYPE=TEXT

An example of cross band repeater operation for personal use would be where an Amateur has a standard dual-band mobile rig, 50 watts on 2 metres and 35 watts 70 cm, installed in their car. They switch it to "repeater mode" so that any signal that appears on the 70 cm frequency is re-transmitted on the 2 Metre frequency and visa-versa. The Amateur can then walk away from the car carrying a 70 cm handheld and use the handheld to converse with somebody on 2 metres using the rig in the car as a cross band relay.

This is standard practice in the United States but Amateurs who do it in this country are in breach of their licence. This personal cross band repeater facility could be incorporated into BR68 by amending Clause 7(3) and (4) to remove the 100 Metre range limit and increasing the power limit to 500 mw (all current handhelds have this low power setting).

Greater Clarity
On reading through the new unified BR68 I was struck by how much clearer it was that the three old BR68’s that it replaces. OFCOM are to be congratulated on producing such a concise easy to read document.

Responses to the Statement
While there is no formal consultation procedure there is nothing stopping Amateurs letting Ofcom know their views on the new BR68. It is currently in draft format, the final version will be produced later, so the more feedback Ofcom get the better. The email address for comments is:
amateurcb@ofcom.org.uk

by Trevor Hawkins M5AKA

There is just the one item in the club’s diary at the time of writing.

Sat/Sun 21^st/22^nd October - Jamboree on the Air – Callsign GB2GMN
Set up from 18:00 on Fri 20^th Oct
Location Gtr M/cr North Scout HQ, Cardinal Langley School, Middleton.

Don’t forget to watch the web site and listen to the Chairman’s announcements on Thursdays for the latest information on forthcoming events.

Please Note: The Llandudno Rally has been cancelled due to rising costs and lack of trader interest. So don’t make the trek down the M56 & A55, unless of course you just fancy a day out.

Philip Ellis M3LQA has passed the Intermediate Radio Amateurs Exam. His new callsign will be announced in the next edition of Old Hams News.

The editor would like to thank all contributors to this edition of Old Hams News. The next edition is due to be issued in January 2007. Any contributions for this edition should be forwarded to the editor, Geoff Oliver G0BJR on or before Thursday 14^th December 2006 to ensure inclusion.

Articles will be accepted on many formats, by email to "news@oarc.org.uk", by word of mouth, hand or type written notes, or as a .txt file on a CD ROM or 3½-inch floppy disc. Photographs, drawings, circuit diagrams and other graphics to enhance your article will also be most welcome.

An edited version of Old Hams News is available on the Internet at the following URL
www.oarc.org.uk
then click on the "Club Journal" hyperlink.

If you submit an article for inclusion in Old Hams News and you do not wish it to be included in the Internet edition you must state your wishes at the time of submission. Otherwise the editor reserves the right to include/exclude your article as he sees fit.

For reference the officers and committee members are listed below and will be happy to help with any enquiries you may have.

President – Geoff Oliver G0BJR
Chairman – Mike Crossley M1CVL
Secretary – Keith Graham M0KGM     Treasurer – Peter Rushton G7PMZ

Ordinary Committee Members

Written, edited and produced by Geoff Oliver G0BJR
© Oldham Amateur Radio Club 2006