UK National Amateur / Ham Radio Centre

Martin (M1MRB/W9ICQ) and Colin (M6BOY) Butler of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast visited the RSGB's UK National Radio Centre.

We get a flavour of what's on offer for both licenced amateurs and for visitors interested in radio and how radio shapes the world. We talk to Martyn Baker (G0GMB) the National Radio Centre Co-Ordinator about the success and plans for the centre and Tony Duggan (G0LAX) operates the National Radio Centres Radio Room.

Green Keys Night

The Greenkeys online group is happy to announce the first-ever 'Green Keys Night' (GKN), to be held concurrent with 'Straight Key Night' on 1st January 2019, from 0000 to 2359 UTC.

As with SKN, GKN is an event and not a contest.

"Greenkeys" is not a reference to eco-friendly operating - though members certainly are keen on equipment recycling - but rather is a group dedicated to the restoration and use of vintage mechanical teleprinters and related equipment. The term "greenkeys" itself refers to the colour of the keys on Teletype machines.

Participants are encouraged to get on the air and simply make enjoyable conversational RTTY QSOs. Operate on all authorized Amateur frequencies.

Please follow established band plans and be mindful of SKN QSOs. RTTY modes only. Call "CQ GKN".

The use of mechanical teleprinters is preferred or simply get on the air with the oldest equipment you can scrape together. Real heavy metal Teletypes to be sure, but if that isn't available: analogue hardware modems, VT100 terminals, pre-Windows computers, etc. And vacuum tubes. And maybe fire up that boat anchor rig that never gets enough air time.

Please no brag tapes/files. Please, no pre-recorded messages. Have a real conversation by hand typing it keyboard to keyboard. If you are slow we'll happily wait. (A CQ macro is okay but you would have better bragging rights if you hand typed that too.) But even if you don't have any old equipment, do get on the air and have some fun QSOs the old fashioned way!

There are no points scored, but if you'd like to share with us your favourite or most interesting QSO (worked or heard), your log, and what equipment you operated with (including photos), please do.

Please note that there is a RTTY contest concurrent with GKN, the SARTG New Year RTTY Contest. The contest runs from 0800 to 1100 UTC. As long as you have your RTTY working why not join in the contest and then return to more GKN fun!

More Information - http://www.sartg.com/contest/nyrules.htm

The Greenkeys online group is an email list devoted to the discussion of older radioteletype (RTTY) gear including mechanical teleprinters (Teletype, Kleinschmidt, etc.), terminal units, paper tape, gears, cams, oil, and anything else related to TTY/RTTY. To join the group, visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys.

URC Calls for Basic French License

The French Union of Radio Clubs (URC) made a submission to the regulator DGE calling for a Basic amateur radio license to be introduced.

“We have wanted for many years the creation of several classes of licenses,
before 2012 a class 3 license existed, it did not have an equivalent CEPT, we wish its reform, but absolutely not its disappearance. Today we do not ask not its recovery, but the creation of a true Basic license that allows for many young and old, to access the world of radio amateurs.

We also want the creation of an intermediate [CEPT Novice] license, these two licenses finding equivalence in CEPT countries. These licenses have already been put in place in some European countries. In the name of the equality of all European citizen radio amateurs, we request the creation of these licenses which will respect the CEPT REC0506 recommendations and ERCREP032 for the intermediate [CEPT Novice] license, and ECCREP089, for the basic license.
”

— French Union of Radio Clubs (URC)

The only amateur radio exam in France is the HAREC exam which has a total of 40 questions. These are split into two papers, a 15 minute 20 question Rules and Regulations paper and a 30 minute 20 question Technical paper. A pass mark of 10 or more in each paper is required. Currently, a wrong answer counts as -1, not 0, DGE plans to change this so candidates will no longer lose a point for a wrong answer.

URC propose that the results from the existing HAREC exam be used to determine which of the three classes of license the candidate is eligible for. A pass of 10 or more questions correct out of 20 for Rules and Regulations paper and:

• 12 or more correct in Technical paper = HAREC CEPT Class 1 licence

• 8-11 correct in Technical = CEPT Novice license

• 4-7 correct in Technical = Basic license

URC - https://www.news.urc.asso.fr/
URC (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/F8URC_news

URC submission to DGE (PDF) - https://www.news.urc.asso.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Réponses-URC-ANFR-08-11-2018.pdf