BRITISH TELEGRAPHY STATION

M0GMT

2001, TAKEN AT THE WADARC BBQ, BY M0DTB.

GREETINGS, WELCOME TO MY NEW WEBSITE.

MY NAME IS DANNY, AND I AM CURRENTLY 18 YEARS OLD. AS YOU CAN TELL FROM THE TITLE, I AM CW ONLY.

MY RADIO IS AN ICOM 706 MK2, ANTENNA IS A 66 FOOT DOUBLET ABOUT 30 FEET HIGH.

MY MAIN MORSE KEY IS A SCHURR PROFI 2, AND MY KEYER IS AN ETM SAMSON MODEL.

Schurr profi 2

Icom 706 mk2

I work in Sussex, on the south coast of the U.K. as an electrician.

My hobbies are:-

Chess,

Mathematics,

Languages,

Mind games/sports,

Mountain cycling,

Driving.

I enjoy all of the above, and manage to find time to partake in them often.

My main interest is of course Amateur Radio and in particular CW (Morse code) - High speed.

How did I start in Radio?

Well it's quite a long story, so I will shorten it slightly.

I was about 11 years old and living in the small town of Hassocks (Near Burgess Hill), I often visited car boot sales with my parents and enjoyed buying junk to disassemble and explore with.

I came across a box containing a C.B. radio and after some haggling got it for a cheap price. This is how I first became aware of radio. After some time of playing around with antennas etc.. I made some contacts with local radio operators. This continued for a couple of years and gave me time to increase my knowledge of radio in general. It was about this time that we moved to the small town of Worthing (Near Brighton), here I continued on the C.B radio but not for long. I found the perfect shop for a 13 - 14 year old radio enthusiast, It was called GWM radio and was situated in the town centre. This shop was full with everything and anything to do with radio, junk, new stuff, surplus, just about anything. Anyway as you can imagine I began to visit this shop more and more, thus getting to know the people who worked there. After being on the C.B for a few years, I was getting bored with 40 channels FM and the usual fools and language of C.B. I enquired in the shop if they had any radios that were not on C.B. frequencies that I could use, well of course the answer was no. Well then came the suggestion that was to shape and change the next few important years of my life - Why don't you try amateur radio ?

I had never heard of this and was keen to learn more. After discovering a bit about the hobby I put an advert in the local free ad paper for a reciever on the amateur radio bands. I had a lot of calls from different people but the price of equipment was far beyond what I wanted to pay. I had a call one evening from a local Ham, Jim G0WMG, he told me he had some equipment for sale but sensing I didn't really know what I was looking for he invited me along to the Worthing and district amateur radio club (WADARC). Here I met Jim and lots of very friendly and helpful members all keen to help me progress in radio.

It was that first evening that something strange happened, I was of course not aware that the Amateur radio required such things as a license and morse code test. Well one of the new club members told me that a course was starting at Brighton College two days later! I got myself enrolled on the course, and i'm sure i dont need to explain the rest.

After passing the RAE I applyed for the Callsign M1RAD (RAD for radio), this was granted and I started to enjoy local qso's on 2 meters. But I was getting interested in more long distance contacts, so I started listening on H.F.

I then started to learn morse code by myself, with nothing apart from my practise tapes the computer tutor program and alot of dedication and interest. After a couple of months I was upto about 8 - 9 WPM. I had the idea of taking the M5 test and using the call on H.F Mainly CW to get practise for the 12 WPM test. I did this and got the callsign M5DAN (DAN for Danny), well I was happy for about a month but never being able to resist a challenge I practised day and night (about 1 hour a day and 2 to 4 hours at the weekends) to build up to 12 WPM. I had heard of a method called the Farnsworth method, this is setting the computer to send at 18WPM with wider spacing. I used this method and within about 2 weeks I was upto 18 WPM, and more than ready for the 12 WPM test. I was going upto the London radio rally to look round but also with the idea of taking the test. To encourage myself I said I would buy a new radio (IC706 MK2) and all the bits to put together a nice station if I passed the test. I went for the test and passed with no mistakes and thus bought the equipment. The key the examiner gave me to use was a Kent straight key, and after using this compared with my Hy mound key I bought one as well .

I was now able to set up my station and H.F. antenna's, this I did rather quickly and was soon on the air.

I was at first using SSB and CW (mainly), But I soon became bored with Fone and as I liked CW so much I went CW only.

I progressed with my Kent key to about 25 WPM, but my arm was getting too tired before I had had enough of being on the air. This and the fact that I was tempted my High speed CW , made me change to a paddle key and keyer. My first paddle key and keyer was, Kent dual paddle and Kent keyer (Both second hand and under 40 pounds for both). I used this key and keyer but became annoyed with the low quality of the key and the mechanical style of keyer. I had no idea of what to get, so I contacted my CW buddy Bill G0JWB, he helped me and recommended a Schurr Profi 2 and ETM Samson keyer. A rather expensive mix, but I was earning far more than I could spend living at home so I went for it. The quality is unbelievable and the feel and sound of the key and keyer together is music to one's ears. A great buy and worth every penny.

WADARC

This is a picture of the GB2KIN (kids in need) special event station. We ran the event from the entrance to a shopping center, we raised lots of money for the charity and had a great time. The antenna was a dipole strung between two lamposts at about 40 feet.

Below are just a few members of the Worthing club, recognise any?

Left to right: standing - Richard G0HKN, George G0SMY, Chris G3NDJ, Peter G8MSQ, Danny M0GMT, Ray M0RJK.

Sitting - Fred G0UVA, Peter G0LKW, Eric G4KIT, Terry M0DTB, Ted G0RCB.

A Brief History of the Club

1948 to 1998.

The early meetings were held in "Olivers Café", South Farm Road, Worthing. This was located adjacent to the Railway Station.

In 1949, meetings were held on the Third Monday in each month at the Adult Education Centre in Union Place Worthing. The Club participated in HF National Field Day, a major competition, from a site near the Coach and Horses, Arundel road Worthing. In those days equipment was home built, aerial masts were made of Timber and transported between two bicycles. A Club Net was held every Wednesday evening on Top Band, 1.837Mhz.

1949 saw the first lady member (YL). The subscription was 10 shillings per year and attendance's at meetings was steady at around twenty members.

1950 saw the first "Bucket and Spade" party, this was the forerunner of today's "Mobile Rallies" and was held on the seafront at Worthing.

By 1951 the Club membership had grown to forty. The club newsletter, Ragchew, was being produced, and this cost one (Old) penny to post.

In 1952 an attempt was made at the AGM to dispense with the Committee. This motion was defeated, and the club continued until 1958 when a drop in attendance led to a proposal at the AGM that "The Club be would up if interest did not improve". Again this was defeated, and the Club continued.

By 1962 the meetings had changed to the second Monday in each Month. The Ragchew had re-started and July saw the first VHF National Field Day At this time, four metres seem to be the most popular band.

1963 saw a drop in membership to twenty, but by 1964 it was on the rise again, reaching thirty. In 1965 two meetings were held every month, on the second and fourth Mondays in each Month.

1967 saw a move from the Adult Education centre to the Rose Wilmot Youth centre in Littlehampton Road. At the Rose Wilmot Centre we had the use of a large concrete double garage type of building, where we installed metal cupboards with locks for our equipment. The adjacent football pitch, with it's floodlights, provided suitable aerial supports and the Club was "On Air" regularly.

The Call Sign G3WOR was issued to the Club, and with membership on the increase, the meetings were now held weekly.

At the end of 1975 the club moved back to the Adult Education Centre with weekly meetings until a move was made in the early 1980's to a Venue in Pond Road, Durrington. Meetings were then held every Tuesday evening until the increasing membership demanded yet another move, this time to larger premises.

In 1979 the Worthing Club met with five other local clubs and formed the Sussex Mobile Rally. This was to be an annual event, held at Brighton Racecourse on the first Sunday in July. This event has continued every year since 1979. It is now called the "Sussex Amateur Radio and Computer Fair, and is one of the largest "Mobile Rallies" in the South, catering for everyone with some 100 Traders each year in the fields of Amateur Radio equipment, Components, Computers and related equipment.

In 1984 the Club moved to it's present location at the Parish Hall, South Street, Lancing. And the meetings were changed to every Wednesday evening.

During 1984, special Call Sign GB2WOR was on the Air from Worthing Pier.

Since the move to Lancing, the Club membership has steadily grown to over eighty. The Club has prospered, and many Special Event Stations are put on each year, including the Worthing Hobbies Exhibition, Fire Brigade Open Day, Windmill Day and Children in Need.

The Club participates in many competitions and owns it's own equipment. In 1998 the Club celebrated it's FIFTIETH YEAR, with an Anniversary Dinner.

The Club has over twenty trophies, donated by members over the years. These trophies are competed for on an annual basis by the members and include something for everyone.

New members are always welcome. Just drop in any Wednesday and be assured of a warm welcome.

Club Nets

The following nets are run by various members of the club at the stated times, frequencies and modes. Participation in a net is not restricted to club members. Any non-member operators are most welcome!

All times in the list are local clock times.

2 Metre Net
70cm Net
CW Net
10 Metre Net
Somerset Net

2 Metre Net

Monday 20:00 145.425Mhz FM (S17) - Normally chaired by Chris G3NDJ, this is the most popular of the Club Nets, as most members are QRV on the 2 metre band.

70cm Net

Thursday 20:00 433.425MHz FM (SU17) - Usually chaired by Jim G0WMG or Eric G4KIT, the 70cm Net offers another meeting place for those QRV on this band.

CW Net

Friday 19:30 3.540MHz CW - The CW operators paradise.

10 Metre Net

Sunday 10:00 28.650MHz SSB - For the Sunday morning "ragchew" after the local GB2RS News..

Somerset Net

Weekdays 13:45 7.045MHz SSB - Started when Kenn G0NKZ moved down to Somerset, this net allows for keeping contact with members who have left the local area.

I am a member of the following clubs:

WADARC (WORTHING AND DISTRICT AMATEUR RADIO CLUB) - www.wadarc.clara.net

RSGB (RADIO SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN), - www.rsgb.org.uk/

CTC # 21 (CROATIAN TELEGRAPHY CLUB),

HSC # 1802 (RADIO TELEGRAPHY HIGH SPEED CLUB), - www.hsc.de.cx/

CDXC (CHILTERN DX CLUB). - www.cdxc.org.uk/

Anyway thats it for now more to come.................... E-MAIL me at mailto:m0gmt@postmaster.co.uk

PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION - MORE INFO ETC... TO COME

Below are a couple of people who interest me, and I will be doing a explanation of each one and some others.

Alan Turing

Albert Einstein

Samuel Morse

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