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MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px}Dear club colleagues, some items of news
and information that I hope will be of interest to you and your club members,
and I would appreciate if you would pass this onto them.
Amateur Radio Licence – Ofcom publishes updated guidance for licensees
In the initial statement published by Ofcom in December 2014, they undertook to
publish updated guidance on various aspects of the Amateur Radio licence, which
they have now done and may be viewed at the following URL.
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/amateur-radio/guidance-for-licensees/Amateur_Radio_Licence_Guidance_for_licensees.pdf
This guidance document provides further understanding of the terms and
conditions, most of which are found in part two of our amateur radio licence.
This guidance document will help explain some of the meanings.
New Ofcom licence system.
Many will already be aware of the new Ofcom licensing portal; have heard about
it or personally encountered some of the problems. While the RSGB have given
feedback on some points from the new website to Ofcom, some points are still to
be fixed.
The new Ofcom home page where you will need to create an account and sign-in is
at http://ofcom.force.com/licensingcomlogin. While you may have previously had ;
an Ofcom sign-on account, this has not been carried over to this new system, so
you will need to register from scratch.
Account registering;
The one thing they have ported across is the email address from your previous
account - if you used one. If you didn't use an email address for your previous
login, you will need to phone Ofcom on 020 7981 3131 to set-up an account on
the new system.
Providing you previously had an email address for logging in, then from the
home page select the ‘Register as a new user’ option, and enter the information
required on the new page that is displayed. Note that for the ‘email address’
this needs to be the one you previously had registered and still have access
to. When you have input all the required data select ‘Register’
Details of how to log-in will have now been sent to your registered email
account, which you need to access and click on the URL in the Ofcom email to
complete the account registration. At this point on the Ofcom website you will
be prompted to enter a new password, the next step displays the ‘Licensing
dashboard’.
Licence Part One;
Under ‘My licences’ select ‘View my licences’ then hover your mouse over the
licence details and you will see additional buttons, select ‘View’.
You will now see your details displayed, but to produce the pdf version of Part
One of your licence document you need the system to produce this, which is done
by clicking on the ‘i’ icon in the top box that shows your licence No. Once
this has been done, a copy of the document will be emailed to your registered
email account, and may also be downloaded from the Ofcom page at any time by
choosing the Adobe symbol that will be shown in place of the initial ‘i’ icon.
You will notice that the new licence makes specific reference to the use of
Regional Secondary Locator codes, though this mostly just clears up
understanding for some on the use of these codes.
Licence Part Two;
For your Licence Part 2 document that contains the Terms & Conditions (the
important small print) you may simply go to;
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocommunication-licences/amateur-radio/guidance-for-licensees/am-radio-tandc/
Alternatively to navigate to this page, left click on the ‘Ofcom’ logo in the
top left of the webpage, from the next page select ‘Licensing’ and then
‘Amateur Radio’.
From the menu select ‘Guidance for Licensees’ then on the next menu choose
‘Amateur Radio Licence Terms and Conditions’, this is the Part two of your
licence.
In putting this procedure together I have noticed the webpages to be changing,
which you may also encounter.
Revalidation;
A number of amateurs have remarked about the requirement and procedure for
Revalidation of our licenses. At this time our licence still requires us to do
this, though Ofcom have to confirm the process we are to follow to fulfil this
requirement.
I would suggest that you call Ofcom if your licence is nearing the five year
anniversary period, so there is no risk to your licence being revoked by this
change of website.
I have shown above the phone No. for the licensing department at Ofcom, but if
required their email address is spectrum.licensing@xxxxxxxxxxxx. I further
understand that staff changes are planned in Ofcom for later this month, when
the staff and roles transfer to another area of the country.
Club of the Year - Region 10
For the third consecutive year, the Hilderstone Radio & Electronics Club has
been awarded the regional Club of the Year shield for 2015.
While this established award is open to all clubs in the region, the criterion
is set high and looks at a range of activities that the successful club is
expected to excel in.
The Hilderstone club are recognised noticeably for their extensive work with
local schools and young peoples groups, their engagement in public events
through special event stations and in the training of candidates at all levels.
Congratulations to Hilderstone for this achievement, and I hope that other
clubs in Kent/South London will be preparing to submit an entry for the 2016
COTY award when details for submissions are published in the coming months.
If any club wants further details on this award or the process involved, please
let me know.
RSGB training documents
An amateur radio Training and Assessment Guide is now available from the RSGB
website at
http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/tutor-resources-2/training-guide/training-assessment-guide/.
This comprises a series of documents that describe the procedures that are to
be followed for the provision of training and assessment, as part of the RSGB
scheme for people to become eligible for a UK amateur radio licence.
These will be very helpful for anyone who provides training, which will ensure
a consistent benchmark for assessment of candidates on the practical tests.
South East Tutors
The South East Tutors group has been setup to coordinate a training and exam
program for candidates covering all the levels of amateur licence. The group
comprises training teams from Bromley, Cray Valley, Crystal Palace, Darenth
Valley, North and West Kent clubs.
The group has a published schedule for training into 2017, covering the
Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced exam courses. Candidates wanting
Foundation training or those looking to move to the next level can view the
current training schedules at; http://goo.gl/AEV5GN ;
Hilderstone REC - Intermediate training
The Hilderstone Radio and Electronics club will be starting their next
Intermediate course in September.
If you know of any Foundation licence holder who wishes to further themselves
and join the candidates currently signed up, and can travel to Broadstairs for
the training, contact via email to; hilderstoneclub@xxxxxxxxx
GB3UHF beacon
In addition to the VHF beacon GB3VHF on 144.430MHz from Fairseat, this has now
been added to with a 70cm beacon GB3UHF that operates on 432.430MHz.
Thanks to Chris G0FDZ who is the beacon keeper for pursuing this project
through all stages to get us a new beacon for 70cms, which can be used for
propagation tracking and frequency checking.
Full details and for any donation towards the upkeep of the beacons can be done
through http://www.gb3vhf.co.uk/GB3UHFhome.html
Capel Contesting group
On the 3rd and 4th of September it's both the 144MHz Trophy and the RSGB SSB
NFD contests.
The Capel Battery Contest Group will be entering the 2m Trophy contest that
weekend, but will also put on an HF SSB NFD station if there’s enough interest
and support for set-up and take-down plus operating.
You must be an RSGB member to help with the 144MHz Trophy contest operating,
but only need to be a group member to operate in the HF SSB, as it's an AFS
contest.
If you’re interested in either or both, contact Ian Lowe G0PDZ at
g0pdzfullstopian@xxxxxxxxx
RSGB Summer Sale book voucher
Summer is here and as it is the holiday season the RSGB is giving its members a
little seasonal treat, with a Summer Sale discount voucher for £2.50 that can
be used in the RSGB online shop, on any order for books and CD’s only
(excluding postage) over £10.
The RSGB has launched an online Summer Sale with a host of special offers which
RSGB members may use this voucher against. This includes copies of the RSGB
Handbook 12th Edition at half price or even the 3D Printing for Dummies book
advertised in the August edition of RadCom.
This voucher is only for use by RSGB members, so you can't use it if you’re not
a member or pass it on to others; however you can use it more than once, so
if you want to send gifts, etc. you can use it as many times as you want.
Eligible members should have received a personal email containing details of
the offer together with full terms and conditions. The offer is only available
for use online at www.rsgbshop.org using the voucher code RS2016, which expires
on the 31st August 2016.
HF Contest survey
The HF Contest Committee has been redrafting the rules for RSGB HF Contests for
2017 as agreed as one of the outcomes of the Presidential Review of Contesting
that was held in 2015. Most of this discussion has been held in a small
delegated group. Changing the format of contest rules has also led to
discussion of the rules themselves.
The Committee have a few suggestions for enhancements that it believes could be
made if they have substantial support from among the contesting community.
This survey will be active until midnight on Monday 5 September (just after SSB
Field Day) as the Contest Committee needs to complete the draft rules in
advance of the RSGB Convention in October where there will be an opportunity
for further discussion.
The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HF_Contests_2017 ;
RSGB Convention
The RSGB 2016 Convention takes place on the 7th to the 9th of October at Kents
Hill Conference Centre, Milton Keynes.
The early bird booking discount for day tickets and weekend packages has been
extended to the 31st of August. Go to www.rsgb.org/convention for further
details of the event program and for bookings.
Some archive videos from the 2015 RSGB Convention are available for RSGB
members to view at
http://rsgb.org/main/archive/video-archive/rsgb-2015-convention/ ;
2m Activity periods
QSO activity periods have been established over recent months to raise SSB
contacts on 144MHz.
The periods are Monday and Friday evenings from 8 - 10pm and Wednesday mornings
10am to Noon (all times local/BST).
These periods have increased the level of SSB contacts on 2m as it was
intended, as people know when others may be listening around that could result
in some good contacts. We have a few stations from Kent join these activity
periods, and as the evenings draw in it might be worth tuning into 2m SSB and
having a contact.
73 Keith - G4JED
RSGB DRM - Kent
