Hello again, I am writing this at the start of Wimbledon fortnight following a glorious weekend (ignoring the rain first thing Sunday morning). Hopefully more summer is to come as we have the VHF NFD weekend to come and the Summer Barbecue at Peter's G3ZPB, which leads me to:

Once again this will be held by the kind offices of Peter and Wendy Burton on Monday 5th July, and PLEASE NOTE, this meeting will not be held at our usual venue at the Terra Nova, unless the weather is so terrible as to stop outdoor activities, it's no fun cooking in the rain! Time 7.30 for 8 pm at Pound Cottage, 202 Coulsdon Road, Old Coulsdon. Going north it is on the right hand side and the first house after the new estate past Stoneyfield Road, with a bowling club almost opposite.

Members should bring their own meat (sausages, chops, hamburgers, fish etc) as the salad, bread and soft drinks will be provided by Peter and Wendy. So that they can provide sufficient quantities it would be appreciated that those of you planning to come to contact them in advance (Tel: 01737-551413 or E-Mail: pburton@iee.org).

The barbies will also be supplied with Peter and Graham being the cooks once again. If you require alcohol please bring your own.

This is planned as a FAMILY AFFAIR so bring the XYL and the little ones! All you have to do is to turn up and pray for good weather. If you are in any doubt please ring 01737-551413 after 5 pm.

Entertainment will be laid on like Table Tennis or Pool or Snooker, plus if dry enough to allow grass cutting then Lawn Croquet will also be possible, Peter and Wendy do have a large garden.

In the past years this has been an excellent evening... it also gives the XYLs a chance to get together and swap news.

This weekend sees this annual contest which to many is the radio event of the year. We cannot emphasise too much how important it is to have as many members of the SRCC partaking in this event. For those of you who have not attended in the past please have a word with Bernie G8TB (020-8 660 7517) or any other committee member who will soon put you in the picture. We need OPERATORS, CHECK LOGGERS AND HELPERS. The start of the contest is from 14:00Z on Saturday to 14:00Z on Sunday 3^rd/4^th July.

We commence setting up the four stations (70Mhz, 144MHz, 70cms and 23cms) early on Saturday morning, and we would welcome help in erecting the antennas, the tents, fitting up gear, running cables etc. We came 1^st last year in the Mix and Match Section and it would be good to achieve again this year, especially as we have loaned the G5BY cup to be awarded by the RSGB for the winner in this section.

We still need more operators and check operators and if helping out on the hectic 2M station is not your cup of tea why not try the 4M, 70cm or 23cm stations which are more leisurely.

This is a fun weekend and you do not have to remain on site for the whole time, an hour or two would be very welcomed.

The site is on the West Side of the B269 about one mile south of the Slines Oak Road. The entrance gate is next to an isolated house with a rough lay-by. As you drive onto the site we plan to lay out the stations in a U-shape with all cars to drive up the middle. A rope will mark out the boundary edge in order to protect the cabling and guys, etc. Will you please keep within the roped-off as they have been occasions when cars have ripped up our telephone cables.

It is planned to start at around 9:30am on Saturday 3^rd July and your help will be appreciated. It's a nice time out in the fresh air, so do make an effort to put in an appearance - thanks.

This is the last reminder of this event that will take place on Monday 12^th July 1999 at St. Swithuns Church Hall, Grovelands Road, Purley. This is your invitation so just turn up at 7.45pm. Teams of four from each Club are made up on the spot. Several SRCC members have participated in the past and it is always a very amusing evening. As in all these quizzes it is a question of luck as to what question you happen to know, but then there is the rest of the team! JUST TURN UP and ENJOY YOURSELF.

A lot was learnt about the balance between the commercial constraints and Digital TV performance e.g. channel bit-rates. Peter is to be congratulated on his excellent efforts including the live demonstration; the expensive test gear he brought along to demonstrate the increased interference immunity compared to analogue TV, and his high quality presentation. The talk he gave us is apparently a cut-down version from an all day seminar that is normally given. It was interesting to learn that the BBC Digital Teletext service has now started BUT our Set-Top Boxes need a software update to receive it - this is not available yet.

Why digital - well it is less susceptible to noise, interference and distortion; efficient use of the spectrum; better quality audio and video with true Wide-screen (no wasted transmission of black lines!). Peter demonstrated that whereas an analogue signal starts suffering interference when the interfering signal is 20dB below the wanted, for digital the interfering signal needs to be 20dB above the wanted before it has an impact. Mind you the threshold is very steep and you don't need much more interference signal before the wanted signal freezes. To my calculation that gives a possible improvement of 40dB BUT the digital TV is actually transmitted 20dB down compared to analogue (Crystal Palace), with some "multiplexes" even lower.

I noted that analogue PAL TV is planned to be phased out in 10-15 years, closure of which will provide yet more spectrum for digital TV. That will mean an end to those old TV's unless partnered with a Set-top Box. Thank you Peter for an excellent evening and many thanks for all the effort you put in and bringing along all that equipment. It was a pity that it was not enjoyed by more than the 17 that came - we must do better in supporting these meetings and the efforts that speaker put in.

It is with sadness that I have to report the death of Bern G3FP's wife. Doris died at home and her cremation, attended by a large number, was held on 22^nd June.

Our thoughts and sympathies go out to you Bern and your family at this sad time.

Many thanks Gareth for this piece and WELL DONE.

Ted Jones sent me a letter the other day enclosing a brief write up from Radio Bygones about a new ARS entitled "Vintage & Military Amateur Radio Society" which I copy below:

Contact details are:

Howard wrote the following to Ted:

Thank you Ted for this interesting piece.

I have received the following E-Mail from Roger G8HDP which starts what will be, I hope, a regular column of members activities.

In the last month I have added a few more members E-Mail details and external site links, the latest being Bletchley Park which I got from Peter G3ZPB's WEB pages. I hope shortly to place the Club History on the site, most of it is now scanned in and now need to convert it to HTML, etc.

If you do visit the site I would appreciate an entry in the Guestbook with your views - thanks.

I have received favourable comments on last months Club List I distributed ranging from "no longer need a ruler" to "what's this 0208 about!"

Next month I intend to send out a Callsign Order list giving callsign, name and phone number. That should make it fit on two sides. One can then refer back to the last month's list for the full details.

Unfortunately, I forgot to change one member's telephone number in my database, despite publishing the details the month before!

Will you therefore please correct Prue and Ron Glaisher telephone number to 020-8 654 6267.

Sorry Prue and Ron for this error.

That's the lot for this month but a final reminder for you to participate in VHF NFD on 3^rd/4^th July and then the Summer Barbecue at Pound Cottage QTHR G3ZPB 8pm 5^th July.