As a consequence of the developing Coronavirus epidemic, SADARS club meetings are immediately cancelled till further notice.
The meeting planned for Tuesday 17th March and future meetings will be replaced by a 2M on-air “Round Robin” commencing 19:30 UTC (145.45 MHz)
Bryan Harber presented a review and hands-on demonstration of the nature and mechanics of Frequency Modulation. Beginning with a demonstration using a signal generator and oscilloscope he visually demonstrated how AM “works” and then explained why FM cant be demonstrated visually the same way. Instead a spectrum analyser was used to do this. Discussion on multiple sidebands, bandwith and “channels”, “capture” and other licence-relevant matters followed. Powerpoint slides
There’s a social side to Amateur Radio too. This year, the SADARS Christmas dinner was held on December 17th at Cinnabar in the Old Town High Street Thanks to Tom Miller and others for organising and to Rob for the photos below.
Ron Pratt, our Contest manager reports that Stevenage and District ARS came 23d in the AFS Superleague for 2018. Thats up from 37th the previous year. The complete set of results can be seen at this link. Ron came 15th out of 380 entrants overall. Looking back over time we seem to be slowly improving.
| Year | Position |
| 2012 | 55 |
| 2013 | 52 |
| 2014 | 43 |
| 2015 | 36 |
| 2016 | 39 |
| 2017 | 37 |
| 2018 | 23 |
SADARS has recommenced training candidates interested to take the Foundation and Intermediate Licence Exams.
To begin transmitting on amateur radio you need to pass a simple multiple-choice test called the Foundation exam.
Contact us to apply for and take your Foundation exam, plus information about fees and training. The club has registered trainers and assessors.
Why not step up to a higher power licence?
Stevenage and District ARS trainers and assessors can help you with the next step: the Intermediate Licence. You will need to have passed the Foundation exam to take the Intermediate exam.
In due course we hope to offer Advanced Exam training.