This coming weekend – 17th to 19th October 2024 – Hinckley ARES are helping out with a couple of our local scout groups with their Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) and Jamboree On The Internet (JOTI) weekend. This is where the beavers, cubs, and scouts get chance to gain their communication badge while learning about amateur radio. We have planned some fun activities for them and we have a Special Event Station (SES) call which we will be using to encourage the attendees to speak with other JOTA stations, some from around the world and not just in the UK.

We will also be using the call outside the event to test the antennas and equipment before letting folks loose. So look out for GB2HBB – Hinckley, Bosworth, Burbage scouts – and please do give us a call. A QSL card will be available via our QSL manager Charles (M0OXO) on his OQRS system and we will show the card when we have the proof of design.

GB2HBB – Hinckley, Bosworth, Burbage scouts –  Fox Covert Scout Camp, Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire.  Locator; IO92ho  Worked All Britain;  SK40

What a cracking weekend. Didn’t start well with both mine and Charles’ (M0OXO) flights being delayed, causing us to be late in arriving at the hotel – well 19:00 rather than 18:00 – but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the local hospitality and beers. Dave (EI9FBB) collected us from Dublin along with Philip (DX6SP) and Tomi (HA8RT) who were giving a talk on their recent trip to Guyana 8R7X, but more on that later.

So after late arriving aircraft we got on the road for the 2 1/2 hour journey to Ennis in the south of the country, passing right through the centre of Ireland (Eire) on the motorway. Dave had me get the mapping app on my phone to show exactly where we were at that moment. We finally arrived at the hotel at 19:00, so quickly checked in and unpack my bags in the room and head to the bar. There was already a good group in there, most having food from the bar menu which I have to say was excellent all weekend, and just chatting over a beer. It was also good to see Adrian (KO8SCA) and his wife sat with the 8R7X team, Fred (G4BWP) and Kerry (G8VR). As there was a spare chair I joined them to catch up and talk radio. Eventually as the night wore on we all started drifting off, but for some reason I ended up staying through to 00:30 when the bar closed talking with some of the Irish lads about pensions, the Navy, and how we all started in amateur radio. I declined the trip in to town, finally getting in bed just before 01:00.

Rather a shock to the system when the alarm went off at 07:00 to get up for breakfast. As mentioned previously the food was absolutely delicious and the full Irish, or County Clare breakfast as the hotel called it, was one of the best I had tasted on my trips over to Ireland. Following breakfast and coffee to bring me around it was getting close to the time to go into the room where the presentations were to be held. The hotel, the Temple Gate in Ennis, used to be an abbey before the conversion and new buildings erected. The hall was the old chapel, and the wooden beams were still in place, encompassed into the whole design of the building. A magnificent setting for some interesting and diverse talks.

Dave (EI9FBB) went through the running order of the day and started off with the DX quiz. As suggested by the name all the questions are based on DXing and the DX community, for example “If you operate as 6Y7EI which ITU region are you in?” Or “JARA is the national society of what country?” Little did we know but both these questions were clues to the next EiDX Groups expedition which we will mention more of later. Oh the answer to the first question you ask, region 2. This is a team competition and it also gives you chance to meet new people who may only be there as a day visitor.

A CW and SSB pileup test was next, how these guys pull out the calls from the cacophony of noise is amazing. The CW was won jointly by Fred and Adrian both receiving a trophy later in the day. Fred did the double with winning the SSB event also. Adrian was the first presentation on his recent adventure on CY9C St Pauls Island. This had only ended 4 weeks previous and was being shown for the first time at DX Feile. 8R7X was next with 3 of the team, Jamie (M0SDV), Philip, and Tomi all doing their bit to tell the story and how they had overcome the difficulties of planning and getting the necessary permissions from the local government. Luckily they found a “fixer” who was well known in the area and got all the licences and a location suitable for what they needed – he was also a bit of a local celebrity and got the guys in the local paper and contacts with the government minister. 

Lunch break and time to again have a chat and refreshments. The hotel was not disappointing with what they offered, and with Dave liaising with the staff the menu had talk themed names for the dishes on offer – St Pauls fish and chips! Well done Dave for this, and to the staff for their fast and friendly service which we received all weekend. Back into the talks and time for a rookie expeditioner to give his view on the EiDXG trip to 7P8EI Lesotho. 

Denis (EI5GSB) started with his own view from a rookie’s point of view with 4 or 5 quick fire slides, delivered with the Irish humour and wit he is known for, saying thanks and ending saying “there you go Dave, got back the 45-minute delay” before giving an interesting and informative look at the trip from his angle as the new boy. Followed by Adrian with N5J Jarvis Island, it was incredible that he had left Jarvis Island, sailed back to Hawaii and onto home to immediately get back on a plane to go to CY9C, his wife must be a very understanding lady. This was the first big expedition to use the RiB (Radio in a Boat) concept where most of the operators were actually hooked u via the internet from their homes. 

The final presentation was given by Jeremy (EI5GM) with the announcement of the next EiDXG trip in March 2025. Remember the quiz question about JARA and 6Y7EI? Both clues to Jamaica. Looking forward to this one for some fun chasing and wish all safe travels. Close to the end with the prizegiving for the quiz and pileup competitions, and the raffle. All finished so retire to the room to freshen up and get ready for the DX Dinner. Food once again was excellent and then to the bar for more fun over a couple of local brew – Guinness.

Up on Sunday for breakfast before meeting in the reception to say our farewells. Jamie and I were on the same flight from Shannon to Birmingham, so Dave (once again) was the driver and dropped us at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We got coffees and sat waiting for the flight to come up on the board. Amazingly it was shown and we left 15 minutes before time and landed in Birmingham 30 minutes early. An excellent weekend with the best company and talks. Cannot wait for next years which is happening on October 11th 2025 at the same location.

The time is quickly approaching for this years DX Feile, the EIDX Group’s convention. This is a superb weekend to meet with like minded DXers from over in the Emerald Isle and visitors from afar. It is on Saturday 5th October at the Templegate Hotel, Ennis, Co Clare. 

The weekend for myself will start on the Friday with a flight to Dublin to meet up with Charles, M0OXO, and Dave, EI9FBB, who will then drive us down through the beautiful Irish countryside to Ennis. A meal and some Guinness will then follow before the real fun on Saturday.

There is a packed programme of events as can be seen from the photo below. The dinner on the evening gives us all chance to enjoy some good company, food, and drink. The talk will inevitably be about the hobby and and all it’s different aspects, but especially DXing and Contesting. 

Hope to see you there and I will try and update with some images upon my return home.

Following on from the recent LOTW outage and the ARRL cyber attack the statement below was issued by the ARRL yesterday. As suspected by many people in the amateur radio world it was ransomware. 

Sometime in early May 2024, ARRL’s systems network was compromised by threat actors (TAs) using information they had purchased on the dark web. The TAs accessed headquarters on-site systems and most cloud-based systems. They used a wide variety of payloads affecting everything from desktops and laptops to Windows-based and Linux-based servers. Despite the wide variety of target configurations, the TAs seemed to have a payload that would host and execute encryption or deletion of network-based IT assets, as well as launch demands for a ransom payment, for every system.

This serious incident was an act of organized crime. The highly coordinated and executed attack took place during the early morning hours of May 15. That morning, as staff arrived, it was immediately apparent that ARRL had become the victim of an extensive and sophisticated ransomware attack. The FBI categorized the attack as “unique” as they had not seen this level of sophistication among the many other attacks, they have experience with. Within 3 hours a crisis management team had been constructed of ARRL management, an outside vendor with extensive resources and experience in the ransomware recovery space, attorneys experienced with managing the legal aspects of the attack including interfacing with the authorities, and our insurance carrier. The authorities were contacted immediately as was the ARRL President.

The ransom demands by the TAs, in exchange for access to their decryption tools, were exorbitant. It was clear they didn’t know, and didn’t care, that they had attacked a small 501(c)(3) organization with limited resources. Their ransom demands were dramatically weakened by the fact that they did not have access to any compromising data. It was also clear that they believed ARRL had extensive insurance coverage that would cover a multi-million-dollar ransom payment. After days of tense negotiation and brinkmanship, ARRL agreed to pay a $1 million ransom. That payment, along with the cost of restoration, has been largely covered by our insurance policy.

From the start of the incident, the ARRL board met weekly using a continuing special board meeting for full progress reports and to offer assistance. In the first few meetings there were significant details to cover, and the board was thoughtfully engaged, asked important questions, and was fully supportive of the team at HQ to keep the restoration efforts moving. Member updates were posted to a single page on the website and were posted across the internet in many forums and groups. ARRL worked closely with professionals deeply experienced in ransomware matters on every post. It is important to understand that the TAs had ARRL under a magnifying glass while we were negotiating. Based on the expert advice we were being given, we could not publicly communicate anything informative, useful, or potentially antagonistic to the TAs during this time frame.

Today, most systems have been restored or are waiting for interfaces to come back online to interconnect them. While we have been in restoration mode, we have also been working to simplify the infrastructure to the extent possible. We anticipate that it may take another month or two to complete restoration under the new infrastructure guidelines and new standards.

Most ARRL member benefits remained operational during the attack. One that wasn’t was Logbook of The World (LoTW), which is one of our most popular member benefits. LoTW data was not impacted by the attack and once the environment was ready to again permit public access to ARRL network-based servers, we returned LoTW into service. The fact that LoTW took less than 4 days to get through a backlog that at times exceeded over 60,000 logs was outstanding.

The board at the ARRL Second Board Meeting in July voted to approve a new committee, the Information Technology Advisory Committee. This will be comprised of ARRL staff, board members with demonstrated experience in IT, and additional members from the IT industry who are currently employed as subject matter experts in a few areas. They will help analyse and advise on future steps to take with ARRL IT within the financial means available to the organization.

We thank you for your patience as we navigated our way through this. The emails of moral support and offers of IT expertise were well received by the team. Although we are not entirely out of the woods yet and are still working to restore minor servers that serve internal needs (such as various email services like bulk mail and some internal reflectors), we are happy with the progress that has been made and for the incredible dedication of staff and consultants who continue to work together to bring this incident to a successful conclusion.

Last year I attended the EI DX Group gathering in Shannon, Eire (see previous posts) and had a top weekend. Well it is now that time of year to be booking once again, and yes I am trying to attend and have booked my room. So get your rooms, flights, and other travel booked for this years DX Feile, I know you will be welcomed and have fun – the Irish guys know how to look after you and make you feel like an old friend even though you have just met them. Or as they post on their Facebook page.

DX Féile 2024 BOOKINGS NOW BEING TAKEN….
For information and how to book please contact David EI9FBB at QTHR, ei9fbb@gmail.com or Tel:+353877444777
Rooms likely to sell out fast however day tickets readily available. …
Full Programme announced soon!

Just thought I would share some of my images with you of this years show. From 2600 images I have selected 140 that are on my Facebook page, and I will select a few more to process and maybe share around the groups. Here’s some of my favourites.

Well that’s the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) done with for another year. Once again, we smashed it as a team in the Viewing Village, lots of comments from customers about how good it was on all 3 days. In fact the whole team who organise the show must be thanked from me for one of the best, both in the air and on the ground. Without all the planning and preparation done over the year it just would not happen. The RAF Charitable Trust Enterprise (RAFCTE) who put together the show and give all profits from the show to the RAFCT whose aim is to inspire future generations through STEM and education.

Lots of fun each day too when we returned to our accommodation at the Royal Agricultural University, nicknamed Hogwarts, with other volunteers from other teams. I must also add a thank you to the staff here for looking after us, especially Louis in the bar who convinced his boss to open on the Sunday evening so we could celebrate a team members birthday – happy birthday Dave.

I must also mention, and thank, the Royal Air Force Cadet Force who attend and help out each year. These kids do a stirling job helping to set up the seating in the Viewing Village, doing the FODPLOD to make sure no litter is on the ground and can get into the aircraft, and with our customers when they come through the reception area. When they set up the chairs we give them a challenge, an idea of mine and their officer Scott, to insert a word and/or numbers of one of the themes of the show. Previous years have been USAF 75, Italia 100, and this year RCAF 100 in honour of the Royal Canadian Airforce 100 years. We are already planning 2025 and now we have CAD it will be easier to design.

So thanks to all and hopefully see you on an airfield in Gloucestershire during July 2025.

Friday morning came and after having breakfast we ordered a local taxi to take us to the Messe for the show, Ady (G6AD), Charles (M0OXO), Grant (VK5GR) and myself arrived with plenty of time to get to the stand and get set up. Unfortunately, Grant had to wait for the doors opening to the show before he could gain access, while the three of us were part of the IOTA stand we had exhibitor passes and went to the stand to complete the set up. Thanks at this point must go to Corrine from the team at the Messe for getting 2 of her guys to move the wall so we were not cut off from the main DX Plaza. This also gave us a good view of the small presentation area we had next to the stand, of which more later.

The doors opened, and a steady stream of visitors came to see us, mostly friends from previous visits along with many of our friends from off the air. This is the best part about the show, socialising and chatting with the person you have only before heard on the air or not seen since the last Ham Radio show here. It is also good to see the operators who you only see in photographs about the DXpeditions and IOTA activations that are on the air for short periods. It is also good to see the number of British visitors to the show, and I think this year there were a lot more visitors from far flung places – Australia, USA, Japan, etc – walking around and saying hello as they passed.

As previously mentioned, we had a small presentation area next to the stand where some of the recent DX-pedition operators came and gave a talk on their adventures. This started with Philip, DK6SP, giving a presentation of the 8R7X Guyana trip. This was one of the best DX-peditions I have ever heard or worked. 4 young lads, all with experience from other trips, all good at CW and controlling the pile ups, and they were on the air and readable by everyone. It was just a pleasure to hear them when they were there.

As the day passed, we each went for a walk around the halls to see what the latest equipment was on sale, meet old friends, pay our memberships to some of the DX groups and societies, and check out the food stalls. A beer late afternoon in the garden gave me chance to catch up with Rune, LA7THA, and Gjermund, LB5GI. No news on any DXpeditions from him, but it was good to chat and hear the news from Norway.

Looking at the equipment I was taken by the small footprint of the Optibeam OB9-5 antenna that they had on display, Optibeam Yagis were there promoting their antennas. The OB9-5 Covers the bands 20, 17,15, 12, and 10M with 2 elements on each band, and a boom length of only 5.1M, this would fit into many of the small gardens here in the UK and would certainly improve the signals to work DX for many. I guess this antenna with an amplifier could get some of us little pistols competing in the Dxpedition pile ups.

Soon it was time to close the IOTA stand and head back to the hotel to change ready for the evening meal. With it being the 60^th Anniversary of the IOTA Award, started back in 1964 by Geoff Watts – A British shortwave listener – and going from strength to strength each year, we held a dinner at the Zeppelin Museum Restaurant. This was the first time that the restaurant had opened in the evening, and we felt extremely honoured and grateful to the staff for hosting us. A fun evening again with old and new friends chatting about the IOTA awards, and other radio related matters. A most enjoyable evening and the food was excellent.

A walk back to the hotel and a beer sat outside to finish the day was just what was needed.

Saturday morning and again breakfast with a taxi to the Messe for day 2 of the show. The weather was looking as if it was going to be a scorcher in the hall, especially as the previous day the air conditioning had failed, and it was like being in a sauna. But the staff had been working on it and it was lovely and cool in there, which lasted throughout the day.

Again, a steady stream of visitors to the stand brought old and new friends, along with one or two interesting characters who needed to vent a little about the award – especially the gent from Manhattan who didn’t agree that it didn’t have an IOTA reference as it “is an island”, we then had to explain the ruling on why it didn’t qualify. It was good to meet him though and we did have a good chat and some laughs with him afterwards.

More wine, cheese, beers, and the French Pastis were brought to us from our friends around the DX Plaza at lunchtime. Along with the presentations and visitors we had another good day. I also managed to go and visit the “flea” market and drool over some old bits of kit that were on sale, and I do keep saying one day I may drive over and bring something back with me. Just not yet as I enjoy the travelling and socialising parts too much.

The day ended and we retired back to the hotel. A beer sat with friends before a small group of us went for the annual steak at Tiffany’s restaurant. A treat to ourselves, they really do some of the best steaks I have ever tasted. Back to the bar and watch the football, Germany played Denmark and won. At midnight the streets were full of people in cars blowing their horns and celebrating the German win. The roads were gridlocked but it was a happy atmosphere, though not good for sleep.

Sunday is the last day of the show, although not many visitors attend, mostly the weekenders who come and say their goodbyes and start the ravel to their homes around the globe. Our weekend companion Grant, VK5GR, said his farewells at breakfast and he started his 39 hour journey back to Adelaide with a train to Stuttgart. We packed away the stand and said our goodbyes to all around the DX Plaza before getting a taxi to the ferry.

This journey is the worst part about the trip, well not the actual travelling as like on the inbound trip it is relaxing and chilled. It is just the wait at the airport for the aircraft that is the bad bit.

On the ferry a coffee was bought, and a slice of cake enjoyed, is there a pattern here? hahahaha. But this year rather than go and sit on the platform waiting for the train to depart we decided to have a treat at the café on the Romanshorn marina, a beautiful little place with plenty of outdoor seating – even though it was raining. The train was still at the station when we finished and paid so no waiting there either.

Arriving in Zurich it was time to sit in the “Circle” and have our main meal. McDonalds and KFC were the choices of the four of us, Jaimie, M0SDV, had joined us for this trip back to the airport. It is strange no matter where you go there is always somewhere to sit, have a drink or food, and watch the world go by. I think it must be a worldwide hobby – people watching.

Over the road to the airport, find the check in desk and wait for it to open. This is the bad part about the journey, waiting. Eventually we check in and go through security and passport control to get the duty-free stuff. Years ago it would have been beer and wine, now I look for the giant orange flavoured Toblerone and huge Milka chocolate bars that end up coming home with me. A walk through the departures to another little favourite restaurant in the airport and we sit and chat over a lemonade before Jaimie had to leave us for his flight. The departure board was showing may of the flights were delayed by the weather, not just at Zurich but all over Europe. Ours was 1 hour late by the time we departed.

Arriving back at Heathrow we grabbed our bags, cleared customs and headed to collect the car. A long day and one we were all happy to see end in the hotel and a comfy bed.

Following a good nights sleep we had breakfast and set off home. My thanks must go once again to Charles and Ady for their wonderful company, the laughs, and the beers. To all the staff at the Hotel City Krone in Friedrichshafen, all at the Messe, and to DARC for organising the show. If I have missed any one out I am sorry and I will include you next year.

Did I say next year? Yes we are already booked in to the hotel(s), just need the flights to open up for sale. Again we are going that day earlier so we can enjoy Friedrichshafen and explore some more. So see you all at Ham Radio 2025.