RAFARS Monthly Newsletter

Note: For a full list of members, see the list in the Member Area of the website.

RAF WADDINGTON SES

RAF Waddington ARC commemorating 60 years since Vulcan XM594 came into service.

16-17 September 2023 at the Newark Air Museum.

Brian
G4HIV (For RAF Waddington ARC)

RAFARS AGM and Dinner - Saturday 21st October 2023

The 2023 RAFARS AGM and Dinner will take place on Saturday 21st October 2023. The booking form will be delivered with your Autumn edition of QRV. The AGM will be held In No 1 Radio School, Flowerdown Hall, RAF Cosford and the dinner will be at the Ramada Hotel, Telford.

Members are reminded that items for inclusion under 'Any Other Business', at the AGM, must be received by the Secretary no later than Friday 22nd September 2023.

Airfields on The Air (AOTA) RAFARS Certificate Claim Update

The Cost of a Certificate is £5, payable to RAFARS and sent to Vince G4DQP. Send Vince the usual details required from your log: Date, Time, Call-sign, Band, QTH, Op Name, Name of Airfield or Military Establishment. Do not forget to enclose the address where Certificates are to be returned.

RAFARS QRV JOURNAL ARCHIVE UPDATE

Thanks to the amazing work done by Duncan G0NWY hunting down and scanning all the editions of QRV that he can lay his hands on, the QRV Archive here on the website has expanded dramatically. There are now some 134 editions of QRV dating from 1937 to the present day available in the form of PDF documents. Head over to the Member Area to visit the eQRV Journal section, and you will see thumbnail pictures of every cover.

Click on a cover and the edition will open in the Google Drive reader on your PC or tablet device. I've spent hours sitting on the sofa with my iPad browsing through the years. I believe that you should also be able to download each edition to read offline if you wish to do so. It's interesting to see some topics popping up time and again over the years, particularly the request for articles for publication. Some members still pass comment that they don't find the content interesting, my reply to that would be 'When did you last submit anything for the journal?'

Duncan is still hunting down some of the missing editions of QRV, so if you have a copy that isn't shown in the archive, please do get in touch.

You do need to apply for a password to access the website Member Area. There in a link at the bottom of the Members menu, it's a simple (and free!) process, so please do register. Currently, only about 180 of the 650 strong membership take advantage of the additional content in the Member Area so if you haven't registered you are missing out!

The latest edition of QRV, Spring 2023, is now available in the eQRV section of the website https://www.rafars.org/eqrv/

RAFARS WEBSITE MEMBER AREA

Members are reminded that there is a Members Area on the website at https://www.rafars.org/welcome/ containing a searchable list of members (Number, callsign, first name and county) updated July 2022. Other resources include copies of QRV.

Access to the member area is by registration at https://www.rafars.org/register/

A server issue during the last 2 weeks of September resulted in login problems. This is hopefully resolved now but if anybody has any problems logging in, please contact the Webmaster G0DNI

RAFARS LOGOS DOWNLOAD

Several members have asked if RAFARS produces a 'digital' QSL card for use with online QSL bureaus such as eQSL. No such card is available but it is possible to create your own card using any computer graphic design programme.

To assist members in producing such QSL cards, the Webmaster has redrawn the classic RAFARS wings and diamond logos. These designs are the property of RAFARS and can therefore be made available to members.

The logos are available for download in the website Member Area under the heading RAFARS Logos. Note that you will be required to log into the Member Area using your website username and password.

If you have not yet registered for access to the Member Area, see the registration form under the Members menu heading.

RAFARS QRV JOURNAL

The twice-yearly QRV journal is for some of our members the only contact they have with RAFARS during the year. Of course, we have the website but not all members have access to the Internet so the paper edition of QRV remains very relevant. It should also be remembered that QRV is your journal and therefore relies heavily on your contributions.

The QRV Editor is actively seeking content for the next edition of QRV. Submissions can be anything that you think might interest the members, personal stories, technical items, aviation stories etc. There is no need to write War and Peace, a couple of pictures with some descriptive text would be perfect. Please send submissions to the Editor at QRV@rafars.org

Digital jpg photos should be sent as an attachment to Word documents. Please do not import them into the text.

COUNCIL MEETINGS

• 7 February 2023
• 11 April 2023
• 12 June 2023 (Monday, the day after the RAF Cosford Airshow)
• 5 September 2023
• 21 October 2023 (AGM & Dinner, not a council meeting)
• 14 November 2023

Any member may attend Council meetings, but travel costs cannot be paid. Members wishing to attend must initially contact the Secretary by e-mail at secretary@rafars.org

RAFARS WEEKLY ZOOM NET

The RAFARS Weekly Zoom Net has proven to be a great success with members using the video conference as an additional way of keeping in touch. The Net takes place on Fridays at 1400-1800 local.

The link to the Zoom net is available in the Member Area at https://www.rafars.org/zoomnet/
You will need to be registered for access to the website Member Area, it's a simple process and you can do so at: https://www.rafars.org/register

JOINING THE ROYAL AIR FORCE AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY

All Radio Amateurs and SWL's, (no requirement to be Ex RAF), are invited to apply for RAFARS Membership if you have an interest in the Amateur Radio, the RAF, or Military aviation and are prepared to help the society achieve its published aims and objectives. Membership details are available on the website at https://www.rafars.org/join

Two formats (PDF) of the membership application are available for download, completion and return by post on the Join RAFARS web page.

A new online application form is also available, to be completed online and then printed and posted with your membership fee. The online form is “smart” in that it will display the appropriate membership fee as the form is completed. Those joining after 1 October pay half the normal membership fee.

RAFARS NEWS DESK

This newsletter is published on the RAFARS website every month.

Please send all submissions for the newsletter to Newsdesk@rafars.org