Cockenzie & Port Seton

Amateur Radio Club is

affiliated to the Radio

Society of Great Britain

and holds the call signs

MM0CPS and GM2T which

are used for our special

event and contest entries.

The Club was formed by

Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ in

1984, to help the local

amateurs get to know each

other.

Far from being just a local

club we have members

regularly attending from

the Borders, Dumfries,

Strathclyde, Fife and

Newcastle.

The Club meets on the first

Friday of every month

(Second Friday of January)

in the lounge of the

Thorntree Inn on the old

Cockenzie High Street from

7pm till late.

As in previous years commitments are forcing me to write my editorial a lot earlier than it should be. It is hard to believe that soon we will be moving into the major holiday period, isn’t time flying by.

I would like to also thanks everyone who responded to me plea for articles you have no idea how much I appreciate it.

For me it has taken quite a bit of work load off me and I also know that we will be continuing to produce what I think is a fantastic newsletter.

I do also plead that you won’t give up and that you keep the articles coming it doesn’t just help me but it gives John a choice for what he can use.

Massive thanks from us both.

I just learned last club night that Jim GM7LUN lost his mum back in January after a short illness. I know it is belated but on behalf of us all Jim please accept our deepest sympathies.

On the club front we had our first DF night and I am sure it will have been another resounding success and hopefully will have a full report further in the newsletter.

Thanks to Ron GM0NTL for putting up the Hybszer Trophy in memory of Bill GM8ZLI/MM0BXK for this event.

To the future, this month, there is one important change and that is the July Club Night will be one week early and will take place on Friday 28th June.

The reason for the change is that our normal

first Friday of the month is clashing with VHF Field Day where many of the club members will be away to.

So, what else is happening? well we are now starting to enter the main contest season for the club of which we will be entering a few. They are the 6M Trophy and PW QRP Contest.

This month we also have on the 15th & 16th the “Museums on the Air” weekend again from the Museum of Flight, East Fortune. We will be operating from our normal hanger up beside the Vulcan bomber.

These Museum of Flight stations offer everyone the opportunity to have a real go at HF operating using a tremendous HF set up so I hope you will take the opportunity to come along and give it a try.

Also we will have done our first “Demonstration Station” by putting on a radio station at the Port Seton Gala Day. It is early this year and the reason for that is the whole event is based on when there is a high tide due to the Sea Going Battle that takes place.

Last but not least is our own Summer Solstice Activity Night on the 19th June. It is an Activity night in the hope that many will take part. It is all for a bit of fun and an opportunity to see what can be worked. It is not a serious event but just an excuse to go out for a few hours on a Wednesday evening to “play at HF Radio”. If you can’t get out then why not go on the air from home as a single operator and see what you can work.

(Continued on page 2)

So please do not dismiss the idea and go on and try to participate.

I am interested in what people do work so any chance you could send me your logs and I will try and do a small write up on what was achieved. So can I please have a copy of your log by the 28th June at the latest?

A busy month then all rounds so I hope you can take part in all the events.

This month certainly has a lot of operating activities so there is something there for everyone. Some of the events will certainly give you an opportunity to practice some of the skills required to go contesting so why not take time out and give it a try.

Although events like Museums on the Air are demonstration set-ups they can at the same time be extremely hectic. What they offer is the ability to use some of logging programs and learn all about them, and also how to handle a pile up like we have experienced over the last few events we have run at the Museum of Flight. It is better to practice at these events rather than try and learn when you are involved in a major contest.

The opportunity is there so why not use it.

That’s it then for me this month, I hope you will take part in all of the events; it would be tremendous to see.

Enjoy the newsletter.

Bob GM4UYZ

(Continued from page 1) The Club

The Club is run in a very

informal way, just a group

of like minded people

doing something they

enjoy!

This does not mean that

we don’t do anything, we

enter (and win!) contests,

train newcomers, hold

talks and video nights and

run a popular annual Junk

Sale. Our newsletter has

won the Practical Wireless

‘Spotlight’ competition on

several occasions.

The Club supports the

British Heart Foundation

in memory of a member

who died from heart dis-

ease by donating the

profits from some of the

events we hold, we have

raised over £15,832 since

1994.

2

Supported by BT Community

Champions

Alex Falconer writes: You probably don't remember me as I haven't been active with the club for a long time. I attained my Foundation license several years ago at Port Seton and attended some events (including the removal of the generator from the lighthouse) but since then due to family obligations I have done absolutely nothing connected with radio, only listening with my scanner. I really enjoyed my brief spell with the lads and the banter was brilliant. Anyway, I read Bob's e mail re items for the news letter and thought that I would submit a few lines. My interest in radio started back in the early 60's when my uncle allowed me into his sanctuary (the spare bedroom in the pre-fab) it was crammed with different sizes of metal boxes with dials, buttons and switches, and I was amazed when he started to talk to someone from Spain. It was only as a very special treat that I was allowed to sit in when he was working on the radio.

He had hundreds of cards from contacts but god knows where they are now. Also, my father was a radio operator in the RAF during WW2 and spent most of the war in India lugging a huge radio around on his back. He used to tell me stories about being able to hear the Germans panicking when the RAF planes came into the area, but I don't know where this was, I've still to do some research. Our wee prefab was choc full of half built ra-dios and all the bits and pieces that go with them, that used to drive my mother mad. So this was my early exposure to radio, and

now that I am nearing retirement I intend to

get back into the hobby soon.

Over the last two years I've probably for-

gotten more than Bob taught me, but I intend

to take the Intermediate exam eventually.

Alex

We must insist that people sending articles for the newsletter or with items for sale don’t

bombard Bob GM4UYZ with them, he’s already busy enough with the many other duties

he performs for the club and other people in the club deal with these as follows.

Newsletter articles: send them to the editor at newsletter@cpsarc.com

For sale items: use the For Sale section of the forum on www.cpsarc.com

Contest queries: VHF mm0ccc@cpsarc.com HF mm0dxc@aol.com

3

For a few years we tried running our own “small” contest on the

nearest Wednesday to mid-summers’ day. We started at first using

10M but as the sunspot cycle started to fall it was moved to the 20M

band but sadly over the years it was not really well supported.

Many of the comments that came back after the event are, “it is a

“Contest”. Why not change the event to an Activity Night”? To that

end it changed to just that an Activity Night. The event is now being

run on both the summer and winter solstices. Another change is that

it now includes all Bands from 1.8MHz up to 432MHz to allow those

who have no HF equipment to take part by submitting their VHF/UHF

contacts.

The aim of the event is to get on the air and work as many stations

that you can in the allotted time period plus at the same time have

some fun. Using the World Wide Locator (WWL) system as part of the

exchange gives the ability to measure the distance between your

location and the contacts location and it also offers the challenge to

obtain the remote contacts WWL. I have certainly noticed that over

98% of all QSL cards that I receive have the stations locator written on

the card so obtaining one should, hopefully be quite easy.

Note: I will accept the locator as 4 characters (FN32) if that is what

the station gives you but please try to obtain the full 6 characters as

this will give a very accurate distance. If 4 characters are given I will

use the centre of the square which is LL to make the locator FN32LL

Lastly, we are Radio Amateurs after all and we are supposed to get on

the air and make contacts so come on then let me see you doing it.

After the Event:

After the event can you send me a copy of your log in a spreadsheet,

example below so that I can write up some report on what you all

managed to achieve plus why not update the club tables and show

everyone else what you achieved.

** Distance between the two stations in Kilometres (Note: Use the

Locator Calculator within the link below to calculate the distance).

http://home.arcor.de/waldemar.kebsch/The_Makrothen_Contest/

fmaidenhead.html

** If you don’t have the means to calculate the distance please

leave blank.

Where to download a copy of the log

I have created a spreadsheet for you to complete as a log and it’s now

posted in the Download Area of the Club’s website.

http://cpsarc.com/?wpfb_dl=1369

Sending in the log in a spreadsheet helps me enormously.

I Look forward to a massive turnout for the event…

Bob GM4UYZ

(1) Date 19th June 2013

(2) Time 19:00 to 22:00 Local Time

(3) Modes SSB /FM / CW/ Data

(4) Bands 1.8, 3.5, 7, 10, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28, 50, 70, 144 & 432 MHz

(5) Power As per your licence Full=400W, Intermediate=50W and Foundation=10W

(6) Your Locator World Wide Locator (WWL) i.e. IO85MX

(7) Eligible Entrants Open to any one who wishes to take part

(8) Transmit Exchange Report (RST)

(9) Receive Exchange Report plus Contacts WWL

(10) Closing Date Closing Date for the Logs is Friday, 28th June 2013

(11) Return Logs to Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ, Email: gm4uyz@cpsarc.com 7 Castle Terrace, Port Seton, Prestonpans, East Lothian, EH32 0EE

(9) QSO’s not Eligible Any HF/VHF/UHF QSO’s via a repeater do not count

QSO Call Sign Name Band Ant Power

(W) Date Mode Station

Wkd Your

Locator Their

Locator Distance

(Km)

1 GM4UYZ Bob Glasgow 20 Vert 100 31/05/2009 CW AD4J IO85MX EM73VX 6427 2 GM4UYZ Bob Glasgow 20 Vert 100 30/05/2009 CW NC4CW IO85MX EM92IC 6408 3 GM4UYZ Bob Glasgow 20 Vert 100 24/05/2009 CW WA9MAG IO85MX EN51VS 6020

Club Attire

The club has a design for

Club Tee-shirts, Polo-

shirts, Sweat-Shirts,

Fleeces and Jackets and all

of these can be obtained

from the address below.

When making an order

please quote ‘Cockenzie &

Port Seton Amateur Radio

Club’ as this will ensure

that the Club Logo will be

placed on the required

ordered garments.

If you wish to add your call

-sign to the logo then

please ask at the time of

the order.

Cost will depend on

garment and should cover

the garment and logo, call-

sign addition will be extra.

Order from:

PATRICIA BEWSEY DESIGNS,

UNIT 11,

FENTON BARNS RETAIL

VILLAGE,

FENTON BARNS,

NORTH BERWICK,

EAST LOTHIAN

EH39 5BW

Tel/Fax: 01620 850788

Mobile: 07970 920431

4

I took part in construction night back in Feb-

ruary 2013 where I decided to build the

G0NQE ACORN SDR Receiver for 80M. I, like a

few others couldn’t get it to work after I had

built it. We wondered at the time whether we

had got the WINRAD software set-up properly

so due to time we didn’t continue any further.

On getting the kit home I decided to look fur-

ther into why it wasn’t working. I do have the

advantage that I have signal generators and

an oscilloscope so needing a signal off air was

not an issue.

Setting up the laptop running WINRAD V1.6.1

build 116 after downloading the program I

still couldn’t get it to work.

I started to fault find the receiver using my

oscilloscope when I found my first problem.

It was one of the wire links that had to be

installed as part of the building process.

Before installing these links the holes had to

be increased in size and it was this issue that

was causing the problem. The majority of the

solder pad had been removed with the drilling

so not leaving enough pad to take the solder.

By scraping a bit of the track to the pad to

show the copper track I was able to “tin” this

and solder the wire link onto it.

Still no success at this point and due to time

constraints and other commitments I had to

put further fault finding to the side.

In between times I was speaking to Tom

GM4LRU who said that he had got his working

successfully so I asked if I could borrow his

receiver so I could do some comparisons.

Tom agreed and I must admit it help me enor-

mously in getting my receiver working.

Many thanks Tom it was greatly appreciated.

Back to the fault finding.... now having some-

thing to compare with it made life a lot easier

and I tracked down my issue to the audio out-

put stage.

Removing the receiver from its box that I had

installed it in I once again checked out the

soldering around the audio area to find an

issue with one of the wire links that had been

installed.

I did the same procedure as mentioned earlier

to fix that problem. Putting the receiver back

in the box and cabling it up I noticed that the

socket connector for the audio output wasn’t

there. It was still attached to the plug so it

had come out when I disconnected the plug,

or well I thought I had disconnected the plug.

What I discovered is that when installing the

socket the pins hadn’t actually went through

the holes and basically all I had done was sol-

der the pads, must remember to wear glasses

in the future..... By clearing the holes I refitted

the socket and this time ensured that the pins

went all the way through the holes. I must

admit that it was quite a tight push to get the

pins into the holes so worth checking on

those who still haven’t got their receivers

working.

Re-installing everything back into the box I

cabled it up to the laptop and my signal gen-

erator and Hallelujah I could hear the modu-

lated AM signal.

Now it was time to put it on 80M and see if I

can hear anything. I couldn’t have picked a

better night as there was a 80M contest about

to start and there were a few people on “rag

chewing” before it started.

The first station I heard was G4WBV in Bristol

and to say I was “chuffed to bits” is an under-

5

statement.

Below is a screen shot of G4WBV calling CQ at the time. The

light Blue are below the waterfall is the audio passband. The

extreme Right Hand edge lined up with the waterfall to be

able to decode the audio.

How I interpret this is that the Right Hand Edge is the side next

to where the “carrier “would be if it was an AM signal. The

audio then spreads out, going right from this edge to cover the

3 KHz audio.

I must admit I found it strange initially using the SDR software

to actually work out what was going on but when the penny

dropped it was quite easy. I listened over different parts of the

band for about 30 minutes and was really pleased to what I

could hear. For information the aerial I have for 40/80M is one

half of a W3DZZ in an “L” shape and the other half is my

“earth mat”. Not the best but it works.

For those that still do not have it working I hope this may help

resolve your issues.

Bob GM4UYZ

So how was WINRAD V1.6.1 build 116 set-up...

Under Show Options

Select Input – Sound card

Palette Type – Winrad

Window Type – Nuttall

*High Process Priority – Dot against it

*WMME 16 Bit Drivers – Dot against it

Mode – Both Channels Added or I (Left) / Q (Right)

[both work ok so choose either]

Frequency Units – ticked

Swap I and Q Channels – ticked

Full Screen – ticked

Under Select Sampling Rate

Input – 48000

Output -- 11025

Thanks to the sterling

work by M0RNR, our club

has been added to the

excellent Clublog system

developed by Michael

Wells G7VJR.

www.clublog.org

The system allows

members to upload their

logs in ADIF format and

have them displayed in a

table with all the other

club members.

Clublog also has great

facilities for tracking your

DXCC status etc so is well

worth taking the time to

register and get your log

uploaded.

To update your log with

the next set of contacts

(SSB, CW or Data) you can

simply upload your whole

log again and the system

will take care of the

duplicates. Alternatively

you can export the bits

you want from your own

log and just upload that.

The tables we’ll publish

here will be the club,

filtered by the current

year, so everyone starts a

new year at 0 contacts.

Due to several amateurs

across the world

accidentally adding

themselves to the CPSARC

tables, we now approve

all additions which might

take a day or two.

6

Summits on the Air.

My FT817 now had a light covering of snow-

flakes; very pretty but not a good sight as they

do not market a waterproof version. The

homebrew 20m inverted V-dipole was up but

bent double by the wind, there was zero visi-

bility here at 3600m contour and we still had

300 metres of descent in unstable, thigh deep

snow. I wondered whether we should aban-

don the transmission and flee to the safety of

the ski resort below – the offer of mulled wine

had never sounded so good!

Obviously, we survived by virtue of the fact

that you are reading this article, but at the

time it was hard not to fear the worst. That

morning had been spent fretting at the foot of

the hill (OE/TI-025 Schaufelspitze) we used the

extensive ski lifts of the Stubai ski area.

Conditions were not good and forecast to de-

teriorate, but radio summits gives you an extra

reason to force an ascent. My two compan-

ions, along for the ride, sensed I had that rea-

son to try to reach the summit so pitched in;

safety in numbers perhaps. Their commitment

hadn’t extended to breaking trail in the fresh

snow, so I had flogged first from the relative

safety of the ski resort, up what we judged

was a safe rocky ridge to eventually achieve

the summit at just after midday. I was using

the 20m antenna simply because it was short-

er than the 40m alternative on the restricted

summit; one end was even secured to the

summit crucifix! It might have allowed me to

reach the UK from this central Austrian sum-

mit. Nothing like speaking to someone you

know! It didn’t turn out that way but I made 8

QSOs before safety considerations dictated we

descend. One was to North Carolina, which

impressed my two partners in crime!

This turned out to be the final day of an excel-

lent season ski mountaineering in the Austri-

an, the French Alps, the Italian Dolomites; and

the Scottish hills all with their excellent cover-

ing of snow this season. Ski mountaineering

uses downhill alpine skis to travel well beyond

the reach of existing ski lifts but does allow a

swift and safer descent on glaciated terrain –

the safety benefit being less likelihood of going

down a crevasse on skis rather than on foot.

The difference from downhill skiing is that ski

mountaineering bindings release the ski boot

heels, but pivot at the toes allowing the ski to

slide uphill. The base of the ski is covered with

a climbing skin or even ski crampons to allow

the skis to grip on the steep snow and upward

progress is therefore generally assured up into

the cold thin air.

I did activate a new Dolomites peak on 25th

February 2013 with MM0DHY. The peak was

I/AA-320 (Cima Raciesa) and we avoided ava-

lanche prone slopes by following a ridge to the

summit. On this occasion we made 26 QSOs

on 40m, many to the UK, but also as far south

as Greece.

(Continued on page 7)

MM0YCJ carving perfect eights below the summit of

Ruderhofspitze

MM0YCJ with 20m dipole. Ruderhofspitze summit,

April 2012

7

Over the course of the season I did ascend 9 mainland Europe-

an peaks to radio from the summits, most involving some

climbing. I was also the first person to transmit from 6 of

them. The smallest was the Zwieselberg (1042m) south of Mu-

nich in Germany in early December. Business in London al-

lowed a direct flight to Munich a few days before my compan-

ions. The weather had been poor and I had abandoned a

planned ascent of the Zugspitze, simply because the ski lift was

closed. I did attempt a smaller hill nearby called Wank, pro-

nounced Vank, but had been beaten back by high winds and

fresh snow; you might say my hand was forced! Zwieselberg

(DL/BE-003) was a consolation peak the next day as I drove

back to Munich to collect reinforcements. I was using 40m

and had over 20 QSOs. Three other skiers appeared as I was

finishing and we exchanged greetings before I realised they

were speaking French. “Mais, vous parlez Francais en Alle-

mange,” j’ai dit.

“Oui, oui, nous sommes Francais et travaillons a Munich, n’est

pas.” C’est la vie!

Two days later I activated OE/TI-048 (Gaislachkogel) above the

Austrian ski resort of Solden; there is a lift to the top, which I

found is a great help and a large viewing platform with plenty

of space for a half wave, inverted V dipole, perfect!

A Christmas family ski holiday to Val D’Isere in France allowed

two activations in the ski resort, one (F/AB-202 Rocher de

Bellevarde) had been done before (ski lift goes almost to the

top) and I worked 20 stations on Christmas day.

The other was a new one (F/AB-188 Rocher du Charvet) on

Christmas Eve where I had 56 QSOs: I got a bit cold that day!!!

High avalanche risk precluded attempts on any others, but did

allow me to reconnoitre some likely future peaks.

Mid January saw a ski trip to Chamonix to celebrate someone’s

47th birthday; any excuse really! A ski lift goes all the way to

the summit of Le Brévent and I had 47 QSOs using 20m. Next

day I skied up L'Aiguillettes des Possettes in cold conditions but

only managed 6 QSOs on 40m.

The highlight was an ascent of the Austrian Ruderhofspitze

(3474m) in the Stubai alps. The summit involved 5 hours of

ascent from the fantastic Franz Senn hut (itself 3 hours from

the valley floor) to a precarious ledge on the side of the moun-

tain. Here we took off skis and donned boot crampons, ice

axes and used ropes to ascend the final steep rocky ridge to

the airy summit cross, 16 QSOs on 20m and an abseil back

down to put their skis on again.

However, it doesn’t always work out that way. I failed on the

highest peak in the Dolomites, Punta Penia (3343m) on the

Marmolada at the end of February! Fresh snow had raised the

risk of avalanches and as leader of the group I took the agonis-

ing decision to turn back less than 200 metres from the sum-

mit. However, I take comfort from a quote by the famous Eng-

lish climber, Don Whillans, ”The mountains will always be

here. The trick is to make sure you are!"

Maybe I’ll go back and climb Punta Penia next year!

Colwyn Jones MM0YCJ

(Continued from page 6)

MM0YCJ on the summit ridge of Ruderhofspitze.

MM0YCJ descending Ruderhofspitze ridge.

First of all I’d like to introduce myself, I’m Duncan Lindsay,

holder of callsigns EA5ON and GM7CXM. I’m not a member of

CPSARC but over the years have received lots of the emails

sent by Bob GM4UYZ so I almost feel like I’m part of the club.

Since Bob was asking for input or the newsletter, I thought I’d

rattle off a few lines about what it’s like being a ham in Spain,

and how anyone who was thinking of operating from here can

get a licence, either permanent or temporary.

I hope at least somebody out there finds it interesting!

From a radio administration point of view, Spain is divided up

into nine geographical call areas, seven of which are in the

peninsula, EA6 being the Balearic Islands, EA8 being the Canar-

ies, and EA9 the north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Licencing law is done in Madrid, and local administration is

done in each of the 50 provincial capitals dotted around the

country. Like most things here, each office has their own way

of interpreting things, and depending on where you live, your

Teleco’s contact can either be a tough cookie, or almost like a

friend. But in general, law abiding citizens are pretty much left

to operate in peace, much like in the UK.

Most UK hams that operate here do so when on holiday, and

since Spain is part of CEPT, its very straightforward.

There is no restriction as to what equipment you can bring in

and use. The callsign to be used is EA + the call area / your

home call. So if Bob was operating from Málaga, he would sign

EA7/GM4UYZ. Just remember that you have to obey the CEPT

restrictions, this means for example that a full UK licence hold-

er may not use more than 400w (maximum UK power) even if

the Spanish limit on most bands is 1KW. Also remember that

novice/foundation licencees are not allowed to operate under

CEPT rules.

If any of you are planning on coming to live here, the proper

thing to do is to apply for a Spanish licence. In order for a UK

national to obtain a licence here, one must make an applica-

tion to this provincial office, using the standard form available

on the internet. You need to present a series of information:

A HAREC certificate

Copy of the title deeds of your property, or a rental

contract

Proof of third party liability insurance

Details of your equipment, including serial numbers

Details of the antenna system you plan to use

The reasons for all of this are evident: Teleco’s wish to ensure

that any station that they give a licence for is equipped with

standard equipment, a secure antenna system, and insurance

in case anything happens. In some cases, they will require that

an approved antenna installer certifies your antenna installa-

tion, unfortunately there is no fixed rule about what type of

installation requires a certificate and what doesn’t and it also

seems to depend from province to province.

Also, if you live in a building that is shared with others, for ex-

ample a flat or apartment building, you are required to notify

your neighbours of your plans and give them time to object.

The good news for hams is that antenna installations are in

fact governed by law, and although this no doubt will seem to

be a lot of red tape to your average Brit, the positive part is

that it is in fact quite difficult to NOT manage to put up an an-

tenna. Your neighbours may only complain (legally!) if your

installation does not meet the required legal standards. And

this is therefore the reasons some of you may have noticed big

yagis on big towers in many Spanish cities. Recently, cell phone

laws and some local by-laws have given some over-zealous

councils and individuals leeway to put pressure on some hams,

but on the whole, the Amateur Radio Antenna Law normally

prevails.

No planning permission!

No being held to curmudgeonly old neighbours!

URE, the Spanish equivalent of the RSGB, has a link on their

website which gives you all the details on Spanish licencing for

foreigners:

http://www.ure.es/foreign-visitors.html

If you are fluent in Spanish, you can also check out the rele-

vant legislation here at:

http://www.ure.es/legislacion/4-reglamentacion.html

There are around 40,000 hams in Spain, but like in a lot of

countries, not all of them are active. In the past, there used to

be 3 different licence categories: novice, using EC callsigns, (Continued on page 9)

8

with a 100w power limit and band restricted; VHF, with EB

calls; and Full, with EA calls. However when morse code

testing was deemed to no longer be necessary, all licence

holders were given full privileges. New licences that are issued

all have EA callsigns with 3 letter suffixes, but if you have had

your callsign for more than 5 years and are able to prove you

have been active, you may be allowed to choose an old lapsed

callsign with a 2 letter suffix, either EA, EB, or EC. How easy

this is depends again on your local telecos!

I was originally issued EA5GQI back in 1992, and in 1994 I was

allowed to upgrade to EA5ON. Currently all 2 x 1 EA calls are

reserved for repeaters, however a request has been lodged to

reassign repeater calls and free 2 x 1 calls for individual use.

The only 2 x 1 calls available at present are for the special pre-

fixes ED, EE, EF, etc, our contest club uses the call ED5T for

example, but the licencing rules to someone used to UK com-

mon sense are completely outlandish and a good example of

how sometimes red tape here can be pretty frustrating.

I don’t recommend asking for a special 2 x 1 call.

In Spain, there are a large number of local clubs, and almost all

of these are local branches of URE (Unión de Radioaficionados

Españoles). URE currently has around 9000 members, a bit

less than 25% of the ham population. Local clubs take on the

role of local QSL bureau, liasing with the central offices in Ma-

drid. I am a member of URE Torrent, with 70 members, and

we have an active QRP and homebrew group, plus the ED5T

contest group, which is housed at the clubs nice hilltop prem-

ises. If you are interesting in doing a contest from here, please

drop me an email!

The Torrent groups website is http://ea5elt.ure.es and the

contest club web is http://ea5kv.ure.es/torrentcc.htm

It’s impossible in a short article to go into much detail, if

there’s anything here you’d like me to expand on, or a specific

article for a future newsletter, please drop me an email.

73 and happy hamming!

De Duncan EA5ON / GM7CXM

Email: gm7cxm@gmail.com

Web: www.ea5on.com

(Continued from page 8)

9

REMINDER CHANGE OF JULY CLUB NIGHT

Club Night for July has been moved forward by one week to Friday 28th June. The reason being is that VHF Field Day, one of the club’s major contest activities takes part on the first week-end of July.

We have moved to a site located down near Castle Douglas, Dumfries which means that we have to travel a day earlier.

Quite a number of the club members will be attending this event and will be travelling to site then starting to construct the contest station on the Friday that would normally be club night.

If you wish to join us for VHF Field Day, and all are welcome then get in touch with John MM0CCC mm0ccc@cpsarc.com

See you all a week earlier on the 28th June……

Last month we wrote about our visit to Bletchley Park where we showed our friend's Mystery Object to David White G3ZPA, who looks after the Diplomatic Wireless Service Exhi-bition in Hut 1 there (http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/edu/collect/diplomatic.rhtm). The collection of equipment is ex-tensive and varied as can be seen in a video of David showing people round at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTb6Og1H6eo. These are some of the morse keys:

The Park continues to grow of course: we missed out on the National Radio Centre, which opened at Bletchley after our visit, see http://www.nationalradiocentre.com/

Signal monitoring was crucial to the decoding work. As there wasn't space at Bletchley Park and the antennas could have attracted attention to such a top secret location, it took place at listening stations such as Chicksands. Mainly though not exclusively morse, those signals were transcribed along with other information which enabled triangulation for position-finding and sometimes even notes on the "hand" of morse key operators. Despatch riders brought these to Bletchley Park for decryption.

It wasn't just the visibility of the antennas which were a secu-rity problem. Some of the traffic was two - way: to embassies, overseas forces or agents, for instance. Just as the British could triangulate on enemy stations, the Germans would lo-cate our traffic sources. So it was important not to draw atten-tion to Bletchley as an active station and eventually all trans-mission had to take place elsewhere. (Although early in the war there was a communication station concealed in the wa-ter tower!)

The code-breaking successes in Bletchley came in many forms - sometimes mathematical, sometimes taking advantage of

over-rigid German procedures which left breakable trails, and sometimes by exploiting the human errors of tired German operators like Jane's Mum. People made mistakes. Bletchley found and exploited them. More than that, they guided the British encryption services away from such errors: we and our allies were using very similar equipment to the Germans, and continued to use it for decades. Hence Churchill's paranoia after the war which led to the destruction of machinery or the suppression of technologies - even as the Americans were commercially developing from the same baseline. Our govern-ment didn't want our secret traffic broken as Bletchley had broken the German signals. As it turned out, there were other human factors in Cambridge and Whitehall which were far more important.

David was thrilled by our Mystery Object. He'd hoping to find one for over twenty years. He told us it was a mark sense sounder. He said that a skilled operator could by listening to the Baudot codes monitored on one of these, get a diagnostic handle on landline transmission problems. So we left the item with him.

And then there was a surprise. Our friend had thought she had two of these devices. When David heard there might be another one, he was keen for it to go to his pal Cecil Duncan GM0EKM who looks after these:

at the Hoswick visitor centre at Sandwick on Shetland: http://www.shetlandheritageassociation.com/members/south-mainland/hoswick-visitor-centre, where there is quite a wire-less collection, following radio, domestic marine and military equipment from the early 1900’s through to the mobile phone innovation of today. So as it turned out instead of going 300 miles South, we could have identified the Mystery Object just as well by going 300 miles North.

(Continued on page 11)

10

Bletchley Park and the Mystery Object, continued

Many of the exhibits at Bletchley have come via these kinds of routes - attics, sheds, people who didn't want history just to fade away. Maybe you have some items yourselves?

Something as mundane a few decades ago as a valve could now be a missing piece in a story, or even a spare part in Co-lossus.

If so, we urge you to dig it out, write a note and find a place to show it.

Think of the shed space you'll free up!

Phil Odor & Jane Hesketh

(Continued from page 10)

11

Back to 2009, we ran a challenge as part of our 25 Years Club

Anniversary. As part of this challenge, a trophy, "Left Handed

Capacitor Trophy" in memory of Vic GM4GGF was awarded to

the winner of the Foundation Licence holder with the "most

Distant QSO". Martyn MM0XXW, then MM3XXW won this.

Another challenge where the trophy could be once more pre-sented, but this time on an annual basis, was suggested by Cambell MM0DXC in 2011. is to present it to the person who has been licensed for up to one year, and makes the greatest number of QSO’s during our Special Event Stations. The aim is to encourage newer operators to “operate” and help over-come any microphone hesitancy. Criteria:

Those taking part must have obtained their Foundation Licence within the previous year, even though at the time of taking part may have obtained their Intermedi-ate or even Advanced Licence.

The year will run from the 1st May through to the 30th April. This covers the club’s September to April training program

Entrants must be able to demonstrate that they ob-tained their Foundation Licence at some time during the stipulated year dates.

Entrants need not have been trained by the Club for all of the three licences but must have at least obtained one of them via the Club’s training program.

Entrants must operate at the Special Events run by the club over the specific year period. Normal events that the club participates in each year are the Port Seton Gala Day (MM0CPS), Museum of Flight (GB2MOF), Lighthouse Weekend (GB2LBN) and also the Club’s Ac-tivity Night. There may be others depending on re-quests and these will also be included.

Win-Test Logging soft-ware will be used to cre-ate our log of an event.

Each operator should use Win-Test OPON / OPOFF

commands to register their operation periods

After an event the log will be checked and the number of QSO’s made by each operator will be counted and recorded.

After the completion of the year period each operator’s totals for each event will be totalled and the operator with the most QSO’s will be deemed the winner.

The winner can retain the trophy for a year before re-turning it to the club.

YEAR ONE – 2011 2011 was the first year that the trophy was used to encourage “new blood” into taking part in the Special Events run in the Club’s Event’s Program. There were a possible 17 people who were eligible but only 3 did take part . The winner of the Trophy was Paul Rice MM0VPR/2M0CEX/MM6ANB who made a total of 598 QSO’s during the year. Congratulations Paul on winning the trophy for the year, you have now set the standard. YEAR TWO – 2012 This year there were 10 people eligible The only person out of the 10 who took part in any of our events was Cephas Ralph MM0INS/2M0INS/MM6INS so the winner is automatically Cephas. Congratulations Cephas on winning the trophy for the year, YEAR THREE – 2013 This year there are 13 people eligible and they have all been notified by email so hopefully they will step up for the chal-lenge.

Good luck to you all...

Bob GM4UYZ

The Left Handed Capacitor Trophy Challenge

Friday 10th May

Our DF Nights are now an integral part of our club events where we run one in May and the other in September. Each DF night has its own characteristics, otherwise the May night is in total daylight and the September night is 80% in the dark...

No matter what, they both offer some interesting challenges.

Our first DF night the weather certainly wasn’t really kind to us as it is the first year that I can remember that it rained heavily, thank goodness not for the full time though. It was interesting as I had been keeping a close eye on the MET weather site and I had watched a rain front slowly move across country all day with its prediction to arrive just before the DF Night started ... as they say it turned out to be totally accurate.

The fox this time was Cambell MM0DXC and what a “wily fox” he turned out to be. Like previous foxes a notification was sent, this time a text, before the event started made sure that everything was in order before the start of the DF Night.

The 4 teams that took part this time assembled as in past years, at the Ship Inn Car Park. The teams consisted of Robin MM0VTV and Cephas MM0INS in car 1, Colwyn MM0YCJ and his partner Ann in car 2, Bob GM4IKT and Robert MM1BJO in car 3 and lastly Robbie MM6RBC, Liz 2M1GLD and me GM4UYZ in car 4. All of the teams for this DF Hunt used mostly a 2 ele-ment beam. Over the years a lot of people have really enjoyed taking part but alas you all seem to be missing……

At the start time of 19:00 we all went our separate ways to try and catch the elusive fox. I headed this year to the Gladsmuir car park where we took our first bearing, nothing heard. We then moved to Haddington, nothing heard then to the Garlton Hill, nothing heard, to Drem, to Dirleton, to Gullane and still nothing heard. Young Robbie had said earlier that he had a gut feeling that fox was to the west of Port Seton and to be honest in hindsight we should have went with his gut feeling. The time was really getting on so we headed to Prestonpans Yacht Club. It was here that we got our first indication as at the predefined time there was a change in the signal but could get no bearing, continuing our thoughts of him being at the Mining Museum we just managed to get there and got a signal and actually heard the fox’s voice. It gave us a direction of up towards Wal-lyford... he can’t be there as that is off the map. Anyway we headed up to the middle road and again could hear the fox but got no bearing. With twenty minutes to go we made the wrong decision and headed in the Tranent direction to get no signal at all.

We should have stayed in the Mining Museum area but great saying that in hindsight. Sadly no fox found... The question was did anyone else? The answer was no...

This is the first year that I can remember that the “fox” won with no one finding it. Well done Cambell a great achieve-ment. The trophy was handed over to Cambell as in fact he was the winner.

A massive thank you from us all to Cambell for taking on the role of the fox and once again producing another fun packed night. Also thanks to everyone who turned up I know from all your comments you all seemed to enjoy it so hopefully you will all come back for the next DF night in September 2013.

Those of you who do not take part you do not know what you are missing. Believe me DF’ing is not as easy as you think, give it a try and you will see what I mean.

Congratulations again to the fox for winning and commisera-tions to the rest of us.

Bob GM4UYZ

12

13

1. A balun is

a. used instead of a dummy load

b. used to connect a dipole to coaxial cable

c. a particular type of antenna

d. A type of feeder.

2. Two receiving stations are situated on clear open

ground 5km and 10km from a VHF transmitter. The further station will

a. receive a weaker signal because the signal has spread

out more

b. receive the same signal because they are both in clear

ground

c. receive no signal if it is directly behind the closer station

d. Only receive a signal if it is correctly licensed.

3. The ionosphere is

a. another name for the air we breath

b. conductive gasses at heights of 70 to 400km

c. a type of spherical transmitting antenna

d. a piece of amateur radio test equipment

4. Amateur transmissions might be picked up by

a. any wiring in the neighbour's house

b. only wiring which is longer than 2 metres

c. only wiring that does not have an earth lead

d. Earth leads only.

5. One way of reducing the possibility of interference

from a single sideband (s.s.b.) transmitter to a televi-sion receiver in the next house is to

a. use an indoor transmitting antenna

b. increase power input to the transmitter

c. decrease power input to the transmitter

d. Decrease the number of frequency multiplying stages in

the transmitter.

6. Why is it advisable to purchase a ready made filter for

fitting in the mains lead of a radio receiving device?

a. A home made device may not let the radio signals

through.

b. A purchased item will look much nicer.

c. The filter may not work well.

d. It is dangerous to put home made devices in the mains.

7. The difference between a CQ call on 2 metres FM and

one on HF SSB is that the call on FM

a. is usually much shorter than when on HF SSB

b. must be made at the lowest possible power

c. needs to be repeated many times while somebody is

tuning in to your signal -F

d. Is only permitted on the set calling channels. -,

8. In the 2 metre band plan, the frequencies from

144.994MHz to 145.1395MHz are allocated to

a. fm simplex channels

b. fm repeater inputs

c. SSB and CW only

d. Satellites.

9. An adult should be present when erecting an antenna

because

a. it is a hazardous activity

b. heavy items will need to be lifted

c. they have more knowledge of First Aid

d. The antenna must be placed out of reach of a child.

10. Turning the power off in an emergency is made easier

and quicker if

a. all the switches and plugs are colour coded

b. proper fuses are used in each plug

c. Each socket has indicator lights when they are on.

d. There is a single switch controlling all the power.

Last month I wrote my article on one of the reasons people get involved in HAM Radio, that was using radio for events and in times of emergencies. I think we can all agree that HAM radio in such circumstances can literally be a life saver.

This month I intend to look at another reason for people to enjoy our hobby and that is the friendships that can be made over the airwaves. Our Global Village.

For myself I have to say that I am a "people" person. I find them interesting animals and enjoy a good ragchew, the fact that you talk via radio to me makes no difference as to talking face to face.

Having been a HAM for ten years now and logged over 20,000 QSOs its probably not surprising that a few of those contacts would result in friendships. Probably the first of those was a contact with an Italian station. I had already booked a holiday into Italy via a flight deal to Bergamo when I randomly contacted a Bergamo HAM - IZ2FME, I of course, mentioned that I was flying into Bergamo in a month’s time. He replied saying that he was planning to come to Scotland at a similar time. Both of us being of the sociable type invited each other to visit.

So we did.

At the end of my scheduled break I met him in Bergamo, plus his family and friends, and treated to finest Italian home-made

cuisine and of course given a tour that no tourist would normally get of the Old Town of Bergamo An ancient City, sitting at the feet of the Piedmont Hills in North Italy. We had a great time and IZ2FME, Michele Carlone, with his then girlfriend now wife Anna, came back on my return flight to Scotland. I returned the hospitality received, showing them around parts of Scotland that no tourist would normally see. This was the beginning of a lasting friendship that continues to this day.

I've visited Michele and his friends several times in Italy, was invited to his wedding with Anna, met several of his HAM friends at his local club, www.aribg.it, including one of the fastest CW operators around - IK2CIO -Vini, he also visited myself at home. Vini can be found on many Italian DXpeditions, last year completing three of them, plus his usual trip to African Italy - Pantelleria Island to operate IH9P for the big contests.

Another great ham that I met whilst in Bergamo was the late great I2BCU - Aldo - a pre War ham, who I had also talked to often via radio and when I walked into his club with a wee Italy/Scotland flag badge for him, he almost melted with pleasure at the face to face meet. These Italian contacts even lead me to holding the callsign IZ2KFI, though little used I’m afraid;

Friendships made have not just been with Italy though, I have struck up others much further away. I was playing radio one evening, conditions were good and I was managing a good signal into New Zealand. It was my frequency and they were queueing up to talk to Scotland. Two HAMs in particular were keen for a QSO, they were both farmers and had picked up from my previous discussion that I too at that time was farming.

The two fellow HAM farmers were ZL1ALA - John Halden and ZL2RJF Robert Fleming.

We had the usual farming blether, weather, prices and costs. All very interesting, honest. Anyway at that time my oldest Duncan (MM3YDH) was starting his plans to travel for a gap year to NZ, this I discussed with the two ZL HAMs and both of them said that they could find Duncan some work, and they did. A few months later Duncan, at the tender age of 18, flew to NZ, was greeted by ZL1ALA at Aukland airport, stayed with him for a few days before travelling to the South of NZ for several months when he then flew back to the North Island and spent several weeks working with ZL2RJF in his large Agricultural Contracting company, driving some of the biggest combines and tractors you could imagine.

(Continued on page 15)

14

IZ2FME and IK2CIO

15

The friendship Duncan made with the Fleming family still continues, he flew back to NZ five years later and worked with them for nearly a whole year and my other son Callum - MM3PAE - also spent several months with the same family on his year in NZ. Duncan on his last fortnight in NZ spent a fortnight with ZL1ALA from where he explored the tropical Coromandel coastline.

Other people of interest. KR0E - Don Hume - was busy telling me of his Scottish surname and how he had visited the village of Hume during a trip to Scotland. He eventually visited me in

Scotland, and we had a great time, so I have an open invitation to Boulder, Colorado, to take up some time.

To call the World a wee place is not an exaggeration, the second time my son Duncan was in NZ I flew out for a fortnight to take in the sights with him, most enjoyable.

Of course I had to visit Robert Fleming ZL2RJF and him being a keen HAM had to show me his shack, and there on the wall a picture of a friendship ZL2RJF had made over the airwaves by the very same KR0E - Don Hume, what a coincidence.

There are other friendships over the airwaves - JA5VQ - Vic and his wife Keiko, regular visitors to Scotland , he has even popped down to the club and operated GM2T in the CQWW contest.

More recently OK2HBY - Kamil - enjoyed a tour round Edinburgh after a CW QSO just before he travelled for his first Scottish visit - the list goes on.

Difficult to imagine what other medium you could use to create friendships across the World, so my advice is turn the radio, start talking and you'll never know where it could lead you to.

Jim Hume MM0DXH/IZ2KFI

(Continued from page 14)

Robert ZL2RJF

MM0DXH and Vic JA5VQ

General correspondence,

training and contest

entries

Bob Glasgow 7 Castle Terrace Port Seton East Lothian EH32 0EE Phone: 01875 811723

E-mail:

gm4uyz@cpsarc.com

For events listed below,

please use these contacts

HF Contests

Cambell Stevenson

mm0dxc@aol.com

VHF Contests

John MacLean

mm0ccc@cpsarc.com

Club Tables

Bob Purves

gm4ikt@cpsarc.com

Contest Reports

Robin Farrer

mm0vtv@cpsarc.com

Newsletter, website,

event calendar

John Innes

newsletter@cpsarc.com

www.cpsarc.com has

forums everyone can use

for technical discussion or

for sale items

7 June 2013 Club Night

8 June 2013 Port Seton Gala Day

9 June 2013 PW QRP Contest

15/16 June 2013 Museums on the Air GB2MOF

19 June 2013 CPSARC HF Activity Night

22 June 2013 Newsletter Deadline (early due to early Club Night on 28 June))

28 June 2013 Club Night (early due to VHF Field Day)

6/7 July 2013 RSGB VHF Field Day

26 July 2013 Newsletter Deadline (early due to IOTA Contest)

27/28/ July 2013 RSGB IOTA Contest

2 August 2013 Club Night

9 August 2013 Annual Mini Rally / Junk sale

11 August 2013 Perseids Meteor Shower

17/18 August 2013 Lighthouses Weekend GB2LBN

6 September 2013 Club Night

27 September 2013 DF Hunt

4 October 2013 Club Night

18 October 2013 Video Night

26/27 October 2013 CQWW SSB Contest

1 November 2013 Club Night

6 December 2013 Club Night

Answers from June 2013 newsletter “Test Your Knowledge”.

1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5C, 6D, 7A, 8B, 9A, 10D

Rank Callsign 160 80 60 40 30 20 17 15 12 10 6 4 2 70 DXCCs Slots Range

1 MM0DXH 0 23 0 52 8 97 4 71 0 16 0 0 0 0 132 271 10 yrs

2 MM0GZZ 0 2 0 49 55 40 0 16 9 30 0 0 1 0 95 202 3 yrs

3 M0RNR 0 0 0 34 0 54 0 40 0 3 0 0 0 0 79 131 14 yrs

4 GM4IKT 0 0 0 0 0 28 1 44 0 7 0 0 0 0 74 80 9 yrs

5 GB2VEF 0 0 0 19 0 59 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 62 78 0 yrs

6 GM2Y 0 19 0 22 0 31 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 80 3 yrs

7 MM0XXW 0 1 0 12 8 5 9 19 1 0 0 0 0 0 36 55 7 yrs

8 GM4UYZ 0 3 0 0 0 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 34 33 yrs