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.

I am writing this early due to a week’s holiday. Such is the pace of life lots to do and no time to do it in!!! Anyway I just cannot believe that we are now into the last quarter of the year and that the dark nights are well and truly here so it is once again time to sit back and reflect what you have done over the summer months. The jobs that you did and more than likely you will remember the ones that you didn’t. I myself had intended to do more operating from home but many factors have not allowed me to do so. On the Saturday after last club night my 7 September candidates sat and were initially given an indicative mark which to us showed they had passed their Foundation Exam. The process has now changed for the candidates for all the exams. They are given the normal paper and an Optical Marking Sheet (OMS). During the exam they can put their answers on the normal paper as before or fill out the OMS in pencil with their answers. Once they have finished the exam the last process is to use black ink on the OMS sheet to what they think is the correct answer, once this is done there is no going back as it is now deemed the final answer. For the Foundation and Intermediate as before the Invigilators mark the persons paper but cannot say if they have passed or failed but will give them the indicative

mark. The paper and the OMS sheet are then posted back to the RSGB where the OMS is scanned to produce a result. It is then that the candidate will be informed whether they have passed or failed. To those of us who been involved with the old system for years suddenly felt so deflated that we could not congratulate or commiserate the candidate on the day. Ok for progress but if the marked OMS sheet does indicate a definite PASS then I think we should be able to tell them. Basically as I write this I cannot offer the very warm welcome to them all to this fantastic hobby of ours. The Intermediate Course started on the 21st September with 5 candidates heading for their Intermediate Exam on the 19th October. I am sure you will join with me to wish them all the best with their studies and exam. There are still places left for the next Foundation Course starting the 2nd November and the Intermediate Course starting on the 23rd November. If you know of anyone interested then get them to contact me ASAP please. gm4uyz@cpsarc.com September was very quiet with only one activity taking place and that was our second DF hunt night of the year, which I am sure again it will have thrown up a few topics of conversation.

(Continued on page 2)

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

To this coming month as always consult the Events Diary we have a talk by Geoff Crawley MM5AHO on his “2013 Lighthouse Weekend Adventures”. This will take place on Friday 18th October so I hope you will all make an effort to attend as I think this one will be very interesting indeed. On the contesting front there is a great demand for operators to take part in the HF Contest CQWW, which runs for 48 hours over the weekend of the 26/27th October. The CQWW contest is being run from Barns Ness so why not come along and either take part or support those who are operating, believe you me seeing a few people turn up and giving support really helps. If you can spare some time to operate please let Cambell know so he can arrange some sort of operating rota. To the future I can say that the Christmas Night Out as I write this hasn’t been organised but I am open to suggestions

which I would appreciate sooner rather than later. To be honest I have a lot on and do not really have time to go running around so hence any help would be appreciated. If someone else wishes to take over organising the event and then let me know. Lastly, this month I am once again looking for your input as I am now starting to look at putting next years monthly calendar together, so what you would you like to see done. I would appreciate a quick response, as I would like to get it completed quickly so that I can submit it to the radio magazines. I have at present nothing lined up. Thanks for your help. Enjoy the newsletter and see you all on video night and the HF Contest. Bob GM4UYZ

We originally planned a VIDEO/DVD Night for

October but once again Geoff MM5AHO has

kindly offered to give a talk on his Maritime

Mobile adventures for this year.

18th OCTOBER 2013 RESOURCES ROOM 1:

19:00 to 21:00

2013 Lighthouse Weekend and other Mari-

time Mobile Adventures

Talk by Geoff MM5AHO

After the success of Geoff’s 2010/2011 and

2012 Lighthouse Weekend event from his

yacht sailing around Oban and the Inner Heb-

ridean Islands he decided to do the same

again this year but this time from the Firth of

Clyde. The question is did he make it well why

not come along and find out?

He has produced another talk which he will

be delivering to the Club on the above date.

I hope you can all make the effort to attend

as I know it will be absolutely fascinating….

15th NOVEMBER 2013 RESOURCES ROOM 1:

19:00 to 21:00

Special Events – The Whole Story

Talk by Bob GM4UYZ

This talk has been put together at the request

of some previous training candidates. As part

of our training program we often relate to

these events so I was asked well tell us all

about them and what is involved – so here is

the story.

Hope you enjoy it

Bob GM4UYZ

3

This subject that we as radio amateurs should always be trying to improve, it could mean the difference of making that “elusive” DX contact or not. When we are operating from home, normally with a very restricted set-up, it comes even more prevalent as we normally have to work harder to make contacts compared to a full blown contest station with its mono-band aerials, linears and general set-up.

The key areas covered are as follows:

Your “ears” Radio Controls Antennas Logging software Keyboard skills Propagation Strategy

Your “Ears”:

Basically listen first and see what is happening because if you can’t hear the stations then you certainly cannot work them. Your ears are the best decoders going and are far better than any software decoders. They have the ability to pick out some-thing that no decoder will. Good advice as well is to use a good set of headphones i.e. HEIL headsets as this concentrates your listening plus they have the ability to cut out any local back-ground noise.

Radio Controls:

From the transmitter side the main controls are Mic Gain and Power Output. It is important that the Mic Gain is set properly and is good advice to set it as per the manufactures recom-mendation.

[Ed: the setting is personal preference but the advice I use is to increase the mic gain until the APC voltage just starts to rise]

Do not overdrive the radio by applying too much gain or by using too much power as this can cause distortion, unreada-ble signals and interference, basically we want our signal to be clear and clean so that we can be heard. If people do not hear you then they can’t work you.

On the receiver side there are various controls that can help you receive a signal better. There are Dual VFO’s to allow fast switching between frequencies for both Receive and Transmit. The RF Gain and DSP can be used to adjust the signal level to bring out that signal that you want. Then there is AGC and

here people have their own preferred setting but the consen-sus of opinion is set it Fast for CW and Slow for SSB. This con-trols the signal level through the IF of the radio with an aim to make it easy listening. Lastly there are filters. Depends on what mode you are receiving in to whether by default the IF filters will be wide or narrow. Normally Wide for SSB and nar-row for CW but by adjusting these no matter what the mode they can be used to bring out that elusive signal.

[Ed: many radios have RF attenuators which can be used to reduce the input signal under very strong signal conditions if you’re suffering badly from distortion but this should be used sparingly, if at all, add-ing attenuation or reducing RF gain is wasting all that gain you’ve paid for with big antennas and will prevent you from hearing that weak multiplier]

Lastly on the radio side there are headsets and a PTT footswitch. Certainly for contesting the recommendation is the HEIL headset with a HC5 insert as this produces a good contest signal but to be truthful they are ideal for home shack use as well. The advantage with headsets and using a footswitch for the PTT is that it allows hands free operating. It is also im-portant to mention that if a headset is used that the radio’s mike gain is checked and adjusted if required.

Antennas:

There is a wide range of antennas from wire, verticals, Multi-band Yagi’s and Monoband Yagi’s. What you choose will really depend on what your effective aim is. For example in the CQWW contest the best antennas are the Monoband Yagi’s whereas if the requirement is to work “local G’s” then the best would be low slung dipoles. The bottom line is to decide on your requirement and use the correct antenna. I know that for many the antenna is what we have at home and that is that as we don’t have the luxury of the contest level set-up. Then the answer is making the best with what you have. With regard to the club’s activities we certainly have the luxury of using any of the antennas in the list so when we are out and about we de-cide what we need and then set that up.

Logging Software:

There are many on the market all with their own advantages and disadvantages. As a club we have gone for Win-Test as it covers all the contests and activities that we are involved in. The major advantage is that only one program has to be learnt rather than numerous. It offers then slicker operating. Another major advantage it offers is the network of computers in a

(Continued on page 4)

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

Multi-Multi scenario and if a “computer crash-es” then there is no worry as it fully recovers the log, believe you me that is a fantastic step forward.

Keyboard Skills:

It is marvellous if you have already got good keyboard skills and can touch type as it speeds up the logging process. If you do not have this the golden rule is when logging, “single finger” mode is that you type as you speak i.e. logging GM4UYZ then type “G”, say “G”, then type “M” then say “M”, etc, etc in that way you control the logging. Speed and knowing the keyboard comes the more you actually type.

Propagation:

The Ionosphere layers which we use for DX contacts and when they are available during the day affects the transmitted frequencies to use, basically frequencies up to 10MHz are Night time bands and frequencies from 10MHz to 30MHz are day time bands with regard to HF propagation. Know what bands are open and when, so that maximum ad-vantage can be taken of them. The use of the “Grey Line” to make long distance contacts when one place is at dawn and another place in the world is at dusk is a technique that is used and is always studied by those wanting to work DX stations.

Strategy:

The strategy concentrates on dealing with a contest. Important points that need to be stressed is the reading of the rules, manpow-er, working as a team, role of a manager for decision making and crisis management and the ultimate aim of the contest.

Reading the rules needs to be done by every-one and not by a few so everyone knows what needs to be achieved, basically we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

A suggestion of a “Band Manager” was made which we have implemented to a certain de-gree with his responsibility ensuring that the right bands are being used and when and what mode. At the end of the day the opera-tor is the principle decision maker. One thing from our own experience it is important that we all work as a team because without it the ultimate aim will never be achieved. The aim is to win the contest ultimately but I see it really is to always try and improve on where you reached before. It is also important that everyone enjoys themselves because without that you may as well have not taken part.

The above is just a guideline and an insight and you may see things differently or maybe can offer other advice but I think there and something in it for everyone from the casual operator through to the experienced operator

Bob GM4UYZ

(Continued from page 3)

Transmitted interference (what we do to

others) is often dealt with in articles, and that

can indeed be a problem, but this piece

addresses received interference.

Trying to catch the details of that rare DX in

amongst the crashes and clicks from some

nearby unintended transmission can be very

frustrating.

Here’s a few ideas you can try to track down

that offending RF. How to identify it, locate it,

and eventually – stop it!

RF sources.

Many items can radiate RF these days, many

more than a few decades ago, when central

heating thermostats and power lines were the

prime causes. These days, many electronic

devices emit RF at some level, and in some

causes can be of a level to blot out the signals

(Continued on page 5)

5

we wish to hear. Often we are trying to resolve quite weak

signals, and it doesn’t take a lot of RF to drown the DX.

Locating a source of RF

Locating a rogue RF source is detective work. Think like a

detective. Ask lots of questions first:

When did this start? (and what else happened at the time- a

new installation somewhere?)

What frequencies are affected? (generally lower frequencies

travel further by ground wave)

What time does it occur? (Its hours of transmission might

give clues to identity, for example central heating during the

evening?)

What does it sound like? (more on this later)

Do any conditions such as weather seem to affect it? (if its

only in the rain for example, its likely outdoors)

One of the first steps to locating a source is to determine the

type of transmission. Listen to it on your receiver. Try AM,

FM, USB. Is it on more than frequency? If so at what spacing?

What does it sound like?

Here’s a few thoughts…

Clicking, pulsing, ticking type.

Automotive? – any petrol engines nearby? Does the

frequency of the ticking vary (as engine revs do)? Fast or

slow? Very slow can be electric fences.

Buzzing – unmodulated. A constant buzzing sound is often

power related. Might be a switch mode power supply (and

many devices have these today), or a power line fault.

If modulated it could be a TV or a monitor radiating a signal.

The modulation changes with image.

Voices: If your problem is music or voices, it’s likely a

transmitter causing this by either faulty transmitter, or some

intermodulation product mixing with something else. Go back

to the questions on frequency it appears at. Any logic to this?

Can you hear what’s said (voices) and identify it? If say Virgin

1215 kHz was mixing with Talk Radio, you might be hearing a

mix of these two at various frequencies from 1600kZ to 4

MHz. (I used to hear this from Westerglen TX site. It was a

faulty insulator on their mast)

Measure the highest frequency you can hear this RF on.

The higher the frequency, the closer the source is likely to be,

and the stronger the signal, the closer to your receiver /

antenna.

If you have a portable shortwave receiver, then is a handy

tool for tracing the source. Using the principle above (higher

the freq, the closer it is), you can move about and get an idea

of location. If you’re loosing the higher frequencies it appears

on, you’re moving away, and vice versa.

Fox hunts.

If you participate in fox hunts you might have a portable

directional antenna. It might be for VHF, and if your

Interference is audible at VHF, then you have the perfect

device for hunting down your source of RF.

Set the directional antenna up and rotate until the noise is

loudest. Note the direction of the antenna. Use a compass to

get a direction. Say it’s at 90 degrees (east of you).

Now move say south a ways, until the angle of loudest signal

is about NE, and take another bearing. If you mark these lines

on a map, you will find they intersect at the probable source

of your problem. To be sure, move to the north and see if

another bearing intersects at the same place.

This isn’t foolproof though. If a powerline is radiating this

signal, it will radiate over a length of line, and not seem as a

“point source”. Check the strength at your bearings.

Eliminating the Interference.

Finding the source of the interfering signal is only half the

battle. Eliminating it can be even more difficult, but is more

people related and so logic doesn’t always figure!

Someone is responsible for the device that’s radiating the

unwanted signal, but they might not share your desire to sort

out the problem. You might need to be a bit cunning in this.

Think about what is in their interest. If the device is

producing RF then it might be approaching failure. (eg points

arcing). So by you advising that this thermostat is about to

fail, and so cut off their heating, they’d be inclined to get it

fixed. But to just point out that its upsetting your hobby

doesn’t provide much motivation. I remember advising a

(Continued from page 4)

(Continued on page 6)

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

Yes folks believe it or not it is time to turn my attention to organising the Christmas Night out. The planned night is Saturday 14th De-cember and what we do, now comes up to what you would like. The choices are as be-low with the eventual choice being that which gives the majority of responses.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN

A CHRISTMAS NIGHT OUT Yes/No

Choices

A Meal Yes/No

If “Yes” what are your preferred choices (State 1st, 2nd, etc)?

Chinese _______

Indian _______

English _______

Other: (Please State) ____________

Recommend a good restaurant _____________________

A Dinner/Dance Yes/No

Where do you recommend?

Location _______________________

Any other Suggestions:

Suggestion _____________________

Can I have your responses by the 15th Octo-ber please so a final decision can be made on what we are going to proceed with?

I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR RESPONSES EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT INTEREST-ED AS IT ALLOWS ME TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE MADE YOUR MIND UP AND STOPS ME CONTINUALLY CHASING YOU, THANKS

Many thanks in advance.

Bob GM4UYZ

power authority about a faulty insulator on a

medium voltage power line. While they were

intrigued about how I knew, they had a team

out to replace the insulator within days, and

solve both our problems.

Other issues might take a lot of perseverance.

The Broadcast transmitter mentioned above

took two years to get sorted.

An unorthodox approach is to suggest that

the person responsible does not have a

license to transmit as they are doing. You are

doing them a favour by pointing it out before

they get caught by the authorities. (I did have

a dismal failure with this approach once

though!)

In all your efforts though, be polite, be civil.

Demanding someone fix a problem they

didn’t know they had, that doesn’t affect

them, and about which they don’t care, won’t

get you far. Think about their motivation and

try to use that. Sometimes just appealing to

their good nature works.

Suffering in silence doesn’t help either. I’ve

heard of those that hardly touch their radio

because of local noise. But made no effort to

trace it and eliminate it. If you don’t it might

be that no-one does, and you suffer still. So

get hunting!

(Continued from page 5)

7

1. The unit of capacitance is the

a. Henry

b. Coulomb

c. Metre

d. Farad

2. The DC voltage across a resistor is 20V, whilst the current flowing through it is 10mA. What is the resistance of the component?

a. 2KR

b. 12KR

c. 20KR

d. 200KR

3. A current in wire will

a. Cause the electrons to join their parent atoms

b. Increase the capacitance of the wire

c. Produce a magnetic field round the wire

d. Limit inductance of the wire

4. The circuit diagram shows a simple receiver. Which one of the following is adjusted to tune in different stations?

a. L

b. M

c. N

d. O

5. A transformer with 230V primary and 10V secondary windings is connected to the 230V AC 50Hz mains. The output from the secondary winding will be

a. 10 Volts AC at 230Hz

b. 10 Volts AC at 10Hz

c. 10 Volts DC

d. 10 Volts AC at 50Hz

6. Which one of the following will allow current to flow in one direction only?

a. Light Emitting Diode

b. Filament lamp

c. Resistor

d. Inductor

7. In a transistor amplifier which one of the following statements is correct?

a. The base current controls the collector current

b. The transistor is an oscillator

c. The base current flows through the collector

d. A bipolar transistor must be used

8. Which meter shows the voltage at the collector of the transistor?

a. Meter 1

b. Meter 2

c. Meter 3

d. Meter 4

9. The block diagram shows a transmitter suitable for

a. AM

b. FM

c. CW

d. SSB

10. A SSB signal consists of

a. A carrier and one sideband

b. A carrier and both sidebands

c. One sideband and no carrier

d. Two sidebands and no carrier

8

CQWW SSB CONTEST 26th & 27th OCTOBER – ARE YOU AVAILABLE? The club has taken part in this contest for a good number of years, in fact since 1997 and from our current site Barns Ness Lighthouse, Dunbar location since 1999. It is fantastic site for radio as the “noise floor” is an absolute minimum. In the 16 years of doing the contest we have entered two sections, ei-ther the MULTI-MULTI or the MULT-2 with 9 times in the Multi-2 and 7 times in the Multi-Multi. No matter what section you enter it is a long arduous contest as it runs for a full 48 hours. What makes it even harder is that we need to arrive at the site by no later than 08:00 on the Friday so that we can make use of what daylight hours that is available to get all the aerials and equipment set-up. This means that we are all up early and already tired before the contest actually starts at 01:00 on the Saturday morning. For those wondering what the Multi-2 and Multi-Multi sec-tions are then below is an extract from the 2013 CQWW rules: Multi-Operator Categories (all-band operation only): Any num-ber of operators is allowed. QSO alerting assistance is allowed. Only one transmitted signal per band is permitted at any time. Total output power must not exceed 1500 watts on any band at any time. Two Transmitters (MULTI-TWO): A maximum of two trans-mitted signals on two different bands may be used at any time. The log must indicate which transmitter made each QSO. Each transmitter may make a maximum of 8 band changes in any clock hour (00 through 59 minutes). Multi-Transmitter (MULTI-UNLIMITED): The six contest bands may be activated simultaneously. Only one transmitted signal per band is permitted at any time. When running as a Multi-Multi we have 4 stations set up all running at the same time...hopefully, but to continue this over the 48 hours takes a lot of manpower to sustain. What we are finding is that we do not have enough people to keep this go-ing flat out so the decision has already been made this year that we will enter the Multi-2 Section. This only requires two operators at any one time as only two stations can be trans-mitting. This will allow a better use of the manpower that is normally available. This is where the plea comes in. Can you help out and do some operating? If you can give us 2 or 3 hours of your time and take a stint of operating then it would allow those who are staying for the whole 48 hours a chance to catch up with some “beauty sleep” or just even rest. Also if you could give us even an idea off when you would be able to come then we can build you into part of the rota we normally put together.

If you are worried about the logging we can try and get a night set-up and give some tuition so that on the day you are not overawed. Is it the pile-up that you are worried about? Well there are ways to deal with that as well which maintains that you are fully in control, you just need to learn the technique which is quite simple. Is it the keyboard skills, well we have all been there and the more you use the keyboard the more fa-miliar it becomes but again as part of the pile-up technique there is a way to deal with it. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED CAN YOU UPDATE THE FORUM ON THE CLUB’s WEBSITE (www.cpsarc.com ): Actions to update Forum - Log In on the website (if not registered, please register first) Click on FORUM on the sites main page task bar. Click on CONTEST this opens up all the contest forum entries. Click on the 2 on the CQWW SSB 2013 and this opens up the second page of this forum entry In the REPLY TO: CQWW SSB 2013 enter the answers to the following questions then click on the SUBMIT button. AVAILABILITY – when? Will you be operating, YES or NO, hopefully YES? HOW MANY HOURS The whole time including setting up and dismantling. 48 Hours 24 Hours – What Times? Less than 24 hours -- What Time? FOOD – Someone normally does a COSTCO run and buys food for the weekend? It is important we know as we have had food bought for people who said they were attending and then didn’t so it was wasted and plus it still had to be paid for by those who did turn up... Not sure if the COSTCO run will happen this year but if it is then DO YOU WANT TO BE INCLUDED? If you say YES and don’t turn up you will be included in the cost reimbursement You never know the contest bug may catch you and you will want to do this all the time.... fingers crossed says I!!!!! Bob GM4UYZ

9

On a club website forum I noticed a request for others to join a recent idea posted by Bernie GM4WZG. It follows some de-velopment of software by USA Amateurs, to convert WiFi rout-ers (a 13cm band transceiver in effect) into useable communi-cations devices for the amateur service.

It’s a coincidence that the WiFi band overlaps with the 13cm Amateur band, but a handy one.

Broadband Hamnet as its called is about as easy as setting up a WiFi router initially, with a downloadable firmware upgrade from the Hamnet website that re-configures the router for this new duty. So far only a few types of router are suitable, but fortunately these are older versions, and so readily available from Ebay and elsewhere for £10-20.

To quote the Hamnet website…

“Broadband-Hamnet™ (formerly called HSMM-Mesh™) is a high speed, self discovering, self configuring, fault tolerant, wireless computer network that can run for days from a fully charged car battery, or indefinitely with the addition of a mod-est solar array or other supplemental power source. The focus is on emergency communications.”

“In its current form it is built using the Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS wireless routers and operates on channels 1-6 of the 2.4GHz ISM band, which overlaps with the upper portion of the 13cm amateur radio band.”

After reading of how Bernie and Stan (GM8ZQY) had convert-ed routers and subsequently enabled them to move data be-tween their stations, I decided that I’d give this a go.

Stan and Bernie have used the connection mobile too, and had remote control of a camera, vision, and file transfer.

I found a cheap router on Ebay, in fact 2, so got them both cheap. I then bought a cheap 15 element yagi, same source, and a linear amplifier putting out 2Watts (with RX preamp).

Removing the router from its plastic box, I mounted it, the amp and the PSUs in an ABS enclosure and stuck the whole lot up a scaffold pole about 6m agl.

Interestingly, this firmware will “see” the WiFi routers of neighbours, but cannot connect to it. Similarly they would see my setup, but not be able to connect. I live in a fairly rural ar-ea, but can see about 20 WiFi setups, some several miles dis-tant.

I’m hoping to connect to Stan and Bernie some day, but the 32km distance might be a stretch, as the Torphichen hills lie between us.

In the USA, distances of 150km with a useful connection have been achieved.

So far there are no nodes listed on the website map of world-wide nodes, though I’m sure that we’re not the only ones play-ing with this technology. I’m hopeful that others will be en-couraged to join in this unusual aspect of our hobby, with a DX challenge that is of a different magnitude to HF, but in many ways as interesting.

These systems exchange data, but data is data and has many forms. VOIP, IP video, keyboard chat, music? Who knows. If you can turn it into data, it could be moved between stations and used. How about remote control of your remote HF super station? A local DX spotting system? Sound like packet radio over again? Maybe it is, but in a much faster, more flexible way than packet ever was!

For more information, and a better description that I can give about Hamnet, see the website at

http://www.hsmm-mesh.org/

Geoff, MM5AHO

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

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4 October 2013 Club Night

5 October 2013 Intermediate Course

12 October 2013 Intermediate Course

18 October 2013 Talk: MM5AHO—2013 Lighthouse Weekend Adventures

19 October 2013 Intermediate Course

21 October 2013 Orionids Meteor Shower

25 October 2013 Newsletter Deadline

26/27 October 2013 CQWW SSB Contest

1 November 2013 Club Night

2 November 2013 2nd Foundation Course part 1

9 November 2013 2nd Foundation Course part 2

15 November 2013 Talk: GM4UYZ Special Events—The whole story

16/17 November 2013 GM100RSGB from Barns Ness Lighthouse

23 November 2013 Intermediate Course 2

30 November 2013 Intermediate Course 2

30 November 2013 Newsletter Deadline

6 December 2013 Club Night

7 December 2013 Intermediate Course 2

7 December 2013 Christmas Night out

12 December 2013 Geminids Meteor Shower

31 December 2013 January Newsletter deadline

Answers from October 2013 newsletter “Test Your Knowledge”.

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

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

1 MM0DXH 0 24 0 63 8 130 4 102 0 31 0 162 362 10 yrs

2 GM4IKT 0 0 0 0 0 86 5 63 0 18 0 131 172 9 yrs

3 MM0GZZ 0 3 0 55 56 82 0 21 10 37 22 111 286 3 yrs

4 GM2T 0 42 0 57 0 80 0 64 0 21 14 94 278 14 yrs

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

6 GM2Y 0 21 0 36 0 61 0 30 0 5 0 73 153 3 yrs

7 MM0XXW 0 1 0 24 25 43 32 27 7 8 2 68 169 7 yrs

8 GB2VEF 0 0 0 19 0 59 0 0 0 0 0 62 78 0 yrs

9 GB2LBN 0 0 0 32 0 53 0 18 0 0 0 60 103 18 yrs

10 GB2MOF 0 0 0 16 0 48 0 5 0 0 0 51 69 12 yrs

11 GM4UYZ 0 3 0 0 0 31 0 0 0 0 0 33 34 33 yrs

12 MM0CPS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 9 15 yrs