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Another month has passed with tonight bringing us to our second club night of the year and the realstart of our club calendar. If this year is like last year then it will disappear with a great flash. I do notknow if this is just a sign of old age or not but that I will leave for you to decide. No comments either,please!

What has happened since last club night? Well that was only three weeks ago so as I write this therewas not a great deal. The only items that I can think of, is that a few members of the club took part inthe RSGB AJfiliated Societies Team Contest on 80m plus I myself have been taking part in the 4M cu-mulativs. Both sets of contests have been great fun to say the least. On the topic of contests, why don'tsome of you come along to some of the contest activities that take place, you never know you mightreally enjoy yourself. Contesting is about fun, yes I can hear your comments "it's too serious, I couldnever handle a pile up, etc, etc". Yes it is serious to an extent, in the factthat you are competing againstsomeone else but it is fun to set vour own challenses within that contest and see how vou achieve. Theclub itself carnot compete against some of the "big guns" but what we strive to do is each year try andbetter our score by whatever means at the same time we have lots of banter and fun doing so. Handlingpile-ups, well l ean assure you everyone who operates started in the same situation but by taking part incontests it definitely helps you gain that skill. Another aspect that occurs'when contesting is you sud-denly realise what your equipment is capable of learning about band conditions and also getting somereal surprises on what you have just achieved i.e. 600kms on 4M with less than a wattl I can honestlysay that it is like CW, you will either love it or hate it, but the bottom line is do not knock it until youhave tried it. My last comment on contesting is that once againthe club is going to Tiree in July to takepart in the RSGB IOTA contest, If you are interested in going please get in touch with CambellMMIAVA who is co-ordinating the event. We will be using the new club short contest callsign GM2T.See later on in the newsletter about the new callsiqn. :.

To what is happening this month. Well there are a few contests around but see the event column towhat they are. The main event this month is "Radio Check Night" being run by !'mine host" JohnGM?OLQ. Another grand opporfunity to bring your radios along and give them their annual MOT. Iwould like to thank John on behalf of us for doing this. It is a night of extremely hard work for John buta very worthwhile cause for us all. Thanks John it is greatly appreciated.

That's about it from me folks. Enjoy the newsletter, come along to radio check night and as a pleadinglast thought, why not lwite an article for our popular newsletter? It would be appreciated.

Bob GM4UYZ

Cockenzie & Port Seton A.R.C.

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Cockenzie & Port Seton A.R.C.

Hello againl Hope you are all well. Here is the latest list ofevents happening in and around this area...

FEBRUARY4th Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton,late9th Lothians RS : HF Antennas by Dave

7pm till

StocklonGM4ZNX12ll3th RSGB lst l.8MHz CW Contest, 21-0IUTC, Single-Op only. ** See Note **

13th RSGB 3rd 7}lvfrlz Cumulative Contest 10-12.30UTC** See Note **

18th C&PS ARC Equipment Check Nght hosted as usualby John GMTOLQ. The venue is Resources Room 2 at PortSeton Community Centre and the evening runs from 7.30pm un-til 9.30pm. The usual entry fee of f 1 to cover room hire costsapplies.l9/20th ARRL International DX CW Contest. 00UTC Satur-day to 24UTC Sunday,xx $sghJsls **

23rd Lothians RS : Emergency Communications by JimBurke GM4TNP26l21th RSGB TMlIz DX CW Contest, 15UTC Saturday to09UTC Sunday. ** SeeNote **

27th RSGB 4th7OMtIz Cumulative Contest I0-12.30UTC** See NOte **

MARCH3rd Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton, 7pm tilllate4/5th RSGB 144/432i[/ftlz Contest I4-14UTC. This con-test also has 6 hour sections for multi and single operator sta-tions.** See Note **

4l5th ARRL International DX SSB Contest, 00UTC Satur-day to 24UTC Sunday.** See Note **

8th Lothians RS : Radar by Prof John Roulston (from Fer-ranti/GEC).LllLZth RSGB Commonwealth Contest (CW), 12-12UTC onl0-80m.** See Note x*

17th C&PS ARC Talk by David Anderson GM4JJJ on thesubject of "Moonbounce" from 7.30pm onwards in the meetingroom (upstairs) at Cockenzie & Port Seton Community Centre.Entry fee f I per person.19th RSGB 5th 7OMlIz Cumulative Contest l0-l2.30UTC** See NOte **

19th NORBRECK Rally, Blackpool. Details fromTel.0l516 30579022nd Lothians RS : Surplus Equipment Sale, St FillansChurch Hall (7.30pm)28th RSGB lst 144MlIz Cumulatives Contest (all mode)l9-2luTC.** See Note **

APRIL2nd RSGB 1st 70MHz Contest 09-I3UTC*E See Note **

sth RSGB Znd IA4Wlz Cumulatives Contest (all mode)1e-2luTC.

*x See Note **

7th Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton" 7pm tilllatelzth Lothians RS : Video and Photograph Evening of Expe-ditions & Contests! ! ! ! !13th RSGB 3rd i44MHz Cumulatives Contest (all mode)ls-2ftnC.** See Note **

16th RSGB 50MHz Contest 09-I3UTC.** See Note **

18th WORLD AMATE{JR RADIO DAY, The IARU havededicated World Amateur Radio Day to "Celebrating Success inAmateur Digital Communication. "21st C&PS ARC Talk by Cambell MMIAVA entitled"Home Security''. As usual 7.30pm in the Meeting Room atCockenzie & Port Seton Community Centre, admission 11 perperson. I'm sure Cambell will have a few tips which could beuseful for shack security too so why not come along.MAY5th Club night in the Thomtree Inn, Port Seton,late6th RSGB 432WIz Trophy Contest I4-22UTC.Note **

19th C&PS ARC l44l\/ft{z DF Flunt. Meet in "The OldShip Inn" car park (East) at 6.30pm for a 7pm (local time) start.20l?lst RSGB 144\&Iz Contest 14-I4UTC. ** SeeNote **

21st RSGB 1st l44MllzBackpackersContest l1-15UTC.** See Note **

27th LothiansChallenge28th RSGB 70MHz CW Contest 09-12UTC.x* See Note **

JUNE2nd Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton, 7pm tilllate3rdl4th IARU 50MHz Trophy Contest 14-14UTC.** See NOte **

3rdl4th RSGB IIF National Field Day I5-15UTC. CW Con-test covering 1.8-28MIIZ (excl WARC) ** See Note **

4th RSGB lst 50MHz Backpackers Contest ll-l5UTC.** See Note **

7th Lothians RS : Annual General Meeting18th RSGB Znd l44lvfrIz Backoackers Contest 09-l3u'tc.** See Note **

18th PW l44MF{z QRP Contest 09-l6UTC.21st C&PS ARC 28MHz Contest I9-22IJTC. Great funand an excellent chance for B-Licencees to op€rate on 10m un-der supervision!JULYlstl?nd RSGB VHF National Field Day 14-I4UTC.

*!1C NOTE *** TIIE CONTESTS ABOVE WHICH REFERTO THIS NOTE ARE THOSE WHICH TIIE CLI'B UMAYU

TAKE PART IN. THOSE WITH NO REFERENCE TO THISNOTE ARE ALREADY DEFINITES.

Have a great month and I hope that all goes well or you at theequipment test night. See you soon.

7pm till

** See

73 de Colin (GM0CLN)

Cockenzie & PortSeton A.R.C. Page

a,Esg&GgMeg QF FogS Hsg&98Ther" seems to be in the area a resurgence of people activat-ing 4 metres as a o'chat band". I think the appgarance oftheYaesu FT847 has made a difference as it comes akeadv fittedwith 4 metres Other than that the radios most people ar€ uS:ing are ex-PMR radios feeding simple vefticals or dipoles.

What has surprised myself about 4 metres is thai it appqars toget into areas thal either 2m or 70cms can get into. An exam-ple of this is about 2 years ago Ron GM4IKU had a 4M radiofitted into his car and he then went for a "run about'' in EastLothian. Well knoryn black spots on 2Mto my QTH in PortSeton i e East Fortune, Ftaddingtor\ Gfford to name some,gave perfect reception. Unfortunately for whatever reason 4Mgot dropped and most ofthe radios that was around then got"pu! away' or sold. :

The freq.tency that is being used as a chat'frequency is7\.425h4tr1z, the calling channel being 70 4501W{z Why notlook out for that "old cheap PMR" radio that often appears atRadio rallies, get some crystals for it and get it operating on4M. I have various bits and pieces of information on how toconvert somePMR radios so if you are stuck maybe I canhelp you get on the band

If you are interesled there is a "Four Metre News" newsletterproduced by Derek Thom G3IrfKS at an annual subscripfion off,5 a year. Derek can be contacted on Email: 4news@g3nks.demon.co.uk or on packet G3NKS@GBTDXCFor the moment I am monitoring 70.450MtI2 until I'can getmy crystals for 7O 425Wlz so maybe l will hear you on there:

AdfrAfEgE &HAG&A#S

Hopefully everyone is over the flu by now and fit for more anagrams. As usual,anagmms of words with an Amateur Radio link are given below. When you figureout what the words are, they should be entered horizontally in the grid provided.Any black squares represent spaces between words. When the grid is completedcorrectly you should have another word in the highlighted vfiical box. Havefun...

1.

2.

3.4,5,6.7,

This months clues are...I. ERIC VEE& 2. REFER COLT, 3. WRESTLE PIT PRO, 4. A COCONUTIWNtr\4, 5. EC PROTEIN, 6. RON ISN'T A MISS, 7. I'M BALD NUT

JANUARY2OOO ANSWERSI. RIBBON CABLE, 2. AMPLITUDE, 3. CERAMIC, 4. MOONBOLINCE,5. PACKET NODE, 6. SIDEBAND, 7. SPORADIC E.

The vertical word last month was UBLANKER". See vou with more anasrams inMarch. Bveeeee

got CMaIjYZ

Today I received a belated ChristmasCard from Nicky along with a !20 dona-tion to go into our British Heart Founda-tion funds. (I know Nicky that you willeventually read this so many, manythanks.).The card reads as follows;

" This is late I know but I have been badwith the cold.Thanks for sending all the Newsletters.It's good to get them. You've done verywell this year. Congratulations to all.I'm doing reasonably well myself. I'm ina big remission with the cancer. I hope itkeeps up!I'm not on the radio so much for I'm inand out of hospital a bit. Anyway packetis a dead loss here in Ireland.Regards to Yvonne and the girls and allat the club.Keep up the good work.

73 de Nicky GM3NEXIEI9CK'

That's it then and I must admit it wasnice to hear from Nicky once again. Foryour information I send Nicky the news-letters every 3 months plus he is on myEmail list so he gets all the "information"that way as well, or I hope he does. Ishould say the messages do not getbounced so they definitely go some-where. His email is ei9ck@indigo.ie

Bob GM4UYZ

V

73 Colin (GM0CLN)

Gockenzie.& Forl $aton ARC Annual VHFJUHF TqFfe :-1999 Totals

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Cockenzie & Port Seton A,R.C. Page 5

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VHF UHF $cores arB the tortsl number of DXCC countri€s end Msidenhead tocator $qu&res lvorked qn €ach band

Cockenzie & PsrtSetqnARC Annugl HF Table: 1999_I_olals

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DXCCt .a s-5 IL l8 2t 21 2AatIL 1()-seo-9s 2'l 21 4 o 7 s3 33 74 410 1$4

T'OBEX O7-Nov- o 't4 4: 4 77 52 66 374 727SNSGLV 3l-Dec-g€ o 7 5A 13 a5 "-" 5 91 ?4 67 350 14;MOCLN 31-Dec-9$ 29 22 & 52 47 3 39 224

27-Auo-9S 20 27 35 3 26 o 14 f26 613M4UYZ 31 o 26 t4 24 l3 SE 46$r*OAIvlV o o o 50 17 t3 85 573M4\nJLL 31-D6c-9€ o o 0 o o o 19 193I{4GVJ zO.Jaft-99 o ? o o 3 0 o 1 I I

f-fF $cor6s ar€ lh6 total number of DXCC counl.ies worked on 6aeh b6nd"F,,ffiff,,.-;J--rT,fi o B€rid Leading score For Each Ba$d

\Ye[, that's it, we now have the final 1999 tables! What a fast year it has been for me and how quickly the months seem tohave passed. I don't plan to go into too much detail regarding individual QSOs for the last couple of weeks of 1999 as thefirst table of the New Year should also be somewhere in this issue of the newsletter. However, I do plan to give you a fewfacts covering the years happenings (these are based on data received, some ofwhich was incomplete):

1. On I{F those C&PS ARC members having taken part in the tables have contacted a total of 204 different DXCC Coun-tries between them.

2. Of those 204 Countries, 35 were only contacted once.3. The sole most contacted country, which all 10 HF entrants had at least I QSO with was France.4. Germany, Spain, England, Scotland, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Poland,

European Russia, IJkraine, Canada and U.S.A. were each contacted by 9 out of l0 ftr entrants.

Looking at the more exquisite contacts made on IIF, the 35 countries contacted only once were attributed to 4 different en-trants:

MM0BQI ; 9 : Vietnam, Jamaica, East Malaysia, Solomon Is., Grenada, Kure Is,, Guatemala, Franz Josef Land and Namibia.GMONTL : 19 : Madagascar, Kenya, Guyana, West Malaysia, Iran, Ethiopia, New Caledonia, Guam, Hawaii, Papua NewGuinea, Tuvalu, Cameroon, Chad, Kirghiz, Cocos Keeling Is., Falkland Is., Nicaragu4 El Salvador and Tristan Da Cunha.M0BEX: l :Micronesia.ON9CLV : 6 : Republic of Guinea, Galapagos Is., San Andres & Providencia, Sudan, Afghanistan and St Helena. (ON9CLVis SMOELV but from his Brussels QTII)

On VHF there has been a fair amount of activity too. At least 39 DXCC countries have been contacted. Most of these havebeen on 50MI{z but the approximate breakdown by band is :

50MHz : 36 70MHz : 6 t44iAlftlz: 19 432lvfrIz .7

I think you will agree that this is quite a respectable outcome on all of the VHF bands.

As a final note on the 1999 tables, thank you and well done to all who took part. Without your input it would not have beenpossible for me to compile the tables. Both I{F and VHF tables show a healthy spread of quality contacts which can onlyserve to show others what can be achieved with modest stations and a bit of perseverance.

Colin GM0CLN

Cockenzie & Port Seton A.R.C. Page 6

g&g&8 NgW GONfEStr EA,A GzItIT

This is just to inform everyone that we have now been allocated a Special Contest Callsign (Short version) which we can useonly on specific contests. It is allooated now but I have written a letter to the Radiocommunications Agency querying aboutthe years that it is valid for i.e. they have put 1999,2AAA and 2001. I think this is an eror and should read "2000, 2001 and20A2" as the Callsign was issued on the 711/2000. The variation has certain criteria that must be met so for that reason I havetranscribed the whole document so everyone is aware ofwhat they are.

Norrcn oF vARrArroN A;rrr;;J#ffi;ffi; ;ililJr cALLSrcNs By AMATEUR RADroCLUBS

WIRSLESS TELEGRAPHY ACT 1949NOTICE OF VARIATION OFAMATAURRADIO LICENCE

Name of Licensee : R. E. Glasgow (GM4UYZ) the ("Licensee")Name of Club : Cockenzie & Pori Seton ARCClub Callsign :MM0CPSMain Station Address of Club : 7 Castle Terrace

Port SetonPrestonpansEH32 OEE

Date oflssue oftheNotice of Variation : A7l0U2A00Contest Callsign : GM2T

The Secretary of State gives notice, pursuaflt to section 1(4) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949" to the Licensee of variationofthe club Callsign listed in the Validation Document subject to the terms and conditions below.

Terms and Conditions

1. The contest Callsign may only be used for the contests specified at Annex A and at no other times.2. The contest Callsign may only be used during 1999, 2000 and 200 1 . The club must re-apply to the Radio Society of Great

Britain IIF Contest Committee for callsigns in subsequent years.3. When operating in a contest, the Licensee must give seven days notice ofthe location (lr{ational Grid Reference) and pe-

riod of operation to the Manager of the Radio Investigation Service office in whose region the operation is to take place.4. Only members ofthe club may use the Callsign, subject to the above conditions. Holders of class B Licences may only op-

erate ifsupervised by a class A licence holder.5. A separate log must be kept in respect of this Callsign.6. The appropriate regional secondary locator (if any) should be used. For guidance see Note (w) to the Terms, Provisions

and Limitations Booklet 8R68.7. The contest Callsign may not be used outside the LlK.

D.CarterOn behalfofthe Secretary ofState for Trade and Industry07/0r/2004

LIST OF RECOGNISED CONTESTS

. CQ World-wide 160 CW & SSB * CQ WPX CW & SSBr ARRL DX CW & SSB * IARU Championship Multimode. IOTA Multimode * WAE DX CW & SSB. CQWorldwide CW& SSB * ARRL I.SMHzDX CW& SSBr ARRL 28Wlz Multimode * CQ Worldwide RTTYr BARTGRTTY * ARRLRTTYRoUndr CQWPXRTTY * WAERTTYr 50MHz IARU Contest * l44l\&Iz IARU Contesto tlHF IARU Contest

That's it then you all now *"r" **;Hil;::--****'F******* "ob

GM4uyZ

Cockenzie & Port Seton A.R.C.

GOPS AAG A,NNSA,E fAB&g$ gPOAgE A,g OFrgffiJ gANgA,By 2009

andTMHz, under my belt already. Also, the new yearAnother year and another set of Club Tables! Here are thefirst tables for 2000. Very few entries but hopefully one ortwo more will join in as the months go by.

The best flom the selection submiued by Jim MMOBQIwere... 10MHz : Guernsey(GU), Faroe Is(OY), Zimbabwe(22); l4MHz : Swaziland(3DA), Hawaii(KH6), Alaska(Kl7), Dodecanese Is(SV5), Iceland(TF), Asiatic RussiaOA9), New Zealand(ZL); 2lMHz: Sri Lanka(4S), Pakistan(AP); 24MHz: Reunion Is(FR), San Marino(T7); 28MHz :Barbados(8P), Maldive Is(8Q), Kuwait(9K), Iran(EP), Reun-ion Is(FR), Puerto Rico(KP4), Turkey(TA). Swaziland (seel4MHz above)is one country not worked by anyone at allduring 1999 in our annual tables, well done Jim. On 50MHzJim also managed 6 Scottish squares giving him initial totalsthis year of 66 on HF and 7 on VHF.

At CUOCLN I have had quite a busy couple of weeks on theradio with 5 (mainly daytime) contests, on l.8MHz, 3.5MHz

in the best possible way with my first QSO being into VK onl4MHz. This and some other activity has provided the fol-lowing highiights... 3.5MHz : Estonia(ES), Slovenia(S5);TMHz : Moldova(ER), Hungary(HA), Brazil(PY), Bosnia(T9), Ukraine(UR); l4MHz : LuxembourC(Lx), AustraliaffK); 2aMHz: Anha(P4). My starting total is 29 on HF.

As you can see we need more support for the tables other-wise they will become a bit pointless. It is very easy to takepart and REMEMBER IT IS ruST FOR FUN. If you usecomputer logging then why not send in extracts from your logoccasionally. I obviously prefer entries already in the stan-dard spreadsheet format (less work for me!) but a text file (orequivalent) is more than satisfactory. Please give it a go andif you have any queries get in touch with me for a chat.Make sure that I receive your next updates by Wednesdayi6th February at the latest.Good DX and 73 until next month Colin

Cocftenzle & Port Saton ARC ArUual.VHFtUHF Tagle As Of lgth Januarv 20OO

CallrionLast

UDdrne5(lMHz T0itltz z Hz squanG rrranq

TotalCtrv I Sor Gtrv Sar Gtrv Sdr Ctrv 3or Totaf TotalHMOEclI 14-JarH)O o o o o o o 6 7

VHF/UHF Scores are the total n{rnber of DXCC counties and Maidenhead locator squ{res worked on esch band"

Cockenzie & Port $eton ARC Annual HF Table Ae Of :t9th Januery 2OO0

HF Scorer are the lotal number of DXCC countiee worked on eacfi band.$SWffi r Band Leading sccre For Each Band

Bob GM4tIYZWrote"Well today I received the first QSL card for the new clubcallsign MM0CPS but as yet we have no design for our ownQSL Card. Remember the small competition to desip a cardends on club night 14th January. So please get them all sentin... I definitely need a design now that we are now receivingQSL cards..."

David GM4WLL replied"l don't know if you've seen the G0VHF QSL but it's a fi.rllcolour photo of their NFD site with all the masts, antennas

if;.Ot""t the top and boftom are 6 callsigrrs, each with a tick

As a coincidence I need to get more QSLs and I'd been think-ing about suggesting a group of us get together and do some-thing similar. Full colour printing is expensive to set up butLarge quantities can be relatively cheap, hence the multi-callsign design. lf we work out the finances right we might beable to find 5 ofus to take. say 1000 each and split the costof6000 between us so the club gets cards for free.

What do you think?

73 de David GM4WLL

Well there has been replies to Bob's original request for de-signs (see elsewhere in this issue) but if any members are in-terested in saving money in obtaining Cards from printersplease contact David GM4WLL or Bob CM4UYZ

gse GA8D8

DSSPESf SYTDAfflY

On behalf of us all I would like to offerGavin GMOALW our deepest sympa-thy on the recent loss of his motherpassing away very suddenly. In thesecircumstances, as has been said manytimes before, it is very difficult to knowwhat to say, but all I can say is that ourthoughts and sympathies are with youand all your family during this difficulttime.

Bob GM4UYZ

Cockenzie & Port Seton A.R.C.

MeiePs esg eAffi EEsAG-fl

Many thanks to the 5 people who entered the QSL Card desigrr competition. Itook all the examples to my Auntie who is "into painting", asking her to select awinner. I felt that she was a good person to do the judging as she has had a fewof her own paintings displayed in various arts exhibitions. I must add she under-stands absolutely nothing about amateur radio and her choice is purely from anartistic point of view. The decision was definitely a hard one with her continually'toying" between three of the entries.The result is as follows.

Page

1. RonGM IKU3. CambellMM1AVA5. RonGMONTL

2. Colin GM0CLN4. Wallace MMOAMV

Congratulations to you Ron and commiseration's to the rest. Alttrough theseothers have been taken on board may be used for future competitions. He win-ninp card is shown below Bob GM4UYZning card is shown below

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Certificate To Ron GM0NTL For 5th Place in the World andlst in Scotland ln Interdational Polish Contest 1999

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