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The newsletter of Cockenzie & Port Seton Amateur Radio Club

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. Just prior to club night my 3 Sep-tember candidates will have sat and hopefully passed their Founda-tion Exam so a very warm welcome to them all to this fantastic hobby of ours. Next Saturday is the begin-ning of the club‘s next Intermediate Course of which there are 8 candi-dates as I write this and I am sure you will go along with me and wish them all the best with their studies and exam in the middle of Novem-ber. 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. John MM0CCC and Colin GM0RLZ went to Beachy Head to try the 2M trophy contest. Thanks to Jono M5FUN for finding a location for them both. As I write this I am awaiting to find out how they got on. Our 80M sked is still going strong although many of us do struggle to work each other. The big problem is really aerials as an 80M aerial is hard to fit into a small garden. I think 40M might be better

as it is a smaller aerial but on the times we have tried it seemed worse than 80M. The thing is we need to use HF because as a club the members are scattered over a large area which makes VHF even more unusable. To this coming month, as always consult the Events Diary but a re-minder that our video/DVD night is on Friday 16th so I hope you will all make an effort to attend as I think this one will be very interesting indeed.. Before that we are kicking off a Construction Night on Friday 9

th October again in the Community

Centre. The aim is to select a pro-ject for you and build it. It doesn‘t have to Amateur Radio related as half the fun is seeing it work after you have built it. I hope that many of you will support this new venture. 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 24/25th October. The CQWW contest is being run from Barns Ness so why not come along and either take part or sup-port those who are operating, be-lieve 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 is being looked at and if not by the time you are reading this hopefully it will be finalised and full details of cost and

venue can be found on the website plus in this newsletter. If you are interested then can you please get back in touch and let me know. Can you email on bob.gm4uyz@talktalk.net with num-bers, thanks. 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 already have two talks lined up which I know will be very informative and interesting. Thanks for your help. Enjoy the newsletter and see you all on video night and the HF Con-tests. Bob GM4UYZ

EDITORIAL

By Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ

October 2009 Vol 17 Issue 10

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Club Tables Report

By Bob Purves GM4IKT

gary, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Moldova, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Serbia, Slo-vakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-land, Turkey, Ukraine 40M: NEW COUNTRIES: 53 Asiatic Russia, Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, Bela-rus, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Do-minican Republic, European Russia, Eire, England, Estonia, Aland, Finland, France, Ger-many, Hungary, Isle of man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madeira Islands, Montenegro, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Spain Balearic Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, US Virgin Islands, USA, British Virgin Islands, Wales. 20M: NEW COUNTRIES: 52 Asiatic Russia, Belarus, Bul-garia, Canada, Canary Islands, Corsica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Russia, England, Es-tonia, Faroe Islands, Aland, Finland, France, Georgia, Ger-many, Greece, Grenada, Hun-gary, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Ka-zakstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Ma-cedonia, Madeira Islands, Mar-tinique, Northern Ireland, Neth-erlands, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slo-venia, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-land, Turkey, US Virgin Islands, USA, Wales. 15M: NEW COUNTRIES: 37 Asiatic Russia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canary Islands, Corsica, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Russia, Eire, Eng-land, Faroe Islands, Aland,

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, It-aly, Latvia, Lithuania, Nether-lands, Poland, Romania, Sar-dinia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slove-nia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, 10M: NEW COUNTRIES: 14 Belgium, Canary Islands, Cor-sica, Croatia, Cyprus, England, France, Germany, Italy, Jersey, Sardinia, Scotland, Spain, Swit-zerland SSB 80M: NEW COUNTRIES: 45 Asiatic Russia, Austria, Baha-mas, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Canary Islands, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Russia, Eire, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Guernsey, Hungary, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Kazakstan, Lithuania, Madeira Islands, Northern Islands, Neth-erlands, Norway, Poland, Portu-gal, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA, Wales 40M: NEW COUNTRIES: 48 Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Columbia, Corsica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, European Russia, Eire, England, Faroe Islands, Aland, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Kazakstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Madeira Is-lands, Northern Ireland, Nether-lands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slo-venia, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-land, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Wales 20M: NEW COUNTRIES: 69 Asiatic Russia, Argentina, Aus-tria, Azores, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Canary Islands, Chile, Corsica, Crete,

Due to being very busy on other things lately I have not done a club tables report since June. Hopefully things will calm down a bit now and I will once more be able to do a regular report. The last few months have seen some very variable conditions on the HF bands. There have been 2 special events and IOTA contest. The Museum of flight saw some incredible pile ups all weekend on 20 & 40 metres mostly short skip and the light-house weekend was very simi-lar. By contrast IOTA band con-ditions were fairly quiet. The sporadic E season has been & gone with some good openings on 10 metres. Martyn MM3XXW UA9QCQ on 10m (for a new one on the band) RA2FIA on 12m (another new one on this band) JW/OK1JST on 20m VE3KO on 20m SV2KGA/p on 20m 8S0DAY on 20m (for a new px) TF3EE on 10m (another new one on this band) 12m and 10m have been open and I've been bashing away there just for a wee bit of fun so hopefully things will improve on the dx side.. Bob GM4UYZ Nothing from Bob himself lately but I know he has had little or no time for operating as he has spent a great deal of time & effort preparing for special event stations and IOTA. Bob has sent in club tables for GB2MOF, MM0CPS & GM2T. GM2T CW 80M: NEW COUNTRIES: 40 Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Russia, Eire, Eng-land, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Aland, Finland, France, Ger-many, Greece, Guernsey, Hun-

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Contents 2 Club Tables

4 Lighthouses Weekend

6 VHF Field Day results

8 Junk Night

9 6m Trophy results

10 Test Your Knowledge

11 Event Calendar

12 Club Attire

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Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, European Russia, Eire, England, Estonia, Aland, Finland, France, Georgia, Ger-many, Greece, Hungary, Ice-land, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Ka-zakstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Ma-deira Islands, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Saudi Arabia, Scot-land, Serbia, Slovakia, Slove-nia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Spain Balearic Islands, Tasmania, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, USA, Wales 15M: NEW COUNTRIES: 44 Austria, Bahamas, Belarus, Bel-gium, Brazil, Canary Islands, Corsica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Russia, Eire, England, Aland, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Isle of man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechten-stein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madeira Islands, Martinique, Netherlands, Po-land, Portugal, Sardinia, Scot-land, Serbia, Slovakia, Slove-nia, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-land, Ukraine, Wales 10M: NEW COUNTRIES: 19 Austria, Belgium, Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Nether-lands, Poland, Sardinia, Scot-land, Spain, Spain Balearic Is-lands, Ukraine Duncan MM0GZZ 3DA0MM Swaziland LY20 Lithuania HG8 SDS Hungary , I did hear NL7V Alaska but too weak and a few lighthouses including gb2lbn . Ray GM0CDV Ray has worked only 2 new ones but they were good ones Haiti & Peru, nice work. Lastly me Bob GM4IKT.

My main band is still 20 metres but I did get some sporadic E on 10 metres and some fairly short skip on 15. I managed to work TF8GX in Iceland on 10, 15 & 20 metres over the last month or 2. Another notable was a VE3 on 10 metres after a Friday club night and a few whiskies. I worked some quite good ones on 20 includ-ing.VR2009EAG Hong Kong, 3DA0MM Swaziland, OY/OZ1AA Faroes, SU1KM Egypt etc Please try to get the next tables in as early in October as you can and lets see if we can get some more to send in a table. It is not a competition in any way we are interested in what every-one is working. Thank you for the ones who put in a table recently 73 de Bob GM4IKT

Contributions to the newslet-ter and web site are most welcome. Please don‘t send these items to GM4UYZ, he‘s busy enough doing all the other things he does for the club. Send any items you‘d like included to mm0jxi@cpsarc.com or submit them direct to the web site.

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It turned out to be another great weekend again with lots of laughs and a few incidents as well. The weather was very mixed starting of on the Satur-day being wet and miserable which made the setting up for those doing the aerials a real damp procedure. This year the decision was made to set-up the station on the Saturday morning and finish about 15:30 on the Sunday but some prep work was required before this.

This year the story starts on Monday 10

th August where

Cambell and I decided to go and collect the keys from La-farge, check that the barrier to the site still had the same pad-lock fitted and also check that the power had been restored to the outbuildings. Just after 12:00 Cambell headed down to Barns Ness to check the barrier and I headed off to Lafarge to pick up the keys for the Light-house Outbuildings. When I arrived at reception the keys could not be found but after a more thorough search it was discovered that the letting agency for the house at the lighthouse had all the keys. The receptionist then phoned them up to say that I was going to collect them. Contacting Cam-bell he said well the good news is that the power had been re-stored but the bad news was that the key that we have for the barrier broke in the padlock. We then met up just before heading off down to the lighthouse to work out what needed to be

done. We knew that we could not leave the barrier unlocked so we contacted East Lothian Council via the contact that I have and agreed the pick up of a replacement key. Fortunately Cambell had managed to re-move the broken section in the padlock. We then parted ways, Cambell heading off to Had-dington to collect a new key and me off to Gullane to collect the Lighthouse keys. I arrived at the address in Gullane to find it locked, strange I thought as they knew I was coming so I phoned the number I had been given for them. They had moved premises to North Ber-wick and had forgotten to tell the receptionist. Off I went down to North Berwick and picked up the keys. Cambell and I had then arranged to go back down to the site at 18:00 to refit the padlock on the barrier and then go and check the buildings that we needed. For this trip Steve MM3YPN also joined us and as I had managed to get the actual lighthouse key we also checked that worked as well. Ideal place to connect a sloping dipole from…..I must thank Lafarge and especially the works man-ager David Chrystall for their generosity and support by pro-viding us with this facility.

On the Saturday morning we headed for the site and arrived at 08:00 with Cambell MM0DXC, Steve MM3YPN and Duncan MM0GZZ setting up aerials with me setting up the two stations in the shack and

both were connected using a wireless network and running the logging program Win-Test Station 1 – FT1000MP & AL-PHA Linear fed into a Cushcraft A3S 10/15/20M Yagi at about 60 feet on a tower. Station 2 – FT1000MP & AL-PHA Linear fed into either the 80M dipole or the 40M Dipole via the automatic band switch. The 40M was hung from the top of the tower down to 40 foot mast and the 80M Dipole was hung from the top of the light-house down to the bothy chim-ney.. This year everything went to-gether like a dream and every-thing was up and running with no issues at all. Arriving on site at 08:00 BST and the first QSO in the log on 20M was with RA9FF at 10:38BST and 80M was on the air at 12:12 BST working GM4EWM. All was go-ing great guns as they say until 19:07 BST when power was totally lost from all the light-house buildings. A power cut to the area was what was de-duced. Scottishpower were con-tacted and after about 3 hours they turned. They proved that power was getting right up to the overhead transformer just outside the building grounds. The task was then to find where it entered the house and after lots of searching we could not find it. I had remembered that I had seen power coming into the generator building but alas we did not have any keys. It was decided that we would need to get in so Alex GM3GKJ fired up his small generator and using a grinder we broke into the build-ing. Fortunately we had some replacement padlocks with us to replace those that had been removed. Power was found and it was ok to that point but it was not providing power for the

(Continued on page 5)

Lighthouses Weekend GB2LBN

By Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ

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house. Again after lots and lots of searching we found the con-sumer board disguised in a wardrobe!!!!! On finding this two circuit breakers had tripped and restoring one of then it still kept tripping the power. After much tracing it was discovered that the cooker was causing the problem. The lads in the house said oh no our Sunday roast is in there!!!! By leaving the cooker off normal service was re-sumed. On the Sunday morning the power tripped again a few times and this time it was when we switched on our electric ket-tle. To be honest there is defi-nitely a wiring issue on the site which the lads who were living there were going to report to the letting agency. Cambell also reported this when he returned the keys on the Monday morn-ing. The agency said that they would get their electrician to investigate so let‘s hope it has been resolved before CQWW. On both stations all it took was a couple of CQ‘s and the pile ups started continuing until we left on the Sunday afternoon. On Saturday the 80M and 20M stations kept really busy until 02:19BST on the Sunday apart

(Continued from page 4) from when we had the power cuts.... cheers Jim GM7LUN but 20M had shut rapidly in the early Saturday evening so be-came unworkable. On the Sun-day we moved to 40M and again both that and 20M were very active throughout the day.…. On the Sunday we stopped operating at 15:33 BST working G4SJD on 40M. We ended up with 801 QSO‘s not the best we have ever achieved if you com-pare it with 1400 in 2007 but then you cannot fight poor band conditions. Other operators and visitors that came were Bob GM4IKT, Robin MM3SRF, John MM0CCC, Jim GM7LUN and Alex GM3GKJ. If I have missed anyone off the list I do apologise. Great to see some of the least experienced operators actually sitting down and managing to work the pile-ups and computer logging as well, all at their own speed. It was also nice to see some of the wife‘s and partners plus some of the children as well coming along and it making it a real social occasion. For the children Barns Ness is a real adventure playground and they all seemed to have great time.

Plenty of social breaks were taken as well as this is what the event was all about. Saturday night saw the normal ―social – let the hair down‖ all well en-joyed before the last departed to bed about 02:00 on the Sun-day morning. It was once again a great social event, certainly enjoyed by eve-ryone who attended. 801 QSO‘s were made with the breakdown as follows:

Many thanks to everyone who came and took part and contrib-uted without this the event could never take place. Again I must thank Lafarge for allowing us to operate from such a fantastic site. Bob GM4UYZ

Band QSO’s

80 284

40 214

20 303

ALL 801

Bob GM4UYZ, Cambell MM0DXC, Gary MM0FZV and the latest Foundation Licence candidates

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As most of you are aware the club took part in the above contest from our site at Barlocco which is lo-cated to the south of Castle Douglas, Dumfriesshire. It is a fabulous site with an absolute clear take off to the south which offers a great take off for VHF and UHF signals. See previous newsletter to a full report on the event. It is hard to believe that this event took part on the first full weekend of July and the results are out already. A fantastic effort from the adjudication team. Well done to those who took part in the con-test as we ended up third in the Open Section of the contest retaining the Tartan Trophy for being the leading Scottish station. The following tables show how we ended up overall and in each of the bands that we activated. As always 432MHz is our weakest band but plans are a foot to try and enhance it for 2010.

2009 RSGB VHF Field Day Results

By Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ

Overall Open Section

Pos Group Name Locator 50 70 144 432 1,296 Total

#* Wexford VHF Group IO62OM 1,245 1,453 732 352 340 3,782

1* Reigate ATS and Crawley

ARC JO01OC 568 809 880 850 1,000 3,538

2* Windmill CG JO01LD 1,000 0 888 849 686 3,423 3* Cockenzie & Port Seton ARC IO84BT 923 937 862 335 0 3,057

4 Colchester RA JO01PU 514 930 435 1,000 0 2,879

5 Bracknell ARC & Flight

Refuelling ARS IO80ST 458 1,000 457 771 303 2,686

6 Camb-Hams JO02EE 492 340 203 335 103 1,370

7 Aberdeen VHF Group IO86RW 0 0 1,000 206 156 1,362

50 MHz Open Section

Pos Callsign Locator QSO Pts Best DX km Pwr Ant

1* EI9E/P IO62OM 218 244,333 9Y4D 6,762 400 7ele

2* G0FBB/P JO01LD 197 196,234 OA4TT 10,276 400 7 ele at 18m + 5 ele at 7M

3 MM0CPS/P IO84BT 205 181,146 CN8LI 2,329 400 2 x 5 Element DK7ZB Yagi's

4 G6ZTT/P IO83QE 197 117,257 YT2T 2,134 400 2x7 ele

5 G5LK/P JO01OC 131 111,413 EA8CQS 2,950 400 2 x 6y

6 G3ZME/P IO82NN 147 108,933 9Y4D 7,011 400 5 ele Yagi

7 G0VHF/P JO01PU 150 100,839 9Y4D 7,257 400 1 x 7

8 G0ROC/P IO83VQ 177 97,580 TZ6EI 4,592 400 4 El yagi

9 G3PYE/P JO02EE 110 96,565 9Y4D 7,207 400 6-ele Home Brew

10 G4BRA/P IO80ST 117 89,856 9Y4D 6,974 400 11 Ele

70MHz Open Section

Pos Callsign Locator QSO Pts Best DX km Pwr Ant

1* EI9E/P IO62OM 86 32,522 S51DI 1,755 50 7ele

2* G4RFR/P IO80ST 103 22,390 GM3TAL/P 592 150 2 X 12 ele. Yagis

3 MM0CPS/P IO84BT 72 20,983 G5LK/P 535 50 7 Element DK7ZB

4 G0VHF/P JO01PU 79 20,822 GM3TAL/P 620 160 1 x 8

5 GM3PXK/P IO74VT 70 20,382 G5LK/P 549 150 9 ele G0KSC

6 G5LK/P JO01OC 64 18,107 GM3TAL/P 681 100 8y

7 G0ROC/P IO83VQ 70 13,509 G4ADV/P 405 160 5 El yagi

8 G4ADV/P IO70NK 27 7,691 MM0CPS/P 492 150 6 ele.

9 G3PYE/P JO02EE 38 7,621 GI4SNA 499 100 7-ele Home Brew

10 G3VER/P IO91RU 26 2,918 EI9E/P 433 20 5 ele quad

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144MHz Open Section

Pos Callsign Locator QSO Pts Best DX km Pwr Ant

1* GM4ZUK/P IO86RW 301 180,082 EA7BYM 2,288 400 4*13 ele

2* G0FBB/P JO01LD 437 159,894 EA8AVI 2,915 400 2*17 + 17 ele

3 G5LK/P JO01OC 439 158,393 CT1HZE 1,728 400 2*14 + 2*9 ele

4 MM0CPS/P IO84BT 380 155,241 EA7BYM 2,043 400 8*7 ele

5 EI9E/P IO62OM 258 131,786 CT1HZE 1,699 400 19 ele

6 GM3PXK/P IO74VT 238 113,971 EA7BYM 2,041 400 12 ele

7 G3VER/P IO91RU 367 85,144 CT1HZE 1,744 400 4*9 ele

8 G4RFR/P IO80ST 299 82,226 CN8LI 1,906 300 2*12 ele

9 G0VHF/P JO01PU 250 78,325 CT1FJC 1,821 400 2*12 ele

10 G3FJE/P IO92XA 289 73,952 CT1HZE 1,776 400 2*9 ele

11 G4JBH/P IO80LV 195 63,727 CT1HZE 1,580 400 17 ele

12 GM6MD/P IO75VG 181 60,268 F6CBH 790 400 2*9 ele

13 G3ZTT/P IO83QE 250 50,026 DL8GP 794 400 17 ele

14 G2AS/P IO93FL 185 47,655 EA7B 1,922 300 2*19 ele

15 G3PYE/P JO02EE 151 36,540 ea7tl 1,809 400 2*17 ele

16 G4ATH/P IO83NU 86 23,079 CT1HZE 1,897 150 Yagi

17 G4ADV/P IO70NK 57 18,150 CT1DIZ 1,354 200 2*13 ele

18 G0KDV/P JO01CJ 65 13,962 CT1HZE 1,722 400 2*9 ele

432MHz

Open Section

Pos Callsign Locator QSO Pts Best DX km Pwr Ant

1* G0VHF/P JO01PU 153 51,238 OL4A 859 400 4x21Y

2* G5LK/P JO01OC 139 43,562 OZ9EDR/P 821 350 4 x 28Y

3 G0FBB/P JO01LD 150 43,489 F5ICN 883 400 2x21Y + 21Y

4 G4BRA/P IO80ST 139 39,507 DJ9KH/P 835 400 4x21Y

5 G2BQY/P IO81TK 107 26,386 DK5QN 749 400 2x21Y

6 G3FJE/P IO92XA 95 21,698 DK6AJ/P 734 400 4x19Y

7 EI9E/P IO62OM 50 18,040 PA6NL 745 400 2x21Y

8 MM0CPS/P IO84BT 65 17,173 PA6NL 617 200 2x23Y

9 G3PYE/P JO02EE 97 17,142 DL8GP 563 400 2x21Y

10 G3VER/P IO91RU 84 15,077 DL6WU 683 400 4x21Y

11 G4ADV/P IO70NK 47 13,826 GM4ILS/P 739 400 2x21Y

12 GM4ILS/P IO86RW 32 10,545 DF0MU 831 400 4x21Y

13 G5FZ/P IO93RH 45 9,032 DF0MU 545 70 4x19Y

14 G4ZTT/P IO83QE 44 5,691 PA6NL 476 100 2x21Y

15 G0KDV/P JO01CJ 16 1,584 G0OLE/P 294 100 19Y

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This year the weather for our Junk Night couldn‘t have been any worse as waking up on the Friday morning to a torrential downpour although easing later it stayed a very miserable day. It was the first time in 16 years we have had rain. The worry before this sort of event is will people turn up; glad to say I wasn‘t disappointed. The numbers that came via the door this year were down on the 2008 numbers from 135 to 127. As mentioned I do not think the weather helped plus Radcom and Practical Wireless failing to adver-tise our night even though they had been informed on more than one occasion. The trouble is it is too late to do anything about it as it is not noticed to the magazines that appear just before the event. It is when I started getting a num-ber of phone calls as well asking if our night was on that it shows people do look in the magazines to check. I think for 2010 I will need to word our advert differently so it does get publicised. I did though a quick search through the RSGB Yearbook for 2009 and emailed all the club secretaries within a 150 mile radius so I really don‘t know if it was successful or not. For those of you interested in sta-tistics then numbers that have come through the door on each junk night are as follows:

For a Friday night event we cer-tainly cannot complain, so long may it continue. Looking around the hall this year, the number of people there looked very constant until about 20:30 when it does seem to thin out and those left eagerly await the raffle being drawn, any way tremendous to see everyone. Again this year I received a few compliments about our Junk Night and a sample are ―Tremendous Friendly Atmosphere‖, and ―Well run night congratulations to you all, keep it up‖. Personally on hearing these it makes all the hard work really worthwhile. Once again Rose & Norrie of Tennamast continued to give us their support on the evening. Bill, Scott and Betty of Jaycee could-n‘t make it this year as the date clashed with Bill‘s 60

th birthday

but they still supported us by sending over a number of raffle prizes of which I am really grate-ful. The Thorntree Inn also kindly donated a raffle prize for the sup-port that we give them over the year, so thanks to them and to every one else for their donations to our Raffle. Before the raffle was drawn Norrie

of Tennamast presented the Ga-lashiels Radio Club with their prize for being the leading Scot-tish Station in this year‘s Practical Wireless QRP Contest. Well done to them. The raffle then took place, drawn by Rose of Tenna-mast. The actual figure that we raised on the night after expenses were removed was £638. This has now been added to the club‘s funds. We also raised £38 for the British Heart Foundation via the BHF Tin which will be sent to them at a later date. Lastly I would like to say a per-sonal thanks to everyone who helped put the Junk Night to-gether particularly to Gary MM0FZV for helping me with the door and if I have missed any one then thanks to you also to Yvonne, Liz, Janet and Kirsty who worked hard behind the refresh-ments counter and lastly to every-one who handed Food or raffle prizes in. Without this sort of help this type of event would never happen. So again thanks.

WELL DONE EVERYONE FOR A VERY SUCCESSFUL JUNK NIGHT AND FUND RAISING EVENT. Bob GM4UYZ

Junk Night

By Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ

1994 150 2003 176

1995 154 2004 165

1996 162 2005 138

1997 133 2006 158

1998 151 2007 147

1999 154 2008 135

2000 157 2009 127

2001 168

2002 152

Average 152

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The club took part in the 6M trophy back in June with John MM0CCC and Colin GM0RLZ being the op-erators. Unfortunately it always clashes with Museums Weekend so it creates a problem for those who might be interested in deciding what they should do. Well done to John and Colin though for their sterling effort in coming third in the contest.

Section O

Pos Group Callsign Locator QSOs Score Multi-plier

Total ODX Call ODX Kms

Power

Ant Equipment

1 Blacksheep

Contest Group G8T IN79JX 994 1,545,527 332 513,114,964 PJ4NX 7,065 400

7el @ 20m + 6 el @ 20m

(TX) FT-2000D + 8877 (RX) FT-2000D and JST245

2 Bristol Contest

Group GW6YB/P IO81KW 1,172 1,437,506 338 485,877,028 9Y4VU 6,968 400

2x7 + 2x7 + 5

IC756 Pro II

3 CPSARC GM2T IO85SS 653 928,346 238 220,946,348 9Y4VU 7,155 400 2 x 5 IC756 Pro III

4 A1 Contest

Group G4ZAP/P JO02EB 601 721,205 244 175,974,020 YV4DDK 7,444 400 6 el + 4 el IC7400

5 Northampton

radio Club G8N IO92IE 376 459,334 171 78,546,114 NP4A 6,757 100 6EL Yaesu FT847

6

Colchester Contest Group of Colchester

RA

G0VHF/P JO01GO 314 400,809 193 77,356,137 NP4A 6,874 400 7ele (TX) FT-847(mod2) + 4CX800A (RX) FT

-847(mod2)

7 G3WIR/P IO91KG 294 358,509 161 57,719,949 EA8CQS 2,864 400 2 x 5 (TX) Icom IC7000 plus Expert 1Kwatt

amplifier (RX) Icom IC7000

8 G4HRC/P JO01DP 178 189,528 117 22,174,776 HA8BT 7,483 300 5e beam icom 7400

2009 RSGB 6m Trophy results

By Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ

More photos from the Foundation course it looks like Bob is giving them a grilling!

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1. A transmitter produces a frequency modulated signal on a 6MHz carrier which is mixed up, using a balanced mixer, to 145MHz. Unless a suitable band pass filter is used on the mixer output, it is likely that there will be a strong signal on

a. 12MHz b. 133MHz c. 139MHz d. 151 MHz. 2. An FM broadcast transmitter uses a peak

deviation of 75kHz and a maximum audio frequency of 15kHz. The bandwidth of the transmission is approximately

a. 30kHz b. 75kHz c. 150kHz d. 180kHz. 3. Non-linearity in an RF power amplifier will

result in

a. splatter across neighbouring frequencies to the transmitted signal

b. radiation on harmonics of the transmitted frequency

c. fading in the transmitted signal due to overloading

d. excessive heating in the PA and consequent risk to the amplifier.

4. A CW signal of modest strength causes

interference on adjacent channels outside the frequency range over which a clean tone is heard. This could be caused by

a. a problem in the transmitter b. a problem in the receiver c. a problem in either the transmitter or the

receiver d. ionospheric multi-path propagation. 5. Harmonics in a transmitter would NOT be

reduced by using

a. push-pull amplifiers b. inductive coupling between stages c. low drive levels d. a Class C amplifier.

6. You should not overdrive an external power amplifier so as to avoid

a. passive inter-modulation products b. spurious inter-modulation products c. over modulation d. over deviation. 7. Good selectivity is necessary when

receiving Morse (CW) signals in order to

a. reduce the effect of signal fading b. counteract frequency drift in the receiver c. reduce the strength of other signals on

nearby frequencies d. stabilise the pitch of the incoming signal. 8. A strong signal into the front end of a

radio receiver exceeds its dynamic range. An effect of this will be

a. the AGC increasing the gain in the IF amplifier stages -

b. spurious signals generated within the receiver

c. a change in the noise figure of the receiver d. distortion of received signals on FM 9. A receiver covering the 160m amateur

band (1.810 - 2.000MHz) uses an Intermediate frequency of 470kHz. The Local Oscillator tunes

a. 905kHz - 1000kHz assuming a frequency doubler system is used

b. 3620kHz - 4000kHz assuming the LO is above the signal

c. 1810kHz - 2000kHz fed to the mixer d. 1340kHz - 1530kHz assuming the LO is

below the signal. 10. What is the main function of AGC in a

radio receiver? To

a. protect the RF amplifier from damage caused by large signals

b. keep the audio level near constant as signal levels vary

c. make the radio much easier to tune to weak signals

d. improve the selectivity of the IF amplifier.

Test Your Knowledge

By Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ

11

Event Calendar

By John Innes MM0JXI

2 October 2009 Club Night

4 October 2009 RSGB 21/28MHz Contest

9 October 2009 Construction night

10 October 2009 Intermediate Course

16 October 2009 Video Night

17 October 2009 Intermediate Course

18 October 2009 Galashiels Rally

21 October 2009 Orionids Meteor Shower peak (15—29 October)

21 October 2009 Lothians Radio Society: Surplus Equipment Auction 20:00 St Fillans Church Hall, Fairmilehead, Edinburgh

24 October 2009 CQWW SSB Contest GM2T

31 October 2009 Intermediate Course

31 October 2009 Newsletter Deadline

6 November 2009 Club Night

7 November 2009 Intermediate Course

13 November 2009 Construction Night

14 November 2009 Intermediate Course

17 November 2009 Leonids Meteor Shower peak (13—20 November)

20 November 2009 Talk: Borders Search & Rescue Unit

28 November 2009 Newsletter Deadline

04 December 2009 Club Night

12 December 2009 Christmas Night Out

2 January 2010 Newsletter deadline

8 January 2010 Club night

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The 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.

We have our own internet domain www.cpsarc.com where you will find our popular web site which features lively discussion forums and photo galleries.

You can also download an electronic copy of this newsletter.

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.

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 disease by donating the profits from some of the events we hold, we have raised over £14,368 since 1994.

Bob Glasgow 7 Castle Terrace Port Seton East Lothian EH32 0EE Phone: 01875 811723 E-mail: gm4uyz@cpsarc.com General correspondence, training and contest entries Bob Glasgow gm4uyz@cpsarc.com HF Contests Cambell Stevenson mm0dxc@aol.com VHF Contests John MacLean mm0ccc@cpsarc.com Newsletter, website, event calendar John Innes mm0jxi@cpsarc.com Club Tables Bob Purves gm4ikt@cpsarc.com

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 re-quired 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 VIL-LAGE, FENTON BARNS, NORTH BERWICK, EAST LOTHIAN EH39 5BW Tel/Fax: 01620 850788 Mobile: 07970 920431

Club Attire Information

Contacts

Supported by BT Community Champions Answers

from October 2009 newsletter ―Test Your Knowledge‖. 1B, 2D, 3A, 4A, 5C, 6B, 7C, 8B, 9D, 10B