W elcome to the Decem-ber and Christmas issue of the newsletter. I just

can’t believe that this is the last edi-torial of 2001. Where has this year disappeared too? I don’t know whether it is an age thing or not, no comments please, but I certainly feel that 2001 has been a real quick one. Admittedly from a personal point of view I feel I have been certainly very busy with club activities and also my work this year has been more than stressful, hopefully that will now be-gin to ease off.

It also sees the first year in of the newsletter under the production of John GM7OLQ, with the huge sur-prise that by using his first three edi-tions the club went on to win the PW Spotlight Trophy. In the PW ar-ticle announcing the winners it cer-tainly sung a few praises for John’s handy work. We have now won the trophy twice, once under Ron GM4IKU and now John, a tremen-dous achievement to say the least. It

is a great acknowledgement of all the hard work that they put in to have produced a very high standard newsletter. A thanks must go out also to all those who have contrib-uted as without that material there would be no newsletter at all. Keep up the good work everyone. This brings me on to a plea for someone to take over the running of the tables from Colin GM0CLN. I would like to, but I just do not have the time. I know that there have been various thoughts on the ta-ble’s value but I for one do enjoy reading what has been going on. I know Colin certainly doesn’t really want to give up doing them but the pressures of work etc. mean that he has to give up something from his quite extensive newsletter input. If you feel you can do the tables please get in touch with Colin plus John GM7OLQ with regard to the newsletter input. Please don’t let them die. As I normally do in December’s edi-torial is look back over the last year. Firstly a run down on club atten-dance this year, (note: my figures run from December to November). Attendance this year has averaged out at 22 a drop of 3 from 2000,

(Continued on page 2)

Volume 9 Issue 12 December 2001

COCKENZIE & PORT SETON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

editorial

Club newsletter

Practical Nights 3

Events Column 4

HF Report 5

Club Attendance 6

Contest Report 7

VHF Report 8

GM3WOJ Article 9

CQWW SSB 10

Club Tables 13

Contest Calendar 15

Inside this issue:

Special points of interest:

• CQWW info

• GM0NTL in REF con-test

• Examination Centre

• Open Meeting

“Thanks to everyone who contributed material to the newsletter”

P A G E 2

editorial

V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

(Continued from page 1) also 46 people have come through the door, a drop of 7 on 2000. It would appear that there is a gradual decline but I can account for many—individuals circumstances i.e. starting of running a business of their own, leaving the area, work pat-terns changing, thus not allowing them to attend the club nights. Overall we still have a very strong and healthy club but as I have said before it is down to you all for making it that way. So what activities has the club organised over the year? Lets start with contesting. On the VHF front the club has submitted no en-tries this year due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease so hopefully during 2002 we will at least return to normal and have a go at the usual batch of contests. On the HF front the club has submitted entries for the following contests. RSGB Affiliated Club, RSGB LF Cumulative, RSGB 7MHz DX, ARRL DX, CQ WPX, IARU HF Championship, IOTA, IARU Region 1 & RSGB HF Field Day, RSGB 21/28MHz SSB CW, CQWW SSB and our own 10m contest. It can be seen that we have been very active. The IOTA contest was once again entered from the island of Tiree and a tremendous time was had by all, not just from a contesting point of view but also from the hospitality given to us by the island people themselves. A bonus from this years trip was a video produced by Liz 2M1GLD (4.5 hours in its Raw Format showing warts and all. To be honest a real eye opener to watch). A definite re-turn next year for IOTA 2002. This year we had two main Demonstration Sta-tions established, one at the Museum of Flight as part of National Museums Weekend and the other at the Barns Ness Lighthouse as part of Worldwide Lighthouses Weekend. Both worked under special event callsigns of GB2MOF and GB2LBN.Both turned out to be a great fun week-ends and enjoyed by all those that attended. Other activities over the year were Radio Check Night, done once again by John GM7OLQ, a very worthwhile night indeed. A talk on “Networks Past and Present” by myself, a talk by Stefan ON1KSZ on “Two of his Contest Outings TF3D in Iceland & TM5T at Chausay Island, France”, a talk

by Landles GM4XZZ on his “RNLI Lifeboat Tales” all really interesting indeed. We also had a 10 Pin Bowling Night, this year that once again proved to be a good fun night. We also had our DF Night, another real good one this year and lastly we had a visit to the Quarry at Blue Circle, Dun-bar. Our main indoor event this year was our annual Junk Night, which once again was a resounding success. This year we managed to raise £1610.10 for the British Heart Foundation giving us a grand total of £6920.10 since we started. Well done to everyone for you’re efforts in raising the money. On the club personal front sympathies have gone out to Gavin GM0ALW and Bab's 2M1DZW who both have “lost” their respective mothers, on a brighter note congratulations were extended to John MM0CCC and Janice who got married, Stu-art GM7DRY and Zoë his YL who got engaged. New callsigns this year, well first of all 4 out of my 4 Novice pupil’s passed the NRAE and obtained their respective callsigns, Paul with 2M1IBE, Willie with 2M1IBF (now passed his 5 WPM Morse and has the callsign 2M0WZZ, well done), Derek with 2M1IBG and Gabriel with 2M1IBH. John GM7OLQ who has now also passed his 5 WPM Morse but as yet he has not applied for his Full Class A licence, so congratulations to all con-cerned. That is then all our activities in a somewhat brief listing of what we as a club have done this year, no doubt I will have missed something, hopefully not. What it does show is that as a club we are very active and at the end of the day it is what it is all about. Ok then all that is left too say to you all is to WISH YOU ALL A VERY, VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PROSPOROUS NEW YEAR. See you all on the first club night of the year, which is on Friday 11th January 2002. Bob GM4UYZ

C L U B N E W S L E T T E R

• Demonstration of PSK31, as an example. • Contest Logging Program Practice. • Whatever else you feel would be useful.

What do you think of the idea? Would you be in-terested? If not then I will shelve the idea now. What I will say to make it practical, we need a minimum of 8 people to cover the cost of the hire of the room. Ok it is up to you so can you please let me know and we can start the ball rolling if you are inter-ested. Bob GM4UYZ

I have been “mulling” over in my head, along with all the sawdust that is in there, about trying to start a “Practical Night” once a

month, particularly over the dark nights (January to April and September to December). As I know a few of us normally meet up most Tuesday Nights for an informal chat and beer I thought about us-ing one of these nights say from 19:30 till 21:30 (it would still allow time for a beer at the Thorntree later after the event). Location would be as nor-mal the hire of a room in the Community Centre for the activity. My idea of some of the practical issues that we could do:

• Construction Project i.e. Build a Kit Re-ceiver.

P A G E 3

PRACTICAL NIGHTS

F or your information I have applied to the RSGB for our club to act as an Examination Centre for both the RAE and NRAE. As part

of the enrolment you have to stipulate where the exams will be held, in our case I have nominated the Port Seton Community Centre as it meets all the requirements, which will be vetted before we are accepted. With the club being able to carry out this role it will make it easier for any future Radio Amateurs to sit

an exam. On a personal note, this “completes the circle” as at the moment the club offers Novice Li-cence Tuition (now Intermediate Licence Tuition) and hopefully in the future can offer the both the new Foundation and full RAE Tuition and being an examination centre as well we can do it all. Bob GM4UYZ

CPSARC AS AN EXAMINATION CENTRE

I would like to take this opportunity through the Newsletter to wish the following all the best in their forthcoming exams.

Willie Ramsay 2M0WZZ (one of my last years Nov-ice pupils) who is sitting the RAE on Monday, 3rd December 2001.

David Astbury, Chris Bond, Jim Crockett and Vic-tor Gray, all of my Novice pupils for this year, who sit their NRAE on Monday, 10th December 2001. Bob GM4UYZ

RAE & NRAE EXAMS

P A G E 4

EVENTs COLUMN

DateDateDateDate TimeTimeTimeTime EventEventEventEvent ContactContactContactContact TelephoneTelephoneTelephoneTelephone

07-Dec-01 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

11-Dec-01 ? Kilmarnock & Loudoun ARC Bright Sparks Social Night Gordon MM0BIM

?

11-Jan-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

01-Feb-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

»»»» 15-Feb-02 7.30pm to 9.30pm

Radio Check Night by John GM7OLQ in Port Seton Community Centre, Resource Room 2. £1 per person

Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

01-Mar-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

»»»» 15-Mar-02 7.30pm to 9.30pm

TALK “VP8SDX DX Trip to the Falkland Islands” by Tom Wylie GM4FDM in Port Seton Community Centre, Resources Room 2. Entry £1 per person

Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

17-Mar-02

? Norbreck Rally, Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool. More info at http://www.narsa.org.uk/http://www.narsa.org.uk/http://www.narsa.org.uk/http://www.narsa.org.uk/ (Date To Be Confirmed)(Date To Be Confirmed)(Date To Be Confirmed)(Date To Be Confirmed)

? ?

05-Apr-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

13-Apr-02 and

14-Apr-02

? RSGB Spring Radio & Computer Show (Incorporating RSGB National VHF Convention)

Jan 0870 904 7377

»»»» 18-Apr-02 All Day World Amateur Radio Day IARU

»»»» 19-Apr-02 8pm on-wards

10 pin Bowling Night at MEGABOWL, Kinnaird Park, Edinburgh. Cost T.B.A.

Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

03-May-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

»»»» 17-May-02 6.30pm for 7pm start

144MHz DF Hunt, meet in “The Old Ship Inn” Car Park (East), Port Seton. £1 per person

Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

07-Jun-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

05-Jul-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

02-Aug-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

»»»» 09-Aug-02 6.30pm to 9.30pm

“JUNK NIGHT" in the Main Hall at Port Seton Commu-nity Centre. Bring along your own “junk” and sell it yourself. Tables on First Come First Served basis. En-trance fee £1 for everyone. Money Raised DONATED to BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION

Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

»»»» 17-Aug-02 and 18-Aug-02

All Day LIGHTHOUSE WEEKEND BARNS NESS – GB2LBN Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

06-Sep-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ 01875 811723

P lenty of new events have been added this month for you to put in your 2002 diaries during the festive break. Bob has been busy getting next year's program of events sorted out and most of the new additions are now listed below….

V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

HF Report As Of 13 November 2001HF Report As Of 13 November 2001HF Report As Of 13 November 2001HF Report As Of 13 November 2001

B a n d T o t a l sB a n d T o t a l sB a n d T o t a l sB a n d T o t a l s 1.81.81.81.8 3.53.53.53.5 7777 10101010 14141414 18181818 21212121 24242424 28282828 TOTALSTOTALSTOTALSTOTALS

CallsignCallsignCallsignCallsign PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PHOPHOPHOPHO CWCWCWCW DATDATDATDAT

GM0CLN 1 0 0 3 2 0 3 12 0 12 0 14 3 0 3 7 0 3 1 0 2 4 0 2 3 0 31 44 0 GM4UYZ 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 0 0 9 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 22 5 0 GM4WLL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 36 M0BEX 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 2 11 1 3 4 1 0 1 1 0 4 1 0 4 1 2 28 6 7 M0RNR 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 13 0 16 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 26 0 0 53 0 16 MM0AMV 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 8 42 15 0 0 4 0 14 0 0 1 1 0 0 26 8 57 ON9CLV 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 39 0 5 0 34 22 0 0 17 0 33 34 0 0 2 0 15 22 0 103 141 0

Totals are the number of Phone (P), CW (C) and Data (D) DXCC countries worked on each band.

Hf report

P A G E 5 C L U B N E W S L E T T E R

I 'll start with another update from Wallace MM0AMV. He says that "The Shack formally known as 'The Shack by the Sea', and now 'The

Shack on the Far Side' is at last fully operational. A new Hustler 4-BTV vertical is sitting resplendent at the bottom of the garden hooked up to copious amounts of underground copper/chicken wire/and all sorts of metally things, and expectations are high." So, it looks like we will be hearing from Wallace again soon. It would certainly be interesting to hear how the Hustler vertical works! Wallace's closing words were… "expect an entry next month" … so I will! We have an update from Kent SM0ELV/ON9CLV this month. It's a few months since we have heard from him and as a result there is quite a lot to report. How-ever, in the interests of limiting things a little, I'll concen-trate on the highlights. The best of the new ones here are… 7MHz : Andorra(C3), Brazil(PY), Canada(VE); 14MHz : Tunisia(3V), Falkland Islands(VP8); 18MHz : Philippines(DU), Japan(JA), Svalbard(JW); 21MHz : Oman(A4), Luxembourg(LX), Brazil(PY), Paraguay(ZP); 28MHz : Vietnam(3W), Cuba(CO), Angola(D2), US Vir-gin Islands(KP2). In total Kent has added 19 new ones on SSB and 20 on CW to boost his totals considerably. Well done! John M0BEX has been on the WARC bands and worked a few outside contests in the last month. He adds Estonia(ES), Slovak Republic(OM) and USA(W) to his 24MHz total as a result. Brian M0RNR has been "slowly plugging away at the countries total". Despite having "only 15 HF QSO's in the log" he still managed to add "three newies"(!) on 10m. These were Pakistan(AP), Turkey(TA) and Asiatic Russia(UA0). He says, "I guess the UA0 was my best capture" some 6672km away "using the vertical on the

tower" with "the tower lowered so the antenna height was only 4.5m from the ground and I worked him on 40W!" Brian "was pretty pleased with that" and com-ments that his only other QSOs were with W and VE because he enjoys "a good old natter across the pond every now and again". In closing Brian said that "as it's the Christmas issue" he would "like to wish all club members a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and pros-perous New Year". He also wanted to "extend a big thank you" to me "for compiling the tables" and added that it's one of his "favourite sections in the newsletter". Brian "looks forward to reading what everyone's been up to over the month". I'm glad that the effort is ap-preciated Brian – thanks! Due to contest activities, mainly GM2T for CQWW SSB, it has been another quiet month at GM0CLN…. this is becoming a habit! The only QSO to add in this section is not only a new one on 14MHz but a new overall DXCC for me (certainly this year!). It came only one and a half hours before the tables deadline and was with J88DR in St Vincent. J88DR is, in fact, Dave G3TBK who is working in the Caribbean just now in-stalling microwave links on some of the islands. As I write this he will be getting ready to travel to St Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and then back to St Vincent in time for CQWW CW! Anyone want to be a microwave en-gineer? If anyone wants to try their luck working Dave then you could try 14.141MHz at around 10pm +/- 1 hour each evening. I gather he is there or thereabouts on a regular basis (if he isn't back in the UK!). My con-tact was on SSB but he is also active on CW and was due to be on 7MHz later the same night. Listen out for him, as you never know your luck…. he heard me first call AND there was no pileup!

I have been playing about with good old Ex-cel Spreadsheets and I thought I would use some of the information that I have gained

since I started making a note of who attends our “Official” Club Nights, from way back in the No-vember of 1992. Yes it is hard to believe that I have been doing this amount of recording for 9 years. For those of you who have not been around the club that long the reason I do this is that I keep a total history on all our club activities, which are submitted into the Local History Section of our Local Library. This will allow in years to come people in Port Seton the access on what an Amateur Radio Club has done, basically OUR RA-DIO CLUB’s HISTORY.

As you will notice there has been a “tail off” in at-tendees since our 1997 peak. Thankfully I can more or less answer where those regular people have disappeared too. Much of this drop is due to the change in individual’s personal circumstances mostly funnily enough due to changes in work patterns. Certainly it would be tremendous to see this drop turn around and start rising once again. How we achieve this is a question many, many clubs are asking themselves. The way forward has to be via the changes in Licensing Conditions, whether we as individuals agree or disagree with them. Hopefully new blood will come out of this and from that they will come to the club. It will not just happen, we all need to encourage as many as possible to come along and at least give us a “look”, after which I would hope they would come back again. We need to be full of new ideas, try new things, see what happens and take it all from there. Yes I am very much aware that the same old things can

turn people off but it is a continual struggle from one year to the next to generate a very active pro-gram that will please everyone. It will never hap-pen 100% but the aim is to try and achieve that goal. Don’t knock the ‘doers’ who go out of their way to make things happen, it may not be perfect and it can even upset at times what they do or how they react. If that is the case TALK to the per-son and explain why you are not happy, it does work you know, be constructive constructive constructive constructive and not destruc-tive. If you do take things on remember that there as many “lows” as there is “highs” so you must be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, don’t just give up at the first hurdle it achieves nothing. I certainly have over the years had many “lows” and thought about throwing in the towel and if I had done that there would be no radio club today, glad to say that there have been more “highs” than the “lows” and long may that situa-tion last.

The aim has always been to create a very active and happy Radio Club hopefully covering every-thing that as individuals we would like to see done, I think on the whole we achieve the major-ity of that but we cannot be complacent. Sorry about the slight divergence from the origi-nal topic but in a way I think it is important to say. So I leave it up to you all to look at the statistics provided and draw your own conclusions. Bob GM4UYZ

P A G E 6 V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

CLUB ATTENDANCE SINCE 1992

Total Club Attendees by Year

020406080

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Year

Atte

ndes

s

Club Attendance 1992-2001

01020304050

Jan(1

992)

Jan(1

993)

Jan(1

994)

Jan(1

995)

Jan(1

996)

Jan(1

997)

Jan(1

998)

Jan(1

999)

Jan(2

000)

Jan(2

001)

Jan(2

002)

Years Since Statistics Taken

Atte

ndee

s

C L U B N E W S L E T T E R P A G E 7

CONTEST REPORT

Contest Report As Of 13 November 2001Contest Report As Of 13 November 2001Contest Report As Of 13 November 2001Contest Report As Of 13 November 2001

B a n d T o t a l sB a n d T o t a l sB a n d T o t a l sB a n d T o t a l s 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 7 7 7 7 14 14 14 14 21 21 21 21 28 28 28 28 TOTALSTOTALSTOTALSTOTALS

CallsignCallsignCallsignCallsign PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PPPP CCCC DDDD PHOPHOPHOPHO CWCWCWCW DATDATDATDAT GM0CLN 0 6 0 5 16 0 1 37 0 2 24 0 10 23 0 9 19 0 27 125 0 GM2T 15 0 0 50 9 0 73 31 0 122 55 0 110 30 0 109 9 0 479 134 0 GM4UYZ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 0 0 32 0 0 19 0 0 75 0 0 GM4WLL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 35 12 5 18 11 0 0 23 7 53 M0BEX 0 0 0 4 7 1 23 13 32 50 33 49 41 4 38 54 3 40 172 60 160 M0RNR 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 9 0 0 MM0CCC 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 MM0CPS 0 0 0 20 0 0 18 0 0 46 0 0 48 0 0 31 0 0 163 0 0 ON9CLV 0 0 0 2 1 0 9 5 0 20 6 0 19 5 0 10 2 0 60 19 0

Totals are the number of Phone (P), CW (C) and Data (D) DXCC countries worked on each band.

F rom Brussels, Kent SM0ELV/ON9CLV, adds more during his contest activities. This is a great help to his totals as he was-

n't too active in events earlier this year. On SSB he nets 56 more from which the most notable were 7MHz : Ceuta & Melilla(EA9), Aland Is(OH0), Asiatic Russia(UA9), USA(W); 14MHz : Colombia(HK), Svalbard(JW), Argentina(LU), Netherland Antilles(PJ2), Brazil(PY), Australia(VK), Mexico(XE); 21MHz : Juan de Nova(FR), Colombia(HK), Japan(JA), Alaska(KL7), Netherland Antille(PJ2), Brazil(PY); 28MHz : Argentina(LU), Brazil(PY). Not quite so many on CW with only 16 being added. The best here were 7MHz : Aland Is(OH0); 14MHz : Aland Is(OH0), Turkey(TA); 21MHz : Aland Is(OH0). Most activity since his last update has been in SSB contests at the QTH of John M0BEX. Johns total increases by 48 thanks to additions on 7, 14, 21 and 28MHz. His highlights were… 7MHz : Kalinin-grad(UA2); 14MHz : Tunisia(3V), Malta(9H), Liech-tenstein(HB0), Brazil(PY), Iceland(TF), Anguilla(VP2E), Turks & Caicos(VP5); 21MHz : Grenada(J3), Alaska(KL7), Turks & Caicos(VP5); 28MHz : Tunisia(3V), Cyprus(5B), Barbados(8P), Kuwait(9K), Uruguay(CX), Cape Verde Is(D4), Eritrea(E3), Puerto Rico(KP4), Argentina(LU), Greenland(OX), Brazil(PY), Fernando de Noronha(PY0F), Paraguay(ZP). I suspect that the majority of these were during the CQWW SSB contest.

The RSGB 21/28MHz Contest was the only contest activity, from home, by GM0CLN during the past month. I managed to get on the bands for about 20 minutes and squeezed in 5 new ones from the 11 QSOs I had. Sadly nothing of any great impor-tance to note here though, other than perhaps 9H1ZA who worked me on both bands for a new country on each. The most noticeable increase in totals comes from GM2T. I have added the details from the CQWW SSB Contest to the GM2T spreadsheet and I think the results speak for themselves with DXCC now having been achieved on 14MHz, 21MHz and 28MHz. If I get a chance to sort it out you may see a breakdown of the countries worked during CQWW SSB, by band, elsewhere in this newslet-ter.

GM2T—479 countries worked on SSB and 134 on CW

P A G E 8

Vhf report day 9th and Saturday 10th November I heard (sadly didn't work any though!) the following stations (and several others too) using my "new" 6m antenna at the bottom of the garden… K1TOL(FN44), K1GUN(FN53), N1RZ(FN44), KM1E(FN53), K1SIX(FN43), VE1YX(FN74), VE2DFO(FN25). Some of you may be wondering now what my new 6m antenna is. Well, if you recall my ravings about the random piece of wire I have up a tree at the bottom of the garden, you already know about it! My indoor 50MHz wire yagi is fixed pointing at Italy and is, as such, use-less for trying to work stateside so I started think-ing about options. My wire vertical is resonant on 14MHz, 28MHz and… wait a minute!…..probably about 56MHz(ish) too…. so I gave it a try. With no tuner the SWR of the wire vertical is approximately 1.7:1 on the 50MHz band and dur-ing checks was at least an S-point better that the indoor wire yagi for stateside signals. Not much of an improvement but still better and an added bonus is that I don’t get the hash picked up on the indoor antenna. So, my "new" 6m antenna is a (very approximate) full wave wire vertical with 3 ground radials at the bottom of the garden! I expect that I'll still use the wire yagi for European contacts though! This time can I please have your penultimate 2001 HF, Contest and VHF reports, for the Janu-ary Newsletter, by midnight on Tuesday 18th De-cember at the latest. Have a wonderful Christ-mas and a Very Happy New Year. See you all soon. 73 Colin GM0CLN

T he first report this month comes from Kent SM0ELV/ON9CLV who actually submitted his input just after the last

deadline. Since his last update in August Kent has been busy on 50MHz, adding 1 country and 40 squares to his total. Despite only adding a single country, I'm sure that Kent is pleased as country number 32 this year was Chad(TT). With the exception of his new African square, his re-maining 39 new ones are spread across most of Europe from Finland in the North to Portugal and Spain in the South. All in all another impressive haul! Yet more aurora QSOs to report at GM0CLN. Since the last update there have been another few reasonable events, the best of which was probably on 22nd October. However, other events were also worked on 11th Oct, 21st Oct, and 6th Nov. In total these auroras accounted for 5 new 144MHz squares (in G, GM, OZ, SP and PA) and one new 144MHz country (Poland) this year. I also managed to work Chris GM3WOJ via aurora on 50MHz for a new square (IO77) on that band. On the subject of 50MHz, it has been a great month. There have been extensive openings to the USA and Canada as well as some shorter du-ration events to the Far East. I know that Andy MM1CXE managed his first stateside QSO on the band (congrats Andy!) and I heard many stations on a couple of occasions. The prime time for the stateside openings seems to be between noon and about 4pm. Sadly this is when the majority of us are still at work most days! However on Fri-

V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

VHF/UHF Report As Of 13 November 2001VHF/UHF Report As Of 13 November 2001VHF/UHF Report As Of 13 November 2001VHF/UHF Report As Of 13 November 2001 50MHz50MHz50MHz50MHz 70MHz70MHz70MHz70MHz 144MHz144MHz144MHz144MHz 432MHz432MHz432MHz432MHz DXCCDXCCDXCCDXCC SquareSquareSquareSquare GrandGrandGrandGrand

CallsignCallsignCallsignCallsign EqptEqptEqptEqpt CCCC SSSS EqptEqptEqptEqpt CCCC SSSS EqptEqptEqptEqpt CCCC SSSS EqptEqptEqptEqpt CCCC SSSS TotalTotalTotalTotal TotalTotalTotalTotal TotalTotalTotalTotal

GM0CLN 4Y20 22 62 1C20 0 0 14Y100 16 72 - 0 0 38 134 172 GM4UYZ - 0 0 4Y10 1 2 4Q100 1 2 18Y10 1 1 3 5 8

MM0CCC 3Y100 0 0 3Y10 0 0 10Y100 4 9 - 0 0 4 9 13

ON9CLV 5Y30 33 95 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 33 95 128

Totals are the number of DXCC countries (C) and Maidenhead locator squares (S) worked on each band.

GM4WLL - 0 0 6Y160 5 13 8Y200 10 27 21Y100 2 3 17 43 60

M0RNR 1G100 16 39 - 0 0 4Y100 0 0 - 0 0 16 39 55

P A G E 9 C L U B N E W S L E T T E R

Contesting from scotland PPPPart 9 art 9 art 9 art 9 ---- VHF/UHF Contesting VHF/UHF Contesting VHF/UHF Contesting VHF/UHF Contesting

C ontesting on HF definitely offers the best 'value for money' - you make more QSOs per pound or dollar spent on equipment and an-

tennas, and you can change band to overcome changes in propagation. However, slightly different skills are required for successful VHF and UHF con-testing. During the 1970s and 1980s, VHF/UHF activity was very high. In the late 1980s and early 1990s a top UK contest station on 144MHz could work over 1000 stations in a 24-hour period. Things are differ-ent today with far fewer stations active on a day-to-day basis, for a variety of reasons, but still a good number of stations to be worked in most VHF/UHF contests. Inevitably, geographical location plays a major part on VHF/UHF - Scotland is 'out on a limb' in NW Europe, and unless conditions are good scores from here are inevitably lower. However, many VHF/UHF operators say that successful VHF/UHF QSOs are generally more rewarding than on HF. Europe has always had a lead over the USA and the rest of the world in VHF/UHF contesting tech-nology. Equipment Equipment Equipment Equipment Equipment for the VHF/UHF bands has improved slowly in the past 15 years - the basic requirements are : RX : low noise figure, high immunity to over-loading TX : as much (clean) RF output as possible. A 1980s contest station would still give good results in the year 2000, but might not match some of the latest equipment for performance. Peripheral equip-ment has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Poor band conditions can mean many minutes/hours of fruitless CQ calls - a Digital Voice Keyer (DVK) makes life a lot easier for the operator - he can sit back and read a newspaper while the DVK sends out endless CQ calls. Generally speaking, there are two ways of producing/receiving signals on VHF/UHF - firstly us-ing an 'all-band' transceiver like the FT-847, IC-756 etc. (or an older generation FT-736 type or single-band 'multimode' type) or using an HF transceiver with a transverter connected e.g. FT-1000MP + Mutek transverter. The first approach offers more convenience, everything is in the one box with no connecting cables, but the second approach usually gives far superior RF performance. Newer 'all band' radios seem to have poor strong-signal handling

characteristics and poor IF filtering – they are fine for day-to-day use, but not very suitable for contesting. Solid-state amplifiers ('bricks') are available in powers up to about 500W output, but above approx. 150W output their battery requirements are very high. Most serious VHF/UHF contest stations use valve amplifiers, using e.g. 3CX800A7, 8877, 8938 valves - these amplifiers can be very expensive to buy, espe-cially if they have to be imported from the USA or Japan. Home-made valve amplifiers are not nearly as common now as twenty years ago. Mast-head preamplifiers make a significant difference to receive performance, and of course short runs of low-loss feeders, ideally heliax, should be used. A lap-top computer is ideal for portable VHF/UHF contesting, perhaps with a CW keying interface or rig-control port to allow scanning, etc. AntennasAntennasAntennasAntennas Commercially-made computer-designed antennas are almost universally used now - some stations still make their own antennas (usually for 4m and 6m). VHF and UHF antennas are expensive, especially if you are buying 4 or 8 yagis to make a multiple-antenna system. Antennas can either be stacked i.e. one above the other on a pole, or bayed, two anten-nas side by side, or stacked and bayed i.e. 4 anten-nas in a ‘box’, with 2 above and 2 below. The three different arrangements give slightly different charac-teristics - generally a portable contest station would use stacked antennas, which are easier mechanically to erect. Single-operator contest stations often use single long-yagis, with booms up to 10m long, which are reasonably lightweight with good per-formance. Many of these yagis are too flimsy to stand more than 24 hours of use at a time! Antennas are an obsession with the top VHF/UHF contesters - one well-known station in England uses 4 separate stacked antenna systems on 144MHz (each fed with a separate amplifier!) - it is not easy to compete against this level of commitment. VHF/UHF anten-nas usually do not need to be too high above ground level, but an electric rotator (with good ac-curacy) is essential to reduce operator stress. As usual, your comments/feedback on this or other articles is welcomed - please e-mail gm3woj@talk21.com 73 Chris

COUNTRY PFX 1.8 3.5 7 14 21 28

Tunisia 3V X X

Azerbaijan 4J X

Georgia 4L X X

UN Geneva 4U1I X

East Timor 4W X

Israel 4X X X X X

Cyprus 5B X X X X

Jamaica 6Y X

Barbados 8P X X X X

Croatia 9A X X X X X

Ghana 9G X

Malta 9H X X

Kuwait 9K X

Trinidad & Tobago 9Y X X

Oman A4 X

Bhutan A5 X X

Taiwan BV X X

Andorra C3 X

The Gambia C5 X

Bahamas C6 X

Chile CE X

Antarctica CE9 X

Morocco CN X X X

Cuba CO X X X

Portugal CT X X X X

Madeira CT3 X X X X X

Azores CU X X

Uruguay CX X

Cape Verde D4 X X

Germany DL X X X X X X

Philippines DU X

Eritrea E3 X X

Spain EA X X X X X

Balearic Is EA6 X X X

Canary Is EA8 X X X X X

Ceuta & Melilla EA9 X X

Eire EI X X X X X

Armenia EK X X

Moldova ER X X X X X

Estonia ES X X X X X

Belarus EU X X X X

Kyrgyzstan EX X X X

Tajikistan EY X

France F X X X X X X

Guadeloupe FG X X X

Martinique FM X X

St Pierre & Miquelon FP X

French St Martin FS X X X

French Guiana FY X

COUNTRY PFX 1.8 3.5 7 14 21 28

England G X X X X X X

Isle Of Man GD X X

Northern Ireland GI X X X X X

Jersey GJ X X

Scotland GM X X X X X X

Shetland GM/s X X X

Guernsey GU X X

Wales GW X X X X

Hungary HA X X X X X X

Switzerland HB X X X X

Liechtenstein HB0 X X X X

Ecuador HC X

Galapagos Is HC8 X

Colombia HK X

South Korea HL X X

Panama HP X X

Thailand HS X

Italy I X X X X X

African Italy IG9 X X X X X

Sardinia IS X X X

Sicily IT9 X X

Djibouti J2 X

Grenada J3 X X

St Lucia J6 X X X

Dominica J7 X X X X

St Vincent J8 X X

Japan JA X X X

Mongolia JT X X

Svalbard JW X X X

Jordan JY X X X

United States K X X X X X

Hawaii KH6 X X X

Alaska KL X X

US Virgin Is KP2 X X X X

Puerto Rico KP4 X X X

Norway LA X X X X X

Argentina LU X X X

Luxembourg LX X X X

Lithuania LY X X X X X X

Bulgaria LZ X X X X X

Lebanon OD X

Austria OE X X X X X

Finland OH X X X X X

Aland Is OH0 X X X

Czech Republic OK X X X X X X

Slovak Republic OM X X X X X

Belgium ON X X X X X X

Greenland OX X X X

Faroe Is OY X

P A G E 1 0

Cqww ssb breakdown

C L U B N E W S L E T T E R

COUNTRY PFX 1.8 3.5 7 14 21 28

Denmark OZ X X X X X X

Aruba P4 X X X

Netherlands PA X X X X X X

Netherlands Antilles PJ2 X X

Sint Maartin PJ7 X X X

Brazil PY X X X

Fernando de No-ronha

PY0F X X

Slovenia S5 X X X X X

Sweden SM X X X X X X

Poland SP X X X X X

Greece SV X X X X

Dodecanese Is SV5 X

Crete SV9 X X

San Marino T7 X X

Palau T8 X

Bosnia T9 X X X X

Turkey TA X X X

Iceland TF X

Costa Rica TI X X

European Russia UA X X X X X X

Kaliningradsk UA2 X X X X X X

Asiatic Russia UA9 X X X X X

Uzbekistan UK X X

Kazakhstan UN X X X X X

Ukraine UR X X X X X

Antigua & Barbuda V2 X X X X

Belize V3 X

St Kitts & Nevis V4 X

Brunei V8 X

Canada VE X X X X X

Australia VK X X X

Anguilla VP2E X X X X

Turks & Caicos VP5 X X X X

Bermuda VP9 X

Chagos Is VQ9 X

Hong Kong VR X

India VU X X X

Mexico XE X X

Afghanistan YA X

Indonesia YB X X

Latvia YL X X X X X X

Nicaragua YN X

Romania YO X X X X

Yugoslavia YU X X X X X

Venezuela YV X X

Macedonia Z3 X X X X

New Zealand ZL X X

Paraguay ZP X

South Africa ZS X

BAND TOTALSBAND TOTALSBAND TOTALSBAND TOTALS 15151515 47474747 69696969 112112112112 93939393 104104104104

CQ ZONES WORKED BY GM2T CQ ZONES WORKED BY GM2T CQ ZONES WORKED BY GM2T CQ ZONES WORKED BY GM2T

CQ ZONECQ ZONECQ ZONECQ ZONE 1.81.81.81.8 3.53.53.53.5 7777 14141414 21212121 28282828

01 X X

02 X X X X

03 X X X X

04 X X X X

05 X X X X X

06 X X

07 X X X X

08 X X X X

09 X X X X

10 X

11 X X X X

12 X

13 X X X

14 X X X X X X

15 X X X X X X

16 X X X X X X

17 X X X X X

18 X X X

19 X

20 X X X X X

21 X X X

22 X X X

23 X X

24 X X

25 X X X

26 X

27 X

28 X X

29

30 X X X

31 X X X

32 X X

33 X X X X X

34

35 X X X

36

37 X X

38 X

39 X

40 X X X X

BAND TOTALSBAND TOTALSBAND TOTALSBAND TOTALS 3333 8888 15151515 31313131 29292929 29292929

IN CQWW SSB 27/28 OCT 2001 IN CQWW SSB 27/28 OCT 2001 IN CQWW SSB 27/28 OCT 2001 IN CQWW SSB 27/28 OCT 2001

P A G E 1 1

Cqww ssb

V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

HF Station Equipment Codes HF Station Equipment Codes HF Station Equipment Codes HF Station Equipment Codes

CallsignCallsignCallsignCallsign 1.81.81.81.8 3.53.53.53.5 7777 10101010 14141414 18181818 21212121 24242424 28282828 GM0CLN 1C100 or 1G100 GM2T 1C400 3Y400 GM4GVJ - 1G100 GM4UYZ - 1W100 1G100 GM4WLL 1C100 M0BEX 1C100 M0RNR 1C100 1C100 1C100 3Y100 MM0AMV - - 1G100 MM0CCC 1C100 1G100 1C100 MM0CPS 1C400 3Y400 ON9CLV 1G100 1C100 1G100 1C100 1G100

M any congratulations to Ron GM0NTL for his performance in the 2001 REF SSB Contest. Ron achieved 9th overall

in Europe (excluding France) from a total of 80 entrants in the single operator section. I know that this is one of Ron's favourite events…. now we know why! Surprisingly I only spotted 3 UK entrants though! The 2001 top twenty table is printed on the right. For anyone who is interested in the 2002 REF events the dates are likely to be 26/27 Jan (CW) and 23/24Feb (SSB). These should be confirmed in due course at the REF Union Contests website… http://www.ref-union.org/concours/index.html. 73 Colin GM0CLN

P A G E 1 2 C L U B N E W S L E T T E R

Contest congratulations

CLUB TABLES EQUIPMENT CODING SYSTEM 1 G 100

No. Of Y - Yagi Transmit Antenna Q - Quad or Loop Power Elements G - Ground Plane, (Watts)

Vertical etc. C - Centre Fed (Dipole, G5RV, Doublet etc) W - Wire (any other not covered)

The example shown is for a vertical or ground plane antenna with 100W TX Power. The code for a 3 element yagi with 400W would be 3Y400

Lothians Radio Society plan to hold Foundation Li-cence Morse assessments for Full Class B and Inter-mediate Class B licence holders on the evening of the 9th January 2002. This fast track system pro-vides an opportunity for Class B licence holders to obtain a Foundation licence without having to complete a Foundation Licence Training Course.

The Foundation Licence gives MF/HF access with 10W power levels. Further details are available from: Peter Dick GM4DTH Tel. 0131 446 0155

FOUNDATION LICENCE MORSE ASSESSMENT

Another possible option is that some of you get together and take one part of the tables each (e.g. Contest Report, HF Report or VHF/UHF Re-port). This may in fact be better as it would be easier to focus on one aspect and it would cut the overall workload for any individual. Along the same lines, you may not like the format but enjoy hearing what everyone has been up to. Why not write a monthly article which is purely a report (HF, VHF or Contest) without the associated headache of compiling the tables. The choice is yours! If nobody is willing to take on this (or a similar) role then the Tables WILL cease to exist at the end of the year. (Don't cheer too loudly - I might hear you!). If you think you can help IN ANY WAY please let me know ASAP. Answers on a postcard please to the usual ad-dress. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Regards Colin GM0CLN E-mail : gm0cln@cpsarc.com GM0CLN puts on his headphones, adjusts his DSP settings and awaits a faint reply from the usual white noise!

A s you will all probably be aware, I have been writing the Club Tables section in this Newsletter for the past two years.

Although I enjoy hearing what everyone has been up to and writing the newsletter bits I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the time re-quired in my schedule. To make things worse, I am about to change job around the turn of the year and as a result my workload is going to increase significantly. This will have a knock on effect in that I will no longer have the same amount of time available to de-vote to writing bits for the club newsletter. I still plan to contribute to the newsletter and have regular columns (Events/Contest Calendar) but will be unable to sustain my current level of out-put. This means I must drop something and the most likely candidate is the Club Tables. Now for the crunch...... I was wondering if any of YOU would be willing/able to take on the role of Club Tables organiser/article writer? The tables format is established but perhaps (i.m.o.) a bit too complex and cer-tainly open to changes. As you will probably also know there is a firm(ish) base of regular contribu-tors. If you can take on this role I would be more than willing to show you the ropes and will help wherever possible. The question is..... Can YOU help?

P A G E 1 3

Club tables rip?

V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

the day to see us arrive at the blacksmiths. Re-gretfully Liz had to leave early before I had even spotted her, however, Colin and Craig were able to stay throughout the entire ceremony. Once again, thanks to you all for helping make what was a special day for us even more special. 73 de John & Janice MacLean

O n behalf of Janice and myself, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the club for their generosity in contrib-

uting towards the gifts we received on our wed-ding day at Gretna/Lockerbie. This was most un-expected and came as a welcome surprise. It was also nice to have your card (with callsigns) read out at the wedding reception. Thanks are also due to Colin GM0CLN (and Craig), and Liz 2M1GLD who came to Gretna on

P A G E 1 4

WEDDing thanks

V O L U M E 9 I S S U E 1 2

YYYYaesu Communications Receiver VRaesu Communications Receiver VRaesu Communications Receiver VRaesu Communications Receiver VR----500500500500 High performance miniature communications re-ceiver providing general coverage reception from 100 KHz to 1300 MHz on CW, SSB, AM and FM (wide and Narrow bandwidths) This coverage in-cludes AM & FM broadcast bands, HF short wave bands to 16 MHz, VHF & UHF TV and VHF Air Band as well as a wide range of commercial and public safety frequencies.

In ‘as new’ condition and boxed with manual £125 Ron Brown GM4IKU 01875 811000

CCCComputer for saleomputer for saleomputer for saleomputer for sale This equipment was advertised by John GM7OLQ in the September Newsletter but due to a change of circumstances (ie the purchase of a faster ma-chine has been authorised for my Christmas pressie) it has become surplus to requirements. The computer consists of: AMD K6-2 450 processor, ASUS P5-A AT mother-board, 128Mb RAM, Fujitsu 6Gb hard drive, ATI

video card, Soundblaster 128 PCI sound card, AT keyboard and MIDI tower. I have added a 56K modem, 32x CD ROM and 1.44Mb floppy. All in working order £200 Ron Brown GM4IKU 01875 811000

Items for sale

I have booked the Meeting Room (Upstairs) in the Port Seton Community Centre for Tuesday the 8th January 2002 between

19:30 and 21:30 to hold an open meeting on any club issues. Hopefully by the time you read this you will have all received a copy of a letter that I have posted to you all regarding areas of discussion for the eve-

ning. I do hope you will all take time to read the letter carefully and return any replies to me ASAP. Hear from you all in the near future. Bob GM4UYZ

Open meeting

P A G E 1 5 C L U B N E W S L E T T E R

Contest calendar

A very quiet contesting month ahead this time! The only VHF events of any note are the RGSB Christmas Cumulatives on 50, 70, 144 and

432MHz. Club members have entered these events in the past, however, I don't think anyone has plans to do so this time. That said, it is still a good chance to work a few stations on these bands. On HF the main event is the ARRL 28MHz Contest which is a very interesting event with nine separate sections for the single operator entrant. As a single-op station you can choose your mode category from multi-mode (SSB & CW), CW only and SSB only and your power category from QRP, Low Power and High Power. Multi-Operator entries MUST be Multi-Mode! The main scoring multipliers are US States, Canadian Provinces and DXCC Countries. Also on HF is a bit of a one off event called the Marconi

Centenary Contest (MCC). The MCC is to commemo-rate the centenary of Marconi's reception in New-foundland of the Poldhu transmissions on 12 Decem-ber 1901. This event is primarily between Canadian and UK stations and is run in conjunction with, and un-der the same rules as, the RAC Canada Winter Contest. To mark this special occasion there are a total of 50 prizes up for grabs for UK stations so if you enter there is a good chance you will actually win something…… that makes a change! Also, there are plenty of sec-tions to cater for everyone. You can be anything from single-op single band to multi-op all band and there are categories for different power levels too so why not give it a try? See page 79 of the December 2001 Rad-Com for full details. Have a great contesting month and a wonderful Christ-mas. Seasons Greetings! 73 Colin GM0CLN

General Notes :General Notes :General Notes :General Notes : (1) Activity is planned by the club or its members for those events listed above in boldboldboldbold. Full Event Rules Are AvaiFull Event Rules Are AvaiFull Event Rules Are AvaiFull Event Rules Are Available On The Internet As Follows :lable On The Internet As Follows :lable On The Internet As Follows :lable On The Internet As Follows : RSGB HF 2001 : http://www.g4tsh.demon.co.uk/HFCC/Rules-2001/calendar.htm RSGB VHF 2001 : http://www.blacksheep.org/vhfcc/rules/01rules/frameindex.html ARRL : http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/ WAB : http://home.freeuk.net/wab/ Links to most of the other events can be found on the SM3CER Contest Web Page under Contest Calendar. SM3CER PAGE : http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/index01.htm

Contest Commentary

DateDateDateDate

StartStartStartStart (UTC)(UTC)(UTC)(UTC)

DurationDurationDurationDuration (hrs)(hrs)(hrs)(hrs)

ContestContestContestContest

Notes & InfoNotes & InfoNotes & InfoNotes & Info

15-Dec-01 00:00 48 ARRL 28MHz Contest 26-Dec-01 14:00 2 50/70/144/432MHz Christmas Cumulatives 27-Dec-01 14:00 2 50/70/144/432MHz Christmas Cumulatives 28-Dec-01 14:00 2 50/70/144/432MHz Christmas Cumulatives 29-Dec-01 00:00 24 Marconi Centenary Contest (MCC)&

RAC Canada Winter Contest Rules at http://www.rac.ca/CANWIN.htm 50 Prizes for UK stations in MCC event!

29-Dec-01 14:00 2 50/70/144/432MHz Christmas Cumulatives 11-Jan-02 22:00 48 Japan International DX Contest (CW) 160-40m 13-Jan-02 05:30 2 NRAU Baltic Contest – CW 13-Jan-02 08:00 2 NRAU Baltic Contest - SSB 19-Jan-01 12:00 8 LZ Open Championship CW 20-Jan-02 00:00 24 HA DX Contest CW 25-Jan-02 22:00 42 CQ 160m Contest CW 26-Jan-02 06:00 36 REF Contest CW Date to be confirmed 26-Jan-02 13:00 24 UBA DX Contest SSB 16-Feb-02 00:00 48 ARRL International DX CW Contest 23-Feb-02 06:00 36 REF Contest SSB Date to be confirmed 02-Mar-02 00:00 48 ARRL International DX SSB Contest

Information

T he Cockenzie & Port Seton Amateur Radio Club was formed in 1984 by Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ, to help the local amateurs get to know each

other. Numbers have increased steadily over the years and now average about 22. Far from being just a local club we have members coming from the Borders, Dumfries, Strathclyde and Fife. The Club meets on the first Friday of every month (Second Friday of January) in the lounge of the Thorn-tree Inn on the old Cockenzie High Street from 7pm till late. The Club is run in a very informal way, there are no fees, no real committee structure, 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 novices, run talks and video nights and hold an annual Junk Sale. Our multi-award winning newsletter gets send all over the UK and is now available on-line. The Club supports the British Heart Foundation in memory of a member who died from heart disease by do-nating the profits from events we hold, we have raised over £6,920 since 1994. The Club is affiliated to the Radio Society of Great Brit-ain and holds the callsigns MM0CPS and GM2T which are used for our contest entries. We also have our own internet domain name www.cpsarc.com and club mem-bers can get their own callsign@cpsarc.com email ad-dresses.

Bob Glasgow 7 Castle Terrace Port Seton East Lothian EH32 0EE

Phone: 01875 811723 Email: gm4uyz@cpsarc.com

COCKENZIE & PORT SETON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

We’re on the web! www.cpsarc.com

Contacts General Correspondence, Novice Training, Contest en-tries — Bob Glasgow gm4uyz@cpsarc.com HF Contests, 5wpm Morse Class — Cambell Stevenson mm0dxc@cpsarc.com VHF Contests — Colin Smith gm0cln@cpsarc.com

Newsletter, Web Site —John Innes gm7olq@cpsarc.com Email admin, Photo archive— Robert Veal mm0ant@cpsarc.com

T he talk by Landles GM4XZZ on his experi-ences as being a member of the RNLI hav-ing crewed on both the Eyemouth and

Dunbar Lifeboats took place on the evening of Fri-day 16th November in the Resources Room 2, Port Seton Community Centre. From a club point of view it was once again a very poor turn out with only enough people to just cover the cost of the room. Any way for those who never came they once again missed a good talk. The talk covered the role of the RNLI and not just those who actually go to sea, the experiences that Landles had encountered in his time as a Lifeboat

Crew Member and finally the showing of three of the RNLI training videos covering First Aid, Slip-way Launching and how the Satellite Distress Sys-tem works. A thanks goes to Landles for a very enjoyable eve-ning, certainly enjoyed by those who attended. Bob GM4UYZ.

RNLI TALES