T his month I am writing the edito-rial a little bit early, as due to work commitments my normal

time of writing will be when John re-quires the input. I just can‘t believe that here we are in the month of May, where has the last four months gone as far as I am concerned they have just vanished. So what has happened this month. From the club events point of view we will have had our 10 Pin bowling night and I am sure it will have been another good night, obviously with writing this early I cannot comment on it. The main topic for this month concerns the possibility of having Club Premises either sharing with another group or maybe on our own. To those that are on the CPSARC YAHOO GROUP you will have seen the Email that I sent out looking for your feedback. For those not a member then hopefully John has put a copy in the newsletter so you can read it. All negotiations are at a very early stage and might go no further but I feel it is important that you all know about what is going on so any issues can be raised. The premises are what are used by the Prestonpans Sailing Club who are really only active from May to September then they lie vacant for the rest of the year. Cambell MM0DXC, Gabriel 2M1IBH and myself have visited them plus attended a preliminary meet-ing. I think the premises offer us some-thing we never thought was possible and for most of us just a dream so have a read at the article in the newsletter and get your thoughts and comments back to me ASAP. The above is an example of when I feel it is important that everyone in the club

who has email and WEB access should be a member of at least the CPSARC YA-HOO group. It certainly allows informa-tion to be quickly sent out to you all. Yes I know that there are items that are of no interest to you but all you do is just delete them, but at least you have the opportu-nity to read them and make up your own mind whether they are of interest to you or not. For information there is another YAHOO Group called CPSARC_CONTEST, which you may want to join but its prime function is to inform the members of con-testing items? To the future, well this month our club activity is our 1

st DF Night of the year on

Friday 10th

May at 19:00, yes this year we are having two with the other one in September. I hope you will all make a huge effort to take part and try and find the ―illusive‖ Fox who will be hidden somewhere in East Lothian. It really is a great fun night and so far each event has created a major talking point for weeks after the event, so go on give it a try. The other activity is that some of the club members are off on the annual cycling trip to Tiree. As well as it being a holiday break it is also a fact finding mission with regard to the IOTA contest in July? If you fancy going along then contact Cambell MM0DXC who tell you all about it. I think that is about it for this month so finally your comments on the Club Prem-ises, come along to the DF Night and have some fun and enjoy the newsletter. Bob GM4UYZ

Volume 10 Issue 5

May 2002

COCKENZIE & PORT SETON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

editorial

Yachting Club 2

Foxhunt 3

Events Column 4

News 5

GM0B CQWW 6

10 Pin Bowling 9

Contest Calendar 11

Inside this issue:

Special points of

interest:

Yacht Club Premises

New Arrival for GM4ZRR

10 Pin Bowling photos

P A G E 2

Yachting Club Premises

V O L U M E 1 0 I S S U E 5

O n 9

th April, Cambell MM0DXC and myself attended a

meeting at the Prestonpans Yacht Club after a late request from Gabriel 2M1IBH who said that the radio

club could be quite interested in what was happening. The story goes that the Yacht Club has not been running for about two years and it was being proposed by one or two members that it should be totally wound up. Rather than this happening they called the above meeting to try and get the club back on its feet once again . The interest is very strong to see this happen but it requires work from East Lothian Council to get their yacht compound secure plus the boat slip to be repaired. Attendance at this meeting included ourselves, Yacht club members, a representative from East Lothian Council and the Community Police Officer. Where do we come into this? you may ask. Well it stems from an idea from Gabriel where he feels that we could possibly share the yacht club‘s premises. This would give the yacht club more power in dealing with the Council in getting repairs done as it would be seen that the premises are being well used. Obviously the above is a brief summary and in my own mind it poses a few questions. The question is as a club should we take the offer of sharing the premises or even at the worst case from the Yachting club‘s point of view they collapse, and we take over the building completely. Now this is where you all come in. Do you think we should progress any further with the idea? YES or NO If YES then what I would like from you all is your feedback on the idea? What do you see as the positive aspects? What do you see as the negative aspects? What other questions does it raise in your own minds that need to be answered? Premises Location: The building lies to the West of the Cockenzie Power Station directly behind the Coeval Building and about 30 feet from the shore. There are two buildings at the location – 1 a Toilet Block and the west building the one in question. Access is gained by turning into the road at the 30/40MPH sign. Premises: Male and Female toilets both with shower facilities. 1 general room, 1 small office and kitchen facilities. Ownership: East Lothian Council maintains the premises. Scottishpower provides electric power free of charge. The premises are run on a year to year lease from Scottishpower, originally it was a 25-year lease but this was changed to a one year when the uncertainty of the power station life came about a few years back. Yachting Club Use: Yachting season MAY to SEPTEMBER. In the past they used the premises on a Wednesday Night and Sundays. Positive Aspects: A contest site under cover with full facilities. No need to travel

to Barns Ness. (This might need a bit more investigating to fully check out its feasibility from any interference) A place that Foundation, Intermediate or RAE Courses could be run. A place that we could undertake ―Practical Nights‖. Negative Aspects: Not quite large enough to accommodate all aspects of club activities so might still need to use the Community Centre. (This is just my opinion). Need clarification: If sharing then when would access be available. This would require a meeting between the 2 parties to sort out including who would have priority in a clash of dates. How would any costs affect us? Insurance Cover? Formal notification of whom is responsible for what i.e. East Lothian Councils responsibility, Scottishpower‘s responsibility, Yachting Club, etc. The next meeting with the Yacht Club, East Lothian Council and other concerned parties is on TUESDAY 14

th MAY 2002

at18:30 so let us know your opinions as soon as possible. Bob GM4UYZ

Yacht Club

sion will be at 8:45pm and will reveal the location of the fox and that of the post hunt meeting. Access The fox will be in a position which is accessible by car (4wd not necessary!) Tx ban No transmissions, other than those of the fox, should be made on the hunt frequency at any time during the event Vacate once a team has found the fox they should leave the imme-diate area and should not transmit on any frequency while in the vicinity of the fox Equipment only one set of df equipment is to be used per team at any one time. Hunting during the hunt please try to be considerate to other road users when choosing your stopping points any teams found to be breaking the road speed limits in any area will be dis-qualified immediately similarly, any teams found to be break-ing any of the above rules will be disqualified

Date : Friday 10th may 2002 Time: meet at 6:30pm for a briefing prior to a 7:00pm start Place : the "old ship inn" car park (bar entrance side), Port Seton grid ref. Nt408 759 Ordnance Survey Landranger map No.66 Entry fee £1:00 per person, to be donated to the British Heart Foundation Frequency : 145.275mhz, fm, vertical polarisation Callsign : GM4IKU/M Hunt area the fox will be located within the area on ordnance survey landranger map no.66 bounded by the firth of forth to the north, the edge of os landranger map no.66 to the east, the line joining grid ref. Nt400700 and nt400 760 to the west. A small map showing this area will be issued to all competitors at the start. Tx times Transmissions by the fox will be 30 seconds every 5 minutes. The first transmission beginning at 7:00pm, following trans-mission times will be 7:05pm, 7:10pm.etc. the final transmis-

P A G E 3

144MHz FOXHUNT

I have been asked a couple of times about the setup used to provide a DX cluster feed for the GM2T IOTA station, so here are the

details. The logging software we were using was NA, this will accept a feed of the cluster into a serial port on a PC connected to the NA serial network. The limiting factor becomes the number of serial ports available on any one machine so we used a dedi-cated PC to feed the cluster into the network. The DX cluster feed came via the internet, from K1TTT (and others) and this was done on a laptop with Windows 98 on it. The software used to transfer the cluster feed from the internet to the serial port was wintelnetx by K1TTT, this allows you to connect almost any data stream to any port. Once we had data flowing to the serial port, a short cable was used to pass the data into the

dedicated cluster server. This PC was running NA in DOS and was set up to have a ‗TNC‘ connected and the NA serial network. NA takes care of passing the data round its net-work to the other logging PC‘s where the cluster spots appear in the bandmap for each station. Each logging station has NA set up to have a re-mote TNC, the serial network and rig control. If a station wants to work someone from the bandmap, they press CTRL right arrow and then move up and down the bandmap as desired. When they get to the station they want, they press ENTER and the callsign is loaded into the logging window and the radio is tuned to the cor-rect frequency—easy! The contest station this year will be using CT but the cluster feed will be virtually the same, the only difference is that the network will be Ethernet. John MM0JXI

DX Cluster access with NA

P A G E 4

Events COLUMN

A new 'Mini-Rally' on 26

th May being run by the Stirling Club to tell you about this time. Details are below

as usual……

V O L U M E 1 0 I S S U E 5

Date Time Event Contact

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

08-May-02 ? Lothians RS, Islands On The Air by Tom Wylie GM4FDM Peter GM4DTH

10-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

25-May-02 11.00am 2002 Lothians Challenge Peter GM4DTH

»»»

26-May-02 10.30am Stirling & District ARS Mini-Rally, Menstrie Scout Hall. All welcome. Trader(s) present, Tables £5 each. Raffle, Talk In on 145.550MHz, Refreshments. Entry £1. For further info E-Mail : bcoan@tiscali.co.uk

Brendan Coan GM0BWR

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

12-Jun-02 ? Lothians RS Annual General Meeting Peter GM4DTH

15-Jun-02 and

16-Jun-02

All Weekend INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS WEEKEND http://www.ukradioamateur.org/imw/index.html Including club special event station GB2MOF, on HF from the Mu-seum of Flight, East Fortune.

Harry M1BYT Bob GM4UYZ

23-Jun-02 10am to 4pm MID-LANARK ARS Scottish Convention, Summerlee Heritage Park, Heritage Road, Coatbridge. Entry Free! Lectures, Bring & Buy, Trad-ers, Talk-In etc. etc. The organisers already have 45 tables booked for this event!

Elvin GM8BBA

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

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

09-Aug-02 6.30pm to 9.30pm

―JUNK NIGHT" in the Main Hall at Port Seton Community Centre. Bring along your own ―junk‖ and sell it yourself. Tables on First Come First Served basis. Entrance fee £1 for everyone. Money Raised DONATED to BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION

Bob GM4UYZ

17-Aug-02 and

18-Aug-02

All Day LIGHTHOUSE WEEKEND BARNS NESS – GB2LBN Bob GM4UYZ

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

20-Sep-02 and

21-Sep-02

? LEICESTER Amateur Radio Show

Geoff G4AFJ

27-Sep-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

04-Oct-02 7pm till late Club night in the Thorntree Inn, Port Seton Bob GM4UYZ

18-Oct-02 7.30pm to 9.30pm

Video Night, Resources Room 2, Port Seton Community Centre. En-try £1

Bob GM4UYZ

27-Oct-02 ? GALASHIELS & DARS Annual Rally Jim, GM7LUN

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

» 15-Nov-02 7.30pm to 9.30pm

―HF Car Aerial Systems‖ by Dave Stockton GM4ZNX, Port Seton Com-munity Centre, Resources Room 2. Entry £1

Bob GM4UYZ

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

» 07-Dec-02 ? Proposed Date For Club Christmas Meal Bob GM4UYZ

Sad News

I received an Email from Tom GM4LRU containing the following sad news.

Margaret, the wife of Bob GM4FIB has sadly died. I know she has been unwell for quite awhile and has just recently under-went major surgery to replace a Valve in her Heart plus was given a double bypass. As yet I do not know of the actually circumstances surrounding her death.

I am sure that you will all join with me in wishing Bob and his family our deepest sympathy at this time. I also heard as well that Ian GM3VEI (Royal Observatory Ian) lost his father back in January, so basically sad news all around. Bob GM4UYZ

News snippets

P A G E 5

And on a happier note: Hi folks Just a quick e-mail to say that Sandra and I are now the proud parents of a baby boy (Callum), born on Thursday (11th) at 11.34am, weighing 6lbs 8oz. He's now home, and apart from the lack of sleep, we're doing not too bad! See you soon Ian GM4ZRR

New ILRP Node in Edinburgh

I 've just found out that there is a new IRLP (Internet Re-peater Linking Project) node in Edinburgh which is being run (from home I presume) by Tommy GM1GEQ.

The node number is 551 and it is on 145.2875MHz. The CTCSS tone needed is 94.8Hz [Ed] To access the node you need to be able to enter a DTMF code (4 digit I think!) This node was also heard by Ron GM4IKU in Port Seton so listen out on 145.2875 and get in on this new development. For further IRLP info and details of the worldwide nodes you can link to check the following web pages.... http://www.qsl.net/gm4riv/ then click on the "IRLP" link and the "NEXT" prompt www.irlp.net I hope that the above is of use to you. Regards Colin GM0CLN

I‘ve done a little investigating on ILRP and it only runs on LINUX so you would need a dedicated machine for this, plus a permanent high speed internet connection. The hardware is a simple interface board, available from www.irlp.net, plus a radio and some connecting cables. [Ed]

Continued from the March Newsletter, the story of GM0B.

O n arrival at Inverness and after refuelling with LPG once again, we suggested to Kenny that he raise the height of his towing hitch as the bottom of the trailer

was just two inches (50mm) above the ground and there were some rough roads ahead. So with gusto and without question Kenny whipped out his tool kit and started making the necessary adjustments. During his labours he quietly mentioned ―the weld on this tow bar looks suspect‖ We all looked at each other, said nothing, crossed our fingers and hoped ―Murphy‖ would stay away. Kenny finished his altera-tions and we went for lunch before setting off on the final leg of our trip to Dunnet Head. We finally arrived at our contest site around 4:00 pm and decided to try and get the towers into position while we had some daylight left. Kenny was first to drive through the gate and into the fields with his heavily laden vehicle and the heaviest of trailers. However, he immediately ground to a standstill with wheels spinning, entirely blocking the entrance into the middle field. The ground was so waterlogged by the previous month‘s rain that the Range Rover sank right up to it axles. I had to attach a tow rope to my Isuzu Trooper and tow both the trailer and the Range Rover back out. (Kenny was mortified ! ) Fortunately, to Kenny‘s delight, the Isuzu Trooper also got stuck in the mud when circling back out of the field and Brian Sparks‘s Kerosene powered tractor was called upon to pull us both out. We had a quick meeting to discuss this new development and decided to leave the heavy trailer on the harder ground near the field entrance and to take the lighter mobile mast into the middle field. Everything went to plan after that and we placed the two trailer towers and our ten metre free standing tower in posi-tion. It was quickly getting dark now, so we all decide that we should stop the outside work and go in for dinner. After din-ner we decided to sort out the inside operating positions and set up our laptops for our logging system. ( all thirteen of them, we only needed six, but better safe than sorry ! ) It was not much later that a tired group of operators decided that it was time for bed, as we had long busy days ahead. The following morning we got to work immediately after breakfast. We had an area of 600ft2 for our antennas and 1,000m of coax to ensure good spacing between the beams. This would eliminate the ―break-through‖ we experienced the previous year ( even with band pass filters ) which was due to the close proximity of the beams, ultimately the result of be-ing short of coax. We had decided to put the 80m vertical and the 10m Monobander 200m away from the shack so that was 400m of coax used in the first two runs ! The antenna farm consisted of a half wave dipole for top band up about 55ft, a 50ft vertical for 80m, a 40m Vertical with 4 elevated radials, a 40m Windom up about 50ft, a 3 element 20m Monobander on a 60 ft tower, a 5 element 15m metre Monobander on a 60ft tower and a 4 element 10m Monobander on a 30ft tower. ( With other dipoles available for back-up ) Everything went fine with the antenna farm at first, as we got all the beams built and fixed onto the towers, the 40m Verti-cal was raised and we were in the process of putting our 80m Vertical up when ―Murphy‖ struck again. The antenna

snapped about 10ft above the base with an almighty crack, so it was back to the workshop with the antenna for repair. Mark, Kenny and myself managed to repair the damage with a glass fibre sleeve which allowed the rest of the team raise the antenna back up into position, this time using a gin pole. At about 3:00pm Iain, GM0OQV received a phone call from his wife, advising his seven week old daughter had been taken into hospital and he would need to return home ( would Murphy ever give us a break ? ) It was decided that Iain should take the Range Rover, so he headed off on the seven hour journey home with our thoughts going with him. We were now another operator down and being depressed at the bad news the rest of the day‘s work was executed without the usual banter. Later that day, for a change, we had a bit of luck, John GM7GKN a professional antenna rig-ger/installer phoned to say that he was on his way up to help out. John had previously told us that he may be able visit during the contest depending on work commitments, so we would be glad of his assistance. It was now getting dark and we were both tired and ravenously hungry as we had worked non-stop from 8:30am in the morning until 5:00pm without lunch, snack or even a tea-break. We cleaned up and went into a Chinese restaurant in Thurso and spent over £200 filling our stomachs, and I can vouch that there was absolutely nothing left on any plate, or in any beer glass. After dinner it was back to the bed and breakfast. Before go-ing to bed, Bob GM4VWV decided to have a quick listen on the 10m band and was announcing an aurora was in process when I entered shack and said ―Bob, do you want to SEE an aurora ?‖ Standing in the back garden of the B&B in the dark, we had an excellent view of the aurora, commonly known as the ―Northern Lights‖ in the sky over the Orkney islands. A wonder to be seen, never to be forgotten !

Friday dawned and after breakfast it was back to work again, as the final coax and rotator cables had to be run and con-nected, the towers to be cranked up, guys tightened. Whilst we were working on the 15m tower, a Tornado fighter plane flew in exceptionally low from the north and I am sure that the pilot got quite a fright, as there would not have been such an extensive array of antennas there the last time made his low level run over our cliff. From our position in the field, due to the angle of approach, the tornado looked as if it was

(Continued on page 7)

P A G E 6 V O L U M E 1 0 I S S U E 5

Gm0b cqww 2001

P A G E 7

Gm0b cont

below the top of our antennas. ―Murphy‖ struck again Friday morning. Brian the owner of the B&B came out and told us, just as we were about to test the rotators, that the entire village had lost its power. So there we were working away not knowing if the power would be returned in time for the contest and wondering where we could hire generators at short notice ? The power did, how-ever, came back in mid afternoon after some sterling work by the Scottish Hydro Electric Co. On the return of power we attached the rotator cable and ―Murphy‖ once more appeared, none of the beams would turn. We decided that due to the length of the rotator cables, voltage drop was the problem on the 10 & 20m rotators, but we were unsure of the problem with the 15m beam as it was closer to the shack. We doubled up on the runs of control cables to the furthest away towers and thankfully we got the 10m beam working, but the 20m rotator would not work at all. Graham said that the tower/rotator had not been used for about 18 months. The last time it was used was during the IOTA contest, when it helped the group, on Gigha, to be Number One in the World.

It was decided that the 20m rotator would need to be changed, so John GM7GKN and I decided to go up the tower and replace it. Gordon GM7VYR did not believe that it would be possible to do that job without taking the tower down, but as I had done the job before I told him that it would be O.K. John and I climbed the tower and clipped on, then proceeded to remove the rotator. John undid the bolts on the clamp/head unit, whilst I lifted the stub mast complete with 3 element beam, letting John pull out the rotator, fix it to a rope and lower it to the team at ground level. The spare rotator was attached to the rope, pulled up and installed in the reverse order.

As it was now dark we hoped that everything would work, as hanging on a tower and working in the dark is not much fun. In fact John mentioned whilst we were working at high level, that if he was at his place of employment he would not have been allowed to stay on the tower in the dark. The problem with the 15m rotator was never fully resolved and the rotation of the 15m beam was limited to 100 de-grees. So we were handicapped on that band for the entire contest. We learn a valuable lesson which you would think was obvious ~ all rotators must be serviced, tried and tested in advance of the contest. We went in for dinner and began to prepare for the start of the contest. We were fired up and ready to attack the con-test, but without realising it we were quite tired from the pre-vious couple of days work. Next year we plan to extend or trip by another day to give ourselves a little respite before the contest. The contest started and we got to work on the bands that were open, as usual for us the wind got up during the night and once again we lost our 80m Vertical to the gales. I had made it Benbecula proof but not Dunnet Head proof, so it‘s back to the drawing board for this antenna. The rest of the contest passed mainly without incident. Iain GM0OQV phoned to say that as his daughter was back on the road to recovery and he would return on Monday to help strip out the gear. The only other problems during the contest were medical, Phil GM0LIR, Tom MM0BHX and Kenny GM1MMK were all suffering sore throats and hoarseness, in fact almost until the start of he contest Phil had lost his voice completely and couldn‘t speak. In addition, Mark GM0WIB suffered from rag-ing toothache and subsequently had two teeth removed on the Tuesday after the contest ( He was very disappointed that the tooth fairy did not leave an FT-1000MP Mk V and an Al-pha Linear which he had hoped for. ) On the Monday after the contest it was ―strip down time‖ and it took us most of the day to remove all evidence of our visit to Dunnet Head. In the evening we went out for dinner to celebrate ~ I won‘t say to celebrate a successful contest, but I will say another most enjoyable contest with plenty of satis-faction all round. During the dinner, we asked ourselves ―will we do it again ?‖, ―you bet !‖ was the resounding reply and we have already booked with Brian and Tina for next year so we will be operating from the same QTH in CQ WW 2002. Tuesday morning, it was time to head home and we agreed to go via John o‘ Groats as some of the group had not been there before, so we headed off in that direction to get photo-graphs taken at the famous "Signpost". After our photo call we headed homeward and everything was fine for 15 miles until Murphy used his ―piece de resistance‖. We were chatting on 2m when Kenny shouted ―Stop, Stop, Stop‖, then stony silence. Tom MM0BHX and I who were driving the other 2 cars in the convoy, as Mark and Graham had both left earlier, were about 400 yards ahead, stopped and listened in antici-pation. When Kenny came back on air he said that the weld on the tow bar had finally fractured and the trailer was now sitting on the road. So there we were miles from anywhere and with no means of moving the trailer, so Kenny phoned the RAC and they said that they would send out a tow truck. Approximately an hour later the tow truck arrived, hitched up

(Continued from page 6)

P A G E 8

10 pin bowling results

V O L U M E 1 0 I S S U E 5

GAME 1 Score GAME 2 Score OVERALL Score

Gabriel 2M1IBH 129 Robert MM0ANT 131 Rose 233

Rose 128 Cambell MM0DXC 130 Ron GM4IKU 232

Ron GM4IKU 127 Ricky GM1PLY 116 Mark 227

Mark 125 Rose 105 Robert MM0ANT 222

Liz 2M1GLD 112 Jo 105 Ricky GM1PLY 212

Gabriella 103 Ron GM4IKU 105 Aileen 212

Claire 100 Keith GM0FZM 103 Cambell MM0DXC 211

Ricky GM1PLY 96 Mark 102 Gabriel 2M1IBH 205

Keith GM0FZM 92 Caroline 2M1HVR 98 Jo 191

Peter 92 Aileen 92 Keith GM0FZM 191

Robert MM0ANT 91 Bob GM4UYZ 91 Liz 2M1GLD 188

Bob GM4UYZ 90 John MM0JXI 90 Gabriella 188

Jo 86 Peter 87 Bob GM4UYZ 181

Yvonne 86 Gabriella 85 Claire 180

Cambell MM0DXC 81 Luke 81 Peter 179

Matthew 80 Matthew 80 Caroline 2M1HVR 176

"The Bairns" 79 Claire 80 John MM0JXI 162

Lisa 79 Gabriel 2M1IBH 76 Luke 156

Caroline 2M1HVR 78 Liz 2M1GLD 76 Lisa 146

Aileen 76 Lisa 67 Yvonne 144

Luke 75 "The Bairns" 58 "The Bairns" 137

John MM0JXI 72 Yvonne 58 Matthew 127

Photos courtesy of Robert MM0ANT www.myftp.co.uk/mm0ant/bowling2002/index.htm

P A G E 9

Most wanted 144mhz squares

T he results of an annual survey, carried out by Guido DL8EBW, to determine Europe's most wanted Maid-enhead locator squares on 144MHz have been re-

leased for 2002. The results summary sent out by e-mail listed 202 squares which were voted for by 102 European amateurs split by country as follows – CT(1), DL(41), EA(9), F(4), G(4), HA(2), I(9), LA(1), OE(2), OH(3), OK(2), ON(1), OZ(2), PA(6), UA1(3), S5(7), SM(2), UT(1), YU(2). Each participant in the survey could vote for as many squares as they wanted and many did! As some of you enjoy going /P occasionally I thought I would summarise the listed UK squares for you (see table) to help you decide upon your next DXpedition destina-tion! From a Scottish point of view the most interesting squares have to be IO65(15=), IO76(27=) and IO66(39=) as they are well up the table. IO65 covers Islay and some of Jura, IO76 covers a large area to the North West of Glasgow while IO66 takes in Tiree, Coll, some of Mull and a few lesser islands. I hope this is of use to someone! 73 Colin GM0CLN

POSITION

SQUARE

COUNTRY

NO. OF VOTES

11= IO43 EI 49

11= IO52 EI 49

15= IO65 EI/GI/GM 48

27= IO76 GM 45

36= IO44 EI 44

36= IO55 EI 44

39= IO66 GM 43

50= IO42 EI 41

57= IO61 EI 40

67= IO41 EI 39

97= IO67 GM 36

118= IO99 GM 34

135= IO97 GM 33

150= IO78 GM 32

185= IO71 G 30

185= IP90 GM 30

T he contesting season is well under way and as ex-pected there are plenty of events to choose from. On VHF/UHF the main ones, from a considerable

selection, are the microwaves contest on 4th

/5th

May, the 144MHz event on 18

th/19

th May and the 50MHz Trophy Con-

test on 1st/2

nd June. The club 'favourite' from those, I sus-

pect, is the 50MHz Trophy and I'm fairly certain that someone from the club will be taking part in it so why not have a listen and see what you can hear or work. On the HF front there are two fairly major CW events, both of which are towards the end of the month. On 25

th/26

th May

you could keep yourself busy with the CQ Worldwide World Prefix (CQWW WPX) CW Contest while a week later it's HF NFD (CW), a big favourite with many clubs! There is a

chance that a club entry will be arranged for HF NFD this year (for the first time). It is an event that a few CPSARC members have wanted to try and some others would like some CW practice before IOTA so you never know what may happen! Whatever your activity in the coming month please be sure to tell everyone (or me!) how you got on so that we can put something here in the newsletter. I hope you have a wonderful month and that the weather is kind to us all for those portable activities we have planned! 73 Colin GM0CLN

General Notes : The club or its members plan to be active in those events shown as bold above. Full Event Rules Are Available On The Internet As Follows : RSGB HF 2002 : http://www.rsgbhfcc.org RSGB VHF 2002 : http://www.blacksheep.org/vhfcc/rules/02rules/frameindex.html ARRL : http://www.arrl.org/contests/cal2002.html WAB : http://home.freeuk.net/wab/wab-cont.htm Links to most of the other events, or their rules, can be found on the SM3CER Contest Web Page under Calendar 2002. Start at http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/ and use the appropriate links to find the info you require.

Contest Commentary

P A G E 1 0 V O L U M E 1 0 I S S U E 5

our trailer and took it away to the local yard for later delivery to our home location. The tow bar was tied up with a piece of rope and we continued home a little faster than originally expected. ( It was about ten days later before the trailer was finally delivered our home location complete with our gear, thankfully intact. ) We are still on a steep learning curve as a contest group and we have a lot of work to do, but we can only get better. We had better antennas this year for 10, 15 and 20m, but our 80 metre antenna still lets us down. The rotator problems really caught us out this year, but that will not happen again. We need to try and get ―vertical‖ on top band, I will have a go at making a ―Battle Creek Special‖ and rename it as a ―GM0B‖ Special, and hope that it stays up ! Although we had a lot of problems we had a lot of fun and that is what it is all about, its‘ a hobby after all. Having got home we received an e-mail from Mark thanking us for letting him join our group, he said that he had a great time, in spite of the toothache and that he had never worked with a group of individuals before who had put in so much work, individu-ally and collectively for the good of a team. Basically that sums us up, we will put the work in regardless of the problems, I am sure that Murphy will visit again next year and if he does we will once again sort him out.

We would really like to thank everyone who helped us, but a special thanks goes to Eddie GM4XLU who donated gear for the bring and buy sale which ultimately made a lot of money for our equipment and also for the loan of his linear. Thanks also to Alex GM0LYM for the loan of his FL7000 linear and thanks to the members of Mid Lanark Amateur Radio Society for their generous financial contributions and loan of club equipment. Finally a special thanks to Brian and Tina at the Dunnet Head tearooms for letting us take over their home and for letting us come back next year. ( We Hope ? ) Thanks to everyone who gave us a call, please work us again next year, the QSL cards will be processed in the new year and posted as quickly as possible.

(Continued from page 7)

P A G E 1 1

Contest calendar

Date Start

(UTC)

Duration (hrs)

Contest Notes & Info

04-May-02 14:00 24 RSGB 432MHz – 248GHz

04-May-02 14:00 8 RSGB 10GHz Trophy

04-May-02 14:00 8 RSGB 432MHz Trophy

07-May-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 144MHz Activity Contest

12-May-02 09:00 3 RSGB 70MHz CW

12-May-02 09:00 9 WAB LF CW

14-May-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 432MHz Activity Contest

18-May-02 14:00 24 RSGB 144MHz Also 6 hour sections

19-May-02 11:00 4 RSGB 144MHz Backpackers #1

21-May-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 1.3GHz/2.3GHz Activity Contest

25-May-02 00:00 48 CQWW WPX CW Contest

28-May-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 50MHz Activity Contest

01-Jun-02 14:00 24 RSGB 50MHz Trophy/IARU Reg 1 Also 6 hour sections

01-Jun-02 15:00 24 HF National Field Day CW 10m-160m

02-Jun-02 09:00 9 WAB LF Phone

02-Jun-02 11:00 4 RSGB 50MHz Backpackers #1

04-Jun-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 144MHz Activity Contest

08-Jun-02 10:00 24 Jubilee Contest CW/SSB NEW ADDITION TO RSGB CALENDAR!

11-Jun-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 432MHz Activity Contest

16-Jun-02 09:00 7 PW 144MHz QRP Contest

16-Jun-02 09:00 4 RSGB 144MHz Backpackers #2

18-Jun-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 1.3GHz/2.3GHz Activity Contest

23-Jun-02 09:00 6 WAB 70MHz Phone

25-Jun-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 50MHz Activity Contest

30-Jun-02 09:00 6 WAB 144MHz QRP

02-Jul-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 144MHz Activity Contest

06-Jul-02 14:00 24 RSGB VHF National Field Day

07-Jul-02 09:00 6 WAB 50MHz Phone

07-Jul-02 11:00 4 RSGB 144MHz Backpackers #3

09-Jul-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 432MHz Activity Contest

13-Jul-02 12:00 24 IARU HF World Championships 10m-160m

14-Jul-02 11:00 4 RSGB 50MHz Backpackers #2

16-Jul-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 1.3GHz/2.3GHz Activity Contest

20-Jul-02 14:00 8 RSGB 144MHz Low Power

21-Jul-02 08:00 8 RSGB 432MHz Low Power

21-Jul-02 09:00 3 RSGB Low Power Contest - Part 1 80m

21-Jul-02 13:00 3 RSGB Low Power Contest – Part 2 40m

23-Jul-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 50MHz Activity Contest

27-Jul-02 12:00 24 RSGB Islands On The Air Contest 10m-80m CW/SSB

28-Jul-02 11:00 4 RSGB 144MHz Backpackers #4

04-Aug-02 07:00 2 RSGB RoPoCo 2 80m Rotating Post Codes

06-Aug-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 144MHz Activity Contest

11-Aug-02 09:00 6 RSGB 70MHz Trophy

13-Aug-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 432MHz Activity Contest

20-Aug-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 1.3GHz/2.3GHz Activity Contest

27-Aug-02 19:00 2.5 RSGB 50MHz Activity 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 33. 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. 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 £5,300 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

Cartoon corner

He‘s taking his Morse soon—we‘re getting him used to QRM...