Cockenzie & Port Seton

Amateur Radio Club is

affiliated to the Radio So-

ciety of Great Britain and

holds the call signs

MM0CPS and GM2T which

are used for our special

event and contest entries.

The Club was formed by

Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ in

1984, to help the local am-

ateurs get to know each

other.

Far from being just a local

club we have members

regularly attending from

the Borders, Dumfries,

Strathclyde, Fife and New-

castle.

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.

Another editorial and the third of the year, my, oh my how time is rapidly flying by!! One thing that is noticeable is that the evenings are now beginning to “stretch out” and aiming away from what I call the winter doldrums. Thank goodness for that say’s I. In some respects I like the dark nights where one can get nice and cosy sitting watching the television but if I am perfectly honest I do prefer the light nights as it allows one to get out and about instead of vegetating in front of the “box”.

First of all this month I would like to pass on our deepest sympathies to Gary MM0FZV who sadly lost his father at the end of January. What made it worse was that Gary and Janet had left to go on a holiday cruise and received the news when they arrived at Malaga whilst they were waiting to collect their cases. Getting back to the UK was certainly not an easy task as they ended up getting a flight back to Southend, then a bus to Stansted and finally flying back into Glasgow to collect their car and get home. It is a difficult time for all of those concerned trying to come to terms with their grief so all we can do is be there for them and offer our sympathies.

A speedy recovery goes out to Ron GM0NTL who suffered a heart attack at the beginning of February and required an operation to have a stent fitted.

Ok then what have we been up to this month? First of all we will have had our two construction nights which I am sure will have been a great success. Normally we have our Radio Check night run by John

MM0JXI but that has been moved to March.

Tomorrow, 2nd March, my last course of this training session, the Advanced course sit their Advanced Exam so I am sure you will go along with me and wish them all the best. If I am truthful I am ready for a well earned rest before getting down to looking at putting the 2013/2014 training program together. All being well the first course will be a Foundation Course starting September. Our next event in March is as mentioned above is John MM0JXI’s radio check night. I hope you will turn up for this one as it is a real worthwhile event to get your radios checked with sophisticated test equipment. It is a great event to put your radios through their paces so hopefully many turned up to take part.

To the future our April event will be the special event GB2VEF at the Museum of Flight. See further in the newsletter for more details

Lastly, if I have any thing to say this month it is the old hobby horse of looking for newsletter input. Thanks to those who have been contributing but we need more. Lots of people intimate that they will but never do. I do struggle from month to month to write articles and I really genuinely could do with some help so this is a plea from the heart for articles. It would be fantastic to have a good pool of articles that John can select from.

Right I think that is about it so enjoy club night and the newsletter.

Bob GM4UYZ

New Event for 2013 – GB2VEF (Vulcan East Fortune) – 19th to 21st April 2013 I was approached at the end of November by a member of the Vulcan To The Sky Club to see whether we as a club would be interested in taking part by running a Special Event Ra-dio Station to promote the last ever flying Vulcan Bomber (XH558) during 2013? We are to be the sole representative in Scotland for this event which will give us some great pub-licity. Other clubs that are taking part over the year (2013) as I write this article are New-bury and District Amateur Radio Society, Fin-ningley Amateur Radio Society and the Don-caster Radio Club. The Vulcan to the Sky Club plus the other radio clubs will be operating through-out the air display season using the call sign GB2VUL. After emails back and for-wards I suggested rather than use the GB2VUL call sign that I would like to apply for the Special Event call sign GB2VEF (Vulcan East Fortune) and the reason being as I was hoping we would be able to operate from the Museum of Flight, East Fortune. The Museum of Flight has a Vulcan Bomber (XM597) on display so getting the museum on board to allow as the go ahead with the Special Event hopefully would be made easier as it will offer the opportunity to tell others about it as well. Progress has been made: The Museum is allowing us to set-up and run the Special Event station on the dates above as well as our normal Museum’s Weekend (GB2MOF) in June. All the required paperwork – Risk Assessments, Proof of Public Liability Insurance and Proof that we have paid our Affiliated RSGB fees for 2013 to get the Public Liability Insurance and our setting up require-ments have all been submitted to the Muse-um I have applied to Ofcom and have obtained the Special Event call sign GB2VEF What is left to do is: Design a QSL Card for the event. Order after the event once we know what we require. Turn up on the afternoon of the 19th April and set-up and operate the station until clos-

ing time then on the Saturday and Sunday run the Special Event, make lots of contacts and have some fun!!!!!!! If you are free on the 19th let us know and you can help put the station together. Avro Vulcan XH558 – The Last Flying Vulcan

The Avro Vulcan XH558 is owned by the Vul-can to the Sky Trust who have kept this last airworthy Vulcan flying. It is a complex and expensive operation and they are deeply grateful for everyone’s support over the last few years. Keeping her flying is of course a costly activity, sadly it has been decided that "challenging modifications" to both wings and no longer any airworthy engines available it would not be sustainable to keep the old air-craft flying. She will need at least a £200,000 modification to her wings to increase her fly-ing life and the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, which has kept the bomber in the skies for six years, said it also needed in excess of £1m to carry out repairs and maintenance in coming months. To that end it was decided not to fund the repairs but they will continue to fly for the last time in the 2013 Air show season. It was restored in 2007 at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire with the majority of the fund-ing coming from public donations and the Heritage Lottery Fund. After restoration it was given a certificate of airworthiness before appearing at more than 60 air shows. The Vulcan XH558 took its first flight on 25 May 1960 and was originally built to carry nuclear weapons but was only ever used as a nuclear deterrent. The bomber retired from service in 1993 and is the only one left of the 134 that were built for the Royal Air Force. Description XH558 is the last flying Avro Vulcan, an iconic

(Continued on page 3)

The Club

The Club is run in a very

informal way, just a group

of like minded people

doing something they

enjoy!

This does not mean that

we don’t do anything, we

enter (and win!) contests,

train newcomers, hold

talks and video nights and

run a popular annual Junk

Sale. Our newsletter has

won the Practical Wireless

‘Spotlight’ competition on

several occasions.

The Club supports the

British Heart Foundation

in memory of a member

who died from heart dis-

ease by donating the

profits from some of the

events we hold, we have

raised over £15,832 since

1994.

2

Supported by BT Community

Champions

3

example of British aerospace engineering at its world-beating best. Its impressive list of technical achievements includes being the first successful large delta wing aircraft, innovations such as anti-lock brakes, and an agility that was so close to a jet fighter’s that it was given a fighter-style control column in place of the traditional bomber pilot’s yoke. The first Vulcan flew in 1952, just eleven years after the first flight of its pre-decessor the Avro Lancaster and the type remained in service until 1984. During that time Vulcan’s had carried the British nuclear deterrent, contributed to the development of Con-corde and flew an 8,000 mile marathon to Port Stanley to help bring the Falklands conflict to a close. XH558 returned to the air in 2007, where she became an air show phenomenon, regularly increasing attendance by 20-40 percent. Air show organisers talk about ‘the Vulcan Effect’ and have described the aircraft as a national treasure. Through air shows, educational programmes and other activi-ties, XH558 is also playing an increasing role in teaching sci-ence, technology, maths and Cold War history and in inspiring the young engineers of the future. Since May 2011, XH558 has been based in an original Vulcan Cold-War hangar at Doncaster Robin Hood Airport after the RAF Lyneham base closure was announced. It is the Trust's aspiration is that when XH558's flying life is over, she will be-come the centrepiece of a new project that will inspire and train new generations of youngsters to become engineers and technicians, helping to solve the UK's significant shortfall in the number of talented young people entering technical careers XH558 will be maintained in excellent running order and will continue to delight her supporters with fast taxi runs while developing further her role in education as the centre-piece of an exciting new type of inspirational engineering education centre. General The Vulcan strategic bomber was used by the RAF between 1956 and 1984, and formed the backbone of Britain's air-borne nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. At the height of the Cold War, Vulcan bombers carrying nu-clear missiles were a key part of Britain's deterrent. They were retired two years later but XH558 was later restored. A DELTA-SHAPED DETERRENT: OUR COLD WAR NUCLEAR BOMBER The plane initially carried the UK's first nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube gravity bomb, and was equipped to carry it to Russia - an exercise in deterrence. It was also capable of con-ventional bombing missions, and played a vital role in Opera-tion Black Buck during the Falklands War in 1982. The Black Buck combat missions saw the planes fly 3,889

miles from Ascension Island to Stanley on the Falkland Is-lands. On May 1st 1982, a single Vulcan flew over Port Stan-ley and bombed the airfield there, achieving a direct hit which rendered it unusable by fighter aircraft. Vulcan Fact File Manufacturers A V Roe & Co (Avro) named the aircraft

'Vulcan' after the Roman god of fire. Crew: 5 Main equipment: Blue Steel air launch missile Max speed: 1,040 km/h at altitude and 912km/h

cruising Length: 29.59 m Height: 8m Wingspan: 30.3m Power plant: 4 × Bristol Siddeley Olympus 200-series,

301 EAST FORTUNE VULCAN XM597 A third of Britain's strategic nuclear deterrent, 'the V-Force' of the Fifties and Sixties, the Vulcan was the world's first delta winged bomber when it first flew in 1952. Carrying an inter-nal war load of 21,000lbs, the nuclear role was enhanced with the carriage of the Blue Steel air-launched missile from 1963 to 1967. Due for retirement in 1982, the Falklands War was an operational swan song for the Vulcan. FALKLANDS VETERAN Deployed in the suppression of enemy air defences role, XM597 is only one of two Vulcan’s used in anger. The other XM607 dropped bombs on Port Stanley airfield in the Falk-land Islands. XM597 made the headlines when, due to a frac-tured in-flight refuelling probe, the Vulcan diverted to Rio de Janeiro. After seven days internment the aircraft and crew were released. On the nose can be seen two mission mark-ings and a Brazilian flag commemorating her unscheduled stopover. XM597 flew into East Fortune in 1984.

(Continued from page 2)

(Continued on page 4)

Club Attire

The club has a design for

Club Tee-shirts, Polo-

shirts, Sweat-Shirts, Fleec-

es and Jackets and all of

these can be obtained

from the address below.

When making an order

please quote ‘Cockenzie &

Port Seton Amateur Radio

Club’ as this will ensure

that the Club Logo will be

placed on the required

ordered garments.

If you wish to add your call

-sign to the logo then

please ask at the time of

the order.

Cost will depend on gar-

ment and should cover the

garment and logo, call-sign

addition will be extra.

Order from:

PATRICIA BEWSEY DESIGNS,

UNIT 11,

FENTON BARNS RETAIL

VILLAGE,

FENTON BARNS,

NORTH BERWICK,

EAST LOTHIAN

EH39 5BW

Tel/Fax: 01620 850788

Mobile: 07970 920431

Vulcan "V" bomber XM597 entered service with 12 Squadron on the 27th of August 1963 and then served with 35, 50, 9, 101 and 35 Squadrons. Deployed in the Falklands in the suppression of enemy air defences role, XM597 set the record in Black Buck 5 for the longest mission in the history of air warfare, a record that remained until a B-52 broke it dur-ing the Gulf war in 1991, after a total flight time of precisely 16 hours. XM597 again made the headlines in Black Buck 6 when, due to a fractured in-flight refuelling probe, it was di-verted to Rio de Janeiro. On the final rendez-vous with a Victor tanker XM597's refuelling probe snapped off and the crew were forced to divert. There were no pre-arranged or rec-ognised diversions and the crew's brief was to ditch the aircraft should the final refuelling fail. Reluctant to ditch XM597 in the South Atlantic the crew elected to climb to 43,000 ft for best range/endurance performance and headed west towards South America and Brazil. Before entering Brazilian airspace the un-used Shrikes had to be jettisoned to prevent any potential embarrassment to the British and Brazilian

authorities. After de-pressurizing at 43,000 ft and jettisoning secret documents and film through the crew entrance door, XM597 de-scended to around 20,000 ft whilst evading a pair of Brazilian F-5 fighter aircraft which had been scrambled to intercept it. With insuffi-cient fuel for a procedural instrument ap-proach into Rio's Galeao International Airport, XM597 was flown to the overhead where it commenced a spiral descent and visual ap-proach. The aircraft was landed with only a few hundred pounds of fuel remaining in the tanks. After seven days internment, the crew was under 'open arrest' (but well treated) on the military side of the airport, the aircraft and crew were released to prevent further embar-rassment to Brazil and Britain. After returning from Ascension Island, XM597 was allocated to 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron in July 1982 and 50 Squadron in December 1982 to be converted Further reading on the Falklands attack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck

(Continued from page 3)

4

SBC Leader David Parker, Malcolm Gibson MM0YMG from Lothian 4x4 Response Group and NHS Borders Chair John

Raine have reached agreement for the group to work alongside emergency services to help those who need assistance

in severe weather

5

Update The question that I asked by sending out an email to the club’s distribution list and also via the newsletter was ‘do we want to get involved’? It has come back that yes we do. I have been seen as the focal point and to that end I have looked to see what the best time was for us. It has to be a weekend as 99% of us are working through the week. The weekend I have chosen is Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th November. The Notice of Variation (NOV) will be allocated to me rather than multiple people. If individuals want to do this by them-selves and on different dates then please contact Len Paget GM0ONX direct at gm0onx@gmail.com who will sort it out. Before I go any further then, below are some questions that I have asked along with their responses: Question (GM4UYZ) Does it have to be a 24 hour effort? Response: (GM0ONX) No problem over not being 24 hours I don't think anyone has done that. I'm going to need the callsign, email address and licence number so I can get the NOV produced. Only need a lead contact not everyone involved. Response: (GM4UYZ) Submitted my Name, Call Sign and Licence Number Question: (GM4UYZ) Can I just confirm that we (CPSARC) club members can be oper-ating GM100RSGB at different locations at the same time, in-cluding maybe say on the same band? For example: GM4UYZ @ Port Seton, MM0DXH @ Selkirk, Geoff MM5AHO @ Bathgate, Martyn MM0XXW @ Edinburgh and Cambell MM0DXC in Tranent or do we have to be at a single location? If multiple locations would Ofcom want who they are, their location and Licence number? Response: (GM0ONX) Unfortunately no I did ask that but you could do it on consecu-tive days. I also have a lot of free dates midweek which would be ideal for running from someone's own QTH if that suits.

Now to the event which poses questions on how do we wish to organise how we operate it.....? Do we find a place and set-up and run the station from there all weekend? Question is where? Do we split the days into slots where individual club members take it in turn to operate from their home location? Slots say 3 hours..... Any other ideas? personally I would prefer option 1 where we set-up at a loca-tion and run it from there but the question is where.... My reasoning behind it is becomes like what we do at Light-houses Weekend, we are out as a team and we all work to-gether, have a bit of fun as well at the same time. Your opinions count as you are all members of the club and this is a club activity....... Once this has gone out in the newsletter I will post it on the forum and we can make decisions from there. Bob GM4UYZ

Thanks to the sterling

work by M0RNR, our club

has been added to the

excellent Clublog system

developed by Michael

Wells G7VJR.

www.clublog.org

The system allows mem-

bers to upload their logs

in ADIF format and have

them displayed in a table

with all the other club

members.

Clublog also has great

facilities for tracking your

DXCC status etc so is well

worth taking the time to

register and get your log

uploaded.

To update your log with

the next set of contacts

(SSB, CW or Data) you can

simply upload your whole

log again and the system

will take care of the dupli-

cates. Alternatively you

can export the bits you

want from your own log

and just upload that.

The tables we’ll publish

here will be the club, fil-

tered by the current year,

so everyone starts a new

year at 0 contacts.

How to Use a Kite Antenna in Amateur Ra-dio It is something I have never done and to be honest I am quite intrigued with the idea of trying it. I think though it is a project to try on a nice summers day when there is a small breeze about and not during our normal “gale force” winds that we seem to normally experience. For club members don’t drop with shock at the thought of me playing with antennas, yes I know I am barred from them and relegated to shack duties!!!!!! I have got to venture out there at some-time..... Searching the internet I came across the fol-lowing thus it is not my own work but I thought it was best leaving it in its original format. It is laid out in a set of steps to fol-low: ************************************* Overview Amateur radio (Ham radio) operators and engineers have been experimenting with radio and antennas since Marconi. The use of a kite to support an antenna makes for great days operating and a wonderful HF antenna. Warnings Check the weather, and make regular checks for lightning Kite flying near power lines is dangerous. If you can see power lines from your flying site, they are too close. Static on your antenna system can harm you and damage your radio, use an earth rod and isolate your radio through a antenna match-ing unit Be a licensed amateur radio operator to transmit on the radio. When planning this project, keep safety in mind as well. First, do not fly kites near pow-er lines, near airports or where there are low-flying aircraft, near busy residential or indus-trial areas, or anywhere when there is a chance of lightning. Moreover, be sure to ground the antenna wire, as discussed, to

avoid shock. Collect the equipment together. For this project, you'll need the following equipment: Portable HF radio Power supply (12 v battery) or mains Lifting kite and line – the kite that you choose is very important, lifting kites usually use just one line and once in the air you have no con-trol over the direction of flight. The type of kite can vary from a small box kite to a large lifting kite. Antenna wire Earth rod RF choke or high value resistor Antenna matching unit. Get a strong control line. This is the line that provides the security and keeps you kite safely attached to the ground. The line will need to be very strong for lifting kites, and you will need to see advice at the time you purchase your kite. Check local laws on the maximum height of your kite. In the United Kingdom it's 60 metres, 200 feet above the ground. In the USA, it is rec-ommended to stay below 500 feet above ground level, as aircraft rarely flow that low but do check local regulations first before assuming this is okay. Select some wire to use for the antenna and also decide how long the wire needs to be. Taking the UK maximum height of 60m, 200 feet, we need to do some calculations. A kite doesn't fly vertical, so to get a kite 60m or 200 feet into the air you will need to let out, say around 80m, 262 feet of line. 80m, 262 feet of wire, makes for a good an-tenna on 1.9 MHz or 3.5 MHz. The antenna will also work on 7 MHz but you will require an antenna matching unit. Look for lightweight but strong wire. Many electronic shops do large reels on single col-our wire around 100m per roll "equipment wire". Be aware that some insulated wire is more prone to building up static charges

6

than others. For example, kynar insulated wire wrapping wire picks up static very quickly. Surplus antenna wire, which con-sists of braided copper around a steel core, works much better and does not build up nearly as much static. Get an earth rod. This is very important as voltages may be induced on the wire you are flying, and these need to be dis-charged safely to ground. You can pick up an earth rod from a DIY store. It is recommended that you use of either an RF choke or a high value resistor (100k, for example) from the random wire input to the ground. This should be connected BEFORE launching the kite. Static can build up on the line very rapidly. You will need some incidentals, such as a hammer to bang in the earth rod, a bungee cord and a couple of climbing style carabineers. The carabineers are used to attach the kite line to the kite, and also to get the kite down at the end of the day. Find a suitable flying site, check local laws and book the right weather. As earlier stated you should not fly your kite close to an air-field or in a busy residential area but this article assumes you have a nice suitable location in mind. Lay out the kite, and run out the control line to its full extent. Do the following to prepare the kite and antenna for flight: Beside this, run out the wire antenna. The wire antenna should be a good 5 to 10 meters (longer than the control wire. Do NOT connect the wire antenna directly to the control line as this can cause the line to fail. The two lines should be sepa-rate; it is recommended that you use a small length of rope on the kite before attaching the wire antenna. Secure the main control line to the ground. You won't be able to hold the kite because these kites pull far too much, so you need to locate a suitable fence or tree. You can use a ground stake, but these are not always strong enough and you won't be able to pull a tree out of the ground... hopefully. Put the earth rod into the ground. In the first instance, attach the wire antenna to the earth rod. Use the RF choke or a high value resistor from the random wire input to the ground. Have the battery and radio and matching unit close to the earth rod. At this point, you should be ready to go. Check once again that the weather is OK, with no lighting forecast. Walk over to your kite, ensure the lines and antenna wire are not tangled and launch the kite. If the wind conditions are OK this should soar into the air taking the antenna wire with it.

Check the tension on the antenna wire. As it's 5 to 10 meters (16.4 to 32.8 feet) longer, it should sag down below the kite line. You can adjust this later. Earth the antenna matching unit, and then connect the long wire antenna. You may want to let out a little more kite line to take up the slack in the antenna wire. Tie a knot in the antenna wire about 2 feet above the ground, and attach a bungee cord. This allows the kite line to jerk in the wind, but dampens the pull on the antenna wire. Connect the antenna matching unit, and tune the antenna for the band you would like to operate. Get the kite down. This can be fun, depending on the strength of wind. Use a carabineer, and walk down the line. You will find the pull on the line is too great to wind the line in, and getting the kite down needs to be completed in a safe and controlled way. The line can be very dangerous if it pulls through your hand, causing burns or worse. The carabineer method keeps your hand and fingers safe, and does not cause wear to the kite lines. Have fun, and be safe. Flying kites can be dangerous, exer-cise all precautions to ensure it stays fun and is not endanger-ing anyone. The safety of you and others has to be number one.

(Continued from page 6)

7

Thanks to the sterling

work by M0RNR, our club

has been added to the

excellent Clublog system

developed by Michael

Wells G7VJR.

www.clublog.org

The system allows mem-

bers to upload their logs

in ADIF format and have

them displayed in a table

with all the other club

members.

Clublog also has great

facilities for tracking your

DXCC status etc so is well

worth taking the time to

register and get your log

uploaded.

To update your log with

the next set of contacts

(SSB, CW or Data) you can

simply upload your whole

log again and the system

will take care of the dupli-

cates. Alternatively you

can export the bits you

want from your own log

and just upload that.

The tables we’ll publish

here will be the club, fil-

tered by the current year,

so everyone starts a new

year at 0 contacts.

Hi folks

Just a short input to elements

I am just wondering what other peo-

ple are working as far as dx is going

i am working lots of psk whether it be

31/63 or RTTY the occasional 125 , I

have worked on SSB voice as well ,

Well January is past and some nice

QSO’S were had .

4/1/13 ON 7.139 AT 23.30 Z81D DIYA

IN SOUTH SUDAN

8/1/13 ON 28.120 PSK31 AT 13.40

KP4BZ LUIS IN PUERTO RICO

9/1/13 ON 28.120 PSK31 AT 14.17

VE2UC JD IN CANADA

10/1/13 ON 7.160 SSB AT 19.45

VK7AC NORM AUSTRALIA

11/1/13 ON 14.070 PSK31 AT 14.44

YE1NC IWAN IN INDONESIA

13/1/13 ON 28.120 PSK31 AT 15.36

KC2RDC CHRIS IN USA

15/1/13 ON 7.035 PSK31 AT 19.34

CU2BV FERNANDO AZORES

18/1/13 ON 7.035 PSK31 AT 22.42

CO3JA FERN CUBA

20/1/13 ON 28.120 PSK31 AT 12.48

OD5PY MARWAN LEBANON

21/1/13 ON 28.120 PSK31 AT 10.46

T6T SHURAVI AFGANISTAN

23/1/13 ON 10.142 RTTY AT 17.34

Z6/S52DD IN KOSAVO

24/1/13 ON 24.920 RTTY AT 14.18

PY4OYL SUE ARUBA

26/1/13 ON 14.208.5 SSB AT 11.52

JW7XM HARALD JAN MAYEN

28/1/13 ON 28.120 PSK31 AT 13.18

LU1IWI GEO ARGENTINA

Just some of the interesting ones I

have worked, all on a multi band ver-

tical max 100watts SSB and 35watts

PSK many more over January were

worked from Russia, Ukraine, Austria,

Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Eng-

land, Germany, Italy, and USA.

Total worked 99 stations over January

There will be lots more I have missed

but the bad wx was good for dx so I

will see what February will bring on

the bands and modes

GOOD DXING MM0GZZ Duncan

.

8

1. The Amateur Radio Service is

a. for private commercial gain

b. for public commercial gain

c. non-commercial in nature

d. commercial in nature.

2. Which of the following may be transmitted?

a. Music.

b. Public broadcasts.

c. Remarks of personal nature.

d. Speeches.

3. The MOST suitable cable to connect an antenna tuning unit (a.t.u.) to a transmitter is

a. twin speaker cable

b. coaxial cable

c. twin core mains cable

d. 300 Ώ feeder cable.

4. A transmitter has an output power of 20W and is connected to a yagi antenna with a gain of 4. What is the e.r.p.?

a. 5W

b. 16W

c. 24W

d. 80W

5. A radio amateur decides to erect a second dipole of the same type but a different length. This is done because

a. the second antenna is intended to be used on a different frequency

b. two antennas will give a stronger signal than one

c. the amateur wants to talk to two friends at the same time

d. the second antenna will be kept as a spare.

6. An effect of placing a capacitor in parallel with an emitter bias resistor is that

a. negative feedback is increased

b. inter-electrode capacitance is reduced

c. negative feedback is reduced

d. phase reversal occurs.

7. The designer of a mains power supply has a choice of using either a half wave, a full wave, or a bridge rectifier. Which would require a higher value reservoir capacitor for the same degree of smoothing?

a. All require the same value reservoir capacitor.

b. The bridge rectifier.

c. The full wave rectifier.

d. The half wave rectifier.

8. The output frequency of a transceiver may be controlled by a

a. frequency synthesizer

b. demodulator

c. beat frequency oscillator

d. balanced mixer.

9. A single-channel transmitter intended for operation on 70•26MHz uses a crystal oscillator on 5855kHz. The final frequency is most likely to be produced by

a. a frequency synthesizer and mixer system

b. a variable frequency oscillator

c. direct digital synthesis

d. a frequency multiplier system.

10. A wideband FM transmission is normally regarded as one where the

a. depth of modulation is much greater than 1

b. modulation index is much greater than 1

c. deviation ratio is much greater than 1

d. deviation ratio is much less than 1.

9

General correspondence,

training and contest

entries

Bob Glasgow

7 Castle Terrace

Port Seton

East Lothian

EH32 0EE

Phone: 01875 811723

E-mail:

gm4uyz@cpsarc.com

HF Contests

Cambell Stevenson

mm0dxc@aol.com

VHF Contests

John MacLean

mm0ccc@cpsarc.com

Club Tables

Bob Purves

gm4ikt@cpsarc.com

Contest Reports

Robin Farrer

mm0vtv@cpsarc.com

Newsletter, website,

event calendar

John Innes

newsletter@cpsarc.com

1 March 2013 Club Night

22 March 2013 Radio Check Night (moved from its normal February slot)

30 March 2013 Newsletter Deadline

5 April 2013 Club Night

20/21 April 2013 GB2VEF (Vulcan East Fortune) setup 19 April

3 May 2013 Club Night

10 May 2013 DF Hunt

7 June 2013 Club Night

9 June 2013 PW QRP Contest

15/16 June 2013 Museums on the Air

19 June 2013 HF Activity Night

28 June 2013 Club Night (early due to VHF Field Day)

6/7 July 2013 RSGB VHF Field Day

27/28/ July 2013 RSGB IOTA Contest

2 August 2013 Club Night

9 August 2013 Mini Rally

17/18 August 2013 Lighthouses Weekend

6 September 2013 Club Night

27 September 2013 DF Hunt

4 October 2013 Club Night

18 October 2013 Video Night

26/27 October 2013 CQWW SSB Contest

1 November 2013 Club Night

6 December 2013 Club Night

Answers from March 2013 newsletter “Test Your Knowledge”.

1c, 2c, 3b, 4d, 5a, 6b, 7d, 8a, 9d, 10b

Rank Callsign 160 80 60 40 30 20 17 15 12 10 6 4 2 70 DXCCs Slots Range

1 MM0GZZ 0 2 0 26 20 8 0 13 6 11 0 0 0 0 50 86 5 yrs

2 MM0DXH 0 2 0 17 0 19 0 11 0 7 0 0 0 0 37 56 10 yrs

3 GM4UYZ 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 33 yrs

4 MM0XXW 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 yrs