Cockenzie & Port Seton Amateur Radio Club is affiliated to the Radio Society of Great Britain and holds the call signs MM0CPS and GM2T which are used for our special event and contest entries. The Club was formed by Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ in 1984, to help the local amateurs get to know each other. Far from being just a local club we have members regularly aending from the Borders, Dumfries, Strathclyde, Fife and Newcastle. The Club meets on the first Friday of every month (Second Friday of January) in the lounge of the Thorntree Inn on the old Cockenzie High Street from 7pm ll late. First of all I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you and your families a VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. Well folks another year has gone and here we are starng another brand new year. What does the future hold for us well that is the thousand dollar queson? The club has survived 30 years so far due to all your efforts so let’s keep it up the good work. Remember it is your club. My new year’s resoluons are to try and get on the air a lot more oſten that I have been doing, in 2014 the Acvity days certainly encouraged me and I was on apart from the days I was working away from home. It was nice to see others taking part and geng on the air so hopefully everyone will connue and of course many others come in and join the day. I must also try and clear some of my outstanding “shack” tasks. Easier said than done with work and so many background tasks that seem to appear and need dealing with, any way I am going to try. So what happened over the last year…? BAD and GOOD NEWS Like in the previous years I am using January’s editorial as an opportunity to recap on the previous year. I will start with the sad news where Ian GM3VEI XYL, Adrian GM0SRD, Cliff G3YOG and Bob GM4FIB all passed away... As always our thoughts will go out to their families parcularly at this me of year. If I have missed any one then I do apologise it is not meant. CLUB ATTENDANCE The club’s aendances for last year have averaged 13 people at club nights, the same as last year. 39 people have come through the door an increase of 3 on last year. The trend has gone in the right direcon and those that were missing it looked like they are maybe no longer interested in the club night hopefully they will return in 2015. It is my dream New Year’s resoluon to have many people turn up to our club night, as I say it is a dream. What can we do to encourage further new faces as well as to encourage everyone who has been before to come more oſten. The Foundaon, Intermediate and Full (Advanced) Courses have certainly created some of the new aendees and long may that connue but a lot of promises of aending have never materialised. I always live in hope that some of the old regulars will return to the fold but we will have to wait and see. I sll feel though that we have a very strong and healthy club but as I have said before it is down to you all making it that way. In general for those who do not aend I keep on asking the queson on what is required to make you come along but sadly I cannot find an answer. Are you just fed up? Are you just not interested in what is happening, tell me what needs changing and I will try my best to make it happen? Do you not like the club now, then why not? What has changed your opinion? I am sure there are many more quesons that need asking (Connued on page 2)
First of all I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you and your families a VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. Well folks another year has gone and here we are starting another brand new year. What does the future hold for us well that is the thousand dollar question? The club has survived 30 years so far due to all your efforts so let’s keep it up the good work. Remember it is your club
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Cockenzie & Port Seton
Amateur Radio Club is
affiliated to the Radio
Society of Great Britain
and holds the call signs
MM0CPS and GM2T which
are used for our special
event and contest entries.
The Club was formed by
Bob Glasgow GM4UYZ in
1984, to help the local
amateurs get to know each
other.
Far from being just a local
club we have members
regularly attending from
the Borders, Dumfries,
Strathclyde, Fife and
Newcastle.
The Club meets on the first
Friday of every month
(Second Friday of January)
in the lounge of the
Thorntree Inn on the old
Cockenzie High Street from
7pm till late.
First of all I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you and your families a VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
Well folks another year has gone and here we are starting another brand new year. What does the future hold for us well that is the thousand dollar question?
The club has survived 30 years so far due to all your efforts so let’s keep it up the good work. Remember it is your club.
My new year’s resolutions are to try and get on the air a lot more often that I have been doing, in 2014 the Activity days certainly encouraged me and I was on apart from the days I was working away from home. It was nice to see others taking part and getting on the air so hopefully everyone will continue and of course many others come in and join the day. I must also try and clear some of my outstanding “shack” tasks. Easier said than done with work and so many background tasks that seem to appear and need dealing with, any way I am going to try.
So what happened over the last year…?
BAD and GOOD NEWS
Like in the previous years I am using January’s editorial as an opportunity to recap on the previous year. I will start with the sad news where Ian GM3VEI XYL, Adrian GM0SRD, Cliff G3YOG and Bob GM4FIB all passed away... As always our thoughts will go out to their families particularly at this time of year. If I have missed any one then I do apologise it is not meant.
CLUB ATTENDANCE
The club’s attendances for last year have averaged 13 people at club nights, the same as last year. 39 people have come through the door an increase of 3 on last year. The trend has gone in the right direction and those that were missing it looked like they are maybe no longer interested in the club night hopefully they will return in 2015. It is my dream New Year’s resolution to have many people turn up to our club night, as I say it is a dream. What can we do to encourage further new faces as well as to encourage everyone who has been before to come more often.
The Foundation, Intermediate and Full (Advanced) Courses have certainly created some of the new attendees and long may that continue but a lot of promises of attending have never materialised. I always live in hope that some of the old regulars will return to the fold but we will have to wait and see. I still feel though that we have a very strong and healthy club but as I have said before it is down to you all making it that way.
In general for those who do not attend I keep on asking the question on what is required to make you come along but sadly I cannot find an answer. Are you just fed up? Are you just not interested in what is happening, tell me what needs changing and I will try my best to make it happen? Do you not like the club now, then why not? What has changed your opinion? I am sure there are many more questions that need asking
(Continued on page 2)
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
and answering. From my side of the fence where I spend a huge amount of time to run the radio club and try to create a varied events program plus all the other items that make it a club then the lack of response just feels like a total “kick in the face”. I do certainly get very “down” at times, to say the least and I have on a few occasions felt like throwing the towel in but if I do that then APATHY wins. I do plead with you all to try and take along hard look at what you want out of the club and then act positively to try and achieve that. Apathy is about negative thinking so lets try and turn it around to positive thinking and “buck” the apathy way. POSITIVE THINKING is my New Years Resolution to you all………………………………
TRAINING
From the training aspect once again we have run Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced Courses and since January 2014 to now as I write this, we have taught the following number of candidates 18 Foundation, 14 Intermediate and 17 Advanced. We had the following passes - 16 out of the 18 people taking the Foundation exam, 14 out 14 on the Intermediate exam and 12 out of 15 on the Full (Advanced)
We have the advanced course for the 2014/2015 session starting on the 24th January so I am sure you will go along with me and wish them all the best.
Later on in the year I will be announcing the 2015/2016 program so anybody interested can you or them let me know and I will add them to my “future” lists. For those interested can you get them to contact me direct at [email protected] or Tel: 01875 811723, also full details can be found on the club’s website as well. With regard to the site facilities to deliver the training I certainly must thank the Port Seton Community Centre. The centre staff has certainly been very helpful in ensuring that everything runs smoothly for us. I also must really offer a huge thanks to Cambell MM0DXC for invigilating the exams plus all the extra effort and support that he offers as I deliver the courses, to Cephas MM0INS and
Gary MM0FZV who help Cambell invigilate, Tom GM4LRU for the practical on the air sessions and to all the others who have done their part in helping the candidates get their licence
RALLIES
The club members visited the radio rallies at Blackpool, Crianlarich and Galashiels plus I am sure I have missed some others as well
CLUB EVENTS
Moving on and from the official events calendar we started out in February with our annual radio check night by John MM0JXI, a very useful night indeed, nice to see it was well supported and thanks John for your continuing support here. In March we had a talk by Ian Sheffield GM3VEI on “Aurora”, absolutely fascinating to say the least. In April we had a WinTest Training Night giving people the opportunity to learn how to configure the program for a contest plus an opportunity to practice using it. WinTest is the mainstay software logging program used by the club for logging during contests and special events. In October we had a talk by Geoff MM5AHO on “2014 Maritime Adventures”. Geoff covered the normal Lighthouse Weekend plus a Yachting/Running race around the Scottish Islands. The last talk of the year in November was by Gavin Taylor GM0GAV on Mobile Phone Networks. It was poorly supported but for those who did attend found it to be a very interesting and informative talk on how mobile phone networks have evolved over the year from the start to present day.
Lastly in December along with our wife's and partners we went out for a “Christmas Meal this year Italian at the Caprice in Musselburgh. This year was very special night for me in that I received a massive surprise where I was presented with a beautiful engraved crystal bowl along with its stand as a thank you from everyone for what I have done since I started the club back in 1984. To say I was shocked and speechless is an understatement. You are all a really sneaky lot and I don’t know how you managed to keep it a surprise but you did. Seriously though many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart to everyone who contributed
(Continued from page 1)
3
which I understand was from all around the world. Since then I have also many congratulations from lots of people on the clubs facebook page so to everyone I sincerely thank you all. Yvonne my long suffering wife was astounded to also receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers and would like to say many thanks as well…
Our other event was the starting of a weekly Morse training class starting in October which is still running.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Special events this year were our normal Museum of Flight in June using GB2MOF plus our annual lighthouses event at Barns Ness with GB2LBN. Both again were very successful with plans to run them both in 2015. Port Seton Gala we didn’t manage to do as it clashed with Museums on the Air weekend (GB2MOF).
DF NIGHTS
We had two DF nights, one in May and the other in September. Once again they were thoroughly enjoyed by those taking part. Being at two different times of the year where one was done in daylight and the other in darkness certainly added to the events. DF hunting I can tell you is not easy and if you have never done it before why not go out in the 2015 events, I am sure you will enjoy them. The “HYBSZER TROPHY” donated by Ron GM0NTL in memory of the late Bill Gordon GM8ZLI/MM0BXK who died in January 2010, Bill was a keen advocate of our DF Nights, is presented to the winner of each event. The May DF Night the fox was Robin MM0VTV with Cephas MM0INS and Bob GM4IKT the winners. In September the fox was Bob GM4IKT with Cephas MM0INS and Robin MM0VTV the winners. I would like to thank both the foxes for taking on the role and offer congratulations to the winners.
GENERAL OPERATING
This year instead of just the Summer and Winter Solstice Activity Nights I decided to run an Activity Day each month to try to encourage people to come on the air once a month and do some operating. It was generally well supported although I would have liked a few others to have taken part. It is certainly a good bit of fun. I intend running the monthly Activity Days throughout 2015 so again I hope you will support the event.
How have we faired over the year. At the time of writing, the December Activity day has still to take place and if time allows I will submit a report for this newsletter. For those who did not take part, honestly it is just about having a bit of operating fun for a few hours and seeing what you can achieve…. It can be quite surprising.
CONTESTING
On the VHF/UHF contesting front we managed the 6M Trophy and also manage VHF Field Day. The biggest participation by club members was in the VHF Field Day which although hard work is still very enjoyable. This year we once again operated from the site south of Castle Douglas. What a site is all I can say!!!! The results are in and once again we have won the Open Section for Scotland. Well done to all of those who took part. Overall the VHF contesting from a club view point has certainly dropped in volume compared to what we used to do. Robin MM0VTV took part in the 2M PW QRP Contest and he was successful this year as the Leading Scottish station winning the Tennamast trophy. This was presented to the club during our Annual Junk Night in August by Jim Hume MSP (MM0DXH).
On the HF front we took part in the following contests RSGB IOTA and CQWW SSB. The big one being the IOTA contest where again we did it from the Island of Tiree. The results are out and we came 4th in the world in the DX-Peditions section, this again is a fantastic achievement to the club so well done to all of those who took part.
CQWW SSB we took part in from our normal location at Barns Ness Lighthouse, Dunbar. This is a hard contest as it takes its toll on everyone due to its 48 hours duration. This year we decided again to enter the Multi-2 Section which proved beyond doubt that it is the right place for us to be. It is still hard but it is lots of fun and a lot more enjoyable all round... As always we must thank Lafarge Cement for continually supporting us by letting us use the out buildings at the Lighthouse.
JUNK NIGHT
Junk night was once again a resounding success and with the money raised there being put into the club accounts. Although the change in policy there was still a box for British Heart Foundation Donations and from that and other donations throughout the year we still raised £247 making a grand total of £16,235 since we started in December 1993. Well done to everyone in helping raise this sort of money.
NEWSLETTER & WEBSITE
On the newsletter front it is still very much in demand and although copies are handed out at club night there are many, many more downloaded from the club’s website. Many thanks to those who have contributed and I hope you will still continue but as always I am pleading to everyone out there for lots more input as I do need help as I really do struggle each month trying to find and write about interesting articles. Remember the newsletter is everyone’s newsletter and without input it will not survive. Remember also that it offers a window to the outside world showing them what we are doing, etc, etc, so come on can I have some input from you all.
(Continued on page 4)
Club Attire
The club has a design for
Club Tee-shirts, Polo-
shirts, Sweat-Shirts,
Fleeces and Jackets and all
of these can be obtained
from the address below.
When making an order
please quote ‘Cockenzie &
Port Seton Amateur Radio
Club’ as this will ensure
that the Club Logo will be
placed on the 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
garment 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
Please send any articles to John MM0JXI, thanks. For regular paper copy readers you will notice that the newsletter has been printed in colour for quite a long time. Thanks goes out to Cephas MM0INS who does the necessary colour printing for us.
The club’s website I certainly feel is going from strength to strength and is very much a club focal point. After the website being hacked in 2011 John has continually worked hard in the background getting it back to a fantastic website and advert for the club. As always with the website there is continual background work going on as John strives hard to make it even better... Massive thanks to John MM0JXI for all his background hard work in achieving this. I know it involves a lot of John’s free time. The same applies with regard to the newsletter production. From us all John many, many thanks.
CLUB GARMENTS
Lastly as a reminder we have a Club Logo and garments can be obtained from Patricia Bewsey at Fenton Barns. (details in the panel on the left)
CLUB PREMISES
The quest to obtain our own club premises, well we are now nearly seven years into this quest and as yet nothing secured. I must admit it is a harder task than even I first imagined. It is quite frustrating to identify something and then write to the owners and not get any sort of reply. In fact I personally think it is quite rude that they don’t even acknowledge even if the answer is a basic, no. We have not given up hope on this task so if any one does see some opportunity then please let us know and it can be taken from there or why not do a
little bit of groundwork yourself and then let us know.
CLUB ACCOUNTS
A full copy of our 2014 accounts will be included in the newsletter. The way that income is raised is from our Junk Night, donations given at our club nights and events where we need to raise the money to pay the hire of the Community Centre or other items. The club night donation is “would you like to donate £2” is the way it is done or in January you can donate the £24 for the year (helps me enormously). We do not have fixed “Annual Fees” although this has been suggested it doesn’t fit with the club ethos of “willing” to help the club by obliging people to pay a fixed sum of money.
GENERAL
Last January we entered into the RSGB’s Club of the Year competition. The year that was covered was 2013 and once again we were successful with the Trophy being presented by Jason O’Neill, GM7VSB RSGB Region 1 Manager whilst we were at the Museum of Flight We will be submitting an entry this year which covers the 2014 year so fingers crossed.
As you can see 2014 it was quite a busy year all round and I feel there is something for everyone. Now we are in 2015 another events program has been created so why not come along and take part. It is what our club is all about……
Enjoy the newsletter and club night…
Bob GM4UYZ
(Continued from page 3)
4
5
December Activity Day – 17th December 2014 00:00 to 23:59
This is our eleventh one of the year... so report below on who
or who didn’t take part
Apologies first:
Bob GM4IKT
I was never on. Had a very busy day yesterday
Cephas MM0INS
Nil return from me I'm afraid...
Jim MM0DXH
No contacts made
Ron GM0NTL
Sri Bob, have now gone QRT until next year sometime.
John MM0SNK
I wasn’t on, I’m afraid. Having radio issues at the moment -
hopefully be getting a new one once the hassle of Christmas is
out of the way…
Sohun MM0SBE
Due to other priorities, I have not been able to play radio as
often as I would have liked hence, not been able to take part
in Activity Days recently. I should have made you aware of my
situation a while back but didn't, I apologise for that. I do
switch on my FT 857 every now and then and make the odd
QSO which I log religiously on QRZ. I hope my situation chang-
es for the better in the future and I can reprioritize. Wishing
you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2015
Colwyn MM0YCJ
Yet again I failed to participate in the activity day on 17th De-
cember. I was flying back from a few days skiing in Austria. A
feeble excuse I agree!
Geoff MM5AHO
No activity here sorry.
Duncan MM0GZZ
Sorry bob was not on
Brian M0RNR
Sorry bob was not on
Reports:
Bob GM4UYZ (15:09 to 19:00))
I managed to get on late afternoon after I came back from
Aberdeen where I had been working. Stopped for tea then
tried 20M again but found it quite dead compared from two
hours previous. Moved down on to 40M and worked a few
contacts before deciding to stop. All my QSO’s were done on
PSK31 as I can drive my radio from the house and do data con-
tacts.
Geoff GM0LOD (10:10)
Abject failure! What with being Santa, visiting Audiology at
Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, grandson sitting there wasn’t a
great deal of time to play radio. I managed a single contact
with GD14YOTA, Castletown IoM at 10.10 on 7.16 MHz His
Locator is IO74qb and mine is IO85mv.
Bob 2M0KLL (03:01 to 15:58)
I did manage some Bob. The conditions were not too great on
any of the bands or times of day/night.
However, for what it’s worth here are my contacts.
Andy MM0GYG
I did manage some Bob as very busy here at the moment. Log
sent attached
It is great to see that there is still at least some interest in the
Activity Days but to honest I thought more would take part. I
know conditions are variable but unless you go on and give it a
try you will never know. Overall the 24 hour time is certainly
helping in the sense that it is not restricted to a few hours as it
is allowing people to come on and take part when time is
available to them. Let’s keep this up as this in my opinion is
EB2CZF, DJ5AV from Mainz and EB1IFK. A final call brought no
replies so I packed the electronics then found that the blizzard
had worsened when I emerged from the snowhole. Not cer-
tain what had kept the aerial upright either? We skied further
down the hill but finished early to dress for the excellent
Christmas dinner that evening.
On boxing day the winds and drifting snow had closed all of
the upper slopes so we skied the fresh snow back down to the
village on the lower slopes, ending my six radio days of Christ-
mas.
Colwyn MM0YCJ
(Continued from page 9)
10
11
Below is our entry to the RSGB for the 2014 RSGB Club of the
Year with many thanks to Geoff MM5AHO who has compiled
our entry and to John MM0JXI for its proof reading. I think you
will agree with me that it is quite amazing what we achieve in
a year. Well done everyone... Bob GM4UYZ
As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, CPSARC has achieved
much to look back on, but looking forward to much more.
Structured in a very informal manner, without officers, formal
membership or other sometimes “club throttling” bureaucra-
cy, the club maintains its health more along family lines with
transparent affairs, and active encouragement of youngsters.
An extensive inventory of rigs, antennae, towers and other
equipment has been accumulated over years to enable the
club to successfully participate in both RSGB and other activi-
ties.
Age Profile and Membership
The club has a diverse but informal membership with a range
from 8 years and 79 years. A good mix of ages participate in
most events, with several who started as teenagers and now
as young adults are gradually becoming the mainstay of activi-
ties, while those growing older do as they are able.
With a wider geographic spread than might be expected for an
essentially local club, members range from Newcastle to Glas-
gow, Western Scotland and further north. Most members are
from the East Lothian area, and many activities are based
there though travelling to contesting locations all round Scot-
land has always been successfully pursued.
Training
The club has always been very active in training and licensing.
As in most years 2014 again saw a course for each level of li-
cense, and a special arrangement to support those undertak-
ing self-training. Also, as in previous years, candidates have
come from near and far, some travelling 30 miles and more to
attend classes.
To encourage newly licensed members, training activities such
as the WinTest Users training day, the CW classes (held both in
class and on air), and the “Left Handed Capacitor” trophy, only
for 1st year licensees and is an activity-based award.
New licensees are strongly encouraged in contesting and spe-
cial events stations as a means to hone their operating skills,
and some of younger members have become very competent.
A scorecard record, keeps a tally of members activity through
each year to encourage DXing. During 2014, 49 keen learners
received licensing training from the club, with 40 of them pass-
ing several of the three levels.
Training doesn’t stop for other members though, with usually
three of the monthly meetings dedicated to an educational
talk for all, such as this year’s Mobile phone technology, and
one on Aurora working.
Spectrum Use
Members are active from LF through to UHF. VHF Field day is
one of our best attended contests, but behind the scenes
members continue experimenting on LF with contacts across
Scotland and beyond. An in-club monthly activity day encour-
ages use of all bands with some competitive element to gather
more interest. VHF field day is the major club activity for the
VHF area, though DF nights have brought out some interesting
new antennas for 2m. HF activity is the mainstay of activity
with contesting, special events and activity days all in that part
of the spectrum.
Outreach and Promotion
The club is a social one as well as a technical and competitive
one. Attending the other rallies as far south as Blackpool, run-
ning its own annual Junk Sale, and with several purely social
activities annually, the club makes solid efforts to attract new
members to the hobby. Special event stations are run several
times a year, in public places where all interested are invited
to participate. The most popular one is activating GB2MOF
during Museums on the Air from the Museum of Flight at East
Fortune, where in 2014, museum visitors gathered round to
see what was happening, and members were on hand to ex-
plain what the operators were doing. Lighthouses on the Air is
another event that attracts many of the walkers on the seaside
walking paths near the lighthouse used with cooperation from
a nearby company that owns it.
The Commonwealth Games station GA14CG, mounted by the
(Continued on page 12)
12
Stirling Club was supported by members helping to operate
the multiple stations that Stirling ambitiously but successfully
operated.
The club has long been a supporter of the British Heart Foun-
dation and every year donates a portion of income to this
worthy cause.
The club’s website receives >27,000 visits a year, and from
the forum traffic and interest in sale items, a wide UK follow-
ing seems apparent. Some of the new members have been
attracted this way, and it continues to be the major means of
communication with current and prospective members.
International Amateur Radio Day in April 2014 was a well
attended special activity.
Contesting and Activity
Recognising this as a valuable training tool, the club encour-
ages less experienced members to join its contesting activity.
VHF field day, IOTA, 6m Trophy, 2m QRP, and CQWW were
all entered, using mixed ability teams, but gaining creditable
results.
Monthly Activity nights have proved popular with the Winter
Solstice being quite different from the Summer Solstice. DF
nights are well received, and lots of fun for those partici-
pating in the twice yearly event.
In this its 30th year, CPSARC has arranged a special 30 Year
Challenge activity. Spread over 30 weeks, the aim is to work
30 stations on a band and gain the maximum cumulative dis-
tance. Multiple entries were encouraged, and many of the
club members participated.
In summary, the CPSARC is an active RSGB affiliated club,
which though having a non-traditional structure, is effective
and healthy. Active training and examining of newcomers
ensures new blood is always flowing. Regular activity ensures
the membership see value in the club.
Compiled by Geoff Crowley, MM5AHO
It is declared that the above is a true account of the activities
of CPSARC for 2014.
John Innes, MM0JXI
Robert Glasgow, GM4UYZ
Bob GM4UYZ being presented with the trophy
for CPSARC winning the 2014 RSGB Region 1 Club
of the Year
13
This was a new venture for 2014 moving away from our sum-
mer and winter solstice activity days. The change from just
being an evening event to a 24 hour event also allowed people
to take part when time suited their circumstances and it seems
to have worked.
The real aim of this move to monthly Activity Days was to try
and encourage people to make the time and actually go on the
air and do some operating, as mentioned before we are “Radio
Amateurs” and the function of that is to make “On-Air” con-
tacts. I know personally if has certainly encouraged me and I
managed 10 months out of the 12 to get on the air. The two
that I missed was due to work reasons where I was working
away from home.
I know John MM0JXI will love me with the next bits and pieces
as they are tables, sorry John but I think they tell the story
rather than me trying to explain it all…………
Below is a list of everyone who took part and I am most thank-
ful to you all. Some managed to make quite a few contacts and
others very few but at least they went on the air. The Activity
Days are being run once again in 2015 so hopefully many more
of you will take part.
NAME No. JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Total
Bob GM4UYZ 1 X X X X X X X X o o X X 10
Alan MM0WXT 2 X o o o X o o o o o o o 2
Andy MM0GYG 3 X X X o X X X X X X o X 9
Bob GM4IKT 4 X o o o o o o o X o o o 2
Tom GM4LRU 5 X o o o o o o o o o o o 1
Chris 2M0YSR/MM0YAB 6 X o X o X o o o o o o o 3
Jamie MM0JMI 7 X o X o X o o o o o o o 3
Jim MM0DXH 8 o X o X o o X o o o o o 3
Martyn MM0XXW 9 o X X o X o X o X X X o 7
Billy 2M0YLA/MM0MLD 10 o X o X o o o X o X o o 4
Duncan MM0GZZ 11 o o X X X o X X o X o o 6
Colwyn MM0YCJ 12 o o X o o X o o o o o o 2
Bob 2M0KLL 13 o o X o o o X X X o o X 5
John MM0SNK 14 o o X o o o o o o o o o 1
Sean MM0SRY 15 o o X o X o o X o o X o 4
Ron GM0NTL 16 o o o X X X X X X o o o 6
Sohun MM0SBE 17 o o o X X o o o o o o o 2
Cephas MM0INS 18 o o o X o X o X o o o o 3
Geoff MM5AHO 19 o o o X o o X o o o o o 2
Brian M0RNR 20 o o o o X o o o o o o o 1
Alisdair MM0XAB 21 o o o o X o o X o o o o 2
Martin 2M0BEC 22 o o o o o o o o X o o o 1
Geoff GM0LOD 23 o o o o o o o o o o o X 1
Stations On the Air 7 5 10 8 12 5 8 9 6 4 3 3 80
QSO's Made Each Month 36 108 142 135 88 34 60 54 55 43 31 26 812
The following are some statistics on Bands and Modes worked. There is no doubt about it that the data modes are the pre-dominant mode and I reckon it is because the amount of activity with the different data modes compared to SSB and CW. Per-sonally I have done more data but the reason is that I can control my radio remotely and send data whereas I would have to be physically at my radio to do CW or SSB. I wouldn’t say it is my favourite mode but it has been a challenge getting it up and running remotely and I suppose that is what Amateur Radio is all about with regard to experimenting. QSO’s/BAND
As I expected the main bands of operation were 20M, 15M and 40M which will become more prominent as the Sunspot Cycle diminishes. Great to see some activity on 10M plus the WARC Bands and for me they are bands I tend to forget about so may-be in 2015 I need to look at them as well. QSO’s/MODE The following tables have been broken down into the separate months for the different modes. I did not include the table that I had produced for any AM contacts and the reason being that none were made. Over the year there were a total of 185 SSB contacts, 135 CW Contacts, 436 Data Contacts (All data modes) and 6 FM Contacts.
That is the summary for our Activity Days in 2014 and I hope you will all take part in 2015. Thanks again to all who took part and I hope you will continue into 2015. Bob GM4UYZ
What a surprise it was and I am still speechless and you know that isn't me...Just managed to keep the tears in .To say I am
shocked is an understatement and I still can't stop thinking about what you all done. Not sure how it was managed without me
knowing but you are all a sneaky lot.....
The club is not just about me it is about everyone as we all play a part in making it what it is today so a huge thanks from me for
that.
I really thank you all from the "bottom of my heart" for what you all did. You know me I find it difficult to put the right words togeth-
er to really express how I feel but I am sure you all know.
Thanks
Bob GM4UYZ
17
1. The ratio between the input signal that can just be heard on a receiver and the signal level at which it overloads is known as the receiver's
a. dynamic range
b. overload margin
c. receive threshold
d. noise factor.
2. In a double conversion superheterodyne receiver the func-tion of the first mixer is to
a. demodulate CW or SSB signals
b. convert radio frequency signals into intermediate frequency signals
c. convert intermediate frequency signals into audio frequency signals
d. produce a signal that is separated from the wanted frequency by the intermediate frequency.
3. A receiver with an RF front-end dynamic range of 100dB has a preamplifier added with gain of 20dB and a dynamic range of 110dB. The dynamic range of the combined receiving system is
a. increased to 110dB
b. increased to 120dB
c. remain at 100dB
d. decreased to 80dB
4. The image frequency in a superhet radio receiver is that fre-quency which
a. will also mix with the local oscillator signal to produce a result-ant on the intermediate frequency
b. differs from the wanted signal by an amount equal to the intermediate frequency and can be either above or below the wanted frequency
c. is on the opposite side (of the wanted frequency) to the inter-mediate frequency and of equal frequency separation
d. is twice the difference between the wanted frequency and the intermediate frequency.
5. A purpose of AGC is to
a. ensure that the RF stage of the receiver is not damaged by excessive input
b. ensure that the AF stage of the receiver is not damaged by excessive output
c. enable the receiver to compensate for varying signals
d. enable the receiver to maintain a constant S meter reading.
6. The RIT control on a radio transceiver
a. tunes the receiver independently of the transmitter
b. tunes the transmitter independently of the receiver
c. is only used during Morse code reception
d. is only used when transmitting FM
7. A waveguide may be chosen instead of coaxial cable when the
a. frequency is so high that the losses in coaxial cable are far higher than those in a waveguide
b. wavelength is such that it is significantly greater than the di-ameter of the coaxial cable
c. standing wave ratio is too high for coaxial cables
d. frequency is sufficiently low that a waveguide connection will be far more efficient in handling the power.
8. The feed impedance of a half-wave dipole is approximately 75Ώ. A folded dipole for the same frequency will have a feed imped-ance of approximately
a. 37Ώ
b. 75Ώ
c. 150Ώ
d. 300Ώ
9. The capacitor in the trap of a trapped dipole antenna has become disconnected. What effect, if any, will this have?
a. Difficulty will be experience in achieving a match on the lower of the two designed frequencies.
b. Difficulty will be experienced in achieving a match on the high-er of the two designed frequencies.
c. Difficulty will be experienced in achieving a match on both of the designed frequencies.
d. No effect will be readily apparent.
10. The sum of the forward and reverse signal voltages on a feeder, divided by their difference, is known as the