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.

Welcome to our monthly newsletter and I hope you enjoy the read!!! We are now into the month of February already, where did January disappear too, and already we are beginning to see the nights getting longer and the dreary dark nights of winter starting to fade away, thank goodness says I!!!!

First of all I must thank all of you who turned up for the January Club Night. I do have a dream in that I would love to see all those who have promised to come along, those who have gone by the wayside come back to club night and join in. I feel we have so much to offer. Anyway I will keep dreaming.

January was its normal quiet month and to be honest I use it as definite rest period before everything kicks off again for the year although our Morse Training nights did restart again, I must admit I don’t see it as a “chore” but something that I thoroughly enjoy doing. I do like the mode even though I am not the greatest at it. It is great to see the continual support for this event as everyone struggles to learn the code.

Our first Activity Night of the year took place and thanks to everyone who took part. It would be great to see more doing it even if you only make one QSO as at least you came on. I took part in the RSGB 80M AFS CW and RSGB 40M & 80M SSB contest and managed a few QSO’s. It was nice to get back on the air from home and it is something I must do more of this year. One of my 2015 aims!!!!!

On the teaching front we will have started our final training session of the 2014/2015 training year with the Advanced Course. It is

a big class with 8 candidates plus I also have 4 who is self-studying as well. Their exam is on Saturday 7th March so I am sure you will go along with me and wish them all the best. This will be my last up until Augut/September as I definitely need a sabbatical. If you know of anyone who is interested will you ask them to get in contact with me directly and I will get all their required details.

The events program for the year starts this month with another of John MM0JXI’s Radio Check Nights on the 20th February. The radio check night has certainly been well attended in the past years and has been very fruitful to the extent it has found faulty radio’s so whey not bring along what you have and give it a MOT. THIS REALLY IS A WORTHWHILE EVENT so I hope you will all take advantage of it. On all our events I hope that you will all make an effort to attend as many as you can throughout the year. For full up to date events please read the Events Column or even go onto the web-site and you will find them all in the calendar area.

I think that is about it for this month, I am sure there was something else but I cannot think what it is, sign of old age or whatever. Anyway, enjoy the newsletter.

Bob GM4UYZ

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

January Activity Day – 14th January 2015

00:00 to 23:59

This is our eleventh one of the year... so here

is my report below on who and who didn’t

take part

Apologies first:

Colwyn MM0YCJ

I won’t get a chance to get on air today

Martyn MM0XXW

Nothing this month Bob, backshift got in the

way!

Geoff GM0LOD

Due to other commitments I just didn’t get

time to go on the air

John MM0SNK

Nothing from me - my wee radio has had it.

Saving up for a new one :)

Ron GM0NTL

Sri Bob, have now gone QRT until next year

sometime.

Rickie GM1PLY

No I didn't work any HF. I don't do much DX

the hard way

Bob 2M0KLL

I didn’t manage this time

Cephas MM0INS

Nil return from me I'm afraid...

Geoff MM5AHO

No activity here sorry.

Brian M0RNR

Sorry Bob nothing from me I was in London

Andy MM0GYG

Clean forgot about it! I'll try to remember

next month.

Reports:

Bob GM4UYZ (18:15 to 18:22))

I managed to get about 30 minutes due to

coming home late from work then eldest

daughter in a panic as her PC not working so

had to go and sort that....so all my plans for

an evening playing radio went up in smoke as

they say so only managed two QSO’s.

Duncan MM0GZZ

Sorry not so many in the log as did not have

much time in the morning and by the late

afternoon bands were not so good the noise

level in the evening was quite bad at 19.45

Alisdair MM0XAB

Did not work much Bob, by the time I got on

the radio the propagation on almost all bands

was non-existent. However I did work CT3FW

on Madeira and ES5GP from Estonia both on

RTTY.

Bob GM4IKT

Only one contact made

Chris MM0YAB

Sorry Bob I was on briefly but conditions

where poor and no QSO’s.

Sean MM0SRY

I was on and I didn’t shout up but I was lis-

tening out for callers conditions were pretty

bad and I didn’t make any contacts

It is great to see that there is still at least

some interest in the Activity Days but to be

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

what the hobby is all about.

With regard to modes being worked then out

of the 10 QSO’s made: CW = 0, SSB = 1 and

Data = 9. Data Modes seem to be winning

hands down at the moment. Best DX was on

35 watts using PSK31working AC4M at a dis-

tance of 6172kms on 10M. made by Duncan

MM0GZZ...well done Duncan.

(Continued on page 3)

3

With regard the rest of the QSO’s they were predominantly

the normal European contacts.

The next Activity Day is on 11th February 2015 and I hope eve-

ryone and even more of you will at least take part and submit

their logs or even if they don’t make any contacts tell us about

what it was like. Good DXing in 2015.

Summary of who did what:

Total QSO’s 0 = CW, 1 = SSB, 9 = DATA

Bob GM4IKT SSB: 1 x 12M

Bob GM4UYZ Data: 2 x 40M

Duncan MM0GZZ Data: 1 x 10M, 2 x 20M, 2 x 40M

Alisdair MM0XAB Data: 1 x 20M, 1 x 40M

Thanks to those who came on it was much appreciated.

Bob GM4UYZ

(Continued from page 2)

Build a Voice Keyer Control for your Icom Radio for under a

Tenner

Brian Pickup – M0RNR

My Icom IC 756 PRO II has a built in digital voice keyer. This is

really useful for contesting and if you are calling for a station

and if, like me, you are just a bit lazy. However, access to the

function is a bit of a pain, and ergonomically not that user

friendly.

Browsing the manual as one does when you have time on

your hands following an operation, I stumbled across a circuit

in the manual to control the keyer via an external keypad so I

set about sourcing some bits and pieces to do it.

The circuit is straightforward just requiring 4 resistors, a jack

socket, box and 4 momentary push to make switches, ie the

circuit is made when you press and broken on release just like

a PTT. Circuit is shown at figure 1.

As you can see a simple circuit of resistors in series with four

push switches. So here is a list of components

Required components

1 x 110mm x 50mm x 25mm project box – ebay £3

Resistors to the values stated – ebay I got 20 on a strip of

each value for £2

4 x momentary push to make switches – ebay I got 5 for £2

1 x mono jack plug I had lying around in the shack

4 x stick foot pads

1 x mono screened audit lead again was discovered in the

shack.

Figure 1 Icom IC756 PRO II keyer circuit from operators man-

ual

Method

I used push to make switches with a 7mm drill diameter and

found the 110mm box just fitted my hand nicely.

Drill yourself four holes for the switches and install

Drill a 6mm hole for the jack plug and install

Trim each resistor to size and tin the sockets

Install the resistors in series as per the circuit

(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

Solder the other end of the jack plug lead to

your mic plug. I was lucky here because I use a

Heil headset adapter that has an additional

access hole in the mic plug for just such an

installation. Hot end of the cable to pin 3 and

ground to pin 7. You could easily install an 8

pin mic socket to the box and run an addition-

al mic cable to your rig. I did it this way for

ease

Put it all together

and install some

sticky feet to the

box to stop it slid-

ing around

Don’t Forget to Configure your Radio!

With my little job complete and feeling a bit

proud of myself (those who know me will

know home construction isn’t really my thing)

I plugged it in, recorded some messages in the

voice keyer on the radio, and pressed the

function keys and – Nothing!

Feeling a bit dejected I checked all the circuit

and soldering, plus mic connections and all

were OK hmmm I pondered. Then decided to

do what most Hams don’t do and read the

manual. At which point I discovered you have

to configure the keyer on in the menu

The default position is off and there are four

settings

Auto – pushing one of the external keypad

switches, transmits the desired voice memory

if you are in phone mode (SSB, AM or FM) or

the memory keyer contents during CW mode

Voice play (TX) – transmits the voice memory

during a phone only operation

Keyer Send – transmits the CW keyer memory

in CW mode only

Off – is well—off but is the default setting

So I configured the radio, pushed button 1

and the voice keyer activates and transmits

the message. If you want to cancel the CQ at

any point, hit the key a second time and it kills

the transmission.

So there you have it, an Icom external keypad

controller for less than a tenner. Also works

with the IC 7600, IC7800 and IC7000 to my

knowledge but you will need to check your

Pin outs as they may be different to 3 and 7 as

configured in the IC 756 PRO II

You could add a PTT switch if you wanted,

jack plugs for your headset, whatever you

want but I just wanted a simple keypad to

operate during contests from home.

Good luck and happy building.

(Continued from page 3)

4

5

2015, Happy New Year by the way, started wet. Long before I

stretched out from my warm, down sleeping bag I could hear

rain hammering on the tin roof. There followed a long, lan-

guorous, leisurely awakening, helped by the grey light of the

morning.

We slowly enjoyed the first breakfast of 2015. The rain fell.

Conditionality reigned; what could, should, would we attempt

on a day like today. Just up the road; the A837, was Beinn

Reidh. At 567m a relative tiddler (which strangely translates as

smooth mountain; I can only assume it was named from a

distance!) SOTA reference GM/NS-093. Maybe I could start

the year as a ‘smooth operator?’

Like its striking southern neighbour Canisp, Beinn Reidh pre-

sents more open slopes to the east and a much steeper west-

ern front. East would have a headwind, but a shorter ap-

proach and carried the day. We parked at the end of the drive

to the lodge at Stronchrubie (Grid ref NC247193, circa 100m

altitude). The house seemed empty as we headed almost due

west to the bridge over the River Loanan (grid reference

NC244191) which no longer exists – the bridge I mean! The

remaining bridge piers provide no easy river crossing, which

today was a considerable obstacle. I headed upstream to find

a suitable crossing and my YL abandoned me to my obsession-

al behaviour. I may have crossed the swollen river with dry

feet, it was hard to tell. From there it was about an hour, half

in the cloud, pretty much direct into the rain and up rough

ground to the wet, wind blasted summit, by which time I knew

my feet were wet.

The rudimentary cairn provided no shelter so I descended into

a small depression (physical feature though it could have been

otherwise!) out of the wind, almost. Fired up the 20m dipole

lightly pegged the ends and started calling from beneath the

thin sheet of nylon of the orange bivvy shelter. Compared to

the 40m and 12m inverted-V dipoles which had required mul-

tiple repairs, the 20m rig got most abuse but was still going

strong after almost 2 years. Must be high specification wire I

thought! Calling just before 14:00 hours, within 10 minutes I

had 7 QSOs; just as I found on Christmas day, there is always

someone on air. Happy New Years were exchanged with

mainly UK stations, a short skip for 20m; G0TDM, GI0ONL,

G4JZF, M0MDA, EA2CKX, GM0AXY and GM4YMM. Christine

and Ken confirmed that the weather was no better back at the

home QTH! I remember glancing down at the panel of the

FT817. Immediately the water ran off my hood, onto my jack-

et and cascaded onto the screen and switches of the FT817.

Time to QRT and get out of there. Despite being soaked, it

was mild and I was comfortably warm. I packed quickly but

untidily and with the advantage of the wind at my back now,

made good progress back towards the rendezvous, but I’d be

far too early; I’d estimated at least an hour on air. A filthy wet

quad bike track appeared which snaked off the hill maybe

doubling my return walking distance. I emerged from the

cloud but along by the buildings I couldn’t see the car; alt-

hough it was still a long way off. The track eventually brought

me to a ford across the problematic river Loanan next to the

A837. The water looked bigger, deeper, almost muscular, and

purposeful. A quad bike couldn’t have made it across today.

Thigh deep I ploughed over the ford, I wasn’t going to get any

wetter; quite a strong current though so glad I had walking

poles. I emerged just over a kilometre down the road now

and dallied on the way back. Three cars slowed but didn’t

stop to offer me a lift; I couldn’t blame them, and when I

breasted the hill the car was indeed waiting. Perfect, plastic

sheet over the passenger seat and, after pouring the water

from my boots, I disrobed standing in the drying room of the

hut shortly afterwards.

So a good, fairly smooth, if wet, start to the new year; 2 acti-

vation points, a well-earned winter bonus of 3, plus a unique

activation; and by next morning the radio had dried out.

Friday the 2nd January 2015 had dawned brighter but colder.

There was no overnight frost but the wind was still strong,

maybe stronger. Breakfast was savoured through negotiation

around height, access and river crossings. We opted for Beinn

an Eoin (Mountain of the bird). GM/NS-102, only 544m in

height, but up a glen we had never previously visited. The

drive took longer than anticipated but we eventually crossed

Oykel Bridge and turned off up the beautiful Glen Cassley at

the village of Rosehall. The area has been shaped for hunting,

shooting and fishing, particularly salmon fishing, and while

Glen Cassley is a quiet and remote place, the howling wind

had changed the character that day. A few flakes of snow

were carried along on the wind.

(Continued on page 6)

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.

We parked by the road opposite the farm

called Badintagairt (NC428103) at 60m alti-

tude. There is a bridge symbol at grid ref

NC428099 over the deep and dark river Cass-

ley, which still exists as a fine suspension foot-

bridge and was presumably the usual route

over to the buildings at Croich when it was

inhabited. Once across the river there is a

large deer fence around some new plantings

(forestry and farming also feature in the glen).

We found the stile and were soon flogging up

the wet hillside when, behold, we disturbed

two large birds; black grouse or capercaillie? I

couldn’t say for sure, my spectacles were

fogged up. Beinn an Eoin (Mountain of the

bird) lived up its name. There being no obvi-

ous path to the summit we simply followed

the compass bearing for 4 kilometres to the

large fore summit (NC399086. Height 521m)

and could see the main summit from there.

The map suggests a flat area, but the peat

hags and full lochans, after the wet weather,

dictated a circuitous route to the bleak trian-

gulation station. There was good snow cover

and we were able to find a sheltered spot just

to the lee side of the summit. Ann was happi-

ly installed under the bivvy shelter sitting on

both of the rucksacks; I put the 20m inverted-

v dipole up on a ski pole, about 130cm off the

ground and joined her. I thought that the low

aerial might increase the SWR ratio, but on

calling CQ at about 12:30 Mike (G6TUH) re-

sponded promptly and I was able to make 13

QSOs in about the same number of minutes.

Thanks to EA2CKX, OE5JKL, M0IBG, OM1AX,

ON5SWA, DL3HXX, G0RQL, M6KVJ, M0MDA,

HB9MKV, EA2DT and OK1SDE. The next squall

arrived and we were noisily shot-blasted by

the hailstorm. We couldn’t hear anything so

sat, while the hail stung the back of my head

through the bivvy shelter, a goretex jacket

hood and a fleece beanie hat. Sometimes you

instinctively know the correct course of ac-

tion, and we packed and were shortly heading

off the hill. First the burn, the Allt Badinta-

gairt on the slopes above the buildings at

Badintagairt, then the buildings themselves

gave an excellent reference point as we de-

scended. Then the stand of Alder on the

north east bank of the river guided us back to

the footbridge. Back at the car the sky had

cleared and we motored up the lonely glen to

have a look, before a leisurely return to the

hut. So a further 2 activation points, another

deserving winter bonus, plus a second unique

activation.

Saturday the 3rd January 2015 involved a

change of venue. We rose early, breakfasted

and left the hut heading south towards Fort

William. There had been an overnight frost.

A 558m peak above Ullapool; GM/NS-094,

Beinn Eilideach (mountain of hinds) was on

the way and before it was really light we left

the A836(T) at the Braes of Ullapool signpost

and parked high above the town in this rather

exclusive estate (NH146932). The sky was

much brighter, the wind had dropped and we

found an access path through the highest clo-

verleaf cul-de-sac of houses, into the trees

and finally onto the hillside. It was a steady

3km walk up to the summit; we saw a number

of red deer hinds, and a few stags for gender

balance. The weather was almost good and

the triangulation station was enclosed in its

own stone wall. Sheltered and with a central

hole for the fishing pole which hadn’t yet

been filled by children with pebbles, it was a

near perfect summit for an activation, and I

was the first. Calling on 20m raised DD2VO,

Rene in Koln and he was the first of 48 QSOs

(you know who you are!) between 09:22 and

10:13 hours. This included EA2IF/P as a sum-

mit-2-summit contact on EA1/CT-086. How-

ever, we had a rendezvous to keep, so we left

the comfortable summit and were back at the

car in good measure for the drive south. Two

activation points, a relatively easy winter bo-

nus, and a third unique activation.

(Continued from page 5)

(Continued on page 7)

6

7

At 08:40 next day on Sunday the 4th January 2015, I got out of

the car, walked forward, smiled at the driver in front, and

when he wound down his window (it was a van) I politely

asked if he could turn off his engine to stop the remainder of

the queue dying from carbon monoxide poisoning! We were

sitting waiting for the first ferry across the Corran Narrows.

The target was GM/WS-121, an 888m rocky peak called Sgurr

Dhòmhnuill or Sgurr Dhòmhnaill which is the highest mountain

in Ardgour and a worthy, peaked summit to crown the grand

and rugged mountains of this region. The ferry docked and a

few minutes later left on time and we were soon turning north

off the A861 at Strontian heading up the hills past the old mine

workings to park near the communications mast at the top of

the pass (Grid reference; NM838667. Height 342m). In con-

trast to the car exhaust calm at sea level, there was a good

breeze and we set off along the indistinct ridge, over the elec-

tric fence to the triangulation station at Druim Glas 435m.

From here we ascended into cloud and following the compass

needle aimed for the 580m high knoll (grid reference;

NM858677) next to Lochan Mhic Gille Dhuibh. From there a

second bearing lead us up to the summit of point 803m (Grid

reference; NM882684). A further compass bearing lead us

southeast off the top and down to a pass with an estimated

altitude of 660m. At the bealach (665m aneroid barometer

height) we started to ascend the NW flank when the swirling

cloud cleared allowing sight of what seemed like a vertical face

rearing up before us. Perhaps this was why it hadn’t yet been

activated! As we tentatively ascended I was aware of the

tracks of an animal which delicately criss-crossed our own

clumsy boot prints in the fresh snow. It was a fox, which

through experience knew to visit the summit to scavenge

dropped food and apple cores left by the hillwalking public.

Indeed, the fox might only have been a few minutes ahead of

us! A cunning plan! We followed the fox tracks up the face as

it wove between the buttresses and outcrops. Only once did

the tracks disappear and we were forced to scramble up a

rocky lichenous and vertiginous slab, to find them again. Once

past the difficulties it was a simple plod to the modest summit

enclosure. Interestingly it was full of snow so we arranged

ourselves on the sheltered lee side. I had assumed that the

triangulation station was in the middle of the enclosure, but

Ann soon identified the ruined foundations a short distance to

the south. The trig pillar was no longer of any help on this

particular summit. We had conquered Sgurr Dhomhnuill

(Donald's rocky peak), although we met neither Donald, nor

anyone else that day!

The wind hadn’t eased so I called on 2m with a single contact;

GM4 NFI/M (Dave on Cow hill above Fort William). Then, as I

rigged the 20m dipole, the wind dropped and some weak wa-

tery sunshine filtered through the cloud. The result was 9

QSOs but the skip distance was well beyond the shores of the

UK; EA1NW, OK1SDE, EA2CKX, CT1BQH, ON2LVC, IK2ILH,

ON7KJW, F2YT, and OM1AX. It was bitterly cold so for safety

and simplicity we decided to retrace our steps in the snow,

back down to the bealach and follow the embryonic Strontian

river. We then traversed right at about the 400m contour to

revisit the triangulation station at Druim Glas, and back to the

starting point. Disembarking first from the ferry we had to

stop in Glencoe to turn on a house water supply we had mis-

takenly switched off that morning; I just hope that the frost

protection heating hadn’t been compromised by the later

power cuts. So a further 4 activation points, a fourth winter

bonus, plus the fourth unique activation in 4 days. What was I

going to do for the remaining 361 days of 2015?

Colwyn Jones

MM0YCJ

(Continued from page 6)

8

WATSON W-8681-PRO

Christmas morning arrived and amongst my presents laid my

new Weather Station. I was “chuffed” to bits that Santa had

received my letter and had subsequently delivered my major

request.

I have been running a weather station from my house for a

number of years but it had started to give me problems for

quite a while. The station that I had been using was again an-

other Watson and an earlier model to my new one. The major

issue with this old station was that I was continually loosing

the wireless link from the Outside weather station to the Sta-

tion display in the house so basically making the whole system

totally unusable. Also with this station I had never been suc-

cessful in putting the weather data that I had collected up onto

the internet so hence keeping the information “house bound”

The new Weather station offered better options in that instead

of having to replace batteries on the outside station it now

uses rechargeable batteries (3 x AA) which are kept charged by

a small solar panel. The whole unit’s structure is also better

constructed with no wires at all. Inside the house there is a

small Temperature, Humidity and Pressure Sensor Unit that

can be installed where ever you wish to place it within the

house. It uses 2 x AAA Batteries. There is also the main display

unit connected to the mains supply via a small PSU which can

be set-up to connect wirelessly to your Broadband Wireless

router to send data out onto the Internet to weather sites i.e.

www.wunderground.com . The outside unit and the indoor

centre communicate with the Display unit using the frequency

836MHz.

Building the Station

The first step that I undertook was fitting the outdoor station

on my existing pole that I had been using for my old weather

station. This was simple enough as all it consisted off was

fitting the wind vane to the unit, installing the 3 x AA recharge-

able batteries and connecting the whole unit to the pole. The

only setting up that was required was ensuring that the unit

was pointing in the correct direction i.e. North, South, East and

West. This is easily achieved as the unit has the points of the

compass marked on top of the unit then by setting a compass

and turning the pole until the unit is facing the correct direc-

tion then tightening up the pole clamps to the pole.

I fitted the indoor Unit onto the wall in my “work” room. I then

powered up the Display Unit to the mains and once it had

done its small self tests I watched it start to display the weath-

er data from the outdoor and indoor units.

Setting up the Display

The small booklet that is delivered with the unit takes you step

by step through setting up the display. The way to enter the

setup mode is to press the button below the Hammer and

Spanner icon. The main areas that really need setting up are

Date & Time, Backlight, Weather Server and WiFi Scan... There

are other things that can be setup depending on your prefer-

ences i.e. Alarms and Calibration Mode and also setting the

unit back to Factory Defaults.

The main issue that I had was getting the display unit to con-

nect via the WiFi onto the Internet to display my site on the

Wunderground Weather site. This took me about a day to get

(Continued on page 9)

9

going before it burst into life. Before setting up the display

you have to create an account on Wunderground which basi-

cally is creating a username and password and some other

details it requires. Please note that the password you create

here is the one that you need to configure on the Weather

Station along with the Station ID that you require to create on

the Wunderground website. My Station ID for my weather

station is ISCOTLAN180

Setting up Wunderground

Go to http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-

station/signup?new=1

Below are pictures of how my Weather Station is setup which

may help others in the future.

(Continued from page 8)

(Continued on page 10)

Setting Up Date & Time Setting up Brightness

Setting Up WiFi Setting Up Weather Server

Setting Up Alarms Setting Up Calibration

(Continued from page 9)

10

Setting back to Factory Defaults Information about Weather Station

I hope you have enjoyed this article about the Weather Station. Personally I have been fascinated about weather from my early

Geography days at Secondary School. I wish I really fully understand it all but maybe that is something for when I decide to re-

tire. In between times I can use my APT Satellite pictures which I receive direct via my RX2 weather receiver and then decoded

on my old laptop and also my new weather station to look and try and understand what it is all about.

For me it is just another hobby that sits nicely along with my Amateur Radio.

Bob GM4UYZ

11

12

February 2015 Contests & Dates

Vermont QSO Party 0000Z, Feb 7 to 2400Z, Feb 8

10-10 Int. Winter Contest, SSB 0001Z, Feb 7 to 2359Z, Feb 8

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon 1200Z, Feb 7 to 2359Z, Feb 8

Black Sea Cup International 1200Z, Feb 7 to 1159Z, Feb 8

Minnesota QSO Party 1400Z-2400Z, Feb 7

British Columbia QSO Party 1600Z, Feb 7 to 0400Z, Feb 8

AGCW Straight Key Party 1600Z-1900Z, Feb 7

Mexico RTTY International Contest 1800Z, Feb 7 to 1759Z, Feb 8

North American Sprint, CW 0000Z-0400Z, Feb 8

432MHz AFS - AFS Super League 0900-1300, Feb 8

RSGB 80m CC DATA 2000-2130, Feb 11

CWops Mini-CWT Test 1300Z, Feb 11 to 0400Z, Feb 12

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest 0000Z, Feb 14 to 2400Z, Feb 15

SARL Field Day Contest 1000Z, Feb 14 to 1000Z, Feb 15

Asia-Pacific Spring Sprint, CW 1100Z-1300Z, Feb 14

Dutch PACC Contest 1200Z, Feb 14 to 1200Z, Feb 15

New Hampshire QSO Party 1600Z, Feb 14 to 2200Z, Feb 15

RSGB 1st 1.8MHz Contest HF Champion-ship

2100, Feb 14 to 0100, FEB 15

FISTS Winter Unlimited Sprint 1700Z-2100Z, Feb 14

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest 0200Z-0400Z, Feb 16

AGCW Semi-Automatic Key Evening 1900Z-2030Z, Feb 18

RSGB 80m CC CW 2000-2130, FEB 19

RL Inter. DX Contest, CW 0000Z, Feb 21 to 2400Z, Feb 22

REF Contest, SSB 0600Z, Feb 21 to 1800Z, Feb 22

High Speed Club CW Contest 0900Z-1700Z, Feb 22

RSGB 70MHz Cumulatives #1 1000 – 1200, FEB 22

SKCC Sprint 0000Z-0200Z, Feb 25

CWops Mini-CWT Test 1300Z, Feb 25 to 0400Z, Feb 26

CQ 160-Meter Contest, SSB 2200Z, Feb 27 to 2159Z, Mar 1

UBA DX Contest, CW 1300Z, Feb 28 to 1300Z, Mar 1

North American QSO Party, RTTY 1800Z, Feb 28 to 0600Z, Mar 1

13

The following article came about when someone asked a question on what is Simplex with regard to signals being transmitted. What I thought I would add is the description for some of the other termi-nology used in networking. Hope you find it of some interest.

Data Transmission Terminology

Communication Modes

Simplex - One-way transmission only for example a radio or TV trans-mission

Half Duplex – Data transmission in one direction at a time for exam-ple speech, we listen while the other person speaks and then we speak while they listen.

Full Duplex – Data transmission in both directions at once.

Transmission Modes

Asynchronous – Sometimes called Stop Start

Each byte transmitted is preceded with a start bit and usually ended with one stop bit, giving a transmitted length of 10 bits. Asynchro-nous settings are described by three digits, these define the number of data bits, the parity and the number of stop bits e.g.

8N1 8 Data Bits, No Parity, 1 stop bit

7E1 7 Data Bits, Even Parity, 1 stop bit

Synchronous

In a synchronous transmission data is formed into frames consisting of many bytes possibly preceded by synchronising characters and destination and source addresses. Where modems use synchronous transmission the data needs a clock signal to be provided, usually by a modem. The standard RS232 port in a PC is not able to use these clocks and therefore cannot transmit or receive synchronous data. However synchronous data transfer is extensively used in other appli-cations.

Connection/Connectionless data transfer

When we make a telephone call we first establish a connection with the person we wish to speak to and then we have a conversation. When we send a letter no connection is made we address the letter, send it and assume the data will reach its destination.

Flow Control

Flow control is data-flow management, e.g. the serial port can usually transmit data at a higher speed than a printer, for example, can print the information. The result can be that data is lost when the periph-eral buffer overflows. Flow control enables the peripheral to inform the PC that its buffer is almost full and the PC will stop data output. When the peripheral buffer is almost empty the peripheral will in-form the PC and the data flow will recommence.

There are two types of flow control, hardware and software. Soft-ware flow control can be known as X-on X-off. Make sure that both

the PC and the peripheral are using the same type of flow control.

Error Control - Parity and CRC

Byte Parity

For many applications it is important to ensure that the data received is identical to the data sent. Parity is used to check the integrity of received data.

Byte parity uses an extra bit on each byte to maintain the total num-ber of bits set to “1” as either an odd or even number. If the parity being used is odd for example and the receiving station receives a byte of 10110010, which has an even number of bits equal to 1 the byte would be rejected.

For some data transmissions the ASCII code is used (covered later). ASCII data is transmitted in only 7 data bits and bit eight can be used for parity. Both ends must be set to use the same parity, odd even or none.

Block Parity/CRC

Byte parity is limited; should a byte be received where two bits have been dropped or gained then the byte will be accepted as good. Where bytes of data are formed into blocks or frames of data for transmission, a check sum is usually calculated and written to the end of the block. The receiving device will perform the same calculation and compare the figure it has calculated with the BCC. The two fig-ures should be equal otherwise the data frame will be rejected.

The terms Cyclic Redundancy Check and Frame Check Sequence are also used to describe the end of block check.

Parallel to Serial

While data buses inside a computer are one or more bytes wide, most networks carry only one data bit at a time. Therefore there has to be parallel to serial conversion for data transmission.

Multiplexing

Multiplexing is the principle of combining the traffic from a number of low speed sources onto a high-speed trunk. At the remote end the traffic is de-multiplexed and passed to the correct end user.

Telephone and data circuits are multiplexed together for transmis-sion along a single trunk. When we make a telephone call or a data connection via BT or another service provider we are allocated a virtual circuit on a trunk that we may share with several thousand other users.

Multiplexers, where several low speed terminals are connected via a single high speed line to a second multiplexer and then the server were common until recently, but have been largely replaced by dis-tributed LANs

14

We are planning to hold a Construction Night on Friday 20th March..

The idea is to build something which can be completed and tested in one night so we have to keep it pretty simple.

I have found and already tried out a suitable kit on Ebay (photo attached) which allows you to build a step down varia-ble voltage regulator which could be used to power any low voltage device or you could even make your own phone charger.

When built it can accept either AC or DC inputs between 5 – 30 V and gives a constantly variable output of between 2V – 30V at 1 Amp Max.

Whether or not you need one it should be a good night and you can either sharpen up your soldering skills or help out

those who are less experienced.

If you are interested in attending please let me know as the kits have to be ordered in advance.

For those who don’t already know my email is cephas.ralph@btopenworld.com.

Cost will be £4 for the kit plus the usual fee for the hire of the room.

Tea, coffee, tools and test equipment are all included.

Many thanks

Cephas

MM0INS

I will be holding another of my very popular Radio Test Nights

on 20 February at 7.30pm, where Club Members can bring

their radios along to have them checked out on professional

test gear.

I have access to professional test equipment like a Marconi

2955 Radiocomms Test Set, a Rhode & Schwartz FSH1 Spec-

trum Analyser and Bird Thruline Power Meter.

Using this equipment we can test almost any radio you care to

bring along for:

Power Output (from 1mW up to 400W)

Deviation

Spectral Purity

Receive Sensitivity

Frequency Accuracy

Sub-audible Tones

The Test Night takes place in Resources Room 2 at the Port

Seton Community Centre from 19:30 to 21:30, entry fee £2.

Over the years this has been a very popular event and also

very worthwhile. It is a great opportunity to give all your radios

an annual check up which can be recorded in your log.

Remember to bring all your power/microphone/etc. leads for

your respective radios.

John MM0JXI

15

1. A quartz crystal

a. has a single resonant frequency -whether series or parallel depends on the manufacturing process

b. has series and parallel resonant frequencies with the associ-ated circuit design selecting the one required

c. will resonate at several design frequencies, selected by an adjustment on the side of the crystal holder

d. has an equivalent circuit which includes a diode, two induc-tors and a single capacitor.

2. The iron core of a transformer is laminated in order to

a. ensure the magnetic field aligns with the primary and second-ary windings

b. the flow of eddy currents

c. avoid magnetic saturation

d. minimise the magnetic field outside the transformer.

3. If a high pass filter has a cut off frequency of 30MHz, signals

a. at 30MHz will pass without attenuation

b. above 30MHz will be attenuated

c. below 30MHz will be attenuated

d. other than 30MHz will pass without attenuation.

4. The power output of a transmitter is 9 watts. If this power is increased by 3 decibels, the output will then be

a. 12 watts

b. 18 watts

c. 27 watts

d. 36 watts

5. A silicon crystal in its pure state can be made into a semi-conductor by

a. doping the crystal to create N or P type material

b. repeatedly heating and cooling the crystal in a form of micro-wave oven

c. using the piezo-electric effect by applying pressure and cre-ating P and Z regions

d. causing neutrons to replace protons by subjecting the crystal to intense magnetic fields.

6. Biasing an NPN transistor so that only the positive parts of the signal are amplified is a description of

a. class A bias

b. class B bias

c. class C bias

d. class AB bias.

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 purpose of a buffer amplifier stage is often to

a. protect the driver stage from over modulation

b. supply the major part of amplification of the modulated sig-nal

c. provide ample PD to drive the power amplifier stage

d. isolate the oscillator stage from subsequent stages.

9. A transmitter uses a balanced mixer to combine a modulat-ed 3MHz carrier with an 11 MHz synthesiser to cover the 20m band. If the only filtering is a low pass filter after the PA, then the most significant unwanted output will be on

a. 3MHz

b. 8MHz

c. 11MHz

d. 28MHz

10. A 1MHz carrier is frequency modulated by a 1kHz audio signal amplitude 100mV and causing a peak deviation of 2.5kHz. The occupied bandwidth of the transmission is ap-proximately

a. 2kHz

b. 3.5kHz

c. 5 kHz

d. 7 kHz

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

6 February 2015 Club Night

11 February 2015 Activity Day

20 February 2015 Radio Test Night

28 February 2015 Newsletter Deadline

6 March 2015 Club Night

11 March 2015 Activity Day

20 March 2015 Construction Night

28 March 2015 Newsletter Deadline

3 April 2015 Club Night

11 April 2015 GMDX Convention, Stirling

12 April 2015 Norbreck Rally, Blackpool

15 April 2015 Activity Day

18 April 2015 International Amateur Radio Day

25 April 2015 Newsletter Deadline

1 May 2015 Club Night

3 May 2015 Scottish Highland Radio Rally

8 May 2015 1st 144MHz DF Night

13 May 2015 Activity Day

30 May 2015 Newsletter Deadline

5 June 2015 Club Night

14 June 2015 PW QRP Contest (TBC)

Answers from February 2015 newsletter “Test Your Knowledge”.

1A, 2B, 3C, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7D, 8D, 9B, 10D

This is the first Clublog table of 2015 and I’m

delighted to see some early participation.

Please upload whatever you work, including

any stations worked during the activity days,

it all counts!

Rank Callsign 160 80 60 40 30 20 17 15 12 10 6 DXCC Slots Range

1 MM0GZZ 0 0 0 14 2 3 1 0 0 18 3 32 41 5 yrs

2 MM0XAB 0 0 0 5 1 2 1 3 6 6 0 20 24 1 yrs

3 MM0XXW 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 9 2 0 13 17 9 yrs

4 GM4UYZ 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 35 yrs

5 M0RNR 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 0 0 5 6 16 yrs

6 MM0SNK 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 yrs

7 GM4IKT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 11 yrs

8 2M0TXK 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 yrs