Cockenzie & Port Seton Amateur Radio Club is affiliated to the Radio Society of Great Britain and October already and I just cannot believe that submit your logs to me from your selected we are now into the last quarter of the year day of operating. Everyone is welcome. See holds the call signs MM0CPS and that the dark nights are well and truly the website for the format required for and GM2T which are used here so it is once again time to sit back and submission. On the 19th October Geoff for our special event and reflect what you have done over the summer Crowley MM5AHO is going to give us a talk contest entries. months. The jobs that you did and more than on his “Rockall and Lighthouse Weekend” likely you will remember the ones that you activities and on the 16th November John The Club was formed by Bob didn’t. I myself had intended to do more Innes MM0JXI is is going to deliver a talk on Glasgow BEM GM4UYZ in operating from home but many factors have “the uBITX Transceiver”. I must admit I am 1984, to help the local not allowed me to do so. really looking forward to both the talks. For amateurs get to know each our other events as always consult the Events other. On Saturday 1st September our 9 September Diary. On the contesting front there is a great candidates sat their Foundation Licence exam demand for operators to take part in the HF Far from being just a local and congratulations to them all on passing Contest CQWW, which runs for 48 hours over club we have members and a warm welcome to this great hobby of the weekend of the 27/28th October. The regularly attending from the Amateur Radio. The Intermediate Course CQWW contest is not being run from Barns Borders, Dumfries, started on 22nd September with 3 candidates Ness this year as the site is not available to us heading for their Intermediate Exam on 20th so thanks to Donna MM6GDY we are moving Strathclyde, Fife and October. I am sure you will join with me to to her farm which is nearby to the lighthouse Newcastle. wish them all the best with their studies and at Blackberry Farm, Thorntonloch, Innerwick, The Club meets on the first exam. The next Foundation Licence Course East Lothian EH42 1QT so why not come Friday of every month in the still has 2 spaces and starts on 3rd November along and either take part or support those and the Intermediate Course starting on the who are operating, believe you me seeing a lounge of the Thorntree Inn 17th November. If you know of anyone few people turn up and giving support really on the old Cockenzie High interested then get them to contact me ASAP helps. If you can spare some time to operate Street from 7pm till late. please at [email protected] or help build the stations please let Cambell September was very quiet with only two MM0DXC know so he can arrange an activities taking place and those were our operating . There will be a CQWW Event second DF hunt night of the year, which I am running on our Facebook page so can you sure will have thrown up a few topics of please update that as well. Your responses conversation and our monthly Activity Day. whether they are a YES or NO is greatly The provisional results are out for the July appreciated as it helps so much in event RSGB IOTA Contest and fantastic achievement organising. by the team as we were 3rd in the world in To the future I can announce that the the DX-Pedition Multi-2 Category. Well done Christmas Night Out has been decided so to everyone involved. please see the article in the newsletter and To the future, the following has been respond as required. I have also created an organised. First of all there is our normal event on our Facebook page and I have also Activity Day (14th to 20th October) so please (Continued on page 2) (Continued from page 1) Lastly, this month I am once again looking for your input as I am now starting to look at putting next years monthly sent out an email as well to everyone who has registered on calendar together, so what you would you like to see done. I the club’s website. My plea if you haven’t already done so is to would appreciate a quick response, as I would like to get it confirm up if you are attending and even if you are not. It completed quickly so that I can submit it to the radio really does help me..... This is a personal plea please so let me magazines. I have at present nothing lined up. Thanks for your know ASAP. To be honest I have a lot on and do not really help. have time to go running around so hence any help would be appreciated. Enjoy the newsletter and see you all on video night and the HF Contest.

Bob GM4UYZ

CHRISTMAS NIGHT OUT – Are you going? ----- YES or NO SATURDAY 8th DECEMBER @ 19:00 (Can you respond to me at [email protected]

whichever way you decide) Yes, I can’t believe that I am thinking about and organ- If YES then I need from you the following: ising our Christmas Night out and it is still August as I How many are going 1 or 2 or how many? write this. After discussions with quite a few people it First Names was suggested the Golden Chopsticks in Musselburgh DEPOSIT of £10/HEAD or FULL PAYMENT as soon as (Fisherrow) as a venue so to that end I have made a res- possible to confirm going. ervation for 30 people. The advantage is that it is cen- st The full amount needs to be paid by the 1 Decem- tral for everyone and it is right on the major bus routes. ber as I need to confirm the booking with the res- Venue: Golden Chopsticks st taurant on the 1 December Address: 102 New Street, Fisherrow, Musselburgh

EH21 6JQ Payment methods Telephone No: 0131 665 5100 CASH, CHEQUE made payable to Robert Glasgow, Date of Meal: Saturday 8th December 2018 Bank Transfer Time: 19:00 Send me an email and I will give you the account Location: Main Restaurant information

Cost £25 per person It is important that you let me know your decision as Note: this is a Kitty value and hopefully will cover soon as you can plus help me get the money in as I just the meal and some drinks. If the bill comes to more hate chasing people. Thanks in advance for all your help than this then obviously we will need to split the here. extra between us.

Bob GM4UYZ

If you wish to add your call sign to the logo then please Club Attire ask at the time of the order. The club has a design for Club T-shirts, Polo-shirts, Order from: Sweat-Shirts, Fleeces and Jackets and all of these can be PATRICIA BEWSEY DESIGNS, obtained from Patricia Bewsey Designs Tel/Fax: 01620 850788 When making an order please quote ‘Cockenzie & Port Mobile: 07970 920431 Seton Amateur Radio Club’ to ensure that the Club Email: [email protected] Logo will be placed on the required garments. Note: the shop at Fenton Barns is now closed Cost will depend on garment and should cover the gar- ment and logo, call sign addition will be extra.

2 Friday 21st September your comments you all seemed to enjoy it so hopefully you will all come back for the next DF night in May 2019 This year again we had our normal two DF Nights in the events calendar, this being our second one. Weather wise it Those of you who do not take part you do not know what was an excellent evening but felt cold. The days leading up to you are missing. Believe you me DF’ing is not as easy as you the Friday were very mixed especially when on the Wednesday think, give it a try and you will see what I mean. we were hit by Storm ALI, so it was a major hoping that it Congratulations again to the winners and commiserations to would have passed by the Friday, thankfully it did. On the Fri- the rest of us. day we did have rain in the afternoon but as said before it ended up an excellent evening. The difference between or first Bob GM4UYZ DF night in May and this one was this time it was done in the darkness. That in itself certainly added to the fun of trying to find that elusive fox. The fox for this event was Rickie GM1PLY. Like the other previous DF nights the fox was given notifica- tion, before the event started informing the “fox” of how many cars were taking part. Well the 6 teams that took part this time assembling what was where the old Pond Hall stood. The teams consisted of Cam- bell MM0DXC and Issy 2M0ISY in car 1, Robin MM0VTV and Paul MM0VPR in car 2, Tom GM8MJV and Robert MM1BJO in car 3, Lon WA6AEE and Liz 2M0GLD in car 4, Tim MM0TKE and Steph MM0SBO in car 5 and lastly Cephas MM0INS and me GM4UYZ in car 6. All of the teams for this DF Hunt used a 2 element beam. It was a great turnout but also a pity a few more hadn’t turned up as over the years a lot of people have really enjoyed taking part but alas you all seem to be now missing…… At the 19:00 start we all went our separate ways to try and catch the elusive fox. For a change I decided to go west and head up towards Tranent. Much to our surprise we suddenly heard the fox really, strong as we were driving towards our first place to take a bearing and see if we could hear him. We both said “bingo” as we knew that we had taken the right de- cision on what way to go. We parked up to take a bearing which pointed us towards the west of Prestonpans. It wasn’t until I placed the antenna back in the car that I noticed that some of the attenuator switches were on which made us real- ise he was close. We then drove along a dirt track where we stopped to take the next bearing which pointed us down to- wards the railway station. We then decided let’s go and have a look there. We drove into the car park where there were lots of cars and then Cephas spotted him tucked away in the far corner…...BINGO … success Winners were Cephas MM0INS and me GM4UYZ who found Rickie at 19:19 then Tom GM8MJV and Robert MM1BJO and lastly Cambell MM0DXC and Issy 2M0ISY at 19:48 and sadly Robin MM0VTV and Paul MM0VPR, Lon WA6AEE and Liz 2M0GLD and lastly Tim MM0TKE and Steph MM0SBO didn’t manage this time. Hate saying this, but I am really chuffed to bits as for some reason I always seem to struggle so maybe I should put it down to Cephas’s influence. The Hybster Trophy was won by Cephas and me and will be kept for the next DF Night which will be in May 2019 A massive thank you from us all to Rickie for taking on the role of the fox and once again producing another fun packed night. Also, thanks to everyone who turned up I know from all

3 September Activity Day – “YOUR” selected date Bob MM0LBF between 9th to 15rd September 2018 00:00 to 23:59 Here's mine for this month Bob. Still focussing on FT8 digital-mode. Have gone for quantity; but still very This is our ninth of 2018 where you can have selected pleased with my QSO with A41ZZ (Oman) the same your date to operate during the one-week selected week. period...... so reports below on who or who didn’t take Craig 2M0NBW part I was away with work all last week and so Saturday was

the only day I could get on. Started on 20 metres and Activity Day Rules and updated log sheet for 2018 DX conditions seemed not too bad, but after getting they have now changed: no replies to SSB calls I moved over to FT8 and imme-

diately got a few in the bag including WB2REM (James) Can be found using the following link: in Florida. I’ve seen James on FT8 from day 1 using the

mode but have never managed to get him until http://cpsarc.com/downloads/ now. I then had another go with SSB and got a cou- ple of QSO’s there finally before things closed Look under Activity Days and the files are: again. Moved on to 40 metres and again no luck with 2018 Monthly Activity Day Rules SSB, but FT8 was a bit more productive, but closer to 2018 Activity Day Logsheet v1.7 home into central Europe. Colwyn HB9/MM0YCJ/P Apologies first: Sunday 9th September and Ann and I were out in Swit- Brian M0RNR zerland, just for the CPSARC activity day! Just joking, Nothing from me Bob we are still out here. The weather was excellent, so we Tom GM8MJV headed up to the Col des Mosses near Les Diablerets Sorry nothing this time around - we were looking after and headed up a fine peak called the ‘Gros Van.’ I Grandson while daughter was on holiday - did not think this translates as big something and we had skied want to spend all the time in shack while XYL was there last year. changing nappies - sometimes you need to put hobby to one side if want to keep on living :-) Andy MM0GYG Nothing from me this month as I was on holiday in Lisbon, which I recommend

Reports: Bob GM4UYZ Managed to get on the air for a little while and hoped to work some DX in the WAE (Worked All Europe Con- test) but didn’t hear a peep. You had to work stations outside of Europe …. So, decided to try FT8 and man- aged a few QSO’s Geoff GM0LOD Not a great contribution, but here goes with my soli- tary effort with a very pleasant Dutchman. “Mony a mickle maks a muckle” or so they tell me. Hey ho, I It was a fairly easy ascent, by Swiss standards, and the hope for a better contribution next month. 2189 metres to the summit was a pleasant walk Martyn MM0XXW through meadows full of cows and goats with bells My new ICOM's popping along quite well and I've cut round their necks. down on a few cables what with having the USB port The final few hundred metres to the top got steeper on the rig itself! So, a few into the log, nothing of any and the photo of Ann shows it was steep but manage- real interest as the bands were absolutely terrible how- able. ever low propagation is what FT-8 was designed for (Continued on page 5) but even then, best dx was 4Z1TL @ 3950km!

4 (Continued from page 4) The next Activity Day is any day starting on the week beginning the 14th and ending on the 20th October The summit was a nar- 2018. row ridge, so I was able to string out the Summary of who did what: 20-metre-long invert- ed-V dipole on a 4- Total QSO’s = 105 where: 0 = CW, 12 = SSB, 93 = DATA, metre fishing rod, in a 0 = FM north – south orienta- tion. It was a lovely Bob GM4UYZ DATA: 10 x 20M viewpoint from the Geoff GM0LOD SSB: 1 x 40M summit and about the Martyn MM0XXW DATA: 9 x 40M, 35 x 30M right climb and dis- Bob MM0LBF DATA: 9 x 80M, 5 x 40M, tance for our first day 7 x 30M, 3 x 20M out in the Swiss . Craig 2M0NBW DATA:8 x480M, 6 x 20M The only problem was SSB: 3 x 20M a hatch of flying ants, Colwyn HB9/MM0YCJ/P SSB: 5 x 40M, 3 x 20M judging by their frantic behaviour I can only assume they were mating! The picture of the snake was an ad- der we saw on the way up the hill. I forgot to make a DATES FOR YOUR DIARY FOR THE 2018 ACTIVITY joke about how when I had set up the mobile station I WEEKS could hear a lot of hissing, I thought it was on the band then I saw the MONTH 2018 ACTIVITY WEEK snake! October 14th to 20th October In fact, we saw two that day. November 11th to 17th November December 9th to 15th December Seems to be a lot th of wildlife out January 6th to 12 January here. February 10th to16th February March 10th to 16th March My chosen radio was the Elecraft KX2 with a 3-cell ex- ternal 2200mAH LiPo battery and I started calling SSB April 7th to 13th April on 40 metres just before 13:00 local time, 11:00 May 5th to 11th May UTC. First station to come back was GB4CW, a windmill June 9th to 15th June in Lowestoft apparently. There were a few other contacts including a Greek sta- July 7th to 13th July tion on a summit called Vasilitsa (Height: 2248m) Loca- August 4th to 10th August tor: KN00ma. September 8th to 14th September So, eight contacts on 40 and 20 metres. Sitting having a beer in shorts and t-shirt at 17:15 hours today. October 6th to 12th October November 10th to 16th November This month DATA is the winning mode this month with December 8th to 14th December FT8 still being the predominant Data mode. Regarding modes being worked then out of the 105 QSO’s made: CW = 0, SSB = 12, Data = 93, FM = 0. Best DX on Data Thanks for taking part and I hope you will continue for was by Craig 2M0NBW working WB2REM on 14Mhz at the rest of 2018. The dates for 2019 are now set, see the 6884kms into the USA and on CW there were no QSO’s above table so would love to see many more on as well and on HF SSB Craig 2M0NBW working R9GM on so why not make it your 2019 target. 14MHz at 3559Kms into Asiatic. No VHF or UHF and upwards QSO’s to report this month. Bob GM4UYZ

5

The provisional results are out and this year we have been placed third in the world in our section Multi-Two. We were beaten by GM7V – Well done to them. We always have a regular rivalry in this contest between us as we are all friends. Whoever wins it helps put Scotland on the map and that in my eyes is a real positive aspect.

In the world when all stations are in the results we ended up fifth – still a fantastic result

6 (Continued from page 6) I know easier said than done due to the massive pile- ups we receive

Below was what we submitted but as it says it does not in- CW ER- SSB clude duplicate QSO’s ISSUE TOTAL RORS ERRORS

BROKEN CALL SIGN 2 2 0 BAND CW/IOTA SSB/IOTA POINTS AVG BROKEN BAND 2 0 2 ------BROKEN CALLSIGN 38 12 26 80 157 38 209 42 3565 9.74 BROKEN EXCHANGE 5 1 4 40 214 52 527 59 7060 9.53 BROKEN MODE 1 1 0 20 425 50 771 76 8860 7.41 BROKEN SERIAL RE- 48 19 29 15 284 31 353 45 4560 7.16 CEIVED 10 8 6 27 15 425 12.14 TOTAL NOT IN LOG 12 6 6 ------TOTAL SERIAL OUT BY 15 10 5 TOTAL 1088 177 1887 237 24470 8.23 1 ======MULTIPLIER TOTAL 80 40 20 15 10M TOTAL SCORE : 10 130 580 LOST M M M M

What is obvious is that we lost points along the way after CW 11 0 2 4 3 2 adjudication, so where did we lose them? What is produced by the adjudicators is a file called a UBN file. This file is SSB 7 1 3 2 0 1 there to help you see where you went wrong and give guid- ance in what areas that need improvement.

UBN stands for – U = Unique The other area NOT IN LOG to be honest I suspect we The number of unique call signs that are in your log that were are in as GM3T and not GM2T ... the only way we can not worked by any other contest entrant beat this is making sure we listen very carefully to what B = Broken the other station is giving us and if it is wrong ensure Entries in the log which when compared with the other sta- tion contacted do not compare i.e. serial numbers, IOTA Ref- that it is corrected. erence missing, etc, etc As we are doing Multi-2 it means we can run flat out N = Not in Log and work as many QSO’s as we can. That is great but Our Callsign does not appear in the other stations log. to get a good score we must work Multipliers as Output from the UBN Report well. Therefore, when operating it is important to move between running and working multipliers. It Total QSO’s submitted (including dupes): does go against the grain doing this when you have 3020 (2975 with no Dupes). a huge pileup running but it is a must to get a good score We lost 18 multiplier credit(s) and 108 QSO credit(s) This year again we have made a huge effort to combat as follows: this and it has paid off. The format has changed in the way that the UBN is dis- played plus they have changed the names for the differ- Sorting out or submitted entry did take time but the ent errors. One thing that was difficult to work out this effort shows that we ended up with a good UBN file year was where we had lost the multipliers and it took a otherwise very few errors in comparison to the total lot more investigation to work it out. made to be honest I think it is nigh on impossible to have no errors at all so our aim is to have as little or none. I really must congratulate the whole team on the The worst areas as you can see are the BROKEN CALL standard of the logging to achieve what we did. SIGN and BROKEN SERIAL NUMBER. Looking at these more closely it is mistyping or mishearing what is actu- ally given. It doesn’t look bad but if you look at these Regarding Percentage Errors as being multipliers then it hits our score hard. This is From the UBN results we actually lost 9.99% of our sub- where we lost quite a few of our submitted points in the mitted score which is a move in the wrong direction for 2018 IOTA contest. The aim is to try and do better. 0% errors Over the years our losses have been in 2009 it

(Continued on page 8)

7 (Continued from page 7) Overall a great performance by everyone and to come was 11.02%, 2010 it was 3.92%, 2011 it was 7.43%, 3rd in the world in the category is a massive achieve- 2012 it was 6.26%, 2013 it was 4.87%, 2014 it was ment for our club so we can all be really proud. We 13.12%, 2015 it was 4.57%., 2016 it was.= 7.84% , were also placed fifth in the world overall, fantastic is 2017 it was 8.76% and in 2018.it was 9.99%. (Note all I can say. One thing about us is that we work as a 2016 to 2018 are our Multi-2 Entries) This year was our team trying to achieve the best we can. Between us we third year in this new category which gave us more all have different skills but it is the teamwork that I feel QSO’s, so the chance of errors is greater, so this is what has shown through so thanks to everyone for achieving I put down to the percentage rise. At least from the this. UBN file it identifies weak areas and from this in future

contests them can be worked on to make sure they are alleviated and we are already looking at this. At the FINAL POSITIONING since taking part in the IOTA Con- end of the day we are looking for the ideal of no er- test rors.

TOTAL No of EN- YEAR SECTION CALLSIGN IOTA Ref QSO’s MULTS POSITION POINTS TRANTS

1998 MS-DX-Pedition MM0AMV/P EU008 1052 97 682298 40 72 1999 MS-DX-Pedition 2A0CCC/P EU008 1499 172 1406616 25 76 2000 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 1536 219 2052468 27 89 2001 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2005 344 4797768 19 80 2002 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 1578 227 2387586 34 81 2003 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 1543 230 3177710 15 56 2004 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 1631 269 3491889 14 85 2005 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2407 339 5921991 5 118 2006 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 1835 231 2981979 14 115 2007 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2144 277 4291284 11 133 2008 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2204 448 7451136 5 128 2009 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2358 439 6840498 6 136 2010 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2455 409 6840525 3 121 2011 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2450 423 6560730 6 142 2012 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2461 410 7808450 8 141 2013 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2209 328 6020440 11 157 2014 MS-DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2244 383 6932300 5 118 2015 MS DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2219 356 6089380 4 113 2016 M2 DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 3364 369 9557100 1 21 2017 M2 DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 3153 363 9281910 2 7 2018 M2 DX-Pedition GM2T EU008 2869 396 9117900 3 13

8 With the introduction of the new GDPR rules earlier in You can remove yourself from the mailing list at any the year, we sent out an email to our entire mailing list time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom asking people to confirm they still wished to receive of every club email. email from the club, only those who responded (about If you change your email address, unsubscribe from 30%) were retained on the mailing list your old address and sign up again with your new one It has come to light that some people who were re- using the form on the web site. moved from the list are now wondering how to get back on.

It is easy – Just fill out the form at the very bottom of the front page on the club’s website www.cpsarc.com and click on the Sign Up button. You will receive a con- firmation email, click on the link in the email to com- plete the sign up process.

9 We have for many years taken part in CQWW SSB con- much lack of operators which makes the MM section test from our Barns Ness Lighthouse location. It is a extremely tiring whereas the M2 allows time for operat- fantastic site for radio, very close to the sea, low radio ing and also more relaxation. If I am being honest with noise floor and just being a great location. For a num- MM the last few hours everyone has normally had ber of years we have been very fortunate thanks to the enough so trying to get operators on the air becomes generosity of Lafarge to get the use of the actual light- really difficult. The aim of the contest is to work on house buildings instead of what we used to use – tents each of the 6 Bands from 1.8MHz through to 28MHz and caravans. It means that no matter what the weather making as many contacts, as many of the 40 Zones in it offers a very comfortable environment. Unfortunately the world and as many Countries as you can within the we will not be exactly at Barns Ness Lighthouse this 48 hour period. The Zones and Countries are very im- year as the house is out for let but we have found a site portant as they are multipliers and as the old saying close by at Blackberry Farm, Thorntonloch. Many go’s “points make prizes” but in this case “multipliers thanks to Donna MM6GDY who has the farm for offer- make the Prizes”. It is quite amazing to see your score ing this as a location. change and by how much particularly near the end when a new country or zone is worked. Below is a table (sorry John I know you just love them!!!!) No matter what, it is a real buzz contest as the ex- change is very short so it offers a chance for lots of As you can see we have taken part in this contest for 21 QSO’s within an hour period. I think the record is 400+ years, including year 2017 changing between the Multi- but that is just of the top of the head but you can see Multi (MM) and the Multi-2 (M2) sections with 7 years what I mean. as MM and 14 years (including 2017) as M2. With MM You will probably notice from the number of entrant’s we have 4 Stations running “flat out” all the time column that it has changed. Up to 2010 they only whereas with M2 it is only 2 stations. The contest runs showed how many other stations from a country took for 48 hours and one of the issues that we have is very (Continued on page 11)

No of FINAL YEAR SECTION CALLSIGN LOCATION POSITION QSOs ZONE COUNTRIES ENTRANTS SCORE 1997 M-2 GM0NTL/P No results Available 1998 M-2 MM0MMV/P BENTS No results Available 1999 M-2 MM0CPS/P Barns Ness Log but no Entry?? 2000 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 2 (Scotland) 2 (Scotland) 1400091 2158 87 312 2001 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 1 (Scotland) 2 (Scotland) 4216844 4523 114 434 2002 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 1 (Scotland) 1 (Scotland 948918 1366 87 331 2003 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 2 (Scotland) 2 (Scotland) 1009821 1641 91 318 2004 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 1 (Scotland) 1 (Scotland 1809750 2565 102 373 2005 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 1 (Scotland) 1 (Scotland 2528326 3454 95 359 2006 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 3 (Scotland) 2 (Scotland) 4443504 5606 114 510 2007 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 2 (Scotland) 1 (Scotland 4416448 5527 109 495 2008 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 3 (Scotland) 2 (Scotland) 2183742 2832 116 422 2009 M-M GM2T Barns Ness 2 (Scotland) 2 (Scotland) 2442830 3306 109 450 2010 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 2 (Scotland) 1 (Scotland 3927208 3994 133 471 1 GM,45 Eur, 1 GM,18 Eur, 2011 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 5597173 4662 156 571 101 W 42 W 2 GM,54 Eur, 1 GM,24 Eur, 2012 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 4447140 5098 121 449 108 W 49 W 1 GM,47 Eur, 1 GM,20 Eur, 2013 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 6,335,560 5,817 131 464 115 W 43 W 1 GM,47 Eur, 1 GM,16 Eur, 2014 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 7,522,431 6169 144 557 111 W 32 W 1 GM,42 Eur, 1 GM, 23 Eur, 2015 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 5,526,472 5027 134 530 100 W 45 W 2 GM,36 Eur, 1 GM, 17 Eur, 2016 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 2,195,028 3394 95 411 101 W 36 W 2 GM, 48 Eur, 1 GM, 17 Eur, 2017 M-2 GM2T Barns Ness 4,618,310 5017 118 447 107 W 36 W

10 (Continued from page 10) Have you tried contesting if not why not give it a try? You will either love it or hate it I must admit. Taking part part in that particular section. From 2011 onwards you in something like CQWW which is one of the easiest can see how many took part from your country, from with regard exchange makes it quite an easy one to do. Europe and lastly Worldwide, which is great to see as From above ok we are a big station but you can see you can analyse how you fare in Europe and also World- what can be achieved especially from your home loca- wide. What CQ also does is make people within the tion. same country compete with each other within the same selected section i.e. MM, M2, etc. This then makes for a Why not come and join us in the last full weekend in level playing field as each country in the world has its October 2018 you will be very welcome. If you are going own Licence and Power settings i.e. the UK = 400W to come along and operate can you say when as it helps whereas the USA is 1KW so creates an imbalance on in putting a “sort” of Rota together. Thanks what a station can do. Bob GM4UYZ What is our aim as a club? Well first of all just to take part and have some fun. Next to try and beat the high- est score we have achieved previously in the section that we have entered. This year’s we will once again take part in the M2 Section to try and beat our 2014 score which is the best we have ever done as a M2.

11 Elemental my dear chap

Le Tâche – Switzerland Region: Valais. Latitude: and the wire ladder. The observational and forensic 46.3446 , Longitude: 6.848. QTH Locator: JN36ki. evidence was compelling. Combined with the damp Le Tâche - The task (Latin medieval taxa, from the Latin conditions, the rock barrier and the cumulative fatigue classical taxare). Definition; Work, work to do in a of climbing every day for 2 weeks, we retreated. certain time and under certain conditions: Complete the My suggestion that a steep gully on the north face was task of the day. Conduct of which we make an accessible, and possible, was met with comments that obligation: The task of the scientist in the modern world. such an approach would involve both mud and mud- slinging; a very accurate assessment, as I later I find nothing more motivating than a failed attempt to confirmed. radio from the summit of a . This is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, now I think about it, there are The 21st September 2018. many incentives to catch our attention, but I had better The weather forecast was for sunshine as we started the not speculate on them here! task (Le Tâche) of the day. Our aim was to complete an SOTA summit reference HB/VS-244, Le Tâche, was for ascent of Le Tâche, radio from the summit, and descend me a failed radio activation. But I view failure is only a safely. The peak is modest by Swiss alpine standards failure, if you do not learn from it! My previous visit (1691m), although it is higher than every scrap of land had been in the summer of 2016. A few days after my in Scotland. We started at the car park in Le Flon, just successful transmission from the summit of La Braye past Miex (regular bus service), at the end of the public HB/VS-243. I had made 20 QSOs on 14MHz. Both La road en route to the Col de Tanay. We walked back Braye and Le Tâche had no history of a radio activation, down the road for about a kilometre to the junction of were of modest height, but with significant difficulties the Route de Flon and Chemin de Préligne. There is a to reach the summit. La Braye had turned out to be a footpath sign called Miex (Vesenand), height 1012 rock climb. It was equipped with good quality metres. expansion bolts so (from a rock climbers viewpoint) it is safe and relatively easy to reach, and descend from, the impressive crenellated rocky summit. It had been a lovely day out but I see that it has not yet had a repeat activation. The original visit to Le Tâche a few days later had not been a success. We had taken a longer path than necessary as it had rained overnight and we wanted to give the ground a chance to dry. Access to Le Tâche from the chalets at Prélagine is through a dense pine forest, which had retained the overnight moisture providing a humid, steep and bad tempered ascent to the point where the difficulties started, I call this Pointe A. At pointe A I had found a rusty steel cable, but the tree to which it had been secured, was long since dead; it had also rotted and fallen off the top of the rocky face. At the top of the 20 foot vertical Start of the steep footpath, Miex (Vesenand), 1012m, at limestone face, I could see the remnants of a cable junction of Route de Flon and Chemin de Préligne. (wire) ladder. The evidence suggested that previous access to the summit had involved both a steel cable (Continued on page 13)

12 (Continued from page 12) which is a scramble to the left. There was a flat area of ridge where we stopped to prepare for the climb, but From here it is a suggested 50 minute walk, but this we found there were ants everywhere in the area, and land rover style track from Miex to Préligne is steep and some of them did sting/bite! unrelenting. During the flog up the hill I mused if a The old (and useless) steel hawser was still there, and mountain bike might help. But I realised that for me I the wire ladder was high up at the top of the rocky face. would have been pushing the bike uphill, and I decided There are some large healthy trees just below the face that the descent would be akin to a crazy downhill track and we used one to set up a fixed belay to protect the rather than a gentle free wheel back to civilisation. lead climber, should they fall off the face. We had the Préligne (just below 1500m) consists of a small set of usual discussion about who wanted to go first; it turned chalets, a handy water trough and the obligatory out to be me, but I am not sure if I won or lost that wooden . It is also the first sight of the east face/ particular discussion! The steep wall was too difficult to ridge of Le Tâche, where our route was intended. climb, so I moved left a few metres into a deep cleft/ chimney and was able to bridge up a few metres off the ground. While Ann had an excellent fixed belay, if I fell from here I would go a long way down. I started to place small metal wedges into cracks in the rock, that would limit the distance I fell by holding the rope. I was lucky and was able to find 3 excellent pieces of gear which were all “bombproof”; meaning if I fell off I was confident that the protection would hold me and I would slip only a short distance. Bridging above the third wedge I was able to reach a small bush and put a sling around the main trunk. From there I made a big scary step to the right and found I was on easier ground. I was able to scramble up past some ledges, trees and rocks, and at about 25 metres above Ann, I made another strong and safe fixed belay. I had gone past the remnants of the old wire ladder, which had a First view of Le Tâche from Préligne. Note gathering steel cable and horizontal aluminium alloy cross steps. clouds. The different metals had sacrificially corroded, and Essentially you need to follow your nose from here. although it didn't look safe, I clipped my rope into the Leave the land rover track and go past the most steel wire anyway. I was also able to look over onto the westerly chalet toward a stand of pine trees. Once in north face into the gully I had suggested we could climb the trees a compass bearing might help, but we found 2 years earlier. I have revised my opinion. That route and followed a faint path which led to an old bivouac does not look feasible. site. The type of bivvy shelter fabric suggested it was Ann soon joined me and the remaining route to the more recent than from World War 2. There was a large summit was a simple scramble. Note that it is steep and concrete rectangle, perhaps an abandoned water tank, very exposed. We left the ropes at the fixed belay and leading to a very steep clearing, without a path, we soon arrived on the magnificent summit. There was a continued NNW up the clearing to a ridge overlooking wooden summit cross; wooden, like my QSOs perhaps? the Lac de Tanay (1550m). Then fantastic views in all directions from the top. Follow the ridge (turn left) towards the summit and soon progress is blocked by the steep wall at Pointe A. There is a steep jumble of rocks just before Pointe A (Continued on page 14)

13 The Lac de Tanay was beautiful and blue, almost 300 clouds had darkened, the weather forecast was for rain, metres below with perhaps a thunder storm in the afternoon. Despite the lovely setting we did not want to be caught on the summit in a storm. Back at the fixed belay on a tree above the steep wall, I was able to use a stout piece of cord I had found on Les Diablerets Glacier (HB/VD-001) 5 days earlier on 16th September. We threaded the ropes through the cord, checked that the ropes slid freely and were able to abseil back down about 25m to easy ground, or 30m to the original fixed belay we had used on the ascent

One relieved activator at the summit cross. Note that the attachment on the summit cross is a lightning conductor, not a blasphemous antenna!

On the summit ridge the small pine trees were all dead, but the Juniper trees were healthy and their needles seemed very sharp. There was a lot of insecure, loose rock, dead wood, sap from the live trees and loose soil. There were also the droppings of some herbivore (Bouquetin, Chamois, Cerf?) near the summit, so there must be another route to the top which does not involve rock climbing. There was ample space for a 20 metre long inverted-V dipole along the summit ridge, held up by a 4 metre fishing pole. Ann descending by abseil over the steep wall, with the There were no VHF responses to my CQ calls as Le ascent route on left shown in red. Note old wire hawser Tâche is hemmed in by higher surrounding , (middle right) and derelict wire ladder (right of abseil). apart from the north east, line of sight towards The abseil was through a lot of vegetation so I would Montreux; but no Montreux residents were on air at recommend using a back up prussic loop to protect the lunchtime on a September Friday. abseil, or a top rope for safety. Our ropes easily pulled I self spotted on the SOTAWATCH website and at 12:28 down and all we had to do was pick out as many ants as local time (10:28 UTC), using my Elecraft KX2, I made my possible, pack all our gear and head back down the first QSO on 40m SSB with S57ILF Franci in Slovenia. steep hill to the car park at Le Flon, as quickly as our There followed 5 UK stations, G4OBK (Phil), G3RDQ knees would tolerate. By the time we had packed the (David), G4AFI (Andrew), G0FEX (Ken) and G0VWP Terry; car and set off down the hill, the first drops of rain had a regular German chaser DL3HXX (Lothar) and Pedro started to fall. We had completed our task (Le Tâche) EA2CKX in Spain. by definition - in a certain time and under certain I gave a quick shout on 14.285MHz but the band was conditions. totally quiet. So we quickly packed and headed back down the ridge to where we had left the ropes. The Colwyn HB9/MM0YCJ/P

14 SEPTEMBER 2018 CONTESTS

For anyone interested in contesting there is something for everyone. Contesting is not just about winning although that is the aim; it is about taking part, having some fun, honing your operating skills, helping you understand prop- agation and It is also a good opportunity to test out your station at home to see how it is performing. Happy Contesting...... Extracts are from the RSGB Radio Sport VHF & HF contest and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar (http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/perpetualcal.php)

Contests highlighted in red take place during our activity week so are a great opportunity to fill your log

October 2018 German Telegraphy Contest 0700Z-0959Z, Oct 3 SARL 80m QSO Party 1700Z-2000Z, Oct 4 Oceania DX Contest, Phone 0800Z, Oct 6 to 0800Z, Oct 7 RSGB 2.3GHz Trophy 1400Z-2200Z, Oct 6 RSGB 1.2GHz Trophy 1400Z-2200Z, Oct 6 RSGB Oct 432MHz – 254GHz Contest 1400Z, Oct 6 to 1400Z, Oct 7 California QSO Party 1600Z, Oct 6 to 2159Z, Oct 7 RSGB DX Contest 0500Z-2300Z, Oct 7 RSGB Autumn Series CW 1900Z-2030, Oct 8 10-10 Int. 10-10 Day Sprint 0001Z-2359Z, Oct 10 Makrothen RTTY Contest 0000Z, Oct 13 to 1559Z, Oct 14 Oceania DX Contest, CW 0800Z, Oct 13 to 0800Z, Oct 14 Scandinavian Activity Contest, SSB 1200Z, Oct 13 to 1200Z, Oct 14 SKCC Weekend Sprintathon 1200Z, Oct 13 to 2359Z, Oct 14 Arizona QSO Party 1600Z, Oct 13 to 2359Z, Oct 14 Pennsylvania QSO Party 1600Z, Oct 13 to 2200Z, Oct 14 FISTS Fall Unlimited Sprint 1700Z-2100Z, Oct 13 RSGB Autumn Series DATA 1900Z-2030, Oct 17 10-10 Int. Fall Contest, CW 0001Z, Oct 20 to 2359Z, Oct 21 New York QSO Party 1400Z, Oct 20 to 0200Z, Oct 21 Worked All Germany Contest 1500Z, Oct 20 to 1459Z, Oct 21 Asia-Pacific Fall Sprint, CW 0000Z-0200Z, Oct 21 50MHz AFS Contest 0900Z-1300Z, Oct 21 Illinois QSO Party 1700Z, Oct 21 to 0100Z, Oct 22 RSGB RoTo CW 1900Z-2030, Oct 21 Run for the Bacon QRP Contest 0100Z-0300Z, Oct 22 SKCC Sprint 0000Z-0200Z, Oct 24 RSGB Autumn Series SSB 1900Z-2030, Oct 25 CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB 0000Z, Oct 27 to 2400Z, Oct 28

January to December Monthly Contests 2018 144MHz FMAC 1900-2000 (Local) Every 1st Tuesday 144MHz UKAC 2000-2230 (Local) Every 1st Tuesday 432MHz FMAC 1900-2000 (Local) Every 2nd Tuesday 432MHz UKAC 2000-2230 (Local) Every 2nd Tuesday 50MHz FMAC 1900-2000 (Local) Every 2nd Thursday 50MHz UKAC 2000-2230 (Local) Every 2nd Thursday 70MHz FMAC 1900-2000 (Local) Every 3rd Thursday 70MHz UKAC 2000-2230 (Local) Every 3rd Thursday 1.3GHz UKAC 2000-2230 (Local) Every 3rd Tuesday SHF UKAC 2000-2230 (Local) Every 4th Tuesday (Jan-Nov Only)

15 Test Your Knowledge

1. It is a requirement that the holder of an Amateur 6. Which one of the following antenna can focus Radio Foundation Licence must NOT use the station the radio signal in a particular direction? for a. Dipole. a. experimenting b. End fed. b. learning about the radio c. Ground plane. c. business or advertising d. Yagi. d. Contacting overseas radio amateurs. 7. One reason for matching the output of a 2. How often MUST you identify your station, by transmitter to an antenna is to giving your callsign, whilst in contact with another a. improve the frequency drift characteristic station for a period of 25 minutes? b. improve frequency stability a. At the beginning and end of each "over". c. save d.c. input power b. At the beginning and end of the contact. d. ensure maximum power is transferred to the c. Every 15 minutes antenna. d. As frequently as possible 8. One feature of radio waves spreading out from 3. An Amateur Radio Licence holder may an antenna is that they a. not send messages in a secret code a. remain equally strong however far they travel b. not send messages in a secret unless asked to by b. travel in straight lines unless reflected another amateur c. travel slightly slower as they get weaker c. send messages using a secret code provided the d. remain one wavelength apart in free space. key to the code has been sent to the RSGB d. Send messages using a secret code provided the 9. The ionosphere is the key to the code has been sent to an official of Ofcom. a. region close to a high power transmitting antenna 4. When should a radio amateur notify Ofcom of a b. layers of conductive gases just above the ground change of mailing address? c. layers of conductive gases above 70km in height a. Within 7 days of moving to the new address. d. region that reflects VHF and UHF waves back down. b. Immediately on moving. c. After the Station is set up at the new address. 10. Which item below is NOT likely to pick up d. When the licence is next renewed. signals from a nearby amateur transmission? a. Overhead telephone wiring. 5. The screen of a coaxial cable must be properly b. Indoor telephone wiring. connected to the body of a PL259 plug in order to c. A plastic water pipe. a. prevent water getting in d. A coaxial feeder. b. confine the signal within the cable c. stop the cable coming apart d. make a neat appearance.

16 I was interested to find out if our experiences at IOTA over the last 20 years lined up with the sun spot cycle that Bob keeps tabs on, so I asked him to produce the charts below as we’re all slightly obsessed by band con- ditions when we’re contesting. The results show little correlation, the increase in QSO rate is probably more down to our growing experience as the dips don’t show massive reductions in QSO count.

QSO's

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0 199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018

Sunspot July

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

17 Club Events

5 October Club Night

Geoff MM5AHO: Talk on his 2018 Rockall and Lighthouse Weekend Adven- 19 October tures (Resources Room 1 @ 19:00)

27/28 October CQWW SSB Contest from Barns Ness

2 November Club Night

16 November Club Talk (John MM0JXI uBITX Radio)

7 December Club Night

8 December Christmas Meal @ Golden Chopsticks

Rank Callsign 80 60 40 30 20 17 15 12 10 6 DXCC Slots Range 1 MM0GZZ 0 0 69 80 78 67 0 0 18 45 128 357 10 yrs 2 GM8MJV 19 0 64 2 78 14 12 0 3 78 125 270 40 yrs 3 GM2T 52 0 57 0 77 0 59 0 19 14 89 278 19 yrs 4 MM0GPZ 50 0 53 0 71 2 32 0 33 1 85 242 13 yrs 5 MM0XAB 6 0 17 31 27 14 9 5 12 0 80 121 4 yrs 6 MM2N 45 0 52 0 58 0 31 0 28 0 69 214 6 yrs 7 M0RNR 0 0 30 0 63 0 9 0 6 0 68 108 19 yrs 8 MM0XXW 0 0 42 50 35 31 14 16 22 6 66 216 12 yrs 9 2M0NBW 12 0 27 1 44 31 26 0 11 0 63 152 1 yrs 10 2M0BEC 0 0 0 0 61 0 0 0 1 0 62 62 12 yrs 11 GB2LBN 0 0 23 0 43 0 0 0 0 0 51 66 23 yrs 12 GB2MOF 0 0 16 0 43 0 0 0 1 0 47 60 17 yrs 13 GM4UYZ 3 0 5 0 41 0 2 0 0 0 43 51 38 yrs 14 MM0GYG 0 0 18 4 13 3 1 0 0 2 30 41 9 yrs

15 MM0CPS 1 0 7 0 15 0 12 0 0 0 28 35 20 yrs

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

Knowledge”. Your “Test newsletter 2018 October from Answers