Cockenzie

& Port Seton Amateur Radio Club Elements

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.

Editorial The dark nights are now starting to creep in so it will soon be time to maybe concentrate in settling behind the radio and doing some evening operating but I suspect as what happens with me is that I get sat down in front of the television and that is that.... The year is certainly passing by at a tremendous rate as again I cannot believe I am sitting down and writing another editorial for our newsletter as I feel I just finish one and then I am on to the next one. This one is slightly early as my free time is quite constrained at the moment due to a very heavy working schedule which is not allowing hardly any free time at all. I mustn’t grumble as at least I do have a job. August was certainly a busy month up until the Lighthouses Weekend with regard to the radio club activities, not just what we have taken part in but the continual work that runs away in the background.

From the club point of view we had another successful Junk Night and Lighthouse Weekend. We have also just invigilated a Full/Advance Exam so I certainly wish the person all the best and hope the result is s positive one. The first Foundation Course of 2012/2013 session starts on the 1st September with the pupils sitting their exam on the 8th September and I am sure you will go along with me and wish them every success. Anyone that is interested in any of our training well get them to contact me and I can take it from there.

Email: gm4uyz@cpsarc.com

This month the planned activities are another DF Hunt night at the end of the month, 28th September. Now this one is a real challenge as it is done in the dark, this really tests your skills. The “fox” has certainly been getting devious on the last few outings so why not come and try and catch him….

I did send out a general email about setting up further CW training but I have had little response...is it the apathy stakes again or is it “I cannot be bothered to answer” syndrome. If you are interested then please reply to my email. From an organisers point of view it really is frustrating getting no replies so please help them by having the courtesy to reply whether it is a yes or a no as it is very much appreciated.

To the future, the Christmas Night out on Saturday 8th December this year I have already had requests for a Chinese Meal do you fancy that or a change away from the meal to do something else. What are your thoughts? Can you let me know them ASAP to give me some idea? If no ideas I will just make a decision but thanks if you do.

I am also starting to think about next year’s activities, any ideas. Does anyone want to take a project on board and get something going? Don’t all rush! Seriously I feel I need help here and I would like someone to take it on and run with it fully. Who ever does it will find it is hard work to sustain a level of interest and drive it

(Continued on page 2)

In this issue Morse Training P.2

Junk Night P.3

IOTA report P.4

IOTA Final Scores P.6

BT People Award P.6

Lighthouses Weekend P.7

Club Generator P.8

Foxhunt rules P.10

Test Your Knowledge P.11

V o l u m e 2 0

Se p te mb e r

2 0 12

09

2

Morse Training

forward?

No I am not being negative but realistic.

So a volunteer then!

There has been some discussion between a few people and along with John MM0JXI on the club website and its layout. There is a forum set-up for this on the website. Some say it doesn’t flow and is not as good as the original “hacked” site but others like it. John has put hours and hours of behind the scenes work to get us to where we are now.

The question is how do you all find the site, good or bad and if bad how can John make it better. It has also been very noticeable since the hacking scenario and the move to the current site that many people are not using the website as they used to do.

Why is the question?

Is it because of the above or not really interested now?

Come on then it is your website but help John make it the best around... don’t complain and say nothing but be pro-active and help no matter what the suggestion is.

Do you know good websites that you could point John to for inspiration if so tell him?

Please email John with thoughts and suggestions mm0jxi@cpsarc.com

Well a few questions for you this month along with pleas of help so your input would be most grateful so that is it then enjoy this month’s newsletter.

Bob GM4UYZ

MORSE TRAINING – Are you interested? Our first real class for teaching Morse Code (CW) on a regular basis successfully came to a conclusion on Mon-day 14th May 2012. It started back on the 14th November 2011with a real big enthusiastic group but sadly dwindled away very quickly to an average of 6 people a night depending on peoples work, holidays, etc. The training was held each Monday night between 19:00 and 21:00 in the Port Seton Resource Centre and did run for 24 weeks. Overall those who completed the training are now enthusiastic about the mode and intend to keep the practising going. Was the training a success, well I would say a resounding — YES!!! THE FUTURE If there is enough of a response then we plan to run an-other Morse Training Course starting probably at the beginning of October and running it throughout the win-ter months. The only thing I will say is that the hire of the room needs to be paid for and at present it costs £13 per night so in reality we need 7 people to cover the cost assuming we keep it to the £2 per person per night, teacher included!!! The minimum class size in reality is 4 people and instructor (5 in total) and if that was the case then costs would have to be £3 per person to cover but would you be acceptable with that? Hopefully there will be lots more of you!!!!!!

Questions?

Are you interested in attending the next Morse Training Class starting in October?

If due to numbers would you pay the £3 a night to cover the room hire?

I Would like to change the night to a Thursday night due to work commitments that I have mak-ing Monday nights difficult to attend.

Is the time 19:00 to 21:00 still ok?

Can you please let me know ASAP so I can set out some dates and get a room booked to accommodate the train-ing?

Happy CW’ing then…

Bob GM4UYZ

Junk Night

3

Our club has been added

to the excellent Clublog

system developed by

Michael Wells G7VJR.

www.clublog.org

The system allows

members 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

duplicates. 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,

filtered by the current

year, so everyone starts a

new year at 0 contacts.

1994 150 2004 165

1995 154 2005 138

1996 162 2006 158

1997 133 2007 147

1998 151 2008 135

1999 154 2009 127

2000 157 2010 158

2001 168 2011 153

2002 152 2012 138

2003 176 Average No. 151

This year the weather for our Junk Night was absolutely excellent so no complaints on that front as we couldn’t have asked for more. The worry before this sort of event is will people turn up; glad to say I wasn’t disappointed. The numbers that came via the door this year were down on the 2011 numbers from 153 to 138. Glad to see that this year both Radcom and Practical Wire-less both advertised our night which I think helps immensely. I did though a quick search through the RSGB Yearbook for 2012 and emailed all the club secretaries within a 150 mile radius so I really don’t know if that was successful or not.

For those of you interested in statistics then numbers that have come through the door on each junk night are as follows:

For a Friday night event we certainly cannot complain, so long may it continue.

Looking around the hall this year, the num-ber of people there looked very constant all evening and the normal thinning out at about 20:30 did happen this year. Those who stayed were all eagerly awaiting the raffle being drawn, any way tremendous to see everyone. Again this year I received a few compliments about our Junk Night and

a sample are “Tremendous Friendly Atmos-phere”, and “Well run night congratulations to you all, keep it up”. Personally on hear-ing these it makes all the hard work really worthwhile.

Rose & Norrie of Tennamast were unable to make it this year as they were on holiday in Canada, they are certainly enjoying their retirement. Carol and Calum who now run the business also were not available but they did send across literature and a raffle prize to what I am eternally grateful. Bill, Scott and Betty of Jaycee continued to give us their support on the evening plus as nor-mal handed in a raffle prize Other’s donat-ed prizes and to them I am also eternally grateful for their donations to our Raffle and food for the kitchen

Before the raffle was drawn they club was presented the Tennamast Trophy by Len Pagent GM0ONX the RSGB Regional Man-ager for Region 1for being the leading Scottish Station in this year’s Practical Wire-less QRP Contest. I had been asked by Ten-namast if we could carry out the role of which I was very pleased to organise. Well done to the CPSARC Club you well deserve it. The raffle then took place, drawn by Len GM0ONX. The actual figure that we raised on the night after expenses were removed was £616.85. This has now been added to the club’s funds. We also raised £120 for the British Heart Foundation via the BHF Tin.

Lastly I would like to say a personal thanks to everyone who helped put the Junk Night together particularly to Gary MM0FZV and Ellis GM4GZW for helping me with the door and if I have missed any one then thanks to you also to Yvonne, Janet and Elyse (my Granddaughter) who worked hard behind the refreshments counter and lastly to eve-ryone who handed Food or raffle prizes in. Without this sort of help this type of event would never happen. So again thanks.

WELL DONE EVERYONE FOR A VERY SUC-CESSFUL JUNK NIGHT AND FUND RAISING EVENT.

Bob GM4UYZ

Club Attire

The club has a design for

Club Tee-shirts, Polo-

shirts, Sweat-Shirts, Fleec-

es and Jackets and all of

these can be obtained

from the address below.

When making an order

please quote ‘Cockenzie &

Port Seton Amateur Radio

Club’ as this will ensure

that the Club Logo will be

placed on the required

ordered garments.

If you wish to add your call

-sign to the logo then

please ask at the time of

the order.

Cost will depend on gar-

ment and should cover the

garment and logo, call-sign

addition will be extra.

Order from:

PATRICIA BEWSEY DESIGNS,

UNIT 11,

FENTON BARNS RETAIL

VILLAGE,

FENTON BARNS,

NORTH BERWICK,

EAST LOTHIAN

EH39 5BW

Tel/Fax: 01620 850788

Mobile: 07970 920431

4

RSGB IOTA Contest 2012—GM2T

CPSARC have taken part in the RSGB IOTA Con-

test for the last 15 years from the Island of

Tiree off the West coast of Scotland in the In-

ner Hebrides. IOTA Ref: EU-008

Thanks to a lot of investment by the IOTA

team over the last decade and a half we can

now put together a fantastic station with top

quality radios, amplifiers and aerials along

with computers and band decoders as well as

band pass filters and antenna switches not

normally used in a single radio setup.

The team for IOTA this year consisted of Cam-

bell MM0DXC, John MM0JXI, Bob GM4UYZ,

Bob GM4IKT, Ellis GM4GZW, Gary MM0FZV,

Robin MM0VTV, Paul MM0VPR, Geoff

MM5AHO, Stevie MM0GZA, Brian M0RNR,

Brian G3UJE and newcomer Cephas MM0INS.

Out of this team MM0DXC and MM0JXI have

been to every single IOTA contest since we

started in 1998.

As always, the ferry times dictate our travel-

ling schedule, the ferry leaves Oban at 5.45am

on the Friday morning so we need to drive

overnight to get there in time with our trailer

towers, collecting team members on the way.

Our location was once again our friend Elaine’s

house – Ormer Cottage, although it has

changed a bit this year as the Elephants End

restaurant has closed and the buildings are

being let out as holiday homes. I’m sure the

folk renting the buildings were pretty bemused

when a team of noisy guys arrived and pro-

ceeded to turn the field into an antenna farm!

The station build went pretty much to plan,

we’ve done this loads of times, both for IOTA

and for the larger CQWW station so everyone

knows what to do, we split into teams to build

the aerials and assemble the stations.

This all went smoothly and we were pretty

much finished by early afternoon, fuelled by

great soup and home-made bread from Elaine.

So we were able to grab a shower and wander

down to the pub for a few beers before din-

ner.

The social side of this expedition cannot be

underestimated, the ferry times mean we

have to get to the island on the Friday and

cannot leave until the Monday so there’s plen-

ty time for a few beers and renewing old

friendships.

Saturday morning arrived, the weather was

fine, there was a little work left to do, putting

up some low slung dipoles for 80m and 40m to

gives us a different angle to try if the propaga-

tion wasn’t working in our favour. Then the

contest start time arrived and we were off and

running.

5

Our strategy this year was to mix up the running between SSB

and CW and to cycle through the other bands listening out for

multipliers, the rules have changed a bit limiting the number of

band changes but our scheme of spending 15 minutes on a

band then moving on seemed to work well. Despite the club

working hard on improving members’ CW skills there was only

one person happy to run on CW Brian G3UJE – the morse mon-

ster, assisted by Bob GM4UYZ picking off CW mults.

The whole contest was ran this way, trying to spend equal

amounts of time on SSB and CW, drafting in Bob or Brian

whenever CW mults were spotted. As the contest progressed

there were a few stations giving out serial numbers higher

than ours, but not many! It was fantastic to be able to give

everyone a chance to work on a pileup in a busy contest and I

think everyone enjoyed the experience.

When the contest ended at 1pm BST on Sunday we all gath-

ered round Brian M0RNR who was running as fast as he could

to boost the QSO count and as the clock ticked over we gave

our customary round of applause for the effort everyone had

put in.

Once the logs had all been saved, it was time for another Tiree

tradition – the T Shirts, once again Brian M0RNR had spent

long hours designing a T Shirt and ironing the transfers on. We

all donned the T Shirts and headed outside for a team photo

before setting to dismantling the station. This is almost as

much work as erecting it in the first place, although it does

take a little less time to get it all down and packed back into

the vans.

Once all that is done, we can get washed up and retire to the

pub until dinner is ready, once again Elaine had done us proud

producing a fantastic dinner, and thanks also to Geoff who did

much of the cooking over the weekend now that Elaine is busy

back at the Tiree Lodge Hotel, they certainly made sure we

didn’t go hungry!

Sunday morning and we all packed our kit back into the van

and helped tidy up the house before we made our way to the

ferry terminal for the journey home. This year Elaine was going

over to Oban on the same ferry so we had a chance to have a

more relaxed conversation before saying goodbye and wend-

ing our way back down to Tranent.

Once we arrived home, we had to unpack the vans and stow

all the equipment, not something we were looking forward to

as we’re all very tired, however this year we seemed to be very

organised and the unpacking was done in a very short time

and we could depart on our separate ways to home.

So thanks to everyone who really put a lot of work into plan-

ning, transporting, assembling and operating the station, we

really can put on a fantastic quality effort and were rewarded

by many complements on our signal. There are even a couple

of recordings of GM2T on the internet and I have to say we

sound great!

John MM0JXI

6

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 £14,795 since

1994.

Supported by BT Community

Champions

The club took part in the RSGB IOTA contest as we have done since 1998 from the Island of Tiree – IOTA Reference EU008. The logs have been checked for mistypes and general logging mistakes before it was finally submitted. It can be quite amazing the difference of doing these checks be-fore submission on how much your actual score can change. Sometimes it goes in the negative i.e. we lose points but often it goes positive and we gain points, the bottom line it is well worth doing. The log entry is in my opinion one of the main important aspects of any contest. It is why you took part and that is to submit the best score you possibly can…. Strange as how many contesters dismiss the checking of their logs!!!! This year due to rule changes, checking had to be more stringent especially for the new rule of 6 Band or Mode changes in the hour. The descrip-tion in the rules is certainly not clear and it caused quite a debate on its interpretation. At the end of the day we came to an agreement and that is what we worked too.

Contest Information

2539 QSO’s logged which include DUPES (2515 Actual QSO’s and 24 Dupes’s) Contest : IOTA Contest Callsign : GM2T Mode : MIXED Category : Multi Operator - Two Trans-mitter (M2) Band(s) : All bands (AB) Class : High Power (HP) Zone/State/. : EU008 Locator : IO66OM Operating time : 23h58

Scores before checking…. BAND SSB/IOTA CW/IOTA POINTS AVG ----------------------------------------

80 167 47 103 30 2565 9.50

40 302 56 224 47 4770 9.07

20 658 83 260 30 6335 6.90

15 438 65 229 30 4635 6.95

10 91 27 43 11 1190 8.88

----------------------------------------

TOTAL 1656 278 859 148 19495 7.75

====================================

TOTAL SCORE : 8 304 870

Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations Operators : M0RNR GM4IKT GM4GZW G3UJE MM0DXC MM0VTV MM0FZV GM4UYZ MM5AHO MM0GZA MM0VPR MM0JXI MM0INS Scores after checking…. BAND SSB/IOTA CW/IOTA POINTS AVG

----------------------------------------

80 167 47 103 30 2570 9.52

40 302 57 224 46 4795 9.12

20 658 85 260 30 6390 6.96

15 438 65 229 28 4665 6.99

10 90 27 43 11 1175 8.83

----------------------------------------

TOTAL 1655 281 859 145 19595 7.79

========================================

TOTAL SCORE : 8 347 470

We have ended up with more points after check-ing so we now await and see how it all checks out and where we end up in the contest. Personally I am really pleased with our effort this year so well done to everyone who took part. Bob GM4UYZ

Final Scores IOTA 2012

I’m delighted to announce that the club has

received a further grant of £217 from the BT

People Awards (formerly the BT Community

Champions).

This award was applied for by BT employee

John Innes MM0JXI as part of his volunteer-

ing program within the company.

BT values the contributions employees make

to the local community and provides grants

and time off for employees to work with reg-

istered voluntary groups.

The club has received over £1200 in grants

from the scheme over the years and we’re

very grateful for the contribution which will

go to offset our equipment storage, licensing

and insurance costs, freeing up club funds for

other projects.

John MM0JXI

BT People Award

7

18 & 19th AUGUST 2012

It turned out to be another great weekend again with lots of laughs... The weather this year was perfect all weekend apart from a couple of “spots of rain” on Saturday morning. This year we decided to set-up the station on the Saturday morning and finish about 15:30 on the Sunday but in the end we fin-ished about 13:45. As always in any event some prep work was required before this.

The story starts very early on in the year when we apply to get our normal GB2LBN call sign. Then a few emails backwards and forwards with Lafarge to check if the buildings are once again free to use. As well as Lafarge we are in contact with Coast Properties who hold the keys for the buildings to ensure that they are booked as well. A week beforehand Cambell picks up the keys whilst he is working in North Berwick. This also gives us time to sort out any discrepancies that need to be done.

On the Saturday morning we headed for the site and arrived at 08:00 with Cambell MM0DXC, Duncan MM0GZZ, Bob GM4IKT and Sandy MM0CJT setting up aerials along with John MM0CCC who came a little bit later and with me setting up the two stations in the shack which were both connected using a wireless network and running the logging program Win-Test

Station 1 – FT1000MP & ALPHA Linear fed into a Cushcraft A3S 10/15/20M Yagi at about 60 feet on a tower.

Station 2 – FT1000MP & ALPHA Linear fed into the 40M Di-pole. The 40M Dipole was hung from the top of the tower down to a 30 foot pole.

This year everything was going well until we tried to get into the lighthouse to connect one end of the 40M dipole. The pad-locks had been changed between Cambell checking on the Monday and us arriving on the Saturday. We contacted Julie of Coast Properties to find that she didn’t even know about the change and more so didn’t have a set of keys. Plan number 2 came into operation; luckily we had 2 x 15ft poles but needed guys, footplate and some other bits and pieces. Fortunately John MM0CCC who had arrived with his daughter earlier had gone back home to Tranent as she had changed her mind about staying for weekend. A quick call and John sorted out the necessary bits and pieces and brought them back to the lighthouse. On his arrival the pole was erected and the 40M dipole was hung between the top of the tower and the pole.

We arrived on site at 08:00 BST and the first QSO in the log on 20M was with US5UZ at 10:20BST and 40M was on the air at 12:06 BST working G0UTP

On both stations all it took was a couple of CQ’s and the pile ups started continuing until we left on the Sunday afternoon. This year it was a really relaxed atmosphere where operating did keep going as far as possible but many stops were made for light refreshments and obviously to get fed as well.

On Saturday the 40M and 20M stations kept really busy when operating was taking place until 04:14BST on the Sunday..... Cheers Sandy MM0CJT for all the operating that you did...

On the Sunday we moved to 40M and again both that and 20M were very active throughout the day.…. On the Sunday we stopped operating at 13:27 BST working PI4WBR on 40M. We finished with 750 QSO’s not the most we have ever achieved if you compare it with 1400 in 2007 but then as men-tioned earlier it was run in a very relaxed fashion.

The full list of operators and visitors that came were Bob GM4IKT, Bob GM4UYZ, Robin MM0VTV, John MM0CCC, Cam-bell MM0DXC, Duncan MM0GZZ, Margaret GM0ALX, Sandy MM0CJT and Jim GM0EEH. Also Gavin GM0ALW (Margaret’s husband), Gordon 2M0MUR and Rachael MM0FCR (Gordon’s daughter) visited but didn’t actually operate also Donna, Cam-bell’s lady friend. If I have missed anyone off the list I do apol-ogise. It was great to see Margaret GM0ALX on the micro-phone after a few years off the air who took back to operating like a duck to water plus at the same time keeping the pile up in a very polite but stern order. She is a master at that!!!!!

Plenty of social breaks were taken as well as this is what the event was all about. Saturday night saw the normal “social – let the hair down” all well enjoyed before the last departed to bed about 01:30 on the Sunday morning, I think!!!

It was once again a great social event, certainly enjoyed by everyone who attended. 750 QSO’s were made with the breakdown as follows:

Many thanks to eve-ryone who came and took part and contributed, without this the event could never take place.

Again I must thank Lafarge for allowing us to operate from such a fantastic site.

Bob GM4UYZ

Band QSO’s

40 290

20 409

15 51

ALL 750

Lighthouses Weekend

Club Generator

Geniveive – our club generator.

During 2010 our generator was liberated from Barns Ness

Lighthouse and taken to West Lothian, where it was converted

into a trailer mounted portable generator suitable for radio

use.

In its original installation it had been designed to supply single

phase 240V power to run the lighthouse in the event of mains

failure. It had a few unusual features to suit this purpose. One

was an outboard sump oil tank (about 30 litres) with a system

to add oil while the engine was running. This tank is now the

main diesel fuel tank. Other features included protection de-

vices to stop the engine in the case of low oil pressure or high

temperature, but cutting off the fuel supply. In its Lighthouse

home it had a high overhead diesel tank, with enough head

that no fuel lift pump was required to feed the 2 injector

pumps. The exhaust was piped through a very heavy muffler

through the roof of the building.

The story of that conversion from a remote, automatic

starting, fixed generator to a piece of mobile plant has been

documented on the club website previously. This article ad-

dresses the normal use and operation of the generator, with a

few troubleshooting hints.

The Lister HA2 is a 1960s vintage air cooled diesel engine. Ours

runs at a nominal 1500 rpm and 19 HP to produce 12.5 kVA

(10 KW) on a single phase. Being air cooled, but now mounted

inside a trailer housing with roof and sides, its essential to

ensure that enough airflow is available to cool the engine.

Siting, and Startup Procedure Checklist.

Try to find a level part of the ground where you want to

run the generator. At least get it as level as is possible.

Some levelling is possible using the jockey wheel.

Apply the handbrake. You don’t want the machine

heading away on its own. It does vibrate, so movement

is possible.

Check there’s enough fuel in the tank. The tank is the

green steel box inside the main side door. It has a clear

plastic “sightglass” pipe that shows the level of fuel

inside.

Turn the fuel valve on. The fuel comes out from the

bottom of the tank nearest the engine. A detachable

handle operates this valve, but the handle can be put

on at 90 degrees, so the only sure way to tell the valve

is open is to look at the line on the valve stem or spin-

dle. That line shows the direction of the flow. It should

be parallel with the wheels of the trailer to be open.

Check the decompressors are not on. (This engine can

be started by hand cranking, but to assist that there’s

decompression levers.) These are tied together with an

aluminium plate. This needs to be towards the towbar

for normal electric start.

Check engine oil. The dipstick is on the side of the

crankcase, just inside the side door, and below the fuel

pump. It should be at the “full” mark at the start of a

8

9

run. This type of engine uses oil, much more so than a

modern diesel car for example. Oil grade is 10W40

standard mineral oil, though the grade isn’t critical at

all.

The electrics are controlled by a “RUN” / “STOP” toggle

switch. Set this to “RUN”. This will start the electric fuel

pump which should make a soft “ticking” sound, and

you should hear a single “clunk” as the fuel solenoid

operates. This is the fault shutdown solenoid.

The starter is activated by the black “Start” switch. It’s

a spring loaded switch. Hold it down for as long as it

takes to turn the engine over (3 - 4 seconds). It should

fire after a few revs, then let the toggle switch go. If it

doesn’t start, the starter will disengage anyway, so

release the switch, wait for everything to stop turning

and try again.

Now check everything is running right. Start with the

Engine oil pressure. A gauge on the control panel

shows pressure. It should read about 40, but could be

between 30 and 55. If it goes too low, the engine will

automatically stop.

There’s three LED

warning lights on the

panel. The green one

shows that the

battery is on charge.

The charge voltage

comes from a 12V

PSU mounted inside.

There’s no alternator

on the engine. The

green LED should be

on normally.

Next is a yellow LED. This will light if the engine has

overheated. This will most likely be because you let the

door close, preventing the hot cooling air escape. If the

door was open, check the cooling fins for obstructions

(leaves, dirt ?)

A red LED warns of low oil pressure, and lights when

the oil pressure relay activates to shut down the en-

gine. Was there an oil leak? Low oil level? Check.

Electric Supplies.

There are four outlet sockets on the rear of the canopy. They

are standard 240Volt sockets, and each has a 16Amp circuit

breaker. All are fed from a single 50Amp breaker. There’s no

difference in these outlets, any or all can be used. No balanc-

ing between them is required, but each is only good for 16A

individually, and to a total of 50A between the four.

But recognise that 50A is a very high load, and even a normal

contest station is unlikely to come anywhere near using the

12.5kVA rating of the generator. You could run five or six Al-

phas off this and be unlikely to hit 50Amps unless you have an

IK prefix!

Voltage

The output voltage is controlled by a voltage regulator in a

box inside the canopy. It has an adjuster knob on it and a

range from about 220 – 270 V is possible. You should aim to

set about 240-250V. This is a 1960’s style regulator and in-

volves electro-mechanical parts. It is subject to vibration, and

although mounted on rubber vibration feet inside, it can still

“stick”. If it does and the voltage goes high or low, turn the

knob slowly to one end and adjust slowly until corrected.

Voltage can also be high if engine rpm are high for some rea-

son.

Frequency

The engine rpm sets the frequency. For 50 Hz the engine must

do 1500 rpm. There is a small adjustment available for engine

rpm, but it should not normally require adjustment. For most

applications frequency isn’t too critical.

Servicing

The engine had done 535 hours when we got it. This is only

really run in! Such an engine could run for 20000 hours before

major overhaul.

At 500 hourly intervals some servicing is required. Consult the

Lister Manual. A handwritten record of the servicing is written

inside the door on the wooden back of the control cabinet.

[the rest of the article—on troubleshooting the generator

will be in a later edition of the newsletter—Ed]

Foxhunt Rules

10

COCKENZIE & PORT SETON ARC 144MHz FOXHUNT RULES

Date : 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

Time : MEET AT 6:30PM FOR A BRIEFING PRIOR TO A 7:00PM START

Place : The "OLD SHIP INN" CAR PARK (Bar Entrance Side),

PORT SETON

Grid Ref. NT408 759

ORDNANCE SURVEY LANDRANGER MAP No.66

Entry Fee : £2:00 PER PERSON, TO BE DONATED TO THE CLUB FUNDS

Frequency : 145.275MHz, FM, VERTICAL POLARISATION

Callsign : Announced before the start

Hunt Area : THE FOX WILL BE LOCATED WITHIN THE AREA ON ORDNANCE SURVEY LANDRANGER MAP No.66 BOUNDED BY

THE FIRTH OF FORTH TO THE NORTH, THE LINE JOINING GRID REF. NT560728 and NT560855 TO THE EAST, THE

LINE JOINING GRID REF. NT370728 and NT370738 TO THE WEST. A SMALL MAP SHOWING THIS AREA WILL BE

ISSUED TO ALL COMPETITORS AT THE START.

The map is also available to download from the club website

TX Times : TRANSMISSIONS BY THE FOX WILL BE 30 SECONDS EVERY 5 MINUTES. THE FIRST TRANSMISSION BEGINNING

AT 7:00PM, FOLLOWING TRANSMISSION TIMES WILL BE 7:05PM, 7:10PM.etc.

THE FINAL TRANSMISSION WILL BE AT 8:45PM AND WILL REVEAL THE LOCATION OF THE FOX

THE POST HUNT MEETING. Is normally the Lounge Bar in the Thorntree Inn

Access : THE FOX WILL BE IN A POSITION WHICH IS ACCESSIBLE BY CAR (4WD NOT NECESSARY!)

TX Ban : NO TRANSMISSIONS, OTHER THAN THOSE OF THE FOX, SHOULD BE MADE ON THE HUNT FREQUENCY AT ANY

TIME DURING THE EVENT

Vacate : ONCE A TEAM HAS FOUND THE FOX THEY SHOULD LEAVE THE IMMEDIATE AREA AND SHOULD NOT TRANS-

MIT ON ANY FREQUENCY WHILE IN THE VICINITY OF THE FOX

Equipment : ONLY ONE SET OF DF EQUIPMENT IS TO BE USED PER TEAM AT ANY ONE TIME.

Hunting : DURING THE HUNT PLEASE TRY TO BE CONSIDERATE TO OTHER ROAD USERS WHEN CHOOSING YOUR STOP-

PING POINTS ANY TEAMS FOUND TO BE BREAKING THE ROAD SPEED LIMITS IN ANY AREA WILL BE DISQUALI-

FIED IMMEDIATELY SIMILARLY, ANY TEAMS FOUND TO BE BREAKING ANY OF THE ABOVE RULES WILL BE DIS-

QUALIFIED

Test Your Knowledge

11

1. The unit of capacitance is the

a. Henry

b. Ohm

c. Hertz

d. Farad

2. The voltage across each resistor in the drawing is measured separately. The sum of these readings will

a. Equal the battery voltage

b. Be 10% less than the battery voltage

c. Be 15% less than the battery voltage

d. Be 20% less than the battery voltage

3. The value of a capacitor depends upon

a. The area of the plates and the distance between them

b. The average thickness of the plates

c. The DC potential difference between the plates

d. The AC potential across the plates

4. At a particular frequency a series tuned circuit tends to accept current. This is known as the tuned circuit’s

a. Intermediate frequency

b. Radio frequency

c. Audio frequency

d. Resonant frequency

5. A transformer

a. Will change one alternating frequency to another

b. Will change DC voltage

c. Always has an iron core

d. Can only be used with AC

6. Which of the following components converts AC to DC in a power supply?

a. Diodes

b. Resistors

c. Capacitors

d. Transformers

7. A small base current will cause

a. An opposite current through the collector

b. A smaller current through the collector

c. An equal current through the collector

d. A larger current through the collector

8. Which ONE statement below about multimeters is correct?

a. A digital multimeter can only be used on DC voltages

b. An analogue multimeter is best to show the changing value

c. A digital multimeter is usually less accurate than an analogue one

d. Multimeters should be stored on a low current range

9. The block diagram shows a transmitter suitable for

a. AM

b. FM

c. CW

d. SSB

10. SSB modulation consists of

a. A radio frequency signal which is changing in frequency

b. A single sideband with no carrier

c. A single sideband with a full carrier

d. Two sidebands and a full carrier

RF

Oscillator

Modulator

Balanced

Sideband

Filter

Power

Amp

Low

Pass

AF

Amplifier

Contacts

General correspondence,

training and contest en-

tries

Bob Glasgow

7 Castle Terrace

Port Seton

East Lothian

EH32 0EE

Phone: 01875 811723

E-mail:

gm4uyz@cpsarc.com

HF Contests

Cambell Stevenson

mm0dxc@aol.com

VHF Contests

John MacLean

mm0ccc@cpsarc.com

Club Tables

Bob Purves

gm4ikt@cpsarc.com

Contest Reports

Robin Farrer

mm0vtv@cpsarc.com

Newsletter, website,

event calendar

John Innes

newsletter@cpsarc.com

1 September 2012 Foundation Course week 1

7 September 2012 Club Night

8 September 2012 Foundation course week 2

22 September 2012 Intermediate Course starts (5 weeks)

28 September 2012 SECOND 144Mhz DF Hunt Meet in “The Old Ship Inn” Car Park (East) 18:30 for 19:00

29 September 2012 Newsletter deadline

5 October 2012 Club Night

14 October 2012 Advanced Licence exam (at HF Convention)

19 October 2012 Video Night

27 October 2012 Newsletter deadline

27/28 October 2012 CQWW SSB Contest Barns Ness Lighthouse GM2T

2 November 2012 Club Night

3 November 2012 Foundation Course week 1

10 November 2012 Foundation course week 2

23 November 2012 Talk by Dr Colwyn Jones on “SOTA Activation” Port Seton Community Centre Resource Room 19:30 to 21:30

24 November 2012 Intermediate course starts (5 weeks)

5 December 2012 Advanced Licence exam

7 December 2012 Club Night

8 December 2012 Christmas Night Out—venue TBC

Events Column Answers from September 2012 newsletter “Test Your Knowledge”.

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

Clublog DXCC Table

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

1 GM4IKT 0 0 0 0 0 78 16 81 0 40 0 0 0 0 143 215 8 yrs

2 GM2T 0 49 0 52 0 70 0 78 0 42 26 0 0 0 92 317 13 yrs

3 MM0GZZ 0 0 0 15 28 73 0 22 3 20 0 0 0 0 86 161 4 yrs

4 MM0XXW 0 6 0 33 17 46 20 61 8 6 7 0 0 0 85 204 6 yrs

5 M0RNR 0 0 0 41 0 54 2 38 0 0 3 0 0 0 80 138 13 yrs

6 GB2MOF 0 0 0 19 0 54 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 56 77 11 yrs

7 MQ0XXW 0 0 0 7 0 17 2 29 2 1 0 0 0 0 40 58 0 yrs

8 MM0CPS 0 0 0 5 0 25 0 7 0 0 6 9 7 5 35 64 14 yrs

9 GM4UYZ 0 4 0 4 0 33 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 48 32 yrs

10 MM5AHO 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 14 0 3 0 1 0 0 21 24 17 yrs

11 MM0WZB 0 0 0 3 0 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 13 2 yrs

12 MO0XXW 0 0 0 3 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 10 0 yrs

13 MM0KTC 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 9 4 yrs