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THE DRAGON’S VOICE

GW4TTA/GC4TTA

NEWSLETTER OF THE DRAGON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

GWANWYN 2006 SPRING Rhif /No. 77

Cynhelir cyfarfodydd y Clwb yn Neuadd Ebeneser, Lon Foel y Graig, Pentre Uchaf, Llanfairpwll ar Nos Lun y cyntaf a’r trydydd o'r mis am 7.30 ar gyfer 8.0 o’r gloch. Croeso i ymwelwyr ac aelodau newydd.

Club meetings are held at Ebenezer Hall, Foel y Graig Lane, Upper Village, Llanfairpwll on the first and third Monday evenings of the month at 7.30 for 8.0 o’clock. Visitors and new members are welcome.

OS GWELWCH YN DDA, pob gohebiaeth at yr Ysgrifennydd. PLEASE ADDRESS all communications to the Secretary:- Les Hayward MW0SEC, Cefn Cribbin, Carmel, Llanerchymedd, LL71 7BU. 01248 470606 les@corfecastle.demon.co.uk

Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon LL61 5JY. tel. 01248 713647

3^rd.................................................................................Film Night

17^th.......................................................Club Night (Bank Holiday)

1^st............................................................ Club Night (Bank Holiday)

15^th..............................................................Sale of Surplus equipment

5^th......................................Mr James Thompson “Radio Astronomy”

19^th..............................................................................To be arranged

3^rd...............................................................................To be arranged

7^th...............................................................................To be arranged

21^st..............................................................................To be arranged

The Club’s Programme for 2006 is being planned and there are still a few dates to be filled either by a demonstration, talk etc. If you can fill a date either yourself or with a speaker that you can arrange, please let the Chairman know.

Also, do not wait to be asked to help at Special Events but let the Station Managers know that you are available and what you can do to assist either in setting up or operating.

One Foundation class has just finished and two more classes are due to start, one in Holyhead and the other in Llanfairpwll. It is also possible that another class will be held in the near future at Carmel, Ynys Mon.

An Intermediate class of 6 candidates is nearing the date of examination and have completed their practical assessments. Once this class has finished it’s course, the team of Instructors will be planning the first Full Licence Course to start in the near future.

If you know of anyone who wishes to become a Radio Amateur, please tell them to contact GW0ABL or the Club’s Secretary.

SWEARING ON THE AIR by GW0ABL

This subject was brought up in a recent Club meeting, when concern was felt about the deterioration in behaviour on the Amateur Bands especially locally on VHF and UHF. This refers to the amount of swearing that is now heard on the air, not only mild expletives but extreme words which are offensive to most people. This can be heard in both Welsh and English and is becoming quite common usage. This comes as quite a surprise in that up to a few months ago, locally, the use of foul language was very rare.

It also comes as a surprise that those using such language do not seem to realise that it can be heard by everyone who listens in, either other amateurs or those using scanners etc. This can include young children, their parents, friends and very often members of various organisations and societies who can help and foster our hobby of Amateur Radio (it is surprising who has a scanner). What a person does in the privacy of his own home is a matter for him or her, but that does not extend to the Amateur bands which is a very public place. Each time we talk on the air, we are both the face and character of Amateur Radio and how one operator behaves reflects on us all.

Thankfully I have never had to suffer foul language at home or at work nor did I during my service days in the RAF (once my feelings on the matter were known). Don’t get me wrong, I have been known to vent my feelings but not by using offensive words in the normal course of conversation.

There is a problem which has to be addressed and the Dragon Amateur Radio Club feels that swearing or any form of bad behaviour on the Amateur Bands must be stopped, whether it be caused by members or non-members. Various suggestions have been put forward as to how to tackle this and will be discussed. Have you any suggestions how to tackle the problem? What are your views on the matter?

Let us clean up our act and see that Amateur Radio is presented to the public (including parents and the authorities) as a worth-while hobby for the coming generations.

At last Ofcom has decided to implement the following reforms as from the 1^st October 2006

To issue lifetime amateur radio licences which will remain valid for as long as the licence details remain correct or until such time as the licence is either revoked by Ofcom or surrendered by the licensee. There shall be no end date on the amateur radio licence. Such licences will be personal to the licensee and will not be transferable.

To provide an online, web-based, self-service licensing service as an alternative to the postal service

To issue electronic licences (probably PDF documents) to users of the online, web-based, self-service licensing service. Users of this service would print a hard copy of the licence which must be kept at the main station address.

To continue to make paper licences available (but subject to a small administrative charge).

To modify the original proposal by requiring licensees to validate their licence details at least once every five years in order to maintain their lifetime licence.

It is intended that as from the 1^st October 2006 amateur radio licences will be issued by Ofcom and not the Radio Licensing Centre. But be aware that if your licence expires before that date you must renew it with the RLC and pay the appropriate fee if applicable (over 21 and under 75 years of age). Failure to do so will cause difficulties in obtaining a free licence for life on the anniversary of your licence. In the meantime you will not be able to use your licence, it will be deemed to have elapsed and you will have to apply a new for a licence.

Make sure that you understand what happens every 5 years so that you can continue to hold a licence.

The last batch of cards processed was on 7^th March 2005. The following cards replied to were:-GB2TD – 46, GB4HMM – 2, GB4HMD – 6, GB4HLB –5, GB4MD – 19. The following cards were received on 10^th Jan 2006:- GB2TD – 62, GB2ANG – 51, GB4MD – 24, GB4HLB – 4, GB100HD – 2 a total of 143 cards. Cards are being processed at the present time and will be on their way before this is published. All cards old and new are designed and produced by myself and Paddy MW0PAD who also assists me in writing out the replies. My thanks to him for his valuable assistance.

I have had a request from Mike MW0CNA of Swansea, our Special Events QSL Manager if the Club would consider putting on Special Event stations for the following ;-

(2) International Air Ambulance Day in July for North Wales as they will be doing one for South Wales.

[We are out of time for St David’s day this year but I think is worthy of note for future years GW2DGD (Dydd Gwyl Dewi) perhaps. Also the Air Ambulance is a worthy cause, like lifeboats it is run on voluntary contributions. Committee please note GW0ABL]

I do store our incoming QSL Cards, if any one wants to see any of them, contact me on gw4wlz@tiscali.co.uk or tel 01407 762589

I have in my garage about 10 multi drawer cabinets full of electronic components. There are resistors, capacitors, various chips and sockets, switches etc etc, far too numerous to mention.

I rescued them from a house/shed demolition!! Don’t be stuck, give me a ring. Cost will a small contribution to Club funds.

[Many thanks to Dafydd for his very welcome report on what must be a very arduous job on behalf of the club. Diolch yn fawr iawn Dafydd]

Contesting is not every ones idea of fun and I must say that I didn’t have any interest in contesting until some years ago when I entered my first 3hour AFS event, largely ‘for the club’. Since then my appetite has been whetted by the shear enthusiasm shown by several of our local contesters.

Although to be completely truthful, I did attend my first NFD when I was in my ‘teens about 1957 when I was first a member of the Wirral ARS. What really impressed me, as a youngster, was watching science master, Norman Kendrick G3CSG, (ex Navy) operating during the 24hrs. NFD. Rolling a fag, holding a conversation, drinking a cuppa and making a contest return which he’d been listening to !

The method of ‘dupe’ checking was comparatively archaic, but common at that time. A large board painted black, had rows of cup hooks screwed into it, and tags with the c/s of stations required, hung on the hooks. The c/s was on both sides of the tags, one side of which was black, the other white. At the beginning, all the tags were white side out, by the end all the tags should have been turned over to show that that station had been ‘worked’. Logging was on paper and all the equipment was either ex-services or homebuilt.

That event was ‘under canvas’, XYLs ran the mess tent, we had an automatic telephone exchange between the ‘A’ stn, the ‘B’ stn and the mess tent and the whole event took place on the top of an enclosed and elevated reservoir. Considered to be an advantage as it was possible to erect all the aerials on top of the water in the reservoir.

All that was to be in complete contrast to my latest bit of contesting. To help Steve GW0GEI enter the CQWW contest, as a multi - two entrant (up to two transmitted signals simultaneously across six bands, 160m to 10m), from his new purpose built shack in the roof space of his garage, at his home QTH in Rhostrehwfa. This international contest ran from midnight on Friday 25/11 to midnight on Sunday 27/11, a full 48hr. marathon . On the Friday morning we had some weather damage repairs to make, on Steve’s ‘antenna farm’, we needed to replace a length of waterlogged coax and refit a part of an element that had become separated and dropped to the ground during recent appalling weather. With these tasks completed, I left Steve to re configure the N1MM contest software installation with a backup broadband modem connection, after the broadband router failed the night before. A last minute connection and tune up of the 40/80m vertical was also completed in a sleet shower just before it got dark, after several hours of trying to trace a fault on the 80m dipole and/or coax! A problematic HF amplifier and a shortage of the original planned 5 or 6 CW operators, meant the contest would be undertaken with less than competitive power levels on both stations and with a stretched small team of 3.

I returned to the warmth of the shack about an hour before the start, Stewart GW0ETF, who had arrived earlier, had been helping to organise Steve’s 200w FT1000 into one operating position, with the 20m 4 ele monobander and the 160m dipole @ 80ft, switchable, and Stewart’s own FT990 with the 80 / 40m vertical, and the 8 ele log-periodic beam, switchable, into the other operating position. Each position had a networked laptop with the N1MM contest software bandmaps showing DX cluster info in individual vfo windows, each side of the screen. The centre of each screen was taken up with more mini windows, these might show QSO rates, scores, ‘dupes’, or a multitude of other info selectable by the individual operator manning that position.

Steve & Stewart kicked off at midnight, and I ‘sat in’ for a while to try to get some idea how the N1MM logging programme, I would have to contend with myself next day, is operated. It certainly seems to be a good programme, but like all computerised things, the operation seems only to mystify, at the beginning of the learning curve. I believe, both ops took to their beds during the small hours, Steve going ‘home’, while Stewart slept on the floor in his sleeping bag. Operations were resumed in the early morning, so as to gain the advantages of greyline propagation on 160m and 80m.

My ‘shift’ was from midnight to about 06.00 on the second night. When I returned at about 23.00 on the Saturday, they both seemed in quite good spirits, and a goodly number of contacts had been logged. Steve went off ‘home’, Stewart stayed for a while to answer my questions about N1MM. However, after about an hour I had got the idea, having fumbled and poked the wrong buttons for a while (always remember to press enter to log the contact, Snowy!). Stewart went off to his sleeping bag and I pressed on through the night single handed. I must admit to being a bit overawed – with two high quality rigs to choose from and four good antennas too! All that was missing was a competent op - hi! The DX cluster showed up the mults, of which I tried to work as many as possible, in between numerous cups of tea and butties. The CW speed was mostly way above my ability, but if you listen hard, you can pick out the c/s even if it is letter by letter, at 28 – 30 wpm, which is how the fast boys go, though there are quite a few operating at 22-24 at which I would probably get it in two goes. CQWW is one of the major annual international contests and I was struck by the number of ‘contest callsigns’ on parade. I have to admit that my concentration started to flag after about four & a half hours, and my head was ringing with CW! But I think I got to understand the N1MM logger a bit better and wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

John MW0BER (complete with flu!) joined the team briefly during the early afternoon of Sunday, making Steve and Stewart a welcome brew prior to Steve’s XYL serving up a mound of scrambled eggs, laid by the hens at the bottom of the antenna field that morning! Steve and Stewart carried on through the afternoon and evening until the contest closed at 12 midnight. On completion, the final draft score was 1963 qso's with 350 countries worked across the 6 bands, in 91 different CQ zones, for a total draft score of 1,461,033. The breakdown of qsos, points, countries, and zones worked per band is shown below:

Overall an enjoyable weekend of contesting, which made up for the last minute router and antenna/coax problems and snow storms! Future plans include entering a multi operator team in the 2006 ARRL DX SSB and CW contests, CQ 160m contests and 2006 WAE and CQWW contests. In the meantime, plenty of practice will be undertaken in the shorter RSGB and other contests in order to prepare antennas and operators for AFS CW and SSB and the 2006 RSGB Club Championship series of contests, to try to get the Dragon ARC further up the results tables. Steve GW0GEI is interested in training up any new operators who fancy helping out in future multi op contests, or who wish to develop their contest skills to take part as single ops in AFS or other RSGB contests – contact Steve at any Club night or via steve@rjtraining.fsnet.co.uk .

[Thank you Martin for this excellent report and to Steve and his XYL as the host and hostess making this event possible. And of course to all who took part. Do not forget Steve GW0GEI’s very kind offer of training]

Tombie’s Travels 2005

After a very enjoyable drive down, with friends Bob & Lin from Liverpool, we have worked in the yard for over three weeks, Well say worked – but a fair amount of the time was spent recovering from over indulgence (only in work, food and ‘pop’, I hasten to add!) as others in the yard organised birthday parties, BBQs and ‘boat-jumbles’. All very nice, at the time, but after a while you get ‘Yard Fever’, work slower & slower, until eventually you get your boat in the water, late. It’s good to meet new friends, one lives as close as Colwyn Bay! But we have found many of our old friends have moved on. Friends Karen and Andy, fellow Vancouver owners, stopped by on their way to Turkey, it was lovely to be on a moving boat again, we had to feel a bit envious. Of course, as usual, Anne has ‘adopted’ many four legged friends, who will miss their extra food after we leave the yard.

We are now in the water 6 days and have been enjoying some good sailing. This year the weather seems to be different, providing us with a little more wind than we have experienced at the same time of year previously. We now have Tombie rigged as a cutter, that means she carries two smaller sails forward of the mast, rather than the (massive) 450 square foot Genoa we used the last three years. She now feels very much more comfortable in a good breeze (F5+) and is much easier to manage, so much so, that I can stay below and laze in my bunk, enjoying an extra tot of Rum while Anne tends our good ship! Anne – “that’s what you think”!

Since we launched, we’ve returned to places we know, (beating to windward in F7) and to new and beautiful, and very quiet bays – loverly! The forecast is for W-SW, so we’ll try to make Paxos again, an Island just south of Corfu, which we both love.

Lakka was surprisingly quiet, for the middle of May. We went for a meal in a taverna that is usually packed, due to the scrumptious roast leg of lamb on the spit, and we were the only people in there. The weather was also very unsettled during our first few weeks afloat, with quite a few showers and thunder -storms, fortunately they did not last very long. From Paxos, we ventured over to the mainland, to a village called Ammoudia, which is at the mouth of the river Acheron. The river is navigable by boat, so we decided we would go by dinghy and armed with the outboard we proceeded up the river, there was a lot of water and a very strong, current against us, but was very pretty and lots of beautiful turquoise blue damsel flies about. We also saw an otter, a very rare sight. We were hoping to reach the ancient village of Nekromanteion, which is near the Mycenean settlement of Ephyra, 13^th century B.C. This is where the ancients thought was the entrance to the kingdom of Hades, according to myth, Hermes leading the way for the dead through the waters of Acherousia, guided the souls to Hades. Unfortunately, when we went, the river was blocked by fallen trees, and we could not get up far enough, however, we turned back, and the current just took us gently downstream. It was so peaceful, just the song of birds – one of those occasions, when I wish I was a little more knowledgeable on birdsong. We shall visit the ancient city later either by car or go back again by boat. Next day we motored down to Lefkas and when passing Prevesa, and about two miles offshore, we managed to pick up a lot of rubbish on the prop. So in the middle of the sea, as it was such a calm day, Martin donned his fins and snorkel, and had his first swim of the season, to go down under the boat and clear the propeller. It was a bundle of plastic string, fishing twine, and any other imaginable rubbish you can think of. However, good job done, we proceeded down to Lefkas and through the canal, anchoring for the night off a village called Nikiana.

Next day we sailed to Nidri, a real centre for yachties, and met up with lots of old friends, including Bob and Lin, with their son and his fiancé on board. They are also on their way to Turkey, so we will have plenty of contacts there when we arrive. Caught up with washing , shopping and e-mails, and had my hair cut. I have been lucky to find this hairdresser, she is an Austrailian Greek, so speaks good English, which is helpful, unless you want to look like Yul Brynner. Passed an interesting evening in a taverna listening to Greek Music, and chatting to a couple from the Chech Republic, very interesting to hear different lifestyles. It was then up to Vliho, another yachties haunt, but also such a huge anchorage, it is ideal if you want some peace and quiet, we spent two or three days there just lazing around enjoying the sunshine and doing a few jobs. Went ashore on Saturday night and joined friends in a taverna, this developed into a real good singsong, as one Irishman had a guitar, and there were people from all over the U.K. so each area had to render their songs, and it was a really lovely impromptu evening.

We then made our way leisurely back to Preveza, as I felt I needed to get a doctor to have a look at my thumb. This injury I had sustained before Easter in U.K., which my G.P. had told me would clear up in 6-8 weeks, had not. I was experiencing great difficulty bending my thumb, and then it would go with a click, and an amount of pain, it was therefore rendering me rather useless on the boat, (or more useless than usual). Managed to book an appointment with the Orthopaedic surgeon for two days forward (unbelievable). He diagnosed, I had torn the tendon and would need an operation to repair it, “when would you like it done” he asked! However, as my Aunt was arriving on the Sunday, we decided to leave it until she had returned home in two weeks time. Went back to Aktio Yard the next day, as a lot of our German friends were launching their boats and there was to be a party. What a really enjoyable evening, the Germans really know how to enjoy themselves, we sang (one of the Germans has a keyboard which he brings with him in his camper van), all sorts of drinking songs. With many ups and downs and swaying from side to side, and then plenty of dancing, it was a really fun evening, we were the only English couple there. Later that week, friends of ours Lars and Orla, who now live in Sweden, were coming out to their boat, unfortunately, to get her ready to sell. We are very sad to see this, as they are a young couple who sold their house to buy the boat, but find now they have to keep steadier jobs and therefore have not the time to spend on the boat, hopefully we will either see them in Wales sometime or they will come and visit us in Turkey. They came aboard for a meal, visiting in the Dinghy, arriving with very wet trousers, but a really fun evening we spent with them.

Next day my Aunt was arriving for a two week visit from Portugal, she is 75 years of age, and has never been on a boat in her life before, we were a little concerned how she would fair, but we needn’t have worried, she was absolutely amazing, and settled to life on our little boat naturally. We have had a really lovely time with her, showing her most of the Ionian Islands and the mainland, within the fortnight, it was a real holiday for us all. I hope she will be able to come again.

Back to reality, catching up with washing, shopping etc., and also a visit to the hospital (on my birthday!!), I am to go on Wednesday night to have tests etc., and then have the operation on Thursday, but only a ‘Local’. I am a little concerned, as the Dr. has no English at all and the Nurse only has a little, so just hope they attend to the correct limb (one good thing about being awake!). We then find out my E lll has expired due to me putting a date on it, so there is a mad panic to get it renewed, another visit to the equivalent Social Services, who are as unhelpful as ours, and also do not speak English. However finally we get the necessary forms on the internet from Martin’s son, and all is in order. The Greek hospitals are very very basic and archaic, and no general nursing care is given at all, therefore Martin had to be taught how to bed bath (only joking). However, I can say that the standard of care I received was really good, I had a private room to myself, and the food was reasonably good. Roast lamb and pasta first day with a Greek salad, and 1 peach, second day 1 whole fresh fish, with potatoes mixed in a little oil (I think) tossed in raw carrot, onion and parsley – it was really tasty. The staff were lovely, especially one young nurse who could speak a little English, she came and kept me company when she was able. The Dr. although he could not speak English, was full of fun, everything was very laid back, nothing was any problem, I certainly would not hesitate to go there again. After a few days I had to go and have the dressing removed, to see it was healing OK, then another visit to have the stitches out, and hey presto, everything back to normal.

We decided that this would probably be the last visit to the Hospital, so, as it was pointless taking the boat back to Prevesa, a journey of approx. 17 miles, but by sea 3 hours in the wrong direction, we hired a car, and took the opportunity of doing a mammoth shop at Lidls and a Greek Supermarket called Dia, clearing them out of Gin &Tonic, beers, and all the important bottles that one needs. We then went on up to Ammoudia, to the Acheron Nekromanteion, to the Palace of Hades, where we had earlier attempted to go by dinghy, but had to turn back. This is the sacred room where the ghosts of the dead appeared to communicate with those consulting the oracle. Fortunately they were not there when we called. Later that day, when back in Nidri, we met up with friends Bob and Ann who have ‘Seamogs’. They took us to a taverna up in the mountains overlooking Nidri. The views from this taverna were really spectacular, overlooking Nidri Bay, Skorpios, and way out to sea to the mainland mountains in the distance. They’re returning to England on Sunday, so it was goodbye to them for the present.

We have felt that we have been kicking our heels a bit over the last few weeks, and are eager to get on our way to Turkey, but it has given us the chance to say goodbye to our many friends and the places we love, at least for a while, as it is really time to move on, in more ways than one, the weather is getting very hot we are recording temperatures of 35C in the boat, and the place is filling up with Italians and Charter Boats. It is the 10^th July, so it’s definitely time to move on. We will take the journey very slowly, it’s not the optimum time of year to cross the Aegean Sea, as the renowned Meltemi blows in the summer months, but there should be plenty of shelter available on the Islands, (I sincerely hope so) . But it will be interesting to see new ground, which after all, is why we have the boat.

[ Many thanks are due once again to Martin and Ann for their fascinating account of life “afloat” and I am sure you will all look forwards to part 2 in the next issue.]

[The following article appeared in the Nov 2005 Journal of the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Soc and submitted by the author]

To celebrate the arrival of our new lifeboat in Holyhead in 2004 we ran a Special Event station GB4HLB (Holyhead Life Boat) which was a huge success. The RNLB “ Christopher Pearce” No 17-41 was named by HRH Duke of Kent KG on Thursday 6^th May 2004 in Holyhead and is a new Severn Class lifeboat.

This year (2005) we decided to repeat the event. The NoV was duly obtained and arrangements were made with the Hon. Sec and the Cox’n. As Station Manager I needed permission of the Sailing Club next door to use one of their halyards to support one end of the dipole. The date was set for 9^th and 11^th September 2005. A good pal of ours from Bangor, Ross MW0BYT made the antenna - a 133ft dipole with 1:1 balun centrepiece and fed by 75 ohm co-ax so we could include 80m.

On Friday the 9^th, Paddy MW0PAD, Ross MW0BYT and I gathered at the lifeboat station to erect the antennas, it was lashing down with rain and we got thoroughly soaked in the process. We set up station using Ross’s Ten Tec transceiver with my trusty Trio TS530SP as a standby. On Saturday morning at 0900hrs we opened up GB4HLB. Our first contact after an hour’s trying was one of our local operators – Bill MW0BLU!!. We could get no joy on any band, so one started to imagine many possible reasons. We changed rigs to my 530 SP with no avail. By now a steady stream of amateurs were arriving - all keen to have a go. We checked all interconnecting leads, PSUs, receivers etc. I decided to apply the golden rule of an ex-TG-op Crew Commander “ CHECK THE COAX FEEDER”, so the antenna was duly hauled down, meter in hand!

It became apparent that sun spot/sunburst activity was afoot ! It transpired that on that particular weekend the fourth biggest solar flare and electromagnetic storm recorded in the last 15 years had occurred. Over the two days we made 14 contacts, surprisingly (or not) one of them being in America.

My thanks go to the staff of the Holyhead Lifeboat Station, Holyhead Sailing Club and all my pals from the Dragon ARC.who helped in the event (8 or 9at least).

The next event planned is GB4TBL (Treaddur Bay Lifeboat) some time in October, Station Manager MW0AQZ (RNARS). So watch this space – we are optimistic that sunspots do not strike twice.

The station was duly set up on the October Saturday morning and was opened at 0900hrs by the Station Manager Wyn MW0AQZ(RNARS) and Paddy MW0PAD. I joined them at 0951 hrs in the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station proper. The antenna was a 133ft dipole with 1:1 balun centrepiece, fed by 75 ohm co-ax. I took my new rig, a Kenwood TS570D which worked extremely well. Owing to the extingencies of the service we could only operate on one day. Hf conditions were surprisingly favourable, in fact much better than when we tried GB4HLB. We made about 60 contacts in the UK and Europe. (20m did not open well enough for contacts across the pond unfortunately).

The postscript moral of the story, lads, is to keep on trying and success will follow. A good day for all, our thanks to Officers Cox’n and Crew of the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat for their kind hospitality and help.

Stewart GW0ETF is still working hard on the Club’s behalf on these HF Club Championships held on 80m between 2000 to 2130 hrs LOCAL TIME once a month separately on each of three modes SSB, CW and data. Unfortunately some clash with our Club meetings (but not always) and I know that when possible Stewart would like to see other members join in. Submitting the logs is in the Cabrillo format preferred by the RSGB. If you are not certain of this, other members who take part can possibly help.

MEMBERSHIP LIST. This is enclosed in the newsletter, but will not be printed on the club’s website.. Any changes or corrections should be addressed to the Treasurer or Secretary..

LLAIS Y DDRAIG

HYDREF 2005 AUTUMN Rhif//No 75

Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon LL61 5JY 01248 713647

THE CHRISTMAS DINNER

If there are enough members wanting to attend there will also be a Christmas Dinner at a local hostelry, price approximately £16. Please book as soon as possible with the Chairman.

LIFEBOAT EVENT

Listen out for dates of Special Event at the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat station. Help would be appreciated in erecting and in operating the station. Contact Dafydd GW4WLZ, Paddy MW0PAD or Wyn MW0AQZ.

Do not forget to give your support at this rally where we will have both a Club sale stand and a Club publicity table. If you have any pieces to sell, the club charge a 10% fee on the price. Anything you may have to donate to the Club for sale would be appreciated. A word of Warning to newcomers, at the Aberconwy Centre if you hold a disabled badge, park in a disabled space otherwise you MUST pay if parked in an unmarked parking bay .

CONGRATULATIONS are due once again to our stalwart CW teams who took part in the January 2005 RSGB AFS CW contest. The ‘A’ team consisted of:-

GW0GEI, GW0ETF, GW3EIZ, GW3PRL and GW8IRZ ( max. 5 in a team) came 15^th out of 88 clubs who took part . Our ‘B’ team, consisting of GW3HCL on his own, naturally came further down the list – just one other station joining him would have upped the score. An excellent result all round, giving the Club a place amongst the big ones.

THE NEWSLETTER

We managed a bumper one this time with more contributors than usual- please keep them coming- especially for the next issue which will be the Christmas / New Year issue. Unfortunately, there has been a delay this time, this abomination of a computer decided to go its own way ( better whisper that in case it hears). Thankfully, I managed to get hold of a good trainer (John GW3VVC) who whipped it into submission.

It means that the next Newsletter will be upon us very soon, so lets be hearing from you.

Several members were able to call in at this event organised by the ‘Holy Island’ lads in support of the Holyhead Lifeboat. It was well a organised event with an aerial suspended from a ‘pump up’ mast and the Yacht Club building. It was good to hear EU124 being used once again. Conditions on the bands for the weekend were abysmal, but several good reports were heard and received using both SSB and CW. Let us hope that conditions will improve for the next and reward Dafydd, Wyn Paddy et al ,for their hard work.

Back to the mainland now, our aim this year is to circumnavigate the Peloponnese and we started with a wonderful sail, a broad reach for 25 miles making 5-7 knots, taking us to Katacolo. We stayed on anchor the first night but later met up with some other cruising folk and went ashore for a meal with them in a restaurant run by the harbour pilot. Katacolo has been modernised and is now a “cruise ship” port (many of the shops only open when a big ship is in harbour!!) and there is also a new marina for yachts – an ‘EU special’ – no water, no electricity and free.

While we were in Katacolo marina, where we could leave Tombie safely tied up to the quay, we took a trip to Olympia and thought it rather apt to be there in the year of the Olympic Games coming home to Greece. Thought in a different form than the original games which were held in 776 BC, when only Greek males were allowed to compete, later Romans were also permitted. In those time the competitors wore no clothes at all. Women were not allowed to enter the stadium as participants or spectators and those who tried to enter were thrown to their death from a nearby rock. Writers, Poets and Historians also read their works in the sanctuary at the time of the games. Sadly, all is in ruins now, though small areas are being reconstructed and the Museum is well worth a visit, with some fascinating exhibits –and Air Conditioning !

After visiting Olympia we sailed for Pilos, on our way down the west coast of the Peloponesse, 50 miles of noisy motoring! We had to motor our way around most of the Aegean Coast line, which was not what we had expected, though we enjoyed most of it. Before reaching Pilos we were tempted into abay on the small island of Nisi Proti, for a swim and stayed there for the night. Next day with temperatures of 32C and humidity of 58% we motored the last 10 miles to Pilous and entered the EU 'Special' marina there. Later on when it was cooler we did some shopping and in the evening went to a Taverna where we sat in a beautiful terraced garden at the rear. By pure coicidence, the crews of the other two boats we had met in the harbour, also chose to eat there. They could not have seen us, in the enclosed Garden ! So another convivial evening was had by all.

Next Day, having taken water, we sailed the remaining 5 miles down the West Coast, to Methoni in order to get some “air”. Marinas are great places to be in bad weather, but stifling on hot windless days, so we prefer to be on anchor which is generally much cooler. Methoni has a large anchorage with just a few shops ashore- wonderful we thought! Just about 6pm (Gin and tonic time) a 45ft schooner comes crashing into the anchorage, drops his anchor and pays out so much chain he finished up less than a boats length away and refuses to move. This is not untypical of French boats. So in order to be able to sleep that night we moved Tombie to safety and the air round Tombie was ‘blue’ - not a dark blue you understand – but an ‘Electric’ blue!.

After a further day at anchor, we moved to Port Longos, an anchorage on a nearby island, here we had lunch and later sailed to an anchorage on the other side of the headland from Methoni – the only boat there and beautiful clear water, so another swim! Next day we anchor off the sailed the seven miles to Koroni and dropped old town with its Venetian Fort. We walked up to the fort, which is now mostly taken up by a monastery took some photos and walked down through the narrow higgledy – piggledy streets with cobbled steps. That evening we ate ashore and stopped in bar for a night-cap, for no reason the bar owner bought us a drink, friendly Greeks! Its lovely at night to sit and watch, the Greeks are great ‘Promenaders’ and parade up and down the town quay, all dressed up in their best. At 5am, we were woken up by the boat pitching heavily – the wind had changed and was blowing right into the anchorage, we decided to make a move and by 7am we had breakfasted and were on our way to Kalamata, about 20 miles N.E. Kalamata is a large commercial port serving the busy town and has a well run marina where we were greeted by a security man. This being Sunday, the place was a bit ‘sleepy’ but we were directed to a berth and given access to the facilities – a well run shower block! And of course, the inevitable Port Police, who wanted to see the boats ‘papers’. We were treated to some new arrivals – Mum and Dad Duck had come ashore to produce 3 young ducklings and had made themselves a comfortable ‘Maternity Unit’ under a bench seat outside the security office. The ducklings were three days old when we arrived and by the Tuesday when we left they were strutting up and down the quay and venturing down the slipway into the water.

After resting and taking on water and diesel, we left Kalamata on a windless morning and motored on to Porto Kayio a harbour just east of the second (middle) finger at the bottom of the Peloponesse. We arrived to find our German friends Harald and Seta aboard Naxos already at anchor there, so, much chatting and catching up on the news. Aboard Naxos they had decided not to continue. The weather forecast had been giving F 7-8 for some time and was still giving strong winds. In Porto Kayio we noticed a different style of building, these were ‘Maniote’style housing, as apparently they were very tough people who lived in ‘Clans and feuds were common. The Mani remained independent, both Rome and the Turks failed to defeat them. Now it was a very peaceful village with a couple of tavernas and a supermarket. After several days and the weather quite favourable in the Aegean, we decided to press on and have a look. Motored most of the way with hardly any wind, but in the afternoon it freshened until we had two reefs in the main and Genoa like a pocket hankie, with 31 knots (F6) of wind from the NE. With this, we beat into the bay at Elafonisis. What a beautiful place, just like a lagoon, clear turquoise water and lovely sandy beaches and sand dunes, here we spent a comfortable night. Next day with one reef in the main and staysail we were ready to go round the last ‘finger’ and into the Aegean proper. ( For non-sailing friends – renowned for strong and unpredictable winds ).

We left the shelter of the bay and motored east. About half a mile short of the headland we were sailing into about 28knots (F6) of wind which lasted for about a mile and gradually eased until after about 2 miles we had to start the engine. Later that afternoon we motored into Monemvasia, mooring in the harbour. The old town there is built on an island which is connected to the new town, on the mainland, by a causeway. By chance we had arrived on the very day they celebrate the liberation of the Greeks from the Turks. In the evening about 20-30 boats sailed from the bay to the Old Town – one towing an old Caigue boat – with flares being let off and horns sounding. All the boats then returned to the bay and set light to the old Caigue Boat, which set off a fireworks display as the boat burned. There was a concert of Greek Music and at midnight an absolute spectacle of fire works - it really was a memorable evening.

[ Whew, what an (dare I use the word) odyssey and with more to come in the next issue of the news letter, when they were able to entertain family and friends on board. AND found an unpleasant stowaway who was cast adrift.

Very many thanks to Ann and Martin for letting us share their idyllic Mediterranean holiday. ]

A note on the R1155 receiver in a recent Newsletter of another Club takes me back to a long period in my life when my transmitting licence was allowed to lapse. I was licensed in 1948, but in 1950 a career move took me from Liverpool to London and it was not convenient to set up a transmitter in my lodgings. The receiver I had built and used at home with a home-brew transmitter was a TRF 1-v-1 but in 1952 I acquired a R1155 and modified it to include a mains power supply. Some of my listening continued to be on the amateur bands but I had recently become hooked on medium-wave DX, for which the sensitivity and selectivity of the 1155 proved to be well suited. It meant listening late at night and into the small hours: not a good recipe for my examination studies! Initially the broadcast stations received were in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and eastern seaboard of the USA and Canada, mostly using 50kW transmitters, but in time quite low-powered stations were added to the log and also stations in the Mid-West. One night in November 1952 VUD in Delhi was logged opening up, but otherwise Asian stations were hard to come by apart from Siberians on long- wave.

In 1953 we were close to a solar minimum and there was excitement on the morning of 7^th October. I had woken at about 0410 to find conditions good and CBA in Sackville, New Brunswick on 1070 kHz signing off. Then at 0500 on the same frequency KNX, Los Angeles, identified itself - my first West Coast medium-wave DX. Although it was soon blotted out by a carrier (presumably European) there was more to come, because at 0600 there was station identification from KOMO, Seattle, Washington on 1000 kHz. It was already daylight in Woolwich, where I was staying and KOMO faded out at 6.20. A few days later WOAI, San Antonio, Texas (1200kHz) and KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah (1160kHz) were added to the log in the small hours.

On 11^th November, back in Liverpool, KOMO was heard late as 0800 signing off. The previous day KGA, Spokane, Washington (1510kHz) had been logged at 0600. Then on the 2^nd January 1954 KOA in Denver, Colorado (850kHz) was heard at 0235. New countries that winter were Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Surprisingly, in the following August quite a lot of DX was logged, more South than North America and including Nicaragua for the first time.

In December 1954 I was living in Richmond, Surrey, the powerful (1000kW) Voice of America station in the Philippines (1140kHz) was heard at 1630 and on 2^nd January its companion in Okinawa (1180kHz )was recorded at 1500. The season also yielded Peru, the Netherlands and Pakistan.

My medium-wave DX log perked up in October 1955, when reception of the two VOA stations was outstanding on more than one occasion. After that my listening reverted mainly to the amateur bands. Then in 1958 I took the plunge and got married, which effectively put a stop to night-owl radio. I later discovered that, after November 1953, the next time there was authenticated reception in the UK of West Coast medium – wave DX was in September 1964, in other words at the corresponding stage of the next solar cycle. Whether similar conditions occurred in subsequent cycles I do not know, but another minimum is not far off.

What kind of antenna had I been using? I found that a horizontal wire spread along the corridor room was the most effective for medium-wave DX, because any significant vertical element increased the European QRM. Those were the days when most Europeans went off the air during the night, but nowadays they stay on and medium-wave Dxing can’t be much fun. I haven’t tried it for a long, long time and one day, I can’t remember why, I said goodbye to my R1155.

By way of a postscript, the North American frequencies given above were in use as recently as 2003 and probably still are.

[ Stewart’s article brings back a lot of fond memories of the “good old days”, I never did get my R 1155 to work, but used instead an old US forces domestic wireless set, 110V smelly mains dropper et al. And bags of what we called ‘ acceptable’ hum ! ‘Midnight in Munich’, ‘AFN Saturday night theatre’, the big bands etc etc. But unfortunately not the DX that Stewart reports. Many thanks Stewart ]

A reward of 500 microfarads is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Hopalong Capacity, the unrectified criminal escaped from the Weston Primary Cell, where he had been clamped in ions awaiting the Gauss chamber. He is charged with the induction of an 18 turn coil, Milli Henry, who was found choked and robbed of her Joules. Armed with a battery of carbon rods, Capacity is a potential killer.

Hopalong Capacity is also charged with driving a D.C. motor over the Wheatstone Bridge and refusing to let the band pass. Be careful not to put him in a trap, as in reactance he might offer serious resistance.

The Electromotive Force spent the night searching for him in the magnetic field, where he had gone to earth. They failed to detect him and now believe Capacity retuned home via the short circuit. He was last seen riding a kilocycle with his friend Eddy Current who was playing “Ohm on the Range” on his harmonic.

[Again a thank you to Stewart who sent this extract from “The Natter”, The Guildford and District Radio Society, whom I hope do not mind letting us share their humour]

On the occasion of the recent club trip to R.A.F. Valley, I was surprised and pleased to see that some Martin-Baker equipment which I had helped to design, was still in service, some sixteen years after acceptance by the R.A.F.

The initiator is responsible for automatically inflating the pilot’s life jacket should he land on water, and in the event of his being unconscious or unable to do so manually.

During the 1980’s I was technical director of a small company (Eastpoint ltd.) which operated from the former railway station at Corfe Castle. (This has since been re-established at a railway station). One of our customers was the famous firm of Martin-Baker, pioneers of the ejection seat. This company was a real pleasure to deal with and they had an uncanny knack of choosing small sub-contractors who could handle some of the awkward jobs which did not fall within their main role of precision mechanical engineering for aircraft. We had already fulfilled a number of contracts for the company, so it was no surprise when we were called in to see John Martin at their H.Q. in Denham. John explained the requirements for the proposed life jacket initiator (LJI) and showed us quite an elegant little circuit that one of their own chaps had suggested, which used a silicon controlled rectifier as the latch. For some reason which I can not recall, this had been rejected and I was asked to choose and develop an alternative.

On contact with water, a trigger had to be set and the signal thus obtained had to be amplified to the extent of firing an explosive detonator. This in turn would puncture the seal on a carbon dioxide cylinder, permitting the gas to inflate the life jacket.

The system I eventually used is that shown in Fig 1. Not rocket science, and whilst the circuit basic design could be completed on the back of an envelope, the engineering of this into a completely reliable unit, meeting the full requirements of airborne equipment and to full military and environmental specification, took a little longer!

One of the major problems was that the 3Volt battery which provided power to the unit looked less and less like a power source as the temperature fell to the minimum required by the operating specification. It was necessary to hunt down a transistor for the final stage which had a very low VSAT i.e. the voltage across the transistor when switched hard on, in order to maximise the poor performance of the battery at low temperatures. All of the components had to be of full military specification and obtained via approved and traceable sources. When complete, the unit had to withstand considerable mechanical shock and in addition perform well in the high field strength of nearby radar. False triggering was definitely out. Should this happen within the cockpit it would be like trying to drive a car with the air-bag inflated.

The units were manufactured on a batch basis, 28 units on a large “biscuit” p.c.b. At this stage they were tested by a specially built microprocessor controlled test-set which we produced, which checked and printed all relevant parameters. A batch on test is shown in Fig. 2 The units each had to be signed off by myself.

After test, the small boards were coated and sent to Martin-Baker for fitting in the precision-milled housing which they manufactured. The area of the p.c.b. was then filled in with silicone compound.

From then on, testing was done on a routine basis using a hand-held tester which we provided. A socket was provided on the finished unit to allow connection.

A lowering of resistance across the sensor terminals due to water ingress, causes the complementary bistable circuit formed by the first two transistors to latch in a condition such that both are drawing current. This current is then magnified by the following transistors to a value sufficient to fire the detonator. This was typically around 150 m.A., but considerable over-specification was required. When fired, the detonator usually went open circuit, but this was not guaranteed! Hence the current limiting resistor in series. On a number of occasions I accidentally fired a detonator. Not a very loud bang, but enough to make one jump!

I never expected that I would meet this equipment again, many years on from the late 80’s, on an airfield I had not heard of, located on an island I had never visited at the time.

“The only reason that Marconi ‘invented’ Wireless Broadcasting was to teach people how to pronounce his first name”

This year the event was held over the weekend of August 20^th and 21^st, and as usual attracted operations from many Lighthouses and Lightships around the world. According to the organisers, last year saw a record number of stations and it could have been even more this year. Not being a contest, the whole weekend was in general much more friendly and casual (at times!) having a better standard of operating than with some other events!

As in previous years we operated, by kind permission of H M Coastguard (or Maritime and Coastguard Agency as they are now called), from their lookout at Penmon Point - Trwyn Du - hence our call sign GB2TD. This location is a very civilised place to operate from with all 'mod cons' wonderful views and even a chance to study the boats and birds through the marvellous German 'Doppel' binoculars there. As usual, the basis on which we are allowed to use the lookout is that if there should be any kind of call-out or emergency, then we clear out ASAP. Saturday was the Beaumaris Lifeboat Day and as there were no call-outs or emergencies, we had the place to ourselves for the whole time

Dave ‘DAA and I went to the look-out on Wednesday evening to get the station set up. Last year the wind was so strong there was no chance of getting a line over the mast, but this time, even though there was a good breeze, we were able to fire an arrow, with light line attached, over the cross trees of the mast and so get the aerial a bit higher than last year.

As with last year, Dave brought along his Windom which was cut to the 80m band with a balun at the feed point and was fed with 75 Ohm co-ax back to the building. The far end of the aerial was as before, taken to a redundant electricity pole near the road. Initial tests were made with the Club’s MFJ ATU, but it was found that the internal tuner of the FT990 would do as good a job as the MFJ, so no separate ATU was used.

Dave also brought along a 20m caged dipole to try. This was configured as a ‘sloper’ between the anemometer tower on the roof and a bush lower down the bank. The new aerial analyser was used to check the SWR bandwidth of this new aerial, which was found to be nearly 400Khz at the 1.5:1 points.

The question of the access road came up again as always. This time when I contacted Sir Richard Williams-Bulkely (who owns the road down to the ‘Point’), he wanted paying, but we reached a compromise of a flat fee (£10.00) to cover all trips by Club members for the whole event.

The earthing at the Penmon Lookout is always a problem, due to the very rocky nature of the ground thereabouts. A couple of years ago we did manage to drive a copper spike in for a few feet and that seemed to be reasonably satisfactory. It went in so well that to date it is still there. After a few tests with the Windom, especially using the internal tuner of the FT990, we decided that a separate earth was not required, so we did not bother with it especially as it would have required quite a long run of cable – not a good thing for an earth for RF!

The weather over the whole weekend was beautiful, it was really too good to be inside, so it reflects even more credit to those who came along to help and/or operate. For much of the time we were able to operate two stations (Dave ‘DAA brought his own rig on Saturday and John ‘VVC on Sunday, both using the caged dipole), with only slight mutual interference - after moving the dipole! On Sunday I took my little 2m handheld, so for a short time we had three stations on the go.

As in previous years, conditions over both days seemed to favour the use of 20 metres, and the vast majority of the contacts were made on that band, with roughly equal number of contacts on CW and SSB. Saturday started well for 80m but after about an hour that band just died. 40m was very poor on SSB but a bit better for CW, also 30m was quite good.

Sunday was much better on 80m and 40m for SSB. On 2m FM only 5 contacts were made, using 5w and a ‘slim jim’ taped to a 15ft fishing pole (my sota set-up). This was partly due to the 200w of CW from John ‘VVC wiping out a number of the VHF channels even at the end of the pathway!

With a grand total of 488 QSOs over the weekend, of which 221 were made on CW (who says that morse is dead!), we have reached an all time record for this event. A superb effort by all concerned.

As always, thanks go to everyone who participated in this event in any way, but particularly to Dave ‘DAA for the use of his aerials and help with setting up. We hope to do it all over again next year – can we beat this record?

The European Sprint Contest – a contest with a difference

One of the criticisms often levelled at contests is that the prospects of doing well are greatly improved simply by having a ‘big signal’. If this is capable of overwhelming the opposition; such a station can stay on one frequency and allow others to come to them. Running, as this is called generally results in much better qso rates because you can get into an efficient working rhythm; it does however normally require a ‘big signal’ which will overcome anyone straying too close or trying to steal your frequency. Of course being thus equipped would be useless without the operating skill to go with it but nevertheless this is still one of the perennial gripes aimed at contests in general. However it doesn’t have to be like this – check out the European Sprint Contest, held twice yearly in the spring and autumn. They are 4 hourly events covering 20, 40 and 80 metres with the SSB and CW sessions occurring on consecutive weekends. Here, one subtle rule change has resulted in a unique contest which neatly removes the above advantage for the ‘big guns’ and produces a contest with a completely different feel and mode of operation. The rule in question is referred to as the ‘QSY rule’ and states that a station must move frequency by at least 2 Khz after each contact initiated by that station before initiating another. So when a station calling CQ receives a reply, he/she completes the contact and then moves off the frequency, leaving it for the station who called, and the process is repeated. It is a clever rule because in a way it is self policing – if someone only moves 1.8 Khz or so they will get away with it. But if they just sit on the same spot it becomes glaringly obvious they are breaking the rules and so in practice it never happens.

A few years ago I gave the EU Sprint CW event a go but found the whole experience for someone only dabbling in contesting so strange and such hard work I gave up after only a few minutes. This autumn I decided to give it a more determined try. I stuck it out but still struggled due in part to the alien feel of the contest and also a computer/software problem which caused me to eventually give up on the automatic CW keyer and send everything instead by hand. Well into the second half of the session I felt I was starting to get the hang of things and began to appreciate the advantages and unique nature of this particular contest; hopefully I’ll have another go next year.

I said earlier that the QSY rule is clever because it’s kind of self policing – it’s also clever because it has knock on effects which affect the whole mode of operation. For instance, it means that the exchange has to include both callsigns so that any station dropping on that frequency will be aware who is staying and who is going and therefore which of the two stations is available to call. The convention is that the station ending the exchange with his/her call now has the frequency. Names are also part of the exchange so if a station sends <GWØETF 045 JOHN de GW4TTA> you know GW4TTA is taking over the frequency and GWØETF is moving along the band. On the other hand <GWØETF de GW4TTA 045 JOHN bk> indicates that GW4TTA initiated the contact and will be moving off and leaving GWØETF free to be called. Another consequence is not being able to listen to a very fast operator for a few contacts to get the call and serial worked out before you call because he’s gone after just one qso. Hopefully you may have got the details of the original calling station because that’s the one you need to call now but you only get one chance before he’s gone too…..!

Notice the lack of the obligatory and meaningless 599 report, another target of the critics of contesting. This is not required in the exchange for this contest and is sensible as it fulfils no real function anyway. Funnily enough though it is surprising how you miss it when it is no longer there in the exchange and the reason is it’s role as a sort of cue for the brain to listen for the serial number which will follow; when the cue is not there the serial can take the tired listener off guard so maybe it does have a use after all – though not the one originally intended.

So if you want a contest with a difference try this. It is certainly more taxing on the brain cells than the usual formats but they do say there is no gain without pain and I felt pretty satisfied with my very modest score all things considered. I’ll be more than satisfied if I can simply improve on my score next time around…..

Our Secretary, Les GW0SEC, after some setbacks was finally rewarded with our members being able to visit RAF Valley at the end of August. Those who attended were not disappointed, we had good weather and a well organised tour of the facilities which I can safely say was enjoyed by all. I am afraid that the amount of walking from one department to another was nearly too much for me ( a buggy type transport would have been a great help) but our guide managed to slow down the pace a little and keep to the schedule timing.

We started off with a talk on the history of the RAF station and were accompanied by Jack GW2DXQ (Llangefni) who is the noted Historian for the station. Jack has attended the Club meetings in the past and he was invited to attend again in the future. We walked through several sites to the parachute section where we were given a demonstration on the packing of the various safety devises into the injector seat of the aircraft, (See previous article by Les on the development of one of the devises).

This was followed by a look at the aircraft maintenance section where we were able to examine one of the planes and the pilots cockpit in detail.

We concluded the tour at the Control Tower, where after a talk on the control of aircraft within the air zone of Valley we were given a guided tour of the two control rooms where there was a constant traffic of aircraft on display.

Although there was very strict security vetting, I was surprised to get permission to use the camcorder and camera and there did not appear to any restrictions ( The results can been seen soon on a club evening). My personal impression was how young all the personnel looked and how many young ladies held important duties. One young lady, a squadron leader, was in charge of the air controllers.

Well we went to Jodrell Bank, we went to the Blackpool Rally and early in September we went to Shrewsbury – three trips in one year !! There was a change of venue this year, the rally being held at the West Midlands, Agricultural Showground, Shrewsbury. Thankfully it had been well signposted by the rally people and we were able to find the grounds, although we got slightly lost trying to get out of Shrewsbury on our way home.

I though that the Rally was a bit better than the last time we had a trip to the RAF Museum Site venue. The main dealers and the ‘bring and buy’ stall were under cover, but there were many smaller dealers lining one of the showground avenues. Thankfully it was a nice warm dry day, I shudder to think what would have happened if it had been a rainy day. They may have had some alternative emergency plans ?

I managed to get a couple of minor goodies, but a good bargain slipped through my hands, I hesitated too long. Still it was an excellent day out in good company and in a well driven comfortable minibus..

The demand for Foundation Licence training seems to be slowing down with only a handful making the effort this year. There is a demand for an Intermediate Course which it is hoped will start very soon. This may well have to be held in a different venue (perhaps the W.I. Hall). Prospective candidates will be circulated as soon as everything is finalised.

Congratulations are due to Stewart GW0ETF on being appointed a lead instructor under the RSGB Training Screen, this brings the total for the Club to four ( Dewi ABL, Les SEC and Dafydd WLZ).

At a recent club meeting James Humphreys aged 12, was presented with a pass certificate in the Foundation Licence Examination and congratulated by our Chairman Geoff GW4DRR. James, a member of the newly formed Maesgeirchen Amateur Radio Club, is one of the youngest of our candidates to pass. He was also congratulated by Terry MW3JKQ aged 83 who recently passed his Foundation Licence Examination.

It is hoped that James’s example will lead other young people into the hobby and it is hoped that at least another three youngsters will be applying, towards the New Year.

LLAIS Y DDRAIG

HAF 2005 SUMMER Rhif//No 74

Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon LL61 5JY 01248 71

Listen out for dates of Special Events at the Holyhead and the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat stations. Help would be appreciated in erecting the stations and in operating them. Contact Dafydd GW4WLZ, Paddy MW0PAD or Wyn MW0AQZ.

TELFORD RALLY - To be held at the Agricultural Show Ground Shrewsbury – 4^th September 2005.

Having missed out on the Drayton Manor Rally, if there is a sufficient demand, perhaps we can prevail on the Committee to arrange transport to this Rally.

Stewart GW0ETF has been busy during the season collecting points for the Dragon Amateur Radio in this Championship. The season finishes at the end of July and we should thank him for his diligence and dedication in keeping the Club's name in this contest, despite having to miss some Club meetings because of clashing dates. We look forwards to seeing the results in Radcom. Let us try and help him next year – dates permitting.

Glad to say that we have received more from Ann and Martin GW0PRL of their adventure in the Mediterranean.

We arrived in Greece on 30^th May to sunny skies and reasonable temperatures, we had received reports the weather was not as expected for the time of year and the first week was a bit mixed. Martin was also quite ill with a flu virus, which started within about 2 hours of landing and actually spent 2 days in his bunk. However, fully recovered and a few jobs completed, we found Chris from ‘Sea Warrior’ was there preparing to take his boat west and back to the UK.

We joined in the social 'round in the yard, where fortunately the German guy on the next boat played keyboard very well and we had the first of two very good Bar-B-Qs, spending a happy time dancing with all nationalities. The second being organised by a group of Austrian ladies and again every one had a nice evening.

After a few more jobs we launched on 14^th June and moved across to Preveza where friends Bob and Lin, from Liverpool, were on board ‘B Chewsy’. They had their car and kindly took us to Lidl and Champion, a real treat as Greek supermarkets leave much to be desired, and we needed to store-ship for the summer. We anchored in the bay and good friend (and fellow Vancouver owner) Mike came aboard for a meal, it was a sad occasion as he was leaving Greece for the UK. We will miss him, but hopefully will meet in UK during the Winter.

We then proceeded to the “Chill Out” area - twenty odd miles of near desolation known as the Gulf of Amvrakikos – while sailing there the Genoa halyard parted and when we started the engine it coughed and spluttered, but fortunately did not stop. So there you are, in a beautiful peaceful anchorage, hauling Martin up the mast to replace the halyard chaffed and the braid splice had carried away. The rope was end-for-ended until a new halyard could be bought. We then went on to a new experience which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Friends Bob and Lin, stuck in Preveza marina ( free, so always full) wanted to go for a sail and invited us to join them aboard their 49 ft Halberg Rassey. At such luxury we jumped at the chance, tied ‘ Tombie’ up in their space on the quay and sailed with them to Corfu via Paxos. While in Corfu we picked up two of their friends, Tony and Julie (also from Liverpool) who we had met during the winter. We had a lot of fun and laughter and came back via Lacca, Parga and Vontisa to Preveza having sailed all the way, it is very unusual to have favourable winds both ways and for 6 days!!. Spent the night alongside, ‘B Chewsy’ having a final BarB-Q before Martin had to unblock the heads (toilet) - “ what on earth have you put down the **** toilet”- as always it was Anne who had the misfortune to us the heads last. (The 38mm pipe was reduced to about 13mm with salt deposits- etc fairly typical in the Med.)

Wed.23^rd June – Finally on our way, we traversed the Lefkas Canal, took fuel at the new marina there and did some more shopping. Exhausted by this we went to one of our hideaway to chill out. Later that afternoon Horst, aboard “ Bel-ami”, joined us for a beer and chat and then went on his way, we stayed another night enjoying peace and quiet. Next day we sailed to Nidri, a gathering point for boats, bought some gear for the boat and a new halyard, thence to Vlikho to do yet more jobs!

Weather now 35 degrees plus and humidity over 50% unbearable and certainly no good for working in.

Dave, who shares his boat “Ventus A”, was not happy about her being left on Nidri quay. So, we took ‘Tombie’ to Nidri where Anne jumped on to the quay and we proceeded to ‘steal’ our friend’s boat- so easy – jump aboard, release lines, pull up anchor and away. Not a word to anyone! We towed ‘Ventus A’ to Vlikho anchoring her near ‘Tombie’

Met up with Eileen and John on ‘Kiah’ and spent a few lazy lunchtimes in tavernas. Dave arrived on Sunday, unfortunately June was not with him, her brother was seriously ill and she had flown back to England. It being Anne’s birthday all seven of us ate in the Vlikho Yacht Club and we all enjoyed a lovely evening.

Then came our second new experience for us – ‘Buddy Boating’- Dave being on his own, was like a fish out of water and asked if he could join us for a few days. First stop was mainland Greece and a particular favourite of ours called Mykita. We spent two lovely days there swimming in the two bays on either side of the town and had a lovely meal on the waterside on the last evening. Next day on to Ithaka, this was a motoring day, just us two boats all day. We anchored in ‘big’ Vathi, went ashore to show Dave the town and ate ashore at night, lovely meal, had a Greek dish called Kleftiko - Lamb with garlic, peppers, onions and feta cheese cooked under the grill in a parcel of greaseproof paper – delicious!

It was time for us to make some miles, as we were going on a long trip this year. So we said goodbye to Dave and set course for Kefalonia, decided to anchor for the night in a quiet bay at the bottom of Ithaka but too much swell – ‘Tombie’ rolling like a pea in a drum. So we carried on to Ay Eufemia where we anchored near to John and Glen Williams (from Colwyn Bay) on ‘Wake II’. We had coffee with them in the morning and we all went for a meal at night, the night of the European Cup Final and Greece won – the town was electric! A whole parade of cars, lights on, horns blowing from one end of the village to the other. Fireworks being left off but absolutely no vandalism and no trouble, just good high spirits. We met with an Irish couple in the restaurant- so ‘nuff said about the drinking...

Very quietly on our way the next day, only 15 miles to Poros, went along the quay. A quiet night, met a couple on a catamaran and had a drink with them – different worlds!!

Next day – now in unknown waters, the southern most island in the Northern Ionion – Zakynthos, a very hot and humid day motor sailing all of the 25 miles. Zykinthos seemed to be a very big and noisy town, so did not go ashore. At last humidity down to 40% a lovely clear day and a wonderful sail to Ormos Keria huge bay, but mostly restricted as it is a breeding area for turtles. Anchored in the bay by the town, wind, lots of it all day 15-20knots, but nice and quiet at night. Went ashore in the morning to have a look around and had a drink in a little bar. The owner had just picked peaches off his tree and gave us one each. The Greeks are a lovely friendly people and will always acknowledge you. Keri was lovely old Greek town.

[ How about that then? Only the start of Anne and Martin’s 2004 adventure – more to come with some exciting and hilarious goings on. Plus being joined eventually by another club member and XYL. Look out for the next issue –GW0ABL]

Once again the Club was able to operate two amateur radio stations for this event which was possible with the hard work of the usual stalwart few.

As Station Manager I had applied for and got the N.O.V. I had also made arrangements with Ray Steadman to confirm times of access etc. During the week leading up to the event we did a survey and decided on a half size G5RV as there was not enough space for a full size one. We all searched our garages and junk boxes and managed to get enough gear together to assemble the antenna. This was done on the Wednesday, 50 ohm co-ax was used to feed from the 300 ohm feeder into the shack.

Friday afternoon soon came round so Paddy MW0PAD, Wyn MW0AQZ and myself gathered at 66, Queens Park to erect the antenna and install the radio equipment. We were ably assisted by son-in-law Terry who is a window cleaner and had the ladders and the youthful agility!!! Paddy very kindly lent us a 30ft pump up hydraulic mast for the one end, the other end was attached to a telegraph pole. Wyn supplied the Trio TS530S HF rig, I supplied the ATU, speaker, desk, mike, morse key and earthing arrangements. The station was set up and tested at about 1400hrs, our first contact was with HA0HG in Konyar, Hungary on cw obtaining a signal report of RST 579 so we knew we were getting out OK.

On Saturday morning the station opened at approx. 0900hrs with operators Wyn, Paddy and Dafydd on duty. We worked most of Europe during the morning including GB4MD at Waunfawr. 20 mtrs opened up at about midday and we worked 2 Canadian stations one being V0ISA, Rick in Newfoundland on SSB with 59 each way. We worked 6 other IMD stations.

We presented Ray Steadman and his wife with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine as a token of our appreciation. We do appreciate the use of their premises, their hospitality is second to none with a constant supply of tea, coffee and biscuits for which we thank them. During the afternoon we had a visit from Mr Peter Rogers and his assistant. Peter was the Independent candidate for Ynys Mon in the general election, they took a great deal of interest in what we were doing. Further publicity was given us by the Daily Post, see below.

Total Contacts for the day was 49 and a good day was had by all. GB4HMD went QRT at approx.1645 hrs and the station dismantled for another year. My thanks to Wyn and Paddy for their support

[ I am certain that we support Dafydd’s gratitude for the help and facilities he received and thank him for organising the event and for his report.]

Celebrating International Marconi day, ham radio enthusiasts will be gathering at Holyhead’s broadcasting post.

The Dragon Amateur radio station will be setting up at 66, Queens Park in Holyhead and transmitting all day, to commemorate the radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.

Marconi’s radio post in the town picked up the first ever ship to shore radio message from the Atlantic at 10.48am on May 21,1901.

Very early on the morning of 23^rd April ( about 5.30 hrs) on their way to the old Marconi Long Wave Transmitting station near Waunfawr Dave GW4JKR/2W0DAA remarked to John MW0BER – “ would it not be great to make a contact with New Zealand ?” On firing up the station the first contact made by Dave – -yes, you have guessed it - – was with South Island, New Zealand and that on 40mtrs..

A week previous with the help of Barry Forster ( a member who has passed the Foundation and Intermediate stages) and his LandRover, the club’s caravan was taken up to the site of the old Marconi Station. Dave and John then erected the dipole and got things ready for the actual day. The station was quite a success with a total of 125 contacts, including the Far East and both Dave and John must be congratulated on a good set up.

As a signal diary is no longer kept at special events it is difficult now to recall who exactly took part. John GW3GUX was there for some periods and Danny GW3HCL kept up the c.w side of things. During the afternoon when the station was manned by Terry MW3JQKand myself there was a mains power failure. This was traced to a faulty power socket in the main building. Once traced this was quickly rectified by the loan of a long extension lead from Jill, the owner of the climbing centre and use of another power outlet from Paul the owner of the actual site. Their help was very much appreciated and no doubt, as is usual, they have received a token of our appreciation.

During the afternoon we were visited by two young M3 amateurs who were travelling around the UK in their caravanette and were temporarily parked in the car park.

John and Dave dismantled the antenna and a few days later Barry very kindly returned to pick up the Club caravan.

Our thanks are due to them and to everyone who took part in the successful event, with my apology if I have not named everyone – GW0ABL.

Dave GW4JKR described a very successful day he had down on the beach in Red Wharf Bay in October last year .

He was there from 0930 to 15.00Hrs using an Alinco DX70 giving about 50 Watts into a homebrew vertical antenna stuck into the sand. Dave did not use an ATU because the vertical was cut to the frequency in use –18.160 MHz.

He must have been very busy, because the result was a total of 327 contacts, 62 of which were Japanese stations. Six contacts were made with a ‘difficult’ island situated immediately north of Japan known as Sakhalin Island which with Kuriles is an Oblast of Russia. Because of the secrecy in the past one contact was thought to be marvellous, but Dave made six!!

Other contacts were made with Ascension Island (where Dave was reported as the only signal from Europe), Alaska, Korea, San Francisco, Shanghai, India, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But he did not contact New Zealand, that had to wait until he got to the Old Marconi Station on International Marconi Day . Hi hi! ( see above)

[Have you had a good day or made an unusual contact, please share it with us with a few words in the newsletter. It lets some one like me have a hope for the future. My most recent best DX was Winchester (and I forgot to ask about the cathedral).

I just cannot understand how a partial deregulating of amateur radio by the issue of a free licence for life brings about a saving for the Government. I realise that they no longer wish to provide services for the public and that their aim (exactly like Margaret Thatcher’s government) is to cut the number of Civil Servant come what may.

How does issuing a licence for free save money? It is just not a question of issuing the present 63,000 licences for free but there is still the ongoing new licensees to be attended to. Not forgetting that it is not, like in the past, that only one or maybe two licences will be applied for but these days the keen Radio Amateur will need to apply for three licences (Foundation, Intermediate, Full) to succeed. Yes, I know a knowledgeable amateur can get all three in one fell scoop but how many can do that. The present system aims to ease new blood easily and slowly into the hobby.

There must still remain a structure and staff to be there to issue licences and more importantly that they are issued correctly. There must also be a solid data base which must be maintained, amended as necessary and up dated. Presumably all this must be paid for, so where is the savings?

Any changes to the terms, provisions etc of licences must be brought to the attention of each licensee. How will that be done? Perhaps an advert in the “Times” or “The Star”! or a letter to each licensee, not forgetting than in time many will have lost all interest in the hobby (a waste of money). At least at the moment all active amateurs are known – they have renewed their licence recently.

My personal view is that the issue of a free licence for life is one step towards the full deregulation of amateur radio and at the least the downgrading of the quality and worth of the licence. There is no such thing as something for free, as I say to those who phone “ we can save you £100 on you gas , insurance etc, “- “I look forward to receiving you cheque in the post.” The cheque never arrives !!.

In their summary of the effects of the free licence Ofcom say “ It would still be possible for radio amateurs - to apply for a Notice of Variation – to operate amateur radio repeaters – to operate packet radio.”

My dictionary defines the word Possible as “that may be or exist; that may be done; practicable; not impossible, though improbable. So make what you can of that. I would prefer them to say “ The radio amateur will be able to apply etc---“.

So, please return the completed questionnaire some of you have received asking for your views for the poll. And lets have as many views as possible sent to Ofcom before 18^th August 2005.

Dafydd GW4WLZ extends a cordial welcome to all Club members to join the Holyhead VHF/FM net which has been running for 4 years.

LLAIS Y DDRAIG

GWANWYN 2005 SPRING Rhif//No 73

Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon LL61 5JY. 01248 713647

29 Visit has been arranged to RAF Valley assembling at 1.20p.m at the main guard room. Limited to a maximum of 15 members, you should book early with the secretary Les MW0SEC also car registration number required.

Volunteers will be required for both GB4MD at the old Marconi Station near Waunfawr and GB4HMD at Holyhead. Do not wait to be asked but contact Stewart GW0ETF or Dafydd GW4WLZ to tell them when you can attend.

Congratulations are due to both Dafydd GW4WLZ and Les MW0SEC on being registered with the RSGB as lead Instructors for all three grades of licence. This means that there is now training cover in the Holyhead and Llanerchymedd areas, while Dewi GW0ABL still covers the Menai /Arfon area. John GW3GUX , Stewart GW0ETFand Geoff GW4DRR still act as local Instructors and the larger courses will be tackled on a team basis. John GW3VVC is acting as a First Invigilator for the Foundation exams and also assists on the Foundation Morse Code assessments.

Due to heavy demand by other local groups for the use of Ebenezer Hall, it is not always free during the year on the dates of the Intermediate and Advanced Exams. The W.I. Hall, Holyhead Road, has now also been registered for examination purposes. Funnily enough for the March Intermediate Exam neither hall was available and the exam was postponed one month. The April exam will be held at the W.I.Hall.

Its is hoped to register other Halls for future use, possibly in Holyhead and Carmel

The Women’s Institute Hall is a very famous building and is on the itinerary of the Coach Tours, being the home of the very first W.I. meeting to be formed in the UK in 1915. They first met in a little cottage which is still to be seen in the grounds of a nearby house. After the 1914-1918 war the Marquis of Anglesey bought a barrack hut from the famous ( or is it infamous) Kinmel Camp, Abergele, where the Canadian Troops mutinied and some were shot in 1918.

The hut was re-erected on the back of the old Telford Toll House and rented to the W.I. at a peppercorn rent and is still well maintained and in excellent condition.

This problem does not affect the Foundation Licence, the exam being held by demand and in any public building. This may possibly apply to the Intermediate and Advance in the not too far future.

I first met Eddie before he retired and came to Anglesey. It was either at a Radio Rally or at Howard TMP's Radio Emporium, I am not sure which, but Eddie was adamant that he would join this Club as soon as he had found a suitable place on the island.

Born in Chester, Eddie counted himself to be a native of Connah’s Quay which was where he was brought up and was educated. He worked in the heavy industry of that area as a qualified welder a skill he still used in retirement, creating some very artistic work.

Although basically a shy person, Eddie threw himself into the activities of Special Events and loved to operate at these amateur stations. Once he had set up his own radio shack and antennas he became a very keen DX’er making contacts and friends all over the world. He particularly objected to Anglesey losing it status as an “island” ( EU124) for the purposes of Islands on the Air and personally took up the matter with the RSGB.

Latterly he had been missing from the Club and it was not so well known that he had suffered major surgery and treatment for cancer. Despite this I never heard him complain or feel sorry for himself. He tried to visit the Club when he could.

There was a good representation from the Club at his funeral and we were able to meet up with his wife and daughter and her family. Eddie’s presence will be missed at the Club and we extend our full sympathy to his wife and family.

Eleven members joined the minibus at 10 a.m in the Pringles Car Park on a fresh and sunny morning and headed for Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. Near Holywell we travelled between snow clad fields but the further we went the brighter the sun shone. Without any mishap we arrived on site and went immediately to the café for lunch.

At 1.30, after mingling with the public visitors, we went behind the scenes and met up with our host Ian Morison G0DMU. First he showed us the site of the original wired astronomical radio telescope, near Sir Bernard Lovell’s home and then visited the workshops where state of the art receivers are built and developed. It was amazing to see how small the receivers were, about the size of a large packet of cigarettes, assembled into precision machined gold plated chassis. Incorporated were very low noise amplifiers continually being made more sensitive by the development of the bulky vacuum pumps and cooling systems in which they were enclosed. We were also able to see other complex equipment before going to the lecture room for our first talk.

The first talk was on the history of Jodrell Bank and its subsequent development and expansion. The completion of the Mark 1 radio telescope was followed by the discovery of Quasars and Pulsars. Further development and repairs to the radio telescope resulted in much more sensitivity and use of lower wavelengths. The telescope was renamed the Lovell Telescope.

After a visit to the viewing window of the telescopes’control room we returned to the lecture room for a talk on further developments in the astronomical exploration.

Ian then went on to describe the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometry Network – MERLIN which is an unique instrument for high resolution radio imaging. Interferometry being the linking of radio telescopes to imitate a telescope whose diameter is equivalent to the distance between them. Information from each telescope is brought together and played back in synchronisation to produce radio images. Merlin produces images at least comparable with the Hubble space telescope, but when linked with European (VLBI) Network has a factor of 10 improvement. It is said that Merlin can resolved a £1 coin 100 kilometres away.

Our final visit was to see the Merlin correlator where the information is gathered and is prepared for imaging in a computer. We also had a look at another impressive machine called the Cobra

At about 5 o'clock made our way to the car park and on our way home well satisfied with a very informative (if not above our head at times) and enjoyable visit to Jodrell Bank.

Our Thanks go to John MW0BER, who drove the minibus, giving us a very comfortable and enjoyable ride. Also to Les MW0SEC and John GW3GUX for organising and collecting the money for the trip.

An 8.0 a.m start found us well on our way to Blackpool on again a very weather kind day, although it did start to mist over as we reached Cheshire. Further up the M6 it brightened up and we reached a very sunny Blackpool. My personal impression, not having done much travelling in recent years was the terrific amount of traffic on the motorways, what it must be like on a weekday I shudder to think. Puts our little Expressway in the shade, despite our traffic jams.

On the approaches to the Golden Mile one member, who shall not be named, waxed lyrical of how he leapt from boyhood into manhood during an early holiday. As I am typing this before the nine o’clock water shed, I cannot go into any details. Suffice to say that hotels and street in question were well remembered after all those year ago!! Da Iawn – oops I nearly named him.

How does one describe a radio rally, my first impression was of the crowds of radio amateurs (and others) pushing and thrusting their way amongst the various exhibits and stalls. But that eased off and I was able to get the odd bits and pieces I was looking for. Catering was not of a high standard with plenty of queues, next time it will be a hamper and flask. Still I enjoyed myself meeting up with old friends and having the company of fellow members.

At two o clock I attended a talk by Peter Kirby of the RSGB who announced the dire threat that was posed to amateur radio by the recent Spectrum Review by Ofcom. He outlined the reply that had been given by the RSGB and asked for the full support of members and non-members in this fight save the status and integrity of Amateur Radio. [Things have moved on since then with the hope that references to amateur radio will be deleted from the review].

After a cup of tea and a look at the Blackpool trams running in front of the Norbreck Hotel the minibus started for home at about 4.00 p.m. Once again this was an excellent day out with a comfortable journey both ways ably driven, this time, by Billy GW0IQZ to whom our sincere thanks are due. John GW0GUX looked after the financial side of things. No I didn’t get a chance to get some candy floss and a 'kiss me' hat!!

This was a very eventful evening in the history of the Club, when we were visited by Assembly Member Mr Ieuan Wyn Jones to present a cheque to the Club on behalf of Awards for All Wales.

Introduced by Geoff GW4DRR our Chairman and before making the presentation Mr Jones stated that although he had been MP and then AM for 18 years, this was the first time that he had met up with an Amateur Radio Society. Doing his homework he was able to gather a lot of information about the history of the Club off our website. This gave him an insight into Amateur Radio generally. It was not his first visit to the Ebeneser Hall, because it is also a polling station during elections.

As an elected member he was aware of the vast number of varied societies that existed on the Island but this was his first opportunity to meet radio amateurs face to face.

Mr Jones then talked of the similarities and differences between the work of an MP and AM – it was the same kind of existence except that one commuted to London and the other to Cardiff. But the most testing of either was the travelling back and forth to Cardiff by rail.

He was also aware of the difficulties that faced Amateur Radio with the issues presented by Ofcom. He stated that he would be prepared to see that our view were passed to the right quarters. The Welsh Assembly was also involved as a consultee in the Ofcom Review especially where TV was concerned.

In making the award of a grant of £3,520 to the Chairman, Mr Jones congratulated the Club on being successful in gaining the award which will help the Club in it’s future training programme.

After refreshments Geoff GW4DRR gave a very practical and informative demonstration on how to erect a mast rotator with the least amount of stress and wear on the equipment.

Our thanks should go to the Treasurer John GW3GUX for his perseverance and hard work is applying for a grant for our training programme.

[ I managed to ask Mr Ieuan W. Jones if he would like to go for his Foundation Licence, but he felt that he had enough on his hands at present – no harm in trying! – GW0ABL]

John 'GUX is a keen mountain walker and has activated a few summits, but recently took his young grandson and his friend up above Llanfairfechan. They climbed up Talyfan Mountain to overlook the Conwy Valley and had a good day out.

On returning home the friend Mathew, aged 13 who had been fascinated by John’s 2 metre handheld wrote a 'thank you' letter – thanking John for taking them up TALIBAN mountain !!

Stewart GW0ETF reminds me that he is still collecting points for our Club in the above championships. Unfortunately some of the dates have been clashing with Club nights. But Stewart makes the appeal for us all to rally to the cause when possible to give the Club some publicity.

Times 2000-2130Hrs UTC. (Don’t make the mistake one so-called experienced operator made at the beginning of April by trying to start one hour early...). So make a note in your diary and get a few points for the Club – every little helps.

For the less experienced CW operator, I believe that there is a QRS corral at 3550-3570kHz. All entries must be submitted electronically and support for this contest has been added to his Super Duper(SD) software by EI5DI. Please consult with either Stewart GW0ETF or John GW3GUX on this point.

In the 2004 Championships the Dragon Amateur Radio Club came 26^th out of a total of 62 clubs taking part. A very creditable result considering only a few of our members took part against some very large clubs.

Sheila (XYL to John GW3GUX) listening to Radio 4 heard about a challenge that took place in Australia between the star Britney Spears and a 93 year old telegraphist. The challenge was that Britney could text a message quicker than the old chap could send the identical message in morse code. I do not know the ground rules etc but the morse message was sent exactly 20 seconds quicker. That’s progress?

This edition includes a list of member for 2004-2005, but will not include those who have joined in this last month. A supplement will be issued in the next issue. This list will not be published on the Club’s website and remains the property of the Club’s committee. Please check that your details are correct.

LLAIS Y DDRAIG

THE DRAGON'S VOICE

GW4TTA / GC4TTA

CYLCHLYTHYR CLWB RADIO AMATUR Y DDRAIG

NEWSLETTER OF THE DRAGON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

http://www.gw3vvc.freeserve.co.uk/dragon.htm

GAEAF 2004 WINTER Rhif /No. 72

Cynhelir cyfarfodydd y Clwb yn Neuadd Ebeneser, Lon Foel y Graig, Pentre Uchaf, Llanfairpwll ar Nos Lun y cyntaf a’r trydydd yn y mis am 7.30 ar gyfer 8.0 o’r gloch. Croeso i ymwelwyr ac aelodau newydd.

Club meetings are held at Ebenezer Hall, Foel Y Graig Lane, Upper Village, Llanfairpwll on the first and third Monday evenings in the month at 7.30 for 8 .0 o’clock. Visitors and new members are welcome.

OS GWELWCH YN DDA, pob gohebiaeth at yr ysgrifennydd. PLEASE ADDRESS all communications to the Secretary; Les Hayward MW0SEC, Cefn Cribbin, Carmel, Llanerchymedd, LL71 7BU, 01248 470606 les@corfecastle.demon.co.uk

PWYLLGOR/COMMITTEE

Cadeirydd - Geoff Spencer GW4DRR - Chairman.

Is-Gadeirydd - John E. Parry GW3VVC - Vice Chairman.

Ysgrifennydd - Les Hayward MW0SEC - Secretary

Trysorydd - John Brimecombe GW3GUX - Treasurer

Aelodau/Members - Billy Williams GW0IQZ, Donald Roberts GWOGHG

Gwilym V. Williams GW2DLK, Stewart Rolf GW0ETF

Golygydd/Editor - Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL

Rhaglen - Programme

The Committee are in the process of planning the Club programme for the coming season.

Provisionally for the first month it is as follows:-

2005

January 3^rd Discussion evening

January 17^th Discussion evening

[ In view of changes that are being proposed and are under discussion regarding the radio spectrum in general, including the amateur radio bands, these meetings will give us the opportunity to discuss and understand the implications for our hobby. Come along and give your view on the matter. See details later in the newsletter.]

January 9^th (Sun) Affiliated Society CW Contest

January 15^th (Sat) Affiliated Society SSB Contest

January 23^rd (Sun) Club visit to Jodrell Bank.

Times and fares of Minibus transport to be announced.

Numbers attending are restricted so make sure that you have booked with the Club secretary.

Aerials and feeder length. By John GW3GUX

Further to the excellent article by Stewart GW0ETF on the effects of feeder length on the SWR of the overall aerial system as ‘seen’ at the shack end of the feeder, I would like to add a small amount of fuel to the fire with my understanding of the way a doublet works, or not as the case may be!

I have read various explanations of doublets and make no claim for originality nor even strict accuracy, but this basic explanation suits me and it seems to work. However, at the end of the day, if your aerial works, don’t try to fix it.

Firstly, just to clarify what I mean by a dipole and a non-resonant doublet. I regard a dipole as a centre fed aerial with a length (electrical!) of half wavelength at the required frequency of operation. It should be fed with feeder (preferably balanced) of the same characteristic impedance as its feed point.

As Stewart so rightly says, in this case the length of feeder will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the SWR at the shack end.

In the context of this article, a doublet is a horizontal length of wire, centre fed with open wire or other twin feeder.

With a balanced, non-resonant (i.e. multiband) doublet ‘fed’ by a balanced feeder, the feeder itself is part of the aerial and as such will radiate, however, as the feeder is balanced, the radiation from each wire will cancel and so no actual radiation should take place from the feeder itself (but see later!). In effect, the aerial feed point is at the shack end of the feeder, and not from the centre of the horizontal section as with a dipole. As the feeder is part of the aerial, the total length of each leg (i.e. length of feeder plus half the length of horizontal wire) is the governing factor for the basic resonant frequency, not just the length of the horizontal section. This is the major difference between a resonant dipole and a non-resonant doublet.

It follows from this that any change of feeder length will cause a change in the basic resonant frequency of the aerial, and so, at any given frequency, the impedance and hence the SWR ‘seen’ at the aerial feed point/feeder end – same thing in this case – will also change. Just because we may be using a feeder which may appear to have a nominal characteristic impedance of say 600 Ohms, does not mean that the impedance looking ‘into’ the feeder will be anything like 600 Ohms, in fact most of the time it will be quite different. Depending on total wire length and frequency, high SWRs and hence very high voltages can be found on the feeder. This is normal for this type of aerial and is one of the reasons for using open wire feeders rather than the smaller twin feeder (yes I know that we use the smaller feeder, but the principle still holds good!). For this reason, it is quite normal (but very time consuming) to trim the feeder length to give the best overall compromise of SWRs on the required bands. The final adjustment for minimum SWR on each band being done preferably with a balanced ATU or failing that, fitting a balun at the end of the feeder with a short length of co-ax to an unbalanced ATU in the shack.

For greatest efficiency, the length of the horizontal section should be not less than a half wavelength at the lowest required frequency. This of course means that with the extra length of the feeder, the basic resonant frequency of the whole aerial is lower than the lowest required frequency, however this is of no importance in this case.

In order to reduce any induced currents from horizontal section to the feeder and hence radiation from the feeder, care should be taken to bring the feeder vertically down from the horizontal section and avoid multiple half wavelength lengths in each leg depending on which bands it is required to operate. Details of the lengths to avoid can be found in many publications regarding aerials, such as ARRL, Moxon, etc.

I hope that this article is not ‘teaching Granny to suck eggs’ and gives some food for thought, even if it means shooting me down in flames – this is what learning is all about. John – GW3GUX.

TOPAZ communications

Robert Davies, prop.

Sales Services Repairs – Marine PMR Amateur CB, Plus Accessories, Components, Connectors, Radio Scanners, Metal Detectors,

Used Equipment as Arranged.

Call in and see what is on offer at the shop nearly opposite the Llanfairpwll Post Office and Convenient Car Park. Always a smile and welcome from Bob.

Greenwich House, Holyhead Road, Llanfairpwll LL61 5YK 01248 714251.

A Poem.

When Hywel GW4CNM became a silent key, we lost our club Bard and Poet. One remembers the poems he contributed to the newsletter, both in English and in Welsh. He had studied the strict Welsh meters and cynhangedd and was well known in local literary circles. He never personally admitted to any prowess or expertise in the poetic line, but he worked hard at it.

It is a pleasure to publish (held over from the last newsletter) in this Christmas edition the work of a new club poet and I hope the first of many.

The Ballad of Negative Feedback by Stewart GW0ETF

While engrossed in a book on DSP

I discovered a concept quite new to me

I was asked to believe there could actually be

Such a thing called Negative Frequency.

Just like the grin on the Cheshire Cat,

The root of minus one and things like that,

I struggled for hours deep in thought

To imagine those signals on the wrong side of nought.

Revisit the sine wave I decided to do,

To dispense of old ideas and begin anew.

Then to my delight and in a flash of blue

I realised a carrier was not one signal but two!

A sine wave is a projection on the ‘Axis of Reals’

Of two spinning phasors rotating like wheels.

The one anti-clockwise in the positive tone

Normally accompanied by its opposite clone.

Spinning backwards through time at identical rate,

It’s a cause of confusion and figure of hate.

Seemingly superfluous, a theorist’s dream

But its place is crucial in the sinusoid scheme.

It explains modulation and the relative phase

of quadrature signals in the DSP maze.

It explains two sidebands from a single tone

And Single Sideband from phasing alone.

So next time you cough then press PTT

Think hard and long and you won’t fail to see,

That the RF you’re squirting from that G5RV

Is all because of Negative Frequency…..

The AGM

Another AGM has passed and the Chairman in his annual report stated that it had been a very good year for the Club. There had been good attendances during the meetings, especially when a speaker had been present. He was also pleased with the results of the Club teams who had take part in contests and thanked those who took part, putting the Dragon Amateur Radio Club in the top part of the results. He especially congratulated Steve GW0GEI, representing the Dragon ARC/Contest Cymru Group, on winning the Frank Hoosen G3YF Trophy in the Open Section of National Field Day 2004. His score was 1957 points from 654 QSOs on 20m.

The Club's training programme was also progressing and he thanked the instructors for their work during the year. The programme arranged by GW0ABL had resulted in 7 passes in the last of the RAE examinations, 10 candidates passed the Intermediate exam and 10 passed the Foundation exam. Classes were being planned for 2004/2005. He was pleased that the Club was doing so well in training matters and compared favourably in proportion with other Clubs in more densely populated areas.

He also reminded members that this year in addition to the usual ordinary festive meeting a Club’s Christmas Dinner was arranged at the Anglesey Arms Hotel. A menu was available for choice of meal etc. and he hoped that this would be successful.

The Treasurer also reported a good year and presented a detailed account of the Club’s finances. This also showed that the training programme was costly, especially in the additional hire of the hall for classes and the Examinations. Donations in surplus equipment for sale towards the training fund had fallen during the year. The true cost of training was hidden, because some of the smaller classes were held at GW0ABL’s QTH at no costs, but examinations had to be taken in a public building. The objective of obtaining a grant or grants was being pursued.

WHAT IS AMATEUR RADIO ? By GW0ABL

First and foremost it is a hobby. The word hobby is described in some dictionaries as a favourite occupation, pastime or leisure activity. To many amateurs the hobby of Amateur Radio is a relaxation or sideline to be pursued at leisure. To a few it has become what amounts to a full time occupation or at least occupies most, if not all, of their spare time. Some wish to remain anonymous while others treat the hobby with missionary zeal.

It is also a very complex hobby which many amateurs find difficult to describe especially to explain its various and varied facets. Most find relaxation and enjoyment in radio operating whether it be cw or speech, the thrill of the very first contact with another amateur extending to the quest for the rare and far distant DX. The camaraderie of working in a net and building up friendships. This is an aspect of amateur radio which is enjoyed by many a handicapped person (who can forget the late GM3MUM?).

Others enjoy contesting, gathering locator squares, working all continents, collecting QSL cards and a myriad other activities. Not for them the long drawn out rag-chew but the quick succinct exchange and on to the next one, the thrill of the hunt, as it were. Not to everyone’s taste though, when cries of “ No!, not another contest” are heard.

Many Radio Amateurs have a daily or periodic schedule with a friend or friends which results in long discussions on a variety of subjects which are of mutual interest.

Some radio shacks have only morse keys while other stations have a fine selection of microphones. A select few use only data modes. Each to his own ….

Although we are in the age of ready built “black boxes”, it is surprising how many amateurs design and build their own transmitters and receivers. This is reflected in the popularity of QRP and Rev. George Dobbs’s various magazine columns. At the other end of the scale many build their own QRO 400W plus linear amplifiers.

So “ What is Amateur Radio?”, what is it, if anything, that makes it different to any other leisure pastime? Is it different to stamp collecting, amateur photography, model railway etc, all favourite pastimes and leisure activities.

Amateur Radio is a regulated hobby scientifically based governed by a set of rules and regulations known as Amateur Radio Licence Terms, Provisions and Limitations”. It could be said that other pastimes such as yachting are regulated but I am confining my comments to hobbies which can be carried out in the home environment. I liken the booklet appended to our licence document to a form of Highway Code, it sets out what you can or cannot do. To my mind it is an unworthy Amateur who says , and I have heard it on air, “ they are only rules and rules are made to be broken.” Ok, we sometimes break the speed limit, park illegally and in a like manner forget the odd rule when on air, but woe betide you if you cause interference to others and cause mayhem on the airwaves.

To assess his/her ability and suitability the Radio Amateur must study and pass an examination before receiving a licence. Practical skills such as soldering, operating and setting up equipment are now part of the training. I know that there is a tendency to scoff and deride the new Foundation to Advance structure as a dumbing down, but put yourself in the place of a candidate who is coming into AR for the first time. Aged anywhere say from 10 to 80 years of age each one works hard in his/her own way to get to the examination stage. When I passed my RAE I had never touched a transmitter, let alone operate it. Nowadays the MW3 newly licensed, if properly trained, can assemble his station, set up the SWR and operate his equipment. A 2w0 licensee has proved that he can solder a kit of parts together and knows a bit more about what is happening inside his equipment.

The first paragraph in the booklet, at all levels states “ The Licensee shall use the Station for the purpose of self training in communication by wireless telegraphy……………..”. To me it is the crux of the matter and is something that continues. I have yet to meet the amateur who knows it all !! Personally I feel that I still have a lot to learn.

I don’t suppose that I have answered the question “ What is amateur radio?” I don’t suppose I ever will, except to say that it is a hobby that I view with great pride, which has given me over the years a lot of enjoyment. It has kept me active in my old age and filled a lot of spare time. It has also given me many friends old and new both locally and worldwide. It is also an activity that I can partake of and pay back into. It is a lot of fun, after all it is only a hobby…. But I am inclined to think that it is something more than that.

It is not always a bunch of roses and it sometimes grieves me to learn of the abuse and bad practise, the lack of decency and control which is sometimes exercised on the air. Especially some of the language that one would not wish wives and young children to hear – but then maybe I am from another age.

But back to the question, can I ask;

What is Amateur Radio to you ?

How would you answer the question ?

Threat to Amateur Radio

In recent days a discussion paper published by Ofcom seems to be a threat to the future of Amateur Radio. Headed Spectrum Framework Review it sets out the idea of de-regulating Amateur Radio and thus doing away with the whole concept on which it is founded. It is a very lengthy paper which can be seen on the Ofcom web site

(www.ofcom.org.uk/consultation/current/sfr)

or a copy can be obtained direct from Ofcom. All amateurs should read this document especially where it applies to AR and then let their views be known to Ofcom with copies to the RSGB and local MPs. The club would also appreciate a copy.

Stewart GW4ETF as our RSGB Deputy Regional Manager has already written a letter to Ofcom with copies to the RSGB and our Club and in this he makes the points;

“I note that the theme of the consultation is deregulation of the spectrum to allow market forces to become the major influence in the way it is organised and it is the way that this ethos would affect amateur radio that greatly concerns my self and fellow amateurs.”

“…. in Sect 1.3 it is stated that licence exempt use would be a problem where signals cross international boundaries and yet later in the very same paragraph you are “..considering the possibility of removing the need to have a licence in areas such as amateur”. Amateur Radio is by it’s very nature international and signals travel round the globe … The above statement is therefore contradictory. Further confusion exists in Sect. 4.3 where Amateur Radio is listed as one of "…..the areas where in our view trading and liberalization cannot be fully applied…”. The inconsistencies continue when, in Sect.4.4.1, you state that Amateur Radio is one of 4 areas where you are “…considering the feasibility of removing the requirement for an individual licence…”

“Deregulation and the abolition of amateur radio licences would effectively destroy the hobby overnight.”

“ Unilateral deregulation would undoubtedly result in UK ‘amateur radio’ losing it’s international status and the inevitable restrictions imposed on the use of ‘type approved’ only apparatus would curtail home construction and experimentation which has always been a key element of the hobby.”

“Following the consultation period, I hope that you will have clarified the rather muddled attitudes to amateur radio displayed in this document [see title above} and the case for licence free access to amateur radio will be dropped. Furthermore I would hope that any future considerations affecting amateur radio will fully involve the RSGB from the outset.”

In his last sentence Stewart points out that the document was produced without prior consultation with the RSGB or any one connected with amateur radio. It shows a complete lack of knowledge of “ What is Amateur Radio”.

I hope that I have done justice to Stewart’s letter. The Club members agreed that a set letter to be copied would not be effective. Each one of us should write individually to Ofcom with a copy to the RSGB and local MPs. So get you pens and paper out. Deadline 15^th February 2005. The Club will drafting it’s own letter in addition.

[My first impression was that it was April Fools day, but the reality was otherwise]

LLAIS Y DDRAIG

THE DRAGON'S VOICE

GW4TTA / GC4TTA

CYLCHLYTHYR CLWB RADIO AMATUR Y DDRAIG

NEWSLETTER OF THE DRAGON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

http://www.gw3vvc.freeserve.co.uk/dragon.htm

HYDREF 2004 AUTUMN RhifNo. 71

OS GWELWCH YN DDA, pob gohebiaeth at yr ysgrifennydd. PLEASE ADDRESS all communications to the Secretary - Les Hayward MW0SEC, Cefn Cribbin, Carmel, Llanerchymedd, Ynys Mon, LL71 7BU. 01248 470606 . MW0SEC@corfe-castle.demon.co.uk

PWYLLGOR/COMMITTEE

Cadeirydd - Geoff Spencer GW4DRR - Chairman.

Is-Gadeirydd - John E. Parry GW3VVC - Vice Chairman.

Ysgrifennydd - Les Hayward MW0SEC - Secretary

Trysorydd - John Brimecombe GW3GUX - Treasurer

Aelodau/Members - Billy Williams GW0IQZ, Donald Roberts GWOGHG

Gwilym V. Williams GW2DLK, Stewart Rolf GW0ETF

Golygydd/Editor - Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL

RHAGLEN / PROGRAMME 2004

4^th October - Chairman’s Quiz

18^th October - “VHF” Talk by Chris Bartram

1^st November - Sale of Surplus Equipment.

15^th November - Annual General Meeting

6^th December - Familiarisation with the Club rig and ATU

20^th December Christmas Party at the Club.

PLEASE NOTE.

In addition to the Club Christmas Party to be informally held at Ebeneser Hall there will also be a Christmas Dinner at Tafarn Y Rhos, Rhostrewhfa, Llangefni on a date to be arranged in December. Full details will be announced at Club meetings and firm bookings will be required from those wishing to attend.

If you want to join in the dinner please contact the Club Chairman or Secretary.

Have you had any thoughts on the suggestion in the last issue about putting the Club call sign on air? The more we use it the more we publicise the Club. It need not be an elaborate special event, just a few members getting together to air the Club’s call sign and perhaps experimenting with antennas (or antennae!). Also do not forget the RSGB Club Championships which will restart soon. You can run this from the comfort of your own shack and give the Club points. Look out for more details in the next issue. That reminds me to congratulate all those who took part in the various contests during the year and put the Club on the map. Why not find out how you can also take part.

A CLUB BROCHURE. We wish to thank TOPAZ Communications for sponsoring a bi-lingual brochure giving information about the Club. These will be distributed to local libraries, schools etc. If you have any location where you think that copies of the brochure would publicise the Club please let the Chairman know. Do you perhaps have a friend or acquaintance who might be interested, get a copy to give him/her.

Don’t forget that membership subs are now due, still held at £6.00 ( What a Bargain !!)

TOPAZ Communications

Robert Davies prop.

Sales Service Repairs – Marine PMR Amateur CB

Plus Accessories, Radio Scanners, Metal Detectors,

Used Equipment as arranged.

Call in and see what is on offer nearly opposite the Post Office and convenient car park, Always a welcome from Bob.

Greenwich House, Holyhead Road, Llanfairpwll.

LL61 5YX. 01248 714251.

SILENT KEY - by Gwilym GW2DLK

Fr.Peter McArdle – GW0DAG died 21^st August 2004 aged 85 years.

My first contact with Fr. Peter was in 1984 when as G6RNH he used to stand in as locum Priest at R.A.F Valley at Christmas time and during the summer holidays. He was keen to get his “A” licence, so he asked me to take him to Anglesey Radio for him to see how the morse test was taken. I made an appointment with Mr Harris who was pleased to show him round the station. He asked me to give Fr. Peter a mock test, just to see how much he had learnt.

He wasn’t quite ready then, so another appointment was made for his next visit, which was successful and he became G0DAG, or DAVID AND GOLIATH “as given to me by my good friend Charlie Willy George from Llanfairpwll”.

We have kept contact over the years from his school, Balborough Hall near Chesterfield, where he was resident for 50 years. They had a special event station GB6BH and he was instrumental in getting several pupils through their Novice licence examination. Some of the pupils called him “Uncle Woody” because he used to chain smoke Woodbine cigarettes at one time. He had an annual holiday in Donegal and even got himself an EI2VYE call sign.

We kept a Saturday afternoon net for several years. On his visits to Anglesey and Morfa Nefyn he used to contact me on 2 metres and I relayed his signal via crossband to the rest of the net on 80 metres. He attended the Dragon Christmas Party once and with his memory for names he used to ask me for a long time afterwards – “how is so and so”. If he heard of anyone not being well he used to day “I’ll send one up for him”.

His brother Br. Vincent accompanied him on some of his visits. Br Vincent was involved in missionary work in Africa as a lay member of the clergy.

I’m sure that Peter will be remembered by many, he made a lasting impression on all he came in contact with. DLK.

[ Thank you, Gwilym, for this tribute to one of the more recent “characters” in Amateur Radio. Although not a Club member Peter took a great interest in the Dragon Amateur Radio Club and never failed to make contact with most of our special events, when he always asked after many by name. Despite my non-conformity he became a firm friend and stalwart in adverse times. ABL]

Lighthouses/Lightship Weekend

This event was held over the weekend of August 21^st and 22^nd and attracted operations from many Lighthouses and Lightships around the world. According to the organisers, last year saw a record number of stations and it could have been even more this year. Not being a contest, the whole weekend was in general much more friendly and casual (at times!) having a better standard of operating than with some other events!

As in previous years we operated, by kind permission of H M Coastguard, from their lookout at Penmon Point - Trwyn Du - hence our call sign GB2TD. This location is a very civilised place to operate from with all ‘mod cons’ wonderful views and even a chance to study the boats and birds through the marvellous German ‘Doppel’ binoculars there. As there were no call-outs or emergencies, we had the place to ourselves for the whole time. As would be expected, this is the basis on which we are allowed to use the lookout.

The Thursday before the big weekend saw ‘Dave ‘DAA, Pat ‘DIV and myself at the lookout to get the station set-up. The wind was very strong but fortunately the rain held off. It was a good job we did the preparations on the Thursday, as Friday was a total wash out, we would have all been soaked to the skin.

As with last year, the toll man tried his luck to get money out of us, despite the fact that access had been pre-arranged with Sir Richard Williams-Bulkely (who owns the road down to the ‘Point’). After a few kind words he saw sense and we parted on good terms with no further problems during the weekend.

This year Dave brought along a Windom which he had made and so we used that rather than the more usual long wire. As the wind was very strong, it was not possible to get a line over the cross bar of the fibreglass mast and so the ‘lookout end’ was fixed to the anemometer tower on the building roof. This was about ten feet lower than the fibreglass mast, but in practice I don’t think that there was any noticeable difference in signal level. The far end of the aerial was as before, taken to a redundant electricity pole near the road.

Dave’s Windom was cut to the 80m band with a 4:1 balun at the feed point and was fed with 75 Ohm co-ax back to the ATU.

The earthing at the Penmon Lookout is always a problem, due to the very rocky nature of the ground thereabouts. Last year we did manage to drive a copper spike in for a few feet and that seemed to be reasonably satisfactory. It went in so well that to date it is still there. After a few tests with the Windom we decided that a separate earth was not required, so we did not bother with it especially as it would have required quite a long run of cable – not a good thing for an earth for RF!

In addition to the club’s ‘990 transceiver, we used the club’s new (to us) MFJ ‘rollercoaster’ Versatuner ATU. With this, there was no problem to tune the Windom on all normal bands.

The weather over the whole weekend was beautiful, it was really too good to be inside, so it reflects even more credit to those who came along to help and/or operate.

Conditions over both days seemed to favour the use of 20 metres, and the vast majority of the contacts were made on that band, with just a few on 18 and 40 metres. As usual the QRM on 40 was very bad. The majority of contacts this year – just over 240 - were made on SSB, but with Danny ‘HCL doing a stint on the key.

It was very pleasing to welcome Liz Caban our Regional Manager to the station on Saturday, she had time to do a stint on the ‘mike’ and made quite a few contacts. Even more pleasing was that our two latest Intermediate Licencees - Pat ‘DIV and Sandra ‘SLP (his XYL) - really added to the tally of QSOs, Sandra managed to work into Indonesia – pretty good for a first time. Special congratulations to them both.

Visitors and operators, in no particular order, were:

Saturday. Dan ‘HCL, Pat ‘DIV, Sandra ‘SLP, Dewi ‘ABL, Dave ‘DAA and Liz Caban.

Sunday. Dan ‘HCL, Pat ‘DIV, Sandra ‘SLP, Gwilym ‘DLK, Dave ‘DAA, John ‘JDW

and Dewi ‘ABL.

With 242 contacts made this year we did not get to last year’s record score, but that is not the name of the game, as it is most definitely not a contest. The object of this sort of event is for people to enjoy themselves and to give other stations a chance to work us and put Anglesey on the map, and in this I think that we achieved our aim.

As always, thanks go to everyone who participated in this event in any way, but particularly to Dave and Pat, and we hope to do it all over again next year. John GW3GUX

Tombie’s Travels – Anne & Martin GW3PRL

2003.

Still having a lot of gear to take aboard, driving to Greece seemed like a good idea. We eventually left home on Thursday 27/3, after delivering Anne’s car to her daughters in Rhyl, we set off for the M6 in mid Cheshire. I was quite concerned about the car as it was heavily loaded down with lots of gear, but my concern was unfounded and we made steady progress at 70mph down the motorway, with a stop for butties in a lay-by near Nantwich. Next stop was about 16.30 for diesel and a cuppa somewhere in Bucks.

The M25 was OK and we reached Dover, where we spent a surprisingly pleasant night in a travel-lodge type hotel, with tea provided for our morning comfort. On boarding the ferry, we had an ‘English Breakfast’ and were ripped-off in true English style – fifteen quid for two. Leaving Calais and driving on the wrong side of the road was less of a problem than I had imagined and the roads were very easy to drive.

Between Calais and the Belgian boarder, it was interesting to try to imagine the scenes there in the two wars! I had not realised just how flat and feature-less this area is! By Friday night we were just short of Stuttgart and stayed in a German style travel-lodge, very austere and basic. Decoratively rather dark and ‘heavy’. But the most comfortable bed of all. By lunchtime on Saturday we had got a bit off the ‘beaten track’ in southern Austria and had an excellent lunch in a very pleasant country pub. This was obviously a winter skiing area, (Anne still raves about the Mountains!!) and the locals knew the value of good timber too! There were stacks of drying timber all over the place, the pub had been renovated, but all the original character had been carefully retained.

By way of a complete contrast!!! We spent the next two nights in Mestre, Italy. This is the town on the mainland, nearest to Venice (which I had not realised is [nearly] an island!). After Sunday in Venice, we went to board the very new and comfortable ferry for Igoumenitsa. While waiting, we got into conversation with a group of Brits who had spent the night in their cars and vans in the ferry car park (paid and secure). They had lost about £1100 and two mobile phones, to robbers in the night, whilst they were sleeping in the vehicles!! That was a narrow escape, for us! We arrived at the yard on 1/4 after a total of 1370 miles, which included getting lost several times. We were pleasantly surprised to find the boat was absolutely dry, with Wx nice and sunny and the Taverna open!

We had asked the Yard to treat the boat for Osmosis. This is a major job and should have been nearly completed by the time we arrived. We booked the work back in October when we laid-up and paid most of the cost in advance. They took until 17/6 to finish and 2 days before we should have launched, we were flying home again 2/7 because Martin’s mother was ill! By the time we saw her, she was quite perky again! On our return from U.K. 20/7. We launched within 2 days and spent our time near to Aktio in the Northern Ionian, as we had been invited to a Wedding in August. Just as well, the Earthquake, two days before the Wedding, damaged the swing bridge over the Lefkas Canal! Fortunately we had the car in Nidri, so we drove to the Wedding.

What an experience – The Bride lived across the road from the Church, but the road, is a major highway! The Bride and all her family walked across the road to the Church, stopping all the traffic, amidst a cacophony of sounding horns. The Church was beautifully decorated and the bridegroom met her at the entrance to the Church and presented her with her bouquet. They entered the Church together and the Priest held two white rings joined together with ribbon over their heads. There was a lot of chanting, and later handfuls of rice were thrown over the bride and groom. The service over, all 300 guests lined up to be presented to the bride and groom and their families. At the reception, around 1,000 people assembled, the food and wine flowed, but no sign of the bride and groom for about an hour after the reception had begun.

We were the only English people there, but certainly didn’t feel out of it at all. The bride and groom finally arrived, and immediately cut the cake together, and that was the end of the ceremony. The dancing started with the family together on the floor, and gradually pandemonium reigned as more of the guests joined in, it was a really super evening, we arrived back at the boat at approx. 2.30.p.m., and we believe the dancing went on until 5.a.m. With the wedding over we sailed to Mikita on the mainland, a small Greek town, totally unaffected by tourism. Then over to Kalamos Island and Port Leone, which is completely deserted since the 1953 earthquake. Only the Church is tended by people from nearby Kalamos. Next day we motor/sailed l2 miles to Astakos and some very interesting old buildings, again a really Greek town; it is a place, which is popular with Greek holiday makers.

We spent quite an uncomfortable night at anchor here, with fishing boats coming and going all night and a noisy road alongside the beach. Next day, we had a leisurely sail of 10 miles to Ormos Dhioni where we spent a pleasant afternoon, lazing in the sum and reading until approx. 6.p.m., when - fear of all fears, the loo blocked!!

[I hope that like me you have enjoyed Anne and Martin’s story. Now, dare I ask for the 2004 instalment ?- GW0ABL]

FOR SALE

26ft Lattice Tower 5.75inch square, needs some attention which can be carried out at cost. Requires a base plate or ground post, but assistance can be given in sorting this out. Buyer must arrange collection.

Any reasonable offers? Jeff GW4DRR 01407 730858.

New Deputy Regional Manager for Gwynedd and Ynys Mon.

Congratulations to Stewart GW0ETF on his appointment (or was it a subtle press ganging) to the above post on the retirement of GW0ABL.

We know from the way that Stewart has acted as an Officer of this Club that he will tackle this new post in a frank, honest straightforward way and without any bias He will be a great help to Liz GW0ETU.

HEARD ON THE AIR…….

“Your feeder length will affect your SWR so you will have to trim the length for best results……..”

It is not at all unusual to find that changing the length of a feeder will alter the SWR but this is because the feeder is radiating and is thereby part of the antenna itself. A properly balanced doublet or dipole will normally have an SWR on any specific frequency which will not vary with feeder length. SWR is caused by part of the signal being reflected back down the feeder from the far end where it is connected to the antenna when, and only when, the impedance at the antenna feed point differs from the feeder characteristic impedance. Logically then the only thing that can alter the SWR is a change in the antenna feed point situation; changing things at the shack end of the feeder will do nothing to the SWR, beyond any barely imperceptible changes caused by losses and here we would be talking about huge changes in feeder lengths.

However the situation is quite different when the feeder is unbalanced and therefore radiating because in effect the feeder is now part of the antenna itself – a third radiating element in parallel with the 2 ‘real’ elements and connected to them at the antenna feed point. Lopping a few feet off the feeder is now equivalent to shortening the ‘third’ antenna element and this will alter the impedance at the antenna feed point and so change the SWR significantly. This is a common situation when using coax feeder because ‘rogue’ currents tend to flow on the outer of the braid and so radiate from the feeder. A choke balun at the top of the coax line will normally sort this out and cure the radiation; it works by preventing energy flowing onto the outer braid from the antenna elements. However a device of this type may make little difference if for instance the feeder doesn’t leave the feed point at right angles because currents may be induced in the lower part of the feeder by the antenna itself in the same way that the driven element of a yagi induces currents in the parasitic reflector/directors leading in this case to desirable radiation!

A slightly more subtle point is the fact that the shack end of the feeder is earthed as far as the rogue currents causing the radiation are concerned. So if the feeder is anywhere near a half wavelength or multiples thereof at the frequency of operation this current will see a very low impedance at the top end of the feeder leading to high rogue currents and a large amount of feeder radiation. Conversely if the feeder is an odd multiple of a quarter wavelength it acts as a quarter wave transformer translating the low earth impedance to a near open circuit at the feed point and so reducing rogue currents, and in turn feeder radiation, to low levels. Clearly antennas and feeders can be difficult to grasp especially when looking at them in the ‘real world’; if you’re confused or just plain interested do what I did and read a good book. The ARRL Antenna Handbook is probably all you’ll need and it deals also with the Smith Chart which is the best way to actually visualize what is happening along the feeder as far as impedance and SWR is concerned; for an even more in depth treatment check out another ARRL publication ‘Reflections’ by Walter Maxwell, W2DU who tackles some of the SWR myths head on and expands on the choke balun theme.

Just remember that a radiating feeder can significantly alter the antenna lobe pattern from that published in the text books but it doesn’t follow that the antenna will not work at all. Paradoxically it may even work better in an unpredictable way on certain bands; vertical radiation from an unbalanced feeder may well improve performance of a short dipole on 40m and 80m at the expense of a higher probability of TVI. Parasitically induced radiation could even produce useful directional gain on a particular band as well. So perhaps the moral is ‘suck it and see’. It may turn out that the antenna works fine and doesn’t cause you problems with EMC – should this not be the case you will then have to delve into some theory to sort things out and success will come quicker if you avoid the myths and old wives tales all too often heard over the air…….. (GWØETF)

Continuing RADIO IN RESCUE By Dafydd GW4WLZ – From the last Newsletter.

Radio Qualifications for small craft operators

Two qualifications exist, the Short Range Certificate (SRC) which is for operating in GMDSS sea area A1, on craft which do not legally require GMDSS (i.e. Voluntary fitted vessels). For voluntary fitted vessels that sail outside area A1 the Long Range Certificate (LRC) is available.

Minimum GMDSS personnel requirement for ship station and MES’s (Mobile Earth Station).

In compliance with international agreement, administrations must ensure that the personnel of ship stations and MES’s are adequately qualified to ensure the efficient operation of the station. They must also take steps to ensure the operational availability and maintenance of the equipment for distress and safety communications in accordance with the relevant international agreements. An adequately qualified person shall be available to act as a dedicated communications operator in cases of distress.

GMDSS EQUIPMENT; A brief description.

SART (Search and Rescue Transponder).

These provide the main means of locating survival craft or ships in distress by rescue units after an alert has been received. Operating in the 9GHz frequency band SART’s generate a series of response signals after being interrogated by normal marine or aircraft radar transmissions. These responses show up as distinctive marks on the rescue units radar display. SART’s are portable devices for use either on board a vessel or taken to survival craft when abandoning ship. They may be fitted permanently on the ship to activate by “floating free” in emergencies and may also be permanently located in survival craft.

NAVTEX (a narrow band direct printing telex system.)

This forms an important component of GMDSS, for in addition to promulgating maritime safety information such as routine weather and navigation warnings, it may also be used as a means of alerting all vessels of a distress incident. Incoming messages, broadcast by costal stations, are automatically printed out by the ship’s receiving equipment.

EPIRB/Satellite EPIRB

Emergency position radio beacon/satellite emergency position indicating radio beacon. The signals transmitted from these beacons are primarily used to facilitate search and rescue teams locate survivors of distress incidents.

DSC controller.

An interfacing device used to modulate a transmitter by providing it with the correct digital coding information for DSC. It is also used in conjunction with receivers to convert the received digital signals by displaying then in written form.

EGC equipment

Enhanced group call, automated satellite equipment which receives signals from land earth stations addressed to all ships or to predetermined groups of ships in a designated geo-graphical area. It is a service available via the INMARSAT system.

INMARSAT MES.

Mobile earth Station. Communication equipment operating in the maritime mobile-satellite service which is located on board ship to transmit and receive signals via INMARSAT system.

GMSS DISTRESS ALERT PROCEDURE

It is apparent from the previous sections that mobile stations in distress have a number of options open to them to alert shore-based authorities that they require assistance. The communication medium used will, to a large extent, depend on the area the vessel is in and on the propagation conditions at the time. e.g. Ships in A1 areas, would transmit a ship to shore or ship to ship alert on Ch.70 VHF using DSC, followed by RT communication on Ch.16 VHF.

Ships in A2 areas, would transmit their alert o 2.187.5kHz using DSC and indicate whether RT or radiotelex (NBDP) is to be used to transmit subsequent distress communications. However it should be noted that RT is the preferred option.

Such arrangements are designed to offer a high probability of a successful alert irrespective of the sea area involved, thus enabling a rapid response to the alert by rescue teams. It should be noted that ships in all areas are required to be fitted with EPIRBS, search and rescue radar transponders (SART’s) and two way VHF RT equipment for survival craft under GMDSS carriage arrangements.

Thus in the event of abandoning ship without sending a distress alert, the EPIRB, SART and two way VHF RT equipment should be taken into the survival craft. The EPIRB provides a secondary method of distress alerting as well as being a location device. The SART is also a radar-operated location device while the two way walkie-talkie VHF RT equipment allows survivors to communicate with rescue craft within VHF communication range.

Any alert should contain information which gives the ship’s identification, it’s position and if possible, the nature of the distress. When the alerts are received by an INMASAT Land Earth Station, they are immediately passed to a Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC). The RCC with its extensive communication capability, will relay the alert to search and rescue units and to other ships in the area and will control and coordinate rescue procedures. Relay of alerts to other vessels in the area is carried out using satellite communications or by terrestrial communication on appropriate frequencies. Use is made of DSC “area call”, NAVTEX or Enhanced Group Call (EGC) facilities to notify only those ships in the immediate vicinity of the distress. Ships which have been alerted in this way then establish contact with RCC via an appropriate medium (satellite or terrestrial communications).

False Distress Alerts

Regrettably, a high percentage of distress alerts received at MRCC’s world wide prove to be false. It is still a matter of concern that the main cause of false alerts is the result of human error by the accidental or incorrect use of GMDSS equipment on board ship. False alerts cause a severe strain on MRCC resources, for each alert has to be investigated and this can divert attention away from a real distress situation.

During my research on this article I paid a visit to Holyhead MRCC and was shown their present equipment. Basically what they have are all the appropriate MF, HF, VHF receivers whose outputs are interfaced to a computer & VDU. All incoming alerts are then displayed on the VDU and held in memory banks. Each operating position is equipped with the necessary GMDSS/DSC equipment

My next port of call (excuse the pun!) was Holyhead Lifeboat which was conveniently moored alongside the new Marina Pontoons in the Outer Harbour. The main communication equipment is all mounted on the port side in a large console. On looking around the wheelhouse one sees the radar, computerised chart system with display, GPS/Navigator system, VHF DF equipment, plus all the usual things such as compass, auto pilot, echo sounders etc. and all the main engine control instrumentation. So as one can see, the Lifeboat lads have a formidable array of equipment at their disposal and they use it well. 22 Squadron (SAR), at RAF Valley are now equipped with Sea King helicopters and have full GMDSS capability, they work very closely with all the rescue services locally and do a wonderful job, both at sea, on the cliffs and in Snowdonia. Last but not least we have the local Cliff Rescue Team who are volunteers under the command of an Auxiliary Coastguard in Charge. They practise every Sunday morning on the local cliffs, which in some cases are 400ft high and can be extremely dangerous as they are above the sea. Their local knowledge and expertise is, of course, paramount.

Finally I wish to express my thanks to the following without whom this article would not be possible :-

Mr Willie Williamson BSc. Co-author “Handbook for Marine Communications”, Graham Drinkwater, Coxswain, Holyhead Lifeboat, Brian Thomson 2^nd Cox, Dave Brewer, Sector Officer Holyhead HM Coastguards..

[My apology to Dafydd for not been able include the colour plates of the VHF and HF DSC sets due to lack of space here and at our web site, which holds copies of our newsletter. Thanks to him all the same for a very comprehensive article.]

ENGLANESE or JAPENISH or whatever!

FUSE REPLACEMENT. – replace the fuse with a new one as there might have a case that fuse is brown out if the power does not turn on. The location of the fuse is on the PCB board near the rear panel in the all models. If the fuse is brawn out, the fuse indicator LED is automatically lightened in the internal indicator unit in RC5x-3, RC5A-2 models. It is visibly confirmed from the side of the rear panel as shown in Fig. 7-3.

Submitted by Geoff GW4DRR from an actual manual.

[The following article by Les “SEC” reminds me that I heard of local amateurs in the Bangor and Conwy areas also acting as V.I.s during World War II. I wonder if anyone has any information about them? We now know how Les has inherited a great interest in railway and radio matters. Thank you Les.]

SWL “Y” stations of WW2 by Les Hayward MW0SEC.

My Grandfather, Richard Walter Daw, was a railway-man from a family of railwaymen. His career started as a telegraph clerk using needle apparatus and as a result became an exceedingly good key operator. In later years he became interested in radio and was particularly interested in listening to stations on the short-wave bands. Sadly he never became a licensed amateur, believing (wrongly) that the theory required was too great a hurdle.

At the time World War Two started, he was employed as Chief Booking Clerk at Swanage station in Dorset. I recall the office radio at the time - a Mullard receiver (TRF) using reaction and a combination of triode and screened grid 2 volt valves. At home he used a slightly more modern Phillips superhet, but still based on 2 volt valves and using the standard accumulator and high-tension battery for power. It was on this receiver, in the early months of 1941, that he intercepted some suspicious signals and thought it worth reporting them to the local police. It was not long before a letter arrived from the Radio Security Service, a copy of which is shown below.

As a result of this approach he was later issued with a Hallicrafters “Sky Champion” receiver which as well as being of a more selective and sensitive nature for the work involved, also had the attribute of being operated by mains power instead of batteries. I can clearly remember this receiver, although being only around 3 years old and remember it being used for domestic purposes when not being required for interception.

Mention has been made of the R.S.S and the Government “ Y “ stations by Pat Hawker in RadCom in recent editions and it might be interesting to find out just how many of these amateur receiving stations were employed by the government. At the conclusion of the war, V.I’s or “ Voluntary Interceptors” as they were known, were supposed to burn all of their remaining paperwork. Logs were kept of the signals received, but these of course were sent in to HQ and most likely ended up at Bletchley Park. On the other hand, V.I.’s received regular pamphlets which apart from listing the details of “wanted” signals and the bands to monitor, also contained basic information like the “Q” code and surprisingly quite a bit of information on British transmissions. Whether this was to avoid wasting time in listening to friendly transmissions or because some “British” transmissions were suspect, I know not.

TELEPHONE S.

EXETER 55201/2. 27 Dix Field

EXETER

V/SW/Misc April 10^th 1941

Richard Dew Esq

“Down-a long”

Kings Road

Swanage

Dear Mr Daw

The messages which you intercepted on the 17^thMarch 1941 and 20/3/41 have been forwarded to me for attention. Bearing mind your keenness in submitting these said messages to the police, I wonder if you would care to do similar types of work under the auspices of the government.

This work is of a voluntary nature and obviously is done in your own time and in your own home. Should this proposition appeal to you, I should be glad to aquaint you further in the scheme.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for the great interest you have already displayed.

Your sincerely

(Sgd) DH Norton Capt R.Signals.

Regional Officer R.S.S. “S.W “ Region.

In any event I recall a bonfire being made in the garden and a huge pile of wartime paperwork went up in smoke - almost all of which was headed “secret”. Fortunately for the sake of history he retained a few of the pamphlets as well as the introductory letter above. I have four or five of these, which are not serious in nature, one relaying seasons greetings to the operators families.

MOSTSECRET

To: ALL V.Is.

FROM CONTROLLER, R.S.S.

All V.Is. are reminded that their work is in many instances directly connected with the safety of our troops fighting in France and other fronts. We feel sure we can rely upon you all not to relax your efforts in the slightest degree until we give the word that you can safely do so without prejudice to the troops at the front.

8^th September, 1944 (Sgd) E.F.Maltly

Lt.Colonel R.Signals Controller, R.S.S.

The document above indicates the serious nature of the work involved. It seems odd to think that part-time workers for the war effort were permitted to retain classified documents in odd boxes in a domestic environment, particularly where a connection to the breaking of the German codes might have been made. On the other hand it should be remembered that this was 1944 and well before the present policy of allowing virtually any malcontent into this country was adopted. Consequently, most of the British public could be trusted and suspicious foreigners so small in number that they could be rounded up and interned.

LLAIS Y DDRAIG

Cynhelir cyfarfodydd y Clwb yn Neuadd Ebeneser, Lôn Foel Graig, Pentre Uchaf, Llanfairpwll, Sir Fon, ar y nos Lun cyntaf a'r trydydd o'r mîs am 7.30 o'r gloch. Croeso i ymwelwyr ac aelodau newydd. Club meetings are held at Ebenezer Hall, Foel y Graig Lane, Upper Village, Llanfairpwll, Isle of Anglesey, on the first and third Monday of the month at 7.30 pm.. Visitors and new members are welcome.

At a recently held Extraordinary General Meeting changes were made to the committee. The revised list is given below.

Golygydd/Editor, Dewi E. Roberts GW0ABL, 23 Lon Hedydd, Llanfairpwll, Ynys Mon
LL61 5JY 01248 713647

5th April. Colin Latham ..............“ The zeppelin spy mystery”
19April. Dafydd GW4WLZ .................................. “Earthing”
24^th April.......................................International Marconi Day
[GB4MD at the Old Marconi Transatlantic Long Wave Wireless Station, Waunfawr]
[GB4HMD – Old Marconi Maritime Wireless Station at Holyhead]
3rd May.............................................................RSGB Video
17 May.................................................... “SURPLUS SALE”
7 June John GW3VVC................... “Marine communications”
19/20 June. International Museums Weekend at the Holyhead Maritime Museum.
21st June Stewart GW0ETF.................... talk to be decided.
5th July ............................................................RSGB Videos.

Special Events - volunteers are required to man the special event stations, don’t wait to be asked. Please let either the Chairman or Secretary know and they will inform the relevant Station Manager. Remember that these are Club events and that help is required in setting up the stations as well as manning them. It is also advisable to inform the Station Manager of when you can attend so that a suitable rota can be set up. It makes sense to avoid everyone turning up for the same period and having no one available at other times.

Can you also think of any event or happening when the club station ( and callsign) can be put on the air. It need not be anything spectacular, only that there are facilities for erecting an antenna etc. The more we publicise your Club the better, publicity material will be available. There again it need not be an event, just a few members getting to air the club call sign and perhaps experimenting with antennas.

QUESTION: - How do you maintain reliable VHF radio contact (for civil air traffic control) with helicopters flying out to North Sea gas and oil rigs at low level, when the nearest NATS aeronautical radio stations are inland and getting out of reliable range?

This was the problem, which faced the National Air Traffic Control headquarters-planning department as the rigs in the gas fields in the Southern North Sea expanded further and further out from the Norfolk coast, requiring longer and longer flights by the helicopters which serviced them.

I was not directly involved at this stage - that came later, when I was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the ‘station’. The decision was made to site the station on one of the five platforms, which go to make up the rig known as: 49/27 Alpha. This was owned by the AMOCO Company and was located over the Leman Bank, about 80 miles out into the North Sea from Great Yarmouth.

As can be imagined, space on any platform is very limited, and so we were allocated just part of a not very large steel container (smaller than can be seen on most lorries!), fixed to the top deck. This was about 200 ft above the sea, and even in reasonably calm conditions could be felt to vibrate. In bad weather it was better to try not to think about it!

The RF equipment comprised two VHF transmitters and receivers, two UHF transmitters and receivers, plus the associated AF coding/decoding and switching gear. As can be imagined, in such cramped conditions, not only was working on the equipment a bit of a squeeze, but mutual interference could also be a problem. This required careful siting and the use of high Q cavity filters. (Remember the recent talk by Brian GW4KAZ, including the use of such filters on repeater sites). At least I did not have anything to do with the aerials!

The speech, switching and a host of other tones were carried on a couple of channels of the company microwave link. This was generally very reliable.

Two of the worst things for me (some of you will know that I have no head for heights) was getting from the helicopter to the stairway on the very small helideck; as there is (obviously) no guard rail around the helideck, and of course it is situated on just about the highest point on the rig, and going up and down the open stairways between deck levels on the platforms as these were all outboard, so all that I could see below me was the sea – a long way down! Also quite often I would be carrying a lot of equipment so it wasn’t even a case of ‘one hand for yourself and one for the ship’, and there were five main deck levels on this rig!! One small compensation for being out on a gas rig was that the food was first class. But I never got over my fear of heights!

Travel by small working helicopter was a far cry from the normal passenger service. Imagine up to a dozen persons, strapped in a very small space, all in survival suits wearing ear defenders and earplugs. Not so bad for a very short flight, but it could be that you would be the last ‘drop’ of the outbound flight, and in summer it could get quite hot – some folks pay a lot of money to loose weight!! I think that possibly the times that I wondered “What am I doing here” most, were when sitting in the helicopter on the helideck in the dark with the rain lashing down and a strong wind buffeting everything, then the pilot zooming upwards as quickly as possible. Thank goodness I never had to put my survival training into practice.

Working out on the rig was always noisy, tiring and dirty, and very often frustrating, but was always interesting; and despite what I have written above, is a part of my working life, which I would not have missed for anything. John GW3GUX.

You may think you know who invented Radio but here’s an American ‘take’ on the story.

There’s a lot of interesting history in the realm of radio and its child, television. The players include inventors, businessmen, performers, and lots of other people. Unfortunately, the vast majority of this information has not been made available to the masses!

Marconi.

First of all, ask the average American, “Who invented radio?” If they know at all, the reply will usually be “Marconi.” For most of my life, and that of my parents and grandparents, the inventor of radio has been, according to all the history books, Guglielmo Marconi, born in Bologna, Italy, on April 25, 1874. Marconi was the son of a very successful Italian businessman with extensive business ties to Great Britain.

Marconi was interested in wireless telegraphy (radio) from an early age, and conducted experiments on his father’s estate starting in June of 1895. Later that year he was able to send messages up to one-and-a-half miles.

Seeing the commercial potential of communications with ships, the 22-year-old Marconi went to England where, in 1896, he was granted his first patent on radio communications. Later, with the help of his father, Marconi contacted a number of influential British businessmen and the Marconi Company was formed to develop wireless communications. Until about 1920, this company dominated the radio scene worldwide.

Lodge and Fessenden

However, several years before Marconi even started experimenting, as early as 1888, Oliver Lodge (later Sir Oliver), a professor at Liverpool University, was conducting experiments in wireless telegraphy. Lodge was granted a patent on his system (which, by the way, was the source of the receiving detector used by Marconi - the coherer) in May 1897. This patent was purchased by Marconi in 1911.

At the same time, a Canadian university professor (Western University) named Reginald Fessenden was experimenting not only with wireless telegraphy, but with voice and music transmission as well. Also, he was interested in the radio control of boats. By the mid 1890s Fessenden was transmitting voice and music from the shore to people aboard pleasure boats on the St. Lawrence River.

Dolbear

As you can easily see, both Lodge and Fessenden predate the experiments of Marconi but they were late-comers, for, in 1885, United States patent 350,299 had been issued to Amos Dolbear, a physics teacher at Tufts College. In fact, for a time, Dolbear was able to keep the Marconi Company from operating in the United States because of his patent for a wireless telegraphy system (which, by the way, was virtually identical to the system used by Marconi)! Later, the Dolbear patent was purchased by the Marconi Company, thus allowing them to use wireless in the United States.

Loomis

Dolbear was also late on the scene, for, as early as August 15,1858, an American dentist name Mahlon Loomis was beginning a series of experiments in wireless telegraphy within the state of Ohio! With the interruption of the American Civil War, Loomis continued his work. In October of 1866 he sent signals between two mountaintops, about 15 miles apart, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Senator Samuel Pomeroy of Kansas and Representative John Bingham of Ohio were present at this demonstration. Both men later gave much support on Loomis’ behalf in the U.S. Congress.

In January of 1869, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts introduced a bill into Congress to appropriate $50,000 (well over a million dollars in present-day purchasing power) for development of Loomis’ system. This bill languished in committee for two years, at which time Rep. Bingham introduced a bill to incorporate the Loomis Aerial Telegraph Company, giving it the right to issue up to two million dollars worth of stock. This bill stated that no money was to come from the U.S. Government (one of the reasons the original bill was stalled in committee).

In early 1873, President Grant signed the bill into law, and a few months later, on July 20, 1873, Loomis was granted U.S. Patent 129,971 for the invention of his system. Unfortunately, Loomis’ company had gone bankrupt during the stock market panic of 1869 and he was never able to garner enough financial support to put the system into operation.

Although Loomis died in 1886, he left his mark in other areas. He was not only an inventor in the area of radio, but he also held a number of patents in the field of dentistry, including methods of making false teeth and specialized filling materials and methods.

Patent Disputes

There are certain things to be noted about these early inventors. The first is that during this time period, patent offices would issue patents on working items only, either full-sized or models. Thus, Loomis, Dolbear, and the others had to actually demonstrate that their equipment worked! There was not patenting of ideas at that time.

Next, although most of the people involved were university types, they did not publish papers to the extent that papers are published today. Also, there was a lot of nationalism involved with something of such possible importance as communicating without wires.

Marconi had established a consortium of powerful British investors. Several of these were members of Parliament and the rest were in a position to command the ear of that governing body. Because of this, both Lodge and Fessenden (Canada being a member of the British Commonwealth) were effectively silenced by governmental actions. The Marconi Company soon dominated the wireless (radio) scene.

From about 1900 until 1943, there were a large number of patent rights battles in the courts of the United States and Great Britain. Little by little, Marconi’s patent empire was voided until, just before his death in 1943, his latest patent was vacated in favor of Nikola Tesla.

In fact, Marconi’s list of patent fights included almost all of the inventors and pioneers of radio communications. People like deForest, Fleming and others were in an almost constant fight with Marconi and his company. Because of these lengthy patent battles, the British Government did not wish to aid those fighting against the British-based Marconi Company. Therefore, they insisted that Marconi was the inventor of radio. It is unfortunate that this misconception is still being taught today.

Marconi, through the efforts of his British company, did more than anyone else to commercialize radio. However, he really did nothing himself in the actual invention of the systems. Everything he used was invented by someone else and was actually used in two-way radio communications before Marconi. In Loomis’ case, the patent was issued before Marconi was even born!

Because the history books of the early 20^th Century taught that Marconi was the inventor of radio, it is still being taught today. This is unfortunate, for there were, in reality, several true inventors (each with a different system type) who were communicating before him. But such is the work of the history text writer.

The above article appeared in the July 1996 issue of 73 Magazine, written by Glen Zook K9STH. Our friends in Eastern Europe might possibly disagree with some of the facts, perhaps we can publish their version sometime…

I would suggest that there is no such person as an “Inventor” of radio (or should it be wireless). It may well be that we can pinpoint a person who first discovered radio waves, but even that can be difficult. It is acknowledged that Hertz was the first to demonstrate the character and nature of the radio waves which cycles are named after him. But even he said that they would not be of any commercial use

A Welshman David Edward Hughes transmitted and received radio waves nearly twenty years before Marconi but failed to develop it. He gave others the basis for developing the receiving detector – the coherer.

Oliver Lodge had the opportunity, but was foremost a scientist and teacher. He collated into a book what had been developed in electro-magnetic waves in order that other could make use of them. The question remains –Why did he not demonstrate his system to Sir William Preece, the Post Office Chief Engineer which is precisely what Marconi was later advised to do?

Hammond put it- Clerk Maxwell predicted the discovery of e.m.waves, Hertz found them, Lodge harnessed them

I heard a recording made by Marconi in the mid 1930’s where he acknowledged his debt to others but that he risked all to make his system work.

History records, whether first or not, that Marconi was the one who gave the world a practical and commercial form of wireless. He was the one with the vision and nerve to get it going, he nearly lost out and lose his wealth in the bargain. But as an entrepreneur and businessman he won out. As a scientist he did not always get it right, for instance he concentrated on the long waves and ignored the short waves for a while. Neither did his company shirk from other developments, at the Waunfawr Station they used both the Pulson Arc Transmitter and the Alexanderson Alternator Transmitter.

What do you think? As John says above. Eastern Europe may have their own version – the name Popov comes to mind. But we can argue in the same vein about most thing. The Wright Bros gave us the first practical aeroplane, but were not the first to invent the “ theory of flight”. GW0ABL