Welcome to the Lothians Radio Society

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In view of the current Coronavirus pandemic with the risk of infection being passed from one person to another when attending meetings, the LRS Committee has decided to stop all meetings for the time being at the Braid Hills Hotel and the Surplus Equipment Sale at St Fillans' Church, up to and including 24th June (BBQ).

Alan J. Masson GM3PSP

LRS President. 

PS - Click for special instructions.

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PS In the meantime, if you have any reports on your radio activities - portable expeditions, technical projects etc, that you would like to share with LRS members, please let me have them, preferably with photos (and not too much maths!), and I will put them up to keep the website fresh. 

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The first is already up (GM4DIJ 23cm DXpedition)     - see this page. - psp.

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Brian Howie GM4DIJ took part in the UK Microwave 23cm contest on Sunday 8th March from a site near Stranraer. He has kindly provided these photographs. 

Click for full report with more photos.

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Geoff's yacht Contender approaching Rockall during a charity sail there in 2018.

At the meeting on March 11th our good friend Geoff Crowley MM5AHO returned to talk about "How Not to Sail to the Faeroe Islands". 

Synopsis: Sleep deprivation is a problem in radio contesting and also in sailing single-handed. Geoff Crowley does both, and he recounted a few experiences during 2019 when lack of sleep caused problems in both sailing and in contesting. Some further examples from 2018, including a 1000 mile round trip to Rockall added interest about managing 24 hour activity. 

Click for full report including summary by Vic GM3OWU, and Geoff's slides.

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Photo courtesy RadCom

The RSGB Convention video "The Raspberry Pi Explained for Radio Amateurs" by Mike Richards G4WNC was shown  by James GM4WZP at the meeting on 26th February 2020. Click for short report with link to the video (RSGB Members only).

This lecture is based upon a new RSBG book by Mike - see above / click here.

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At the LRS meeting on 12th February Dr Roger Hill talked about "Robot Wars + Rampaging Chariots  and showed videos of robots in combat. He wrote: 

"Peter Bennett, (who was present at Roger's talk) once a test pilot, gathered a team of engineers from Selex (now Leonardo) to assist in building a family of robots to compete in the BBC ‘Robot Wars’ programme. Typhoon 2 won the heavyweight title of the 7th BBC series in 2006. Peter then designed a simpler robot called the Rampaging Chariot, to compete in the British Robotic Games where it won 27 of 42 medals at its first outing held in Wigan. In this talk, I describe the engineering features of these and other micro-controller-based projects".

Prototype of the Autonomous Rampaging Chariot. 

Click for Full Report.

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Pete Bates GM4BYF talked about Aircraft Scatter Communication and Useful Test Equipment for it at the  meeting on 22nd January 2020. 

Aircraft scatter can be used on bands from 2m upwards and up to 500km range is achievable, depending on the band and geography. The talk started with some audio examples of aircraft scatter - available in the full report.

The requirements for an accurate frequency reference led to the purchase of some cheap test equipment which has many other uses.

Click for Full Report with Slides and Audio Recording of QSO.

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There was a turn-out of 15 for the LRS 2020 Video Night, presented by Peter Dick GM4DTH on 8th January 2020 at the Edinburgh Cine & Video Society in Fettes Row. Peter chose two films about the Cold War.

Spy in Bonn receiving a "Numbers Station".

The first was a short (14 min) from ITN Roving Reports called "The Spy Catchers" (1963). The setting is Bonn in West Germany and gives an indication of the level of espionage from the communist bloc.

Western propaganda stations targeting the USSR

The second film was called "Empire of Noise" (2006) and ran for 50 min. The title refers to the sound of the jamming modulation used by Soviet jamming stations in the short-wave broadcast bands prior to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990. With jamming modulation playing throughout the film this was a realistic but really depressing view of the world of SW broadcasting in the 1950s onwards, fortunately now gone forever.

Click for Full Report. Includes link to YouTube movie.

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We returned to the Gurkha Cafe in Cockburn Street for our 2019 Christmas Curry on 11th December. There was a turn-out of 11 for the distinctive Nepalese menu. We were particularly happy to have Veronica Saunders join us from Kelso. Click for more photos.

View from other end of table. 

GM3PSP, GM4HWO, GM4WZP, GM4EAU & GM8KCS at the Booking Office bar before the curry.

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  1. 27 Nov 2019 - uBITX Radio Kit - John Innes MM0JXI
  2. 13th Nov 2019 - SOTA & 13cm Escapades, Jack Hood GM4COX
  3. 2 Nov 2019 - GMRT-19 Scottish Microwave Round Table at the Museum of Communication
  4. 30th Oct 2019 - Rehabilitating Telecomms in Afghanistan - Nick Peckett G4KUX / YA4F