Welcome to the Lothians Radio Society

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At the meeting of the LRS on 27th March 2019 Prof Win Rampen, the Chair of Energy Storage at Edinburgh University and the former MD of Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd, talked about Energy Storage. He wrote:

"For the past 100 years or so, the world has been misusing fossil fuels from the Carboniferous period about 300 million years ago by digging them up and burning them. We have been using them at a rate of 1 million years to 1 year, which is scary. What we should be doing is using the sun's energy in the year that it is provided to us, and we have a long way to go to achieve that.

So the talk will be about renewables in general but more specifically about solving the mismatch between the uncontrolled delivery of power and the equally uncontrolled user demand. I shall be talking about how we can integrate renewable energy into the grid to displace fossil fuels - which Is where energy storage comes in!"

Click for Full Report with link to youtube video.

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Norrie GM1CNH and Peter GM4DTH operated on 70cm in the RSGB UHF / Microwave contest on Sunday 5th May (only) from an elevated site on Lauder Common, a few miles west of Lauder in the Scottish Borders. Conditions were probably about average but activity was very low. QSOs were made with East Anglia and one German station was heard on CW.

Norrie operating the rig from inside his car:

IC-706 Mk!!g, Gemini 70-1K 400W, 25 ele yagi @ 6m. 

Visitors were Bob MM0XRI (R), and Alan GM3PSP + Clyde GM3PSP/K9 (not in photo).

Click for full report with more photos.

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At the meeting on 24th April 2019 Terry Martini-Yates of Ferrograph World, based in Rosyth, talked about "Writing in Iron" - magnetic sound recording - demonstrating several recorders and playing a number of historical recordings, including John Clarricoats G6CL during a visit to Edinburgh in 1961.

Terry writes: "A potted history of the development of the magnetic audio recorder from Valdemar Poulson’s invention of the magnetic wire recorder, the steel tape based Blattenerphone, its further development at AEG in Germany and its use by the 3rd Reich in Nazi Germany for war propaganda, to the overnight sensation it created in post-war America, when an enterprising soldier liberated two of the secret German Magnetophon reel to reel tape machines and 50 reels of recording tape. 

Terry is the author of 'Built Like a Battleship!, A History of the Ferrograph Company'.   

See also his website Ferrograph World (click)

Full report (click).

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The LRS Spring Surplus Equipment Sale was held on 10th April 2019 at St. Fillan's Church, Buckstone. This sale included the remainder of the many Silent Key items from John Buchanan GM8BYF-SK.  

After the sale there was a raffle for non-vacuum 'bottles' run by LRS treasurer, Peter Dick GM4DTH.

Click for Full Report

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At the meeting on 13th February 2019 LRS member James Gentles GM4WZP talked about "Munros on the Air". 

"Long before SOTA (Summits on the Air), Amateurs were out on the Scottish hills activating them. Whilst James Gentles GM4WZP wasn't first, his story is of the first Amateur to systematically activate every Munro in the 1980s, making at least one QSO from each of them, using repeaters if necessary.

Full report now posted with 65 of James's beautiful slides. Click.

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Archer Magic Lantern

At the meeting of the LRS on 13th March 2019 our good friend Winnie Stevenson from the Museum of Communication presented "Phantasmagoria, a traditional magic lantern show". 

 A most enjoyable evening! Many thanks to Winnie.

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On 27th Feb 2019 Norrie Stewart GM1CNH gave an illustrated talk on Amateur Radio Operating in Colombia as HK3/MM0BMG. Having travelled to Colombia many times since 2010, in 2018 he decided to take radio gear with him. This is how he got on...

Self-taught in Amateur Radio while at school and first licenced in 1983 with a class B licence GM1CNH. In 1997 passed the 12 wpm Morse test and gained a class A licence MM0BMG. Worked in the aerospace and defence industry since 1986 on airborne fire control and surveillance radar systems for various fixed wing and rotary wing platforms.

Norrie with his portable vertical aerial, which he used mostly on 20m during his trip to Colombia.

Click for Full Report with all slides.

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LATEST: Brian Flynn GM8BJF reports that he has worked PY2GN near Sao Paolo in Brazil at GG56tv.

Feb 2019 - Brian Flynn GM8BJF reports that he is now QRV on the satellite and has worked / ragchewed with G8BKE and has heard GM3SBC and GM0ONN, noting that "on the whole, the satellite is not too busy". Alan GM3PSP has heard Brian via the BATC Goonhilly site, working OH1ZAA, GM0ONN & PA3FYM.

John Cooke GM8OTI is now also able to receive the geostationary satellite Es'hail-2, now called Quatar OSCAR-100, using simple equipment as demonstrated by Brian Flynn GM8BJF in his recent LRS talk on 23rd January - see below. 

GM8OTI's screenshot of what is believed to be test transmission of broadband digital TV signal.

Click for John's Reception Report with photos.

Click for John's Narrowband Report: with photos

Click for BATC Narrowband transponder now open

Click for BATC Goonhilly Narrowband WebSDR with live sound

Narrowband display showing several beacons and active stations, from BATC Goonhilly link above.

 

  1. 23rd Jan 2019 - (1) Modern Roll-Your-Own PCBs - (2) The AMSAT Es'hail2 Geostationary Satellite - Brian Flynn GM8BJF
  2. 12th Dec 2018 - LRS Christmas Curry
  3. 9th Jan 2019 - Video Evening - "The Dish on the Dish" - by Peter Dick GM4DTH - at the Edinburgh Cine & Video Soc.
  4. 28th Nov 2018 - RSGB Convention Lecture Videos - presented by Brian GM8BJF