Welcome to the Lothians Radio Society

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At the meeting on 24th January 2018, Neil Gillies, ex-GM6BZF, talked about and demonstrated 3D Printing, the state-of-the-art way of producing plastic parts. He gave an in-depth talk on how to get started - types of machine available, the software required for various parts of the process, materials, what can and can’t be done with 3D printing. He brought along his current 3D printer and demonstrated it in use, making a small plastic component during the meeting. Full report.

 

"Tiny Boy" 3D printer in action.

 

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The annual Video Night, presented as always by Peter Dick GM4DTH who is the current President of the Edinburgh Cine & Video Society, was held on Wednesday 10th January 2018 in the ECVS screening room. The theme was 'The Role of Radio in Aviation'.

1. Air Ministry Official Film - The Imperial Airway - The work of British Airways. (1924)
2. Crown Film Unit - On the Beam (1951)
3. CAA - Communications in Air Traffic Control. (1970)
4. Central Office of Information CAA - Radar for Air Traffic Control (1973)
5. Volmet (1980) 

"Imperial Airways"

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Click for Full Report with many stills.

Loan DVD copies of the complete video program are available from Peter. 

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The annual LRS Christmas Curry was held on Wednesday 6th December at the Himalaya Tandoori Restaurant at Bruntsfield, with 14 diners, including a very welcome DX visitor - Eric Worley W0RLY, a United Airlines pilot between flights, who had spotted our dinner notice on this website. (On left above with Alan GM3PSP and Pete GM4BYF).  Click for More Photos.

 

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LRS member Brian Howie GM4DIJ gave an introduction to antenna modelling at the LRS meeting on 11 March 2015. This time he talked more specifically about "Optimization of Antenna Height Over Real Terrain in the Low VHF Bands" at the meeting on 22nd November 2017.

 

Brian writes: "It is common intuition that the higher an antenna is above the ground, the better it performs. Whilst this is true in most cases, the performance of an antenna a few wavelengths above ground is a complex interaction of the beam patterns and the local topography. It can be shown that in some cases a lower antenna can outperform one much higher.
I've been looking in particular at the local terrain at our contest site at Gatehouse of Fleet using an ARRL- supplied program HFTA, designed primarily for the HF Bands, to explore terrain effects on antenna performance at low VHF". Click for Powerpoint.

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James Gentles GM4WZP gave a great talk on 'Pirates - Offshore Radio from 1964 to 1974, ding-ding!' at the meeting on 8th November 2017. He covered the history of the pirate radio stations located in ships around the British Isles, including the best-known, Radio Caroline which used its famous "ding-ding" jingle. They all disappeared after the BBC introduced Radio 1 in 1974 to cater for the pop audience, and re-named the existing stations Radios 2, 3 and 4. REPORT

 

Radio London

 

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The GMRT speakers: Mark Hughes GM4ISM, Geoff Pike GI0GDP, Martin Hall GM8IEM (Session Chair), Andy Sinclair MM0FMF, David Anderson GM6BIG.

The 2017 Scottish Microwave Round Table was held on 4th November at the Museum of Communication in Burntisland followed by a dinner and musical entertainment at the Kingswood Hotel. Programme:

A 10GHz Home Station (Mark GM4ISM)

A High Quality 10GHz Beacon (David GM6BIG)

13cm SOTA (Andy MM0FMF & Jack GM4COX)

Replacement L.O. options for the DB6NT G2 Transverters (Geoff GI0GDP)

The GM round of the UK Microwave Group Projects Trophy was awarded to Kevin Avery G3AAF.

For full report and music video, go to GMRT website: 

http://www.gmroundtable.org.uk/  

Kevin Avery G3AAF received the constructors trophy from John Worsnop G4BAO.

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Well-known Scottish DXer Tom Wylie GM4FDM from Paisley returned to the Lothians on 25th October 2017 to talk on Having fun on a shoestring. He described how careful advance planning is essential for any DXpedition and how quite simple antennas can be very effective while saving on weight and complexity. Report

 Tom GM4FDM with Ronald PA3EWP in Dakar, Senegal in 2010. 

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The LRS Autumn Surplus Equipment Sale was held on 18 Oct at St Fillan's Church with a good turnout and almost everything sold. Full Report.  

 

Norrie GM1CNH was a happy raffle winner!
  1. 20 September 2017 - Silent Key - George Burt GM3OXX
  2. 27 Sept 2017 - From Holyrood to Hollywood, a Technical Career in Motion Pictures with Kodak - Alan Masson GM3PSP
  3. 13 Sept 2017 - LRS Presidential Address 'Frequency Standards' by Brian Flynn GM8BJF
  4. 2-3 Sept 2017 - RSGB 2m Trophy Contest at Gatehouse of Fleet