At the meeting of the LRS on 11 May 2016 LRS President Andy Sinclair MM0FMF talked on "Holiday HF - or how to have your cake and eat it". His informative presentation covered the practical aspects of preparing for and operating a successful DXpedition - researching and knowing the foreign regulations, obtaining a CEPT TR61/01 foreign licence when necessary, luggage regulations for checked-in and carry-on bags, especially regarding batteries. He stressed the need to prove the whole system works - well in advance of the trip!

Click for full report with slides & photos.

The GM3HAM/P contest group of the Lothians Radio Society operated in the RSGB Microwave Trophy contest on 7-8 May 2016 from our usual site on a hill above Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries & Galloway. The operators were L-R: Mike GM4IGS, Pete GM4BYF and Alan GM3PSP. The wx was unpleasantly windy but dry on the Saturday and sunny and warm on the Sunday. 

Click for report with all photos and claimed scores.

LRS members Brian Flynn GM8BJF and Briain Wilson GM8PKL made an expedition to Telegraph Hill near St Abbs in Scottish Borders on March 19th to check reception there of the GM8FFX/B 10GHz beacon at 126km near Aberdeen which Brian built and installed last year. They found the signal strength was excellent on this clear sea-path.

They also found a very old but largely-complete wooden radar- or radio tower on the site. Later investigations unearthed interesting theories about its history.

Click for full story and more photos. 

 

 

Kenneth Barlee, assisted by Dale Atkinson, gave a most interesting talk with demonstrations of SDR - Software Defined Radio - at the meeting of the LRS on 27th April 2016

Kenny is a 2nd-year Ph.D student at Strathclyde University and is already a co-author of a text-book on SDR.

Talk content:

1. Introduce SDR in general.

2. Talk about the RTL-SDR - go into details about its discovery + architecture.

3. Explain about the signals the RTL-SDR can receive (25MHz to 1.75GHz).

4. Talk about the purpose of the book (www.desktopSDR.com).

5. Give a couple of demos from the book.

Click for Full Report with slides.

The LRS Spring Surplus Equipment Sale was held on 6th April 2016 at St Fillan's Church, Buckstone. There was an excellent turn-out of 33 for what proved to be an entertaining evening with lots of quality items for sale at very reasonable prices. (We never use the word 'cheap')! There was also the usual raffle for interesting "bottles".

 Full report with many more photographs.