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Pete GM4BYF was the controller for a net of 8 on 16th December: Peter GM4DTH, Alan GM3PSP, Mike GM8KCS, Brian GM4DIJ, Melvyn GM4HYR, John GM8OTI and Bill GM8SQM, with apols from Colin GM4HWO. N/H from Peebles. Pete had been busy testing valves for sale. He was on the 23cm activity contest but conditions were very poor with only 8 stations worked and aircraft in the wrong positions to provide reflections! Alan has mostly been doing his Xmas cards. He had worked Colin/P with his new hand-held on the Braid Hills the previous Sunday after GB2RS. Mike was having problems with a faulty IC-706 but his car was now OK. Brian was also busy with his Xmas cards. He had also found the 23cm conditions poor. He mentioned the upcoming Jupiter / Saturn conjunction which will be optimum on 23-25 December - a nice Xmas present to astronomers! Melvyn had delegated the Xmas cards to the XYL! Under his daughter's house he had found  an old aircraft shelter. He asked for info about a very old valve - Osram DEF215 from about 1927. John was busy building a new computer which will be more powerful (of course!) with video processing. As a retired astronomer, he will post a very nice photo of the Jupiter / Saturn conjunction.

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There were 6 participants in a relatively short net #36 on 9th December: Colin GM4HWO (controller), Peter GM4DTS, Melvyn GM4HYR, Pete GM4BYF, Alan GM3PSP & Brian GM4DIJ. N/H from Peebles!

Colin had just bought two handhelds and was looking forward to trying them out. Peter was pleased with a new GPS Rx just bought. Pete had given his on-line Zoom lecture "Modestly priced hand-held RF Test Equipment for VHF, Microwaves and more" to the Wigtownshire ARS and Melvyn had watched it. Brian had been active on the recent 2m contest for 2 hours and had worked 12 stations.  Alan was back after his "nose-job" operation the previous week. He had been working on archival photos of the George Heriot's and Heriot-Watt University radio clubs and mentioned Gordon GM8MOQ and Leonard GM4HFM who had been members of both and whom others remembered from the 1970s. Someone mentioned a predicted aurora / CME tonight, so look / listen out!  (Didn't happen!) Audio - tnx Peter:

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The following stations participated in the 35th net on 2nd December 2020: Controller Colin GM4HWO, Mike GM8KCS, Briain GM8PKL, Peter GM4DTH, Melvyn GM4HYR, Pete GM4BYF and Brian GM4DIJ. Apologies from Alan GM3PSP who was preparing for a "nose job" operation the next day!      Report & audio tnx Peter:

Colin was well prepared following the difficulties experienced the previous week by testing his station well in advance of the start time. He had eradicated all the assorted patch cables and replaced them with a soundly engineered solution and this combination worked without any issues during the net. Peter had been working on a common key control for the news transmitters. It will eventually use a Post Office Key and Lamp unit 2A. Mike reported having worked Ian GM3SEK on the isle of Whithorn during the 2m activity contest the previous evening. Briain had also been active in the same contest and worked 30 stations with the best dx being 2M0TMN on South Uist. He had also been rebuilding a rotator in his cellar and had all the greased ball bearings neatly stored. He later found them lying on the dusty ground having been knocked over by an intruding cat. Not to be outdone Melvyn reported that the family cat sought refuge in the wardrobe to escape the domestic turmoil. Pete reported that the 2m contest had been very busy and the band was well occupied. He also commented that he was preparing to give a remote internet linked talk to the Wigtownshire Amateur Radio Society. He tried calling Brian GM8BJF but nothing was heard. Brian had previously suggested earlier that the Lothians should consider trying out this on-line format for a meeting. Brian GM4DIJ reported on the comparison between two can-based aerials for 13cm. The beer can (wrong dimensions) worked well whereas the dog food can (correct dimensions) did not work. To finish off the feline theme Colin returned to recalling a story of a BT engineer returning fifty miles home from his last call. When he looked in the back of his van he found a cat that stowed away during his last call. He then drove all the way back to return the creature to its owner.

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We again had 10 participants for Viral Net 34 on 25th November 2020, controlled by Colin GM4HWO: Mike GM8KCS, Pete GM4BYF, Brian GM8BJF, Peter GM4DTH, Melvyn GM4HYR, Alan GM3PSP, John GM8OTI, Briain GM8PKL, Brian GM4DIJ.

Colin's new skylight was now fitted and he had put up two extra aerials including a folded dipole, now looking for rotators. Mike was working on his FT-817 and a car radio. Pete, a newbee to the technology, had several Raspberry-Pi projects. He would be giving a talk to the Wigtownshire ARS soon via Zoom and would try to make this available to LRS members. Brian BJF was only audible to some, not including your scribe! Pete reported that BJF was working on a spectrum analyzer, signal generator and a GPS unit. Peter had had  another QSO with Toby MM0TSS/M who will shortly be taking over the RSGB GB2RS reserve newsreader position in his area. Melvyn was skipping household jobs for the time being to work on a Raspberry-Pi project. He had found some photos of Leith Nautical College for the website. Alan had found his LRS website problem was due to his Chrome browser and had switched to Edge, also trying Firefox. He had just put up some interesting photos on the home page and was correcting menu issues with much help from John. John himself had local noise issues but was surviving. Briain would get back to his antenna work on the next calm day. He had found some great photos of work up a tower at Green Lowther in heavy icing conditions which he would supply for the website. Brian DIJ and Brian BJF had both been on the contest at the weekend but conditions had been very poor. DIJ had only worked 8 stations including 2 in IO83 and none on 13.9cm. There was a suggestion of holding an LRS meeting on ZOOM.   E&OE. Audio tnx Peter:

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There were 8 participants in Viral Net 32 chaired by Colin GM4HWO on 11th November 2020: Peter GM4DTH, Briain GM8PKL, Pete GM4BYF, Alan GM3PSP, John GM8OTI, Mike GM8KCS and Brian GM4DIJ. Nothing heard from the Peebles direction.

Peter reported on frequency calibration work he had been doing. Briain and Alan reported on meeting up in the wine aisle (where else?) at Morrisons supermarket. Pete and Kay were recovering from a week on the beach on the Island of Rhodos last week - it's tough, but somebody has to do it! Alan was continuing work with archival photos on the LRS website. Colin hoped to have the work completed on his skylight. Mike had repaired his G5RV antenna and had fitted a balun. He had seen a nice D/F Rx on eBay. Brian had been on CW and out running.

Audio tnx Peter:

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Ten participants took part in Viral Net 33 on 18th November 2020, controlled by Colin GM4HWO: Mike GM8KCS, Pete GM4BYF: Brian GM8BJF, Alan GM3PSP, Norrie GM1CNH, Peter GM4DTH, Brian GM4DIJ, Briain GM8PKL and John GM8OTI.

Mike was working on his FT-817 which needs an ATU. His G5RV antenna needs a balun, but he was not planning any roof-climbing any more! Pete had recorded his choir's Christmas concert. UHF conditions were poor with only aircraft-scatter giving a QSO with G8CUL in IO91 (Oxfordshire). Pete's antenna had been rotated by the wind. He was due to present a talk to the Wigtonshire ARS on-line. Both Pete and Peter had some ideas to help the antenna situation of Bill GM8SQM who had had difficulty hearing some stations on this net. Colin's skylight had been fitted and he now hoped to put up new antennas. He was looking forward to his 60th birthday shortly. Brian BJF was audible by some but not all tonight. He was suffering from SM-PSU noise from his linear amp. Alan continued to work on the website but with a problem of spurious text being inserted at the bottom of articles. John and Andy were helping with this. Norrie had ordered a new vertical antenna for /P operation and was planning expeditions for next year. Peter was thanked by Alan for continuing to provide audio recordings of these nets. Brian DIJ had been in the microwave contest on Sunday and had worked Pete. Briain was hoping that his rotator would not cause problems for his (lawyer) neighbour next door!. He noted that the latest I-phones contained 14Bn chips! John reported that he had been following the recent Space-X launch. Audio tnx Peter:

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Colin GM4HWO was back in control at Viral Net 31 on 4th November with six participants: Briain GM8PKL, Peter GM4DTH, Mike GM8KCS, Alan GM3PSP & Brian GM4DIJ. Colin had been busy in his shack with his Pye equipment. Briain was still working on his new 2m antenna installation. Peter had had another QSO with Toby MM0TSS on a visit back to Edinburgh. Mike was working on his antennas and his boiler! Alan reported on the many archival photos from Peter, Norrie & David GM4ZNX (tnx) which he was preparing for the website - see list under "News" on this page. Brian was back from Stranraer. Audio tnx Peter:

 

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Viral Net 30 on 28th October was controlled by Peter GM4DTH and had 7 participants: John GM8OTI, Briain GM8PKL, Pete GM4BYF, Mike GM8KCS, Melvyn GM4HYR and Alan GM3PSP (late!). Apologies from Colin GM4HWO and Brian GM4DIJ. Peter had had a QSO with Toby MM0TSS visiting Edinburgh. He has a D/F sense antenna which removes the 180 degree ambiguity of a frame or ferrite rod antenna. John was glad to be back on the net after 6 weeks away. Briain has a loop / net antenna 6 feet long. He toasted the group this week with Cointreaux! Pete is working with Raspberry-Pi boards and is looking for a USB keyboard (& John offered him one!). He is working with his church choir for a Christmas concert on Zoom. Mike was listening with a home-brew receiver. Melvyn had been busy building a home office. Alan mentioned correspondence with the Davidson family following Colin GM3LAV's Silent Key. Currently he was working on a large number of archival LRS photos from around 2010 which will go up on the website and will be advertised. Details have been received of a book about the restoration of the Union Chain Bridge at Berwick, the subject of a talk at the MoC last Sept 25th (see this page). Audio tnx Peter:

  1. 21 Oct 2020 - Viral Net 29
  2. 14 Oct 2020 - Viral Net 28
  3. 7 Oct 2020 - 27th LRS Viral Net
  4. 30 Sept 2020 - 26th LRS Viral Net