Details
Hits: 218

Pub Night 3 held at Wee Bennets Bar at Morningside Station as usual.

James GM3WZP, Mike GM8KCS, Pete GM4BYF, John GM4JRT, Colin GM4HWO,

Vic GM3OWU / Alan GM3PSP, Colin GM3EAU.   

Tnx Peter GM4DTH for photos.

 

 

================================================================

Details
Hits: 217

Photos tnx Peter GM4DTH:

 

James GM4WZP, Colin GM4HWO, Mike GM8KCS.

 

Vic GM3OWU, James GM4WZP, Colin GM4HWO, Mike GM8KCS.

 

=================================================================

Details
Hits: 293

Good turn-out for our first Pub Night of the summer and a merry time was had by all.

Photos tnx Peter GM4DTH.

===============================================================

Details
Hits: 414

 

As usual, the BBQ was held at "Bates Motel", QTH of Pete GM4BYF & Kay Bates GM6KAY.

A great spread of BBQ burgers, hot-dogs & bacon with salads, and desserts was provided.

Details
Hits: 332

Four teams took part in the 2023 D/F Hunt, starting at "The Tardis" on Braid Hills Road.

Fox Peter GM4DTH operated GM3HAM/P from a location in the Pentland Hills. 

Results:

1. Melvyn GM4HYR - 39min

2. Mike GM8KCS & Mike Jr MM3MDB - 2h 2min

3. John GM4JRT - failed to finish - less than 1km away.

4. James GM4WZP - failed to finish, via Holyrood Park!

Afterwards, they all met up in the Colinton Inn for a well-deserved diet lemonade.

==================================================================

Fox Peter GM4DTH report:

This year’s DF Hunt took place on the evening of 24th May. The weather conditions were excellent with sunshine, clear skies and a slight breeze  The fox was located on the summit of Torduff Hill, a foothill of the Pentland Hills, which overlooked Torduff Reservoir and had a panoramic view of Edinburgh. The intention was to make this an easy hunt with the aerial located on the skyline. It could be seen, aided by binoculars, from Briain’s (GM8PKL) living room window. It was built as a quarter scale working model of an aeronautical beacon which was the subject of a Lothian’s talk earlier in the session. The radiating element was a wire wound around a 12m guyed fibreglass pole driven against eight 15m ground radials. The losses would have been relatively high limiting the range of the 3W transmitter. The fox reported as was audible at the start location and was also reported to have been received on Nathan’s MM3NDB Kiwi SDR in Dalgety bay in Fife.

All the hunters started at the old police box located near to the Braid Hills Hotel 4.5km (2.8miles) from the fox. 

Melvyn GM4HYR was first to locate the fox taking just thirty nine minutes. He was followed by the Brunsdons Mike and his son Mike Jr who took two hours and two minutes. The others failed to finish. One clue was issued, however, due to the wonders of technology it was not received until the following day. Melvyn used his home brew df receiver which was a Lothian’s construction project many years ago. Mike could monitor the fox while driving. He had an old ‘Nova Pal’ marine portable DF receiver and a ‘Belka Dx’ with a tuned ferrite rod as portable receivers. John GM4JRT also used a ‘Belka’ receiver with a tuned frame aerial. This was his his first hunt and was distracted by following the reciprocal bearing and valuable time was lost. He did manage to get within 1km of the fox before it closed down. James GM4WZP using a PYE DF receiver was also distracted ending up in the area of Holyrood Park. Everyone was able to meet up in the ‘Colinton Inn’ in Colinton village along with Colin GM4HWO to discuss the hunt over a beer.

Winner GM4HYR 39 minutes.
Runner up GM8KCS & MM3NDB 2 Hours and two minutes.
Failed to finish GM4JRT & GM4JRT

================================================================== 

John GM4JRT, Melvyn GM4HYR, James GM4WZP & Mike GM8KCS

 

Details
Hits: 344

LOTHIANS RADIO SOCIETY - ANNUAL DIRECTION-FINDING COMPETITION

Information for 2023 D/F Hunt - NOTE LOCATION OF START POINT

The LRS D/F Hunt will take place on Wednesday 24th May 2023. Start 7.30pm sharp.

The start point avoids the high noise level experienced in earlier years near the Braid Hills Hotel. Members (or visitors) wishing to take part are advised to be on Braid Hills Road at the sign for Braids Golf Course (junction with Braid Hills Ave / Braid Hills Approach / Braid Mount (NT-246698) no later than 7.20pm, although this is not essential - some entrants choose to start from elsewhere. There is always room for those not equipped with receivers to join up with members who are so-equipped. The "Fox" will be located somewhere within the City boundary and participants should be equipped with a map and the necessary equipment to draw out bearings. The Fox will transmit using the callsign GM3HAM/P for 5 minutes-on / 5 minutes-off periods starting promptly at 7.30 pm. The frequency will be 1.875 MHz with an amplitude modulated tone being broadcast plus voice identification at the start and end of each period of transmitting. Operation will cease at about 9.30pm and an informal gathering will occur at a pub not too far from the Fox's location, which will be announced at that time.  

Participants are advised to be equipped with a mobile phone. A coordinator will be available at the start to provide the mobile number of the fox station (Peter GM4DTH) and to register the participants' mobile numbers so that in the event of them not locating the Fox, they can request clues regarding the location of the Fox station (or the pub)! Each clue provided will incur a penalty of 20 minutes. Test signals similar to those of the Fox on 1.875 MHz can be provided if requested well in advance - contact Peter GM4DTH to arrange.

Details
Hits: 453

In prep - captions to be added - psp

Andy Black MM7MOX & Andy Sinclair MM0FMF

On Wednesday 10th May 2023 Andy Sinclair MM0FMF and Andy Black MM7MOX  gave a talk on SOTA - Summits On The Air - Old & New. Andy MM7MOX is relatively newly-licenced and quite new to SOTA and talked about his experiences as a newcomer. Andy MM0FMF has been licenced for 33 years and active in SOTA for 17 years. He talked about the changes he has seen and his own changes to how he activates summits.

 ...................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................

Details
Hits: 427

Geoff Crowley MM5AHO/MM, who has given many LRS talks in the past on his /MM activities (CLICK), returned to talk about:

"Radio from far-flung places - How to fit our hobby into business- and other travel"

Having "unretired" in late 2021 after retiring earlier that year from many years running hot dip galvanizing plants, Geoff formed a consultancy advising others in this industry in how to more effectively run these plants that provide corrosion protection coatings for steel. Visiting some 22 countries in 2022, Geoff took his 2m handy with him and will relate how 2m as a visitor to many places can be an easy way to combine our hobby with working. We might also learn a little about this molten metal process for reducing metallic corrosion, which costs the UK, and most developed countries over 4% of GDP.

 

  1. 12 April 2023 - Spring Surplus Equipment Sale & Raffle
  2. 22 March 2023 - Dr Brian Flynn GM8BJF - "NanoVNAs - Part 2: Operation and Practice"
  3. 8 March 2023: Dr Brian Flynn GM8BJF - "Nano VNAs - (1) Understanding the Theory"
  4. 22 Feb 2023 - Peter Dick GM4DTH - Receiving MF D/F Beacons