SOUTH DORSET RADIO SOCIETY

CATSWHISKER SEPTEMBER 2001

The newsletter of the South Dorset Radio Society

Posted 24/08/01

A full colour version of this Newsletter with pictures is now available in 'PDF' format and can be accessed from the Catswhisker Index page.

Next SDRS meeting is on September the 4th
 Click here for more information on coming club events

EDITORIAL

I have to start with some sad news. Ted Hall, G3ETA, who was going to give us a talk about suitcase radios and their use behind enemy lines during the war years, in October is too unwell to come. But the good news is that he has agreed to write an account of his exploits and allow us to print it as a series of articles later this year. Instead now in October, Tim Walford, G3PCJ of Walford Electronics will be talking and demonstrating the products that he produces in kit form for radio amateurs.

Good news! Carol Hodges our chairman’s XYL is now home from hospital and making a steady recovery and would like to thank all of you that paid her a visit. Please don’t stop, as she I am sure would still like to see you as the road to recovery is still a little way off. (P.S. Carol does like flowers.)

I hope you all found included with this months Catswhisker, a copy of the SDRS Constitution. The reason for sending them to all paid-up members is that over the last few years we have had a lot of new people joining the society, so this way, everyone now has the chance to read and keep it. Those of you that receive yours via the internet can look at it with the link supplied to paid-up club members.

The Annual BBQ at the New Barn Field Centre went ahead despite the unseasonable weather, well done to those few that did attend. But due to circumstances beyond our control the radio station was QRT.

Thank you to Iain, M1OOO, who has kindly sent part one of his account of how he came to set-up a solar electricity supply for the Shazu villagers in Kenya.

Thanks also to Colline Pearless, G3PGK for the first of his series of articles for the construction of a HF transceiver made from junk!

73 de Neville, M5NEV

WIMBORNE HAMFEST 2001

Why is Marconi’s famous wartime heavyweight the CR100 like a London bus? Because there are none for ages then a lot come along all together. So it seemed to be at Flight Refuelling Amateur Radio Society’s rally at Wimborne - scarce in recent years, yet half a dozen (maybe more) this year. Same with old Open Reel tape recorders. For Hams and other operators there were the ubiquitous PMR conversions, CB gear by the ton and Heathkit test gear. Much of it, including Amateur equipment, was marked at reasonable prices. The car boots were as plentiful as ever and well stocked; the wind tended to re-distribute their stock which at times was hidden, dry, under plastic covers. There seemed less on the computer side however (cheer?). Singling out the traders (of whom there may have been fewer this time) credit goes to Christchurch’s Shortwave Shop with its immaculate display of a wide range of goods including second-hand.. They have learned the lesson about presentation: clean up the goods first and people will go for them. SDRS had a table thanks to Pat G1XJH which raised over £70 for our training fund. Thanks also to Jim, G7JIM & Gill who had a table too. They were visited by G0NEV, G3EAT, M5MKW, M1RIC, 2E1OZY, G1WIK, M0BQO, 2E1IPZ to name a few. As usual, Hamfest was the friendly gathering that we have come to expect. Let’s hope FRARS can get to grips with parking and entry by next year.

73 de John, M0BQO

Thanks once more to MB Freight Services for printing our newsletter .

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor, I'm writing to make a further comment to Pat's article regarding the use of the phonetic alphabet. (See Making that first CQ call.)

He is probably aware that this was originally set up by the English - Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog(?), etc. because of the very variable sounds available in the English alphabet. "A" can be "ah" or "aa" or "a"; "E" can be "ee" or "i" ; "C" can be "see", "ka" and so on. When the Americans came on the scene, it was even more dire and a so-called joint phonetic alphabet was set up - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc as we have today (an interesting fact is that Charlie was the only original UK one to survive!). However for the rest of the Europeans - and certainly the Latin-derived languages each letter has a unique sound and they had no trouble with communicating amongst themselves. It was only when talking to foreigners some problems arose and, for example, when speaking to a stranger to the language the Italians would spell a word by saying the name of a well known (to them) town - corn would become Como, Orvieto, Roma, Empoli. Therefore I don't think we can be to hard on people who don't use the "proper" phonetic alphabet - if we, the English, spoke more like the Latin speaking peoples we never would have had the trouble in the first place!!! Just my opinion - John, M1FBJ.

URGENT - URGENT - URGENT

Wanted for the next Novice training course. Has anyone got a copy of The Novice Licence Student’s Notebook? Just to loan. We have 8 people on the next course & only 4 books! Please contact Neville on 01305 772806 if you can help.

International Lighthouse Weekend 18 & 19th August - A full report of contacts & pictures in next months Catswhisker  but pictures of last years eevnt can be seen here:- Lighthouse Weekend 2000

Weymouth Nothe Fort, Victorian weekend Festival, Sunday 5th August 2001 - Commander John Bithell of the Weymouth Nothe Fort has ask me to convey his thanks to the South Dorset Radio Society for the excellent manner in which the Society very efficiently and effectively handled the traffic control issues for Queen Victoria's Horse & Carriage between the Pavilion and the Nothe Fort. May I also add my thanks to both Pat and Jonathan for their invaluable help in making this event such a success. There was only one problem encountered where Pat forget to follow on behind the procession with a bucket and shovel, "the Queen was not amused".

Robert Hodges, G0RYL. Chairman, South Dorset Radio Society, also Victorian Nothe Fort Living History Group.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD - A short article for "Catswhisker", probably 1 of 3, contributed by Iain Grant, M1OOO of Exmouth, a friend of David O'brian M1OBR

For several years, my XYL Heather and I have taken our three week "summer holiday" in late January/early February in much warmer climes in order to shorten the sometimes depressing British winter. These journeys have always taken us to the near equatorial regions where temperatures are still comfortable for northern Europeans and at a time when you are not plagued by mosquitoes or monsoon rains. The course of these travels has taken us increasingly to Third World countries, where some of the finest tourist resorts can be found. These increasingly sophisticated resorts can offer fantastic value for money to tourists whose seemingly sole purpose is to be pampered around a gigantic swimming pool, or who are whisked of in air-conditioned buses for sightseeing and other tourist attractions, to be returned later to their sanitised accommodation. Always the "Jungle Jim" and "Jungle Jane" adventurers, more used to roughing it out over Dartmoor, Heather and I would set out onto the local roads armed with our light survival packs and a copy of the "Lonely Planet" guide for the country visited. The sights and people we meet are what we consider to be the real sights and people of that country. We have met with elders of remote villages, witch doctors (one of whom gave us charm necklaces with the advice they should be removed when going to the toilet!!), local schools, farming co-operatives, local illegal breweries (the best part of our holidays!), and once guests-of-honour at a local chief’s daughter’s wedding. And all this by shank’s pony, or the high-adrenalin ride aboard a local "matatu" (minibus), designed for 12 passengers but carrying 22!! The one common thread running through all these travels has always been the friendliness of the "ordinary" people (we also class ourselves as "ordinary"), always willing to share their hospitality and exchange information. They are as curious about us (and the outside world) as we are of them. We always take away plenty of photographs and addresses and post on developed photos together with a return postage stamp of that country, which pre-pays their reply so no cost falls upon the recipient. We have always received replies and indeed to this day are still in correspondence with groups and individuals in various countries. However, the one overriding feature of these Third World countries is their abject poverty. I am in no way a political animal, but cannot help feeling that political control from the top in these countries is designed to substantially cream off the vast amounts of aid supplied by the Developed World. This becomes obvious the more we both travel and meet new Third World friends. After gaining their confidences, they talk freely about the corruption of officials at all levels, from schoolteachers and policemen, right up to the top officials in politics. It’s endemic. After talking with Developed World volunteers in various Third World countries, Heather and I came to the conclusion that the best way to ensure any aid was undiluted was by direct help, and decided that we would choose a practical project benefiting a range of people. We had visited Kenya, East Africa, for a month in January/February 2000 and were impressed by environmental work carried out by a number of villagers in the Shanzu area, 10 miles north of Mombassa. Intent on safeguarding wildlife animal and plant species indigenous to their village, (not uncommon in the various small villages we visited), the local Shanzu villagers undertook a wildlife protection scheme, which not only protected their local environment but also provided them with a tourist resource, albeit somewhat limited in scale. Heather and I have always had the philosophy of helping those who help themselves, and since the village had no electricity supply (a very common situation), decided a small solar power station capable of delivering both 12v and 240v would be a practical project, and could provide a modest supply of power to a communal facility, such as hospital, workshops or meeting place. In my next article I shall detail how I constructed a self-contained portable solar energy station with the aid of a local G operator, and how I sneaked it through Kenya customs, together with loads of charity clothing and toys!

More next month..........

THE ST BRUNO PROJECT 2001

(To see the diagrams associated with this article you will need to read Catswhisker in Adobe Acrobat format)

Those of you who attended the meeting at the South Dorset Radio Society on the 3rd July will be aware that my remark that 'we don't need money to be involved on the air' was taken to task by Pat, G1XJH who said 'prove it!' when I claimed that there was enough components in an old television to make a low power transmitter and a receiver - so I will have to make one! Me and my big ham radio mouth!

While I intend to do what I said using the actual Mitsubishi TV donated by Geoff, G0EVW, I would like to offer a better set of rules to all who wish to join in. 1. No money must be spent. 2. All components must be second-hand. 3. Components may come from old TVs, Radios or Computers ANYTHING AS LONG AS IT'S SCRAP!

In planning this project, it seemed a good way to study the whole radio spectrum from signal generators to antennas to power supplies etc, so here we go.

TEST EQUIPMENT - It makes life much simpler and more enjoyable if we have any sort of test gear so let's make some.

"A Circuit Tester" Take a small tobacco tin in the left hand and remove its lid. Hunt around for a twelve volt buzzer either the Piezo electric type or an electro-mechanical type. With the aid of some glue, hot or cold, stick it to the inside of the tin. See Sketch 1. Find an old PP3 battery and get the terminals off it. Our circuit is thus:

Note: If the buzzer is loud enough, do not make a hole in the tin. This will keep the muck out.

We can now test cables, diodes, bulbs, transistors, fuses, even jam jar lids if they are metal. Though this is a simple device, it will probably be the most useful thing you ever make.

As we progress, we can modify our test equipment to be more useful and user friendly.

TRYING IT OUT - Short the probes together and the buzzer should sound - find an old diode and see if it works. It should work one way round but not the other. Now find an old LED (light emitting diode) and try that. It will light when you get it the right way round and not when it's the wrong way, that's useful for a start! We now know which is the positive terminal of the LED - the one the red probe goes to. Now try everything that you can find.

KNOW YOUR TEST GEAR!

You may have noticed that I am using a 12 volt buzzer and a 9 volt battery. That's because 12 volt buzzers are easy to find and will often work on even 6 volts.

Well, we're off! Next month we will be building an audio signal generator so we don't have to whistle in the microphone all the time to test the audio amplifier stage we will be building soon.

Colline Pearless, G3PGK

FORTHCOMING EVENTS - Forthcoming events to look out for!

AUGUST 26th - TORBAY AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY Annual Mobile Rally (Bank Holiday Sunday) at the Churston Grammer School, Churston, Paignton. More information: John Head, G4VUD, 01626 205514

SEPTEMBER 4th - Yaesu UK. Monthly meeting at the Chickerell church hall. Demonstration and talk about Amateur Radio equipment. Talk to the people from Yaesu, your questions will be welcome.

SEPTEMBER 15th - The Waterside (New Forest) Amateur Radio Society are holding their Radio & Computer Rally/Boot Sale at the Applemore College, Roman Road, Dibden Purlieu. Doors open 10.00. There will be two indoor halls, field traders and exhibits, car boot/flea market, on-demand Morse tests. Talk-in on 2m. Free parking. For more information contact John Daw, G0UUW on 0238-089 3541 or Malcolm Troy, G0WFQ on 0238-090 5226, E-mail: troy-enterprises@faxvia.net

OCTOBER 2nd Tim Walford, G3PCJ from Walford Electronics, will talk about some of the kits he produces for radio amateurs and answer questions on his products. These range from Starter Projects, Test Equipment and Frequency Counters to Superhet Transceivers for 20 & 80Mts. www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~walfor

OCTOBER 21st - The Blackwood & District ARS will once again be holding their annual rally at the Newport Centre, Gwent. Features include special interest groups, parking, licensed bar, catering and trade stands. Doors open 10:45 (10:30 for disabled). Admission is £1.50 and talk-in will be on S22. More information on 01495 228516.

NOVEMBER 3rd - 5 & 12wpm Morse testing at M5NEV’s QTH To be tested you should register with the RSGB. Forms available from Neville, M5NEV on 01305 772806 or RSGB. WHAT - Morse Code? - come on, go for it, become a 'complete' Radio Amateur, you know it makes sense! - Geoff, G0EVW

NOVEMBER 6th - Tabletop Sale & Auction at Chickerell Church Hall.

A comprehensive list of the main items for auction will be included with the October ‘Catswhisker’.

If you have anything you wish to be included in the auction, please contact me; Neville, M5NEV as soon as possible as I may want to include a photo with the list. A small commission will be charged for auctioned items if sold.

NOVEMBER 11th - The South Yorkshire Repeater Group presents the 11th Great Northern Hamfest at the Metrodome Leisure Complex, Queens Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Doors open at 10:00 Trade stands, specialist interest groups and a large Bring & Buy. Talk-in on 145.550MHz . Morse tests on demand. More information on 01226 716339 or 07787 546515

NOVEMBER 25/26th - The London Amateur Radio & Computer Show takes places at the Lee Valley Leisure Centre, Picketts Lock lane, Edmonton, London N9. Trade stands, Bring & Buy, Morse tests, free car park, catering, licensed bar, talk-in, special interest groups, disabled facilities, camp site, and family attractions (Include cinema, swimming, golf and spa). Doors open 0945/1000. More information on (01923) 893929.

A BITCH ON PAT!

Once upon a time, not long ago, there was a fine Lad called Pat. While visiting with friends he say's "Hey, is one of those puppies for sale". "No" was the reply, but you can have one for free, but you must promise to love him and care for him well. "Fine say's Pat, but it must be a boy, my beautiful Cam would not have nothing else."Ok that's fine, you pick the boy, but would you like a drink before you go". A short while later, he picks up his dog and plods his weary way home. But sadly, two days later his wicked Landlord say's, "You can't have him here, he will have to go". So that day the original owner called to retrieve the poor dog from his peril, and asks "how has she been", "She" says Cam "its a He", "No", was the reply, "its got to be a she, for we still have the boy at home"!

Happily however the young bitch is now living happily in Brighton and has settled in well.

Paid back in full Pat! - Carol Hodges

CATSWHISKER DEADLINE

The deadline for next month is the 14th of September. Please make sure that I have your contributions before that date.

73 de Neville Bridle, M5NEV, Catswhisker Editor m5nev@g3sds.org.uk

134 High Street, Wyke Regis, Weymouth DT4 9NT. Telephone 01305 772806

(Full details of the Society and it's committee can be found on the SDRS Information page)

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