This was the diary for 2003

Forthcoming Events
 

The regular Club meetings occur every other Friday.

On Fridays with no meeting a club net takes place.

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        All meetings start at 7:30 p.m.

        All meetings are at the Treviglas Community College.   See Location
 
 

      The net starts at 8 p.m.,  no matter what frequency is used.

        The net controller uses the Club callsign  -  G4ADV

Reports on Club Activities

 

    The 12 Metres Experiment
  For the first time since the Club Net moved to 24.95 MHz,  I attempted to join it last Friday (17/1/03).   I could just hear Kevin,  but no one else.   I guess the ground wave doesn't quite make it from Newquay to St. Agnes,  on a Friday evening.

Comment from G3TDM.

    Back to 80 Metres
  As a result of discussions at the last Club Meeting (24/1/03)  it was decided to try the net back on eighty metres.   12 metres was not the overwhelming success it was hoped it would be.   18 MHz was suggested,  but several people commented that it was difficult to load an antenna on this frequency,  in their experience.   Several other members said they did not have this band on their equipment,  so the obvious move was to a lower frequency,  hence eighty metres.   The frequency of 3.720 was chosen,  in an attempt to move away from 3.700,  which it was thought might be a rather popular frequency for pre-arranged skeds.

    The net on Friday 31 January 2003,  was back on eighty metres - 3.720kHZ.   There was a good attendance,  although I could only hear a few of the stations.   As before the main problem on this band is QRM from other stations,  mainly on the European mainland.   Unless a change is decided upon at the next meeting (7/2/03) we will stay on eighty metres for the next few nets.

Report from G3TDM

The AGM held on 24 Jan 2003

  The Club's new committee,  elected at the AGM held on the 24th of Jan,  is the same as last years.   Everyone was satisfied that the committee had done a good job,  and as every member was prepared to continue in post,  no changes were sought.

Annual Dinner

   I attended the Club's Annual Dinner at the King's Head,  near the Safeway's Roundabout last Saturday (18/1/03).   I was surprised just how many people sat down to a good meal - around 30 folk I reckon.   The food was good,  tasty and the meat tender,  but I understand that the pub had recently changed hands,  and I got the impression that they had not quite got the serving of food sorted out yet.   Nevertheless these little niggles did not detract from a very pleasant evening.

    Brian,  the Treasurer organised a raffle for the benefit of the Club's coffers.   Every member had brought along a prize to contribute to the raffle.   I am not sure how many prizes were given out,  but many people went home with some very nice winnings.

    Whilst there was a lot of talk about radio and associated things,  the ladies were not left out and the conversation on each of the three tables ranged over many topics.   We also discovered that even after working all those DX stations,  our Chairman's knowledge of geography leaves a little to be desired!!   For further details you will have to ask him - I am sworn to secrecy!!

Report from G3TDM

Transmitter Tests

    The last two club meetings have seen a wonderful collection of transmitters.   These were brought together in order to try the club's microphone and headphone distribution box with as many different rigs as possible.   The idea behind the box is so that in a contest situation loggers can choose whether to listen to the contacts via headphones,  or loudspeakers.   It also allows the operator to use a boom microphone,  thus allowing him (or her) both hands free.

    The first of these club meetings proved that the device worked with only slight problems - the main one being that the boom microphone was rather basey and lower in output than the standard mikes that most rigs used.

    Between the first and second meeting Kevin obtained a different boom microphone,  which used an electret microphone.   This involved installing three AAA batteries in the distribution box.   The tests with both VHF and HF transmitters showed that this boom mike worked very well.

Report from G3TDM

Four Metre Antennas

    At the meeting on 7 March a discussion on various vertically polarised antennas that might be suitable for use with the four metre rigs that the club is getting,  took place.    Several different designs were given,  with dimensions,  where appropriate.   Every one went away with ideas as to how to make a simple antenna in order to be able to participate in the club's four metre net,  which hopefully will be in action by May.

Report from G3TDM

Antennas Matters Friday 21 March

     About a dozen members gathered at the Treviglas School.   Kevin went through the dates for meetings for the rest of the year,  in an attempt to fill the diary,  see the results above.
    Although I was under the impression we were going to discuss what kind of antenna the club should use (and possible assemble) for H.F. events,   Kevin brought along his newly constructed 4m antenna,  in order to use Stuart's antenna analyser,  to cut it to resonate on 70.4 MHz.   It was soon discovered that this could not be done inside the meeting room,  as people and furniture were too close to the antenna and caused unreliable results.   The exercise moved out into the cold and dark,  but was satisfactorily concluded.
    A discussion about the Club's web pages was held,  now that Google guided people to the site,  but not the "Home Page".   No conclusion was reached.   During the next week or two more members will look at the way Google directs searchers,  and hopefully more constructive ideas can be discussed at the next meeting.
    A short discussion was held on H.F. antennas and at the conclusion the club decided to experiment with a W3DZZ trap dipole.   this to be tried out at the next meeting.

Report from G3TDM

More Antenna Matters,  Friday 4 April

   The weather had been wonderful for the last few days.   Luckily it held for the Friday meeting.   When I arrived there were people busily getting an antenna pole ready for erection.   Whilst this continued I got my newly constructed 4 metre antenna out the car - not easy as all the legs on it were determined to prevent this from happening.   I got Clyde to connect up his antenna analyser to it and to my utter amazement it resonated at around 83 MHz,  not the 65 MHz it was estimated to have been.   I still have no idea why it is so far out.

    During this time W3DZZ trap dipole had been hoisted up the mast.   It didn't take long to get a rig connected to it and it was easy to see where the best SWR's were to be found.   We then compared it with Ted's significantly different results.   Don't know why.

    While the two antennas were being changed over Frank was intent to see what DX he could find on 20 metres.   Suddenly he looked around and asked "The rigs suddenly gone wrong - all the stations have disappeared"   Could this have coincided with the lowering of the antenna?

Report from G3TDM

Celtic Connections,  19 & 20 April

    Our normal school classroom was not available to us this weekend,  so we moved down the road a couple of hundred yards (should that be metres?) to the Junior School,   where we were able to occupy the corner of the Gym.   We quickly had the trap dipole erected and we were soon trying to find other stations with a 'Celtic Connection'.   This was the objective of the weekend - to work as many other stations in the various call areas that also had a 'Celtic Connection'.   We had reckoned that as there are not nearly as many stations in Cornwall as there are in Scotland or Ireland,  the main Celtic areas,  we would be in demand.  Unfortunately it did not work out quite like that.   It seemed that not many stations (none that we contacted!) knew about this 'Celtic Connections' weekend organised by the GMDX Club.   So we had an enjoyable time operating the H.F. bands.

    I brought along an old trap vertical antenna which I hadn't used for some years.   It was in two pieces when I unearthed it from the depths of the garage.   Unfortunately these two pieces did not fit together - it seemed that a length of tubing was missing from between these two parts.   So a piece of tubing was located which actually fitted quite well,  although somewhat bent!   We managed to erect this rather crooked device.   It did not take long to discover that it resonated a long way below the desired frequencies on 10m,  15m and 20m.   Very quickly we realised that this new piece of tube was too long.   Some calculations showed that we needed to remove approx. 300mm to get the antenna to resonate on the required frequencies.   Without going into all the details - it was not long before this length of tubing was reduced into many short lengths and the vertical gradually got shorter and shorter,  but eventually it resonated on about the correct frequencies.   A couple of radials cut for 20m and we managed to get a good SWR on that band.   The SWR on 15m could not be reduced below about 1.5:1.   Maybe a few more radials would improve this.

    And so an interesting weekend was spent - not many Celtic Connections - but we all learned something about antennas!
 

Report from G3TDM

50 MHz Contest,  27 April

    We met up at our usual meeting place - Treviglas School - and the well practised team soon had a four element beam up at about twenty feet above ground level.   The electronics were all connected up to it and there was nothing - no power out and no signals received!   It took a while for the penny to drop that six metres (50 MHz) is counted as an H.F. band on the Icom,  not a VHF band as I think of it.   As soon we put the antenna in the correct socket things became much more promising.   This time not only did we have a beam,  but a vertical to work the local stations on.

    We soon realised that there was not much in the way of activity on the band.   In the first hour we worked one station,  if I recall correctly.   This continued throughout the contest.   At the end of the contest (only four hours after the start) we had worked 13 stations - several of those were local stations,  and hence not high scorers!

    This was not an exciting contest,  but it did prove that the new foot switch and the microphone/headphone distribution box worked.   Furthermore all operators seemed to like the concept of using boom mikes.

    So we look forward to the next contest - 2 metre Contest on 17 & 18 May.

Report from G3TDM

G3ZVW - Our Distinguished Speaker

    Steve White,  G3ZVW,  the previous RadCom editor and writer of the "Whatever Next" column in the journal came to Cornwall and entertained us on 2 May 2003.

    Steve started off by showing slides of the Dayton Hamvention.   It was a real eye-opener to see just how our cousins across the pond approach Ham Radio.   It was very clear that money is much less of an obstacle to their desires to put together a first-class station,  although Steve reckoned that the price of second hand gear was more than here.   On the other hand the price of new stuff was about two thirds of the price here - I guess we have to thank import duty and VAT for that.   Not only did Steve visit the Hamvention,  but also a nearby surplus dealer - what a place - absolutely acres of stuff.

    After the coffee break Steve explained the concept behind the "Great Erg Race"  originally devised by the Verulam Club.   This is a constructional competition,  where groups of three members compete against each other to construct an electronic device to fulfil a brief that is handed out at the beginning of the competition.   Typical briefs might be to build a high voltage power supply,  with the power coming from a PP3 battery.   Another was build a transmitter and receiver of some sort to communicate over a distance of 20 feet.   The components had to be found in a box of carefully screened components.   It certainly sounded an interesting challenge to ones ingenuity.

    Steve has volunteered to organise a "Great Erg Race"  for the Newquay Club to take place in October this year.   It is hoped we can persuade teams from other clubs to come along and compete.

    Steve also brought from London a rather large box of 4m FM transceivers.   These were distributed to the members who had already agreed to buy one.   Lets hope that before too long we have a Club Net on 70.400 MHz.
 

Report from G3TDM

Club Net  9 May 2003

        Many of the club members are now up and running with their 4m fm ex pmr transceivers and the first 4m club net was held on May 9th.   A wide variety of antennas were being used,  all home made,  some internal and some external,  depending on neighbours or space available. The net lasted for over 1 hour and the overall conclusion was that the rigs performed well but audio levels seemed low and there is a recommended modification (Resistor Change) that is being done to improve audio gain. Power output from the rigs seem to be around 20watts.

    Some of the club members are leaving the rigs on standby in the evenings listening for members testing or other stations, so if anybody reading this has 4mtrs try 70.400MHz (FM) and give the Newquay boys a call.

   Report from M0BFB

Meeting on May 16th

    The meeting tonight did not go as planned - however it was none the worse for that!

    There was quite a lot of discussion about forthcoming meetings,  the new four metre rigs,  H.F. antennas and TVI problems.   By the time all this was over the evening had gone!
 

Report from G3TDM

Fox hunt on May 30th

    As arranged we all met at the appointed place and time.   There was some eight cars with a dozen,  or so,  members present.    Don,  G3JVN,  had already agreed to be the fox.   So after checking his radio to ensure it was working on 144.8 MHz he set off to his secret location.   After about half an hour we hadn't heard him,  so we all set off in different direstions to see if we could hear him from higher locations.   No-one heard him,  so Ted, G3YJX,   volunteered to become a "stand-in" fox.   This was agreed.   Some ten minutes,  or so,  later we heard his tone - indicating he was on location.

    I had teamed up with Bryan,  G8GOR,  and we quickly got a bearing on the new fox.   We were soon in the locality of the fox,  judging from the strength of his signal.   No matter how we tried to home in on him his location seemed to be changing.   We crossed over the St. Columb Major by-pass first one way then the other.   We did this several times.   We saw his car across a small valley in a field - when we located it behind a thorn hedge it was an old abandoned car in a field with no apparent entrance!    Around every corner we kept running across John, G3VDU,  who was having the same problem as us.   Eventually the three of us studied the map and found there was only one road that neither of us had been down.   Proceeding down this road,  who should we see but the fox and the rest of the hunters!!!   Needless to say we won no awards for our performance!!

    I hear that Don took longer to get to his destination than he had anticipated,  and when he listened on the frequency,  prior to starting his beacon,  he found a carrier already there!   So he packed up and went home!!

    Trevor and Colin were last heard of looking in the wrong area,  and when they were told they were the only ones who had not found the fox,  they gave up and headed for home.

    All in all a good evening - made all the better by the good weather - a perfect summer evening!

Report from G3TDM

Meeting on June 13th

    After a lengthy discussion trying to plan for the future meetings and events of the Club,  Bryan G8GOR,  gave a talk and demonstration of digital photography.

    He showed the sort of equipment that he used,  including his latest camera,  and the computer and its peripherals that he used.   He showed examples of pictures he had taken and showed some simple manipulations of the image using software that came bundled with the camera.

    There were quite a few members who were considering moving into digital photography and thus Bryan's talk was most opportune.

Report from G3TDM

Club Visit to The King Edward Mine,  June 15th

    Frank Kneebone,  M3CEP,  offered to show us around the old King Edward Mine,  at Troon,  south of Camborne.   It was quickly agreed that although having nothing to do with amateur radio,  this would be an interesting visit for the club,  and so at 10 a.m. on Sunday 15 June,  some nine Club members and their families met at the mine's car park.

    Frank,  who seems to spend most of his Sundays working on the old equipment there,   was already there and explained that although the site was no longer a working mine, it had been.   The mine had been taken over by the Camborne School of Mines.   The equipment at the mine has been preserved in the form that it would have been around the turn of the century (1902).   The working equipment showed how the ore bearing rock from the mine was crushed by a set of Californian Stamps.   The resulting sandy slurry was sent to various separating devices.   Each of these used slightly different techniques,  but all exploited the property that the tin ore is much heavier than the unwanted rock.   There were sloping,  moving tables,  large circular rotary tables and clever automatic tables that every few seconds washed the accumulated tin ore from the table.

    The tour of the tin ore separating shop ended with one of the volunteers demonstrating the technique of separating the ore using a shovel.

    Our visit to the mine ended with perhaps the most memorable event.   A fully restored,  enormous two cylinder two stroke diesel engine being started and run.   It was started by the use of compressed air,  and burning fuses inserted into the cylinders.   The engine quickly sprang into life and ran up to its governed speed of just over 300 r.p.m.   It was an enormous engine standing,  I would guess,  some ten feet tall and producing about 100 h.p. - about the same power as a modern car engine.

    The tour finished around 12:15 p.m..   Members dispersed and speaking personally Esther and I found a country pub where we had a good lunch.

Report from G3TDM

    Comparison of Four Metre Equipment,  Club Meeting,  July 25th

    At our previous meeting we agreed that this meeting would be devoted to comparing four metre rigs,  in order that the equipment we would use in the August contest could be identified.   It was agreed that we would erect a beam and try the equipment out on the air.   Ted said he would bring along his 4m rig,  Clyde agreed to bring his transverter and I would bring my ''706 and the linear to make up the same equipment as we used during Field Day.

    When I arrived at the meeting there were a number of people standing round chatting - but no antenna being erected.   We went inside and the meeting started in the usual way with all the formal stuff.   After a bit we learned that Frank had not brought the 4m antenna,  having no knowledge of the requirement,  despite being part of the previous meetings discussion..   Then Clyde stated that his transverter was NOT available for the club's use,  despite his assurance at the previous meeting that he would bring it for comparisons.

    So the meeting was left with nothing to do - people just drifted away.

    Note
        If any one else wishes to contribute to this section - i.e. reporting on Club activities,  I will be very pleased to accept contributions and can easily put them on this page.   Please e-mail them to g4adv"at"qsl.net

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