Satellites at Elderslie

On 1st February, Tom, Adam and Michael visited the Elderslie Club (in a visit organised by Paul GM0EDJ). While there, Paul demonstrated satellite operation to the newly licensed Tom and Adam:

After this demo, Tom had a go at operating on HF (his first time), overseen by Michael:

… while Adam got to work building a 2m Slim Jim antenna from ladder line:

The GUWS is really grateful to Paul and the Elderslie Club for their hospitality and encouragement.

Slim Jims on Sauchiehall Street

A fortnight later (15th), we met at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street for an evening of antenna building. The antenna of choice was a 2m Slim Jim made from 450ohm ladder line. This is the antenna that Adam had built a fortnight earlier (as he couldn’t make it on 15th).

The evening began with a brief introduction to the antenna, with Torin MM1STK being on hand to explain how the physics worked! Tom, Torin, Yinan and Ross each built a Slim Jim for 2m, with the aim of making our 2m nets easier to operate on.

Fortunately we had brought a number of soldering irons along for the evening, meaning even the Committee could have a go!

We were very grateful to Paul GM0EDJ for a) providing the parts, and b) being on hand to show the group how to solder BNC plugs!

Yinan had made a tape measure yagi antenna before (for listening to the Space Shuttle), but enjoyed making the Slim Jim and learning about its different properties.

Tom discovered just how apt the old saying, ‘Measure twice, cut once’ is, and how important accurate measurements are for antennas like this. We staged an informal SWR contest later on in the evening to see how accurately we had cut and soldered the antennas up!

The real star of the evening, however, was Alzbeta MM/OM1DP who not only served as an excellent ‘mast’ for measuring the SWR of completed antennas, but also learned how to solder BNC plugs onto coax and spent the evening hunched over a table dealing with these pesky connectors!

All in all, we’ve had a great couple of meetings. If you are interested in learning more about the club or the hobby, why not come along to our next meeting on 29th, when we have a visiting speaker coming to talk to us about SOTA.

This was a good opportunity for our two recently licensed MM7s to put their new training into action!

In the pictures below, you can see Tom, Yinan and Adam building the antenna (Michael, Alzbeta, Torin and Paul were hiding behind the camera!)

Having tested the dipole, Michael put out a few CQ calls on 10m CW. Sadly, being in a metal framed building, and the band being closed, meant that we didn’t make any contacts. However, we now have a 10m dipole we can use for club events.

We also arranged that, going forward, we will meet fortnightly on a Thursday evening. Our next meeting will be 1st February where, all being well, we will join Paul at the Elderslie Club Shack for an evening playing with satellites! An evening not to be missed.

We will list future dates elsewhere on the website.

Michael GM5AUG - Chairman

Hope to see you there!

In the early morning of 28th October, Yinan took his homemade tape measure yagi, attached to his Quansheng handheld transceiver, coupled with a decoder, and received these images, transmitted by the Space Station thousands of miles away.

Yinan explained that “the antenna is basically five pieces of tape measure, each gaffer taped to a pole. By the lengths of tape measure being accurately cut, and placed in a particular pattern, an effective yagi antenna can be made from everyday household components.”

SSTV, or Slow Scan Television, is used by radio amateurs to encode image data for transfer over the radio. The image is encoded into an audio form (in a similar way to a fax machine message). This is then sent over the airwaves, received by another amateur who can then decode the image using a computer or smartphone app. SSTV has existed since the late 1950s, and was used extensively by the Russian and American space agencies during the 1960s, with many of the now infamous moon landing images being transferred in this way. You can read more about SSTV by clicking here.

SSTV has improved in recent years, and colour data can now be encoded into the transmission. Owing to a number of factors, the image quality can vary - not least the fact that Yinan’s antenna is homemade and his radio a fairly budget example!

However, as you will see from the image, the picture is clearly discernible and much of the writing legible:

Congratulations to Yinan for his dedication to the hobby in getting up so early on a Saturday morning!

The team, however, wanted it to be more than just a ‘How to pass your exam’ day, so tried to incorporate real-world examples in to the day, from encourgaing the students to make their first QSOs on the air, through to demonstrating a new packet node established by Michael ‘AUG.

The three candidates have their tests booked in the coming weeks: we wish them well and look forward to welcoming three new members into the amateur radio fraternity.

Images from the day:

Torin leading a session on callsigns and suffixes

Alzbeta leading a session on transmitter block diagrams and theory

Getting hands on on two metres

More getting hands on!

After a successful leaflet campaign across campus, we were pleased to welcome three new members, Yinan, Tom and Adam.

We’ve an exciting year ahead, including a Foundation Licence training day (on 21st October), a visit to the Stirling ARC’s shack, and a Christmas outing. We are also planning to start monthly meetings, welcoming visiting speakers and arranging introductions to the many and exciting aspects of amateur radio.

Some of the GUWS members: Michael GM5AUG, Adam, Tom, Torin MM1STK, Yinan MM7HFB, Alzbeta OM1DP and Cris MM0UXD

If you are interested in joining us, contact us from the front page.

This weekend Torin MM1STK, Alzbeta MM/OM1DP and Michael GM5AUG travelled down from Glasgow to near Sanquhar to help rebuild Jim’s antenna ‘farm’ and reorganise his shack.

As well as cutting a dipole for a 60m spot frequency, the team made a fan dipole for some of the higher HF bands, reorganised and labelled the many feeders coming in to the shack, and fault-finded the various rotators and winch systems. A special part of the weekend was Jim being able to share his radio knowledge with the young team, giving helpful advice for coiling wires and siting aerials.

Jim, 85, a former Royal Signals radio operator, reflecting on the weekend, said “I could not have asked for a better group of youngsters, they’re a credit to the hobby.”

As the GUWS does not have a shack of its own, Jim has kindly invited the Society to use his QTH as their /A shack. So listen out for MS0WSG/A and GS4AGU/A in the coming weeks and months!

Michael GM5AUG (GUWS Chairman and DR13), said “It was excellent that the GUWS were able to offer assistance to Jim in this way. All of us learned a lot and bonded as a team. We look forward to visting Sanquhar again and operating from Jim’s excellent QTH.”

See some photos below:

Alžbeta up the ladder

Torin operating

Not me, ‘Guv!

Torin cutting the dipole centre

Watch your back!

Fine tuning the dipole centre

Alžbeta drilling the dipole centre

Michael and Alžbeta fitting the dipole

A long way up!

The Tower (1)

The Tower (2)

Following his appointment by Tony MM0TMZ, and the subsequent approval by the RSGB, we’re pleased to share the news that our Chairman, Michael Topple GM5AUG, is the new DR13 (District Representative 13) for Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway.

Working with the Regional Representative (Tony MM0TMZ), RSGB District Representatives work to promote the work of the RSGB in the local area. The Team is there to represent both the RSGB and its membership, provide support for local amateur radio clubs and groups, and advise on a wide range of amateur radio matters.

GUWS provides two of Scotland’s District Representatives. Harry (GM1VFR), our Secretary, is DR12 for Glasgow, Central and Lanarkshire.

For more information about the RSGB, this link gives information about the Regional Team, while this link offers a brief introduction to the RSGB as a whole.

The GUWS 2m Nets, which take place on Mondays at 18.00 local time, are taking a break over the summer holidays. We anticipate these re-starting in September, but will make any announcement through the usual channels.

We would like to thank the local amateurs who have called in, whether members or not. We hope to hear you again in the new academic year.

73, from the GUWS Committee

Chris Tran GM3WOJ (GU student 1969-1974) is well known in the Amateur Radio community. He is a successful contester and has an impressive station in the north east of Scotland.

We were pleased to read Chris’ article in the May RadCom, where he describes how he switches between transmit and receive at his high power contesting station. He shows a few switching systems and discusses logging software.

Lastly, Chris offers some practical advice about shack layout to allow operators to make the most of their shacks.

Chris’ article can be found in the May RadCom, and his series continues in subsequent months.