Edinburgh Morse Kits

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EMK

A new company has started up just north of the border. This venture is the child of a fellow Ham, MM0HJX, and will be producing Morse keys. The difference with these keys is that they will be in kit form. Yes, you will be putting them together yourself!

The website although not fully up and running yet, has some useful facilities for those wishing to learn the CODE. Take a look at what is on offer, or look back towards the end of the month when the site should be fully up and running. Link to the site is HERE

 

 

 

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Posted in Club News

GB0BB gets underway

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Friday evening saw the start of the GB0BB weekend.

This is a time when the club operates the call sign GB0BB in the aim of promoting to the world this last remaining Blackburn Beverley aircraft.

Within a couple shouts of CQ, the contacts started to flow and the log book was no longer looking empty – that is until gremlins started to set in. If something could go wrong, it did RF, I.T… it was all fine on Tuesday when setting up.. honest. With the quick response from the support team, downtime was minimised to a couple of minutes and the lads were back on the radio.

There were two stations running, one on 20m and the other on 40m, and five operators rotating throughout the night-time period to help maintain a constant operation.

The first contact was with a Japan station, which made Kevin’s day, this been his first ever contact into JA. Japan was not the only DX entity worked, with several pile ups in to North America as well as the EU and Asia. Kevin did try to work a ZL2 station, but alas, this was when a gremlin attacked.. Better luck next time Kev.

The morning saw a couple of relief operators arrive, and with this the added ability of fluent CW. All of a sudden the shack was quiet, just the sound of keys been pressed on the keyboard for the logging programs. As lunch arrived, the older guys started to feel the sound of their stomachs rumbling so a change of operators and a change of bands to try to avoid the ever-present contests.

Bad news: Half of the operators for operating over saturday night have called in sick, so now there will be only two. Good luck guys.

As the sun starts to set, the contest stations on 40m are becoming more prominent, making getting those contacts a struggle. If only there were no contests this weekend – oh well, we are persevering. The second station which was not setup for the WARC bands, is now relying on a 204ft dipole and a ATU to try to give us something on 17m and 12m. This has not really returned the results wanted, with what seems to be an inefficient setup. Hey, but atleast we have managed some contacts on 17m. Hopefully the evening will get better….

Good news: with the reduction in the number of operators this evening, we are splashing out, and indulging in a Chinese take-away, as opposed to the usual Fish & Chips.  Cheers 🙂

From all of us here, Have a nice time, and hope to work you on our next Event: Museums on the Air (GB0FP) in June.

Operators:
Friday Evening: Pat (2E0KCW), Bob (M0RWL), Marcin, (M0GVL), Kevin (2E0KVK), Sean (2E0SCA)
Saturday Daytime: Dave (G4ASA), Mike (G4VHM)

Saturday Evening: Andy (G7LRR), Pat (2E0KCW), Jason (M0MGF)

Sean

Sean

Marcin

Marcin

Kevin

Kevin

Bob

Bob

Pat

Pat

Dave and Mike

Mike And Dave

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Posted in Club News

GB0BB 15th 16th MARCH

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The Humber Fortress DX ARC will be activating GB0BB on the weekend of the 15th & 16th March 2014 from Fort Paull, East Yorkshire, where our club station is located, celebrating the 9th anniversary of this unique aircraft (the last remaining one of it’s type in the world) been located here at Fort Paull.
[cycloneslider id=”blackburn-belverley”]
We welcome operators & guest’s far and wide to our activations.

Those with campers/tents can be accommodate for a very small overnight fee which goes to the renovation fund at Fort Paull as the site receives NO funding from any organizations.

There are toilet facilities, and visitors to the club will be welcomed with a hot drink etc…
A special QSL card will be available for all stations worked over the weekend, showing the Blackburn Beverley in all it’s splendor.

To obtain your QSL card, please send a SSAE to the QSL Manager, G1TDN

IRCs are no longer Valid in the UK.
Anybody who wishes to attend be it for a day or the full weekend, then please contact our events co-coordinator (Pat Walsh)

Details may be found at the following web sites

Pat Walsh (Events Co-ordinator).
Humber Fortress DX ARC.

www.hfdxarc.co.uk

Fort Paull museum.

www.fortpaull.com

The plane was originally built at British Aerospace in Brough and made its final flight into Paull Aerodrome just outside the village, it remained there for ten years before being moved to the Beverley Army Museum where it was a focal point for visitors for several years. When the museum closed a bid was made by the Fort to purchase the aircraft. The bid was subsequently successful and in 2004 the Beverley returned home to Paull and opened to the public after re-assembly in 2005.

The staff at Fort Paull are extremely proud of this acquisition and are determined to preserve not just the fabric of the aircraft but also its history. Inside the aircraft you will find information regarding the history of the Blackburn Beverley and this specific aircraft in particular. You can also look around its massive frame and see just how much the plane could carry.

No visit to the Fort is complete without looking at the Blackburn Beverley.

Lots of information about the history of the XB259 can be found at beverley-association.org.uk

 

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Posted in Events

Burns Supper with a difference

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Every Burns Supper has its own special form and flavour, though there are probably more similarities than differences among these gastro-literary affairs. Individual tastes and talents will determine the character of your Burns Supper. Some celebrants may contribute the composition of original songs or poems; some may excel at giving toasts or reciting verse; while others may be captivating storytellers. A particular group of celebrants will, over time, develop a unique group character which will distinguish their own skills in the form of erecting aerials while drinking whisky and to make it very stealth.

We started off on a whim, without any notion of traditional form, other than the idea that we would get Kevin 2E0KVK on the 160m Band before we drink whisky (not necessarily in that order).

With a little bit of planning anyone and every thing(well, almost anyone) was in place to erect Kevin’s Aerial and have a Burns Night celebration to boot. All that’s needed is a place to gather (gracious host Mr Kevin 2E0KVK), plenty of haggis and neeps to go around (splendid chefs Valerie M6OGK and Kevin 2E0KVK), the master of ceremonies (foolhardy once again Kevin mine host), friendly celebrants (you and your drouthy cronies), and good Scotch drink to keep you warm (105 rings a bell). With these ingredients, at least a few celebrants will be able to make prattling fools of themselves, trying to do justice to the words and spirit of Robert Burns.

And if everyone brings along a wee dram then each, in turn, may become an object of mirth and amusement to the gathered throng.

Be prepared to enjoy yourself beyond all expectation. With good cheer and gay company we all may, in short, be able to ring in the Bard’s birthday fou rarely.
I’ve found that most people, although they may be unaware of it, love to attend Burns Suppers as we all did at Kevin’s.

With casting lines over tall trees and placing matching units at the base of an inverted L to elevating radials this was all done on the cold rainy day of Burns Super.

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Posted in Club News, Events, News Letters, Todays News
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