Lincoln Short Wave Club

Jim Stevenson, G0EJQ

Playing about with radios from an early age Jim was interested in radio for most of his life; he sat the RAE in 1984 and gained the callsign G1PCI; all Jim wanted to do was go on HF, ‘dxing’. Jim took his Morse test at Humber Radio and became G0EJQ in January 1985. He loved chasing DX on single sideband and working portable and mobile.

Jim joined the Lincoln Short Wave Club in 1998 and served on the Committee for a number of years. He enjoyed taking part in contests and helping with special event stations.

Jim at Fir Park August 2018

Jim was RR for Region13 and in 2012 was honoured to represent the RSGB with Kath and Dave Wilson (President of the RSGB) at the Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace where he had a few words with HRH Prince Phillip, Patron of the RSGB.

Originating from Grimsby Jim was a fisherman and worked on the trawlers all his working life. He recently organised a visit to the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre for the club; as would be expected when visiting Grimsby, the trip ended with a Fish and Chip lunch.

On the Ross Tiger, Grimsby Fishig Heritage Centre

Jim spent 19 days in Lincoln County Hospital with a collapsed lung and was transferred to Nottingham City Hospital where he underwent surgery; he seemed to be recovering well and was in contact with many friends ‘texting’ and on Facebook until just hours before his death on 4^th March 2019.

The first course of 2019 ended successfully with six candidates passing their Intermediate Examination on Saturday 23^rd March.

The ‘Practical’ Workshop

The successful candidates Tom M6TQB, Andy M6OYQ, Arthur M6LYK, Lee M6RCI, Sam M3HKU and Eddy M3HME.

It is hoped to run a Foundation Course over the weekend of 4^th/5^th May; for details please use the contact tab above.

Bob G7AVU will be giving a talk on the Lincoln Repeaters on the 27th March starting at 8pm in the Village Hall, Aisthorpe. Whether you use the repeaters or not please come along as issues such as ongoing abuse and poor operating will be discussed along with other repeater related topics. This will be a chance to have your say and show your support for the work of the Lincoln repeater group.

For the second year in a row we had a tie for Chairman so Steve M5ZZZ and Roger G3PVU agreed to take on the job between them; Steve will serve for the first half and Roger the second. No nominations were received for the position of Activity Officer but since the AGM Andy G0FVI has been co-opted onto the Committee as our Activity Officer.

Officers

Chairman 50/50 Steve M5ZZZ and Roger G3PVU

Secretary Pam G4STO

Treasurer Stephen M5SJM

Activity Officer Andy G0FVI

Ordinary Members

Adrian M0NWK

Alistair 2E0TEF

Ian G4EVK

Les G1LQB

Peter 2E0FGA

Members of the club at their Christmas Dinner which was held at the Fox and Hounds in Willingham by Stow.

A few members of the club taking part in a ‘Pub’ Quiz organised by Steve M5ZZZ; we stopped at half time for a few refreshments.

On the 28^th November we were treated to a talk on Amateur Satellites by Stephen 2E0SSM. He started by talking about the different types of orbits in use by all satellites and then moved onto the more specific orbits and the various types of satellite that amateur radio uses. A look at antenna’s and the effects of doppler shift leading to the need to correct frequencies followed. Stephen also gave information on which frequencies to listen on and some very useful websites for those of us who wanted to try it out for ourselves.

The talk was very well received and Stephen gave a demonstration after the talk using the equipment in the club radio shack.

Mary G6SWZ

Photo Alistair M0TEF

Wednesday 21st saw the LSWC hold their annual Construction Contest for the Joe Rose Memorial Trophy. Last year saw us two different versions of ATV transmitter. One being for home use including a partly assembled water cooled power amplifier (For an update see below) built by Adrian M0NWK. The second, and also the winner for last year, being a fully portable transceiver in a case built by Jason G7KWP.

Adrian M0NWK

This year Started off with a similar theme. Adrian M0NWK, started off by showing us his Arduino powered controller for a comtech 23cm ATV transmitter.

This was achieved by removing the dip switches from the transmitter and replacing them with a SSR (Solid State Relay) board. These relays are then controlled by the Arduino which also shows the selected frequency on the front LCD.

Adrian also showed us the completed Water Cooled Power Amplifier which was shown the previous year. Also shown was an Arduino controlled Temperature monitor.

Andy G0FVI

Next up was Andy G0FVI. Who has constructed an 80m CW receiver which will eventually become a transceiver in time. By choosing an IF of around 10.695 this allowed him to use bits from numerous scrap 11m radios he had laying around.

The bandpass filter was fabricated from two Toko type ferrite core coils.
The first mixer is based around an SA612 chip and also provides amplification. In retrospect this may have been a bad idea as the chip does produce a few ‘birdies’ although they are well below main signal level.
The VFO is an Alan Lake design for 80m with the L/C of the tuned circuit changed to give an output of 7.2-7.1 MHz. Output is buffered in the VFO enclosure and this is fed to the 1^st mixer.
Output of the 1^st mixer is fed to a 10.7 MHz XTAL filter with a bandwidth of about 15-20KHz.
The IF amp is based around an MC1350 IC. Negative DC feedback from following stages provide AGC action (fast/slow).
Demodualtion to provide audio out is achieved using a diode ring mixer. Such a mixer provides a nice clean output with little spurious signals. A 10.695 MHz signal is fed into the ring mixer (together with IF).
Demodulated audio is fed to a 2 transistor pre-amp which also provides DC feedback for AGC. Audio is sampled at this stage and fed to another transistor amp to drive the signal meter (taken from an 11m walkie talkie!).
The audio stage is based on a rather ancient LM380N!

All stages were built and tested using a sig gen/scope etc. before being connected. Great care was taken with the construction of the VFO, whose spectral purity I was finally able to look at using an SDRplay RSP1A and a beta release spectrum analyser app.

Controls are IF (RF) gain, volume, RIT, AGC fast/slow and VFO.

When I complete this I will add a prefabricated board for PA and some TX/RX switching (should just about fit). I will sample VFO and mix with TX XTAL oscillator, add some filtering and off to PA. Might be an idea to have a go at matching XTAL filter in the receiver too.

David G6MAF

Next up was David G6MAF. Who had constructed a RF tap, or signal monitor which covered 2-30MHz. A device like this is very useful for monitoring your own transmissions by connecting straight into the feed line. With 50 ohms through to the antenna from the transmitter, a second output is taken and attenuated for feeding into a device such as a spectrum analyser etc…

Bob G4PDF

For the final item we made full circle as Bob, G4PDF, showed off his portable 5GHz ATV Transceiver. The equipment was all installed in a box which was mounted to the back of the dish which was then fixed to a tri-pod. The transceiver included a screen overlay showing his Callsign and also converted a received GPS signal into a locator which is also displayed.

The Winner

It was at this point after all had builds had been shown that contestants left the room for the remaining to vote on who’s they thought was the best. After discussions about complexity, imagination, modules or scratch built & uniqueness, the vote was in.

The contestants were called back in and the Winner was…… Bob G4PDF, with his 5GHz ATV.

The trophy will be awarded at the clubs AGM.

LSWCs ever popular Surplus Equipment Sale took place on Wednesday 31^st October in the Village Hall at Aisthorpe when regular attendees from the East Riding of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and, of course, Lincolnshire were able to off load their surplus equipment and pick up a few bargains. The date of our next sale is 24^th April 2019.

A couple of the lots

Our visitors (and some members)

Record numbers attended this year’s National Hamfest which was held on the 28^th and 29^th September. The George Stephenson Hall was filled with traders from around the UK and Europe together with Clubs and Special Interest Groups and RSGB Books and RSGB Committees. There was a large flea market area and outside traders together with the Bring and Buy marquee and Camb Hams with Flossie running GB18NH.

Below are a few photos to remind you of this year’s Hamfest or to show you what you missed.