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CLUB WEB Site: http://www.btinternet.com/~ray.howells/srcc/srcchome.htm

"A" MEETING: 1st FEBRUARY "B" MEETING: 15th FEBRUARY

HISTORY OF EDDYSTONE RECEIVERS INFORMAL GATHERING AND TECHNICAL CHINWAG.

Dear Members,

I hope you all have had a very pleasant Christmas and New Year, and hope that 1999 will be illness and trouble free. We visited family and friends, but by and large we had a very quiet one. At the AGM in April I will not be standing for secretary. I have been doing this for ten years, 120 newsletters, 480 pages countless words and letters and I feel it is time that someone else took on this task. All volunteers please contact your chairman Graham G3RJW.

In this age of Black Boxes and where a large percentage of Amateur gear comes from the Far East it is very easy to forget that before, during and after the war this country had a very large industry of radio and electronic equipment, which sadly now is very depleted. It is very opportune therefore that Graham Marshall G3RJW your Chairman is coming to tell the story of one such manufacturer, namely Eddystone. Graham has collected many of their receivers covering many years of production, and he will describe various models and their history. If any members have any awkward questions it would be nice if Graham could have notice. This should be a very interesting and informative evening.

This evening saw the use for the first time of a splitter unit we bought which enabled the display of four monitors at the same time, no member therefore was very far from a screen. Ray Howells G4FFY used them to good effect to demonstrate what information can be obtained, or sent, by the use of Internet and E-Mail. He was assisted by David GOPAR who between them brought along the monitors. Typical of the information that Ray obtained and displayed direct from America was information for the 4CX250 and also he was able to contact Australia direct through Internet landlines, satellites etc. The time factor of getting back information varied considerably which could be rather off-putting, and also one had to be careful of the rates charged and the various services available as there are at many Internet Service Providers (ISP). This certainly was a very good demonstration of the uses to which this system could be put; it is very similar to Amateur Packet with the advantage that it is univ ersal and worldwide to anyone with a telephone line who subscribes to it. It probably would be a very good hobby or time-user for young people with a very retentive memory, and for anyone prepared to master all the intricacies. To those who had studied the system it appeared simple, to the novice - very complicated, and to me the demonstration made it so involved that it would put me off adopting it. However it was a very interesting evening and we are indebted to Ray and David for giving it and bringing along all the equipment.

Time is getting short, so please hurry up and make your reservations to Ray Howells at 9 Aultone Road, Sutton SM1 3LD (0181-644 7589), or at the club meeting. The cost will be £13.50 each, so deposits to Ray £5 each, as numbers are limited to 30. This will take place on Saturday 20th March, 7.30 for 8.oc prompt start, at the Windmill, Stafford Road, Wallington, 100yds from the Manor Rd traffic lights and on the South side. This is the same place as last year and we have also been there in the past. We have been well satisfied with the service. The menu is quite flexible but the chef would like some notice of your preferences in advance. It is suggested that starters would either be SOUP OR PRAWN COCKTAIL. For the main course there is available ROAST BEEF, ROAST LAMB OR FISH with the usual vegetables, give Ray your preferences with your deposit. I suggest that those with special dietary needs could ring Mr. Paul McPherson at the Windmill on 0181 773 9141. There will be a sherry recep tion and we will be having the usual things that make these dinners go with a swing.... But no long speeches. We are all looking forward to an excellent evening.

This is the letter from Pat held over from last newsletter: -

Now here is a disaster story for you. I once wrote and article for the then FM News entitled "A Cautionary Tale" and I think I could well use the same title again. The story goes like this...

I have been printing computer labels for more years than I like to remember. They look smart for business purposes and help to avoid writer's cramp, particularly at Christmas. Initially my helpmate was a very simple minded dot-matrix printer, which gave many years of faithful service. It was followed in due course by a smarter dot matrix and finally I got with it and invested in an ink-jet. Now to be fair, the ink-jet never claimed to be able to cope with labels, but on the other hand it didn't specifically say it couldn't, and in practice it did. We continued very happily for about three years.

Then a few months ago, I realised I hadn't bought a new toy for a while, so I treated myself to an upgrade of the same make. There was nothing wrong with the old one and at first I thought I might keep it for things like draft copies and labels, but I didn't really have the space and it didn't seem worth the bother of remembering to keep switching the system between the two of them. So I put on my Lady Bountiful hat and ink-jet#1 followed its predecessors to the enthusiastic hands of one of the local schools. Me and ink-jet#2 went on our merry ways. Until last week that is when I decided to do the Christmas card label run. It didn't go well from the start. I wanted to use a pretty font, but although I have a fair choice they all came out with the characters too tall so that on label 6, the last on the strip, the last line of the address would be missing. I was feeling frustrated and irritated and if I'd had any sense I would have quit and come back to it another time - there wasn't any rush . But you don't like to be beaten by these inanimate beasties do you, so I pressed on.

I figured a way round the problem and set the run going. The printer responded by leaving out half the addresses and to add insult to injury, it left a streak at ink over the last strip it did print. (I really should have quit). I had a think and realised that I had left the printer set to print double sided which makes it produce "pages" in what seems a logical order to an electronic gadget, but seems weird to the human brain unless you have got it fully switched on! OK, give it the chance to print the missing ones and we were almost there. The last strip went in and it only had to print one address when......! The printer ceased to be a happy bunny and told me so by making a very nasty noise.

When I investigated 1 nearly went crackers, bananas or ballistic (whatever the "in" phrase Is). Yes, you've guessed it. One of the labels had peeled off from the backing sheet and attached itself lovingly to a complex bit of the printer's innards - sticky side down. What a mess. My resultant wails echoed through the house and brought husband Peter at a rate of knots. Between us we spent ages scraping it off, or at least enough to remove the blockage, only to find that in the process we had distorted one of three little thin metal springs that keep the paper feeding through the right direction. As it was, the silly thing was trying to squeeze the whole of itself through a tiny gap. More nasty noises from the printer and if the window had been open I think the printer would have gone sailing through it! I tried to drown my sorrow with a few slurps of vino which must have activated the dormant area of the brain, because lateral thinking clicked in I figured that if the little spring didn't wan t to stay in the right place maybe it could be helped. So now the printer is working again - courtesy of three thin strips of sellotape! I don't know for how long. One thing I do know though is that I shall never again put a label through the printer. Ah well, at least these little hazards stop you getting bored!

Thanks Pat for that salutary story. It reminds me of the saying "If it ain't broken...don't mend it". Or if its working, don't "up-date" it! I've been using this same IBM letter writer for ten years and I'm always being told I should get another computer! All the best for 1999 Pat.

Daphne and I had a very pleasant Christmas with family and friends. An old friend of mine dating back to my days at the Middle East Signals School, G3FVO, came south for a couple of days so we had plenty to talk about.

I had one particularly interesting present from a contact of mine - 5 old Morse keys! He is Italian and I understand that he picked them up at local junk sales so the country must be a veritable gold-mine! One is particularly Interesting because it is just a strip of brass fixed to the wooden base at the front whilst the working end operates through a simple brass yoke. The only adjustment is the gap. I believe it is a very early key and now it has been cleaned. It is quite impressive. Quite a talking point. The other keys appear to be fairly old and I also have a wartime Junkers key which looks Interesting. The exercise now is to try and date them - unfortunately none of the early ones has any information on them.

Talking about Morse, I was interested to read your comment about the future of the Morse test. The RSGB really does seem to have made a real pigs-ear with their handling of international developments. Having read several editorials in various magazines there seems to be a very strong opinion that the RSGB, despite holding a referendum amongst the membership about two years ago when there was a majority view that the current regulations should be continued. Some 7600 members responded and it is now trying to force through an arbitrary view that opinion has changed without the need for a further membership consultation in depth. It will be interesting to see how matters develop but several people I know have resigned in disgust and there is a report in one magazine that both the Chief and Deputy Chief Morse Examiners for the RSGB have also resigned.

I was pleased to read your happy news that you and Blanca are now grandparents - it is interesting to see how grandchildren develop. We now have six: the eldest is at University!

All the best for the New Year. If I don't catch up with you before, I do hope to join you at VHF field day.

Thanks for that Letter Ted. It's a bit early to jump the gun, but I suppose the demise of Morse eventually will be inevitable.

• I bumped into John Simkins G8lYS the other day with his "little" son who is now taller than John and is now at York University. How time flies.
• We now have a 70 cm crossed Yagi we wish to install on the mast at the Terra Nova. We require a couple of lengths of UR67 or RG213 (30yds each). If anyone has some spare, please ring Maurice, otherwise we will purchase same.
• VHF NFD. We now have booked the usual site with the farmer for the 3/4th July. We are still looking for recruits so if you are not already on our usual list of supporters, contact me.
• CONSTRUCTIONAL CONTEST. Don't forget this will be in May so give it a thought and a polish for the May meeting. Thanks to Arthur G4YRB the base has now been extended so there is plenty of room for your inscription!
• AFTER THE LAST MEETING it appears that we mislaid one of the special leads with a tag and ferrite rings for the splitter for the monitors. If anyone has knowledge of this please contact G4DDY or myself.
• I understand that the RA has (since this year) allowed non-licensed people the opportunity of sending greetings messages from an amateur station under the direct supervision of the licensed amateur. Each message should not be more than two minutes, and can only send one message to each station. These contacts are allowed between UK stations, Canada, Pitcairn Island and the Falkland Islands. Club stations also have this facility to the USA.

CUSHCRAFT vertical five band vertical antenna and also a CUSHCRAFT vertical eight-band antenna. Only been used for a very few months. Bargains at £100 and £120 ONO. Contact Barry Mawn, Carshalton, 0181 646 3422.

It is with the deepest regret that I have to report that Jack became a silent key on 1st January. He was an active member of the SRCC for about ten years when he lived in Coombe Road until he moved to Mitcham. I have only just heard this sad news and I understand that the funeral was on the 13th. Our deepest condolences to his relatives.

That's the lot for this newsletter. As I mentioned earlier, there is a vacancy for the position of Secretary, so I have included a nomination form for the AGM in April. Hope to see you at the Eddystone talk on Monday.

88 Es 73

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for the position of Secretary/Member on the SRCC committee 1999 - 2000

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