Members and visitors were treated to a display of 70s to 80s communications equipment and a    talk    by   our   guest   speaker   Mervyn Foster, G4KLE

Mervyn explained how he started out in radio and achieved his Morse proficiency in the Merchant Navy where he qualified as a Radio Officer in 1962. From there he moved to the Royal Corps of Signals and other military positions where his Morse stood him in good stead.  His uncle had held the callsign G3CN and this spurred an interest in   Amateur Radio which resulted in achieving G4KLE.

Mervyn gave a detailed explanation of the equipment he had on show and explained it’s use in the field under less than optimum conditions.

Twenty six members and guests turned out for our Annual Spring Junk Sale. Lots of stuff turned up and many members left with a fine collection of useful items.

Officers and committee members were returned unopposed at this year’s Annual General Meeting. All reports were read and approved by the meeting.

The officers are:
Chairman, Ken Amos
Vice Chairman, Bryan Bourne
Secretary, John Burnett
Treasurer, Owen Williams
Equipment Officer, Don Ross
Contest Officer: Committee members assisted by Don

The committee members:
Paul Bradfield
Gareth Howell
John West
David Lloyd
Martin Pope

Brian explained that Britain From Above was a four year Heritage Lottery funded project aimed at conserving 95,000 of the most endangered photographs from the Aerofilms Collection which had been acquired by English Heritage and their partners, the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland and Wales. The collection contains a unique aerial photographic archive of 1.2 million negatives representing 20^th century Britain between 1919 and 2006.

Unfortunately, some of the glass negatives and early film negatives had been stored in less than optimum conditions. Before digitising many needed restoration and the finished result is an impressive display documenting the changing face of Britain between 1919 and 1953. Brian was able to show aerial views of Shefford and surrounding districts which many members were able to relate to.

Everyone was encouraged to visit the website  to enjoy the collection and perhaps help the site identify some of the unknown locations.

www.britainfromabove.org.uk

Shefford showing the Railway Bridge

A good turn out heard Paul tell of the earliest Edison cylinder player dating from 1877. The cylinders were wrapped in tin foil on which the sound was imprinted. The foil was not the most robust covering as it could snag and tear. Alexander Graham Bell had developed the hard wax cylinder in 1888 which became the popular replacement until about 1912  when  they were replaced by  the disk.   Players developed in the USA and in the UK almost simultaneously and several companies at this time were working in both countries.

1924 saw the introduction of electronics in the recording and playback systems, but units using acoustic methods were still popular and they were less expensive. Auto changers were introduced during the 1930s to enable more than one record to be ‘stacked’ for almost continuous play and in 1948 the LP was introduced and the use of shellac had been replaced by vinyl. The seven inch, 45 rpm record with the large centre hole was introduced in 1949 and became popular through Pop music.

Lightweight portable players for 45 rpm disks became affordable to the youth of the day, but music centres and rack systems were the choice of those who wanted the new High Fidelity sound. In 1982 Sony and Phillips introduced the compact disk and the sound improvement was so great that the LPs began to disappear.

Paul demonstrated a number of players with records from the period which were played so the audience could sample the quality.  Brian, G8GHR also displayed some very early players from his extensive collection and the group was treated to sound samples from wax cylinders and early disks.

The presentation ended with some problems encountered in making the old units play again. Apart from gooey lubricants and dust and dirt, old electronics, perished rubber bits and wiring  had to be sorted and at times replaced.

The hall is being used for a memorial service.

While in Birkenhead, Owen paid a visit to the Woodhill Ferry Terminal where he found the  remains of U-534 on display.  The boat had been transported to Birkenhead in 1996 when if was part of the Warship Preservation Trust’s collection until the collection closed in 2006.

Owen outlined the history, saying it was built in Hamburg in 1942 and commissioned the same year. It undertook three patrols and was eventually sunk in May 1945 and salvaged in 1993.  Also detailed were the ships motors, armaments and number of personnel.  Apart from the boat itself, the museum has numerous displays showing equipment and artefacts from the boat.

Members saw a video of the VP8ORK DXpedition to South Orkney in 2011. The cold and snow didn’t seem to lessen the enthusiasm of those taking part. The expedition were fortunate in having a boat crew who pitched in to help set up and later, dismantle the tents and generator area. In spite of a morning with total loss of propagation the team made well over 60,000 QSOs during their stay. When packing up it was important they left nothing behind to indicate they had ever been there.

The cold damp evening seemed to put off many members from attending, but 13 braved the weather to attend. In total there were three entries, one in each of the Kit, Weekend Special and Major Project categories. The winner of the kit project was Paul, G8IUG with his USB Experimental interface board. The Weekend Special class was won by Dennis, M0JXM who submitted a VHF and 4m Power meter and switch unit. The Major Project category was won by Don, G4LOO who showed two HF Band Pass Filters. These offer greater rejection than the commercial units which have been in use by the club for the past few years.

Don, G4LOO explained this wasn’t the group’s first visit to Holy Island for the IOTA contest. They had been there in 2009.  This island ‘ticked many necessary boxes’ since it had reasonable accommodation costs, it wasn’t too far to travel and the site had twenty-four hour power and water. Don explained that this Holy Island was in Wales and reached by a modern bridge so equipment didn’t have to be packed for a trip by boat.

There appears to be many islands around England and Wales that look to be suitable for radio contesting but as Don went through the list, we found many are uninhabited, except for birds, and some are privately owned and some have routinely been used by other clubs. To make the selection of Holy Island even more acceptable, it is the second most wanted IOTA island in England and Wales.

The group, Don, Bryan, Andy, Terry and Ian planned to spend a week at the location and have the weekend for contesting. The rest of the week was spent playing radio, sightseeing, and a visit to Dublin.

The contest results weren’t bad either, their total QSOs of 1029 with 165 multipliers gave them seventh place in their category in the UK, and an enjoyable week.