The Electronic Edition of

The Oldham Rally is by tradition held on the 3^rd Sunday of January making it the first rally of the year. It was held at the Oldham Sports and Leisure Centre and over 41 traders attended this year. The rally organiser Hazel Crabtree 2E1WIC and her large team of enthusiastic helpers were hard at work from 6am ensuring the venue was ready for when the traders arrived.

The loading and unloading of traders’ goods went very smoothly this year. But once again we were plagued by fog in the late part of the morning. Among those on marshalling duty at the car park and doing an outstanding job of organising both Traders and club members was Jamie Jackson M3BDP (see left).

The team from Radioworld were there with plenty of bargains and Waters and Stanton made the journey all the way from Essex to put on a large stand. The ever popular Bring and Buy stall was run by members of RADARS, the Rochdale And District Amateur Radio Society.

As always the rally was well attended and traders reported good business during the day.

Once again there we

re some grumbles about the limited parking at this venue but overall the feedback about the event was good.

Congratulations are due to the following members who were successful in passing the last Radio Amateurs Examination administered by City & Guilds. They sat the exam at the club in December 2003

An extensive array of equipment was set up for the day, which included two separate HF stations. One was for the 20/15/10 metre bands and made good use of our new 60-foot tower and Tri-Band beam to work stations around the world. The other using the clubs G5RV antenna operated 80/40 metres to contact other TDOTA stations across the UK.

In addition to the 3 transmitting stations a separate HF receiving station was set up where the Guides and Brownies could gain experience of tuning stations in under the watchful eye of Bert G7JUL.

An activity that generated a lot of interest was sending Morse code using an oscillator. One of the Oldham clubs younger members 12 year old SWL Rosanna Chew supervised those sending and made sure they got their dots and dashes right.

Other events that took place during the day included TDOTA quizzes and radio related word searches.

A good time was had by all during what turned out to be a very busy day. In total about 70 Brownies and Guides from:-

With thanks to Margaret Kenworthy, District Commissioner for the Guides and Brownies for organising the Girls and to the following club members for their time, expertise and hard work on the day.

Paul Hazel M0CQE	Ian Moth M0IJM
Mike Crossley M1CVL	Elizabeth Crossley M0LIS
Chris Mackay M3TVL	Alan Burgess G4GLV
Sue Burgess G0RKE	Bertie Whitcher G7JUL
Geoff Ashton M0AUG	Keith Graham M0KGM
Peter Rushton G7PMZ	Trevor Hawkins M5AKA
Chris Cunliffe G7OOD	Hannah Crossley M3EBG
Geoff Oliver G0BJR	Rosanna Chew SWL

Blyth Dockyard was the venue to meet our famous River Class Corvette or Frigate. It was my first sea going ship, H.M.S Dart. It was cross between a Trawler and a Destroyer, but broad of beam and not too much of a roll in rough seas. Even so I had to go out in the fresh air from time to time until I got my sea legs. She was armed with 4inch guns fore and aft, also 10 Oerlikons, 6 fitted later with Gyro sights. Hedgehog bombs for anti submarine operations. Full mine sweeping gear, LL Sweeps, Acoustic Hammer, Paravanes and such.

After sea trials we had a spell at Tobermory - 2 weeks of training exercises on the Isles of Mull. We went through all the rigors of war at sea, the famous Commodore Stevenson "The Terror" saw to that. Anyway we got through it and we were soon on our way to Belfast, for short two days. Whilst off watch, I managed to get in a dance at the local hall, it seemed we lost one chap there. He went AWOL. Apparently he knew a widow, as he was in the Regular Naval Service perhaps she was an old girlfriend. His replacement turned out to be my oppo: although he was 10 years older than I was, a Scots lad from Hawick.

It was then off to Gibraltar with 3-armed trawlers, and as we had the doctor on board we were the leader of the group. We had to zigzag in front of the convoy while each Trawler took up position to port and starboard and one astern. Going through the Straits we had a sleepless night with Torpedo Boats charging around dropping depth charges. During the day we got a suspect ‘ping’ so dropped a few depth charges, and as we were with the convoy we sent for a Destroyer. Soon after we were in Algiers harbour and the Destroyer came alongside. It had found and sank the sub.

Algiers is French. I was always interested in the language. I tried it out in the local café and they tried out their English. The dress of the day was shorts, black stockings and white shirts. With plenty of Bars and other attractions, some of the lads came back - well I’ll not dwell on that and leave it to your imagination.

We went back to Gib again then left with another escort group. Destination USA - a slow journey accompanying a Floating Dock across the "Pond". The Port was Norfolk, Virginia. 3 weeks at that and the change of hours, 5 hours plus half an hour a day during the dog watches. What with the watery spuds below deck due to the heat, we were ready to climb the bulkhead in frustration, and to top it all we were running short of fuel. We rendezvoused with a tanker. It was fascinating to watch how they passed lines over and pipes without stopping, as we couldn’t be a sitting target for any passing U boat. It was a credit to the seamanship of both Skippers.

One of the crew in the convoy was suffering from the effects of smoke after a small fire, so we had to pass an oxygen bottle over by using all the small ropes in the ship including the signal halyards. These had a small clip like hook on them. One caught in our PO’s ring on his finger and with the pull of both ships took a lot of his flesh with it. I have never worn a ring since.

After 21 days we put into a dock in Norfolk Virginia or Va. It was a dry one, we spent most of the morning loading stores, and most of it was paint. We had to scrape the bottom of the ship, but by lunchtime we left it to an army of dockers with sprayers to red lead the hull. After lunch we had a run shore, and try out the "Drug Stores". They sold fizzy drinks, ice cream, and every sandwich imaginable plus a very gassy beer. Its no wonder the yanks over here liked ours. It was like a meeting place for most young people.

Some Americans were quite taken up with the English pounds. But no one had the 4 dollars to exchange. I don’t think I would like to have lived there. It was a bit too warm for me. But the visit was well worth it and I’m thankful to the Navy for the free trip.

Cars used to be along side the docks. Picking up the lonely sailors to take to their homes, and give them a good time. I do know that because of the food parcels, my mother use to get for a while after the war. We went up the river to Portsmouth and it’s dockyard. What a place - it went on for miles. Its no wonder they called it the Ship City of America, we had to pick up a tramcar to the dockyard gates. It must have been a Naval training base, as we got a lot of young sailors or should I say "Gobs" - like our OS’s. They came round the ship, and were avid listeners to the tales of our shipmates swinging the lamp. They were most impressed by the rusty depth charges, (they called them ash cans) it proved we had been a long time at sea. Some of them were just out of school I’m sure They looked very smart in their white suits and pork pie hats.

I’m glad to say I was a sailor in those days. Thankfully I’ve no tales of blood and guts. But I have enough sea miles under my keel to have travelled three and half times round the world. However we will carry on to the amusement in yankey land and U.S.A.

"Ocean View" was an amusement park on the sea front. We went there for a dance that I thought would be OK, however it was nothing like home. The chance of getting a young lady partner to dance with was nil, you had to know the lady and be introduced to the family. Also you had to ask permission to take the lady out. I was not too bothered as I had a very good partner in one of the lads from the ship who could take the lady part, so that was it. He was a Manchester lad, so we passed that time on as regards dancing. We did meet up with two more lads. One had plenty of medals and was in the Submarine Service. But the problem was we were all broke, as my pay was 30 shillings every 2 weeks. So that meant I had 6 dollars to go ashore with, and 2 dollars for stockings at the start. I couldn’t get involved with anything, so my nose was kept clean as the saying goes.

My brother paid many visits to New York and Baltimore, he was in the DEMS as a gunner on merchant ships. These were attached to the RN, like all the other services who could work the guns, and show the U Boats they could fight back.

The time to leave came all too soon but now with plenty of stores and paint. They said our first Lieut. Jimmy the one, in charge of supplies, ordered too much and got a blast for it, well the paint came in 4 gal: Buckets. Cleaned out they made a great bucket to do our washing in. It was a bonus to be able to soak our gear or boil it in the galley. There was no soap powder, we had to shave bits off the blocks of soap - all part of shipboard life.

After a day at sea we hit the tail end of a storm. I dread to think what the centre was because the tail end was bad enough. In fact it broke the Asdic Dome so we couldn’t Ping any subs. Orders came to alter course for Newfoundland. Not too far from the coast we met Coastal Command flying boats; who made us close up for action stations with his report of a suspect sub. However it turned out to be Whales I’m glad to say. I read his Aldis message "Whale" then "I GO".

I think the port was Argentia, Newfoundland. Very basic - all wood buildings, but there was a bowling alley and canteens. So while we were in dry dock we were introduced to the joys of bowling, hamburgers, and mountains of Ice cream. We hadn’t seen ice cream for ages; I know I ended up with tummy ache. The next ship sent some over before we left. Sadly the canteen had run dry of beer but they said the next place a few miles away had some. So most of us had a walk only to find empty cans in the canteen so that was it.

Back at sea again it was bad enough with no storm. I didn’t envy anyone having to spend a lot of time out there. We made good time on the way home. We went to Greenock and had a spot of leave.

After that I returned to the ship to find that our Liverpool lad, who had done his "Chokey" came back with a new set of gear. Because if you went into a punishment block, they sold all your clothing and the cost of a new set was taken out of your pay. So obviously the lad is broke. I think it is a lesson, its no use banging your head against a brick wall - you can’t win. We set off from Greenock to join the escort group with another convoy, we went way out into the Atlantic. It was some time before I noticed what our job was. They don’t tell you anything. We were escorting an Armada of Tank Landing Craft.

I can’t recall how many days we were out in the Atlantic before we turned round and came back, to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar at night. The group was taken over by a group of Destroyers as we had to refuel. So we went into Bizerta. First thing after breakfast the order was "Hands to bathe" in the harbour, so every one joined in. After that the news came through, that they had landed in Sicily. How do I keep missing out on these things? But now I say thank God I’m here, even though I’m past my sell by date.

After that we were based in Gib and took up convoy work along the North Africa coast making runs to Alexandra. We did visit many times for our nosh, Steak and chips. But as they could not get spuds, in the same place as Gib, it was the boiled rice again. It was wartime.

The main difficulty was that when the mast was tilted over it wasn’t long enough to mount the antenna successfully because the antenna was too big to fit in the space between the rifle range and our cabin. A slightly longer final pole had to be acquired and fitted. Now it is all up and running and working fine.

With regard to the planning permission issue this is now resolved. We have been granted planning permission for the mast and aerial farm. There are problems regarding our proposed second mast for VHF/UHF antennae. A more detailed report about the planning issue will appear in the July 2004 edition of Old Hams News.

Many newcomers find difficulty in determining their IARU QTH and Worked All Britain (WAB) locators. Fortunately the Internet has made this very easy.

Go to: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ and enter your postcode or street name. A map of the area will be displayed and you will then need to get the yellow arrow to point to exactly your QTH. Using the mouse to move the cursor and clicking does this.

Under the map you will see the text "click here to convert/measure co-ordinates". Do this and you will see a table giving Lat, Long and LR. The 8-character LR field is the National Grid Reference (NGR), which you should write down.

The WAB locator is the first 2 characters of the NGR followed by the 1^st and 4th numbers. For example if the NGR reads TL678063 then the WAB square is TL60.

Enter in the full National Grid Reference e.g. TL678063 and click on "Calculate" and your IARU locator will be shown e.g. JO01FR.

This modification allows the squelch control to vary the power of the TS430s from a couple of watts to full power. The squelch control still operates on FM mode but is disabled on SSB. (not very useful anyway.)

Remove the top cover of the transceiver. The main board on show is the IF unit. Locate socket 26 - with the front of the set towards you socket 26 is to the left of the board about midway back to front. Cut the wire to pin 6 leaving about 3cms wire on the plug. This wire is usually brown. The wire tail from the plug has to be connected to ground - this enables SSB receive. Pin 4 is ground and can be used. The brown lead you have just cut comes from the small PCB behind the squelch control. It runs to pin 6 of socket 6 on this board. It is the end pin to your right looking from the front of the set. Pull this brown wire free of the harness so that you have a free lead from the plug.

Locate R211, a 1K resistor which connects the source of Q41 to ground. From the front of set right hand side, towards the front of the board, cut the ground side of R211 leaving sufficient lead to solder to. The ground side should be the top end of the resistor, but check.

Take the brown lead from the squelch board, suitably shortened, to the resistor. The squelch control SSB section, is now in series with R211 and gives excellent control over the RF output level.

Although the squelch control operates on FM it unfortunately can not be set independently of the power setting, so that at low power levels the squelch is set at a very high level. If operation is mainly at a certain low power level, ie, 5 Watts for qrp or 10 Watts for the foundation licence. There is a way round this snag. A 50K ohm trimpot can be connected from pin 5, socket 6, on the small pcb behind the squelch control to ground. At your chosen low power level set the squelch threshold with the trimpot.

In use, Maximum power is with the control fully anticlockwise. With the squelch pot set anticlockwise and the set in CW mode, Transmit a carrier (you will need to short the key jack) and set the carrier control for full power. You can then vary power on all modes using the squelch control.

Check the carrier control setting required for different bands, it will probably vary slightly between 160 and 10 metres. The protection circuits will still operate as before but if running low power the set will tolerate poor aerial matching without using the protection circuits.

The editor would like to thank all contributors to this edition of Old Hams News. The next edition is due to be issued in July 2004. Any contributions for this edition should be forwarded to the editor, Geoff Oliver G0BJR on or before Thursday 17^th June 2004 to ensure inclusion.

Articles will be accepted on many formats, via email to "oldham.arc@zen.co.uk", hand or type written notes, as a .txt file on a 3½-inch floppy disc, or by word of mouth. Photographs, drawings, circuit diagrams and other graphics to enhance your article will also be most welcome.

In order to keep the cost of producing Old Hams News as low as possible, photographs in the hard copy version will be reproduced in black and white only. The Internet edition will show the photographs in colour from the January 1999 edition onwards. Occasionally, photographs excluded from the paper edition due to technical and/or space limitations could be added to the Internet version.

If you submit an article for inclusion in Old Hams News and you do not wish it to be included in the Internet edition you must state your wishes at the time of submission. Otherwise the editor reserves the right to include/exclude your article as he sees fit.

For reference the officers and committee members are listed below and will be happy to help with any enquiries you may have.

Chairman – Geoff Oliver G0BJR
Secretary – Mike Crossley M1CVL Treasurer – Geoff Ashton M0AUG

Craig Taylor G7MCT Chris Cunliffe G7OOD
Stuart Wilson G7MFK Steve Crabtree M0CRZ Sue Burgess G0RKE

N.B. Old Hams News is the official journal of the Oldham Amateur Radio Club. It is distributed free of charge to all fully paid up members of the club. Articles appearing herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor, the Officers and Committee, or the membership of Oldham Amateur Radio Club. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of articles included, the editor is not responsible for any inaccuracy that may occur.