From the President July Meeting,

Wednesday the 27th 7:00 PM at the Red Cross

Well, Field Day is behind us and what a weekend it was. Lots of hands to do work and some lessons learned about antenna support masts. The long wire was lifted in to place after a few missed tries and a little friendly competition from the mast team. The mast raising lesson was that another guy ring at the top and one about half way down would be the formula for supporting the tension of the wire length. We also learned that plastic rope and tying knots that hold are extremely important for the tower climber! I could use some lessons from Bill as to how to tie some of those knot combinations. They were very secure after he tied his knots. Thanks to Mark and Eric for their climbing skills. I know that I need to work at entering more contestthroughout the year. I found that I just don’t get in the flow like I should by just operating Field Day. I am looking to getting in to smaller events on CW like Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) and F.I.S.T.S. club that have short 2 to 4 hour sprints and encourage getting on CW to get better. For SSB, I guess getting on 10-other specialized contests would make me better for working that mode. Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC) is another venue where you work as many contacts as you want, but it contributes to the club score. We can always learn. On July 3

rd , eight club members assisted with

communications for the Tour de Witt bicycle ride in Clinton. We were joined by one ham from the Clinton area who is president of their club. They are trying to get reorganized. Thanks to those who participated on a very warm day: N9OSU, KB9FPY, WA8MCD, KD9F, WD9HRU, N9ZKS on motorcycle patrol, WB9EDL riding in the event, and KG9IW without his GPS! 73, Gary KD9F.

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July 2011

Well, Field Day is behind us and what a weekend it was. Lots of hands to do work and some lessons learned about antenna support masts. The long wire was lifted in to place after a few missed tries and a little friendly

he mast raising lesson was that another guy ring at the top and one about half way down would be the formula for supporting the tension

We also learned that plastic rope and tying knots that hold climber! I could use

some lessons from Bill as to how to tie some of those knot combinations. They were very secure after he tied his knots. Thanks to Mark and Eric for their climbing skills.

I know that I need to work at entering more contests out the year. I found that I just don’t get in the flow

like I should by just operating Field Day. I am looking to getting in to smaller events on CW like Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) and F.I.S.T.S. club that have short 2

age getting on CW to get -10 events and

other specialized contests would make me better for working that mode. Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC) is another venue where you work as many contacts as you

contributes to the club score. We can always

, eight club members assisted with communications for the Tour de Witt bicycle ride in Clinton. We were joined by one ham from the Clinton area who is

rying to get reorganized. Thanks to those who participated on a very warm day: N9OSU, KB9FPY, WA8MCD, KD9F, WD9HRU, N9ZKS on motorcycle patrol, WB9EDL riding in the event, and

CIRC May Meeting MinutesMay 25, 2011 Because club members were involved in an ARES weather alert on the 25th of May, the meeting was moved to the next Wednesday (June 1).Dearth (KD9F) called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Twenty-seven members and one guest were prspecial welcome was extended to guest Jim Brook (K9GRO). Gary commented that the minutes from the March meeting were in the newsletter. Tom Planer (KJ9P) made a motion that we accept the minutes as published. After a second by Jim Shaffer (WB9UWApassed. Treasurer Norm Huber (N9ZKS) reviewed the financial status of the club. He reported that the checking account had $855.02 and the savings account had $648.20 for a total of $1,503.22. Gary Huber (AB9M) made a motion that we accept the report. After a second by Duane Benjamin (KC9PIM) the motion passed. Gary opened the discussion to items of Old Business. Andy Stubblefield (K9EMA) reviewed recent activity of the ARES/SKYWARN group. He expressed his thanks to everyone who helped last Wednesday during the weather spotting during the severe thunderstorm andwarning. The group used 146.940 and it worked very well despite the heavy rain and high winds. Andy reported that the ARES/SKYWARN group would like to use 146.940 as the primary frequency and 147.015 as the backup. Gary H made a motion that we allow this. After a second by Tom the motion was approved. Andy also thanked all the members who offered to go to Joplin, MO, and assist with the communication needs after the tornados. As it turned out, we did not need to send anyone. Jim S reviewed the status of the work to get the ECHO Link Project completed. The Internet connection to the tower has been made and is working. Two climbs were set for the tower, but the weather prevented both of them. Jim S said he is doing fine for the money needed foproject at this time. The club members gave a round of applause to Tom for getting the project going by offering to match a set amount of money from the other club members. Thanks for the great support to the club Tom! We discussed those using 440 dependability that some members are experiencing. We may want to consider getting a repeater on a 440 frequency for club use. We also talked about the long term use of the Corn Belt Electric tower. We do not know

CIRC May Meeting Minutes

Because club members were involved in an ARES weather alert on the 25th of May, the meeting was moved to the next Wednesday (June 1). President Gary Dearth (KD9F) called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

seven members and one guest were present. A special welcome was extended to guest Jim Brook (K9GRO). Gary commented that the minutes from the March meeting were in the newsletter. Tom Planer (KJ9P) made a motion that we accept the minutes as published. After a second by Jim Shaffer (WB9UWA) the motion passed. Treasurer Norm Huber (N9ZKS) reviewed the financial status of the club. He reported that the checking account had $855.02 and the savings account had $648.20 for a total of $1,503.22. Gary Huber (AB9M) made

report. After a second by Duane Benjamin (KC9PIM) the motion passed.

Gary opened the discussion to items of Old Business. Andy Stubblefield (K9EMA) reviewed recent activity of the ARES/SKYWARN group. He expressed his thanks to everyone who helped last Wednesday during the weather spotting during the severe thunderstorm and tornado warning. The group used 146.940 and it worked very well despite the heavy rain and high winds. Andy reported that the ARES/SKYWARN group would like to use 146.940 as the primary frequency and 147.015 as the backup. Gary H

low this. After a second by Tom

Andy also thanked all the members who offered to go to Joplin, MO, and assist with the communication needs after the tornados. As it turned out, we did not need to send

status of the work to get the ECHO Link Project completed. The Internet connection to the tower has been made and is working. Two climbs were set for the tower, but the weather prevented both of them. Jim S said he is doing fine for the money needed for the project at this time. The club members gave a round of applause to Tom for getting the project going by offering to match a set amount of money from the other club members. Thanks for the great support to the club Tom! We discussed those using 440 and the quality and dependability that some members are experiencing. We may want to consider getting a repeater on a 440 frequency for club use. We also talked about the long term use of the Corn Belt Electric tower. We do not know

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what their plans are for this tower. It is their backup location, but in the future that could change. Keith Hanson (AC9S) reminded everyone about helping out at the Kickapoo Creek Pow Wow this weekend. A number of people commented that they would be there to help. Jim Baker (WB9EDL) also discussed plans for helping the McLean County Wheelers during their June 11 ride. A number of people said they would help and they discussed details for the event. Gary talked about the Clinton Bike Ride July 3rd. Cary said he would be contacting some of the hams in the Clinton area to see if we could help them with the event. We don't want anyone to think that we want to run their event. We would be happy to assist them. We discussed the fact that the organizers seem to know about our club but not about the hams in the Clinton area. The discussion focused on Field Day. Tom agreed to be our Safety Captain and he said he would be checking cables, radios, power supplies and so forth to insure that we have a save event. Thanks Tom, we have needed a person to check safety as everyone so busy doing things in a hurry. Norm discussed tower needs and Mark Snyder (AB9MP) said he will check with Sunbelt Rentals to see if we can get a lift for some of the antennas. We also reviewed what we have and need for antennas, coax, switches, and connectors. Gary H reviewed the cost of some items that we might need to purchase. Norm made a motion that we approve up to $250 for Gary H to purchase wire and connectors. After and second by Gary H, the motion passed. Chuck Kostelc (N9RZV) said he would provide Gary H with some cable sections. It was agreed that during the daily Coffee Klatch the group what would be needed. Gary H said breakfast would be at 7 am and he asked how many to plan to cook for. It was agreed that 24 people plan to be there at that time. He also reminded everyone to drink lots of water during the day, as it will most likely be hot and humid. We discussed the sever, laptops, and logging program that will be needed. At Coffee Klatch they will discuss what is available and what needs to be done to have things ready to go before the start of Field Day. They will check with Chuck Henderson (WB9UUS) to make sure he can be at Field Day to help. We need to be out of the hall by 4 pm, when another group will be using it. Mike Sallee (KC9FWL) is the Clean-Up Captain and he will bring lots of supplies. Anyone that stay around and help cleanup will be appreciated. Gary reminded the members that we have our Coffee Klatch at 9:00 am, Monday to Friday, at the Dairy Queen on College Avenue and the 10-10 breakfast at IHOP the 1

st Saturday of each month at 8 am. All are welcomed to

attend. Bring a friend. And don’t forget to check in on Tuesday’s to the ARES Net at 8:00 pm, the 10 meter Net at 8:30 pm and the 2 Meter Net at 9 pm. Anyone with an item for the Newsletter should send it to Norm or Ed.

Rick Kempf (WD9HRU) made a motion that we adjourn. After a second by Chuck K, the motion carried. Submitted by Mike Sallee (KC9FWL)

CIRC May Meeting Minutes June 22, 2011 President Gary Dearth (KD9F) called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Twenty-six members and one guest were present. A special welcome was extended to guest Josh Galloway (KC9UJS). Gary commented that paper copies of the minutes from the March meeting were distributed to those here for the meeting. He asked if there were any corrections. There were none and Keith Hanson (AC9S) made a motion that we accept the minutes as printed. After a second by Gary Wightman (WA8MCD) the motion passed. Treasurer Norm Huber (N9ZKS) reviewed the financial status of the club. He reported that the checking account had $880.02 and the savings account had $648.20 for a total of $1,528.22. Gary Huber (AB9M) made a motion that we accept the report. After a second by Ed Deutsch (KC9GF) the motion passed. Gary opened the discussion to items of Old Business. Keith discussed the Kickapoo Creek Pow Wow and how well it went this year. Keith expressed his appreciation to everyone for helping. He said that they could have used a few more people helping, but despite the heat everyone they had a good weekend. Jim Baker (WB9EDL) said that the McLean County Wheelers ride went very well. They had two antennas and 2 frequencies that they used. They had plenty of help and he expressed his appreciation to everyone for helping. Jim Shaffer (WB9UWA) reported that they still needed to complete the tower climb to secure the feedline for the ECHO Link Project. He also discussed a need for a replacement for the backup battery. We discussed the type of battery needed and also the need for a new charger. Gary W made motion that we purchase a new battery (gel or AGM) and a smart charger for an amount not to exceed $250. After a second by Gary H the motion passed. Gary agreed to research what we should purchase. Ed, Gary H, and Keith were interviewed on the local radio station (WJBC) this morning about Field Day. They had a great 22 minute discussion about amateur radio and Field Day. You can listen to the interview at WJBC.com and Gary H will place it on the CIRC website. Gary opened the discussion for New Business. Ed mentioned that he was checking on locations for our Christmas Dinner in December. He has checked with Swinger’s and The Ozark House. A couple of other places were suggested, including Imperial Buffet. Ed will check into all the places and report back at the next meeting. Gary moved to a discussion of any last minute issues for Field Day. We discussed the various antennas that would be used and who would bring them. Anyone with power cords, ropes, traps, coax and miscellaneous tools and connections were asked to bring them. Mark has arranged

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for a lift from Sunbelt Rental again this year. Norm said he will be able to get in on Friday and return it on Monday. Gary H reported that he received the cable and connectors approved at the last meeting. He made 5 100 foot coax cables and also a number of switches with stubs to help reduce interference between radios. We reviewed the rules for Field Day and what categories we would concentrate on during the event. Chuck Hanson (WB9UUS) said he would help with the network for logging again this year. A number of members said they would bring their laptops to be used with the network. Mike Sallee (KC9FWL) said he would have a sign-in/sing-out sheet for members so we know who is there. He will also bring a guest sign-in book and some materials about ARRL and CIRC. Ed will also bring some material and the display board that was used at the ISU Family Science Day. We talked about food for the cookout Saturday evening and breakfast Saturday at 7 am. For lunch

Saturday and breakfast Sunday it was suggested that someone make a run into town for food. Gary reminded the members that we have our Coffee Klatch at 9:00 am, Monday to Friday, at the Dairy Queen on College Avenue and the 10-10 breakfast at IHOP the 1

st Saturday of each month at 8 am. All are welcomed to

attend. Bring a friend. And don’t forget to check in on Tuesday’s to the ARES Net at 8:00 pm, the 10 meter Net at 8:30 pm and the 2 Meter Net at 9 pm. Anyone with an item for the Newsletter should send it to Norm or Ed. Norm made a motion that we adjourn and get ready for Field Day. After a second by Jeff Lovell (KC9QQM) the motion passed. Submitted by Mike Sallee (KC9FWL)

AREA EXAM DATES Following is the schedule for W5YI-VEC Amateur Radio exams for the year 2011 at the Normal Fire station at 1300 E College Avenue. It is at the intersection of College and Blair Street, with parking behind the Fire Station, entry off Blair. Setup is from Noon to 1:00 normally. Exams begin at 1:00 P.M.. Questions may be directed to Keith Hanson via email preferably ac9s@mchsi.com or (309) 378-4416 Please bring two forms of identification. You must have a Social Security Number. We cannot administer a test without your SSN. You will need a copy of your Current license plus any CSCE you want to apply. Test dates for 2011 will be the following Saturdays:

January 8 Done March 12 Done May 14-Done July 16 November 12 The club thanks Keith for his hard work in heading this testing.

Peoria Area Radio Club Testing In addition on the alternate months VEC exams are held in Morton Public Library. Contact Bob Bush W9WTF at tigrbob@gmail.com for more information on the Peoria Radio Club testing.

**************************************************** SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0): More than just a

speed increase Dan Harmon, Consumer & Computing Interface Product

Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments 7/4/2010 6:41 PM EDT

SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) has been getting a lot of attention now as products become available in the market. The most obvious benefit is the more than 10 times increase in speed over USB 2.0 high-speed; 480 Mbps to 5 Gbps – but there are several others. This article looks at what is new and better with SuperSpeed USB protocols and power management versus USB 2.0.

More than just a leap in speed Hopefully. by now you have heard of SuperSpeed USB and are familiar enough to know it is the next evolution of the Universal Serial Bus (USB). If not, I recommend watching a short video (Reference 1) that talks about the basics of the specification and how it compares to High-Speed USB, or USB 2.0. The most obvious difference in SuperSpeed USB is the over 10 times speed increase from 480 Mbps for USB 2.0 to 5 Gbps. The USB 3.0 Promoter’s Group focused on

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delivering customer value in three other primary areas: 1) foremost, after the speed increase, was improving the power efficiency of the bus; 2) next was maintaining backwards compatibility; and 3) was improving the data transfer efficiency itself.

Use less power to move the same amount of data The first key area of development was to improve power efficiency. This is needed for extending the battery life for portable devices, whether hosts or peripherals. There are multiple aspects of the new specification that were developed to address reducing the overall power footprint of new USB devices including:

• Elimination of device polling • Elimination of broadcasting packets • Intermediate low-power states • Sata transfer speed increases by 10

The first change to help reduce power consumption was to eliminate device polling. In USB 2.0, the host controller continuously polls each of the devices in the tree to check if they have data that they need to send to the host system. Device polling means that all devices must be fully “alive” and capable of transmitting data at all times, and that each is “always” burning power by transmitting NAKs to the inquiries of the host system when they do not have data to transmit. Finally, the host is continuously consuming power asking the devices if they have any data, which in most cases they do not.

The next change was changing the packet transfer from broadcast to directed. When a USB 2.0 host has data to send to a device, it broadcasts the data on each of its ports. Each hub in the tree must also re-broadcast the packets on each of its downstream ports. Lastly, each of the devices on the bus must process the data (consuming power) to determine whether they are the intended target of the transfer.

In SuperSpeed USB, the protocol was changed to direct the packets to only the intended target. This requires a little more intelligence in the host. It must know specifically where in the tree each device is, including what hub port (or ports, if multiple hubs are between it and the host) from which it is downstream. This reduces the overall power consumption in that only the specific downstream host and hub ports to which the device is connected must transmit data, and only the target must process the data.

The third power reduction-focused change was to define two intermediate idle states. In USB 2.0, there are two states: ACTIVE and SUSPEND. In SuperSpeed USB, there are also FAST EXIT IDLE (U1) and SLOW EXIT IDLE (U2), in addition to ACTIVE (U0) and SUSPEND (U3). This allows devices to lower their power consumption when they are not transmitting or receiving data.

In the FAST EXIT IDLE mode, the link goes idle but the clocking on the device stays on. While in SLOW EXIT IDLE, both the link and clocking are turned off, which requires a longer time to re–train the link before data can be transmitted. The ACTIVE and SUSPEND modes remain the same in both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

The 10-times speed increase also enables lower overall power consumption. No, I am not saying that a 5-Gbps transceiver requires less power to transmit data than a 480-Mbps transceiver. I agree with all who have claimed that a 5-Gbps transceiver requires between two and five times the peak current than that of USB 2.0 transceiver.

However, what I am talking about is lowering the overall power footprint, not just the peak current that is consumed at a small slice in time when the transmitter is active. When you factor in the approximately 10 times decrease in the transmitter’s actual active time, the total power required to transmit a fixed amount of data (for instance, moving a file from the PC to a flash drive) is between 20 percent (two times peak and

1/10 the time) and 50 percent (5 times peak and

1/10 the

time) the total power required for transmitting that same amount of data over USB 2.0.

When you combine the bus usage efficiency (no broadcast packets and eliminate polling), the improved IDLE power states, and the lower average transmit power, SuperSpeed USB consumes approximately one-third (or less!) the power of USB 2.0!

What does backwards compatible really mean? The next key attribute that was a focus during development was maintaining backwards compatibility with what Brian O’Rourke of In-Stat has called “the most successful PC interface of all time” (Reference 2). It was determined during the development effort that the existing cable and connector solutions were not going to be adequate to reliably transfer data

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at 5 Gbps. The developers determined that the signaling would need to be done over separate conductors, versus those used for USB 2.0. They choose to use a full duplex differential signaling method based on the PCI Express electrical specification.

At the same time, it was decided to not make any changes to the existing USB 2.0 signaling. This required adding at least two new differential pairs, in addition to the existing USB 2.0 differential pair and VBUS and GND. When you include the ground shield for the two new SuperSpeed differential pairs, this brings the total conductors to nine in the cable and nine contacts in the connector.

So what then does backwards compatibility really mean? If we approach this from the end-user perspective, it means that ALL my existing products that are compliant to the specification will seamlessly connect to and work with all new products supporting the new specification! This means that the existing cables (i.e., plugs) must be able to be inserted into the appropriate new receptacle. The reverse is also true, that the new cables must be able to be inserted into the old receptacles – again, where appropriate.

Obviously, any cable and plug that will support the new SuperSpeed USB specification and data transfer will have both new conductors in the cable portion and new contacts in the plug. Also, any new receptacles must have new contacts as well to accept the new connections required.

In the USB world there are two basic connector types. The A-receptacle is what we are all very familiar with from its presence on every PC shipping today. The A-receptacle accepts A-plugs; these again are very familiar from the captive cable that mice and keyboards use as well as from the flash drive connector. The B-receptacle is what we see on peripherals and has three sizes: standard, mini, and micro.

The key to being backwards compatible is for the new SuperSpeed USB A-receptacle to accept both new (USB 3.0) and old (USB 2.0) A-plugs, and for the older USB 2.0 A-receptacle to accept the new USB 3.0 A-plug. Obviously, if either the plug or receptacle is only USB 2.0 compliant, then the data transfer will be limited to USB 2.0 speeds. The solution was to add five new conductors on the insert side of the existing plugs and receptacles. This allows for the same mechanical interface as USB 2.0, and enables full backwards compatibility (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: SuperSpeed USB A–side receptacle and plug

On the peripheral side, the challenge is more difficult from one perspective – there are more connector sizes to be concerned about, but at the same time easier.

Why easier? The new USB 3.0 B-plugs do not have to be able to be inserted into old USB 2.0 B-receptacles. You only need the new B-plug (and the cable), if the device is USB 3.0 capable. If the device is only USB 2.0 capable, then the existing USB 2.0 cable with the old plugs on both ends is sufficient since the other end of the cable is capable of being inserted into new machines – see previous paragraph. The new B-receptacle (regardless of size) must accept both the old and new B-plugs for backwards compatible. Therefore, any change to the form factor can not preclude insertion of an existing USB 2.0 cable.

Now let us look at the three USB 2.0-compliant B-side connector options. The most straightforward is the standard B type. This is the larger format receptacle that you will typically see on a printer, scanners, and other larger form-factor peripheral devices. The decision was to add a “bump” to the top of the B-connector to facilitate the placement of the new contacts (and conductors) for the SuperSpeed signals. Figure 2 shows how this was accomplished in the standard B size plug and receptacle. The receptacle accepts either the old USB 2.0 plug or the new USB 3.0 plug.

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Figure 2: SuperSpeed USB B-side plug and receptacle

The Promoter’s Group made the decision to not update the Mini-B connector type. There are multiple reasons for this, but the primary reason is due to legislative decisions being made around the world. Multiple agencies around the world have determined that the USB plug should be the standard interface for charging the battery in handsets. There was concern that every new phone required a new charger with a new custom connector.

This was causing a disposal problem that mandating a standard interface would help alleviate. The Micro-B receptacle was chosen as this standard interface and all handsets moving forward will be migrating to it, as are many other small portable consumer products that have started using USB for charging their battery. More information can be found by joining the USB Implementer’s Forum and joining the Device Working Group focused on battery charging (Reference 3)

The existing Micro B receptacle (Figure 3) has insufficient room to add the five new conductors – requiring a major change. Therefore, the working group came up with the side-by-side solution which can accept either the USB 2.0 Micro B-plug or the new SuperSpeed Micro B-plug, also shown.

Figure 3: SuperSpeed USB micro B-side receptacle and plug

Along with mechanical backwards compatibility, the goal was to maintain the extensive device driver infrastructure. The same data transfer types, interrupt, bulk and isochronous, were maintained. Finally, this standard preserves the existing USB ease-of-use expectations. All existing USB 2.0 devices will continue to work as we have always come to expect them to on our new SuperSpeed USB enabled machines.

Reducing the wasted bits The fourth key value is improving overall bus usage efficiency. I have already touched on the first aspect of this: the elimination of polling. Additionally, the full duplex architecture of SuperSpeed USB allows for concurrent bi-directional data flow as opposed to the half duplex USB 2.0 architecture.

The host polling of devices is clearly a waste of bus usage, but the question is what does elimination of polling really mean. In honor of my mom who was a school teacher for many years, I use a classroom analogy to describe what I mean. If the classroom was a USB 2.0 system, the teacher would go around the classroom and ask each student one-by-one if they had a question. When a student had a question, the teacher would answer that question. She would then continue on with the rotation around the room until each student had been queried at which point she would begin again.

If we think about the classroom as a SuperSpeed USB system, the student would simply raise their hand when they had a question and the teacher would acknowledge the student and answer the questions as needed. This is the asynchronous notification method of IN data transfers. The peripheral device sends an ERDY (Endpoint Ready) to the host when it has data to send to the host. The host then sends an ACK (ACKnowledge) to the peripheral when it is ready to process the transfer.

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In USB 2.0, the half duplex bus with only a single differential pair for data transfer causes two issues with bus efficiency. The first is that the bus has to “turn-around” every time the direction of data flow changes. This means that the transmitter has to turn off on one end of the connection while at the other end the receiver is turned off. Once this completes, the reverse happens where the receiver turns on in the first device and the transmitter turns on in the second device.

This inherently drives significant down time on the bus, cutting into the efficiency. A second consequence of this is that any given transfer must complete before the next one can begin. This means that the receiving device has to acknowledge receipt of the data and the transmitting device must see the ACK before the next data payload can be sent across the bus. Figure 4 shows at a high level what an OUT (from host to a peripheral) transaction would look like in USB 2.0.

Figure 4: USB 2.0 OUT transaction (Click on image to enlarge)

In a SuperSpeed environment, where there are two differential pairs on every device, one for transmitting and one for receiving, the bus turn around dead time is eliminated. It also allows for the additional payloads to be sent from the transmitting device before the acknowledgement has come back from the receiving device.

This change drives the need for a little more intelligence on both devices just in case of errors. A device may need to go back in time and re-transmit a previously “completed” payload, if the "acknowledge" comes back as an error in the received data. The protocol uses credits to determine how many data payloads a device can have “active” at any one time before it can no longer transmit/receive new payloads before the successful ACK had been processed.

Essentially, each time a data payload is sent from the host to a peripheral (or from the peripheral to the host), a credit is deducted from the peripheral’s account. When the ACK is successfully processed by the original transmitting device, a credit is reissued to that peripheral’s account. See Figure 5 for how SuperSpeed USB OUT transactions occur.

Figure 5: SuperSpeed USB OUT transaction (Click on image to enlarge)

Don’t forget that increase in speed

In any data transmission environment, there is always a bottleneck – or the location in the signal chain that limits the performance of the entire transmission. While USB 2.0 high-speed (and even USB full-speed, 12 Mbps and low-speed, 1.5 Mbps) is more than adequate for some applications, for many PC-centric applications USB 2.0 has become that bottleneck in the last few years. This is actually the whole point of developing a new specification aimed at data transfer: eliminate the current bottleneck!

Whether it is an external rotating media (i.e., hard disk drive, CD drive, DVD drive), a solid-state drive based product, or the ubiquitous flash drive – the storage media has become capable of transferring data at a rate that exceeded what USB 2.0 could do.

Are many of those media capable of reading and writing data near 5 Gbps? There are not many today – but that is the point, move the bottleneck elsewhere. Will SuperSpeed USB become the bottleneck again? In time, probably. But with the exception of some of the very best hard disk drives, SuperSpeed USB should provide headroom to keep the pinch point elsewhere for at least the next five years.

In summary, the USB 3.0 Promoter’s Group had four key values in mind as they developed the specification. Decreasing the power required to transfer data, maintaining backwards compatibility, increasing the bandwidth utilization efficiency, and of course the over 10 times increase in the raw bit rate. These values will enable increase, both in the Sync-and-Go

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experience of the consumer as well as extend the battery life for these content-rich consumer products, and provide the needed headroom to do the same for flash-based products for the next five years.

References [1] What is SuperSpeed USB Video on TI’s E2E Community, http://e2e.ti.com/videos/m/analog/121743.aspx [2] USB: The Universal Connection, IN020007MI, Multimedia Interfaces, March 2002, http://www.instat.com/abstract.asp?id=161&SKU=IN020007MI [3] USB-IF Device Working Group, http://www.usb.org/about/dwg_charter/

To read more from Dan on SuperSpeed USB, please see his Consumer & Computing Interface blog (http://e2e.ti.com/blogs_/b/interface/default.aspx on TI’s E2 Community at http://e2e.ti.com/. To learn more about SuperSpeed USB interface solutions, visit: http://www.ti.com/superspeedusb-ca. To see our video that demonstrates the speed of SuperSpeed USB3 versus High-Speed USB 2.0, visit http://www.ti.com/usb3video-ca.

About the Author

Dan Harmon is Product Marketing Manager for Consumer & Computing Interfaces at Texas Instruments as well as serving as TI’s USB-IF Representative and TI’s USB 3.0 Promoter’s Group Chair. He earned a BSEE from the University of Dayton and a MSEE from the University of Texas in Arlington. You can reach Dan at dharmon@ti.com

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Nets in the Area Mon thru Sat 9:00 A.M. CT 14.2475 (HF) Displaced Peorians Tuesday 9:00 P.M. 146.255 (103.5 PL) Woodford County Tuesday 7:15 P.M. 146.910 Tazwell County ESDA Net Tuesday 8:00 P.M. 146.940 (103.5 PL) McLean County ARES Net Tuesday 8:30 P.M. 28.450 CIRC Open 10 meter Net Tuesday 9:00 P.M. 146.940 (103.5PL) CIRC Open Net Wednesday 9:00 P.M. 147.060 Open Net Has Newsline Wednesday 9:00 P.M. 442.250 103.5 PL ARES Open Net Varies 147.100 103.5 PL Sometimes Trader’s Net follows ARES Net held on 442.250 Thurssday 7:00 P.M. 50.135 Open 6 meter Net Thursday 9:00 P.M. 146.760 (162.2 PL) Open Net with Newsline Thursday 9:00 P.M. 146.850 (103.5 PL) Open Net Peoria Thursday 9:00 P.M. 146.895 North central IL Traders Net Sunday 08:15 A.M. 1.815 Open 160 meter AM net Sunday 7:00 P.M. 146.985 Clinton ARC net Sunday 8:30 P.M 147.075 Open Net with Newsline Sunday 9:00 P.M. 146.730 123.0 PL Open Net

(Please help me keep this list correct. I know it may not be up to date at this time. Norm N9ZKS)

Calendar of Events

S un M on T ue W e d Th u F ri S a t

Daily Coffee Klatch Monday thru Friday WW9:00 a.m. at Dairy Queen College Hills Weekly 10 Meter Net

Every Tuesday evening at 28.450 mHz- at 8:30 p.m. Weekly 2 Meter Net

Every Tuesday evening on the 146.940-repeater at 9:00 p.m. Weekly 6 Meter Net Every Thursday evening at 50.135 mHz at 7:00 P.M. CIRC Meeting Fourth Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the Red Cross building in Bloomington (Just north of the airport

KC9LYU Echolink Update The Frequency Is now set to 146.410 Simplex - NO PL To Connect To Node By Node Number - Dial (DTMF Commands) its Node number To Reconnect Last Station Dial *69 To Connect To Random US Repeater Dial 011 - The 011 command takes just a minute to connect. To Connect To Random Link Or Repeater Dial 01 To Disconnect Dial #

Central Illinois Area Repeaters Freq Callsign Location PL

145.390 N9EZJ Lincoln WX RACES 103.5 146.730 K9HGX Decatur(Echolink) 123.0 146.790 WD9HRU Bloomington 103.5 Anti PL

on 107.2 146.850 K9PEO PAARC 103.5 146.940 W9AML McLEAN CO ARES 103.5 CTCSS 146.985 KA9YPK Clinton 147.015 NX9M Normal ARES Alt. 88.5 (open*) 147.075 W9UVI Washington 103.5 CTCSS 147.105 WA9RTI Decatur 103.5 147.150 WD9FTV Bloomington 103.5

147.345 K9ZM Lincoln ESDA 103.5 147.390 WB9DUC Pontiac FARA 127.3 442.250 WA9RTI Decatur (ARES) 103.5 442.700 WB9UUS Normal 107.2 443.800 K9HGX CENOIS ARC 123.0 444.175 K9MCA Decatur 100.0

* Repeater is currently in open mode with pl for those with QRM

Central Illinois Radio Club

P.O. Box 993 Bloomington, IL 61702-0993

http://www.qsl.net/w9aml/

President: Gary Dearth KD9F

Vice-President: Ed Deutsch KC9GF

(309) 828-2227

Secretary: Mike Sallee, KC9FWL

Treasurer: Norm Huber N9ZKS (309) 378-4674

Newsletter Editor: Norman Huber

n9zks@frontier.com (309)-378-4674

The CIRC is a not-for-profit ARRL special service club whose purpose is to advance the service of Amateur Radio. Located in Central Illinois, CIRC and its members welcome all to use the 146.94 repeater and to attend club meetings. Submissions for the newsletter must be received by the 10th of the month and may be snail or e-mailed to the editor at:

Norm Huber 19266 US Highway 150

Bloomington, IL 61705-5855

e-mail n9zks@frontier.com Permission is granted to Amateur Radio-related organizations to reproduce contents of Short CIRCuits provided full credit is

given.