GEARS Radiator September, 2016

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Founded: August 13, 1939 September, 2016

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(continued on page:

Picture courtesy EVARC

olden

mpire

mateur

adio

ociety, Inc.

W6RHC IRL #8170

Echolink #322788

P.O.Box 508 Chico, CA 95927-0508 http;//www.gearsw6rhc.org

THERADIATOR “Dedicated to Public Service”

Coming Events O.A.R.S. GENERAL MEETING Second Friday, of month, 7:00 p.m., at St. Paul’s Church Parrish Hall, 1430 Pine St., Oroville G.A.R.S. Second Thursday of month, 4:30 p.m. Lutheran Church Hall, Artois; 4:30 p.m. G.E.A.R.S General Meeting, third Friday of month, Butte County Search and Rescue Bldg., Chico. Social hour 6:30, meeting at 7:00. Board Meetings: 2nd Saturday of month Butte A.R.E.S. MEET: fourth Friday, at Butte County Search and Rescue Building.

FCC EXAMS - GEARS VEC First Sunday of every even numbered month. At the Butte County Search and Rescue Building,. Written test at 2:00 p.m. For information or pre-registration call Tom Rider -W6JS; 530-893-9211

Club Events: News and items of interest GEARS Calendar...all inside. Website: www. gearsw6rhc.org Www.gearsw6rhc.org

QST de KA6GND What a wonderful time many of us had visit-ing the museum of Jerry, W6JRY here in Forest Ranch this past month. I believe that everyone walked away in a state of awe and wonder regarding what they had just experi-enced! If you missed it and would like to go visit Jerry, he can be reached at 343-1131. There are lots of fun activities coming up in the next 30 days for us all. On Friday September 16

th will be our General Meet-

ing. Our meeting will be full of lots of different things, includ-ing the guest speaker, Chris Huber, N6ICW from Sacramento will talk about repeaters, how they work and his widespread system. There will also be a memorable, special presentation, so we hope to see you all there! The next day, Saturday the 17

th is our annual SteakBake, full of

food, fun and fellowship, so if you have not done so yet, please make your reservation with Evelyn or Dorothy – see flyer in this issue. On Saturday October 8th we will hold an all-day workshop at the Search & Rescue building. Details are still being worked out but we will have several hands-on activities for all hams and those checking out our hobby. We will have such things as:

- Buddipole antenna construction - SWR Bridge and Antenna Analyzer operation and use - Proper soldering techniques and coax connector installation - Power pole construction and installation - Checking of rigs and h/t’s for proper calibration and deviation - On-site operating of HF, VHF and UHF stations - And more! Continued on page 4-

The Prez’ Says:

GEARS Radiator September, 2016

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GEARS Radiator September, 2016

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MY ELMER

In the spring of 1949 a young man, Frank Azevedo came to work for my father who had a electric motor rewinding and repair shop, Frank was deaf and mute, but he could hear very high noise. I was 14 years old at the time and helped my dad in the motor shop rewinding and repairing small motors and auto gen-erators. One day Frank brought a radio transmitter and receiver to work with him and at lunch time he set it up and started contacting stations on CW, he wore head phones with the volume turned up and I could hear him sending and receiving, he told me he was a radio amateur and his call was W6ZNU, the equipment was a Hammerland HQ-129-X receiver and a Meissner Signal Shifter VFO/transmitter, this really fasci-nated me, I had not heard about “amateur radio” but I was interested in radio and had built crystal sets and sever-al regenerative receivers for the broadcast band. Frank brought me a 1949 ARRL Radio Hand Book, a license manual, and some parts to build a regenerative receiver that would cover the Ham bands, we com-municated by writing to each other on a note pad, he knew the “sign language for the deaf” and started teaching it to me, before long we were talking with each other with hand sign’s. My father had been in-terested in radio in the 1920’s and had built broadcast receivers to sell, there were some old radio parts still laying around the shop, I found an old 3:1 audio transformer and a UX-299 tube and built a code practice oscillator that was in the license manual that Frank had given me, I practiced code on it and lis-tened to code on the receiver I had built. After a few months’ Frank bought a new receiver, it was a Col-lins 75A-2, and he sold the HQ-129-X to my dad, this was my first commercial receiver and it sure made code practice a lot easier. Frank would pick me up and take me to the local radio club meetings where I got a chance to meet a lot of other hams and hams to be, one of the hams in the club was Casey White, W6HNL he was blind and it was something to see Casey and Frank communicate by tapping the code on each others arm. By the spring of 1950 I felt I was ready to take the license exam, our town was 200 miles from San Francisco where the nearest FCC office was so the radio club president, Willie Van de Kemp, W6CKV gave me the test, I got through the code with no problem and then had to wait to see if I had passed the written part, checking the mail box every day for a month, then in May of 1950 my class “C” license arrived, was I sur-prised to get the call W6JRY, to this day most people think it is a vanity call do to the fact that my name is JERRY. Frank had a big smile on his face when I showed him my license. My dad let me pick out a transmitter in the Handbook that I liked and I made a list of all the parts I needed, it was a PP 807 rig with plug in coils, he took me to San Francisco where I took the test and changed my class “C” license to a class “B”, then We went shopping on Market St. and bought all the parts I needed for the transmitter. After getting the transmitter built and on the air I was on 40 CW most of the time and had a lot of contacts with my Elmer Frank. After a year I upgraded to a class “A” license, Frank left the motor shop and went to work for a large electrical contractor, he spent the rest of his working career as an electrician. When the novice li-cense became available my dad got his license and received the call KN6BMU, then upgraded and became K6BMU. In 1955 I left the motor shop and went to work for Pacific Telephone, Frank got into radio tele-type which was a great mode for him, one of my early jobs with the phone Co. Was teletype repair, and if any equipment became obsolete or was going to be junked you can bet it would end up at Franks ham shack. Frank, my dad and I have remained friends all these years, my dad passed away in 1992. After reading this over I can see that my dad was one of my Elmers too, he supported me with my interest in ham radio and taught me about electricity and mechanical things. (continued on page 4)

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VEC TESTING 2:00 p.m. October 2, 2016

December 4, 2016 AT BUTTE COUNTY SEARCH & RESCUE BUILDING

All Classes Technician, General and Extra. Contact: Tom Rider-W6JS

530-893-9211 Rustyboyrider@aol.com

THE PREZ SAYS: continued from Page One: We will start selling raffle tickets at all club events for the wonderful Buddipole antenna system ($450 value) that Dick – W6BIN so graciously donated. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. The drawing will take place at our Christmas party in December. We will soon be taking orders for an “official” beautiful GEARS coffee mug – with your call and name on it as well as GEARS logo. Stay tuned for ordering information. I hope to talk with you on the air soon, 73, Larry Marcum, KA6GND GEARS President *******************************************************

My Elmer (continued from page 3) About 15 years ago Frank ask me to come over and see if I could fix his beam antenna which was up on a 60 foot tower, he was not able to climb any more, I went up there and found a bad connector and got it fixed, while I was down in the shack lis-tening on his transceiver I looked over in the cor-ner where his old Johnson Viking Desk KW was sitting with a bunch of box’s piled on it, I said Frank, if you ever decide to sell the Desk KW let me have first chance at it, he said I don’t want to sell it but you can have it, I have a small radio mu-seum in my basement shack and the Johnson KW made a nice addition. Frank comes up now and then to “see his old desk KW”. Frank is 84 now, he has had 5-knee surgeries and 5 months ago had triple bypass surgery, he came up two months ago with the help of another ham friend, Carl Olson WB6OLA, I said, Frank how can you stand all that, he said I am a tough old Portagee! What a great Elmer. Jerry Fuller W6JRY

Caps embroi-dered with your name and your call sign may be ordered by con-tacting WA6ZRT-Gene Telephone #530 –345-3515

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS Just a reminder: September, 2016-2017 GEARS membership fees are due. (Yes, it is that time again!) Dues may be paid during the upcoming Steak Bake, or paid during our meetings. Alternatively, you may send your payment to : GEARS P O Box 508 Chico, CA –95927. A Membership form may be printed from our GEARS website, GearsW6RHC.org.

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The GEARS Newsletter Staff: Editor and Publisher……………...Dorothy Post Printing &Distribution snail mail: Evelyn Weir Website…Stephen McDermott W6AKF The Radiator is a monthly publication of the Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society (GEARS). It is the policy of the Editor to publish all material submitted by the membership provided such material is in good taste, relevant to amateur radio, of interest to GEARS members, and space is availa-ble. Please send all submissions to the Editor – Dorothy Post by the last day of the month through the following medium: E-mail: dj@posthouse.us Club Officers: (Board of Directors) President …………………….....Larry Marcum-ka6gnd Vice President…………….….. Stephen Wolske-kf6hss Secretary …………………….. Dale Anderson-kk6evx Treasurer……………………. ....Rick Hubbard-ki6vos Past President ……………………..Anna Horn Kg6goa Director………………………….... Tom Rider-W6JS Director………………………..…Gene Wright-wa6zrt Director………………….…..Raymond Foulks-kg6mrk Club Meetings General Meeting Third Friday 7:00 PM Board Meeting Second Saturday GEARS Club Net Tuesdays 7:30 PM 146.850 MHz-PL 110.9 GARS Club Net:Monday,7:00 pm 147.105+Mhz PL 110.09 Thursdays Simplex Net 7:30 p.m. 146.52 Sacramento Valley Traffic Net Nightly 9:00 PM 146.850 MHz-PL 110.9 ARES Nets: Butte Mondays 20:00 146.850 MHz-PL 110.9 Yuba Sutter Thursdays 19:00 146.085+MHz PL 127.3 Glenn Thursday 19:30 147.105 MHZ +PL 100.0 Other Nets: Sac Valley Section Net—7:00 PM 2nd Wed of the month 146.085 MHz+PL 127.3 440 Wed. Night 8:00 PM Wednesday 440.650 MHz Golden Bear 7:00 PM Daily 3975 kHz Willie Net 8:00 PM Mondays 1930 kHz Western Public Service System (WPSS) 7:30 PM 3952 kHz ARISS (International Space Station) Uplink 144.490 MHz Downlink 145.800 MHz Hope-1 satellite: all uplinks are in 145Mhz band: All downlinks are in 435Mhz band ...California Traffic Net: 3906 KHz nightly @6:00 pm For traffic listing & @6:30 p.m. for roll call.

Tube Of The Month

Electron-Ray Indicator Tube In 1932, Allen DuMont developed a small cathode ray tube that was inexpensive and could be used as a tuning or bridge balance indicator. The 6E5 of 1935 was the first production tube and this type was commonly used in AM radio receivers and as frequency netting indicators in military transmitters like the ARC-5 series. The tubes were commonly called “magic eyes”, “cat eyes” and “tuning eyes”. The tubes were constructed with a “V” shaped fluorescent anode at the top. An elec-trode is placed near the central cathode so as to made a shadow on the anode. When increased voltage is applied to this control electrode, the shadow will appear to “wink” when the voltage is maximum. The AGC circuit can supply this voltage and will indicate when a received signal is on frequency. The tubes were still being used into the 1960s and later. My Heath-Kit Condenser Checker has one. To boost the control voltage, a triode was often constructed inside the envelope. Visit the museum at http://n6jv.com.

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Date

Time Event Location Contact party

Sunday, October 2 December 4

2:00 p.m. VEC—Exams

Butte Co. Search & Rescue Building 2591 Morrow Lane, Chico

Tom Rider 530-893-9211

Thursday September 8, 2016

4:30 p.m. Board and General Meeting .

GARS-Glenn Glenn Amateur Radio Society General Meeting, & Amateur Radio Emergency Services

Lutheran Church Hall: 565 Main Street Artois

Albert Leyva 530-567-5979

Friday, Sept. 9, 2016

OARS Oroville Amateur Radio Society General Meeting

St Paul’s Church Parrish Hall 1430 Pine Street Oroville

Ron Osborne-kd7uhf 530 589 1834 kd7uhf@yahoo.com

Saturday Sept. 10, 2016

Board meet: 9:00 a.m.

GEARS Board of Directors Meet Members are Invited!

Blood Source Blood Source Bldg 555 Rio Lindo Ave

Larry Marcum, KA6GND 530 345 5399 ka6gnd@gmail.com

Friday Sept. 16

General Meeting Social 6:30 p.m. Program: At 7:00 General meeting 8:00 p.m.

GEARS Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society

Butte County Search and Rescue Building 2591 Morrow Lane Chico

Larry Marcum, KA6GND 530 345 5399 ka6gnd@gmail.com

Saturday September 17

TRI CLUB STEAK BAKE

BIDWELL PARK Cedar Grove 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm

!Donations to GEARS are TAX DEDUCTIBLE! We are a 501 c 3 organization, and as such, donations cash, or materials, donated to GEARS are Tax deductible. When you donate to GEARS, be sure you receive a letter of acknowledgment from our Secretary as proof of the donation and its value for the State and Federal Tax Authorities. This is a win-win for GEARS and for you, the member or the party donating!

Bring Your Old Eyeglass Wear to GEARS for the LIONS Club Eyeglasses donation Box Prescription glasses, or magnifying eyeglasses, sunglasses, but no loose lens—frames are a necessity. This is a club community effort in which all members may participate with minimal effort. Let us FILL that box up!!!!