The Official Newsletter of the Kansas City DX Club

KC DX NEWS AB0X-EDITOR

KCDXC WEB SITE:http://www.kcdxclub.com/ June/July 2010

IN THIS ISSUEClub News-AB0XFriedrichshafen Hamfest -N0RBSlim & Pirate Report-WD0SRIMy Field Day Adventure-WD0SRI W0DXCC Convention Meeting-AB0X

NEXT KCDXC MEETING: July 26NEW MEETING LOCATION!

The next Meeting of the KCDXC willbe held at the Cloverleaf Building , inMission, KS. The location is Metcalf andShawnee Mission Parkway. The address is6405 Metcalf, but the building is accessedfrom a frontage road just east of metcalf.Enter the frontage road by turning eastfrom Metcalf at 65th St. The meeting timeis 6:30 PM. The Pie Eating Contest will follow atthe Village Inn Restaurant just 2 blocksnorth after the meeting!

SEND IN 2010 CLUB DUES ! All members are reminded to send intheir 2010 club dues, $20, immediately toAC0C. KCDXC Treasurer’s address is listedbelow:

Jeff Blaine, AC0C , KCDXCTreasurer, at 15922 W. 91st. Ter.Lenexa, KS 66219.

KCDXC HAS 3 ROOMS LEFT FORDAYTON 2011!!Contact AB0X at mcrabtree@kc.rr.comif you are interested in one of theCrowne Plaza rooms.

Rooms have gone up $10 per night in2011.

First come/ First serve!

KCDXC HONOR DXCC ROLL

Call Mix CW Phone

Rtty

IOTA 160

K0JN 360 359 313

W0NS 352

K0CS 352 301 347 227

N0XA 351 347 347 151 303

AB0X 351 347 327 204

W0JLC 348 346 327 102

AK0A 347 336 339 294

N0CWR 345 343 346 100

W0JM 345 337 343 100

N0RB 346 324 339

K0CA 344 343 342 313 75

K0HQW 344 324 342 32

K0DEW 344

NX0I 342 335 336 193

W0NV 338 316 330 101 107

K0RWL 341 337

KC9JH 338 331

K0GY 335 328 334

K4SV 333

AC0A 330 330 340

KB0X 336 322

K0THN 310 295 249 149

AA0MZ 291 259 275 405 40

KG0UA 283 277 116 4

W0LHK 306 21

N0UF 275 145 271 9

KI7WO 241 143 228 33 5

K0OU 144 120 122

WD0BWM 101

WD0SRI 72 34 72 3 3

RED denotes #1 on ARRL DXCC Honor Roll

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN HAMFESTBY N0RB

N0RB HELPS OUT AT ARRL BOOTHAT FRIEDRICHSHAFEN HAMFEST

CLIPPERTON DX CLUB FROM FRANCEALWAYS HAD A GLASS OF WINE FOR THENEXT VISITOR.

THE BEER GARDENS WERE ALWAYS

BUSY!

FLEA MARKET AREA WAS VERY BUSY,TOO! NOTICE NICE INSIDE FLEAMARKET AREA WITH AC.

THE SLOVENIA DX CLUB BOOTH ATHAMFEST.

N0RB AND OLD FRIEND SV9VCY ARESHOWN VISITING AT THE ARRL BOOTH!

SLIM & PIRATE REPORT

BY WD0SRI It seems that since I got mylicense about 25 years ago, I have beenlike a magnet for slims and pirates onthe bands! I really don’t understand whythis is true, but it is. For a long timeI have believed that most of thesepirates that call me might really belocal guys just having some fun ratherthan hams around the world. I have longsuspected those two guys with the zerocalls who lives in Texas. More recently,I have suspected Mr. Tall Boy inWetmore, KS. Nevertheless, I thought myfellow KCDXC members should be madeaware of these calls so they won’t bevictims, too. After some careful consideration itseems nearly all slims or pirates can beplaced into two categories: 1)letters offake call make a funny saying or spellout a silly word; or 2)Call is a wellknown item or character in Americanculture(ex. R2D2). Following are of the slims I haveworked and put in my log;

*Even though the USSR split intoseparate countries many years ago, Istill manage to get called by UF0OLonce every contest! The same is true forUR2DUM and UR1ASS. I worked both of themin the CQ WW last Nov. Other popular butoutdated calls I have worked are UP2HIand UP2LO.(Handle was Whiz.)*I also seem to get an unusual number ofpotty related calls in most contests. Itmay just be a coincidence because it iswell known that I work in wastemanagement, spetic division, but itwould seem only the local guys know whatI do for a living?? Here’s someexamples:P0OT and T0OT are regulars inmy log. There are a couple more calls Ihave logged that aren’t very nice andwouldn’t be appropriate in a familynewsletter like ours!* The Clown division shows up in thelogbook at least once a year: B0ZO,CL0WN(Handle is usually Whizzo), FO0LS,and SM1LEY are regulars.

*The Redneck section always producesCO0DER as a multiplier in the WPX.* Other generic pirates recently loggedare CO0RS, (Handle is Lite???) BU1CK,F0LD, BY1NOW, DU1TT, PH0NEY(Handle isalways Slim.),M0RE, M1TT(Handle is usuallyRawlings or Wilson.), R0AR(Handle isusually Lyon), AL1BY, HA1TI, FR0NT, FR0WN,HA2U, C0PS(Handle is Phil.), S0LD,TR1CKY(Handle is Dick.) H0AX(Handle isSlim, agn.),C0AX(Handle is Belden.), RG8Uor RG8AU(Always says to QSL via C0AX.),S0UND, S0LID(Handle is Copi), SP0TS,SP1TT(Handle is Hocker.), ST1FF, ST0P,ST0LE, M1LEY(A YL with the handle ofCyrus. Kind of a funny name for a girl??),SP0UT,P0UT, IC0M(Handle is I.C. Riggs),SU1T, WH1FF(Said to QSL to KB0X), ON2IT,SN0TT(Handle is either Green or Sneezy.),ST1LL, S1CK(This call used to be assignedto Wayne Manning??), L1AR(Handle is Dr.Baldar), L1DD(Handle is Elmer, just likeme?), L1PP, L1MP(Handle is Lee),SM0OTH(Handle is Jim Beam). Watch outSM0OTH may be N0AG!*My all time favorites are SP0CK, whoalways says “Live Long and Prosper”instead of 73, YO0HOO, who called himself“The Original Pirate, ARG!.” Seriously, guys, something should bedone about all these pirates! You justdon’t know how embarrassing it is to getmore returned QSLs than real ones in yourbureau shipment! The guys and gals whovolunteer at the Outgoing ARRL QSL Bureauall know me well and add little cutecomments on my returned QSL cards. Also, if any of you have any evidencethat can help me identify any locals whoare responsible for some, or all, of thesepirate calls, please let me know. I amsick and tired of always being the butt ofeveryone’s joke. I would be interested in any other“Slims” you have recently worked. Sendthem over to me by my email atwd0sri@redneck.com . Hopefully, the info above can behelpful to you, so you won’t be trickedinto working some of these pirates!

TREASURER’S REPORT BY AC0C

The balance of the KCDXCtreasury is $4450.

W0DR PUTS UP BIG STICK! KCDXC member Dave, W0DR, is proudlysporting a new, very large tower in hisyard. He calls it his Tall Boy comparedto the other two towers in the yard. Seephoto below.

SPECIAL RADIO PRODUCT FOUND ONCRAIG’S LIST BY N0RB

From Craig's List:For sale one tube of rare cb antennagrease. This stuff came out in the 60's.It was developed by the Department ofDefense for the armed services. It wasmainly used in the field on hand heldunits, tripling their range. It is aclosely guarded secret by technicians &HAM's. When the FCC found out someamateur radio supply outlets hadpurchased a sizable quantity of the RFgrease through US Army & Navy surplusauctions, the FCC outlawed the sale ofit in the US. What the RF grease does ismake your signal slide out your antennafaster and with less friction. Because

of this you get less RF friction (hysteresis). The results are: lower SWR readings &increased power handling, the faster moving RF signal builds up a tremendous RFinertia, resulting a higher DB gain on your signal, (like a slingshot effect throwinga faster & larger signal) ( typically 3.8-4.7 db gain) and 4x the power handlingcapacity. Modulation & SSB benefit a whopping 6 db gain. over an untreated isotropicdipole antenna lasts for about 6 months then, just wipe off any old grease and putsome new on. This is probably the best kept secret in amateur radio! The guys at theshoot-out's wont tell you about this amazing secret! Triple the RF output of a 200watt box to 600 ERP, etc... (effective radiated power) This RF grease also causes avery cool side efect if you feed over 100 watts into a treated antenna you will seea cool purpleish-pink halo glowing around your antenna on key up at night, pulsatingwith your modulation ! (not to cool for the military, this is why they stopped usingit!) For now all I have is one 16oz. tube. $250.00 FIRM

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks, Rick, but are you sure you didn’t get this from BUBBA’s LIST??

M Y F I E L D D A Y A D V E N T U R E

B Y W D 0 S R I

Last year my best friend and I had such an exciting Field Day experience wecould hardly wait for this year's Field Day to roll around. When Skeeter, N0LID, andI shared with the club an account of our Field Day fun through an article that ranlast summer in this newsletter, we felt everyone enjoyed our crazy weekend as muchas we did! People were still asking us questions about it up till Christmas. OfCourse, our XYL's shared in the fun as much as we did.

Our planning for this year's Field Day began early in the winter months so thatwe could be prepared for any problem that Murphy might throw our way just like a realemergency situation. We reserved the same camping spot as last year at Pomona StateLake because of it’s excellent location for antennas. Our XYL's worked closely withHarvey and I in the preparation for the big event. When the last weekend in Junefinally arrived we were ready!

We drove down to the lake in my new Honda so we wouldn’t have any car problemslike last year. Also, extra car keys were included in our plans. No more late nightsearches in the dark, no more cut feet and trips to the hospital like last year whichslowed down our rate. We thought of everything! Or at least we believed we hadthought of everything.

It took us about 2 hours to string up our antennas, a longwire and an all bandvertical with 57 radials. We started the contest, opps! I mean emergency drill, righton time and 17 QSO's in the log in the first hour on CW In the second hour we rackedup 27 Q's and were building up quite an appetite when the girls(Mary Lou and Thelma)started fixing dinner. The food smelled great as it cooked on the open fire and wewere really enjoying ourselves at the rig!

Unfortunately, the fun didn't last long. After a great meal we hit the bandsagain only to find that our ACME Keyer had died! We could find no obvious problemslike bad cables and it appeared that the keyer had just died. Harvey suspected thatthe keyer in the 95 degree heat and at the torrid rate we were using it may havecaused it to overheat. Boy! Now, we both wished that we had bought a Kansas CityKeyer last year at Dayton! An extra keyer was the one thing we didn't bring a backupfor, or as N0XA says, a reload! After a quick conference, Skeeter and I decided tojust go to SSB for the rest of the contest. Then we found the second thing we forgotto bring: a microphone' Dang! Did we feel dumb!

The XYL's had left for Ottawa to see a movie so we were left without a car. Wecouldn't even go all the way back home to get what we needed. Surely, the Park Rangerwouldn't have a spare key in the First Aid kit!

Harvey and I sat back and dug out a cold one from the ice chest. This was theearliest we had ever hit the Dr. Pepper on any of our Field Days before but this

called for the hard stuff!

After we communed with nature a little while, we got to thinking what we woulddo if a real emergency had occurred and people were depending on us! We put our headstogether and came up with a simple solution. I clipped the wire going to the keyerand cut the insulation back to bare some copper on each wire. I flipped the rig tothe send position and touched the wire together to key the rig and began using my newArmstrong Manual Keyer! “Dahdidahdit Dahdahdidah Dididahdit Dahdidit Dahdidit Dit Didahdah DahdiditDahdahdahdahdah Dididit Didahdit Didit Dahdidah.”'

Wow, it worked like a shot' We even worked 7 stations in the next hour or so,but does your arm get tired after a while! We took turns sending since it was sotiring on the operator. When the girls finally returned around 2:30 AM, they saidthey could see sparks flying from our manual keyer from quite a distance down theroad. However, we had to terminate operating for awhile and talk with the girls aboutwhy they were so late returning from the movie. We suspected they didn’t go to themovies after all when they got out of the car singing some Hank Williams, Jr. songeach holding a long neck bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. They giggled alot andmumbled about "Bubba a n d Ralph," but that's another story that doesn't haveanything to do with ham radio.

N0LID and I took turns resting and operating throughout the night.Unfortunately, we didn't make too many 0SO's. Our rate dropped to about 3 per hourin the early morning hours. Skeeter believed that most operators at those late hoursjust lost their patience with someone sending only about 3 or 4 WPM plus our fistprobably sounded pretty bad with our Armstrong Manual Keyer.

During breakfast we talked seriously about packing it in and heading for home.However, I noticed something that seemed to be the answer to all our problems. Iwas playing with the cheap camping silverware we had brought along and noticed thatthe knife blades had a surprising amount of flexibility and spring. Using someblack electrical tape I put two of the knives together with a layer of black tapeto insulate them. Then I wrapped them securely with several layers of tape aroundthe handle end of the knives. With some alligator clips attached to each knifehandle I had a crude, but functional, straight key! I even attached a littlesquare of tape on top of the blade to insulate my fingers. When I connected it tothe rig it actually worked! (See Figure 1 for details on the homemade knife blade key)

Fig. 1

It took some practice to get used to our homemade key, which we nicknamed "The Cutting Edge," but skill improved each contact. It was slow going, but wegradually began racking up the QSO's. There were even thoughts that we might reachour original goal of 300 QSO's for the whole Field Day exercise.

About 9:30 AM Skeeter began having some stomach problems. He literally beata path to the nearest facilities. It must have been the tacos Thelma and Mary Loumade for our dinner lastnight. We soon found out that we had forgotten one morevery important item: toilet tissue. If you have ever been camping you canunderstand our problem! Of course, we had two bottles of the stomach medicine inour supplies and he soon felt a little better. This was typical of our whole Field Day experience, though. We remembered thelittle things, but forgot the most important items! Nevertheless, I continued tooperate and make contacts despite N0LID's battle with diarrhea. By the end of theField Day exercise we finished with 287 QSO’5, which is not too far from our goal.In fact, we are kind of proud of the way we handled the situation. Through our

inventiveness we salvaged the entire project' I guess we proved that if there hadbeen a real emergency we could have dealt with it. But isn't that what Field day'sreally about?

Below are some photos of our Field Day experience. In the first picture from leftto right, our trailer loaded up with all our antennas and equipment can be seen.The second picture shows our multi-band vertical. It works on all bands from 160to 2 Meters. It does take some time to tune it though. The third photo is ofWD05RI with his XYL rewarding him for the outstanding job he did on Field Day(Apparently, the problem with Bubba has been forgotten'-Editor). The picture on thefar left is of N0LID using the Armstrong Manual Key. This was' taken just prior tothe invention of the Cutting Edge key.

Reprinted from Lost KCDXC Newsletter files wit a few minor updates-AB0X

W0DXCC CONVENTION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES BY WD0BWM Meeting started at 2:10pm and concluded at 4:20pm. Those in attendance include:K4SX, N0AG, K0LW, KC0ZNI, AC0KN, AB0X, K0THN, KC9JH, K0VBU, K0VXU, AC0A, W0AO, KD0FRT,K0RU, WD0BWM, KD0HMH.

The following issues are considered complete with one small exception below:1. Convention registering and payment headed by AB0X.2. DX card checking at the convention---Bill, AC0A will co-ordinate directly with Cliff,K0CA to insure that someone will be able to check 160M and Deleted Entities card at theconvention. I believe Cliff has already completed this, Bill, AC0A to verify.3. Famous KCDXC CW Pile-UP Contest headed by Bill, K0VBU.4. Food and drinks for the convention---Rob, K0RU and Bob, W0AO to get with caterer andcomplete---check on any paperwork that may be needed between KCDXC and caterer.- It was discussed and voted that admission price to the convention will be $30/per personand this includes all KCDXC members and all sponsors. BBQ convention dinner will be $25/perperson and raffle tickets will be $10 each.

- Bill, K0VBU, Ron, K4SX, and Scott, K0MD to work together to see what can happen as faras a website that can be done quickly and activated to start our advertising. Some startinginformation has been given to Ron and Bill that could possibly be used. More info willfollow shortly. Thank you in advance Scott for your time and assistance.

- Don, WD0BWM to verify with vendors and manufacturer’s reps their interest in attendingand possibly contacting a couple others that have interest.

- Financial status, accounts payable and receivable to this point were given.

- All convention sponsors were recognized and thanked. All new Midwest Division assistantdirectors in attendance were recognized, those being K0VBU, K0THN, and K4SX.

- Don, WD0BWM to continue to secure prizes for raffle ticket prizes, CW contest winner’sprizes, and other prizes. Report progress at next meeting.

- Forum subjects and possible speakers were discussed at great length. It was decided thatforums would have a Midwest DXing and contest flavor rather than east or west coast.Possible subjects include 160M antennas, 160M DXing from the Midwest, possible 6M DXing fromthe Midwest, RTTY Dxing and contests from the Midwest, and many other subjects. Manypossible speakers were mentioned and local speakers will be considered first for financialreasons. More to come here from next couple of meetings.

- It was discussed and Don, WD0BWM is to discuss with radio manufactures if they would liketo have a forum on why their radios are the best for DXing and contests.

Many good ideas were brought forth from everyone in attendance and I thank each of youfor both your time and ideas. It is much appreciated. All committee members are open tomore suggestions and/or comments at any time.

Thank you,Don Devins, WD0BWMCommittee co-chair

Here are a few photos of the meeting(Editor)