Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
de N4BCD
January, 2012
VOX
VOX Monthly Newsletter of the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club
Happy New Year Everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful & relaxing holiday. Julie & I travelled via rental car to Pennsyl-vania, in good weather both ways, to visit relatives. For the first time, I had a real 2m antenna on a car and with repeater frequencies pre-programmed we enjoyed contacts through sev-eral major towns. Now we’re busy packing the house for a mid-February move to the new Fayetteville, TN QTH but I just can’t find the time or motivation to bring down the tower with more than a few excel-lent DX-peditions underway. Sooner or later the thing has to come down and I’ll be QRT at least until getting some wires back in the air. Your officers & directors met last week and have some exciting programs lined up for the first part of the year. We’ll be filling in the calendar as soon as the presenters are lined up. Hope you can make it to the meetings. 73, Mark Brown, N4BCD President
Friday, Jan January 6, 2012 Meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by president Mark Brown , N4BCD, with 44 in attendance. Announcements: Although we intended to stuff envelopes for the HARC/NARA Member-ship Drive at this meeting, the printer jumped the gun and mailed every-thing out without our review or approval. The pizza and drinks brought for this purpose were available nonetheless to all who wished to partake. The HARC/NARA Joint Membership Meeting will be held Friday, Janu-ary 20th. Continued on Page 2...
Meeting Minutes by Tom Duncan KG4CUY
Inside this issue:
Meeting Minutes 1,2, 3
NARA Meeting Minutes 9
Officer’s Meeting 4
WRTC Fundraising 4
License News 5
Program / Project Mgr’s 5
In the News 7
Your article 10
Event Calendar 8
Wire is Wire 6
Hamshack of the Month 7
Memphis FreeFest flyer 11
Meeting Minutes by Tom Duncan KG4CUY
The Huntsville Amateur Radio Club
Page 2 VOX
Mark N4BCD reported that his new QTH has 4.6 acres of antenna farm space. He is soon to be the head of a two-house family. Mark displayed his CQ 160M SSB 1st Place AL award. Our congratulations, Mark! We hope the new QTH offers even better accommodation for 160 meter antenna(s) – maybe even a separate RX antenna. Old Business: SK Auction results: Charlie Tedder, W1CST won the VHF radio for $65. The tower (40’ + two 10’ seconds on the ground) and vertical antenna were sold to a local, not a HARC member, for $200. The rotor remains to be sold. Johnny Winter, KR4F suggests HARC keep the rotor for K4BFT Field Day. New Business: An officers meeting will be held some time next week at Q-Track. Charlie reports purchasing three new mag mount ¼-wave 2m antennas for HARC “go” kits. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm. ———————————————————————————————————————— January 13, 2012 HARC Minutes Meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Mark Brown , N4BCD, President. There were 30 in atten-dance. Continued on Page 3
Mark Brown N4BCD President [email protected]
Charlie Tedder W1CST Vice President [email protected]
Tom Duncan KG4CUY Secretary [email protected]
Heath Thorson KC4HRX Treasurer [email protected]
Johnny Winter KR4F Officer at-large [email protected]
Jack Hemby W5WQQ Officer at-large [email protected]
Bill Bathgate KD8IGK Officer at-large [email protected]
Club callsign: K4BFT (http://www.qrz.com/db/K4BFT)
Website: www.harc.net
Mail reflector signup: follow the link below the HARC logo on the home page
Meeting time: Every Friday, 7:30 PM (except on major holidays)
Club Officers & Info
Meeting location: Red Cross Building, 1101 Washington St. Huntsville, AL 35801
Mailing address: HARC, PO Box 423, Huntsville, AL 35801
Visitors welcome at all meetings.
Page 3 VOX
Announcements: Next week 1/20/2012 is the HARC/NARA joint membership meeting. Ralph Hogan, W4XE and Ron Shaffer, W4VM, have exchanged between them the roles of president and vice president for many con-secutive years. They are looking for new people to fill the president, vice president, and technical advi-sor positions (the current secretary and treasurer will remain), and stress that the positions of president and vice president are much more administrative than technical. Both will continue to maintain the re-peaters. If any are interested in volunteering for either of these positions, please contact Ron at [email protected]. It was reported than a U.S. District Court in Maine issued a summary judgment against Glen Baxter, K1MAN for $10k. As reported in the previous meeting’s minutes, Jack Lady, KK4FZO won the silent auction for the tower and vertical antenna. Jack is the son of SK HR1BL. Jack reports that the tower was dismantled over the 1/7-1/8 weekend. The monthly ARES/RACES meeting was held last night 1/12/2012. Charlie Tedder, W1CST reported they had a look at the R6 truck, which may be deployed during emergencies, and has a rather complete communications setup. (We have used the R6’s trailer-mounted generator at Field Day, but Charlie re-ports it also has an internal generator.) A HARC officers meeting will be held at Q-Track Tuesday, 1/17, at 5:00 pm. Old Business: Bill Bathgate, KD8IGK was unavailable to discuss the 501(c)3 status. There was no New Business: Meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm, followed by a program by Tom Duncan, KG4CUY en-titled “Unusual Tubes”.
Meeting Minutes (continued)
Editor’s comment: In case you missed
the program, we were truly fortunate to
witness Tom’s whimsical design utilizing
gas voltage regulators, thyrotron, photo-
multiplier, and magic-eye tubes working
together on one chassis!
Synopsis of January 17, 2012 HARC Officers’ Meeting HARC officers met at 5:00 pm at Q-Track. Topics of discussion included: - Re-vitalizing the HARC web site - Field day arrangements - Cleaning up the shack, again. - Future programs Those in attendance include: Mark Brown, N4BCD president Johnny Winter, KR4F director Charlie Tedder, W1CST vice president Jack Hemby, W5WQQ director Heath Thorson, KC4HRX treasurer Tom Duncan, KG4CUY secretary
First officer’s meeting of 2012—by Tom Duncan KG4CUY
Page 4 VOX
The Alabama Contest Group ( ACG) is raising money through contributions to sponsor a station at the 2014 World Team Radio Championships. This event which is held every four years is to promote a "level playing field" for contest operators from all over the globe. IDENTICAL STATIONS (radio and antennas) will be set up in close proximity at one geographical location. Past events included Russia 2010, Brazil 2006, Finland 2002, with this year’s running in the Boston, MA area. The team members have to qualify during the four year period by their scores in selected contests. Two operators make up a team and are usually sponsored by a club or group in their native country. The goal is to contact (work) as many stations in as many different countries and ITU zones within the operating time limit. Awards and medals are awarded to the top three teams. The whole WRTC event is one week long. The whole story of past WRTC events and the upcoming 2014 event can be viewed at the WRTC 2014 web-site, www.wrtc2014.org. If you would like to contribute to cause please forward your donation( check, cash, or MO) made out to ACG and send to the ACG Treasurer Tom Hardison, K4ZGB (address on QRZ.com). Those who donate you will be recognized by the ACG on our website and in this newsletter in the near future. Thanks for your support, Tim Wininger, KY5R President ACG The following have contributed toward our $1000 goal: KA4PKB, WA1FCN, WA4JA, KE4KWE, KE4KWE, K4ZGB, AA4YL, K4GU, KG4CUY, K4NO, KC4HW, K4AB, KY5R, WA4WLI, KB4ET, N4BCD, K8KI, W4NBS, KD8IGK, AG4W, K4NA, KI4EEY, KS4L, and K4WI.
Alabama Contest Group to Sponsor WRTC Station.
Madison County Emergency Coordinator
Rolf Goedhart,, K4RGG
Field Day Chairman
Tim Williams, K4AEE
Public Information Officer
Warren Alford, KJ4RAQ
Fundraising Coordinator
Tim Williams, K4AEE
K4BFT Club Station Trustee
Tom Duncan, KG4CUY
Picnic/Food Coordinator
Peggy Bell, K4EGB
Training/Education Coordinator
Jack Hemby, W5WQQ
VOX Publisher
Mark Brown, N4BCD
Website Designer
Jason Henriksen, KE4ROR
Program and
Project Managers Area Weekly Nets Northeast Alabama 6m Net (ragchewing)
Weeknights 9:00 pm 50.150
MTEARS
Monday 8:00 pm 443.625
Lincoln, TN County Emergency Training
Monday 6:30 pm 147.03
Madison County Emergency Training
Thursday 7:30 pm 146.94
Morgan County Training Net (new listing)
Tuesday 8:00 PM 147.000 (no PL)
Lauderdale County Emergency Training
146.68 pl 100
unknown
Lawrence County Emergency Training
145.27 pl 107.2
Thursday 7:45 pm
Limestone County Emergency Training
Thursday 7:00 pm 145.15
North AL/Southern Middle TN Training
Thursday 8:00 pm 147.24
Page 5 VOX
License News
If you’re interested in becoming a licensed amateur radio operator, study guides are available online or in bookstores. You’re welcome to come to any Friday club meeting to ask questions. You don’t need to know Morse Code to attain a license!
License exams are at 9AM the first Saturday of every month at the Red Cross Building, 1101 Washing-ton St, Huntsville, AL 35802. The fee is $15 (cash) and you must bring some form of picture ID.
We had 10 total test on Saturday morning the 1st session in the new year. Out of this we had 5 new Tech’s, 3 Gen’s, and 2 Extra’s Of note, Warren KJ4RAQ, I believe you might know him, was one of the new Extras!! 73 Rick DE AA4II
Every once in a while I embark on a project at work that seems simple on the surface before turning complicated and in the process end up learning something new. Case in point: purchase some replacement 32ga enameled wire for a cer-tain design that uses 40-odd feet per product. Oh, and if possible get the kind that's easy to strip & tin. Searched the backroom to see if there's a remnant of a spool left. Hmmm, here's something on a spool with a faded label and 1959 date of manu-facture. The wire has a darker color but it's marked 32ga and with the calipers showing it to be the correct di-ameter I hand it over to a technician for production. He returns a few hours later showing me a hand-writing on the bottom of the spool: 4.3 ohms / ft. A Kelvin con-nected ohm me-ter con-firmed a 3' seg-ment measured about 14 ohms - clearly not cop-per which
Wire is Wire, Except When it’s Different By Mark Brown N4BCD
Page 6 VOX
should have exhibited slightly less than 0.5 ohms for 3 feet. What the #@**? Did wire manufactured in 1959 go bad on the shelf? Have the atomic properties of copper somehow changed since all those 'orenciums were added to the periodic chart? Is this perhaps an unusual isotope of copper, now forgotten but in com-mon use back when vacuum tubes ruled the world?. Turns out the wire was a compound of copper, manga-nese, and nickel intended for thermocouple applica-tions and has a temperature coefficient of 0. How it came to be in the company’s possession is anyone's guess. OK, off to the internet to see what's available. No name (read: China ) distributors don't specify what they're really selling. Off the information superhigh-way I hit pay-dirt on a side street – an MWS Wire In-dustries website. On their site they list 32 ga wire of-fered with 23 different insulation types spanning mate-rials and combinations containing Enamel, Formvar, Polyester, Nylon, glass fiber, Teflon, and Dacron. Af-ter reading through most of these specifications it be-came clear that not all "magnet wire" is created equal. From the specifications I gleaned that we wanted something from the Polyester family whose insulation will melt under a 750F soldering iron. A call to one of our custom coil suppliers in South Carolina and their resident engineer with 50 years of industry experience confirmed several things: enameled wire is not easy to work with, Formvar is also something to stay away from, and Thermalize (tradename) is also difficult to work with and that I was on the right track with the Nylon coated Polyester material type. A short trip through the DigiKey and Mouser websites and I had Belden 8056 specified for future builds. One of the fascinating things about electronics and our hobby is the diversity of commodity type materials. Items such as connectors and passive components oc-cupy hundreds of catalog pages. Sometimes a simple “commodity” version is fine and sometimes a more specialized part is called for. I guess the same holds for wire.
Page 7 VOX
Looking for someone interested in becoming the club photographer. Hoping we can find some-one with an eye for photo journalism to capture club meeting programs, field day, and other club events for this newsletter and the website. Please write to me at [email protected].
Kaitlyn Cole KS3P just received a call regarding being selected for the 2012 Youth DX Adven-ture. This trip will be in July and will take place in Costa Rica. As her dad, I am very excited because I will get to be her chaperone. We are looking forward to working DX from a foreign contest station's perspective. Kaitlyn is also speaking at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum in May, as well as working in the ARRL Youth booth. 73 Stan NX3P
Hamshack of the Month - Southern Fried Yaesu FT-857D
Lightning is no Friend of Electronics
Young Ham in the News
Help Wanted
Page 8 VOX
HARC Calander
15-Jan 16-Jan 17-Jan 18-Jan 19-Jan 20-Jan 21-Jan
HARC NARA
meeting
22-Jan 23-Jan 24-Jan 25-Jan 26-Jan 27-Jan 28-Jan
NAQP
Wrap-up
CQ 160-Meter
Contest, CW
29-Jan 30-Jan 31-Jan 1-Feb 2-Feb 3-Feb 4-Feb
CQ 160-Meter
Contest, CW
Ease & Cheap
10m Antennas
Tom N4KG
5-Feb 6-Feb 7-Feb 8-Feb 9-Feb 10-Feb 11-Feb
DX Club Meet-
ing
ARES / RACES
Meeting 6PM
Antenna Con-
struction Night
- 10m
CQ WW RTTY
WPX Contest
12-Feb 13-Feb 14-Feb 15-Feb 16-Feb 17-Feb 18-Feb
CQ WW RTTY
WPX Contest
Madison Co
ARES Rolf
K4RGG
ARRL Inter. DX
Contest, CW
19-Feb 20-Feb 21-Feb 22-Feb 23-Feb 24-Feb 25-Feb
ARRL Inter. DX
Contest, CW
Why CW?
Johnny KR4F
26-Feb 27-Feb 28-Feb 29-Feb 1-Mar 2-Mar 3-Mar
tbd ARRL Inter. DX
Contest, SSB
4-Mar 5-Mar 6-Mar 7-Mar 8-Mar 9-Mar 10-Mar
ARRL Inter. DX
Contest, SSB
DX Club Meet-
ing
ARES / RACES
Meeting 6PM tbd
11-Mar 12-Mar 13-Mar 14-Mar 15-Mar 16-Mar 17-Mar
QRP Operating
Craig NM4T
18-Mar 19-Mar 20-Mar 21-Mar 22-Mar 23-Mar 24-Mar
tbd CQ WW WPX
Contest, SSB
25-Mar 26-Mar 27-Mar 28-Mar 29-Mar 30-Mar 31-Mar
CQ WW WPX
Contest, SSB
Auction
Night
The HARC/NARA Joint Membership Meeting, including the NARA annual meeting was called to order at 7:32 pm by HARC president Mark Brown, N4BCD, with 57 in attendance. There was one visitor, Rick K5UJU, from Colville, WA. Also present were ARRL SE Division director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, and 911-center director Ernie Blair, WA4BPS and XYL Carol N4QPE. Announcements: Tomorrow 1/21/2012 is the January ARRL North American QSO Party (phone). Exchange is Name and State. Mark asked rhetorically how many Tom’s and Al’s would be participating, noting that short names make for higher rates. A Field Day Team meeting will be held at 6:45 pm next Friday 1/27/2012, before the regular meeting. Interstate Batteries has scratched/blemished car batteries for $39.39, and deep-cycle batteries for $49.95. Woodie Ziegler, K8GNM noted that a battery shop down Washington street from the Red Cross has a similar deal. Gene Finch, KW4D announced he has some slightly storm damaged beams: 4L20, 4L15, and 4L10. (editor’s
note. Email from Gene on Jan 24 that he sold the antennas) Treasurer Heath Thorson KC4HRX reminds us we can sign up for the email list on the HARC web site. John Hilliard, K4JCH reminded us about the HK0NA Malpelo DXpedition. Bill Bathgate KD8IGK reminded us about the PJ4C DXpedition which has a few days to go. No Old Business. New Business: Mark turned the gavel over to Ralph Hogan, W4XE for the NARA Annual Meeting. The first order of busi-ness was NARA elections, over which Mark officiated. By acclamation the following slate was elected: Ron Shaffer, W4VM President Chase Renegar, KK4FCY Vice President Stan Sims, N4PMS Treasurer Doug Mathes, N4CZ Secretary Ralph Hogan, W4XE Technical Advisor Mark turned the gavel back to Ralph and newly-elected president Ron for the remainder of the meeting, which covered various NARA financial and technical issues. After the NARA meeting, Rolf Goedhart K4RGG reminded us that the repeaters stayed up during and after the 4/27/2011 tornados, and that we owe NARA thanks for this. Greg W4OZK encouraged all present to join the ARRL, and provided numerous ARRL publications which Mark gave away as door prizes. The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 pm.
Page 9
Minutes of Annual HARC / NARA meeting
by Tom Duncan KG4CUY
Page 10 VOX
This is YOUR newsletter. Send me your content. Pic-tures of your shack. An ar-ticle about your new radio. Your latest antenna project. The thrill of bagging a rare DX station. Let others
Your article will appear here, so send it in!
Page 11 VOX
Memphis FreeFest® What a Hamfest Should Be
Sponsored by the Mid-South Amateur Radio Association (MARA)
ARRL Approved
Mars Meeting, Seminars, VE Testing, Concessions
One Day Only
Saturday April 14, 2012
9 am to 3 pm
Bartlett Station Municipal Center
5868 Stage Road Bartlett, TN
North side of Stage Road just west of Bartlett Blvd.
Admission, Vendor, Club, and Flea Market tables all free
Deposit of $10/table (Max $50) refundable deposit No Shows, and Cancellations after 4-7 lose deposit
Only 106 inside spaces and 25 outside – 100% FULL every year since Day One
All Ham and Non-ham prizes donated - $2500+ in 2011
100% of raffle proceeds donated to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital in 2012
Still working on 2012 Prizes – Check web pages for latest info
Load in 7 - 9 am - Load out 3 - 5 pm
Inside load in on Friday afternoon 4-6 pm for $10/table max $50
