From The Editors Mouth
April 2013, Issue 4, Volume 61
UPCOMING EVENTS
Benjamin Straw, KC9UNS
Meeting Wow I need to start preparing this newsletter Lake Co. ARC a little bit sooner, as of this writing (3-28-1 3) the CQ WW WPX contest is this weekend LC Dept Homeland Sec Bld and I want to play radio(Smile). Anyway it April 1 2th @ 7:30pm seems the editor gets tell you everything thats been on during the last month. First up! Hamfest Welcome 6 new members: John KC9YDF, North Central Indiana Hamfest Ron Baker, Dave KC9YKL, Ron K9JON, Miami County 4H Fairgrounds Sandy KA9GMB and Ken K9KO. Next time April 20th @ 7:00 am you hear them on the radio say hello. In other news our member Andy W9FXT once again Contests was featured in WorldRadio Online, check out the pictures of his station on page 43-45. Indiana QSO Party EMA Building LCARC is planning on operating 2 contests and one event this year, May 4th 11 -5pm Indiana QSO party, Field day, and Indiana parks on the air. The Indiana QSO party is going to be on May 4th from 11 am to around 5 Net pm depending on band conditions LCARC Weekly Information Net Field day is held on the fourth weekend of June and will be operating Club VHF & UHF Repeaters Class F Every Thursday @ 8pm Both of these events will be held where we conduct our club meetings, Lake County Department of Homeland Security Building. The event coordinators for INPOTA have announced the date of September 7th, which has become a bit of a surprise because looking at past events it was always on the 2nd Saturday of September. So on the 7th September we hope to be operating the 1 x1 callsign N9D at the Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton Those willing to volunteer by working a station or donate the use of equipment for these events is greatly needed and welcome. Please contact BOB WD9EZB or my self KC9UNS If you're ever have the clubs repeater on (1 47.00) say hello to a new 1 4 year old ham Carter KC9YGU. The EMA VHF repeater (1 46.70-) will be down for an undetermined length of time. The duplexers are defective and they are looking for replacements. The UHF machine is working fine. A reminder that the clubs 1 47.00+ repeater is the backup repeater for the EMA and will be used for nets and any emergency that may arise till the EMA Repeater is back up. David AA9XS is looking for 8 Ham volunteers to help out in a marathon being held at Freedom Park in Lowell. Date will be Sunday April 1 4th 201 3 and meet time is 6 AM. There will be a net control station and those lucky hams who volunteer will be at water stations and at railroad tracks. Contact David to volunteer. Continued on Page 2
In this Issue of Short Skip 2. LCARC Meeting Minutes 3. QCWA Meeting Info 4. March Club Meeting Pictures 5. DX Code For Sale 6. Homebrew Com Speaker, Matched Listening Antennas 7. Surveillance of Ham radio QBL Pic's 8. End Polio Now Why Join a Club 9. Ferrite Trafficing Special Event Icom Repair Recall
Short Skip Needs Your Help We want to bring you a full and jammed packed issue of Short Skip every month, but we need help! We are looking for: Computer and Ham radio related Reviews, Tips, Rants and Raves. Email them to KC9UNS@Gmail.com
Dougles KD4CXG Malcolm W9MAL Russ KB9HO If we miss your birthday or get it wrong, please let us know
Kerry KB9ORH was having a conversation with John, KA9PGC. He's Vice President of the Laporte County Amateur Radio Club(LPCARC). They are hosting two Scout events this year. First is Scout Appaloosa which will be on May 1 8th. Second is JOTA which will be the third weekend of October. Both events will be held at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds. John remembers our club having fox hunts in the past. He was wondering if our members would be interested in demonstrating a foxhunt during either of these events. Both of us don't know if we still have foxhunt experts in our club. John also mentioned that the LPCARC will hopefully be setup to help the scouts get their radio badges. If anyone is interested contact Kerry KB9ORH and he will pass on info to John. The Northwest Indiana DX Club announced on March 11 th that Dr. Richard Lochner, K9CIV has been appointed an Official ARRL DXCC Card Checker. Contact Rich at k9civ@arrl.net for an appointment or details on mailing cards to him. Well that is all I have for you have a great month and I hope to see you at the next club meeting Benjamin Straw KC9UNS, Editor Short Skip
LCARC March Meeting Minutes
2013 Officers
President: .............. WD9EZB
Bob Wiberg
Vice President: ....... KB9HO
Russ McComb
Secretary: ............. KC9UNS
Benjamin Straw
Treasurer: ................ KF9EX
Jim Harney
Trustee: ..................... WV9O
Marv Boetcher
Directors
Bill Young .................. N9QLS Ken Brown ................ KE9TC Bob Nelms ............. WD9FNY
Benjamin Straw, KC9UNS
Mark Skowronski ............ K9MQ John Gianotti ................. W9WY
1 5 members 9 Guests.
Editor ....................... KC9UNS
Meeting called to order at 7:31 PM Attendance:
Editorial Staff
Benjamin Straw
Reading of Minutes:
• The minutes of the previous meeting (FEB 8, 201 3) was approved as read.
Treasure Report:
• Treasurer Report read by Jim KF9EX.
Committee reports
• INPOTA: N9D Registered to the club call W9LJ. Field Day Ben KC9UNS reported that the club could be a A or F class for the event but is unsure what the club should hold. • It was asked where the club will be holding Indiana QSO Party and Field Day, He reported it will be held in the back parking lot of the EMA building. • RACES: New Clock for the radio room, Nice and big so Kenny can see it • Red Cross: Bill N9QLS reported he has been having problems contacting the Director of the Red Cross • Net: Ben KC9UNS reported we had a 111 mile check-in. KC9GLD from Lebanon, IN, Average of 1 0-1 5 check-ins, he also reported we didn't have a net for Valentine's day due to everyone should have brought the XYL to Dinner
(kc9uns@gmail.com)
Club Resources
W9LJ/R ....................... 1 47.000 + PL 1 31 .8 W9LJ/R (St. John) ...... 1 47.240 + PL 1 31 .8 W9LJ/R ....................... 442.075 + PL 1 31 .8
Repeater Nets
Thursday Night @ 8 pm: LCARC Weekly Infomation Net
April 1 2, 201 3
Meetings
Old Business:
BOARD MEETING LCEMA OFFICE, 2900 93rd Ave Crown Point (Across from Gov. Ctr.) 6:30 p.m.
New Business
April 1 2, 201 3
None
• 2 dates have been chosen to have a fundraiser at 5 guys, June 1 3th in Schererville. Sept 1 2th in Munster • David AA9XS Asked for 8 Ham volunteers for a marathon at Freedom Park in Lowell. Date will be Sunday April 1 4th 201 3 Meet time is 6 AM
CLUB MEETING 2900 93rd Ave Crown Point (Across from Gov. Ctr.) 7:30 p.m.
Program:
Hi! you found me. Lucky you!
• Planned Video’s failed • Dennis K9JZZ Did a talk about Wouff-Hong
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM local.
Vol. 61 No. 4
DashToons.com
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QCWA Chapter 36 Meeting Information Stan Vandiver, W4SV
Details of our upcoming meetings, and highlights of past meetings, can always be found at http://www.chapter36.org/meetings.html. It is not necessary to be a QCWA member to attend breakfast and dinner meetings. All are welcome. Use this link to check on future dates: (http://www.chapter36.org/meetings.html). 73, Stan W4SV In a very strange turn of events, our March meeting took place after the foul winter weather passed. Maybe I'm losing my touch?!?! But we had a great turnout of 27 people at the Golden Corral, and the food was delicious, as always. We didn't have any show-and-tell items, but we did have a nice awards presentation to all of those who are eligible so far this year. Jim KF9EX got his 55-Year Award, John W9ZG got his 60-Year Award, and our newest member Dennis K9JZZ cleaned up with three awards: 50-Year, 55-Year, and 50-Year Continuously Licensed. Congratulations to all of you on achieving these milestones! Click on the thumbnails below to see the nice awards. One of the announcements at the meeting was to let everyone know about the nice video interview that was posted online of QCWA Executive Administrator, Ken Simpson W8EK, as he details a very good summary of the QCWA, its goals, and the recent changes that were necessary to keep the organization from going bankrupt. The interview was conducted at the 201 3 Orlando HamCation Hamfest by Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, of Ham Radio Now. If you haven't seen Ham Radio Now on the web before now, check it out! They have some really nice programs and guests with tons of amateur radio news and information. Click here for the full W8EK interview on Ham Radio Now, or you can also click here to watch the video on YouTube. Dennis, K9JZZ, announced that he is the Vice Chairperson of the Indiana Radio Club Council, Inc. (IRCC), and that they are always looking to have more Indiana clubs join their association, and also to have people nominated for two annual awards that they offer. They have presented the Outstanding Amateur of the Year Award since 1 949, and the Technical Excellence Award since 2001 . These are both very prestigious awards and you would likely recognize a number of names on the rosters of past winners, including our Chapter 36 member Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, who won the Technical Excellence Award in 2011 . Membership dues are only $1 0 per year, and Chapter 36 is now signed up as a member for 201 3. If you know someone who would be deserving of either of the IRCC awards, please email Stan, W4SV and he will get you in touch with Dennis for more details. By the way, did you see that Carl, K9LA, had TWO articles in the latest (March) issue of QST? Way to go, Carl! The QCWA Spring QSO Party is March 1 6th starting at 1 :00pm CDT and runs for 24 hours. The N1 MM Logger program (freeware) has been updated to properly handle this event. Read the instructions and download here. The QSO Party Rules and other info is available here. Membership Drive Contest Update: Dennis, K9JZZ, is our current leader with one new member signed up... himself! But a score of one should be easy to beat, so come on out and play, and get some new members signed up with QCWA! The latest contest updates will always be kept current on the Contest Page. Two photos below were digitally enhanced. Can you tell which ones? ;-)
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Stay up to date with the current happenings of the Lake County Amateur Radio Club on Facebook. To find us type LCARC in the Facebook search box or http://www.facebook.com/LCARC
Vol. 61 No. 4
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Pictures from the March meeting
Vol. 61 No. 4
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DX Code of Conduct Larry Makoski, W2LJ
This post will deal with a phenomena that is occurring more and more frequently, I believe. But it hasn’t been noticed by me alone, it was also noticed by Jim K9JV, who posted about it on QRP-L this morning. I touched upon this in my recent post about pile up behavior; however, this is a very important topic, so here we go again. Jim was trying to work both P29NO and 9M4SLL. The pileups were big and unruly. While it is the domain of the DX to try and control the pileups, it remains the responsibility of those trying to work the DX to do so in as “professional” a manner as possible. Jim pointed out that several stations continued to throw out their calls, even though the quarry was clearly calling for a station whose call was in no way similar to those of the perpetrators. This is maddening! K9JV was furious (and justifiably so) that when P29NO was calling “K9?V”, a KØ, a VE and a W2 kept plaguing the aether with their calls. I had a similar experience a few years ago when I was trying to work an Iraqi station. I was one of those competing in the pileup, and the Iraqi station suddenly began sending “W2L?” He meant yours truly of course, yet I was obliterated by a W4 station, and no, it wasn’t a W4Lsomething (I could have accepted that) – the station didn’t even have an “L” in their call at all! Jim was lucky as he ended up working P29NO. In my case, the Iraqi station subsequently went QRT and I never got him in the log. What causes this kind of behavior? Are people truly that stupid and discourteous? I don’t know the answer to that, although I am tempted to offer an unfounded and uncharitable guess. But I think part of the problem may lay in the way that I think DX is encountered today. At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, in the days of old, we used to find DX by twiddling the dial and listening for it. You spun the dial knob, up and down – back and forth, straining your ears to find that foreign amateur radio op. If you were lucky, you were able to hear him, you worked him and you were good to go. Or you listened for a pileup, and you located the station they were all calling, determined if you needed him, and then you joined the fray. But in essence, YOU had to locate the DX station yourself, either by dial twiddling or by locating the goal of a pileup. Today, things have gotten immensely easier; but at the same time, we have invoked “The Law of Unintended Consequences”. Allow me to explain with this scenario: A station twiddles the dial – he finds and hears (for example, we’ll use a DXpedition that just concluded) TX5K. He works him. Then, proud of his accomplishment, he posts TX5K to the Internet (in the days of old, the PacketCluster), wishing to share the bounty. Immediately, on the screens of Amateur Ops the world over, it appears that TX5K has appeared on 1 8.073 MHz (for example). Nowadays, with the myriad of the logging programs and rig control programs available, an Amateur Op can just point and click with his mouse and “Viola!” there they are, on TX5K’s frequency. I think the problem is, that many (but by nowhere near all) ops don’t pause to listen to hear if they can actually hear TX5K. Or may be they can, but they hear him only marginally at best. In fact, they hear him so marginally that if they were tuning across the band on their own, they wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was TX5K in the first place – but hey, their computers tell them that he’s there, right? So what do they do? They start throwing out their calls in the hopes that somehow he’ll magically get louder and that they’ll be heard in return. Heck, in many cases they can’t even tell that he’s working split! So they call right on the listening frequency, which then invokes the ensuing cacophony of “UP”s and “LID”s being sent. It gets to be one, big frustrating mess. And this doesn’t even take into
account the zoo that can occur if some quack, who literally enjoys jamming DX operations, gets involved. So what should be done about this? Closely and completely adhere to the “DX Code of Conduct” – that’s what! The DX Code of Conduct was formulated by Randy Johnson W6SJ. You can read about it here. I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling. I will only call if I can copy the DX station properly. I will not trust the DX cluster and will be sure of the DX station's call sign before calling. I will not interfere with the DX station nor anyone calling and will never tune up on the DX frequency or in the QSX slot. I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before I call. I will always send my full call sign. I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously. I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine. I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine. I will not transmit when the DX station requests geographic areas other than mine. When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think he has copied it incorrectly. I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact. I will respect my fellow hams and conduct myself so as to earn their respect. Having wonderful tools at your disposal does not abrogate your responsibility to operate in an unselfish manner. You must still be courteous to your fellow Hams. I am so taken by this credo, that I am posting the DX Code of Conduct badge on the side of this blog, to be a reminder to myself and others. Oh, and QRP Fox hunters …… your situation is a bit different, so let’s adapt these: Fox Hunter’s Code of Conduct I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling. I will only call if I can copy the Fox station properly. I will not interfere with the Fox station nor anyone calling and will never tune up on the Fox frequency or in the QSX slot. I will use full break-in if at all possible. I will wait for the Fox station to end a contact before I call. I will always send my full call sign. I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously. I will not transmit when the Fox station calls another call sign, not mine. I will not transmit when the Fox station queries a call sign not like mine. When the Fox station calls me, I will send ONLY the required exchange of RST – S/P/C – Name – Power out I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact. I will resort to attempting duplicate contacts only if I am very certain that I was not heard the first time. I will respect my fellow hams and conduct myself so as to earn their respect. If we all do these things, life on the bands can be much more pleasant. 72 de Larry W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least! You can find more of Larrys writings at w2lj.blogspot.com
Generator for Sale: The generator is a Kohler, 4 pole (runs at ½ the speed of the modern units). It has an electric start (needs small lawn tractor type battery) and is a 4KW generator. Has a fairly new LARGE plastic gas tank and is mounted on a mobile cart so it can be rolled around. Had not used it for a year or so it was replaced with a natural gas powered unit. It has been started once per week when I put out the trash and would let run for a couple of minutes. Asking $300 OBO. Also for sale is a Gateway, 1 7” LCD VGA monitor. $30.00 Contact John W9WY
Vol. 61 No. 4
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Homebrew Communications Speaker Benjamin Straw KC9UNS
After installing my Kenwood TM-G707A into my 201 0 Chevy Malibu, which BTW I need to post pictures and or video of (Please remind me), which brings me without a speaker in the shack. The speaker I had in here was a Generic version of the MFJ Clear Tone 4″ speaker, It isn’t all that bad of a speaker when on SSB but FM well? It has a little to much bass when the volume is low and I couldn’t stand to hear the tinniness when checking people into the local club net. Now that I am able to go stroke M, I needed a speaker in the car, so in it went! You know its sad, I couldn’t place the speaker where I wanted it. The Malibu has about six inches of useful space to the left of the break peddle, but the Velcro glue/sticky part wouldn’t stick to the plastic! Anyway I was able to put the speaker under the drivers seat thanks to an add on feature! Able to remove the side panels of the center console, I run the cord go threw the console. Back to the home QTH, I am missing a speaker, I grabbed a center speaker from an old entertainment system that went bad about 2 years ago and I tell you what, it sounds AWESOME… But I don’t like the way it looks, its in the way, and the wrong impedance. So my project is to build a communications speaker for ham radio! First thing anyone should do before any project is research, most of my research was either a no brainier or had already been known. Building the box is about the easiest part if the research MDF, glue, screws, and pillow stuffing. The speaker is one that needed to be researched a lot to find out what brand and kind of speaker one needs buy, for it to sound good. First thing, you need to find out is how many Ohm’s your radios output is? 4 or 8 Ohm? Most amateur radios play in 8, but have been known to use the later. OK so what is with the 4 and 8? 4 ohm speakers are generally louder due to the fact an audio amplifier can supply more power to an 4 Ohm load than to an 8 Ohm load. 4 Ohm speakers are used in automobile audio systems because the stereo systems used in cars operate more efficiently when mated with lower-resistance speakers. 8 Ohm speakers are used in high-end home audio applications where amplifiers tend to be more powerful and designed to operate under a heavier load. Beware of the impedance range of the amplifier. Using 4 ohm speakers with an amplifier designed for 8 Ohm loads will damage the speakers and the amplifier. Although you can use different Ohms just note an amplifier’s power output will be reduced and will sound low. After all that confusing mumbo jumbo I choose 8 ohms for this project, next was the size. Size in this case doesn’t matter, but you do need to figure out where your going to put the box and will it fit. I choose the Visaton FRS8-8 3.3″ Full-Range Speaker because it is the right size for where I want to put it. Along with size, Wattage becomes a big factor. Most communication speakers one buys from a hamfest or online are between 5-20 watts and rely on the amplifier in a radio for oomph and volume. The speaker I choose is rated for 30 watts which has plenty of leftover juice, that’s if I was wanting to add an Amp. Now here is the kicker Frequency range. All of the external speakers, hell even the internal speakers start with a low frequency range of around 200 Hz to around 500 Hz. The top end can go upwards of 20,000 Hz which BTW is the maximum freq range of most if not all speakers on the market. The FRS8-8 is from 200 to 20,000 Hz which is nice because I didn’t want everything on the low end cut off. I’ve read other speakers builders who have built such speakers for our little hobby, like to have a speaker range of 325 Hz to 6000 Hz. So this is the project I will be looking forward to working on in the weeks to come, mind you it all depends on how the fast shipping is (Happy smile). on the way home from work I stopped off at Lowes and picked up a 5/8 1 2×8 piece of particle board for around $5, it should work great for my speaker, I just need to figure out what I’m going to use to make it look perdy on the outside!
Matched Listening Antennas - Why? Rick Blythe VE3CNU
I had a revelation the other day regarding listening antennas. As a ham I am very well aware of the importance of SWR and matching antennas to transmitters. Well enough versed in fact to never have worried about it too much. An Elmer I had in the 1 970s told me, whatever power is reflected back from your antenna to your transmitter will meet a mismatch there as well, and will just get reflected back to your antenna system, and will be radiated. Don't worry about it he said, unless you're running VHF or higher, or your transmission line is extremely lossy. I have seen this wisdom repeated by knowledgeable folks here and there and trusted this advice for decades. It has served me well. Here's the revelation part. Whenever is has come to receiving antennas, I have never given much thought to resonance, matching or anything of the like. I've always had good results from attaching a random length piece of wire to my shortwave receiver and enjoyed good results. Or so I thought. I even wondered to myself why SWLs even bothered to worry about resonance or feed-lines? It only mattered when transmitting in my book. I think I was wrong now. RF coming into your shack via some feed-line will meet your radio at whatever impedance it presents. Yes, if there is a mis-match, RF energy will be reflected back up the feed-line. Here's the very important point- Once reflected back to the antenna system, the majority of the energy will be radiated out of the antenna! I never considered that before. I figured, I'm receiving only, nothing is getting transmitted here. Bouncing RF will end up in my radio. That, is a wrong assumption. We might only be talking about micro-volts, but your antenna is transmitting reflected energy! It suddenly makes sense. Now I know why "those guys" worry about this stuff! Follow Rick's Adventures on his blog ve3cnu.blogspot.com
Vol. 61 No. 4
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Electronic surveillance for the ham bands? John Harper, AE5X
Various blog postings and DX forums have recently discussed the poor behavior of many DXers in pile-up situations - intentional jamming, pirates and other forms these folks have of demonstrating their inbreeding. “What to do about it” is an ongoing theme…but it is a theme that can’t be implemented without knowing who they are. With today’s DSP capabilities and with powerful computers and sophisticated software, there may soon be a way to tell who these people are. I believe the possibility could exist. Being exclusively a CW op, I’ll speak strictly from that perspective: First, consider the software that enables skimmers. Before VE3NEA developed it, most of us couldn’t even have imagined its existence. When it was released, it took the contest community by storm. It was a game-changer and new rules regarding its use had to be implemented. A modern home computer can now decode multiple CW signals over a broad portion of spectrum and display the decoded text in real-time…and display the numerous signals in a frequency domain presentation. Now consider this: Each transmitter has its own electronic signature. This is true of ham transmitters, commercial TV stations, radar…everything. For example, no two Elecraft K3′s form a 20 wpm dot or a dash in exactly the same way. They will differ in terms of rise time, fall time, harmonic content and other parameters. Each individual rig has a unique fingerprint. Could modern software be written that would allow a number of calibrated receivers to discern one transmitter’s signature from another’s? If so, could a database then be built? Phone would be even simpler. Everyone’s voice has its own timbre and numerous other characteristics. My smart phone has an app that will allow me to place it near a music source. After a few minutes of “listening” – during which time it digitizes the song, sends that data to an online database for comparison and identification - it displays the name of the song and the singer. It may sound far-fetched – and perhaps it is for this application – but such techniques have been used for decades by various militaries who had the technology to do it. Today, we have more computing technology in our shacks that a nuke submarine had in the 1 980′s. Back in the 1 980′s - when the words Snoop Tray, Snoop Plate, Sheet Bend (Google them if you wish) were a part of my daily vocabulary - we routinely discerned which platform we were hearing. Not which radar type – but rather which individual radar and therefore which individual ship, submarine, etc. Submarine sonar surveillance does the same thing with acoustic signatures. I can’t go into any more detail on what was possible back then, but it was amazing. And that was 30 years ago. I think the solution to much of today’s problems lies not in blacklisting or any of the other solutions that have so far been offered. All of those methods can be beaten. The solution will be software-driven. See more of John at AE5X.com
Say hello to Mark KC9QBL from Roselawn, IN Vol. 61 No. 4
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W8P Spreads the Word about End Polio Now Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
On Saturday and Sunday, February 23-24, 201 3, amateur radio operators gathered at WA2HOM, the amateur radio station at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. We were there to operate special event station W8P to commemorate the founding of the Rotary Club on February 23, 1 905 and spread the word about Rotary International’s End Polio Now Campaign (www.endpolio.org). The goal of the End Polio Now program is to rid the world of this terrible disease. Rotary International launched this program in 1 985, and with the aid of UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has cut the number of cases by more than 99.9%. In 1 988, polio was endemic in 1 25 countries. In 201 2, polio is endemic in only two regions. We like to say that we're "this close" to eradicating polio. The unique part of the special operating event is that stations all over the world took part in it. Rotary is an international organization, and its amateur radio fellowship, Rotarians on Amateur Radio (ROAR), includes members all over the world. In Australia, a group operated the special event station VI4POLIO. In Europe, Pertti, past president of ROAR, operated his station, EA7GSU. Here in the States, a group that included yours truly; Jack, N8PMG; Jameson, KD8PIJ; Dinesh, AB3DC; and Mark, W8MP operated W8P. Since the museum is only open from 1 500Z – 2200Z, we were only able to operate for seven hours on Saturday. We spent all of our time on 20m phone, with our beam pointed southwest, concentrating on working mostly U.S. stations. We had originally intended to operate on 1 4.287 MHz, but quickly had to change frequencies, as that portion of the band was occupied by participants in the Mississippi QSO party. We finally ended up on 1 4.227 MHz and made a total of 11 0 contacts on Saturday. This included 29 states and four DX contacts. On Sunday, we only operated for a couple of hours and made another 27 contacts. While we made fewer contacts on Sunday, the contacts that we did make were more poignant than the ones on Saturday. My first contact on Sunday was with a gentleman who was spending the winter in Florida, but whose hometown was Standish, Michigan. He told me that his mother had polio, and in the late 1 930s and early 1 940s, they would put her on a bus for Ann Arbor, where she would receive treatments. While there’s no way to be sure, I think that this ham’s mother was taking part in some of the research leading to the Salk vaccine in 1 955. That research took place right here at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I also talked to hams that had direct experience with polio. One was a polio survivor himself. Another’s wife was a polio survivor. A third was a physician who had been to Africa and had treated polio victims there. It was a real treat to combine two activities that I enjoy so much–amateur radio and Rotary–and it felt good to know that in some small way I was furthering the work of the End Polio Now campaign. I hope that next year we will once again operate this special event and get even more Rotarians and amateur radio operators to participate. =================================================== When he's not trying to save the world, Dan, KB6NU enjoys working CW on the HF bands. For more information about his operating activities and his "No-Nonsense" series of amateur radio license study guides, go to KB6NU.Com or e-mail cwgeek@kb6nu.com.
Why Join a Radio Club? Ron Hashiro, AH6RH
Tonight, a person asked "Why should a person join a radio club ? The answers may surprise you. The key benefit of joining an ama-teur radio club is to join up with other people who have the same interests and have a good time exchanging informa-tion and experiences relating to amateur radio. At a typical meeting, there are hams ranging from Novice to Extra class. There were the usual 2m handie and mobile enthusiasts. In addition, there were HF'ers, satellite, digital and other enthusiasts present. Those who've rolled their own radios, feedline and antennae to those who seemed to have bought just about every radio around. Among them were people of all vo-cations. Within that mix, it seems you can understand and solve almost any radio situation with the talent present. There are chances to try out and expand your radio horizons at the gath-erings. Field Day is an excellent time to pitch in and build an HF station from scratch in the field, where one must im-provise and leverage every advantage from the terrain. There are other benefits, such as the newsletter, repeater systems and public service events that round out the offer-ing. Keep in mind that the greatest bene-fit of joining an amateur radio club is a regular and ready mutual access to experienced technical information, refer-ences and learning experiences. The more you pursue and interact, the more you get out of your membership. Permission given to reproduce the above article in club newsletters provided credit is given to the author and the EARC (Emergency Amateur Radio Club) Wireless Dispatch.
Vol. 61 No. 4
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Amateur Radio club Indicted on Ferrite Trafficking Charges K5PO - Hamhijacks.com
Vero Beach, Fla.; Feb. 6, 201 3 - Members of the Boca Buena Amateur
Radio Club were indicted in a Florida federal court Wednesday on ferrite trafficking charges following a lengthy DEA investigation. The Soffit Hills DEA office has been following the club’s activities since 2009, when a new ferrite blend called “Mix 31 ” hit the streets of Vero Beach. “We felt we had a good handle on the old ‘mix 43’ ferrites. The kids around here seemed to have moved onto other things, until these ‘Mix 31 ’ started showing up,” said DEA Special Agent Romeo Lima. Ferrites have been abused in the radio community for many years, but it wasn’t until the “Mix 31 ” was introduced that abuse levels began to spiral out of control. Dr. Milton Salandra, a ferrite addiction specialist, explains the addiction. “Most operators start by seeing a few random ferrites around the house, on things like TV and computer cables, and think they’re innocuous. They’ll often get a ferrite from a friend and install it on a cable to their soundcard used for digital modes. It doesn’t take long for them to be itching for more, putting ferrites on every cable in the shack: coax, audio cables, USB cables, everything. The addition sets in so fast.” Dr. Salandra said that the “Mix 31 ” seemed to be especially devastating to the community. “The ‘Mix 31 ’ works very effectively on the HF spectrum, to which many hams are exceptionally sensitive. They claim it just cures all your RFI ills. It’s such an easy trap to fall into for hams young and old.” Special Agent Lima said the radio club started by smuggling in just a few ferrites from Freeport, Bahamas, using the club president’s sailboat. “They were initially just feeding their own addition, moving in ferrites to cover the vices of the radio club itself,” said Lima. “But it wasn’t long until they were trafficking enough ‘Mix 31 ’ to supply the entire southern coast with the illicit ferrites.” Ferrite trafficking, in quantities of one dozen or more, is a Class C felony, punishable by up to 1 0 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The trial is slated for November.
Special event station to mark depatrure of Mother-In-Law WBØRUR - Hamhijacks.com
EAST YORKVILLE, Pennsylvania; March 11 , 201 3 -- A local ham will celebrate a family milestone next week as
he activates a special event station using a 1 x1 formatted call sign. Thomas LaFontana of Nottingham Township will use call sign W3M to celebrate the end of an extended visit by his mother-in-law. "She’s been here since before Thanksgiving, for Pete's sake," says LaFontana. "I've endured about all I can stand.” LaFontana's mother-in-law has been sleeping in the guest room of his two story Tudor style home, which he shares with his wife, two kids and a Yaesu FT-1 000MP. "The guest room is next to the spare bedroom which houses my shack. Each evening when I get on the air and start working DX, she bangs on the wall and yells 'BE QUIET WITH THAT CB GADGET!' I’ve tried to explain to her the difference, but she won’t listen. It’s starting to grate on my nerves." The 52 year-old ham was forced to skip the November Sweepstakes, CQWPX and ARRL DX contests so he could spend "quality time" with the elderly woman, who is visiting from Bakersfield, Arizona. "She sat around talking about how bad she had it during the Great Depression," said LaFontana. "All I could think about were the QSOs I WASN’T making. That’s what I call a great depression!" LaFontana says he'll activate W3M on March 1 7, when he sees the taxi’s tail lights pulling away.
ICOM Warranty Repair for ID-51 Jeff Davis, KE9V.com
Though nothing has been published online, recent callers to ICOM service are confirming they are being told ICOM will repair the muffled audio problem under warranty. They also are confirming that the problem has been resolved on newer units. In order to qualify for the warranty repair you will need to confirm your unit serial number prior to shipping it back to ICOM. The Icom Service page contains links for the repair submission form and shipping instructions and the form should state the problem is muffled audio on transmit. The Service Department direct number is 800-306-1 380 to verify by serial number if your radio is covered. Later radios already have the fix. Mine will be headed back this week.
Vol. 61 No. 4
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Visit the Lake County ARC on the web at http://www.w9lj.org