September 201 3, Issue 9, Volume 61
From Your Editor Benjamin Straw, KC9UNS
I just realised I’ve been an editor of this newsletter for over a year, Mark UPCOMING EVENTS K9MQ and myself started back in June of last year when we converted SS over to Scibus and I worked as assistant editor till November in which I Meeting Lake County Amateur Radio Club became Editor and Chief. Even better is clubs net its a year old. So far we Lake County Dept. Homeland Security have had over 75 people check in and we are proud of what it has Building /New Health Dept. Building accomplished, of course it could be improved but in time.Sept 7 we will be Sept 1 3th @ 7:30pm. Board 6:30pm having our 3rd annual special event N9D at the Indiana Dunes State Park. This year the club has decided to have a picnic also, hey we had to rent Picnic/Operating Event the pavilion so why not take advantage. The event will start at the Tremont Indiana Parks on the air (INPOTA) Shelter around 1 0am with the launching of fishing string for the pulling of a Where: Indiana Dunes State Park Tremont Shelter G5RV antenna , by 1 1 we should be on the air. Noon a grill will be lit and When: September 7th. let the cooking commence! Around 5 we will start wrapping things up and Event 1 1 am-5pm. Setup @ 1 0am. head on out. If you want why not bring the family there are plenty of things to do at the Dunes even swimming(Weather permitted). Hamfest If you don’t make it, we will be having another fundraiser this time at Five Sun Sept 7th, 201 3 Guys in Munster, IN. Sept 1 2th.The fundraiser will last the entire store CFMC Radio Expo operating hours, so you can go to lunch with coworkers and or take the Boone County Fairgrounds family... Yes even the dreaded mother in law! (but make her pay for her self). All you need to do is let the cashier know you are their for the Net fundraiser or print page 3 of this newsletter.The club will get 25% of all LCARC Weekly Information Net receipts collected Not a bad deal huh? Clubs VHF & UHF Repeaters Every Thursday @ 8pm A little bit of Ham news VanityHQ.com a website that allows you to search for callsign history has gone dark, Michael, N4MC has been the adminastator for 1 4 years and desided it was time. Directions To the Dunes from Lake County: In 2004 Michael decided it was time but, another ham Take I/94 east to IN49 North (exit 26B) provided him with funds to continue, Eldon Lewis, K7LS, Follow Indiana 49 north. inaugurated his RadioQTH website, which offers almost the IN49 ends at the beginning of the park same information VHQ did. property. If you are into ATV (Amateur Radio Television) There is a new Follow the signs to the Tremont Shelter and FREE magazine on the interwebs check it out www.CQ(first right turn at the roundabout). DATV.mobi For those that are unfamilar with the park, Last May we had fun with the Indiana QSO party, also some when you pay or your admission, ask for a frustration! but the W9LJ managed to get dead last in club property competition, but got 6th in our category, Multi-Op, We want to map at the gatehouse. thank all those who participated in the contest and hope to kick some tail next year.
In this Issue of Short Skip
2. Meeting Minutes 3. Real QSO, Fundraiser 4. Origins of 73 5. QCWA 6. Favorite Countries 7. IC-71 00 Recall 8. Signals Illegal, Jamming GPS 9. N9D Operating Event & Picnic
ARTICLES N EEDED!!! If you have anything pertaining to amateur radio that you would like to contribute to, and share with others in Short Skip, we would be happy to include your offering in any future edition. Anything you would like. Hints and kinks, antennas, technical talk, operating tips, public service, classic radio, club activities, etc., would be heartily welcomed!!! All articles must be in by the 20th of every month. Copyright rules and permission apply to all submissions. Please send your submission to: KC9UNS / Short Skip Editor kc9uns@gmail.com I hope you enjoy this month’s Short Skip as much as I did putting it together!
Mark KC9QBL If we missed your birthday or get it wrong, please let us know
LCARC May Meeting Minutes
201 3 Officers President: .............. WD9EZB
Benjamin Straw, KC9UNS
Meeting called to order at 7:35 PM Attendance:
Bob Wiberg
1 3 Members 4 Guests.
Vice President: ....... KB9HO
Russ McComb
Reading of Minutes:
The minutes of the previous meeting July 1 2 was approved as read.
Treasure Report:
Treasurer Report read by Ben KC9UNS
Committee reports Repeater: Board gave Mark K9MQ a vote of confidence
in purchasing the equipment for a remote link. Ben KC9UNS: Reported the bill for the grounding system was more than originally estimated due to Bartronics having to replace an extra ground rod. Paid in ful. Fundraiser: Sept 1 2th, Five Guys Burgers in Munster on Calumet Ave. 1 North of Ridge Road Contest: Ben KC9UNS reported we placed Last in Club Competition for the INQP and 6th for Mult Op.
Secretary: ............. KC9UNS
Benjamin Straw
Treasurer: ................ KF9EX Jim Harney Trustee: ..................... WV9O Marv Boetcher
Directors Bill Young ................. N9QLS Ken Brown ................ KE9TC Bob Nelms ............ WD9FNY
Mark Skowronski .......... K9MQ John Gianotti ................. W9WY
Editorial Staff Editor-in-Chief ...... KC9UNS Tom W9SRV, Jerry K9LOT, and Bill KC9QXO Talk about Benjamin Straw
Program:
the National weather service ham team WX9LOT outreach program and Skywarn.
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM local.
(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
Meetings
Sept 1 3, 201 3 BOARD MEETING LCEMA OFFICE, 2900 93rd Ave Crown Point (41 .449555,-87.36893) (Across from Gov. Ctr.) 6:30 p.m. Sept 1 3, 201 3 CLUB MEETING 2900 93rd Ave Crown Point (41 .449555,-87.36893) (Across from Gov. Ctr.) 7:30 p.m.
LCARC is an IRS-certified 501(c)3 charitable organization and donations are deductible pursuant to the IRS rules. If you have working radio equipment and ancillary equipment that you can and wish to donate to the club, please contact one of the board members and we will be happy to talk to you about the process. Many companies will either grant or match employee’s gifts to nonprofit organizations like LCARC.Please determine if your com pany is among these and contact a board member so we may help fund and grow LCARC. We cannot accept certain donations, and have to place some restrictions around them (no hazardous materials, nothing we could not sell, etc.). If you are interested, look me, or any other board member up at one of the meetings, or contact us via email (our addresses at the end of this newsletter)
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You almost had a real QSO Jeff Davis KE9V
I’m a pathetic radio amateur. Really. Over the course of 37 years in the hobby I’ve managed less than a dozen two-way contacts using keyboard type digital modes. I know, I know, I’ve heard that modes like JT65 and other new world communication technologies are the “future” of amateur radio. (By the way, over the course of my 37 years in the hobby, every single thing that anyone ever said or wrote that was supposedly the “future” of amateur radio has been wrong. Including things written and said by me. So here’s some GREAT advice — next time you hear or read that proclaimed — pull on your hip waders because you will be standing knee deep in excrement.) I understand the technology, I just don’t get why anyone finds these modes enjoyable. I know, that’s my problem, not yours. I don’t have to enjoy it for you to enjoy it. I’ve little interest in discouraging anyone from sampling the many facets afforded the radio amateur. But I would really like to connect electrodes to the heads of those who daily clog the radio blogosphere with reports of their digital conquests using, for example, JT65 — another sound card mode that permits only the barest exchange — just to see what makes them tick. The JT65 variant that now appears on HF was originally developed to snag infinitesimally tiny signals bounced off the surface of the Moon. Telemetry data. A callsign with an odd looking signal report, a grid locator and not much else. It could be a special use case thing. Hams who live in antenna restricted areas have discovered that they can make these contacts, often impressive DX contacts, with a one watt transmitter and nothing more than a coat hanger hidden in the closet for an antenna. But I’m bound to be wrong. I usually am. Perhaps there is some other pleasure to be derived from the brief exchange of a few bits via radio that I’m simply missing. Given all the blog fodder and ham rag chatter about it these days, perhaps I too will one day discover the joy of almost nearly having a real ham radio QSO? Visit Jeff's Blog, Smoke Curls @ KE9V.net
S e p te m b e r 1 2 , 2 0 1 3
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Origins of "73" Glen Zook, K9STH, posted this to the Heathkit mailing list: Many amateurs already know that "73" is from what is known as the "Phillips Code", a series of numeric messages conceived for the purpose of cutting down transmission time on the old land telegraph systems when sending text that is basically the same. In the April 1 935 issue of QST on page 60 there is a short article on the origin of 73. This article was a summation of another article that appeared in the "December Bulletin from the Navy Department Office of the Chief of Naval Operations". That would be December of 1 934. The quotation from the Navy is as follows: "It appears from a research of telegraph histories that in 1 859 the telegraph people held a convention, and one of its features was a discussion as to the saving of 'line time'. A committee was appointed to devise a code to reduce standard expressions to symbols or figures. This committee worked out a figure code, from figure 1 to 92. Most of these figure symbols became obsolescent, but a few remain to this date, such as 4, which means "Where shall I go ahead?'. Figure 9 means 'wire', the wire chief being on the wire and that everyone should close their keys. Symbol 1 3 means 'I don't understand'; 22 is 'love and a kiss'; 30 means 'good night' or 'the end'. The symbol most often used now is 73, which means 'my compliments' and 92 is for the word 'deliver.' The other figures in between the forgoing have fallen into almost complete disuse." One of the chief telegraphers of the Navy Department of Communications, a J. L. Bishop, quoted from memory the signals that were in effect in 1 905: 1 Wait a minute 4 Where shall I start in message? 5 Have you anything for me? 9 Attention or clear the wire 13 I do not understand 22 Love and kisses 25 Busy on another circuit 30 Finished, the end-used mainly by press telegraphers 73 My compliments, or Best Regards 92 Deliver Now days, 22 has become 88 (love and kisses). I don't know when this came about. 30 is still used in the newspaper and magazine business to indicate the end of a feature, story, or column. And, of course, 73 is still used by amateur radio operators to mean "best regards". Making any of these numbers plural (73s, 88s, etc.) is incorrect since they are already plural. 73s would mean best regardses and 88s would mean love and kisseses. Those make no sense. Anyway, the subject of where 73 came from comes up periodically and this article reinforces the "Phillips Code" origin. Jim, N2EY, adds: Some other related stuff: Phillips Code "1 9" and "31 " refer to train orders. They were so well known that the terms "1 9 order" and "31 order" were still in RR use in the 1 970s, long after the telegraph was gone. The abbreviation "es" for "and" derives from the Morse character "&". The prosign "SK" with the letters run together derives from the Morse "30". The numeric code is a small part of the abbreviations outlined in the Phillips Code (developed by telegrapher Walter P. Phillips). Here are the numbers as referenced:
WIRESIGNALS
WIRE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14
Preference over everything except 95 Wait a moment Important Business What time is it? Where shall I go ahead? Have you business for me? I am ready Are you ready? Close your key; circuit is busy Close your key for priorit business (Wire chief, dispatcher, etc) Keep this circuit closed Do you understand? I understand What is the weather?
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15 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
For you and other to copy Lightning here What is the trouble? Form 1 9 train order Stop for a meal Wire test All copy Repeat this back Busy on another wire Put on ground wire Priority, very important Do you get my writing? Private, deliver in sealed envelope No more (end) Form 31 train order I understand that I am to ... Car report (Also, answer is
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34 35 37 39 44 73 88 91 92 93 95 1 34
paid for) Message for all officers You may use my signal to answer this Diversion (Also, inform all interested) Important, with priority on thru wire (Also, sleep-car report) Answer promptly by wire Best regards Love and kisses Superintendant's signal Deliver promptly Vice President and General Manager's signals President's signal Who is at the key?
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I t i s n o t n e c e s s a r y t o b e a Q C WA m e m b e r t o a t t e n d b r e a kf a s t a n d d i n n e r m e e t i n g s . A l l a r e we l c o m e . D e tai l s o f o u r u p c o m i n g m e e ti n g s , an d h i g h l i g h ts o f p a s t Q C WA C h a p t e r m e e t i n g s i s a t C h a p t e r 3 6 . o r g 7 3 , S t a n W4 S V So really... What is with the weather on QCWA meeting nights? After a beautiful week of clear skies and cool temperatures, the sky darkened and rain threatened us once again. And it was enough of a threat to cancel the classic car guys (can't blame them, but look below for one special classic car). It didn't really rain more than a few drops, and it didn't keep away a good sized crowd of 36 people from attending our dinner at Suzie's Cafe. It was a pleasure to welcome back Don, K9WHK, and Verneice's friends as they were passing through on their Arizonato-Ontario journey. Lyle, K7YQ (also VA3DXE), and his wife Shirley have visited us before and it's nice that they caught us on a meeting night once again. We all had a good time and some great show and tell items were displayed. Bruce, W9OTN, brought another interesting item, as he almost always does for us: a hand-cranked AC generator from an old antique wall telephone. Cranking the generator fed about 80-1 00 volts into three lamps in parallel. One lamp was a typical incandescent filament bulb with a normal bright glow, another lamp was filled with neon gas and glowed orange, and the third lamp was filled with argon gas and glowed purple. I've included a video at the end of the photos below, although the purple is rather hard to see because it was setup in front of a window. If you want more information and history about colored lights, check out this neat website.
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Carl, K9LA, brought a National NC Sixty Special receiver. This isn't just any old receiver, but the same that he used back in his Novice days as a kid in Hammond. The overlaid paper dial was calibrated to Canadian time and frequency standard radio station CHU on 7335 kHz to help keep him within his 40m allocation. And yep, the receiver still works too! Also, although most of us didn't see him because the restaurant wouldn't let him in... Carl and Vicky's Schnauzer named Snoopy came along for the long ride from Ft. Wayne too! I think Snoopy will be our new unofficial chapter mascot! See his photo below. Tom, W8FIB, brought a couple of old Radio Amateur Handbooks from ARRL and also a HamGadgets Memory Keyer. This is an excellent keyer with many functions and features. Tom's 1 956 Handbook looks to be original, but the other is an 80th Anniversary edition of the very first Handbook published in 1 926. And you know who has an original 1 926 Handbook? You might have guessed: Bruce, W9OTN!
reminded everyone that it is possible for anyone to take the lead in this final month and win the $50 First Prize. So get out there and drum up some new members before the next meeting! The full details are on the Contest Page or you can call (or text) or email me if you need any clarifications. 21 9771 -9478 or w4sv [at] chapter36 [dot] org
Photo by Carl K9LA. _____________________________ _ Photos stolen from Jim Isom, KJ9T. These are the full-size photos already. This 1 965 Pontiac Grand Prix belongs to Chapter 36 member John Miller, W9ZG. John often takes this car to the Friday night car shows in Valpo... the show we didn't get to see after our meeting because of the threat of rain. Well, maybe another time we will have better luck and John can officially enter this beautiful automobile in our show-and-tell.
Thanks to all of you from bringing your toys to share with us! And pets too! Membership Drive Contest Update: Next month's meeting (mid- to lateAugust) will be the end of our contest. I went over the details again and
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Favorite countries, -philes and the Motherland John Harper AE5X
A non-ham recently asked me if I enjoy conversations with the countries from which my ancestors came – and I honestly didn’t know how to answer her. The short and honest answer is “no - the connection never occurred” but I felt obliged to give her a reason since it seems like such a sensible question and a likely reason to enjoy ham radio’s communicative possibilities – at least from a non-ham’s perspective. She wanted me to say “Yes – I just love talking with Germany – especially stations in Hanover!” But the truthful answer is that we enjoy the technical aspects of what makes the communications possible more than the social aspects – an answer that made me seem like a schmuck at wasting such a humanistic opportunity on such a superficial pursuit. Hams with cool and often complex equipment, talking about…..equipment. Even I can see how that might be yawn-inducing to a non-ham. Family ties aside, humanity is full of people whose hobby is a different country. Anglophiles love English culture; Francophiles ua0kbg(Thomas Jefferson was one), French and so on. Maybe they should become hams – it might add depth to some of the QSOs heard around the bands. Young hams may wonder if ham radio QSOs were more personal before the internet – back when ham radio was the only way common citizens had of communicating with each other. I’d have to say “no” although there were (and are) exceptions. Maybe in radio’s infancy, long transoceanic ragchews were the norm. I don’t get “warm and fuzzy” during QSOs with the countries of my grandparents nor does it even register that “Hey, that’s where Grandpa was from” when I talk to Denmark. Or England. But I do have a favorite country that I enjoy QSOs with more than others. It is based on an interest in that country’s history and, more significantly, the history of the relationship between that country and mine. That interest started as soon as I started DXing back in the late 70Ws. With a very detailed map of the country’s political divisions hanging on my wall, I would often pass up new DXCC entities in favor of yet another QSO with that mysterious country. Afterwards, a thumbtack went into the map marking the source of the RF I’d just dowsed from the ether. New DXCC entities are few and far between these days but I still – decades later – enjoy an afterdinner, flutter-enhanced QSO over the North Pole on 20m CW with a station some remote oblast. -More writings from John Harper can be found on it website www.ae5x.com/blob
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
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Icom IC-71 00 Worldwide Recall
Hans Van Rijsse PD0AC hamgear.wordpress.com
Icom sent out a letter to their customers regarding a worldwide recall of their new flagship, the IC-71 00. At first the reasons for this recall were unclear, until I got hold of Chris Lougee.
Chris, Icom America’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, explained:
There proved to three problems with this model which escaped our attention during development. The most urgent matter on our agenda is replacing the touchscreen by an upgraded model. What’s wrong with the current touchscreen?
Under normal circumstances, nothing. However, when a ham radio operator is picking his nose – and believe me, many do – the dried-out nasal mucus remains will be devastating. I don’t follow.
Nose-picking is the act of extracting nasal mucus with one’s finger (rhinotillexis). Some hams will automatically ingest the mucus (mucophagy), but many don’t. Once dried-out nasal mucus is stuck onto the touchscreen, it is impossible to remove it without severely damaging the screen. We will replace the screen by a scratch-proof one. A mucus-proof one, if you will. The second problem we need to know about?
To attract customers who never mastered the art of attaching an N-connector to a coax cable, we decided to use SO-239 for VHF/UHF. This decision also proved to be a bad mistake. Why?
We initially assumed that users would still use a good quality coax cable, but instead they used low quality, high-loss RG-58 which they salvaged from the time they were on CB. Immediately complaints rolled in about bad reception and bad signal reports. We will exchange SO-239 for N, and hand out a free instruction set on how to attach these connectors properly and which cable to use. Sounds like a good idea to me. You mentioned that there were three problems. Did I miss one?
Yes, the design. Many owners complained about the fact that the radio looks almost identical to an alarm clock. On a few occasions this resulted in the total destruction of the control head. Sorry Chris, but this sounds a bit implausible to me.
It sounded implausible to us too at first. The problem only occurs after many hours of contesting. Contesters generally fall asleep in their shack, hear the alarm clock at 6.00 am, want to silence it, but hit the Icom control head instead. Not much was left of the ones we got back for repair. I hope D-Star still works as advertised?
Yes, D-Star works great. You still sound like a Dalek, but that’s a feature, not a bug, haha! Any idea how much time all of this will take?
All radios will be sent back to Japan, refitted and tested by our nasal mucus experts. The control head will be encased in stainless steel. Turnaround time will be up to three months. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience caused. Apologies accepted. Thank you for all the information, Chris, and hope to meet you again.
Thank you too, Hans. I love your blog! Have a great day!
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Via hamgear.wordpress.com 7
The West Virginia Town Where Wireless Signals Are Illegal Lucas Reilly, MentalFloss.com
Shhh! The scientists are listening to space! Green Bank, West Virginia, is a tech-savvy teenager’s nightmare. In this tiny town in Pocahontas County—population 1 43—wireless signals are illegal. No cell phones. No WiFi. No radio. No Bluetooth. No electronic transmitters at all. You’re not even allowed to cozy up to an electric blanket. The remote town is smack in the center of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 1 3,000 square mile stretch of land designated by the FCC to protect two government radio telescopes from man-made interference. The rules, though, are most strict in Green Bank’s neck of the woods. So strict, actually, that a policeman roves the streets listening for verboten wireless signals. It’s necessary, though. The town is home to the Green Bank Telescope, the largest steerable radio telescope in the world—and arguably our most powerful link to the cosmos. Scientists there listen to radio energy that has journeyed light years, unlocking secrets about how the stars and galaxies formed. A rogue radio signal could prevent potential discoveries, discoveries that could answer big questions about how the universe ticks.
First responders are the only residents allowed to use communication radios, although they’re limited to shortdistance CB radios. If you get lost, one pay phone is there to rescue you—a pay phone, mind you, that people actually use. And you can search the web there, too, but you’ll have to get used to the grating ping of a dial-up modem again.
Surprisingly, a ban on all things wireless hasn’t driven residents away—it’s actually drawn people all across the United States to settle down. Sufferers of electromagnetic hypersensitivity—a disease supposedly caused by wireless GREEN BANK, WV: A VISITORS GUIDE Don’t even try using your cell phone in Green Bank. Finding signals, but dismissed by the scientific community—have service is the only thing harder than finding another human. moved into the electronic dead space. A flip of the radio dial won’t reward you either—it’s all a steady whoosh of white noise. If you’re lucky, though, you The following article, written by Lucas Reilly, is reprinted with the permission of mentalfloss.com. The original story may catch a faint flicker of the only AM station around, is at http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/521 37/westhosted by the Allegheny Mountain Radio Network. virginia-town-where-wireless-signals-are-illegal
Can GPS jammers bring down a plane? Hans Van Rijsse PD0AC hamgear.wordpress.com
I always wondered if we’re putting to much faith in modern technology, but this article trumps all. A New Jersey man wanted to hide his movements from his employer by using a GPS jammer, but he ended up interfering with operations at a busy airport instead. He was tracked down, fired, and faces a fine of almost $32,000.
According to the article this was the device he was using. OK, the guy was doing something wrong, but there are a few things bothering me. 1 . The range of these devices generally won’t exceed 1 0 meters. How on earth could this interfere with airport operations? 2. How did authorities track down such a marginal (and probably fast moving) signal? 3. If these devices are so dangerous, does that mean that terrorists can bring down planes in the future by buying a truck load of these things? I’m puzzled. Something doesn’t make sense here. If it does, it might be wise not to put too much trust in these technologies. Via hamgear.wordpress.com
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INPOTA Operating Event and Picnic Saturday September 7th 10am - 5pm Indiana Dunes State Park Tremont Shelter Bring Good Food and Good Company More info email: KC9UNS@Gmail.com
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Visit the Lake County ARC on the web at http://www.w9lj.org