PCARA Update May 2010
Contents
1. Assuming the initial connection is successful you have a radio that sits quietly doing nothing you have to actively choose what to listen to An obvious first choice from the Home menu is Internet Radio selected by rotating the large Tuning Knob then pushing the same control inward to activate the selection This brings up a further menu of Staff Picks Local Music etc I selected World Na tional Networks then BBC to be given a list of 14 BBC national stations and 40 BBC local stations wow There is a wide choice of other countries avail able including the U S A Canada and many others Selecting one of these stations from the list is accomplished by rotating the tuning knob and pressing in The result is a short three second delay then the station begins playing As far as I can tell reception runs about 20 30 seconds behind the live over the air Station The audio quality is surprisingly good for such a small physical box The built in woofer and tweeter only provide mono reception but there is plenty of bass and treble available Plugging in a pair of head phones using the 1 8 socket on the right side pro duces excellent stereo reception where available She s playing all night There are six preset buttons at the side of the LCD panel Storing a preset is simple tune in the station manually then hold in the appropriate button until the display2. VUCC will be mine Spring is here so it s time to start playing Screaming for Squares a 4 bi E J l 4 i H e a Wl warty mr TF 50 r AA il yr qe TN j l x ih ir hi FA E l0 a A H FN Maidenhead Grid Squares for northeast USA and Canada Icom There is always room for improvement and improve we have I recently purchased a three element Yagi for six to boost my range and directivity I still haven t had the antenna on the air due to a few minor problems It included screws of a wrong length making complete assembly impossible A quick run to my local hardware store cured that The insulator for the gamma match was too narrow to slip over the active rod The manufacturer is sending another rod they insulated by heating the tubing to make it fit Gamma matches are mechanical matching capacitors in the picofarad range I wonder if heating the dielectric will significantly change the capacitance of the match I hesitate to name the manufacturer because they have been quite accommodating They are a major antenna supplier with a very good reputation My inquiries produced immediate response and reaction I find it hard to believe that I am the only customer that ran into these problems but maybe my antenna was built and boxed on a Friday afternoon It s just another part of the adventure Parts laid out for Karl s new 3 element Yagi for 6 meters Being someone who has relied
3. their 50 watt signal was being heard far and wide Listen in on Sunday nights at 8 pm for their weekly net If you are in the area give it a try The repeater is often active Get Your Goat Do you like to go hiking and hilltopping with your ham gear Wouldn t it be nice if you didn t need to carry all that stuff up the hill Take a lesson from Steve WGOAT j Tm guessing his call sign SARA s W1EE Repeater will give you a pretty good clue Steve loves to operate QRP high up on a mountaintop accompanied by companions Rooster and Peanut his two pet goats Steve packs all his gear hams all over the tri state area All licensed amateurs are encouraged to participate If you are out of range of our repeater the net can also be heard on line at http www tradioreference com apps audio action wp amp feedId 3186 Until next month 73s and dit dit from N2KZ Quite a Squeeze In past PCARA Updates you may recall articles about how to improve broadcast radio reception For example you could employ an external antenna chase away compact fluorescent lamps dabble in the de lights of HD Radio or pursue pesky pirates who are interfering with your FM reception Now here s an example of a new radio that doesn t receive any over the air broadcasts and yet it s still wireless How can that be you might ask Read on in carry bags that are secured over the goats backs and away they go You can follow Steve
4. Karl N2KZ Joe WA2MCR and Mike N2EAB behind the PCARA club table at Mt Beacon Hamfest activity was all indoors this year at Tymor Park PCARA members were in attendance at the Club Table and several items were bought and sold Our thanks to those members who made a contribution to Club funds after a successful sale PCARA Officers President Greg Appleyard KB2CQE kb2cqe at arrl net Vice President Joe Calabrese WA2MCR wa2mcr at arrl net Net night Peekskill Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association holds a weekly net on the 146 67 MHz W2NYW repeater on Thursdays at 8 00 p m Join net control Karl N2KZ for neighborly news and technical topics Contents Fresh fields KB2CQE Mount Beacon hamfest Adventures in DXing N2KZ Quite a squeeze NM9J Essential staying tight O BRN RR PCARA Update May 2010 page 1 Adventures in DXing N2KZ Screaming for Squares It s not a new game show It is the quest for a VUCC To earn this coveted ARRL award The VHF UHF Century Club you must verify contact with ham radio stations in 100 different Maidenhead grid squares Checking my logs and QSL cards my current total is 44 squares collected during two seasons devoid of sunspots Adding to the challenge m operating only on six meters using QRP power at no more than 10 watts My primary antenna has been a home brew folded dipole constructed of old fashioned 300 ohm twin lead It takes patience and skill but someday
5. clamps that we use to keep towers and masts up in the air I mentioned that galvanized steel fittings will eventually rust so it is a good idea to coat the metal surfaces with a protective lubricant such as lithium grease to prevent corrosion and ease disassembly But there are times when a slippery lubricant is the last thing we want Antennas and tower assemblies some times rely on threaded fasteners that must not loosen after months of wind rain and mechanical vibration An ex ample given by Ian GM3SEK in his In Practice column in the April 2010 issue of RadCom is the fixing bolts that secure a rotator to a tower or mast The whole rotator assembly is subject to torque every time the rotator starts PCARA Update May 2010 page 6 and stops and more forces are in play when the wind is trying to blow the antenna around It would be a bad thing if those fixing bolts worked loose Another example where fasteners need to stay fastened would be the U bolts that secure the horizontal boom of a beam antenna to the vertical mast One approach to preventing nuts and bolts from loosening is to introduce a lock washer or split washer between the rotating metal surfaces Tightening the nut or bolt results in the lockwasher biting into the metal surfaces increasing the frictional force needed to unscrew the fastener Unfortunately lockwashers and split washers can work loose and also cause corrosion due to dissimilar metals Another ap
6. solely on wire antennas for amateur radio in the past a Yagi is certainly a change of pace and a significant upgrade Most everyone has witnessed the extreme directivity of log periodic and Yagi antennas I recall installing a long log periodic VHF array for TV in mid Michigan My goal was to snare TV signals from a market 75 miles away I thought I had gotten close in alignment before realiz ing that I was actually watching stations in Milwaukee hundreds of miles away Correctly oriented this antenna worked miraculously pulling in TV reliably from Flint Saginaw Bay City Midland Michigan along with far off places like Baton Rouge Louisiana via E Skip It will be really exciting to aa 10 p have that kind of Aa Bov aone gain and directivity Wage oc on six meters Reading is often the source of new knowledge and ideas I can highly recommend the 6 Metre Hand book by Don Field G3XTT marketed by the Radio Society of Great Britain RSGB Al though expensive my copy cost just over 30 deliv 6 Metre Handbook A Guide to the Magic Band ant PCARA Update May 2010 page 2 ered this book offered a well written and comprehen sive look at 6 meter DXing with a perspective from across the pond Don s book opens the eyes of American DXers providing useful information regarding band alloca tions and where to look for stations in specific coun tries You ll read about many many modes of opera tion with empha
7. tells you Saving preset x The Squeezebox Radio has been designed to function as a bedside clock radio so it s no surprise that there is an Alarm and Sleep function included The Alarm button is on the left side of the front panel but unfor tunately there is no front panel sleep button Program ming of these features relies on the built in menus or you can program the alarm from your PC using the MySqueezebox com website And if you like you can reprogram a front panel button for the Sleep func tion I chose to reprogram holding in the Alarm button Programming the radio remotely is a slightly odd experience but one I think we will all be getting used to as more of our domestic and amateur radio devices acquire network connectivity The radio can be sitting in another room yet you can switch it on select stations adjust the volume and switch it off from your PC Another feature that can be programmed remotely is a list of Favorites Not you grandad s wireless If you have a Wi Fi wireless router the Squeezebox Radio can be set up to use a wireless connection in place of the wired Ethernet Setup is a little more complicated because you will need to identify your own wireless network select the type of encryption then supply the security passphrase Once this is entered correctly through the built in menus the radio will use its built in 802 11 g wireless an tenna and connect t
8. Y PCARA Update Volume 11 Issue 5 Peekskill Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association Inc May 2010 Fresh fields If you haven t had a chance to check out the newly revised ARRL web site wwwa arrl org do so now You ll find a very polished professional well organized and overall pleasing site Enjoy I did Just another reminder that Field Day is June 26 27 2010 and plans will be finalized at the May meeting We haven t received any feedback from the membership to date so let us know of any ideas or suggestions you may have on what you d like to see for our Field Day 2010 participation The other major event on the radar is the PCARA 10 Anniversary Special Event Station We are hoping to coordinate something with the City of Peekskill s 70 Anniversary Celebration at the Riverfront Green We need members to help organize this effort so let us know if you re interested in helping This would be a great opportunity to get involved with PCARA activities and increase public awareness of our wonderful hobby and its value to the community Our next meeting is on May 2 2010 at Hudson Valley Hospital Center I look forward to seeing each of you there 73 de Greg KB2CQE Mount Beacon hamfest Mount Beacon ARC hamfest took place on Sun day April 25 The weather was cool and rainy so the J k T E Pica SS tg Gary WB2HNA and Mike N2EAB at Mt Beacon Hamfest gt ae a a L to R Mike
9. compound to polymerize This change from a non viscous liquid to an adhesive solid prevents the fastener from loosening due to shock and vibration Fortu nately the bond is not too strong and the threaded fastener can still be disassembled with normal hand tools Henkel makes a wide range of Loctite Threadlocker products with all kinds of different properties If you go shopping at Home Depot you will find there are only two products on offer Loctite Threadlocker Red 271 is a Heavy duty nut and bolt locker for use on automobile engines and heavy machinery This product is a permanent thread locker and once the compound has cured disassembly requires heating the whole fastener to 250 C Henkel color codes its thread locking products permanent is red removable is blue low strength is purple and the penetrating formula is green Home Depot offers two types of Loctite Threadlocker for permanent and removable work The second product available from Home Depot Loctite Threadlocker Blue 242 is much closer in properties to Loctite 243 and is removable making it suitable for locking and sealing of threads that will need to be disas sembled later Loctite 242 is suitable for use on steel stainless steel plated steel and brass It should not be used on plastics especially on thermoplastics as stress cracking could result Chemistry The Loctite compounds are anaerobic adhesives which remain liquid un
10. e as far fetched as you might think One factor is your surroundings When you are in areas of low population density where trees or farm land way outnumber humans owning a radio scanner is actually fairly common Locals like to tune in to police fire and marine radio calls to discover what might be going on around them It takes a new twist when people discover their scanners can also receive daily chat nets on amateur radio More people listen than you might imagine This theory was verified last summer during a visit to mid Michigan Emanating from the two meter repeater in Bad Axe a regular net is held by local amateurs daily except Sunday from 8 30 to about 9 15 am Lots of things are discussed regarding amateur radio and local news and lots of people listen When I heard someone in the hardware store mention I heard the old goats talking about that I knew something was up Adding to this idea the latest hot rod receiver from C Crane http www ccrane com now offers 2 meter reception Although the addition of 2 meters is marketed as a way to be prepared and to listen to disaster recovery it should be obvious that owners of these sets might listen in to regular operations as well Even though regulations specifically state that ham radio is not intended as broadcasting repeater signals are in the clear and on the air usually with reasonable coverage areas Someone is always listen ing C Crane CCRadio 2 cov
11. eezebox Radio is a potent source of interference for any genuine AM radios nearby Squeezed from the cloud When the Squeezebox Radio is operating it depends on MySqueezebox com for the station list and all kinds of memory settings As a result if MySqueezebox com is unavailable the Squeezebox is dead in the water You might not think this would be very serious but in the few months since the Squeezebox Radio appeared there have been several server outages especially in Europe During my own testing there was a 12 hour outage on Saturday April 10 Logitech had nothing to say about this annoying loss of service the only sign that anything was amiss came on the Squeezebox forums The URL for the forums http forums slimdevices com index php still reflects the name of Slim Devices Inc the California company that developed the Squeezebox concept in 2000 and that was acquired by Logitech in 2006 Firmware updates come along frequently fixing bugs and introducing new models and features Unfor tunately the updates sometimes bring more bugs which have to be fixed with another update Who would have thought that a radio could be as trouble some as Microsoft Windows Just like older tube radios the Squeezebox has a significant warm up time You ll need to wait 45 50 seconds after connecting power before the radio is ready to play Note the ready to play the radio doesn t actually do anyt
12. er net pcara newslett htm PCARA Information PCARA is a Non Profit Community Service Organization PCARA meetings take place the first Sunday of each month at 3 00 p m in Dining Room B of the Hudson Valley Hospital Center Route 202 Cortlandt Manor NY 10567 Drive round behind the main hospital building and enter from the rear look for the oxygen tanks Talk in is available on the 146 67 repeater Apart from holidays PCARA Repeaters W2NYW 146 67 MHz 0 6 PL 156 7Hz KB2CQE 449 925MHz 5 0 PL 179 9Hz IRLP node 4214 N2CBH 448 725MHz 5 0 PL 107 2Hz PCARA Calendar Sun May 2 2010 PCARA monthly meeting Hudson Valley Hospital Center 3 00 p m Hamfests Sat May 22 Southern Berkshire ARC Hamfest Goshen CT Fairgrounds 8 00 a m Sat May 29 Bergen ARA Spring Hamfest Westwood Regional HS 701 Ridgewood Rd Washington Twnshp NJ 8 00 a m Sun Jun 6 LIMARC outdoor Hamfair Briarcliffe College 1055 Stewart Avenue Bethpage NY 7 30 a m VE Test Sessions May 2 Yonkers ARC Yonkers PD Grassy Sprain Rd Yonkers NY 8 30 a m Contact Daniel Calabrese 914 667 0587 May 13 WECA Westchester Co Fire Trg Cenrter 4 Dana Rd Valhalla NY 7 00 p m Contact Stanley Rothman 914 831 3258 May 21 Orange Cnty ARC Munger Cottage Riverlight Park Hudson Street Cornwall NY 6 00 p m Contact Ronald Torpey 845 234 2371 May 24 Columbia Univ VE Team 2960 Broadway 115 Havemeyer Hall New York NY 6 30 p m Co
13. ers AM FM weather band and 144 148 MHz One instance of casual non intentional talk shows can be found on the AC2R Chappaqua repeater on 145 11 MHz Around 7 30 am until 9 am or later you ll often hear local amateurs chatting These are very interesting and well read people with intelligent and riveting talk This is only an example of what might be found if you tune around There is some very interesting local radio going on out there You just have to find it Stamford is Strong One of our neighboring ham clubs has recently upgraded their repeater and moved to a new site The Stamford Amateur Radio Association www ctsara org recently completed an elaborate renewal of their 2 meter repeater on 146 655 MHz minus 600 offset and a 100 PL W1EE R can now be heard widely throughout Fairfield and Eastern Westchester with much improved coverage I was amazed to see that I could casually hit this repeater using my HT simply standing on my deck Quite an improvement The SARA two meter repeater is now located on the grounds of the Sterling Farms Golf Course just north of downtown Stamford on a communications tower high up and in the clear Some fine tuning is still PCARA Update May 2010 page 3 going on with additions being made as time allows For instance the original mounting of their four bay antenna shifted after a series of strong storms passed through the area and had to be corrected Even with a slightly tilted antenna
14. hing useful until you also press the Play button Although you can tune in radio stations from around the country and around the world occasionally you will find the Internet version of the audio stream departs from the over the air broadcast This is usually a rights issue related to sporting events that are only authorized for broadcast in a limited area For ex ample BBC Radio 5 Live on 693 and 909 kHz broad casts UK soccer matches with alternative material for the Internet version In our own area WCBS AM on 880 kHz frequently turns itself into the Yankees Radio Network and broadcasts baseball games your expat editor stifles a yawn But good news the Internet outlet continues to broadcast news traffic and weather around the clock And the music s all right As Consumer Reports likes to ask would you buy another one On balance I think I would The concept of a fully self contained Internet radio is nicely achieved in a small box Apart from a few niggles performance has been very acceptable The product is only a few months old so you can expect some prob lems but Logitech Slim Devices seem to be responsive to bug reports If you are interested in a Squeezebox Radio I would recommend keeping an eye open for special offers as the price varies widely from 150 to 199 NM9J Essential staying ti tial staying tight Zz Last time Essential staying up explained the chemistry of wire rope and
15. lance to a real radio is very close there is a built in 3 inch loudspeaker and a 3 4 tweeter On the front panel is a power on button a rotary volume control and a large circular control that looks just like a tuning knob Less like a traditional radio is the 2 4 color LCD panel which is brightly backlit by a dimmable LED Located around the display are 14 buttons for presets and other functions First step in setting up the Squeezebox Radio is to connect the shiny black box to your household local area network You can employ the built in 10 100 Mbps Ethernet jack or a wireless connection There is less to go wrong with wired Ethernet so for initial setup I simply connected the radio to my broadband Internet connection through the Linksys router and switched on No frills To say there wasn t much documentation would be an understatement No User Manual no CD ROM just a fold out Quick Start Guide Fortunately the radio guides you through the initial steps of sign on and identification You choose a language choose the network connection Wireless or Ethernet then enter you e mail address with a password to create your Squeezebox account Along the way your Squeezebox might find a firmware update and download it auto matically Squeezebox Radio Now Playing frail My Musig Internet Radio My Apps e 147 Pa Closeup view of the Squeezebox Radio showing the LCD color display and front panel controls
16. ntact Alan Croswell 212 854 3754 May 29 Bergen ARA Westwood Regional HS 701 Ridgewood Rd Washington Township NJ 8 00 a m Contact Donald Younger 201 265 6583 A Peekskill Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association Inc a A PO Box 146 Crompond NY 10517 PCARA Update May 2010 page 8
17. o your router I found excellent reception throughout the house just like a real radio The only problem with moving the Squeezebox Radio around the home is the need to find a power outlet and restart the radio Logitech offers an optional battery pack for the radio which is sold as a bundle PCARA Update May 2010 page 5 with the optional remote control The rechargeable NiMH battery pack has been backordered for months but supplies are just starting to become available Boxed in You might think the Squeezebox Radio provides an ideal listening experience here is everything you need to enjoy Internet radio inside a single box It can act as a clock radio or as a portable for use anywhere around the house But this is still a very young tech nology and I ve found a few drawbacks First of all don t place the Squeezebox eo Radio any Rites where near a conventional over the air AM radio The switch mode power supply included by Logitech is a potent source of AM interfer ence You won t hear much on AM while the Squeezebox is switched on even if it s only displaying the clock The power supply provides 18 volts at 1 amp so I partially solved the problem by substituting a Motorola 16 volt power brick intended for use with a handi talkie charger Unfortunately the Squeezebox Radio is itself a source of AM interference but less so than the awful power supply por ij Tae Tr a at CaF a for the Squ
18. proach is to use a thread locking compound on the surface of the threads just before the fastener is tightened This usually takes the form of a low viscosity liquid which is drawn into the gap between the threads At this point the liquid acts as a lubricant to allow the fastener to be assembled easily and tightened with hand tools The compound then sets over a period of time forming a strong bond with the metal surfaces of the threads The adhesive effect prevents the fastener from accidentally turning and E a loosening It also seals f moisture out preventing gt corrosion Depending on s the type of locking compound chosen the 3 adhesive bond may be TJ permanent in which case the threaded Thread locker red color fills fastener may be very the gaps between threads in a difficult or impossible to fastener Henkel remove For amateur radio purposes where few things are permanent a milder adhesive effect is desirable so the fastener can be removed later on with hand tools Ian GM3SEK recommends Henkel s Loctite 243 for antenna work This is a liquid that can be dripped onto the fasteners threads and drawn into their full length It not only works on active metals such as brass and copper but also on passive substrates such as stainless steel and plated surfaces In the narrow gap between the threads the lack of air combined with ions from the metal surface cause the locking
19. s many adventures by watching his coordinates via APRS at http aprs fi or enjoy his well produced documentary videos at http www youtube com user goathiker Logitech Squeezebox Radio looks uncannily like a real radio The Logitech Squeezebox Radio is one of the latest examples of entertainment hardware that is powered by the Internet Like other members of the Squeezebox family if you have a collection of digital music on a network PC then it can stream tunes from your PC and play them anywhere in the house More interestingly the Squeezebox Radio can pick up Radio Stations and Podcasts from the Internet playing the audio stream out from its built in loudspeaker And it can do all this without any need for your PC or local media server to be switched on Let s start at the beginning my own Squeezebox Radio arrived in a small cardboard box The radio is compact but surprisingly heavy My model was finished all over in shiny piano black which looks very attractive but tends to pick up fingerprints There is also a two tone red and black model available The PCARA Update May 2010 page 4 Of course you can find old goats weekly on Thursdays at 8pm Simply tune in the PCARA 2 meter repeater at 146 67 Mhz for The Old Goat s Net Even better add to the fun and join the net on the air You ll hear news about our club the world of amateur radio and have a chance to share your experiences with resemb
20. sis on WSJT protocol for weak signal operation Exotic modes like meteor scatter auroral DX and Earth Moon Earth are described with enthusiasm making them hard to resist It also introduced me to the very useful UKSMG United Kingdom Six Metre Group club and web site at www uksmg org Here s a taste of the tips inside this book Did you know that French stations can only reach down to 50 200 MHz and not below Another interesting discovery The prime time to reach the British Isles from North America is our mid morning around 1200 UTC You ll also read about many firsts in 6 meter DXing and grand stories about the people involved and how they occurred It s almost as much fun as actually being there For anyone interested in The Magic Band the Six Metre Handbook is a worthwhile read even consider ing its heavy price tag This book makes a fitting companion to the stateside bible on six Six Meters A Guide to the Magic Band by Ken Neubeck WB2AMU Read both of these excellent books and you ll be all ready to take on the world s best amateur radio band with authority Are you ready Amateur Talk Radio Broadcast radio featuring content local to your area is becoming more and more a dying breed After the morning drive time slot of 5 am to 9 am it s often hard to hear anything more than syndicated talk shows or automated music on the radio Is it possible that amateur radio might fill that void The idea may not b
21. til isolated from oxygen in the air and exposed to metal ions such as iron or copper When an anaerobic adhesive is sealed between a nut and bolt on a threaded fastener it rapidly cures or hardens to form a tough crosslinked plastic with strong adhesion to most metals The material safety data sheet for Loctite 242 reveals the main ingredients to be polyglycol dimethacrylate polyglycol oleate propy lene glycol and cumene hydroperoxide Polyglycol dimethacrylate is the monomer when air is removed and the product is activated by ions from the metal surface the methacrylate monomer will polymerize This action will be accelerated by the initiator cumene hydoperoxide Other ingredients are present to make the product thixotropic i e viscous when immobile but less viscous when stirred so the liquid stays in place after being applied to the fastener threads Since polymerization is catalyzed by ions from the metal surface it is important that material which has already cured is not placed back into the container of liquid thread locking compound otherwise the entire bottle may set solid NM9J PCARA Update May 2010 page 7 Peekskill Cortlandt Amateur Radio Association Mail PCARA PO Box 146 Crompond NY 10517 E Mail w2nyw arrl net Web site http www pcara org PCARA Update Editor Malcolm Pritchard NM9J E mail NM9J arrl net Newsletter contributions are always very welcome Archive http home comput
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