March - Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club
Contents
1. 1272 400 MHz Offset 12 0 MHz PL Tone None The above 3 repeaters are all located in Pitman NJ GPS 39 728481 75 131088 Output 224 660 MHz Input 223 060 MHz Offset 1 6 MHz PL Tone 131 8 Location Sewell NJ GPS 39 781382 75 099963 GCARC 2M Ragchew Net Thursday March 20 2014 20 00 Hrs 147 180 MHz PL131 8Hz ARES RACES Net Sunday 20 00 Hrs 147 180 and 224 660 repeaters VE License Session Thursday March 13 2014 1900 Hrs Franklin Township Public Library Franklinville NJ Gary Reed N2QEE glreed49 lt at gt verizon lt dot gt net GCARC Meetings General Membership 19 30 Hrs Wednesday March 5 2014 Pfeiffer Community Center Williamstown NJ Board of Directors 19 00 Hrs Wednesday March 19 2014 GCARC Clubhouse Harrison Twp 4 H Fairgrounds 1 mile south of Mullica Hill on RT77 Club Meeting Program Wednesday March 5 2014 Satellite Communications John Zaruba Jr K2ZA Club dues deadline is March 31 2014 GCARC 11 00 am Brunch Every Friday The Seven Star Diner 1890 Hurffville Road Sewell NJ Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club P O Box 370 Pitman NJ 080712. Free Parking www tcf nj org The College of New Jersey Ewing NJ Saturday March 15 2014 Salvo Manager of the c nn 9 00 am 5 00 pm Complex Systems FOCUS sa Registration Flea Market open at 9 am Talks start at 10 15 Engineering Laboratory Multimed la in ee GE m a Post PC World A Full Track on Internet of Things The Internet Google Glass P of Things talk by author Barry Burd V Cloud Computing And roid iPhone Apps INDOOR FLEA MARKET amp VENDOR FAIR MULTIMEDIA 3D PRINTERS PHOTOGRAPHY HOME CONTROL 20 Talks Workshops HISTORIC COMPUTERS SECURITY and WIFI Demos and Special Events rs x Ham Cram Session amp Exam Object Oriented Programming University Get an Amateur Radio License in one Introductory Short Course by Mike Redlich day at TCF TALKS ON WINDOWS MAC and LINUX g Arduino Developer User Tutorial 2014 IEEE Region 1 Student Conference R obot Workshop IEEE Micromouse Competition Dons Special TCF hotel room rate info is available on the TCF website TCF PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE The IT Pro Friday and ISEC Conferences require separate registrations Friday March 14 2014 8 30 am 5 00pm Continuing as part of TCF s Saturday Talks For Conference Info and Fees See http princetonacm acm org tcfpro integrated STEM Edu ucation Saturday March 8 9 00 am 5 00 pm at Friend Center
3. Princeton University NJ Designing Pathways to STEM Success Info http ewh i ieee org conf stem For additional TCF 14 info directions and advance tickets www tcf nj org The 2014 Trenton Computer Festival rs sponsored by The College of New Jersey and its School of Engineering ELLE Hoc Save the date for our Annual Hamfest at this great location HAMFEST 2014 mp Join us on Saturday March 15 2014 8 00 AM 1445 Route 31 Annandale NJ Just off of Interstate 76 Totally Indoors Rain or Shine First table pre registration 25 Great Food Additional tables 20 All tables on sell your day of event 530 New or used Radio Equipment Electricity 55 00 extra limit 1 5 amps x Computer Equipment After March 1 2014 tables are first come Electronic Test Equipment first served Tools parts amp accessories Vendor setup time is 6 00 AM sharp Wire amp Cable Doors open to buyers at 8 00 AM gt Other electronics Prepaid vendors will receive confirmation via their provided e mail address or phone number Come to the Cherryville Annual Friend Fest and may pick up tickets amp table assignments at and bring along a friend or two or three check in Easy to get to just 1 mile south of Interstate 78 NO OBJECTIONABLE MATERIALS PERMITTED on NJ Route 31 TALK IN WB2NQV R Repeater 147 375 MHz 600 KHz PL 151 4 Download pre registration form at www qsl netw2cra Co
4. for more details on how you can participate later this year As for club meetings Pedestrian Mobile was the theme of our February club meeting World recognized PM specialist and author Ed Breneiser WA3WSJ shared his exploits and expertise with us as guest speaker Very cool Clever tricks he had for that water bottle battery and for using a piece of a metal tape measure to keep the backpack antenna from snapping on trees This month the sky s not even the limit You ll know what I m talking about when I see you at this month s meeting Been on the radio recently heard some Technician class licensees talking about some lucky propa gation conditions in both the digital and sideband portions of 10 meters Were you one of them While you were there did you see any special event stations from Russia during the Sochi Winter Olympics on your PSK waterfall How about any Antarctic week special event stations I ve still had no luck getting any Antarctica station in my log How about you It boggles the mind how there are sane people who are willingly preparing to stay down there as they head into winter Did you not get enough of it up here Whatever your interest there seems to be a little something in this hobby for everyone Glad to have you as part of our Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club If you like what you see consider inviting a friend to one of our events or club meetings Respectfully Jim Wright N2GXJ Down Jersey DXin
5. here in Gloucester County What s a foxhunt you ask Glad you did It s nothing but a family friendly driving navigating and radio direction finding skills activity all in one Just check out the links from previous GCARC Fox Hunts from the tab on our website to learn more Has it been a while since you joined us on a foxhunt Well call a fellow club member and partner up to give this one a go Never tried a radio foxhunt before Well call me and we ll get you teamed up to ride along for some first time fun We re giving you plenty of advanced notice on this one so reserve the date Date Sunday March 9 Time 1 3pm What better way to celebrate the leap to Daylight Savings Time on that day than with a Spring has Sprung foxhunt Tune in at 1pm on our 2M repeater frequency to check in so we know who is hunting and then get in structions on how the find the fox From that point on use signal strength or whatever technique suits you best to find the hidden transmitter If any teams are still searching after an hour we ll start giving out better clues If any are still hunting after an hour and a half we ll walk you in so that we can all meet up at the transmitter s location to exchange hunt stories and a good laugh Happy hunting Restoration Corner By Vinnie Sallustio NINYY Many of you know that I dabble in restorations I have recently started to dabble in transistor radio restoration If any of you have an old Late 1950 s
6. kind of relevant public service we and amateur radio offer the better it is for all concerned Review Hamcrafters WKUSB SMT USB Keyer Kit By Chris Heller WK2W There was a time when interfacing your personal computer to send CW was a fairly simple thing to do If you had an opto isolator a 2N2222 transistor or even a small relay with a 5 VDC coil in your junk box you could make up a nice little interface to key your radio from your COM port With the gradual phase out of the COM and printer ports on desktops and laptops things are becoming more complicated Most CW contesters and even some casual operators are switching over to USB devices for interfacing their PC s to their radios While they require a little more configuration to get them up and running they tend to operate more reliably than COM port interfaces Since the COM port may not have been the first priority for a PC s operating system you may have been forced to wait a second or longer for the PC to send the message when you hit that F key This caused quite a bit if frustration to say the least Today s PC s run faster USB devices are more responsive and keyers sometimes include data buffers to ensure messages are sent reliably Recently Merrill Brown WK2G and I were discussing options for something to use with his newer lap top Merrill came across the www hamcrafters com formerly KIEL com website and found the WKUSB SMT keyer kit It seemed like a nice li
7. lf 1 transmit Doug Gehring WA2NPD SK Z4 0 n ti e James Casto Sr N2IMH SK leave Milt Marder WA2FGA SK Trench KM RADIO O T SHIRTS i From March 1994 Crosstalk Sense Of A Goose The following is excerpted from a recent AIRLANT Weekly Sense of a goose Did you ever wonder why geese fly in a V formation We know that as each goose flaps his wings it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following It s been estimated that by flying this formation the flock adds as much as 70 greater flying range than if each goose flew on its own When ever a goose falls out of formation it feels the increased drag of trying to push on alone and quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the additional lift When the lead goose gets tired he rotates back in the wing and another goose lies point Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up the speed Finally when a goose is sick and falls out two geese fall out and follow him down to help and pro tect him They stay until he 1s either able to fly or until he 1s dead Then they launch out on their own with another formation until they catch up with their own group hmmm We could learn a lot from geese Thanks to WA2TML Chuck who provided the above from a recent NAWC Warminster SITREP Newsletter TCF 2014 of 39th Annual Trenton Computer Festival Admission 10 00 advance 12 00 at Gate
8. problem with this DXpedi tion Bad manners comments key down signals all cut into the efficiency of the operation and the ability to work as many stations as possible Tuning up on the zero beat frequency of the FT5ZM was especially bad DO NOT tune up on top of a station you wish to work Use a dummy load or move to a non busy frequency QRL or Is the frequency is use is proper etiquette before tuning up Another common error yes I will plead guilty to this one at times is forgetting to check if you are actu ally 1n Split Frequency mode on your rig It is an especially EASY way to QRM the DX station uninten tionally It often happens during the excitement of first finding and calling the DX station Make an extra mental check that you are in the right transmit SPLIT mode and check your transceiver s visual indication to be sure you are This is a problem for the seasoned DX er and the beginner Finally having the luxury of checking Club Log to see if you were in FT5ZM s log before they left the island can t be lauded enough It confirms your efforts and limits the need to re QSO the DX station on the same band and mode already worked All in all you will probably not experience a better planned and executed DX effort than Amsterdam Island Congrats to the team and local kudos to GCARC DX er W2YC Dave worked the FT5 on five additional bands to sew up having this DXCC entity on a total of NINE BANDS Am surely looking forward to s
9. 1500z Mar 9 and 1700z 2100z Mar 9 18002 Mar 9 to O100z Mar 10 O100z O0230z Mar 12 13002 14007 Mar 12 and 19002 20002 Mar 12 and O3O00z O4O00zZ Mar 13 2000z 2130z Mar 12 01002 02302 Mar 1 4 16002 Mar 14 to 10002 Mar 16 02002 Mar 15 to 02004 Mar 17 O9004 10404 Mar 15 140027 Mar 15 to 14004 Mar 16 140027 Mar 15 to 14004 Mar 16 140027 Mar 15 to 020027 Mar 16 and 12002 24002 Mar 16 14002 17002 Mar 15 144 and 17002 18002 Mar 15 432 16002 18004 Mar 15 OOO0O02 O0 4200 7 Mar 16 2 11002 Mar 16 O100 0 300 Mar 1 01002 02302 Mar 19 00302 02302 Mar 20 20004 21304 Mar 20 01004 02304 Mar 21 0000 23592 Mar 22 13002 Mar 22 to 01002 Mar 23 and 13002 19002 Mar 24 15002 Mar 22 to 03002 Mar 23 18002 Mar 22 to 18002 Mar 23 O f0024 11002 Mar 23 OOOO 4 O2004 Mar 26 01002 02302 Mar 26 13007 14007 Mar 26 and 19007 20007 Mar 26 and OS004 O04004 Mar 2 7 O1004 O02302 Mar 258 OO004 Mar 29 to 235927 Mar 30 16002 17402 Mar 249 President Jim Wright N2GXJ Vice President Cory Sickles WA3UVV Treasurer Al Arrison KB2A YU Recording Secretary Sheldon Parker KZMEN Corresponding Secretary Bart Conrad KC2WVP Board of Directors 3 year term Trustees 4 year term Chuck Colabrese WAZTML 2012 2014 Ray Schnapp WB2NBJ 2011 2014 Dave MacDonald WB3JOY 2012 2014 Martin Wilt W2ILT 2012 2015 Jeffrey Garth KC2W CS 2013 2015 Ray Martin W2
10. 1960 s or early 1970 s transistor pocket or ta bletop working or non working that was headed to the scrap heap DO NOT THROW IT OUT Just email me as I might be interested yankees 1996 lt at gt hotmail lt dot gt com Members in jeopardy members in good standing By Jim Wright N2GXJ The advantages of membership in the Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club are many and at only 20 it s a bargain If you have already renewed your dues for this year we thank you If you have not renewed already please do so in person at the March meeting or via postal mail to our P O box promptly You re running out of time Don t become a member in jeopardy Do be a member in good standing Origin of the word HAM By Ray Martin W2RM Have you ever wondered why we radio amateurs are called hams well it goes something like this The word was applied in 1908 and represented the call letters of one of the first amateur wireless stations operated by some members of the Harvard Radio Club They were Albert Hyman Bob Almy and Peggy Murray At first they called their station Hyman Almy Murray Tapping out such a long name in code soon called for a revision and they changed it to Hy Al Mu using the first two letters of each name Early in 1909 some confusion resulted between signals from Hyalmu and the Mexican ship named M yalmo so they decided to use only the first letter of each name and identified their station as HAM In the early
11. BARTG HF RTTY Contest Pr Quick CW Contest FOALAA Cup SSB Russian D Contest Wirginia QSO Party AGCW WHE UHF Contest Feld Hell Sprint North American Sprint SSB UBA Spring Contest 2m Run for the Bacon QRP Contest QRP Fox Hunt Straight Key Bug Sprint RSGB 80m Club Championship SSB QRP Fox Hunt FOC QSO Party Oklahoma QSO Party Louisiana QSO Party Spring QSO Party UBA Spring Contest SSB SKCC Sprint Fox Hunt Cwops Mini CWT Test Fox Hunt WWW Contest SSB PN Quick CW Contest 02004 03302 Mar Mar 1 to 424004 Mar 2 06007 06297 Mar 1 and 06302 06597 Mar 1 and O O0O0 072z29O Z Mar 1 and OY302 O08002 Mar 1 18007 20597 Mar Low Band and 21004 23597 Mar 1 Low Band and OBOO0z 1059z Mar 2 High Band and 11007 13597 Mar 2 High Bandy 19004 20402 Mar O 0027 11004 Mar 11002 17002 Mar 14007 14002 Mar 00072 21302 Mar O240024 04004 Mar 19004 21002 Mar Wh uNNNIH 23002 Mar 5 to 23002 Mar 6 and 23004 Mar amp to 230027 Mara 18002 19002 Mar CW and 19002 20002 Mar 6 SSB and 20002 21002 Mar 6 FM and 21002 22002 Mar e Dig O4004 0242207 Mar 02002 03302 Mar O243047 03004 Mar 7 10007 Mar 8 to 10007 Mar 12007 Mar 8 to 24007 Mar 14007 20007 Mar 8 15007 18007 Mar 8 16007 Mar amp to 16007 Mar 19007 Mar amp to 19007 Mar OOOO0z O 4O00z Mar 9 D D D oO70047 11002 Mar 9 1100z
12. J Bands not that great Dreaming of a new antenna Here s an original antenna related beam shaped cross word puzzle my sister in law came up with Enjoy DOWN 1 Antenna constructed with a long radiating element placed perpendicular to the earth ACROSS 1 Official Magazine of the ARRL 2 Antenna that must be rotated to provide coverage in different directions Antenna built with triangular elements Antenna designed for use on two different Amateur Radio Bands Antenna built with its elements in the shape of four sided loops One of a family of frequency independent antenna Of interest to traffic amp contest operators who like to use 80 and 40 meter bands it makes complete coverage of a single band easy Basic Antenna consisting of a length of wire or tubing opened and fed at the center Most popular Antenna with one driven ele ment and one or more additional elements Clubhouse By Jim Wright N2GXJ paint out at our new clubhouse under renovation Keep an eye out for emails concerning the next work party With some luck your help and a break from mother nature wouldn t it be great if we could have a grand opening later this spring GCARC s Double Nickel By Cory Sickles WA3UVV February almost got past us this year without noting that our club celebrates 55 years of ham radio fun and family in 2014 According to the Ancient Texts as researched by Jeff Garth and Art Strong before him the first officia
13. RM 2014 2016 Mark Townsend W20CY 2013 2015 Brian Jones KD2BXD 2014 2017 Dan Tremolini N2TXG 2014 2016 John Zaruba Jr K2ZA 2014 2016 Awards and Contests Kenny Denson WB2P Budget Al Arrison KB2A YU Clubhouse Replacement Project Ray Martin W2RM Clubhouse Site Al Arrison KB2A YU Club License Trustee Darrell Neron AB2E Club Publications Jeffrey Garth KC2WCS Community Outreach Cory Sickles WA3UVV Scout Liaison Frank Simila KC2SJ Constitution and By Laws Ron Block NR2B Database Ken Newman N2CQ DX Bill Grim WOMHK Emergency and Public Service Joe Shevlin KC2PHM ARES RACES Joe Shevlin KC2PHM CERT Martin Wilt W2ILT Field Day Co Chairs Mark Townsend W2OCY and Kyle Townsend W2KBT Hamfest Co Chairs Tom Gorman KE2ES and Harry Elwell K2ATX Hamfest Contact Cory Sickles WA3UVV Health and Welfare Ray Martin W2RM Historian Jeffrey Garth KC2WCS Hospitality Dave MacDonald WB3JOY Membership Cory Sickles WA3UVV and Ray Schnapp WB2NBJ Nominations Jim Wright N2GXJ Programs Cory Sickles WA3UVV Publicity Cory Sickles WA3UVV m z3 m Repeaters Al Arrison KB2AYU Special Services Darrell Neron AB2E Technical and TVI Cory Sickles WA3UVV n VEC Liaison and License Testing Gary Reed N2QEE The W2MMD Repeaters Output 147 180 MHz Input 147 780 MHz Offset 600 KHz PL Tone 131 8 Hz Output 442 100 MHz Input 447 100 MHz Offset 5 0 MHz PL Tone 167 9 Hz Output 1284 400 MHz Input
14. a is great for six meters but it gets better as the frequency goes amenna up Here are some sample antennas and the H Double Bay page from The ae penus Southern VHF Society aN https sites google com site wvfisher 2007southeastvhfconference M Ground Ig a constmuceoon for ite H Doubis Bay artenna There is an easy calculator you can use to build your own included on the site Image from original CO Magazine article In its purest form the antenna is formed like the letter H with the top center and closed The bottom is cut in the center to form the feed point It is a 50 ohm antenna The H Double Bay is easily adaptable to VHF and up frequencies The first one I made for six meters was built with half inch PVC horizontal sections The one I just built this fall uses small fiberglass driveway markers for the horizontal sections http www sportsbybrooks com youth baseball coach was classic pedophile 23495 Welcome New Club Member William Jones KD2FHM who holds a General class license and lives in Mantua NJ Welcome Back Club Member MES JAS Matt Wilson KZ2MFEW who holds a General class license and lives in Millville NJ We are glad to have you as members of the Club and hope to see you regularly at Club functions and meet ings Radio Direction Finding FoxHunt March 9 2014 By Jim Wright N2GXJ Oh yea Dust off your handheld and get ready to hop in the car for some RDF fun
15. bout satellite communications both on an entry level and what more advanced op erations include If you ve ever given thought to using your handheld radio to communicate over a larger area through a satellite or the ISS even to one of the astronauts living there then be sure to be in atten dance On deck for April we have John Dilks K2TQN author of QST s Vintage Radio column John has a great presentation in store to take us back into history plus show us some ways we can relive that older tech today What s coming up in May and beyond Stay tuned The H Double Bay Antenna Revisited By Keith Waltman W2ERP Halyard to ayard to 300007 All you need is a simple wire antenna that you can build for a New nicus few dollars is what the man behind me said at the Shelby Ham 5 fest in 2005 I was carrying a six meter loop to the car and he wanted to talk about his favorite antenna He was Ron Bailey AA4S formerly of Haddon field NJ Ron seemed like a regular guy excited about ham radio and espe cially about the antenna he exhibited at the Southeast VHF Conference However Ron had a very dark side see foot note The H Double Bay was first developed for use on 17 meters and was fea tured in CQ magazine CQ Archives September 1995 For the new band it featured gain in two directions and was inexpensive to build CQ Magazine archives September 1995 Lines ta W The antenn
16. d by Maria Somma ABI FM ARRL VEC Manager Somma notes that new licensees increased by 7 over 2012 28 886 in 2013 versus 27 082 in 2012 Licensed US Amateur totals as of December 31 2013 were at a new high of 717 201 a 1 increase over the 2012 year end total of 709 575 My HAM Shack By Curt Myers WA2JSG I enjoy working straight key CW all bands with the Straight Key Century Club www skccgroup com and the NAQCC http naqcc info Great bunch of gals and guys there Anyone going to Dayton this year look for me at our SKCC booth Most of my radios are Icoms IC703 IC 7000 and IC 7200 Only HF antenna is a Butternut HF9V Ver tical elevated and gets me around the globe with band openings running 5w to 75w Curt WA2JSG Salem County 14 100 00 ay Me nF ax Community Outreach Opportunities By Cory Sickles WA3UVV Many of the members of this organization are wonderful at reaching out to help our communities and sup porting special events Overall we probably get involved in more activities like this than many others However are we as involved as we could be It s well known that I have certain pet projects I m enthusiastic about such as Tour de Pitman and the MS 150 What about you Is there some organization event or activity you would like to see us support If so please make your desires known The more things we are involved in that help our communities and allow us to demonstrate the
17. eeing the FT5ZM story being told on an upcoming CD March can be a strange month for propagation with winter and spring radio characteristics alternating through the month My 10 DX choices for the lion in lamb out month include a number of semi rare DX tidbits to add to your DXCC totals Keep your ears open for some very nice Rarity 3 s and 4 s Continued on page 3 Continued from page 2 Zambia 9J2T 02 28 03 17 Italian Team All Bands amp Modes Christmas Island s Saba Island West Sahara TX6G 03 20 04 01 3 Stations Big UK Effort Austral Island ZL7AAA 03 20 04 01 HF CW SB RTTY VUAK 03 23 03 30 HF SSB RTTY Multi Station 10 Operators VK9MT 03 28 04 09 Many Modes Bands Credits NG3K ADXO Chatham Island Andaman Island Mellish Reef Programs Get Your Programs By Cory Sickles WA3UVV ig E Thanks again to everyone who came out to meet Ed Breneiser WA3 WSJ at the February meeting In spite of the adverse weather we still had about one third of our membership in attendance I trust everyone enjoyed Ed s presentation and the copies of his e books which he graciously handed out free of charge This month we re going to be treated to a presentation by one of our own John Za ruba Jr K2ZA John is experienced as a builder author D STAR Sherpa and in the field portable operator plus many more specialties including his significant role in EMCOMM John will be talking a
18. g By Bill Grim WOMHK HF radio conditions have held up nicely for DX during the last few weeks This should confirm that we are indeed in the midst of a second peak in the Sunspot Cycle 24 This is good news for the DX er especially since this current cycle has been far less than spec tacular Let s hope that a sustained high solar flux reading will reign during the late spring and summer months to perk up prospects on 6 Meters after the poor showing Down Jersey last VHF season Working the FT5ZM Amsterdam Island DXpedition was probably not easy if you were at all successful in reaching them The rarity of its very distant geography made for limited openings on the bands and often weak or no copy signals But the consistency of the readability on a number of bands at least from this QTH Down Jersey was rather amazing There were numerous openings on 10 meters in the mornings and to a lesser degree on 12 Meters Surprisingly 15 Meters ended up being one of the toughest bands to work them on from our neck of the woods Europe had a great advantage due to longer openings and shorter distances than North America The Europeans were quite a wall to overcome on many bands ONLY NA helped many get through from stateside In looking at the DXpeditions final QSO total of 170 000 Europe did very well in working FT5ZM compared to North America especially above 20 Meters Unfortunately it must be mentioned that intentional jamming was too often a
19. ghtly higher to 14 233 USB and check out EasyPal DRM latest version Feb 3 2014 An interest ing place to start is at English amateur Paul Young s web site www g0hwc com Have fun Crosstalk Submissions This is your Club newsletter Make use of it Feel free to contribute general interest articles and ideas for articles All submissions queries comments and editorials should be addressed to Jeffrey Garth KC2WCS at jeff garth comcast net Submission deadline for the April issue Saturday March 22 2014 Club Website http www w2mmd org Club E Mail Reflector gcarc mailman qth net March 7014 dnmnamanun I an 1n A ARRL Inter DX Contest SSB Wake Up QRP Sprint Open Ukraine RTTY Championship PM Quick CW contest Spring Contest DARC 10 Meter Digital Contest SARL Hamnet 40m Simulated Emerg Contest RSGB 80m Club Championship Data ARS Spartan Sprint AGC WL CW Party ORP Fox Hunt AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest NRAU 10m Activity Contest MCCC Sprint QRP Fox Hunt MCCC Sprint RSGB Commonwealth Contest SKOT Weekend Sprintathon Contest QRP ARCI HF Grid Square Sprint EA PSK6Es Contest Idaho QSO Party Morth American Sprint RTTY Spring Contest 6m NSARA Contest Wisconsin QSO Party QORP Fox Hunt CwWops Mini CwT Test RSGB 80m Club Championship Fox Hunt SARL WHE UHF Analogue Digital Contest
20. had once occupied Ever since then we ve been operating our repeaters at that location using extension cords as a semi permanent work around solution Clearly this is not a great situation so the repeater committee has begun exploring alternatives One alternative being discussed the possibility of a temporary field trial move of our 2 Meter repeater from the Pitman tower to an available Rowan University location which could then permit our 442 machine to be hooked back up and would also allow us the opportunity for a full take down of the cur rent 2 meter antenna for a much needed detailed inspection Keith Waltman W2ERP working on our 2M repeater People have been talking about our repeaters for a long time Now it s time to start doing something about it and the repeater committee has been given the charter to do just that If you think you have the skills and interest to help out don t be shy With big plans like these in the works now would be a good time to get on the repeater committee Vintage Tube Transmitters Still Rock By Cory Sickles WA3UVV Perhaps I m still thinking of the late 1950 s but so do many hams When I became a Novice in the early 1970 s tube de signs were still the most popular way to build your first trans mitter and get on the air While some excellent receivers had gone solid state generating a decent amount of RF power for a reasonable price meant glass envelopes that glowed There s
21. ht ratio min max speed and PTT lead in time is very easy with the WKTOOLS ap plication found on the CD The keyer does not include a volume control for the internal speaker but it s quiet enough to easily fade into the background in nearly all situations The sidetone frequency however is software adjustable During initial testing no delays or interruptions were noted in its response to mes sage commands Setup of the four non volatile internal memories was easy as well Being the consummate CW operator Merrill put the keyer to the ultimate test in the First Class CW Op erators FOC contest If there ever was a contest that requires a CW op s best performance this 15 it Merrill was thrilled with the keyer s performance saying it operated flawlessly the entire weekend while running between 35 and 40 WPM Continued on page 9 Continued from page 8 Overall the WKUSB SMT from hamcrafters com is a quality USB keyer and an easy building kit Project success 1s virtually guaranteed by the use of the pre assembled and tested circuit board The keyer operates very well and includes all the necessary software and information for trouble free setup and operation At 89 it s also a good value compared to other USB keyers on the market gt m e 7 I LI lhe rr n s pe 2014 23810 EB 0 aes WKUSB SMT www winkeyer com O S VE test session changing question pool B
22. l meeting of the Club seems to have taken place in February of 1959 This was an era of cars with tail fins doo wop music playing from radios with essentially no bass line long distance calls that mostly involved operator assis tance and bras that resembled ballistic missile nose cones As color reception was rather expensive television was a black and white world for most offer ing 3 maybe 4 stations to watch Computers were huge and travels to the moon were still the stuff of science fiction Nobody knew what a pocket cal culator was but anyone performing high level math owned a slide rule As many high schools had hunting target shooting or archery clubs it was commonplace for students to bring guns and other weapons to school yet no one freaked out and no one turned them on each other On the other hand no one yet had the advanced technology to carry around a pocket sized telephone that allows us to order products on a whim share pictures of frowning cats and sickeningly sweet children in posed moments or sarcastically argue about politics and religion with complete strangers in a bi polar fashion From a technology standpoint amateur radio was quite different than it is today Activity on out VHF and UHF bands was mostly AM with regenerative rush box receivers AM still was the overwhelming mode on HF as well with SSB making steady strides While solid state electronics was still in its infancy the use of germanium di
23. mpleted vendor pre registration and payment payable as shown below should be returned to Cherryville Repeater Association 11 P O Box 623 Pittstown Mew Jersey 08867 Vendor contacts Anthony Ploski WZHWW aploskit icomcast net Roberto Matos 2 matosS9icomcast net Hamfest Chair Kurt Cathcart KR2C New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Conference May 5 9 2014 Tropicana Hotel and Casino Atlantic City NJ www njepa org New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Association High Definition Pictures All Day By Jim Wright N2GXJ Looking for another thing to do with your ham radio How about exchanging photographs via the radio waves If you ve already got a soundcard interface or digital interface from your radio to your PC it s easy You are already equipped to receive and send if you want either Analog or Digital photos with other hams around the nation and the world If you have Ham Radio Deluxe the DM780 part has an analog SSTV mode built in that you can use Just select that mode tune your radio to 14 230 USB wait a while and see what happens If you don t you can try MMSST V to do the same thing If you want to step up from there to play with high definition picture capabilities there s a couple of pack ages available out there to experiment with that are built on the digital HF radio technology called DRM Expect to see more on that in a future Crosstalk article For now if you are interested tune your radio sli
24. nd electrolytic capacitors Old time FT 243 crystals can be found at http www af4k com crystals htm for higher power circuits or http www expandedspectrumsystems com for more QRP interests Need a chassis or enclosure Old printer switchboxes small cake pans cigar boxes etc can be pressed into service The only real limits are your imagination and how willing you are to ask for advice I recently became amigos with a ham in Puerto Rico His sta tion is built around a 1940 s vintage ARC 5 receiver home brew 6L6 transmitter running 30W on 40 30 amp 20M plus a Czech military straight key also of vintage age Using reso nant antennas he has no need for a T R switch as he uses a separate antenna for the receiver Full QSK with no moving parts Lest this sound limiting I can assure you that this guy is having a ball Tubes aren t for everyone but if you re up for a mild challenge building your own transmitter and putting it on the air is a thrill like no other March Birthdays Congratulations to these members celebrating birthdays this month Happy Birthday Doug We miss you Michael Andrescavage N21CV Ed Champion N2RO Stuart Cleveland NZWUP Jeff Garth KCOWCS Andrew Muenzenberger KF2AQ Paul Munzenmayer K2DX Bill Price NJ2S Mark Smith Dave Stout W2YC Mark Townsend W20CY Dan Tremolini N2TXG Gary Triplo KD2EBX Wayne Wilson WA2LET Jim Wright N2GXJ John Zaruba Jr K2ZA My wite says
25. odes and transistors was increasing rapidly especially for anything considered portable But from a standpoint of camaraderie mentoring and a willingness to work together to make things better for all concerned attitudes are pretty much the same The motivations that started this organization over half a century ago have strengthened it and helped it grow with a positive attitude we still enjoy today We are still blessed to have one of GCARC s Founding Fathers with us today Charlie Sketchley K2PQD If you haven t talked to Charlie in a while or been out to brunch with him on Fridays at the Seven Stars Diner why not pick up the phone and say Hi while thanking him for being one of the guys that formed our group and sig nificantly guided it along the way In honor of our 55 anniversary year we could have a special event call In 2009 we used W2MMD 50 at our Hamfest in a quickly put together affair This time around I m thinking we could put some serious effort into it as an entire organization and operate a special event at our new clubhouse and station when we re not so busy with the Hamfest I m looking into what needs to be done to get a special callsign to commemorate this milestone If you think it s a good idea to promote the Club in this way especially as it s the 100 anniversary of WIAW then please share your thoughts and ideas on this It will require a bit of work and creative effort but it
26. p a aa a a a a a a a aa a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a p f f f f n p d ACRAS RYE 7 Ye Happy Birthday GCARC Congratulations to you our members for making this the active club it is to day From monthly club meetings and guest speaker programs to emergency preparedness and public ser vice to support to ham radio license testing and much more it s fun to socialize and hang out at club events like field day fox hunts earth moon earth radio attempts and contesting out at the clubhouse sum mer picnic and winter holiday party with fellow radio heads as an active member of a much larger inter national ham radio operator fraternity If you re reading this and are not already a member why not con sider joining us Speaking of birthdays did you hear The ARRL turns 100 this year and our club is going to be part of that celebration Throughout the year WI AW the ARRL s HQ operator s club is operating portable in each state and most US territories Our club has been offered an unique opportunity to represent New Jer sey by operating a WI AW 2 station in August of this year At the February club meeting we discussed this and enthusiastically voted yes to participate from our new clubhouse Since then I have been in con tact with our state s WI AW coordinator and we re good to go Can you imagine being on the receiving end of one of those WI AW pile ups Look
27. pioneer and unregulated days of radio amateur operators picked their own frequencies and call letters Then as now some amateurs had better signals than some commercial stations The resulting interference finally came to the attention of Congressional Committees in Washington and they gave much thought to proposed legislation designed to limit amateur activity In 1911 Albert Hyman chose the controversial Wireless Regulations Bill as the topic of his thesis at Harvard His instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator David Walsh a member of the committee hearing the bill The senator was so impressed that he sent for Mr Hyman to appear before the committee Hyman was put on the stand and described how the little amateur station HAM was built and he told the committee that if the bill went through they would have to close the station because they could not afford the license fees and other requirements to set up The station HAM became a symbol of other amateur stations in the country that the commercial stations did not want around when the bill got to the floor of the Congress other speakers talked about HAM That s how it all started You can find the whole story in the Congressional Record Nationwide publicity identified the station HAM with amateurs From that time to this every amateur is a HAM 2013 Licensing Statistics From the ARRL Winter 2014 Radio Waves Newsletter The following report of FCC licenses issued is supplie
28. r an older aircraft it had innovations that were still important today The longer wing flaps and dynamic engines enabled the planes to use shorter runways at secondary airports The T tail and higher rear mounted engines meant that ground crews could begin servicing the plane and handle luggage faster without having to wait for the engines to spool down Features like this opened air travel to more people for less money and al lowed us all to be connected that much more The planes were the workhorse of many carriers such as Allegheny precursor to US Air later US Air ways Airlines which were rumored to use the orange roofs of Howard Johnsons as NAV markers With nicknames like Chuck Niner and Diesel 9 the planes were loved by seasoned pilots Although dated by today s digital technology even with some updates over time a close look at the cock pit www hilmerby com dc9 cockpit html reveals a wealth of analog gauges and controls from a de sign long before anyone was saying by wire Like an older tube rig or your first four on the floor car there was a certain familiar comfort in being seated inside an old friend As someone who logged hundreds of passenger hours in the 9 they are missed and really have been for some time Along the same lines the much bigger cousin the DC 10 will be likewise retired in the coming months Antenna Crossword Puzzle By Jim Wright N2GX
29. should be a fun time for all involved GCARC Repeaters Update By Jim Wright N2GXJ The GCARC repeater committee is looking for additional club members technically inclined towards UHF VHF debugging and repeater communications that are willing and able to help improve our current repeater operations Please contact our Repeaters chairman direct if you think you can help out Late last year it was discovered that our 2 meter antenna coax jumper cable that connects the hardline to the antenna had been broken off presumably by careless installers of cell phone equipment at the Pitman water tower loca tion see photo We made a decision on the spot to get the 2 meter repeater back on the air as soon as possible We did that by switching its hardline connection over to the cable that we had been using for our 442 repeater at the expense of the 442 repeater being off air until the new cable could be or dered and installed We have the cable now but are just waiting on better weather to get it installed Going back prior to that you will recall our 2 meter 442 and 1 2 GHz repeaters were all off the air for a few days when it was discovered that the shed that enclosed our repeaters on a concrete pad within the base of the tower had been destroyed the electrical conduit that had been used to powers our repeaters had been broken and our repeater equipment had been moved onto the dirt so that cell phone equipment could be installed on the pad we
30. still a strong interest level in certain circles about build ing and using single tube transmitters Usually something like a 6AQ5A 6AG7 6J6 or something in the 6L6 family 6F6 6K6 6V6 is employed although you might find a few 50C5 or 117N7T based designs too 40 6L6 TRANSMITTER When some give thought to building such throwback transmitters they invariably mention some reason not to do it such as power supplies getting parts finding crystals enclosures etc While you can t just take a walk downtown to your local radio parts stores as I could in my home town there are everyday solutions and plenty of places to go to make the project a reality First of all you need to start with a design that s easily reproducible Two quickly come to mind One is the 6V6 Scrounger http www radiosky com scrounge html and the other uses a 6AQ5 http archive org stream 73 magazine 1976 10 10 October 19762 page n45 mode lup Most designs for 40M will also work just fine on 30M and maybe even 20M with a possibly distinctive chirp Finding parts is easy by searching the Internet and finding online stores and suppliers Hamfests are also an excellent source Modest power supplies can be made from wiring 12V or whatever transformers back to back for isolation then rectifying and filtering Need to double or triple the voltage Then do an other search for those circuits basically an arrangement of diodes a
31. ttle keyer that did everything a USB keyer needed to do without a lot of needless extras The price 89 was pretty good too Merrill was kind enough to let me build the kit for him As this keyer is based on SMT surface mount technology devices nearly all the parts are already soldered to the board Building the kit requires solder ing a few jacks and switches to the board as well as connecting the speed potentiometer and the battery holder After that all that s needed is a little mechanical assembly The total time to assemble the kit set up the software and get it running was less than three hours a nice little Sunday morning project The keyer boasts dual CW and PTT outputs a speed control four internal memories and a small internal speaker It operates as a stand alone iambic memory keyer if you install three AAA batteries or you can power it from your PC over the USB cable Installing the batteries is somewhat inconvenient as it requires removal of the four chassis screws However except for using the keyer in portable operation without a laptop it s unlikely that the batteries would be needed anyway The kit also includes a CD with some nice configuration software and the assembly user manual Operation is simple When you power on the keyer it sends an R over the internal speaker CW speed is adjustable with the speed control or through your contest or logging software Customizing your CW pref erences such as weig
32. y Jim Wright N2GXJ Looking to get that first Technician class ticket Looking to upgrade to General or even to Extra Please note that the question pools for each license class change every 4 years on a staggered basis If you are studying now for a Technician Class license be advised that the question pool will change after June 30 of this year The General and Extra class question pools will be upgraded in 2015 and 2016 respec tively As part of our continuing commitment to the advancement of Amateur Radio GCARC conducts FCC li cense exams on a regular basis Our current testing location is at the Franklinville Library meeting on the second Thursday of the month at 7pm Contact our VEC liaison Gary Reed if you need more information Walk in test takers welcome For copies of the current question pools along with answers and for more information about what to bring to a test how to contact Gary if you have questions and more please see the Get Your Ham Ticket tab on the left side of our club s website w2mmd org Saying Good Bye to an Old Friend in the Skies By Cory Sickles WA3UVV Earlier this year the last DC 9 was retired from commercial passenger service after a long and storied career getting many of us from city to city Delta Detouring Everyone Lei surely Through Atlanta Airlines was the last carrier flying 9 s until January 6 It was almost half a century since they went into service in 1965 but even fo
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