What: Arkansas Diamond Club Meeting

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program at 6:00 Dues: $10 It is a new year Note: for those that enjoy listening to Police and the Sheriff in Conway County, Morrilton Police has gone digital and the Sheriff will follow and the State

1 President Roger Alabach ARKANSAS DIAMOND AMATEUR RADIO CLUB NEWSLETTER VOLUME NO.31 DATE: Jan 10, 2017 What: Arkansas Diamond Club Meeting Where: OEM office on Division st. (The old Post Office) How do you get in: Door on the North side of the building basement level Food: Yes from Roger Kf5sde Program: Yes & Elect new Officers or keep the old ones Time: 5:30 food; program at 6:00 Dues: $10 It is a new year Note: for those that enjoy listening to Police and the Sheriff in Conway County, Morrilton Police has gone digital and the Sheriff will follow and the State Police have been there for some time. The radios are not cheap. There will be a scheduled test Saturday Jan 14, 2017 at the OEM Office 10:00 am. **Tech** **General** **Extra** We will need VEs Local Nets First Net Temporarily on hold ????? Second Net Simplex Net Thursday at 8 PM Third Net Perry County (-) st Tues 8PM Fourth Net Thursday tone Fifth Net Faulkner County Thursday tone :30PM

2 From the President Roger KF5SDE CQ CQ CQ Club Members. From Our President Happy New Year everybody. If cold weather keeps you cooped in don t fret. That is perfect opportunity to get on the air and make some contacts. What I like about the new year is Hamfest season is soon to be here. Hamfests provides one the opportunity to meet with others that share your hobby. You get a chance to put a face with the call sign you hear on the air. Also there is a lot of knowledge you can tap into to help you succeed in your latest project. I have had many questions answered. This is also a great place to purchase equipment. There are a few bargins to be found at these Hamfests. Some Hamfests are close, others are a long ways away. Below is a short list of Hamfests you might be of interest to you. January 28th. Winterfest in Collinsville, Illinois. This one is north and east of St. Louis. I have been told this is a good one but have never been. Hint: There is an Amtrack station in that city. February 18th. Winter-Fest in Hoxie Arkansas. This is less than a 3 hour drive right on Highway 67. Well the old highway anyway. The 4 land runs to Walnut Ridge now. I have not been to this one yet but those that have say it is small but good. March 4th. Russellville Hamfest and the Arkansas State Convention. They have changed the location to a larger facility. This should be a dandy folks. One of the best in the state and right in our back yard. (The L.V. Williamson Boys and Girls Clubs of the Arkansas River Valley, 600 West 16th Street, Russellville, AR. Editor) April 7th. Green County Hamfest. Claremore, OK. This one is just north and east of Tulsa. About a 3 1/2 or 4 hour drive. This is also a big one. I am personally planning to check this one out if time allows. That should keep you busy this spring. A well respected ham operator suggested this rule of thumb for attending a Hamfest. If the drive takes 4 hours round trip then you should plan on spending 4 hours at the Hamfest. Our first meeting of the year will be January 10th. The location is in the basement of the old Post Office which is the Conway County OEM center. As always we will eat at 5:30 and start the meeting at 6. Come early if you want to. Since it is the first meeting we will be collecting dues which is a cheap $10 per member. We need to discuss winter Field Day which is the last Saturday in January. Election of officers is also on the agenda. If there is anything else we need to discuss please contact me at kf5sde@gmail.com and I will get it on the agenda. For our program I thought some of us could talk about what we are doing in our personal ham shack and get a discussion going about getting on the air. ( For the next newsletter send some pictures so we can post them. Editor) ( For Hamfests. It is fun to ride with someone else and maybe share the driving. The club has a record of winning door prizes. Editor) The Arkansas Diamond Radio Club (KE5FSY) of Morrilton News Letter This bulletin is published 4 times a year for the promotion of HAM radio. Ham radio is for enjoyment and is the emergency back bone of communication for the communities. When all else fails we will be there, we have in the past and will be in the future. Editors are KD5LBE Stewart Nelson KG5DAD Sharon Clarkson KF5TIE Facebook Bobby Moses KF5WHN Webpage Eric Stricklin All HAM related stories are welcome.

ARKANSAS NETS OF INTEREST for Generals Arkansas Razorback Net, 3987.5, 6:30 PM daily, Net Manager, Ed Alspaugh, N3QL Arkansas Phone Net, 3987.

3 ARKANSAS NETS OF INTEREST for Generals Arkansas Razorback Net, , 6:30 PM daily, Net Manager, Ed Alspaugh, N3QL Arkansas Phone Net, , 6:00 AM, Monday thru Saturday, Net Manager, Doug Robbins, W5DUG Arkansas Mockingbird Net, 3927, 4:30 PM, Monday thru Friday, Net Manager, Jerry Palmer, W5JEP Arkansas ARRL Section Net, , First Monday, monthly, 7:00 PM, Net Manager, Dale Temple, W5RXU Do you Elmer New Hams then encourage them to join the ARRL and tell them why they should? IF not, why not? Good Question! If you care, you will not only be a member yourself but you will encourage ALL Hams to be ARRL Members. Renew your membership in the ARRL. Support YOUR Amateur Radio Hobby by recruiting all others to join or renew their ARRL membership for the good of us all. Tell the world about the science we teach, the community service we provide, and the FUN we have. We must all pull together or together we will all fall apart. If you are a member of the ARRL you will have your license automatically renewed and you will get a great magazine with great information about HAM radio. Let s start a HAM shack, Techs Techs have access to: 10 meters CW 28.0 to 28.3 and voice 28.3 to meters code 50.0 to 50.1 and voice 50.1 to meters voice meters code to and voice to CM voice 420 to 450 When the gods of the sky are right 10 meters and 6 meters can get you just about anywhere if you have a good antenna. No one around here as far as I know uses 1.25 meters, so if you are going to buy a radio you can skip one that does 222. Two 2 meters is currently the hot band for making contacts and most of that is with nets or groups that get together to share acknowledgements. In other parts of the country they may have a purpose. When I was traveling in New England they had a Temperature Net where everyone exchanged the current temperature which was not much in the spring. On 2 meters if you are looking for someone to talk to in this area you say KD5LBE Listening not CQ which is what you usually do on 10 meters and 6 meters. If someone wants to talk to you they will answer. This is what you would do if you were on a repeater frequency. or a simplex frequency which is called a calling frequency. When you make a contact drop down to and leave open. My experience has been limited on the Simplex frequency when traveling but I usually make at least one contact. Stay off of to these are the satellite frequencies. I was scanning the 2 meter repeater frequencies and sitting in Wisconsin and listened to a guy in Wisconsin talk to a guy in Fort Smith. One time in Clarksville I talked to a guy in Mississippi so long contacts do happen. This is the starter information there is a lot more on what you can do on two meters. Ham radio operators as part of our charge use the least amount of power that is needed to make a contact. That means that 50 watts is your normal maximum power for a radio that is not an HT. For an HT, they are usually 5 watts. If you think 5 watts is not a lot of power, I have talked to Little Rock many times on the Caren repeater. Home built antennas for 2 meters are simple. What you want is a 5/8 wave antenna. I could give you

4 building instructions, but there are so many different ones, I would be hard pressed to find the right one. Search on Google for a Cheap 2 meter antenna and you will find many suggestions and some on YouTube you can watch HAMs make the antennas. I had to go even more simple with my third 2 meter antenna in my office. It isn t perfect but I mounted an automotive magnetic mount antenna (Mag Mount) to a steel cooking sheet screwed to a piece of wood on an angle mount to the house, I have an SWR of 1.5 which works. What kind of two meter radio to buy? You need a dual band 144 and 444. The cheapest is Baofeng for $30 to $60 dollars. You get what you pay for. The next ones are the Wouxun that go for around $120 and you can find both of these on places like ebay. The more traditional radios like Kenwood, Icom, Yeasu, and Alinco start around $300 and these are best bought at real HAM radio stores and they will need real antennas with the least expensive, the magmount on a cookie tray. Shop the Internet for prices because they can really very. Taking the next step up, Generals and up. You are a Tech that wants to work 10 or 6 meters or a General that is ready to work HF here is how to get started. Now it actually gets more simple, but more expensive. You will need an HF radio that can work 6 meters also. Some of the fancier radios will do HF that is to 30 MHz, 6 meters 50 MHz, 2meters., or 440. There are some radio that will do it all and some only too 10 meters. Right now the real action is on 2 and 440 so you will need a radio that does everything or two radios. At some time you will have a radio that works on 13.7 volts which means you will need a power supply which is about another $150. When you buy one get one that will operate on 40 to 45 AMPS. If you don t need it now, you will in the future. You can build your own antenna like a G5RV or a simple dipole but that means you will also need a tuner unless your radio has one built in, which it probably won t be. Figure about $200 for a tuner. You can build a good antenna that doesn t need tuning on a couple of frequencies. On Field Day we use a Buckmaster that is around $250 but it is good for up to 7 bands without tuning. One of the big quests in Ham Radio is the search for the perfect antenna. In that quest there are few Ham Radio people who don t have more than one antenna or have had more than one. If you build your own antenna one thing that will speed up the process will be an SWR meter and MFJ is a good place to buy one. If you buy a dipole antenna that is tuned you won t need an SWR meter. After you have everything pulled together you need to fix up a good ground for your antenna and equipment. Get an eight foot copper clad ground pole dig an 8 deep hole and fill the hole with water. If you are not sitting on rock you can pump the pole into the ground with almost no effort and you will not need a hammer except for maybe the last foot. Use one side of some cheap car jumper cables to hook your radio to the ground post with a ground post clamp. Hook everything up and your should be ready to go. Any of the old HAMS will be glad to help you set up your rig if you start having problems. One of the hardest things to do in HAM radio is not getting your license, it is picking up the mic for the first time and talking. The next hardest thing after listening for someone to saying CQ CQ CQ 20 this is KD5*** and not hearing anyone, then you call CQ and see if someone will come back to you. Next there are certain protocols that you need to learn: In HAM radio you have first a call sign and second a first name. No one cares about your last name normally. I am KD5LBE Stewart and sometimes IN Morrilton Ark. You may also may be asked for your grid square or your county. It is really cool when they ask for you country. You can look up your grid number on the ARRL web site. I am EM35pd. Someone doesn t respond when you call? Because you can hear them, they might not be able to hear you.

5 If you hear CQ DX that means that they want to talk to someone outside the country and if it is a USA call sign donot make them mad by answering. If someone is calling CQ that means that one million HAMs might be ready to answer besides you. If you hear the other HAM saying QRZ that means I am looking for someone to talk to I have finished with the last guy. Answer with just you call sign. If you are in a contest and the other operator says QSL, they are asking you if you understood them in your exchange. If you want to know where someone is or they want to know where you are the call is QTH. There are a lot more Q signals but those are the ones you need to know. Everyone in HAM radio in HF uses GMT or Zulu time That is 6 hours off of CST. Either get a cheap watch and set it to GMT or use you Cell Phone to keep up with your time. sign their name and location will show up in your data base. A signal report in voice is two digits with voice means your voice was clear and 9 is strong. Always end you contacts with your call sign. You might preface that with the other HAMS call sign. If it is a long contact rag chewing repeat your call sign every 5 minutes for identification. If you hear someone calling CQ and in the contact never gives their own call sign, skip them. There are times like now that you turn on the radio and there is nothing but dead air. First make sure you antenna is connected, but the band may be dead. You might practice calling CQ to a dead band so you can be ready for one where there are other people on it. If your spouse tells you that they are hearing you on the TV, stop and check your antenna and your SWR before your neighbors suggest you do the same thing. How can you justify spending all that money, remind them that you are staying home where they can watch you. It worked for me over the last 16 years. I hope I have been able to fill in a few gaps in your working knowledge of HAM radio. The good part about HAM radio there is something for everyone. There is a place for those that are blind, can t hear, have to stay in a wheel chair, like to build things, there is high power and very low power. Above all it is a lot of fun. I might suggest that you join the ARRL and learn a lot more. 73 is the universal HAM salutation. 72 if you are QRP Reduced power If you identify yourself on 2 or HF be ready for being asked for your call sign phonically. A lot of people have funny words that they use, but until you are on top of the world stick to the accepted phonic names that you can get from the ARRL web site, or on the back page. Always log your contacts, which I don t always do. The good HAM will use the ARRL LOG BOOK OF THE WORLD to post their contacts from their personal log book usually kept on a computer. If you get a QRZ account and you have a good computer log book every time you put in a call I asked you to send me a picture of your rig so here is mine. KD5LBE

6 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Phonic Alphabet Alpha BRAZO CHARLIE DELTA ECHO FOXTROT GOLF HOTEL INDIA JULIET KILO LIMA MIKE NOVEMBER OSCAR PAPA QUEBEC ROMEO SIERRA TANGO UNIFORM VICTOR WHISKEY X-RAY YANKEE ZULU Write yours above your radio so you won t forget. Kilo Delta 5 Lima Bravo Echo 73 Members the start of 2016 If you have paid your dues and you are not listed please let me know. We have 30 paid members. AA3AT ANITA TIENKEN AA9BT LOUIS TIENKEN AC5RT JIM WIEDOWER AF5EI JIM TAYLOR K5PRM RICH MOODY K5SEC DON DACUS KB5DQM JIM CARTER KB5TJW DALE BETTIS KD5LBE STEWART NELSON KD5YZD JIMMY WIEDOWER KE5UAN JEFFREY RIDLING KE5YP5 CLYDE ARMSTRONG KF5DIF STEVE BEAVERS KF5EST HUGH DONNELL KF5IIZ BRUCE CURTIS KF5ITM KIRK ROSE KF5MAD RACHEL BEAVERS KF5SBG SHELLEY TIENKEN KF5SSD ANN OFFIELD KF5SDE ROGER ALABACH KF5UDD MIKE KAROLCZAK KF5WHN ERIC STRICKLIN KG5DAD SHARON CLARKSON KG5EWI JEREMY LANDON KG5J AL GARRETT W5WMM BILL MOONER W5WRB WALT BARFIELD WB5RUH DAVID HUETT WB5RZR JAMES RIDLING WD5DJW THOMAS WOZENCRAFT If we have left your name out or we need to up date anything please let me know at oldmayor@sbcglobal.net or tell me at the meeting. Plese excuse my errors or ommission

Our meeting site is the 911 OEM office at the old downtown Morrilton Post Office

President Roger Alabach... KF5SDE ARKANSAS DIAMOND AMATEUR RADIO CLUB NEWSLETTER VOLUME NO.32 DATE: Jan 9 2018 Our meeting site is the 911 OEM office at the old downtown Morrilton Post Office Meeting time