QUA CVARC. President s Message. Contents. Club Meeting and Pre-Meeting Dinner. November Tim Wheeler-K6POI

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1 November 2015 QUA CVARC A Newsletter for the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club SUBJECT Contents PAGE President s Message 1-2 Meeting, Pre-Meeting Dinner 1 VE Session Results 3 Members Have Done 4 Members Are Doing 4 Members Are Planning (Calendar) 4 Holiday Party 5 Field Day Results 5 Antenna Project, OCF on a Stick 6-8 For Sale 9-11 Incoming Editor s Note 11 General CVARC Information 12 QUA CVARC Newsletter Editor Norm Campbell-AB6ET radioab6et@verizon.net President s Message Tim Wheeler-K6POI The Board Of Directors of the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club will soon have the pleasure and the challenging task of selecting one club member from a handful of nominees for the Hugh Bosma Legacy Award. The plaque, that will list yearly winners over the next twenty years, reads, "In memory of Hugh Bosma, AE6YC, SK, and his commitment to Teaching, Mentoring and Community Service. CVARC hereby recognizes those below for perpetuating Hugh's legacy through their contributions to Amateur Radio." So, to translate this inscription into a measurable criteria for judging each nominee, the Board will be considering these four aspects of the candidates' continuing Hugh's Legacy... 1) Their Teaching... classrooms and published works; 2) Their Mentoring... a more personally nurturing and developmental process over time; 3) Their active participation in creating a thriving CVARC; 4) Their positive contribution to Amateur Radio, through meritorious service to our community. It will not be an easy task for the Board to select one nominee from the handful. May we honor more than one nominee this first time out? How about three winners? What do you think? Continued on Page 2 Club Meeting and Pre-Meeting Dinner This month s CVARC club meeting is Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Room of the East County Sheriff s Station near Olson Rd. and the 23 Freeway. Topics will include nominations and elections of club officers for 2016 as well as announcing the recipient(s) of the first annual Hugh Bosma Legacy Award. We anticipate Eric Christensen from HRO to show us radios and equipment. Join your fellow CVARC hams and guests this month for the pre-club meeting dinner at 5 p.m. at the First Street Café, 2025 First Street, Simi Valley, near East Los Angeles Ave, phone: Hope to see you all there! 1

2 President s Message, continued from Page 1 Meanwhile... Sarah Smith was operating the GOTA station at the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club's Field Day in Alabama this year. Among her twenty contacts were two local Santa Barbara Section stations. Peter Heins, N6ZE, picked Sarah's 15m SSB call out of a pile up at his Reagan Library QTH Saturday afternoon. Their quick QSO was videotaped, has been edited into an N6R promo piece and is now showing on YouTube. Use "2015 ARRL Field Day at N6R" for your search. Later that evening, Sarah logged her second 15m Phone contact here in SB Section when Brad, W6VO, and his team of operators answered her call for AA6CV. Lt. Col. Todd Cline, N7KDT, supervised the Huntsville Club's GOTA Station and shares the picture with Sarah. The most heart-warming aspect of this story has been my observing Sarah's Dad, Stephen, KK4TJP, being obviously and rightfully proud of his eight-year old daughter's wanting to follow in his amateur radio foot steps Sarah Smith, On the Air Peter and I have sent Sarah our respective Field Day QSL cards and other "presents" to encourage her momentum toward a license. A Super-Sized 73 from everyone at the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, Sarah!! Cheers, Tim-K6POI CVARC Discussion Group Are you interested in seeing current information or posting timely information yourself? Visit and join the CVARC Discussion Group. This is a closed Yahoo group so you have to go to the club website, find the discussion group tab, and follow the links to join. After being approved you can read past and recent posts or comment and post information yourself. Take a look. Lots of timely information being passed back and forth. Tools What basic tools do you think a ham should have to do a little work around the shack? What is recommended as a starter kit? Send your ideas to me and I ll print what members say. Send to: radioab6et@verizon.net. Ed. 2

3 CVARC VE Session Report October 11, 2015 The October CVARC VE session served 15 candidates. There were several candidates who upgraded to Amateur Extra as a result of studying at a series of CVARC classes. Among those who earned new licenses or upgrades at the session were: Name Call New License Class Stephen S. Blocksage KK6YAH Technician Leo R. Bowman KG6JMH Extra Melinda Bowman KK6TKL Extra David J. DeGregorio WA6UZS Extra Don Fall WB6OLJ Extra David M. Kleiman KK6YAI Technician William Siler KK6YAJ Technician Albert LaCroix KK6YAK Technician Christopher Morda KD6JIB Extra Stuart Sheldon KK6SUV Extra Wendy Joffe WB6ADC Extra Clare Potter W6NCT Extra John H. Turpin KK6YAL Technician Jay H. Smith KI6DJW Extra James E. Smith KK6YAM Technician The next CVARC VE session will be held Sunday, December 13 at 8:30 a.m. at the East Valley Sheriff Station CVARC VE sessions are sanctioned by the ARRL VEC and are conducted by a team of experienced Volunteer Examiners. Participating Volunteer Examiners at the October session included;; George Tamayo, WD6EJO; Ken Sandberg, and Noel Van Slyke, K6NVS. CVARC Volunteer Examiners donate their time to help advance Amateur Radio and their assistance is greatly appreciated. VE sessions are one of the components that help CVARC qualify for the ARRL s special service club designation. Submitted by Jeff Reinhardt AA6JR, CVARC VE Session Coordinator The recent Amateur Extra training class presented by Zak-N6PK and Tim-K6POI has clearly paid off for many club members. Stay tuned for future training classes. Ed. 3

4 Members Have Done The last CVARC club meeting was held on October 16 at the East County Sheriff s Station. Prior to the meeting, dinner with members and the guest speaker was at Geppino s Sicilian Kitchen. The guest speaker at the meeting was Orv Beach-W6BI who gave an overview of the MESH Network, a far reaching scheme to link repeaters through a microwave communications system. Regular club business included ideas and suggestions offered for the upcoming election of CVARC officers and board members. The discussions were followed by the raffle for useful and radio related items. Members Are Doing Sunday nights, Newbie Net, 7 p.m., Bozo repeater (-127.3), all are welcome especially newer hams. Want to be net control? The procedure will be provided. Contact Todd-KD6RCM. Tuesday nights, ARES/RACES net, 7 p.m., Bozo repeater. Wednesday nights, HF Roundtable, 7 p.m., ±, USB, all are welcome. Third Thursday, regular club meeting. Members Are Planning (Calendar) Nov 12 CVARC Board Meeting Westlake Village City Hall, 7:30 p.m. Nov 19 CVARC Club Meeting East County Sheriff s Station, 7:30 p.m., dinner first., 5 p.m. Nov Nov Sweepstakes-Phone Nov CQ Worldwide DX Contest-CW Nov EME Mhz Dec 5 Skywarn Event NOAA Oxnard Dec 10 CVARC Holiday Party See notice from Mark-KK6IKX and Michelle-KK6RBW. Dec 12 Camarillo Christmas Parade Stewart- KG6BOV@arrl.net Dec ARRL 10 Meter Contest Dec 13 Radio License VE Testing East County Sheriff s Station, 8:30 a.m., Jeff-AA6JR Dec 13 Santa to the Sea 1/2 Marathon Stewart- KG6BOV@arrl.net Dec 17 No regular club meeting See notice about Holiday Party. Dec 20 Rookie Roundup-CW Jan 21, 2016 CVARC Club Meeting East County Sheriff s Station, 7:30 p.m. Go to calendar tab for additional info on event links, contact person, location and times. The website home page indicates events occurring within the next week. Who?...have you talked to today about ham radio?...have you talked to today on your ham radio? 4

5 Holiday Party Mark-KK6IKX Michelle -KK6RBW Don't miss out on our 2015 Holiday Party planned for Thursday, December 10th, 2015 at the Best Western Posada Royale Hotel & Suites in Simi Valley! The event begins at 5:30 p.m. The cost of the meal is $18 per person and includes a salad of spring mix with cranberries & candied pecans, rolls, two carving stations (whole roasted turkey with gravy & cranberry sauce and a beef station with au jus and horseradish sauce), three side dishes, and dessert (to include apple pie). We will be happy to take your reservation and payment at the next CVARC meeting on Thursday, November 19th. Alternatively, please provide the following information and mail your payment to: Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 2093, Thousand Oaks, CA Name: Call sign: Phone number: Number in your party: Payment total ($18 per person) Your early response is appreciated by November 30th, 2015 as we need to inform the caterer of the number of people attending the dinner. There will be no board meeting or regular club meeting in December due to the Holiday Party. Field Day 2015 Results The results for Field Day have been published on the ARRL web site. AA6CV and the Conejo Valley ARC came in 9 th in the South Western division, with 1,713 QSOs and a total of 7,410 points. This was up from 12 th position in 2014, with 1,292 QSOs and 6,216 points. The 2015 score made us 110 th in the whole country in 2015, up from 155 th the previous year. A big thank you to the band captains, and to all the members that help lug kit about, set things up and tear them down a few hours later, and to those that came along to sample the unique FD atmosphere. Your contribution was invaluable and you helped to make for a good humored and enjoyable Field Day. Here s looking forward to FD 2016! Cheers...Adrian-K6KY Field Day Site 2015 Maple School, Newbury Park 5

6 The OCF-On-A-Stick: A No Hassle, Multi-Band Portable Antenna By Ben Kuo, KK6FUT kk6fut@verizon.net One of the great things about the CVARC mini field days we have been having lately, is it's a great opportunity to see well the equipment that other ham radio operators works or does not! It's really the only place where you can see radio equipment in action, in the field, without buying a lot of expensive equipment yourself, and get some opinions on whether or not something works or does not for you. In this article, I describe a new twist on what is becoming and old favorite: the OCF-On-A-Stick, a brand new, never published design for an antenna based on the OCF dipole, which came directly out of my experience operating at Mini Field Day, and inspired by some ragchewing with our new editor, Norm Campbell (AB6ET) about the need for an easy to use, non-hassle, multiband antenna. One of the great joys of amateur radio for me -- and many other amateurs -- is the ability to operate their radio almost from anywhere, including out on a mountain top, in a field, at a park, or at the beach. However, operating portable has always had its set of challenges, not the least of which being the ability to transport and set up an antenna. In particular, it's tough to find a decent tree which you might be able to string up a dipole, and even in areas where you can find a tree, it's a huge amount of work to get your line up there high enough to make it work. To that end, a lot of amateurs have turned to stand-alone, portable antennas, with probably the most popular today being the commercial Buddipole (TM), and Buddistick (TM). For those not familiar with the designs, there are actually the commercial versions of these two antennas, as well as published designs you can build yourself from W3FF (Budd Drummond), the inventor of the Buddipole. The commercially available Buddipole and Buddistick are extremely popular with portable operators, and I have had great success operating with W3FF's homebrew version, which I built myself as my first portable antenna. A number of CVARC members have the Buddipole or Buddistick, and so I've also seen firsthand the many hassles related to getting these to work properly in the field. Both of the Buddipole antennas work by loading coil and a short whip, which is matched to a counterpoise wire, which is adjusted in conjunction with the coils to the length to match the band you wish to operate on. If you want to switch a band, it requires adjusting your tap point on that loading coil to the appropriate spot, and extending or retrieving the counterpoise line to the appropriate length. Essentially, you are working with a coil loaded dipole in vertical position, which is adjusted for every band. This works great, except--as many operators find--it can be very, very, very difficult to adjust the antenna to resonance. There are many-a-cvarc member who probably can relate the grand battle-of-the-swrmeter with the Buddipole (and forget trying to tune them without a SWR meter!). I've found, in personal operation, that makes it very impractical to use the Buddistick for switching bands, and it's always very cumbersome to set up quickly-- usually, it takes me minutes to set up and get it all tuned correctly, it's another minutes of futzing around when every time you switch a band, which is non ideal if you're just hoping to tune around to another band for a quick contact. I've always wished there was another version of this design which eliminated the issues with having to reconfigure and tune the antenna every time you want to switch bands. Enter the OCF Dipole Enter the OCF (off center fed) dipole, which AB6ET and myself have described in many earlier CVARC newsletter articles. There are number of CVARC members very happy with the OCF, in many different configurations. In particularly, because it is multi-band without having to physically adjust the antenna the antenna is a blessing. 6

7 The Aha Moment So, anyway, one afternoon, while in conversation with Norm Campbell (AB6ET) while testing some new radio hardware, and grumbling about how the hassle of using the Buddpiole/Buddistick in portable operation I had a epiphany! Why not put an OCF dipole and run it like the Buddistick? I was surprised when I couldn't find someone out there that had done this (if they have, looking all over Google apparently didn't find me an example.), and I also ed a published antenna expert for his opinion, and he confirmed what I was talking about was a totally new design. So, I built a prototype of an OCF in the form of what a Buddistick might look like, with a vertical radiator and counterpoise -- but instead of using loading coils and an adjustable counterpoise, I just used the short end of the OCF for the vertical, added the standard 4:1 balun at the feedpint used in the OCF dipole, and used the long end of the OCF for the counterpoise, about 5 feet off the ground. A diagram of this is shown below. I used one of the dimensions of the OCFs out there as a starting point, with the short side (20 ft) as the vertical, and using the long side (48 feet) off the ground. The Prototype OCF-On-A-Stick For those of you who know me, I'm a huge fan of homebrewing radio equipment out of scavenged junk (they should change that phrase one man's trash is another man's treasure ) to ( one man's trash is a ham homebrewer's treasure )! Using things literally dumpster dived out of my neighborhood in Newbury Park, I constructed the first prototype of the OCF-On-A-Stick. I used standard, stranded #12 copper electrical wire which I have lying around on a spool for projects (happened to be at a Boy Scout garage sale). For the vertical, instead of using copper wire, I happened to have an old AM/FM antenna, 29 inches long, from a salvaged AM/FM radio (trash can), plus a 12 foot aluminum extension pole I had pulled out of a trash dumpster earlier this year. Finally, I already an eight foot, painter's pole which I had used with my original build of W3FF's Buddipole/Buddistick, which I recycled for use in this project, as I already had it rigged for quick connections of tiedowns in the field, along with a few camping stakes. Finally, I used some PVC piping for connecting the various parts together. A photo of one of the prototypes of the antenna set up in my backyard is also shown. For the 4:1 balun, I used the voltage described by W4INF on the web, which I have had success with in the past, and which (for the cheapskate ham that I am) only requires the use of some wire, 1 inch PVC pipe, and a drill. (You can find W4INF's design at RogerTango.com). Photo of the W4INF balun also shown here. For the vertical section of the antenna, I first extended the 12 foot aluminum extension pole, and drilled holes near the edges of each segment. The reason for this, is I discovered there as no electrical contact between the individual aluminum extension segments. With some wire and screws and appropriate connectors, I was able to make firm contact between the sections. As this is the prototype, I did not worry about how fast I could assemble this, but for true portable use, an aluminum extension pole may not be the easiest material due to having to use six screws up and down the extension pole at your site. For a future version, I foresee using some kind of quick connector (PowerPole, etc.) and PVC pipe segments, ala W3FF's original Buddistick design, where one can easily snap segments together to the proper height without a screwdriver. At the top of the aluminum extension pole segment, I used a AM/FM antenna whip. I'm unsure, electrically, if it makes a difference to the antenna, but it does make extending the antenna size much easier and lighter than another segment of PVC or other material. This was connected with the top of a broken sprinkler head (cheapskate showing again) to the top of the pole. On the bottom side of the aluminum extension pole, I used a segment of 1 inch PVC, which happens to allow the aluminum extension pole handle to nest nicely inside, keeping it secure; I adapted another screw-on sprinkler head attachment to allow this PVC to connect to my painter's pole, which makes up the base. 7

8 Finally, for the painter's pole, I have three supports tied to tent poles (with a taut line hitch on each paracord support), which keeps the entire thing upright. For convenience, I had used some zip ties in place so I did not have to tie the requisite knots every time I go out in the field. There are many different options for these supports. But, How Does It Work? The ultimate test of an antenna is, how does it work in real life? Connected to 50 feet of 50 ohm coax, and placed on my back lawn, these are the SWR readings I got (with no tuner attached). Amazingly, based on the SWR readings, the OCF-On-A-Stick works passably on six bands -- 10m through 40m, excluding 17m, within the bounds of most typical antenna tuners. Although the SWR reads fairly low on 80m, I've chosen not to run on 80m due to the overall length of the antenna, and some dodgy real world RF-in-the-radio issues I found in testing, which was also the case with 17m. I used this antenna across all the bands listed below in a local contact across town, and also spent a day making contacts on multiple bands during the California QSO Party at our mini field day in September. Figure 4. SWR Analyzer Results 40m m m m m m 3.6 Voila, it actually still tunes on almost every band I might be interested in working, after setting up the antenna for testing, I was immediately able to make both local and distant contacts--despite poor band conditions! An Amateur Antenna Analysis After testing out the antenna, I was curious to what the antenna field would look like when run through a computer analysis, and a couple of wise Elmers suggested I try out running EZNEC and see what the result was. Here is the result of my analysis on this antenna, with the caveat that OCF antennas (apparently) are very difficult to model given the tendency to use some of the feedline as antenna, and the use of a balun at the feedpoint. The analysis actually resulted an interesting distribution of gain numbers. Remembering that the gain of a dipole is 2.15dbi, we see that the 20m, 30m,, 15m, 12m, and 10m (theoretically) all actually end up with a higher gain than a standard, reference dipole. 30m and 40m are worse, with 40m significantly worse. Max Gain for the OCF-On-A-Stick Per EZNEC Band 40m dbi 30m 1.57 dbi 20m 2.48 dbi 15m 3.36 dbi 12m 3.33 dbi 10m 5.5 dbi dbi In terms of radiation patterns, almost all of the patterns show more gain on the long side of the antenna, in the direction of the long counterpoise length, with the exception of 30m, where the pattern looks to be almost entirely circular (both in azimuth and elevation plots). I've included a few of the patterns just for an example you can me if you want the full plots or the EZNEC file. Summary In this article, I've described a new trick for an old antenna (the OCF dipole)--which directly came out of my experience at CVARC's mini field day, which might just offer up a better solution than the current, Buddistick commercial antennas, by allowing for less hassle with the antenna, better SWR without the need for a tuner, easier adjustment when switching bands, and simple, homebrew construction. Hopefully, this article might help to inspire other CVARC amateurs to experiment with their own, portable antennas and maybe build their own OCF-on-a-Stick! 8

9 For Sale For sale from a silent key. Contact Adrian, K6KY, g4frz@hotmail.com ICOM Mobile-HF-/VHF-Transceiver IC Coverage TX: m, 6 m and 2 m, RX: MHz; Modes: SSB, AM, CW/RTTY, FM, WFM (only RX); 102 memories; Pout: 100 W on HF and 6 m (AM 40 W), 10 W on 2 m (AM 4 W). Atlas 5-Band-HF-Transceiver 215x with digital readout Covers the classical HAM bands from 160 to 15 m; Pout (CW): W (depending on band). ICOM HF-Transceiver IC Discoloration and residue on front panel. Frequency range: TX m HAM bands incl. WARC, RX MHz; Modes: SSB, CW, RTTY, FM (optional), AM only RX; 2 VFOs; 16 memories; Pout: 100 W Kenwood Transceiver TS-820S. ~1980 Frequency range: 160 to 10 m, + WWV (receiving only); Modes: CW, SSB, FSK; Pout: 100 W (40 W in FSK). FT 480R 2m multi-mode Transceiver Frequency range: MHz; Modes: SSB, CW, FM; Pout: 15 W PEP in SSB, 15 W/1 W in CW und FM; PLL-; Receiver: SSB/CW 0,5 µv, FM 0,35 µv TR m FM transceiver Synthesized, 2 meter mobile transceiver. It features a four digit LED frequency display with memory. Transmit power may be set for 25 watts high and 5 watts low. Frequency range is MHz. 6.3 x x 9.2 inches 4 lbs. Requires 13.8 VDC at 6 amps 9

10 For Sale For sale from a silent key. Contact Adrian, K6KY, g4frz@hotmail.com FT 208R Handheld 2m MHz (USA), 2.5W ICOM IC-215 Portable-VHF-FM-Transceiver Range: 15 xtal channels within MHz; external power supply (13.8 V) possible; Pout: 3 W/0.5 W. Palomar Noise Bridge Daiwa NS660A SWR meter, MHz, 30/300/3000 Watts, SO

11 For Sale For sale from a silent key. Contact Adrian, K6KY, g4frz@hotmail.com UKW.E.E WWII German tank Receiver Matching WWII German tank Transmitter For sale by Ray-WB6L, cell (805) RF connectors of various types and sizes, many at $1 a piece. Call for availability. Incoming Editor s Note This issue of the QUA CVARC newsletter marks the first for me as your new editor. Special thanks go to Mike-N6TEA for his double duty in the recent year as Vice President and Newsletter Publisher. From now on, all newsletter related items should be sent to me. If it s club or radio related, I am willing to print it. Everyone has a story, here is the opportunity to have it published. Prompt submissions are appreciated. Otherwise, ideas, comments, and suggestions are welcome. I hope to present a timely and meaningful newsletter to our club members. The look may be a little different, but the content is going to be current, relevant, social, and technologically advanced. Look for the monthly newsletter on the club website at To avoid personal conflicts and timeliness issues, the newsletter will only be available on the website. It should be published and posted after the club board meeting which is held on the second Thursday of the month, but not later than the Monday before the regular club meeting, In addition, look for some exciting changes in the club website to be announced very soon. Ben-W6JWZ and Stu-KK6SUV are working on a new look that should be interesting. We ve relied on the good work of those in the past to bring us where we are today. We thank all of them and move forward as we progress into the future of communications and promoting the club and its goals. Norm-AB6ET radioab6et@verizon.net 11

12 General information about the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, CVARC CVARC is a Special Service Club (SSC) The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL affiliated Special Service Club. To be recognized by the ARRL as a Special Service Club, the club must regularly show that it is actively involved in certain areas, including: New Ham Development and Training, Public Relations, Emergency Communications, Technical Advancement, and Operating Activities. Meetings and Location Meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month, except December. The meeting location is the Community Room at the East County Sheriff Station, 2101 E. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. Meetings start at 7:30 p.m. with a premeeting social and technical assistance session beforehand or as announced. Meetings are open to the public, and members are encouraged to bring friends. Visitors are always welcome at our monthly meetings, and we do not pressure newcomers to join. If, however, you would like to support the club and its activities by becoming a member then we will be pleased to have you join. CVARC Membership Rates The simplest way to join (or to renew) is to give a check bearing your name and address to the Treasurer in person or by mail. Make the check payable to CVARC and please put your call sign and address on the memo line. Current annual rates are: Regular Membership $25. Family Membership $30. Special discounts are available for new members (licensed in the last 12 months) $10. Full-time Students $10. Regular members renewing for multiple years $20/year. Family members renewing for multiple years $25/year. An application to join is found on the club website. Name, call sign, or address changes may be ed to the Treasurer. QUA CVARC QUA CVARC is the club newsletter published monthly, not later than the Monday preceding the CVARC club meeting, by the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, AA6CV, PO Box 2093, Thousand Oaks, CA Opinions expressed in articles in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the club, its board, or its members. Tax Deductible Donations to CVARC CVARC is an IRS-certified 501(c)3 charitable organization and donations are deductible pursuant to IRS rules. If you have working radio equipment or 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 to help fund and grow CVARC. We cannot accept certain donations, and have to place some restrictions on them such as, no hazardous materials, nothing we could not sell, etc. If you are interested in donating, contact any board member at a meeting or via . Many companies will either grant or match employee s gifts to non-profit organizations like CVARC. Please determine if your company is among these and contact a board member for more details. For the current list of CVARC officers together with their contact information, please visit the club s web-site at You may view past newsletters on the website. 12