Build an Antenna at the October Meeting

Transcription

1 Build an Antenna at the October Meeting The October 21 meeting of the Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club will feature a hands-on portable antenna building workshop. All interested operators are invited to attend and build an antenna that will be functional for portable UHF radio communication. Annual Election of Officers and Directors at November 18 Meeting Eight of the nine positions on the SCCARC Board of Directors will be up for election, or re-election, at the November membership meeting. These positions are the four Officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) and four Directors. The fifth Director slot is filled by the immediate past President. Of the four incumbent Officers, all except the Vice President are termed out as there is a limit of two consecutive one-year terms for Officer positions. There is no limit on the number of consecutive one-year terms for Directors. Although many of the current Board members may be willing to remain on the Board, we strongly encourage new people to run for any of these positions. This is your opportunity to get involved in running your Club! -Kathleen McQuilling KI6AIE 1.5 Decades Later The Tuesday Jan 9 issue of the San Jose Mercury features a story about Dilworth Elementary School students in Cupertino making contact with the International Space Station on the previous day. The item is headlined, Space Call Launches Passion for Science. Color photos show an adult ham clutching his mobile mike in front of a student s mouth, his thumb hovering over the p-t-t switch. The article talks of two years of effort--but provides no details. Actually that probably includes a lengthy administrative wait. It also states the ham radio crackled with static. Does that mean the 2 meter contact was marginal. No, I expect this was mere poetic license. There is absolutely no comment about the technology involved in this event. It could not have taken place without ham radio. And- it didn t cost the school district a penny. I am compelled to comment on this event because I remember when Santa Cruz area students truly communicated with astronauts, back on September 13, Students from, 25 area schools made contact with the space shuttle Endevour on that Sunday morning nearly 15 years ago. Many student groups have conversed with the shuttles and the space station both before and after that 1992 date. I believe the event at Del Mar Middle School remains unique. All hands-on operations and conversations were conducted solely by students--not by adult mentors holding on to their microphones. The actual equipment operation was conducted by both licensed and unlicensed students. All 41 of the participating students played an active role. While those holding licenses assured compliance with CLUB MEETING FRIDAY OCTOBER 21, 7:30PM FCC rules, others performed vital behindthe-scenes actions. This included such things as plotting shuttle positions, keeping logs, and aiming the hand-held directional antennas. They had been trained by some 20 experienced hams from the SCAARC and SLVARC. Area newspaper and television coverage fully acknowledged the role of ham radio. One of the three student control operators, 13 year old Gary Spangler KD6ISR said, I was amazed how clear the shuttle astronaut sounded. (No crackling static.) Afterwards, I realized that everybody s hard work had really paid off. Another student, Sara Tuttle KC6PPC age 14, stated, I thought it was really neat. It was a oncein-a-lifetime chance. Eleven-year-old Brian Corbet had only recently passed the license exam. He didn t yet have a call sign. His comment says it all. It was the most exciting thing I ve ever done in ham radio. Most of the adult observers agreed. My report on the event appeared in the December 1992 issue of World Radio. An expanded version appeared in the Proceedings of the 1992 ARRL Education Conference. Wayne, KB6KN Holiday Luncheon Our annual Holiday Luncheon will be at the Seacliff Inn this year! Check-in will start at 12:30, and luncheon at 1:00. Please Kathleen KI6AIE at ki6aie@ k6bj.org to make your reservation/s for this fun event!!

2 2 Rain is here. I can tell as when I step out onto my deck to hook up my 80-meter antenna. My feet get wet --- but it s worth it. Actually, 40 meters has been pretty much up these days at 0800 PDT. The Japanese broadcasts are booming in once again on khz at long last! Had a nice QSO with pal Terry Parks, N6NUN, aboard his 53 foot Hatteras cruiser berthed in the Benicia Marina. Moved from Sausalito to escape winter winds and sea swells. His rudder shaft seals are leaking and one of his 5 bilge pumps is out. Boats, airplanes, motor homes, cars and houses, all need maintenance. CAKE Group in Action We have made ourselves quite at-home in the Abbey and the intensity of discussions seen in this diverse group is not unusual. Clockwise from the left Jim K9YC, Don K6GHA, Reed N1YC, Bob K6XX, Vic AE6ID and Frank K6BDK. Where else are you likely to find such a wealth of available knowledge and this is just at one end of the table! Also equally engaged were Byron, N6NUL, David KG6IRW and your Scribe Ron W6W0 Remember 2nd and 4th Saturdays at 10:00 AM This is an example of a very nice piece of work by Dallas K6KEB. Not so long ago Dallas was asking very basic questions about home Our Growing Vocabulary Have you noticed the growth in technical vocabulary these days, not to mention acronyms?. Here is one concept that could have a bearing on the future of amateur radio Cognitive-radio. A system involving antennas that can monitor the spectrum and be reconfigured to take advantage of white-space. This is intended as a strategic direction to combat congestion at microwave frequencies. The word agility comes into play through Software Defined Radios and electronically steerable antennas. Stepper motors mounted on the antenna structure sound familiar? At HF we achieve agility by combining human intelligence for collision avoidance with Software Defined Radios, panoramic displays plus rotatable and adjustable antennas. This combination aids in efficient use of our spectrum allocations but an interesting line of thought brew construction and you may judge he has come a long way. Dallas frequently takes part in our CAKE sessions so if you wish to know more about his project I suggest you join in and ask him. Ron W6WO is how can we do better? It seems rather evident that we could improve the linkage between our radios, propagation software, DX spotting, and the like; but should we also think of moving away from our traditional band segmentation by mode; indeed why should we take such a radical step? In a previous note I described the 50s when sunspots were at an all-time high and the huge growth of ham activity that ensued. We can anticipate considerable improvements in propagation ahead, we may also anticipate (and welcome) substantial growth in the amateur ranks from the growing economies in India, China and Brazil. The danger to maintaining the status-quo is congestion and competition for use within our allocations. Open-use bandwidth and tools to dynamically use whitespace could increase the carrying capacity of our precious Hertz. Mary Duffield and Art Lee, WF6P, at the Pacific Coast Manor on Wharf Road, Capitola. September Terry had mentioned that Mary Duffield, WA6KFA (?), was in the Pacific Coast Manor assisted care facility on Wharf Road. I stopped in to see her a few weeks ago. She looked great, was in a wheel chair, sunning herself in the garden patio. In her mid-nineties, she looks fit and probably able to sail around the world at any moment. Many of us used to sail with her aboard her 32-foot sloop Agua Alegre (Happy Waters) when she was berthed on B dock. For years, Mary tutored young school kids in the techniques of sailing and especially, ham radio. They claimed that when they ate, asking for the salt or

3 Chatter continued pepper or mustard for their hot dogs, they had to ask in Morse code. Being hungry and with peer pressure, you can learn anything quickly! Mary was the Pied Piper of young people when it came to ham radio. I wonder how many she got licensed as Novices. I belong to a Writer s Group whose able leader is Nancy Hofmann. She told me that her daughter, Hannah Lewbel Sappirus, KC6NXB. is an amateur radio operator. Hannah had been one of Mary s outstanding kids when she was about ten years old. Those of us in the club in the 1980s recall when a group of Mary s kids made contact with the first space shuttle. (See World Radio piece by Wayne Thalls, KB6KN.) The contact was made from the school grounds in the Live Oak district and quite a feat. Many of Mary s students went on to careers in science and industry. Hannah was one of the project engineers designing and building the newest device hitting the market, Amazon s Kindle Fire (San Jose Mercury News, Sept 29, 2011). A story to share: XYL Donna, AB6XJ, and I made a dump run last week. We loaded our pickup with old lumber, a decrepit ping-pong table, broken furniture, rusty bird cages and miscellaneous pieces of plain old junk. I hate to make dump runs. One time I got a flat from the tons of nails scattered about. On this day, we pulled up to the cement dump area and I began to unload. A van or truck had pulled out, leaving a pile of green trash bags. With help from yard workers, I dragged the pingpong table off the pickup bed. Just then I heard the unmistakable CW ID of the K6BJ repeater emanating from the green bags! Someone must have forgotten to hit the off switch before discarding an old piece of gear. Batteries must have still been good. And no, I didn t dig through the bags to locate the source. Anyone missing a spare hand-held? Miscellany: While dashing about the tennis courts I tripped and injured my left wrist and hand. No broken bones but had to wear a splint for two weeks. Have you ever tried to connect a coax with one hand? How about holding a mic and rotating an old antenna switch, washing one hand only or giving a one-handed round of applause? Something you don t want to get used to. A Trip to Space at the local Park Alan Hawrylyshen K2ACK A few Sunday s ago, my wife and I were congregated at an old neighbor s house, visiting with friends from the neighborhood. The kids (ages 8 through 11) were running around and looking for something to do, when it struck me there will be an ARISSat-1 pass in an hour or so. I returned home quickly to fetch my radio and Arrow antenna, along with a laptop and voice recorder. I managed to convince the 10 year old that listening to a satellite as it flew overhead might be fun or even cool and we spent a little time looking online at the homepage for ARIS- Sat-1 ( ) and reviewing the beacon format. It didn t take much to convince him once he realized that this was a spacecraft that he could listen to all by ourselves. I explained that we had to calculate where it would rise at the horizon, where it would peak and where it would set. And we wrote out the compass bearings and elevation angles for these three points in time. Our motley crew (now numbering half a dozen including moms and siblings) made our way to the park and setup on a picnic table. As the appointed moment approached, we setup the hand-held yagi and tuned the receiver with appropriate Doppler shift. Using Ham Radio Deluxe to show the approaching satellite (Figure 1 ). Figure 1 HRD Satellite Status Screen (Example) As the satellite made its pass, we tracked with the antenna and listened to the beacon, the voice telemetry and the secret word. I then recorded two cycles of the SSTV signal and decoded it back at his house on the laptop using MultiScan 2 (Figure 2). We had some technical difficulties with the audio recording (accidentally getting ambient noise) so the resulting image is a little bit rough, but you can clearly see the Earth s edge and the blackness of space which proved extremely exciting for all of us. I think we will all head back outside another time to see if we can make a contact through the satellite or get another SSTV image. There was something magical for all of us, seeing the image decoded from space, and something magical for me, seeing a youngster excited about science, technology and radio. Figure 2 The decoded, slightly corrupted SSTV image from ARRISat-1. 73, Alan Hawrylyshen K2ACK References ARISS at Homepage - Ham Radio Deluxe Multiscan 2 SL - Arrow Antenna - 3

4 4 Radio Sprint A relay race. By Don K6GHA 9/21/11 Contesting in Amateur radio has many forms; from power limited (QRP) or unlimited, mode only (CW, Digital, SSB), Regional or International. However, the one that is most likely to tax your abilities as an amateur radio operator is the SPRINT. Powering down my rig after my first sprint (the North American (NA) Single Side Band (SSB) Sprint), I was looking to see if anyone got the license of the truck that had just hit me! The total time of the contest was only four hours, but it was so much more of a learning experienced crammed into that short time. GETTING OUT OF THE BLOCKS In basic terms, a sprint is what it implies, running fast! However in amateur radio terms, you can think of it like a relay race. The basics for the sprint are that a station initiates a QSO by calling CQ, the answering station exchange contact information, and then the answering station assumes the frequency and calls CQ. The baton is passed and the original station must then move off the frequency. Confused? Even though I had the concept, and the calling information written down, I found myself missing parts of QSO s and then backtracking to fill in the information (if I was fast enough). A sprint require practice in listening and logging. PASSING THE BATON Within the sprint format output power and frequency use is limited; this allows the playing field to be leveled for all participants and prevents a high powered station from holding a frequency and working others, one after another. In theory, the sprint format evens the odds for smaller (less powerful) station to be competitive. However, for a beginner, the chance of dropping the baton (or QSO) in a sprint is possible because you most likely have one time to get the call sign and exchange correct and logged. This transaction happens quickly, and you still have to log the QSO while you are preparing to pass the baton to the next calling station and collect your double, or second QSO. LOOKING AT THE EXCHANGE An exchange in sprints generally consists of your call, your serial number (Q s), your name, and State. However, this information format may change depending on the rules of the sprint. So, the best advice is to read the rules of the event. Passing the exchange, simply and clearly, is of utmost importance. The reasons are to save QSO time, to build consistency in exchange, to efficiently log the response, and to get on to the next QSO. This process has been perfected in the CW sprints. For an excellent video seminar on Sprints, listen and watch the information at this URL link: CROSSING THE FINISH LINE As well as making the sprint QSO, the contest traverses multiple bands. There is a LOT of dial spinning in a sprint. Depending on propagation, timing, and a lot of luck, you can easily divide your time searching for the person calling CQ, casing the popular toss up, and/or pass the frequency baton (and not being bludgeoned by it!). Some lessons learned and keys to remember in a sprint: - You CAN stop on a frequency and call CQ. You don t have to search forever for a contact. - Take advantage of pre-sprint warm-up sessions. The NCCC holds them prior to events. - Take it slow and steady the first time. Have in front of you the correct responses for calling CQ, or answering a CQ. (THEY ARE DIFFERENT watch the video!) - Have some water ready, if things become fast and furious you may even forget to breath!! OK, I ve turned in my first sprint log and have had a few days to reflect; someone once said there is a fine line between pain and pleasure. I think I found that fine line with the sprint format, but I ll be coming back next time to improve my score and my skills on the radio. There are many different kinds of sprints offered throughout the year, here are some good sources to find more information: - NCCC organization cc - WA7BNM contest calendar hornucopia.com/contestcal/contestcal.html - N6TR Sprint Survival Page jzap.com/sprint.html What s this phone thing anyway? By Alan Hawrylyshen K2ACK At the last club meeting, Don (K6GHA) managed to convince me that running a contest would be fun. What I didn t really let on was that I; (a) only had a QRP setup and (b) had not yet made a single HF phone contact outside of the Monday night 10m net. My setup consists of a Yaesu FT-817ND running barefoot through an Elecraft T1 matching device and a G5RVjr dipole up around 25 feet, but very close to the water. I have managed around a hundred digital mode contacts since acquiring my General class privileges in March of this year. My contacts span half the globe, largely because as a computer communications software practitioner, the digital modes do not intimidate me in the slightest. For some reason, phone had me a little bit intimidated. I read the rules carefully and got setup on 20 meters. At the start of the event, I spent some time listening to the pace and rhythm of the other contest participants. I waited to hear someone complete a QSO who was at least S8 at my modest setup and once he called CQ I pounced. To my surprise, WD0T (Todd) in Pierre, South Dakota heard me and started the contest exchange. I thought I was organized and ready, but I admit that I fumbled my way through it. Once the exchange was complete, the frequency was mine. I called CQ for over a minute in short bursts, clearly not many people could hear my QRP station. I gave up and went on the hunt again for another contact. I managed to contact someone with another pounce, (perhaps a good QRP strategy) but my disorganized logging had me lose his information so I was unable to log the QSO. Not wanting to corrupt my serial numbers, I carried on. I also realized that I was not going to be very successful using my logging software which was not adapted to the sprint format, so I pulled out a ruler and setup a simple pad of paper to track the critical information. I was still a little overwhelmed as the contest went on and I have to admit calling CQ with QRP power can be frustrating

5 Phone Thing continued at times, but it sure feels nice when you manage to get a response. I think that I will be looking to improve my antenna before the next contest and I will definitely be brushing up on the exchange format I would have no shame in following a script just to make sure I don t miss some of the critical information. In the end, I managed to log 11 contacts on 2 bands; understanding now that I would have scored better as a single-band entrant, I will look at the scoring strategies a little more closely next time. In summary I had a blast, managed to QSO with Don (K6GHA) and went from zero phone contacts to, well, 11 confirmed and a twelfth out there somewhere QRP Article Update New, old friends In last month s ShortSkip, I wrote an article about running QRP and working the Hawaiian QSO Party. As a follow-up I got a QSL card and note from none other than Lloyd Cabral, long time Santa Cruz club member! He had some nice words to say about my dad and their long acquaintance, and the QSO we had. Lloyd s call has changed from AA6T to KH6LC. I found a few articles in older ShortSkips and learned more about Lloyd. If you want to contact Lloyd, and say Aloha, drop him a line at: CABRAL, LLOYD J, KH6LC HCR 3 BOX KEAAU, HI ATTN: LLOYD J CABRAL PACIFICON 2011 Is Coming Soon! Ham Radio Convention is Bigger & Better at New Santa Clara Venue October 14-16, 2011, Santa Clara Marriott Hotel, Santa Clara, California For Events, Latest Updates and Ticket Sales go to: Gunfight at the CQP Coral By Don K6GHA Why do westerns have shootouts between the good and bad guy at high noon? And how does this relate to radio contesting? I hope to bring these two things together in my continuing discoveries as described last year s article Jumping in the deep end of the pool (see SCCARC ShortSkip Nov 2010). My second time diving in was an improvement; from a belly flop, to something akin to a frog trying to do a swan dive. Although it got me into the pool, and I knew what to expect, it wasn t really that pretty. This year was the 46th running of the California QSO Party contest, known as the CQP. And for some unknown reason I had it in my head to start from, what some may call, the bottom in radio contesting and work up. I ran QRP (see SCCARC ShortSkip Sept. 2011) low power. Now, some may say QRP requires more patience, skill, and attention to detail, while others shake their head and ask why? In either case, this year my journey was to run in the biggest of all state contests with low power. When living in California, everyone in North America (and in some cases worldwide) tries to make a contact with you. So, I thought, why not give it a try and run QRP? At this point you might be asking what does high noon and shootout have to do with radio contesting. Let s first look at some contesting rules and definitions to help with the story (for all information on the CQP, go to the website at ). First, the history of the CQP is one in which there is an equal playing field between all contesters. In the CQP, unlike other some other contests, there are 58 multipliers for both California and non-california stations. For California, the multipliers (or mults) are comprised of the 50 US states and 8 grouped Canadian Provinces. For non- Californians, it is simply the 58 counties of California that make up the mults. This leveling is what I call high noon, where on the old dusty main street of a western town the sun at noon isn t in either contestant s eyes, and neither has that as an advantage. Second, there are three groups of transmitter power ratings (or classes) you can operate in for the duration of the contest; greater than 200 watts, less than or equal 5 to 200 watts, and less or equal to 5 watts. In slang terms these equate to big guns (>200W), little pistols (<=200W), and what I call QRP stations derringers (>=5W). Loosely defined, a derringer is defined as a small pistol that has a small bore and is somewhat dangerous and effective at close range. In this high noon shootout about to take place, there aren t a lot of town folk watching, there are no bad guys (well almost none), it lasts for a maximum of 30 hours, and best of all nobody gets hurt! But pardner, you know the landscape; a level playing field of 58 multipliers for your total QSO s or contacts. You know the objective is to make as many QSO s in 24 operating hours as possible. You know that making contact with all the mults and achieving a sweep gives you the highest scores. And you know what you are shooting at, be it big guns, little pistols, or derringers. All that s left after the shooting stops is to collect the logs, and allow the sheriffs to identify the winners. In my case, again I learned a few more things that will help in the next contest. First, you need good antennas! Yes, plural. Above almost everything, it is to your best advantage to be able to work all frequency bands as they shift throughout the day and night, to increase your score. So, you need antennas to be able to chase the prime band. Especially when running QRP!! A bit more of an overall investment in your station with better or more antennas make big difference. Second, be an efficient operator. If you are rag chewing, or not handling the traffic correctly, you are costing yourself, and others, time in adding to total contacts. Good form counts when contesting. Last, and maybe the reason I am already looking forward to next year s 47th CQP and setting new goals for the event, can be summed up by a western legend: The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for. Louis L Amour Until next time at high noon, and in the deep end of the pool, Adios and good DXing. More videos and good contesting practices are shared at

6 SCCARC Board President Bruce Hawkins AC6DN Vice President Brandon Bealer KJ6DKK Secretary David Copp WS2I Treasurer Kathleen McQuilling KI6AIE Board Christopher Angelos KG6DOZ Mike Doern KM6IKE Rich Olsen W1WUH Cap Pennell KE6AFE Doug Burklo KI6ZIB K6BJ Trustee Allen Fugelseth WB6RWU MONTEREY BAY REPEATER ACTIVITY Santa Cruz K6BJ PL 94.8 Santa Cruz (linked to KI6EH) County KI6EH PL 94.8 Watsonville (linked to K6BJ) K6BJ PL Santa Cruz (not linked) SCCARC Net Monday 7:30 PM / / linked SCCARC 10 Meter Net Monday 7:00 PM MHz USB ARES Net SC County Wide ARES Tuesday 7:30 PM on PL 94.8 and PL linked San Lorenzo WR6AOK PL 94.8 Ben Lomond Valley SLV Net Thursday 7:30 PM Loma Prieta AB6VS / AE6KE PL 94.8 (linked for net) LP ARES / LPARC Net Tuesday 7:15 PM Monterey K6LY PL 94.8 / PL123 (linked for net) Monterey Monterey Co. ARES Net Wednesday 7:30 PM K6LY (PL 94.8) NPSARC Net Wednesday at 8 PM on K6LY/R LPRC WR6ABD PL / PL (winsystem.org) LPRC Net Tuesday 8:00 PM (PL 162.2) Amateur Radio Newsline broadcast Tuesday Santa Clara Valley Section Traffic NET Tuesday 9:00PM (PL 162.2) FOR MORE INFO SEE: Treasurer s Report The August 31, 2011 Treasurer s Report presented to the Board of Directors showed that the SCCARC treasury had $3, in cash and bank accounts (total less encumbrances: $2,510.48). At that time all financial obligations for which invoices had been received had been met. The full Report, incorporating the current working budget as well as actual and projected income and expenditure figures for the full calendar year, will be available for review at the October 21 Club meeting. 6 SCCARC Calendar of Events ARES Meeting (prior to club meeting) Friday Oct 21 SCCARC Meeting Friday Oct 21 Cake Meetings Sat Oct 8, 21 Board Meeting Friday Oct 28 Short Skip articles due Mon Nov 7 SCCARC Meeting Friday Nov 18 MONTHLY MEETINGS. The SCCARC Meets at 7:30 PM, on the THIRD FRIDAY of the each month (except December). Meetings are at Dominican Hospital, Education Center, 1555 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz. Short Skip is published 12 times per year. Free to members. Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club, Inc. Post Office Box 238, Santa Cruz, CA Editor: Ron Baldwin, k6ext.santacruz@gmail.com Columnist: Art Lee, WF6P Writer: Ron Skelton, W6WO WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! The following members joined us during June 2011: Frank H. Johnson W6IX Gary Watson K6PDL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB P.O. BOX 238 SANTA CRUZ, CA