The Chairman Speaks! Andy Flowers, K0SM

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1 The next regular meeting of the Rochester VHF Group will be Friday, April 11, 2008 at 7:30pm REMINDER: New Location for rest of season! Spencerport Wesleyan Church 2653 Nichols St., Spencerport Map and directions in back Topic: 47 and 78 GHz Topics and Demonstration The Chairman Speaks! Andy Flowers, K0SM Fellow Groupers, Be sure to get your tickets for the Banquet! The Banquet is on Friday April 18 starting a 6pm, dinner at 7pm at Napagino s, at the NE corner of Rts. 250 and 441. In true VHF fashion, we have some nice door prizes, good food, and a good time to see some friends. Both Irv, AF2K, and I have tickets, and we will both be at the meeting Friday. If you can t make the meeting which you really won t want to miss, see below--please contact one of us to make arrangements. You can contact me directly at ( ). The April meeting will show the results so far of club members efforts on 47 and 78 GHz. Not only will we have a presentation, but there will be equipment show-and-tell as well as a live demonstration! You don t want to miss this! Also in this issue is a list of equipment from W2UTH s estate that Karyn Blogett must sell before she moves. Please help out if you can! Andy K0SM/2 Published by Rochester VHF Group PO BOX Rochester, NY Editor: Andy Flowers, K0SM The VHF Journal is published by the Rochester VHF Group monthly except June-August. The subscription price is included in the membership dues. If you elect to receive the PDF version by downloading it from our website, dues are US$10 per year. In this case, you will be notified by the day it is available for download. If you choose to receive the hardcopy Journal by Postal delivery, the dues are US$15.00 per year. Articles and comments should be submitted to journal@rvhfg.com

2 Secretary Report Judy Stonehill, N2KXS Rochester VHF Group Meeting Minutes for March 14, 2008 The meeting, which was held at the Spencerport Wesleyan Church, was convened at 1934 local by the Chairman, K0SM. Attendees introduced themselves with their names and calls. Members in attendance included K0SM, K2TER, W2DYY, W3OAB, K2DH, WO2P, WB2BYP, N2MLH, NQ2O, KB2TAK, WB2QCJ, AF2K, and N2KXS. Mark Hazel, K2MTH, attended as a guest. Dave, K2DH, moved that the Secretary s report be accepted as printed in the RVHFG Journal. Fred, WO2P, seconded the motion which was passed by the attendees. OLD BUSINESS Bill, K2TER, thanked all of the award sponsors and those who had turned in January VHF Sweepstakes logs. NEW BUSINESS The Board of the Spencerport Wesleyan Church said we could use their church as long as necessary. There will be future discussions by the Rochester VHF Group BoD and membership on how we can return the favor. One possibility might be to help the church by advising them on the installation of wireless technology. We need to look for a good long term location, perhaps closer to Rochester. Suggestions from the membership would be appreciated. The location should be identified and available by the September meeting. Andy, K0SM, reminded everyone that he and Irv, AF2K, have tickets for this year s RVHFG/RDXA awards banquet being held at Napagino s on April 18 th. The program at our next meeting will be on 47/78 GHz activities in the club. Russ, W2DYY, moved that the business meeting be adjourned. Fred, WO2P, seconded the motion. The motion was passed by the attendees and the meeting adjourned at PROGRAM A discussion was held by the attendees on possible requirements and design of the proposed W2UTH beacon system, located on the west side of Honeoye. K2MTH, Mark, described the site that he was suggesting which has line of sight to Rochester. There was a very active interchange of ideas on the project and discussion of how useful the beacons would be as references to net radio frequencies. Everyone felt that the initial concentration should be on beacon signal stability and purity on any bands that were installed. By the end of the meeting, consensus was reached on the approach that all RVHFG members should be invited to suggest design ideas on the reflector over the next few months. The project should perhaps start with the lower four bands, then, as members get experience with those beacons, the higher bands could be included. As the first feasibility step, K2DH, Dave will change the ID on his 1.2 GHz beacon and ensure that it s in good working order so that it can be installed and tested at the Honeoye site.

3 Building a Portable Contest Station - part 3 Ken Kent KA2LIM We had already decided from previous operations that the bottom four bands were what we were going to operate considering the equipment and antenna's being used and transportation requirement. Remodeling of the bus started in Oct 06 and was ready for it's maiden trip for the June 07 contest to FN22. The bus, dubbed "The Gridsquare Limo" has four operating positions inside and has a 25 ft tilt-up tower attached for the 2 meter antennas. We currently have two trailer towers, one with a 20 ft tilt-up tower for 222 and one with a 20 ft (in down position) and 40 ft (extended position) tilt-up tower for 432. Will have a third trailer with a 25 ft tilt-up tower by the June 08 contest for 6M. Setup for the CQWW VHF in July 07, 2M ants. on the Limo, 6M ants. in back. Inside the "Limo" there are laptop computers used for logging. These are networked together using wire to a hub, no wireless here. All computers have the same cpu, memory, hard drive size, same os and same programs. Working with no problems now, went this route from lessons learned. Electrical power is provided from a 10K generator. Coax, guy rope, rotor cable for each tower is kept in it's own plastic tote for storage and ease of setup and tear down. All equipment inside the "Limo" is secured to it's position with bungy cord so there is no movement while in transit. The only thing to setup once the operating site is reached is towers, antennas, coax, rotor cable, power cords and the generator.

4 Ken setting up the network server, 222 position in r-front, 6M position in rear Our mascot: Smoky - the contest cat. Through out this project I have endovered to follow the KISS - keep it simple stupid, method, Espically in the construction of the tiltup towes and setting up the equipment. Total time in setup now takes a bit over 3 hours and the same for tead down. This has been a fun project and it is never done as there is always something to fine tune to make things work easier and quicker. Looking to work you in the contests!

5 For Sale: Karyn Blodgett has the following for sale from the W2UTH estate. She is moving soon and needs help finding a home for the following equipment. If you are interested or know someone who might be please pass the list on: Kenwood TS 6m transceiver + hand mike, desk mike, external vox unit and manual $275 Heathkit Grid Dip meter Model HM15 $ KH Crystal Calibrator $5.00 Independence Bridge $10. 6DB Attenuator $3.00 Knight Standing Wave Bridge $ m filter $5.00 Detector Grid dip meter $ w dummy load $?? 432 antenna $ preamp $5 Azden PCS2000 2m mobile transceiver with mobile mount- $75.00 Kenwood TR-7400A 2m mobile transceiver doesn t work- will give away Kenwood TR7950 2m fm mobile transceiver with power supply $60.00 Astatic Corp Model #D-104 desk mic $50.00 VHF engineering power supply model PS25C $25 / Heavy VHF Engineering Amplifier (possible pre-amp) no markings or model # 10W/60W out $25.00 Icom IC-2A 2m HT with hand mike, desk charger, AC adapt., extra battery packs to boost power to 5w/ 8w/plus original 2 w pack. Original manual and schematic - $75.00 Contact Karyn Blogett Blodgett54@gmail.com

6 Spencerport Wesleyan Church on 2653 Nichols St. (actually Hwy. 31). Directions from Rochester: 531W exit RT. to 259N 259N turn Rt. on 31E (first Rt. at traffic light) Look for Spencerport Schools Bus Garage on left (brightly lit) Take first Rt. on Sheldon at A-framed church, park in rear lot. Enter gray metal door under fire escape.