Kingston Amateur Radio Club 2012 Executive

Transcription

1 Newsletter May 2012 Kingston Amateur Radio Club 2012 Executive President: Terry Barrett, VA3KLG pres at ve3kbr.com Vice-Pres:Steve Cutway, VE3KC vicepres at ve3kbr.com Treasurer: David Sellick, VE3DZE treas at ve3kbr.com Secretary: Assaf Shool, VA3PCI sec at ve3kbr.com Past-Pres: Steve Cutway, VE3KC pastpres at ve3kbr.com 2011 COMMITTEE CHAIRS: Two Metre Net Manager: VE3KC Steve Cutway netmanager at ve3kbr.com Newsletter Editor: VA3PCI Assaf Shool news at ve3kbr.com Repeater Committee: VA3GST, John Snasdell-Taylor va3gst at kos.net VA3KGB, Chip Chapman va3kgb at rac.ca VE3JCQ, John Wood john686 at sympatico.ca VE3MNE, Don Gilroy dgilroy at cogeco.ca 168 McMichael Street Kingston, Ontario K7M 1N6 Canada VE3KAR Clarendon Stn (+) MHz VE3KER Kingston packet node MHz simplex VE3KBR Kingston (-) MHz 151.4Hz Tone IRLP 2750 VE3UEL Hartington APRS node MHz

2 MEMBER ARTICLE Antenna on the Titanic by Phil VE3HST Looking at some photographs and drawings of the Titanic, I noticed that the antenna was quite interesting, so I did a bit of research on the Internet. I found a nice article by Jose VA3PCJ [1] where he says that the antenna for 500 KHz was a "1/4 wave, center-fed "Twin-T" antenna made from parallel wires". The Titanic had two large masts, one forward of the four funnels, and one aft of the funnels, as shown in this Wikipedia postcard of her sister ship, the Britannic[2]. The antennas on both were identical. According to VA3PCJ, the antenna was 150m long and actually consisted of four parallel wires. However, another webpage called "Strange Power of Glass Doobies"[3] says that the antenna was a six-wire flat-top, but that number appears to be incorrect. A more detailed web page on the Marconi installation on the Titanic [4] says that there were four wires, with the two inner wires separated by 8 feet and the two outer wires 6 feet from the inner wires. A photo in a Google Book [5] clearly shows four wires, separated at the bow end. It looks like the wires converge at the stern end but it may just be perspective or slight tipping of the antenna at that end. They are shown as parallel on the Britannic. It appears that each of the wires is fed separately. The antenna feeds go down between the first and second funnels which is obviously where the radio room was located. The "Glass Doobies" webpage, and others, discusses the rubber insulators that were holding the ends of the antennas. Apparently, they should have been replaced by glass insulators. This web page says that the Carpathia told the Titanic operator that his signals were weak and that he should "TRY USING GLASS INSLTRS". The glass insulators were known in those days as doobies. In looking through web sites for information on the antennas, I discovered a Wikipedia page about Artie Moore[5]. He was an amateur radio enthusiast (callsign MNX) in Blackwood, Wales who received the distress call from the Titanic. He passed on the information to local authorities who didn't believe him. Two days later, the information was confirmed. Marconi came to visit Moore and hired him to work for his company. Moore became quite involved in wireless installations on British naval vessels for the First World War. The Blackwood Amateur Radio Society perpetuates the achievements of Artie Moore using the callsign MW0MNX.

3 References: Antennas: From Theory to Practice, Dr. Yi Huang, Kevin Boyle (Google Books), page NET MANAGER'S REPORT Thanks to the controllers who kept the net alive in April. Check-ins ranged from 10 to 13 stations and net duration ran from 29 to 40 minutes. The net control schedule for May and June 2012 is in this newsletter. I m always looking for new controllers. Controlling isn t difficult. The script is on the Club website. But the most important thing is that you check into the net every Tuesday night at 7:30 because without you, it's pretty lonely. --Steve VE3KC

4 MEETING MINUTES MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE KINGSTON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, INC HELD ON Wednesday 4 Apr 2012 At Smitty s The Kingston Amateur Radio Club meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by our president Terry VA3KLG. 1. The members present introduced themselves. There were 20 members in attendance. 2. Additions to the Agenda: There were two. Terry added Guidance on RAC Ontario Section Restructure Process, and Ron VE3GO is going to give a presentation on the battleship USS North Carolina that he visited while vacationing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 3. Minutes: A number of amendments were proposed, correcting callsigns and typos. Roy VE3VJF, seconded by John VE3JCQ, moved to accept the corrected minutes. The motion carried. 4. March Treasurer s Report: David VE3DZE read the March financial report. We had a closing balance of $ plus $25 received that night for membership. David moved, seconded by Chip VA3KGB, that the financial report be accepted as read and as posted in the newsletter. Motion carried. 5. Business Arising from the Minutes: a) Voice ID on Repeater: Chip VA3KGB said it appears it may be possible to setup macros to run on the repeater and turn tones on/off. Lengthy debate followed regarding repeater ID's. Herman, VA3QX, seconded by Assaf VA3PCI, moved that we install voice identification playing without CTCSS. The motion has been tabled until next meeting. b) June Meeting: The June meeting will be held at the C&E Museum, on Saturday June 9, 2012 at 11:00AM. It will be followed by a tour of the museum. c) IRLP Node: Assaf VA3PCI said he priced out a replacement for the IRLP machine at $151.60, to include new power supply, CPU, motherboard, ram and storage. Cost to replace was approved by Terry VA3KLG. d) Digipeater: The digipeater, VE3UEL belongs to KARC, but the cans being used by the repeater do not and we would need to return them to Jerry VE3APF if we close down the repeater. As well, the callsign has been changed to VE3UEL New Business: a) Post office box: The P.O. box price this year has risen to $ Very little legitimate mail is received, most of it is flyers. We must maintain a business address by law, currently the corporate address is the residential address of the president. Terry said he would prefer having the address with someone who will be here at least 5 years. The box expires April 30, Doug VE3FFR moved, seconded by George VE3GHK, that we discontinue use of the P.O. Box. The motion carried. Les VE3KFS moved, seconded by George VE3GHK, that we accept Steve VE3KC s offer to use his address as the business address. The motion carried. Steve suggested that we pay for an address change redirection service, which would cost $45+tax for six months. Ron VE3GO moved, seconded by Les VE3KFS, to accept the suggestion. The motion was carried.

5 b) Club Laptop: Laptop is old and obsolete. Roy moved, seconded by Les VE3KFS, that we purchase a new computer for the club. The motion was defeated. Chip VA3KGB moved, seconded by Phil VE3HST, that the old computer be loaded with Ubuntu and used with our current vhf/hf station. The motion carried. Chip said he will load the laptop with Ubuntu. 7. Reports: a) President: President's report in April's newsletter should have indicated it was for March and not February. b) Repeaters: Chip VA3KGB reported that all machines are working well. c) RAC: Quinte Amateur Radio club hopes to have Bill Unger, the RAC Northeast Ontario director, at their meeting on April 18 th to talk to them about RAC via Skype. Open to anyone who is interested in going. d) Net Manager: See newsletter for report. e) Web Page: Chip VA3KGB will update the membership list on the web page. f) Newsletter: Assaf VA3PCI reminded everyone that articles for the newsletter should be sent to news@ve3kbr.com a week before the monthly meeting and thanks everyone for articles that have been sent in. Phil VE3HST suggested we no longer publish the net control script. Consensus agreed we would take it out. g) Frontenac EMCOMM: David VE3DZE has reported there is further training coming up with FLMessage and FLDigi to send ILS213 forms. h) Kingston ARES: Roy VE3VJF says they are waiting to hear from the Red Cross about move to a new building. A tower has recently been donated but needs to be put up. It may need approval by the city for construction at a cost of $2k. i) CFARS: CFARS is now fully under DND and changing its name to Canadian Forces Auxiliary Radio Service. k) Amateur Radio Course: Amateur rewrite for 14 students will take place on the base. l) Hearts and Flowers : None m) Echolink: Up and running, seems to be at 100%. n) Club Generator: Les VE3KFS moved, seconded by Chip VA3KGB, that we declare the old generator surplus and sell it. The motion carried. 8. Date of next meeting: May 2, There was no 50/50 draw. 10. Adjournment: Roy VE3VJF moved, seconded by Chip VA3KGB, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried. Presentation: Ron VE3GO showed pictures of his visit to the U.S.S. North Carolina. Assaf VA3PCI Secretary Kingston Amateur Radio Club Inc.

6 AGENDA - 2 MAY Members and Guests introduce themselves 2. Additions to the Agenda 3. Minutes of the April Meeting: errors/omissions/approval (Assaf VA3PCI) 4. Treasurer s Report (David VE3DZE) 5. Business arising from the Minutes: a. Voice ID on the KBR repeater b. Meeting/Tour of Museum 09 June Tour to follow c. Post Mail Box d. Other items 6. New Business: a. Proposed Bylaw Amendments (Steve VE3KC) b. Other items 7. Reports: a. President (Terry VA3KLG) b. Repeaters (John VA3GST) c. RAC (See RAC bulletins via the Free List.) d. Net Manager (Steve VE3KC) e. Web Page (Chip VA3KGB) f. KARC Newsletter (Assaf VA3PCI) g. Frontenac EmComm Group (George VE3SIQ) h. Kingston ARES (Roy VE3VJF) i. CFARS (Les VE3KFS) j. Hearts and Flowers k. Other Reports 8. 50/50 Draw 9. Date of next meeting: June 9, 1100, at the C & E Museum 10. Adjournment 11. Presentation: Mr Ken Halcrow VE3SRS / VE8RCS will be discussing Volunteer Search and Rescue communications.

7 PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE KARC BYLAWS AND REGULATIONS Your executive recommends the following amendments to the KARC Bylaws and Regulations. These will be discussed and voted on at our meeting on Wednesday, May 2nd. To read the current Bylaws and Regulations, visit: Proposed amendments are highlighted in yellow. Article 1. Head Office. The Head Office of the Club shall be located at the City of Kingston in the Province of Ontario, Canada at the place therein where the business of the Club may from time to time be carried on. For administrative and legal purposes, the Head Office of the Club shall be located at: 168 McMichael Street Kingston, Ontario K7M 1N6 Canada As a Not-For-profit corporation under the Ontario Corporations act, we are required to specify a physical address, not a Post Office Box, as our Head Office. This article was amended Sept. 1, 2010 to make the address of the President the KARC Head Office. We assumed that we would continue to use our Post Office Box as our mailing address. Now that we have cancelled our Post Office Box and Steve VE3KC has volunteered to receive KARC mail at his home address, your executive recommends this amendment to reflect these changes. It provides stability not possible using the address of the President which may change annually. (There is no legal requirement for the Head Office address to be that of an executive member. It wasn t before 2009 when the Head Office address was the home address of Don Gilroy VE3MNE.) Regulation 5. AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS a) The Club may affiliate with such organizations as may be necessary to further the business and affairs of the Club. b) Any emergency communications Group within the area served by the Club, upon written request and approval at a general meeting, maybe an affiliated service organization of the Club. c) Frontenac Emergency Communications Group (FECG) became affiliated at the April, 2008 general meeting. Your executive proposes these changes to welcome all emergency communications groups not just ARES groups.

8 MEMBER ARTICLE Did You Contact a Titanic Special Event Station? by Chip, VA3KGB Unless you've been in a coma or were someplace with no access to the outside world, You know that April was a plethora of documentaries, movies etc based on the history of the Titanic. TV channels covered all aspects of the Titanic story from designing, building, recreating, the destruction, the finding of, and of course forensic after the fact investigations. I spent quite a few nights watching the various aspects from the Canadian connections to forensic reconstruction of the events of the sinking. Amateur Radio naturally ran many special event stations to commemorate the 100th Anniversary. Some of these special event stations were located at prime "Titanic" locations such as Cape Race Newfoundland, the White Star Line docks at Southhampton England, The H&W shipyards in Belfast Ireland, and two stations from cruise ships at the spot of the Titanic's sinking. There were many other special event stations around the world. I had done searches on the "ARRL Special Event Stations" and "Google" and downloaded a listing of Titanic Special Event Stations. Prepared with this listing I set out to see what stations I could contact when I had time to be on the radio. I picked out the stations I really would like to make contact with and the rest secondary priorities. Even though planned special event stations will list suggested operating frequencies, experience will show that when the time comes, there is a QSO in progress on that published frequency, especially if there is a contest or QSO Party. Most stations only listed operating times therefore some sleuthing and listening had to be done. Scanning up and down the dials I did locate a couple of stations. Then into the pile-up to see if I could get a response. In some cases I was able to make the contact and on others not so lucky. I would make a note of the station frequencies and retry every so often. I used the internet as a tool: I use VOAProp, a real-time propagation prediction tool which shows the propagation from my location on the various bands. No sense trying to contact a station if the propagation basically tells you that you're wasting your time. VOAProp takes up very little screen real estate and is updated through the internet. You customize for your QTH and power you are operating at. By selecting the band, you will see a graphical representation of the probable propagation. It has proven quite accurate since I've been using it. A DX Cluster was used to help pinpoint modes and frequencies that the special event stations were on. I would see a call listed and see what frequency and mode they were operating. A quick check using VOAProp to see if it might be possible to contact or not. It did become frustrating when a European would note so and so (one of my prime interest stations) is 59 plus 30 on 7 Mhz, and both VOAProp and the radio would show the path dead silent. DX Clusters are only as reliable as those who log on and update the info and they DX Cluster was very reliable. I operate both a G5RV and a tri-band beam antenna. The G5RV is set up in an inverted "Vee" configuration and the beam is good for 10, 15, and 20 metres and rotatable. Depending on the frequency I would switch between antennae. Logged into qrz.com, I could search a call sign and its details would give me the bearing from my location to the call sign and the distance. I used this information if I didn't already know where to point the beam to. Qrz.com was also used to "cut and paste" information ref location, QSL information into my logbook.

9 Presently, I use Microsoft's Excel as my logging program, but I will be converting over to the logbook application that is in Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD). I use HRD to control my radio, switch between antennae and the external tuner. Ham Radio Deluxe is an extensive program but is modular in its approach. Ham Radio Deluxe is a free program and is configurable to use with a variety of radios. I have mine set up to use with a Kenwood TS-450SAT and a Yaesu FT-897 and can switch between the radios by changing the interface cables at the USB port. HRD also has digital mode capability with its DM-780 module. Presently my station is in a fluid state of flux as I re-arrange the equipment and the operating space therefore my digital interfaces are not connected. Some of the special event stations were operating on RTTY (Radio Teletype) and PSK31 and a couple of other digital modes showed up on the DX Cluster. The contacts I did make were all on SSB (phone/voice). I did drop down to the CW portions of the bands and did copy some of the stations sending very nice Morse Code (CW). My CW is rusty therefore I did not attempt any CW contacts. I should have logged the call signs I heard as Receive Only, but at the time I didn't think of it. If I had worked CW, I would have logged more contacts. CW would have been a recreation of the communications system of the period since at the time of the Titanic, all long distance communications was done by HF CW. It was interesting to see how the special event station operators worked. Some would give their call and try and pick out a station from amongst the massive pile-up of everyone transmitting their own calls at the same time or partial overlaps. Others were working the world in sections which made it easier for them to hear a call as the pile-up would not be a massive wall of noise. I made one contact to a station who was calling only for Canadian stations at that time. And I lost the opportunity for another contact as the station dropped off while working the USA before moving on to Canada. I knew he was working Canada as I heard the Newfoundland stations answering him. The propagation had shifted and again VOAProp told me my path was not suitable! The stations that were working sections made more completed contacts in the same time period than those who were just trying to make out a single call in a massive pile-up! I run my station at 100 watts or less depending on the mode and I do not have a linear amplifier. I probably could have made more contacts if I ran a linear as it would have allowed me to get through some of the pile-ups...maybe. But that takes the fun out of it. There were some stations that were making contacts using QRP power (less than 5 watts) and I heard both sides of the conversations. Propagation played a big factor while I was trying to work the special event stations. Normally I have no problems hearing Europe on 20 metres, but I could only hear Europe occasionally. I could talk to Belgium but not to England! Propagation has been called a black art, but using simple tools will help you see when the propagation is good or bad. Using the combination of DX Cluster, listening on my radio and VOAProp, I was able to determine very quickly if the propagation path was good or not on the chosen frequency.. Did I make contact with all the stations on my primary list? No, but I did hear a couple of them but could not get through the pile-ups or they were so close to the noise floor or QRM from stations close to their frequency was so bad that two way conversation would not work, especially with some of the stations running high power. The best comment was from one station in the US, who said that in two days I was his first Canadian station. Did I have fun? You bet! In this day of instant communication via Skype, IRLP, instant messaging, long distance phones, cell phones, etc, the thrill is in the hunt to find the special event station and then to make the contact with them. Even with using VOAProp, DX Clusters, online search engines, these tools only show you where in the forest of the Amateur frequencies the station is hiding. You still have to locate it and make the contact! Satisfaction is when both stations can just barely hear each other and you complete a two way exchange or when you hear your call being sent back which indicates you broke through the pile-up of high power stations calling at the same time!

10 Good DXing and Happy Hunting Links to check out: QRZ.COM: ARRL Special Event Stations Search Engine: VOAProp (Free): Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) (Free): Ham Radio Deluxe DX Cluster: dxcluster.ham-radio.ch OH8X DX Summit DX Cluster: DX Cluster: type dx cluster into Google Chip, VA3KGB 2012 KARC MEETING DATES Wednesday, Feb. 1 Wednesday, Mar. 7 Wednesday, Apr. 4 Wednesday, May 2 Wednesday, June 6 Wednesday, Sept. 5 Wednesday, Oct. 3 Wednesday, Nov. 7 Wednesday, Dec. 5

11 NET CONTROL SCHEDUALE Month Date Controller May 1 VE3DZE David May 8 VE3JPW Warren May 15 VE3NFU Bill May 22 VE3KC Steve May 29 VA3PCI Assaf June 5 VE3VJF Roy June 12 VE3CAK John June 19 VE3DZE David June 26 VE3JPW Warren July 3 VE3KC Steve July 10 VE3NFU Bill July 17 VA3PCI Assaf July 24 VE3VJF Roy July 31 VE3CAK John August 7 VE3DZE David August 14 VE3JPW Warren August 21 VE3NFU Bill August 28 VE3KC Steve September 4 VA3PCI Assaf September 11 VE3VJF Roy September 18 VE3CAK John September 25 VE3DZE David October 2 VE3JPW Warren October 9 VE3KC Steve October 16 VE3NFU Bill October 23 VA3PCI Assaf October 30 VE3VJF Roy November 6 VE3CAK John November 13 VE3DZE David November 20 VE3JPW Warren November 27 VE3KC Steve December 4 VE3NFU Bill December 11 VA3PCI Assaf December 18 VE3VJF Roy