[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARC SHORTS - Alexandria Radio Club Newsletter and Meeting Notice - September 2016

[Rick Bunn]

ARC-SHORTS

 

September 2016

 

 

 

Club Repeaters: 147.315 (PL 107.2), 444.6 (PL107.2), 224.82 (PL107.2), 53.13
(PL107.2) 927.6 (-25Mhz, PL107.2), and 1282.600 (PL 107.2), DSTAR 145.38Mhz,
442.060, and 1284.600 ALL AR UP AND RUNNING – HAM IT UP! Get on the air!

 

NO PDF THIS ISSUE – IF YOU GET TWO COPIES YOUR ON THE ALEXANDRIA LIST,  IF
NOT PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND WE WILL MAKE SURE YOU ARE ADDED TO THE LIST

 

 

NEXT CLUB MEETING

 

Our next meeting is SEPTEMBER 9th.  Jack, KE7VOU will give us a program and
demo on JT65.  Jack was sick last month, so we hope to catch up with his
presentation and demonstration.  N4ASX will set up the OTHER station so we
can make a connection on JT65 so Jack can show us what makes JT65 a good
mode.

 

President’s Corner

 

Hello, all. The dog days of summer are lingering on despite the end of
August. That also means that a major event, the Marine Corps Marathon, is
coming up. This year it’s on October 30th. If you want to try out a public
service event, you can’t fail with the marathon. You can get by on some
positions with as little as a dual band analog handheld. The web site is
<http://www.marinemarathon.com> www.marinemarathon.com, if you’re interested
in reading up. 

 

73 DE KI4BXU

 

ELMERS CORNER

 

Last issue I went over how to size your power supply.  This time I want to
talk a little about antennas and feedlines.

 

Antennas have two elements, one is the radiator and the other is the other
half of the dipole.  For Vertical antennas the ground or the chassis of the
handheld acts as the other element.  For your handheld the feed is wired to
the connector on the radio and you don’t have to worry about it.  You can
add a tiger tail to a handheld which is a quarterwave length of hookup wire
to the ground side of he antenna connector (using a ring connector) and that
will give you a match element on the ground side (or tuned counterpoise) and
this will improve the efficiency and match of the antenna on the handheld.

 

For HF antennas, you need to think about the feedline as well.  MOST HF
radios have a coax connector output. This implies that the output impedance
of the radio is 50 ohms.  So, you would need 50-ohm coax to go to the
antenna.  If your feeding a commercial antenna, a vertical antenna or a
dipole that’s simple and the coax goes to the antenna and your good to go.
If you need an antenna hat tunes to all our HF bands they you may find that
the G5RV or Carolina Windom are good alternatives.  The G5RV is made up of
two horizontal elements 51 feet long feed by 34’ of twin lead feed line.
Twin lead feed line is very efficient, but it is susceptible to interference
by close metal objects including the side of your house metal structures and
other conducting objects.  For the G5RV you want the 34’ of twin lead to
hang free of any other structures.  Most commercial G5RVs have a 4:1 balun
(Balanced to Unbalanced) transformer at the end of the twin lead that allows
you to use coax to bring the signal into the house.  If you want to bring
twin lead into the house you need to make up a non-conducting plate with two
insulated feeds going into the house.  To feed the radio you will again need
some balun to go to the radio with coax.  TV Twin lead (if you can find it)
was 300 ohms, you can still buy 450-ohm ladder line (twin lead) more easily,
so a 4:1 balun will cut that down to 112 ohms which can be match with your
antenna tuner.  For the G5RV the twin lead acts as part of the total antenna
and should match easily on the amateur bands.  The Carolina Windoms are
dipoles with two different length elements where one is close to resonance
at some bands and the other at other bands, so a tuner can allow for minor
match adjustments.

 

Antenna basics, balanced antennas like dipoles, G5RVs and Windoms can be fed
with either twin lead or coax.  If feed with coax a balum (balanced to
unbalanced) transformer may help.  If you put up a vertical antenna you will
need a ground plane made up of wire lengths added on the ground side for
each band you wish to operate on.  Some have used just one as a
‘counterpoise’ or the other half of a dipole with the other half being a
mobile whip.  It works, but if you can put more ¼ wave elements on the
ground side your efficiency will increase.  Some put as many ground radials
as they can under their vertical and put them down for 10 meters, 20 meters,
40/15 meters (1/4 and ¾ wave length) and 75 or 80 meters.  So if you put out
16 radials you will have a passable match.  The more the better.  

 

Hope this helps.  

 

73 Rick

N4ASX

 

AUGUST MEETING MINUTES.

 

Jack was scheduled to give us a JT65 program and demonstration but he was
sick, so we imposed upon Mark KM4GML to provide us some insights into the
raspberry pie computer.  Mark out did himself and it was a very good program
with lots of club interest.  We will have to revisit this as more.  The
raspberry pie computer is inexpensive and had ports for USBs, Bluetooth,
WIFI, camera and memory is a memory card like that used in your cell phone
or digital camera.  It has a free operating system and you program it in a
form of Unix.  

 

Hamfests –

The Virginia Beach Hamfest is on September 10, 2016.  Location is the VA
Beach Convention Center, right off I-264 in the heart of VA Beach.  They
have an arrangement with a hotel right next to the convention center for
special room rates if you need one.  Talk-in on the 146.970 (PL 141.3) MHz
repeater.

As you may have seen on ARRL, Eham, QRZ and other ham radio related
websites, as well as the club email reflector, the Hara Arena, home of the
Dayton Hamvention since 1964, closed at the end of August.  

The folks at Dayton Amateur Radio Association announced the new location for
Hamvention 2017 is the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH.  If you have
been following the discussions on the ham radio websites, there have been
some naysayers that have decided the new venue will doom Hamvention.  Time
will tell.  If you haven’t seen it, ARRL posted a video tour of the new
venue on their website. 

The Columbia Amateur Radio Association CARAfest comes up on October 9 at the
Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD..  It’s a short drive from
Alexandria and it’s right off Maryland Route 32 and 144 and I-70.  Talk-in
on 147.39 repeater (PL 156.7 Hz).

Training - 

Our next class is scheduled to start September 27 and end December 6, 2016.
If you know of somebody who has wanted to be ham, let them know about our
class.  The cost is still just $50, which includes the book, test fee and
class materials.  

 

We are signing up students, but there are still plenty of spaces available.

 

Contests -

 

September 10 through 12 – ARRL VHF Contest.  All VHF bands above 50 MHz.
Exchange is 4-character grid square.  Most of us are in FM18.

September 17 and 18 – New Jersey QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.

September 17 and 18 – New Hampshire QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.

September 17 and 18 – Washington State Salmon Run.  Exchange is RST and
state.

September 24 and 25 – Maine QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.

September 24 and 25 – Texas QSO Party.  Exchange is RST and state.

October 1 and 2 – California QSO Party.  Exchange is serial number and
state.

October 8 and  9 – Pennsylvania QSO Party.  Exchange is serial number and
ARRL section

October 8 and 9 – Arizona QSO Party.  Exchange is serial number and state.

October 9 – North American SSB Sprint.  Exchange is the other station’s
call, your call, serial number, your name and your state.

 

As always, ham it up and get on the air.

73, 

Rich, KA4GFY

 

MARINE CORPS MARATHON

Marine Corps Marathon is in October, but the volunteer website is up.  It’s
an ALL DAY event, MCM needs over 130 volunteers.  If you can, sign up.  If
you work on the Virginia side of the course you will need to be checked in
before 4AM.  For those on the DC side, you may be able to check in as late
as 6AM.  When the race passes your post you will be able to leave.
Assignments are based on your equipment, experience and your request.  When
you fill out the volunteer form you can request your assignment.  This is
the last month to volunteer. Go to  <http://WWW.MARINEMARATHON.COM>
WWW.MARINEMARATHON.COM and go to volunteer and there is a menu that allows
you to select HAM and that will walk you through the process.   If you only
have a handheld they can find you an assignment where that is all you need..

 

73 Rick

 

Future Programs

 

September - JT65 and other digital HF operations (see Jack’s notes above)

October – ARES ops and City interface

November - Club Elections

December – Club Party

January – Direction Finding (tent.)

February – VHF Contesting (tent.)

March – Antenna modeling (tent.)

April - ??

May – Field Day Planning

June  - ??

July - ??

August - ??

Sept. _ ??

 

Let me know what you want to hear about.  HELP!!!!  If you have an idea for
a program, please let Rick know and he will try to find someone to provide
the program.

Social Events

 

Monday Night Burgers – There is a group that gets together at 6:15 PM on
Mondays at a local burger joint.   Mark up on the 147.315 repeater and join
them for the fun.  Mark up on the repeater about 6PM and join the group.
The location does change!  IF you have a good spot, you might make a
suggestion.