[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for October 29, 2009

Thu Oct 29 18:28:27 EDT 2009

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October 29, 2009
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
<http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Home 
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    * + Operating : Changes for the 2009 November Sweepstakes
    * + Public Service : FCC Issues First Waiver 
for Government-Sponsored Disaster Drill
    * + Public Service : Santa Cruz County Hams 
Called to Assist During Wildfires
    * + The Doctor Is IN : Antennas for Domestic Contests
    * + Did You Know? : ARRL Sweepstakes
    * Solar Update
    * + Organizational : ARRL President Joel 
Harrison, W5ZN, Not to Seek Reelection
    * This Week on the Radio
    * Feedback

+ Available on <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>ARRL Audio News
+ Operating: Changes for the 2009 November Sweepstakes

Next month, amateurs throughout the US and Canada 
will take part in the longest-running domestic 
contest, the 76th ARRL November Sweepstakes. 
Since 1930, this tradition in Amateur Radio has 
brought out all kinds of amateurs -- from 
seasoned contest veterans to neophytes, from 
long-time traffic handlers to operators new to 
HF. The CW running of Sweepstakes takes place 
next weekend, November 7-9, while the SSB weekend 
is November 21-23. Each event runs from 2100 UTC 
Saturday until 0300 UTC Monday. All entrants may 
operate 24 out of the 30 hours. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/28/11166/?nc=1>here 
for more information, including changes to the log submission deadline.
+ Public Service: FCC Issues First Waiver for 
Government-Sponsored Disaster Drill

On October 27, the FCC's Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) granted the first 
waiver that allows amateurs who participate in a 
government-sponsored emergency preparedness and 
disaster drill to communicate on behalf of their 
employers during the drill. The waiver request 
was made on behalf of the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky. That state conducted a full-scale 
exercise on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 8 
AM-5 PM (EDT) to test their emergency response to 
the possible release of chemical agents at Blue 
Grass Army Depot, located near Richmond, 
Kentucky. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/28/11165/?nc=1>here 
for more information.
+ Public Service: Santa Cruz County Hams Called to Assist During Wildfires

Tankers drop fire retardant on the Loma Fire in 
Santa Cruz County. [Dan Dawson, KI6ESH, Photo]

Almost 20 years to the day since the Loma Prieta 
Earthquake shook California's Bay Area, a 
wildfire was burning through Santa Cruz County 
(approximately 75 miles south of San Francisco) 
just miles from the epicenter of the quake that 
caused part of the Bay Bridge to collapse. Just 
as Amateur Radio operators responded to calls for 
assistance for the earthquake, 20 years later on 
October 25, they responded when needed for a 485 
acre wildfire. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/29/11168/?nc=1>here 
for more 
information.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-10-29&p=0>
+ The Doctor Is IN: Antennas for Domestic Contests

By ARRL News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA

Just the other day, the Doctor and I got to 
talking about 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/novss.html>ARRL 
Sweepstakes. I showed him my crystal mug and 
whisk broom from last year's Sweepstakes running 
(the W1AW team did quite well), and he showed me 
what kind of antennas I should look into for 
domestic contests. Being more of a DX RTTY 
contester, I really don't know much about the 
domestic side of things. I dabbled in the 
February 
<http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php>NAQP RTTY 
Contest last year from 
<http://www.k1ttt.net>K1TTT -- and will do so 
again in 2010 -- so I made sure to listen 
attentively. Here is what the good Doctor had to say:

<http://www.arrl.org/news/files/DoctorARRL_Letter102909Figure2.pdf>Figure 
1: Azimuth pattern of a half-wave dipole at a 
height of half a wavelength has a -3 dB beamwidth 
of of 87 degrees on each side -- a close match to 
the coverage needed by W1ZR to reach US and 
Canadian stations. Click the picture to enlarge.

Each contest brings its own special requirements 
to the antenna designer. While many popular 
contests focus on communications outside North 
America and require the ability to send signals 
to all points of the compass, Sweepstakes is 
different, with a need to cover just the US and 
Canada. That means generally shorter range 
contacts and contacts in a limited range of 
directions, depending on station location.

In addition, points are gathered based on 
individual contacts multiplied by ARRL Sections. 
Thus, it is desirable to have the capability to 
reach all 80 sections on at least one band that 
will have propagation available. ARRL Contest 
Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, notes that many a 
contest superstation's secret weapon for 
Sweepstakes is a 40 meter dipole up between 25-30 
feet. He says 40 meters is the Sweepstakes "money 
band" -- you can get close-in contacts during 
daylight and rake in the distant Sections when 
the band goes long in the evening hours. He said 
he had never put in a serious effort at 
Sweepstakes without a low dipole for 40, no 
matter how much aluminum he had up in the air.

Figure 2: By adding a 5 percent longer than the 
dipole and 6 feet behind it, I reduce -- but 
don't eliminate -- rearward radiation and provide 
some gain to the front where distances are 
longer. Click the picture to enlarge.

Another great solution is a multiband Yagi that 
can be pointed towards the areas with the best 
propagation. If possible, have it relatively low 
-- perhaps at a half-wave length above ground -- 
to be able to cover the close-in stations, as 
well as those at the continent's far edge. 
Obviously, from the Central US or Canada, 
distances tend to be shorter than they are from 
the coasts with stations near the edges better 
able to make use of higher antennas. If you have 
the ability to try different heights, by all 
means try lowering your antenna from the optimum 
height for transcontinental contacts and see what works best for you.

If you're like me and don't have rotatable HF 
arrays available, all is not lost. First you need 
to figure out what azimuths you need to cover and 
then try to match those to fit your location. 
 From my Connecticut location, I would want to 
cover from the direction toward old friend Don, 
WT1I, in Ocala, Florida (bearing 214°) up to 
Mark, KL7TQ, my old Army buddy in Eagle River, Alaska (322°).

There are many ways to compute the bearing to a 
station. The easy way out is to just use 
<http://www.qrz.com/>www.qrz.com<http://www.arrl.org/news/files/DoctorARRL_Letter102909Figure3A.pdf>. 
If your listing includes your latitude and 
longitude, bringing up another station and 
"looking at the details" will provide you with 
the bearing to their station. If you don't know 
anyone at the edges of the desired coverage area, 
just put a city name in the "Name Search" 
function and pick one that comes up. It doesn't 
get much easier -- or, if you must, you can use spherical trigonometry.

Figure 3: If I have no need for coverage to the 
rear, I can optimize the reflector length to 
achieve more gain by focusing almost all of my 
signal to the front. Click the picture to enlarge.

Using my station as an example, the range of 
bearings I want to cover requires a beamwidth of 
322° minus 214°, or 108°. A half-wave dipole at a 
height of half a wave length has a -3 dB 
beamwidth of 87° (see Figure 1). At a width of 
108° it's only down to -4.6 dB from the peak. 
That's pretty close, and might be good if I had a 
lot of distant stations behind me, as in Central US or Canada, but I don't.

If I were to put a wire reflector, 5 percent 
longer than the original dipole, 6 feet behind it 
(for 20 meters), I would have an easy to deploy 
2-element Yagi with the pattern shown in Figure 
2. To make it resonate in mid band, I need to 
trim about 4 inches from each end of the now 
driven element and I'm good to go. Note what I 
have -- a bit more gain in front, a lot less in 
the back, but still plenty of signal toward 
northern New England. My signal at the edges of 
my coverage area is now stronger than the dipole's -3 dB points.

If I don't have many stations to my rear, an 
additional 1 dB of forward gain can be achieved 
at the expense of rearward signals (see Figure 3) 
and a higher SWR by shortening the reflector a 
few inches -- about 2.5 percent over the driven 
element should do the trick. This may be 
worthwhile if you are right at a corner of the 
country. For more bands, just use parallel 
elements and multiple reflectors. See the 
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/0111035.pdf>article 
by Marcus Hansen, VE7CA, to get the idea. Azimuth 
plots represented in Figures 1, 2 and 3 represent 
the output from the <http://www.eznec.com/>EZNEC 
antenna modeling software by Roy Lewallen, W7EL.

Thanks Doctor! Do you have a question or a 
problem? Send your questions via 
<mailto:doctor at arrl.org>e-mail or to "The 
Doctor," ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 
(no phone calls, please). Look for "The Doctor Is 
IN" every month in <http://www.arrl.org/qst>QST, 
the official journal of the ARRL.
+ Did You Know?: ARRL Sweepstakes

The ARRL November Sweepstakes was once called 
"The January Contest." First held in 1930, the 
first running of what we know of today as ARRL 
Sweepstakes, last two weeks. J. F. Feely, W1ADW, 
of Danbury, Connecticut, came in first place with 
153 contacts in 43 Sections, giving him a score 
of 13,158 points. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/29/11170/?nc=1>here 
for more information on this event, now in its 76th running.
+ Product Review: A "Sneak Peek" at December QST

Click 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX6f6SktdLA>here 
to see ARRL Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM, 
preview the two items featured in the December 2009 QST Product Review column.

ARRL Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM, offers 
ARRL Letter readers a 
"<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX6f6SktdLA>sneak 
peek" at the two items featured in the Product 
Review column of the December 2009 issue of QST. 
Get up close and personal with the ICOM IC-80AD 
dual band handheld transceiver, reviewed by QST 
Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and the Ten-Tec 715 RF 
speech processor, reviewed by Allison. Check it 
out!<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-10-29&p=1>
Solar Update

In for Tad 
"<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/songoftheindianmaid.html>Tall 
chestnuts keep away the Sun and moon" Cook, K7RA, 
Steve Nichols, G0KYA, of Wymondham in Norfolk, 
England, gave us this report: What a week for 
sunspots! This was a huge surprise -- and a 
wonderful event for the CQ World Wide SSB DX 
Contest last weekend, with many stations 
reporting excellent HF DX, even on 10 and 15 
meters. Many Southern California hams, including 
K6GEP, were surprised to work Romanian station 
YO4ATW on 10 meters in the contest. It helped 
that YO4ATW was operating with a tri-band beam 
atop a 10-story building! Look for more 
information in the Solar Update, available on the 
ARRL Web site on Friday, October 30. For more 
information concerning radio propagation, visit 
the 
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>ARRL 
Technical Information Service Propagation page. 
This week's "Tad Cookism" brought to you by John 
Keats' 
<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/songoftheindianmaid.html>Song 
of the Indian Maid.
+ Organizational: ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, Not to Seek Reelection

ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN

After serving two terms as ARRL President, Joel 
Harrison, W5ZN, has decided not to seek 
reelection when his current term expires January 
16, 2010. Harrison began his ARRL career as a 
volunteer ARRL elected official in 1983 when he 
became the Section Manager in the League's 
Arkansas Section. Subsequently, he has served as 
Delta Division Director and Vice President. In 
2000, he was elected First Vice President; he was elected President in 2006.
This Week on the Radio

Would you like to see yourself in The ARRL 
Letter? Send us a picture of you operating your 
rig -- tell us your name and call sign and what 
you're doing! Don't forget to tell us who took 
your picture; if they have a call sign, let us 
know. Send your pictures to ARRL News Editor S. 
Khrystyne Keane, <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>K1SFA -- 
be sure to put "ARRL Letter Photos" in the subject line of your e-mail.

This week, look for runnings of the NCCC Sprint 
on October 30 and November 5. The High Speed Club 
CW Contest is November 1 and the ARS Spartan 
Sprint is November 3. Next week, the CW portion 
of the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/novss.html>ARRL 
Sweepstakes is November 7-9 and the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/eme.html>ARRL 
EME Competition is November 7-8. There is another 
running of an NCCC Sprint on November 6. The 
Ukrainian DX Contest is November 7-8. The North 
America Collegiate ARC Championship (CW) is 
November 7-9. The SKCC Weekend Sprint is November 
8. All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC. 
See the <http://www.arrl.org/contests/>ARRL 
Contest Branch page, the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/>ARRL 
Contest Update and the 
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>WA7BNM 
Contest Calendar for more info. Looking for a 
Special Event station? Be sure to check out the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html>ARRL 
Special Event Station Web 
page<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-10-29&p=2>.
Do You Know?: A Trivia Question for Our Readers

The ARRL Sweepstakes has a long and proud 
history. At one point, The Philippines was a 
multiplier in the Sweepstakes, as was Cuba (as 
part of the West Indies Section). In what year 
did The Philippines cease to be a multiplier in 
Sweepstakes? When did the West Indies Section 
cease to be a multiplier? If you know the answer 
to both these questions, send one 
<mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>e-mail with both answers 
(incomplete entries will be discarded) to ARRL 
News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA. Each entry 
that has both answers correct will be put into a 
hat and one winner will be selected to win their 
choice of a 
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1318>desktop 
or <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1288>pocket 
edition of the 2009/2010 ARRL Repeater Directory. Good luck!
Silent Keys

Former Hudson Division Director Paul Vydareny, 
WB2VUK (SK): Paul Vydareny, WB2VUK, of Tarrytown, 
New York, passed away Thursday, October 22, from 
a brain aneurism. He was 65. An ARRL Life Member 
and member of the ARRL's 
<http://www.arrl.org/awards/a1-op/>A-1 Operator 
Club, Vydareny served as Director of the ARRL's 
Hudson Division from January-September 1996. 
Vydareny had a long record of volunteer service 
with the ARRL: Prior to becoming Director, he 
served as Section Manager of the Eastern New York 
Section from 1980-1996 and as Vice Director from 
1987-1996 (Vice Directors were once allowed to 
serve simultaneously as Section Managers). 
Vydareny -- who was elevated from Vice Director 
to Director when then-Director Steve Mendelsohn, 
W2ML (ex-WA2DHF), was elected ARRL First Vice 
President -- resigned as Director in 1996, citing 
job and church obligations as preventing him from 
doing what he considered "a proper job of fulfilling his duties as Director."

Paul Thompson, N6PC (SK)

Former San Diego Section Manager Paul Thompson, 
N6PC (SK):Paul Thompson, N6PC (ex-W6SRS), of San 
Diego, California, passed away Wednesday, October 
21. He was 69. According to his cousin Michelle 
Harvey, Thompson was taking antennas off his roof 
on Monday, October 19, when he slipped and fell, 
sustaining fatal injuries. Thompson, a longtime 
<http://www.qcwa.org/>QCWA member, served as 
Section Manager of the ARRL San Diego Section from January 1971-October 1973.
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration

Registration remains open through Sunday, 
November 22, 2009, for these online course 
sessions beginning on Friday, December 4, 2009: 
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; 
Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; 
Antenna Design and Construction; Ham Radio 
(Technician) License Course; Propagation; Analog 
Electronics, and Digital Electronics. To learn 
more, visit the 
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student>CEP Course 
Listing page or contact the 
<mailto:cce at arrl.org>Continuing Education Program Coordinator.
Feedback

In 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/index.html?issue=2009-10-22>last 
week's 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/index.html?issue=2009-10-22>ARRL 
Letter<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2009-10-29&t=r&p=0>, 
we reported that Randy Hargenrader, K4QO (SK), 
accompanied his friends and fellow hams Ed 
Steeble, K3IXD/C6AXD (SK), Dallas Carter, W3PP 
(SK), and Pete Radding, W2GJ/C6APR (SK), and Bob 
Biss, W8ZA, to the Bahamas for the 2008 CQWW SSB 
Contest. In fact, Hargenrader was not on that trip. We apologize for the error.

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