[Letter-List] The ARRL Letter for October 29, 2009

Thu Oct 29 17:48:07 EDT 2009

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            The  ARRL Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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October 29, 2009

Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA <k1sfa at arrl.org>

ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Letter Archive
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>Audio News
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> IN THIS ISSUE

- + 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 ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>

==> + 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
here <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/28/11166/?nc=1> 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 here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/28/11165/?nc=1> for more
information.

==> + PUBLIC SERVICE: SANTA CRUZ COUNTY HAMS CALLED TO ASSIST DURING
WILDFIRES

   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 here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/29/11168/?nc=1> for more
information.

==> + 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 ARRL
Sweepstakes <http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/novss.html>. 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 NAQP RTTY Contest
<http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php> last year from K1TTT
<http://www.k1ttt.net> -- 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_Letter102909Figure1.pdf>
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.

 <http://www.arrl.org/news/files/DoctorARRL_Letter102909Figure2.pdf>
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 214Â°) up to Mark, KL7TQ, my old
Army buddy in Eagle River, Alaska (322Â°).

There are many ways to compute the bearing to a station. The easy way
out is to just use www.qrz.com <http://www.qrz.com/>. 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.

 <http://www.arrl.org/news/files/DoctorARRL_Letter102909Figure3A.pdf>
Using my station as an example, the range of bearings I want to cover
requires a beamwidth of 322Â° minus 214Â°, or 108Â°. A half-wave dipole at
a height of half a wave length has a -3 dB beamwidth of 87Â° (see Figure
1). At a width of 108Â° 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 article
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/0111035.pdf> by Marcus Hansen, VE7CA,
to get the idea. Azimuth plots represented in Figures 1, 2 and 3
represent the output from the EZNEC antenna modeling software
<http://www.eznec.com/> by Roy Lewallen, W7EL.

Thanks Doctor! Do you have a question or a problem? Send your questions
via e-mail <doctor at arrl.org> or to "The Doctor," ARRL, 225 Main St,
Newington, CT 06111 (no phone calls, please). Look for "The Doctor Is
IN" every month in QST <http://www.arrl.org/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 here
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/29/11170/?nc=1> for more
information on this event, now in its 76th running.

==> + PRODUCT REVIEW: A "SNEAK PEEK" AT DECEMBER QST

 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX6f6SktdLA>	ARRL Test Engineer Bob
Allison, WB1GCM, offers ARRL Letter readers a "sneak peek
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX6f6SktdLA>" 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!

==> SOLAR UPDATE

In for Tad "Tall chestnuts keep away the Sun and moon
<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/songoftheindianmaid.html>"
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 ARRL Technical
Information Service Propagation page
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>. This week's "Tad
Cookism" brought to you by John Keats' Song of the Indian Maid
<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/songoftheindianmaid.html>.

==> + ORGANIZATIONAL: ARRL PRESIDENT JOEL HARRISON, W5ZN, NOT TO SEEK
REELECTION

   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

 <http://www.arrl.org/contests/>   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 ARRL Sweepstakes
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/novss.html> is November 7-9
and the ARRL EME Competition
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/eme.html> 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 ARRL Contest
Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/>, the ARRL Contest Update
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/> and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info.
Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the ARRL
Special Event Station Web page
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html>.

==> 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 e-mail <k1sfa at arrl.org> 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 desktop
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1318> or pocket
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1288> 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 A-1 Operator Club <http://www.arrl.org/awards/a1-op/>,
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."

   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 QCWA <http://www.qcwa.org/> 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 CEP Course Listing page
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student> or contact the Continuing Education
Program Coordinator <cce at arrl.org>.

==> FEEDBACK

In last week's ARRL Letter
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/index.html?issue=2009-10-22>, 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.

The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 50 times each year. ARRL
members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member
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