From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed May 1 11:27:45 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 1 May 2019 11:27:45 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Skycraft Parts & Surplus is selling their Winter Park building and moving to a bigger store In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4e85d7e8-2429-466a-2d76-1adc67f055d5@bellsouth.net> Skycraft Parts & Surplus is selling their Winter Park building and moving to a bigger store Posted By Monivette Cordeiro on Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 1:57 PM Skycraft Parts & Surplus , the iconic store that has long livened up Winter Park's skyline with rockets and a flying saucer, is selling its building on Fairbanks Avenue and moving to a bigger location nearby. Allen Fiedler, president of Skycraft, says it could take a couple of years to sell the spot at??2245 W. Fairbanks Ave. and then move the store's inventory of electronic parts,??electrical supplies, hardware, wires and specialty items to their existing warehouse. The 6,198-square-foot building was listed for sale earlier this month starting at $5.5 million by the??Cushman & Wakefield real estate company. "We're not closing ??? we're just moving,"??Fiedler says. The new store would still be in Winter Park ??? less than a mile away at 700 Harold Ave., just??behind the 4 Rivers Smokehouse. Skycraft would have about 17,000 square feet to work with in their future location. "We're hoping to do bigger and better things,"??Fiedler says. "It's a much larger facility. Skycraft was only 6,000 square feet, so this will allow us to sell a lot of things that people don't usually see because they're in the warehouse. Now we can offer it to them on sight. It'll probably look a lot more interesting, too." One part of Skycraft might not be making the move, though. The flying saucer was built by Fiedler's father, Bob Fiedler , several years after he and his wife, Dorothy, opened the store in 1974. It would not be allowed under the city's current ordinances at the new store,??Fiedler says. "I'm not sure my flying saucer is going to make the move," he says. "It's grandfathered in. You could never do that again today. It's very unfortunate. It's probably going to go to the sign place in??Cincinnati. Everything else is going to move, though ??? we'll still have the same employees, just hopefully a better and improved look." Aside from the current store's size limitations,??Fiedler says he was also motivated to sell the Skycraft building because construction on the I-4 Ultimate Project was hurting business, especially after the Fairbanks Avenue ramp closed.??Fiedler has also heard other business owners along Fairbanks complain of a similar foot traffic slowdown. "I can't take two more years of I-4,"??he says. "It's reduced traffic in the store by 35 percent. We used to have over 500 customers a day in the store. Now, we're in the 275-300 range. I-4 construction is killing us." The move won't happen until the building is sold, though, so Skycraft will stay in its current spot for at least some time. "It'll be so nice to be under one roof and have everything in one building," Fiedler says. "It saves us a lot of problems, especially with transportation issues on big items. And again, we're moving, not closing." From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon May 6 09:03:35 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 6 May 2019 09:03:35 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Monk Apollo SV2ASP Silent Key - Kostas Stamatis SV1DPI from his FACEBOOK page Message-ID: A very closed friend of mine, Monk Apollo SV2ASP, passed away at 20:45 UTC on 5/5/2019. His funeral will be held in Mount Athos at 9UTC, 6 May 2019. The last 3 years he gave a battle with brain cancer. He was 64 years old. He was born near Preveza in West Greece. He was part of a large family with a lot of brothers and sisters. After his studies, he followed the path of complete dedication to Christ and became a monk in 1973 in Monastery of Myrtia near Agrinio, in West Greece. After that he continued to be a monk in Monastery of Proussos and finally in 1980 he moved in Monastery of Docheiariou in Mount Athos. In spring 1986 his monastery had remained without telephone for over five months, something not unusual on Mount Athos. One of the monks was injured in his eye but they went to the Hospital after 2 days because of lack of communications. When Mr Georgiadis (SV2RE), an ophthalmology professor, heard the story, he recommended that somebody in the monastery become an amateur radio operator, in order to guarantee communication in case of emergency. So in 1988 Monk Apollo obtained his radio amateur license and the call SV2ASP. He needed 2 more years to get the license from Holy Council. Finally he was on the air for first time in 1990. He celebrated his 10 years on the air with the call SY2A in 2000 and he was trying to find some free time to be on the air when his monastic duties allowed him. In spite of all the difficulties he was sacrificing his very little spare time to make the voice of the Holy Mountain heard on the air and to give joy to a multitude of friends impatiently waiting for a contact. He was trying to spread, through his presence on the radio waves, a message of hope and optimism ??? from the ascetic world of Mount Athos to the troubled world outside. Even there are more monks who are radio amateurs in Mount Athos, he was the only one on the air from Mount Athos, working DX. I met him for first time in 2001. After 2003 and my visit with K6SV (SK), me and my fellows from SZ1A club, maintained his antennas and radios. With the help of Zorro JH1AJT, we made a very good installation in 2014 which was proved more powerful from Monk Apollo??? We will miss his smile, his good willing and friendship. I will never forget the times he awaked up in the middle of the night to make skeds with amateurs need Mount Athos for a new one. I was lucky to have him as a friend. His prayers helped me, my family and many others. Many hams visited him and become better Christians. Some of them became Orthodox. Ham radio will find another operator soon or later from Mount Athos (according my infos, Monastery of Docheiariou will take care so another monk become radio amateur soon and get Monk Apollo???s place and duties). But we always miss him and his warm embrace??? RIP. Kostas SV1DPI From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed May 8 13:24:04 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 8 May 2019 13:24:04 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Wonderful facts(some previously unknown) about Samuel B Morse Message-ID: <85d0bd9f-8661-ffe5-ca20-17a936d93041@bellsouth.net> From the CWops List: Bill W2CQ * **Wonderful facts(some previously unknown) about Samuel B Morse* From: Vic VE3YT Date: Tue, 07 May 2019 11:14:31 PDT I'm just finishing a fascinating biography of Samuel FB Morse, by Kenneth Silverman, a retired NYU professor.? Here's some interesting stuff I didn't know about him: He grew up in Charlestown MA, but his mother's family was from the south, and in later life, while he abhorred the Civil War, he was politically active as an anti-Abolitionist.? His father, a Congregationalist minister, had a side hustle as a world-famous publishing geographer.? He sent Morse off to prep school, so "Finley" (as he was known when young) never got to go on any of his father's trips.? Morse went to Yale at the age of 15 or so and became an artist, studying intensively in Europe and supporting himself with portrait work while yearning to do historical paintings of some importance.? He did a large painting of the House of Representatives, which toured the U.S., and another of the Louvre, including about 20 masterpieces on the wall such as the Mona Lisa.? All this time he was almost penniless, living apart from his wife and first set of children.? His wife died young and the children were looked after by relatives. In 1826 Morse founded the National Academy of Design in New York, which legitimized artists in the U.S. and laid the foundation for the art world in NYC.? As a revered artist, Morse led the N.A.D. for 18 years or so.? He taught art as a professor at NYU. In 1832, (at the age of about 40) Morse was sailing back from France on a ship called the Sully, and had conversations with fellow passengers about electromagnetism and Ampere's experiments.? Someone mentioned long wires must slow the flow of electricity, and a physicist/geologist from Boston, Charles Jackson, replied that Ben Franklin showed that electricity flowed through any length of wire "instantly".? This got Morse thinking about using electromagnetism to transmit intelligence to any part of a circuit at once, and he started making sketches of his ideas on the voyage. By 1837 he had a prototype of an instrument that used a printer's composing stick (which I guess was a long wooden stick that formed a tray for movable type), containing grooved metal blanks that could be pulled through metal rollers to make or break a circuit.? So the message had to be coded by inserting the metal into the stick before sending.? The receiver was a weird wooden frame like the stretcher for an artist's canvas, that had an armature suspended vertically that was deflected by an electromagnet in the same circuit.? The armature made marks on a strip of paper rolled past the armature by a clockwork device.? Morse's idea was to send numbers representing words in a dictionary, so the numbers might be 1, 2, 3, 4 digits or maybe longer, and you looked them up in the dictionary which he spent about a year writing.? He made a big deal out of the recording aspect of his device, that is, that the armature movements were preserved on the paper. The idea of an electromagnetic telegraph (although Morse was the first to use that word) was "in the ether" and people were beginning to announce the invention of such systems in Europe by 1837, which pushed Morse to start publicizing his invention and seeking patents in various countries.? Part of the impetus was a system of semaphores, used over distances of 100 miles or so in France, where operators sat in towers looking for semaphore signals from nearby towers and repeating them.? This only worked in daylight in good weather, but was a "network" put in place by the government.? Other countries were considering similar networks and inventors were persuading them to consider using electricity.? Some early telegraphs looked like semaphore devices, with two arms that changed angles.? In 1838, Morse saw a system likely to be adopted in England, patented by Wheatstone, which used five wires and a receiver with two needles.? It did not record the transmission, and Morse criticized the system on the basis that the "signals were evanescent", that is, the position of the needles had to be written down or lost forever.? It was slower than Morse's system, but Wheatstone demonstrated transmission over 19 miles. As Morse publicized his invention, Dr. Jackson challenged his rights to the invention, suggesting it was his own idea.? This was only the first of several legal challenges Morse would face in trying to achieve his dream of interconnecting humanity by projecting intelligence, while seeking recognition for his role and preserving enough ownership to benefit financially.? As he approached Congress to adopt his system, and sought patents and adoption in England and Europe. Morse was continuously demonstrating his telegraph and experimenting to increase the length of wire used.? An NYU Professor Gale helped him use a stronger battery.? A thirty-year old former student, Alfred Vail, did Morse's machining and was probably responsible for many of the innovations in keys and sounders.? The telegraph could now achieve distances of 20 miles before the current gave out.? In 1837, Morse invented the relay, which I think was huge leap, creating a device which has had so many applications he couldn't foresee.? Morse and Vail signed an agreement giving Vail one-quarter interest in the rights to the telegraph in the U.S. and one-half overseas.? Morse conferred or sold rights in his invention and eventual patents many times, to accomplish exploitation and his goal of projecting intelligence, often without checking with other rights-holders. In 1838, Morse applied for funding from the U.S. Committee of Commerce to experiment with a 50 mile telegraph.? The Chair of the Committee, F. O. J. Smith, urged Morse to accept him as a business partner.? Morse had always had difficulty getting government commissions as an artist, and felt he needed someone with government expertise.? Before long, he would refer to Smith as FOG Smith, because Smith constantly tried to out-maneuver Morse as telegraph networks were built. In early 1939, Morse dropped the composer's stick in favor of a key that created dots and dashes on the paper at the receiver. Pictures of the Morse key from the mid-1940s look very similar to our straight keys, albeit without a knob -- just a circular area at the end of the lever -- and a leaf spring under the lever extending forward to a position on the base near the hand.? Morse by now had met Louis Daguerre in France and became interested in daguerrotypes, using Daguerre's 75 page manual. In early 1940, he spent two years making "photographic paintings" and soon got some kind of honor for Daguerre from the National Academy of Design. Morse also met Colt around 1840 at NYU.? Morse was interested in Colt's attempts to conduct electricity through water to ignite explosives, and Morse eventually demonstrated a telegraph ... In 1942 Morse renewed his efforts to get an appropriation from Congress for an experimental telegraph line.? He got a favorable endorsement from Prof. Joseph Henry at Princeton, probably the premier electricity researcher in America, who later became the first head of the Smithsonian.? In 1843 Morse got $30,000 approved for a line from Baltimore to Washington (`40 miles?) and planned to trench it along the Baltimore & Ohio railroad line.? He got Vail manufacturing the instruments, and Gale helped him inspect the wire and pipe.? F.O.J. Smith contracted out the trenching to his brother-in-law, and the manufacture of the lead pipe which was formed around the wire.? Unfortunately, the hot mandrel process used by the manufacturer Smith selected shorted out the wire.? Eventually, Morse abandoned the idea of burying the wires, and contracted Ezra Cornell of Ithaca NY (who later founded the university bearing his name) to erect posts along the railway. The Washington-Baltimore line officially opened in 1944 with the inaugural message "What hath God wrought" sent between Morse and Vail.? Early uses included transmission of the selection of the Whig party presidential candidate and the fall presidential elections.? Newspapers realized the importance of the telegraph for reporting, and for the next few decades they often took an editorial stance that supported the telegraph entrepreneurs who promised them the lowest rates.? (A telegram was about a penny per word then.) In 1945 Morse met Amos Kendall, a mid-50s lawyer and politician who had served as Postmaster General for five years.? He helped Morse get funding and rights of way for more telegraph lines, and sell rights to others, as the use of telegraphy exploded. Other systems, such as one by House, arose, often as a way of circumventing Morse's patent.? House's system had a piano keyboard of 28 keys, one per letter, and a lot of complicated machinery.? Morse formed Magnetic Telegraph.? A fellow named O'Reilly used the House telegraph for some of his lines which included Buffalo to Detroit to Milwaukee, and had plans for New Orleans.? As other companies sprung up, they often united to ensure enough capital to stay in business, in one case forming Western Union. In 1948, Morse married a much younger woman, a deaf-mute, and had another four children.? By now he could afford a country estate in New York and in 1950, built a townhouse in NYC. By the mid-1850's, Morse lines were spreading all over Europe. Morse was wearying of endless fights with FOG Smith and O'Rielly, and began thinking of linking the U.S. and Europe with a sub-Atlantic cable.? In 1854 he joined forces with a rich businessman paper manufacturer, Cyrus Field, who started the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company.? Morse started working on cable designs, but was sidetracked by claims by Prof. Henry that he had invented a significant fraction of the telegraph.? Morse responded with a 90-page document, calling Henry a befogged academic who misrepresented their meetings. By 1856, Field had a 100 mile road built in Newfoundland and the telegraph lines were in place for the North American end of the trans-Atlantic cable.? He licensed or invested in a "Hughes telegraph", a multi-keyed affair similar to House, much to Morse's frustration.? Morse and his wife travelled Europe for four months, visiting telegraph offices and heads of state, and getting honors and much recognition at fancy dinners for his role in telegraphic communication.? By July he was in England, working as the "electrician" for the submarine cable project, with an English counterpart.? The initial plan was for two large ships, the Niagara (in Liverpool) and the Agamemnon (in Greenwich) to take cable on board, then sail to the mid-Atlantic, where the two ships would join their cable, then one would proceed to Ireland while the other went to Newfoundland.? This was changed to start laying cable at Ireland, so they could continuously test the cable, using telegraph, between shore and ship as it was layed.? The cable was seven strands of copper wire, covered in gutta-percha, then wrapped in tarred yarn and spiral wound iron wire.? It weighed one ton per mile and was quite flexible. After a couple of false starts they were successfully laying cable, until about 200 miles from shore the ocean floor dropped radically, and the cable began playing out too quickly, so they stopped the cable.? Morse awoke and came on deck to see drops of tar exuding from the cable.? After three hours, the telegraph stopped working, perhaps due to a short. The next year, another attempt failed. The third attempt was made without Morse.? Field's company removed Morse as electrician.? Morse was in the midst of receiving a payment, organized by France, from ten European countries which had benefitted from the telegraph.? England did not participate.? So, he was travelling to Europe to receive the payment of $80,000 the same summer, 1858, when the third cable laying attempt succeeded.? After ten days of testing, the first official messages were sent.? But three months later, the line went dead.? Field was accused of staging fake success to sell $375,000 worth of stock. Meanwhile, business matters were finally looking up for Morse. In 1859, the North American Telegraph Association paid for Magnetic Telegraph to join as a member, which gave Morse enough funds to live comfortably for the rest of his life.? He bought his NYC townhouse and built a study in the vacant lot next door. Finally, in 1866, Field successfully laid a trans-Atlantic cable.? Morse was enjoying France then, and sent Field a telegram of congratulations.? He also increased his his shares in Field's company from 600 to 800, buying the new 200 shares by telegram to New York sent for a cost of $30. In his last few years, Vail's widow, who claimed her husband invented the telegraph, joined forces with FOG Smith and O'Rielly in efforts to publicly dethrone Morse as the inventor of the telegraph.? Smith wrote the Monuments Association, instructing them to honor Henry instead of Morse on a planned telegraph memorial.? In February 1872, just before he died in early April, Morse received a draft 16-page chapter on the American Magnetic Telegraph from an upcoming book "Great Industries of the United States."? It said Morse was a fraud without the scientific knowledge or entrepreneurial skill required.? It gave credit to Henry for the invention, Vail for the mechanical designs and FOG Smith for the commercialization. Samuel FB Morse died April 2, 1872. Silverman's book has no details about Morse code itself.? At one point he describes Morse in a telegraph station, probably in the 1840s, telling one of ten or so telegraphers to lengthen the space between the dots in his "O" to make it more clear.? I would be very interested to hear any reproductions of the telegraphic American code as it was used in Morse's lifetime. Best 73 Vic VE3YT From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed May 8 13:26:32 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 8 May 2019 13:26:32 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] 2019 Statewide Hurricane Drills Message-ID: <28dade9d-c0cd-7212-4428-978f57e11dd5@bellsouth.net> From DARC List: - Bill W2CQ The 2019 Statewide Hurricane Drills are taking place this week across Florida.? Broward County will be participating in their drill THIS THURSDAY, May 9, 2019 and hams are being asked to help out! Hams are being asked to be on their radios between 9:00 am and 11:00 am and check in to the Broward County Emergency Operations Center during that time. When the Broward EOC is at a Level 1 Activation, amateur radio operators who are a part of the RACES staff report to the EOC to man the radios.? We take reports from the ham operators at the shelters, hospitals, the various EOCs and the National Weather Service.? We also take situational awareness reports from ham operators who are riding out the incident at their home.? The information provided is very valuable to the County as they work to keep our residents safe during an incident, such as a hurricane. Just one example of an emergency communication that came in . . . . During Hurricane Irma, one of our ham radio operators had a visual on a tornado.? He called in his location, the approximate location of the tornado and the direction the tornado was traveling to the RACES radio operators at the EOC.? As we were in constant contact with the National Weather Service during this storm, we were able to give them valuable information which resulted in the emergency scrolling message at the bottom of the TV sets and life-saving announcements for those without television within 30 seconds of the report coming in to our staff. This Thursday, between the hours of 9:00 am and 11:00 am, we are asking hams to check in to the Broward County EOC? multiple times, using multiple frequencies and multiple radios.? We are testing the radio coverage in the County to see which repeaters work best from which locations.? In addition, we are testing YOUR capabilities so that you know before a storm (or other incident) hits which repeater is best for you to use. Please check in multiple times - using each of your different radios and at different power levels.? We will be testing 5 repeater frequencies as well as simplex operations. _*When you check in, please give us the following information:*_ * Your call sign * The city from which you are transmitting * Type of radio (hand held, mobile etc.) * Power you are using on that radio The _*schedule for check-ins is as follows*_: *9:00 am to 9:30 am* * 146.910 MHz? -600? PL 110.9 * 146.610 MHz? -600? PL?110.9 *9:30 am to 10:00 am* * 147.210 MHz? +600? PL 131.8 * 147.330 MHz? +600 PL 103.5 *10:00 am, to 10:30 am* * 146.790 MHz? -600? PL 88.5 *10:30 am to 11:00 am* * 146.550 MHz? Simplex Operations Please announce this on the nets and help us spread the word! Thank you in advance for checking in! Thank you for all you do for the amateur radio community! Jeff Stahl, K4BH ARES Emergency Coordinator, Broward County K4BH at arrl.net 954-224-6390 Robin Terrill, N4HHP RACES Officer, Broward County N4HHP at comcast.net 954-249-5343 Carol Sjursen, KJ4AWB Assistant ARES Emergency Coordinator, Broward County Assistant RACES Officer, Broward County CSjursen at bellsouth.net 954-803-6338 From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed May 8 13:27:07 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 8 May 2019 13:27:07 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] 2019 Statewide Hurricane Drills Message-ID: From DARC List: - Bill W2CQ The 2019 Statewide Hurricane Drills are taking place this week across Florida.? Broward County will be participating in their drill THIS THURSDAY, May 9, 2019 and hams are being asked to help out! Hams are being asked to be on their radios between 9:00 am and 11:00 am and check in to the Broward County Emergency Operations Center during that time. When the Broward EOC is at a Level 1 Activation, amateur radio operators who are a part of the RACES staff report to the EOC to man the radios.? We take reports from the ham operators at the shelters, hospitals, the various EOCs and the National Weather Service.? We also take situational awareness reports from ham operators who are riding out the incident at their home.? The information provided is very valuable to the County as they work to keep our residents safe during an incident, such as a hurricane. Just one example of an emergency communication that came in . . . . During Hurricane Irma, one of our ham radio operators had a visual on a tornado.? He called in his location, the approximate location of the tornado and the direction the tornado was traveling to the RACES radio operators at the EOC.? As we were in constant contact with the National Weather Service during this storm, we were able to give them valuable information which resulted in the emergency scrolling message at the bottom of the TV sets and life-saving announcements for those without television within 30 seconds of the report coming in to our staff. This Thursday, between the hours of 9:00 am and 11:00 am, we are asking hams to check in to the Broward County EOC? multiple times, using multiple frequencies and multiple radios.? We are testing the radio coverage in the County to see which repeaters work best from which locations.? In addition, we are testing YOUR capabilities so that you know before a storm (or other incident) hits which repeater is best for you to use. Please check in multiple times - using each of your different radios and at different power levels.? We will be testing 5 repeater frequencies as well as simplex operations. _*When you check in, please give us the following information:*_ * Your call sign * The city from which you are transmitting * Type of radio (hand held, mobile etc.) * Power you are using on that radio The _*schedule for check-ins is as follows*_: *9:00 am to 9:30 am* * 146.910 MHz? -600? PL 110.9 * 146.610 MHz? -600? PL?110.9 *9:30 am to 10:00 am* * 147.210 MHz? +600? PL 131.8 * 147.330 MHz? +600 PL 103.5 *10:00 am, to 10:30 am* * 146.790 MHz? -600? PL 88.5 *10:30 am to 11:00 am* * 146.550 MHz? Simplex Operations Please announce this on the nets and help us spread the word! Thank you in advance for checking in! Thank you for all you do for the amateur radio community! Jeff Stahl, K4BH ARES Emergency Coordinator, Broward County K4BH at arrl.net 954-224-6390 Robin Terrill, N4HHP RACES Officer, Broward County N4HHP at comcast.net 954-249-5343 Carol Sjursen, KJ4AWB Assistant ARES Emergency Coordinator, Broward County Assistant RACES Officer, Broward County CSjursen at bellsouth.net 954-803-6338 From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu May 9 13:21:21 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 9 May 2019 13:21:21 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Armed Forces Day Message-ID: <6a5893ca-03b4-6bfa-d531-621fec3f64f0@bellsouth.net> From Another List: - Bill W2CQ PVRC members operating at NSS this Saturday By W3LPL, Frank Donovan ______________________________________________________________________ This year's Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test is on Saturday May 11. This annual event is open to all licensed Amateur Radio operators. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event, which is only an exercise scenario, designed to include hobbyist and government radio operators alike. http://www.usarmymars.org/events/armed-forces-day Twenty Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC) members will activate the historic NSS callsign this Saturday from the location of the former U.S. Navy High Power Radio at Greenbury Point in Annapolis. Visitors are welcome at Beach Circle, Annapolis. https://goo.gl/maps/KHuMYaS1tiNGpQ9v7 NSS began operations in 1918 using a pair of Federal Telegraph Company 500 kilowatt Poulson arc transmitters and four 600 foot towers in the Very Low Frequency (VLF) band. Until 1921 VLF provided the only known capability for trans-oceanic radio communications. NSS began fifty years of continuous operations in the HF bands from about 1926 until 1976 when its HF mission was terminated and transferred to NAVCOMMSTA Norfolk, Virginia (NAM). NSS was dismantled in 1999, only three 600 foot towers remain at the tip of Greenbury Point, installed during a major VLF antenna upgrade in 1938. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/NSS_Annapolis_Towers.JPG We plan to operate continuously on six frequencies on CW and SSB from about 1200Z until 0400Z Sunday. Who will work NSS on all eleven band/modes? A commemorative NSS QSL is available via K3LU. This is last year's QSL:https://i0.wp.com/swling.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/NSS-QSL-CArd-e1529320144216.jpeg?ssl=1 NSS transmitting frequencies, NSS will listen for callers on announced frequencies in adjacent amateur bands 4041.5 LSB 4039.0 CW 5330.5 USB 5330.5 CW 7536.5 LSB 7534.0 CW 9447.0 CW 14487.0 USB 14487.0 CW 17545.0 USB 17545.0 CW More information about NSS is available at: https://youtu.be/jWuJ6DB9drw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he428tqLbpk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSS_Annapolis http://j-hawkins.com/nss.shtml https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/greenbury-point.htm From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu May 16 18:12:01 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bmarx@bellsouth.net) Date: Thu, 16 May 2019 18:12:01 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Elecraft K4 announced at Dayton References: <67024AC9-E0C8-4407-A7C8-EF57BA766467.ref@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: <67024AC9-E0C8-4407-A7C8-EF57BA766467@bellsouth.net> https://www.dxzone.com/elecraft-k4-new-product/ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Sat May 18 07:13:16 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bmarx@bellsouth.net) Date: Sat, 18 May 2019 07:13:16 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Elecraft Joins the SDR Fray References: Message-ID: From Bill NA2M: > FYI... > > Elecraft K4 > https://www.dxzone.com/elecraft-k4-new-product/ > > Taking pre-order deposits at $4,000-$4,700 plus $400 for auto tuner: > > Due to possible price increases from our suppliers, we are unable to provide you with the final price of the Elecraft K4 or K4D. We anticipate that the highest price tier listed on the pre-order form will be very close to the sales price. > > https://elecraft.com/pages/k4-pre-order From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue May 21 08:42:03 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 21 May 2019 08:42:03 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Is Jupiter's Great Red Spot Unraveling? In-Reply-To: <0c5fce34d5ca05f64a13d085d.d71faae82a.20190521065613.d030175c2a.eb93e1d4@mail110.suw111.mcdlv.net> References: <0c5fce34d5ca05f64a13d085d.d71faae82a.20190521065613.d030175c2a.eb93e1d4@mail110.suw111.mcdlv.net> Message-ID: /Not Propagation but interesting: - Bill W2CQ/* Space Weather News for May 21, 2019* http://spaceweather.com https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com *IS JUPITER'S GREAT RED SPOT UNRAVELING? *Amateur astronomers are reporting a strange phenomenon on the verge of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The giant storm appears to be unraveling. Long streamers of deep-red gas are spooling away from the edge of the maelstrom. These streamers are becoming increasingly easy to see as Jupiter approaches Earth for a close encounter in June 2019. Visit Spaceweather.com for the full story. From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu May 23 13:31:19 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 23 May 2019 13:31:19 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Dayton/Xenia... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: One hams pictures at Dayton from the Flea Market. He likes boat anchors and military equipment I am guessing... Bill W2CQ My Dayton/Xenia photos are now posted here - lots of Collins gear for sale http://www.virhistory.com/ham/dayton-19.htm Great fun was had by all! Cheers, Nick K4NYW From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu May 23 15:44:35 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 23 May 2019 15:44:35 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Create Your Own Pin Map Message-ID: <5eeed5e6-95f9-b592-a128-e538a5407bde@bellsouth.net> https://www.qsomap.org/ -Bill W2CQ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue May 28 13:13:18 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 28 May 2019 13:13:18 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Hara Arena roof blown off... Message-ID: <448b4305-9773-3f15-e50a-aab4f24571e6@bellsouth.net> https://www.whio.com/news/local/hara-arena-roof-blown-off-trotwood-schools-closed-after-tornadoes/5W7NpDohYwDBNwu9fp59bK/ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue May 28 14:24:22 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 28 May 2019 14:24:22 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] =?utf-8?q?DX=E2=80=99ing_-_Time_for?= =?utf-8?q?_a_Change_-_W9KNI?= Message-ID: Bob Lochner W9KNI, well know ham and author of???The Complete DX???er???, shares his feelings to current DXCC status. He offers a Proposal for changes. ??- Bill W2CQ * **DX???ing - Time for a Change Active DX???ers everywhere are concerned - where are the young DX???ers?* I should note here immediately that I am talking about DX???ers with a competitive streak, people who have learned that working DX reliably requires a significant station, antennas and a skill set. We do see new faces - who almost invariably drop out. In the mean time, the DXCC program is seriously stale. The bands are often empty even though there is good propagation. Let???s look at the history of the DXCC Program to see if we can learn why? What has changed? The Mixed Mode DXCC started it all. It was very popular for a while, but then bogged down. Some of the countries on the list had disappeared, never likely to return, yet they still counted for the totals at the top. Serious DX???ers who had not been in the game at the beginning became discouraged and dropped out. In due course, realization of this problem became more and more obvious, and the deleted country list was formed. This now allowed newer DX???ers a potential path to the top of the Honor Roll, and enthusiasm for the program was largely restored. A Phone only version of DXCC was implemented and this too proved popular. In 1975, the ARRL Board of Directors, concerned about the diminishing level of CW activity, created a CW DXCC. This program had a unique twist - all contacts had to be made after January 1, 1975. All other DXCC Awards accept contacts back to 1945. The new CW DXCC was immediately popular, especially with newer DX???ers - but not only because it was a CW award. It also gave newer DX???ers an opportunity to get in on the ground floor! Right from the get-go, a newer DX???er was not already 20 or 30 countries behind the top totals, even with a deleted list. Monoband DXCC???s, a Digital award and a Satellite award were also added as time went on, and these created a lot of interest as well. But then, a few old timers, intent on further cementing their position on top of the DX World hierarchy, brought in a new award: the DXCC Challenge. Almost certainly, the League supported this award also to get critical mass for the ARRL???s Logbook of the World. (LOTW) Levels of achievement were created, starting at 1000 entities, increasing in levels of 500. Quickly, the recognized level of achievement became 3,000. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that geography had an undue influence on success. Essentially, the further away you are from Western Europe, the less chance you have a?? chance to be competitive. Without truly heroic effort, it is essentially impossible to achieve for someone operating from the West Coast of the USA to achieve the 3000 level. Even so, the Challenge program began to remake the face of competitive DX???ing. Any major DX???pedition had to make a serious effort to activate all bands, especially 160 meters and even 6 meters at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, for example greatly encouraging 6 meter moon bounce. The Challenge Award program incorporated major flaws that guaranteed inequality. One is the geographical disparity already mentioned, and this was then especially exacerbated when 160 meters and 6 meter contacts were allowed to count.?? But the real kick in the teeth to young DX???ers was the rule allowing contacts with current countries from 1945 to count, instead of the start date of the program. A competition is supposed to be simply that - a competition, and there is an implied presumption in any competition that everyone competing will have an equal chance. This obviously was never given much consideration when the DX Challenge was established. Let???s step back now and look at the various DXCC programs from a newcomer???s perspective. The new operator at first has a great deal of fun chasing the new counters. But if he or she has a competitive spirit, after a while they start realizing the game is rigged, and certainly not in their favor. The more they examine the ???competition??? the uglier it gets. In the Mixed Honor Roll total listing, there are people with scores just shy of 400 entities. (Your author has 382) Most of these are people rarely if ever heard on the bands. Indeed, a check of the upper reaches of the Annual Listing and the DXCC Honor Roll reveal that a goodly number are DEAD! Yet their calls remain on the listing. But at least the deleted countries don???t count to attain the Honor Roll. Then the young DX???er examines the entities list. The barriers to a number of entities ever being on the air again continue to grow. It is probably just?? possible to make the bottom of the Honor Roll within ten years. Getting to the top of the Honor Roll borders on being hopeless in this day and age. But the situation is even bleaker for anyone chasing the DX Challenge. How do you compete with someone who has been chasing everything since the 1950's or 60's? Back when there were sunspot peaks that made 6 meters look like a world-wide ionospheric mirror? How to be a top competitor for the DX Challenge? First, start being active no later than the early 1960's, preferably the ???50's.. Ideally, live preferably somewhere in southwestern Europe. Have a significant DX property - 20 acres should work nicely; enough room for receiving arrays for 160 meters.?? Pay special attention to 6 meters and 160 meters. On 6 meters, maintain moonbounce capability. Select your career carefully. Best choice of careers for a DX???er is to be of independent means. Failing that, a work-from-home job is ideal. Most of the competitive world works on the basis of this question: ???What have you done lately???? DX???ing as presently structured is more towards ???What did you do 40 years ago???? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Why are 48 hour contests relatively a lot more popular? And why do contests have an upcoming crop of excellent younger competitors? A crop sadly missing from the DXCC chase? In the contest world, a relative newcomer can still make a splash, and earn international recognition within a very few years if he or she has what it takes. There is no possible way this can be done in the DXCC program as it stands today. What can we do to make DX???ing and DXCC vibrant again? Permit me to offer a few modest suggestions. The existing DXCC programs should (mostly) be unchanged. DX???ers who have participated in DXCC most of their lives deserve this, and in turn would bitterly oppose significant change. The following suggestions are for a new program that is an OPTIONAL overlay to existing programs. I propose that ARRL start a new, additional DXCC program commencing January 1, 2020, and ending December 31, 2030, then restarting. The new program should include all the present DXCC awards, all starting fresh. Include a new DX Challenge, again rolling over in ten years but this time without 6 meters or 160 meters, making it a much fairer program. LOTW has changed the face of QSL???ing - gaining confirmations for a new series of awards will be far less difficult and expensive. Also, the CQ DX Marathon and the UK???s CDXC variant should be much more heavily publicized,?? emphasized and supported. Among other things, these programs create interest in DX???ing YEAR round - not SIX DECADES round. I want to empathize that it is very important that the current programs should be continued as they are. The new program as suggested above should be an overlay of the existing program albeit an extremely important and promoted overlay. There would certainly be some additional cost to ARRL, in that there would be more entrants in the program, but the cost would not be large. And if it revitalizes DXCC it would be cheap at th price. Fees should help offset the additional expense. The various DX Foundations need to do rather more to encourage operations that get an entity on the air, rather than the over the top operations with 15 operators on 8 bands. Operations that concentrate on working as many different stations should be much preferable to operations whose major goal is to give more band counters for the DX Challenge; especially when such operations exceed US $500,000 in cost. While ARRL is not directly involved with the DX Foundations, it has considerable influence and should use that status to encourage change. Special effort and resources should be devoted to getting indigenous operators in smaller countries into being active. A DXCC Honor Roll in Memoriam should be established and maintained for Silent Keys. In turn, Silent Keys should be actively removed from all current listings. DX???ing as it stands today is stale and dying, and is far too much dominated by old timers. If you are an Old Timer - and let???s face it - most of us are - if you love DX???ing - open the doors to the newcomers and welcome them instead of repressing them. And after all, if we don???t get new blood, who is going to climb our towers in future? We need to make DXCC and DX???ing vital and fun again. It is not too soon to start. Bob Locher, W9KNI, the author of this proposal, has a present score of 382 countries worked. Bob is the top DX???er world wide in the CW DXCC Listing. He is also the author of the book, ???The Complete DX???er??? which is sold by ARRL and for which there are over 28,000 copies in print. Bob lives near Grants Pass, Oregon, and remains actively chasing DX, especially the CQ DX Marathon. Bob is 76 years old, and no longer climbs towers. Bob is a member of the Maxim Society. From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu May 30 05:53:16 2019 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 05:53:16 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Military Radios Repaired and Sold Message-ID: From the DARC List: Anyone who is looking to purchase or have a military type radio repaired, should check out this company.?? The owners name is Paul. *http://columbiaelectronics.com/ * * * *'73 * Mike SimmonsKN4FZM