JULY 2009 BRANCH 11 NEWSLETTER
ali.a...@xtra.co.nz
FIRST LIGHT
The Official Newsletter , Branch 11, NZART.
Gisborne NZ. July 13 th , 2009.
A portion of the antenna " farm " of Sture , OH0JFP , FINLAND .
A good Keen man. Do any members have him in their log book ?
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Welcome everyone ,
on this cold , wet and blustery eve , as I write you this winters tale ( sorry , newsletter ) , huddled in my shack over my one bar heater.
On our last club night , owing to a mix up with the keys to the scout hall , the meeting was moved to the GDC rooms , courtesy of ZL1BFR , where it fortuitously turned out to be ..............
" one of the best club nights in a long time " , by all accounts.
" Shades of old " chorused the members . " Lets have more of it " .
So , just what was it that made this night so special ?
" Well , we talked about..... ' radio ' and nothing else but radio " , the chorus went up again . !
But don't we do that at every club night ? Well , just maybe we don't ?
As I was not able to attend this particular club night I can only speculate that , for such animation , glee and euphoria to occur , the dialogue must indeed have been about radio , for that is the very essence of what we all have in common and surely why we band together on wet wintry club nights when other mortals might choose, perhaps more wisely , to stay at home by the fireside.
So when next you attend a club evening , think about what you can bring along and contribute to making it an interesting and worthwhile one .
Don't forget , our hobby is about COMMUNICATING and we radio operators all love to talk don't we ? Ed
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CLUB NIGHT 
Club night will be Monday , July 13th at the Bryce St scout hall 7.30pm
Guest speaker
SAR
Minutes of Gisborne Branch N.Z.A.R.T. Committee held 15/6/09 5.30 pm at Eastland Fire Co
Present:-
M. Mather, A Mackintosh, A. Gemmell, H.Dobson, D. Birt, R Sewing, P OmerApologies:-
R ColemanMinutes of Previous Meeting:-
Read and confirmed, Moved Hamish, Sec Alistair. SustainedMatters Arising:-
685 working and waiting for weather to clear. Roger reported that batterys are old and need replacing. It was agreed that Roger book in as a job when next up there with Collvins if necessary to enable him to check the problem.Museum of Technology:- Their committee is in agreement with the letter sent by Mike but there is some difference of opinion on the selected Corporate fee of $80 and their suggestion of $15 per club member and also the question of manning displays for the public. Formal details to be negotiated and agreed upon.
Alan to arrange Search and Rescue speaker Chris Sharp for next meeting if possible.
Correspondence:-
No correspondence available due to lack of access at RicsInwards:-
Outwards:-
Moved inwards be received and Outwards approved.
Treasurers Report:-
Tabled by DouglasAccounts for payment.
NilIt was agreed to send out accounts to members who have not yet paid as a friendly reminder.
Moved Roger , seconded Douglas that only $10 be levied for additional family members after the first full subscription. Carried
Gen Business.
Discussion took place on the need to make changes to the constitution particularly on the definition of Gisborne area. This to be further considered at a later date..Mike to enquire of Polytech re use of a classroom for tutorial classes as he and Phil are prepared to undertake this.
Moved Peter seconded Mike that Ric be given $60 toward the cost of electricity used on the IRLP System. Carried
Moved Douglas Seconded Hamish that Colvins vehicle be used and paid for to access 690 due to the difficult access. This is to be arranged when conditions and time permit.
Carried
Roger mentioned a possible job for the erection of pipework for Colvins at the Matapuna Training Centre. This would attract a donation. Approval to be sought from the general club members at the next meeting.
Meeting concluded 1900 Hrs
Approved:- Date:-
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Digi Frequencies
A proposal was put from our Hawkes Bay amateurs , via Warren ZL2AJ , as to whether we wanted to change the digi Freqs . Warren was in favour of change to 144.575 Mhz .
An email poll indicated the majority of us wished to retain the freq at 144.650 Mhz , so that's as it stands at this time.
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ZL6TOC.
Does any member know if the club has ever held the call sign ZL6TOC . ?
Apparently this call sign is listed against our name according to information from Mike ZL2CC .
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A Cautionary Tale .
Misadventures with my Inverted ' L ' 160 m, Marconi antenna
Below is a rough sketch of my 160 metre antenna I recently put up , that nearly cost me my life one rainy Sunday morning.
How so ? Well , I made a mast of 50ft , attached my aerial wire , tied a rope about 2/3 of the way up the mast , dug one end into a hole and climbed up on to my roof.
Those of you familiar with my QTH will know my roofline is some 25 Ft or more above ground and of a fairly vicious pitch , ie you cannot stand on it without losing out to gravity.
Up I went and began to heave on the mast via the rope.
Now, a 50Ft mast has a fair amount of mass associated with it.
Undeterred , I straddled the apex of the roof and pulled with all my might.
Inch by inch the mast began to raise. At some point , when the mast was about 45 deg to the ground it began to swing. It swung to my right and tangled in the branches of nearby trees.
I tried to pull it through the branches , which by this time of year had shed all it's leaves.The combination of mast weight and entaglement was too much for me , so I began to slowly lower the mast to clear the branches and try to swing the mast to the left and back to centre , but it was still tangled on one solitary lower branch.
At this point I was acutely aware of a burning sensation in my biceps from straining on the rope and in my thighs and calf muscles from riding the apex of the roof rodeo style.
If I could only clear that branch I thought , I could pull the mast upright and secure it to the side of the house. I gave a might heave , the mast broke through the branch and began a violent swing to the left which dislodged me from my horseback position .
Since I had wrapped the rope around my wrists I was unable to let go and began , along with the mast, to descend towards mother earth.
The mast hit the ground first , snapping 3/4 of the way up. This freed the tension around my wrist such that I was able to throw the rope off and scrabble for purchase on the wet iron , for which there was none.
Luckily for me I had a Tv mast directly in my path for which I was able to arrest my descent the remaining 25Ft and so avoid suffering the same fate as the mast.
Passersby will now see the modified mast with an addition attached , but at only 35 Ft protruding above my roof from ground level and supporting my 165 Ft of wire.
While errecting my 160 m aerial , I had a need for a length of coax between the tuner and my rig.
I have a box full of various lengths of coax cables fitted with Bnc and Pl259 connectors. Some cables were good, some suspect , so I made this simple Go no Go tester to check for shorts , inner and outer continuity , or open ccts .
( It's a pain trying to hold the probe of a multimeter on to the centre and outer case when testing many cables ) .
The test unit could have Bnc and Pl259 connectors connected in parallel to cater for your junk box needs .
Led 1 lights for inner continuity and Led 2 when the outer is in one piece.
If there is a short , neither Led lights since they are then both across the cable , and the short - circuit current is limited by R1 , 390 R.
To resolve the ambiguity of BOTH Leds being OFF for either a short or open cct in inner and outer , simply disconnect the cable under test and touch the outers to the socket shells. Voila !
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Now , to whet your appetite and refresh your gray cells for another good club night how about testing your memory recall on this simple wee quiz.
Amateur Radio Quiz: Parting Words
By H. Ward Silver,
N0AX
ARRL Contributing Editor
n0...@arrl.org
June 27, 2009
Models, parts, designators, references -- they're all part of the radio game. The more you tinker and swap and change, the more of these little bits of "radio DNA" get lodged in your gray matter -- and there's nothing you can do about it. Resistance is futile! So load up on wireless weirdness and have fun with a whole catalog of conundra.
1) Which of these tubes was almost ubiquitous in the
output stage of amateur transceivers during the 1970s?
a. 807
b. 811
c.
6146
d. 4-1000
2) What standards organization is responsible for assigning
semiconductor part numbers that begin with 1N, 2N, 3N, 4N and so on?
a.
ANSI
b. JAN
c. JEDEC
d. ITU
3) Match the model number prefix with the manufacturer.
a.
FT f. Drake
b.
SB g. Heathkit
c. TS
h. Yaesu
d. DJ i. Kenwood
e. TR
k. Alinco
4) BBROYGBVGW -- what the heck is that?
a. The acronym of the
latest new digital mode.
b. The first letter of all ARRL Divisions.
c. The
initials of the inventors of the ASCII code.
d. The resistor value color
code.
5) What is a UG-176?
a. a BNC cable plug
b. an adapter for
using RG-59 cable in PL-259 connectors
c. the designator for military-grade
electrical tape
d. a type of waveguide
6) What are the two types of USB connectors?
a. Type A and
B
b. DB-25P and DB-25S
c. PAL and SECAM
d. There is only one type of
USB connector.
7) If a miniature tube number begins with "12," what is it
likely to mean?
a. It's a triode.
b. It's a tetrode.
c. It has a 12 V
filament.
d. It's rated at 12 W of plate dissipation.
8) Which of the following is not a digital mode?
a.
OOP
b. MFSK
c. PSK
d. Olivia
9) What is a J-38?
a. A straight key.
b. The 30-amp
Anderson Powerpole series.
c. A ¼-inch phone jack.
d. VHF
antenna.
10) What type of component is rated in Ah (ampere-hours)?
a.
fuses
b. surge suppressors
c. choke baluns
d. batteries
11) Which of these is a measure of antenna gain?
a. dBc
b.
dBd
c. dBm
d. dBV
12) What type of component is identified by its "mix"?
a.
microphone
b. ferrite bead or core
c. solder
d. printed-circuit
board
13) Which of these coaxial cables can handle the most
power?
a. RG-8
b. RG-58
c. RG-62
d. RG-174
14) What is a "Cantenna"?
a. A beer-can vertical.
b. A
homemade WiFi antenna.
c. A dummy load.
d. A portable antenna that folds
up into a can.
15) Pan, round, flat and hex are all types of what?
a.
antenna mounts
b. screw ups
c. screw heads
d. screw drivers
Bonus: What tube is just as likely to be found in a guitar amplifier as in the final amplifier stage of a homebrew CW transmitter?
Answers
1) c -- A pair of 6146 tubes
provided 100 W or more on all HF bands.
2) c -- The Joint Electron Device Engineering
Council is a standards organization for the
semiconductor industry.
3) a-h, b-g, c-i, d-k, e-f
4) d -- black, brown,
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, gray, white
5) b -- The UG-175 and
-176 center the thinner coaxial cables in the body of the PL-259.
6) a
7)
c -- The leading numbers of receiving-type tubes indicate approximate filament
voltage.
8) a -- OOP is an acronym meaning "object-oriented
programming."
9) a -- Many amateurs got their start "pounding brass" on one
of these.
10) d -- Ah is a measure of energy capacity.
11) b -- dBd means
"decibels with respect to a dipole."
12) b -- a ferrite's mix specifies its
magnetic properties.
13) a
14) c -- Heath manufactured these oil-filled
paint-can dummy loads.
15) c
Bonus: The 6L6 -- usually a 6L6GT -- beam power pentode continues its amazing product life producing music and is occasionally heard on the airwaves, too.
You all scored 100 % didn't you---- ? YEAH RIGHT !
Homebrew 70 centimetre circular quad .
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NEWS and items of interest ( or not ) :
New Zealand's regulator considers 434 MHz for camera controlThe New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has issued a discussion paper on spectrum for higher power camera control channels. One option being considered is the use of the Amateur Radio 434 MHz band. The discussion paper says: "The current use of the UHF band 434.1375-434.4625 MHz by the amateur service is low (three licences only) in comparison to adjacent bands. "This suggests that the band could potentially be shared with higher power camera control channels on a permanent basis. This option would provide four contiguous control channels of 80 kHz each" NZ Consultation on spectrum options for control channels
in wireless cameras Discussion Paper
|
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Please QSY off the calling frequency after establishing
communication.
*World Voice:*
3.690 & 3.940, 7.090 & 7.190, 14.290, 18.140, 21.360, 24.960,
28.390, 50.160
*Australian Voice:*
3.650, 7.090, 14.190, 21.190, 28.590, 52.160
*World CW:*
3.570, 7.030, 14.060, 18.080, 21.140, 24.910, 28.180, 50.160
*SSTV:*
3.630, 7.033, 14.227
*PSK31:*
14.070
TASERS
I recently came across an article which I thought might be of interest.
Two tiny fishhook-like barbs, alive with 50,000volts, shoot out, ( the range can be up to 6.5 metres) instantly bridging the gap between Sergeant Bateman and his target. One probe pierces the man’s chest and the second lands on his abdomen, just above his groin. It’s the perfect width to generate an effective current flow through his body.
We’re two seconds into deployment. In real life, the knife wielding offender would already be overwhelmed, his neuro-muscular system incapacitated by the 1200 volts pumping out of the taser and into his body via the thin plastic coated wires attached to the probes. The 50 Kv needed to fire the gun reduces to1200 volts once contact is made with skin, but that doesn’t minimise the pain. The charge is delivered at 19 pulses per second, lasts for about 5 seconds and creates a sensation that has been described as “like being locked onto a cattle fence” or being repeatedly kicked with a steel-capped boot and sat on by an elephant at the same time. He would likely already be crumpled in a heap on the floor, allowing Bateman’s partner to swoop. If he still posed a threat he might be slugged with another 5 second charge.
Tasers can be deployed in the (probe mode) directly on the skin. The shock is the same but used this way the taser only causes pain and possibly blistering, on the skin. It does not stop victims in their tracks.
Tasers are being rolled out to 5200 front line police across the state of Queensland.
Alan 2AOP
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PROPAGATION
SB PROP ARL ARLP026
ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
Two new sunspots appeared last week, numbered 1022 and 1023, and
both were Cycle 24 spots. 1022 lasted through June 23 and 1023 until
June 24. On June 24 geomagnetic indices were unsettled.
This weekend is ARRL Field Day, and conditions should be stable. Planetary
A index is predicted to be around five, which is quiet.
Chip Margelli, K7JA wrote about some surprising openings last week. He
writes, "Sunspots or no, there are DX opportunities even with a solar flux of
67. Both Friday and Saturday nights (U.S. time June 19-20), the 21 MHz
and 28 MHz bands were open to Japan from my location in southern California,
and along much of the West Coast, around 0500-0800 UTC (that's
10 PM to at least 1 AM!). Both nights, the 15-meter CW band was crawling
with loud JA signals from stations working the All Asian DX Contest, and
there were many loud signals on 10 meters, as well. I fear many did not
think to check ten at this hour, but it very much was open."
He continues, "And Saturday night I worked 54 JA stations in a nice run on
50 MHz, so perhaps those noctilucent clouds were being kind to me."
Steve Brandt, N7VS of Portland, Oregon had a similar observation. On 10
meters CW last Friday night (at 0336z Saturday) Steve worked JK1YMM in
the All Asia CW Contest with S7 reports in both directions. Steve also observed
sporadic-E openings this week out to about 1,000 miles, and said
other stations have reported working Japan on 10 meters this week.
In last week's bulletin, Carl mentioned the upcoming DXpedition to Glorioso
in July. Now he has written a set of predictions for propagation to Glorioso
from various areas, and you can see it at
http://mysite.verizon.net/k9la/id11.html. Just click on the "Glorioso in July 2009" link.
I received some interesting mail from Red Haines, WO0W of La Crescent,
Minnesota. I did a search for past emails from him, and came across an
unread mail from December, 2007. Just to review and clarify, an ionosonde
is a tool for measuring the critical frequency (f0F2) for the area just
above. It sweeps an RF signal, beaming straight up, and looks for reflections.
Some quotes from Red occupy the next few paragraphs.
"Though we use the sunspot number and the solar flux index to assess
propagation expectations, there is only an indirect connection between
these indices and propagation. Neither sunspots nor the radiation measured
by the solar flux index directly increase or decrease the levels of ionization
in the ionosphere. All three are determined, somewhat independently,
by physical processes on or in the Sun.
"Sunspots and the solar flux are caused by solar conditions that are often
associated to a limited degree with high energy radiation that reaches
Earth and ionizes molecules in the atmosphere. Only the energetic radiation
(UV, X-ray, and Gamma rays) from the Sun or other sources ionize
those molecules. The solar flux radiation is not energetic enough. The
sunspots are only a visual phenomena associated with solar events, including
radiation. It often happens that no solar radiation associated with
a sunspot reaches Earth.
"In past years, we didn't have any better predictors of propagation than the
sunspot number and the solar flux index. They remain useful, but we
must recognize their limitations. In fact, propagation correlates very poorly
with them. Smoothed sunspot numbers are useful to study the solar activity
cycle. Smoothed sunspot number doesn't predict the next day's propagation
or even the next cycle's timing or magnitude. In fact, the smoothed
SSN cannot be calculated until 6 moths have passed. The daily SSN is
just about meaningless to propagation.
"Today, we have better indicators of propagation potential. Hams may
view near real time measures of X-ray radiation from the GOES satellites.
See
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/today.html."The various propagation beacons are very useful to assess current
propagation.
"A source of near real time ionospheric conditions, including the various
critical frequencies, may be accessed at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/
lists/iono_day/. This index links to the worldwide system of ionosondes to
report measured values on short time intervals, typically near 15 minutes.
The shortcoming is the relatively small number of ionosondes, which requires
interpolation to estimate the MUF for a propagation path, as well as
educated guesses regarding details of the path.
"The Australian IPS Radio and Space Services offer several maps that
attempt to depict interpolated propagation conditions, based on ionosonde
measurements. For an example and links to additional products, see
http://www.ips.gov.au/HF_Systems/4/3."
Anacom, the Portuguese agency for the amateur radio service, has published
new legislation which will also impact the callsign structure of Portuguese
(Portugal, Madeira and the Azores) callsigns.
The new prefix block will be allocated starting with June 1, 2009. Each area
will have four blocks (old calls under old legislation, new calls under new
legislation, club calls and special calls):
Portugal:
block 1: CT1, CT2, CT4, CT5
block 2: CR7, CS7, CT7
block 3: CQ0, CS5
block 4: CQ7, CR5, CR6, CS2
Madeira:
block 1: CT3
block 2: CR9, CS9, CT9
block 3: CQ2, CS3
Ham Hum.
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Internet Links
Web-based free content project to collect and list all known pinouts
http://www.amateurradio.com.au/node/582
Around 1990, Channel 4 in the U.K. produced a brilliant television series called the 'Secret Life of Machines'.
One of those shows - The Secret Life of the Radio - was about how radio works.
This show has only ever been repeated once to my knowledge on satellite about 15 years ago.
Now it has turned up on YouTube and is well worth a look.
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2009/the_secret_life_of_the_radio.htm
Contributions from members continues to be scarce.
We share this newsletter with our fellow amateurs in Hawkes Bay and on the internet by way of Googlegroups and our own website.
Don't leave it to a few active members to provide you with an informative newsletter.
Remember , laughter is the best medicine. Let's hear about that attempt to errect an aerial in a howling gale or the homebrew project that pleased you so much but did not perform by the book or if it did, even better !!.
How about you software experts sharing what your doing. ? Programs for PIC or others, Atmol etc.
Has anyone worked with Stamp ?
Something , Anything , from Everyone.
73
ZL2AIX Ed
