sign in sign up
<<
Home , John Ambrose Fleming

July 2019 Newsletter GEARS Founded August 13, 1939

News

Field day was a success. This year GARS joined us out at the Masonic Lodge. The weather was very comfortable for a change. While band conditions were difficult at first, they improved by the morning. We haven’t totaled the points yet, however it seems that we did better than last year. We also got coverage from Action News and the Chico Enterprise Record. See photos below.

My house was struck by lighting on May 30th, hitting my antenna and traveling down the feed line, through the radios and discharged into the house wiring. Fortunately the fire department put out the fire quickly and minimized damage. I’m off the air until repairs are completed to the house. See photo below.

The GEARS/GARS new repeater project is proceeding along. The equipment has been ordered. We are waiting for approval from the US Forest Service before we can begin installation.

At our next GEARS meeting Kevin Fullerton WB7SKS will be talking about emergency operations for the Camp Fire. He has some very interesting experiences to tell us about, and suggestions for preparing for emergencies.

The Steak Bake is Sep.7th at Wildwood picnic area in Chico at 3:30pm - 7pm.

This month our feature article is about Sir John Ambrose Fleming’s invention of the .

‘73 Join GEARS on Facebook Jim Matthews K6EST www.facebook.com For timely ​ [email protected] news and additional information. 530-893-3314

July 2019 Calendar Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7pm GARS Net 7:30pm GEARS Net 7pm Simplex Net 8pm ARES Net

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 8pm OARS Net 7pm GARS Net 7:30pm GEARS Net 6:30 GARS Meeting 7pm OARS Meeting 9am Chico Breakfast 8pm ARES Net 7pm Simplex Net

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 8pm OARS Net 7pm GARS Net 7:30pm GEARS Net 7pm Simplex Net 7pm GEARS Meeting 8pm ARES Net 7pm ARES Meeting

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 7pm GARS Net 7:30pm GEARS Net 7pm Simplex Net 9am OARS Breakfast 8pm OARS Net 8pm ARES Net

28 29 30 8pm OARS Net 7pm GARS Net 7:30pm GEARS Net 8pm ARES Net

VEC Testing, FCC License Exam First Sunday of every even numbered month, at the Butte County Search ​ and Rescue Building. Written test at 2:00 pm. For information or registration call Tom Rider, W6JS 514-9211 Chico Breakfast 2nd Saturday of each month 9am Farmers Skillet 1818, 690 Rio Lindo Ave, Chico ​ OARS Meeting Second Friday, of month, 7:00 pm, at St. Paul’s Church Parish Hall, 1430 Pine St., Oroville ​ GARS Meeting Second Thursday of month, 6:30 pm Lutheran Church Hall, 565 Main St. Artois. ​ Butte ARES Meeting 3rd Tuesday, Except Nov & Dec. at Chico Veterans Hall 7pm. Contact Dale Anderson, ​ KK6EVX 826-3461 for more information. GEARS Meeting, third Friday of month, Butte County Search and Rescue Bldg., Chico. Social hour 6:00 pm, ​ meeting at 7:00 pm. Board meeting 5pm (summer only) OARS Breakfast 4th Saturday of the month 9am Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Hwy, Oroville ​

NETS: OARS Club Net Sunday 8pm 146.655 Mhz - PL 136.5 GARS Club Net:Monday,7:00 pm 147.105 MHz + PL 110.09 Butte ARES Net Mondays 8pm 145.290 MHz - PL 110.9 Yuba Sutter Club Net Monday 7pm 146.085 MHz + PL 127.3 GEARS. Club Net Tuesdays 7:30 PM 146.850 MHz - PL 110.9 Simplex Net Thursday 7:30 p.m. 146.52 no tone Yuba Sutter ARES Net Thursdays 7pm 146.085 MHz + PL 127.3 Sacramento Valley Traffic Net Nightly 9:00 PM 146.850 MHz - PL 110.9

Lightning Jim K6EST

My home station got struck by lightning on May 30th. Lighting isn’t something most of us give much thought to here in the valley, however I found out the hard way, it can cause major damage. Not only did I lose two radios, it did major damage to my home.

Give lightning protection serious consideration at your station.

GEARS / GARS Field Day 2019

The First Vacuum Tube Sir John Ambrose Fleming (1849–1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist, known primarily for inventing in 1904 the first vacuum tube. It was also called a thermionic valve, vacuum , kenotron, thermionic tube, or . Fleming made numerous contributions not only to , but also to photometry, electronic measurements and . He became a consultant to the Edison Electric Light Company and a popular teacher at University College. He was knighted in 1929 for the many advances he had made to electrical and electronic engineering. Fleming was the author of more than a hundred scientific papers and books, including the influential "The Alternate Current " (1889), "The Principles of Electric Wave Telegraphy" (1906), "The Propagation of Electric Currents in Telephone and Telegraph Conductors" (1911) and "Memoirs of a Scientific Life" (1934).

Fleming's lamp 1904 In the 1904 Fleming was granted a GB patent Nr 24850 for Improvements in Instruments for Detecting and Measuring Alternating Electric Currents for the prototype of vacuum tube, next year he received a US patent for the same device. This invention is often considered to have been the beginning of electronics, for this was the first vacuum tube. Fleming's diode was used in radio receivers and for many decades afterwards, until it was superseded by solid state electronic technology more than 50 years later. In the first half of the 20th century, vacuum tubes allowed the development of , long-distance telephone service, television, and the first electronic digital computers which were the largest vacuum-tube systems ever built. Transistors have replaced them in virtually all applications, but they are still occasionally used in display devices for television sets and computers (cathode-ray tubes), in ovens, and as high-frequency on space satellites.

The Fleming's vacuum tube was based on an effect that Thomas Edison had first discovered in 1880s, and had not put to useful work at the time. One of Edison's inventors—William Joseph Hammer (1858-1934), working in Thomas Edison's laboratory, noted the rectifier effect when he added another electrode to a heated filament light bulb. Hammer was in charge of testing early light globes in 1880-81 and noted a blue glow around the positive pole in a vacuum bulb and a blackening of the wire and the bulb at the negative pole. This unknown phenomenon was first called "Hammer's Phantom Shadow," but when Edison patented the bulb in 1883 it became known as the "Edison Effect."

The Fleming's vacuum tube essentially consisted of an incandescent light bulb with an extra electrode inside. When the bulb's filament is heated white-hot, electrons are boiled off its surface and into the vacuum inside the bulb. If the extra electrode (also called an "plate" or "anode") is made more positive than the hot filament, a direct current flows through the vacuum. And since the extra electrode is cold and the filament is hot, this current can only flow from the filament to the electrode, not the other way. So, AC signals can be converted into DC.

The next step would be in 1907 when invented the tube while experimenting to improve his original (diode) . But that is another story.

Club Officers: President…………………….Jim Matthews, K6EST Vice-President……………….Kent Hastings, WA6ZFY Secretary…………………….Stephan Lonis, KM6RSO Treasurer……………………..Kathy Favor, K6FAV Director……………………….Rick Hubbard, KI6VOS Director……………...………..Arnott Smith, KF2TM Director…………………..….. Dale Anderson, KK6EVX Past President……….………Tom Rider, W6JS

DO YOU HAVE OLD QST MAGAZINES IN SEARCH OF A NEW HOME? Gene Wright has that future home for your QST’s, through his project to place QST Magazines in professional offices throughout Chico. Labels placed on the QST’s will advertise the Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society, encourage the readers to consider Ham Radio as an interesting hobby, one of not only fun, but which provides opportunities for many and various community services.

Bring your QST’s to Gene at the Club meetings or contact: Gene WA6ZRT 530-519-2519