Forsyth Amateur Radio Club, Inc. Newsletter Founded December 30, 1930 August & September, 2013 Oh the Hamanity! Report from Shelby SEPTEMBER MEETING by Don WS4NC The general meeting of the Forsyth Amateur Radio Club will be (as almost always) on the second Monday of the month,September 9 , Well the Shelby Hamfest moved back to the Cleveland County at the NW NC Red Cross Building on Coliseum Drive. The meeting Fairgrounds. We went down the Sunday prior to claim our starts at 7:30 PM but plan on arriving early, say 7 PM to get a good spot and to watch the "Running of the Hams". No one had a seat and to chat with fellow hams. Yes, FCC exams will be held this spot the from the previous year, since the last five Shelby's month but pre-registration is required, see page 7. Bring your cash have been held in Dallas, therefore the only fair way to and check book. The program will be an auction of goodies. allocate space was to have a time the Sunday prior for all to show up. We left before 4 AM, got there before 6AM and were the 14th car in line. That was cool until just before opening Nice show, lots of goodies, I didn't even get up to the dealer time about 10 guys showed up and parked their cars and got in building, Saturday or Sunday. I was avoiding temptation. with their buddies ahead of us. Not really a problem because Things begin to clear out by 4 PM Saturday or so, and there was plenty of space and we got where we wanted. We Sunday was still a great hamfest. But 4 PM Saturday was were brought out in groups of 12 on a giant, open tour-type when the fun really began. golf cart. So there was no comical waddling of the 250- pounds hams trying to get to their most preferred spot like the We saw the dark clouds approaching from the north. Ugly first time at Dallas. dark wall-type clouds. We knew that meant rain and maybe some straight-line winds (thank you SkyWarn training). All Every where we went in Shelby people were talking about how was tied down and secured. At least for a normal storm. It happy they were to have the Hamfest back. I'm sure the still came on us faster than expected. By the time that we Hamfest means several million dollars to the Shelby economy. We bought our groceries there, went out for After the storm. several nice meals, bought gas for the generator and filled gas tanks for the trip home. All in all, it was a great Hamfest. Attendance may have been down from its peak but it was still a massive event. One not to miss.
We (Kip N0KTY, Dave KJ4OIL, and Don WS4NC) went down on Thursday to camp in the Kippe-Kamper and to participate in the pre-Hamfest. Lots of horse-trading went on Thursday and Friday, and continued until Sunday. I didn't get a horse, just an SX-101Areceiver that weighs as much.
Saturday, the big day dawned clear and fair. Many people came in and setup late Friday and early Saturday morning.
James G. Kerr QSL 14Sept1929 by Don, WS4NC
This month's old QSL card is from W4UA James (Jim) G. Kerr, confirming a QSO on September 14, 1929 and is from the collection of N4XO Dave Rawley. W4UA was originally from Liberty, NC but lived in High Point most of his life. First licensed in the 1920s, he was an old-school Southern Gentleman in the mold of Beacham Leonard W4RXG and Tink Kanoy W4DCW. CW only, no phone – ever! He was a Continued on Page 6 were pulling the roll-up sun shade up it was like the scene from Forsyth Amateur Radio Club, Inc is a non-profit (IRS The Wizard of Oz where they were closing the doors on the 501(c)3) North Carolina corporation for the promotion of storm shelter. "Dorothy! Dorothy!" Before we were all in we Amateur Radio, and for the education and training of hams were soaked. Strong winds, big giant horizontally-moving and the general public primarily in Forsyth County, North raindrops. Hail. The Kippe-Kamper was shaking and rocking, I Carolina. had mental images of the Kippe-Kamper being blown over and disintegrated like a wet cardboard box under a charging semi. FARC was originally incorporated as the Winston-Salem Radio Club on December 31, 1930 and has been in Checking the weather radar on my cell phone we were at the operation ever since. We currently maintain a state-of- beginning of the worst of a severe wind and thunderstorm alert. the-art ham station in the basement of the Red Cross, 690 60+ MPH winds, strong lightning and hail. Not a short 5 to 10 Coliseum Dr., Winston-Salem, NC and also maintain two minute storm - a full hour of fun, fear, pleading and prayer were 2-meter repeaters, 146.64 (100 Hz tone) and 145.47 (100 ahead of us. At one point I uncoiled from the fetal position and Hz tone) & 444.275 (100 Hz tone). looked out the window. It was like looking into a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon with only silhouettes outlined against flashes of lightning. Tarps were down and tables were blown over FARC has a general membership meeting with a program across the way. In the SE corner of the paved circle water was on the 2nd Monday of every month at the Red Cross about 10 inches deep. Fortunately the Kippy-Kamper was building, 690 Coliseum Drive in Winston-Salem. The club stronger than the storm. It passed the leak test successfully, and conducts its main business meeting (sometimes called the a lot of shaking and rocking. Board Meeting) on the 3rd Monday generally at the same location. This is where most of the club’s business is Stuff outside was not so lucky. Most of my goodies were getting conducted and all attending members have a vote. All club their last opportunity for a useful life before recycling became members are strongly encouraged to attend the business their fate anyway. Now the reduction to recyclable materials will meeting. For more information about FARC mail us at be a much cleaner job. Someone, lets call him Meatball, chided FARC, Inc., PO Box 11361, Winston-Salem, NC, 27116; me for bringing only junk, not the good stuff. But I had been call 336-245-5740; or visit out web site at www.w4nc.com . Club email is to info -at w4nc.com .
Officers for 2013 are:
President: Tim King AG4RZ
Vice-President: Jerry Minor K4GW
Secretary: Don Edwards WS4NC
Treasurer: Henry Heidtmann W2DZO
Newsletter Editor: Don Edwards, WS4NC Top photos: before and after at our spot. Bottom left, the tarps were likely salvageable but the stuff underneath was soaked. Bottom right one of the nice muffler-style tubing To join our list server send a blank email to tarps that pulled apart due to wind speeds. [email protected]
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Page 2 through Shelby storms before and was a little wary, Hurricane Earl being the most memorable. This time tables loaded with 40-50 pound boat anchors were blown over. Nomination Committee Report
Both our tarps were down, they didn't look salvageable, but The nominating committee has met and twisted a few arms. they were. They will no longer be the fairest in the land. Most The slate of officers that will be presented at the September others were not so lucky. Lots of those "First Up" tarps were meeting will be: President: Jerry Minor K4GW, Vice ready for aluminum recycling. The tent set up for the Sunday President: Jim Adkins W4UX, Secre-Terry: Terry Brown Morning Service was held down by giant circus-style tent AK4D, and Treasurer: Henry Heidtmann W2DZO. At the stakes, essentially Model-A axles (dating myself here - pic October meeting there will be a call for nominations from the below bottom left). Even some of those stakes were bent. I floor. Please don't nominate someone unless you have heard that one generator was destroyed by lightning, but I talked to them first. These are working positions and didn't see that. One guy told me he was holding his metal require several meetings a month and other time that will be tarp frame down throughout the storm and was "bit" by some spent on FARC business. The Election will be held in lightning. He was lucky he was only bit. There is a Mark November and officers installed at the December Dinner Twain quote I should use here, something about who God meeting. protects. On some tarps the ropes were broke. The better tarps with Scams and Spam the muffler-style tubing slide-together pieces survived the by Don, WS4NC best - but the main failure point was pulling apart from the support post. They would have survived if they were pinned. I get so tired of Spam. And scams. Even very smart people Once the bracket pulled out of the support post whole are occasionally taken in by them. Three items to report sections of the tarp came down. Many, if not most, of the here. wrapped up tables did not blow over - but in some places no matter how much weight was on them, the tables toppled. First, one lady here in Winston who asked that her name not The best places were the ones that were on firm asphalt, but be used, had advertised in a Wake Forest University in spots even most of those went over. Newsletter that she had an apartment for rent, preferably to a college student. She got a call from overseas from a Sadly Tower Electronics was one of the most affected. Tarps young lady claiming to be a (medical?) college freshman gone, tables blown over and massive lots of goodies washed from England. After a few calls and emails with pictures down the hill. When I first saw them after the storm the tables they made a deal. The deposit check was very late, but had been set back up and there were 20 or so people helping came after several more calls. But she was treated to the sort out gazillions of little parts, now slightly cleaner. I really scam "We have a certified check but the bank accidentally felt bad about some teenagers that had a lot of model and RC added the tuition to the check. Please deposit it and return stuff - they were really blown and washed away. the overage." Fortunately she didn't fall for that, but she wasted months and turned down several potential student The most important lesson I came back with would be to use renters in the process. She had been played. serious stakes to hold down tarps. These little pieces of bent wire are a joke. At the least I'll use timber spikes, essentially Secondly, I have been advertising for a couple of rare giant nails. And check the weather report - late summer Hallicrafters. I have found an HT-30 in Maine and it is on its storms are no joke. Tower Electronics about an hour after. way. But I got a few emails last month claiming to "have exactly what I wanted" - their words. Exchanging a few emails quickly I figured out they were not hams since they had no clue what it was I wanted, only that they had exactly “it”. That and the fact they were anxious for me to Western Union the money. Although one claimed to be from Italy, the email address traced to Nigeria. This advertisement was only in the FARC Newsletter so that was where they had to find, and decode, my email address.
My web site gets about 1500 hits a week, mostly for the Newsletter. I’m flattered we get such wide circulation. And thanks to my using my main email address for posting the Newsletter (really dumb idea) I get lots of questionable email "offers" mainly because some members don’t run virus checking software to protect their own computers and RV and Model spot. email addresses.
Lastly, I took my laptop to Shelby and a Clear 4G modem hoping to get some work done. (Yes, I really did do some work - mainly because there was air conditioning inside the Big tent stake bent. Kippe-Kamper.) There is no 4G service in Shelby so I didn't have an internet connection (maybe they'll get dial-phone Page 3 service someday - j/k). My bad for not checking with Clear QST March, 1999 first but the smart-phone worked for the information I had to have. However the laptop Wi-Fi was looking for a connection. I came back in and found that someone had connected to my laptop late Saturday. Hummmm. I disconnected that. When I got home there was some funkiness happening so I ran the task manager. There was a exe running with the name of a popular free telephone application, begins with an S. Hummmmmmm. I had never installed that on the laptop. I ran MalwareBytes - a program I highly recommend. I had a keylogger installed on my laptop! I've had viruses before but never a keylogger, especially nefarious.
I believe it is gone and cleaned up now, and it never got to James AE7AX projects, above and bottom left. The connect to anything. Yes, I do have a firewall and virus amp is from "A Broadband HFAmplifier Using Low checker and MalWareBytes on top of that. But I should have expected trouble being surrounding by thousands of techie- Cost Power MOSFETs"(QST MAR 1999). types, some who may have questionable scruples. I miss the old days at Cedar Park where you could leave your table with ARES NEWS prices and a box for cash and come back to find the box still Tour to Tanglewood 2013 there with cash in it for goodies that sold themselves. Today that would be beyond reckless. Come to think of it, it may (update follows) by Jim Mansfield WA4NOT have been reckless then. EC, Forsyth County ARES
On Saturday and Sunday, September 28 and 29, an estimated Fox HuntAntennas 1,600 cyclists will ride routes ranging from 15 to 100 miles in this year’s Tour to Tanglewood, an MS ride. It’s the largest Last month we had lots of fun building Fox Hunt antennas. annual public service and field training activity for Forsyth We still have supplies including a BNC cable, available until County hams. supplies are gone; cost is $15, payable to the treasurer. We found the dimensions to be a bit too big, much trimming is Based on preliminary info from the MS folks we’ll need 18 required. The exact dimensions is on the W4NC web site. operators on Saturday and 17 on Sunday to provide radio Pictures are on the last page. coverage for the event’s directors, support vehicles and rest stop crews. We’ll work in 8 event vehicles or at 8 (Sat.) / 7 Projects byAE7AX (Sun.) rest stops. One rest stop each day will be on the new mountain bike route James Kretzchmar does some of the most beautiful projects. inside Tanglewood Park. The road bike routes and their rest I've got two pictures and hope to get some more details. I've stops are the same as last year. Mountain bike route maps are tried to do his dental drill thing on circuit boards, my don't look at so pretty. But then James is a dental surgeon. Last I talked to www.forsyth.cc/parks/tanglewood/bike_trails.aspx. Last him he was up in Alaska. Do you know why there are no eye year’s road route maps can be downloaded from doctors on Alaskan islands? Because that would be an http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/ncc/fundraising- OpticalAleutian. James email: events/bike-ms/event-details/route-options/index.aspx
Don: A couple of photos for you. One is a RF amplifier that I built Net control stations and mobile operators will have full-day using two IRF510 transistors. With 1 watt input at 12 volts it puts shifts. Rest stop operators work while their assigned rest stop out about 15 watts. The heatsinks I fashioned (cutting and filing) is open – 2, 3 or 6 hours depending on route position. So from some larger ones that I picked up at a hamfest ... they get volunteer for the weekend, for one day, or for a few hours as slightly warm. The second is a very small 40 meter transmitter ... your schedules permit. about 100 milliwatts. Note the very small 7040 KHz crystal. Crystal is from All licensed hams can participate; prior ARES membership is www.expandedspectrumsystems.com ... he has a variety of not required. We’ll be operating on 2-Meter FM repeaters; 5- amateur frequency crystals. Hope all is well with you. Later. watt HTs are sufficient if used with physical ¼ wave or higher gain antennas. Rubber ducks can’t handle the distances JamesAE7AX involved. 10-watt or more powerful mobile units are more James AE7AX tiny 40-Meter effective at the rest stops, and mobile units with mag-mount antennas and 12-volt (cigarette lighter) power plugs are transmitter. Hard to see the required for use in the event vehicles. detail but he cut the pads for the parts with a dental burr. Join the crew by emailing one of the following: Jim Mansfield Page 4 (ForsythARES EC) wa4not
Page 5 1929 QSL Continued from Page 1
perfectionist and a fabulous home-brewer. After WWII Jim worked for WSJS-TV at the transmitter site on Sauratown Mountain. He would leave High Point early in the morning with a CW key strapped to his leg and run CW mobile on his way to work at the top of Sauratown Mountain. The original method of texting while mobile, not really recommended today. Back then it was a looooong trip, there was a 2-lane US Highway 52, certainly no 4-lane roads.
Details on the card: QSA means strength of signal from 1 to 5. QRI is tone of your signal (1 is good, 2 is bad, 3 is variable.) DC would be pure tone. The RST system didn't occur until about 1934 and the QSA system is why we only go to 5 for “Readability” in the RST system. QRH means your frequency varies – a concern with non-crystal transmitters of the day. Conditions were FB – fine business then and today! This QSO was on the 40 MB (Meter Band). QSP was 'relay a message', the 'Relay' part ofARRL.
“One step” on the QSL means there was one stage of audio I can't decipher all the transmitter data from the QSL but I take amplification. The Schnell Receiver design was a popular it he used a 210 in the output and a number 56 triode tube as an regenerative receiver in the 1920s'. It was comparable to the oscillator. An example of a Zepp antenna is shown on page 6 Reinartz tuners. It used variable-rotary link coupling on both (except that 50-ohm cable didn't exist in the 1920s!). the input and the “tickler” coil. It also was among the first designs that used string and pulleys to make tuning smoother Around 1960 or so Jim built an HBR-16 receiver; the best and more sensitive. There is a discussion of the Schnell homebuilt tube-type receiver design ever published in QST. design in the February, 1924 QST (see Page 10). The Schnell The HBR (Home-Brew Receiver) design series began with the circuit goes back to the days of 200 meters but HBR-14 in July, 1957 QST, a double conversion design www.sparckbench.com claims some hams used it as high as generally simplified by the use of plug-in coils for each band, 20 meters. For the parts and construction methods of the although some band-switched versions were built such as early 1920s 14 megacycles was pushing things, the VHF of Tony WV3Z's modern-built drop-dead gorgeous HBR-16 the day. The QSO here was made on 40 Meters. The coil version shown below. winding method was to lower the capacitance between the turns of the coil – this made for higher coil Q. Fred Schnell 8MO and John Reinhartz 1NO made the first transatlantic amateur QSO with Nice, France in November, 1923. Fred Schnell was such a major influence on ham radio that I may make an article about him a future Newsletter.
Zepp example from Tony WV3Z's modern-built and very beautiful HBR-16. Who said home-brew is dead? Pictures are from AA5TB website. http://www.qsl.net/k5bcq/HBR/hbr.html#Specs. Page 6 FCC Testing I’m still hoping for a Hallicrafters HT-33 (not 33A or 33B - just the 33 - it uses 4CX300’s). I have found an HT-30 and it is on its way Amateur radio testing for new applicants as well as upgrades - (NaNaNaNaNaNa! for you non-believers that I wouldn’t find will be given the 2nd Monday of every month, except the one). Also for a good cause (not for me) I’m looking for a cheap month of December, prior to the FARC regular meeting. The 6-meter multimode rig. examination time is 6:30 PM and the place is the Red Cross building on Coliseum Drive in Winston-Salem. << Pre- Nothing to do with math, ham radio or the Newsletter, but one registration is required via e-mail >>, listing the elements you morning as I ate my mini-wheats I was wondering just exactly wish to take, your email address and your phone number. who was the first person to look at a cow and say "I think I'll You may pre-register or get additional information via e-mail squeeze those dangly things and drink whatever comes out"? to info
Purpose: To encourage young hams in and near Forsyth County NC to upgrade to General Class or higher. FARC has been donated these radios and we and the Rodney Family feel that the best use is to encourage young hams to enter the hobby. We especially want to encourage younger members of the ham radio community to be involved in exploring the world through HF radio. We also have some donated 2 meter radios and we will be making awards of these to those who qualify at the Technician level. Please note that all of these prizes are awarded on a random drawing basis.
Instructions: Fill out page 2 (continued on page 3 if necessary) and mail pages 2 & 3 only to:
WB4ZWS Memorial Youth Scholarship Forsyth Amateur Radio Club, Inc. PO Box 11361 Winston-Salem, NC 27116-1361
1. Applicants must be under 18 years of age by December 9, 2013.
2. Winners of HF prizes must be General Class or Higher (exceptions see Paragraph 9 Technicians). HF radios will only be awarded to General Class or higher FCC amateur radio licensees. Winners of two meter radios as provided in paragraph 9 must be holders of a Technician Class FCC amateur radio license.
3. Applicants must have taken an FCC exam at an FARC FCC Examination during the year 2013 (before December 31, 2013) – or be holders of an FCC Extra Class amateur radio license. Technician class applicants must at least attempt the General or Higher Class Exam in order to qualify for Technician level awards.
4. Applicants must be a member of FARC (any FCC exam taken at an FARC examination session qualifies for free current year FARC membership when the examinees fill out an FARC application at that test session) and be a resident of Forsyth or immediately adjacent counties and have attended at least one FARC meeting or event during 2013.
5. Applicants must submit a properly-filled application for the award by US Mail to FARC, PO Box 11361, Winston-Salem, NC 27116-1361 and applications must be postmarked 11/30/2013 or before. Parental approval is required on the application. ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE MAILED – NONE WILLBEACCEPTED THROUGHANYOTHER MEANS.
6. Applications will be selected by random drawing at theAnnual December Dinner meeting, December 9, 2013, or on such date as the December meeting is scheduled if the December meeting date is changed. Applicants do NOT have to be present to win.
7. Applicants must fill out a fifty or fewer words answer to the question “Why I would like to win one of these prizes.”
8. Prizes: At the moment the exact prizes are yet to be determined. There will be an award of at least one HF transceiver for the General (or Higher) class award and at least one 2-Meter transceiver for the Technician-Class award. There may be others.
9. Technician level: For applicants that have passed only Technician class there will be awards of at least one 2M radio. These will only be awarded to Technician class amateurs that meet all of the other requirements above except requirement 2. General Class and above do NOT qualify for Technician awards. Envelopes for the Technician Class Awards must be marked "Technician" on the exterior of the envelope. Technician class applicants must at least attempt the General or Higher Class Exam in order to qualify for Technician level awards.
10. Decisions by the officers of FARC are final. FARC may, or may not, sponsor awards in future years pending upon availability of donated radios. No cash value. Applications become the property of ForsythAmateur Radio Club, Inc. Application includes permission to publish photos of winners and details of any and all awards.
11. Prize substitutions may be made at the discretion of FARC officials. Prizes are donated older radios that have been checked and working at the time of award, no guarantee implied and no cash substitutions. Applicants must have parental approval.
12. Each application received, after being checked for completeness, will be sealed in an opaque envelope with no distinguishing marks before being placed in a box for random selection. Technician entries will be kept separate from General or higher class entries.
13. Applicant agrees to abide by rules. Any disagreement will be settled by arbitration.
WB4ZWS Scholarship, Page 1 September Newsletter, Page 8 APPLICATION FOR WB4ZWS CEDRIC RODNEY MEMORIAL YOUTH HAM RADIO SCHOLARSHIP
1. Name:______
2. Callsign:______
3. Class of License:______
4. Address:______
5. City, State Zip: ______
6. Phone number:______
7. Date of last FCC exam taken at an FARC sponsored exam:______
8. What FARC programs or activities would you like to see?______
______
We (Applicant and Parent/Guardian) agree to abide by the rules established for the Cedric Rodney WB4ZWS Youth Scholarship as published on the Forsyth Amateur Radio Club, Inc website and have read the attached rules and agree to abide by them. Parental signature acknowledges permission to publish photos and details of awards.
9. Parental or Guardian Signature:______
10. Applicant's Signature:______
11. Date of birth:______
12. In fifty words or fewer and in your own handwriting describe why winning one of these prizes is important to you in the space below (use the back of this application if necessary).
WB4ZWS Scholarship, Page 2 September Newsletter, Page 9 WB4ZWS Scholarship, Page 3 September Newsletter, Page 10 Forsyth Amateur Radio Club, Inc. PO Box 11361 Winston-Salem, NC 27106-1361 336-245-5740 Winston-Salem Firstfest Saturday, October 12, 2013 Saturday,
Pictures from the Foxhunt Antenna Assembly last month. Special thanks to Harold and Gene (top left) for bringing VNAs to set the antennas. Amazingly I didn’t get a shot of an assembled antenna, mainly becuase I was running a VNA
September Newsletter, Page 11