RF Newsletter Vol XLVI #12 December 2005
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RF ORANGE COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, INC. VOL. XLVI NO. 12 P.O. BOX 3454, TUSTIN, CA 92781-3454 DECEMBER 2005 Thanks to Kristin-K6PEQ for ob- de: Ken Konechy, W6HHC taining those great monthly raffle prizes, for encouraging me to buy The club Christ- more raffle tickets, for organizing There will be no regular December mas Dinner is the club Potluck event, for being an meeting. Instead the club will hold coming up soon extraordinary “rotating” editor of its December Christmas Dinner on Friday, Dec the club magazine, and represent- on the 16th, which by coincidence 16, at the Jager- ing OCARC at the OCCARO meetings. is a third Friday meeting date.. haus on Ball Thanks Dan-N6PEQ for pitching in Road in Ana- The Dinner will be at Jagerhaüs in when the Membership position heim. Dan N6PEQ and Kristin Anaheim. See pages 10 and 11 for needed some help, for sending out K6PEQ have arranged for a SU- a map and more details, Contact nice invitation flyers to prospective PER RAFFLE at the dinner party. our Treasurer for tickets. members, for being such a good The main prize is an ICOM-7000 BBQ chef at the Potluck, and for Don’t miss it.! It’s going to be an rig!!! You must be present to win. smooth talking so many donations extravaganza – dinner and raffle! From my view as Prez in 2005, I for our Christmas Dinner raffle. think that the OCARC did very Thanks to Kenaan-N6CCE for stor- well this year. We grew our mem- ing the club’s equipment, writing The next regular meeting will be: bership, had great presentations great RF articles, volunteering to at meetings, had fun events like be a newsletter “rotating” editor, Friday, Jan. 20th 2006 Field Day and a club Potluck, and and being such a “top gun” band participated in community service @ 7:00 PM captain at Field Day. events like helping local police de- We will be meeting on the 2nd partments in the Baker-2-Vegas Thanks to Bob-AF6C for helping to floor in the east bldg. race. A radio club is only success- launch the great “rotating editor” ful because members pitch-in to program for the newsletter this In This Issue: Page make it a fun club. So, I would year, for designing a great OCARC like to thank the board members advertising poster to place at HRO, THE PREZ SEZ ..................... 1 for pitching-in. for designing the outstanding tri- NO DECEMBER MEETING ..... 1 fold flyer to advertise the club at CLUB INFORMATION ............. 2 Thanks Willie-N8WP for making HRO and the OC Fair, for being 30 MTR ANTENNA Pt. III ......... 3 sure we had good programs, offer- our craftsman badge maker, and PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT ing to be one of the “rotating edi- for running the 10M/15M weekly tors” for the newsletter, and being JRC NRD-545 Receiver ........ 4 net for many, many years. our FD organizer – great location CLUB E-VOTE ....................... 8 and great steaks. And I want to thank our two Direc- Errata: MEETING ADDRESS ....9 tors-at-Large this year, Lowell- SPECIAL THANKS ................ 8 Thanks Rich-KE6WWK for captur- KQ6JD and Steve-N1AB, who YAESU JOB OPENING ........... 9 ing our club minutes, for getting made my job much easier by taking FCC ACTION: 147.435 R ........ 9 OCARC recognized as an ARRL on every task that I threw their NOV. MEETING MINUTES .... 10 Special Services Club, and talking way...you guys really helped me. HOLIDAY DINNER MAP ... 10 so many club members in to help- DINNER RAFFLE PRIZES .... 11 ing at the B2V race through COAR. See you at the Christmas Dinner! DEC. BOARD MINUTES ....... 12 Thanks Cheryl-KG6KTT for keep- ing the club finances so well organ- Next Club Breakfast & ized and so well reported and for organizing our December Dinner. Open Board Meeting Details inside! Sat. Jan. 7th 2006 THE ORANGE COUNTY Technical: Monthly Events: AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, Kenan Reilly, N6CCE General Meeting: INC. (714) 543-5073 Third Friday of the Month P.O. Box 3454, Tustin, CA 92781 [email protected] At 7:00 PM Members At Large: American Red Cross Steve Brody, N1AB 600 Parkcenter Dr. (714) 974-0338 (near Tustin Ave. & 4th St) Santa Ana, CA [email protected] Club Breakfast: Lowell Burnett, KQ6JD First Saturday of the (714) 997-0999 month at 7:30 AM [email protected] Katella Grill 1325 W. Katella Ave. 2005 Club Appointments: (SE Corner at Main St.) Orange, CA 2005 Board of Directors: W6ZE Trustee: Bob Eckweiler, AF6C Club Nets (Listen for W6ZE): President: (714) 639-5074 7.086 MHz CW OCWN Ken Konechy, W6HHC [email protected] Sun - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM (714) 744-0217 Rick KF6UEB, Net Cntl. [email protected] Club Historian: Bob Evans, WB6IXN 28.375± MHz SSB Vice President: (714) 543-9111 Wed - 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Willie Peloquin, N8WP [email protected] Bob AF6C, Net Control (714) 318-4047 146.55 MHz Simplex FM [email protected] RF Editor for December: Wed - 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM Bob Eckweiler, AF6C Bob, WB6IXN, Net Control Secretary: (714) 639-5074 Rich Helmick, KE6WWK [email protected] VISIT OUR WEB SITE (714) 343-4522 http://www.w6ze.org [email protected] WEB Master: Ken Konechy, W6HHC for up-to-the-minute club Treasurer: (714) 744-0217 information, the latest membership rosters, spec- Cheryl Peloquin, KG6KTT [email protected] (714) 318-4042 ial activities, back issues of RF, links to ham-related [email protected] ARRL Assistant Director: sites, vendors and manu- Ken Konechy, W6HHC facturers, pictures of club Membership: (714) 744-0217 events and much much Dan Dankert, N6PEQ [email protected] more. (714) 544-9846 [email protected] ARRL Awards Appointee: Club Dues: Larry Beilin, K6VDP Regular Members ...... $20 Activities: (714) 557-7217 Family Members* ...... $10 Kristin Dankert, K6PEQ [email protected] Teenage Members ...... $10 (714) 544-9846 Club Badge** ................ $3 [email protected] OCCARO Delegate: Dues run from January thru December Kristin Dankert, K6PEQ & are prorated for new members. Publicity: (714) 544-9846 *Additional members in the family of Bob Eckweiler, AF6C [email protected] a regular member pay the family (714) 639-5074 rate up to $30 per family. [email protected] **There is a $1 charge if you’d like to have your badge mailed to you. December 2005 - RF Page 2 Techtalk #46 In Figure 2, I show the SWR predicted by NEC-Win A Shortened 30M Dipole – Part III of III antenna modeling program for the 11-foot, 1-inch over- “How It Actually Performs” all length of the 30M antenna. The “real world” al- by Ken Konechy – W6HHC ways varies from perfect models – probably variation In the Part I (March 2005 issue of RF) of this series, I of inductance in my hand-wound 16.5 uH loading walked thru the steps of designing a “shortened 30M coils. Figure 3 shows that actual SWR measurement vertical” antenna using the knowledge from the Win- that I first obtained. So I could either tweak the coils NEC antenna modeling program-and-class offered by (could be very labor consuming) – or I could use the the ARRL. In Part II (November 2005 issue), I showed computer to tell me how much to adjust the length of how to build/construct the 30M antenna from alumi- the antenna. The darker line in Figure 3 shows that num tubing, some PVC piping and do-it-yourself load- the resonant frequency is higher than desired (around ing coils. In this months article of this three-part ser- 10.185 MHz instead of the desired 10.125 MHz) – so ies, Part III discusses actually tuning-up the antenna, by lengthening the antenna I can adjust the reso- comparing SWR readings, and on-the-air QSO results. nance down to exactly where I want it. In the Part II I had shown a drawing of how to con- 2.9 VSWR vs. Frequency struct a simple “tower” for the 30M antenna using a 30M-short vert-dipole 11-ft-1-inch 10-foot section of 2x4 lumber. In Figure 1, I show how V 2.8 the completed 30M antenna and tower look in my S 2.7 backyard. The entire length of the 30M antenna is W just over 11 feet and the center of the antenna is R 2.6 shown at 10 Feet. I used a 1:1 balun (made by Van 2.5 Gordon) that I bought at the recent club auction to 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 feed coax to the balanced antenna at the feedpoints. Frequency MHz If you don’t use a balanced balun, then ensure that the ground side of the coax feeds the bottom side of Figure 2 – NEC-Win Predicted SWR for the vertical. 11-foot-1-inch Antenna Actual VSWR Measurements 2.2 2.0 Len = 11’ 1” V 1.8 Len = 11’ 3” S W 1.6 R 1.4 1.2 1.0 10.10 10.12 10.14 10.16 10.18 Frequency MHz Figure 3 I played with the antenna length on the NEC-Win computer program and found that if I change the length on the two outer pieces of aluminum so that the overall length was 11-foot-3-inches (add one inch to each end), then the resonance would shift down by 60 KHz. The lighter line in Figure 3 shows the ac- tual SWR measurements after adjusting the antenna length to 11-foot-3-inch. Almost perfect – certainly good enough to use.