PROCEEDINGS of the 48th Conference of the July 24-27 Austin, Texas 2014 Published by: ® i Copyright © 2014 by The American Radio Relay League Copyright secured under the Pan-American Convention. International Copyright secured. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form except by written permission of the publisher. All rights of translation reserved. Printed in USA. Quedan reservados todos los derechos. First Edition ii CENTRAL STATES VHF SOCIETY 48th Annual Conference, July 24 - 27, 2014 Austin, Texas http://www.csvhfs.org President: Steve Hicks, N5AC Fellow members and guests of the Central States VHF Society, Vice President: Dick Hanson, K5AND In 2004, a friend invited me to attend an amateur radio conference Website: much like this one, and that conference forever changed the way I Bob Hillard, WA6UFQ looked at amateur radio. I was really amazed at the number of people and the amount of technology that had come together in Antenna Range: Kent Britain, WA5VJB one place! Before the end of the conference, I had approached Marc Thorson, WB0TEM one of the vendors and boldly said that I wanted to get on 222- Rover/Dish Displays: 2304. Jim Froemke, K0MHC Facilities: As others have pointed out in the past, one of the real values of Lori Hicks attendance is getting to know other died-in-the-wool VHF’ers. Yes, Family Program: the Proceedings is a great resource tool, but it is hard to overstate Lori Hicks the value of the one on one time with the real pros at one of these Technical Program: conferences. It is really special to be able to talk with these folks Tom Apel, K5TRA about contesting, expeditions, receivers, preamps, oscillators, Prizes: antennas, amplifiers, sequencing, phasing lines, noise problems Tom Haddon, K5VH and new modes of operation. Vendor Liaison: Greg Jurrens, K5GJ We hope you have a chance to sample some of Austin’s music Proceedings: scene, where on any given night, you can visit 50 live Tom Apel, K5TRA performances going on around town. The dinner cruise will let you Dick Hanson, K5AND try some excellent Texas BBQ, see some of the city skyline, and Historian: with a little luck, see several million bats on their way to dinner. Bill Tynan, W3XO AV: 73, George Fremin, K5TR Noise Figure Measurement: Steve Hicks, N5AC Dick Hanson, K5AND Ben Bibb, NO5K President Vice President Solar Noise Measurement: Al Ward, W5LUA Women’s prizes: Kathie Hanson iii iv 48th Annual CSVHFS Conference Banquet Speaker Jimmy Treybig, W6JKV Jimmy has been a ham radio operator for 60 years. His main interest is 6 meters and DX expeditions, including 6 and 2 meter EME and annual Bar-B-Qs focused on these activities. He was awarded the Mel Wilson award in 1987 for his contributions to VHF and UHF. Jimmy has done over seventy 6/2 meter expeditions to over fifty countries. The expeditions provided sixteen of K5FF's one hundred countries (first DXCC 6 meters). His annual Bar-B- Q's (W6JKV and K5AND) attract 100 to 150 VHF operators from around the world since 1980. Jimmy was featured in the documentary film 'Something Ventured" which premiered in 2011 and focuses on the contributions to the early success and history of Silicon Valley. He founded and was the CEO of Tandem Computers, a Silicon Valley manufacturer of fault tolerant computers. Tandem delivered its first product in 1975, went public in 1977, was ranked by Inc Magazine as the fastest growing public company in 1980, and was on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies in 1984. Jimmy retired in 1996 when Tandem was a $2.3 Billion company with 8000 people worldwide. Today Tandem is part of HP. Upside Magazine recognized Jimmy as one of the 100 people who changed the world, and the Silicon Valley Forum awarded him the Visionary Award of Silicon Valley Pioneers in 2002. Both Harvard (1981) and Stanford (1980) recognized him with their Entrepreneur of the Year award. The Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith awarded him the "Torch of Liberty Award" for outstanding service to the community (1983). Since 1996, Jimmy has been a venture capitalist in Austin where he serves as a director on numerous boards including the Seton Healthcare Family, and multiple high tech start-ups. He is associated with the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. Jimmy has a BA and BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and a MBA from Stanford University. v 2014 CONFERENCE FACILITATORS President Steve Hicks N5AC Vice President Dick Hanson K5AND Antenna Range Kent Britain WA5VJB Marc Thorson WB0TEM Pre-Amp Noise Figure Testing Ben Bibb NO5K Solar Noise Measurement Al Ward W5LUA Rover Row and Dish Bowl Jim Froemke K0MHC Audio-Visual George Fremin K5TR Technical Program Tom Apel K5TRA Prizes Tom Haddon K5VH Vendor Liaison Greg Jurrens K5GJ Proceedings Tom Apel K5TRA Dick Hanson K5AND Registration Ray Mack W5IFS WEB Support Bob Hillard WA6UFQ Facilities Liaison Lori Hicks Women’s Prizes Kathie Hanson vi 2014 DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, COMMITTEES & PROGRAMS 2012-2014 Directors Electronic Archive Committee Bill Caldwell, N0LNO Inactive Bill Davis, K0AWU Mel Graves, WR0I Finance Committee Lauren Libby, W0LD Mel Graves, WR0I (Chairperson) Bruce Richardson, W9FZ Charlie Calhoun, Jr., K5TTT Michael Metroka, WB8BZK Jon Platt, W0ZQ Charles Betz, N0AKC Lauren Libby, W0LD 2013-2015 Directors FCC & VHF/UHF/Microwave Council Jon Platt, W0ZQ Kent Britain, WA5VJB (Chairperson) Kent Britain, WA5VJB Ken Boston, W9GA Steve Kostro, N2CEI Ron Ochu, KO0Z Charlie Calhoun, K5TTT John Kalenowsky, K9JK Kermit Carlson, W9XA Lauren Libby, W0LD Marshall Williams, K5QE Brian Derx, N5BA Getting Started In VHF/UHF And Kent O’Dell, KA2KQM (Alt) Beyond Officers Marshal Williams, K5QE (Chairperson) Kent Britain, WA5VJB Chairperson: Jon Platt, W0ZQ Kent O’Dell, KA2KQM Secretary: Larry Hazelwood, W5NZS Assistant Secretary: Tom Bishop, K0TLM Treasurer: Bruce Richardson, W9FZ Historian Assistant Treasurer: Lauren Libby, W0LD Bill Tynan, W3XO (Chairperson) President: Steve Hicks, N5AC Vice President: Dick Hanson, K5AND Information Technology Committee Past President: Kermit Carlson, W9XA Charlie Calhoun, Jr., K5TTT (Chairperson) Past Vice President: John Kalenowsky, K9JK Chuck Clark, AF8Z Ron Marosko Jr., NN5DX Awards Committee Kent Britain, WA5VJB (Chairperson) Publicity/Recruitment Committee Larry Hazelwood, W5NZS Ken Boston, W9GA (Chairperson) Jim Vogler, W7CJO Jim Froemke, K0MHC Steve Kostro, N2CEI Bylaw Review Committee Lauren Libby, W0LD (Chairman) Reverse VUCC Award Program Larry Hazelwood, W5NZS Arliss Thompson, W7XU Charles Betz, N0AKC Mel Graves, WR0I Spring Sprint Committee Kent O’Dell, KA2KQM (Chairperson) Conference Liaison Committee Michael Metroka, WB8BZK Bill Caldwell, N0LNO (Chairperson) John Kalenowsky, K9JK Past President: Kermit Carlson, W9XA Steve Kostro, N2CEI States Above 50 MHz Award Bruce Richardson, W9FZ Jim Hermanek, K0KFC vii The Central States VHF Society A Short History by Bill Tynan, W3XO Central States VHF Society Historian The Central States VHF Society (CSVHFS) began informally among a small group of Midwest VHF hams, who regularly got together on 75 meters to commiserate on their separation from the rest of the VHF fraternity on the East and West Coasts and gripe about the greater distances they had to span to make QSOs and collect states. In the summer of 1965, Bill Smith, K0CER, later to take the helm of the QST VHF column, “The World above 50 Mcs,” invited a group of these Midwest VHFers to Sioux Falls, SD. Those who attended this first get-togethere didn’t call it a conference and didn’t form an organization. It was merely a bunch of hams with similar interests and problems meeting to swap ideas and stories about operation on what was then considered the upper reaches of the radio spectrum, 144 and 432 Megacycles. They hadn’t yet started calling them Megahertz. The following year, 1966, another similar informal gathering was held, this time in Sand Springs, OK. Once again, no thought was given to forming a permanent formal organization. By 1967, it was perceived that regular annual gatherings should be held and an organization, to be called the “Central States VHF Society,“ formed. A General Chairman and several Committee Chairmen were selected and a conference was called for for August 19 and 20 at the Western Hills Lodge, Sequoyah State Park near Wagoner, OK. Those dates were selected to follow the Persieds meteor shower, so attendees could swap stories about what they worked, and didn’t work, during this major shower. Some 125 hams from 19 states and seven call areas descended on that beautiful location. Technical talks were supplemented by antenna tests. Since then, both antenna gain tests and noise figure measurements have become key activities drawing VHFers to CSVHFS conferences. In those early days, a 2 dB noise figure could well win that competition. It is said that a prominent Iowa 2 meter EMEer, who had just worked Australia via the Moon, surprised everyone, including himself, when the preamp used for the record breaking contact, turned in an 8 dB noise figure. Nowadays, preamps must measure considerably less than a 1 dB to even be in the running. And, that’s not just on 2 meters. Phenomenally low noise figures are regularly turned in by preamps up to 10 GHz and beyond. For many years, Al Ward, W5LUA, was the prime provider of the latest exotic noise figure measuring gear. Through the years, the antenna range has been presided over by Marc Thorson, WB0TEM, and Kent Britain, WA5VJB. They, and those who have assisted them over the years, to measure antennas for various bands from 144 MHz and up, deserve the thanks of all: as do those who conducted the noise figure measurements. The presence of many wives and children at that first 1967 conference, made it apparent that future meetings must include programs and activities geared to families, as well as presenting high quality technical programs.