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UP-LiNK THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CHERRYVILLE REPEATER ASSOCIATION II, INC. “Community Service Through Communication” December 2000 |
W2CRA
BOARD MEETING December 6 8:00
PM CLUB
PARTY December 8 7:00 PM
LEFT COAST CONTESTING
de N5RA
Since Pete, NO2R, has my beam at the moment
(he borrowed it for the J8 / St Vincent DXpedition for CQWW phone in October)
and also because we are in a temporary rental location, I put up my R7 vertical
for the CQWW CW contest. I knew that
with the vertical I would not be setting any records or anything, but I was
feeling at a loss for not doing any DX or contesting lately. I also have a nice hill in my backyard to my
southeast (about 250 feet higher than the house) and a mountain ridge just a
few miles to the east almost 1500 feet.
Contesting, and Dxing, from California is
very different from New Jersey and the Northeast US for many reasons. First,
most of the hams and contesters in the world outside the US and Japan are in
Europe. That is a very easy shot from the Northeast. Here, we are almost twice
as far from all those nice EU countries and multipliers. England is over 5000
miles and Russia 6000, with the path being very close to the pole. So that
brings in Aurora flutter much more than in the eastern US. And the same goes
for the Caribbean, which is 3 to 4 times as far as from New Jersey.
On the flip side, we have the Pacific on
our doorstep. Hams from here have worked Hawaii on 2 meters! Have you ever
fought and fought for a KH6 or KL7 contact in a pile-up? No problem here; one
call does it (even with a vertical.) And the same for HC8, I remember how long
it took me to get my first Galapagos contact! I worked HC8N on every band I
heard him this weekend. And China BY, Malaysia 9M6, Thailand HS0, South Korea
HL1, Singapore 9V; the list of new Asian countries I worked this weekend goes
on. And most on more than 1 band.
We are in
the process of buying a house in Los Osos, a small community on the coast. I
work there also, in a company that makes power supplies for the military and
commercial aviation industries. I wish you all have a great holiday season.
PUBLIC SERVICE
de WB2NQV
Public
service is the motto of our club, "Community service through communications"
In that light this past year, 35 Cherryville members spent a total
of 585 hours, actually more but that’s what ‘s counted officially, operating
at various events.
Our
public service operators are as varied as the overall membership. We have one
that broke the 50-hour mark (K2YSY) and
a few who came close. We also have the “one eventers”, those who have their
favorite event and show up faithfully every time, without even being
asked. And let’s not forget the event
coordinators who spend many unaccounted hours meeting with the event officials,
checking out the venues, lining up the operators and of course the eventual
paperwork.
The
proposed events next year are the Klondike Derby in January, the March of Dimes
Walk in April, the Lebanon July 4th Parade, Skylands Triathlon in
September, Battle of the Bands and Jamboree on the Air in October, Blackwells
Mills horse event in November and 4 horse events at the Bucks County horse park
from May to November.
As
soon as we have confirmed dates for these events they will be posted on the web
site and in UPLiNK.
Happy
Holidays to everyone.
RACES
Bound
Brook Storm Report
de K2PA
At
our November 10, meeting, Harry Shepherd, the Hunterdon County Emergency
Management Coordinator, delivered an annotated slide presentation that detailed
the many Problems that were encountered in Bound Brook, NJ in the wake of
Hurricane Floyd.
A
surprisingly large number of unexpected consequences were faced by the Bound
Brook and Somerset County Emerg. Mgmt. Services, which proved to be largely
inadequate due to the vast extent of the flooding.
The
real message for us, as Ham Radio operators, is that too few of our members (41
out of more that 120) are enrolled as
RACES members. RACES (the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service)
is the only emergency communication service authorized and supported by our
Federal and State governments. Each
member is issued a photo-ID card, and is protected by a FEMA insurance policy
when operating in an official capacity.
The
unanswered question posed at the end of Harry Shepherd's presentation was: Why is every member of CRAII not a RACES member? When emergencies occur, every Ham in the
area wants to help. However, those who
are not RACES members cannot be called upon to perform more than the simplest
tasks, due to the insurance risks that may be involved.
Come
on folks!! Let's all live up to our
club motto: Community Service Through
Communications.
Club
members interested in becoming RACES members can contact Roberto Matos at
908-788-8253 or Mike Varas at 908-806-3998.
CRA PROGRAM SCHEDULE
de Denis KA2YYB
ARRL Hudson Division Director
Steve Mendelsohn, W2MF
MAR 12 "HAMFEST
2001"
Hamfest Calendar
January 10
Phil-Mont
Mobile Radio Club
Contact: Russ Stafford, W3CH
Box 88
Abington, PA 19001
Phone: 610-631-3401 (#4)
Email: russ@hdj.com
January
21
Great South Bay ARC (NLI Section Convention)
Contact: Phil Lewis, N2MUN
22 Belle Terre Road West
Lindenhurst, NY 11757
Phone: 631-226-0698
Email: n2mun@optonline.net
http://www.arrlhudson.org/nli/hru2001.htm
Metro 70cm Network
Contact: Otto Supliski,
WB2SLQ
53 Hayward Street
Yonkers, NY 10704
Phone: 914-969-1053
Email: wb2slq@juno.com
March 17
HAMFEST CHERRYVILLE!
CONTEST LOG
|
DATE |
CONTEST |
|
12/9-12/10 |
ARRL
10 Meter Contest |
|
12/31-1/1 |
Straight
Key Night |
|
1/6-1/7 |
ARRL
RTTY Roundup |
|
1/20-1/22 |
ARRL
VHF Sweepstakes |
|
2/3 |
Del
Val Simplex Contest |
|
2/17-2/18 |
ARRL
DX Contest (CW) |
|
3/3-3/4 |
ARRL
DX Contest (phone) |
DELAWARE VALLEY 2 METER FM SIMPLEX CONTEST
ANNOUNCED!
de W2CG
(Philadelphia, PA) The Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club of Philadelphia is pleased
to announce the first Delaware Valley 2 Meter Simplex Contest to be held
February 3, 2001. The contest is open
to all radio amateurs. Stations within a 60 mile radius of Philadelphia's City
Hall will exchange their zip code and contact
number. Stations outside of the 60 mile radius will exchange their state
and contact number. Stations from New York to Maryland will be able to
participate in this evening event.
According to HARC President Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO, the contest is
designed for hams to have fun over a 4 hour period from 7-11 PM on a Saturday
night.
The contest allows hams to meet their neighbors on the air as well as give them
the opportunity to experience something else besides repeater contacts. The 60 mile radius reaches just about all
of the county boundaries surrounding Philadelphia. This also opens up an
opportunity for approximately 60 clubs to participate in the event. The contest
gives individuals as well as clubs a chance to participate in the event. Bonus
points are being allowed for contacting club stations/callsigns. "We realize that everyone will not be
able to contact WM3PEN so we're giving clubs a chance to put their club
callsign on the air." This could be from a club station or an individual's
home. "We don't know what the weather will be in February, but this gives
everyone the chance to operate from home." Clubs
wishing to enter a club callsign as a bonus point contact station in the event
are asked to send a note to WM3PEN@HARCNET.ORG.
by December 16, 2000. A complete list of all bonus stations will be published
by December 22, 2000. Contacts can be
made on any 2 meter FM voice frequency provided there is no interference to
repeater, digital, satellite, or other activities taking place in the two meter
band. Contacts on 146.52 will not be permitted. HARC members are excited about the event. Here's a contest where
they can spend a few hours on the radio, participate in a contest, and not be
tied up for an entire day or weekend
Awards will be issued to individual top scores in a high and low power category.
Club station awards will also be issued in the high and low power category.
There is also an opportunity for Clubs to sponsor awards for their members in a
high and low power categories. An award will also be issued for the highest
mobile score. For further information contact WM3PEN@harcnet.org or WA3PZO@harcnet.org.
SAMPLE CONTACT EXCHANGE
1.
If
you live in the 60 mile radius of William Penn (Philadelphia City Hall) KB3AKK
de WA3PZO Pse copy Nr.1 zip 19136
2. If you live outside of the 60 mile radius WA3PZO de N3EFN Pse copy Nr. 1 PA.
3. If you work HARC's club call WM3PEN exchange your information and make a
note that it is the sponsoring club call and worth 3 points. Other club calls
will be worth 2 points. All other contacts count as 1 point. Final score will
be the number of contacts X the number of zip codes/states in high (10W or
more) and low power (less than 10W) categories. Individual, club station, and
mobile awards will be issued. Clubs can issue their own membership awards. See the contest antenna article in this
newsletter.
CONTEST
ANTENNA
de WA2EPY
Introduction
Here is a simple, easily
constructed, cheap, small four element directive array you can build in one
evening or less. Why not try it in the
upcoming two meter simplex contest on February third?
This antenna is loosely based on dimensions
established for typical Yagi-Uda parasitic arrays. The antenna has a theoretical 2:1 SWR bandwidth of about 4% allowing coverage of the entire two
meter band. The elements have been
shortened slightly to account for the loading effect of the plastic coating on
the 300 ohm twin lead. The driven
element is an end-fed half wavelength using a J-feed arrangement. This is taken directly from the emergency
twin lead J-pole designs common in amateur literature. An RF choke is incorporated in the feedline
to reduce stray currents on the coax shield due to the asymmetric feed
arrangement.
Materials
You will need about 15 feet of 300 ohm flat
twin lead for the elements, a four foot insulator for the boom (it can be a
dowel, wooden folding ruler, PVC pipe etc.), some push pins to attach the
elements, a coax feed line with connector to attach to your rig, solder and
electrical tape.
Tools
Tools needed for construction include a
ruler, sharp knife, soldering iron, wire cutters (optional) and wire strippers
(optional).
Construction
The parasitic elements are easy so we’ll
start with them.
PARASITIC ELEMENT
FIGURE 1
Table 1 lists the elements and their lengths
as described in figure 1. Simply cut
them to the required length. The ends
are not soldered together.
|
ELEMENT |
LENGTH (L) |
|
Reflector (R) |
35-5/8” |
|
Director 1 (D1) |
32-1/8” |
|
Director 2 (D2) |
31-5/8” |
Table 1
Cutting within one half inch of the suggested
length should cause no measurable change in performance. I drilled each end with a 1/16” diameter
hole to facilitate mounting but this is optional.
The driven element (DE)
requires a little more work. Start with
a piece of twin lead about 52” long.
Cut and strip insulation from one half inch of both wires at one
end. Join them and solder. Now measure 51” from the shorted end and cut
to final length. Refer to figure
2. Measure 16-3/4” from the shorted end
and cut one wire of the twin lead.
Measure another one inch along the element (17-3/4” from the shorted
end) and cut the same wire. Remove the
1” section of wire by trimming with an x-acto knife or similar tool. Now measure 7/8” from the shorted end and
mark both wires.
DRIVEN ELEMENT
FIGURE 2
Measure one quarter inch
above and below the first marks and mark again. The one half inch length of insulation surrounding the wires
between the two outer marks must be removed to attach the feedline. I find it easiest to remove this (leaving
the central portion of insulation intact) with an x-acto knife or razor
blade. First clamp the twin lead with
an edge facing you. Slit it lengthwise
between the two outermost marks made previously. Then lay the twin lead flat and slit the plastic lengthwise just
inside the wires. Carefully cut the
insulation circumferentially around each wire at the outermost marks and peel
away the insulation.
|
FREQUENCY (MHz) |
SWR |
|
144 |
1.9:1 |
|
145 |
1.6:1 |
|
146 |
1.2:1 |
|
147 |
1.05:1 |
|
148 |
1.4:1 |
I found the best feedpoint
location by soldering straight pins to the center conductor and shield of
the coax. The pins were pushed through
the twin lead and moved up and down until the best match was found. The pins were then removed and the coax soldered
in place. NOTE: The coax shield goes to the 16-3/4" side
of the antenna and the center conductor goes to the 51" side. The attachment points should be equidistant
from the shorted end of the element. An
RF choke is wound using the coax immediately below the feedpoint by coiling
five turns about two inches inside diameter.
The detail is shown in figure 5. This
coil yields about 200 ohms of reactance at 146 MHz effectively attenuating
the stray currents. Currents can be
further attenuated by winding a second choke one quarter wavelength further
down the feed line (about 14").
ELEMENT SPACING
Figure 3
 |
ELEMENT MOUNTING DETAIL
Figure 4
Additional
notes
Rudimentary
measurements with a relative field strength meter and a very non-ideal antenna
test range show a forward gain of somewhere around 6-8 dBi (referenced to a
quarter wavelength groundplane). Front
to back ratio seems to be around 10 to 15 dB and front to side is better than
20 dB.
This
antenna has not been optimized. It was
designed, built and tested in less than an evening using a few “back of the
envelope” calculations. No modeling was
done. No adjustments to element lengths
or spacing were made to try to improve performance. Shorting the ends of the parasitic elements was not tried. Quantifiable performance tests were not
made. What is described here is the
first cut attempt at a cheap, portable, easily built gain antenna. Perhaps someone can take this idea and offer
significant improvements. Any takers?
FEEDPOINT
DETAIL
Figure 5
"The
world cannot continue to wage war like physical giants and
seek peace like intellectual pygmies." Basil
O'Connor
CRA II CLUB
INFORMATION
The Cherryville Repeater Association II, Inc.
is a non-profit New Jersey Corporation dedicated to Community Service Through
Communication. Meetings are held on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Flemington Baptist Church unless otherwise announced. Visitors are
always welcome! Also, everyone is welcome on the Thursday Night
Traffic Net, at 8 PM every Thursday, followed at 9:30 by the Swap-Net, and the
ARES-RACES net at 8:30 PM on the first Thursday each month (immediately
following the traffic net), all on the 147.375 repeater.
UPLiNK
A CRA II Publication
Editors
Articles &
Info:
WA2EPY,
Bruce Cunningham – bcc@interpow.net
KA2YYB, Denis Albisser –
KA2YYB@arrl.net
Interviews:
K2PA,
Roberto Matos – K2PA@arrl.net
Roster & Mailing:
W2CG, Marty
Grozinski __ W2CG@arrl.net
Many thanks to all those who have contributed
articles or information for this publication, including: The ARRL, ARRL Letter,
QST, CQ on-line, N5RA, KA2YYB, K2PA, WB2NQV, W2CG, and all not mentioned for
their help. This newsletter is an open forum for the Cherryville
Repeater Association, II Inc. and its members, of general interest Club and ham
radio related interest items. The opinions contained herein are those of the
authors who have contributed their work. The officers and members of the CRA II
Inc. are not liable for its contents.
Articles and information are
always welcome, and may sometimes be edited for content, punctuation, grammar,
and newsletter space.
Deadline for
submission for all issues is two weeks prior to the Board meetings.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
CLUB INFO:
|
Club Info Line |
Website |
Packet |
|
(908) 788-4080 |
W2CRA 145.51 |
EXECUTIVE BOARD:
|
Pres |