PUBLIC SERVICE

de WB2NQV

The confirmed dates for the rest of the year are; Bucks County Horse Park November 10 and 11, N2VWL Coordinator N2VWL@epix.net, If you can help with any of these events contact the event coordinator or myself at WB2NQV@arrl.net.

For the latest Public Service dates log on the CRA web site http://www.qsl.net/w2cra

CRA PROGRAM SCHEDULE

de Denis KA2YYB

November 9 High Voltage Safety Al Saharic GPU

November 17 Leonids Meteor Shower start 10 pm NJAA ObservatoryVoorhees State Park 638-8500 for info. Peak is just before dawn on the 18^th.

December 14 Holiday Party Razberries (see flyer p.3)

January 11 ATV

February 8 Advanced Repeater Networks Part 2

ve tESTING

de W2CGX

VE testing will be held on November 15, 2001 at the Somerset County Technical Institute, North Bridge and Vogt Drive in Bridgewater. Though the session is scheduled to accommodate the current license class, anyone who wants to upgrade to General or Extra may come to the session. If you plan to take an upgrade exam, please let Marty, W2CG know you are coming and which element you want to test for. That way he will be sure to have enough tests on hand that night. FCC Form 605's will also be available that evening. Anyone can test for any element they need, including element 1, the five w.p.m. Morse code exam.

Hamfest Calendar

Nov 13 (Tuesday) West Conshohocken, PA - PARA pre-meeting flea market PARAFEST, St Gertrude's Church Hall , 209 Merion Ave, West Conshohocken, PA. Philadelphia Area Repeater Association, PO Box 954, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0954

Gene Mitchell, K3DSM

Talk-In: 146.76-

E-mail: k3dsm@amsat.org

http://www.g-c-o.com/para/ ; Directions; Map

Cost: FREE for buyers & sellers

Opens: 7:00 pm

ANTENNA ARTICLES SOUGHT

ARRL Antenna Compendium Editor Dean Straw, N6BV, is seeking additional, fresh antenna articles for volume 7 of the Compendium. The popular Compendium book series features previously unpublished articles dealing with antennas, transmission lines and propagation. The deadline to submit manuscripts is January 31, 2002. For more information or to submit article manuscripts, contact Dean Straw, 5328 Fulton St, San Francisco, CA 94121; n6bv@arrl.org.

EXTREME HOME BREW

Part 5

The race for power. The other trouble was the power supply. The Japanese main around the camp which provided the power was 110 volts roughly according to the power station meter which we couldn't help but see, because we delivered the wood there while the power station was running; I switched over when no one was looking and the frequency was about 60 Hz, not 50 Hz as we thought, not that this worried us anyway but to know that it was manageable. So two problems remained for the power supply. The first one was the A-battery or low voltage supply necessary for the filament of the valve. We started with a couple of dry cells, but these didn't last very long and we had to make something then. Through being friendly with the pharmacist with the party, we got some potassium bichromate and made up a bichromate cell, which is probably well known in the text books but not of very practical use. It's fairly hungry for zinc and it needs some sulphuric acid which one can't throw around or hide easily, but it served for some time and was quite successful but, in the end, had the operation lasted very long, we would have been in trouble for that. Two of these cells provided about 3 volts to 4 volts, and 6 volts was a bit too much because each cell was running at a bit over 2 volts, about 2.2 volts.

The biggest problem was a rectifier to rectify the AC into DC without dropping it to a low voltage, because remember in those days we needed high voltages for the B supply, or anode supply, but in these days we bring everything down to small DC voltages; we needed to get them up as high as we could. That was a partial failure in that using aluminum foil again and oxidizing one piece of it, or length of it folded over, with some weak acid and then using the two electrodes, one of clear aluminum and one of a zinc salt and aluminum, we could make a rectifier. We wouldn't be so audacious as to call it a rectifier now, because it had a reverse voltage of something like 30 or 40 volts, which wasn't exactly ideal, but for DC we had no option. The result was that I made a bridge rectifier but the only problem was that after 15 minutes the electrolyte began to boil, so it was really passing current in both directions but a little bit more one way than the other. So a single cell, an extra rectifier cell, was the only way I could close this down a bit, and some smoothing. This we achieved with part of a fish plate from the railway line which was being used at the aerodrome to move the dirt from one place to another by man-power, about six men on these, and the odd fish plate used to disappear anyway for various reasons. I dropped one off at the power station and asked the Chinese under my breath if he could cut it into three little sections which he did, he didn't want to know why. Then again using some palm oil and some bee wire which was in fairly plentiful supply, which we stole - it was a bit risky because the Japanese were cultivating a couple of beehives outside the wire and of course this wire used to disappear for various things unrelated to radio - and we put the palm oil along the wire stretched out and rubbed this palm oil on it, thickening it with a little bit of flour and then heating it; the flour bound the palm oil together and formed a fairly good insulation over the wire. Good, but lucky, and with a lot of traveling.

Next month: Receiving the Signal (Final Installment)

**FOR SALE**

3 BEDROOM RANCH CLINTON / ANNANDALE

2200 square foot ranch with partially finished basement.

Three bedrooms, 2 baths, eat-in kitchen with sun porch,

865 square foot three-car garage with walk-up attic storage on three-quarters of an acre with pine grove. Oil, hot water heat. Security system. Paved drive.

One mile to commuter train, two miles to Interstate 78, three miles to NYC bus.

Asking $224,500. When fixed up and “spiffy”

At present property needs some “fixer-upper” work. Price is negotiable.

Respond: E-mail WB2NQV@arrl.net

"The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep all the pieces." - Aldo Leopold

HAM RADIO CARRIES GOOD NEWS

Ham radio played a role in reuniting with his family a man who had been hiding in the jungles of Guatemala for over three decades. The Associated Press reported that 72-year-old Salomon Vides of El Salvador emerged from the Guatemalan jungle recently after hiding there for 32 years from a war that lasted about 100 hours. In 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras and Vides, a migrant worker, ran into the jungle to escape retaliatory raids. The Organization of American States quickly brought the war to an end, but Vides says he never got the word. He was discovered in August by Rene Sonabo, a taxi driver and Guatemalan ham radio operator, and Sonabo’s son. After persuading Vides that no one was trying to kill him, Sonabo used his amateur station to relay the news to Vides’s stunned family in El Salvador. He has since been reunited with his brother, but the family had not been able to locate his wife and three children.

FCC PROPOSES HIGHER POWER FOR 433 MHZ RFID TAGS

The FCC has proposed permitting higher power and longer signal duration times for unlicensed “RFID tags” operating between 425 and 435 MHz, principally on 433 MHz. These tags are used by shippers to identify and electronically transmit the contents of shipping containers. The proposed rules would permit transmissions of up to two minutes in duration, with a 10-second pause between transmissions, and a maximum field strength of 11,000 microvolts per meter at a distance of three meters, with peaks of up to 110,000 microvolts per meter permitted.

The ARRL had “fiercely opposed” the original filing and promises to do battle over the issue, as it has with “Little LEO” satellites and other attempts by commercial interests to gain access to amateur frequencies. The amateur allocation on 70 centimeters is secondary, but has higher priority than unlicensed devices operating under Part 15 of the FCC rules. Proponents argue that most use of these devices will be in industrial areas, away from most amateur stations. Nonetheless, the ARRL is concerned that a significant interference potential exists. The 433-MHz frequency of the RFID tags is quite close to the amateur weak-signal frequency of 432 MHz, and nearby transmissions can increase the noise floor, making it difficult or impossible to copy very weak signals.

FCC WANTS E-DOCUMENTS

The Federal Communications Commission this week announced that, as a precaution, it would no longer accept hand-delivered or messenger-delivered documents in envelopes, and that all documents mailed to its Washington, DC headquarters would be diverted to an FCC facility in Maryland.

“As the Commission continues to balance its efforts to be accessible to its customers with the need for heightened security measures,” read the Public Notice, “the Commission encourages its customers to make full use of the Commission's electronic filing systems to facilitate the filing of documents.”

CQ CONTEST LOGS EMAIL ONLY

Due to security concerns, CQ Communications Inc. is asking all participants in CQ-sponsored amateur radio contests to submit their logs electronically. All logs for the CQ World Wide DX Contest, the CQ WPX Contest, the CQ World Wide 160-Meter Contest, the CQ World Wide VHF Contest and the CQ/RTTY Journal RTTY contests should be submitted via e-mail per instructions in the rules for each contest. For additional information, see the "Announcements" section of the CQ website.

IARU: NO MORE MORSE

The Administrative Council of the International Amateur Radio Union has called for an end to Morse code testing for amateur licenses with operating privileges below 30 MHz.

According to the ARRL, the council said it was 'setting aside any previous relevant decisions,' and declared IARU policy supports 'the removal of Morse code testing as an ITU requirement for an amateur license to operate on frequencies below 30 MHz.'

The IARU is the international organization made up of national amateur radio associations around the world. The ARRL bulletin says the Union's Administrative Council also called on member societies--as an interim measure--to seek Morse code testing speeds 'not exceeding five words per minute.'

The Council also said it recognizes that Morse code 'continues to be an effective and efficient mode of communication used by many thousands of radio amateurs,' but that Morse code proficiency as requirement for an HF amateur license 'is no longer relevant to the healthy future of Amateur Radio.'

The resolution was adopted during the IARU Administrative Council meeting October 6-8 in Guatemala.

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: WB2NQV, N5RA, KA2YYB,W2CGX, the ARRL, The Center for the History of Defense Electronics Museum, The Hudson Loop 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.

Are the CW sub-bands really going to the dogs?

STARSHINE 3 TELEMETRY REPORTS NEEDED

Ground controllers of the Starshine-3 satellite are seeking volunteer amateur radio operators and students worldwide to monitor and report telemetry from the recently-launched satellite. Starshine 3 transmits 9600 bps AX.25 packet telemetry every 2 minutes on 145.825 MHz. The satellite’s primary mission is to involve and educate school children from around the world in space and radio sciences. Students should be able visually track the satellite during morning and evening passes by recording its telltale mirror flashes and reporting their observations to Project Starshine. To report Starshine 3 telemetry or to learn more about it, please visit http://epulation.com/starshine/starshine3/. More information about Project Starshine is available at http://www.azinet.com/starshine/.

CHERRYVILLE REPEATER ASSOCIATION

Annual Awards Banquet

Where: Razberry’s on Route 12 Flemington

When: Friday, December 14, 2001 (Normal CRA II meeting night)

Cost: $25 per person, or $50 per couple (Now that’s a Bargain!)

Hand in, send, dispatch, to order your place(s)

Dinner is Razberry’s famous buffet—no need to choose your meal now
and wish you had something else that night!

C’mon out for “THE Cherryville Social Event of the Year!”

---------------------------------------detach here------------------------------------------

Submit this coupon with $25 per person to:

Awards Banquet,

c/o CRA II,

P.O. Box 308,

Quakertown, NJ 08868.

Don’t put it off—Do it now!

Attendees:

Call Name

____________ __________________________________________________

Total Submitted:_______________________

By: _________________________________

THE CHERRYVILLE REPEATER ASSOCIATION II

CLUB INFO:

Club Info Line	Website	Packet
(908) 788-4080	www.qsl.net/w2cra	W2CRA 145.51

EXECUTIVE BOARD:

Pres	N3QDC	Rob France	(215) 766-8066	n3qdc@att.net
VP	KD2EL	Pete Russo	(908) 832-5798	kd2el@att.net
Sec	K2YSY	Pete Sneed	(908) 369-5095	k2ysy@arrl.net
Treas	W2NCN	Bill Greenhalgh	(908) 369-3191	greenhalgh@rcn.com

MEMBERS AT LARGE:

W2CGX	Barry Campbell	(908) 725-0478	barryc@cnjnet.com
N2ZVY	Patrick Mauro	(908) 470-6346	n2zvy@att.net
W2XT	Derry Galbreath	(908) 369-7245	galbreat@eclipse.net
AB2DW	Tom Deegan	(908) 236-0698
N2QOR	Justin Marchetta	(908) 439-3094

COMMITTEE CHAIRPEOPLE:

Public service	WB2NQV		wb2nqv@arrl.net
Technical	N3MSK	(610) 252-6193	n3msk@amsat.org
Emergency Mgmt/ RACES	KC2CMC K2PA	(908) 806-3998 (908) 788-8253	varas@earthlink.net k2pa@arrl.net
Education	W2CGX	(908) 725-0478	barryc@cnjnet.com
VE Testing	W2CG	(908) 788-2644	mjgrozi@postoffice.ptd.net
Field Day	N3QDC