The Sat Report Jan 2001

By Larry, N3CR

Greetings to all who look to the skies and see more than the stars!! No I am not talking Santa chasing the satellite, I am talking voices in space. I hear you now... old CR fell off the chair this time!!! The oldest satellite in space is the one getting the most air time. AO-10, Oscar 10 was launched June 16, 1983. It is a ssb/cw phase III type spacecraft in a very elliptical orbit offering a lot of air time and has due to the efficient power conservation - good batteries too!!!! There are times they limit power output but for the most part it is doing a very respectable job.

UO-14 launched in January 1990 and is a flying FM repeater. The uplink is on145.975 Mhz and downlink is 435.070Mhz both on FM. A little playing with doppler and you can have some fun with this bird. You will find it is not that hard to hear either. AO-35 is another FM sat that is active and very loud when using the mode B 145.825Mhz downlink (436.291Mhz uplink). By listening for the 2m downlinks you can get ready for the big one ISS. The space station can be heard testing on 143.625mhz with Nasa stations and using packet sounding data . Working with the doppler effect takes some practice. There are sats you can listen to with 2m downlinks, some using "parrot" repeaters .

The Russian RS satellites are active as well with RS-15 getting a good share of activity this past

week. Some will be in "eclipse" where they may be turned off due to power shortages. You will have to do some investigating to see which Russian bird is active and what frequencies are being used. You will have to learn the terms modes A B J K. On the sad note, AO -40 had gone silent while being checked out by ground command stations. This Phase III satellite was due for a second rocket firing right before the silence. Word has it that telemetry is being heard on the S band downlink on 2401 mhz. They are able to command it although signals are still rather weak and one transponder is repeating the data of the other to the downlink. They are still

researching the VHF and UHF telemetry downlink loss and continue to stabilize the satellite.

So for those with eyes to the skies, I bid you happy hunting. Mir, Hubble, and the Space Station are big enough to be viewed with the naked eye during high passes. I have seen the Space Station on a low southern horizon pass and it was exciting and only going to get bigger very soon. There are a lot of shareware and profit tracking programs out there. You will have to visit the sites and try the demo versions they have available or put in your grid square and they give you a brief view of their program with actual orbit pass data for your backyard. Have a great New Year searching the skies for the satellite of your choice. You are bound to find one you like. Like the RS sats, you can use HF to uplink and 2m to downlink but you will need an all mode VHF rig.

Good Hunting and 73s. De Larry N3CR

WHY RADIO AMATEURS ARE CALLED "HAMS"

Submitted by Bob, KC2DLR

From Florida Skip Magazine - 1959

Have you ever wondered why radio amateurs are called "HAMS"? Well, it goes like this: The word "HAM" as applied to 1908 was the station call of the first amateur wireless stations operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio Club. They were ALBERT S. HYMAN, BOB ALMY, and POOGIE MURRAY. At first they called their station "HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY". Tapping out such a long name in code soon became tiresome and called for a revision. They changed it to "HYALMU", using the first two letters of each of their names. Early in 1901 some confusion resulted between signals from the amateur wireless station "HYALMU" and a Mexican ship named "HYALMO". They decided to use only the first letter of each name, and the station call became "HAM".

In the early pioneer days of unregulated radio, amateur operators picked their own frequency and call letters. Then, as now, some amateurs had better signals than commercial stations. The resulting interference came to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and Congress gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur radio activity.

In 1911, Albert Hyman chose the controversial WIRELESS REGULATION BILL as the topic for his thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator David I. Walsh, a member of the committee hearing the bill. The Senator was so impressed with the thesis that he asked Hyman to appear before the committee. Albert Hyman took the stand and described how the little station was built and almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the bill went through, they would have to close down the station because they could not afford the license fees and all the other requirements which the bill imposed on amateur stations.

Congressional debate began on the WIRELESS REGULATION BILL and the little station "HAM" became the symbol for all the little amateur stations in the country crying to be saved from the menace and greed of the big commercial stations who didn't want them around. The bill finally got to the floor of Congress and every speaker talked about the "...poor little station HAM". That's how it all started.

You will find the whole story in the Congressional Record. Nationwide publicity associated station "HAM" with amateur radio operators. From that day to this, and probably to the end of time in radio, an amateur is a "HAM".

FROM THE PRESIDENT"S DESK

By Larry, N3CR

Greetings again and welcome to winter wonderland ! It looks like we are on track for a newrecord of days below 32 degrees . They are calling for snow which means it is probably going to "warm up" if you can call a temperature like 36 degrees a heat wave!! I mind the cold a lot more than in my wilder young days, but it means just one thing, some quality ham radio operating time. Did you have your sauercraut, pork and beans for New Years Day ?

How about New Years Day ?? Did you work any of the Straight Key Night activities?? Who will get the vote for best fist this year?? I know who my vote would be for but I didn't get to work him. By the way, I hope a virus can not be passed on email and newsletters, because I just had a good dose of the "everybody got it" FLU. More head cold than anything, I am still hacking five days later. I am yet amazed at the medication they have to make you feel better until time has passed. How did I get sidetracked again?? Anyway, Straight Key Night though not a contest is always a chance to get out the old straight key and work many others who are doing the same, going back to the days when they started with the old Navy brass monster, the one that

doesn't move off the desk and makes a great paperweight besides.

On to DX, propagation has been on a slow decline, averaging about 6 points less each month since September 2000. On the other end, conditions have been more stable with less active geomagnetic occurrences. DX has been active on all the bands into the late evenings local time and a fair amount showing up on RTTY and PSK-31. Noise levels have been giving us something of a break and the low power /QRP stations have been worked on all modes including a few of the new units for 20m PSK. I had worked one running 20 watts and a dipole on 14.070mhz - 740hz. Long path to Russia and Asia has been good here of late. I still have not run a list of Japanese or Taiwanese, only a occasional lucky pick. Lots of "new" callsigns showing up on weekends, many from some sort of special event stations. Lighthouse operation is hopping again and several had been heard. Unfortunately, I do not do well in a pileup with 100 watts and magic wire. Using two dipoles , one for north/south and the other for east / west has only yielded about one half S unit on receiving here but more than one S unit on the other end. I am going back to one dipole per band!! Time for one of them 811a amplifiers!!! But don't tell

the neighbors.

Sunspots are at a level equal to about August 2000. There is little talk of a rising level this time around. We are at the plateau and time to enjoy the stable conditions we are seeing. This is not to say we will not see some spike occur within the next several weeks. You remember how up and down the graphs were into late summer. We could also expect some aurora to pop up anytime a geomagnetic release happens. This creates excitement, especially on 10 meters, 6 meters and 2m with the rest of the spectrum getting that terribly worbly sound and cw the distinctive ring. 10 m FM on 29.600Mhz ( the calling frequency) has been hopping with DX from 10 am to 1:30pm daily local time. Many using quarterwave ground planes and half wave verticals are being worked across the country running 100 watts or less. Solar Flux should peak around mid January and null out again around February 5th. Conditions should remain stable . As

this cold wave continues, there is no reason not to work some easy DX around the world. Some actually call CQ. Until next time, Happy New Year and a log full of DX.

73s de Larry N3CR.

An Amish Qso

By Larry N3CR

My Amish friend was amazed to see that we regularly use headphones "just like in the encyclopedias". His comment was, "maybe if you cleaned your ears out when you are in the shower, you wouldn't need those things!" He become even more excited when I showed him pictures of our Field Day operations. Again he said, " check this aut, the whole bunch is hard of hearing. I don't wanna hang around here too long. I can still hear the dinner bell a half mile away." When I mentioned I was listening for the Cosmonauts in the Space Station his reply was: "you ain't ever gonna hear them, they are out of this world." A Qso with Pierre in Paris turned nasty when I left him talk to France. I politely relieved him of the microphone after he commented to Pierre: "How can I be sure you are from France? How many steps are there on the Eiffel Tower?" Needless to say "Ray" chuckled as he left the room. " That guy ain't from France, there are no steps on the Eiffel Tower, only an elevator." That worldly man seemed to know more than I did!! Word to the wise, do not let someone off the farm say more than HELLO over the radio. I promptly went QRT after that one and he went back to his farm house. A crude lesson to be learned. I would be terribly embarrassed to bring him to a club meeting, everyone would get a free hearing check!!!

de Larry N3CR

Carbon Amateur Radio Club

2001 Membership Application Form

Please complete this form and send to the Carbon Amateur Radio Club, P. O. Box 622, Lehighton, PA 18235-0622, or drop it off at the monthly CARC Meeting, at the Carbon County EMA Center, Route 93. The meeting is on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 PM.

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Carbon Amateur Radio Club – 2000-2001 Officers

President: Larry Lilly N3CR [email protected]

Vice President: Glenn O’Donnell K3PP

Secretary: Bob Schreibmaier K3PH

Treasurer: John Schreibmaier W3MF

W3HA Callsign Trustee: Bill Dale WY3K

W3HA Repeater Trustee: John Bednar K3CT

Public Information Officer: Bill Kelley KA3UKL

Skywarn Coordinator: Mike N3XYU

Directors

John Bednar K3CT, Bruce Appleton N3RXJ, Bert Rex W3OWP

Illuminator Staff

Editor: Goody K3NG [email protected]

Contesting: Glenn K3PP

DX : Bob K3PH

Foxhunting: open

Propagation and Commentary: Larry N3CR [email protected]

QRP: Lamar N3AT [email protected]

Technical: John K3CT [email protected]

Newsletter Printing, Folding, and Mailing: Bob K3PH

Services

W3HA Repeater: 147.255 Mhz + PL 131.8

CARC Website: http://www.cpals.com/~elitehom/carc/

Webmaster: Robert KB3BYT [email protected]

CARC Email Reflector: see www.qth.net CarbonARC list for details

CARC Membership Information

Regular Membership is $15.00, which includes autopatch privileges.

All amateur radio operators are invited to join the CARC ARES / RACES net held 21:00 local time every Wednesday on the W3HA repeater at 147.255 Mhz + offset, PL 131.8. Any amateur radio operator or anyone with an interest in ham radio is welcome to attend our monthly meetings which occur the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Carbon County EMA Center on Route 93 in Nesquehoning..

January 2001

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