RADIOACTIVITIES
Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club
Volume XLV, Number 6 August, 2004

Club Meeting
The August meeting of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club will be held Tuesday, August 3, 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm in a private dining room at the Argonne Cafeteria. Paul Paulikas will speak about “Small HF Antennas.” Paul has been experimenting with compact antenna designs for both fixed and mobile operation for many years and has developed some interesting ideas that work well. If you wish to attend and do not have an Argonne badge, call or email Jim Jorgensen (252-5513; email: JJorgensen@anl.gov), who will arrange clearance at the Argonne Visitors Reception Center.

New Snail-Mail Address
We have a new address. It is:
Argonne Amateur Radio Club
9700 South Cass Av.
PO Box 8283
Argonne, IL 60439-4871

The treasurer’s computer:
by Dale Travis, AG9H
Members: East 25; West 2; Associate 67; Newsletter 6; Retired 22
Balances: Checking $5771.03; Cash $0.00; ANL fund = $69.00
Distributed as: Club $1302.22; Equipment $1301.93; Repeater $1985.01; Packet $1181.87
For the period Jun 25, 2004 thru Jul 21, 2004:
Income: Dues $0.00; Club $0.45 Eqp $0.43 Rptr $0.65; Pkt $0.39; ANL $0.00
Expenses: Club $79.00; Eqp $0.00; Rptr $0.00; Pkt $0.00

REMINDERS:
CLUB BREAKFAST: Always the 2nd Sat. of each month, 8:30 AM. This month it is the 14th at:
Old•Country Buffet•
59th Street and LaGrange Road in LaGrange

CLUB NETS: Thru our Club Repeater 145.19.
SKYWARN NET: 7 PM / Denny, W9DS (Mondays in season).
THE CLUB’S 9PM NET: every Monday with Dave & Renae Graczyk, KC9EUY & KC9EUX.
THE NIGHT PATROL: every night at 10:30 PM with Paul, W9FNM.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB: every morning 8 AM.
THE NOONTIME NET: every weekday at noon.

Mil’s Corner for August
06 KA9QAD Don Plainfield, IL
09 AG9H Dale Lockport, IL
09 K9TP Mark Bonfield, IL
15 N9FFT Ronald Downers Grove, IL
22 K9LJK Dennis Palatine, IL
27 K9IB Dick Downers Grove, IL
29 WA8LIS Jan Lockport, IL
29 N9UWK Joan Joliet, IL

ARGONNE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
9700 S. Cass Ave.
PO Box 8283, Argonne IL 60439
——Interim Officers——
PRESIDENT
VICE PRESIDENT
SECRETARY
TREASURER
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR		 Jim Jorgensen K9RJ
Charles Doose KB9UMF
Loren Thompson KB9CTJ
Dale Travis AG9H
Dick Konecny K9IB
Torben Lauritsen KF9MI

e-mail: w9anl@bigfoot.com
http://www.bigfoot.com/~w9anl
   MEMBERSHIP is open to all who are interested in amateur radio. This club is sponsored by Argonne National Laboratory. Employees of ANL or DOE-Chicago are eligible for Full membership. Auxiliary membership is available to non-employees.

W9ANL/R is an open repeater, coordinated on 145.19 MHz (-600 input). The AARC repeater has been in operation on this frequency pair continuously since February 5, 1982.

W9ANL Packet node runs MSYS on 145.09 MHz.

CLUB NETS: 2 meter fm 1) Regular, every Monday evening at 9:00, and 2) the Night Patrol every night at 10:30, both on W9ANL/R. The Peanut Whistle Net (PWN) every Sunday at 1:30 p.m., and many evenings at 8:30 p.m. on 1932 kHz (cw/am/ssb), QRP.

   RADIOACTIVITIES is published monthly by the Argonne Amateur Radio Club as a nonprofit newsletter intended only for the use of its membership. Material appearing here does not represent the official position of Argonne National Laboratory or the U. S. Department of Energy. Please give credit to the author and to Radioactivities or the Argonne Argonne Radio Club, when using original material published here. Deadline for submissions normally is the fifteenth of the preceding month.
EDITOR
EVENTS
SKYWARN ACTIVITIES		 Dale Travis AG9H

Deni Lamoreaux W9DS
Please send club and editorial correspondence to the club address, or to Dale Travis. Please include "AARC" in the subject.

10-15-20 Full Wave Vertical Array
by Deni, W9DS
All old timers have heard of the J pole and know that the J is a one-wave antenna with the feed point at a quarter wave up from the bottom and twisted so you have one co-ax connection to the three quarter wave part. Usually the center hot lead and the shield going to the one-quarter wave lead forming a sort of J. I have heard some say the J is the simplest and cheapest and best 2-mtr vertical for VHF and WAS. Made of copper, it is very sturdy for all seasons.

My HF version of the full wave vertical can be hung from a tree branch or a tower or pole. I chose a tree limb up 53’. Mine sloped to the east fed with RG59U full length 20 meters 70’, 15 meters 46’, and 10 meters 36’.

On October 2, 1988, it was placed into action and 20 meters yielded A6 Arab Emirates, VP8BUB South Georgia, 3CL Equatorial Guinea, and 6N0 West Saharn. Using the 15-meter and 10-meter sections yielded South America, Caribbean, Europe, Australia contacts. Results showed these three verticals outperformed my long wire on these bands. I feel that vertical polarization with DX also using the same vertical polarization made the difference. No radials or counterpoise was used.

On November 16, 1989, my Joliet buddy and his family helped me erect a 2-element quad using a Radio Shack 30’ push-up mast. It sure out produced anything I had used before except the Radio Shack 10 meter beam and it was good as long as it lasted.