February 2001
THE SQUELCH BURST
a monthly publication of the
STAMFORD AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION
President ..........Jim Murdock ............ N1NNG ......... 322-4707
Vice Pres ..........Andy Laska .............. KA1SLG ....... 531-9493
Secretary ......... Mike Cordelli ........... N1FOA .......... 838-3661
Treasurer ......... Dick Finn ..................WA1VUU ...... 323-0982
Trustee ............ Spence Heath ........... W1BWK......... 322-7539
Editors ............ Marv Fleischman ....... N1AWJ .......... 438-7889
Mike Cordelli ............ N1FOA .......... 838-3661
Dick Finn ..................WA1VUU ....... 323-0982
Y.O.J.B. Ed..... Marv Fleischman ..... N1AWJ ........... 438-7889
Circ/Pub. ......... Dick Finn ................ WA1VUU ........ 323-0982
Repeaters: W1EE/R........ 146.055 in; 146.655 out (PL. 1Z, 100Hz)
W1EE/R.... 442.125 in; 447.125 out (PL. 2A, 114.8Hz)
Internet Home Page http://www.qsl.net/w1ee/index_ns4.html
Yearly membership $15.00 ($ 10.00 for retirees, senior members over 62, full time students, members under 16 years of age and members living over 100 miles from Stamford; $20.00 for family memberships.) This includes a copy of the club bulletin and a copy of the club roster.
Send your dues, membership applications, etc. to the club Treasurer, Dick Finn, WA1VUU, 27 Ivy St., Stamford CT 06902.
Non-commercial ads are printed in the SQUELCH BURST on a no charge basis, club members only. Send your ads for Ye Olde Jonque Boxxx and articles for the SQUELCH BURST to Marv Fleischman, N1AWJ, P.O. Box 113, Ridgefield, CT 06877, or e-mail to n1awj@ att.net.
Meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month in the 4th floor cafeteria of the Stamford Government Center, Tresser and Washington B'lvds., Stamford, CT. Meetings start at 8:00 P.M.
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Meeting Minutes from the January Meeting.
Guests - No official guests, but there was some talk of Fred's evil twin being there.
Committee Reports - Squelch Burst - Marv, N1AWJ reported that he had a couple of Ask Elmer questions lined up, but the well was looking dry so he was willing to accept even antenna questions again. Please send them to
Marv at the address on page 2.
Public Service - Nothing on the calendar yet.
Emergency Services - There will be a couple of drills coming up, one sometime in January, and the big one discussed last month at the end of the year.
Mike, N1FOA mentioned for those interested in watching the weather who have Internet access the application at www.weatherbug.com. It brings all the school weather stations the TV News uses onto your desktop with live date
fed constantly to your desk. It's great to watch a storm coming up the coast by clicking on the cities up and down the seaboard.
RFI - As most of you are probably aware there is somebody intentionally causing interference on the machine. While not covering the details of it here, the main concern is they keep bringing up the emergency (911) autopatch and just leaving it off hook. If you are available and interested in helping to monitor and drop the patch or machine when necessary, please
contact Dick, WA1VUU at the address on page 2.
VE - Marv, N1AWJ reported that the next session will be at Stamford Government Center on Saturday, February 10th at 9:30 for sign in. We still need all the VE's we can get, so if you are an Extra class and interested
please sign up with the ARRL. The fee for the tests is now $10 for the session.
Old Business - We mentioned the repeater coordination last month, we are moving forward with that getting involved with the group that is trying to organize for that purpose again.
Gerry, KA2ALT had several comments, first is he has acquired an HP 520C printer, if you are interested in it contact him. If you don't know what that is, then you probably shouldn't be interested.
Gerry also gave a brief report from the presentation given at the Senior Men's Association in December. There were about 100 people present, he showed a video borrowed from Marv, N1AWJ, and thanked Dick, WA1VUU for loaning him a key to demonstrate. We will be reminding the group about Field Day next year so they can come up and see what the hobby is all about.
Lastly, Gerry said bye for now, being a snowbird he will be heading down to Del Ray Beach, Florida, in a short time, coming back in April. If you happen to be in that area, give him a call and drop by.
Dick, WA1VUU had copies of the budget for 2001 available.
Mike, N1FOA
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
On the agenda for the next ITU World Radiocommunications Conference in 2003 is the issue of the Morse code requirement for HF privileges in Amateur Radio. The ARRL is reconsidering its current position that this requirement should be retained as a matter of international treaty. International requirements do not specify a code speed or a method of testing. Those details are left to sovereign states. It currently appears that the most rigorous requirements are in force in politically repressive countries that want to restrict their citizens' access to worldwide communications. On the other hand, Germany has just reduced its requirement from 12wpm to 5wpm for HF privileges. The logic that says CW is an efficient and effective mode has long been left behind by other digital modes and by voice modes. That's not just my opinion. It's the official opinion of the military!
Why would anyone use CW in the 21st century? It's the same reason why the roads are dotted with joggers who have cars and the mountains are cluttered with climbers. Because it's fun. While I may enjoy running 10 miles in the afternoon, I don't think that international law should require you to demonstrate your ability to run before you are allowed to drive. Running is just not an essential mode of transportation these days. Neither is CW an essential mode of communications. CW is currently the strong second most popular mode after SSB. If it is fun it will certainly survive. If it's not, maybe it shouldn't.
In any event, the ARRL should change its position. Each country should decide for itself whether to require code of its amateur operators. International treaties should not determine what's fun.
That's my opinion but not necessarily the opinion of the SARA board or membership. What's yours? We would be happy to publish any opinions of the membership.
73, Jim, N1NNG
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TREASURER'S REPORT AS OF 11 JANUARY, 2001
INCOME: EXPENSE:
Dues 150.00 Postage 33.00
50/50 5.00 Phone 16.10
Int. 9.80
________ _______
Totals $164.80 $49.10
Balances: Checking-$725.56 Savings-$4,527.86
de WA1VUU
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ASK ELMER
Dear Elmer....
The Switching Power Supply in my Computer sends out this "hash' noise that my receiver picks up......Where can I find specific information on how to "Hash Proof' my power supply?
A Listener
Dear Listener,
You pose an interesting question. I have to admit that I didn't know any specific publications that would tell you how to hash proof your switching power supply, so I did some research. There is no „magic bullet‰ which will guarantee to quiet down your supply. There are various methods, many of them trial and error, which will take you in the right direction. A switching supply must be designed with low emi/rfi (electromagnetic/radio frequency interference) as a design criteria. I did turn up some interesting and useful references, as well as a very good internet website. The website is „http://www.smpstech.com/ „which belongs to the Switching Mode Power Supply Design Group.
The following references were found which address noise reduction in power supplies:
73 Magazine Edit.; „The Power Supply Handbook‰; Tab Books Pub.
Ott, H. W.; „Noise Reduction Techniques in Electronic Systems‰; John Wiley Pub.; 1988
Ozenbaugh; „EMI Filter Design‰; Marcel Dekker Pub; 1996
And for those of you who may have access to old (obsolete) military specifications, I would recommend MIL-HDBK-241B; „Design Guide for EMI Reduction in Power Supplies‰.
Many other amateur radio publications have some articles on the use of Ferrite material to suppress RFI, but I don't know of any one which covers the subject with a „how to, step by step‰ set of procedures. Modern switching power supplies made for amateur radio use are generally quite good. The noisiest switching supplies are those made for consumer use especially those in home computers. The FCC has specifications regarding how much RFI these devices may emit, but if there are many of them in a given location, they can create quite a noisy enviroment. There was a Product Review by Joe Bottiglieri, AA1GW in the January, 2000 QST, page 70, as well as in the September 2000, QST page 76. The articles compared the noise level of several general purpose switching power supplies being used in amateur radio stations.
I hope these publications will assist you in cleaning up your switching power supply. By the way, if you intend to add a commercial line filter on the input side of your switching supply... Be Careful! Some switching power supplies become unstable when these filters are added. There is an article on the website discussing this possibility.
Good luck on your clean-up project.
73,
Elmer
Send your questions to „ASK ELMER‰, c/o Marv Fleischman, N1AWJ, PO Box 113, Ridgefield, CT 06877-0113 or e-mail to [email protected].
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YE OLDE JONQUE BOXXX
ANTENNAS FOR SALE! KLM 2M-14C and KLM 435-18C, 2 meter/440 circular pol. satellite antennas with remote polarity switch, $300 for the pair, exc. cond.
Call Greg, K1IT, (203) 637-4156
Dentron GLA-1000B Linear, good cond., $350. Dentron 1KW Super Tuner, $ 90.
Call Geoff, N1CAT (203) 966-7444 evenings
HALLICRAFTER SX-28A RECEIVER, recapped, $275. Works good.
Call Joe, N1GWO, (203) 322-4061 Evenings
ESTATE SALE: ICOM IC-734 HF w/Mike, VS-20 P.S., $ 805; MFJ-16010 Antenna Tuner, $ 30.
Call Jim, N1NNG, (203) 322-4707
COMPUTER: 586-120MHz w/ New 2 GB & 100 MB HDD, 24 Meg RAM, 3.5‰ & 5.25‰ FDD, 6X CD ROM, 14‰ SVGA Mon., Key Bd, Mouse, Sound Card & Spkrs, Lots of Disks, $ Best Offer; 10-40M Vert. Ant., $25; Heathkit Station Monitor Mod. 614, $75. Machine Tools & Machinist's Tools for Sale, 2 South Bend 7.5 HP Go-Cart Engins. Call for Info.
Call Irv, N1ATS, 348-3425
AOR 1000 XLT, 1000 Channel HH Scanner, 5KHz to 1.3 GHz continueous coverage. Exc. cond. $ 275.
Call Rick, N1LYK, (203) 531-1756
ICOM IC-211 2M All Mode XCVR w/ 80W Amplifier... $ 400.
Call Greg, KA1NGF, Work (203) 847-6166, Home (203) 849-9070
COMPLETE HF STATION, will sell all or part: Kenwood TS-820S, Remote VFO, MC-50 Mic, Dentron Linear Amp., Mosley TA-33, Ham-M Rotor, Roof Tower, MFJ Antenna Tuner, SWR Bridge, Phone Patch, etc. For details please
Call Fred, K2RUR, (203) 325-2201
ICOM IC-25A 25W , 2M mobile Xcvr. w/PL, good for packet $75 obo.
ICOM IC-02AT with BP-5 and BC-30 charger, Exc. Cond. $120 obo.
Mac Imagewriter & Laserwriter printers, best offer.
Call Jeanine, KY1Q, (203) 324-6865
CUSHCRAFT R5 VERT. ANTENNA: Wind Damaged and attached to my garage. Help me take it down IT'S YOURS, FREE!!!
Call Frank, KA1NTG, (203) 655-7378
PARTS GALORE- Xerox 3000 Word Processor (antique) w/transformer,
p/s, etc., connection to Diablo printer. FOR FREE!!! Take it away!
Call Mike, KA1VWP, (203) 838-8089
YAESU FT-757 GXII, HF Rig, FP 757 HD Power Supply, FC 757 AT Tuner
and MD 1B8 Desk Mike.
Call George, N1HIX, (203) 357-1879
ICOM IC-02AT 2M HT w BP-3, BP-5 & BP-8 Batty Packs, BC30 Charger, Spkr-Mic, Manual, $125 obo. JERROLD 900A SWEEP RF SIGNAL GENERATOR, 1MHz to 1 GHz, with detector and manual. Fully operational.. Old vacuum tube technology, 60 Lbs in table top rack cabinet. $25, obo. FatMac Computer w/ 1Meg Ram, best offer. FOR PARTS..Olevetti Accounting Machine. FREE!!!!! Take it away!!!
Call Marv, N1AWJ, (203) 438-7889
Send all your ad's for YE OLDE JONQUE BOXXX to Marv Fleischman, N1AWJ, PO Box 113, Ridgefield, CT 06877. E-mail to [email protected]. Ad's must be in by the meeting night of the month prior to the publication. (December meeting for January publication)
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EASTERN SLOW SPEED NET
Join the Eastern Slow Speed CW Net every evening on 3590 KHz at 6PM local time. CW speed is between 6 and 8 wpm. A great way to improve your CW proficiency and learn net operation. Joe, W1LUH is one of the rotating Net Control stations.
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LICENSE EXAMINATIONS
The next SARA VE session will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2001. The session will be at the Stamford Government Center, Tresser & Washington B'lvds, Stamford, CT. Check-in is at 9:30 AM in the 4th floor Cafeteria. For upgrades, bring a photocopy of your current license, as well as 2 pieces of ID (one with a photo) and any CSCE's that you have. For new licensees, bring 2 pieces of ID. NCVEC605 forms will be supplied at the session. The new test fee for the session is $10. A check payable to the „ARRL/VEC‰ is requested. No pre-registration is required. For info contact Marv, N1AWJ on page 2.