THE      ISSUE 4,  MARCH 2003

NEWSLETTER OF THE QIN AND ICN INDIANA CW TRAFFIC NETS

NET SCHEDULES:

QIN - meets on 3.656 Mhz at 0000 UTC and 1430 UTC daily

ICN - meets on 3.705 Mhz at 2315 UTC daily

QIN NCS Schedule

- QIN FEBRUARY 2003 STATS -

* All station locations are in Indiana unless otherwise specified.

QIN Manager's Comments for February 2003

It's still kind of rough on 80 meters in the morning for our 1430z late net. I have put in a change request to ARRL assigning 7062 kHz as the alt QIN/L frequency. The 7070 kHz frequency was too busy with other digital and ssb communications to have as an alternate frequency in the morning, but 7062 kHz has been fairly clear. I recommend the morning NCS to use it to pass traffic if necessary, and may even move the net there if conditions are rough. So if you arrive on QIN in the morning and no one appears to be there, check the 40-meter frequency before taking action.

There were 16 different stations QNI in the month of February, and 158 pieces of traffic passed, 73 during the early net, and 85 during the late net. Average time per session for the early net was 18.4 minutes, and 24.3 minutes for the late net. The (1430z) late net reported 28 sessions for a 100% participation once more, and the (0000z) early net 27 sessions for 96%. QNI's for the morning (Late) session were 148 total, and the evening (Early) session, 127 total.

Outstanding QNI's:

Jim/ K9ZBM-21, Ron/NA9F-24, Kirk/KO9D-25, Gary/KB9TUI-28, Andy/KC9BZL-34, and Dick/K9PUI-45.

NCS stations were:

Andy/KC9BZL -2, Brent/N9HZ-5, Kirk/KO9D-6, John/WB9OFG-12, Dick/K9PUI-14, and Gary/KB9TUI-16. THANKS ANDY, BRENT, KIRK, JOHN, and GARY for your dedicated QIN participation.

Special notes:

WB9OZZ , Homer Keesling, remains in Johnson Memorial Hospital, Todd-Aikens Health Center, Room 221, 1125 W. Jefferson St., Franklin, IN 46131. He was using a walker for the first time in several weeks, so there is some improvement. He is still dealing with pain and discomfort in his back. His daughter Lynda, and Ron, NA9F, continue to keep tabs on him and are giving us updates on his condition.WE ARE LISTENING FOR YOUR QNI HOMER.

W9PC, Mark, has returned from his trip to Hula country, and is picking up some liaison duties, and filling in with some alt NCS help. We appreciate your help.

KC9BZL, Andy, has been assigned some NCS duties now for both late and early nets. Please give him your cooperation and support while he tackles this new venture. Thank you ANDY.

Good Work- QIN exceeded last months traffic handled by 42, which is about a 36% increase. That increase in traffic was handled in much less time, so the efficiency of the nets has also picked up. Thank you all for your participation, and we are all looking for that nice spring weather.

73, Dick/K9PUI

- ICN FEBRUARY 2002 STATS -

(Individual station stats unavailable for December)

* All station locations are in Indiana unless otherwise specified.

*Other visitors include:

N1RGP/Gordon/Hancock,Maine and WA1GLS/ Tom Miller/Cleveland,OH

ICN Manager Comments for February 2003

I imagine that everyone's as tired of winter as I am. It was a strange one, propagation-wise, with lightning static coming from storms down south when you'd think the QRN level would be S-2 and Solar Events that saw "K" and "A" indices rise up into the double-digits. I have to wonder what condx will be like this summer when we get our "normal" amount of QRN...

I'd like to see the ICN session total rise. A big tip o' the Net Manager's eyeshade to those stations who have volunteered as NCS. You fellows are really the backbone of ICN. If anyone else would have one evening a week they could devote to being NCS, we could get the totals up. It's not difficult, I think it's fun (or I wouldn't do it) so, if you're interested, drop me an Email.

A big ICN "Welcome" to Tom, VE3UKU from Ontario. Tom has become a regular on the net, and I'm glad he spends a part of his evening with us. Tom has a fairly solid sig into Northern Indiana, and it will be interesting to see if it holds up this summer when we hold the net during daylight.

Speaking of which, this brings us to this month's "Tech Talk".....

QNZ

What does QNZ mean? Simply stated, it means "Zero beat your signal with mine". Forgetting for the moment any arguments about "Bandwidth Conservation", lets look at some practical aspects of why it's important to QNZ.
When the band's in poor shape, like in the Summer months, or when there's storms in the region, most CW ops go to a more narrow bandwidth in their RX. This helps by cutting out some of the "side noise" and has the effect of bringing signals up a little. I imagine everyone has a different style of operating, so this isn't the gospel I'm laying down, it's just what works for me.

I usually run my Pegasus at a 900 Hz bandwith for most CW operations when the band is quiet. When the cheese really gets binding, I drop that to 300 Hz, (and sometimes wish I could go even tighter) I don't use Ten-Tec's DSP for CW, because it seems to be unable to tell the diference between a weak sig and noise.
I do have an active audio filter, which has the effect of being able to "emphasize" the really weak sigs or cut almost all the noise. When it's set that tight, a strong signal will cause the filter to "ring", but I kind of like that...so what's all this have to do with QNZ?

When I've got everything screwed down tight, I estimate the bandwidth to be around 40 Hz. Now, take a signal who's a coupla hundred Hz off zero beat, and you can see that I'm not going to hear that sig.
I don't usually run the filters that tight when I'm NCS, for the simple reason that everyone's usually good copy, and I dont want to miss someone who may be a hundred cycles or so off.

If a station checking in is low in frequency, that's usually not a problem, they just have a higher pitch in the cans. But, if the station is high in frequency, then the pitch is lower, and sometimes, so low that all I hear is a "thump" in the cans.

So make life easier for your NCS, and QNZ...

That's all for this month, I really appreciate your support and participation in ICN. The members make the Net what it is.

73,
John WB9OFG NM ICN.

~ THE SIGNALMAN ~

by Mark Phillips, W9PC

My father is George P. Phillips. He was a U.S. Navy Signalman, 3rd Class, on Hornet (CV12) from the summer of 1945 to 1946. He and I went to the San Francisco area back in October of 1995 with several objectives. We wanted to attend the annual Fleet Week celebration, visit Hornet, and re-enact his duties of 50 years prior by actually signaling a U.S. Navy ship from the signal bridge of Hornet.

Hornet is an Essex class aircraft carrier constructed in 1942 and 1943, named as such in honor of the previous aircraft carrier Hornet (CV8). That ship had been sunk by the Japanese in October, 1942 at the Battle of Santa Cruz. CV8 occupies a special place in our nation’s history as the carrier that took the B25s and crews of Jimmy Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders within reach of their targets in Japan. The former crew of CV8 and CV12 jointly operate a survivor’s club, holding reunions annually.

Hornet (CV12) is often regarded as the most successful carrier of World War II, having destroyed more enemy planes than any other carrier while avoiding any battle damage at the hand of the enemy. Even the dreaded Kamikazes failed to hit the ship, although they tried many times. Hornet's gunners and air group destroyed 1410 enemy planes. Their air group is credited with 73 ships definitely sunk and 37 more probables. Included in this impressive total is the sinking of a large carrier and an assist in the sinking of the giant super battleship Yamato. Hornet soldiered on into the Cold War, undergoing conversions and modernizations enroute to becoming an attack carrier and finally an anti-submarine warfare platform. It completed its long and distinguished career by recovering both Apollo 11 and 12, the first and second moon landing missions. It was taken out of service and mothballed in 1970.

We arrived in San Francisco on a Friday, and proceeded by car west across the Oakland Bay Bridge. While on the Bay Bridge, I used my 2 meter HT to call WA6JZV (now K6DF), Dennis Franklin, whom I knew to be aboard Hornet manning a Special Event Station. We had recently talked on 20 meters from my home station, so Dennis was expecting our arrival. He immediately answered and followed our progress all the way to Hornet’s dock, Pier 2 at Alameda NAS. Pier 2, Alameda has a special significance for Hornet, as it is where Hornet (CV8) was docked while Doolittle’s B25s were hoisted aboard in 1942 in preparation for the Tokyo Raid.

The ship is big, and I mean really big! It is 872 feet long, with a displacement of 30,800 tons. The flight deck is 52 feet above the sea, and is 200 feet wide. The highest point is an antenna, which towers 193 feet above water level. It took 3400 men to crew the ship during World War II, and about 1000 fewer late in her career. Standing beside it on the pier, one can not help but be awed at the effort put into it’s design, construction, and operation. Even more impressive, this is just one of 24 Essex class carriers completed during World War II or soon after.

Coming aboard, we exchanged greetings with some of dad’s friends from the Hornet Club and the volunteer crew that had been preparing the ship for public open house for several months. Dad knew many of them quite well due to his frequent side trips to Hornet during business trips to the West Coast over the past few years. We then proceeded up to the Navigation Bridge level, the site of the ham radio operation. We were warmly greeted by Dennis and his father Hal, WA6CCM. We learned that Dennis is also the chief operator of the ham station on the museum submarine USS Pompanito over at Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco. He offered to let me operate the temporary ham hf station on Hornet. I unpacked and set up an old semi-automatic “bug” I had brought from home. I used it while I worked a couple of stations on 20 meters CW, then a station on 20 meters SSB in Lebanon, IN. The Lebanon operator went to the local 2 meter repeater at my request to try to raise my local buddies who were on alert as to the rough itinerary of my trip. Unfortunately, the band completely went out quite suddenly before he could accomplish that task. Dad amused himself by video taping the QSOs, and also helped pull some coax in through a porthole from the temporary antennas. It was very similar to Field Day!

Next, we learned of a “top secret”, and highly restricted impromptu below decks tour that was about to get under way. We almost didn’t make it because we caused the group size limit to be exceeded. Dad’s fast-talking saved the day, and after all, we had come all the way from Indiana! Our guide was a retired engineering officer from another aircraft carrier. The ship was closed below the hanger deck due to a temporary agreement with the Navy, having to do with safety and other legal items. We went all the way to the bottom of the ship, into engine rooms, fire rooms (boiler rooms), and a squadron ready room. Dad had never been to many of the engineering spaces as access had been permitted only to those that manned those spaces. Many areas required flashlights, as some of the ship’s lights were inoperative. I made fantastic videotape during the tour; complete with a background of typical authentic "salty" talk by former ship's crewmen! Much of the talk concerned the location of the many, many coffee pots and coffee urns that once were all over the ship. I guess they used coffee at about the same rate as fuel oil. The aft crew's mess was a particular treat, where dad pretended to demonstrate one of his first duties on the ship, doling out scrambled eggs from the steam table. Equipment manuals still lay upon desks all over the ship, as if the crew just got up and left what they were doing when the ship was mothballed in 1970. It seemed to have been frozen in time for 25 years. We tried hard to locate the berthing quarters that dad had occupied, but ship conversions and modifications had apparently radically changed that area of the ship enough that we could not identify the exact location of his old bunk.

The old ship had spent most of its time while in mothballs tied up adjacent to the battleship New Jersey in Puget Sound, Washington. It was eventually sold for scrap for about $100,000, and had spent the previous 6 months waiting scrapping at Hunter's Point shipyard, San Francisco. The scrap company loaned the ship back to the Navy for use as a centerpiece to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II to be celebrated during Fleet Week 1995. Former ship’s crew and other volunteers prepared the ship for open house display to the public. They wanted badly to permanently preserve the ship as a museum. With the formation of the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation, and the support of Alameda base CO Capt. Dodge, the ship was saved from scrapping and is now a museum. Regrettably, some damage and looting occurred to the ship while at the salvage yard. Vandals smashed up some of the boiler room steam gauges, stole most of the engine throttle valve handles, and damaged some of the controls up in Primary Flight Control. I think some of the radios were removed from radio rooms, but the Combat Information Center remains beautifully intact! In fact, the overall condition of the ship is excellent. It is a first rate attraction in the Bay area, well deserving of a visit.

On Saturday morning, we drove over to Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco. We stationed ourselves on the top deck of a large parking garage in order to get a good view of the Parade of Ships. The parade is part of the annual Fleet Week celebration in San Francisco, consisting of a long line of ships from several nations cruising under the Golden Gate Bridge into the bay. Many thousands of delighted spectators watched from every possible vantage point. The highlight was the Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carrier Carl Vinson (CVN70), which stunned the crowd by launching four FA18 Hornet fighters, and both launching and recovering an S2 Viking utility aircraft right in front of Fisherman’s Warf! An air show followed, complete with a performance by the Blue Angels.

We drove back to Hornet to watch the formal ceremonies to be held on the flight deck that afternoon. The Navy band from San Diego played a concert of traditional military music such as “Colonel Bogey”, and” Washington Post March”. Then, we were treated to the impressive formal arrivals of the Alameda base CO, Commander of San Diego Naval District, US Naval Pacific Air Force Commander, and finally the Commander in Chief of the entire US Pacific Fleet. A saluting cannon blasted the proper number of shots for each arrival, the concussion setting off many car alarms in the parking lot. The band played “Ruffles and Flourishes”. A boson pipe sounded. Dad and I had a terrific vantage point for all of this from the signal bridge.

About 140 crewmen that were on the ships of Adm. Halsey’s Task Force 16 in 1942 were on hand. TF16 took the Doolittle Raiders to their launch point to enable the Tokyo Raid. Almost every ship in TF16 was represented by at least one crewman that was on that historic and dangerous voyage. Three of Doolitle's fliers were also present. Torpedo Squadron 8 flew from Hornet (CV8) in May 1942 in obsolete planes in a desperate attack on a powerful Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway. The Navy’s success at Midway was the turning point in the war in the Pacific, dominated thereafter by the U.S. All of Torpedo 8’s planes flying from Hornet were lost in that attack, and all but one of the squadron’s flight crewmen were killed. Several surviving ground crew from that squadron were in attendance, most notably the crew chief of the squadron CO, Cmdr. Waldron. I spoke briefly with that crew chief (who was not Cmdr. Waldron), and was thrilled and honored to have had that contact with a living piece of American history. The men of TF16, the Doolittle Raiders, and Torpedo 8 were honored with stirring speeches. They are all real honest to God American Heroes, every last one. A pair of B-25s, a Wildcat, a Bearcat, and a Corsair flew over the ship right on cue during the ceremony. I was truly "Proud to be an American", a song which we all sang along the Navy Band and the Navy top brass.

Sunday morning, we got down to the business of signaling a Navy ship. We examined a big pile of about 8 or 10 12-inch signal lights that were piled on the floor of the Signalman's office. In typical Ham style, we traded parts from one to another until we had the best possible combination. All the while, T28s, Harvard SNJs, F8F Bearcats, F4F Wildcats, a DC3, and even a couple of B-25s rumbled past on the approach to the base airfield, Nimitz Field (these were privately owned aircraft and were there at the invitation of the Navy to help in their commemoration of the 50th anniversary of WWII). There was no light bulb in any of the fixtures, a special 1000 watt bulb about 2 inches in diameter and 5 inches high. The bulb type has 2 round pins about 1/4 inch in diameter at the bottom end, which are clamped into copper strapping by tightening a hex nut. An active duty destroyer, the David R. Ray, was tied up on the opposite side of our pier. It was painful to be unable to operate our lamp while we could clearly see their signal lamps from the Hornet's starboard side signal bridge where we labored. Open house was being held on the destroyer, so dad went aboard, found a "Chief", and told him of our problem. Within 5 minutes, dad disembarked the destroyer "Ray" carrying a brand new light bulb! How could he do that? He is a retired salesman.

The next problem was that there was no power cord or plug on any of the lamps. By now, we had gained the attention of several of Hornet's volunteer crew, who enthusiastically joined in the task of making "our" lamp operational. Some fanned out across the big ship to search for a cord and plug. Navy plugs are completely different from the convenience plug we are familiar with, and they are completely incompatible. Other volunteers tackled an additional problem; the electric power outlet on the signal bridge was dead. Someone appeared with a meter and tools. The outlet and on/off switch were dissembled, and were worked "hot" because no one in attendance knew where the supply breaker was located.

We could see the huge Nimitz class carrier, Carl Vinson, which was tied up at Pier No. 3, about a 1/2-mile away. We heard that open house had just opened on it. Dad and I could not take any more of the frustration with the signal lamp, so we left the volunteers still hard at work and walked the considerable distance over to Carl Vinson. The island structure, including the signal bridge, was not open for visitation during the ship's open house. But, dad soon found a "Chief", applied salesman techniques, and we were soon escorted up to the signal bridge. We were introduced to the duty signalman, a young 3rd class named Joe. We pointed over to the Hornet's signal bridge, and said something like "see that light? Be ready, we are going to signal you with it soon." Joe said OK, provided that we hold down the speed, as he wasn’t very good at Morse code. Apparently, 5words per minute is the minimum requirement for 3rd Class. He said he was better at semaphore. This was not a good sign, because the plan was for dad to send with the light, and for me to do the receiving as dad's Morse code receiving is not adequate. He is pretty good at sending semaphore, but neither of us is good enough to receive semaphore smoothly.

-END PART ONE-

[Ed. note - To be continued in part 2 next month....]

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