St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association

~~ Year in Review - 2010 ~~

December

Another successful license exam session!

  The 4 December 2010 test session had two examinees:

Bryan Green-- KB3VLG -- new Technician Class ham operator

David Spore -- KB3UBD -- new General Class ham operator

Make sure you say hi to them on the air and congratulate them

for passing the tests.

--Eric N3UH

Hard at work taking their tests on the computer

Bryan (KB3VLG) with his completed CSCE

David (KB3UBD) with his completed CSCE

Want to try out DSTAR digital voice here in southern Maryland?

Get a DSTAR radio and get on 145.67 MHz simplex.  There are at least five local stations

currently trying it out regularly... give it a try!

Click [ HERE ] to see the SMCARA D-STAR information page

October

The 146.64 MHz repeater will be PL-enabled beginning on 1 November 2010...

  SMCARA club members present at the 27 October meeting, acting upon a recommendation and motion from club member KG3BOZ followed by considerable discussion, voted unanimously to change the club-owner K3HKI 2-meter repeater operating mode.  Beginning on 1 November, a continuous sub-audible PL (Private Line) tone of 156.7 Hz will be required to access the repeater at all times.

  It is suggested that all repeater users switch on their transceiver tone encoders right now (ensure that the correct tone setting of 156.7 Hz is selected) so that there will be no interruption of service after the 1 November cut-over date.  Enabling PL encode will reduce interference between the various 146.64 MHz repeaters in the mid-Atlantic area during band openings and enable locals to work other more distant repeaters on the same channel if desired without bringing up the local machine.

  Two additional requirements were discussed and approved by the membership:

  - ensuring that a repeater message be added to occasionally announce that PL 156.7 Hz is required to access the repeater

  - enabling a special touch-tone code sequence so that users with older radios that do not have a PL encode capability can still access the repeater (complete details on how this will work will be posted to this web site shortly)

SMCARA holds successful 'SWAP-FEST' on 27 October before the meeting

  We had an excellent turn-out for our 1.5 hour long amateur radio swap-fest session at the Naval Air Museum on Thursday evening, beginning at 6 PM.  Here are some pictures:

September

We held our SMCARA club meeting for September at the alternate St. Mary's County (MD) emergency operations center in Leonardtown.  County officials briefed the membership on their support for emergency operations and club member Ray (KB3FWW) gave a tour of the new RACES room which has three separate operating positions and a host of new antennas on the 150' tower outside.  Here are some pictures taken at the meeting:

NOTE:  Click on each picture to see high-resolution version

August

W3BNY presentation on Anderson

Powerpole connectors...

June

  We now have a new air conditioner for the .64 MHz K3HKI repeater site!  A huge thank you to Mark Dayton (KB3SEP) who not only purchased a brand new air conditioner for the facility but came down on Thursday, 10 June and installed it in the communications shelter after ripping out the old, malfunctioning unit.  We are all very appreciative of this outstanding show of support to keep the association repeater equipment cool and protected from the effects of humidity.

  Sam Leach (K3KLC) and others here in St. Mary's County, MD have been working Doug Swann (KJ4EOZ) and his son, Chris (KJ4ETE) operating portable on 146.52 MHz and other simplex frequencies from the Hogwallow Flats overlook on Skyline Drive in the Virginia mountains) these last few weekends.  Doug tells us that the distance is about 102 miles.  This is fun stuff and would make a great way to see the sights with your family while getting in some operating time.  Notice that you don't need a lot of equipment or huge antenna arrays to make long-distance contacts on VHF when you have altitude and line of sight views for miles and miles...  [Thanks Doug for sending us these pictures!]

What a view!!!

May

   On Saturday morning, 15 May, several members of the club met at the Naval Air Museum to install a new B&W 3.5 to 30 MHz folded dipole on the tower and finish wiring up the ICOM IC-746 transceiver to the LDG automatic antenna tuner.  Other members installed a connector on the RG-8/U feed line and tested it for continuity.  Here are several pictures taken during the work session:

How to pull an 8' ground rod out of the ground?

(Click on picture for high resolution version)

Question:  I have two 6-foot long copper ground rods in the ground and I have since moved my
antenna and need to get them up and out of the earth.  Only about 4&1/2 feet are in
the ground and I've tried everything.  I hit them with a sledge hammer to loosen
them up.  I can spin them around with a pipe wrench.  But as far as pulling them up,
they won't budge.  Any ideas or special tools I need.  Tammy already said that
driving them all the way into the ground is not a viable option - they've got to
come up...

Tom Shelton (AB3IC)

- - - - - - - - - - - 

Response #1:  

Tom,

  There are a wealth of ways to get these out of the ground...

  The easiest way is one that I've used a few times.  Install a standard ground
clamp near the top, borrow any hydraulic-assisted device (backhoe, small tractor
with a three-point hitch, bucket loader, etc. and tie the two together.  Up it
comes... but there usually is some costs associated with this solution (unless you
have a friend who owns one of these devices who likes beer).

  Another way is to 'leverage' the power of mechanical advantage.  See the picture
at this site (http://www.amicatech.com/amicaroddriver.html) to see what I'm
talking about.  Basically, using the ground clamp I mentioned above, tie to a long
steel pole (5-6' or longer) with attach point about 1' from end.  Use the longer
portion to pull up.  You may have to grunt a little depending on how long (or
short) the longer portion of the pole is.

  Let me know if it works.

  Vr, Pete (WA3UMY)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Response #2:  

Hi Tom,

Another thing to try that has worked for me in the past, both putting them in and
getting them out, is hydraulics.  Take your garden hose and put it over the top of
the rod and start the flow.  After a few minutes, it should loosen up enough to
gorilla it out. Try the clamp method with a 2x4 to lever it up.

If that doesn't work, Pete's brute force method is probably sure-fire!  I have seen
fence contractors use that Amica device to install chain link fence posts.  Works
like a champ down in sandy Florida, but might be a little tougher up here in our
clay.

FYI, the NEC says that anything less than an 8 foot ground rod is ineffective and
not IAW code.

73 de Tom (W4OKW)


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Response #3:  

Same clamp Tom used and a bumper jack.  I might have one, if I can find it.

I like Tom's hose trick, but you still may need the jack.

Call me, if I need to dig one out.

73

Sam (K3KLC)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now... How Tom actually got the ground rod out of the ground:

Mike, KA6DLN suggested that I use an auto scissors jack to lift it out and it did
the trick...

As you can see, I did have supervision during the task.  And as it turns out, the
rods were 8 feet long, but once I got them about 3 feet up, I was able to pull them
out by hand.  It still took awhile and I made the mistake of letting my wife get a
look at the side yard where I've been hiding all my junk...  Now I have more stuff
to do...

Thanks for all the suggestions.


Tom Shelton (AB3IC)

April