The Illuminator

May Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be on Thursday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center in Nesquehoning. We expect to discuss the club’s Field Day plans, including coaching newcomers on the basics of working Field Day, using the equipment, using the logging software, etc. Field Day 101! You don’t want to miss that!

See you there!

Carbon Amateur Radio Club

Regular Meeting Minutes

April 20, 2006

The meeting was called to order by Goody, K3NG, at 19:47 local time.

Present were: KB3LFD, N3TVV, W3EFI, KB3KLJ, K3NG, KB3BYT, and WA3IEM (7 in all).

The treasurer's report submitted by John, W3MF, was read by Goody, K3NG as follows:

Treasurer's Report

Previous Balance	$1,107.42
Receipts (dues)	$152.00
Sub-total	$1,259.42
Disbursements (newsletter)	-$4.68
New Balance	$1,254.72

A motion was made to accept the treasurer's report. Seconded and carried unanimously.

Minutes from the March 16 meeting were reviewed by Goody, K3NG. A motion was made to accept the minutes as published, seconded and carried unanimously.

Old Business

Field Day

Eric, N3TVV, mentioned that we have approval to use the Bott Building again this year as our field day site. After brief discussion about Flag Staff, a motion was made to hold Field Day at the Bott Building. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

Discussion followed about changes at the site (trees taken down, etc.). On June 9th, a visit will be made to survey the site and plan for antennas and operating positions.

Brian, KB3KLJ mentioned inviting Mark Nalesnik and other county officials to the site on Field Day.

There was some general discussion about the possible use of Winlink and PSK. No determination was made at this time.

Additionally, it was mentioned about sending a message to the Section Manager. No specific action assigned as yet on this.

Goody, K3NG, asked for a show of hands of those present who are able to participate in this year's field day. The following members responded affirmatively: KB3LFD, N3TVV, KB3KLJ, K3NG, KB3BYT, and WA3IEM

Discussion was held on status of a 6M 4 el Yagi. Kent, WA3IEM, will be unable to bring his antenna this year. A motion was made for the club to purchase a 6M 4 el Yagi at a price not to exceed $200.00. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

New Business

Trip Presentation by N3EHY and WB3IWC

Goody, K3NG, shared an email he received from Mel, N3EHY, and Joel, WB3IWC, and their willingness to present to the club their experiences on a DXpedition. The members agree to schedule this for the July club meeting.

What's Happening in Carbon County

The topic of What's Happening in Carbon County was reintroduced. We should plan on doing an “advertisement” on Field Day. There was discussion about taking info from the club brochure on the web site and working that into something for the next publication. Also, some pictures of field day should be used if possible.

Goody, K3NG, and Brian, KB3KLJ, will work on the write-up.

Citizen's Corp

Brian, KB3KLJ, shared info from his attendance at the last Carbon County Citizen's Corps. meeting on April 12th. The EOC was thankful for the club's presence at the meeting, and we have been able to get the ARES/RACES group and capabilities back on the mind of the EOC. It was also recognized the role amateur radio could play within the Citizen's Corps and CERT activities to support communications for CERT teams.

Brian, KB3KLJ, mentioned that there is a very competitive grant cycle underway, but at the moment, there was not ability to get ARES/RACES related items into the budgeting, however there was a positive response in working this into the future budgeting, and Brian, KB3KLJ will have a continuing dialog with the EOC to keep ARES/RACES going within the EOC's plans.

May Meeting

Goody, K3NG, indicated that the May meeting would focus largely on our Field Day preparations, with plans to spend some time sharing on how the exchanges work during Field Day, and familiarizing people with the equipment to be used.

The meeting adjourned at 20:36 local time.

Following the meeting, Rob, KB3BYT, did a presentation on satellite tracking software, with help from Brian, KB3KLJ to provide info from the Linux side, as well as some simple antenna ideas.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Brian, KB3KLJ.

DXCC Desk Approves Operations for DXCC Credit

(From the ARRL Letter)

The ARRL DXCC Desk has approved these operations for DXCC credit: YI9AQ (Iraq), current operation, effective September 21, 2004; D6/WB4MBU (Comoros), operation from May 24 to

October 27, 2001; D68JC (Comoros), operation from October 23 to November 8, 2001, and 4W2AQ (Timor-Leste), operation from June 18 to December 17, 2003. For more information, visit the DXCC Web page http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc. "DXCC Frequently Asked Questions" can answer most questions about the DXCC program. ARRL DX bulletins are available on the W1AW DX Bulletins page http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/dx/.

Armed Forces Day 2006 Military/Amateur Activities Set

(From the ARRL Letter)

The US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will cosponsor the annual military/Amateur Radio communications tests Saturday and Sunday, May 13-14, 56th Armed Forces Day. Although the actual Armed Forces Day is Saturday, May 20, the Armed Forces Day on-the-air activities will take place earlier, to avoid conflicts with those who might be attending Dayton Hamvention, May 19-21. The annual activity features traditional military-to-amateur crossband (i.e., hams transmit on amateur frequencies and receive military stations on nearby military channels) SSB voice tests and copying the Secretary of Defense's annual Armed Forces Day message via digital modes (RTTY, PACTOR, AMTOR, PSK-31 and MT63). "These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills and receive recognition from the Secretary of Defense and/or the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise," the US Armed Forces Day announcement says. QSL cards will be provided to those making contact with military stations. Commemorative certificates will be awarded to those receiving and copying without error the digital Armed Forces Day message from the Secretary of Defense. The tentative schedule of on-the-air events — including a list of participating stations, the Secretary of Defense's message transmission schedule and more information — is available on the US Army MARS Web site http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/news/ARMED%20FORCES%20DAY%20(2006).doc. The schedule is subject to change without notice.

Non-deliverable Card Remains in “QSL Limbo” for 50 Years

(From the ARRL Letter)

George Hitz, W1DA, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, can finally account for one of his QSL cards — one he sent in 1956. While a newly licensed teenager living in DeLand, Florida, Hitz, then KN4DPI, fired up his Johnson Viking Adventurer transmitter and made contact with Dave, KN6MSI, on 40 meters. Like a good operator, Hitz sent off a QSL card, addressed only to "Amateur Radio — KN6NMI, Chief Op Dave, Address Unknown, Riverdale, Calif." This turned out to be David Leaven, later WI6J, who became a Silent Key in 2003.

"I was 14, and like me, Dave was a new ham, and he wasn't in the call book," Hitz told ARRL. "I hoped there would be someone at the Riverdale post office that would know who Dave was, and it would get to him." But Hitz made one mistake: he addressed the card to Riverdale instead of to Dave's actual QTH, Riverside. That simple error left the card sitting in QSL limbo from 1956 until now.

"In 1956, I was just a Novice operator with a primitive station and even more primitive operating skills," Hitz explained. "Back then, with my radio built from a kit and my BC-348 World War II Army Air Corps surplus receiver and a 60-foot long wire antenna that was 15 feet high, California, was like a whole other country. And I needed that California QSL!"

Hitz had put a return address on his card, but for reasons perhaps best known to the US Postal Service, it finally was returned to his former Florida address in early April. It turned up in the mailbox of Mack McCormick, a nonham now living in Hitz's childhood home.

"The card apparently has been in the 'Twilight Zone' for 50 years," McCormick said. "It's not wrinkled or anything."

McCormick offered to return the card to Hitz, but Hitz declined. "What would I do with it?" he said. "I understand the guy who found it is going to frame it and place it on his coffee table!"

The story of the long-lost QSL card received worldwide attention. "The press has run wild with this," Hitz said. "I heard this story has been in newspapers in India, Iceland, Ireland — all over the world, over 100 countries! It's almost like I could have DXCC from all the countries that have reported it."

Useful Phrases for DXers and Contesters

(From the ARRL Contest Rate Sheet)

We return to the inexhaustible Babel Fish translator at Alta Vista (http://babelfish.altavista.com) for more fun with contest-related Portuguese:

· What a lid! - Que tampa!

· You look very nice in a thong - Você olha muito agradável em um thong

· I thought you packed the power cable - Eu pensei que você embalou o cabo de poder

· Which way is Europe? - Que maneira é Europa?

· What is our zone? - Que é nossa zona?

Bell Labs Transistor Has Reached Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)

(From the ARRL Contest Rate Sheet)

Many of the Rate Sheet readers have at least some passing familiarity with the Bell Labs building in Holmdel, NJ that has the water tower shaped like a transistor. As this article notes, the transistor has reached its MTBF and will soon be snipped: http://tinyurl.com/s8jzy. (Thanks, Steve N2IC)

Editor’s Note: Yeah, I know you guys don’t care, but I worked for Bell Labs for 14 years! J

ARRL Propagation Forecast Bulletin

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 18 ARLP018

From Tad Cook, K7RA

Seattle, WA May 5, 2006

To all radio amateurs

This was a nice, quiet week with no notable geomagnetic activity. In fact, the middle latitude K index was 0 for a 36-hour period centered on April 30, and around the same time the high latitude college K index was 0 for 51 continuous hours. Average daily sunspot numbers were nearly double the previous seven days, rising over 29 points to 59.7.

As this bulletin is being written early Friday morning, the IMF is pointing south, leaving Earth vulnerable to solar wind. The planetary A index reached 5 on Thursday, May 4, and over the weekend is predicted at 20, 30, 20 and 12 for May 5-8. Geophysical Institute Prague gives a forecast until May 11 of active geomagnetic conditions on May 5 and 6, unsettled May 7, quiet to unsettled May 8, quiet on May 9, back to unsettled on May 10, and unsettled to active on May 11.

April has ended, so this is a good time to look at average monthly sunspot numbers and solar flux for the past year.

The average daily sunspot numbers for the months April 2005 through April 2006 were 41.5, 65.4, 59.8, 68.7, 65.6, 39.2, 13, 32.2, 62.6, 26.7, 5.3, 21.3 and 55.2. Average daily solar flux for the same months was 85.9, 99.5, 93.7, 96.5, 92.4, 91.9, 76.6, 86.3, 90.8, 83.4, 76.5, 75.5 and 88.9.

Paul Peters, VE7BZ of Cobble Hill, British Columbia wrote in to say that conditions around those quiet days last week were fantastic. "On April 29, 30 and May 1, the 20 meter band conditions to Europe were almost unbelievable they were so good. On April 29 and 30, I called CQ once at 0300z and four hours later at 0700z I was still working down an endless pileup. Normally for us — living this far north — 20m phone is usually dead in our evenings, but such was not the case recently. These were great nights!"

Cobble Hill is toward the southern end of Vancouver Island, just north of Victoria, and about 50 miles southwest of the city of Vancouver.

Richard Vincent, HS0ZFQ (he is KR7R when in the United States) retired from the postal service in Seattle and now lives in Chiang Rai in the far north of Thailand, between the borders with Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Over those same days at the end of April that VE7BZ wrote about, Richard wrote, "I was hearing stateside signals all over the place on 20 meter SSB starting about 1300z, which is 8:00 PM local time. From this end VR2XMT, Charlie Ho in Hong Kong was running USA stations and so were a couple of the Russian big guns. I had not heard conditions like that since I got on the air here last October."

Richard currently uses a dipole, and has plans to soon put up a quad.

Last week's bulletin mentioned Greg Andracke, W2BEE of Pine Plains, in upstate New York, and his experience working Chagos on 30 meters early on a Saturday morning in mid-April. Several people wrote in to say that this was a normal time to work Chagos via the long path on that band. Actually, that is true for many other places in North America, but not where Greg is, in the Northeast.

The people we heard from were all south and west of Greg, although checking a propagation prediction program shows that the Southeast United States should have a good path as well. Southern California around that time on that date would have a very good short path opening to Chagos.

Dale Tongue, AC7NP, currently in El Paso, Texas wrote in to ask about sunspot graphs, and where he could find them on the web. For a graph of the last year of sunspots, check, http://wm7d.net/hamradio/solar/. Also see all recorded sunspot cycles back to 1749 at, http://wm7d.net/hamradio/solar/historical.shtml.

A graph of the current sunspot cycle is at, http://dawn.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/, and you can compare recent cycles at, http://www.dxlc.com/solar/cyclcomp.html.

You can see http://www.dxlc.com/solar/ for a chart of the past few months, and check out the links lower on the page for interesting historical data.

And finally, Thomas Giella, KN4LF of Lakeland, Florida notes that he has started a new email listserver for radio propagation. See info on subscribing at, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radiowavepropagation/.

If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, [email protected].

For more information concerning radio propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see the ARRL Technical Information Service propagation page at,

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at, http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/.

Sunspot numbers for April 27 through May 3 were 63, 68, 64, 62, 51, 58 and 52 with a mean of 59.7. 10.7 cm flux was 100.7, 100.1, 101.2, 99.9, 93.4, 89.4, and 89, with a mean of 96.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 5, 12, 3, 1, 2, 4 and 3 with a mean of 4.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 10, 2, 0, 2, 4 and 2, with a mean of 3.3.

ARRL DX Bulletin

DX Bulletin 18 ARLD018

From ARRL Headquarters

Newington CT May 4, 2006

To all radio amateurs

This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.

RODRIGUES ISLAND, 3B9. Jose is QRV as 3B9/ON4LAC and has been active using PSK on 15 meters around 1000z and then 20 meters just after 1700z. QSL to home call.

SRI LANKA, 4S. Bob, ZL1RS is QRV as 4S7CCG until November.

SENEGAL, 6W. Look for F6CMH, F1HDI and F1BCS to be QRV as 6V7B, 6V7A and 6V7C, respectively, from May 7 to 13. Activity will be on all bands, using SSB, digital modes and EME. US stations QSL direct via W7MAE and all others direct via F6CMH.

JAMAICA, 6Y. Mickey, AK5Q is QRV as AK5Q/6Y5 from Ocho Rios until May 12. He is active mostly on 20 meters using CW and SSB. He plans to work all 50 states. QSL to home call.

PAKISTAN, AP. Khalid, AP2KD has been active on 20 meters SSB around 1340z.

CHINA, BY. Members of the TianJin DX Club and possibly others are QRV as BI3H from Puti Island, IOTA AS-134, until May 7. Activity is on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via BA4EG.

SAINT MARTIN, FJ. Ron, SM7DKF will be QRV as FS/SM7DKF from May 6 to 10. Activity will be on 30 to 6 meters using SSB and PSK31. He will then be active on FJ/SM7DKF from St. Barthelemy, IOTA NA-146, from May 10 to 20. QSL to home call.

ITALY, I. Look for several Italian operators to be QRV as II1W in the ARI International DX Contest. QSL via IW1FGZ.

JAPAN, JA. JA5BEX/5 is QRV from Turu Island, IOTA AS-076, in the Shikoku Island group until May 6. QSL to home call.

AUSTRIA, OE. Paolo, IV3UHL is QRV as OE8/IV3UHL as a Single Op entry in the ARI International DX Contest. QSL to home call.

POLAND, SP. Special event station SP0TPFK is active until May 31 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Lviv Shortwave Club, which was one of the first radio amateur clubs in Europe. QSL via SP2FAP.

UKRAINE, UR. Special event station EO61G is active until May 14 to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II. QSL via UR3GM.

LORD HOWE ISLAND, VK9L. Merv, N6NO is QRV as VK9LNO until May 13. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using mostly CW. QSL to home call.

INDONESIA, YB. Look for Hot, YC0IEM to be QRV from Bali Island, IOTA OC-022, from May 8 to 25, from YB9AY's station. QSL via IZ8CCW.

ALBANIA, ZA. Pino, I8YGZ is QRV as ZA/I8YGZ until May 15. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters, including 6 and 2 meters, using CW and SSB. QSL to home call.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The New England QSO Party, MARAC County Hunter CW Contest, Radio Club of America QSO Party, 10-10 International Spring CW Contest, Microwave Spring Sprint, 7th Call Area QSO Party, US IPARC Annual CW/SSB Contest, Indiana QSO Party

and the ARI International DX Contest will certainly keep contesters busy this weekend. The North American High Speed Meteor Scatter Spring Rally runs until May 7. Please see May QST, page 99 and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest websites for details.

Move Closer to the DX

By Paul Dunphy, VE1DX

We were sitting on the front porch, thinking about how fast the time had gone by this fall. We realized that Lord Howe Island would soon be on and the Local QRPers would be scampering about, comparing notes and beam headings, asking endless questions about the best path and band to use and pleading with the Palos Verdes Sundancers to get the flux up just a bit higher. In fact, this had already begun! The Locals had been in a frenzy for the past couple of months. Just about this time one of the more persistent QRPers rounded the corner and beat his way up the hill. This QRPer had a look in his beady little eyes that was somewhere between confusion and danger. We prepared ourselves for the inevitable onslaught of questions. Our energies were running low, for this had been going on since the VK9LNO DXpedition had been announced. A QRPer in need of a new one will wear you down. Absolutely! Remember that . . . Local QRPers have an endless supply of energy.

"Where is the best place in the world to work DX from?" the QRPer asked, as he sat down and pulled his chair up to face us. We were prepared for the stream of Lord Howe Island questions and it was difficult to switch to another topic in midstream. We had to put our textbook answers on Lord Howe Island aside, so we stalled for time. "Why do you ask?" we said, looking at the QRPer with our poker face, "aren't you worried about working VK9LNO? What beam heading and which band?" Answering a question with a question always buys time. Guaranteed. Ask any member of the legal profession! The QRPer looked at us and replied, "Oh, them . . . they won't be hard. I'll get them in the log. What I want to know is where, exactly, in the world is the best location for working DX?"

We had shifted gears and we were now back in philosophical mode, with our classic Lord Howe Island answers on the back burner for a moment. "That's an interesting question," we replied, "why do you ask?" The QRPer looked around a bit and then spoke in a low tone, "Well, you see, I'm getting close to retirement, and I've done quite well with my investments. I have enough put aside to move pretty much anywhere I want. I think I've convinced the XYL that we should think about finding another spot to live, maybe even another country. Now, while the XYL may think I'm just tired of living around here, any true blue DXer would understand that the only real reason to move would be to get closer to the DX, right?"

Son of a Gun! We had been asked a lot of questions over the years, but this was a first. "Closer to what DX?" we replied slowly. "All of it!" the QRPer retorted in a split second, "This has got to be the worst place in the world for DXing. We're too far from all the DX. I keep missing stuff guys in W1 and W2 work with one call! And what about the VO1s and the VE1s. They have one foot in the Atlantic Ocean and the best takeoff to Europe in the world! And speaking of Europe, they have it made. They work deep into Asia and the Far East like we work the W9s. And what about Japan? They have it made! I bet they can work HL and BY and BZ every night on 80. And they likely have both JD1s on 80 and 40, too! What chance do we have?"

We took a deep breath and thought about this for a minute . . . maybe two or three. The QRPer kept staring at us impatiently. QRPers don't like to wait for answers! "Well," where should I move?" he asked again. "Why don't you stay just where you are?" we asked, "You've got a good station. There are lots of DXers in this call area on Honor Roll. This county isn't a bad spot for DXing. Stay here and work the DX that IS!"

It was clear we weren't getting through. "Didn't you hear what I just said?" the QRPer said in a rather sharp tone, "Didn't I just explain how just about anywhere else in the world is better off than we are? Sometimes I wonder about you!"

These are trying times in this world of DX, and we thought about the QRPer's question a bit longer and then replied. "You could move to W1 or W2 land," we replied finally, "and you sure would do better working Europe and Africa. But, then again, what about the Pacific Islands? You'd have to beat your way through the west coast QRM."

"I never really thought about that," the QRPer replied, "maybe VE1 or VO1 would be better? The Canadians sure have it made. They are far enough north that they wouldn't be bothered by the W6 QRM. Their signals would swing over VE7 and right down into the Pacific. And they'd still have the best shot in the world into Europe and Asia beaming east." We had seen this one coming. "That's true, but did you look at the latitude? They are around 45 to 50 degrees north. Sunspot Louie's reports have the Ap pretty high a lot of days. Those guys in VE land are a lot closer to the auroral zone than we are. If there's any significant geomagnetic activity, their signals are attenuated. And, if you move to a different DXCC country, you lose what you have now and you'll have to start over." The QRPer looked at us with a bit of a confused look. "Never thought about having to start over," he replied, deep in thought, "and I guess you are right about the northern latitudes and attenuated signals."

We thought we had a solid case, but the QRPer persisted. "OK, maybe the East Coast or Canada wouldn't be any better than here. But what about the JAs? Now they have it made. I'd be willing to start over if I moved there. I'd re-work the Pacific stuff and the path to Europe and Asia would be a lot easier than here, right?" We had to agree with that, "Yes, you'd have a clear shot into the Pacific for sure, and Europe wouldn't be too bad either. The problem would be the Caribbean. And CY0 and CY9. That's a hard path from JA. There are a dozen or so countries that you'd have to wait a long time for from JA."

The QRPer made one last attempt. "Europe then!" he said in desperation, "that's where I'll go. I'll get a nice country villa in Europe. That should give me a pretty good shot at almost everything." What could we say? Nothing but the truth. "Most of Europe is north of 40 degrees. Some above 50. You'd get the same auroral attenuation as the VEs. And the path into the Pacific, even easy stuff like KH6 and the like isn't that good."

The QRPer threw up his arms in frustration. "What are you telling me, buster? That we live in the best spot for DX in the world? Why am I missing all the good stuff, then?" He didn't wait for an answer and just stomped off down the hill, arms swinging and shaking his head back and forth. As hard as it may be, we thought that maybe the QRPer had just learned one of the Inevitable Truths of DXing. DX is where you find it and the grass always looks greener on the other side. Or, more properly put by Albert, all things are relative, only some more so. Especially when you are in W6 and a 7O is working the East Coast on 40 and 80!

May 2006

ARRL Propagation Forecast Bulletin

ARRL DX Bulletin