October Squelch Burst 2002 Oct. Program: Speaker from West Mountain Radio.
SARA web page: www.qsl.net/w1ee/ctsara.htm Also
in PDF Format
October 2002 THE SQUELCH BURST a monthly publication of the STAMFORD AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION
President .......… Andy Laska .............. KA1SLG ........ 531-9493 Vice Pres .……..Fred Cunningham...... K1FC …......... 322-8274 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 at http://www.qsl.net/ctsara Yearly membership $20.00 ($ 15.00 for retirees, senior members over 62, $10.00 for 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 06877-0113, or e-mail to n1awj@ attuned. Unless noted, 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. Free parking in the Government Center garage with the entrance on Washington B'lvd. The Stamford Amateur Radio Association is a tax exempt organization under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue code. Page 7 October 2002 EMPIRE SLOW SPEED NET Join the Empire 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. Page 8 October 2002 YE OLDE JONQUE BOXXX
ICOM IC-2AT 2m HT w/Charger, Batty., & SS-32MP micro-min. CTCSS Encoder kit, VGC, $100; Simpson 260 VOM, VGC, $50. Call Geoff, N1CAT, (203) 966-7444 evenings
HALLICRAFTER SX-28A RECEIVER, recapped, $275. Works good. Call Joe, N1GWO, (203) 322-4061 Evenings
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
AOR 1000 XLT, 1000 Channel HH Scanner, 5KHz to 1.3 GHz continuous coverage. Exc. cond. $ 275. Call Rick, N1LYK, (203) 531-1756
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
Mac Laserwriter printer, best offer. Call Jeanine, KY1Q, (203) 324-6865
FatMac Computer w/ 1Meg Ram, Free!!!; FOR PARTS..Olevetti Accounting Machine. FREE!!!!! Take it away!!! Call Marv, N1AWJ, (203) 438-7889
HD-73 ROTOR w/CONTROL & CABLE, $50; Cushcraft 10-40M Vert. Ant., $15; Ringo Ranger 2M Antenna, $10; Heathkit Station Monitor Mod. 614, $50. Machinist's Tools for Sale, 2 South Bend 7.5 HP Go-Cart Engines. Lots of Tools, Hardware and Craft supplies, etc. Call for Info. Call Irv, N1ATS, 348-3425
2M 30W AMPLIFIER, $25; 6M Amplifier, 10W in 150W out, $175 Call Andy, KA1SLG, (203) 531-9493
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)
October 2002 Page 6 ASK ELMER Dear Elmer, O.K. So tell me about Baluns. I am told that "Balun" is a contraction of BALanced - UNbalanced (like me). I've also seen lots of Quick n' Dirty ways of making Baluns, like coiled coax, sleeves made of torroid cores or pill bottles filled with Steel wool or scrap Iron with the transmission line passing through. How do these designs work (sort of tell me) and how frequency dependant are they? Like, can a Balun for 2 meters be smaller than one for 160? What's the advantage, especially with a Dipole? Signed, Semi-Unbalanced
Dear Semi, The subject of Baluns is a lengthy one, and really cannot be described in any detail in these pages. I will try to give you a hand waving overview of what they are and do, as well as some references for your further enlightenment. You are quite correct about the origin of the name Balun. It is a contraction of BALanced-Unbalanced. In the simplest terms, a Balun is a transformer whose function is to transform an unbalanced feed line, such as coaxial cable to a balanced load , such as a dipole or other balanced antenna. It generally has, but does not have to have, a 1:1 impedance ratio. This is not the only place that a Balun is used, but for Ham Radio operators, the most common use. There are two types of Baluns, voltage and current. The voltage Balun generates a equal (balanced) voltage at its output terminals which is 180 degrees out of phase which each other. If the load into to which the Balun is connected is a truly balanced load, then the currents into the load are going to be equal and balanced. There will be no stray currents generated (especially along the outer shield of the coaxial cable, which can act as a stray radiator) and the load will absorb (use, radiate) all of the power being sent to it. I am making the assumption that the load, generator and transmission line is properly matched. In the event that the load is not perfectly balanced, the current Balun would be the appropriate choice. A current Balun (sometimes called a choke Balun) delivers an equal but out of phase current to the load. As most antennas are current driven devices, this type of Balun would be the most appropriate one to use. Because of its construction, it also acts as an effective choke, preventing stray currents from flowing down the outer shield of coaxial cable feed line. One of the more common forms of the current Balun is 10 or 15 turns of the coaxial cable feed line just prior to its being connected to a balanced antenna. Baluns can be constructed in many forms. They can be wound on torroidal or other powdered iron and/or ferrite core in order to increase their low frequency capabilities. They can be constructed of 1/4 wave transmission lines for narrow band Baluns. Any technique which will generate the transformer action is appropriate. At this point, a word of caution. A Balun (unless it is being used as an impedance matching transformer i.e., 4:1, etc.) does not improve the match between the load and the transmission line or source. Continued on Page 7 ASK ELMER cont. The following is by no means an extensive list of publications covering the theory, construction and operation of Baluns, but should assist you in a greater understanding of the devices: Straw, R.D. ed., “The ARRL Antenna Book”; ARRL pub. Sevich, J., “Transmission Line Transformers”; ARRL pub. Huchinson, C. ed., “Handbook for Radio Amateurs”, ARRL pub. DeMaw M.F., “Ferromagnet Core Design & Application H'bk”; MFJ Milligan, T.A., “Modern Antenna Design”; McGraw Hill Pub. Johnson, R.C., Jasik, H., “Antenna Engineering H'bk”; McGraw Hill Pub Well Semi, this should help you to become well balanced, at least for the current time. 73, Elmer Send your questions to “ASK ELMER”, c/o Marv Fleischman, N1AWJ, PO Box 113, Ridgefield, CT 06877-0113 or e-mail them to [email protected].
October 2002 ECHOLINK By Al Goldberg, AG1B
My horizontal loop antenna was down, leaving me without ham radio. Marv Kronenberg, K1DLT, told me about EchoLink and now I am working the world without an antenna or ham equipment. All that I need is a computer built within three years and an internet connection. Plug a cheap microphone into your soundcard or computer. The loudspeakers of your computer should work OK but disconnect the powered woofer to eliminate audio feedback. Go to www.echolink.org and read what it is all about. Jonathon Taylor of the Norwalk radio club wrote the software. After downloading about 2-megabytes of software; register. If you are a licensed ham, you will be accepted and the world is yours. Over 40-thousand amateurs are already in and EchoLink is growing at about 200 a day. A dial-up internet connection is fine although large conference QSOs work better with a fast connection. I have a cable modem via Optonline. Whenever you are connected to EchoLink, your call sign appears on the listing. You can connect almost automatically for a chat and anyone can call you. A large number of repeaters are already linked to EchoLink. Many hams link their regular equipment but I fail to see the benefit. The amazing thing is that contacts are clear without interference, fading, or static. DX becomes easy as working a local station. I was on a round-robin contact with two hams in the UK and a ham in New Zealand. Try that over the air. The predecessor of EchoLink is I-Link, which is fading out fast. I understand that I-Link lists call signs in no special order thereby making these difficult to find. EchoLink lists the call signs in alphabetical and numerical order. Marv and I wonder about the future of ham radio. RF is still needed for mobile and emergency communications. The ARRL may have unpleasant vibes about this turn of events. Without ham gear; who will advertise in QST? A welcome change is that one can ragchew with DX instead of simply exchanging calls. Gone are the pileups! Give EchoLink a try!
At the last meeting it was suggested that I spend more time getting speakers for the meetings and less time working on the repeater. When I asked for someone to work on arranging speakers for meeting I got the same response I get every time I ask for a volunteer to do anything, everyone in the crowed shrinks 3 inches and stares at there shoes. Clubs work on a simple principle, a group of people get together each contributing a small amount of time and energy and the group as a whole benefits. Somehow this idea has been forgotten here and activities and duties have fallen into a rut of the same person being expected to handle a specific duty as long as they still draw breath. Then some portion of the membership complains ‘ why has so and so always got his nose in everything'. The answer is simple, somebody has to do it, since you aren't doing it, so and so has free run with it. Today ham radio has a more vital role in the safety of our communities than it had at the height of the cold war. The more real threat of terrorist activities coupled with our dependence on technology, cable TV, telephone, cell phones and, pagers, has created a necessity for amateur communication between government agencies and facilities. I'm to old and tired or I'm to busy is not an acceptable excuse, even if you can only contribute an hour of time, that's an hour someone else can stretch there legs then get back to the task at hand. Are you on the emergency call out list? Or at least get your name placed on a stand by list for when then main players get exhausted? You don't have to run the show but at least let someone know that if we do get in a tight spot, you will help. Do you have internet access? Can you download a sound file? Can you figure out how to play that sound file over a radio? Perhaps you can take some of the burden away from WA1VUU and help him with the amateur radio news line broadcast during the Sunday night 2m net. So the next time he goes out of town or his gymnastics on the cellar steps go awry, someone can fill the void until he returns. I don't know how or why things have gotten to the point that so few member are willing to contribute even a phone call ( or a postage stamp) for the club. I hope it is not because of some incident that happened over decade ago. If it is, why haven't you brought up this problem at a meeting? WE meet the first Thursday of the month, 8:00 pm, in the 4th floor cafeteria of the government center. I haven't bitten anyone in 30 years or thrown a punch in 20 and I won't make light of any concern. I need you to take some interest in what the club is doing, if you have an idea for a guest speaker and have one in mind, call them, find out what first Thursday of the month they have free and if they are willing to come. Then call me, most dates are open, June, July and December are field day planning, picnic and the annual business meeting. I have someone coming from West Mountain Radio for the October meeting, November is open.
My home phone number 203-531-9493 My email address [email protected] snail mail Andrew Laska 925 King st. Greenwich, CT 06831
Andy KA1SLG
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM.
Guests: N1EOF, John Gagnon, Donna Librandi, kb1 IFY's YL
Squelch Burst Dick Finn to edit
Ask Elmer, needs questions once again
An Article coming by Al Goldberg
VE, Next session scheduled for 2nd Saturday in November, new question pool will be in effect. August VE session yielded 3 applicants , 1 new license and 2 upgrade's.
Public service Stamford-Denmark friendship sailboat race scheduled for Sunday September 8, 8:30 am.
Emergency. A new call out list should be available in 2 weeks.
Web page. Everything Okay.
John N1EOF spoke on the importance ARES and had a sign up list to become an ARES member. Check the (SARA) ARES web page.
Free level 1 training courses are available through the ARRL.
Intermission.
Repeater: Desense from intermittent connection and bad tuning of the duplexer are most likely causes of lack of receive sensitivity. Still looking for a 4' rack cabinet
New business, It was mentioned that the lack of attendance at meetings was do to not having speakers, a request for volunteer to work on the program committee received no takers.
Meeting adjourned 9:35 PM.