Public Service: Stamford- Denmark race Scheduled for Sept 8 needs volunteers.
 Contact Marv or Jeanine, KY1Q to participate. 

 Emergency; contact Fred, K1 FC, to be placed on the call out list or with
 changes. The Scofield Town magnet school, Scofield House and Smith House are
all  going through being certified as emergency shelters for the city. Meetings
were  held with the Dept. of Public Safety to see what  communication needs 
were at these sites.  Stamford Emergency     Skywarn & Live Weather 

 Technical committee: the 440 power amp is still being worked on. the 440
machine is up and running with 20 watts out from KA1SLG's qth in Western
Greenwich.

Andy, KA1SLG

				PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
                  
      I would like thank all of you that participated in field day this
year, you did a great job. Fred and Terry worked out all the kinks as they
occurred and Mike, KB1DXC, was kind enough to bring his K2 qrp rig in when the
generator failed and did a fantastic job operating. Also, many thanks to Mike,
N1FOA, Gerry and, Dennis for doing the food. Many thanks to Dennis for hosting
the picnic.
     It looks like the move to allow amateurs on 5 mhz is growing, the RSGB is
now looking into allowing UK hams to use that band. If the band stays as quiet
atmospherically as it is now, it should make a great low frequency DX band.
There are almost no broadcast stations on this band and the only traffic I have
heard is some encrypted rtty just out side of the proposed allotment.
    The ARRL has gotten even more funding for their online emergency training
courses, now from the office of homeland security. The feds need to rename this 
office, it sounds to much like something David Letterman cooked up. Mike N1FOA,
should have more details on how to get in on this deal and maybe train a few
willing volunteers to start a training course here.
    Since we can always use filler for the Squelch Burst, I'm dipping into my
archive of hard learned lessons   to give the old hams and new some tips on
getting the most from there nicad and nimh batteries. My experience comes from
flying radio controlled airplanes for almost twenty years now. R/C flyers have
to be most attentive to the condition of there batteries for obvious safety
reasons and no pilot likes have to go off into the woods, find there plane dig
there motor out of the dirt and then carry the pieces back out. I don't think I
have ever heard of a ham blowing up an HT because the batteries went dead but
with what some packs cost to replace, getting the longest life span out of a
pack is desirable. Here are some good ways to KILL a battery, or at the very 
least take years off its life span.
    Charge them when there hot, above about 90 degrees F. It's almost guaranteed
there going to lose capacity from a single charge like this and start self
discharging more quickly. And if you want to destroy them quicker, put them on
one of those 15 minute fast chargers while there hot.
    Charge them when there cold, below about 40 degrees F. When the cells are
cold like this they a reluctant to give up there electrons and won't power much
of a load making you think there dead and need recharging. Which leads to over
charging and the cells getting hot, oh boy do cold cells  get hot when you stick
them in a fast charger.
     Leave your batteries laying around a few months in a discharged state.  If
they will take a charge after laying around your lucky, if they take a full
charge and hold it for more than a day, go play lotto fast, your on a wining
streak. Discharged batteries also promote something that is known as black wire
syndrome. This is no joke, I've lost about $600 in smashed equipment from this
'thing'. It seems that the seal that holds the juices inside the cells is not
100% sealed unless there is some potential left in the cell and allows gasses or
electrolyte to escape when that potential isn't there. The 'stuff' heads
straight for anything connected to the negative side of the battery made of
copper and turns it a dull black color that is highly resistive and limits the
wires ability to pass current even when charging. Usually this only happens with
older packs and takes time to work under the insulation and travel around. IF
your rebuilding an older pack with a new insert, check under the insulation and
make sure this isn't happening. Don't try and save the wire, replace it with tin
plated wire. If you left the battery connected to the radio, you might want to
check out that side as well.
   Still continuing with things NOT to do.
     Put a fresh from the factory pack in anything other than a good, reliable, 
over-night charger. Packs seem to last much longer if charged nice and slow for
the first few cycles. I'm not exactly positive why, but probably the cells need
to have there compounds and ions pushed around into the proper places for most
efficient use.
    You have probably noticed that I have mentioned self discharging a lot. To
me this is a really important issue, I don't want to continually have to
maintain my batteries. I want them to still be charged from the last time I
looked at them, within a reasonable amount of time, say a week. I know if I
handle the batteries with some 
care that shouldn't be a problem. So when that big storm comes I can grab my ht
and get some operating time until I can arrange an alternate power source.
    Capacity is also important and the high capacity of nickel metal hydride
batteries look very attractive but, the nimh batteries have a higher self
discharge rate than nicads with standard capacity, 500-650 mAH for a AA size
cell. 
In a weeks time a nimh pack will lose about 25% of its capacity so they are a
good deal but investigate what the FULL specifications are for the cells you are
getting. They may be 1650 mAH, 1.2 v cells but what kind of charge and discharge
rates are appropriate for that cell? Some of the nimh cells are only rated to
discharge at twice there rated capacity and charge and only charged at the 14
hour rate. This is true of nicads as well but most of the vendors use cells that
will discharge at higher rates than your HT will ever draw but really should not
be charged repeatedly at faster than a 6 hour rate if you want more than two
years of life out of a pack.
     My standard for what a god pack is, is to charge the pack at an overnight
rate for 14 hours . Let the pack sit for 24 hours. The discharge the pack with
one of the capacity measuring dischargers I have. If the pack is below 60-70 %
of its labeled capacity or won't goes completely dead by itself in few days
time, it's a bad pack.
       I use two types of devices to maintain my batteries, one is a device that
plugs between the wall charger and the ac outlet and pulses the charger on and
off at a 25% duty cycle. The device is made Terjerra microsystem engineering and
is called an auto trickle adapter, you can see it on the web at
http://www.tmenet.com/products.htm#ata.  They can be bought at
WWW.towerhobbies.com for about $30-40 and they are well worth the investment. It
was explained to me that this device actually does do something for the
batteries by cycling on and off repeatedly hour after hour because every time it
cycles on, a short duration voltage spike occurs that burns back  Nickel hairs
that grow through the separator inside the cells, first causing high self
discharge then shorting the cell out completely. A 24 hour clock type timer just
won't do that. The second device is a Ace Hobbies Smart charger. It's a peak
voltage detection fast charger that has a maintenance mode,  and charges with
the burp technique. The burp technique momentarily reverses polarity to the cell
and claims to force oxygen and cadmium away from the separator, the jury is
still  out on this issue and has been out for 50 years now. The battery
engineers say the charger engineers can't prove the technique does anything and
the charger engineers say that the battery engineers can't prove it doesn't.
What I know is that the device will charge just about any 1 to 10 cell battery
pack I have lying around in about an hour with no heat build up and the
maintenance mode helps slow or stop self discharging. It runs off 12 vdc and is
expensive but I need a charger that would charge up my R/C gear, and the battery
for the motor in a hurry without blowing them up. There are many really good
battery charger available in the hobby market that will fit an amateurs needs.
The only thing lacking is usually a convenient way to connect the device to your
batteries. In a future Squelch Burst issue I'll tell you how to make a simple
drop  in holder for you ht's packs with automotive body filler and 2 brass
screws.
 73, Andy


ASK ELMER

Dear Elmer,
From the dump I have been collecting 6 volt batteries. I wan to use two of them
to power a mobile radio in a self contained briefcase pack.  How can I build a
charger to recharge them?
Signed Wired

Dear Wired,
I have always heard that the local town dumps are a rich source of interesting
and useful items, and you have been fortunate to find a few.  I imagine that
these are the “Gel-Cell” type of Lead Acid rechargeable batteries, as you didn't
indicate the type in your question.  Fortunately, a simple charger for the
batteries will handle the “Gel-Cell” as well as a Nickel Cadmium battery of
similar capacity.  The simplest charger one can build is the Trickle Charger, so
called as it constantly trickles a small current into the battery to maintain
its charge but is capable of charging at a higher rate if the battery is fully
discharged.  The charger can be assembled from parts readily available in most
junk boxes or purchased from Radio Shack.  Below is a circuit diagram of the
charger.
The minimum operating voltage for C1 should be 25 V for a 6 V charger, and 50 V
for a 12 V charger. Two of the component's values are to be determined by the
battery that is to be charged.  They are T 1 and  R 1.   The size of T 1 should
be 12.6 V at 1 A for charging a 6 V battery, and  24 V at 1 A for charging a 12
V battery.  The value of R 1 requires some simple calculation using Ohm's Law. 
First we must calculate the voltage across C 1. In normal operation the voltage
on C1 would charge to the peak value of the rectified AC from the transformer. 
The voltage across C1 is  1.41 x the RMS Voltage out of T1.  For a 6 V charger
it would be 12.6 x 1.41 = 17.77 V.  A similar calculation for the 12 V charger
would result in 33.84 V.   The recommended charging current for most batteries
is 10% to 20% of its capacity.  For safety sake, we will choose the 10% charging
rate.  If the battery is a 4 AH battery, then the charging rate is 400 mA for 12
hours.

ASK ELMER cont.
I realize that the apparent  total charge exceeds 4 AH, but a battery is not
100%  efficient.  Some of the charging current is wasted in generating heat and
gasses.   A 6 V "Gel-Cell" is nominally 6.9 V when fully charged, and a 12 V
battery is nominally 13.8 V.  
The value of R 1 is determined by the difference between the voltage across C 1
and the nominal battery voltage divided by the charging current. For the 6 V
example, R 1 =  ( 17.77 -  6.9 )V / 0.4 A  resulting in a  value of 27 Ohms.  A
51 Ohm resistor is required for the 12V charger.  The resistors must be large
enough to handle the power that they are converting into heat.   P = E x I.   
For the 6 V charger, P = (17.77 -  6.9) x 0.4 = 4.4 W, and for the 12 V charger 
8 W.   In both cases, a 10 W or larger resistor is recommended. If you construct
this charger, and house it in some sort of case, you must provide adequate
ventilation so that the R1 can dissipate its heat.  This charger is a very basic
one which is suitable for most rechargeable batteries with the exception of
Lithium rechargeable cells.  Lithium cells require special handling, and cannot
tolerate overcharging.  The above calculations, modified for the particular
batteries which you want to charge will be a useful and reliable addition to
your "Shack".   You can, if you wish, using a tapped transformer secondary, make
this a dual voltage charger.  By switching different values of R1 into the
circuit,  make the charger extremely versatile, able to charge many sizes and
types of batteries.  The limit is a 1 A maximum charging current due to the
ratings of the transformer and the diode.  
Well Wired, I think you should be all "Charged Up" and ready tear into this
project.  Have fun with it.
Until next 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].

                       TREASURER'S REPORT AS OF 14 AUGUST, 2002
  INCOME					EXPENSE
   Interest               6.70		           Secy.State         25.00
						   Field Day         333.68
						   Postage            37.00
						   Phone              25.80
                          _____                                      ______	
Totals                   $6.70			  	            $421.48
Balances  -Checking $1,019.94 Savings-$3,965.98
De WA1VUU

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.  

YE OLDE JONQUE BOXXX   You can also check: CTSARA & GNARC Message Board 
                                      Classified for sale. Add messages & photos

         
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 continueous 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)