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Including  Ham  Radio  Fun! 


DECEMBER  1996 
ISSUE  #435 
USA  $3,95 
CANADA  $4.95 

International  Edition 


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e  A  Key  Person 
Internet  Hammin 


Packet  Tr 


-  it 
tealth  Attic  Antenna 

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tin 
JBI  In 


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t 


JRC 


1 60-10  Meters  PLUS  6  Meter  Transceiver 


Fifteen  re, 
transceiv 


sons  why  your  next  HF 
hould  be  a  JST-245.  . 


1  All-Mode  Operation  (SSBrCW.AMnAFSK.FM)  on  all  HF  amateur 
bands  and  6  meters,  JST-145.  same  as  JST-245  but  without  6 
meters  and  built-in  antenna  tuner. 

•  JST-145  COMING  SOON  * 

2  MOSFET  POWER  AMPLIFIER  •  Final  PA  utilizes  RF  MOSFETs 
to  achieve  low  distortion  and  high  durability,  Rated  output  is  10 
to  150  watts  on  all  bands  including  6  meters. 

3  AUTOMATIC  ANTENNA  TUNER  -  Auto  tuner  included  as 
standard  equipment.  Tuner  settings  are  automatically  stored 
in  memory  for  fast  QSY. 

4  MULTIPLE  ANTENNA  SELECTION  *  Three  antenna  connec- 
tions are  user  selectable  from  front  panel.  Antenna  selection  can 
be  stored  in  memory. 

5  GENERAL  COVERAGE  RECEIVER  *  100  kHz-30  MHz,  plus 48- 
54  MHz  receiver.  Electronically  tuned  front-end  tittering,  quad- 
FET  mixer  and  quadruple  conversion  system  (triple  conversion 
for  FM)  results  in  excellent  dynamic  range  (>1  OOdB)  and  3rd  order 
ICP  of  +20dBm, 

6  IF  BANDWIDTH  FLEXIBILITY  *  Standard  2.4  kHz  filter  can  be 
narrowed  continuously  to  800  Hz  with  variable  Bandwidth  Control 
(BWC).  Narrow  SSB  and  CW  filters  for  2nd  and  3rd  IF  optional. 

7  QRM  SUPPRESSION  ■  Other  interference  rejection  features 
include  Passband  Shift  (PBS),  dual  noise  blanker,  3-step  RF  atten- 
uation y  IF  notch  filter,  selectable  AGO  and  all -mode  squelch. 


8  NOTCH  TRACKING  -Once  tuned,  the  IF  notch  filter  will  track  the 
offending  heterodyne  (^10  Khz)  if  the  VFO  frequency  is  changed. 

9  DDS  PHASE  LOCK  LOOP  SYSTEM  •  A  single-crystal  Direct 
Digital  Synthesis  system  is  utilized  for  very  low  phase  noise. 

1  0  CW  FEATU  RES  •  Full  break-tn  operation,  variable  CW  pitch,  built 
in  electronic  keyer  up  to  60  wpm. 

1  I  DUAL  VFOs  ■  Two  separate  VFOs  for  spirt-frequency  operation. 
Memory  registers  store  most  recent  VFO  frequency,  mode,  band- 
width and  other  important  parameters  for  each  band, 

I  2    200  MEMORIES  *  Memory  capacity  of  200  channels,  each  of 
which  store  frequency,  mode,  AGC  and  bandwidth. 

13  COMPUTER  INTERFACE  •  Built-in  RS-232C  interface  for 
advanced  computer  applications. 

1  4  ERGONOMtC  LAYOUT*  Front  panel  features  easy  to  read  color 
LCD  display  and  thoughtful  placement  of  controls  for  ease  of  oper- 
ation. 

1  5  HEAVY-DUTY  POWER  SUPPLY  •  Built-in  switching  power 
supply  with  "silent"  cooling  system  designed  for  continuous 
transmission  at  maximim  output 


JRC|  {japan  Radio  Co., ltd. 


430  Park  Ave..  2nd  Floor  New  York,  NY  1 0022        Phone:  (212)  355-1 1 80  Fax:  (21 2)  31 9-5227 

CIRCLE  159  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


Corner  Beam? 

Big  Forward  Gain 

Wide  Backward  Rejection 

Exceptional  Bandwidth 

Distortion  Free  Pattern 

Your  antenna  makes  all  the  difference  at  VHF  and  UHF — It  de- 
termines transmitting  range.  It  sets  the  limit  for  weak  signal  recep- 
tion. And  it  decides  what  interference  you'll  hear  and  create. 

An  omnidirectional  antenna  radiates  uniformly  in  all  direction, 
and  it  also  hears  noise  and  interference  from  every  direction. 

A  directional  antenna  not  only  sends  your  signal  where  you 
want,  it  hears  the  signal  it's  pointed  at,  rejecting  others.  It  also  lets 
you  operate  with  minimal  power,  cutting  interference  you  inflict  on 
other  stations, 

CornerBeanTs  clean  sharp  pattern 
without  sidelobes  or  spikes  reaches  past 
the  noise  and  interference  to  get  the  mes- 
sage through.  Its  wide  rear  rejection  lets 
you  null  out  strong  nearby  signals  to  re- 
duce interference. 

Look  what  Corner  Beam  does: 

■10  dB  gain  vs.  dipole 

•40  dB  From-to-Back 

•60  degree  Half-power  Beam  width 

*S  WR  <  1 . 1 : 1  across  the  band 

•No  dimension  over  4  ft 

•Mounts  directly  to  mast  or  tower 

•Vertical  or  horizontal  polarization 

•No  need  for  offset  or  side  mount 


Measured  CorqerBeam  Pattern 

Beam  Heading  (degrees) 
180        -90  0         +90 

T 


60  degrees 
Hatf-Power 
Beamwidth 


+18°.0dB 


-10dB 


-3dB 


Corner  Beats  Yagi 
A  yagi  with  the  same  gain  would 
have  a  10- ft  boom.  Yagi  bandwidth 
would  be  less  than  half.  More  important 
CornerBeam  produces  no  side  lobes,  no 
back  lobes. 

Improved  Data  Communication 
Because  ComerBeam's  pattern  has 
no  unwanted  side  spikes,  phase  noise  is 
reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  result  is  re- 
duced data  error  rate,  faster  packet  cir- 
cuits. When  you  want  a  distortion  free 
signal,  think  ComcrBeanru  not  yagi. 
CornerBeam  for  Repeaters 

If  your  repeater  shares 
a  frequency  with  another, 
the  deep  wide  null  toward 
the  rear  could  keep  your 
signal  out  of  the 
neighboring  repeater's 
receiver  and  turn  a  deaf  ear1 
to  its  signal.  A  pair  of 
CornerBeams  can  be  com- 
bined to  prividc  special  ra- 
diation footprints.  A  Cor- 
nerBeam aimed  at  an  area 
your  repeater  hears  poorly 
could  improve  service 
where  incoming  signals 
from  HTs  are  presently  too 
weak.  CornerBeam  makes 
it  possible  to  increase  re- 
peater density  while  reduc- 
ing  interference. 
Bandwidth  Pavs  Off 
With  its  exceptional  bandwidth,  your 
CornerBeam  can  be  put  to  work  right  out 
of  the  box  without  special  tweaking.  It 
can  serve  you  now  when  youre  working 
repealers  with  an  FM  handheld,  and  later 
when  you  set  out  to  work  satellites  or  go 
after  small  signal  DX  at  144.2  MHz. 

n 


CornerBeam  can  still  be  your  beam 
when  you  join  MARS  at  143/148  MHz  or 
team  up  with  the  sheriffs  cofffmunica- 
tions  interface  tean       [58  MHz. 

Scanning  Too? 

CornerBeam' s  gain  &  bandwidth  ex- 
tend monitoring  range  from  aircraft  to  to 
marine  &.  public  service  frequencies.! 


On  the  Internet 

wwwJtsnetxom/^radvcntr 


Corner  Beam  Models 


Band 

2  meters 

220  MHz 

70  cm 

Dual   146/435 


Max  Dim  WindLd  Price 
4ft  <2sqft  $145 
4ft  <lsqft  $145 
3  1!  <1  sqft  $115 
4ft    <3sqft    $165 


-20dB 


-30dB 


-40dB 


180 


-90 


0 


+90       +180 


Construction:  Aircraft  aluminum. 
Booms  are  square.  Elements  are  sol- 
id rod.  Stainless  hardware  included 
for  tower  and  mast  mounting  accepts 
up  to  1 .5"  dia.  mast  and  may  be  ro- 
tated for  vertical  or  horizontal  polari- 
zation. Connector  is  SO-239  for 
VHF,  N  female  for  UHF.  Dual-Band 
antenna  has  separate  driven  ele- 
ments, weighs  only  10  pounds. 

Dimensions  given  in  table  are  for 
reflector  elements  &  booms. 

Options:  Commercial  Frequency  S45. 

Duplexer:  Add  $80  for  VHF/UHF 
Duplexer  and  cabling  for  single  coax 
feed  of  Dualband  146/435  Corner. 

Shipping:  UPS  ground  to  continental 
USA  ($11  S&H).  Air  Parcel  Post  to 
HI.  AK,  &  Posessions  ($14  P&H). 
Canada  ($16  P&H), 
Allow  2  weeks  for  delivery. 


C]  Yes,  I  want  Performance  in  My  Corner! 

Send  my  CornerBeam:  _2m,  _220MHz,  _70  cm,  _Dual  146/435. 
Options: DualBand  Duplexer, Commercial/Marine.  Frequency: 

Name AmL  Enclosed 

Call 


Phone 


Street. 
City_ 


Unit 


State 


Zip, 


L 


AntennasWest 

Box  5QG62-S  Provo  UT  84605 


InfoPak 
SI 


Tech  801  373  8425  Fax  801  373  8426 

ffifc  800  926  7373 


i 
i 
i 

i 
i 


-i 


CIRCLE  57  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


Finally  -  A  Professional- 
Quality  Receiver  to  Monitor 
Weather  Broadcasts! 


Our  new  RWX  is  a  very  sensitive  and 
selective  Hamtrortits*  grade  receiver 
to  monitor  critical  NOAA  weather  broadcasts. 

Excellent  0*1  SuV  sen- 
sitivity provides  good  recep- 
tion even  at  distances  of  70 
miles  or  more  with  suitable 
antenna.  No  comparison  with 
ordinary  consumer  radios! 

Automatic  mode  provides  storm  watch,  alerting  you  by 
unmuting  receiver  and  providing  an  output  to  trip  remote 
equipment  when  an  alert  tone  is  broadcast. 

Essential  for  airports,  police  and  fire  departments, 
CAP,  broadcast  stations,  state  and  local  emergency  man- 
agers, amateur  repealers  -  anyone  needing  a  professional 
quality  receiver.  Because  of  fts  reasonable  price,  it  Is  also 
handy  for  bikers,  hikers,  boaters,  hunters,  farmers  -  or 
anyone  who  needs  up-to-date  weather  info  and  emer- 
gency warnings,  even  from  distant  stations 

Small  enough  for  emergency  or  portable  use,  it  can 
even  be  powered  from  a  smalt  9- 12V  battery  when 
needed.  Crystal  controlfed  for  accuracy;  all  7  channels 
provided  (162,40  to  162.55). 

You  can  buy  just  the  recerver  pcb  module  in  kit  form  or 
buy  the  kit  with  an  attractive  metal  cabinet  AC  power 
adapter,  and  built-in  speaker.  It  is  also  available  factory 
wired  and  tested. 

•  RWX  Rcvr  kil.  PCB  only _. ..$79 

•  RWX  Rcvr  kil  wlih  cabinet,  speaker,  &  AC  adapter $99 

•  RWX  Rcvr  wrr&d/lest&d  in  cabinet  watti  speaker  Sad  apter $  1 39 


WWV  RECEIVER 


Get  time  and  fre- 
quency    checks 
without        buying 
mutfcbaird  hf  row.    Hear  solar 
activity  reports  affecting  radio 
propagation.    Very  sensttrve 
and    selective    crystal    con- 
trolled supernal,  dedicated  to  listening  to  WWV  on  10  000 
MHz.    Performance  rivals  the  most  expensive  receivers. 
.  RWVW  Rcvr  Kit,  PCB  only $59 

•  RWVW  Rcvr  hit  with  cabt,  spkr,  &  12Vdc  adapter  ..,.$89 

*  RWVW  Rcvr  w/t  In  cabt  with  spkr  &  adapter   $129 


WEATHER  FAX  RECEIVER 


Join  the  fun-  Get 
Striking  images  di- 
ftctry  from  ttt* 
weamer  satellite*! 
A  very  sensitive 
wideband  fm  receiv- 
er optimized  for 
reception  of  NOAA  APT  and  Russian  Meteor  weather 
fa*  images  on  the  137  MHz  band. 

The  R139  1 9  lower  cost  and  easier  to  maintain  than 
synthesized  units.  And  it  is  designed  from  the  ground  up 
for  optimum  satellite  reception;  not  just  an  ofMhe-shelf 
scanner  with  a  shorted -out  IF  filter! 

Covers  all  five  satellite  channels.  Scanner  circuit  and 
recorder  control  allow  you  to  automatically  search  for  and 
tape  signals  as  satellites  pass  overhead,  even  while  away 
from  home. 

*  R139  Receiver  Kit  less  case «*..„.„„„„, 

•  R1 39  Receiver  Kit  with  case  and  AC  power  adapter... 

•  R139  Receiver  w/t  in  case  with  AC  pgwEr  adapter 

*  Internal  PC  Demodulator  Board  and  Imaging  Software 

•  Tumsiite  Antenna , ,  ■ » 

*  Weaiher  Satellite  Handbook 


441-1  hiH  I  ■  lhltl-1 


i   ■■   ill   l I  I  l  I  I 


'"' UllilllU LILJIIIIL 


SUBAUDIBLETONE 
ENCODER/DECODER 


Access  all  your  favorite  closed  repeat- 
ers with  TD-S  CTCSS  Encoder/Decoder 


Encodes  all  standard  sub- 
audtble  tones  with  crystal  ac- 
curacy and  convenient  DIP 
switch  selection.  Compre- 
hensive manual  also  shows 
how  you  can  set  up  a  front 
panel  switch  to  select  be- 
tween tones  for  several  re- 
peaters. Recerver  decoder 
can  be  used  to  mute  receive  audio  and  is  optimized  for  in- 
stallation in  repeaters  to  provide  closed  access.  High 
pass  filter  gets  nd  of  annoying  buzz  in  receiver, 

-TD-S  CTCSS  Encoder/Decoder  Kit  only  $39 

#TD-S  CTCSS  Encoder/Decoder  Wired/tested ,559 


HIGH  QUALITY  VHF  &  UHF  FM 
XMTR  AND  RCVR  MODULES 


FM  EXCITERS:  2W  output,  continuous  duty 

-  TAS1:  tof6M.  2M,  220 
MHz     kit  S99.  w/t  S 169. 

•  TA451:  for  420-475  MHz 
_.  kit  $39.  w/t  $189. 

-  TA901 :  for  902-928  MHz, 
(O.SWout) w/t  $169. 


VHF  &  UHF  POWER  AMPLIFIERS, 

Output  levers  from  10Wto  100W  Starting  at  $99. 

FM  RECEIVERS: 

•  R100  VHF  FM  RECEIVERS 
Very  sensitive  -  0.1 5uV.  Superb 
selectivity  -  both  crystal  and 
ceramic  IF  fitters,  MOO  dB 
down  at  ±l2kHz.  best  available 
anywhere,  flutter-proof  squelch 

For46^54t  72-76,  140-175,  or  216-225  MHz. 

...... kit$129fw/t$1B9 

•  R144/R220  RCVRS.    Like  R100,  for  2M  or  220  MHz, 
with  helical  resonator  in  front  end .....  kit  $159,  w/t  $219 

-  R451  FM  RCVR,  for  420-475  MHz     Similar  to  R1Q0 

9O0VS-    , ----- ■■*■*■>» inn ■*■«■■  ■ ,-  Kit  •  1 4?t  W*t  #To*f 

*  R901  FM  RCVR,  902-928MHz        $153,  wit  $219 


TRANSMITTING  AND 
RECEIVING  CONVERTERS 


Go  on  a  ham  satellite  adventure!  Add  an- 
other band  for  the  n^xt  contest  Thrill  in  the 
excitement  of  building  your  own  gear,  and 
save  a  bundle. 


No  need  to  spend 
thousands  on  new 
transceivers  for 
each  band! 


•  Convert  vhf  and  uhf  signals  to/from  10M. 

«  Even  if  you  dortl  have  a  10M  rig,  you  can  pick  up  very 
good  used  xmtrs  &  revrs  for  next  to  nothing. 

•  Receding  converters  {shown  above)  available  for 
various  segments  of  6M<  2M.  220.  and  432  MHz 

•  Kits  from  $49.  wiredttested  unrts  only  $99. 

■  Xmitting  converters  (at 
left)  for  2M,  432  MHz. 

•  Kits  only  589  vhf  or 
$99  uhf 

•  Power  amplifiers  up  to 
SOW  output 


■  Buy  at  low,  factory -direct  net  prices  and  save! 

*  For  complete  *nfoT  call  or  write  for  free  catalog. 

-  Order  by  mailp  fax,  or  phone       49-12  aimbpu  eas^n  *nti 

*  Min,  S5  S&H  charge     tot  fi*$*  pound  ptw  mdtn  weight  &  insurance 

■  Use  VISA,  Mastercard,  Discover,  check,  or  UPS  COD. 


Sh  tnt  awn*' t  wi 
fw 


Get  more  features  for  your  dollar  with  our 

REP-200  REPEATER 


A  microprocessor-controlled  repeater  with 
full  autopatch  and  many  versatile  dtmf  con- 
trol features  at  less  than  you  might 
pay  for  a  ha  re- bones  repeater 
or  controller  alone! 


•  kit  still  only  $1095 

*  factory  assembled  s tilt  only  $  1 295 

50-54  143-174  313-233, 420-475  MH2    (KJ2-S28  MHz  sligWly  r*g**r ) 
FCC  typo  acctpttd  for  conmennl  MnV\t*  m  ISO  &  450  MHz  bandi 


Digital  Voice  Recorder  Option.  Allows  message 
up  to  20  sec.  to  be  remotely  recorded  off  the  air.  Play 
back  at  user  request  by  DTMF  command,  or  as  a  periodi- 
cal voice  id,  or  both.  Great  for  making  club  announce- 


rnentst  »*** 


■■■■>>• *'» •■" 


only  $100 


REP-200C  Economy  Repeater.   Real-voice  ID,  no 

dtmf  Of  autopatch , Kit  only  5795,  w&t  S1 195. 

RE P~200N  Repeater.  Without  controller  so  you  can 
use  your  own, ,  Kil  only  5S95r  w&t  5995. 


You'll  KICK  Yourself 

if  You  Build  a  Repeater 

Without  Checking  Out  Our  Catalog  First! 


Hamtronics    has   the   world's 

,'9*  i&J  moat  complete  line  of  mod- 

''S^'^^^f    u'os  *or  ma^m9  repeaters,    in 
•*irtpsfmb 3     addition  to  exciters,  pa's,  and 

receivers,   we   offer   the   fol- 
lowing controllers, 

COR-3.  Inexpensive,  flexible  COR  module  with  timers, 
courtesy  beep,  audio  mixer only  $49/kit,  $79  w/t 

C WtD.    Traditional  diode  matrix  TDer kit  only  $59 

CWID-2.    Eprom^ontrofted  iD'er  ..  only  554/kit,  $79  w/t 

DVFM.  Record  your  own  voroe  up  to  20  sec  For  voice 
id  or  playing  club  announcements.    559/kit,  S99  w/t 

COR-4,  Complete  COR  and  CWID  all  on  one  board.  ID 
in  eprom.  Low  power  CMOS.  only  $99/kit,  $149  w/t 

COR-6.  COR  with  real-voice  id.  Low  power  CMOS, 
non-volatile  memory. kit  only  S99,  w/t  only  $149 

COR-5.  pP  controller  with  autopatch.  reverse  ap,  phone 
remote  control,  lots  of  DTMF  control  functions,  all  on  one 
board,  as  used  in  REP-2GQ  Repeater.   „„ $579  w/t 

tP-3.     Repeater  autopatch.  reverse  autopatch.  phone 
*e  remote  control    Use  with  TT>2 kit  $89 

-2.  Four-digit  DTWF  decoder/oontrolter.   Five  latching 
m-off  functions,  toll  call  restrictor kit  $79 

TD-4,  DTOF  controller  as  above  except  one  on-off  func- 
tion and  no  toll  call  restrictor  Can  also  use  for  selective 
calling;  mute  speaker  until  someone  pages  you.  ..kit  $49 


LOW  NOISE  RECEIVER  PREAMPS 


LHG^  >  GAA5  FET  PREAMPS 
STILL  ONLY  $591 

*  Make  your  fnends  sick  with 
envy!  Work  stations  they  donl 
even  know  axe  there. 

*  Install  one  at  the  antenna  and 
overcome  coax  losses. 

•  Avaitebte  for  2&-3Q,  46*5$,  1  $7-1 52,  152-172,  210*230, 
4QQ-470,  and  8OQ-960  MHz  bands. 

LNW-f  \  ECONOMY  PREAMPS 

ONLY  $29  kit,  $44  wired/tested 

•  Miniature  M  OS  FET  Pre  amp 

*  Solder  terminals  allow  easy 
connection  Inside  radios, 

•  Available  for  25-35,  35-55,  55-90,  90-120,  120-150, 
15Q-2QQ,  200-270,  and  400-500  MHz  bands. 


amironics,  mc 

65-D  Moul  Rd;  Hilton  NY  14468*9535 

Phone  716-392-9430  (fax  9420) 


THE  TEAM 

Founder 

Wayne  Green  W2N3D/1 

Associate  Publisher 
F,  L  Marion 

Associate  Technical  Editor 
Larry  Anlonuk  WB9RRT 

Nitty  Gritty  Stuff 

Priscilia  Gauvin 

Joyce  Sawtetle  ■ 

David  Underwood 

Contributing  Culprits 
Bill  Brown  WB8ELK 
Mike  Bryce  WBSVGE 
Joseph  ECarrK4IPV 
Michael  Geier  KB  1UM 
Jim  Gray  W1XU/7 
Chuck  Houghton  WB6IGP 
Dr.  Marc  Leavey  WA3AJR 
Andy  MacAllister  WA5ZIB 
Dave  Milter  NZ9E 
Joe  MoeK  KOOV 
Carole  Perry  WB2MGP 

Advertising  Sales 
Frances  Hyvarinen 
Roger  Smith 
603-924-0058 
800-274-7373 
Fax:  603-924-861 3 

Circulation 
Linda  Coughlan 
Helen  Senechal 

Data  Entry  &  Other  Stuff 
Christine  Aubert 
Norman  Marion 

Business  Office 

Edftohal    -    Advertising    -    Circulation 

Feedback  -  Product  Reviews 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  Magazine 

70  Route  202N 

Peterborough  NH  03458-1 107 

603-924-0056 

Fax:  603-924-861 3 

Reprints :  $3  per  anicle 
Back  issues:  S5  each 

Printed  in  the  USA  by 
Quad  Graphics 


Manuscripts:  Contributions  for 
possible  publication  are  most 
welcome.  Well  do  the  best  we  can  to 
return  anything  you  request,  but  we 
assumo  no  responsibility  for  loss 
or  damage.  Payment  for  submitted 
articles  wilf  be  made  upon  publication. 
Please  submit  both  a  disk  and  a  hard 
copy  Of  your  article  (IBM  (ok)  or  Mac 
(preferred)  formats),  carefully 
checked  drawings  and  schematics, 
and  the  clearest,  best  focused  and 
lighted  photos  you  can  manage.  'How 
to  write  for  73""  guidelines  are  available 
on  request.  US  citizens  must  include 
their  Social  Security  number  wftft 
submitted  manuscripts  so  we  can 
submit  it  to  you  know  who.      


TO 


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DECEMBER  1996 

ISSUE  #435 


Including  Ham  Radio  Fun! 

Amateur 
Radio  Today 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


FEATURES 


DEPARTMENTS 


Automatic  Packet  Reporting  System  -  WB4APR 

ybu  can  track  anything  with  this! 

Shooting  Straight  Up  *  XF 1/KB6ASH 

NVIS;  A  neglected  short-range  technique. 

Build  This  6  m  Attic  Antenna  -  KAON  AN 

A  simple  stealth  antenna  project. 

Circulators-  Anyone?  -  W60IU 

Keep  the  traffic  flowing. 

Hams  on  the  information  Highway.  Part  2  -  KB 7 NO 

How you  can  eastyfind  and  start  using  Usenet  groups.. 

The  Solder  Slurper  -  N6GKC 

Build  your  own  desofdcring  station— cheap! 

Audio  Filter  Alignment  Generator  -  KB4ZGC 

Another  piece  of  test  equipment  you  can  build 

The  Art  and  Challenge  of  Sending  CW  -  W6BNB 

When  a  QSO  ts  much \more  than  just  *RST,  QTH.  name  and  731 

Join  the  North  Pole  Network  -  WASOPS;  KOOV 

Smites  are  virtually  guaranteed  when  hospitalized  kids  talk  with 

Sr.Afefc 
CW  Enhancer  -W2GOM/7 
Making  your  signal  stand  tall. 
Saving  the  Amateur  Radio  Spectrum  -  KN4HL 
A  case  supporting  amateur  licensing  fees. 
Mobile  or  Crtairside  HT  Holder  -  XF1/KB6ASH 
A  simple,  practtcaf  protect  hasedon  a  boat  accessory. 


WB6IGP 

81 

Above  &  Beyond 

73 

Ad  Index 

WB8ELK 

71 

ATV 

63 

Barter  W  Buy 

K41PV 

S3 

Cart's  Comer 

NZ9E 

57 

Ham  to  Ham 

WB2MGP 

62 

Hams  With  Class 

KOOV 

54 

Homing  In 

6 

Letters 

W2NSO/1 

4 

Never  Say  Die 

84 

New  Products 

W1XU 

87 

Propagation 

WB6VGE 

80 

QRP 

8 

QRX 

75,7933<CDS). 

Radio  Book  Shop 

65.88 

WA3AJR 

74 

RTTYLoop 

79 

Special  Events 

88 

updates 

REVIEWS 


HAM  RADIO  FUN  SECTION 


The  Ten-Tec  1 209  2-to-6  Transverte  r  -  VA3XDM 
An  easy  way  to  have  some  fun! 

Wood  house  Communications'  APT-2CP  Omnidirectional  Antenna 

-WB9RRT 
And  its  perfect  sidekick,  Hamtronics '  LNG- 137  receiver  preamp. 

JBJ  Universal  Radio  interface  Kit  -WB2WPM 
A  cjreaf  ftrst-mne  protect! 


K20AW       64      Communications 

Simplified.  Part  12 


Thompson  77 


LED  Checker  Plus 

Make  it  even  more  useful. 


On  the  cover:  Santa  stuffs  stockings  with  goodies  from  Alinco,  See  "New  Products."  Photo  by 
Jim  Paliungas,  Palimor  Studios. 


Feedback:  Any  circuit  works  better  with  feedback,  so  please  take  the  time  to  report  on 
how  much  you  tike,  hate,  or  don't  care  one  way  or  the  other  about  the  articles  and 
columns  in  this  issue.  G  =  great!,  O  =  okay,  and  U  =  ugh.  The  G's  and  O's  will  be 
continued.  Enough  ITs  and  ifs  Silent  Keysville.  Hey,  this  is  your  communications 
medium,  so  don't  just  sit  there  scratching  your. ..er.., head.  FYI:  Feedback  "number"  is 
usually  the  page  number  on  which  the  article  or  column  starts. 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  (ISSN  1052-2522}  is  published  monthly  by  73  Magazine.  70  N202,  Peterborough  NH 
03458-1 107. The  entire  contents  ©1996  by  73  Magazine,  No  part  of  this  publication  may  be  reproduced  without 
written  permission  of  the  publisher,  which  is  not  ail  lhat  difficult  to  get.  The  subscription  rate  is:  one  year 
$24.97,  iwo  years  $44.97;  Canada:  one  year  $34.21 ,  two  years  $57.75,  including  postage  and  7%  GST  Foreign 
postage;  $19  surface,  542  airmail  additional  per  year,  payable  in  US  funds  on  a  US  bank.  Second  class 
postage  Is  paid  at  Peterborough,  NH,  and  at  additional  mailing  offices.  Canadian  second  class  mail  registration 
tf1 78101.  Canadian  GST  registration  #125393314,  Microfilm  edition:  University  Microfilm,  Ann  Arbor  Ml  48106, 
POSTMASTER:  Send  address  changes  to  73  Amateur  Radio  Today,  70  N202,  Peterborough  NH  03456-1107, 
73  Amateur  Radio  Today  is  owned  by  Shabromat  Way  Ltd.  of  Hancock  NH, 


Contract:  By  reading  this  fine  print  you  have  hereby  legally  bound  yourself  to  try  one  new  facet  of  amateur 
radio  in  the  next  30  days.  Are  you  on  packet?  If  not.  pick  up  a  TNC  and  check  it  out.  How  about  RTTV  or 
AMTOR?  You'll  meet  some  pretty  friendly  hams  on  these  modes.  Even  the  DX  will  rag-chew 


Number  1  on  your  Feedback  card 


Neuer  srv  die 


Wayne  Green  W2NSD/1 


Bah,  Humbug! 

If  you  are  the  kind  of  person 
who  tends  to  look  on  problems 
as  challenges,  our  country  and 
the  world  are  sure  full  of  chal- 
lenges. We  have  some  great 
challenges  in  Rwanda,  Bosnia. 
Chechnya,  Sri  Lanka,  India,  So* 
tiuiiuL  Haiti,  Afghanistan,  and  so 
on.  Here  at  home  there's  the 
challenge  of  straightening  up  the 
mess  we've  allowed  our  Con- 
gress to  make  of  our  school  sys- 
tem, health  care,  drugs,  poverty, 
and  so  on. 

Outside  of  those  global  and 
national  challenges,  which  call 
for  you  to  cooperate  with  others 
interested  in  change  in  order  to 
make  a  difference,  which  is 
probably  asking  too  much,  how 
about  your  personal  challenges? 
How  much  thought  have  you 
given  to  making  your  own  life 
happier  and  healthier?  And  that 
of  your  family? 

How  about  a  Christmas 
present  of  a  few  days  in  the  Car- 
ibbean this  winter?  Or  a  ski  va- 
cation to  Aspen?  Or  perhaps  an 
extended  weekend  in  Paris,  Lon- 
don, Berlin,  or  Rome?  Check  out 
those  travel  agency  specials. 
Hey,  it  beats  the  heck  out  of 
some  pairs  of  socks.  And  with  a 
little  extra  effort,  you  can  get  a 
temporary  operating  pemiii  and 
bring  along  an  HT  so  you  can 
meet  some  local  hams.  We  really 
do  have  a  fraternity,  vou  know, 

1  can  guarantee  that  the  hams 
on  every  Caribbean  island  will 
welcome  you  with  a  smile  and 
want  to  show  you  around.  Ditto 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  if  they* re 
closer. 

None  of  this  has  to  cost  a 
bundle,  once  you  know  the 
ropes.  Sherry  and  I  are  thrifty 
travelers  (we're  cheap),  Hey,  it's 
fun  being  thrifty,  even  when  you 
don't  have  to.  But  the  bottom 
line  is  thai  without  spending 
a  lot  of  money  we've  been  to 
Europe.  Asia*  Africa,  South 
4  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1 996 


America  and  the  Pacific.  Now 
what  belter  Christmas  present 
for  your  wife  than  a  few  days 
visiting,  say,  Guadeloupe?  It's 
French,  and  the  hams  are  beyond 
belief  in  friendliness. 

Cost  too  much?  Only  if  you 
believe  that.  Travel  just  doesn't 
have  to  cost  a  lot  when  you 
know  the  ropes.  But  my  next 
suggestion  is  to  give  some  books 
for  Christmas.  They  can  not  only 
be  fun  to  read,  but  help  change 
lives.  No.  Cm  not  talking  about 
the  latest  best-selling  novels. 
Check  back  through  my  editori- 
als for  books  I've  reviewed 
or  invest  a  big  $5  in  my  24-page 
list  of  recommended  books  ( avail- 
able from  Radio  Bookshop*,  and 
pick  a  few  that  are  both  fun  and 
mind-eKpanding  to  give 

Or  combine  the  two  gifts  so 
you  and  your  wife  will  have 
some  great  books  to  lake  along 
to  read  on  your  next  trip.  I  al- 
ways bring  at  least  a  half  dozen 
books  on  my  trips.  There  is  no 
better  inexpensive  gift  than  a 
well-chosen  book. 

Hey,  if  you  run  into  any  par- 
ticularly good  travel  bargains, 
please  drop  me  a  note  in  case  I 
might  be  able  to  get  away  for  a 
few  days  too.  There's  still  a 
bunch  of  great  places  my  wife 
and  1  haven't  visited  yet. 

The  ARRL  Election 

Just  as  it  has  for  the  almost  60 
years  Tve  been  a  member,  my 
ARRL  biennial  director  election 
ballot  arrived  in  the  mail.  1  found 
myself  with  the  choice  of  re-elect- 
ing the  current  director,  who  I 
don't  think  l'\e  ever  met,  or  even 
worked  on  the  air,  but  who  looks 
like  a  nice  enough  old  chap.  Or  the 
challenger,  who  was  not  wearing  a 
jacket,  his  shin  collar  was  unbut- 
toned and  tie  pulled  loose,  which 
looked  like  good  signs.  But,  sigh, 
it  turned  out  he's  been  a  member 
of  the  ARRL  board  for  over  10 
years.  Sigh. 


Hobson's  choice,  one  insider 
or  another.  No  fresh  blood-  No 
real  choice. 

And,  uh  yes,  in  their  300  allot- 
ted words  they  say  they  want  to 
protect  amateur  radio's  tradi- 
tional values.  I  think  that  s  the  cur- 
rent shorthand  for  maintaining  the 
code  requirement  so  as  to  keep  the 
hordes  of  no-coders  ("lhe\  re  not 
really  hams")  out  of  our  already 
too  crowded  low  bunds 

1  haven't  been  keeping  in  close 
touch  with  the  directors  like  1  used 
to.  Well,  I  used  to  provide  a  shoulder 
they  could  cry  on  about  the  stuff 
going  on  at  HQ.  and  I  was  dis- 
creel about  it.  When  Budlong 
was  running  the  League  with  an 
iron  hand  he  seldom  had  a  prob^ 
lem  with  any  directors  getting 
elected  that  he  couldn't  control. 
He  used  to  brag  about  howT  he 
could  fix  the  elections.  But  I'm 
sure  nothing  like  that  is  happening 
today. 


My  vote  will  go  for  the  chal- 
lenger. And  two  years  from  now, 
if  I  last  that  long,  T 11  vote  for  the 
new  challenger  Never  Re-elect 
Anvone.  As  a  director,  for  Con- 
gress,  or  for  President  Let's 
Hush  our  political  toilets  as  often 
as  we  can. 

Ham  Growth 

The  FCC  figures  for  the  last 
year  are  almost  interesting. 
Growth?  Well,  we  did  gain  120 
Advanced  licensees  during  the 
last  year.  Of  course  that  doesn't 
count  the  number  of  Advanced 
who  got  fed  up  with  the  hobby, 
got  involved  with  other  more 
important  things  (like  golf),  or 
dropped  dead.  Ooops,  had  their 
keys  silenced.  Well,  gee,  how 
about  the  General  Class?  With 
all  those  swarms  of  Techs  com- 
ing in,  our  General  Class  must 
be  bulging  as  they  upgrade, 
right?  Well,  not  quite.  The  num- 
ber of  Generals  dropped  by 
1,841,  not  including  those  who, 
etc.  Oh  yes,  the  number  of  Nov* 
ices  dropped  by  7,635.  But  ihen 
the  number  of  Novices  reached 
its  peak  in  1993.  Yes,  Techs  and 
Tech+  are  up*  each  by  about 
10,000  over  last  year.  But  Techs 
had  been  growing  by  about 
30,000  a  year  for  the  four  previ- 
ous years,  so  thus  represents  a 
surprising  drop.  About  a  72% 
drop  in  one  year!  Yoiks.  Is  that  a 
plummet? 

Continued  on  page  13 


General 


100 
Advanced 


Tech+ 

Novice 


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86  87  88  89  90  91  92  93  94  95  96 


Synthesized 

FM  Stereo 

Transmitter 


Microprocessor  eontraled  for  easy  freq 
programming  using  DIP  switches,  no  drift,  yew  signals  rock 
SOW  altte  time  justice  the  cmneita  stations- Autio  quality 
is  excellent,  connect  to  ihe  line  output  or  any  CD  player,  tape 
deck  or  mike  mixer  and  you  re  on-the-ar.  Foreign  buyers  will 
appreciate  the  high  power  output  capability  of  the  FM-25;  many 
Caribbean  folks  use  a  single  FM-25  to  cover  the  whole  island! 
New,  improved,  dean  and hum-lree  runs  on  either  12  VOC  or 
120  VAC.  Kit  comes  compete  wiih  case  sel,  whip  antenna,  120 
VAC  power  adapter  -  easy  one  evening  assembly. 

FM-25,  Synttesaed  FM  Stereo  T-ansnitier  Kit .  ■  112935 


Tunable  FM 
Stereo 


A  lower  cost  alternative  eo  our  high  performance  transmitters. 
Offers  great  vatue,  tunable  over  the  88-103  MHz  FM  broadcast 
band,  plenty  of  power  and  ou  manual  goes  into  great  detail  out- 
lining  aspects  of  antennas,  transmitting  range  and  the  FCC  rules 
and  regulations  Connects  to  any  cassette  deck.  CO  player  or 
mixer  and  you're  on-the-at ,  you  il  be  amazed  a!  the  exceptional 
audio  quality!  Runs  on  internal  9V  battery  or  external  power  irom 
5  to  15  VDC,  or  oplionai  120  VAC  adapter,  Add  our  matching 
case  and  whip  artlenna  set  for  a  nice  finished  look, 

FM-1QA,  Tunable  FM  Stereo  Transmitter  Kit $34,95 

CFM.  Matching  Case  and  Antenna  Set $1195 


RF  Power 

Booster 

Amplifier 


Add  some  serious  muscle  id  your  signal,  boost  power  up  to  1 
watt  over  a  Irequeney  range  of  100  KHz  to  over  1000  MHz! 
Use  as  a  lab  amp  lor  signal  generators,  plus  many  foreign  u» 
employ  the  LPA-i  to  boost  the  power  ol  their  FM  Stereo  trans- 
miters,  prowdng  rad»  service  through  an  entire  town,  Power 
requted:  12  to  15  vote  X  at  250mA.  $ain  ol  3ddB  at  10  MHz. 
10  08  at  1000  MHz,  For  a  neat,  protessjonafly  finished  look  add 
[he  optional  maicrung  case  sel 

LPA-1 ,  Power  Booster  Amplifier  Kit $39J95 

CLPA,  Matching  Case  Sel  for  LPA-1  Kit $14.95 

LPA-1WT,  Fully  Wired  LPfrl  with  Case ..$$9.95 


Micro  FM 
Wireless  Mike 


World's  smallest  FM  iransmitier.  Size  ol  a  sugar  cube!  Uses 
SMT  (Surface  Mount  Technology)  devices  and  mini  electret  con- 
denser microphone,  even  the  battery  is  included.  We  give  you 
Iwc  complete  fiefs  ol  SMT  pans  to  allow  lor  any  errors  or 
m&haps-buiid  it  carefutty  and  you've  got  extra  SMT  parts  to 
build  another!  Audio  quality  and  pick-up  is  unbelievable,  trans- 
mission range  up  to  300  feet  tunable  to  anywhere  in  standard 
FM  band  88  tol08  MHz.  7#\*  x  Wh  x  OrtTt 

FU-5 Hero FH  Wireless  Mike  Kit ,„ .♦,,,.. $1935 


Crystal 

Controlled 

Wireless 

Mike 


Super  stable,  drift  free,  noi  atlected  by  temperature,  metal  or 
your  body'  Frequency  is  sel  by  a  crystal  in  the  2  meter  Ham 
band  of  Kb. 535  MHz,  easily  picked  up  on  any  scanner  radio  or 
2  meter  rig.  Changing  the  crystal  So  put  Jrequency  anywhere  in 
ihe  140  to  160  MHz  range-crystals  cost  only  five  or  six  dollars, 
Sensitive  electrei  condenser  mike  picks  up  whispers  anywhere 
in  a  room  and  uansmrt  up  to  1/4  mite.  Powered  by  3  vofi  lithium 
or  par  oJ  watch  batteries  which  are  included.  Uses  the  latest « 
SMT  surface  mount  parts  and  we  even  include  a  tew  extras  in 
case  you  sneeze  and  loose  a  part! 

FIW,  Crystal  Controlled  FM  Wireless  Mike  KjI „  „  $39.95 

FM-6WT  Fully  Wired  FM $6935 


Call  for  our  Free  Catalog  ! 


Super  Pro  FM  Stereo 
Radio  Transmitter 


A  truly  professional 
frequency  synthe- 
sized FM  Stereo 
transmitter  station  in 
one  easy  to  use. 
handsome  cabinet. 
Most  radio  stations 
require  a  whole 
equipment  rack  to 
hold  all  the  features 
we've  packed  into  ihe  FfcMOO.  Set  frequency  easly  wiin  the 
Up/Down  freq  buttons  and  the  big  LED  digital  display.  Plus 
there's  input  low  pass  filtering  that  gives  great  sound  no  matter 
what  the  source  (no  more  squeals  or  swishing  sounds  from  cheap 
CD  player  inputs!}  Peak  limrters  lor  maximum  'punch'  in  your 
audio  -  without  over  modulation,  L£D  bargraph  meters  for  easy 
setting  of  auto  levels  and  a  buU-ii  mrxer  with  nrike  and  Ime  Jevei 
inputs.  Churches,  drive-ins,  schools  and  coleges  find  the  FM  1 QG 
to  be  the  answer  to  their  transmitting  needs,  you  wil  too,  No  one 
offers  all  these  feaiures  at  ihis  pnee!  Kit  includes  sharp  lookmg 
metai  cabinet,  whip  antenna  and  120  volt  AC  adapter.  Ateo  runs 
on  12  volts  DC. 

We  also  offer  a  high  power  export  version  of  the  FM-tOO  that's 
My  assemWed  with  one  watt  of  HF  power,  for  rniies  ol  program 
coverage.  The  export  version  can  onty  be  shipped  outside  the 
USA,  or  within  the  US  if  accompanied  by  a  signed  statement  that 
(he  unit  wsit  be  exported. 

FM-100,  Professional  FM  Stereo  Transmitter  Kit 1299.95 

FM-lQGWT,Fulty  Wired  High  Power  FIMQ0 $429.95 


Speech 

Descrambler 

Scrambler 


Decode  an  that  gibberish!  This  is  the 
popular  oescramoier ,  scrambler  thai  you  ve  read  about  in  al  the 
Scanner  and  Electronic  magazines.   The  technology  used  is 
known  as  speech  inversion  which  is  compatible  with  most  cord- 
less phones  and  many  police  department  systems,  hook  Ft  up  to 
scanner  speaker  terminals  and  you're  in  business.  Easily  config- 
ured for  any  use:  mike,  line  level  and  speaker  output/inputs  are 
provided.  Also  communicate  in  total  privacy  over  telephone  or 
radio,  full  duplex  operation  -  scramble  ana  unscramble  at  the 
same  time  Easy  to  build,  all  complex  circuitry  contained  in  new 
cuslom  ASIC  chip  for  dear,  dean  audio.  Runs  on  9  to  15VDC. 
RCA  phono  type  jacks.  Ou  matching  case  sel  adds  a  super  nice 
professional  look  to  your  kit 

SS-TflA,  Speech  DescrarnQter  Scram  Wer  Kit. 539.95 

CSS,  Custom  Matching  Case  and  Knob  Set ..........  -  St 4*95 

SS-70AW?,  Fully  Wired  SS-70A  wiih  Case $79.95 

AC12-5, 12  Volt  DC  Wall  Plug  Adaplcr $935 


Tone-Grabber 

Touch  Tone 

Decoder / 

Reader 


Dialed  phone  numbers. 

repeater  codes,  control 
I  codes,  anywhere  touch- 
tones  are  used,  your  TG-1  will  decode  and  store  any  number  ii 
hears.  A  simple  hook  up  to  any  radio  speaker  or  phone  line  is  all 
that  is  required,  and  since  the  tG-i  uses  a  central  office  quality 
decoder  and  meroprocessof,  it  wil  decode  digits  at  virtually  any 
speed1  A  256  digit  non-votarjte  memory  stores  numbers  for  10O 
years  -  even  with  the  power  turned  oft,  and  an  8  digit  LED  display 
allows  you  to  scroll  through  anywhere  in  memory  To  make  rt  easy 
to  pek  out  numbers  and  codes,  a  dash  ts  inserted  between  any 
group  or  set  ol  numoers  that  were  decoded  more  lhan  2  seconds 
apart.  The  TG-1  runs  from  any  7  to  15  volt  DC  power  source  and 
is  both  voltage  regulated  and  crystal  controlled  lor  the  ultimate  in 
stability.  For  stand'  alone  use  add  our  matching  case  set  for  a 
clean,  professionally  finished  project.  We  have  a  TG-1  connected 
up  here  at  the  Ramsey  factory  on  the  FM  radio,  If  s  fun  to  see  the 
phone  numbers  that  a?e  diated  on  the  morning  radio  show! 
Although  the  TG-1  requres  less  than  an  evening  to  assemble 
{and  s  fun  to  buiJd.  toot),  we  offer  me  TG-1  fully  wired  and  tested 
in  matching  case  for  a  special  price. 

TG-1,  Tone  Grabber  Kit $99.95 

CTG,  Hatching. Case  Set  for  TG-1  Kit . . . $14.95 

TG*1WTT  Fullylffired  Tone  Grabber  with  Case $149.95 

AC12-5, 12  Volt  DC  Wall  Plug  Adapter $9.95 

CIRCLE  34  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


Mini-Peeper 
Micro  Video 
Camera 


Super  small  higfi  quality 

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Number  6  on  your  Feedback  c*n* 


Tony  Mortimer  KA8ICF.  So 
the  powerful  ARRL  has  thrown  a 
monkey  wrench  into  Wayne 
Green's  speaking  at  the  Dayton 
HamVention.  Goshf  such  power 
the  League  has  over  the 
HamVention  folks.  Hmmm,  I 
spoke  to  Dave  Forbes  KD8FO  at 
the  HamVention.  He  is  the  chair- 
man of  the  Forums  and  Speakers 
committee.  I  told  him  I  was  dis- 
appointed and  somewhat  ticked 
off  that  the  HamVention  refused 
to  trtfclude  Wayne  Green  among 
their  speakers.  Dave  told  me  that 
this  was  your  choice  and  not 
i heirs.  He  also  said  that  you  de- 
manded it  $l,000  speaking  fee, 
;  -us  a!  ^r  expenses  (first 

t  liiss  an  ■:.  «♦!,  hotel,  food)  to  be 
paid.  Since  the  HamVention 
doesn't  pay  speakers,  they  de- 
clined. I  think  it  is  high  time  you 
level  with  your  readers.  You  didn't 
exactly  lit  you  just  didn't  tell  the 
whole  tmlfe  and  nothinT  but  the 
tnith   AlJ  big  bucks  Wayne — 


From  the  Ham  Shack 

"easy  money" — whining  that  he 
can't  make  any  money  being  an 
exhibitor  at  Dayton,  so  he  pulls 
out.  What  about  the  300  plus  other 
exhibitors  Wayne?  They  smarter 
and  belter  business  people  than 
you.  Well  Wayne? 

Fascinating!  Never,  since  I 
gave  my  first  talk  in  1955  at  Day- 
ton, have  I  ever  demanded  a 
speaking  fee  or  travel  expenses. 
Most  conferences,  such  as  the 
Tesla  Society  and  Global  Sciences 
Congress,  recognizing  that  well- 
known  speakers  tend  to  attract 
more  attendees,  do  pay  the  travel 
and  hotel  costs  for  speakers.  And 
since  the  HamVention  forum 
chairmen  in  the  past  have  told  me 
that  I  pulled  the  biggest  crowd  of 
any  speaker,  I  was  surprised  in 
1995  when  I  was  not  asked  to 
speak.  I  was  less  surprised  when 
the  rumor  mill  claimed  that  there 
was  some  bragging  about  a 
League  official  having  a  hand 
in  this.  Sot  back  in  February, 


it*§  nun  H*ui  \n  ecfv 


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CIRCLE  123  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


6  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


having  again  not  been  asked  to 
speak,  I  sent  a  letter  explaining 
that  f  had  a  particularly  impor- 
tant message  this  year.  No  answer. 
Below  is  a  copy  of  my  February 
letter  to  Ken  Allen  KB8KEf  who 
was  the  listed  forum  chairman .  By 
the  way,  "Big  Bucks  Wayne"  is 
well  known  as  "Never  Spend  a 
Dollar."  I'm  not  cheap,  Fm  just 
thrifty,  as  anyone  who's  read  my 
Travel  books  will  attest.  So  when 
I  find  that  I'm  losing  money  ex- 
hibiting at  Dayton  and  can  use  the 
same  money  to  send  out  a  mail- 
ing and  pull  in  two  to  three  times 
as  many  subscriptions,  guess 
where  my  money  goes?  Fve  found 
that  Dayton  is  not  a  cost-effective 
way  to  sell  magazines.  Maybe  you 
remember  the  big  booth  Ham  Ra- 
dio used  to  have?  Look  where  it 
got  them.  Pffft  „.  Wayne 

"From  W2NSD/1  to:  Ken 
Alien  KBSKE,  Forum  Chair- 
man, While  I  was  disappointed  to 
again  not  be  invited  to  be  on  the 
program*  1  can  understand  the 
pressures  you  must  be  under  from 
the  League  ...  I'm  their  worst 
nightmare  and  you  certainly  can't 
afford  to  offend  them*  V  ve  heard 
from  several  sources  how  they* re 
gloating  over  being  able  to  keep 
me  off  the  program,  My  message 
this  year  is  the  most  important 
I've  had  since  I  first  spoke  at  Day- 
ton in  1955,  Fm  calling  for  every 
ham  club  in  the  country  to  do  their 
utmost  to  get  at  least  one  local 
ham  elected  to  their  state  legisla- 
ture. The  next  step  is  for  this  per- 
son to  get  on  the  educational 
committee  and  introduce  a  bill 
getting  the  state's  schools  to  ini- 
tiate an  eight-year  course  in  the 
fundamentals  of  electronics,  com- 
munications* and  computers  for 
grades  5-  3  2.  Our  country  desper- 
ate! y  needs  high-tech  career  citi- 
zens to  design ,  manufacture,  sell, 
operate,  and  service  the  high-tech 
products  which  will  dominate 
both  business  and  home  in  the 
21st  century.  This  can  help  us  get 
radio  clubs  started  in  every  school 
in  the  country  and  revive  the  high 
growth  we  had  from  1946  to  1 964 
(11%  per  year,  steadily  for  18 
years!).  Without  something  dra- 
matic like  this,  how  many  years 
can  we  really  hope  to  keep  our 
hobby  going,  considering  the 
mounting  commercial  pressures 


for  spectrum  and  the  billions  they 
are  willing  to  pay  for  it?  Ham  leg- 
islators have  an  added  benefit  to 
us  of  being  able  to  provide  some 
clout  when  matters  of  interference 
and  antenna  restrictions  come  up. 
We  need  to  infiltrate  the  stale  leg- 
islatures, so  I'm  really  disap- 
pointed that  1  won't  be  able  to  get 
this  message  across  at  the 
HamVention  this  year , . .  Wayne/" 

Jason  Spit/er   KD6HYB. 

There  are  a  few  (three  or  four  I 
suppose)  of  us  out  here  who 
would  like  to  use  our  Macs  for 
ham  radio  related  things.  For  ex- 
ample, Fm  really  interested  in 
getting  into  the  digital  modes  like 
packet,  but  it  seems  the  entire 
hobby — more  so  than  the  com- 
puter field  as  a  whole — is  domi- 
nated by  DOS/Windoze  software 
and  equipment,  I  really  don't  want 
to  have  to  buy  another  computer 
(even  a  used  junker)  just  to  get 
into  this  area,  I've  used  both 
platforms  extensively,  and, 
frankly,  I  like  my  Macintosh. 
Anyway,  can  you  at  some  point 
run  an  article  catering  to  the 
Mac  ham  minority  out  here? 
Possibly  cover  sources  of  hard- 
ware/software, etc.?  I  might  also 
add  that,  due  to  their  ease  of  use, 
the  Mac  is  really  an  ideal  com- 
puter for  newcomers  to  the  ham 
radio/computer  topic.  It  really 
seems  like  there  should  be  more 
demand. 

Finally,  in  case  you  haven't  no- 
ticed, the  world  below  30  MHz 
has  become  pretty  much  unusable 
for  most  of  us  city  dwellers  with- 
out the  $$  to  go  out  and  buy  a  lot 
of  expensive  DSP  equipment.  The 
static  caused  by  cheap  lamps, 
dimmer  switches,  computer  hash, 
and  the  like  have  made  an  incred- 
ible spectral  mess.  Heck,  I  can't 
even  tolerate  listening  to  the  lo- 
cal WJJD  1 160  AM  50  kW  blow- 
torch at  night,  due  to  the 
anthropogenic  noise!  And  short- 
wave broadcast  listening  is  out  of 
the  question.  It's  really  out  of 
hand,  Wayne;  Fve  had  a  Tech-plus 
license  for  over  three  years  now, 
and  Fve  studied  all  the  way 
through  to  advanced.  But  why 
should  1  bother  tq  upgrade  when 
I  can't  copy  anything  through  the 
noise?  Even  when  I  eliminate  all 
RF  noise  sources  from  my  house, 
the  neighbors  are  still  using  their 


junk,  [  don't  know  what  to  do 
about  the  problem.  Certainly, 
manufacturers  could  spend  a 
few  extra  cents  and  design  some 
noise  limiting  features  into  their 
electronic  products.  But, 
no  doubt,  these  folks  had  their 
lobbyists  in  Washington  when 
the  FCC  and  legislators  were 
establishing  standards. 

Your  best  bet  is  to  live  on  a 

farm  in  New  Hampshire  where 

there  are  no  neighbors  and  then 

throw  out  all  your  touch -lamps. 

That's  what  Vve  done  ...  Wayne. 

Kent  Hufford  KQ4KK.  In 

your  August  editorial  in  the  sec- 
tion "Is  CW  Dead?"  you  state  that 
knowing  the  code  helped  Scott 
O'Grady  get  out  of  Serb-held 
Bosnia.  That's  incorrect.  Scott 
O*  Grady  did  not  send  any  Morse 
code  (CW)  any  lime  during  his 
ordeal  in  Bosnia.  Scott  never 
memorized  the  Morse  alphabet. 
He  did  send  a  beacon  and  voice 
mode  while  there. 

How  do  I  know?  In  June  1995 
[  was  assigned  as  the  Chief  of 
Staff  Army's  representative  to 
the  Chairman  of  the  Joint  Staff 


investigations  of  the  shooidown 
and  the  successful  recovery  of 
Basher  52  (Capt  O'Grady).  I 
spent  a  week  in  the  AOR,  was  on 
the  Teddy  Roosevelt,  the  USS 
Kearsarge,  in  Naples,  Stuttgart, 
etc.,  on  the  investigation  team. 
We  studied  the  intelligence  data 
and  interviews  with  four-star 
rank  on  down.  On  our  return  to 
the  US  we  interviewed  Scott  at 
Andrews  Air  Force  Base.  I  had 
heard  the  story  of  his  sending 
CW,  but  when  1  asked  him  about 
it,  he  replied,  "What's  CW?"  I 
explained  it  was  Morse  code.  He 
said  he  had  not  sent  any  Morse 
code  and  that  while  the  older 
survival  radios  had  a  code  sheet, 
the  new  ones  did  not.  Scott  was 
a  very  lucky  guyt  but  the  code 
did  not  help  him.  CW  is  OK,  it 
just  shouldn't  be  mandatory. 
Nor  supported  by  a  myth. 

Thanks,  Kent t  for  putting  our 
CW-mongers  straight  on  this. 
Though  my  ability  to  copy  code 
saved  my  life  and  my  submarine 
during  WWII,  I  agree  with  you 
that  the  code  should  be  learned 
and  used  for  fun  and  no  longer 
be  mandatory  ...  Wayne. 


George  Lydecker  KD6NEW. 

At  last,  an  intelligent  article  about 
repeater  coordination.  Glen  Zook's 
article  expressed  the  frustration  that 
many  of  us  feel  with  repeater  coor- 
dination as  it  now  exists. 

I'm  one  of  those  hams  who 
live  in  Los  Angeles  under  the 
disparity  between  open  and 
closed  repealers  on  the  70  cm 
band.  A  quick  check  of  any  re- 
peater guide  for  the  440  band 
shows  that  well  over  90%  of  the 
repeaters  listed  are  private  or 
closed.  SCRRBA,  the  Southern 
California  Repeater  and  Remote 
Base  Association,  felt  the  need 
to  coordinate  yet  one  more  pri- 
vate "members  only"  repeater 
to  a  store  owner  using  it  to  help 
sell  ham  gear.  This  guy  is  also  a 
member  of  the  SCRRBA  Coor- 
dinating Committee.  SCRRBA 
allocated  the  same  frequency 
pair  to  this  store  owner  as  was 
being  used  by  one  of  the  last 
open  70  cm  community  repeat- 
ers. This  repeater  has  been  co- 
ordinated and  in  use  for  all  since 
1993,  and  has  provided  public 
service  for  both  the  ham  com- 
munity and  the  public.  Listen  to 


the  Metropolitan  Amateur  Re- 
peater System  Monday  night  net 
and  you  will  hear  friends  and 
families  using  ham  radio  in  the 
way  it  was  intended.  Each  net 
begins  with  an  open  invitation 
to  all  licensed  hams.  This  net 
gave  me  my  first  exposure  to 
talking  to  other  hams.  I  was 
made  to  feel  welcome  and  I  was 
treated  as  a  peer.  The  new  re- 
peater owner,  claiming  eminent 
domain  granted  by  SCRRBA, 
began  a  campaign  to  chase  the 
open  repeater  users  off.  The 
situation  got  so  bad  that  this 
guy  was  jamming  the  channel 
during  nets. 

We  have  hams  who  are  as 
young  as  eight  years  old  who 
would  be  virtually  excluded  from 
the  use  of  440  by  the  fees  charged 
by  these  "business"  repeaters.  I 
listened  as  one  young  eighty  car- 
old  made  her  first  check-in  to  a 
nei,  only  to  be  jammed.  And  all 
this  is  under  the  endorsement  of 
the  SCRRBA. 

\irety  you  exaggerate!  Not 
even  money  and  politics  could 
make  such  a  terrible  situation 
here  in  America  ...  Wayne. 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  7 


QRH  .  .  . 


Number  8  on  your  Feedback  card 


Today's  Young  Hams  Are 
Our  Future 


On  the  left  is  Alex  Zagajewski  N2UAO  Alex  is  a 
charter  member  of  the  Taconic  Hills  High  School 
Amateur  Radio  Club  ITHHSARC)  KB2YLU,  and 
graduated  fourth  in  his  class.  He  was  an  honors 
student  throughout  high  school,  played  varsity  soc- 
cer and  was  the  first  student  to  successfully  com- 
plete the  Foundations  of  Research  Class  at  THHS. 
Alex's  project  was  a  study  of  the  effects  of  RF  ra- 
diation at  H6  MHz  on  cultured  nerve  cells.  Alex  is 
a  member  of  the  Rip  Van  Winkle  Amateur  Radio 
Society  (RVWARS).  has  served  as  Reld  Day  chair- 
man for  two  years,  often  served  as  net  control  for 
the  weekly  ARES  Net  and  has  participated  in  many 
public  service  events.  Alex  is  currently  a  freshman 
at  PACE  University  in  New  York  majoring  in 
Computer  Science  and  Mathematics, 

On  the  right  is  Kyrifian  Dyer  N2TZT.  Kyrilian  is 
also  a  charter  member  of  the  THHSARC  and  was 
the  Valedictorian  of  the  THHS  ciass  of  1996.  He 
also  played  varsity  soccer.  He  is  a  member  of 
RVWARS  and  has  participated  in  Field  Day  and 
other  public  service  events,  Kyrifian  holds  a  private 
pilot's  license  and  can  be  heard  aeronautical  mo- 
bile over  Columbia  County  and  surrounding  areas. 
Kyrilian  is  currently  a  freshman  at  MIT  in  Massa- 
chusetts, majoring  in  Aeronautical  Engineering.  Both 
Alex  and  Kyrilian  have  been  Elmering  other  students 
at  THHS  and  at  a  private  school  near  THHS. 

Tnanks,  Wayne  Geanng  N2ROR,  for  the  above. 


Phase  3-D  Slated  for 
Launch  in  April  1997  on 
Ariane  502 

Paris,  France  (AMSAT  News  Service)  —  In  a 
published  report  released  Thursday,  September  26, 
by  the  European  Space  Agency  (ESA)>  Mr.  Jean- 
Marie  Luton,  Director  General  of  ESA,  and  Mr.  Alain 
Bensoussan,  Chairman  of  CNES  (the  French  Space 
Agency)  announced  that  the  launch  of  Ariane  502 

8  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


has  now  been  tentatively  set  for  mid-April  1997,  It 
was  also  confirmed  that  the  Phase  3-D  International 
Amateur  Radio  Satellite  wilt  be  on  this  flight  The 
other  payloads  are  to  be  a  pair  of  technological  mea- 
surement packages  for  validation  of  Ihe  launch 
vehicle's  ability  to  place  two  satellites  into  a 
geostationary  transfer  orbit  (GTO). 

These  announcements  came  during  a  joint  ESA* 
CNES  press  conference  at  ESA  Headquarters  in 
Paris  called  to  outline  the  respective  plans  of  the 
two  agencies  to  correct  identified  deficiencies  in  the 
Ariane  5  launch  vehicle.  The  actions  are  in  direct 
response  to  a  comprehensive  report  submitted  in 
July  by  the  Ariane  501  Inquiry  Board  that  was  char- 
tered  to  investigate  the  loss  on  launch  of  the  first 
Ariane  5  booster  in  early  June. 

During  the  press  conference,  it  was  also  reported 
that  ESA's  Atmospheric  Reentry  Demonstrator 
(ARD),  a  technology  demonstration  capsule  for  a 
future  European  manned  space  transport  vehicle, 
along  with  an  as  yet  unspecified  commercial  pay- 
load,  is  to  be  flown  on  a  subsequent  Ariane  5  ve- 
hicle. Ariane  503.  which  has  been  made  a  part  of 
the  Ariane- 5  qualification  process.  This  flight  could 
take  place  in  September  1997.  The  ARD  had  ear- 
lier been  slated  to  fry  on  Ariane  502  along  with  the 
AMSAT  Phase  3-D  satellite. 

In  their  announcement,  Mr.  Luton  and  Mr. 
Bensoussan  outlined  several  specific  actions  that 
are  now  being  taken  by  ESA  and  CNES  to  assure 
the  correction  of  software  contained  in  the  Ariane  5 
inertial  reference  system.  Errors  tn  this  software 
were  previously  reported  by  ESA  as  being  one  of 
the  primary  causes  of  the  Anane  501  failure.  Cor- 
rective actions  include  making  changes  to  the  Ariane 
5  Functional  Simulation  Facility  to  make  the  qualifi- 
cation tests  more  representative  of  the  flight  envi- 
ronment as  well  as  performing  a  comprehensive 
review  of  ail  the  embedded  software  contained  in 
the  launch  vehicle. 

ESA  and  CNES  also  announced  that  the  indus- 
trial architect  on  the  Ahane  project  will  henceforth 
assume  the  rote  of  "software  architect."  This  change 
will  allow  nol  only  for  verification  of  all  software  in- 
corporated in  equipment  but  also  will  help  ensure 
the  overall  functional  integrity  of  the  launcher.  Mr. 
Luton  and  Mr.  Bensoussan  went  on  to  note  that  this 
means  that  all  of  the  launch  vehicle's  software  will 
now  become  subject  to  qualification  reviews  in  which 
outside  experts  will  take  part, 

In  addition,  the  joint  ESA  and  CNES  announce- 
ment reported  that  working  methods  used  in  the 
Launcher  Qualification  Review  have  now  been 
modified  to  introduce  specialized  audits  on  the  most 
complex  launcher  systems  in  order  to  provide  closer 
analysis  wherever  this  is  deemed  necessary.  A  com- 
prehensive review  of  the  launcher's  qualification  is 
now  also  reported  to  be  underway,  along  with  sys- 
tematic efforts  to  identify  "degraded"  modes  of 
operation  that  could  affect  launcher  elements 

AMSAT  is  a  not-for-profit.  501(c)(3)  educational 
and  scientific  organization  lhat  was  first  chartered 
In  Washington,  D.C.t  USA.  Its  objectives  include 
promoting  space  research  and  communication  by 
building,  launching  and  controlling  Amateur  Radio 
spacecraft.  Since  its  founding,  over  25  years  ago, 
many  other  like-minded  organizations  have  been 


Dr.  Andras  t  Bandit  Gschwindt  HA5WH 
proudly  displays  Phase  3-D's  Battery 
Charge  Regulator  (BCR)  at  (he  Marburg  P3- 
D  Lab.  The  BCR  is  a  critical  piece  of  Phase- 
3-D  flight  hardware  that  will  control  all  the 
spacecraft's  onboard  power  activity  such  as 
regulating  battery  charging  from  the  solar 
panels.  The  BCR  was  built  by  Bandi  and  his 
team  at  the  Technical  University  of 
Budapest.  Hungary. 

formed  around  the  world  to  pursue  the  same  goals 
and  who  now  also  share  the  AMSAT  name.  Often 
acting  together,  these  groups  have  used  predomi- 
nantly volunteer  labor  and  donated  resources  to  de- 
sign, construct,  and,  with  the  added  assistance  of 
government  and  commercial  space  agencies,  suc- 
cessfully launch,  over  two  dozen  Amateur  Radio 
communications  satellites  into  Earth  orbit 

The  Phase  3-0  satellite,  now  under  construction 
with  the  help  of  over  a  dozen  AMSAT  groups  on  five 
continents,  will  be  the  largest,  most  complex,  an^most 
expensive  Amateur  Radio  satellite  ever  built 

For  more  Information,  contact: 

(in  North  America) 

AMSAT-North  America 

Keith  Baker  KB1 SF;  Executive  Vice  President 

1324  Fairgrounds  Road 

Xenia,  Ohio  45385-9514  USA 

Phone/FAX:  (513)429-5325 

Internet;  ilkblsf@amsat,org" 

(in  Europe) 

AMSAT-Germany 

Werner  Haas  DJ5KQ;  Vice  PreskJent 

Holderstrauch  to 

D-35041  Marburg.  Germany 

Phone:  (06421)684121 

FAX:  (06421)  285665 

Internet:  udj5kq@amsat.orgH 


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TNX  Michael  Covington  N4TMI  (from  ARNS, 
March  1995) 


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Number  Won  your  feedback  eartf 


Automatic  Packet  Reporting 

System  (APRS) 


Holy  packet.  Batman!  We  can  track  anything  with  this: 


t 


Bob  Bruninga  WB4APR 

115  Old  FarmCt. 

Glen  BumieMD  21060 


APRS  is  a  radical  change  to 
packet  radio,  adding  a  map  dis- 
play, a  new  protocol,  and  a 
simple  routing  scheme  to  communicate 
the  positions  of  stations,  objects,  ve- 
hicles, and  other  graphical  information 
in  real  time  over  standard  AX.25  packet. 
It  was  designed  to  improve  the  value  of 
ham  radio  in  emergency  situations  or 
public  service  events  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  this  visual  tactical  display.  In  the 


R119        8  Hn  iles 
Lat     39  63.9SNU 
Lon  876  32 . 16U 


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past,  packet  radio  has  mostly  been  used 
for  passing  volumes  of  message  traffic 
from  point  to  point,  but  has  seen  little 
u\e  for  real-lime  events  where  informa- 
tion has  a  very  short  lifetime.  APRS 
reverses  this  trend  by  rapidly  communi- 
cating small  packets  of  information  to  all 
stations  simultaneously.  The  keys  to  the 
success  of  APRS  are:  map  displays  to 
see  the  locations  of  stations  and  objects; 
unconnected/broadcast    packets    \o    all 


stations  at  once;  generic  digipeaier  rout- 
ing independent  of  callsigns;  APRS 
versions  for  the  Mac,  Windows,  and  DOS. 

Map  displays 

Maps  at  any  scale,  from  the  whole 
world  for  HF  and  satellite  communica- 
tions down  to  the  inside  of  the  Dayton 
HamVention  Arena,  arc  possible!  In  ad- 
dition to  geographical  displays,  APRS 


""fit  2M3V   injf      riDflmtap.nap 


feAUB4APR 


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8  Statute  Hi   


liiISPtftYiS":""ft;3B7l)'^I7P'^];iT,'l?I-]fif''    I  HWUSTCnra 


Photo  A.  At  this  marathon  in  Annapolis,  MD,  i he  police  officer  at  each  checkpoint  found  the  map  display  u>  be  very  valuable  in  predicting  the 
arrival  of  the  runners  so  that  traffic  could  be  stopped  for  street  crossings. 
10  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  ■  December  1 996 


MF J  HFA/HF  SWR  Analyzer 


TM 


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MFJ-259  handheld  ,        .         #. 

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MFJ- 127  8  B  Multi-Mode  Data  Controller 

Use  this 


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MF J-949E  300  W  Tuner 


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See  free  MFJ  catalog  for  complete 
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MFJ  949E       WorW's  most  popular 
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VHF/HF  Packet  TNCs 


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flP 


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MFJ-1270C  super  TAPR  TNC 
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MFJ  TNC/Mic  Switch 

UFM272B 
■30M 

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Regenerative  RCVR  Kit 


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MFJ-I278B 
MFJ-1278B,  your    maoh      -    O 

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MFJ- 1786 


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also  handles  and  sorts  operator  mes- 
sages, bulletins,  and  status  packets  onto 
separate  display  screens. 

The  utility  of  the  APRS  map  displays 
should  be  obvious  to  anyone  who  has 
analyzed  typical  special  event  traffic. 
One  of  the  greatest  real-time  needs  at 
any  special  event  or  emergency  is  the 
tracking  of  key  people.  Where  is  the 
event  leader?  Where  arc  the  emergency 
vehicles?  What's  the  weather  at  various 
points  in  the  county?  Where  are  the 
power  lines  down?  Where  is  the  head  of 
the  parade?  Where  are  the  VTPs?  Where 
is  the  mobile  ATV  camera?  Where  is  the 
hurricane?  Where  is  the  DX? 

Unconnected  broadcast  packets 

Another  advantage  of  APRS  over  con- 
ventional packet  is  that  it  avoids  the  com- 
plexity and  limitations  of  making 
connections  to  each  station.  APRS  sends 
information  as  broadcast  packets  lhat  per- 
mit any  number  of  stations  to  exchange 
data,  just  like  voice  users  would  on  a  voice 
net.  Any  station  with  information  to  con- 
tribute simply  sends  it?  and  all  stations  re- 
ceive and  log  it.  To  assure  delivery  to  all 
stations,  APRS  packets  am  repeated  peri- 
odically. After  each  transmission,  the  pe- 
riod to  the  next  transmission  is  doubled  so 
that  older  information  is  given  lower 
priority  than  newer  information. 


flng   32  Nmi les  j 
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Generic  digipeatcr  routing 

An  APRS  operator  needs  no  prior 
knowledge  of  the  network  lo  copy  and 
send  packets,  because  APRS  takes  ad- 
vantage of  the  capability  of  any  TNC  at 
any  station  to  serve  as  a  relay  for  other 
stations.  All  APRS  stations  are  initial- 
ized with  the  generic  second  callsign 
(alias)  of  RELAY  so  that  any  station  can 
always  get  a  packet  out  just  hy  sending  it 
via  RELAY,  or  RKLAY  RELAY  After 
monitoring  an  APRS  channel  for  10 
minutes,  every  APRS  station  and 
digipeatcr  will  probably  have  appeared 
on  his  map,  Using  this  visual  geographic 
information,  the  user  can  then  use  more 


"You  can  zoom  in  to 
any  point  on  the  globe!" 


creative  and  specific  routes  for  his  in- 
tended area  of  interest.  Similarly,  all 
WIDE  area  APRS  digipeaters  are  given 
the  generic  alias  of  WIDE  and  a  second 
alias  of  RELAY  The  typical  path  for  a 
mobile  is  to  use  the  path  via  RELAY, 
WIDE  so  that  he  is  digipeatcd  whether 
he  is  in  range  of  a  WIDE  (RELAY)  or 
any  other  APRS  station.  This  usually 
suffices  for  typical  radio  nets, 


3GBX 


"*•-*. 


Applications 

Although  APRS  was  initially  designed 
for  tracking  moving  vehicles,  it  soon 
found  applications  in  all  facets  of 
amateur  radio.  Any  communications 
concerned  with  the  location  of  any- 
thing can  be  tracked  with  APRS: 
SKYWARN;  weather  nets;  hurricane 
tracking;  both  manual  and  automatic 
direction  finding;  plotting  satellite 
contacts;  monitoring  DX  packet  clus- 
ters and  plotting  all  DX  spots  auto- 
matically; marathon  and  other  event 
tracking;  plotting  all  stations  on  all 
frequencies  for  frequency  coordina- 
tors; Meteor  Scatter  using  the  very 
short  APRS  packets:  HF  beacons  (lets 
you  see  where  the  band  is  open);  ve- 
hicle tracking;  balloon  tracking;  Civil 
Air  Patrol  search  and  rescue;  Coast 
Guard  Auxiliary  search  and  rescue; 
and  frequency  coordination  are  only  a 
few  possibilities. 

Besides  the  map  displays,  there  are 
many  other  display  pages  that  collect 
information  from  packets  on  the  chan- 
nel. These  displays  give  instant  access 
to  all  the  data  in  the  network  as  follows: 

•Latest  Status:  This  display  main- 
tains a  list  of  the  latest  status  packet 
from  each  station.  In  effect,  this  is  a 
multi-station  online  broadcast  message 


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Photo  H.  APRS  permits  Direction  Finding  using  €mly  signal  strength.  Even  null  reports  are  very  valuable  in  showing  all  the  locations  where 
the  fox  is  not.  Brighter  colored  circles  show  increasing  signal  strength  and  gray  circles  show  the  null  reports.  The  fox  will  be  near  the  inter- 
section of  the  brightest  colored  circles* 

12  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


Neueh  shy  die 

Continued  from  page  4 

Now,  pundits,  how  do  you  explain  all  thai, 
and  whai  do  you  see  (if  any)  as  ramifications? 

And  there  you  have  it.  Advanced  grew  at 
an  average  of  1,9%  per  year,  which  does 
look  like  growth  until  you  figure  out  that 
around  3%  are  dying  per  year,  mostly  due  to 
poor  nutrition  (Americans  have  one  of  the 
worst  diets  in  ihe  world)  or  smoking.  Gener- 
als grew  at  less  than  1  %  per  year-  Novices  at 
1.3%.  Ho  hum. 

Congress  Messing  Up  Again 

Big  surprise,  right?  Naturally,  instead  of 
tackling  the  source  of  the  TVI  (etc.)  prob- 
lem, which  is  the  wide-open  design  of  TV 
sets1  front  ends  and  tfie  lack  of  RF  bypassing 
on  telephones  and  hi-fi  systems  by  the  manu- 
facturers, Coingress  (not  a  typo)  is  trying  to 
put  through  a  new  law  which  would  enable 
the  states  to  close  down  interfering  transmit- 
ters. Well,  Congress  (is  con-gress  the  oppo- 
site of  pro-gress?)  has  steadily  cut  the  FCC's 
funds  so  they  are  impotent  to  cope  with  the 
problem,  and  the  FCC,  fought  vigorously  by 
lobbyists,  has  never  been  able  to  get  the 
manufacturers  to  improve  their  equipment, 
so  the  Commission  has  had  to  pretty  much 
just  ignore  the  cries  of  distressed  consumers. 

Yes,  some  of  the  trouble  stems  from  over* 
powered  CB  equipment.  Being  illegal,  their 
high  power  amplifiers  don't  have  to  meet 
any  regulations,  so  they're  terribly  dirty.  But 
the  design  of  TVs  and  other  consumer  elec- 
tronics equipment  is  such  that  even  a  legal 
CB  transmitter  is  likely  to  raise  hob  with  the 
neighbors. 

And  with  the  proliferation  of  transmitters 
as  two-way  communications  expands  expo- 
nentially, and  with  no  hams  on  our  state  leg- 
islatures to  help  protect  us  from  really  stupid 
stale  laws  being  passed,  if  this  doozie 
(S.2025)  goes  through  we  could  get  put  off 
the  air  by  our  local  authorities,  who  won't 
know  a  ham  rig  from  a  CB.  If  whatever 
you're  doing  interferes  with  that  $199  TV 
next  door,  then  shut  it  down.  Or  else. 

Not  content  with  having  made  our  school 
system  worse  than  most  third-world  nations 
(and  by  far  the  most  expensive  in  the  world); 
not  content  with  having  made  our  so-called 
health  care  system  a  ridiculously  over-priced 
mess;  not  content  with  having  spent  more  of 
your  money  on  their  "war  on  poverty'*  than  it 
would  have  cost  to  buy  all  the  Fortune  500 
companies,  plus  every  farm  in  America,  with 
no  detectable  positive  effect;  not  content  with 
their  totally  lost  drug  war  which  has  been  pri- 
marily instrumental  in  the  spread  of  cocaine 
and  crack;  now  they've  got  us  in  their  sights. 
Maybe  we  need  another  ham  lobbyist  in  Wash- 
ington with  no  budget  to  bribe  our  betters.  Well, 
you  can  bet  that  the  electronics  equipment  manu- 
facturers lobbyists  are  there,  and  armed  with  what- 
ever it  takes.  When  money  changes  hands,  no  mai- 
ler the  rationalization,  that  Congressman  is  then 
acting  as  a  paid  agent. 

Continued  on  page  19 


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Spocrty  10M.  16M.  20M,  40M4  BOM  or  160M 
HF  &pHtt*r#  and  Combtnara  up  to  2KW 


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SOS  Millstone  Drive  «  Beavercrvefc,  Ohio    45434-5840 
Phoiu-(Sl3)  426-fi600  •  FAX  (513)429^3811 


BB 


aftCLE  99  OH  HEADER  SERVICE  CARD 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1 996  13 


— 


system.  In  DX  cluster  mode,  it  accu- 
mulates a  list  of  all  users  and  their 
latest  commands  lo  ihe  cluster 

•Positions:  This  display  shows  the  text 
of  the  position  reports.  They  are  lime- 
stamped  and  may  include  brief  com- 
ments. These  reports  may  also  contain 
DF  or  WX  information.  In  DX  mode, 
this  list  contains  the  positions  of  all  DX 
spots  and  user  locations  heard. 

♦Maps:  Maps  from  100  yards  up  to 
8,000  miles  can  be  displayed,  showing 
the  positions  of  all  stations.  Stations 


and  from  your  station.  Incoming 
messages  are  immediately  brought 
to  the  operator's  attention. 

•Bulletins:  This  screen  displays  all 
bulletins  captured.  They  allow  one  sta- 
tion to  send  multiple  lines  to  all  stations. 

•Traffic:  This  screen  shows  the  last 

page  of  messages  exchanged  between 

other  stations  on  the  net.  It  is  useful  for 

'reading  the  mail/'  DX  packet  cluster 

talk  traffic  also  shows  Up  here. 

•Heard  log:  This  display  maintains  a 
count  of  the  total  number  of  transmissions 


"GPS  trackers  have  been  installed  in  a  football  helmet \ 

a  model  of  the  Olympic  torch,  and  even  on  cows! 

With  the  advent  of  GPS f  everything  can  be  tracked!" 


reporting  a  course  and  speed  are  dead- 
reckoned  to  their  present  estimated  posi- 
tion. Databases  of  most  National 
Weather  Service  stations  and  the  Civil 
Air  Patrol  search  and  rescue  grid  are 
built  in.  You  can  zoom  in  to  any  point  on 
the  globe!  Megabytes  of  maps  :nc  avail- 
able for  APRS  and  more  are  made  every 
day.  Using  the  US  Geological  Survey 
$32  CD-ROMs,  you  can  make  a  street 
level  APRS  map  in  about  an  hour. 

•Messages:  This  display  shows  the 
last  page  of  operator  messages  to 


from  each  station  per  hour.  These  sta- 
tistics are  ideal  for  displaying  the  con- 
nectivity of  the  network  over  varying 
paths,  such  as  HF,  or  to  see  when  sta- 
tions enter  and  leave  the  net.  On  HF. 
this  display  can  show  propagation 
conditions  to  all  areas  at  all  times. 

•Digipeater  list:  This  display  shows 
the  raw  packet  header  so  that  APRS 
users  can  see  what  digipeater  paths  are 
being  used  by  other  stations.  The 
proper  use  of  digipcaters  is  important 
in  an  APRS  network,  An  asterisk  in  the 


first  column  means  that  you  hear  the 
other  station  direct  without  a 
digipeater!  Change  your  UNPROTO 
path  to  NONE  to  chat  with  those  sta- 
tions. In  DX  mode,  this  list  accumu- 
lates a  list  of  all  DX  packet  cluster 
messages  heard, 

•Telemetry  page:  This  page  displays 
the  last  16  telemetry  packets  received. 
The  APRS  telemetry  format  allows  for 
five  analog  channels  and  eight  digital 
status  bits.  A  complete  APRS  telemetry 
transmitter  ihe  si/e  of  a  matchbox 
(with  1-watt  xmtr!)  is  available  for 
under  $200. 

APRS  mobile  vehicle  location 
system  for  voice  nets 

APRS  is  almost  universal,  so  many 
applications  are  moving  off  the  purely 
digital  channels  and  into  voice  networks. 
Since  a  position  or  object  report  is  only  a 
single  one-second  hurst,  many  nets  per- 
mit the  packets  on  their  voice  channels 
to  inform  all  stations  of  their  locations. 
The  Navy  MARS  program  has  used 
APRS  for  years  on  their  HF  afloat  net; 
Although  the  military  ships  never  report 
their  position,  the  periodic  position  re- 
ports from  the  shore  stations  are  like  an 
automatic  HF  chirp  sounder.  The  ships 
just  leave  APRS  monitoring  ihe  voice 
phone  patch  channel,  and  they  can  sec 


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Photo  C.  Not  only  does  APRS  show  the  location  of  all  SKY  WARN  weather  spotter*,  it  con  also  show  dozens  of  special  WX  symbols  and  even 
dead-reckon  the  movement  of  the  storms  being  tracked, 
14  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


MIKE 


PATH 


MSG 


DX 


LOCAL 


RATE 


high 


ON 


LOW 


OFF 


llg.  /.  The  PATH  thumbwheel  switch  gives  4  hits  of  muting  information,  arul  the  second  thumbwheel  switch  allows  the  operator  to  select  one  of  seven  pre- 
defined messages  on  the  from  pttnA  of  the  APRS  mike  encoder.  Jlie  rate  switch  allows  the  operator  t<>  select  the  high  rate  for  frequent  repttrting  aiui  a  four- 
times-lower  rale  for  benign  operations.  Hie  mike  encoder  is  mailable  from  the  Tucson  Amateur  Packet  Radii)  i  TAPRi  Orgtmizftfion:  fetuprjorg. 


on  their  maps  at  a  glance  what  shore 
stations  are  monitoring  and  where  the 
band  is  open,  without  having  to  make 
tedious  voice  call-ups.  Not  only  do  ac- 
tive stations  show  on  the  map,  hut  the 
HEARD  screen  shows  how  many 
packets,  per  station,  per  hour,  have 
been  received. 

APRS  mike  encoder 

Recognizing  the  move  towards  auto- 
matic position  reporting  for  all  mo- 
biles, the  APRS  mike  encoder  was 
designed  lo  provide  mobile  position 
reporting  without  the  requirement 
for  a  TNC,  and  additional  radio  and 
antenna.   The   APRS    mike   encoder 


appends  a  very  short  03-second 
position  lone  burst  on  the  end  of 
your    voice    transmission,    allowing 

automatic  vehicle  tracking  in  any 
vehicle  with  a  two-way  radio!  The 
mike  encoder  is  just  a  black  box  on 
your  dashboard  that  plugs  into  the 
mike  jack  of  any  radio.  A  GPS  and 
your  mike  plug  into  it,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  I.  It  has  a  number  of  front  panel 
switches  to  select  any  one  of  seven 
status  messages,  and  to  select 
various  paths  for  your  position 
report  to  take. 

This  mixing  of  voice  and  packet 
can  be  made  totally  transparent  to 
the  users  on  a  properly  configured 
repealer.  Since  the  packet  is  only  0.3 


seconds  long,  a  TNC  at  the  repeater 
site  delects  the  packet  on  the  re* 
peaier  input  and  instantly  mutes  the 
repeater  output  so  none  of  the  voice 
users  hear  it.  This  0,3  seconds  is 
minimal  compared  to  the  typical 
one-second  courtesy  beep  found  on 
most  modern  repeaters.  So  where 
does  the  position  report  go?  The 
TNC  digipeats  it  not  onto  the  re- 
peater voice  channel,  but  onto  the 
local  wide  area  digital  APRS  track- 
ing channel.  Since  i\\\  position  re- 
ports on  all  frequencies  are  digi pealed 
onto  this  single  APRS  digital  channel 
stations  monitoring  the  APRS  frequency 
will  be  able  lo  keep  track  of  all  mobiles 
on  all  frequencies! 


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Lat  33  19. 3 IN | 
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P/10/0  Z>.  77ii.v  display  shows  the  typical  activity  on  the  National  APRS  tracking  frequency  of  10  J  51  LSB,  If  you  look  closely  you  can  see  mo- 
biles t  including  the  Olympic  Torch,  among  the  numerous  station  and  WX  reports. 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996  15 


Routing  path 


x 


I     I     I     I 


I     I 


i  he  object  of  l  he 
APRS  mike  encoder  is  lo  en- 
code   the   position    into    the 

shortest  possible  packet,  the 
lung  list  of  digipeater 
callsigns  are  eliminated,  In 
their  place  are  only  4  bits 
which  allow  for  local  and 
longer  distance  reporting, 
omni  or  directional  and  pro- 
vision to  control  the  direction 
of  propagation  (see  Fig.  2). 
The  TNC  at  the  voice  re- 
peater is  a  special  APRS 
TNC  that  recognizes  these 
bits  as  routing  information 
and  regenerates  the  packet  by 
re- inserting  the  appropriate 
dijnpcater  callsigns  as  needed 
to  represent  the  indicated  path.  To  do 
this  the  TNC  has  five  special  direc- 
tional UNPROTO  paths  pre-loaded 
with  the  appropriate  north,  south,  east, 
west,  and  omni  paths.  If  the  omni  bit  is 
set,  then  the  TNC  will  digipeat  the  po- 
sition reports  via  the  single  callsign 
WIDE-N.  where  N  is  the  lower  3  bits 


xxx  }-The  four  routing  bits. 


*-* — These  two  bits  represents  the  number  of  hops  if  omni 

or  four  directions  if  directional:  NORTH  =  11 
EAST  =  01 
SOUTH  =10 

WEST  *    00 


A  1  here  indicates  LONG  DISTANCE  vs  LOCAL 


-A  1  here  indicates  an  OMNI  vs  a  DIRECTIONAL  PATH 


Fig.  2.  APRS  mike  encoder  routing  bits.  A  special  APRS  TNC  at  the  repeater  site  decodes  this  informa- 
tion and  sends  the  packet  in  the  appropriate  direction. 


of  the  original  SSID.  This  path  will  ra- 
diate outward  in  all  directions  with  no 
duplicates  since  each  properly  config- 
ured WIDE  digipeater  will  repeat  it 
only  once  and  decrement  the  -N  by 
one.  This  specialized  routing  algo- 
rithm is  called  the  WIDE-N  algorithm 
and     requires     thai     the     digipeater 


maintain  a  copy  of  the  last  minute's 
worth  of  packets  so  thai  it  can  compare 
and  avoid  duplicating  a  packet  that  it 
has  already  sent.  Until  the  new  special 
APRS  Voice  Repeater  TNC  is  installed 
at  all  repeaters,  the  APRS  mike  en- 
coder can  operate  with  the  full  digipeater 
UNPROTO    path    in    its       transmitted 


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Photo  E.  This  APRS  display  was  saved  during  the  Space  Shuttle  SPRE  mission  in  January  1996.  In  this  experiment*  the  payload  built  by 
students  at  the  University  of  Maryland  beaconed  its  own  GPS  position, 

16   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


Rng  512  Nmilesj 
Lat  48  26.18HI 
Lon  888  2S.35U 


At  2145  ing  USA. nap  ;:.,-' 


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Photo  F.  This  display  shows  all  of  the  APRS  WIDE  area  digipeaters  in  the  northeast.  There  are  comparable  numbers  in  the  west  and  southeast. 


packets.  The  only  shortcoming  is  that 
these  packets  arc   longer,   up  to  0.6 

second  long. 

Station  tracking 

Although  APRS  automatically  tracks 

mobile  packet  stations  interfaced  to 
GPS  or  LORAN  navigation,  it  also 
tracks  perfectly  well  with  manual  re- 
ports or  grid  squares.  Additionally,  any 
station  can  place  an  object  on  its  map, 
including  itself,  and  within  seconds 
that  object  appears  on  all  other  station 


display  the  same  maps.  There  is  also  a 

tracking  command  on  the  P  display 
that  will  cause  APRS  to  keep  the  map 
display  always  centered  on  a  selected 
object. 

Automatic  event  tracking 

For  predictable  events  such  as  mara- 
thons and  other  races  (even  the  run- 
ning of  the  Olympic  Torch),  there  is  a 
version  of  APRS  called  APRSdr  that 
can  automatically  dead-reckon  any 
number  of  objects  along  a  given  map 


"APRS  users  can  set  weather  alarms  and  be  alerted  when 

conditions  exceed  given  values. 


9* 


displays.  In  the  example  of  a  parade, 
as  each  checkpoint  with  packet  comes 
on  line,  its  position  is  instantly  dis- 
played to  all  in  the  net.  Whenever  a 
station  moves,  he  just  updates  his  posi- 
tion on  his  map  and  that  movement  is 
transmitted  to  all  other  stations.  To 
track  other  event  assets,  only  one 
packet  operator  needs  to  monitor  voice 
traffic  to  hear  where  things  are.  As  he 
maintains  the  positions  and  move- 
ments of  all  assets  on  his  screen,  all 
other  screens  running  APRS  software 


course.  Just  place  the  symbols  on  the 
course,  give  them  a  speed,  and 
APRSdr  will  move  Lhem  along  the 
course  and  transmit  their  new  posi- 
tions every  N  seconds  to  everyone  on 
the  net,  For  marathons,  just  give  the 
leader  a  speed  of  9  knots  and  Tail-end 
Charley  a  speed  of  3  knots  and  you 
don't  even  need  OPS!  If  the  symbols 
get  ahead  or  behind,  simply  select 
them  with  the  cursor  and  move  them  to 
where  they  arc.  Using  APRSdr  in  this 
manner  frees  up  your  limited  number 


of  GPS  trackers  for  those  assets  that 
are  not  predictable,  such  as  race  officials 
and  service  vehicles. 

Using  APRS  position  reports  on  all 
packet  stations 

APRS  can  be  used  to  monitor  any 
packet  frequency  to  collect  informa- 
tion on  other  stations  on  that  channel. 
As  more  and  more  networks  include 
the  position  of  all  key  assets  in  their 
ID  packets,  APRS  can  be  used  as  a 
general  purpose  network  topology  dis- 
play on  any  packet  frequency!  Even  if 
the  positions  are  manually  entered 
onto  an  APRS  map,  such  APRS 
backup  files  make  an  excellent  mecha- 
nism for  distributing  frequency  usage 
information  in  an  easily  maintained 
map  format.  Since  APRS  captures  only 
beacons,  it  is  a  great  tool  for  monitor- 
ing the  activity  of  a  busy  packet  chan- 
nel. Just  monitor  for  an  evening,  and 
APRS  will  identify  all  stations  on  fre- 
quency and  capture  their  beacon  text 
and/or  ID  packets.  This  is  a  great  way  to 
locate  ail  packet  stations  on  a  frequency. 

Space  applications 

The  problem  with  space  packet  is 
the  saturation  on  the  uplink  by  hun- 
dreds of  stations  which  makes  the  use 
73  Amateur  Radio  Today  ■  December  1996  17 


Kng4B9b  Mniles 
Lat  17  42.36N 
Lon  B26  0B.6HU 


At  Z156  ing  UORLD.nap 


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-  489b  Statute  MP^  [track  Men  8  V. 
Cntrls  File  Input  Hap  Ops  UX  PSetup 


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Photo  G.  APRS  will  plot  the  positions  of  alt  DX  spots  and  grid  squares  thai  it  monitors  on  the  local  DX  cluster*  It  also  gathers  a  list  of 

all  users  and  all  messages  posted  on  the  cluster  just  by  monitoring  the  frequency. 


Down  East  Microwave  Inc. 
Stocking  K1FO  design  Yagi's 
and  TELETEC  Power  Amps. 

Transverters  &  Down  Converters, 
Linear  power  amplifiers,  Low 
Noise  Preamps,  Loop  Yagi  and 
other  antennas,  Power  dividers, 
coaxial  components,  hybrid  powei 
modules,  relays,  GaAsFET, 
PHEMTs  &  FETs,  MMIC's, 
Mixers,  chip  components,  and 
other  hard  to  find  items  for  small 
signal  and  low  noise  applications. 

We  can  interface  our 
transverters  with  most  radios. 

Please  call,  write  or  see  our  web  page 
www.downeastmicrowave.com 
for  Catalog,  detailed  Product 
descriptions  and  interfacing  details. 

Down  East  Microwave  Inc. 

954  Rt.  519 

Frenchtown,  NJ  08825 

Tel.  (908)  996-3584 

Fax.{908)  996-3702 


of  a  normal  "connected"  protocol  im- 
practical. The  shortest  possible  "con- 
nected" contact  requires  a  total  of  five 
successive  and  successful  packets, 
APRS  reduces  this  to  one  packet,  and 
also  capitalizes  on  the  most  fascinat- 
ing aspect  of  the  amateur  radio 
hobby — the  map  display  of  the  location 
of  those  stations. 

A  special  version  of  APRS  called 
"APRtrak"  was  donated  to  the  AM  SAT 
software  library,  It  will  compress  your 
position  report  to  only  six  letters  using 
the  Maidenhead  grid  square  and  trans- 
mit that  in  the  TO  address  field  of  a 
very  short  packet.  Similarly,  it  will 
plot  any  such  stations  heard.  If  every- 
one used  APRtrak  instead  of  trying  to 
connect  with  orbiting  packet 
digipeaters  such  as  SAREX,  then  ev- 
eryone within  the  satellite  footprint 
would  see  the  location  of  every  suc- 
cessful uplink.  In  January  1995,  during 
mission  STS-72,  students  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maryland  built  a  2  meter 
digipeater  called  SPRE  that  flew  for 
18  hours  from  the  Space  Shuttle,  Dur- 
ing those  brief  18  hours  (with  only 
three  low  passes  over  the  southeastern 
USA  between  midnight  and  3:00  AM) 
more  than  70  stations  were  plotted. 

Currently  APRS  position  reporting 
via    satellite   experiments   are    being 


conducted  on  the  amateur  WEBERSAT 
WO-1 8  which  has  a  2  meter  uplink  and 
437  MHz  downlink.  Although  the 
downlink  requires  special  PSK  mo- 
dems, the  uplink  can  use  a  standard 
FM  radio  and  modified  TNC, 

Fox  hunting  or  direction  finding 

APRS  will  plot  the  location  of  a  hid- 
den transmitter,  balloon,  or  interfering 
signal,  and  display  the  intersection  of 
bearing  lines  from  a  number  of  report- 
ing stations,  and  overlapping  signal 
strength  contours,  if  only  signal 
strengths  are  reported.  Finally,  APRS 
includes  the  Fade-Circle  Search  and 
Rescue  technique  which  can  be  used 
by  a  mobile  with  only  an  omni  antenna 
to  locate  a  hidden  transmitter. 

To  use  APRS  for  DFing,  each  station 
having  a  bearing  report  or  a  signal 
strength  on  the  target  simply  enters 
that  bearing,  using  the  OPS-DF  com- 
mand. His  station  will  then  not  only 
report  his  location,  but  also  a  line  of 
bearing  or  signal  strength  contour.  All 
stations  running  APRS  will  see  any  re- 
ported DF  bearing  lines  and  overlap- 
ping signal  strength  contours  on  their 
maps.  Even  with  signal  strengths  alone 
(which  anyone  with  any  radio  can  re- 
port), the  location  of  the  signal  can  be 


18  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  -December  1996 


isolated  down  to  a  few  miles  or  neigh- 
borhood. Further,  APRS  can  track  any 
DF  vehicles  using  GPS  or  LORAN 
devices.  There  is  an  optional  Doppler 
DF  registration  for  direct  connection 
to  any  of  the  Doppler  DF  units  for 
automatically  plotting  and  transmitting 
instantaneous  DF  bearings. 

Weather  station  reporting 

APRS  position  reports  can  include 
wind  speed  and  direclion,  as  well  as 
other  important  weather  conditions. 
APRS  supports  an  optional  serial  inter- 
face to  the  ULTTMETER-II,  Davis  and 
Weather  Ma  \  home  weather  stations. 
With  this  interface,  your  station  in- 
cludes weather  conditions  in  your  posi- 
tion report  for  display  at  all  other 
stations  in  the  network.  All  weather  sta- 
tions show  up  as  a  bright  blue  circle, 
with  a  line  indicating  wind  speed  and 
direction.  The  NEXT  command  in 
APRS  will  successively  highlight  each 


a 


This  is  a  benefit  to  everyone 
on  the  channel." 


weather  station  in  turn,  so  that  all  re- 
ports can  be  collected  at  a  glance.  Op- 
tionally, the  temperature,  barometer, 
and  wind  speed  can  be  shown  next  to 
each  weather  station  instead  of  their 
callsigns.  APRS  also  has  a  database  of  the 
locations  of  most  National  Weather  Ser- 
vice (NOAA)  sites  for  instant  display*  and 
can  crunch  a  file  of  NOAA  hourly  WX 
conditions,  and  update  all  NOAA  stations 
on  the  map.  Finally,  APRS  users  can  set 
weather  alarms  and  be  alerted  when 
conditions  exceed  given  values. 

DX  packet  clusters 

The  positional  display  and  real-time 
user  communications  make  APRS  an 
ideal  tool  lor  the  DX  cluster  user  Not 
only  does  he  get  to  see  all  DX  spots 
on  the  map  at  the  instant  they  are 
transmitted  to  even  the  first  cluster 
user,  but  by  operating  in  the  "monitor 
only"  mode,  he  has  reduced  the  over- 
all  packet  load  on  the  DX  cluster.  This 
is  a  benefit  to  everyone  on  the  chan- 
nel. Also,  the  APRS  monitoring  sta- 
tion will  see  the  spot  as  soon  as  the 
station  gets  it. 


Frequency  coordination 

More  and  more  BBSs,  digipeaiers, 

and  nodes  are  including  APRS  posi- 
tion information  in  their  routine  bea- 
cons. If  the  frequency  coordinating 
body  makes  available  APRS  backup 
files  (or  HST  files)  showing  the  posi- 
tions of  all  coordinated  services,  both 
packet  and  voice,  then  these  files  can 
be  distributed  on  BBSs  and  by  other 
means  to  all  hams  in  the  area.  By 
loading  these  files,  users  can  instantly 
see  the  established  frequency  users  in 
a  geographical  setting.  Add  the  ability 
of  APRS  to  plot  crude  range  ring  con- 
lours  based  on  antenna  height  and 
gain  to  this  visual  reference,  and  you 
can  see  that  APRS  is  useTul  for  dis- 
playing the  topology  of  any  network, 
and  the  interference  ranges  of  voice 
repeaters. 

To  date.  APRS  has  been  used  at  nu- 
merous marathons,  walkathons,  and 
special  events.  It  has  been  installed  on 
ships,  boats,  airplanes,  and  balloons. 
GPS  trackers  have  been  installed  in  a 
football  helmet,  a  model  of  the  Olympic 
torch,  and  even  on  cows!  With  the  ad- 
vent of  GPS,  everything  can  be  tracked! 
This  year,  over  50  APRS  mobiles 
showed  up  at  Dayton  and  could  be 
tracked  all  over  the  slate. 

APRSdos,  MacAPRS  and  WinAPRS 
are  available  as  shareware  on  most  ham 
radio  bulletin  board  systems.  There  is 
also  an  APRS  special  interest  group  on 
the  Internet.  Send  a  message  to 
Hstproc@tapr.org  and  include  the  words 
"subscribe  uprssig"  in  the  body  of  the 
message.  You  may  download  these 
APRS  programs  via  FTP  from  tapr.org 
in  the  tapr/SIG/aprssig/files  directory. 

Registration  of  these  programs  is 
$29  for  APRS,  $50  for  Mac  and  $60  for 
WinAPRS. 

APRSdos  Registrations:  Bob  Bmninga 
WB4APR,  115  Old  Farm  CT.  Glen 
BurnieMD  21060. 

MacAPRS  Registrations:  Keith  Sproul 
WU2Z,  698  Magnolia  RuadL  N.  Brunswick 
NJ  08902, 

WinAPRS  Registrations:  Mark  Sproul 
KB2ICX  698  Magnolia  Road,  N.  Bmnswick 
NJ  08902. 


Neueb  sry  die 

Continued  from  page  13 

Maybe  you've  read  about  the  Congress- 
men who  call  industry  associations  and 
threaten  hearings  unless  they  get  money  for 
their  re-election  campaigns?  Oh  yes,  I  for- 
got, you*re  loo  busy  to  read  books.  Besides, 
what  can  one  person  do,  right? 

Search  For  Intelligent  Life  Fails! 

The  $1.5  trillion  (this  year)  search  for  intelligent 
life  in  Washington  hits  totally  tailed.  No  problem, 
more  money  has  been  budgeted  for  next  year.  The 
IRS  lias  assured  us  that  we  taxpayers  will  be  in 
compliance  to  cover  this  continuing  search.  As 
Congressmen  have  explained  about  the  deficit, 
"Heck,  any  business  has  to  carry  some  debt.  And 
after  all,  it's  only  a  paper  debt  anyway.  The  contin- 
ued foreign  support  of  our  debt  means  they  have 
confidence  in  America.  Well,  we  want  them  to 
have  even  more  confidence." 


Opinions 

There's  a  big  difference  between  express- 
ing opinions  vs.  being  opinionated.  I  enjoy 
hearing   from  readers  who  have  opinions 

which  are  backed  by  solid  homework.  One 
of  the  problems  with  the  Internet  is  the  abun- 
dance of  opinionated  blather.  Not  that  we 
don't  have  much  of  the  same  on  some  75m 
nets.  And  that  reminds  me,  1  heard  Herb 
KV4FZ  pounding  through  on  20m  the  other 
morning.  What  does  it  take  to  get  the  FCC  to 
de license  someone? 

Dennis  Lee 

Several  readers  have  asked  me  what  I 
think  of  Dennis  Lee  and  his  cheap  power 
inventions.  1  haven't  gone  to  any  of  his  dem- 
onstration/sales sessions,  but  I  have  seen  his 
video  and  read  his  book.  The  book  is  not  go- 
ing to  make  my  list  of  books  you* re  crazy  if 
you  don't  read.  It's  more  a  candidate  for 
books  you're  crazy  if  you  bother  to  read. 

Here's  a  guy,  a  show  man.  obviously,  who 
claims  he  has  a  irreat  invention.  It'll  generate 
power  and  heat  your  home,  making  you  free 
of  the  power  company,  It'll  run  your  car.  And 
so  on.  His  book  tells  nothing  at  all  about  the 
technology.  It's  mainly  a  history  of  his  per- 
secution by  the  government  and  the  courts, 
and  the  time  he  had  to  spend  in  prison.  Now, 
I'm  not  used  to  the  notion  that  our  courts  and 
government  are  right  about  much,  but  this 
time  maybe  they  weren't  out  as  far  in  left 
field  as  usual. 

Having  watched  most  of  the  big-time  ma- 
gicians both  in  person  and  on  TV,  I'm  used 
to  the  idea  that  a  good  magician  can  make  al- 
most anything  seem  to  happen.  So  the  more  I 
watched  Lee's  video,  the  more  I  felt  I  was 
watching  a  magic  act.  not  a  scientific  dem- 
onstration. 

I   was  surprised  when   1  read   that  Yul 

Brown  (Brown's  Gas)  would  be  appearing 

with  Dennis  at  Philadelphia.  I've  watched  a 

video  of  a  Brown's  Gas  demonstration,  but  1 

didn't  understand  the  theory  of  what  was 

Continued  on  page  23 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  19 


73  Review 


Number  20  on  your  Feedback  card 


The  Ten-Tec  1 209  2-to-6  Transverter 


An  easy  way  to  have  some  fun: 


t 


David  McWhinnte  VA3XDM  (ex  VY1DM) 
281  Castor  St. 
Russell  Ontario 
Canada  K4R  1B8 


If  you  are  looking  lor  a  way  ic  jump 
into  the  fun  on  6m,  the  modestly  priced 
Ten-Tec  1 209  2-to-6m  Transverter  may 
be  just  the  answer  Available  either  as  a 
kit  or  pre-built,  this  transverter  provides 
an  easy  route  to  the  entire  6m  (50-54 
MHz)  amateur  band,  using  just  a  2m 
transceiver  Providing  access  to  a  whole 
new  set  of  EM  repeaters,  lhe  unit  is  also 
a  great  way  for  Technician  Class  opera- 
tors to  get  in  on  the  fun  of  working  DX 
openings,  especially  when  used  with  a 
2m  all-mode  transceiver  Add  the  pride 
that  comes  from  using  something  you 
put  together  yourself,  and  this  kit  really 
has  it  all! 


Construction  is  not  difficult,  requiring 
only  basic  hand  and  soldering  tools,  with 
an  ordinary  multimeter  and  some  kind  of 
power  output  meter  being  the  only  test 
equipmem  needed.  I  found  that  a  simple 
HF  SWR/power  meter  worked  just  fine. 

At  just  under  $100  US  for  the  kit 
(SI 59  pre-built),  you  can  have  hours  of 
operating  fun  for  a  modest  sum,  as  well 
as  the  pride  of  using  something  you  had 
apart  in  building. 

Technical 

Technically,    the    Ten-Tec    1209    is 

straightforward,  comprised  of  a  94  MHz 
local  oscillator  and  diode  mixer  to  con- 
vert 2m  signals  to  6m  (and  vice  versa), 
amplification  and  filter  circuits,  and  PIN 
diodes  for  T/R  switching.  The  T/R 
circuit  is  RF  sensing,  so  the  radio's  an- 
tenna connector  provides  the  only  con- 
nection between  radio  and  transverter. 


'The  unit  produced  close  to  10  watts  at  the  center  of  the  bandf 
and  easily  managed  better  than  9  watts  almost  to  the  edges  of 

the  band." 


With  a  maximum  driving  power  of  5 

watts,  this  transverter  produces  8  watts 
at  6m,  making  it  ideal  for  use  with  most 
2m  handheld*.  As  most  synthesized  2m 
rigs  are  user-programmable  to  handle 
TX/RX  frequency  offsets  other  than  the 
standard  2m  split  of  600  kHz,  the  com- 
mon 6m  repeater  offset  of  1  MHz  is  eas- 
ily managed  Should  you  have  a  2m  rig 
which  cannot  readily  be  set  to  5  watts 
maximum  output,  Ten-Tec  has  thought- 
fully included  instructions  on  the  neces- 
sary modifications  to  the  input  circuit  to 
accommodate  both  higher  and  lower 
input  powers, 
20   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


No  modifications  to  your  radio  are  re- 
quired. The  assembly  manual  does 
strongly  emphasize  the  importance  of  cor- 
rectly assembling  and  testing  this  portion  j 
of  the  kit.  which  ensures  proper  operation 
of  the  transverter  and  prevents  unwanted/ 
spurious  output  signals. 

After  construction,  I  tested  the  unit  us- 
ing a  commercial  service  monitor  and 
found  thai  it  met  or  exceeded  Ten-Tec's 
specifications.  If  anything,  Tec-Tec 
seems  to  have  been  a  bit  conservative  in 
describing  the  performance  of  their 
product.  While  Ten-Tec  specifics  a 
nominal  output  power  of  8  watts  (for  the 


maximum  5  watts  input),  the  unit  pro- 
duced close  to  10  watts  at  the  center  of 
the  band,  and  easily  managed  better  than 
9  watts  almost  to  the  edges  of  lhe  band, 
only  dropping  off  significantly  at  54 
MHz  (the  upper  limit). 

Input  (6m)  sensitivity  was  measured  at 
.I3V  for  a  20  dB  S/N  ratio  (on  FM), 
again  slightly  better  than  the  nominal 
.15V  specified.  The  assembly  manual 
notes  that  this  specification  depends  on 
the  sensitivity  of  the  2m  receiver  used. 
In  on-air  use,  the  buiil-in  preamp  en- 
sured  that  receive  sensitivity  was  ample. 
with  little  or  no  noise  noted. 

Because  of  the  inherent  sensitivity  of 
the  2m  transceiver  to  its  design  frequen- 
cies, keeping  unwanted  2m  signals  from 
'leaking  through"  and  appearing  in  the 
6m  band  is  sometimes  challenging.  The 
1209  meets  this  challenge  well,  with  no 
feedthroueh  noted  in  on-air  use. 

The  most  noticeable  thing  on  first  un- 
packing the  kit  is  its  weight.  Although 
it's  only  a  little  more  than  7  inches  (W) 
by  6  inches  (D)  by  1  inch  (H),  the  as- 
sembled kit  weighs  about  2.5  lbs,, 
largely  due  to  the  steel  enclosure.  If 
you've  ever  chased  an  aluminum  hox  all 
over  a  table  because  it's  too  light  to  stay 
in  place  with  the  coax  connected,  you'll 
appreciate  the  physical  stability  of  this 
Utile  unit.  As  an  aid  to  final  testing  and 
troubleshooting,  the  board  can  be  tem- 
porarily installed  upside  down,  which  1 
found  very  handy.  Mechanically,  the 
cabinet,  connectors  and  board  (there's 
only  one  circuit  board)  fit  well,  and  solidly. 
The  finished  pnniuct  looks  and  feels  sub- 
stantial, and  has  none  of  lhe  "second 
grade"  feel  sometimes  associated  with  kit 
or  home-brew  equipment. 


Construction 

Assembly  is  not  difficult,  and  would 
lake  most  reasonably  diligent  hams  be- 
tween 10  and  20  hours,  if  my  experience 
is  any  guide.  The  manual  is  well  laid  out, 
and  is  clearly  geared  for  the  inexperi- 
enced builder  Construction  is  organized 
into  seven  basic  "phases,"  each  encom- 
passing a  particular  functional  segment 


manual,  and  in  their  warranty  ihey 
promise  to  replace  any  such  missing 
parts  promptly. 

My  only  other  quibble  was  a  piece  of 
hook-up  wire  which  is  installed  early  in 
the  assembly  process.  The  roll  supplied 
in  my  kit  was  prc-tinned,  and  somewhat 
brittle*  With  the  number  of  times  the 
board  has  to  be  flipped  over  and  back 
during  the  rest  of  the  construction,  this 


Ten-Tec  even  provides  a  detailed  description  of  each 
component  to  be  installed  at  a  given  step/' 


of  the  circuit.  Each  phase  includes  a 
step-by-step  description  of  the  assembly 
to  be  performed,  a  schematic  and  picto- 
rial representations  of  the  part  of  the  cir- 
cuit and  board  being  constructed,  and  a 
concluding  "progress  test"  to  ensure  that 
the  steps  have  been  completed  correctly. 
I  found  this  approach  quite  convenient, 
as  the  time  required  to  complete  and  test 
an  individual  phase  nicely  fit  the  time 
available  of  an  evening,  once  dinner  was 
cleared,  the  kids  bathed  and  read  to,  etc. 

The  manual  contains  many  helpful 
hints  and  suggestions  in  addition  to  the 
extremely  detailed  descriptions  of  each 
individual  step.  Ten-Tec  even  provides  a 
detailed  description  of  each  component 
to  be  installed  at  a  given  step,  Le,  "In- 
stall resistor  R39,  10S  {brown-black- 
black)."  While  this  degree  of  detail 
might  be  unnecessary,  having  both  the 
value  and  the  "description"  may  serve  as 
a  second  check  on  the  builder's  selection 
of  a  given  part.  To  further  aid  installa- 
tion, the  topside  of  the  board  is  printed 
with  component  numbers  and  outlines, 
showing  the  correct  orientation  of  each 
component. 

Those  who  like  to  "roll  their  own"  will 
undoubtedly  be  glad  to  discover  that 
there  is  some  coil  winding  to  be  done. 
The  instructions  are  clear  and  the  illus- 
trations helpful,  so  the  task  is  readily 
managed,  even  by  the  less  experienced. 

The  only  quibbles  I  had  with  the  con- 
struction phase  were  a  couple  of  missing 
parts,  and  a  hook-up  wire  which  did  not 
stand  up  welL  When  I  opened  the  kit  a 
couple  of  10k  resistors  were  missing 
(other  value  resistors  somehow  got  into 
the  package),  as  was  a  ferrite  bead  re- 
quired for  the  lead  of  one  transistor.  As 
they  are  common  items,  1  had  them  on 
hand,  However,  Ten-Tec  makes  provi- 
sion for  even  this  eventuality  in  the 


particular  wire  broke  off  several  limes. 
Annoying,  but  nothing  serious. 

On-air  performance 

Once  the  rig  was  checked  out  and 
tuned  up,  1  hooked  it  up  to  a  "quick  and 
dirty"  half- wave  sloper  dipole  I  had 
hung  off  my  tower  at  about  15  feet,  just 
to  see  if  I  could  bring  up  the  local  6m 
FM  repeater.  The  repeater  came  up  just 
fine,  but  no  one  was  around  to  talk  to,  so 
I  moved  down  to  the  sideband  calling 
frequency  (50.125)  to  have  a  listen.  The 
first  fellow  I  talked  to.  Bill  K4LRX, 
turned  out  to  be  in  Henderson,  Ken- 
tucky, about  900  miles  from  my  home 
QTH  near  Ottawa,  Canada,  I  thought  the 
5  X  7  signal  report  was  not  bad  for  10 
watts,  and  a  pretty  poor  antenna.  1  have 
since  put  up  a  home-brew  three-element 
beam  at  35  feet,  and  have  had  a  fine  lime 
working  stations  up  and  down  the  East 
Coast,  over  to  the  Midwest,  and  when 
conditions  permit,  as  far  west  as  Okla- 
homa and  Texas.  The  signal  reports  have 
been  uniformly  good,  with  many  posi- 
tive comments  about  how  well  this  little 
rig  does  the  job.  Since  I  previously  spent 
most  of  my  time  on  packet  and  satellite, 
I'd  never  experienced  the  fun  of  (almost) 
QRR  There  is  a  certain  joy  in  discovering 
your  home-brew  8W  rig  and  three-clement 
antenna  is  pulling  in  the  same  5  and  9  sig- 
nal report  as  your  neighbor  with  800  watts 
and  six  elements. 

Conclusion 

Obviously,  I  really  enjoyed  huilding 
this  kit,  and  am  having  a  ball  using  it  on 
the  air.  Ten -Tec  has  done  a  good  job  with 
the  kit  itself,  and  I  found  them  excellent 
to  deal  with  when  purchasing  it.  It  hap- 
pened that  I  had  a  couple  of  technical 
questions     the     salesman     could     not 


answer  Right  away,  I  was  put  through  to 
a  technician,  who  had  the  answers  and 
some  helpful  suggestions  as  well.  This 
left  a  very  favorable  impression,  and  the 
performance  of  the  kit  has  lived  up  to 
that  impression.  For  someone  looking 
for  a  reasonably  low  cost  way  to  get  on 
6,  and  for  an  answer  to  some  of  those 
who  dismiss  "no-coders"  as  "appliance 
operators  who  can't  build  a  thing,"  the 
Ten-Tec  1209  might  just  be  the  answer. 
It  looks  good,  works  well,  and  doesn't 
cost  much.  A  good  combination  all 
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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  21 


Number  22  on  your  Feedback  cant 


Shooting  Straight  Up 


NVIS:  A  neglected  short-range  technique. 


Peter  L  Barker  XF1/KB6ASH 

La  Jolla  de  Los  Cabos  AB-506 

San  Jose  del  Cabo,  B.QS.  23400 

Mexico 


he  quest  for  long  distance  com- 
munication has  totally  captured  a 
large  segment  of  the  ham  popula- 
tion, to  the  point  where  multi-element 
antennas  at  expensive  heights  are  the 
sign  of  a  serious  ham. 


radiation,  ihe  greater  the  distance  to  the 
first  reflection  point  in  the  ionosphere 
and  the  further  away  the  touchdown 
point  of  the  reflected  signal.  Fewer  hops 
make  for  heller  DX.  The  downside  is  an 
almost  total  lack  of  signal  in  the  nearby 


"Forgo  the  kerchunking  and  give  NVIS  a  try. 


V* 


Few  things  in  ham  radio  are  more 
thrilling  than  a  contact  with  some  iso- 
lated island  or  far-off  country,  or  the 
convenience  of  our  thousands  of  re- 
peater systems.  But  ihere  are  times  when 
till  the  long-range  antennas  or  slick  little 
hundhclds  may  just  not  be  what  is  re- 
quired. We  are  perhaps  hest  known  outside 
our  own  community  lor  the  communica- 
tions we  provide  from  disaster  areas  when 
all  else  tails.  That  is  just  the  situation 
where  Near  Vertical  Incidence  Skywave 
operation  may  be  the  winning  ticket — pro- 
viding reliable  short-  to  medium-range 
communication  as  required  in  a  disaster,  or 
even  just  for  semi-local  contacts  in  moun- 
tainous areas  where  it  may  be  impossible 
to  get  into  a  repeater. 

So  how  can  you  gel  involved  with  this 
type  of  operation?  By  using  an  antenna 
radiation  pattern  that  is  terrible  for  long- 
range  DX  but  perfect  lor  local  coverage, 
even  from  the  deepest  canyon  or  behind 
the  highest  hill;  and  that  is  via  high 
angle  antenna  radiation. 

The  reason  antenna  height  is  always 
stressed  in  DX  antenna  discussions,  and 
why  the  big  guns  mortgage  their  family 
jewels  to  purchase  those  big  lowers,  is 
the  Holy  Grail  of  low  angle  radiation. 
Within  reason,  the  tower  the  an  tile  of 
22   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


skipped  zone.  If  we  take  the  NVIS  ap- 
proach, we  use  the  opposite  effect.  We 

\v  ant  our  signal  to  cover  a  circle  around 
our  location  to  a  few  hundred  miles  out. 
We,  in  fact,  want  our  signal  to  take  off  as 
close  to  vertically  as  possible. 

Signals  thai  enter  the  ionosphere  at  a 
suitable  frequency  and  a  very  high  angle 
will  be  reflected  back  to  earth  around  the 
transmitting  point.  The  high  takeoff 
angle  allows  the  signal  to  ignore  nearby 
high  hills,  and  to  get  into  (or  out  of)  deep 
canyons  or  gorges. 

Rarely  discussed  in  ham  literature, 
NVIS  is  a  standard  mode  used  by  emer- 
gency and  military  communicators  world- 
wide. It  is  very  easy  and  inexpensive  to  do, 
and  certainly  deserves  to  be  better  known, 
especially  by  groups  who  pride  themselves 
on  emergency  preparedness. 

Using  NVIS 

For  a  fixed  installation  it  could  hardly 
be  simpler  Rule  One:  Forget  your  verti- 
cals since  they  excel  at  low  angle  radia- 
tion and  squirt  almost  nothing  straight 
up.  Rule  Two:  Keep  il  horizontal  and 
relatively  low, 

A  dipole  is  probably  the  simplest  way 
to  go.  Cut  it  using  the  usual  formula  for 
the  frequency  of  operation  and  mount  it 


anywhere  from  8  to  25  feet  above  the 
ground.  It  can  actually  work  fine  even 
lower  than  8  feet,  hut  might  be  hazard- 
ous— people  walk  into  the  wire,  which 
can  be  surprisingly  invisible  to  someone 
who's  not  paying  attention.  If  you  have 
to  mount  the  ends  of  the  antenna  higher 
than  25  feet  or  so,  you  can  go  against  ev- 
erything that  you've  been  taught  and  let 
the  feed  point  sag  well  below  the  ends  of 
the  dipole.  Try  to  keep  the  included 
angle  greater  than  90  degrees  as  you 
want  to  raise  your  takeoff  angle  hut  not 
cause  cancellation  of  the  signal. 

So,  how  do  I  handle  this  on  my  mo- 
bile, where  my  antennas  are  normally 
vertical?  This  is  more  of  a  challenge 
since  the  antenna  must  he  horizontal,  but 
for  someone  with  a  little  ingenuity  it's 
no  big  deal.  In  this  case  a  larger  vehicle 
has  an  advantage  over  the  mini-compact 
since  it  has  more  horizontal  real  estate 
with  which  to  play.  On  an  RV  or  truck, 
by  using  10-  to  20-inch  lengths  of  PVC 
lube  as  standoff  insulators  it  is  possible 
to  mount  a  respectable  horizontal  dou- 
blet, if  not  a  full  dipole.  On  smaller  ve- 
hicles, two  inexpensive  loaded  whip 
antennas  will  work  fairly  well  when 
used  as  the  two  halves  of  a  dipole.  They 
need  not  be  perfectly  horizontal  to  be 
useful,  so  they  can  be  mounted  in  an  in- 
verted "V"  configuration.  Formultiband 
use,  two  "CB"  type  stainless  steel  or 
FiberglasIM  whips  fed  with  a  tuner  with 
a  balanced  output  can  be  used.  The  mili^ 
tary  makes  extensive  use  of  these,  using 
megahuck  helical  loaded  whips  and 
automatic  tuners. 

The  whole  process  relies  upon 
the    ionosphere    direct!  \    above    the 


transmitter  being  reflective  at  the  fre- 
quency of  operation.  As  reliability  is  the 
main  reason  for  using  the  NVIS  mode,  it 
tends  to  be  used  only  on  the  lower  fre- 
quencies, i.e.  below  10  MHz.  The  rule  of 
thumb  is  to  use  frequencies  no  higher 
than  90%  of  the  MUF  for  the  prevailing 
propagation  conditions,  At  the  present 
low  level  of  sunspot  activity,  ihis  means 
160t  80  and  40  meters  are  going  to  be 
your  hands  of  choice.  The  later  in  the 
day,  the  lower  the  frequency.  Currently 
at  night  160  and  80  meters  will  probably 
be  the  most  usable  bands. 

NVIS  has  proven  to  be  a  reliable 
means  of  short-  to  medium- range  com- 
munication and  belongs  in  the  repertoire 
of  all  emergency  groups.  It  is  simple  to 
implement  and  an  area  which  has  been 
little  explored.  A  few  dollars'  worth  of 
wire  and  coax  or  a  couple  of  inexpensive 
loaded  whips  wiU  get  you  on  the  air,  so 
forgo  the  kcrchunking  and  give  NVIS 
a  try. 


Never  shy  die 

Continued  Jrom  page  19 

happening.  Well,  maybe  it's  my  stupidity, 
right? 

So  here's  Lee  putting  on  his  show  in  cities 
all  around  the  country,  Belling  distributor- 
ships in  his  magical  power  unit,  and,  as  far  as 
I  know,  with  no  manufacturing  facility  any- 
where, or  even  a  preproduction  model  of  his 
unit.  That  smelted  fishy  to  me.  And  now  he 
had  Brown  with  him,  claiming  that  he  could 
de-activate  radioactive  waste,  Hmm. 

Lee  claims  that  with  his  technology,  cars  can 
be  modified  (same  engine)  to  run  without  gaso- 
line and  have  no  exhaust.  His  unit  will  purify 
an  unlimited  source  of  fresh  water  anywhere  ai 
no  cost.  Garbage  and  sewage  can  be  disinte- 
grated with  no  negative  effects.  Free  electricity 
can  be  produced  from  air  anywhere  in  any 
quantity,  He  has  the  world's  greatest  heat  stor- 
age device,  the  world's  most  efficient  heal 
pump,  and  frictionless  oil. 

Rend  (author  of  The  Last  Skeptic  of  Sci- 
ence}* who  Lives  in  New  Jersey,  went  to  the 
Philly  demo/sales  show,  taking  along  some 
film  to  be  exposed  to  the  radioactive  samples 
before  and  after  the  Brown  treatment.  I  know 
you're  not  going  to  believe  this,  but  Lee 
called  off  the  radioactive  demo  and  Rend 
was  locked  out  of  the  halL 

When  1  first  began  hearing  about  Lee  I 
was  hoping  that  maybe  somehow  he  was  on 
to  something.  The  book  and  video  didn't 
help.  And  when  I  called  his  office  they  said 
there  was  no  one  there  who  could  talk  tech- 
nically to  me,  and  that  Lee  was  on  a  national 
tour  selling  distributorships  and  wouldn't  be 
back  for  several  months. 

I  figured  that  if  what  he  was  doing  made 
any  scientific  sense  this  could  be  another 
new  technology  that  1  might  be  able  to  help 


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CIRCLE  166  ON  READER  SEfl VICE  CARD 


grow  into  an  industry  with  a  publication. 
Always  looking. 

Lee's  Better  World  Technology  works  out 
of  a  post  office  box  in  a  small  northern  New 
Jersey  town  which  is  less  than  30  miles  away 
from  Reng*s  home.  Rene  says  the  talk  up 
there  is  that  LeeS  group  is  planning  on 
Leaving  town. 

If  you've  read  about  the  Lee  inventions  or 
seen  them  in  operation,  let  me  know  what 
you  think.  Since  what  he  is  selling  seems  too 
good  to  be  true,  maybe  it  is. 

Cancer  Update 

In  the  last  25  years,  though  billions  have 
been  spent  on  cancer  research,  the  survival 
of  about  97%  of  cancer  victims  has  not  been 
improved  one  little  bit.  Well,  you  ask,  how 
about  chemotherapy?  Whai  doctors  don't 
want  you  to  know  is  that  chemo  doesn't 
work  except  for  a  few  very  rare  types  of  can- 
cer. Worse,  it  can  cause  many  more  prob- 
lems, including  even  more  deadly  cancers. 

You  know,  early  in  this  century  cancers 
were  exceedingly  rare.  Today,  one  in  three  of 
you  are  going  to  have  the  trauma  of  dealing 
with  cancer.  The  doctors  will  want  to  operate 
or  use  chemo,  or  probably  both.  When  can- 
cer strikes,  you  have  a  decision  to  make.  A 
big  decision.  Are  you  going  to  put  your  trust 
in  doctors  and  believe  and  do  everything 

Continued  on  page  27 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  -December  1996  23 


^ 


— 


73  Review 


Number  24  on  your  Feedback  card 


Woodhouse  Communications' 
APT-2CP  Omnidirectional  Antenna 


.„  and  its  perfect  sidekick,  Hamtronics*  LNG-I37  receiver  preamp , 


Larry  Antonuk  WB9RRT 
P.O.  Box  452 
Marlborough  NH  03455 


I  had  completed  construction  of  my 
new  weather  satellite  receiver  (see 
Hamtronies  R139  review,  73,  November 
1996),  and  had  hooked  it  up  to  my  discone 
antenna.  I  stumbled  throutih  ihe  deinodu- 
lator  instructions,  and  had  actually  re- 
ceived and  viewed  lots  of  Automatic 
Picture  Transmission  (APT)  pictures. 
Overall  I  was  pleased  with  my  success.  As 
I  began  to  decode  more  and  more  pictures, 
however,  I  found  thai  I  was  becoming 
more  and  more  critical  of  ihe  results.  The 
main  problem  was  thai  ihe  overhead 
passes  were  too  short.  Only  rarely  did  I  get 
a  full  screen  image;  in  most  cases  I  was  re- 
cording a  two-  or  three  inch  picture  with 
each  pass.  Even  these  images  were  broken 
up  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  each  dis- 
play, and  the  pictures  were  cluttered  with 
black  and  white  spots  and  streaks.  Some- 
thing was  obviously  amiss,  and  I  had  a 
pretty  good  idea  what  it  was. 
During  my  days  as  a  Novice  I  heard  an  ad- 
age that  has  stayed  with  me:  "A  dollar  put 
towards  the  antenna  is  worth  twenty  put 
towards  the  receiver."  Adjusted  for  infla- 
tion this  might  come  closer  to  iwo  hundred 
dollars  towards  the  receiver,  but  the  mes- 
sage is  clear.  If  you  want  gtxxl  reception, 
you  have  to  make  sure  that  you  capture  the 
best  signal  available  at  your  location. 

Choosing  an  antenna  system 

When  it  came  to  antennas  for  overhead 
satellite  reception  I  was  somewhat  in  the 
dark.  1  quickly  learned  that  there  were  two 
main  paths  to  take.  The  first  utilized  a  cir- 
cular-polarized, fixed  omnidirectional 
24  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


antenna  with  a  fairly  wide  bcamwidth, 
pointed  straight  up.  This  antenna  made  use 
of  two  crossed  driven  elements  that  sat 
above  a  pair  of  crossed  reflectors,  and  was 
called  a  turnstile"  since  it  resembled, 
well,  a  turnstile.  The  second  method  also 
made  use  of  a  circular-polarized  antenna, 
but  a  higher  gain,  smaller  beamwidth  yagi 
model  This  was  mounted  on  a  dual  rotator 
arrangement,  to  provide  elevation  and  azi- 
muth movement.  It  provided  a  much  stron- 
ger received  signal  than  the  Iked  option, 
but  of  course  it  needed  to  he  continuously 
moved  to  follow  the  satellite  as  it  traced  its 
arc  across  the  sky.  There  were  even  com- 
puter programs  that  would  automatically 
turn  the  rotators,  based  on  information 
about  the  satellite  you  fed  in  earlier. 

I  pondered  my  choices,  and  compared 
them  to  mv  current  needs  and  resources. 

m 

Obviously,  the  rotating  method  would  pro- 
vide the  best  coverage  in  borderline  cir- 
cumstances, and  allow  the  most  data  to  be 
squeezed  from  each  pass.  On  the  other 
hand,  someone  needed  to  make  sure  the 
rotators  were  turning  the  antenna  cor- 
rectly— it  didn't  sound  like  this  was  some- 
thing that  would  occur  automatically  while 
1  was  at  work,  at  least  not  without  a  whole 
lot  of  set-up  work  on  my  part.  Besides,  1 
really  didn't  care  what  the  weal  her  looked 
like  when  the  satellite  was  down  near  the 
horizon — I  wanted  to  see  the  picture 
mainly  when  the  satellite  was  right  over- 
head, which  was  when  the  turnstile  an- 
tenna did  its  best  work.  The  deciding 
factor  had  lo  do  with  simplicity  and  cost.  I 
round  thai  I  could  ptit  up  a  turnstile  an- 
tenna for  about  one-fifth  the  price  of  a 
yagi/rotor  combination,  and  it  looked  like  I 
could  get  it  assembled  and  mounted  right 
a  wax. 

■r 

Once  I  decided  on  the  antenna  I  needed, 


the  choice  of  manufacturer  was  obvious,  I 
had  come  across  a  catalog  from 
Woodhouse  Communications,  in 
Piainwell,  Michigan.  Woodhouse  has  a 
complete  line  of  antennas,  all  designed  for 
various  types  of  APT  reception,  1  sent  a 
check  oflf  to  Woodhouse,  requesting  their 
APT  2CP  turnstile  antenna, 

I  received  the  APT-2CP  about  a  week 
later.  As  soon  as  I  opened  the  box  I  was 
pleased  with  the  purchase.  The 
Woodhouse  folks  produce  a  special  line  of 
antennas,  and  they  obviously  take  great 
pains  to  do  it  right.  The  vertical  boom  of 
the  antenna  is  a  piece  of  one-inch  6061-T6 
aluminum  tubing.  Holes  arc  drilled 
through  the  boom  for  the  elements — no  U- 
bolt  arrangements  here.  The  18-8  stainless 
steel  solid  rod  elements  are  pre-tapped  for 
the  stainless  hardware  that  will  hold  them 
in  place — no  self-tapping  screws  or  hose 
clamps.  The  baluns  are  true  coaxial  baluns. 
not  fcrrite  bead  types.  The  balun  blocks  are 
machined  from  HDPE  plastic  for  UV  sta- 
bility and  strength.  Every  part  of  the  an- 
tenna, right  down  to  the  Ampenol 
connectors  and  Belden  cable,  is  real 
quality  stuff. 

Setting  up  the  APT-2CF 

Assembling  the  antenna  was  fairly 
straightforward,  and  was  done  in  under  a 
couple  of  hours,  including  time  for  a 
break.  The  instructions  give  some  hints  on 
how  to  support  the  antenna  with  a  couple 


of  sawhorses;  this  made  construction  quite 
easy,  I  had  started  the  project  in  the  early 
evening,  and  by  Ihe  time  I  had  the  antenna 
ready  to  go  up  on  the  roof  it  was  already 
dark,  I  decided  to  put  the  project  off  until 
the  next  day,  bul  I  did  hook  the  APT-2CP 
to  some  coax  which  I  tossed  through  the 
window  into  the  shack.  I  didn't  get  around 
to  mounting  the  tripod  on  the  roof  until  a 
couple  of  days  later,  but  in  the  meantime  I 
found  that  my  satellite  passes  were  now  at 
least  twice  as  long — with  the  antenna  still 
sitting  on  the  ground! 

I  finally  got  the  tripod  mounted,  and 
mounted  the  antenna  on  a  piece  of  mast 
with  the  supplied  stainless  steel  clamps. 
The  only  advice  given  concerning  the  lo- 
cation of  the  antenna  had  to  do  with  maxi- 
mizing the  "horizon  "  In  other  words,  get 


My  main  concern  was  that  I  had  been 
too  cheap  lo  go  out  and  buy  a  quality  piece 
of  coax  for  the  turnstile.  1  had  used  a  75- 
foot  piece  of  RG-8  that  I  had  previously 
used  on  HF,  and  I  worried  that  there  might 
be  too  much  loss  in  it.  I  weighed  the  op- 
tions, and  figured  that  the  preamp  would 
be  the  way  to  go.  Since  I  was  using  the 
Hamtronies  R139  receiver,  I  ordered  an 
LNG-137  preamp  from  Hamtronies, 

The  LNG-137  is  similar  lo  the  LNG-144 
preamp  used  in  repeaters  and  for  weak  sig- 
nal work,  but  tuned  specifically  for  the  1 37 
MHz  weather  satellite  band.  It  comes 
preassembled,  and  requires  a  +12  VDC 
supply,  (Hamtronies  does  sell  a  phantom 
power  kit  to  allow  you  to  run  the  12  VDC 
up  the  coax,  but  I  didn't  want  to  mess  with 
building  up  the  isolators  on  each  end,  I 


;As  I  collected  more  and  more  images,  I  found  myself  getting 

pickier  and  pickier/' 


the  antenna  as  high  as  possible,  away  from 
and  above  any  obstructions  such  as  trees 
and  chimneys.  (It  is  recommended  that  the 
turnstile  not  be  side-mounted  on  your 
tower,  and  not  below  your  beam!)  Once  it 
was  on  the  roof  I  found  that  my  passes  im- 
proved even  more,  and  I  was  able  to  get 
full  screen  images  with  little  problem.  In 
addition,  since  the  antenna  was  fixed  and 
omnidirectional  I  didn't  need  to  mess  with 
it  at  all — I  just  let  my  R 1 39  receiver  switch 
on  the  tape  recorder  when  a  satellite  was 
going  over,  and  collect  the  passes  for  me 
so  I  could  demodulate  them  and  review 
them  at  the  end  of  the  day. 

As  I  collected  more  and  more  images,  I 
found  that  I  got  even  pickier  and  pickier  I 
began  to  notice  thai  there  were  still  a  few 
patches  of  "snow"  at  the  beginning  and 
end  of  each  pass.  The  point  where  the  sat- 
ellite signal  was  the  weakest  looked  like  it 
could  still  use  some  improvement. 

Improving  the  picture 

I  knew  that  receiver  prcamps  were 
available,  and  that  this  might  help  improve 
my  situation.  I  also  knew  that  a  preamp 
could  actually  degrade  the  system's  per- 
formance—especially if  there  were  a  lot  of 
strong  signals  around.  I  was  somewhat 
near  an  airport,  so  I  figured  that  I  might  be 
hit  with  aircraft  transmissions,  but  I  didn't 
have  an  excessive  amount  of  public  safety 
or  commercial  two-way  traffic  around  the 
neighborhood* 


simply  ran  a  piece  of  insulated  bell  wire  up 
to  the  antenna,  and  used  the  coax  ground 
for  -12  VDC.)  I  mounted  the  LNG-137  on 
a  small  (3"  x  3")  piece  of  aluminum  stock, 
and  mounted  it  to  the  mast  below  the  turn- 
stile. I  made  up  a  small  jumper  with  the 
proper  BNC  connectors,  and  taped  and 
caulked  the  unit  with  silicone  sealant. 

Testing  with  the  preamp  in-circuit 
showed  improvement  at  the  very  begin- 
ning and  end  of  each  pass  in  the  form  of 
fewer  of  the  black  and  white  "dropouts," 
So  far  I  haven't  noticed  any  evidence  of 
any  of  the  problems  associated  with  too 
much  gain — intermod  products,  oscilla- 
tion, etc.  However,  in  my  case,  the  use  of 
the  APT-2CP  antenna  (designed  specifi- 
cally for  137  MHz)  as  opposed  to  a 
broadband  antenna  will  limit  the 
strength  of  the  out-of-band  signals  thai  are 
passed  to  the  preamp.  And  the  preamp,  be- 
ing tuned  to  137  MHz,  will  favor  those 
signals  over  out-of-band  signals,  as  well. 
(If  intermod  signals  do  become  a  problem, 
I  know  I  can  add  even  more  selectivity 
with  a  helical  preselector,  tuned  to 
137  MHz.) 

The  Hamtronies  LNG-137  preamp  and 
the  Woodhouse  Communications  ATP- 
2CP  turnstile  antenna  have  proven  to  be  a 
very  straightforward,  low  cost  approach  to 
weather  satellite  imaging.  The  ATP-2CP  is 
available  from  Hamtronies,  Inc.  (716-392- 
9420)  or  directly  from  Woodhouse 
Communications  (616-226-8873). 


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CIRCLE  194  ON  HEADER  SERVICE  CARD 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  25 


73  Review 


Number  26  on  your  feedback  card 


JBI  Universal  Radio  Interface  Kit 


A  great  first-time  project! 


Shane  P.  Brady  WB2WPM 

34  Rosewood  Drive 
West  Seneca  NY  1 4224 

You  just  cant  beat  having  your  radio 
talk  with  your  computer  for  keep- 
ing your  log  straight  and  for  contests,  for 

passing  on  information  such  as  time,  fre- 
quency and  mode,  but  obtaining  a  circuit 
board  lor  such  projects  and  even  gelling 
parts  has  been  challenging.  Lots  of  ideas 
have  appeared  in  various  publications 
for  home-brcwine  your  own  interface, 
and  o\  course  you  could  purchase  your 
radio's  manufacturers  interface  from 
them.  Unfortunately,  most  OEM 
interfaces  are  in  the  SI 004-  category! 


SB -1400  radios.  While  the  interface  is  a 
stand-alone  addition,  a  few  radios  do  re- 
quire some  interna)  modification.  This 
you  must  do  yourself,  and  is  not  part  of 
the  kit.  When  ordering  the  kil  specify 
which  radio  you  have  so  the  appropriate 
cable  and  plug  will  be  included.  The  rest 
of  the  kit  is  universal. 

About  10  days  after  ordering,  a  large 
brown  padded  envelope  arrived.  I  was 
rather  surprised  at  how  few  parts  there 
actually  were.  Aside  from  some  capaci- 
tors, resistors  and  diodes,  there  is  only 
one  IC  to  round  out  the  electronics  pack- 
age. The  remaining  items  are  a  PC 
board,  DB25  female  connector,  multi- 
conductor  shielded  cable  and,  depending 


"Would  I  buy  another  one?  Yes— that's  exactly  what  I  did. 


j* 


For  six  years  now,  my  station  has 
had  my  Kenwood  TS-450  (and  before 
that  the  TS-440)  interfaced  with  my 
computer  logging  program,  Log-EQF. 
While  at  Dayton  this  yean  I  picked  up 
a  new  IC-706.  As  1  walked  around  with 
my  new  purchase,  I  was  contemplating 
how  to  do  the  interfacing,  knowing 
how  lost  I  would  be  without  a  com- 
puter talking  with  my  new  radio.  It  just 
happened  that  I  was  at  the  Log-EQF 
booth  when  I  noticed  the  interface  they 
were  using — a  JBI  Universal  Radio  In- 
terface. Before  leaving  the  booth  1  had 
the  opportunity  to  meet  John  Bechtoldi, 
the  owner/developer  of  the  interface, 
who  had  stopped  by  to  say  hello.  John 
told  me  that  his  interface  worked  FB 
with  the  new  IC-706.  When  he  told  me 
the  price.  1  was  sold! 

The  JBI  Universal  Radio  Interface  Kit 
will  interface  virtually  any  modem  radio 
(with  computer  interfacing  capabilities) 
to  a  standard  RS-232  port.  This  includes 
just  about  all  the  Kenwood,  Icom, 
Yaesu,  Ten-Tec,  and  even  the  Heaihkit 
26  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996 


upon  which  kil  you  ordered  (Kenwood, 
leoni,  Yaesu,  Ten-Tec,  Heathkil).  the  ap- 
propriate plug  to  match  your  radio — 
plus  a  very  nice  DB25  die-cast  hood 
which  eventually  will  hold  all 
components! 

Assembly 

Assembly  is  smooth  and  quick,  and 
could  be  a  perfect  first-time  project.  The 
instructions  are  straightforward,  and 
include  illustrations  of  how  the  fin- 
ished PC  board  will  look  for  each  ra- 
dio. The  assembly  instructions  start  off 
by  having  you  insert  the  PC  board  in  be- 
tween the  two  rows  of  pins  of  the  DB25 
connector*  and  then  soldering  them  in 
place  (there  are  only  seven  pins  which 
actually  require  soldering).  As  you  are 
led  step  by  step  through  assembly,  you1  II 
be  told  to  skip  certain  instructions  for 
certain  radios,  and  to  complete  the  steps 
for  your  particular  radio.  Depending 
upon  which  radio  you  are  interfacing  to, 
you  may  have  an  extra  capacitor  or  resistor 


^&L 

,# 

left  over  Remember,  this  is  a  universal 
interface  so  you  get  all  the  electronic 
parts  for  all  the  various  radios. 

For  installing  components,  the  PC 
board  has  been  properly  lettered  so  you 
know  which  component  goes  where. 
The  large  illustrations  provided  lake  any 
guesswork  out  of  where  a  capacitor  or 
resistor  belongs,  The  illustrations  even 
show  the  position  of  the  ■'handed*'  ends 
of  the  diodes,  so  you  can't  install  them 
backwards. 

The  16-pin  IC  is  installed  just  about 
last;  it's  static  sensitive — there's  a  warn- 
ing to  that  effect  in  the  instructions.  Cau- 
tion should  be  taken  thai  you  and  your 
surroundings  are  all  at  the  same  electri- 
cal potential,  so  as  not  to  destroy  the 
chip  with  static.  This  installation  does 
not  use  a  socket,  so  you  must  solder  all 
leads  directly  to  the  board.  You  shouldn't 
run  into  any  trouble  as  long  its  you  don't 
apply  loo  much  heat  or  make  any  solder 
bridges. 

IB 

One  final  step:  Before  putting  the  as- 
sembly into  the  die-cast  hood,  attach 
the  shielded  cable  to  the  PC  board. 
This  is  the  only  place  I  had  any  reser- 
vations as  to  which  wire  went  where. 
The  instructions  are  written  around  a 
four-conductor  shielded  cable.  The  IC- 
706  only  uses  two  conductors.  A  two- 
conductor  cable  was  supplied  with  my 
kit.  but  wasn't  mentioned  in  the  instruc- 
tions (I  have  since  spoken  with  John 
Bechtoldi.  and  he  informs  me  that  this 
modification  to  the  instructions  has  been 
addressed),  With  the  cable  wires  sol- 
dered into  the  proper  holes,  it  was  time 
to  button  up  the  hood. 

There  was  one  personal  modification. 
Experience  has  taught  me  to  lake  the 
precaution  of  installing  toroidal  (ferrite) 


cores  on  all  radio  and  computer  cabling 
in  the  shack,  usually  one  core  at  each 
end  of  a  cable.  This  step  has  eliminated 
the  annoyance  of  inter-equipment  inter- 
ference, and  I  recommend  it  to  every- 
one. After  putting  the  halves  of  the  hood 
together  I  put  a  couple  of  turns  on  a  tor- 
oidal core,  locating  it  up  close  to  the 
hood,  adding  another  core  at  the  free  end 
{)( the  cable.  The  final  step  was  to  install 
the  1/8"  miniature  phone  plug,  which 
mates  with  the  radio,  on  the  free  end  of 
the  cable. 

Features 


JBI  also  includes  a  3-1/2"  disk  con- 
taining a  number  of  DOS  programs  for 
rig  control,  so  you  will  be  able  to  test 
things  right  away,  Having  Log-EQF  al- 
ready on  my  computer,  I  used  it  as  my 
test  software.  Anyone  who  has  built  any- 
thing knows  the  anxiety  and  dread  just 
before  adding  power  to  a  project  to  see  il 
it  actually  works.  I  attached  the  interface 
to  the  computer  and  the  radio,  turned 
them  on — and  the  logging  program 
proudly  announced  it  was  talking  to  an 
IC-706  and  showed  the  appropriate  fre- 
quency and  mode.  A  spin  of  the  fre- 
quency dial  and  the  computer  followed 
along.  Success!  I  was  very  pleased  with 
the  results:  no  interference,  no  hesita- 
tion— everything  worked  as  expected* 

One  of  the  nice  features  of  the  JBI  in- 
terface is  that  it  requires  no  external 
power.  Next  to  my  Kenwood  radio  sits 
the  Kenwood  interface  box,  complete 
with  its  12  VDC  power  plug  that  I've 
used  for  a  number  of  years.  Any  time  1 
can  eliminate  some  congestion  at  the  op- 
erating position  I'm  all  for  itt  so  it  was 
only  another  week  before  off  went  an- 
other order  to  JBI — this  time  for  a 
Kenwood  interface  kit  The  second  kit  was 
identical  to  the  first,  with  the  exception  of 
the  six-pin  DIN  plug  that  matches 
Kenwood  radios.  Assembly  was  com- 
pleted on  this  interface  in  less  than  half  an 
hour.  It  too  worked  the  first  time  and  has 
performed  flawlessly  since.  Il  is  so  conve- 
nient not  to  have  that  extra  power  lead  run- 
ning around  the  back  of  the  station;  the  old 
Kenwood  interface  box,  which  required 
the  external  power  supply,  will  be  on  my 
table  at  the  next  hamfest 

Currently,  JBI  Products  and  Technolo- 
gies offers  their  Universal  Radio  Inter- 
face Kit  three  ways.  The  first  is 
the   interface   kit,   a  genuine   bargain, 


. 


currently  listed  at  $29.95.  Manufactur- 
ers' interfaces  run  three  to  five  times  as 
much.  Those  who  are  leery  of  soldering 
a  couple  dozen  connections  may  pur- 
chase the  interface  completely  as- 
sembled, for  a  current  list  price  of 
$45.00.  The  final  option  is  an  assembled 
interface  but  with  the  addition  of  a  CW 
keyer  option,  at  $59.00.  The  CW  keyer 
option  allows  many  logging  and  contest 
programs  to  key  the  radio  via  the  com- 
puter keyboard.  (Shipping  and  handling 
are  not  included  in  the  above  prices). 

The  instructions  would  be  nicer  if  they 
were  organized  straight  through  for  one 
radio,  instead  of  skipping  paragraphs 
for  radios  you  aren't  concerned  with, 
and  it  would  be  nice  to  have  included  in- 
structions for  adding  the  CW  option  on 
your  own — but  if  you  want  to  add  the 
option  it  really  isn't  that  difficult.  Most 
software  programs  such  as  CT  and  Log- 
EQF  include  the  instructions  for  the 
small  keying  circuit,  which  only  requires 
one  transistor  and  one  resistor.  There  is 
plenty  of  room  in  the  DB25  hood  for  this 
CW  mod.  I  recommend  that  you  spend 
the  extra  five    minutes  on  it. 

I  guess  die  final  test  as  to  would  I  recom- 
mend this  kit  would  be,  would  I  buy  another 
one?  Yes — that's  exactly  what  I  did 

For  details  and  ordering  information, 
contact:  JBI  Products  and  Technologies, 
1418  South  Yale  Drive,  O* Fa! Ion  IL 
62269-2738. 


Never  shy  die 

Continued  from  poge  23 

they  say?  Or  are  you  going  to  fight  back, 
educating  yourself  about  your  cancer  and  the 
alternatives  open  to  you? 

My  advice,  which  1  know  most  of  you  arc 
going  to  ignore,  is  to  do  two  things.  First,  do 
your  best  to  make  sure  that  you  don't  gel 
cancer.  I'm  now  convinced  that  cancer  is 
100%  avoidable  if  you  educate  yourself  by 
reading  the  books  on  health  which  are  on  my 
recommended  book  list  (available  from  Ra- 
dio Bookshop).  Read,  then  make  changes  in 
your  thoroughly  ingrained  habits  which  are 
slowly  killing  you.  If  you'd  rather  die  than 
change,  fine — you  will.  Second,  if  you  don't 
change  so  you  can  avoid  cancer,  once  it  hits 
you  can  get  my  reading  list  and  belatedly  do 
your  homework.  Maybe  by  then  you'll  be 
ready  to  change  your  habits.  Read  the  books 
by  Drs.  Comby,  Wallach,  Huggins, 
Batmanghelidj,  Coca,  Douglass,  about 
Essiac,  L214,  and  so  on. 

If  you  keep  your  immune  system  strong 
you  aren't  going  to  have  cancer,  heart 
trouble,  and  any  of  the  chronic  illnesses 
which  beset  about  99%  of  older  people. 

Continued  on  page  29 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996  27 


mm 


Number  26  on  your  Feedback  card 


Build  This  6m  Attic  Antenna 


A  simple  stealth  antenna  project. 


Marty  Gammel  KAONAN 

1703  Hewitt  Ave. 

Saint  Paul  MN  55104 


A  local  hum,  knowing  that  I  love 
to  make  different  types  of  anten- 
nas,  asked  if  I  could  make  a 

shortened  6  meter  vertical  dipole  for 
him  to  use  in  his  condominium,  Due  to 
his  covenant  restrictions,  his  ham  an- 
tennas have  lo  be  indoors  and  out  of 
sight.  I  had  been  doing  some  reading 
on  helically-wound  antennas  and  told 
him  to  give  me  a  week  to  get  the  bugs 
out  of  the  design.  With  just  over  eight 
feet  of  height  to  work  with  in  his  crawl 
space,  we  didn't  have  to  shorten  the 
antenna  very  much.  I  came  up  with  a 
seven-inch  spacing  between  turns  so 
that  the  antenna  would  not  have  a  lot 
of  inductance. 

The  problem  with  making  a  heli- 
cally-wound antenna  is  that  to  figure 
the  length  of  the  dipole  you  must  add 
about  5%  to  make  up  for  the  induc- 
tance created  by  the  coil.  Also,  you'll 
have  less  bandwidth  with  a  more  com- 
pressed coil  winding,  The  ARRL  An- 
tenna  Book  slates  thai  there  are  no 
exact,  predictable  results  when  winding 


r-x\\\\\ 


a 


i 


AWWV 


Sfikrtkmp  closet  rod 
or  hunt  null  UTtsT 


SO-13* 


A 


a 


0 


c_ 


«6  witt  *ah  end  penned  and 
ba&aiinftumjk 


itti  wirc  with  end  gumtkl  flat 


shortened  antennas.  Wire  diameter, 
coil  diameter,  and  compression  of  the 
coils  all  interact  with  each  other. 

This  antenna  covers  the  52  to  54  MHz 
portion  of  the  6  meter  band.  It  has  an 
SWR  of  1 .3  or  less,  with  a  smooth  SWR 
curve. 

My  design  is  built  using  a  piece  of  fir 
closet  rod  from  the  local  building  sup- 
ply, and  some  #6  solid  copper  wire  of 
the  type  used  in  wiring  houses.  The  only 
other  parts  were  an  SO-239  panel-mount 
lilting  for  the  feed  point  and  a  couple  of 
screws  to  attach  the  SO-239  to  the  closet 
rod,  1  knew  that  a  quarter-wave  section 


"With  just  over  eight  feet 

of  height  to  work  with  in 

his  crawl  space,  we  didn't 

have  to  shorten  the 

antenna  very  much." 


Fig.  !>  Shortened  helically-wound  vertical 
dipole  for  indoor  installations  in  your  attic 
or  crawl  space.  (Drawing  not  to  scale,) 

28   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


of  RG-59  coax  for  a  balun  would  also  be 
needed,  to  match  the  72-ohm  dipole  to 
50-ohm  coax. 

OK.  let's  build  it! 

I  started  building  this  antenna  by 
cutting  the  #6  solid  copper  wire  into 
two  equal  pieces  slightly  longer  than 
needed,  to  allow  for  fine-tuning  the  an- 
tenna. This  antenna  was  planned  for 
use  in  the  FM  section  of  the  6m  band, 
so  a  57-inch  length  was  good  to  start 
with.  Using  my  bench  grinder,  I 
ground  one  end  of  one  piece  of  the 
copper  wire  to  a  taper  to  fit  the  center 
terminal  of  the  SO-239  fitting.  Then  I 
ground  one  end  of  the  other  piece  of 
copper  wire  fiat  to  create  an  end  ihat 


Photo  A.  The  completed  6m  attic  antenna, 

would  be  more  easily  attached  to  the 
flat  surface  of  the  body  of  the  SO-239 

fitting.  I  enlarged  two  of  the  SO-239 's 
four  mounting  holes  to  ease  attaching 
this  fitting  to  the  center  of  the  closet 
pole.  Bend  the  tapered  end  of  the  wire 
at  a  right  angle  to  make  a  neat  connec- 
tion to  the  SO-239  fitting.  Gel  out  your 
soldering  gun  and  flux  lo  attach  the 
ends  of  the  wire  to  the  SO-239  fitting. 
This  will  require  a  lot  of  heat;  my  gun 
is  a  350  watt  model  and  was  just  big 
enough.  Once  you  have  attached  both 
of  the  wires  soldered  to  the  SO-239  fit- 
ting, allow  it  to  cool  completely  before 
cleaning  the  excess  flux  oil  ihe  surfaces. 


Winding  the  antenna 

Now  comes  ihe  tricky  part.  I  had  my 
wife  hold  one  end  of  the  closet  rod  and 
wire  while  one  of  my  sons  held  the  other 
end,  leaving  me  with  both  hands  free  to 
wind  the  wire  tightly  on  the  closet  rod, 
using  the  width  of  my  hand  as  a  guide.  I 
taped  this  end  down  before  winding  the 
otter  half.  When  I  was  satisfied  that  the 
two  sides  looked  equal,  I  taped  this  side 
to  the  rod,  leaving  at  least  six  inches 
straight  on  each  end  for  tuning  the  an- 
tenna. 

Next,  make  a  quarter- wave  line  sec- 
tion of  RG-59  coax  to  change  the  72 
ohm  impedance  to  a  more  usable  50  ohm 
impedance.  Most  RG-59  coax  has  a  ve~ 
locity  factor  of  .66  or  .79,  The  formula 
found  in  most  ham  radio  books  is  249  di- 
vided by  the  frequency  in  MHz  times  12 
for  a  quarter-wave  length  in  inches.  RG- 
59- A  foam  coax  with  a  J9  velocity  fac- 
tor is  what  I  had  on  hand,  so  my  line 
section  was  just  over  45  inches  long.  I 
stripped  the  ends  and  installed  a  PL-259 
fitting  on  each  end  of  the  coax  with  UG- 
176  type  reducers,  I  wound  the  quarter- 
wave  line  section  into  a  coil,  taped  it 
together  (see  Photo  B),  and  installed  it 
at  the  center  of  the  amenna. 

Tuning  the  antenna 

I  tested  the  antenna  under  conditions 
similar  to  those  where  it  would  be  used, 
taking  care  to  keep  it  away  from  metal 
objects  and  other  dense  masses  which 
might  detune  it.  Using  an  SWR  bridge 
capable  of  working  at  50  to  54  MHz,  I 
took  readings  at  each  end  of  the  desired 
frequency  of  operation.  Using  diagonal 
cutters,  I  trimmed  the  same  amount  off 
each  end  of  the  antenna,  rechecking  the 
SWR  after  each  cut  until  I  had  a  good 
match.  I  ended  up  with  55.5  inches  on 
each  side  of  the  shortened  dipule.  The 
match  on  my  antenna  was  L25  at  52 


MHz  and  1.1  at  54  MHz,  with  a  dip  to 
1.05  at  53,5  to  53.75  MHz,  I  used  a  file 
to  smooth  the  dipole  ends  to  prevent  a 
corona  effect. 

Builder's  notes 

You  may  want  to  paint  or  varnish  the 
wooden  rod  before  construction  to 
help  seal  the  surface  against  humidity 
and  to  keep  it  from  warping.  If  you 
can't  find  #6  bare  copper  wire  you 
may  use  #8  wire  instead,  or  copper 
tubing  of  about  the  same  diameter.  Try 
to  leave  at  least  six  inches  clearance  at 
each  end  of  the  dipole  to  avoid 
detuning  the  antenna.  The  reason  I 
didn't  use  a  torch  to  attach  the  #6  solid 
copper  wire  to  the  SO-239  fitting 
was  thai  the  heat  of  the  torch  would 
damage  the  insulating  section  of  the 
fitting. 

Readers  who  have  questions  about  this 
antenna  may  write  to  me  at  the  address 
above,  including  a  #10  SASE,  and  1  will 
answer  by  return  maiL 


Parts  and  Tools 

8-foot  fir  closet  rod  1-1/4  inches  in 

diameter  (this  can  also  be  a  larger 

size  of  handrail) 
1 14  inches  of  #6  solid  copper  wire 
SO-239  panel  mount  fitting 
2  PL-259  fittings,  with  UG-176  type 

reducers  for  the  balun 
RG-59  coax,  40  to  48  inches  long, 

depending  on  the  coax  velocity 

factor  (see  text) 
Large  diagonal  cutters  or  a  hacksaw 

(to  cut  the  wire) 
Solder  and  flux 
Good  hefty  soldering  iron  or  propane 

torch 
Screwdriver 
Electrical  tape 
Grinding  wheel  (or  use  a  file) 


\5 

14 

13 

52 

MHz 

2.25 

25 

275 

53 

MHz 

3J25 

3J 

3.75 

54 

MHz 

12 

1  J 

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Dale  &14               Site  KA0NAK 

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Photo  fl.  Close-up. 


160-10  G5RV  QuicKits 


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treated  bu  AatnaiasWeM 


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■  f  Liijfc  wtnu  im  Buibi 

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IM  zu-m  Dipt* 

■ttr*J>MMk:  1412  IttJ.^MV 

*  JTt*1j  Mid*  SS  flOW Vf? 


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tr  TKh\*C»  ¥114-6  H>*  ppt  ESA     |     1»800»926»7  373 

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Fig.  2,  SWR  cur\*e.  Please  use  an  SWR  meter  designed  for  use  with  accuracy  at  these  frequencies. 


Never  shy  die 

Continued  from  page  27 

Oht  I  give  up.  I've  been  telling  you  this 
over  and  over  for  months  and  I'm  just  not 
getting  through.  Go  ahead  and  end  up  in  a 

nursing  home  in  your  70s.  Or  buried. 

I  know,  you  want  me  to  write  about  work- 
ing DXT  contests,  antennas,  and  stuff  like 
that  and  you  wish  I'd  stop  pestering  you 
about  our  so-called  healih  care  system.  You 
enjoy  smoking  and  don't  believe  that  you  are 
going  to  be  one  of  the  400,000  a  year  who 
die  as  a  result.  You  enjoy  beer  and  Big  Macs 
and  never  mind  that  big  constipated  gut 
hanging  over  your  belt  You  enjoy  these 
things  more  than  life  itself. 

Hey,  please  write  and  tell  me  to  stop  being 
a  scold  about  this  and  to  get  back  on  the  air 
and  swap  signal  reports  with  a  few  hundred 
retired  old  men. 

QSLs 

How  original  and  creative  is  your  QSL? 
How  much  time  and  effort  have  you  put  into 
having  it  represent  you  and  your  interests? 
But  even  a  plain  vanilla  QSL  beats  the  heck 
out  of  none,  In  looking  through  my  cartons 
of  QSLs  the  other  da>\  they  brought  back 

Continued  on  page  38 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  29 


Number  30  on  your  Feedback  cord 


Circulators,  Anyone? 


Keep  the  traffic  flowing. 


Byron  Mobus  W60IU 

3099  Twin  Oaks  RcL 

Cameron  Park  CA  95682-8517 


I  answer  my  phone  and  the  manager 
of  ihe  site  where  our  repeater  is  lo- 
cated tells  me  thai  the  site  is  being 
rearranged.  All  of  the  amateur  repeaters 
are  to  be  relocated  into  one  building — 
the  one  where  our  repeater  has  been  lo- 
cated since  1947.  Under  the  new 
arrangement,  the  six  amateur  groups  will 
be  responsible  for  the  upkeep  and  opera- 
tion of  the  building,  including  sharing 
the  costs  and  electricity.  We've  had  a 
free  ride  for  many  years,  but  financial 
realities  are  about  to  catch  up  with  us. 

Our  repeater,  W6AEX  on  147.27 
MHz.  is  owned  and  operated  by  the  So- 
ciety of  Amateur  Radio  Operators 
(SARO),  and  the  late  owner  of  the 
mou  maintop,  Tom  Bayley  W6NQJ,  was 
a  longtime  member.  Tom  made  provi- 
sions giving  us  use  of  the  site  for  as  long 
as  the  club  wanted  to  have  a  repeater  We 
were  located  in  the  smallest  building  on 
the  site,  with  two  commercial  opera- 
tions; one  on  low  band  and  the  other  in 
the  microwaves.  There  was  no  apparent 
problem  with  interaction  between  the 
equipment  in  the  building,  so  we  oper- 
ated with  a  duplexer  and  a  single  an- 
tenna on  the  tower. 


In 

1 

? 

Out 

C 

V 

VI 

U 

s 

? 

J3 

f   Load 

Fig.  2.  a)  Single-stage  isolator;  b)  Dual-stage  isolator. 


Fig.  1 .  Single-stage  isolator. 

30   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996 


Under  the  new  regime,  there  would  be 
several  repeaters  in  the  2  meter  and  70 
cm  bands  all  operating  together  in  the 
same  building  and  on  the  same  tower  In 
an  effort  to  streamline  the  operation, 
several  big  changes  were  to  be  made  to 
the  equipment  to  minimize  interaction 
and  to  keep  the  noise  floor  as  low  as  pos- 
sible. There  would  be  common  receive 
antennas  with  distribution  and  amplifi- 
cation to  the  appropriate  receivers.  Each 


transmitter  would  have  its  own  antenna. 
One  major  change  was  ihe  addition 
of  circulators  to  the  output  of  every 
transmitter 

What  are  circulators? 

Circulators?  What  are  they?  As 
a  former  communications  technician 
for  a  major  oil  company,  I  have  main- 
tained microwave  equipment  thai  used 


circulators,  but  ihey  never  broke  so  I 
never  paid  much  attention  to  ihem  (my 
philosophy  is:  "If  it  ain't  broke,  don't  fix 
it!")-  I  started  looking  around  for  infor- 
mation on  circulators  and  found  less  in- 
formation available  on  them  than  on 
duplcxers,  which  means  it's  pretty 
scarce.  A  friend  had  a  250  watt  circulator 
tor  the  150  MHz  band  which  he  made 
available,  so  I  set  out  to  learn  what  I 
could  about  their  operation. 

A  circulator  is  a  device  with  three  or 
more  ports  in  which  RF  energy  is  con- 
ducted in  one  direction  with  little  loss, 
but  exhibits  a  high  attenuation  in  the  op- 
posite direction  (Fig.  1).  There  are 
single-stage  and  double-stage  circulators 
(Fig*  2),  your  choice  depending  upon  the 
amount  of  isolation  and  insertion  loss 
you  require.  This  is  done  by  arranging 
ferrite  material  to  provide  a  high  mag- 
netic field  through  the  RF  conductor, 

RF  energy  introduced  into  port  1  is 
transferred  to  the  antenna  at  port  2  with 
more  than  30  dB  loss  to  port  3,  which  is 
terminated  with  a  dummy  load.  With  100 
watts  at  port  1,  almost  all  of  the  power  is 
available  at  port  2  and  less  than  0. 1  watt 
goes  to  the  dummy  load.  Any  power  re- 
turned from  the  antenna  by  either  an  un- 
balance or  the  presence  of  a  close-by 
high  power  transmitting  system  is  circu- 
lated to  port  3  and  the  dummy  load.  The 
presence  on  or  near  the  site  of  a  commer- 
cial FM  transmitter  with  an  effective  ra- 
diated power  of  250  kW  to  500  kW  can 
present  an  appreciable  amount  of  power 
to  the  output  of  a  communications  trans- 
mitter, 

A  circulator  is  a  little  like  a  traffic 
circle  with  several  streets  coming  into 
it.  As  you  (transmitter  output)  enter  the 
traffic  circle  (input  port)  en  route  out 
of  town,  the  traffic  is  circling  in  one 
direction.  You  circle  in  this  direction 
until  you  reach  the  next  street  (output 
port),  then  you  exit.  Traffic  (reflected 
power,  received  signals,  etc,)  entering 
the  traffic  circle  from  the  street  you 
exit  on  moves  in  the  same  circle  direc- 
tion to  the  next  street  where  it  exits 
and  enters  a  parking  lot  (dummy  load). 
This  traffic  could  be  from  out  of  town 
(received  signals),  or  even  returning 
traffic  (reflected  power)  turned  around 
by  a  problem  down  the  street  such  as  a 
bridge  out  (broken  coax)  or  a  tree 
down  (shorted  antenna).  The  orderly 
flow  of  traffic  is  ensured  by  the  police 
(magnetic  field)  enforcing  the  law. 


Fig,   J.    Field-tunable   circulators    usually 

have  three  tuning  adjustments. 

Tuning 

Field-tunable  circulators  usually  have 
three  tuning  adjustments  (Fig.  3)  and  the 
unit  is  tuned  by  using  a  very  accurate  sig- 
nal generator  and  spectrum  analyzer  or  a 
network  analyzer  (Fig,  4a  and  4b).  A  6-1 0 
dB  pad  is  added  to  the  test  setup  to  mini- 
mize VSWR  reflections  in  the  test  equip- 
ment The  signal  is  sent  into  port  2  (output) 
and  measured  at  port  I  (input)  with  a 
dummy  load  on  port  3.  C3  is  adjusted  for  a 
minimum  transfer.  The  generator  is  then 
hooked  to  port  3,  measured  at  port  2  with 
the  dummy  load  on  port  1.  CI  is  adjusted 
for  minimum.  The  generator  is  then 
hooked  to  port  1,  measured  at  port  3  and 
the  dummy  load  on  port  2.  CI  is  adjusted 
for  minimum.  Finally,  the  generator  is 
hooked  to  port  1,  measured  at  port  2  with 
the  dummy  load  on  port  3,  and  the  inser- 
tion loss  is  measured. 

The  circulator  I  had  was  tuned  to  around 
160  MHz  with  no  provision  for  tuning,  so  I 
took  the  covers  off.  There  were  pieces  of 
iron  attached  around  the  outside  of  the 
magnets  and  when  they  were  removed,  the 
tuning  frequency  dropped  to  the  140  MHz 
range.  By  careful  addition  of  pieces  of  iron 
around  the  outside  of  the  magnets,  the  unit 
was  tuned  to  147.27  MHz.  Unfortunately, 
when  the  forward  loss  was  measured,  it 
was  around  3  dB,  which  probably  explains 
why  the  unit  was  discarded  in  the  first 
place. 

The  unit  was  further  dismantled  and  I 
found  a  triangular  brass  plate  mounted 
between  two  big  magnets  with  a  connec- 
tor attached  to  each  apex  of  the  triangle. 
This  was  sandwiched  between  large 
magnets  with  heavy  iron  covers.  The  fer- 
rite material  was  badly  broken,  probably 
from  being  dropped,  possibly  account- 
ing for  the  poor  performance.  An  identi- 
cal circulator  was  located  and  the  tuning 
procedure  was  used  to  put  it  on  our  fre- 
quency. This  time  the  insertion  loss  was 
only  0.2  dB. 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996  31 


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CIRCLE  341  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


32  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


Number  33  on  your  Feedback  card 


Hams  on  the  Radio  Information 

Highway,  Part  2 

How  you  can  easily  find  and  start  using  Usenet  newsgroups. 


Jack  Heller  KB7NO 

712  Highland  Street 

Carson  City  NV  89703 

jheller@sierra.net 

CompuServe  72 1 30, 1 352 


Last  month  I  Lold  you  about  my 
discoveries  on  the  World  Wide 
Web    (WWW)    portion    of    the 

Internet  and  about  gelling  hooked  up  to 
do  the  same  yourself.  I  think  the  number 
one  reason  the  WWW  so  intrigues 
people  is  that  once  you  get  the  hang  of  it, 
it's  easy  to  move  from  sire  to  site  and 
find  treasures  in  ham-related  up-to-date 
information.  This  month,  we  are  going 
to  cheek  out  one  more  part  of  the 
Internei  where  hams  have  set  up  house, 
and  I'll  to  show  you  how  easily  you  can 
do  iL 

Let's  explore  the  Usenet  newsgroups. 
You  are  not  alone  if  you  have  heard  the 
name  "Newsgroups"  but  aren't  sure  ex- 
actly what  they  are.  The  easiest  way  to 
gel  the  picture  is  to  compare  it  to  a  fo- 
rum on  CompuServe,  America  OnLine 
or  one  of  the  other  major  on-line 
services:  People  with  similar  interests 
gather  and  answer  each  others* 
questions,  or  just  chat. 

One  way  to  imagine  what  the 
newsgroup  world  is  like  would  be  to  as- 
sume that  your  town  has  five  groups  of 
people*  each  group  with  a  different  inter- 
est; also  let's  say  your  town  has  five  re- 
pealers and  all  these  groups  consist  of 
hams. 

Il  would  he  pretty  simple  to  assign 
each  group  a  repeater  and  a  time  to  gel 
together.  This  could  work.  1  have  never 

heard  of  it,  but  even  if  it  were  put 
into  practice,  il  wouldn't  compare  to  the 


possibilities  of  the  computer  bulletin 
board  or  Internet. 

Where  we  spoke  of  five  special  inter- 
est groups  getting  together,  that  was  OK, 
but  what  happens  when  there  are  several 
hundred — or  several  thousand?  The 
"thousands"  number  is  the  extent  cov- 
ered by  the  Internet  newsgroups,  and 
they  reach  worldwide.  Although  only  a 
small  part  of  thai  is  devoted  directly  to 
ham  radio,  many  other  areas  hold  related 
interests  for  everyone. 

Let's  look  at  what  is  found  in  the  ham 
radio  newsgroups  and  the  basics  of  get- 
ting in  on  the  action.  When  you  get  this 
under  your  belt,  perhaps  you'll  feel  quite 
comfortable  exploring  the  rest  of  the 
Internet.  To  give  you  an  idea  about 
which  newsgroups  arc  ham  related,  here 
are  a  few  of  the  newsgroup  names  (think 
of  them  as  addresses): 


rec.  radio 
rec  .radio, 
rec.radkv 
rec  .radio, 
rec. radio, 
rec. radio, 
rec  .radio. 


amateurantenna 
amaleuLcquipment 

amaleunspacc 
amateur.misc 
amateur.digital.misc 
amateur,  homebrew 
amateur.policy 


The  names  of  these  newsgroups  are 
chosen  carefully  so  they  will  be  intuitive 
to  you.  You  probably  can  understand 
what  most  of  the  above  means  with  no 
explanation.  The  "ree/*  simply  stands  for 
recreation. 


There  are  several  other  basic  groups. 
For  instance  "comp"  stands  for  com- 
puter and  "sci."  refers  to  science.  Within 
the  ham  newsgroups,  anything  with  a 
"misc."  is  obviously  a  catchall  and 
"policy**  covers  subjects  like  no-code 
and  other  perennial  topics. 

Now  the  question  is,  "How  do  I  get 
these  newsgroups  with  the  software  we 
described  last  month?"  I  must  admit  I 
was  a  little  intimidated  when  I  decided 
to  write  this  using  a  brand-new  version 
of  a  program  that  is  still  in  its  test  and 
development  stages.  The  company 
(Netscape)  has  experienced  some 
hitches  during  the  development,  but  I 
think  this  version  (2.01)  does  the  trick. 

1  have  heard  complaints  about  2.0,  yet 
I  used  1 .2  prior  to  this  for  most  of  a  year 
and  it  was  excellent.  As  of  this  writing, 
there  arc  already  upgrades  available  for 
download.  Il  is  at  least  as  difficult  to 
keep  abreast  of  the  changes  on  the 
Internet  and  its  component  software  as  it 
is  to  attempt  to  explain  how  to  program  a 
new  HT.  (I  keep  my  manuals  handy  tor 
programming  those  "intuitive"  little  ma- 
chines.) 

Netscape  2.01  comes  with  a  raft  of 

be  lis  and  whistles  that  I  was  sure  would 

be  difficult  to  understand,  but  the  folks 

at  Netscape  did  something  I  really  like 

that   lakes   the  edge  off  the   learning 

curve.  They  do  not  at  this  time  have  a 

help  file  built  into  the  program,  bul  if 
you  go  to  the  "Handbook"  button  and 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  33 


click   on    it    you   wiU    be   connected 
directly  to  the  Netscape  homepage. 

There  you  will  he  introduced  to  a  vo- 
luminous manual  Lhal  you  can  scan 
through  and/or  download  and  prirU  for 
yourself.  It  conies  in  sections,  so  I 
primed  the  part  needed  for  using 
newsgroups  and  E-maiL  This  current 
documentation  is  an  improvement  over 
past  instructions  furnished  by  the  com- 
pany. One  thing  Netscape  makes  pos- 
sible is  the  "Save  as"  feature.  You  can 
select  "Save  as"  from  the  file  menu  and 
specify  the  directory  in  which  you  want 
to  store  the  Handbook,  or  any  web  page, 
and  you  will  have  it  to  read  or  print  off- 
line. You  can  open  your  saved  file  into 
Netscape  as  long  as  it  can  find 
"windsoek.dir  or  you  can  import  it  into 
a  word  processor. 

New  adventures 

Last  month ,  I  mentioned  that  the 
Yahoo!  search  engine  will  also  explore 
the  newsgroups  to  aid  you  to  find  those 


to  fit  your  interests.  I  suggest  that  if  you 
wish  to  do  this  and  you  have  found  your 
way  to  the  Netscape  search  engine  page 
by  clicking  the  "Search"  button,  you  just 
need  to  go  a  few  steps  further 

If  you  will  scroll  down  Netscape's 
search  engine  page  below  the  prominent 
choices  of  five  search  engines,  you  will 
discover  lines  you  can  click  to  go  di- 
rectly to  such  sites  as  Yahoo! 

Click  on  Yahoo!  and  it  will  look  simi- 
lar to  Fig,  1.  You  will  notice  that  to  the 
right  of  the  box  where  you  would  type  in 
amateur  radio'4  there  is  a  line  lhat  reads 
options."  When  you  click  there,  a  list 
will  appear  that  includes  "newsgroups/' 
Select  thai  and  your  search  will  give  the 
results  of  a  newsgroup  search.  You  have 
conquered  another  area  of  the  Internet. 

Here  are  a  few  pointers  to  help  you  get 
started  on  the  road  to  success-  First,  you 
need  to  know  there  arc  three  basic 
screens  you  are  going  to  use  as  you  com- 
municate on  Lhc  Internet;  The  Web 
Browser  screen,  the  Mail  screen  and  the 
News  screen  (for  newsgroups). 


•» 


** 


The  Web  Browser  can  be  found  in  the 
File  menu  and  ihe  other  two  arc  avail- 
able in  the  Window  menu.  Also  in  the 
Window  menu  are  two  other  screens; 
one  for  Bookmarks  (so  you  can  easily 
return  to  an  informative  website  at  a 
later  date),  and  another  to  display  E-mail 
addresses  you  consider  worth  keeping. 

The  newsgroup  screen  will  look  like 
Fig, 2  when  you  open  it.  You  will  need  to 
have  your  connection  made  to  your 
server  Click  on  the  newsgroup  in  the  up- 
per left  panel  and  hit  an  "Enter"  to  get 
the  program  to  access  the  net  and  re- 
trieve the  news  messages  for  the 
newsgroups  you  ^subscribe"  to.  The 
panel  borders  allow  you  to  adjust  them 
to  your  preferences  by  clicking  on  them 
with  your  mouse. 

As  you  discover  more  newsgroups  that 
interest  you,  you  will  want  to  add  them  to 
the  list.  You  will  find  "Add  newsgroup"  in 
the  tile  menu,  and  upon  selecting  it,  you'll 
have  a  pop- up  screen.  Enter  one  of 
the  newsgroups  "addresses"  (example: 
"recradio.amateurequipment"  >. 


i "i*[*i' 


■        -^^^— 


—  .-i  .t, — ... . 


File     Edit     View     Go      Bookmarks      Options     Directory     Window     Help 


Back 


<*4> 

Forward 


Rdoad 


5^  -'?-* 

gB55 

Open 


Prim 


iKi 

Find 


Stop 


Location:  hHpvVwww.yahoo. com/ search, html 


Handbook 


Software 


Cl 


r%i 


.-. 


144 


*  NEW —  COOL  r  BAMOOM 


Search 


HEAD    YAHOO 
LINES*™,  INFO* 


ADD 
URL*. 


Find  all  listings  containing  the  keys  (separated  by  space) 


Aitta t  e  ur    Rad  i  o 


Search 


Search  0  Yahoo!  (§>  Usenet  0  Email  Addresses 


;  Find  only  new  listings  added  during  the  past 

Find  listings  that  contain 

0  At  least  one  of  the  keys  (boolean  or) 


2Jj     Readinqfjle 


Fig.  1.  Search  engine  \hnp  J  iw\\\\\y  ahoo.com)  with  newsgroup  choice  selected, 
34  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


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I    laUlttl' 


Netscape  -  Repeater  Controller  reco 


iii 


File     Edit    View     Message     Go     Options     Window     Help 


4fl 

Be;Mail 


«3 
Re;  News 


Fte;6oth 


£3 

ft- 
Forwaid 


—n 

Previous 


Meat 


Thread 


<aroup 


Fnnt 


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News  Server 


fc?|Unre<) 


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rec.  radio,  amateur,  homebrew 
rec.  radio,  amateur,  antenna 
rec.  radio,  amateur  misc 
rec.radio.  amateur,  equipment 
rec,  radio,  amateur,  digital,  misc 
rec. radio,  amateur,  space 


Fill    l-P'-f 


1 

a 


31  ♦ 


Sendef 


Subjvc  • 


D 


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pauld@  wiq.  com. . 
ASLondon 
Walter  R  Francis 
K.L.Tsoi 


%  ICOM  2350  H  UHF  Exp. 
*  WTB  FT530  or  FT50R 
%  DJ582  mods  same  as  ... 
%  Re:  ICOM  IC-02A 


p   !JohnWiico« 

__  Fil+lbd-lb+hHlTnrriTiiiiiiiHlhiibiiT-tiiirTiir 

fill    anG22231@ano  .. 


Repeater  Controller  recormnn. 
%  ic-2700  mod  collection. 


Subject:  Repeater  Controller  recommendations 
Date:  Sun,  07  Jul  1996  10:22:07  GUT 
From:  nslz@agate.net  (John  Wile  ok) 
Organization:  ABKL  TC  Maine  section 
Newsgroups:  re c . radio ,  amateur. equipment 

Uell,    I  got    a   note   from  Che   frequency  co-ordinacor   and   loofcs    like   that 
part    is   about   complete.    Now  for   the   controller.    I   have   noted  there   are 
a  few  around  that    include  Autopatch  etc   for   under    S300.    Has   anyone 
used  any  ot   these?   ¥hat   are   your   recommendations   and  why.    This    is   a 
hobby   for  me   and   I   only   want   to   purchase   one   controller.    This   repeater 
will  be  on  440   and  the   area   it   serves    is    in  mountainour   terrain.    There 
will   probably  nerver  be  more   than   40   users   of   this   system.    What   are 
your   thoughts   on  a  controller?   Thanks 

jz/jsfiiJ    Document:  Done 


Fig.  2.  Tiie  upper  left  panel  shows  the  newsgroups  and  the  number  of  messages.  Upper  right  are  the  headers  of  the  ankles  in  the  selected 
newsgroup.  Lower  panel  is  the  selected  message.  You  can  change  the  panel  borders  to  suit  yourself. 


Press  "Enter"  and  the  program  will  ac- 
cess the  net  and  retrieve  messages.  Click 
on  the  line  you  just  created  in  the  upper  left 
panel  and  you  will  see  a  list  of  headers  in 
the  right  panel.  Pick  one,  click  on  it,  and 
ihe  message  will  show  in  the  lower  panel. 
You  are  on  your  way!  (1  noticed  a  discon- 
certing thing  happening  the  first  few  times 
I  did  this.  When  I  shut  down  the  program 
and  came  back,  my  freshly  installed 
newsgroup  would  vanish.  After  careful 
study  of  the  Handbook,  I  found  I  needed  to 
click  on  the  check  marks  in  the  upper  left 
panel  as  seen  in  Fig.  2.)  You  will  also  want 
to  study  the  various  choices  in  the  Options 
menu.  They  affect  what  is  displayed  in  the 
upper  left  paneL 

Now  on  to  the  fun  stuff.  The  spirit  of 
ham  radio  is  alive  and  well  on  the 
Internet.  One  of  the  great  advantages  is 
having  a  place  to  go  where  your  area  of 
interest  in  the  hobby  can  he  addressed, 
and  there  are  numerous  hams  who  come 
back,  sometimes  within  a  few  hours, 
with  helpful  hints. 
36  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  ■  December  1996 


You  will  find  messages  posted  about 
subjects  ail  the  way  from  old-time  radio 
to  high-speed  modems  and  spread  spec- 
trum. I  even  ran  across  a  few  queries  that 
I  posted  a  suggestion  tor,  One  thing  is 
obvious — the  amount  of  ham  activity  is 
such  that  the  message  board  spans  a  pe- 
riod of  just  a  few  days,  about  a  week. 
This  means  the  same  messages  don't  ap- 
pear time  and  again,  and  if  you  need  to 
communicate,  you  must  not  hesitate. 

As  you  read  the  messages  posted  in 
the  newsgroups,  you  find  many  refer- 
ences and  often  clickable  links  to  web  or 
FTP  sites  for  current  information  that 
you  may  not  have  come  across  any  other 
way.  One  example  was  a  message  that 
contained  an  easy  link  to  a  website  con- 
Mining  information  about  digital  mode 
software.  There  are  numerous  such  op- 
portunities; you  just  have  to  look  to  ap- 
preciate what  is  available. 

Another  familiar  aspect  of  ham  radio 
is  obvious  on  the  net — courtesy.  Every 
message  Tvc  read  is  positive.  No  one  is 


derided  for  asking  a  "stupid"  question. 
Even  when  someone  ul  a  lower  intelli- 
gence group  posted  an  offensive  profane 
message,  it  was  handled  with  utmost  po- 
liteness and  refusal  to  sink  to  the  level  of 
profanity  that  had  been  posted,  typical  of 
the  ham  community. 

Yes  indeedy  vulgar  language  docs 
exist  on  the  Internet,  What  you  might  see 
in  the  ham  sections  will  likely  be  posted 
by  a  non-ham  who  desires  to  cause  an 
uproar.  The  practice  doesn't  seem  lo  be 
prevalent,  but  I  don't  think  there  is  a  w  ay 
to  control  childish  pranks.  Perhaps  the 
Internet  sages  will  come  up  with  a 
method  that  would  be  less  disastrous 
than  a  government  attempt  at  regulation. 

On  an  upbeat  note,  you  may  have  en- 
joyed the  experience  of  having  someone 
give  advice  over  the  air  that  results  in  an 
instant  fix  of  an  equipment  problem.  The 
chances  of  this  happening  over  the  air 
are  slim,  due  to  limited  exposure  to 
those  who  may  be  able  to  copy  us  or 
have  any  interest  in  "reading  our  mail/' 


pT^jiil-l — ~ 


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Software 


N9ZLE  SWAP  SHOP 


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Transceivers,  Tuners j  Amps  etc, 
HF  Equipment  page... 


I 


!  in  Computer  Stuff 

Computers  and  Equipment  Amateur 
related 


VHF/UHF  Equipment 


Radios, Amps,  Tuners,  Scaners  etc 

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ill 


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Key  ere,  connectors,  TNCs,  Controlers  etc. 


Welcome  enjoy  your  visit  More  arm 


S3 


Fig.  J-  One  of  the  various  swap  areas  on  the  net,  referenced  from  a  newsgroup  posting. 


Chances  improve  exponentially  when 
you  talk  to  a  captive  audience  such  as  in 
a  newsgroup. 

The  Internet  is  one  more  place 
where  you  will  find  and  can  join  with 
hams  buying  and  selling  equipment 
(Fig.  3).  There  are  several  swap  areas 
you  will  run  across  (they  become  obvi- 
ous) and  there  is  always  the  chance  of 
striking  a  good  deal.  There  are  many 


hams  looking  for  equipment  that 
might  just  be  sitting  around  in  your 
shack. 

If  the  idea  of  this  massive  media  in- 
timidates you,  you  are  not  alone.  The 
number  of  new  folks  signing  on  every 
day  must  be  astronomical.  Quite  a  few  of 
them,  outside  the  ham  areas,  are  leaving 
messages  begging  for  E-mail  just  to 
see  "if  it  really  works/*  It's  reminiscent 


of  the  first  time  on  the  air  for  many 
of  us, 

Folks  who  feel  insecure  with  a  new 
medium  are  justified  in  their  fears,  I  feel, 
when  they  have  jumped  inio  an  E-mail 
or  newsgroup  arena  where  they  feel  no 
common  bond.  When  you,  as  a  member 
of  the  vast  ham  radio  fraternity,  log  onto 
a  ham  newsgroup,  you  are  right  at  home 
among  friends. 


73  is  accepting  manuscripts  for  the  June  1997  Field  Day  Issue. 


If  you  had  a  good  time  at  that  last 
Field  Day,  or  have  ideas  about  how 
to  make  Field  Day  a  big  success, 


submit  your  manuscript  on  a  3  1/2 
inch  disk,  along  with  a  print  out  and 
photos,  by  the  end  of  February,  to 


Joyce  Sawtelle,  73  Amateur  Radio 
Today,  70  Route  202  North, 
Peterborough  NH  03458. 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996  37 


Never  shy  die 

Continued  Jram  page  29 

vivid  memories  of  ihc  people  behind  the  cards, 
many  of  whom  I  got  to  know  personally. 

Take  for  instance  the  KV4AA  card.  Tens 
of  thousands  of  hams  will  never  forget  Dick 
Spence  ley's  machine- like  fist  from  St.  Tho- 
mas. This  card  confirmed  a  contact  with  me 
when  I  was  operating  from  Curacao,  where  I 
was  visiting  PJ3CC,  who  ran  a  vacation  ho- 
tel which  included  scuba  diving  and  a  ham 
station,  sitting  atop  a  cliff  overlooking  the 
Caribbean.  How  could  I  not  go  there? 

I  first  got  to  know  Dick  when  1  inherited 
him  as  my  DX  editor  when  1  took  over  as 
editor  of  CQ  in  1955.  It  didn't  take  long  for  me 
to  find  an  excuse  to  fly  down  and  visit  Dick 
and  his  wile  Anna,  and  to  woik  a  little  DX  with 
his  Johnson  KW  rig.  I  also  got  in  some  great 
diving  and  found  a  horse  to  rent  so  I  could  ride 
around  the  beautiful  Magan's  Bay  area.  I 
rented  my  diving  equipment  from  Leslie 
CaronTs  father,  who  ran  a  dive  shop  there. 

One  of  Dick's  friends,  another  KV4,  had  a 
little  plane,  so  1  was  able  to  take  some  mar- 
velous  pictures  of  the  island.  Then  there  was 
the  six- pound  lobster  I  speared  which  pro- 
vided dinner  for  the  whole  Spenceley  family. 

Well,  you're  tired  of  my  ham  memories. 
so  how  about  you?  Dig  into  your  old  QSLs 
and  tell  us  some  stories  that  they  bring  back 
for  you.  Don't  forget  to  send  me  a  disk  copy. 
No,  I  won't  lose  your  QSL. 

Like  the  time  1  visited  VK6RU  in  Perth  in 
1966  and  he  whipped  out  my  QSL  from 
1946.  That  was  during  my  ham  African  sa- 
fari trip,  where  I  continued  on  around  the 
world  after  shooting  anything  that  moved  in 
Kenya  and  visiting  Robbie  5Z4ERR  in 
Nairobi.  I  hope  you  can  get  even  a  fraction 
as  much  adventure  from  hamming  as  1  have. 
Hey,  it's  there,  waiting  for  you,  but  you  have 
to  make  the  first  move.  The  brass  ring  is  out 
there,  but  you  have  to  lean  way  out  to  grab  iL 
If  your  QSL  file  doesn't  bring  back  memo- 
ries of  ham  adventures,  mavbe  it's  lime  to 


kick  yourself  in  the  butt.  And  don't  give  me 
any  of  that  "Gee,  I  can't  afford  something 
like  that"  baloney.  Money  is  easy  to  make 
once  you  know  the  secret  and  are  able  to  try 
a  new  paradigm.  Or  is  one  digrn  enough  for 
you? 

I  can  point  the  way,  but  I  can't  force  you 
to  make  changes  in  your  life.  Yep,  change 
sure  is  difficult  to  make.  But  the  world  is 
constantly  changing,  whether  you  do  or  not, 
and  it's  going  to  leave  you  behind,  fussing 
about  things,  but  never  really  doing  anything 
about  them.  Ooops,  there  I  go  preaching 
again.  Sorry  about  that.  The  hams  with 
msted-in  attitudes  say,  There  goes  Wayne. 
bragging  again/1  when  I  tell  about  my  ad- 
ventures. The  few  hams  who  are  still  not 
brain  dead  say,  "Hey,  Wayne's  right,  I  coitid 
do  that!" 

My  $5  book,  Making  Money,  a  Beginner's 
Guide,  explains  the  secret.  1  should  charge 
$5,000  since  I  know  gratitude  is  one  of  the 
least  felt  of  all  emotions.  The  demand  for  the 
book  has  been  brisk,  as  a  result  of  my  May 
appearance  on  the  Art  Bell  W600B  radio 
show,  and  then  its  repeat  broadcast  in  August. 
The  nice  part  for  me  is  that  I'm  already  getting 
letters  thanking  me,  saying  wow,  it  sure  works  f 

I  don't  care  how  old  you  are,  if  you  make 
some  changes  in  your  life  you  can  get  on  the 
air  from  Fiji  and  Tahiti  too.  And  Nepal.  Or 
even  from  a  king's  palace.  Or  you  can  work 
the  world  from  a  farm  in  New  Hampshire, 
where  the  air  is  pure  and  the  living  about  the 
best  in  the  whole  country.  Or  both.  Heck, 
why  not?  Or,  let's  see,  what's  on  TV  tonight. 
Or  is  it  time  to  call  into  that  old  75m  net? 
Your  choice — adventure  or  status  quo. 

Enlightening 


How  many  seconds  a  day  on  the  average 
do  you  get  out  of  your  ham  shack  long 
enough  to  look  up  at  the  sky,  close  enough  to 
the  sun  so  some  of  those  UVs  get  into  your 
eyeballs?  And  without  any  glasses  or  win- 
dows to  filter  'cm  out? 


ST.  THOMAS,     VIRGIN  ISLANDS,  U.S.A.,     BOX  403 


DXCC    (RETIRED  AT  335)   WA2-F0C 
DX  EDJTOR  CQ  MAGAZINE  1951-1959 


EX  JC4AAN  1927-1941 
PRE5.   YAStA*  FOUNDATION   1959-1965 


TO   RADIO 
MONTH: 


i. 


PJ3CC 

■    ■■■*.■■    ■    ■_    ■    ■     ■    BHK.HHB    ■    WW-m   ■    J     ■     ■     ■•**■■«■  ■-■  ■■■  <■ 

2  3   4  5   6/  i   9   10 


THIS  CONFIRMS  OUR  RADIO  CONTACT  OF: 

11    12         DAY;     1/301    214567   8/0 
196.^,,.                                              ON:     3.5       7       >f       21        23  MC5.  AT: 

TIME:  Of  Tift  1  2  3  4/67  990123456719012345  YOUR  TIME- <^A 
ON  TWO  WAY  CW  AM  V*  YOUR  CARD  RECEIVED,  THANKS  AND  73, 
RST:    599     5S9     579     569     559     ?f DICK 


Now,  second  question.  How  many  hours  a 
day  do  you  think  the  people  you're  de- 
scended from  spent  a  day  getting  UVs  into 
their  eyeballs?  Before  eyeglasses  and  win- 
dows were  invented? 

Third  question.  Would  it  surprise  you  to 
learn  thai  getting  those  UVs  into  the  eyes  is 
vitally  important  for  your  health?  That  a  mil- 
lion or  so  years  of  living  with  UVs  has  de- 
veloped a  dependency  on  it  for  your  body? 

If  I  can  get  you  to  spring  the  five  bucks  for 
my  hook  list,  and  then  go  absolutely  hog 
wild  to  buy  a  few  books  and  read  'em,  you'll 
learn  a  whole  lot  about  what  your  body 
needs  in  the  way  of  food,  minerals,  water 
UVs,  oxygen,  and  so  on.  Needs,  and  isn't, 
for  the  most  part,  getting. 

T  ve  put  in  a  heck  of  a  lot  of  work  finding  some 
books  which  are  exciting  and  valuable.  What  I 
haven't  figured  out  yet  is  how  to  get  you  to  read 
'em  and  start  changing  your  life,  Sigh* 

So  now;  in  order  to  ignore  the  above  light  news 
so  as  not  to  have  to  change  your  way  of  living  (and 
being  side),  you'ie  saying  to  yourself  lhat  there 
gpes  Wayne  exaggerating  again.  1  know  you 
haven't  read  the  Ou  or  Lieberman  books  on  my 
recommended  list  or  you'd  have  written  to  thank 
me.  Well  maybe  I  can  get  you  to  check  out  Sun- 
light by  Dr.  Zane  Kime,  ISBN  0-96W266-2-5, 
$12,  315p.  World  Health.  Box  408,  Penryn  CA 
95663.  How  does  sunlight  affect  cholesterol 
blood  pressure,  and  the  immune  system?  No,  I'm 
not  selling  the  book. 

Okay,  if  you  don't  care  enough  about  your 
own  health  to  read  it,  will  you  educate  yourself 
a  little  eo  help  your  kids  live  healthier  lives? 

Autism,  Etc. 

The  60  Minutes  segment  on  autism  was  in- 
teresting. You  remember  Ramman*  Did  you 
know  that  before  vaccinations  autism  was 
almost  unknown?  As  were  hyperactivity, 
dyslexia,  and  learning  disabilities  in  children? 

Did  you  know  that  in  a  double-blind  test 
the  polio  vaccine  caused  twice  as  many  cases 
of  polio  as  it  prevented?  According  to  the 
CDC,  87%  of  all  polio  cases  between  1973 
and  1983  were  caused  by  the  vaccine. 

And,  oh  yes,  talking  about  compulsory 
poisons,  did  you  know  that  tests  with  ani~ 
mals  show  that  they  are  made  much  more 
docile  when  given  fluorides?  Like  those  be- 
ing added  to  your  water  and  you're  drinking 
unless  you're  distilling  out  the  fluorides, 
chlorine,  and  other  mischief. 

Between  these  compulsory  poisons  help- 
ing to  fry  our  brains,  the  flowering  drug  cul- 
ture and  our  worst-in-thc-developcd-world 
schools,  kids'  SATs  are  wav  down,  so  they're 
lowering  the  scale  so  it  won't  look  as  bad, 

If  you'll  read  a  couple  of  the  books  I  recom- 
mend you'll  learn  lhat  sugar  and  white  flour  are 
almost  as  destructive  to  your  body  as  they  are 
for  your  car  if  you  put  them  in  the  gas  tank.  No 
wonder  our  police  are  causing  so  many  prob- 
lems on  their  Dunk  in  Donuts  diet. 

The  Junior  Researcher  Alchemy  Kit 

Will  it  be  an  entrepreneur  or  one  of  the  big 

toy  companies  that  comes  out  with  the  first 


38  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1 996 


cold  fusion  alchemy  kit  for  our  budding  sci- 
entists? (And  makes  bazillions?) 

I  was  seven  when  I  got  a  Chem-Craft 
chemistry  set  for  Christinas.  It  was  beaut! 
The  experiment  I  remember  best  was  the  one 
using  potassium  permanganate  plus  a  couple 
drops  of  glycerin  and  then,  in  about  half  a 
minute,  the  mixture  would  start  bubbling  and 
burst  into  flame.  Wow  I 

The  cold  fusion  field  has  developed 
enough  now  for  a  kit  to  be  marketed  which 
would  enable  experimenters  to  measure  the 
excess  heat  generated  using  different  metals 
and  electrolytes.  Complete  with  an  interface 
so  a  computer  could  record  the  data  and 
chart  it. 

You'd  need  a  small  glass  cell  and  a  sur- 
rounding calorimeter.  Hey,  if  they  can  sell 
indoor-outdoor  thermometers  retail  for  under 
SIS,  that's  about  all  you'd  need  to  measure 
the  inside  and  outside  calorimeter  tempera* 
lures.  Yd  supply  some  powdered  metals  such 
as  palladium,  nickel,  and  titanium,  and  the 
chemicals  to  make  various  electrolytes.  A 
wall-wart  power  supply  could  supply  the 
current  to  trigger  the  reaction.  Plus  a  small 
motor  to  stir  the  electrolyte  to  distribute  the 
heat  evenly.  I'll  bet  the  whole  kit  could  be 
marketed  for  under  $200. 

If  it  were  my  company  Fd  be  selling  re- 
fills, plus  other  kinds  of  powdered  metals 
such  as  rubidium,  rhodium,  and  anything 
else  that  has  a  suitable  lattice  structure  for 
generating  excess  heat,  Fd  also  start  a  news- 
letter for  junior  researchers,  plus  include  in- 
structions on  how  to  patent  your  discoveries. 
This  is  pioneering  territory  and  the  fact  is 
that  kids  could  come  up  with  better  and  bet- 
ter cold  fusion  systems. 

Id  also  look  around  for  a  college  with  one 
of  these  newfangled  instant  mass  spectrom- 
eters where  experimenters  could,  for  a  small 
fee,  send  samples  from  their  used  cells  to 
find  out  what  transmutation  products  have 
been  generated  in  the  process. 

In  a  recent  test  using  nickel  with  a  lithium  sul- 
fate electrolyte  in  plain  water,  a  cell  generated  gen- 
erous amounts  of  i  rtm,  gold,  copper,  magnesium 
and  chromium  ...  and,  oh  yes.  heat 

Well,  you*rc  probably  too  busy  to  be 
interested  in  making  bazillions  anyway, 
right? 

Donor 

Perhaps  I'm  on  more  mailing  lists  than 
you,  but  I  found  my  mail  stuffed  with  re- 
quests for  money  for  political  campaigns  this 
last  faU.  Lordy,  the  direct  mail  companies 
must  have  made  a  killing.  Those  who  sent 
postage  paid  envelopes  got  an  offer  to  make 
a  $  1 ,000  donation,  but  I  did  ask  for  some  as- 
surance that  the  candidate  would  be  working 
for  my  benefit  more  than  his  own,  so  1  in- 
cluded some  minor  caveats. 

Like  a  campaign  promise  which  would 
give  me  a  guarantee  that  I  would  see  some 
needed  changes  such  as:  (1)  Term  limits  for 
federal  judges,  plus  some  guidelines  for 
them,  such  as  a  return  to  the  constitution  in- 
stead of  leading  the  parade  for  social  engi- 
neering, as  they  did  with  school  busing.  {2) 


Get  the  government  and  the  judges  out  of  re- 
ligious issues  such  as  school  prayer  and 
abortion,  which  represent  still  more  social 
engineering.  Why  are  we  even  arguing  about 
mixing  church  and  state?  The  constitution 
was  supposed  to  settle  that.  (3)  The  elimina- 
tion of  government  confiscation  of  property 
through  its  many  agencies.  For  instance,  the 
property  tax  effectively  makes  the  owner  of 
property  a  lessee,  not  an  owner.  If  you  stop 
paying  the  tax,  you  lose  your  property.  If  an 
informant  tells  the  police  that  you  have 
drugs  on  your  property  the  police  can  (and 
all  too  often  do),  without  a  warrant,  break  in, 
plant  some  drugs,  and  then  confiscate  your 
property.  If  the  IRS  decides  you  owe  for 
taxes  they  can  confiscate  your  property.  I  put 
my  life  on  the  line — on  the  front  line — 
during  WWII,  but  it  wasn't  for  the  America 
I  see  today.  The  RICO  (organized  crime) 
laws  were,  as  usual,  well  intentioned,  But 
government  agencies  have  misused  them  to 

Continued  on  page  49 


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210-267-2233 

1-800-COAXiAL 

F AX:  216*267-3142  -  Sac  Us  At  Dayton  -  Booths  401  &  4Q2 

Service  and  Dependability, .  A  Part  of  Every  Product 

E-  Maif  coaxiaf@apk.net http   www. coaxial  co m 


CIRCLE  166  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996  39 


Mumber  40  on  your  feedback  card 


The  Solder  Slurper 


Build  your  own  desoldering  station— cheap: 


f 


Dave  Evison  N6GKC 
153  Park  Avenue 

Palo  Alto  CA  94306 


Whether  you* re  recycling  parts 
mounted  on  a  PC  board  or  re- 
pairing  some  electronic 
equipment,  you  want  to  remove  the  parts 
without  ruining  cither  the  pans  or  the 
board.  While  there  arc  many  profes- 
sional desoldering  stations  and  aids 
available,  most  are  either  expensive  or 
ineffective.  Professional  desoldering 
stations  are  priced  from  S400  and  up. 
which  is  more  than  most  of  us  are 
willing  to  pay. 

You'll  find  the  Solder  Slurper  is  equal 
to  or  better  than  most  commercial  units. 
It  uses  off-the-shelf  parts  you  can  get  at 
any  Radio  Shack™  and  auto  parts  stores. 
And  it  can  be  built  for  under  $60,  even  if 
you  buy  all  new  parts.  However,  if  you 


get  a  used  fuel  pump  and  parts  from  your 
junk  box,  a  first-class  unit  can  be  put 
together  for  just  a  few  dollars. 

The  Solder  Slurper  is  designed  around 
an  automobile  electric  fuel  pump,  asso- 
ciated fuel  filters,  and  a  Radio  Shack 
desoldering  iron.  The  rubber  bulb  origi- 
nally used  by  the  Radio  Shack 
desoldering  iron  to  create  a  suction  for 
extracting  the  molten  solder  is  replaced 
with  a  hose,  filters  and  the  electric  fuel 
pump.  The  heated  tip  of  the  desoldering 
iron  is  placed  on  the  joint  to  be 
desoldered,  the  solder  is  melted,  then  the 
foot  switch  is  pushed  and  the  pump 
sucks  the  molten  solder  away  from  the 
joint.  The  first  in-line  fuel  filter  captures 
the  molten  solder,  keeping  it  out  of  the 


PhoiaA.  The  prototype  Solder  Slurper. 

40  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  -December  1996 


pump  mechanism.  The  second  in-line 
fuel  filter  further  protects  the  pump  by 
removing  the  desoldering  fumes. 

While  the  pump  will  work  with  any 
12V  supply  capable  of  delivering  an  in- 
stantaneous 6A  and  continuous  2A,  I 
used  a  gel  cell  with  a  trickle  charger. 
Since  the  in-rush  of  current  is  steep 
when  the  pump  is  turned  on.  many  regu- 
lated power  supplies  will  blow  fuses.  If 
the  supply  incorporates  a  crowbar  circuit 
it  may  also  shut  down  the  power  supply. 
The  gel  cell  baticry  acts  as  the  power 
source,  with  excellent  low  internal 
resistance,  and  easily  provides  the  high 
starting  current. 

The  circuit 

The  charging  circuit  is  designed 
around  aeommun  12,6V  filament  trans- 
former and  a  15V  three- terminal  regula- 
tor. It  is  designed  to  deliver  a  charging 
current  until  the  surface  chame  of  the 
battery  equals  the  charging  voltage  of 
the  charger  (13.4V).  The  two  diodes  in 
the  regulator  output  minimize  the  dis- 
charge of  the  battery  through  the 
charger,  should  the  AC  power  be  re- 
moved from  the  charging  unit.  The  for- 
ward drop  of  these  diodes  also 
determines  the  applied  charging  voltage 
to  the  battery. 

Since  the  Radio  Shack  desoldering 
iron  is  not  grounded,  a  grounding  circuit 
must  be  added  to  the  soldering  iron  to 
protect  sensitive  parts  from  an  electro- 
static discharge.  Any  one  of  the  three 
screws  fastening  the  metal  iron  to  the 
plastic  handle  will  provide  an  easy  way 
to  ground  the  iron. 


Auto  Electric  Fuel  Pump 


In-Lina  Fual  Fitters 


1 2  Vott  Power 
Source 


Foot  Switch 


Radio  Shack  Desoldering 
Iron  RS  64-2060 

Iron  Grounded  using  3  Ptn 
Plug  and  3  Wire  Cord. 


Fig.h  The  system. 


T1 


/-§W2     C1 


7815 


SW1 


C3 


=-B1 


± 


I 


Outlet  for 
Soldering  Iron 


Fig.  2.  The  get  cell  battery  trickle  charger. 


Parts  List 

Desoldering  Iron 

Radio  Shack  #  64-2060 

Electric  Fuel  Pump 

Bosch  GFP  221  or  equivalent 

In-Line  Fuel  Filters 

WIX  3301 1  or  equivalent 

Interconnecting  Hose  and  Clamps 

AC  to  DC  Power  Source 

T1 

12.6V  @  1.2A  filament 
transformer  (RS  273-1352) 

C1 

250^F  @  25V 

C2,  C3 

0.1  tiF  @  50V 

7815 

3-Terminal  Regulator 

All  Diodes 

1N4006 

B1 

1 2V  Gel  Cell  Battery,  3Ah  or 
greater 

SW1  (Foot  Switch) 

SPST  1 0A 

SW2 

SPST  1 A 

When  connecting  the  pump,  filters, 
and  vacuum  hose  to  the  various  parts  of 
the  unit,  make  sure  you  make  good 
vacuum-light  seals.  And  if  you  arc  using 
a  used  electric  fuel  pump,  make  sure 
there  is  no  residual  fuel  or  vapor  in  the 
pump.  Let  it  run  for  10  to  15  seconds 
to  purge  the  pump  prior  to  extracting 
solder. 

As  with  any  desoldering  tool,  an  accu- 
mulation of  solder  can  build  up  within 
the  hollow  desoldering  tip  and  discharge 
tube  of  the  iron.  Heavy  build-up  can, 
over  time,  actually  block  the  discharge 
tube,  so  you  may  have  to  drill  out  the 
blockage. 

During  heavy  usage*  the  build-up  can 
be  minimized  by  frequently  shaking  the 
accumulated  molten  solder  out  the  hol- 
low tip  into  an  old  tin  can  and  by  run- 
ning the  pump  for  a  couple  of  seconds 

"A  first-class  unit  can 

be  put  together  for  just 

a  few  dollars 


M 


prior  to  luming  off  the  iron  at  the  end  of 
the  day.  Another  useful  technique  to  both 
remove  the  solder  and  free  the  lead  being 
desoldered  is  to  carefully  "skate"  the  tip  of 
the  iron  on  the  pad  and  thereby  position 
the  lead  in  the  center  of  the  hole. 

Photo  A  shows  the  prototype  Solder 
Slurpcr  with  the  parts  mounted  on  a  piece 
of  plastic.  While  the  prototype  is  ugly, 
the  interconnection  of  parts  is  clearly 
shown.  If  you  put  the  Simper  in  a  flashy 
box,  you  could  sell  the  units  commercially, 

The  Solder  Slurper  sure  is  handy  in 
my  small  laboratory,  and  its  "Ghost 
Buster"  look  always  gets  comments. 


Columnist  Needed 

Write  a  1250  word  monthly  column 
about  Mobile,  Portable,  and  Emergency 

amateur  radio  operations.  Contact  Joyce 
Sawtelle,  73  Amateur  Radio  Today,  70 
Route  202  North,  Peterborough  NH  03458. 
Tel  (603)  924-0058. 


Next  Day 


WtShip    SerrDaj 


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CIRCLE  S  ON  READER  SERVICE  CA8D 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1 996  41 


Number  42  on  your  Feedback  card 


Audio  Filter  Alignment  Generator 


Another  piece  of  test  equipment  you  can  build. 


J.  Frank  Brumbaugh  KB4ZGC 

Box  30  -  c/o  Defendini 

Salinas  PR  00751-0030 


he  vast  majority  of  transmit  off- 
sets for  CW  and  SSB  have  been 
established  at  approximately  700 
Hz,  This  is  practically  an  industry  stan- 
dard and  is  also  the  offset  used  in  most 
QRP  transceivers,  whether  they're  kits 
or  home-brewed.  Therefore,  active  and 
passive  filters  are  most  often  designed  to 
have  a  center  frequency  of  about  700  Hz 
and  the  many  circuits  found  in  the  ham 
literature  bear  this  out. 

Of  course,  few  if  any  filters  can  boast  a 
center  frequency  of  exactly  700  Hz,  be- 
cause electronics  is  a  world  of  tolerances 
and  percentages,  but  all  such  filters  wiE  be 
centered  very  close  to  700  Hz. 

There  are  numerous  circuits  published 
for  small  fixed- frequency  audio  oscilla- 
tors,   usually    Twin-T    or    phase-shift 


circuits.  But,  with  tolerances  and  strays,  it 
Uikes  a  lot  of  "eut-and-try"  to  get  such  an  os- 
cillator to  produce  exactly  the  desired  fre- 
quency. 


accurate  and  stable  generator  of  signals  in  the 
most  useful  range  of  300  to  3,000  Hz,  if  you 
only  need  to  trim  your  Qlter  for  a  700  Hz  cen- 
ter frequency  this  would  he  overkill 


"For  most  hams  this  will  be  a  junk  box  project  and  cost 
nothing— and  it  can  be  constructed  in  an  hour  or  two" 


A  much  easier  way  to  produce  a  signal 
at  the  exact  frequency  required  to  check 
and  adjust  an  audio  filter  is  to  use  an  au- 
dio generator  whose  output  signal  is 
known,  accurate  and  stable.  (See  "Crys- 
tal-Controlled Audio  Generator,"  73„ 
November  1995.  page  28.  Note:  There  is  an 
error  in  the  schematic.  CU  should  be  con- 
I  nected  between  the  emitter  of  Q3  and  the 
emitter  of  Q2.)  Although  recommended  as  an 


f.J.  Schematic  diagram  for  the  audio  filter  alignment  generator. 
42   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


This  article  describes  an  even  simpler 
and  cheaper  audio  generator,  also  crys- 
tal-controlled but  producing  a  single  fre- 
quency of  approximately  7 16  Hz  (which 
is  well  within  normal,  even  very  close 
tolerance  for  the  usual  700  Hz  filter  fre- 
quency). If  this  is  the  only  audio  fre- 
quency you  need,  you  may  wish  to  build 
this  simple  project.  The  output  fre- 
quency is  stable  and  accurate  because  it 
is  derived  from  a  crystal  oscillator,  There 
will  be  no  drift  of  the  output  frequency. 
The  crystal  frequency  is  divided  by  a  fac- 
tor of  5,000,  so  the  crystal  would  have  to 
drift  5,000  Hz  for  the  output  frequency  to 
vary  by  1  Hz.  That's  real  stability! 

For  those  hams  who  need  to  buy  some 
or  all  of  the  few  component  parts  as  new 
"surplus,"  the  cost  should  not  exceed 
about  $5.  For  most  hams  this  will  be  a 
junk  box  project,  and  cost  nothing — and 
it  can  be  constructed  in  an  hour  or  two. 

The  circuit 

In  Fig.  LU 1  is  a  74LSQ0  quad  two-in- 
put NAND  gate.  Two  of  the  gates  are 
connected  to  form  an  oscillator  con- 
trolled by  YK  a  common  inexpensive 
color-burst  crystal  with  a  marked  fre- 
quency of  3-579545  MHz.  The  output  of 
the  crystal  oscillator  at  pin  6  of  Ul  is  ap- 
plied to  input  pin  1  of  U2,  a  74LS90 
configured  to  divide  by  five.  The  output 
from  pin  1 1  of  12  is  applied  to  input  pin 
1  of  U3,  a  74LS90  configured  to  divide 


by  10.  The  output  from  pin  12  of  U3  is 
applied  to  input  pin  1  of  U4,  also  a 
74LS90  configured  to  divide  by  10.  The 
output  from  pin  12  of  U4  is  applied  to 
input  pin  1  of  U5,  a  74LS90  also  divid- 
ing by  10  to  produce  the  desired  output 
frequency  of  716  Hz  at  pin  12,  This  716 
Hz  frequency  is  applied  to  output  con- 
nector J2  through  C4,  which  blocks  the 
DC  voltage  at  pin  12  from  the  output 
connector  12. 

The  above  describes  the  functioning 
of  the  primary  716  Hz  audio  generator. 
However,  because  a  color-burst  crystal 
is  used,  there  is  a  bonus  to  be  derived  ai 
no  additional  cost  The  crystal  frequency 
at  pins  1  and  2  of  Ul  is  fed  through  the 
two  unused  gates  which  are  connected  to 
form  inverters,  and  is  available  through 
DC  blocking  capacitor  C2  at  Jl,  taken 
from  pin  8  of  UL  The  possible  uses 
of  this  harmonic-rich  signal  will  be 
discussed  later. 

Power  is  supplied  by  BT1,  a  9  volt  al- 
kaline battery,  and  is  controlled  by  SI, 
an  SPST  switch.  The  9V  source  is  ap- 
plied to  the  input  of  U6,  a  78L05  volt- 
age regulator  which  provides  a  regulated 
positive  5  volts  to  all  TTL  chips  in  the 
circuit.  C3  bypasses  the  output  terminal 
of  U6  to  remove  any  digital  spikes 
which  could  affect  regulation.  The  com- 
bination of  R3  and  LED  Dl  is  optional, 
but  it  draws  only  about  3  mA  so  it  is  rec- 
ommended as  a  reminder  to  turn  the  gen- 
erator off  when  not  in  use,  to  prevent 
draining  the  battery. 

Construction 

The  circuit  can  be  built  on  a  piece  of 
perfboard,  a  general  purpose  printed  cir- 
cuit board,  or  "dead-bug"  style  on  a  base 
of  any  nonconductive  material  such  as 
plastic  or  wood.  Sockets  for  the  chips 
aren't  necessary,  but  may  be  used  if  you 
wish.  Note:  It  might  be  desirable  to  use 
sockets  for  the  four  74LS90  chips,  I 
have  found  a  number  of  these  chips,  pur- 
chased from  mail  order  vendors  as  "new 
surplus,"  which  refused  to  divide. 
Changing  chips  in  sockets  is  much 
easier  than  unsoldering  their  pins  from  a 
PC  board. 

An  enclosure  isn't  necessary,  but  if 
you  do  a  lot  of  work  with  active  and  pas- 
sive filters  you  may  wish  to  build  it 
neatly  in  a  small  plastic  or  metal  box, 
or  one  made  from  printed  circuit  board 
material. 


Operation 

Since  this  is  a  digital  circuit,  if  the 
crystal  is  good  and  all  chips  are  wired 
correctly  and  are  in  their  designated 
places  in  the  circuit,  it  will  function  as 
soon  as  power  is  applied. 

If  it  doesn't  work  at  all,  or  the  output  au- 
dio frequency  is  incorrect  or  unstable,  you 
either  have  a  bad  crystal  or  one  with  the 
wrong  frequency,  one  or  more  bad  chips, 
or  something  as  simple  as  a  wiring  eiror  or 
solder  bridge.  If  you  use  sockets  for  the 
chips,  make  certain  they  are  in  the  right 
sockets  ami  are  oriented  correctly.  It  will 
help  if  you  place  a  dot  of  white  paint  on 
top  of  each  chip  at  pin  I ,  and  also  on  the 
side  of  the  socket  at  pin  1 . 

Again,  when  a  simple  digital  circuit  is 
wired  correctly,  has  all  good  parts  in- 
stalled correctly,  and  the  proper  operat- 
ing voltage  is  applied,  it  will  function  as 
designed — period. 

Using  this  instrument 

This  is  a  fixed  frequency  audio  gen- 
erator. Feeding  its  output  into  the  input 
of  an  audio  filter  while  monitoring  the 
amplitude  level  of  the  filter  output  with 
an  oscilloscope  or  a  DMM  on  a  low  DC 
voltage  range  will  allow  tweaking  the 
values  of  pertinent  resistors  and  capaci- 
tors for  maximum  output  voltage,  result- 
ing in  the  center  frequency  of  the  filter 
being  exactly  the  same  as  the  generator 

It  has  a  number  of  other  incidental 
uses  as  well.  It  can  be  used  as  a  sidetone 
generator.  It  can  be  keyed  in  either  the 
positive  or  negative  power  lead  as  a 
code  practice  oscillator,  feeding  head- 
phones or  a  small  speaker.  It  can  also 
serve  as  a  signal  injector  for  aligning  re- 
ceiver circuits  because  the  output  is  rich 
in  harmonics. 

Using  the  bonus  frequency 

The  crystal  frequency  available  at  Jl, 
which  will  be  close  to  but  not  exactly  the 
marked  frequency  of  3,579545  MHz, 
has  strong  harmonics  which  fall  within 
or  near  every  ham  band  from  80  through 
10  meters,  including  the  WARC  bands. 
To  be  useful  for  calibration  checking  or 
as  a  signal  for  alignment  purposes,  these 
harmonic  frequencies  must  be  known 
accurately. 

Measure  the  frequency  at  Jl,  using  a 
frequency  counter,  then  multiply  this 
frequency  by  each   harmonic  number 


I 


from  2   through   8   and   note  these 
frequencies  for  future  use. 

The  signal  level  at  Jl  is  much  too  high 
to  feed  directly  into  the  antenna  connector 
of  a  receiver  You  can  connect  a  short 
length  of  wire  to  Jl  and  radiate  the  signals 
to  your  station  antenna.  Another  method  is 
to  disconnect  the  antenna  from  your  re- 
ceiver and  connect  a  short  length  of  wire  to 
the  receiver  antenna  connector.  Drape  this 
wire  near  the  instrument  to  conduct  its 
signals  to  the  receiver. 


Parts  List 

BT1 

I 

9  volt  alkaline 
battery 

C1, 

C2 

0.01  jiF  ceramic 
disc  or  monolith 

C3 

0.1  jiF  ceramic  disc 

C4 

100  pF  electrolytic, 
10  WVDC  or  higher 

D1 

LED,  color  optional 

Jl, 

J2 

Output  connectors, 
your  choice                   i 

R1, 

R2 

1k  1/4W5% 

R3 

2.7k  1/4W  5%                I 

S1 

SPST  toggle  or  slide 

switch 

U1 

74LS00 

U2-U5 

74LS90 

U6 

78LOS 

Y1 

3.579545  MHz 
color-burst  crystal 

ATTENTION  ALL  READERS 

Please  let  us  know  what  ham  radio  subjects 
you  would  like  us  to  give  you  more  coverage 
on.  Send  your  response  lo  Joyce  Sawtelle,  73 
Amateur  Radio  Today,  70  Route  202  North, 
Peterborough  NH  03458. 


Today's  No-Tune 
Muttfband  Antenna 


4a  2a  v.  i: 


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Retdr  to  Use 
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b*!aa£  W&RG&s 
The  modern  coax  fed 
version  of  the  elastic 
40<i*!Wpd  windem, 

AntennasWest 


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CIRCLE  135  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  43 


Number  44  on  your  feedback  cant 


The  Art  and  Challenge  of  Sending  CW 

When  a  QSO  is  so  much  more  than  just  "RST,  QTHt  name  and  73  " 


BobShraderW6BNB 

11911  Barnett  Valley  Road 

Sebastopot  CA  95472 


ith  Hand-Key  Night  corning 
up  on  December  3 1st  it's  time 
to  get  out  the  old  hand  key, 
rubber-cement  it  lo  the  tablctop  and  gel 
ready  for  some  good  old-fashioned  fun- 
type  CW  QSOs.  Hand-Key  Night  is  a 
time  when  a  QSO  is  much  more  than 
just,  ~RST,  QTH,  name  and  73."  It's  rag- 
chewing,  If  s  a  lime  to  find  out  what  rigs 
are  used;  what  bands,  what  lype(s)  of 
work  done;  when  the  other  op  was  first 
licensed,  radio  backgrounds,  latest 
travels,  sports,  homes,  computers,  ani- 
mals, marital  status,  kids,  greatest 
accomplishments- — everything! 

Amateurs  know  their  code  sending  as 
"CW/*  meaning  "'Continuous  Waves."  It 
may  surprise  some  newer  hams  that  this 
means  radio  waves  thai  have  a  constant 
amplitude  (strength),  and  has  nothing  to 
do  with  how  long  the  waves  are  being 
generated.  The  term  developed  in  the 
earliest  days  of  radio  when  code  trans- 
missions  were  made  only  with  spark- 
type  transmitters  that  produced 
decaying-strength  RF  "wave  trains," 
When  a  spark  occurred  in  a  spark  trans- 
mitten  a  high  amplitude  RF  ac  was  de- 
veloped, at  the  quarterwave  frequency  of 
the  antenna,  that  rapidly  decayed  to 
zero.  Each  half-cycle  of  the  power-line 
ac  developed  a  spark  and  RF  wave  train 
of  its  own.  Power  line  ac  with  a  fre- 
quency of  60  Hz  used  in  a  spark  trans- 
mitter produced  120  RF  wave  trains  per 


second.  Originally,  all  radio  communi- 
cations were  made  using  spark-type  tele- 
graphic  code  signals— there  was  no  such 
thing  as  CW  or  radiotelephone. 

When  constant  amplitude  radio  wave 
generators  were  developed  and  used  for 
radiotclegraphic  code,  those  emissions 
were  termed  CW  because  they  were 
Continuous-amplitude  Waves,  not  de- 
caying spark-type  waves.  Today,  the 
term  CW  has  taken  on  the  meaning  of 
any  lype  of  radiotclegraphic  code  used 
in  the  MF  or  HF  bands.  However,  the 
abbreviation  "MCW"  indicates  an  audio- 
frequency Modulated  Continuous-ampli- 
tude Wave  code  signal,  which  may  also  be 
used  by  hams  but  only  in  their  VHF,  UHF 
and  SHF  bands. 

It's  a  challenge 

Learning  to  send  CW  correctly  with 
any  lype  of  mechanical  or  electronic- 
aided  key  does  not  come  easily,  Many 
newer  hams  have  never  been  advised  by 
qualified  CW  operators,  so  may  never 
have  been  shown  how  to  use  a  key  cor- 
rectly. Proper  finger  and  hand  move- 
ments must  be  learned  tor  whatever  lype 
of  keying  device  is  used.  These  correct 
motions  must  be  practiced  regularly  to 
assure  proper  radio  code  sending. 

Historically,  the  first  sending  device 
was  the  hand  key,  or  straight  key.  The 
second  was  the  sideswiper,  cootie  key,  or 


Lock 


BASE 


* 


Leads 


Arm  support 


Contacts 


_ 


Spring  raises 
arm 


Fig.  I,  Essentials  of  a  straight  or  hand  key t  side  view. 
44  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


double  speed  key  (meaning  a  straight  key 
which  has  two  sets  of  contacts  and  sends 
code  faster).  The  third  was  the  semiauto- 
matic key\  or  bug.  The  fourth  was  the 
electronically  aided  electronic  keyer,  of- 
ten referred  to  as  simply  a  keyer.  or  im- 
properly as  a  paddle  since  bugs  and 
coolie  keys  also  have  paddles.  Keyers 
are  somewhat  .similar  to  a  bug  in 
operation. 

There  is  also  the  digital  (binary/ 
ASCII)  keyboard,  or  KB,  used  in  con- 
junction with  some  form  of  a  computer/ 
software  system,  which  is  not  a  key.  A 
KB  requires  no  code  or  keying  ability  to 
make  it  send  CW.  Its  correlative,  a  com- 
puter with  software  thai  will  decode  re- 
ceived Morse-letter  tones,  also  requires 
no  code  operating  ability  to  receive 
perfectly  generated  CW  letters. 

The  first  three,  purely  mechanical 
telegraph  keying  devices,  have  been 
used  since  the  mid- 1 800s  to  send 
"landline"  railroad  messages,  telegrams, 
and  slock  exchange  information  using 
the  American  Morse  code.  Later  they 
were  used  to  send  International  Morse 
code  for  amateur- to-amateur,  ship-lo- 
ship,  ship-to-shorc?  and  poinMo-poinl 
communications.  How  messages  were 
handled  is  another  story.  This  discussion 
is  about  learning  lo  send  code  properly 
with  a  hand  kc>.  a  bug,  a  cootie,  and  a 
basic  keyer. 

Begin  with  the  basics 

Let's  start  with  the  oldest  and  the  sim- 
plest device,  the  hand  key,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  used  on  Hand-Key  Night. 
Fig.  I  shows  this  device  in  its  simplest 
form.  Such  a  key  consists  of  a  metal  base. 
a  metal  up/down  rocking  arm,  a  spring  to 
push  the  arm  upward,  and  an  adjustable 
stop  at  the  back  of  the  arm  to  limil  how 
high  the  front  of  the  arm  will  rise.  It  has 
some  kind  of  an  insulating-material  knob 


on  the  front  of  the  arm.  Most  of  the 
metal  parts  are  electrically  connected  to- 
gether and  are  connected  to  ground  po- 
tential in  radio  circuits.  Connected  to 
and  below  the  forward  part  of  the  arm  is 
a  downward-projecting  upper  contact. 
Directly  below  this,  spaced  perhaps  1/16 
to  3/32  of  an  inch  (1.5  to  2  mm),  is  a 
lower  contact,  insulated  electrically 
from  the  rest  of  the  key.  When  the  knob 
is  pressed  downward  against  the  spring's 
tension,  it  forces  the  upper  contact  to 
meet  the  lower,  thereby  "keying"  (turn- 
ing on)  any  circuit  \o  which  the  contacts 
are  connected. 

If  the  knob  of  a  hand  key  is  pushed 
down  only  long  enough  to  make  a  very 
short-duration  contact  it  results  in  a 
"dot"  (or  short  "dtt"  sound)  being  sent. 
If  the  knob  is  pushed  down  and  held 
three  times  as  long,  it  results  in  a  "dash" 
(or  longer  "dah"  sound)  being  sent, 
(This  reasonably  accurate  3:1  dash:dot 
contact  ratio  is  the  first  challenge  of 
sending  good  code  letters.) 

I  recommend  the  following  methods 
of  operating  keys  and  paddles.  They  are 
the  result  of  five  years  of  shipboard  ra- 
dio operating,  four  years  of  police  radio 
CW,  26  years  teaching  International 
Morse  code  courses,  and  65  years  of 
operating  on  the  ham  bands. 

One  old-fashioned  hand  key  knob  has 
a  small  vertical  bakelitc  bulb  on  top  of  a 
2-inch  round  insulating-material  bottom 
plate.  The  thumb,  first  and  second  fin- 
gers grasp  the  bulb.  The  dots  and  dashes 
are  made  by  pumping  the  hand  down 
and  up  (very  tiring). 

Modern  American  key  knobs  are  usu- 
ally round,  flat-topped  and  about  one 
inch  in  diameter  The  method  described 
here  is  for  sending  with  the  more  mod- 
em key  knob.  In  1937,  my  ship,  the  SS 
President  Hoover%  was  bombed  by  the 
Chinese  while  anchored  in  the  Yangtze 
River.  After  sending  an  SOS,  I  sat  and 
transmitted  passengers1  messages  to  the 
Uniied  States  for  five  unbroken  hours 
using  such  a  hand  key.  Because  the  path 
from  the  Hoover  to  San  Francisco 
(KDMW  to  KTK)  was  long,  and  condi- 
tions were  poor  on  36  meters,  bug  send- 
ing was  out.  Could  you  send  without 
stopping  for  five  hours  using  your 
present  method  of  operating  a  hand  key? 

Here  is  the  way  to  hold  the  knob  to  as- 
sure making  constant-speed  dots,  each 
separated  from  the  next  by  a  space-time 
equal  to  the  dot  contact  time,  one  of  the 


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CIRCLE  41  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


challenges  of  good  sending:  The  tip  of 
the  firsi  finger  should  rest  on  the  flattop 
knob  at  about  a  12  o'clock  position  as 

scon  b\  the  operator.  The  thumb  rests 
against  the  under  part  of  the  knob  at 
about  a  six  o'clock  position.  It  may  seem 
that  the  knob  is  being  grasped  by  the 
thumb  and  first  finger.  Actually,  the 
touching  of  both  the  thumb  and  the  fin- 
ger is  very  light.  The  thumb's  only  job  is 
to  prevent  the  first  finger  from  wander- 
ing off  its  proper  position  on  the  top  of 
the  knob.  The  hand  should  be  relaxed, 
but  held  parallel  to  the  desktop,  with  the 
palm  about  two  and  a  half  inches  above 
the  desktop,  the  wrist  about  an  inch 
above  it.  The  arm  muscle  near  the  elbow 
rests  on  the  desk.  (A  square  piece  of  thin 
carpel,  or  other  thin  padding,  under  this 
muscle  makes  sending  a  lot  more 
comfortable.) 

The  other  three  fingers?  They  arc  al- 
lowed to  hang  out  in  the  air  to  the  right 
of  the  knob  (assuming  that  the  operator 
is  right-handed,  although  lefties  send 
just  as  well). 

The  three  fingers  in  the  air  have  a  very 
important  job  to  do.  As  the  hand  is 
pushed  downward  from  the  wrist  and  is 
then  pushed  back  up  by  the  spring,  the 
three  fingers  move  down  and  up,  along 
with  the  first  finger  on  the  knob.  These 
fingers  act  as  an  up/down  pendulum 
when  sending  dots,  effectively  setting 
the  proper  dot-spacc-dot  keying.  Dots 
made  this  way  will  produce  a  code  speed 
of  perhaps  15  words  per  minute  (wpm) 
without  any  difficulty. 

It  appears  that  the  first  finger,  or 
maybe  the  second,  is  doing  the  down- 
ward pushing,  but  actually  it  is  the 
whole  hand.  In  proper  keying,  when  the 
key  contacts  close,  your  wrist  should 
move  upward  slightly  as  the  closing  of 
the  key  contacts  slops  the  downward 
movement  of  the  hand,  raising  the  wrist. 
Make  sure  your  wrist  does  this.  It  is  im- 
portant! If  your  wrist  goes  down  when 
your  fingers  go  down  you  are  not  relaxed 
and  you  are  making  work  out  of  what 
should  be  fun.  You  are  sending  with  your 
whole  forearm  and  not  just  with  your  hand 
and  fingers.  If  you  send  several  dots  in  a 
row  your  wrist  should  rise  perhaps  a  half 
inch  farther  above  the  desktop. 

To  send  faster  than  about  18  wpm,  put 
both  first  and  second  fingers  on  the  knob 
top.  Now  only  two  fingers  are  acting  as  a 
pendulum,  allowing  a  faster  up-and-down 
motion,  and  faster  dots, 
46  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996 


How  tight  should  the  key's  spring  be? 
This  is  a  pureh  personal  decision.  Ad- 
just it  so  that  the  key's  movement  feels 
neither  too  stiff  nor  too  limp.  The  con- 
tact gap  is  also  a  personal  preference  set- 
ting.  Try  a  gap  of  1/16  to  3/32  inch  (the 
thickness  of  three  or  four  QSL  cards?). 
Don't  make  it  too  small — you  want  a 
good  up/down  movement  of  your  hand, 
not  a  nervous  ire i nor. 

(Practice  the  following:  Using  your 
key  and  a  code  oscillator  or  buzzer,  send 

up 

a  series  of  about  100  dots  a  few  times 
until  you  get  a  feeling  for  the  proper 
pendulum  action  of  your  three  outer  fin- 
gers. Keep  your  hand  parallel  to  the 
tabletopatall  limes,) 

How  about  dashes?  There's  nothing 
automatic  about  ihem;  dashes  depend 
entirely  on  your  sense  of  timing.  The 
pendulum  motion  of  the  fingers  may 
help  to  make  dots  but  not  dashes.  The 
wrist  should  move  upward  slightly  with 
every  dash.  Be  careful — there  is  always 
a  tendency  to  make  dashes  loo  short. 
Concentrate  on  making  your  dashes  a 
little  longer  than  you  think  they  should 
be.  With  practice  the  dashes  will  shorten 
to  a  more  correct  length.  If  you  have  a 
transmitter  and  an  oscilloscope  that  can 
show  your  RF  output,  connect  a  dummy 
antenna  to  the  transmitter  and  watch  the 
scope.  If  the  horizontal  sweep  is  ad- 
justed to  the  correct  speed  you  will  be 
able  to  see  the  relative  lengths  of  your 
dashes  and  spaces.  The  space  between 
dashes  should  be  one-third  the  length  of 
a  dash.  And  this  should  also  be  equal  to 
both  the  length  of  a  dot  and  the  space 
between  dots  or  dashes. 

(Practice  ihe  following:  Make  a  long 
series  of  dashes,  trying  to  make  the 
dashes  all  the  same  length  and  a  little 
more  than  three  times  the  length  of  the 
spaces  between  them.  Yes,  it's  a 
challenge*) 


One  important  point:  Do  not  allow 
your  finger  to  rise  off  the  surface  of  the 
knob  while  sending.  You  should  never 
be  tapping  the  key.  Push  the  knob  down 
and  let  the  spring  return  your  finger  up- 
ward without  your  finger  losing  contact 
with  the  knob  top. 

A  good  preliminary  practice  for  making 
letters  and  numbers  is  to  practice  making  a 
string  of  perhaps  50  dahdidahs — then  a 
string  of  50  didahdits — then  50 
didahdahdits — then  50  dahdididahs — then 
50  dididahdahdidits — and  so  on,  untii  you 
are  making  strings  that  include  five  dots 
and  then  strings  with  five  dashes  in  them. 

Normally  a  hand  key  can  be  used  for 
speeds  up  to  about  18  wpm  (to  perhaps 
23  wpm  with  two  fingers  on  the  knob.)  If 
you  want  to  go  faster  than  about  20  wpm 
with  purely  mechanical  keys,  you  might 
use  the  old-time  sides  wiper,  coolie,  or 
double  speed  key,  shown  in  Fig.  2.  It  con- 
sists of  a  horizontally  movable  spring- 
steel  arm  that  returns  the  arm  to  a  central 
resting  position  when  not  pushed  to  either 
side.  The  steel  spring  is  anchored  at  its  far 
end  to  a  posl  on  the  metal  base  that  is  nor- 
mal!} at  ground  potential.  The  length  of 
the  arm-spring  determines  the  stiffness 
of  the  sidc-to-side,  or  lateral,  movement 
A  bakelite  paddle,  about  an  inch  and  a 
half  long  and  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
high,  is  attached  to  the  arm's  near  end. 
To  both  right  and  left  of  the  arm  are  ad- 
justable screw  contacts  that  are  insulated 
from  the  base.  The  contacts  are  adjusted 
so  that  the  arm  must  move  about  1/16  to 
3/32  of  an  inch  from  its  resting  position  to 
strike  either  the  right  or  the  left  contact,  A 
quick  push  to  the  right  will  produce  a 
dot.  Hold  it  a  little  and  the  result  is  a 
dash.  The  same  is  true  pushing  the  paddle 
over  to  the  left  contact,  (It  is  actually  a 
double  horizontally-operated  hand  key, 
using  both  finger  and  thumb  to  make  dots 
and  dashes*) 


Ground 
post 


Connoting  leads 


Right  contact 


!)P*JdIe 


Left  contact 


Insulated  post 


Steel  spring 


Fig.  2.  Essentials  of  a  sideswiper,  double  speed,  or  cootie  key,  top  view.  (If  the  right  contact 
f>asi  is  disconnci  ltd  fnmi  the  left,  this  vtndd  he  ihe  paddle  oj  Q  simple  elei  tronk'  Lever.) 


With  a  coolie  key,  if  you  move  your 
finger  and  thumb  back  and  forth  rapidly 
several  times  you  produce  a  series  of 
dots.  If  you  hold  the  contacts  longer,  you 
produce  a  series  of  dashes.  A  quick  con- 
tact to  the  left  followed  by  a  longer  con- 
tact to  the  right  produces  an  "A." 
Similarly,  a  quick  contact  to  the  right 
followed  by  a  longer  contact  to  the  left 
also  produces  an  "A."  (It  takes  a  lot  of 
practice  to  make  these  monsters  put  out 
good  Morse  code!)  You  have  to  be  able 
to  send  both  dots  and  dashes  with  both 
thumb  and  first  finger.  (Should  a  cootie 
key  qualify  for  Hand-Key  Night?)  To 
learn  to  send  with  a  cootie  use  the  same 
didah  practice  suggestions  above. 

The  cootie  key  represents  the  greatest 
challenge  of  any  of  the  mechanical  keys. 
Sideswipers  were  used  in  early  RR  and 
radio  days  because  they  were  cheap  and 
easy  to  construct.  They  are  both  easier  to 
operate  and  will  send  faster  than  a  hand 
key  does,  but  relatively  few  operators 
use  cootie  keys  today.  You  can  usually 
recognize  cootie  operators  by  the 
"swing"  (slight  variations  of  dot  and 
dash  lengths)  that  becomes  unique  to 
each  operator  Swing  gives  a  special 
character  to  sending,  setting  the  operator 
apart  from  the  machine-like  perfectly- 
spaced  sending  of  electronically  aided 
keyers  and  keyboards.  (Unfortunately, 
commercially  made  sideswipers  are  no 
longer  available  but  they're  easy  to  put 
together  from  parts  out  of  most  junk 
boxes.) 

The  best  hand  position  for  the 
sideswiper  and  other  side-to-side  keys  is 
to  rest  the  right  edge  of  the  hand  and  the 
first  knuckle  of  the  little  finger  on  the 
table  top,  rotating  the  upper  part  of  the 
hand  as  well  as  pushing  the  thumb  and 
first  finger  from  side  to  side  to  make  the 
dots  and  dashes,  (An  anchored  hand  po- 
sition was  a  necessity  for  operators 
aboard  rolling  and  pitching  ships!) 
Don't  be  afraid  to  hit  the  paddle  reason- 
ably hard.  This  makes  good  solid  letters. 

The  cootie  is  a  good  mobile  CW  key, 
A  sideswiper  can  be  used  for  code 
speeds  in  excess  of  23  wpm  without 
much  difficulty. 

Unlike  using  a  hand  key,  neither  the 
first  finger  nor  the  thumb  should  rest 
with  any  significant  pressure  on  any 
side-to-side  operated  paddles,  but  they 
must  never  be  far  from  it.  When  the 
thumb  is  pushing,  the  finger  will  be  off 
the  paddle,  and  vice  versa.  If  paddle- 


Grouikicd 
post 


Connection 

leads 


Swivel 
point 


Dash  tension 


spring 


Riddle 


contacts 


Insulated 
post 


Straight 
spring 


Ann  return 
spring 


Fig.  3.  Essentials  of  a  semiautomatic  keyt  or  bug,  top  view. 


type  keys  are  not  anchored,  they  wiU 
move  when  the  paddle  is  pushed.  To  pre- 
vent this,  coat  the  feet  of  such  keys  with 
rubber  cement  to  secure  them  to  the 
tabletop.  Cemented  down,  they  will  take 
quite  a  beating  without  coming  loose, 
and  rubber  cement  is  easily  removable, 
leaving  no  residue. 

The  easiest  mechanical  key  to  use  for 
speeds  up  to  40  wpm  by  good  operators 
is  the  semiautomatic  key,  or  bug,  shown 
in  Fig.  3.  (It  is  shown  with  a  simple, 
single  paddle,  although  more  complex 
paddles  are  also  used.)  The  bug  is  a  little 
like  a  cootie  key.  However,  a  bug  has  a 
straight  spring  at  the  end  of  its  first  hori- 
zontal-moving arm,  which  in  turn  is  at- 
tached to  a  second,  weight-carrying  rod, 
This  last  rod  can  be  made  to  vibrate  side 
to  side  in  pendulum  fashion.  Each  time 
its  U-shaped  dot-contact  spring  hits  the 
dot  contact  on  the  insulated  post  at  the 
left,  its  vibration  makes  dots  as  long  as 
the  paddle  is  held  to  the  right  by  the 
thumb-  A  quick  push  produces  one  dot;  a 
slightly  longer  push  produces  two 
dots — a  still  longer  push  produces  three 
dots,  and  so  on. 

Pushing  the  bug  paddle  to  the  left  with 
the  first  finger  connects  the  arm  to  a  con- 
tact on  a  second  insulated  post.  This 
sideways  finger  push  makes  dashes  es- 
sentially the  same  as  a  downward- 
pushed  knob  makes  dashes  with  the 
hand  key.  (When  bug  operators  want  to 
send  code  slowly  they  may  use  the  dash 
paddle  as  a  side-operated  hand  key.)  The 
bug  only  makes  dots  automatically — it's 
up  to  the  operator  to  make  the  dashes 
properly,  in  both  number  and  length-  The 
contacts  on  the  dot  and  the  dash  posts 
are  connected  together  electrically  and 


are  brought  out  at  the  insulated  output 
binding  post.  The  other  output  binding 
post  is  connected  to  the  metal  base.  As 
with  the  cootie  key,  bugs  should  be 
whacked  fairly  hard  to  make  sure  that 
good  solid  dots  and  dash  contacts  are 
made. 

Bug  adjustments  are  more  complex 
than  those  of  hand  and  cootie  keys: 

*L  Whenever  the  paddle  is  released, 
the  arm-stop  screw  at  mid-right  must  be 
set  to  just  stop  the  swing  of  the  vibrating 
aim  against  the  damper  mounted  at  the 
far  back  edge  of  the  bug.  With  the  damp- 
ing position  fixed,  the  locknut  on  the 
arm-stop  screw  is  tightened  so  the 
adjustment  cannot  change* 

•2,  Adjust  the  dash  paddle  swing  at 
front  left  for  a  spacing  of  1/16  to  3/32  of 
an  inch  and  tighten  the  locknut. 

•3.  The  dot-arm  stop  screw  at  mid-left 
is  set  to  about  1/16-inch  spacing  and  its 
locknut  is  tightened. 

•4,  The  mid-left  dot-arm  spiral  spring 
is  tightened  or  loosened  to  a  comfortable 
paddle  feel. 

•5*  Move  the  weight  (or  weights)  on 
the  vibrating  arm  to  the  far  end  of  the 
arm  and  tighten.  This  produces  the  slow- 
est pendulum  movement  and  therefore 
the  lowest  speed  dots. 

•6.  Connect  the  bug  across  an  analog 
ohmmeter.  Push  your  thumb  solidly 
against    the    paddle    and    watch    the 


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CIRCLE  245  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  47 


ohmmeier  indicator  needle.  Adjust  the 
U-shaped  spring's  dot  contacts  until  the 
needle  vibrates  at  mid-seaIeT  indicating 
ihe  dot  and  space  limes  are  equal.  Theo- 
retically, this  is  the  correct  setting,  but 
slightly  longer  dots  than  spaces  are 
easier  for  distant  stations  to  read,  There- 
fore, adjust  the  dot  contact  so  the  meter 
needle  vibrates  at  a  point  a  little  to  the 
right  of  vertical  or  mid-scale.  (When 
properly  adjusted,  the  bug  should  make 
about  10  good  sounding  dots  before  it 
goes  into  a  solid  contact.)  The  dot  con- 
tact can  also  be  set  by  watching  a  scope 
while  the  transmitter  is  keyed  into  a 
dummy  load.  I 

With  bugs,  the  tendency  is  to  set  the 
dots  at  too  rapid  a  rate.  Listen  to  your 
fastest  comfortable  hand-key  dot  speed, 
and  adjust  the  buy  dots  m  just  ;i  little 
faster  than  that.  When  you  have  per- 
fected your  bug  sending  at  about  18 
wpm  (when  you  can  send  out  of  a  book 
for  one  minute  at  18  wpm  without  mak- 
ing a  single  mistake)*  then  you  can  in- 
crease the  dot  speed  for  faster  sending. 
Practice  operating  a  bug  using  the  same 
didahdidah  suggestions  made  above  for 
the  hand  key. 

Remember  a  good  old  Code  Sending 
Law:  **It  is  unlikely  that  you  will  send 
well  at  speeds  faster  than  you  can  re- 
ceive well/*  Don't  try  to  impress  other 
operators  by  using  high-speed  dots — 
you  can't  kid  them  for  long  about  your 
CW  ability.  On  the  other  hand,  if  you 
can  obviously  receive  and  send  faster 
than  the  other  operator,  slow  down  to  a 
speed  he  or  she  can  handle  or  you' 11  be 
wasting  your  time  sending  information 
not  being  copied.  Remember,  many 
slower  operators  can  produce  interesting, 
worthwhile  QSOs. 

A  good  operator  can  set  his  bug  dots 
for  about  30  wpm  and  never  change 
them.  If  the  receiving  operator  can  only 
receive  18  wpm,  the  bug  operator  can 
put  greater  space  between  letters  and 
words  so  that  the  average  speed  is  only 
18  wpm.  This  provides  good  practice  for 
the  other  operator  to  copy  more  rapidly 
made  letters.  If  the  sending  operator 
never  has  to  change  the  speed,  more 
error- free  sending  is  possible. 

Bugs  may  generate  dots  automatically, 
but  it  is  still  up  to  the  operator  to  make 
the  dashes  three  times  the  length  of  the 
dots.  A  newer  post-WWII  development 
is  the  fully  automatic  electronic  keyer. 
Through  the  operation  of  its  internal 
46  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


electronic  circuits,  when  the  thumb  is 
pushed  against  the  bug- 1  ike  paddle,  a 
continuous  siring  of  perfect  dots  is  pro- 
duced. Pushing  the  first  finger  against 
the  paddle  makes  a  continuous  string  of 
perfectly  made  dashes  exactly  three 
times  the  length  of  the  dots. 

Although  dots  and  dashes  can  be  made 
more  perfectly  with  keyers,  inter-Ictter 
and  inter-word  spaeings  are  still  impor- 
tant for  readability.  Using  a  dot  time  as 
the  unit  of  measurement,  inter- letter 
spacing  should  be  three  units  long,  inter- 
word spacing  five  units  long,  and  inter- 
sentence  spacing  seven  units.  There  is 
still  a  challenge  to  send  good  Morse 
code  even  with  keyers. 

If  you  have  a  keyer  and  would  like  to 
try  operating  it  as  a  sideswiper,  many 
keyer  paddle  assemblies  can  be  clip-lead 
connected  so  that  they  can  make  a  hand- 
key  type  contact  when  pushed  either  to 
right  or  left.  The  paddle  can  then  be 
plugged  into  the  hand-key  jack  and  used 
as  a  cootie  key  (if  your  keyer  is  built  into 
your  transmitter,  or  is  a  self-contained 
operating  unit,  this  will  probably  not  be 
possible). 

During  a  QSO,  if  you  have  to  stop  to 
think  while  sending,  try  to  do  it  between 
words — don't  do  it  between  dots  and 
dashes  in  letters. 

Never  break  up  a  letter  by  leaving  ex- 
cessive space  between  dots  and  dashes 
in  it  somewhere.  If  you  happen  to  do 
this,  make  the  error  sign  (eight  dots)  and 
go  back  and  resend  the  whole  word  in 
which  you  made  the  error  Try  to  make 
the  dots/dashes  of  all  letters  together  to 
form  one  tied-togethcr  sound*  leaving  a 
noticeably  longer  space  between  one  let- 
ter and  the  next.  Similarly,  each  word 
should  be  an  unbroken  unit  of  sound- 

Use  abbreviations  sparingly — rarely 
will  they  save  much  time.  More  likely, 
the  confusion  developed  by  your  not 
sending  complete  words  will  puzzle  the 
other  operator  When  a  letter  in  a  word  is 
interfered  with  by  static,  it  is  far  easier  to 
guess  what  the  missed  letter  of  a 
spelled-out  word  might  be. 

To  make  perfect  dots,  dashes,  letters 
and  spaces  there  is  the  computer  key- 
board program.  When  you  type  "CQ 
CQ"  you  transmit  a  perfect  "CQ  CQ" 
with  perfect  inter-tetter  spacing  of  three 
dots,  and  when  the  space  bar  is  struck 
you  get  a  perfect  five-dot  spacing  if  you 
are  typing  properly.  To  become  a  good 
keyboard  operator  you  should  probably 


attend  a  secretarial  school  to  learn  touch 
typing  so  that  you  can  keep  ahead  of  the 
speed  you  choose  to  send  in  real  lime  on 
the  air.  If  you  can't  type  properly,  if  you 
have  to  hunt  and  peck,  you  will  leave 
many  spaces  in  words  where  spaces 
don't  belong.  High  speed  Morse  code  in 
which  inter-letter  and  inier-word  spacing 
is  incorrect,  or  words  are  misspelled,  is 
very  discouraging  to  good  receiving  op- 
erators. Keyboards  are  great — if  you 
know  how  to  use  them  properly,  but  they 
don* i  provide  much  challenge. 

Because  keyboards  do  provide  perfect 
sending  of  plain  language  material  typed 
into  their  memories  or  buffers,  they  are 
used  to  provide  perfect  code  speed  prac- 
tice to  over  100  wpm!  Without  a  source 
of  perfect  high  speed  transmissions  there 
was  no  such  practice  available,  but  to- 
day, high  speed  copying  ability  can  be 
checked  easily  by  having  an  amateur  lis- 
ten for  a  few  minutes  to  a  high-speed 
plain-language  CW  transmission,  and 
then  summarize  what  was  transmitted. 
High  speeds  around  100  wpm  are  loo 
fast  for  ordinary  people  to  copy  onto  pa- 
per. For  high-speed  communicating,  CW 
keyboards  only  substitute  the  Morse 
code  for  the  Baudot  code  of 
radioteletypc,  AMTOR,  or  the  ASCII 
code,  but  the  AFSK  used  with  RTTY. 
etc,  is  considerably  superior  to  elec- 
tronic CW  signaling  if  there  is  external 
noise  present, 

With  the  proper  software  program  and 
electronic  equipment  coupled  to  a  com- 
puter it  is  possible  to  display  received 
Morse  code  words  and  sentences  on  a 
monitor  screen  (such  programs  will 
copy  Morse  code  poorly  if  it  is  not  sent 
perfectly). 

The  old-time  American  Morse  code 
that  used  to  be  heard  on  the  ham  bands  at 
times  used  different  spacings  in  some  of 
its  characters  and  different  length  dashes. 
These  could  be  made  with  hand  keys,  bugs 
and  sideswipers,  but  not  by  keyers  or  by 
keyboards  using  the  usual  computer  CW 
software.  Too  had.  It  has  caused  the  de- 
mise of  that  early-day,  historical  telegraph 
code. 

If  you  like  challenges,  see  if  you  can 
learn  to  send  Morse  code  well  with  all 
three  non-electronic  keys!  Let's  all  help 
keep  ham  radio's  original  means  of  com- 
municating on  the  air — and  try1  to  interest 
others  in  participating  more  in  the  fun  of 
good  radio  code  operating.  See  you  on 
Hand-Key  Night  this  December  3 1st! 


Never  sry  die 

Continued  from  page  39 

confiscate  property.  (4)  The  "war  on  drugs" 
has  been  a  very  expensive  war  and  ihe  gov- 
ernment has  lost  it.  This  has  been  an  enor- 
mous government  fiasco.  Get  ihe  govern- 
ment out  of  this  mess  and  lei  ihe  capitalist 
marketplace  take  over  (5)  Get  the  govern- 
ment out  of  supporting  prices,  Let  the  market 
control  prices  and  stop  subsidies  for  tobacco, 
farmers,  sugar,  power,  and  so  on,  (6)  The 
most  expensive  war  in  the  history  of  our 
country  has  been  the  "war  on  poverty."  The 
government  both  state  and  federal,  should 
get  completely  out  of  this  failed  social  engi- 
neering project  and  let  the  market  handle  it 
A  number  of  people  in  government  seem  not 
to  have  noticed  that  socialism  has  failed  in 
every  country  where  it  has  been  tried.  They 
should  be  forced  to  visit  some  countries 
where  it  has  been  implemented,  such  as  Rus- 
sia, Yugoslavia,  Sweden,  China,  Sudan,  etc.  I 
have.  (7)  Socialism  has  failed  us  in  our 
school  system.  The  law  forcing  kids  to  go  to 
school  is  tantamount  to  slavery.  With  gov- 
ernment-run schools  costing  two  and  three 
times  as  much  to  run  as  private  schools,  it  is 
time  for  the  government  to  get  out  of  mess- 
ing up  the  education  business  and  let  com- 
petitive for-profit  forces  provide  this  service. 
Our  country  had  a  much  higher  literacy  rate 
before  public  schools  were  forced  on  us.  (8) 
It  is  federal  and  state  regulations  which  have 
made  such  an  incredible  mess  of  our  so- 
called  health  care  system,  making  it  one  of 
the  most  expensive  in  the  world,  yet  provid- 
ing us  with  third- world  grade  health  care. 
Get  the  government  out  of  this  social  engi- 
neering and  let  the  market  control  our  medi- 
cal industry.  (9)  With  lobbyists  in  every  state 
capital  and  Washington,  I  would  like  to 
see  an  enforced  law  prohibiting  any  repre- 
sentative of  the  people  from  publicly  dis- 
cussing or  voting  on  any  matter  in  which 
they  have  a  pecuniary  (conflict)  interest. 
Thus,  if  they  accept  money  or  favors  from 
any  person  or  group,  they  would  be  prohib- 
ited from  being  a  paid  agent  of  that  person  or 
group  toward  initialing  or  changing  the  laws 
possibly  affecting  that  person  or  group.  (10) 
Illegal  immigration  is  against  the  law.  Either 
change  the  laws  or  enforce  them.  Until 
the  government  social  engineering  projects 
providing  free  food,  housing,  money,  educa- 
tion, and  health  care  for  illegal  immigrants 
are  ended  our  country  will  continue  to  be  a 
powerful  magnet  for  illegal  immigrants,  with 
the  rest  of  us  paying  the  bill  or  being  put  in 
prison  for  non-payment  of  ever-escalating 
taxes.  (11)  There's  more*  like  our  expensive 
postal  monopoly,  but  that  will  give  you  an 
idea  of  the  platform  I  would  be  delighted  to 
support  with  my  money,  just  as  E  believed  I 
was  supporting  these  concepts  when  I  put 
my  life  on  the  line  in  WWII, 

Scientific  Evidence 

Do  you  personally  have  to  see  something 
to  believe  it?  Supposing  the  same  event  is 
reported  by  a  number  of  people  who  have 


had  no  way  to  gel  together  to  concoct  the 
story?  Scientists  have  a  problem  believing  in 
anything  they  can't  reproduce  on  demand 
with  100%  reliability,  yet  there  is  a  wide  va- 
riety of  things  going  on  which  don't  fit  in 
with  those  restrictions.  And,  of  course,  if  we 
get  into  religion  or  politics,  we  run  into 
many  areas  of  strongly-held  beliefs  that  have 
no  scientific  support. 

While  Fve  always  had  an  interest  in  the 
occult,  UFOs,  and  other  anomalies,  Fve 
been  annoyed  by  the  closed-mindedncss  of 
many  people  who  reject  the  experiences  of 
others.  When  something  unusual  happens, 
my  instinct  is  to  investigate  it  and  try  to  un- 
derstand what's  going  on,  not  to  make  every 
effort  to  reject  or  ignore  it. 

Scientists  tend  to  sweep  the  unexplainable 
under  the  rug  as  "anomalies"  For  them  that* s 
enough  of  an  explanation,  and  never  mind  try- 
ing to  understand  the  anomaly  or  reproduce  it. 
Doctors  have  the  same  mind-set,  sweeping 
aside  sudden  cures  for  fatal  illnesses  as  "spon- 
taneous" cures.  Thus,  instead  of  trying  to  find 
out  what  hi  the  heck  brought  about  the  "sponta- 
neous" cure  so  it  could  be  used  to  help  others, 
they  close  their  mental  doors. 

For  thousands  of  years  people  have  been 
reporting  near-death  experiences  <NDEs). 
There's  a  magnificent  book  by  Dr.  Crookall, 
The  Supreme  Adventure  (1961),  which  ex- 
amines hundreds  of  NDE  reports  and  shows 
how  remarkably  consistent  ihey  are.  He  then 
takes  the  next  step  and  examines  hundreds  of 
reports  from  the  "next  world"  as  received 
through  mediums.  These,  too,  are  consistent 
with  the  NDE  reports.  It's  almost  enough  to 
make  a  person  think. 

Fve  read  three  recent  books  you  might  want 
to  look  for.  There's  Dannion  BrinkJey's  Saved 
By  The  Light  (1995;  204p),  where  he  was 
struck  by  Lightning  and  had  quite  an  NDE  If  s 
worth  the  $6.  Unlike  most  other  visitors  to 
"heaven  "  Dannion  claims  to  have  been  given 
some  glimpses  into  the  future.  If  you've  been 
keeping  up  with  the  latest  in  technology  you'll 
find  his  piece  on  the  coming  development  of 
DNA-type  computer  systems  most  prescient 
for  a  1975  NDE  experience. 

Then  there's  Mally  Cox-Chapman's  The 
Case  For  Heaven  (Putnam  1995;  203p;  $30), 
She  goes  into  detail  about  her  own  experi- 
ence, and  then  tells  the  stories  of  dozens  of 
more  people  she's  interviewed  who've  had 
similar  experiences.  Having  gradually  be- 
come an  old  man,  and  thus  perhaps  a  little 
mom  concerned  with  death,  these  "light" 
books  are  of  increasing  interest  to  me. 

There's  Betty  Eadie's  Embraced  By  The 
Light  (1994;  $6;  145p).  You  should  be  able 
to  whip  through  it  in  less  than  an  hour.  She 
puts  more  of  a  religious  interpretation  on 
heaven  than  most  others  who've  been 
through  the  experience,  but  her  story  is  quite 
similar  to  all  the  others  in  most  respects. 

Another  NDE  resource  is  Cherie 
Sutherland's  Reborn  in  The  Ught  (1995;  $6; 
303p).  Like  the  others,  she  reports  on  a  num- 
ber of  people  she's  interviewed,  Their  stories 
are  remarkably  similar.  There  is  the  pattern 

after  the  NDE  of  no  longer  fearing  death,  but 

Continued  on  page  SI 


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Join  the  North  Pole  Network 

Smiles  are  virtually  guaranteed  when  hospitalized  kids  talk  with  St,  Nick. 


April  Moell  WA60PS  and 

Joe  Moell  KOOV 

P.O.  Box  2508 

Fullerton  CA  92837 


c  discovered  ihe  joys  of  ham 
radio  Santa  visits  20  years 
ago  when  April  was  a  depart- 
ment head  at  a  large  hospital.  One  De- 
cember day,  she  heard  that  a  group  from 
a  prominent  Los  Angeles  area  ham  club 
would  be  coming  that  evening  to  let 
the  Pediatric  unii  children  talk  u>  Santa. 
She  phoned  ihe  club's  contact  person 
and  volunteered  to  serve  as  a  hospital 
liaison. 

Only  one  ham  from  that  club  (Jack 
Lemasler  WB6ECB)  showed  up.  Rather 
than  disappoint  the  kids,  the  three  of  us 
put  Santa  on  the  air  That  hooked  us; 
we've  done  it  every  year  since.  We  have 
lots  of  help  from  the  hospitals  and  from 
members  of  the  Hospital  Disaster  Sup- 
port Communications  System  (HDSCS), 
an  Amateur  Radio  limergeney  Service 
unit  here  in  Orange  County.  Even 
though  Jack  has  moved  out  of  the  area, 
he  occasionally  comes  back  just  for  this 
activity. 


Photo  4.  "Santa  knows  me/1  This  moment 
of  surprise  is  the  best  part  of  every  QSO  With 
St.  Nick.  April  Moell  WA60PS  hohls  the 
mike. 


Personalize  it 

Everyone  loves  to  be  called  by  name. 
What  could  be  a  greater  thrill  to  a 
youngster  at  Christmas  time  than  to  have 
Santa  himself  recognize  you?  That's  ex- 
acdy  what  happens  when  HDSCS  visits 
Children's  Hospital  in  December  i  Photo 
A).  After  the  roving  operator  is  intro- 
duced to  a  patient,  the  radio  call  is  made: 
"Calling  the  North  Pole!  This  is 
WA60PS  in  Orange  County,  California. 
SaniaT  were  in  room  217  of  Children's 
Hospital  by  Bed  2.  Do  you  know  the 
little  girl  here?" 


personal  information.  As  Santa  next  gave  a 
similar  hello  to  patient  #3.  patient  #1 
bounced  up  and  down  in  his  bed  and 
shouted  to  patient  #4,  "Thais  the  Man! 
Thafs  the  REAL  one!"  He  could  hardly 
wait  for  his  own  turn. 

Of  course,  information  gathering  muM 
be  done  inconspicuously  by  the  staff.  Usu- 
ally there  is  useful  data  in  the  medical 
chart  and  their  own  notes.  Santa  can  make 
use  of  the  child's  name,  age,  nickname, 
grade  in  school,  family  members,  pets,  a 
favorite  toy  or  food,  special  interests,  etc. 
Only  a  few  of  these  items  arc  necessary  for 
any  particular  child. 


"Patient  #1  bounced  up  and  down  in  his  bed  and  shouted, 
'That's  the  Man!  Thafs  the  REAL  one!'" 


For  a  few  seconds,  her  receiver  emits 
the  sound  of  reindeer,  sleigh  bells,  the 
cold  north  wind  and  then,  "Ho,  Ho,  Ho! 
Mercy  Christmas,  Jennifer!  How  is 
Chips,  your  new  little  puppy?" 

Jennifer  is  an  instant  believer.  Santa 
has  established  his  credentials  in  a  big 
way,  thanks  to  earlier  sleuthing  by  hos- 
pital elves.  Over  the  past  week  the 
nurses  and  therapists  quietly  collected 
information  about  every  patient  to  he 
visited.  It  doesn't  take  a  lot — just 
enough  to  assure  the  younester  that 
Santa  is  for  reaL 

Even  the  most  skeptical  kids  arc 
hooked  by  a  well -prepared  Santa,  In 
one  four-bed  room,  patient  #1,  an  eight- 
year-old  boy,  feigned  great  disinterest  as 
we  came  in,  so  we  talked  first  to  the  oth- 
ers, He  perked  up  noticeably  as  Santa 
greeted  patient  #2  with  his  name  and  some 


If  it  would  be  helpful  to  have  words  of 
encouragement  from  Santa  and  Mrs,  Ctaus 
such  as,  "Work  hard  in  your  physical 
therapy,"  let  Santa  know  in  advance.  Of 
course,  Santa  should  never  promise  to 
bring  specific  gifts,  but  if  it  is  known  that  a 
certain  item  is  planned  for  a  child,  it  might 
be  appropriate  for  Santa  to  comment  that 
'The  elves  are  working  on  it  in  the  work- 
shop." Elves  should  be  sure  to  let  Santa 
know  of  any  sensitive  matters.  For  in- 
stance, you  don't  warn  him  to  mention 
Dad  when  a  Dad  doesn't  exist 

Most  of  our  elf  work  is  done  before  ihe 
hams  arrive,  but  it's  also  sjikhJ  for  Santa  in 
have  last-minute  intelligence  to  fill  in  the 
gaps.  A  "spy  elF  goes  along  with  our  ham 
entourage  from  room  to  room.  She  quietly 
observes  what  the  kids  are  wearing,  what 
decorations  are  in  the  room,  \s  hat  they  are 
doing,   and   what   family   members   are 


50  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1 996 


present.  Then  she  goes  outside  the  room 
and  surreptitiously  clues  another  elf  at 
Santa's  communications  center,,  who 
relays  the  information  to  Santa  (Photo  B), 
The  staff  at  Children fs  Hospital  loves 
elf  work  and  looks  forward  to  the  hams' 
coming.  Sometimes  they  even  sneak  in  a 
little  '"behavior  modification."  When 
Santa  greeted  one  little  boy  by  name  and 
asked  if  he  was  still  sucking  his  thumb, 
the  thumb  shot  out  of  his  mouth  and 
stayed  out  for  the  remainder  of  the  visit. 

Gifts  for  the  kids 

We  have  heard  of  groups  that  give  out 
candy  canes  after  each  Santa  QSO,  but 
they  risk  protests  from  the  nursing  staff. 
Sweets  may  violate  dietary  restrict  ions 
and  can  be  an  infection  hazard  for  pa- 
tients in  isolation.  Small  toys  or  stuffed 
animals  are  better.  Of  course  for  infants 
and  toddlers  these  items  must  be  "kid- 
proof,"  with  no  parts  thai  can  be  pulled 
off  and  ingested. 

For  the  past  12  years,  we  have  given 
out  two- inch  round  buttons  that  read,  "I 
talked  to  Santa  on  Amateur  Radio."  Ev- 
eryone loves  them,  including  parents 
and  nurses,  who  frequently  ask  if  they 
can  have  one,  too.  (Sure,  if  they  talk  to 
Santa!) 

These  buttons  are  great  publicity  for 
our  hobby.  The  patient  and  his  entire 
family  are  reminded  that  amateur  radio 
is  the  service  that  brought  them  St.  Nick. 
In  the  early  years,  we  heard  ourselves  re- 
ferred to  as  "the  CB  group  that  talks  to 
Santa  Claus,"  despite  our  educational  ef- 
forts, Since  we  started  passing  out  the 
buttons,  the  confusion  has  stopped  and 
ihey  have  become  collectors'  items. 

Such  buttons  are  easy  to  obtain  and 
are  popular  with  youth  sports  leagues. 
Your  club  may  have  a  member  with  a 
button-making  machine;  the  cost  of  ma- 
terials is  not  high.  Another  alternative 
would  be  an  adhesive  sticker,  about  the 
size  of  a  name  lag,  with  the  same  words. 

A  new  name 

Old-timers  say  that  this  activity  has 
been  going  on  in  Southern  California  for 
40  years,  traditionally  called  "Operation 
Santa  Claus."  Tradition  is  nice,  but  we 
stopped  using  that  name  long  ago.  It  was 
causing  confusion  to  hams  and  non- 
hams  alike.  At  least  one  of  the  military 
services  and  several  other  organizations 
here  have  used  this  same  name  for  their 


Photo  B.  In  a  secret  ttK-ation  within  the  hospital ,  Santa  s  helpers  handle  the  North  Pale  Unking 
and  elf  work.  Left  to  right  are  Tom  Gaccione  WB2LRH*  an  unnamed  hospital  volunteer, 
*  Woody"  Woodward  KJ6LE  and  Ken  Simpson  N6IDE. 


holiday  charity  efforts  for  many  years. 
When  we  would  mention  our  "Operation 
Santa  Glaus''  activities,  listeners  im- 
mediately assumed  we  went  around 
collecting  toys. 

Today  we  use  a  much  more  descriptive 
title:  The  "North  Pole  Network. "  In  news 
releases,  we  call  it  the  "North  Pole  Ama- 
teur Radio  Network"  for  further  clarity. 
If  you  like  this  name,  we  encourage  your 
group  to  adopt  it. 

We  nixed  the  boob  tube 

After  our  first  year  of  Santa  hospital 
QSOs,  we  got  the  bright  idea  of  using 
430  MHz  ham  television  (ATV)  to  let 
the  kids  see  Santa  as  they  talked  to  him. 
The  next  year  Santa  transmitted  on  that 
hand  and  we  lugged  a  cart  with  a  TV  set, 
ATV  receiver  and  yagi  antenna  from 
room  to  room.  Multtpath  propagation  of 
signals  through  the  hospital  corridors  re- 
sulted in  noisy  ^hnsiing  video.  The  kids 
weren't  impressed. 

For  the  next  several  years,  Santa  was 
visible  in  each  kid*s  room  via  the  hospi- 
tals* closed-circuit  TV  systems.  Video  and 
audio  quality  was  much  better,  but  Santa 
had  to  be  on  camera  for  almost  three  hours 
as  the  radio  operators  went  room  to  room. 
Besides  being  hard  on  Santa,  who  had  to 
"mug"  for  the  camera  in  between  QSOs,  it 
meant  we  could  not  covertly  give  Sania 
last-minute  elf  information,  and  we  found 
ourselves  putting  on  a  full-blown  TV 
production  each  year 

Nowadays,  we  use  radio  only.  Santa 
likes  it  heller,  because  he  can  concen- 
trate on  talking  to  the  patients  and  not 
worry  about  his  appearance.  The  kids 
are  just  as  happy,  because  their  imagina- 
tions can  create  a  better  Santa  image 
than  we  could  ever  provide. 


To  ensure  good  radio  coverage  of  each 
room,  we  put  Santa  in  an  out-of-the-way 
office  within  the  hospital.  The  link  is  on 
an  obscure  simplex  frequency,  rather 
than  a  repealer.  This  has  eliminated  in- 
advertent and  malicious  interference, 
which  could  ruin  the  event  and  be  an  em- 
barrassment  to  both  hams  and  hospital 
staff. 

We  have  discovered  that  223  and  440 
MH/  are  much  better  for  Santa  commu- 
nications than  2  meters,  for  two  reasons. 
First,  UHF  signals  propagate  much  bet- 
ter than  VHF  within  the  halls  and  floors 
of  hospitals.  Second,  computerized  hos- 
pital equipment  often  radiates  ^birdies" 
that  cause  loss  of  receiver  sensitivity  at 
144  MHz,  but  they  are  usually  not 
present  on  higher  bands, 

Include  all  ages 

Everyone  wants  to  be  nice  to  kids  at 
Christmas,  North  Pole  Network  is  just 
one  of  the  many  events  at  Children's 
Hospital  of  Orange  County  every  De- 
cember. There  are  carolers,  clowns,  fire- 
men, and  so  on.  But  who  brings  holiday 
joy  to  older  hospital  patients? 

Christmas  time  is  an  emotional  roller 
coaster  for  a  patient  with  a  physical  dis- 
ability. The  joy  of  the  season  can  be  off- 
set by  the  miseries  of  infirmity  and 
loneliness.  You  might  not  think  that  a 
talk  with  Santa  on  radio  would  mean  a 
lot  to  a  teenager,  a  middle-agcr,  or  a  se- 
nior citizen.  After  all,  the  patient  is  old 
enough  to  realize  that  Santa  isn't  really 
3,800  miles  to  the  north,  But  for  many, 
this  annual  visit  is  a  real  Uplift 

The  patient  is  cheered  by  the  friendli- 
ness and  by  the  fact  that  a  group  of  strang- 
ers thought  enough  of  him  or  her  to  put  on 
a  special  program.  All  the  wonderful 
73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996  51 


memories  of  Christmases  past  are  re- 
kindled. As  one  elderly  gentleman  ex- 
claimed into  the  miket  "Santy,  it's  good  to 
talk  to  you  again.  You  and  I  go  'way 

back!" 

Getting  in  the  door 

If  someone  in  your  club  is  or  knows  an 
employee  of  your  local  hospital,  have  that 
person  find  out  whom  to  contact  to  arrange 
for  a  North  Pole  Network  visit.  Al  large 
children's  hospitals,  ask  for  Recreation 
Therapy  or  Child  Development  staff  to 
assist 


only  the  sickest  will  remain  hospitalized. 

Consider  visaing  both  adults  and  children 
at  these  locations. 

Hospitals  with  rehabilitation  centers 
usually  have  Recreation  Therapists  who 
arrange  special  activities  For  patients.  If 
there  is  no  Recreational  Therapy  depart- 
ment, contact  the  Occupational  Therapy 
department.  Convalescent  or  skilled  nurs- 
ing facilities  have  an  Activities  Director  or 
Recreation  Leader.  These  people  are  al- 
ways looking  for  activities  for  their 
patients  and  if  you  present  North  Pole  Net- 
work appropriately,  they  will  be  delighted 
to  plan  for  your  coming. 


One  elderly  gentleman  exclaimed,  'Santy,  it's  good  to  talk  to 

you  again.  You  and  I  go  'way  hack!"' 


■•*■ 


At  most  local  community  hospitals,  you 
will  have  the  best  results  by  starting  with 
the  public  relations  department.  These  em- 
ployees often  arrange  visits  from  local  vol- 
unteer groups  such  as  Christmas  carolers 
and  firefighters.  Keep  in  mind  thai  many 
facilities  have  only  a  few  children  in  the 
Pediatrics  unit.  As  Christmas  approaches, 
most  will  be  sent  home  if  possible  and 


Most  hospital  staff  have  no  or  little  fa- 
miliarity with  amateur  radio.  It  is  impor- 
tant to  meet  with  staff  beforehand  to 
acquaint  them  with  what  you  want  to  do. 
Show  them  this  article  and  tell  them  about 
your  previous  North  Pole  Network  experi- 
ences, if  any.  Demonstrate  the  equipment 
you  plan  to  bring  into  the  hospital. 

Be  prepared  for  some  hesitancy.  Most 


hospitals  are  concerned  about  interfer- 
ence with  their  medical  equipment.  As- 
sure them  thai  ham  hand-helds  are  not 
like  cell  phones  (usually  banned  in  hos- 
pitals). Experience  has  shown  that  the 
potential  for  interference  is  very  low. 
But  if  they  do  not  want  you  to  transmit 
from  rooms  with  respiratory  equipment 
or  specialized  monitors,  comply  with 
their  requests  without  argument.  Always 
use  the  lowest  transmit  power  possible. 
Use  a  speaker-mike  on  your  hand-held 
and  sterilize  it  with  alcohol  as  directed 
by  the  nurses  when  you  visit  patients  in 
isolation  rooms. 

As  North  Pole  Network  veterans,  we 
know  what  a  wonderful  feeling  this  pro- 
gram can  give  to  hams,  patients,  and  the 
hospital  staff.  We  hope  your  club  will 
join  the  fun  this  year. 

April  Moell  WA60PS  is  head  of  the 
Hospital  Disaster  Support  Communica- 
tions System  (http://members,aol.eoni/ 
emcom4hosp  on  the  Web),  Her  E-mail 
address  is  emcom4hosp@aoLcom,  Joe 
Moell  K0OV  is  73\  "Homing  In"  col- 
umnist. No,  he  doesn't  play  the  part  of 
Santa. 


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CIRCLE  321  ON  READER  SERVICE  CAflD 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


Crrr's  corner 


Number  S3  on  your  Feedback  card 


Joseph  J.  CarrK4IPV 
P.O.  Box  1099 
Falls  Church  VA  22041 
E-mail:  carrjj@aol.com 

One  of  the  nice  things  about 
ham  operators  is  that  they  have  a 
loi  of  technical  interests,  some  of 
which  are  related  to  ham  radio, 
and  others  which  aren't  so  related. 
V  ve  come  across  a  series  of  prod- 
ucts that  will  meet  both  classes: 
the  Speake  &  Co,  FGM-x  series 
of  magnetic  sensors.  These  sen- 
sors are  distributed  in  the  United 
States  by  Fat  Quarters  Software 
[24774  Shoshonee  Drive, 
Murrieta,  CA  92562;  909-698- 
7950  (voice)  and  909-698-7913 
(FAX)]. 

There  are  several  different  sen- 
iors in  the  series,  and  these  are 
designated  models  FGM-1, 
FGM-2  and  FGM-3,  Photo  A 
shows  Lhc  Speake  FGM-3  mag- 
netic field  sensor.  It  is  60  mm  long 
by  15  mm  diameter  (2.36*  x 
0.59,f).  One  of  the  other  sensors 
in  the  series  is  a  bit  smaller 

The  FGM-3*  which  1  have  a 
sample  of*  is  a  three-lead  device. 
A  set  of  three  wire  leads  pro- 
vides connections  to  make  the 
sensor  operational:  red  +5  VDC; 
black  0  volts  (ground);  white 
output  signal  (TTL  compatible). 

The  output  signal  is  a  fre- 
quency that  is  proportional  to  the 
applied  magnetic  field.  The  mag- 
netic detection  rating  of  the  de- 
vice is  ±0,5  Oersted  (±50  (iTesla), 
This  range  is  said  to  cover  the 
range  of  the  Earth's  magnetic 
field. 

Multiple  FGM-x  sensors  can  be 
used  to  provide  such  things  as 
compass  orientation,  three- 
dimensional  orientation  measure- 
ment systems,  and  three-dimen- 
sional ginihalled  devices  such  as 
virtual  reality  helmet  display 
devices.  It  can  also  be  used  to  pro- 
vide magnetometry  (including 
Earth's  field  magnetometry),  fer- 
rous metal  detectors,  wreck  find- 
ers (diving  enthusiasts  take 
note!),  conveyer  bell  sensors  or 
counters,  and  a  host  of  other  appli- 
cations where  a  small  change  in 
magnetic  field  is  the  important 
transduction  event. 


One  way  that  hams  can  use  the 
FGM-x  series  of  sensors  is  as  a 
magnetometer  used  to  correlate 
fluctuations  in  the  Earth's  mae- 
netic  field  to  propagation 
changes.  Some  hams  use  an  array 
of  instruments  to  study  radio 
propagation.  I've  seen  (or  heard 
of)  the  use  of  Gciger  counters,  15 
to  33  kHz  VLF  receivers,  I  IP  re- 
ceivers permanently  tuned  to  a 
station  like  WWV.  and  a  species 
of  home-brew  magnetometer 
called  the  "jam  jar  magnetom- 
eter/1 The  Spcake/Fat  Quarters 
FGM-x  series  of  sensors  can  be 
used  to  replace  the  "kjarn  jar."  It 
might  be  interesting  to  see  what 
can  be  learned  by  having  a  radia- 
tion detector,  VLF  radio  detector, 
WWV  receiver  and  FGM-x  mag- 
netometer collecting  data  in  par- 
allel. With  the  modem,  low-cost 
data  acquisition  capabilities  of 
computers,  it  should  be  easy  to 
collect  such  data  round-the-clock. 

Also,  Fve  noted  that  the 
8088-based  *  XT-class"  MS- 
DOS  computers,  which  don't  run 
Windows'1,  can  be  used  for  such 
monitoring  with  the  simple  ad- 
dition of  one  of  those  multi- 
channel A/D  converters  that 
operate  from  the  parallel  printer 
port  of  the  computer  Those  XT- 
class  computers  can  be  obtained 
in  a  price  range  from  free  to  about 
$50,  with  hard  drives  in  the  20 
mbyte  to  100  mbyte  range.  With 
such  a  low  cost  data  acquisition 
platform,  one  need  not  worry 
about  a  distant  lightning  hurst 
generating  a  line  transient  that 
snuffs  out  the  computer  If  it  does, 
then  so  what?  Buy  another  S50 
wonder  machine  and  go  again. 

The  FG M -series  device  output 
is  a  +5  volt  (TTL)  pulse  whose 
period  is  directly  proportional  to 
the  applied  magnetic  field 
strength.  This  relationship 
makes  the  frequency  of  the  out- 
put signal  directly  proportional  to 
the  magnetic  Field  strength.  The 
period  varies  typically  from  8-5 
US  to  25  fiS,  or  a  frequency  of  120 
kHz  to  50  kHz.  For  the  FGM-3 
the  linearity  is  about  5.5  percent 
over  the  ±0.5  Oersted  range. 


Speake  and  Fat  Quarters  litera- 
ture claims  that  these  sensors  are 
superior  to  Hall  effect  devices 
because  they  have  a  much  bet- 
ter temperature  coefficient. 

In  addition  to  the  FGM-3, 
there  are  also  the  FGM-1  and 
FGM-2  sensors  (which  should 
be  available  soon  in  the  L'SAk 
The  FGM- 1  is  a  smaller  version 
of  the  FGM-3,  with  a  range  of 
±0,7  Oersted  (±70  |iTesl;u,  It  is 
basically  the  three- terminal 
FGM-3  device,  but  in  smaller 
form  and  with  a  fourth  lead  wire 
lo  permit  feedback  for  linearity 
improvement  and  zeroing  of  the 
output  frequency  under  external 
control. 

The  FGM-2  is  an  orthogonal 
sensor  that  has  two  FGM-1  de- 
vices on  a  circular  platform  at 
right  angles  to  one  another.  This 
orthogonal  arrangement  permits 
easier  implementation  of  orien- 
tation measurement,  compass 
and  other  applications.  One  pos- 
sible application  that  intrigues 
me  is  as  an  antenna  orientation 
sensor.  Also,  it  occurs  to  me  that 
the  orthogonal  sensor  might  be 
used  to  cancel  out  the  effects  of 
local  magnetic  sources  other 
than  the  desired  one,  such  as  a 
guard  antenna  on  an  array  might 
do, 

The  price  of  the  FGM-3  is 
$36.50  as  of  this  writing.  There 
is  also  a  high  sensitivity,  limited 
range  device  called  the  FGM-3h 
for  $38,75.  Shipping  ind  han- 
dling is  S2  for  the  First  item,  and 
SI  each  for  additional  item  in 
the  same  package.  The  price  of 
the  FGM- 1  is  $36,50,  and  FGM- 
2  is  $54.75,  Keep  in  mind  that 
these  are  imported  sensors,  so 
the  vagaries  of  the  currency  ex- 
change rate  could  affect  the  ac- 
tual price.  If  you  order  now.  I 
suspect  that  the  prices  quoted  in 
their  Literature  (and  reproduced 
above)  are  valid,  but  if  you  wrait 
a  while,  until  they  have  to  re- 
stock, then  you  will  risk  an  in- 
crease in  price  as  the  dollar  and 
pound  sterling  move  relative  to 
each  other. 

Special  IC  devices  for  the 
FGM-3 

Speake  also  offers  a  series  of 
special  purpose  integrated  circuits 
that  interface  the  FGM-x  series  of 
sensors  to  other  things.  One  that 

73  Amateur 


Photo  A.  The  Speake  FGM-3 
magnetic  field  sensor 

Fve  had  some  experience  with 
is  the  SLC-006  device.  It  can  be 
used  with  a  DAC  to  produce  an 
analog  voltage  output,  as  well  as 
alone  if  you  want  an  eight-bit 
binary  digital  output. 

The  other  IC  devices  in- 
tended for  use  with  FGM-series 
sensors  are  the  SCL00I  mag- 
netic Field  nulling  system  and 
gauss  meter,  the  SCL007  high 
sensitivity  gradiometer  and 
magnetic  anomaly  detector,  and 
the  SCL002  vehicle  detector.  Fat 
Quarters  has  developed  a 
printed  circuit  board  for  the 
SCL-006  device  and  can  supply 
it  in  either  kit  form  or  built.  Give 
'em  a  try. 

High  school  science  teachers 
might  want  to  keep  the  FGM-x 
series  of  sensors  in  mind  for 
classroom  demonstrations,  and 
for  their  students*  science  fair 
projects. 

Note:  The  applications  litera- 
ture for  these  devices  is  avail- 
able from  Fat  Quarters  Software 
(see  address  earlier).  You  will 
find  that  the  circuits  use  the  Eu- 
ropean method  of  specifying 
components.  For  example,  a  4,7 
|iF  capacitor  is  listed  as  "4ji7^; 
a  0.47  nF  is  ^47";  a  4.7k  ohm 
resistor  as  "4k7";  and  so  forth. 
They  also  use  the  units 
nanofarads  (n¥)t  which  may  be 
unfamiliar  to  North  American 
readers.  One  nanofarad  is  10 ? 
microfarads,  so  1  nF  =  0.001  uF 
=  1.000  pF,  When  you  see  a 
"IN5"  capacitor  listed,  it  is  1.5 
n For 0.00 1 5  ^F. 

Write  to  Fat  Quarters  Soft- 
ware for  their  catalog  sheets 
and  tell  Erich  Keara  "Hi" 
from  me,  B 

Radio  Today  *  December  1996  53 


Homing  in 


Number  54  on  your  Feedback  card 


Joe  Moell  P.E.  KOOV 
PO  Box  2508 
Fullerton,  CA  92837 

Globetrotting  Foxhunters 

Enhancing  international  goodwill 
Is  one  of  the  main  reasons  ham  radio 
exists.  The  words  are  right  there  in  the 
Basis  and  Purpt*se  paragraph  of  the 
FCC  rules  governing  our  service. 
The  many  good  deeds  of  hams  in 
the  pusi  have  helped  protect  our 
bands  during  international  spectrum 
allocation  conferences. 

Most  hams  think  international 
goodwill  only  refers  to  DXing,  con- 
testing, and  emergency  relief  com- 
munications on  the  hands  below  30 
MHz.  But  you  don't  have  to  up- 
grade lo  General  Class  or  higher  to 
be  an  ambassador  for  ham  radio. 
Even  if  you're  still  studying  for  your 
license,  you  can  get  involved  in 
radiosports  and  compete  in  a 
worldwide  arena 

Regular  "Homing  In"  readers 
know  thai  radio-orienteering  is  a 
growing  sport  for  all  ages,  Al  interna- 
tional style  "foxhunts,"  a  number  of 
low-power  transmitters  arc  hidden  in 
a  large  wooded  area  Using  simple 
radio  direction  finding  (RDF)  equip- 
ment* along  with  a  map  and  compass, 
competitors  attempt  to  he  the  first  to 
visit  all  of  the  "fox"  transmitters  and 
get  to  the  finish  line. 

For  will  the  basics  of  radio- 
orienteering,  which  is  often  abbrevi- 
ated ARDE  read  "Homing  hi"  for 
December  1995  and  January  1996. 


Photo  A*  Fifteen-year-old  Steve 
Ening  KB7MFO  went  on  his  first 
foxhunt  in  Khabarovsk.  Though 
inexperienced,  he  was  speedy  and 
ended  up  being  the  second-best 
American    finisher.     (Photo    by 

WA7VTD4 


Radio  Direction  Finding 

Then:  you  will  leam  about  efforts  to 
told  intcmalional-rulcs  foxhunts  here 
in  the  LISA.  This  month,  Til  cover 
championship  foxhunting  worldwide 
and  tell  you  about  stateside  hams  who 
are  going  abroad  to  get  involved  in  it. 

Portland  pioneers 

Seven  years  ago,  a  group  from  Port- 
land made  ham  radio  history  by  be- 
ing the  first  from  our  country  to 
participate  in  a  multi-nation 
foxhunt  The  event  was  held  in 
Khabarovsk,  a  city  in  Asiatic  Rus- 
sia, under  the  auspices  of  the 
Friendship  Amateur  Radio  Society 
i  EARS  i.  A  part  of  the  International 
Sister  Cities  program.  FARS  has 
forged  a  strong  link  between  hams 
in  Portland,  Oregon;  Tokyo.  Japan; 
Victoria,  British  Columbia;  and 
Khabarovsk,  Everv  two  vean*  since, 
FARS  has  held  the  Friendship 
Radiospoit  Games,  an  international 
get-together  featuring  a  variety  of 
contests,  including  a  2  meter  foxhunt. 

The  most  recent  Games  were  held 
last  year  in  Khabarovsk.  Kevin 
Hunt  WA7VTD  was  one  of  USA's 
Team  Captains.  *"  ITus  was  the  best 
trip  ever,"  he  told  me.  "They  pulled 
out  all  the  stops.  The  games  took 
only  four  days  but  we  were  there 
for  two  weeks.  We  took  a  side  trip 
to  Vladivostok  on  the  Transylvania 
railroad,  went  fishing  on  islands  on 
the  Amur  river,  had  parties,  dined 
on  caviar,  fresh  fish  and  delectable 
home-grown  vegetables.  The  gov- 
ernment underwrote  a  large  portion 
of  the  costs  of  hosting  the  games* 
We  were  welcomed  by  the 
Vice-Governor  of  the  Territory." 

Others  from  the  Portland  area  who 
traveled  to  Russia  for  the  1995 
Games  were  Rene  Berblinger 
KX7Z,  Dick  Fredrickson 
WA0DIM.  Dan  Early  WA61RO, 
Steve  Ewing  KB7MFCX  Dale 
Mosby  N7PEX,  and  Mary  Jo 
Moshy  KB7NJR 

ARDF  is  a  regular  ham  radio  ac- 
tivity in  many  parts  of  Russia  and  is 
the  most  popular  use  of  the  2  meter 
band  there.  One  member  of  the  Rus- 
sian team  teaches  foxhunting  in  his 
country's  school*.  Therefore,  it  was 
no  surprise  that  the  foxhunt  course 
was  difficult  and  tlie  Russians  were 


Photo  B.  For  the  official  Region  If!  Championships  photo  (Queensland. 
Australia**  the  competitors  stood  behind  their  societies *  markers.  Al  left 
b  Kevin  Kelly  N6QAB  representing  the  USA.  (Photo  by  Susan  Kelly  J 


fierce  competitors.  Besides  the  Rus- 
sians, Kevin  and  his  team  were  up 
aaainsi  two  teams  of  Canadians,  who 

MS 

have  been  practicing  hard  u  >  improve 
their  foxhunting  skills  since  FRG-93 
in  Victoria. 

According  to  Canadian  team  mem- 
ber Perry  Creighton  VE7WWP. 
"The  exact  rules  forthe  Khabarovsk 
hunt  were  not  announced  until  the 
last  moment.  The  conipeiiiors  were 
trying  to  figure  them  out  as  they 
stood  on  the  starling  line."  As  it 
turned  out,  rules  were  quite  similar 
to  International  Amateur  Radio 
Union  (LARU)  standards.  The  mini- 
mum age  for  the  Old-Timer  cat- 
egory was  42  instead  of  40,  Instead 
of  a  distinctive  punch  at  each  fox. 
there  was  a  concealed  official  who 
would  mark  competitors"  cards  with 
a  secret  initial. 

VE7WWP continues.  Hie  foxes 
were  well  hidden,  The  orange  rmirk- 
ers  ( prisms)  were  supposed  to  be  vis- 
ible within  five  meters*  but  in  one 
spot  the>  had  the  fox  buried  under 
a  pile  of  leaves.  The  official  was 
watching  from  a  tree  a  ways  away 
recording  numbers.  Some  people 
spent  a  half  hour  looking  for  that 
particular  fox.  then  gave  up  and 
carried  on.  That  created  a  bit  of 
consternation, 

"I  went  right  up  to  one  strong  sig- 
nal location,  walked  around  it  for 
about  20  minutes  and  finally  got  dis- 
gusted." WA7VTD  told  me.  "1  ended 
up  going  overtime  and  getting  dis- 
qualified, On  the  other  hand. 
WA0D1M  was  cvnical  and  decided 

r 

that  it  simply  had  to  be  in  a  big  pile  of 
blackberry  bushes.  He  got  down  on 
his  hands  and  knees  and  suddenly 
he  saw  a  pair  of  eyes.  There  was  a 


Russian  soldier  in  camouflage  buried 
underthe big  pile  olhmsh  Dick  stuck 
his  card  in  there  and  the  guy  just 
smiled  and  marked  it" 

The  foxhunt  site  was  a  largje  sec- 
tion of  thick  forest  near  Camp 
Dubkii.  Total  course  length  was 
\  ery  long,  about  1 0  kilometers,  with 
five  fox  transmitters.  "Athletes 
found  it  necessary  to  DF  their  way 
back  lo  the  continuously-running  fin- 
ish-line fox,"  Kevin  says,  "because 
tree  density  on  the  course  rendered 
map  navigation  nearly  impossible." 

The  difficult  course  and  well- 
trained  opponents  resulted  in  a  bad 
day  for  the  red,  while  and  blue. 
Anatoly  Kozumv  stunned  everyone 
by  finding  all  of  his  foxes  and  cross- 
ing the  finish  line  in  50  minutes.  He 
narrowly  edged  out  second-place 
winner  Alexander  Turkin,  who  won 
eight  other  gold  medals  in  the  Games. 

One  shining  star  for  the  USA  was 
15-year-old  Steve  Ewing  KB7MFO 
(Photo  A).  "Jl  was  amazing!"  says 
WA7VTD.  "At  the  last  minute  1  ex- 
plained to  Sieve  how  to  use  the  Rus- 
sian RDF  gear,  He  had  never  done 
foxhunting  or  any  kind  o I  contesting, 
but  he  ended  up  the  second  best 
American  foxhunter  al  the  match." 

Both  Canadian  teams  did  belter 
than  the  USA  teams,  "We  are  very 
serious  about  foxhunting ,"  Pern-  says, 
"We  practice  each  week  in  Victoria.  1 
believe  we  proved  thai  we  can  run 
with  the  Russians  in  the  woods.  Our 
problem  was  not  equipment,  it  was 
legs.  None  of  us  were  under  42,  some 
of  us  are  hitting  60,  and  t>ne  of  our 
guys  is  75.T* 

WA7VTD  told  of  some  unex- 
pected events  during  the  hunt  'Two 
contestants  surprised  amorous 


54   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1 996 


couples  in  the  deep  woods.  Russian 
competitor  Oleg  Staviisky  stumbled 
across  the  day -old  corpse  of  a  homi- 
cide viaim.  The  militia  and  police  spa- 
ciously allowed  the  hunt  lo  be 
completed  prior  to  removing  the  body. 
A  suspect  was  arrested  die  next  day." 

Many  of  the  USA  participants  had 
been  to  Khabarovsk  for  the  first 
Games  in  1989.  "Although  prices  of 
goods  arc  more  realistic  and  goods 
themselves  are  in  greater  abundance, 
the  upheaval  of  the  past  five  years  has 
created  many  homeless  petJple  and  or- 
ganized crime  is  thriving"  Kevin  says. 
"Most  Russians  earn  less  than  $100 
per  month  and  government  support 
of  medical  care  and  education  is  be- 
ing dismembered,  Nonetheless,  our 
enterprising  ham  colleagues  continue 
to  find  ways  to  make  ends  meet.  The 
hospitality  shown  to  the  visitinghams 
was  nothing  short  of  spectacular: 

*"We  were  hosted  by  the  families 
for  one  week  and  then  put  up  for  one 
week  at  a  hotel "  VE7WWP  adds,  "it 
was  very  enjoyable.  I  wouldn't  have 
missed  it  for  the  world  and  I  have  ev- 
ery intention  of  going  back  on  another 


V1S1L 

A  championship  Down  Under 

The  route  to  a  world  championship 
gold  medal  in  radio-orienceering  is 
through  the  IARU,  Member  societies 
sponsor  national  championships  and 
they  collaborate  to  put  on  champion- 
ships at  the  Region  and  World  levels 
on  a  rotating  basis. 

There  arc  three  1ARU  Regions: 

I  is  Europe,  Africa  and  former 
USSR  countries;  II  is  North  and 
South  America;  ID  is  the  rest  of  Asia 
and  the  South  Pacific,  1ARU  Re- 
gion n  has  no  official  ARDF  activi- 
ties, sad  lo  say,  but  contestants  from 
our  continent  are  welcomed  as 
**fiiendship"  caiegoiy  competitors 
in  all  IARU  sponsored  radiosport-s 

events. 

Avid  transmitter  tracker  Kevin 
KeBy  N6QAB  of  Lusby,  Maryland, 
has  family  ties  to  Australia,  so  he 

planned  his  1996  vacation  there  to 
coincide  with  the  IARU  Region  HI 
championship  in  Townsvilie,  on  the 
northeast  coast  of  Queensland,  Kevin 
and  I  exchanged  E-mail  with  Region 

II  IARU  officials  and  obtained  au- 
thorization for  him  to  be  the  offi- 
cial representative  of  the  ARRL  (the 
USA's  IARU  member  society)  at  the 
championships  (Photo  B).  As  a  re- 
sult, Kevin  says,  "S  got  the  royal 
treatment" 


China  is  the  leading  ARDF  propo- 
nent in  Asia,  Thai  country  has  been 
active  in  the  sport  for  many  years, 
holds  many  internal  competitions  and 
has  excellent  radio-athletes.  Kevin 
says  Region  IH  Championships  Chair- 
man Wally  Waikins  VK4DO  learned 
about  ARDF  when  he  was  stationed 
in  China.  Since  (hen,  Wally  has  played 
an  important  role  in  bringing  it  to  Aus- 
tralia China  was  well  represented  ai 
Townsvilic,  as  well  as  Korea.  Japan, 
New  Zealand,  Australia,  Poland, 
Kazakhstan  (Photo  C)  and  Bulgaria 
Also  present  were  observers  from 
Thailand  and  Malaysia. 

The  Championships  lasted  for  four 
days.  The  first  day  featured  a  practice 
run  on  the  University  pounds  with 
just  two  foxes  (Rioto  D).  The  second 
day  was  the  2  meter  competition. 
Then  there  was  a  day  of  rest  and  cer- 
emony, including  a  reception  with  the 
mayor,  followed  on  day  four  by  the 
80  meter  competition 

Each  competitor  provided  his  or 
her  own  RDF  gear.  There  were  wkie 
variations  among  sets  from  different 
countries,  'The  Koreans  had  differ- 
ent colors  of  fluorescent  paint  on  their 
antenna  elements;*  Kevin  says.  "It 
looked  like  they  were  using  some 
exotic  archery  gear." 

Exact  sites  were  not  announced  in 
advjrKc/"Fbrthe2meterhunt  we  met 
in  a  parking  loC  N6QAB  reports. 
*T3uses  showed  up  and  we  had  to  get 
on  them.  Nobody  was  allowed  to 
drive.  The  bus  toe*  45  minutes  lo  gel 
to  the  start  point,  somewhere  near  Ml 
Louisa  They  had  it  all  set  up  with  a 
covered  awning  and  special  places  for 
the  gear  of  each  country.  Once  you 
left  the  start  you  could  not  come  back 
to  it,  period  You  put  all  the  stuff  that 
you  weren't  going  to  take  with  you  in 
aplastic  bag  and  gave  it  to  them.  They 
earned  all  of  it  to  the  finish  point. 

"You  didn't  have  to  find  the  foxes 
in  order"  Kevin  continues,  "I  came 
out  of  the  starting  corridor  and  there 
was  one  strong  signal  right  in  front. 
The  next  fox  was  on  the  same  bear- 
ing line,  so  I  figured  Vd  take  two  at 
once.  As  1  went  along,  it  became 
apparent  that  the  rest  of  them  would 
be  on  the  return  trip, 

"I  went  over  a  hill,  walked  a 
while,  scaled  another  hill,  and  fi- 
nally just  over  the  rise  1  saw  a 
couple  of  referees.  I  became  intent 
on  watching  them,  thinking  they 
were  watching  the  fox.  Bad  as- 
sumption! 1  walked  right  by  it  and 
spent  two  full  five-fox  cycles 


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Photo  C,  The  Kazakhstan  team  came  from  the  Higher  Radio  Engi- 
neering and  Radio  Sports  School.  At  left  is  VN7JR,  the  foxhunting 
teacher,  i  Photo  by  N6QAB.) 


looking  where  I  was  probably 
within  kicking  distance.  In  heavy 
brush,  that  red  flag  doesn't  mean 
squat  unless  you're  right  oci  top  of 
it. 

**Al  the  next  fox,  the  judges  were 
hiding,  but  I  saw  a  purple  bag  about 
a  hundred  vards  awav  from  me.  I 

—  - 

thought  That's  not  naturally  occur- 
ring," Sure  enough,  about  10  feet 
from  that  was  the  prism.  As  I  went 
to  it,  they  popped  up  from  a  crev- 
ice about  10  feet  from  me  and 
waved. 

**For  the  next  transmitter.  I  had 
to  go  cross-country,  away  from  the 
trails,  Alt  of  a  sudden  there  was  a 
little  shack  wilh  all  kinds  of  stuff 
around  it,  Some  guy  was  silting  out 
in  his  yard  looking  like  a  prospec- 
tor. 1  could  see  where  he  had  been 
doing  some  shooting.  But  there  was 
no  fox  there. 

'This  was  a  lot  longer  course 
than  any  other  foxhunt  I  had  been 
on,  even  though  I  was  taking  the 
right  route.  A  signal  would  be  re- 
ally strong  and  I  kept  thinking  I  was 


close  and  then  there  would  be  an- 
other Hill  to  go  oven  I  kept  saying 
to  myself,  'Hey,  I'm  in  the  Old- 
Timer  category/  and  I  was  Liking  it 
because  I  onlv  had  to  find  four  of 
the  five  transmitters. 

"1  was  being  very  careful  not  to 
go  over  the  two-hour  limit  and  dis- 
qualify, but  I  exerted  so  much  thai  I 
started  getting  cramps  in  my  legs. 
This  never  happened  before.  I  had 
redly  good  bearing  on  the  fourth 
fox,  1  think  it  was  on  top  of  this  re- 
ally big  hill,  but  I  had  only  20  min- 
utes left  so  1  gave  up  and  headed 
for  the  finish  line" 

As  Table  1  shows,  the  Chinese 
were  the  big  winners.  Even  though 
N6QAB  didn't  find  all  his  foxes, 
he  fared  better  than  some  contes- 
tants, "One  of  the  New  Zealand 
guys  broke  his  ankle  in  three 
places,"  Kevin  reported,  "He  was 
really  laid  out,  but  he  still  had  his 
sense  of  humor.  A  Japanese  hunter 
fell  and  hit  his  head.  He  came  run- 
ning through  the  finish  line  with  a 
bis  red  headband.  After  1  made 


some  comment  about  it,  he  took  it 
off  and  there  was  blood  all  over/* 

There  was  plenn  of  non-radio 
tun  at  the  Championships,  too.  Del- 
egates visited  the  Billabong  wild- 
life sanctuary,  mountain  hiked  and 
rode  scooters  on  islands  and 
beaches.  "Almost  every  competitor 
was  a  licensed  ham,"  Kevin  says. 
"A  lot  of  them  didn't  speak  English, 
but  English  was  the  official  lan- 
guage. The  headmaster  from 
Kazakhstan  spoke  excellent  En- 
glish, One  fellow  from  Poland 
spoke  Russian  and  interpreted  a  lot 
for  me/* 

Future  opportunities 

The  two  Kevins  and  all  the  oth- 
ers who  have  taken  part  in  multi- 
national radio-oricntcering 
competitions  know  that  these  events 
are  unmatched  for  enhancing  ham- 
to-ham  international  goodwill. 
There  are  plenty  ot  upcoming  op- 
portunities for  you  to  get  involved 
in  the  sport.  The  next  1ARU  World 
ARDF  Championships  are  sched- 
uled for  Bavaria,  Germany;  in  Sep- 
tember 1 997.  If  vou  are  interested 
in  attending  as  an  observer  or  par* 
ticipant  from  North  America,  con* 
tact  me  and  ill  try  to  help  get  your 
credentials. 

FARS-Tokyo  will  host  the  next 
Friendship  Games  in  1997.  The 
organ i /.crs  will  host  10  partici- 
pants from  USA  and  10  from 
Canada:  all  others  may  participate 
unofficially.  TARS  chapters  in 
USA  and  Canada  are  planning  a 
North  American  Open  Foxhunt  to 
select  members  of  the  respective 
teams  for  the  Tokvo  meet.  To  find 
out  more  about  this  and  other 
FARS  activities*  write  to  FARS, 
PO  Box  13344,  Portland  OR 


Photo  D*  The  Australians  built 
unique  dual-band  foxes  for  the 
Championships.  An  80  meter 
wire  antenna  is  shown  here.  For 
2  meters,  the  wires  are 
disconnected  and  four  horizon- 
tal whips  are  mounted  to  the 
insulator  atop  the  box.  f  Photo  by 
N6QAB.) 

97213.  FARS  may  also  be 
reached  via  packet  radio: 
KC7LRM@VV7KYCCRlJSA>IQAlvl 

Canadian  foxhunteis  shotild  contact 
FARS-Vicioria  via  Perry  Creighlon 
VE7WWR  4<)l  1  HoUyridge  Place, 
Victoria  BC  Canada  V8N  528.  or 
send  E-mail  to  I  ars@  besyrnpaucoxa. 
I  hope  your  dub  is  planning  its  own 
international-rules  foxhunts  to  pro- 
mote the  sport  mid  give  members  a 
chance  to  practice  und  learn  the  ski  IK 
Sec  the  two-part  "Homing  hT  series 
in  the  August  and  September  1996 
issues  for  details  on  how  to  put  on  such 
events.  Also  check  the  'Homing  In" 
weh  site  (http://members.aoLcom/ 
homingin/)  for  more  help,  plus  the 
l&est  news  of  upcoming .  \RDFe\  cnis 
and  links  to  ARDF  sites  in  Europe  and 
Asia.  Let  mc  know  about  meets  in 
your  iirea  well  in  advance,  so  I  can 
help  spread  the  word  Send  E-mail  to 
Homingin@anl. asm  or  postal  mail  to 
the  address  at  the  beginning  of 
this  article. 


Category 

T's 

Best  Time 

First  Place 

Second  Place 

Third  Place 

Team  Champs 

2m  Seniors 

5 

50:06 

China 

China 

China 

China 

2m  Juniors 

4 

49.31 

Korea 

Japan 

Korea 

Korea 

2m  Women 

4 

52:44 

China 

China 

Japan 

China 

2m  Old-Timers 

4 

69:03 

Bulgaria 

Japan 

Japan 

Japan 

80m  Seniors 

5 

40:22 

China 

China 

China 

China 

80m  Juniors 

4 

68:00 

Korea 

Korea 

Korea 

Korea 

80m  Women 

4 

48:18 

China 

China 

Japan 

China 

80m  Old-Timers 

4 

58:36 

Korea 

Japan 

Bulgaria 

Korea 

Table  I.  Medal  winners  at  th 
56  73  Amateur  Radio  Today 


e  1ARC  Region  HI  Foxhunting  Championships  in  Townsvitle*  Australia. 
•  December  1996 


Hhm  to  ham 


Number  57  on  your  Feedback  card 


Dave  Miller  NZ9E 
7462  La wier  Avenue 
NitestL  60714-3108 


It's  the  December  issue  already, 
and  probably  the  right  time  to  turn 
most  of  our  concentration  toward 
warm  indoor  activities,  at  least  here 
in  the  frozen  Northland! 

Net  nfte  adventures! 

From  William  Thim  NIQVQ: 
This  idea  may  not  be  totally  new,  but 
bears;  repeating  just  in  ease  some 
may  not  have  heard  of  it,.,  it  con- 
cerns some  operational  suggestions 
for  Emergency  Practice  Nets/ 

"When  the  net  control  station 
feels  that  his  or  her  net  members 
are  readv,  trv  not  starting  the  net  on 
time  and  see  what  happens!  You 
should  have  a  back-up  net  control 
station.  How  long  will  it  take  your 
backup  to  jump  in  and  assume  con- 
trol or  the  net?  On  a  different  occa- 
sion, prearrange  with  your  backup 
to  also  not  take  over  then  see  how 
long  it  takes  for  one  of  the  partici- 
pants to  assume  the  reins.  These 
'readiness'  tests  may  seem  a  bit 
deceitful  at  first,  but  they  are  good 
hallmarks  of  the  net's  ability  to*  run 
itself,"  as  it  well  might  have  to 
during  an  actual  emergency, 

"We  all  gel  used  to  having  things 
happen  in  a  comfortable,  familiar  wa\ . 
but  thafs  not  always  to  be  expected 
in  a  true  emergency  situation,  be- 
cause an  emergency — by  its  veiy 
definition — is  itself  unpredictable. 

'Here's  another  test:  Try  telling 
all  of  the  check-ins  that  your  emer- 
gency battery  power  is  failing,  to 


Your  Input  Welcome  Here 


please  recheck-in  again  live  min- 
utes from  now,  and  then  see  how 
many  actually  do.  During  actual 
emergencies,  you  may  not  have 
time  to  fully  explain  a  situation 
and  the  net  members  will  have 
to  comprehend  something  un- 
usual quickly,  and  follow  your 
suggestions  without  any  further 
guidance, 

"Still  another  good  lest  would 
be  to  tell  everyone  that  they've 
just  lost  their  normal  antenna 
setup  and  to  check  in  as  soon  as 
they  can  on  their  back-up  an- 
tenna— however  simple  that 
might  be  Perhaps  some  stations 
will  have  to  relay  for  others  who 
can't  be  heard  by  net  control;  how 
well  is  this  handled? 

"Finally,  and  this  test  applies  to 
VHF/UHF  repeater  emergency 
nets,  announce  that  the  repeater  will 
be  turned  off,  simulating  a  loss  of 
power  at  the  repeater  site.  Again. 
stations  will  have  to  be  ready  to  re- 
lay for  each  other  and  be  able  to 
copy  weak  and  noisy  signals  from 
around  the  normal  net  area,  prov- 
ing thai  in  actual  emergencies  copy 
may  not  always  he  *armehair-clear* 
during  times  of  distress.  How  well 
docs  this  work? 

'There  are  probably  many  more 
lest' worthy  scenarios  that  could  be 
explored  by  inventive  emergency 
net  control  ops  and  members  alike, 
that  will  add  real  ism  and  adventure 
to  what  might  otherwise  be  routine 
net  nights..,  while  also  providing  a 
truer  yardstick  of  how  well  your 
emergency  net  really  is  trained  in 
its  own  emergency  preparedness," 


Tap-o£fs  to  each  lead 

of  the  multimeter, — 


Double  sided  copper 
PC  board  material. 


File  to  a  "chisel"  edge. 


Fig.  L  K9KPM*s  'Battery  Paddle"  The  paddle  is  made  of  double - 
sided  circuit  hoard  material  for  inserting  between  rwo  cells  in  a 
spring-loaded  pack  to  measure  the  total  current  being  drawn  from 
the  battery  pack.  See  text  for  details. 


Paddle  your  batteries 

From  Ken  Guge  K9KPM: 
"Have  you  e\er  wanted  to  measure 
the  current  drain  fern  a  particular 
piece  of  ham  gear,  or  perhaps  your 
daughter's  portable  tape  player  that's 
driving  you  close  to  the  poverty  level 
with  A  A  batteries?  1  often  thought  thai 
battery  manufacturers  ought  to  give 
these  things  away  just  to  keep  you  in 
the  high- volume  batten-purchasing 
market.  Well  here's  an  easy  way  to 
puta  mill iammeter m  series  with  those 
cells,  without  having  to  cut  into  the 
circuitry  itself. 

Take  apiece  of  scrap  double-sided 
printed  circuit  board  material  (about 
1/2™  wide  by  I  -l/2'+  tall,  and  solder  a 
short  length  of  stiff  wire  on  each  side 
of  the  double-foil- sided  board.  These 
will  be  the  quick'  connection  points 
for  your  VOM  Next,  on  the  opposite 
end,  file  the  1/2"  side  down  to  a  'chisel 
shape'  so  thai  it  will  slip  easily  be- 
tween two  of  the  series  connected  cells 


typical  milliamp-haur  figures  for  al- 
kaline-manganese dioxide  cells, 
directly  from  Bunnell  : 

AAA-lJ20mAJt 
M-2/f5QmAh 
C-  7,000  mAh 
D- 14,250  mAh 
9V -565  mAh 

Below  are  some  typical  mAh  ca- 
pacity figures  jar  9  vail  boileries  at 
different  current  drains: 

600  mAh  ©  5  mA  drain 
560  mAh  @  14  mA  drain 
546  mAh  @  26  mA  drain 

You  can  see  that  the  mAh  figures 
wilt  vary  a  bit  depending  upon  the 
actual  current  drain ,  higher  current 
drain  ghing  less  amp-hour  life,  but 
they  're  still  a  gotxl  guidepast  for 
general  usage,  When  you  measure 
the  current  drawn  by  a  particular 
piece  of  equipment,  using  Kens 


"You  can  drag  out  the  shovel  and  split 

open  the  ground,  but  why  not  let  nature 

do  some  of  the  work  for  you  instead?" 


in  the  spring- loaded  holder  (see 
Fig.  1 }.  Now,  when  you  insen  this 
'Battery  Fbddle*  into  the  pack,  you'll 
interrupt  the  current  flow,  hut  then 
hooking  up  your  milliammeter  will 
restore  the  flow  and  give  you  an  ac- 
curate estimate  of  how  much  the  little 
baneiy -eater  is  drawing* 

"YoucanusethisasatmuWeshoot- 
ing  aid  and  know  right  away  when 
you'  ve  cleared  a  high-current-drain 
problem  or  use  it  simply  to  check  the 
battery  drain  for  the  sake  of  curiosity. 

"If  you  make  twoof  these  paddles, 
you  can  insen  one  at  each  end  of  the 
series  batten  circuit,  so  that  you  can 
hook  up  a  chafer  to  the  "cell-side*  of 
each  paddle  (being  careful  to  t  >bscn  c 
the  correct  polarity  ul  y<  \i  \  e  decided 
to  stop  buying  throwaway  cells  and 
use  iechargeables  instead, 

"If  you  hook  up  a  test  power  sup- 
ply to  the  'equipmem-stde*  of  each 
paddle  (again,  observing  correct  po- 
larity) you  can  power  the  item  from 
that  external  supply,  instead  of  fmm 
the  internal  batten  cells,  for  those 
times  when  it  mkht  receive  extended 
use. 

"I  hope  that  this  idea  proves  as 
useful  to  others  as  it  has  for  me/* 

Moderator's  note:  Good  tip, 

Ken.  By  the  way,  here  are  some 

73  Amateur 


battery  paddle  idea,  divide  that 
figure  into  the  total  t  opacity  shown 
above  for  the  size  of  cells  you  're 
using  to  get  an  approximate  idea 
of  the  number  of  hours  of  use  to  be 
expected  from  those  cells. 

No-drip  9913 


From  Chuck  Steer  WA3IAC: 

"Bekien  99 13®  coax  cable  and  its 
clones  have  been  known  to  change 
from  a  nice  dry  transmission  line  into 
a  water  pipe  after  repeated  soaking 
rains,  compliments  <  jI  \  loiher  Nature. 
This  can  be  the  combined  result  of  the 
cable  itself  having  an  internal  'air'  di- 
electric, coupled  with  a  non- watertight 
fit  between  the  cable  and  its  outdoor 
connector. 

"Fve  solved  the  problem  at  my 
QT1 1  by  always  using  a  length  of 
3/4"  -diameter  heat -shrink  tubing  over 
the  finished  connector's  back  end, 
then  wrapping  the  entire  connection 
with  Teflon  y;lf-»;lhciingiape.  If  you 
don't  have  a  heat-shrink  eun,  vou  can 
always  'borrow*  the  XYL's  stove  for 
a  few  minutes  to  acquire  the  heat 
needed  to  make  the  shrink  tubing 
good  and  tight  over  the  rear  of  the 
cable/connector  interface  junction. 
Don't  depend  upon  overlapping  tape 

alone  to  seal  this  critical  point." 
Radio  Today  *  December  1996  57 


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Power  Curve  «  typical  BD-35  output  power 

Watts  Out 

(2Mtter\} 

30 

40 

45 

45+ 

45+ 

45+ 

45+ 

Watts  Out 
f440Milz} 

16 

26 

32 

J5+ 

35+ 

35+ 

35+ 

Waits  In 

1 

2 

1 

4 

5 

6 

7 

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Power  Curve  chart  shows  typical  output  power. 

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Watts  Out 

130 

t35 

140 

MS 

ISO 

155 

160 

165 

Wans  In 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

55 

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Moderator's  note:  Chuck  has  a 
couple  of  good  suggestions  here. 
For  the  heat-shrink- Tubing  partr 
I've  also  had  excellent  results  with 
the  rype  of  hem  guns  generally  sold 
in  hardware  stores  or  home  im- 
provement centers— intended  for 
use  in  stripping  paint  or  for  thaw- 
ing frozen  pipes.  There s  the  large 
*'guntl  style  and  also  a  smaller 
"point-source"  style  (my personal 
favorite)  that  will  handle  most  jots 
around  the  electronics  workbench. 
They* re  usually  quite  a  bit  less  ex- 
pensive than  heat  guns  sold  specifi- 
cally for  heat-shrink-tubing 
applications  alone,  so  if  it's 
dropped,  the  loss  isn  't  as  great.  I 
use  one  of  the  small  ^point-source" 
heat  guns  for  applying  concen- 
trated heat  to  a  circuit  part  that  I 
suspect  of  being  overly  heat- 
sensitive,  and  in  general 
troubleshooting  as  well. 

Recycling  is  "in"1 

73  reader  Andrew  Gretchenuk 
sent  in  this  innovative  idea,  along 
with  the  samples  shown  in  Photo 
A:  "Whenever  I  go  to  a  garage  sale, 
house  sale  or  flea  market,  I  keep  an 
eye  peeled  for  any  enclosures  that 
might  have  ham  radio  or  electron- 
ics applications.  One  of  the  ones 
thai  I  particularly  waich  for  is  nor- 
mally used  in  the  kitchen,  and  con- 
sists of  three  or  four  wooden 
canisters  of  the  style  that  'nest*  in- 
side of  one  another  for  storage. 
They  often  make  great  little  speaker 
enclosures  or  general  radio  project 
housings  (for  receivers,  meters,  lest 
gear,  etc).  To  adapt  them  to  a 
project,  Til  usually  use  the  scheme 
shown  in  Fig.  2  to  give  me  a  metal 
'partial  chassis'  for  pans  mounting. 
The  spacers  shown  in  Fig*  2  can 
often  be  picked  up  at  hamfests,  or 
you  can  obtain  them  from  parts  sup- 
pliers  such  as  Fair  Radio  Sales  of 
Lima,  Ohio  (Tel.  419-227-6573)  or 


Fig.  2.  Front  panel  and  sub- 
panel  (chassis)  for  use  with  a  re- 
cycled kitchen  storage  box.  See 
Andrew  Gretchenuk  s  suggestion 
in  the  text  for  complete  details. 


Photo  A,  The  nested  wooden 
kitchen  canisters  described  by 
Andrew  Gretchenuk  are  shown 
on  the  left  and  right  sides  of  the 
photo.  The  repainted  candy  tin  is 
in  the  center,  painted  uham 
gray"  of  course! 

The  Electronic  Goldmine  in 

Sconsdale,  Arizona  (Tel.  1-800- 
4454)697).  They  can  be  obtained  in 
various  lengths  from  1/4"  on  up. 

"Another  item  to  watch  for  at 
secondhand  sales  are  metal  cookie 
or  candy  tins,  When  repainted  with 
metallic  automobile  spray  paint, 
they  often  end  up  looking  very  pro- 
fessional and  make  excellent 
shielded  enclosures  (also  shown  in 
Photo  A),  Most  are  even  directly 
solderabte  when  buffed  up  a  bit  and 
soldering  paste  is  applied  " 

Moderator  s  note:  Ail  good  sugges- 
tions, Andrew,  and  thanks  for  send* 
ing  the  samples  for  photographing. 
Another  source  of  handy  very  small 
"recycled"  cases  are  those  used  to 
package  Tte~Ta&breathmints;ihey*tt 
hold  a  miniature  remote  toggle  switch, 
a  few  small  parts,  or  will  act  as  a  cable 
splicejuncdon  box.Either  leave  them 
transparent  or  apply  a  quick  spray  of 
yourfiivorite  color  of  "ham  gray. "  It  *s 
best  to  put  the  mints  inside  of  some- 
thing else  that  doesn't  make  so  much 
noise  in  your  pocket  anyway! 

Pinned  to  the  mat! 

From  Herb  Foster  AD4UA: 

"When  the  need  arises  to  'hide'  radial 
wires  or  a  small  coax  feed  cable  for 
an  HF  I/4-wave  vertical  out  on  your 
lawn,  here's  a  tip  to  keep  in  mind,  one 
that  I've  used  myself  very  success- 
fully. Of  course,  you  can  drag  out  the 
shovel  and  split  open  the  ground  wide 
enough  to  accommodate  those  radial 
wires  or  RG-SX  coax,  but  why  not 
let  nature  do  some  of  the  woric  for  you 
instead? 

*t3aiher  up  a  handful  of  wiie  coat 
hangers,  the  ones  that  seem  to  accu- 
mulate in  closets  as  if  they're  breed- 
ing there!  (1  can't  recall  ever  paying 
for  a  wire  hanger...  my  XYL  always 
seems  to  be  able  to  produce  a  nice 
bunch  for  me  upon  request.)  Once  in 


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VI 


INDEX  LABORATORIES  -  (206)  851-5725  -  Fast:  831-8385 
931 H  Randall  Dr.  NW,  Gig  Harbor,  WA  98 132 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996  59 


hand  use  a  sturdy  cutter  to  clip  off 
the  hanger's  normal  *hook*  and 
straighten  out  the  remaining  length. 
Next,  cut  this  straightened  piece  into 
9"  or  10"  lengths  and  fnmi  a  90-de- 
gree  (or  more)  bend — about  an  inch 
or  so  from  one  end — in  each  of  these 
smaller  lengths.  Make  up  a  bunch  of 
these  'cable  pins.'  and  push  one  down 
into  the  earth  about  every  15"  or  so 
alone  the  radial  or  transmission  line 
nnL  TTie  1 "  bend  will  fcpin'  the  wire 
close!)  tt > the  ground  and  keep  ii  there. 
If  you've  mowed  the  lawn  somewhat 
on  the  'short  side1  first,  so  much  the 
better  the  grass  will  grow  up  around 
the  "pinncd-down*  wire  and  your  ra- 
ti ials  and  transmission  tine  will  even- 
tually almost  disappear  into  the 
lushness  of  the  turf.  If  done  correctly, 
you'll  be  able  to  mow  right  over  the 
radials  and  coax  as  if  it  weren't  even 
there.  This  tip  works  equally  as  well 
at  your  home  QTH  as  it  &  >cs  at  a  tem- 
porary 'ham-cation  spot!"' 

A  better  cubel 

From  Stephen  Reynolds 
N0FOU:  4£Most  of  the  inexpensive 
wall-mount  plug-in  DC  power 
"cubes"  thai  are  available  today  have 
no  internal  regulation  and  will  often 
sag  to  close  to  50%  of  their  labeled 
voltage  when  Uxided  to  near  their  la- 
beted  current  rating.  Some  items  of 
equipment  i  if  thc>  linve  their  own  in- 
ternal regulation  I  will  work  correctly 
when  powered  by  Uiesc  'cubes,1  but 
oilier  items  won't.  Applying  too  much 
or  too  little  voltage  to  certain  acces- 
sories can  be  risky  at  best  but  here  s  a 
way  around  that  potential  (ouch!) 
problem! 

£eDC-to-DC  automobile  cigarette 
lighter  adapters  can  be  found  that  wil  I 
lower  and  regulate  the  normal  1 2  volt 
DC  car  battery  potential  down  to  si  >me 
other  (often  selectable*  value,.,  and 
these  little  gems  can  also  be  used  on 


the  120  volt  power  ^cubes'  men* 
tioncd  above*  Just  be  absolutely 
sure  that  you  observe  the  correct 
input  and  output  polarities,  and 
that  the  current  drain  expected 
doesn't  exceed  the  rating  on  ei- 
ther the  power  'cube'  or  its  DC- 
to-DC  regulator  add-on.  Take  a 
look  at  the  Radiii  Shack™  cata- 
log if  you  haven't  seen  the  DC* 
to-DC  adapters  fro  referring  to; 
the  catalog  shows  several  that  are 
applicable." 

Afcnierators  note:  You  might  also 
consider  building  up  a  small  external 
regulator  using  one  of  the  many  fixed 
voltage  regulator  drips  on  the  market 
today.  They're awHahle in several size 
and  current  ratings  and  are  extremely 
easy  to  put  to  use.  Jlw  7Hxx  family  of 
I  amp  positive  voltage  regulators  in  a 
TO-220  cose  (as  shown  in  the  draw- 
ing of  Fig.  3 )  can  be  commonly found 
in  tltese  standard  fixed  output  values: 


780ST- 

7H06T- 

7808T- 

7812T- 

7815T 

7818T- 

7824T- 


-5  volts 
6  volis 
8  volts 
12  volts 
15  volts 
18  volts 
24  volts 


You  can  also  incorporate  an  ad- 
justable regulator,  such  a*  tfie  LM- 
3 ITT.  shown  in  last  numih  s  column. 

Fabulous  ferrite 

From  Jim  Kocsis  WA9PYH: 
**Have  you  ever  noticed  how  gener- 
ally ptx*  the  AM  sensitivity  is  on  most 
of  todays  small  portable  transistor 
broadcast  band  radios?  The  sensitiv- 
ity on  the  FM  band  is  usually  much 
better  because  this  hand  uses  either  a 
telescoping  whip  antenna,  or  perhaps 
a  fairly  long  headphone  card  allow- 
ing the  capture  of  a  reasonable  amount 
of  usable  signals  but  the  AM  band  is 


78XXT  Regulator  IC 


©a 


lufd 


Input 

from 

Power  Cube 

O 


i 


Tab  is  at  ground 

potential. 

LOufd   Q 


I 


O 

Output 

to 

ALood 


0 


0 


Fig.  3.  A  78XXT  series  regulator  chip  can  also  he  used  to  stabilize 
the  power  output  from  an  inexpensive  DC  wall  power  cube.  See  the 
"Moderators  note"  with  N0POUs  tip  for  further  details. 

60  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


a  whole  other  story. 

"The  sensitivity  on  AM  is 
limited  by  the  effectiveness  of  the 
built-in  ferrite  rod  antenna  used 
for  AM  band  pick-up.  As  the  size 
of  the  radios  has  been  shrinking, 
so  has  the  ferrite  rod's  length — ■ 
often  ending  up  to  being  only  a 
couple  of  inches  long.  I  have  a 
"super  *  AM  radio  that  contains  an 
8"-long  ferrite  rod  antenna,  and 
it  runs  rings  around  the  smaller 
radios..,  primarily  because  of  the 
longer  rod, 

"Not  wanting  to  have  to  cany 
the  larger  radio  around.  I  decided 
to  experiment  a  bit,  I  tried  posi- 
tioning just  a  ferrite  rod,  about  8" 
long*  at  various  points  around  my 
little  radio's  case  and  found  that 
reception  could  be  markedly  im- 
proved. You  can  find  these  larger 
ferrite  rods  at  hamfests,  garage 
sales  or  flea  markets  (the  salvaged 
parts  of  older  AM  radios  or  per- 
haps the  entire  defunct  radio  it- 
self). Simply  strip  off  the  coils  o[^ 
wire,  then  find  the  best  spot  on 
the  outside  of  your  small  AM  por- 
table— where  the  signal  is  en- 
hanced significantly — and  using 
a  rubber  band  to  hold  the  "auxil- 
iary signal  booster'  in  place,  get 
ready  for  greatly  improved  per- 
formance. The  flat  ferrite  form 
will  give  you  the  lowest  profile, 
of  course,  but  the  round  rods  work 
well  too.  Be  careful  handling  the 
ferrite  material,  it's  very  brittle 
and  will  easily  snap  if  dropped  or 
mishandled.  Give  the  idea  a  try 
it  might  just  make  you  the  'hero 
of  the  day"  to  your  wife  or  chil- 
dren (grandchildren?)." 

This  ends  another  month  of 
"Ham  To  Ham."  From  K  A9UCK 
(Sue)  and  me.  all  the  best  of  the 
Holiday  Season's  joys  and  hap- 
piness. I  hope  that  Santa  brings 
you  some  interesting  ham  radio 
toys,,,  remember,  gals,  men  like 
toys  as  gifts,  not  clothes!  We're 
actually  just  little  boys  in  bigger 
jeans! 

And  now  that  winter  has  set  in  lo 
stay  for  a  while,  why  not  sit  down  and 
write  a  brief  description  of  some  of 
the  things  that  you"  ve  found  useful  in 
the  pursuit  of  your  oun  ham  radio 
interests?  T 11  share  them  with  the  other 
73  readers  through  this  column  in  the 
coming  months.  Items  of  interest  for 
spring  and  summer  projects  would 
also  be  appropriate  to  send  in  now... 
magazine  lead  times  are  fairly  long* 


Please  send  all  tips,  suggests  *is.  ideas 
and  shortcuts  lo  the  address  at  the  top 
of  this  column,  See  you  next  year!  73 
de  Dave  NZ9E 

Many  thanks  to  our  faithful 

contributors,  including: 

William  Thim.JnN  I QVQ 

50  Miller  Road 

Broad  Bronk  CT  060 1 6-9676 

Ken  Guge  K9KPM 

1 1 07  E.  Woodrow  Avenue 
Lombard  II,  60148 

Chuck  Steer  WA31AC 
3446  Shclmire  Avenue 
Philadelphia  PA  19136-3525 

Andrew  Gretehcnuk 
12233  Rosaro  Avenue  #1 
Warm  Mineral  Springs  FL  34287 

Herbert  L+  Foster  AD4AL 
3020  Pennsylvania  St. 
Melbourne  FL  32904-9063 

Stephen  Reynolds  N0POU 
5 1 0  S.  1 30  Street 
Omaha  NE  68 1 54 

Jim  Kocsis  WA9PYH 
2217  Hidden  Oaks 
South  Bend  IN  46628 

Note:  The  ideas  and  suggestions 
contributed  to  this  column  by  its  read- 
ers have  not  necessarily  been  tested 
by  the  column's  moderator  norby  the 
staff  of  73,  and  thus  no  guarantee  of 
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Please  send  all  correspondence 
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magazine's  "Ham  To  Ham*'  col- 
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Never  shy  die 

Continued  from  pctge  49 

looking  forward  to  it.  Most  re- 
port coming  into  contact  with  a 
supreme  being  that  radiates  love. 
Most  tire  told  they  have  tasks  to 
do  on  earth  before  going  to 
"heaven"  and  so  must  return  un- 
til it  is  their  time.  While  most  of 
them  become  more  religious, 
few  continue  going  to  organized 
religion  churches.  They  come 
back  with  the  message  that  God 
isnl  interested  in  theology.  Most 
of  them,  while  dead,  undergo  a 
life  review  where  they  experi- 
ence what  they  fell  and  what  ihe 
other  people  around  them  felt  as 
a  result  of  their  actions.  I  have 
an  ex- wife  who's  going  to  have  a 
major  problem  with  that,  and  not 
a  few  ex-employees. 

Of  course  I  can't  help,  while 
reading  about  these  NDEs,  look- 
ing back  at  my  life  to  see  how  I 
might  have  done  better.  My  total 
lack  of  interest  in  money  has 
been  a  hardship  for  my  wile, 
who  is  much  more  money-ori- 
ented. ItTs  also  been  a  magnet  for 
those  who  would  lake  advantage 
of  m\  lack  of  interest  and  who 

m 

have  robbed  me  of  millions.  But, 
having   (at   least   in   my   eyes) 

helped  the  world  along  with  the 
development  of  cellular  tele- 
phones, microcomputers,  com- 
pact discs  (better  musicL  my 
record  companies,  and  now 
(hopefully)  with  cold  fusion,  I 
feel  my  visit  to  earth  has  been 
worthwhile. 

My  love  of  amateur  radio  has 
been  guiding  me  for  most  of  my 
life.  Sure,  I  get  frustrated  when  1 
hear  hams  using  bad  language 
and  being  inconsiderate  on  the 
air.  1  almost  got  angry  when  the 
ARRL  virtually  destroyed  the 
hobby  30  years  ago  in  their 
move  to  generate  greater  visibil- 
ity for  the  League  with  their  so- 
called  "incentive  licensing/' 
And  my  ability  to  forgive,  for* 
get.  and  love  my  enemies  is 
sorely  strained  when  people 
print  lies  and  distortions  about 
me.  Shame  on  you,  Fred. 

Another,  slightly  older,  book 
on  NDEs  is  Dr.  Moody's  The 
Light  Beyond  (1988;  $4.50; 
205  p).  He  even  interviewed  a 
number  of  children  who'd  had 
NDEst  with  their  stories  all 
being  quite  consistent. 

The  reports  are  that  a  whole 
realm  of  the  afterlife  is  set  aside 
for  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 
Well.  I've  got  a  good  start  in  that 
direction.  When  I  die  it's  going 
to  take  a  trailer  truck  to  bring  my 


library.*,  and  I'm  not  going  any- 
where permanent  without  it.  If 
I  can't  take  my  books  and  CD 
collection,  I'm  not  going. 

Closet  To  The  Light  by  Dr. 
Morse  (1990;  $6;  237p)  deals 
with  children's  NDEs.  What 
does  it  feel  like  for  them  when 
they  die?  What  do  they  learn? 
We're  going  to  have  to  under- 
stand more  about  how  time 
works  because  many  NDE  re- 
ports have  to  do  with  future 
events.  You'll  also  enjoy  Brad 
Steiger's  One  With  The  Light 
(1994;  $5;  300p).  which  not  only 
covers  a  wide  variety  of  NDE  re- 
ports, but  shows  how  in  every 
case  the  experience  has  substan- 
tially changed  the  people's  lives. 

If  you've  read  very  many  bi- 
ographies you  know  that  many 
( most?)  of  our  creative  artists  at- 
tribute much  of  their  inspiration 
lo  the  ineffable.  Sousa  said  that 
all  of  his  marches  came  to  him 
when  he  was  in  a  half-sleep 
state.  They  came  full- blown,  so 
all  he  had  to  do  was  get  up  and 
write  them  down.  Many  com- 
posers and  writers  tell  similar 
stories.  In  Neither  Dead  Nor 
Sleeping.  May  Sewall  (Bobbs- 
Merrill,  1920;  320p;  52.50  in  an 
old  bookstore)  wrote  that  her  de- 
ceased husband  explained  to  her 
that  spirits  on  **the  other  side" 
are  responsible  for  these  subcon- 
scious creative  events. 

There's  a  current  spate  of 
books  about  guardian  angels. 
The  recent  TV  programs  on 
angels  probably  triggered  this 
interest.  In  between  reading  Pe- 
ter Graneau's  Ampere -Neumann 
Electrodynamics  of  Metals  FU 
whip  through  Hope  Price's  An- 
gels, a  $5  Avon  inspirational  pa- 
perback which  reports  on  hun- 
dreds of  angel  interventions. 
There  are  a  bunch  more  angel 
books,  all  packed  with  stories  of 
people  who've  been  touched  by 
them.  Now,  are  you  going  to 
try  and  tell  me  that  every  single 
one  of  these  people  is  totally 
mistaken?  Give  me  a  break! 

No,  I  caul  see  auras  or  bend 
spoons,  but  I  have  no  good 
reason  to  disbelieve  the  many 
people  1  know  who  claim 
to  have  done  these  things.  There 
are  a  great  many  things  going 
on  that  we  have  no  good  scien- 
tific explanation  for.  Can  you  as- 
sure me  that  not  one  person  in 
history  has  ever  been  able  to 
dowse?  My  grandfather,  who 
was  an  inventor,  taught  me  how- 
to  dowse.  "Pop"  was  good  at  it. 
He  also  was  a  good  inventor. 
You    wouldnl    see    Citgo    or 


Continental     Can     Company 

around  today  except  for  him.  He 
knew  a  lot  about  everything,  so  I 
accepted  dowsing  and  had  no 
trouble  learning  how  to  do  it 
when  I  was  about  seven.  Alas,  he 
was  a  heavy  smoker,  so  he  died 
when  I  was  only  1 2,  My  grand- 
mother, who  didn't  smoke,  lived 
on  almost  30  yca^s  longer.  FU 
have  to  tell  vou  more  about  her 

- 

sometime,  She  put  me  onto  the 
Sewall  hook  three  years  after  she 
died. 

Though  I  haven  1  had  a  near 
death  experience,  I  still  have  a 
pretty  good  idea  of  what  my 
mission  in  this  life  is.  Ifs  what 
I've  been  doing  for  the  last  44 
years  as  a  publisher:  sharing  the 
things  I've  found  fun  and  excit- 
ing with  as  many  people  as  pos- 
sible, and  urging  you  to  share 
what  you've  learned  with  me.  So 
fm  on  your  case,  urging  you  to 
do  better.  To  lose  weight  and 
thus  live  a  longer  and  happier 
life.  To  not  smoke,  And  to  be  ad- 
venturous. To  try  new  things.  Go 
new  places-  Try  packet,  Try  sat- 
ellite communications.  Try  go- 
ing on  a  DXpedition  somewhere. 
Learn  more.  Read. 

If  your  reaction  is  negative, 
remember  thai  this  could  be  an 
approach  to  life  that  you  carry 
around  with  you.  Life  is  more 
what  you  make  it  than  a  box  of 
chocolates.  If  youlc  nasty,  so 
will  be  the  people  around  you.  If 
you  get  on  the  air  to  have  fun 
and  meet  new  people,  that's 
what  you  11  find,  for  the  most 
pan.  When  you  run  into  an  ill- 
mannered  op  try  another  fre- 
quency instead  of  getting  mad  or 
getting  even. 

One  thing  both  the  angel  and 
the  NDE  reports  all  agree  on  is 
that  prayer  can  be  surprisingly 
powerful.  It  doesnl  seem  to  mat- 
ter what  deities  you  believe  inT  just 
the  act  of  praying  has  power  to 
heal  and  change  things.  No,  this  is 
not  a  new  concept  and  it  doesnl 
mean  that  poor  old  aging  Wayne  is 
newly  converted  to  any  particular 
savior,  I'm  just  telling  you  what 
thousands  of  people  I"ve  read 
about  have  reported. 

As  fm  writing  this  I'm  thor- 
oughly enjoying  a  CD  of  Louis 
Moreau  Gottschalk's  (1829- 
1869)  music.  His  music  was  sort 
of  a  precursor  of  ragtime  and  he 
was  the  first  internationally  fa- 
mous American  composer 
Though  it's  difficult  for  me  to 
imagine,  t  suppose  there  are 
some  people  who  might  not  find 
his  music  irresistible.  His  Taran- 
tella,    Responds     Moi.     Ojos 

73  Amateur 


Criollos,  Orfa,  La  Galium. 
Bamboula,  Grand  Fantasia,  and 
Pasquinade  are  incredible.  If  I 
canl  get  you  to  enjoy  reading 
books  and  learning,  maybe  I  can 
turn  you  on  to  some  wonderful 
music.  No,  all  you  want  me  to 
write  about  is  ham  radio,  right? 
So  what  do  you  find  the  most 
exciting  about  amateur  radio? 
What  adventures  have  you  had? 
If  vou*ve  made  even  a  hundredth 

_ 

the  number  of  friends  via  the 
hobby  that  I  have,  it's  paid  off 
handsomely  for  you.  That's 
probably  what  brings  me  back  to 
Dayton  almost  every  sear. 
When's  the  last  time  you  had  a 
contact  where  you  talked  with 
someone  for  over  an  hour  and 
you  both  hated  to  end  it?  I  used 
to  offer  a  certificate  for  long- 
winded  contacts,  the  Real  Rag 
Chewer's  Club  certificate 
iRRCC)  for  contacts  over  an 
hour.  Let  me  know  if  1  should 
offer  that  again. 

Of  course  I  used  to  offer  a 
WAAS  certificate  for  hams 
who'd  worked  49  states.  Worked 
Almost  All  States.  Then  there 
was  my  CHC  Certificate  Hater's 
Club  for  hams  who  hate  certifi- 
cates and  promise  not  to  go  after 
them,  and  if  they  do.  by  chance 
get  one.  they  promise  to  hale  it. 

Maybe  ifs  best  I  donl  write 
about  amateur  radio  and  just 
slick  to  my  secret  goals  of  trying 
to  get  you  to  have  more  fun,  to 
learn,  and  shape  up. 

Grist 

With  several  hundred  of  the 
Art  Bell  listeners  sending  for  a 
book  of  my  not-yet-published  73 
editorials,  I  started  rummaging 
through  the  back  issues,  pulling 
out  my  non-ham  oriented  com- 
ments and  putting  them  together 
into  books  of  about  50  editorials 
each,  Grist  1  and  Grist  II.  If  you 
enjoy  my  stuff  you  might  send 
for  a  few  copies  of  these  for  any 
friends  you  have  who  might  en- 
joy thinking.  Yes.  1  expect  this  is 
prettyT  restrictive.  When  I  think 
over  most  of  my  friends,  hams  or 
not,  darned  few  of  them  seem  to 
be  much  interested  in  thinking. 

Maybe  that  s  why,  when  I  get 
someone  on  the  phone  or  over 
the  air  who's  obviously  done 
some  thinking  and  the  home- 
work to  back  it  up,  we  can  talk 
for  hours.  Golly,  that's  fun! 

Anyway,  Professor  Green  has 
been  reading  and  thinking,  and 
putting  his  reports  into  these  edi- 
torials. I  think  youll  enjoy  the 
Cortfuiued  on  page  63 

Radio  Today  *  December  1996  61 


Number  SZ  won  your  Feedback  card 

Hrms  with  clrss 


Carole  Perry  WB2MGP 

Media  Mentors  Inc. 

P.O.  Box  131646 

Staten  Island  NY  10313-0006 


Some  Hands-On  Fun 

With  the  siart  of  a  new  school 
year,  most  teachers  and  instruc- 
tors of  ham  radio  classes  arc  look- 
ing for  new  activities  and 
demonstrations  to  do  in  the  class- 
room. Experience  shows  that 
hands-on  demos  and  experiments 
arc  the  most  fun  and  therefore  the 
most  memorable  to  the  children. 
This  term  I  tried  something  new. 

I  allowed  one  of  my  classes  to 
pick  their  own  hands-on  activity 
to  demonstrate  to  each  other  Each 
group  consisted  of  four  team 
members.  They  had  two  weeks  to 
prepare  a  demo  to  present  to  the 
class.  They  had  to  research  the 
activity  and  come  up  with  an 


interesting  presentation  about  the 
unit  we  were  studying,  which  was 

about  batteries, 

Obviously,  the  criteria  for  set- 
ling  up  the  groups  and  for  the 
complexity  of  the  project  will  be 
determined  by  the  age  and  ability 
of  the  group.  Bui  the  sixih-grad- 
ers  I  did  this  with  really  seemed 
to  love  the  idea  of  coming  up  with 
their  own  project.  I  gave  them 
time  to  spend  in  our  class  research 
center  and  for  "putting  their  heads 
together,"  They  were  off  and 
running  to  local  libraries  as  well. 

The  charts  and  diagrams  that 
were  submitted  were  simply  ex- 
cellent. Here  are  two  of  the  eight 
activities  that  were  very  well 
received  by  the  children. 

How  do  batteries  work? 

"How  Do  Batteries  Work?" 
was  presented  by  two  boys  and 


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horizons  even  further  w«h  MultiMode  operation"  So.  whether  you  have  been 
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CIRCLE  269  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 

62  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  ■  December  1996 


Photo  A.  Sixth-grader  Mike  sets  up 
a  cuvuit  with  wires  and  a  battery. 

two  girls  in  the  sixih  grade.  Jus- 
tin had  big  illustrations  of  the  in- 
side of  a  battery  and  explained 
to  the  class  that  a  dry  cell  bat- 
tery consists  of  a  zinc  container, 
a  chemical  paste,  and  a  carbon 
rod.  A  chemical  reaction  involv- 
ing these  three  materials  pro* 
duces  electricity.  The  battery 
stops  working  when  all  the  ma- 
terials dry  up  inside  the  battery. 
In  rechargeable  batteries  the 
chemical  reaction  can  be 
reversed. 

For  this  demonstration  you'll 
need  the  following  items:  an 
LED,  two  dishes,  vinegar,  two 
pieces  of  zinc  (silver  coins  may 
work),  two  pieces  of  copper 
(pennies  may  work)  and  wires. 
In  this  activity,  the  vinegar  acts 
like  the  paste  inside  a  battery. 
Lemons  or  pickles  work  as  bat- 
teries just  as  well  as  vinegar. 
The  metals  and  vinegar  react 
together  to  produce  electricity. 

Set  up  the  circuit  with  a  piece 
of  zinc  and  copper  in  each  dish 
of  vinegar.  When  the  LED  didn't 
glow  at  first,  we  connected  it  to 
the  wires  in  the  other  direction, 
using  alligator  clips.  The  kids 
really  had  a  good  time  trying  the 
same  demonstration  with  the 
lemons  and  pickles.  Always  re- 
member that  being  able  to  have 
children  associate  learning  with 
fun  is  a  number  one  priority  in 
the  classroom. 

Tanisha  did  her  part  by  giv- 
ing a  brief  background  on  the 
"First  Batteries,"  She  explained 
that  in  1791  the  Italian  scientist 
Galvani  noticed  that  a  leg  from 


a  dead  frog  twitched  when 
touched  by  metal  instruments. 
Electricity  was  flowing  between 
i he  metal  and  the  fluids  in  the 
leg.  This  effect  was  seen  by  an- 
other scientist,  Volia.  who  went 
on  to  invent  the  first  battery.  He 
used  stacks  of  zinc  and  copper 
disks,  separated  by  fabric  soaked 
in  saltwater. 

Sockets  and  switches 

The  second  demonstration  had 
lots  of  illustrations  to  go  along 
with  it.  Making  clear  and  infor- 
mative charts  is  a  whole  unit  by 
itself  with  the  sixth  grade.  This 
one  was  called  "Sockets  and 
Switches."  Materials  needed  are: 
two  wires  with  alligator  clips,  a 
bulb  (2.5  V)  and  socket,  a  battery 
(LSV)and  holder. 

Henry  reminded  the  class  that 
electricity  can  only  flow  along  an 
unbroken  path.  The  battery 
pushes  electricity  all  the  way 
around  the  circuit  The  voltage 
written  on  a  battery  tells  you  how 
hard  the  battery  will  push  electric- 
ity around  a  circuit.  If  you  double 
the  number  of  batteries  in  a 
simple  circuit*  you  double  the 
voltage  pushing  the  electricity 
around. 

First  the  kids  screwed  the 
bulb  into  the  socket.  Next  they 
put  the  battery  in  its  holder,  then 
connected  the  wires  to  form  a 
circuit.  The  next  step  in  this  in- 
teresting demo  required  an  ex- 
tra wire  with  alligator  clips, 
tape,  foil,  and  a  thick  piece  of 
cardboard.  They  proceeded  to 
add  the  extra  wire  into  the  cir- 
cuiL  Then  they  made  a  switch 
by  taping  pieces  of  foil  to  the 
cardboard  so  that  they  over- 
lapped. Next  they  connected  the 
foil  to  the  circuit  with  the  free 
alligator  clips.  They  could  then 
make  the  bulb  flash  by  touching 
the  pieces  of  foil  together. 

Take  a  guess  what  this  dem- 
onstration was  the  introduction 
to  in  my  ham  radio  class.  In  my 
next  column  I'll  report  on  some 
very  simple  hands-on  telegraph 
keys.  If  you  are  a  teacher  who 
has  done  some  exciting  activi- 
ties with  ham  radio  classes, 
please  send  me  the  details  along 
with  the  children's  pictures  so 
that  we  can  share  it  with  other 
instructors. 


Barter  V  Buv 


Number  63  on  your  f  etcftwc*  card 


Turn  your  old  ham  and  computer  gear  into  cash  now.  Sure,  you  can  wait  for  a 
hamfest  to  try  and  dump  it,  but  you  know  youll  get  a  far  more  realistic  price  if 
you  have  it  out  where  100,000  active  ham  potential  buyers  can  see  It  than  the 
few  hundred  local  hams  who  come  by  a  flea  market  table.  Check  your  attic, 
garage,  cellar  and  closet  shelves  and  gel  cash  for  your  ham  and  computer 
gear  before  if  s  too  old  to  sell.  You  know  you're  not  going  to  use  it  again,  so  why 
leave  it  for  your  widow  to  ttirow  out?  That  stuff  isn't  getting  any  younger! 
The  73  Flea  Market,  Barter  "n*  Buy,  costs  you  peanuts  (afmost)-comes  to  35 
cents  a  word  for  individual  {noncommercial}  ads  and  $1 .00  a  word  for  commer- 
cial ads.  Don't  plan  on  telling  a  long  story.  Use  abbreviations,  cram  it  in.  But  be 
honest.  There  are  plenty  of  hams  who  love  to  fix  things,  so  if  it  doesn't  work, 
say  so. 

Make  your  list,  count  the  words,  including  your  call,  address  and  phone  num- 
ber. Include  a  check  or  your  credit  card  number  and  expiration.  If  you1  re  placing 
a  commercial  ad,  include  an  additional  phone  number,  separate  from  your  ad. 
This  is  a  monthly  magazine,  not  a  daily  newspaper,  so  figure  a  couple  months 
before  the  action  starts;  men  be  prepared.  If  you  get  too  many  calls,  you  priced 
It  tow  If  you  don't  get  many  calls,  too  high. 

So  get  busy.  Blow  the  dust  off,  check  everything  out,  make  sure  it  still  works 
right  and  maybe  you  can  help  make  a  ham  sure  rt  stili  works  right  and  maybe 
you  can  help  make  a  ham  newcomer  or  retired  old  timer  happy  with  that  rig 
you're  not  using  now.  Or  you  might  get  busy  on  your  computer  and  put  together 
a  list  of  small  gear/parts  to  send  to  those  interested? 


Send  your  ads  and  payment  to:  73  Magazine,  Barter  n1  Buy,  70  Rt 
202N,  Peterborough  NH  03458  and  get  set  for  the  phone  calls,  The 
deadline  for  the  February  1997  classified  ad  section  Is  December 
12th,  1996. 


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Continued  from  page  61 

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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996  63 


Y*atn 


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TDommunications  Simplified, 

Part  12 


Peter  A.  Stark  K20AW 

PO  Box  209 

ML  KiscoNY  10549 


The  concepts  of  spread-spectrum 
date  back  some  50  years,  and 
maybe  more,  but  until  recently 
the  circuitry  required  to  use  it  was  so  ex- 
pensive thai  only  the  military  found  it 
feasible.  In  the  last  few  years,  however 
spread- spectrum  equipment  has  become 
quite  common  in  many  areas. 

Consider  the  following  example: 
Suppose  your  name  is  Kilroy,  you 
were  supposed  to  meet  a  friend  in 
some  room,  and  you  want  to  leave  htm 
a  message  that  you've  come  and  gone. 
The  problem  is  that  you  have  an  en- 
emy, and  you  don't  want  her  to  know 
you've  been  there. 

You  could  scribble  "Kilroy  was 
here**  on  the  wall,  but  that's  too  obvi- 
ous, (Besides,  graffiti  is  ugly!)  So  you 
decide  to  leave  a  little  note  that  reads 
KILROY  WAS  Hi: RE.  The  problem 
is^ — where  to  put  it? 

You  don" l  want  your  enemy  to  know 
that  you  left  a  message.  Even  if  she 
knows,  you  don't  want  her  to  find  and 
read  it  Worse  yet,  your  enemy  might  re- 
move it,  or  perhaps  change  it  to  read 
KILROY  WILL  BE  HERE.  Or  someone 
completely  new  might  come  into  the 
room,  need  a  piece  of  paper  to  write  on, 
and  scribble  all  over  your  note. 

This  is  a  problem  that  is  faced  by  the 
military.  When  sending  an  important 
message: 

(a)  You  don't  want  the  enemy  to  know 
about  it; 

(b)  If  he  knows  about  it,  you  don't 
want  him  to  be  able  to  read  it: 

(c)  If  he  can  read  itf  you  don't  want 
him  to  change  it  into  something  quite 
different:  and 

64   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


(d)  You  don't  want  a  transmission 
from  your  enemy,  or  even  someone  else, 
to  interfere  with  your  message  and  pre- 
vent it  from  getting  through. 

So  hack  to  the  room.  You  spot  a  tele- 
phone directory  lying  on  the  table,  so 
you  write  your  KILROY  WAS  HERE 
message  into  it.  You  put  the  K  on  page 
55.  the  I  on  page  1 13,  ihe  L  on  page 
38,  and  so  on.  In  other  words,  you 
spread  your  message  throughout  the 
directory,  hiding  it  amid  the  printing 
that's  already  there. 


through — better  than  putting  your  entire 
message  in  one  place  and  taking  a 
chance  on  its  all  heing  obliterated. 

This  silly  litile  example  is  actually 
quite  useful  in  answering  some  basic 
questions.  For  example.  how  should  you 
pick  the  page  numbers  on  which  to 
write?  There  arc  several  ways; 

(a)  Roll  some  dice  to  get  completely 
random  page  numbers.  Nice,  because 
that  uiiikcs  it  really  tough  for  someone 
else  to  figure  out  the  sequence.  It  also 
helps  to  spread  the  message  throughout 


"How  should  you  pick  the  page  numbers  on  which  to  write?" 


In  order  to  find  your  message,  some- 
one would  have  to  know  exactly  w  here 
to  look  for  it  Your  enemy  won't  know 
that:  in  fact,  she  may  not  even  notice  the 
extra  few  letters  written  in  amongst  the 
"noise"  of  all  the  other  stuff  in  the  tele- 
phone directory.  But  even  if  she  notices 
the  extra  printing,  she  won't  know  the 
order  to  put  the  letters  back  into,  (Obvi- 
ously, though,  you'd  better  tell  your 
friend  where  to  look!) 

Now  suppose  someone  else  comes 
into  the  room  and  decides  to  leave  an- 
other message  in  the  phone  book.  This 
new  person  is  very  unlikely  to  pick  the 
exact  same  pages  that  you  did,  so  the 
new  message  will  probably  not  interfere 
with  yours.  Even  if,  by  some  chance,  a 
few  of  the  page  numbers  he  chose  hap- 
pened to  be  the  same  ones  you  already 
used,  at  most  he  might  overwrite  one  or 
two  of  your  letters.  Your  message  might 
now  read  KILXOY  WAR  HERE,  but 
that's  still  enough  to  get  the  message 


the  entire  phone  book.  But  now  you  will 
have  to  give  the  list  of  page  numbers  to 
vour  friend.  These  numbers  would  be 
random  if  there  is  no  pattern  to  them — 
even  knowing  all  the  past  numbers  that 
were  used,  you  can't  predict  the  next 
few  numbers. 

tb)  Build  two  sets  of  loaded  dice- 
one  for  you,  one  for  your  friend — set 
up  so  they  both  roll  the  same  numbers. 
You  roll  your  dice  to  get  a  set  of  page 
numbers.  Later,  your  friend  rolls  his 
set  of  dice  in  exactly  the  same  way, 
gets  the  same  numbers  and  bingo. 
These  page  numbers  look  random,  but 
actually  they  are  not — if  you  have  the 
loaded  dice  (or  know  how  they  were 
built),  you  can  duplkalc  the  set  of 
numbers  at  any  time.  Such  a  set  of 
numbers  is  called  pseudo- random* 

(c)  Come  up  with  some  other  way  of 
generating  pseudo-random  numbers.  For 
example,  there  are  digital  circuits  that 
can  generate  long  strings  of  digits  that 


look  random,  but  are  not.  Or  there  are 
math  formulas  Lhat  can  do  iL  As  long  as 
you  and  your  friend  both  have  the  same 
circuit  or  formula,  you  can  duplicate  the 
same  sequence  of  page  numbers, 

(d)  If  you  need  to  do  this  every  day, 
should  you  reuse  the  same  numbers  each 
day,  or  should  you  start  over  with  a  dif- 
ferent set?  If  your  main  aim  is  secrecy, 
then  you  should  use  a  different  set  each 
day.  But  if  you're  just  concerned  with 
keeping  down  interference  from  or  to 
other  people,  then  reusing  the  same 
numbers  every  time  can  be  enough, 

Now  let's  see  how  this  applies  to  radio 
signals.  The  traditional  idea  is  to  trans- 
mit a  radio  signal  on  a  carrier  with  a 
fixed  frequency,  and  to  try  to  limit  the 
bandwidth  as  much  as  possible  to  avoid 
interference  to  (and  from)  others.  But  a 
radio  signal  like  this  is  easy  to  find  (es- 
pecially with  a  spectrum  analyzer),  and 
easy  to  interfere  with  or  jam. 

Spread-spectrum  radio,  on  the  other 
hand,  takes  that  signal,  spreads  it  over 
a  very  large  band  of  frequencies,  and 
does  it  in  a  way  that  looks  quite  ran- 
dom and  unpredictable  (but  is  not!)  It 
is  the  very  opposite  of  what  communi- 
cators have  been  trying  to  do  since  the 
beginnings  of  radio. 

Spreading  a  signal  out  over  a  large 
band  of  frequencies  also  has  the  effect  of 
bringing  it  down  into  the  noise.  Consider 
a  glass  of  water.  If  the  glass  has  a  diam- 
eter of,  say,  two  inches,  then  it  might  be 
perhaps  four  inches  talL  Pour  the  same 
amount  of  water  into  a  glass  four  inches 
in  diameter,  and  the  water  is  now  only 
one  inch  deep,  Pour  it  on  the  basement 
floor  and  it  spreads  out  over  a  large  area, 
but  becomes  only  a  tiny  fraction  of  an 
inch  deep.  In  the  same  way,  a  10-watt 
RF  signal  all  on  one  frequency  stands 
out  like  a  sore  thumb.  Spread  it  out  over 
a  few  megahertz,  and  the  amount  of 
power  at  any  one  frequency  is  so  small 
thai  it's  almost  impossible  to  measure.  It 
blends  into  the  noise. 

There  are  several  different  ways  to 
spread  the  signal  over  a  large  bandwidth; 
the  two  most  common  are  frequency 
hopping  and  direct  sequence. 

Frequency  hopping 

Frequency  hopping  is  just  what  the 
name  says — rather  than  continuously 
transmitting  on  one  frequency,  the  trans- 
mitter is  constantly  hopping  from  one 


frequency  to  another  This  can  easily  be 
achieved  by  using  a  pseudo-random 
number  generator  to  drive  a  phase- 
locked  loop.  Both  the  transmitter  and  re- 
ceiver must  use  the  same  number 
generator  to  make  sure  that  each  time  the 
transmitter  hops  to  a  new  frequency,  the 
receiver  will  go  there  too. 

Your  signal  actually  uses  a  lot  of 
bandwidth — it  spreads  out  over  a  large 
spectrum — but  any  particular  part  of 
that  spectrum  is  used  only  a  bit.  Not 
only  is  it  hard  to  find  such  a  signal,  but 
it  generates  relatively  little  interfer- 
ence to  others  because  it  never  stays 
on  any  one  frequency  long  enough  to 
really  bother  anyone.  It  also  picks  up 
little  interference  from  others:  If  there 
is  some  other  interfering  transmitter 
on  a  particular  frequency,  your  re- 
ceiver will  be  on  that  frequency  only  a 
short  lime,  probably  not  long  enough 
to  bother  you  or  him.  (And  some  fre- 
quency-hopping systems  actually 
avoid  frequencies  that  are  in  use  by 
other  systems.) 

Frequency  hopping  can  be  used  to 
send  an  analog  voice  signal,  but  during 
the  times  that  the  transmitter  and  re- 
ceiver are  hopping  from  one  frequency 
to  another,  there  would  be  short  breaks 
or  glitches  in  the  signal  which  would  be 
very  annoying-  So  a  more  common  ap- 
proach is  to  use  a  codec — a  coder/de- 
coder which  does  an  analog-to-digital 
conversion  to  change  the  analog  voice 
signal  to  digital  data — and  then  send  the 
digital  data  in  short  but  rapid  bursts.  Be- 
tween the  bursts  the  transmitter  shuts 
off,  switches  to  the  new  frequency,  turns 
on,  and  then  sends  the  next  burst  of  data. 
The  receiver  collects  the  bursts  of  data, 
slows  them  down  and  converts  them  into 
a  continuous  stream  of  data  which.  wrhen 
converted  back  to  sound  with  another 
codec,  results  in  continuous  speech. 

This  method  has  one  other  advantage; 
Once  the  sound  is  in  digital  form,  error 
correction  can  be  used  to  correct  for 
missing  or  wrong  bits  of  data.  In  this 
way,  even  if  two  transmitters  occasion- 
ally hop  on  the  same  frequency  and  in- 
terfere with  each  other,  the  error 
correction  removes  the  resulting  errors. 

Direct  sequence 

Direct  sequence  spread-spectrum  is 
completely  different  from  frequency 
hopping.  Let's  go  back  to  our  analogy  of 


0 


1 


(a)  Codec  output  signal 


v 

N  chips 


_>\_ 


**y. 


n 


W  UU 


P  chips  N  chips 

(b)  After  substituting  P  and  N  codes 


Fig.  1,  Spread -spectrum  chips. 

hiding  messages  in  a  telephone  direc- 
tory. As  we  described  it,  each  successive 
letter  of  the  message  KILROY  WAS 
HERE  went  on  a  different  page.  This 
matches  frequency  hopping  quite  well, 
where  each  successive  part  of  a  signal  is 
sent  on  a  different  frequency. 

Direct  sequence  spread-spectrum 
(DS-SS)  is  not  tike  that.  Imagine  that  the 
telephone  directory  has  1 00  pages.  Take 
K,  the  first  letter  of  the  message,  break  it 
up  into  100  pieces,  and  put  a  little  piece 
of  it  on  every  page  of  the  book.  Then  do 
the  same  for  every  other  letter  of  the 
message.  At  the  end,  every  page  of  the 
directory  has  a  tiny  bit  of  every  letter,  In 
a  sense,  your  KILROY  WAS  HERE 
message  is  smeared  all  over  the  book! 
That's  direct  sequence! 

Let's  use  a  spread-spectrum  cordless 
phone  as  an  example.  Suppose  you  want 
to  transmit  a  telephone-quality  voice  sig- 
nal having  a  bandwidth  of  perhaps  3000 
or  4000  Hz,  between  the  handset  and  the 
base  of  the  phone.  With  ordinary  AM  or 
FM,  it  could  be  sent  in  a  radio  signal 
with  a  bandwidth  as  narrow  as  6  or  8 
kHz  (and  even  less  with  single-side- 
band/) With  DS-SS,  the  process  is  a  lot 
more  complicated.  We  start  by  convert- 
ing the  voice  signal  into  a  digital  signal 
with  a  codec.  This  typically  gives  us  64k 
bits  per  second  of  digital  data. 


DETOUR 


A  quick  review:  For  resistors,  a  k  is 
1,000  ohms.  For  computer  folk,  how- 
ever, a  k  is  1,024,  so  64k  would  nor- 
mally be  64  x  1,024  or  65,536,  not 
64,000,  In  this  case,  however,  the  num- 
ber really  is  64,000  bits  per  second, 
obtained  by  multiplying  8,000  measure- 
ments per  second  times  8  bits  per 
measurement. 


END  QF  DETOUR 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996  65 


If  we  ignored  the  fact  that  the  64k  bps 
ouiput  of  the  codec  has  sharp  edges 

(and  therefore  harmonics)  and  tried 
to  modulate  this  onto  a  carrier  the 
pre-sprcad-spectrum  way,  we  would 
have  a  total  bandwidth  of  64  kHz. 

Direct  sequence  spread-spectrum 
takes  an  extra  siep.  however,  before 
it  modulates  the  carrier  tl  takes  each 
bit  of  the  data  coming  out  of  the 
codec  and  replaces  it  with  a  whole 
batch  of  new  bits.  In  a  typical 
spread-spectrum  cordless  phone,  for 
example,  each  bit  of  the  codec  out- 
put is  replaced  by  32  hi  is.  These  bits 
break  up  each  codec  bit  into  32 
pieces  called  "chips,"  One  set  of  32 
chips,  called  the  N  cade,  replaces 
each  0,  while  another  set,  called  ihe 
P  code,  replaces  each  1  in  the  codec 
output.  In  Fig,  1  (ah  we  see  the  sig- 
nal as  it  might  come  out  of  the 
codec.  In  Fig.  1  (b)  we  see  what 
happens  when  the  N  code  replaces 
the  two  0  bits,  and  the  P  code  replaces 


except  thai  the  bandwidth  has  to  be 
wide — as  wide  as  the  signal.  All  of 
the  interesting  work  occurs  after  the 
detector.  Because  the  transmitted 
signal  is  spread  out  over  such  a  wide 
bandwidth,  the  output  from  the  de- 
tector (usually  a  phase -modulation 
detector)  looks  very  much  like 
noise.  It  would  be  almost  impossible 
to  recover  the  desired  signal,  except 
for  one  thing — the  receiver  knows 
what  the  P  and  N  codes  are  supposed 
to  look  like!  So  it  knows  what  to 
look  for. 

The  circuit  that  looks  for  the  P  and 
N  codes  is  called  a  correlator.  Corre- 
lation is  a  mathematical  term  which 
describes  how  similar  two  things  are 
to  each  other  by  comparing  them, 
item  by  item.  For  example,  suppose 
you  toss  a  coin  four  times  and  gel 
tails,  heads,  heads,  and  tails;  call 
this  THHT.  If  your  friend  tosses  a 
coin  and  also  gets  THHT,  that's  a 
perfect  match.  You  both  got  tails  on 


"This  can  easily  be  achieved  by  using  a  pseudo-random 
number  generator  to  drive  a  phase-locked  loopJ 


93 


the  I.  (In  this  figure,  the  N  code  for 
the  two  zeroes  is  the  same;  for 
greater  security,  more  complex  sys- 
tems might  change  the  P  and  N 
codes  from  bit  to  bit.) 

Obviously,  ihe  resulting  signal  has 
much  higher  frequency  components; 
in  general,  replacing  the  original 
bits  with  their  P  and  N  codes  in- 
creases the  frequency  range  by  a  fac- 
tor of  32,  which  increases  the 
bandwidth  by  a  factor  of  32  as  welL 
In  this  case,  the  bandwidth  goes 
from  64  kHz  to  over  2  MHz,  much 
more  than  before.  Bui  this  means 
that  the  transmitted  power  is  spread 
out  over  a  much  wider  bandwidth — 
sort  of  like  spilling  a  glass  of  water 
on  the  floor*  The  same  amount  of 
power  (or  water)  is  still  there,  but  by 
spreading  it  over  a  larger  area  the 
depth  at  any  spot  is  very  small.  In 
some  cases,  the  power  may  be  so 
small  that  it's  at  or  even  below  the 
normal  noise  level. 

As  you  can  imagine,  a  direct  se- 
quence spread-spectrum  receiver  is 
an  interesting  device,  It  starts  off 
with  a  fairly  normal  superhei  design, 
66   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


the  first  loss,  heads  on  the  second, 
and  so  on.  But  note  that  this  is  not 
the  same  as  THTH,  THTH  also  has 
two  heads  and  two  tails,  but  they 
aren't  in  the  same  places — the  first 
and  second  toss  were  the  same,  but 
the  third  and  fourth  are  different.  So 
only  half  of  the  tosses  matched. 

Now,  suppose  you  loss  a  coin  100 
times,  and  your  friend  also  tosses 
100  times.  On  the  average,  you'd  ex- 
pect 50  of  your  friend's  tosses  to  be 
the  same  as  yours,  and  50  to  be  dif- 
ferent. So  if  you  get  somewhere 
around  50  matches  out  of  the  100, 
that  doesn't  show  anything  special; 
that's  just  the  way  random  events 
happen.  We*d  say  that  this  is 
uncorretated. 

But  if  all  100  of  your  friends 
tosses  exactly  match  all  100  of 
yours,  that's  suspicious.  Sort  of  like 
two  students  who  take  a  true-false 
test  in  a  subject  they  know  nothing 
about,  and  get  exactly  the  same  an- 
swers (some  right*  some  wrong.) 
Suspicious,  right?  I  would  say  that 
these  two  sets  of  answers  are  corre- 
lated— thai    one    student    probably 


copied  his  answers  from  the  other 
Thai's  a  correlation  of  100%  (or  just  +1 J 

But  what  if  the  two  students  get 
answers  thai  are  completely  differ- 
ent? Each  time  one  answers  TRUE, 
the  other  answers  FALSE.  Td  say 
that's  also  suspicious — almost  as 
though  one  copied  from  the  other, 
but  purposely  changed  his  answers 
because  he  decided  the  other  chap 
was  always  wrong.  In  our  case,  we'd 
say  this  is  -100%  correlation  <or  just  -L> 

So  if  two  signals  are  very  similar, 
the  correlation  is  close  to  +1 ;  if  they 
are  opposiles,  ihe  correlation  is  -1; 
if  they  aren't  related  to  each  other, 
the  correlation  is  0* 

Now  back  to  a  very  simplified  ex- 
planation of  the  direct  sequence 
spread-spectrum  receiver.  The  signal 
coming  out  of  the  deieclor  is  noisy, 
but  at  any  instanl  that  noise  might  be 
positive  or  negative.  This  voltage  is 
sent  to  a  capacitor,  which  averages 
that  voltaee  over  the  length  of  one 
chip.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  the  ca- 
pacitor voltage  may  be  slightly  posi- 
tive or  slightly  negative,  and  the 
circuit  uses  that  voltage  to  decide 
whether  that  chip  seems  to  be  a  0  or 
a  1.  It  then  sends  that  chip  into  a 
digital  circuit  which  stores  it.  as 
well  as  the  31  previous  chips.  In 
other  words,  this  circuit  (called  a 
shift  register)  stores  the  last  32  chips 
thai  have  come  out  of  the  detector. 
(The  shift  register  always  stores  the 
latest  32  chips:  each  lime  a  new  chip 
comes  out,  ihe  oldest  chip  in  ihe  reg- 
ister gets  pushed  out,  so  the  very  last 
32  chips  are  always  in  the  register.) 

Now  the  correlator  goes  to  work. 
The  receiver  knows  what  P  and  N 
codes  the  transmitter  is  using.  So  the 
correlator  continuously  looks  at  the 
32  bits  in  the  shift  register,  and  com- 
pares them  bit-by-hii  with  the  32 
bits  in  the  P  code  and  the  N  code 
thai  it  knows  the  transmitter  used. 
Each  time  it  finds  a  match,  it  says, 
"Aha!  I  got  one!"  (For  those  of  you 
mathematically  inclined,  this  process 
is  called  convolution.) 

With  32  bits  in  a  P  or  N  code, 
there  are  2*:,  or  more  than  lour  bil- 
lion possible  patterns  to  the  code.  So 
it's  not  likely  that  a  random  signal 
coming  out  of  the  detector  is  going 
to  exactly  match  either  the  P  code  or 
the  N  code.  For  thai  nuttier,  since  the 


incoming  signal  is  noisy,  it's  not 
likely  that  even  a  fairly  strong  trans- 
mitted signal  will  exactly  match  the 
P  or  N  code  either.  Bui  if  most  of  the 
bits  match  (and  it's  up  to  the  de- 
signer to  define  what  is  meant  by 
"most"),  then  the  correlator  reports 
that  it  has  recognized  a  0  or  a  L 

So  let's  just  review  some  of  the 
key  points  of  the  system: 

1)  The  correlator  sort  of  takes  a 
majority  vote  on  the  chips,  so  it  tol- 
erates a  certain  amount  of  errors. 
Even  so,  it  will  often  make  a  mis- 
take, so  some  additional  error  correction 
is  usually  needed. 

2)  The  P  and  N  codes  have  to  be 
different  enough  that  there  isn't  a 
likelihood  of  mistaking  one  for  the 
other.  Even  their  parts  have  to  be 
di  fie  rem,  and  this  means  that  only 
certain  P  and  N  codes  can  be 
used.  Still,  there  are  many  possible 
combinations. 

3)  A  receiver  can  only  decode  a 
transmitted  signal  if  it  knows  what  P 
and  N  codes  the  transmitter  used. 
Other  transmitters  using  different  P 
and  N  codes,  even  though  operating 
on  the  same  frequencies,  appear  as 
just  noise.  While  they  increase  the 
overall  noise  in  the  system,  they 
don't  really  interfere  with  reception 
unless  they  are  very  near.  Thus, 
many  transmitters  can  use  the  same 
frequencies  without  interference  to 
each  other,  and  they  are  often 
difficult  to  detect. 

The  FCC  has  recently  opened  up 
three  bands  (902-928  MHz,  2400- 
2483,5  MHz,  and  5725-5850  MHz) 
for  unlicensed  spread-spectrum  op- 
eration. A  variety  of  equipment, 
such  as  wireless  headphones, 
cordless  phones,  burglar  or  fire 
alarms,  and  wireless  modems,  are  al- 
ready being  marketed.  There  are 
even  some  integrated  circuits  which 
contain  most  of  what  you'd  need  for 
a  simple  spread-spectrum  trans- 
ceiver. Moreover,  direct  sequence 
spread- spectrum  (under  the  name 
CDMA  or  Code  Division  Multiple 
Access)  is  being  developed  for  cel- 
lular telephones  as  a  means  of  allow- 
ing many  more  telephones  to  he  used 
in  a  given  area  without  interfering 
with  each  other.  This  is  a  big  field, 
and  getting  bigger. 


Digital  signal  processing 

Another  interesting  new  concept 
which  may  drastically  change  radio 
systems  in  the  very  near  future  is 
digital  signal  processing.  A  DSP 
(Digital  Signal  Processor)  is  essen- 
tially a  specialized  microcomputer 
IC,  dedicated  to  processing  analog 
signals.  It  takes  an  analog  signal, 
converts  it  into  digital  numbers,  pro- 
cesses the  digital  data  in  some  way. 
and  then  converts  it  back  into  an 
analog  signal. 

Up  until  now,  DSP  circuits  have 
been  used  in  amateur  equipment  pri- 
marily to  process  the  audio.  For  ex- 
ample, a  DSP  can  analyze  the 
received  audio  to  identify  constant 
signals  (such  as  the  whistles  pro- 
duced by  interfering  stations)  and 
remove  them.  It  can  do  the  opposite 
too — identify  those  signals  which 
represent  voice  signals,  and  amplify 


by  a  DSP,  and  all  other  functions,  in- 
cluding IF  amplification  and  filter- 
ing, and  detecting,  would  he  done 
digitally. 

The  idea  is  actually  driven  by  cel- 
lular radio.  A  cellular  site  normally 
needs  a  number  of  receivers,  all 
tuned  to  different  frequencies.  Using 
DSPs  would  eliminate  all  this,  re- 
placing it  with  one  RF  amplifier,  one 
oscillator,  and  one  mixer.  The  result- 
ing IF  signal  (which  would  actually 
contain  a  number  of  different  re- 
ceived signals  at  the  same  time) 
would  then  be  processed  by  several 
different  DSPs,  each  one  recovering 
the  signal  from  one  mobile  or  hand- 
held cell  phone  user.  When  a  cell 
phone  switches  from  one  frequency 
to  another,  instead  of  the  cellular 
site  having  to  switch  receivers,  the 
DSP  would  simply  be  rcprogrammed 
to  recover  a  different  signal 


"Today's  criminals  can  use  these  same  techniques 

to  avoid  detection  and  capture. 


w 


them  more  than  other  signals.  In  this 
way,  the  DSP  has  been  used  prima- 
rily to  remove  interference  and  noise. 

As  another  example,  several  com- 
panies now  manufacture  noise-re- 
]  duction  headphones,  Mounted  on  the 
headphone  is  a  small  microphone 
which  picks  up  outside  noise.  A  DSP 
circuit  analyzes  that  noise,  and  then 
sends  an  equal  hut  opposite  signal  to 
the  headphone.  This  opposite  signal 
partially  cancels  out  the  outside 
noise,  reducing  the  noise  level.  The 
concept  has  also  been  used  to  coun- 
teract machinery  noise. 

Up  until  recently,  DSPs  have  been 
plagued  by  slow  speed,  with  the  re- 
sult that  they  could  barely  keep  up 
with  audio  frequencies.  But  recent 
advances  in  DSP  technology  have 
speeded  them  up  to  the  point  where 
they  are  becoming  fast  enough  to 
work  at  IF  frequencies  in  receivers. 
This  opens  up  an  entire  new  area  for 
them, 

A  number  of  manufacturers  are 
working  on  receiver  designs  that 
consist  of  just  three  analog  parts — 
an  RF  amplifier,  oscillator,  and 
mixer.  The  IF  output  from  the  mixer 
would  then  immediately  be  digitized 


I  The  whole  concept  is  still  brand- 
new,  and  in  its  infancy.  But  we  can 
expect  the  typical  radio  receiver  five 
or    10  years   from  now  to  be  very 

different  from  today's  superhet! 

Conclusion 

As  you  can  see,  interesting  and  ex- 
citing things  are  happening  in  radio 
today.  The  advent  of  spread-spec- 
trum communications  is  turning  the 
industry  around.  Forty  years  ago. 
when  CB  or  Citizens"  Band  radio 
started,  so  many  people  started  using 
it  thai  interference  (and  bad  operat- 
ing) made  the  band  a  shambles.  Now 
spread-spectrum  makes  it  possible 
for  large  numbers  of  people  to  share 
the  same  spectrum  space  without 
really  interfering  with  each  other 

Potentially,  this  is  a  tremendous 
improvement,  but  it  can  also  lead  to 
some  problems.  Just  tike  the  military 
developed  spread -spectrum  use  over 
the  years  to  provide  security  from 
detection,  so  today's  criminals  can 
use  these  same  techniques  to  avoid 
detection  and  capture.  I  guess  there 
isn't  much  we  can  di)  about  that.  Q 
73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  67 


Number  68  on  your  Feedback  card 


CW  Enhancer 


Making  your  signal  stand  tall. 


Parker  R.  Cope  W2GOM/7 

8040  E.  Tranquil  Blvd. 

Prescott  Valley  AZ  86314 


When  we  listen  to  CW  we 
uould  tike  to  hear  a  "single 
signal."  which  means  elimi- 
nating  all  the  interfering  signals.  Elimi- 
nating all  the  undesired  signals  isn't 
really  possible  and  we  have  to  be  satis- 
fied with  making  the  desired  one  stand 
out  from  the  crowd.  The  filler  described 
here  does  just  that.  It  is  tunable  from 
below  300  H/.  to  above  3  kHz  and  has 
bandwidth  variable  from  below  50  Hz 
to  more  Lhan  5  kHz.  The  filler  may  strain 
out  the  signal  but  il  doesn't  strain  the 
budgeL  It  uses  onlv  one  quad  op  amp 
(an  LM324,  available  from  Radio 
Shack™)  and  a  few  common  resistors 
and  capacitors. 

Design  equations  arc  given  to  permit 
building  niters  for  other  applications  in 
the  audio  frequency  range.  Of  course, 
it's  not  necessarv  to  understand  the 
theory  to  build  a  filter  that  can  improve 
your  receiver's  performance,  but  under- 
standing the  parts*  functions  allows 
adaption  and  use  of  the  parts  at  hand. 

The  best  filter  Tor  a  receiver  is  a  com- 
promise of  performance,  complexity  and 
cosh  At  first  it  would  seem  that  a  filter 
passing  only  a  very  narrow  hand  of  fre- 
quencies would  be  ideal.  But  using  a 
very  narrow  tiller  in  a  receiver  requires  a 
slow  tuning  rale — if  the  receiver  is  tuned 
too  quickly  il  can  pass  over  a  desired 
signal.  A  narrow  filter  also  requires  fre- 
quency stability  in  both  ihe  receiver  and 
the  transmitter.  Some  receivers  drift  for 


a  few  minutes  (or  hours)  before  they  sta- 
bilize, and  who  can  tell  what  the 
transmitter  might  do? 

The  CW  Enhancer's  center  frequency 
and  bandwidth  can  be  adjusted  to  ac- 
commodate varying  band  conditions, 
and  il  has  adjustable  off- frequency  re- 
jection which  is  achieved  by  combining 
:i  portion  of  Lhe  full-bandwidth  audio 
output  of  the  receiver  with  the 
narrowband  output  of  the   filter.  The 


where  F  is  frequency  in  hertz,  L  is  inductance 
in  henries,  and  C  is  ciipacitanee  in  farads.  L 
can  be  found  by  rewriting  the  equation  ay 

L=l/[(6.28xF)-xCi] 

The  value  of  L  needed  io  tunc  CI  from 
300  Hz  to  3000  Hz  can  be  calculated 
with  the  second  equation.  CI  is  arbi- 
trarily chosen  to  be  0.0 1  \iF  and  the 
value  of  L  is  found  to  be; 


The  active  filter  probably  offers  the  best  compromise  for  a 

multi-octave  audio  filter" 


Fig.  J  A  conceptual  audio  filter. 

68   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


narrowband  signal  is  enhanced  when  the 
level  of  the  full-bandwidth  signal,  in- 
cluding interference,  is  reduced  relative 
to  the  narrowband  signal. 

Filters  come  in  many  shapes  and  sizes, 
each  with  its  own  set  of  advantages  and 
disadvantages.  All  things  considered,  the 
active  filler  probably  offers  the  best 
compromise  for  a  multi-octave  audio  fil- 
ler. The  CW  Enhancer  is  an  active  filter 
thai  requires  no  matched  components 
and  only  one  low  cost  quad  op  amp,  one 
variable  resistor  to  control  frequency, 
another  to  control  bandwidth,  and  a  pot 
to  control  enhancement 

The  conceptual  audio  filter  shown  in 
Fig.  1,  while  not  particularly  useful 
when  a  wound  inductor  is  used,  can 
serve  as  the  prototype  for  a  filter  when 
an  active  variable  inductor  is  used.  The 
output  across  the  tuned  circuit  is  maxi- 
mum at  the  resonant  frequency.  The 
resonant  frequency  of  the  Hirer  is: 

F  =  1/ 16.28  xiLxCir] 


L      =  1/ 1(6.28  x  300)  2  x  1  x  10"*  = 


julIX 


28. 1  H 


L     =1/  ((6.28  x  3(XX»  2  x  1  x  10"  = 


rppi 


0.28 1 H 


The  3  dB  bandwidth  of  the  filter  in 

hertz  is: 

BW=  l/(6/29xRl  xCl     ' 

where  CI  is  in  farads,  and  Rl  is  in  ohms. 
When  C 1  is  fixed,  the  bandu  idth  of  the 
filler  is  controlled  by  the  variable  resis- 
tor, Rl: 

Rl=  1/(6.28xC1xBW) 

Assume  CI  is  0.01  |uF  then  a  band- 
width of  50  Hz  requires  Rl  lo  be  318k. 
The  nearest  standard  potentiometer 
value  is  500k,  Therefore,  when  Rl  is 
500k.  the  nominal  minimum  bandwidth 
is  32  Hz.  When  Rl  is  5k,  the  bandwidth 
is  3.2  kHz*  A  resistor  in  series  with  Rl 


w ill  limit  the  maximum  handwith  if  the  range 
of  handwidths  needs  to  he  restricted. 

[n  ihe  CW  Enhancer  the  variable  in- 
ductance shown  in  Fig-  1  is  synthesized 
with  a  General  Impedance  Converter 
<GIC),  shown  in  Fig.  2.  The  GIC.  com- 
prised of  A2.  A3,  R2?  R3,  R4,  R5,  and 
C2,  replaces  the  inductance  L.  The  in- 
ductor synthesized  by  the  GIC  has  an 
equivalent  inductance  of: 


L    =  C2  x  R2  x  R4  x  R5/  R3 


where  L    is  in  henries,  C2  is  in  farads, 
and  the  Rs  arc  in  ohms. 


"The  best  filter  for  a 

receiver  is  a  compromise 

of  performance,  complexity, 

and  cost" 

Since  R2,  R3.  R4,  and  C2  can  be  made 

constant,  the  inductance  L  ,  and  conse- 
quenily  the  tuned  frequency,  Fo,  can  he 
controlled  by  R5.  When  R2  -  R3  =  R4  = 
R5  -  R  the  expression  for  L    reduces  to: 


L   =C2xR- 


The  value  for  R~  can  be  calculated  to 
show  the  general  range  of  values  of  the 
resistors  required  in  the  GIC.  A  conve- 
nient value  of  C2  is  0/01  jiF  and  R2  is 
calculated  to  be  2.81  x  109  to  produce 
28,1  H.  Therefore,  R  is  approximately 
53k  .  Since  50k  is  the  nearest  standard 
pot  value  available  for  R5?  R2.  R3,  and 
R4  are  recalculated  to  be  56k.  The  value 
of  R5  needed  to  produce  0.28 1  H  is  500 
ohms. 

The  CW  Hnhanccr  shown  in  Fig-  3 
uses  a  GIC  to  synthesize  a  variable  in- 
ductor to  resonate  with  CI  over  the  fre- 
quency range.  The  bandwidth  is 
controlled  by  RI.  A  fraction  of  the  full 
bandwidth  audio  signal,  determined  with 
the  enhancement  control  R6,  is  summed 
with  the  output  of  the  resonant  circuit. 
The  resonant  circuit  is  isolated  from  the 
summing  amplifier  A4  by  the  non-invert- 
ing unitv  iiain  buffer  AL  The  "enhance- 
mem"  control*  R6,  controls  the  level  of  the 
full  bandwidth  signal  without  changing  the 
level  of  the  filtered  signal. 

The  output  of  A4  can  drive  20  mA  into 
a  short  circuit  or  swing  a  Ik  load  to 
within  a  volt  of  the  rails.  This  equates  to 


about  1.5  mW  into  low  impedance  (8 
ohm)  phones  or  20  mW  into  600  ohm 
phones.  For  more  audio  power  Radio 
Shack's  mini-audio  amplifier  P/N  277- 
1008  at  $1 1 .99  will  certainly  do  the  job, 
but  a  simple  emitter  follower  as  shown 
in  Fig.  3  is  much  less  expensive  and  is 
adequate  for  most  situations.  The 
speaker  or  phones  are  capacitively 
coupled  to  eliminate  DC  in  the  load.  A 
100  (iF  coupling  capacitor  produces  a 
low  cut-off  frequency  of  19K  hertz 
with  an  8  ohm  speaker  That  is,  the  re- 
sponse at  198  hertz  is  down  3  dB  (half 
power)  from  the  response  at  2  kHz. 
When  600  ohm  phones  are  used,  the 
coupling  capacitor  can  be  reduced 
to  2.2  |iF 

The  LM324  quad  op  amp  shown  in 
Fig.  3  is  pin-for-pin  compatible  with  the 
MC4741.  These  ICs  contain  four  inde- 
pendent operational  amplifiers  identical 
lo  the  MCI 74 1  packaged  in  one  14-pin 
DIP.  Of  course,  the  quad  op  amp  can  be 
replaced  with  four  individual  741s  if 
they  are  more  available. 


Fig,  2.  The  General  impedance  Convener 
tan  look  like  an  iductor.  See  text  for  formulas* 

The  power  supply  for  the  circuit  is  not  es- 
pecially critical:  a  12  volt  supply  is  conve- 
nient. When  a  12  vol!  supply  is  tapped  at 
6V,  the  tap  may  be  considered  "local 
ground"  and  the  op  amps  effectively  oper- 
ate from  +6V  and  ~6V.  Of  course,  the  +6V 
and  -6V  supplies  could  be  developed 
idividually.  The  local  ground,"  VR,  is  ob- 
tained by  tapping  a  single  1 2V  supply  with 
RIO  and  Rl  I  in  Fig* 3.  The  +12  volt  input 
is  6  volts  above  'local  ground"  and  the 


Fig.  3.  The  CW  Enhancer  uses  GIC  to  synthesize  the  inductor  in  an  audio  filter.. 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  68 


negative  side  of  the  input  supply  is  6  volts 
below  'local  ground/' 

The  maximum  power  into  600  ohm 
phones  is  limited  by  the  supply  voltage. 
With  8  ohm  phones,  the  maximum  power 
is  limited  by  the  peak  transistor  collector 
current.  A  different  transistor  with  higher 
collector  dissipation  could  supply  more 
power  if  needed.  Since  the  Enhancer's 
voltage  gain  is  about  unity,  the  maximum 
input  from  the  receiver  should  be  limited 
to  about  3.5V  (5V  peak)  with  600  ohm 
phones  or  0,28V  (0.4V  peak)  with  8  ohm 
phones  or  speaker. 

The  Parts  List  for  the  CW  Enhancer  of 
Fig.  3  is  given  in  Table  1,  Most  Radio 
Shack  stores  will  special  order  the  potenti- 
ometers from  Radio  Shack  Unlimited 
(RSU),  If  not,  they  are  available  from  any 
industrial  electronics  distributor,  such  as 
Digi-Key. 

The  CW  Enhancer  is  a  relatively  simple 
project  whose  performance  belies  its  sim- 
plicity* The  three  controls:  *'Enhance- 
menC*  "Bandwidth,"  and  "Frequency," 
enhance  the  CW  capabilities  of  a  basic 
communications  receiver.  Construction 
time  is  just  an  evening  or  two  but  the 
enjoyment  it  brings  goes  on  and  on. 


Parts  List 

C1,  C2 

0.01  ±  10%  fiF  film  capacitor 

Radio  Shack  # 
272-0165 

C3 

2.2  ±  20%  \xF  electrolytic 
capacitor 

272-1435 

C4,  C5 

100  ^F  electrolytic  capacitor 

272-1016 

J1 

1/4"  single  circuit  2-conductor 
phone  jack 

274-252 

Q1 

NPN  transistor,  hFE  >  40 

MPS3904 

R1 

500k  ±  20%  1/4W 
potentiometer 

RSU 

R2,  R3,  R4 

56k  ±  5%  1/4W  fixed  resistor 

RSU 

R5 

50k  ±  20%  1/4W  potentiometer 

271-1716 

R6 

5k  ±  20%  1/4W  potentiometer 

271-1720 

R7,  R8,  R9, 
R10,  R11 

10k  ±  5%  1/4W  fixed  resistor 

271-1335 

R12 

470k  ±  5%  1/4W  fixed  resistor 

271-1317 

U1 

LM324  quad  op-amp 

276-1711 

Table  I.  Parts  list  for  the  CW  Enhancer. 


home  page:  www.  hamboree.org 


37th  ANNUAL 


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E-MAIL  edg@elink.net 


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HOMEPAGE:  www.  hamboree.org 


70  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996 


RTU 


Number  7%  on  your 


card 


Bill  Brown  WB8ELK 
1 38  Angela  Dr.  Apt,  B 
Madison  AL  35738 


Just  before  sunrise  on  Septem- 
ber 22t  members  of  a  group  called 
HALO  (High  Altitude  Lift  Off) 
gathered  at  the  old  airport  in 
Huntsville,  Alabama,  to  fly  an 
unusual  balloon  mission.  This 
was  part  of  an  ongoing  series  of 
test  flights  to  prepare  for  a  rock- 
oon  flight  this  winter  The  rock- 
oon  is  a  rocket  launched  from  a 
balloon  platform  floating  at 
90,000  feet.  Since  this  is  above 
most  of  Earth's  atmosphere,  the 
rocket  should  fly  briefly  into 
space  (over  60  miles  high). 


Ham  Television 

Also  attached  to  the  fuel  tank 
payload  was  a  low-power  track- 
ing beacon  designed  by  myself 
WB8ELK,  with  a  68HC811E2 
microcontroller  which  sent  down 
CW  altitude  and  temperature  te- 
lemetry via  a  147,45  MHz  2  mil- 
liwatt FM  transmitter  (audio  CW) 
based  on  the  Motorola  MC2833P 
chip.  In  addition,  the  telemetry 
was  simulcast  on  28.800  MHz 
CW  (20  milliwatts)  using  a  keyed 
clock  oscillator. 

The  balloon  used  was  a  special 
19k  cu-ft  Raven  zero  pressure 
balloon,  which  is  quite  different 
from  the  standard  weather  ba]- 
loons  used  in  previous  flights. 


It  was  just  like  taking  an  elevator  to  the 

edge  of  space. " 


The  flight  system 

The  experiment  payload  con- 
sisted of  a  nitrous  oxide  fuel  tank 
with  pressure  and  temperatures 
probes  inside  to  study  the  effects 
of  the  balloon  flight.  We  need  to 
maintain  good  pressure  in  order 
to  fire  our  hybrid  rocket  from  the 
balloon.  The  rocket  is  a  hybrid 
consisting  of  a  nitrous  oxide  tank 
and  asphalt.  Our  ground-based 
launch  of  the  rocket  achieved 
nearly  30,000  feet  last  spring. 

The  ATV/telemetry  payload 
was  built  by  Ed  Myszka  KE4ROC 
and  consisted  of  a  live  color  TV 
camera  hooked  up  to  a  PC  Elec- 
tronics KPA-5  ATV  transmitter  on 
434  MHz  (a  microphone  was  at- 
tached to  the  audio  subcarricr),  a 
big  wheel  antenna  built  by  Gobe 
W4WAD,  and  a  sensor  decode 
system  consisting  of  two  Basic 
Stamp  lis  hooked  to  a  GPS/Pico- 
Packet  combo.  Telemetry  and 
position  information  was  sent 
down  in  an  APRS  format  on 
145.79  MHz. 

Ed  mounted  all  of  his  electron- 
ics into  a  sturdy  but  reasonably 
lightweight  aluminum  frame  of 
his  own  design  and  covered  it  all 
with  Styrofoam™  for  thermal 
insulation. 


This  balloon  is  made  out  of  a  plas- 
tic film  with  a  vent  duct  in  the 
bottom.  At  altitude,  instead  of 
bursting,  it  actually  vents  out  the 
excess  helium  and  will  level  off 
until  sundown  or  until  we  cut  it 
loose  with  a  cutdown  device. 

Adventures  In  flight 

As  we  laid  out  the  balloon  (70 
feet  long  un inflated)  on  the  pave- 
ment of  the  old  airport  runway, 
many  of  us  commenced  on  just 
how  perfect  the  conditions  were 
for  our  first  attempt  at  such  a  large 
system.  Not  even  the  slightest 
breeze  disturbed  our  efforts  as  we 
pumped  almost  four  tanks  of  he- 
lium into  the  balloon  envelope 
(approximately  1 ,000  cubic  feet 
of  gas). 

After  about  two  hours  of  prepa- 
ration we  were  ready  to  launch. 
The  balloon  towered  over  us  and 
was  quite  a  spectacular  sight  as  it 
reflected  the  early  morning  light 
However,  just  as  we  were  ready 
for  liftoff,  we  encountered  a  prob- 
lem with  our  rigging  and  retrieval 
system  which  required  a  trip  back 
to  the  workshop  to  get  some  parts. 

We  sat  there  with  a  huge  bag 
of  helium  for  nearly  an  hour. 
Then,  just  as  the  crew  returned 


Photo  A.  The  launch  crew  prepares  she  ATV  telemetry  and  tank 
experiment  far  liftoff  as  the  balloon  is  inflated.  (Photo  by  Gene 
Marcus  W3PM.) 


with  the  parts,  Mother  Nature  fi- 
nally figured  out  that  there  was 
this  bigT  beautiful  balloon  just  sit- 
ting peacefully  on  the  ground.  She 
started  to  play  with  it  with  wind 
gusts,  just  like  a  cat  does  with  a 
mouse,  it  was  quite  a  sight  to  see 
everyone  running  around  under 
the  balloon  trying  to  keep  it  from 
hitting  the  rough  abrasive  surface 
of  ihe  old  runway.  Unfortunately, 


one  particularly  strong  gust 
caused  it  to  graze  the  runway  and 
tore  two  large  holes  in  the  side  of 
the  balloon.  We  taped  the  holes 
shut  in  the  hope  that  it  would  hold 
throughout  the  flight,  then 
launched  it  during  a  brief  lull  in 
the  wind. 

The  balloon  glided  across  the 
runway  and  the  bottom  payload 
promptly  snagged  on  what 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  71 


Photo  B*  The  inflated  Rm*en  bal- 
loon stands  nearly  40  feet  tall. 
(Photo  by  Gene  Marcus  W3PMJ 

appeared  to  be  a  power  line  near 
the  edge  of  the  runway  (see 
Photo  C),  There  it  was  20  feet 
up  with  the  balloon  sailing  out 
like  a  kite.  Fortunately;  this 
turned  out  to  be  an  unpowercd 
audio  line  to  some  loudspeak- 
ers, so  ]  got  a  long  pole  out  of 
my  car  and  was  able  to  hook  the 
radar  reflector  and  drag  the 
whole  thing  off  the  line,  Ed 


KE4ROC  grabbed  hold  of  the 
pay  load,  ran  forward  and  gave 
it  a  big  push.  Everyone  cheered 
and  yelled  when  everything  fi- 
nally headed  off  smoothly  on  its 
way  to  the  stratosphere  after  nar- 
rowing missing  another  set  of 
real  power  lines.  When  we 
played  back  our  videotape  re- 
cording of  the  payload's  point  of 
viewt  it  was  quite  entertaining  to 
hear  and  watch  everyone  run- 
ning around  like  crazy  under  the 
payioad  as  we  tried  to  free  it 
from  the  line. 

Elevator  ride  to  space 

The  payioad  rose  upward  at  a 
very  leisurely  620  feet  per 
minute.  The  video  image  was 
very  stable,  with  absolutely  no 
twisting  or  turning  of  the  pay- 
load.  Those  zero-pressure  bal- 
loons are  nice!  It  was  just  like 
taking  an  elevator  to  the  edge  of 
space.  Since  it  was  a  very  clear 
day,  the  TV  camera  view  of  down- 
town Huntsvitle  and  the  sunmund- 
ing  suburbs  was  fantastic.  The 
APRS  telemetry  worked  great  and 
everything     was     operating 


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smoothly  except  that  Telemetry 
from  the  pressure  and  temperature 
sensors  inside  of  the  nitrous  ox- 
ide fuel  tank  was  intermittent.  At 
39,000  feet  we  noticed  that  the 
balloon  was  starting  to  descend 
slowly  (around  500  feet/minute). 
Apparently  the  taped-up  holes 
had  sprung  leaks  and  wrerc  slowly 
letting  the  helium  out. 

Unidentified  floating  object 

Since  the  payioad  was  descend- 
ing  so  slowly,  we  decided  not  to 
fire  the  cutdown  mechanism  to 
allow  the  system  to  fly  farther  into 
Georgia  and  land  it  closer  to  the 
Atlanta  area  foxhuntere  who  were 
preparing  to  chase  the  payioad. 

Ralph  Fowler  N4NEQ  orga- 
nized a  chase  team  to  track  down 
the  payioad.  He  had  an  APRS  sys- 
tem in  his  car  and  we  could  not 
only  track  the  balloon's  position 
on  our  ground  station  back  in 
Huntsville,  but  we  could  track  his 
chase  vehicle  closing  in  on  the 
payioad  as  well 

After  traveling  108  miles  from 
the  launch  site,  the  balloon  landed 
at  1 :59  p.m.  in  a  kudzu  patch  be- 
hind the  back  yard  of  a  house 
southwest  of  Dallas,  Georgia. 

The  owner  of  the  house  was 
washing  dishes  and  saw  the  pay- 
load  land  in  a  field  behind  her 
yard.  She  thought  that  a  UFO  had 
landed  and  called  the  TV  and  ra- 
dio stations  in  the  area  to  report 
the  sighting.  She  turned  on  her 
scanner  to  see  if  anyone  else  had 


reported  the  UFO,  actually  ran 
across  the  chase  crew  on  2 
meters — and  realized  that  aliens 
weren't  invading  Georgia, 

The  payioad  survived  the  land- 
ing in  good  shape  and  was  handed 
over  to  Robert  KE4GNN,  one  of 
our  group,  who  had  chased  after 
the  balloon  from  Alabama. 

Post-flight  results 

We  learned  a  lot  about  flying 
large  balloons  and  received 
enough  telemetry  data  to  con- 
sider the  flight  to  be  a  success, 
A  balloon  flight  of  this  size  re- 
quires lots  of  planning  and  co- 
ordination with  the  FAA. 
Launch  permission  needs  to  be 
received  in  advance  and  we  were 
in  constant  contact  via  cell 
phones  to  both  the  local  airport's 
tower  and  the  regional  FAA  cen- 
ter. They  were  able  to  track  the 
balloon  system  on  their  radar 
screens;  apparently  our  radar 
reflector  worked  just  fine  (the 
reflector  is  available  from 
Kaymont,  800-644-6459), 

For  more  info  about  the  bal- 
loon flight  {complete  with  pho- 
tos and  charts)  and  details  about 
the  telemetry  system,  check  out 
my  home  page  at  the  following 
Internet  web  site: 

h  t  tp ;  //fl  y,  hi  waay .  ne  t/~bbro  wn/ 

This  page  also  contains  many 
links  for  balloon  information  and 
other  groups. 


Photo  C.  The  balloon  is  shown  attached  to  our  telephone  pole  test 
facility  to  allow  for  a  photo  opportunity  and  final  system  testing.  Ah 
f aching  the  payioad  to  the  phone  line  requires  pinpoint  accuracy 
during  the  initial  launch  phase.  (I  work  for  the  government,  so  I  can 
put  a  positive  spin  on  just  about  any  disaster!)  (Photo  by  Gene 
Marcus  W3PM.) 


72  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996 


Advertisers'  Index 


R.S.#  page 

•  A  &  A  Engineering , 27 

351  Absolute  Value  Systems ...  31 

194  AN  Electronics 

Corporation 25 

110  Amsat * 63 

57  Antennas  West 1 

324  Antennas  West ™...  21 

116  Antennas  West 29 

S9  Antennas  West 37 

340  Antennas  West 30 

5  Antennas  West 41 

135  Antennas  West 43 

332  Antennas  West 79 

16  Astron  Corporation. B 

41  Barry  Electronics  Corp  ,..„.  45 

42  BilaE  Company 32 

355  Biological  Hamming 87 

168  Buckmaster  Publishing 23 

56  Buckmaster  Publishing  .,„.  61 

224  Burghardl  Amateur  Center ..  79 

*  Burgfta  rd!  Ama  *e  ur  Cen  ter  C  V3 

164  C  &  S  Safes,  Inc. 13 

123  CCTV  Corp 6 


99 

10 

276 

266 


114 

■ 

8 

75 

227 

193 

165 

78 

• 

175 
42 


R.S.#  page 

166      CoastiaJ  Dynamics 39 

Communication  Concepts   13 
Communication  Specialist  63 
Computer  Aided  Technotogy.  49 
Computer  Automation 
Technology 55 

Down  East  Microwave  „„„  18 

E.  H.  Yost „ 75 

Electronic  Distributors 7 

ciRirunivs  Tin..<Ht<i»i«ii»iiM..  w" 

Fair  Radio  Sales 79 

Falkner  Enterprises  of 

America .*,— ♦,.....,  63 

GGTE , 45 

Hamco 76 

"iQ-flloUflJ      f  M'  >■»  F  H11H.IHI.I       i  O 

Hamtrqnics,  Inc.  ....™, „.„  2 

IEC 78 

Index  Laboratories .„.  59 

Isotron 32 

*     jan  Lfiystais  »«• fi>»i««  to 

1 58     Japan  Radio  Co. CV2 


R.S 

151 
341 

275 

* 

66 

• 

160 

86 

193 

248 

64 

114 

54 

102 

226 

321 

339 


110 


£  page 

KDC  Sound 21 

Kepro  Circuit  Systems 32 

Lakeview  Co.... 76 

Meadowlake  Corp 45 

MFJ  Enterprises. 11 

Michigan  Radio 83 

Micro  Computer  Concepts  27 

™1  I  |   yUC        ■«■*-«>-■-«■■■*>■■*■•■■■   ■  m  m  m   a  ■   ■  ■  *  m       k/W 

Morse  Tutor  Gold 45 

Motron  Electronics 75 

Mr.  Nicd 75 

"^l^/^J     ■  *  lali-II-l  1*4  VI  H"»  I  1-4  tft  I  ■>+■--■  ■  ■■■-■  ■  *      O     1 

ONV  Safety  Belt 31 

Pacific  Sierra  Research  ,.<,  88 

Patcomm 52 

Pauldon  Associates ..71 

P.C.  Electronics 59 

P.  C.  Electronics 72 

PeetBros. ..  75 

Periphex 86 

Radio  Amateur  Satellite  ....  63 
Radio  Book  Shop ....  75 


R.S.#  page 

•  Radio  Book  Shop  CDs ,  83 

•  Radio  Book  Shop 85 

•  Radio  Book  Shop 88 

153  Radio  City.... 35 

58  Radio  Engineers 31 

34  Ramsey  Eledonics 5 

294  Resource  Solutions 21 

254  ROSS  Distributing 37 

167  Sescom,  Inc ... 27 

•  Sm'o  Antenna CV4 

250  Software  Systems 

Consulting 23 

69  Spectrum  Electronics 32 

*it>y      Myenronics  .■....■..........■.■■..  od, 

22  Tri-Ex  Tower 

Corporation 55 

•  Tropical  Hamboree  ..........<  70 

224  U.  S.  Digital  Ltd. 79 

259  Versatel  Communications .  27 

104  Vis  Study  Guides,  mc 37 

155  VSS  Electronics ,  23 

191  w  &  W  Associates. 73 

245  Wavemach  Communications  47 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  73 


Rtty  loop 


Number  74  on  your  Feedback  card 


Amateur  Radio  Teletype 


Marc  I.  Leavey,  M.D..  WA3AJR 
P.  O.  Box  473 
Stevenson  MO  21153 

As  I  write  this  column,  autumn 
has  just  begun,  but  our  much-cel- 
ebrated Hagerstown  Almanac, 
published  here  in  Maryland,  says 
thai  this  will  be  a  cold,  cold  win- 
ter. If  that's  the  case,  some  of  the 
items  covered  this  month  should 
give  some  of  us  something  to  do 
while  the  snow  melts.  Now,  with 
this  magazine  hailing  from  New 
Hampshire,  and  my  living  in 
Maryland,  those  of  you  with 
balmy  December  weather  can  just 
hold  your  peace. 


file,  a  precursor  of  today's 
archived  or  zipped  file,  that  ap- 
pears to  contain  RTTY  routines 
for  CPM.  I  have  no  way  of  ex- 
tracting or  looking  at  these  files, 
so  I  pass  along  this  information 
for  what  it  is  worth.  Along  with 
sending  you  the  file,  I  pass  along 
the  information  that  other  CPM 
files  may  be  found  at  the  Oakland 
University  Archives,  on  the  World 
Wide  Web  aL  http  ^/oaLoaklandedu/ 
oak/cpm/hamradio-pre.html.  The 
files  are  also  on  the  Oakland  FTP 
site  if  that  is  more  convenient  for 
you.  Additionally,  I  will  have  a 


"Some  of  the  items  covered  this  month 
should  give  some  of  us  something  to  do 


while  the  snow  melts. 


ff 


Software  for  the  Kaypro? 

From  up  in  New  Hampshire  I 
received  a  letter  from  Mike 
Murphy  WB2U1D,  who  says,  "I 
have  not  been  exposed  to  RTTY 
yet.  My  station  plans  are  fairly 
simple,  with  a  Heath  Marauder 
and  a  Collins  R-3WA  and  SSB 
converter,  The  Heath  is  massive 
and  has  1 00*  duty  cycle  capabil- 
ity; it  should  work  great.  I  like  the 
idea  of  using  my  PC  and  some 
kind  of  filter/adapter  circuit  to  do 
RTTY  or  AMTOR. 

"I  have  an  old  Kaypro  2  (King 
of  the  CPM  Z~80s?)  with  dual 
floppy  drives  under  my  work- 
bench at  home.  Is  this  thing  still 
useful  as  a  RTTY  or  CW  termi- 
nal? I  fired  it  up  and  it  runs 
WordStar!  It  is  fully  metal- 
shielded,  sort  of  portable,  and 
looks  like  it  would  make  a  nice 
rig  to  build  a  converter  into — lots 
of  space  inside.  Any  chance  that 
any  CPM  software  still  exists  for 
the  Kaypro?" 

Well,  Mike,  there  is,  and  then, 
again,  there  may  not  be.  I  did  a 
search  of  available  archives  and 
while  I  turned  up  a  bit  of  CPM 
software  still  around,  only  one 
program  seemed  to  be  applicable 
to  your  situation,  a  program  called 
RTTY2.LBR  This  is  a  library" 


link  lo  the  file  on  the  Download 

Page  of  the  RTTY  Loop  Home 
Page;  see  the  address  at  the  end 
of  this  column.  Let  mc  know  if 
this  file  is  useful  to  you,  and  how 
you  do  with  the  CPM  efforts. 

New  DOS  program 

After  CPM  came  DOS,  of 
course,  so,  logically,  we  should 
take  a  look  at  a  new  DOS  pro- 
gram, Well,  you  have  got  to  see 
the  new  HamComm,  version  3.1 . 
This  little  gem,  written  by  W.F. 
Schroeder  DL5YEC,  runs  under 
DOS  rather  than  Windows*-1  3.x, 
95,  or  NT;  or  OS/2.  It  supports 
reception  and  transmission  of 
radioteletype  (RTTY),  AMTOR 
ARQ/FEC,  S1TOR  A/B,  N  AVTEX 
and  Morse  code  (CW)  signals.  A 
decoder  for  SHIP  and  SYNOP 
reports  from  weather  stations  is 
also  included.  FACTOR  decoding 
is  available  with  the  registered 
version.  It  does  not  require  a 
RTTY  convener,  not  even  a  mo- 
dem chip.  The  audio  output  of  the 
transceiver  is  connected  to  the 
serial  port  of  any  PC/XT/AT 
compatible  computer  through  a 
very  simple,  low-cost  interface. 
Only  one  IC  is  needed  (Op- Amp 
TL071  or  similar)  and  a  few  di- 
odes, capacitors  and  resistors. 
Whether  or  not  this  would  work 


with  simple  computer  modems 
such  as  the  CP- 1 ,  I  do  not  know. 

For  transmission,  a  tone  signal 
is  available  at  the  COM  port 
which  can  be  connected  to  the 
microphone  input  of  the  trans- 
ceiver through  a  passive  RC  fil- 
ler. Audio  frequency  decoding 
and  serial/parallel  conversion  are 
all  done  in  software, 

HamComm  will  automatically 
detect  the  type  of  video  adapter 
in  use,  MDA,  CGA,  EGA,  VGA 
and  Hercules  are  supported.  All 
graphics  routines  are  written  in 
assembler  for  speed.  No  attempt 
has  been  made  to  avoid  screen 
flicker  (snow)  on  cheap  CGAs. 

HamComm  may  work  to  some 
degree  on  XT  machines,  but  the 
graphics  displays  of  the  input  sig- 
nal are  more  fun  to  watch  on  an 
AT-class  computer,  Nearly  all  of 
the  functions  can  also  be  con- 
trolled by  using  a  mouse.  A  hard 
disk  is  recommended  but  not  re- 
quired. All  texts  are  written  in 
English,  and  the  online  help 
system  includes  the  schematics 
for  the  interface  circuit.  There  are 
also  predefined  standard 
phrases,  a  QTH  distance/direc- 
tion calculator  and  a  callsign  de- 
coder Currently  about  370  kbyte 
of  free  RAM  is  required.  The  in- 
terface schematics  are  included  in 
the  online  help  texts  and  there  is 
also  a  section  on  troubleshooting 
in  ease  of  hardware  problems, 

HamComm  3.1  is  shareware, 
with  a  $30  payment  due  after  a 
30-day  evaluation  period.  It  is  an 
excellent  program,  with  a  good 
track  record  in  previous  incarna- 
tions, and  many  "RTTY  Loop" 
readers  have  used  the  program 
with  good  results. 

You  can  obtain  HamComm  on 
the  RTTY  Loop  Download  page, 
as  well  as  in  the  RTTY  Loop 
Software  Collection  Disk  #13. 
Details  for  obtaining  this  disk  are 
at  the  end  of  this  column, 

Windows  software 

Windows  users,  we  have  not 
forgotten  you,  Gary  Johnson 
KF7XP  has  just  released  an  up- 
dated version  of  his  XPWarc  for 
Windows  Version  1.1.1.  This  new 
update  supports  AEA .  Kantronics 
(KPC-3,  KPC-9612  and  KAM), 
SCS  (PTC,  PTC-Plus  and  PTC- 
11 K  PacComm  (PTC  and  PTC-11) 
and  Hal  P38,  PCI4000M  and 


DSP-4100  multimode  control- 
lers.  It  allows  transceiver  con- 
trol (with  appropriate  interface) 
for  Kenwood,  Icom  and  Yaesu 
(FT-767,  FT  840,  FT-890, 
FT-9QG,  FT-990,  FT- 1000  and 
FT-1000MP).  It  supports  DX 
cluster  spotting,  voice  an- 
nouncement on  connects  and 
DX  spots,  ANSI  and  Bit  map 
graphics,  one-key  brag  files  and 
test,  Callbook  interface  (SAM, 
QRZ!.  Buckmaster  and  Radio 
Amateur  Callbook),  binary  file 
transfers  for  Clover,  GTOR, 
packet  (YAPP)  and  FACTOR. 
The  program  can  run  one  or  two 
controllers  at  a  time  (may  be  dif- 
ferent  types  and  brands) — and 
much  much  more.  Registration 
cost  is  $80:  upgrade  cost  for  us- 
ers of  XPWare  DOS  program  is 
$45, 

With  one  program  able  to  do  so 
much,  this  affordable  program 
can  be  'test  driven"  by  download- 
ing from  cither  the  RTTY  Loop 
Download  Page  or  Gary's  web 
site  at:  hup: //www, indirect, com/ 
user/gjohnson .  Gary's  controller- 
specific  versions  under  DOS  have 
been  fabulous;  this  one  looks  to 
be  even  better.  Take  a  look  if  you 
are  hunting  for  a  flexible  program 
to  interface  one  of  the  supported 
devices. 

For  those  who  came  in  late,  the 
Software  Collection  referred  n> 
above  is  a  13-disk  assembly  Of 
programs  of  interest  to  amateurs 
on  radioteletype.  Each  disk  col- 
lection may  be  obtained  by  send- 
ing  a  blank  3,5"  HD  disk,  a 
self-addressed,  stamped  mailer  to 
return  the  disk  to  you.  and  $2  in 
US  funds  per  disk  to  the  address 
at  the  top  of  this  column.  A  fi.M- 
ing  of  the  contents  of  each  disk 
can  be  sent  to  you  for  a  self-ad- 
dressed, stamped  envelope  sent  to 
the  same  address.  Alternatively. 
you  may  find  the  complete  list, 
and  some  programs,  on  the  RTTY 
Loop  Home  Page  at  http;// 
www2.ari.net/ajr/rtiv/.  where  past 
columns,  programs,  and  other 
trivia  are  available,  along  with 
links  to  other  interesting  sites  on 
the  World  Wide  Web+  Let  me 
know  what  you  are  thinking,  via 
mail,  or  via  E-mail  at:  ajr@ari.net, 
or  MarcWA3AJR  on  AOL,  or 
75036,2501  on  CompuServe.  I 
look  forward  to  hearing  from  you. 
See  you  in  '97! 


74   73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •December  1996  75 


Number  76  on  your  Fmtdbtck  cant 


Saving  the  Amateur 

Spectrum 


A  case  supporting  amateur  licensing  fees 


Charles  M.  Seayp  Sr.  KN4HL 

106  South  Main  Street 

Dickson  TN  37055 


The  amateur  radio  bands  are  under 
attack  again,  especially  the  2 
meter  band  and  the  440  MHz 
band  by  LEO  (low  earth  orbit)  compa- 
nies needing  frequency  space  for  new 
services.  The  need  for  more  radio  spec- 
trum will  accelerate  in  the  future  with 
the  development  of  more  electronic  gad- 
gets. What  better  place  to  look  for  more 
spectrum  than  the  amateur  radio  bands? 
Why  should  our  bands  be  such  a  fertile 
area  for  commercial  expansion?  Because 
they  art  not  a  revenue-producing  source 
for  the  federal  government  The  FCC  and 
Congress  have  seen  the  enormous  rev- 
enues that  can  be  obtained  from  radio 
spectrum  auctions.  The  more  demand  gen- 
erated for  radio  frequency  spectrum,  the 

more  valuable  our  bands  will  become. 

Even  though  there  are  over  600,000  li- 
censed amateur  radio  operators  in  the  United 


States,  these  numbers  are  not  significant 
enough  to  be  politically  powerful.  Political 
power  is  based  on  numbeis.  The  amateur  ra- 
dio community  just  doesn't  have  the  numbers 
lo  protect  its  interests,  either  with  the  FCC  or 
with  the  final  authority,  Congress. 

The  American  Radio  Relay  League 
membership  represents  only  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  licensed  amateurs  in  this 

"If  you  can  afford  a  rig,  you 
can  afford  a  license  fee" 

country.  They  are,  however,  the  only 
game  in  town  when  it  comes  to  repre- 
senting the  amateur  community.  Mem- 
bers are  paying  over  30  dollars  a  year  for 
a  magazine  and  no  political  clout  when 
the  final  votes  are  counted.  As  an 
example,  I  direct  your  attention  to  the 
bill   introduced   by    former  Tennessee 


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•  ■5  RGBScce* 

w^L-259. 
■No  rust  alyrrwrujrn 

construction 


CIRCLE  275  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


Congressman  Jim  Cooper,  which  was 
designed  to  protect  amateurs  from  the 
loss  of  more  amateur  spectrum.  Even 
with  all  its  urging,  the  ARRL  could  not 
muster  the  support  of  enough  represen- 
tatives and  senators  to  get  this  bill 
passed  into  law.  Why?  There  was  no 
economic  incentive  for  members  of 
Congress  to  pass  such  a  bill. 

Have  you  ever  asked  yourself  why 
people  and  corporations  make  such  big 
contributions  to  politicians  running  for 
office  and  their  political  parties?  Or  why 
groups  and  corporations  are  supporting 
thousands  of  lobbyists  in  a  manner  you 
wish  you  could  afford?  It  is  to  have  ac- 
cess 10  the  powers  that  could  control  the 
economic  destiny  of  that  contributor,  I 
can  assure  you  that  the  presidents  and 
CEOs  of  communications  companies 
have  more  access  and  input  to  the  deci- 
sion-making process  of  the  FCC  and  the 
Congress  than  the  political  arm  of  the 
ARRL.  It's  not  that  die  presidents  and 
CEOs  are  nicer  than  the  president  of  the 
ARRL,  it's  a  matter  of  money. 

It's  lime  that  amateurs  get  their 
heads  out  of  "OZ";  Dorothy  and  Toto 
do  not  exist.  Your  ability  to  enjoy  the 
great  hobby  of  amateur  radio  will 
come  down  to  the  U,  S.  Dollar.  It  will 
involve  a  decision  on  each  of  our  parts 
to  pay  for  enjoying  our  hobby; 

What,  pay  for  my  God-Given  Right  to 
use  the  amateur  radio  spectrum?  Yes,  in- 
deed. If  you  play  golf,  swim,  hunt,  fish,  or 
ski,  you  pay  a  fee  each  year  for  a  license, 
or  greens  fee,  or  a  lift  ticket.  Why  should 
amateur  radio  be  given  a  finee  lunch?  The 
bottom  line  is — we  shouldn't. 

I  have  heard  the  howls  that  we  amateurs 
should  not  be  charged  a  license  fee  be- 
cause we  provide  a  public  service.  This  is 
true  to  a  small  extent.  The  fact  is  that 


76  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


amateurs,  as  a  group,  don't  do  enough 
public  service  to  justify  the  free  spectrum. 
You've  also  heard  that  license  Tees  would 
make  the  hobby  unafifordable  to  some,  Get 
real,  paf  If  you've  bought  any  amateur 
gear  in  the  past  few  years,  you  know  that 
we  are  in  an  expensive  hobby.  If  you  can 
afford  a  rig,  you  can  afford  a  license  fee, 

I  think  that  a  $50  fee  for  a  five-year  li- 
cense would  not  be  out  of  proportion 
with  the  other  expenses  we  incur  with 
our  hobby.  Small  lees  lor  changes  of  ad- 
dresses and  callsigns,  and  license  exams 
wnuld  bo  appropriate.  It  is  a  matter  of 
economic  fact  that  if  we  want  to  play,  we 
are  going  to  have  10  pay  our  fair  share. 

Under  the  burden  of  this  country's  bud- 
get deficit,  politicians  are  looking  at  even 
conceivable  source  for  funds  to  support 
their  pet  projects.  We  amateurs  can  sit 
around,  then  bawl  and  bellow  as  our 
allotted  radio  specuum  is  sold  out  from 
under  us,  or  we  can  make  our  part  of  the 
radio  spectrum  economically  justify  its 
existence. 

This  proposal  is  not  one-sided.  With 
the  payment  of  license  fees,  the  amateur 
community  has  every  right  to  expect  that 
the  FCC  will  do  a  better  job  of  policing 
the  amateur  radio  spectrum.  It  is  time  the 
FCC  enforced  their  own  rules,  something 
they've  been  neglecting  for  several 
years,  One  of  the  reasons  for  this  neglect 
is  the  lack  of  funding  by  Congress  for 
this  police  action- 
It  all  comes  down  to  money.  We  complain 
to  the  FCC  about  the  garbage  on  our  bands 
and  nothing  is  ctone  because  there  is  no 
money.  We  complain  about  the  loss  of  our 
hands  to  commercial  interests  and  we  lose  ra- 
dio spectrum  because  there  is  no  economic 
justification  for  our  space.  It's  time  we  paid 
the  piper — the  dance  is  just  about  over. 

Note:  The  above  will,  I  hope,  be  a  dose 
of  reality  sails  for  hams  who  are  ignorant 
of  how  our  government  works.  Bui  $10  a 
year  for  a  ticket  is  insignificant.  To  have 
any  hope  of  chut  against  Motorola,  G£„ 
Matsushita,  Sony,  Hitachi,  Toshiba,  et  aL, 
we're  talking  more  like  $100  a  year  And 
that,  if  we  can  hold  on  to  a  half  million 
hams,  woidd  still  only  he  SSOJOOOjOOO  a 
year— while  the  FCC  is  bringing  in  bil- 
lions with  their  spectrum  auctions.  If  we 
had  to  pay  for  our  licenses  we  might  have 
more  respect  and  less  trashing  of  our 
hobby  on  the  air.  We  could  also  expect 
more  help  from  the  FCC  with  our  garbage 
collecting.  Most  people  just  don't  respect 
anything  that  s  free!  .,*  Wayne. 


Number  77  on  your  Feedback  card 


LED  Checker  Plus 


Make  it  even  more  useful 


If  you  have  already  built  the  LED 
Checker  (see  73 ',  January  1989, 
p«  61),  then  I  have  a  simple  change 
that  will  turn  it  into  an  even  more 
versatile  bench  tool. 

Several  new  options  are  available  with 
the  Plus  model,  such  as  in-circuit  testing 
of  LEDs  including  displays,  polarity 
testing  and  identification  of  diodes,  and 
an  external  DVM  connection  for  forward 
voltage  measurement,  which  is  helpful 
in  determining  if  a  diode  is  silicon, 
germanium  or  a  Schonkv  t\pe. 

The  original  circuit 

First,  familiarize  yourself  with  the 
original  circuit  (Fig.  1)  The  basic  circuit 
is  the  same,  except  without  the  two  jacks 
for  external  test  leads  added  in  this  en- 
hancement. 

The  operation  is  simple!  Insert  the 
LED  into  the  test  socket  and  press  S  L  If 
the  LED  is  on,  it  is  good.  If  it's  not  on, 
turn  it  180  degrees  and  put  it  back  into 
the  test  socket.  Press  SI  and  the  LED 
should  be  on.  If  not,  it  is  defective. 

The  modification 

See  Fig.  2.  The  "Plus*1  model  merely 
has  wires  W 1  and  W2  added  to  the  origi- 
nal circuit  directly  to  the  *  V  and  "*-*  ter- 
minals of  the  test  socket.  These  wires  are 
then  soldered  to  Jl  and  J2,  a  pair  of  five- 
way  binding  posts  (RS-274-662).  The 
red  binding  post  should  be  connected  to 
the  "+"  and  the  black  to  the  *V  You  can 
mount  the  binding  posts  wherever  you 


Tom  Thompson 

Box  49481 

Blaine  MN  55449 


i- 


9V 


Test  Socket 


Fig,  2.  The  improved  LED  Checker  Pitts  al- 
lows measurement  offomwrd  voltage  drop, 
as  weti  as  in~circuit  tests. 

want,  but  the  industry  standard  is  3/4" 
between  centers.  Or  you  can  also  use 
banana  jacks,  which  are  less  expensive. 

In-circuit  LED  testing 

See  Fig.  3.  For  in-circuit  LED  testing 
you  connect  your  clip  leads  "+"  and  4\" 
then  clip  them  to  the  two  LED  leads  and 
press  SL  If  the  LED  goes  on  then  it  is 
good.  If  it  doesn't  then  you  reverse  the 
leads  and  press  SI  again.  If  the  LED  is 
still  not  on  then  it  is  bad. 

In  some  cases,  if  several  LEDs  are  in 
parallel  or  there  is  too  much  current  be- 
ing drawn  by  the  circuitry  then  you  may 
have  to  unsolder  one  of  the  leads  to 
isolate  it  from  the  rest  of  the  circuitry. 

Diode  forward  voltage  testing 

This  testing  is  usually  done  to  deter- 
mine the  voltage  drop  across  the  diode 
while  it  is  on.  To  check  diode  forward 
I  voltage,  connect  your  DVM  to  the 
Checker,  red  to  "+"  and  black  to  "-," 
Set  the  DVM  to  DC  volts  on  the  2  or 


Fig.  7.  The  original  LED  Checker  circuit. 


Fig,  3*  The  LED  Checker  Pius  can  he  used 

in-circuit. 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996  77 


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78  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


Common  Anode 


a    b     c     d     e     f 


O      a    b     c     d     e     f 


Common  Cathode 


Fig,  4,  Seven-segment  displays  are  available  in  either  common  anode  or  common  cathode 
configuration. 


20  volt  range  (this  will  vary  with  dif- 
ferent models  of  voltmeters).  Put  the 
diode  into  the  socket  and  press  SI,  If 
the  diode  is  in  correctly  the  voltage 
measurement  will  appear  on  the  dis- 
play. If  not,  reverse  the  diode  and  try 
again.  Remember,  you  must  press  SI 
each  time  you  test.  A  silicon  diode  will 
have  a  voltage  drop  of  about  0,7V 
(1N914);  germanium  will  be  about 
0.4V      (1N34);      Schottky      0.3-0.4 


nect  the  "+"  lead  to  the  common  pin  or 
the  lead  you  suspect  to  be  common, 
and  attach  the  "-"  lead  to  any  of  the  re- 
maining  pins.  Press  SI.  If  no  segments 
turn  on  move  the  "+"  lead  to  each  lead, 
pressing  SI  after  each  connection. 
Once  you  get  a  segment  to  turn  on  you 
have  found  the  common  lead.  Keep  the 
"+1'  connected  where  it  is  and  move 
the  negative  lead  around  until  all  the 
individual  segments  come  on  one  at  a 


aI  checked  a  two-digit  display  on  which  I  had  no  information 
and  had  all  the  pins  identified  in  five  minutes!" 


(1N58I8);  and  any  LEDs  1.4-2.4V,  Your 
tester  pulls  about  10  mA,  so  if  you  have 
a  data  book  you  can  check  the  forward 
voltage  at  10  rnA  to  determine  what 
voltage  to  expect  for  a  given  diode  type. 

Seven-segment  display  testing 

In  testing  seven-segment  displays 
you'll  find  one  of  two  types:  common 
anode  or  common  cathode  (see  Fig,  4). 
The  key  here  is  to  locate  the  common 
lead.  If  you  are  working  from  a  sche- 
matic then  look  for  a  "+"  connection  for 
a  common  anode  and  a  ground  "-"  con- 
nection for  a  common  cathode. 

If  you  don't  have  a  data  book  you'll 
have  to  guess,  but  that's  easy.  Common 
anode  displays  usually  use  pins  3  and 
14;  common  cathode  displays  usually 
use  pins  1  and  6,  This  is  a  good  place  to 
start. 

If  your  deduction  indicates  that  the 
display  has  a  common  anode  then  con- 


®®@®®® 


S)®@  @© 


©@ @® @® ® 


Fig.  5.  A  typical  six-digit  multiplexed  display, 


time*  If  you  have  a  common  cathode 
then  connect  the  "-"  to  the  common 
lead  and  attach  the  "+"  lead  to  any  of 
the  remaining  pins,  pressing  SI  each 
time.  Make  some  notes  to  keep  track 
of  your  progress.  Remember,  your 
LED  Checker  limits  the  testing  current 
to  a  safe  value  so  it  will  not  damage  a 
display. 

Multiple-digit  display  testing 

Multiple-digit  displays  usually  have 
common  segments  but  have  separate  an- 
odes or  cathodes  for  each  digit.  You  need 
to  find  all  the  digit  pins  as  well  as  the 
segments.  This  is  relatively  easy  and  is 
done  by  noting  what  segment  is  on  and 
what  digit  position  it  is  located  in.  Make 
a  drawing  as  you  do  the  testing.  I 
checked  a  two-digit  display  on  which  I 
had  no  information  and  had  all  the  pins 
identified  in  five  minutes!  More  compli- 
cated displays,  such  as  that  shown  in 
Fig.  5,  may  take  10  to  so  minutes. 

Well,  that's  about  all  there  is  to  using 
the  LED  Checker  Plus,  Maybe  you  can 
think  of  some  other  unique  uses  and 
share  them  with  the  other  readers! 

A  kit  for  the  basic  LED  Checker  Plus  is 
available  for  $10.95,  plus  $2,50  shipping 
and  handling,  from  Home  Net,  Box  49481 , 
Blaine  MN  55449,  It's  also  available  on 
Home  Net  BBS  @6 127559661.  ~ 


Number  79  on  your  Feedback  card 


Specirl  euents 


Listings  are  free  of  charge  as  space  permits.  Please  send 
us  your  Special  Event  two  months  in  advance  of  the  issue 
you  want  it  to  appear  in.  For  example,  if  you  want  it  to 
appear  in  the  January  issue r  we  should  receive  it  by  October 
30.  Provide  a  clear,  concise  summary  of  the  essential  details 
about  your  Special  Event 


NOV  22*23 

OCEAN  SPRINGS,  MS  The  West 

Jackson  County  ARC,  Inc.  will 
present  a  Hamfest/Swapfest  at  the 
Latimer  Comm.  Center,  north  of  the 
city  of  Ocean  Springs.  Swap  and 
Flea  Market  tables  are  $5  each,  to 
be  paid  in  advance.  Mail  table 
reservations  to  WJCARCt  P.O.  Box 
1822,  Ofcea/i  Springs  MS  39564,  For 
details,  contact  C,F.  Kimmerly 
N5XGI,  (601)  826-5811;  or  Mike 
Gutley  KC5QXE,  (801)  475-6161 1 
after  5  PM. 

DEC1 

HAZEL  PARK,  Ml  The  Hazel  Park 
ARC  will  sponsor  their  31st  annual 
Manifest  8  AM-2  PM,  at  Hazel  Park 
H.S.,  23400  Hughes  St.  Free 
parking.  Reservations  for  eight-foot 
tables  ($14  each)  must  be  received 
with  a  check.  No  reservations  by 
phone.  Send  payment  to  HPAHC, 
Inc.  Swap,  P.O.  Box  368,  Hazel  Park 
Ml  48030.  Talk-in  on  146.640/ 
443.225  DART  Rptr.  Six-foot  tables 
available  at  the  door  for  $10;  limit 
one  table  per  customer  while  they 
last. 


GOLDEN  VLLEY,  MN  The  annual 
Courage  Center  Handi-Ham  Winter 
Hamfest  will  be  held  at  the  Handi- 
Ham  Headquarters,  3915  Golden 
Valley  Rd..  starting  with  registration 
at  8:30  AM.  There  will  be  a  Handi* 
Ham  equip.  Auction,  Flea  Market, 
Dinner  at  noon,  and  Program. 
Contact  Don  Franz  WQFIT,  1114 
Frank  Ave,,  Albert  Lea  MN  56007. 

DEC  14 

JACKSONVILLE,  IL  The  Central 
Illinois  Winter  Superfest ,  sponsored 
by  Illinois  Valley  ARC  and 
Jacksonville  ARS,  will  be  held  8  AM- 
2  PM  at  Turner  Jr.  H.S.,  664  S. 
Lincoln  Ave.  Vendor  setup  at  6  AM, 
VE  Exams  at  10  AM,  pre-reg. 
required.  Contact  Tim  Childers 
KB9FBI,  773  E,  College, 
Jacksonville  IL  $2650;  TeL  (217) 


245-2061.  Talk-in  on  1467775H  and 
444.675(+).  Advance  reservations 
taken  until  Nov.  30th.  Send  SASE 
and  check  payable  to  Jacksonville 
ARS  c/o  Kaye  Green  KB9KHQ,  27 
Ivy  Wood  Drive,  Jacksonville  IL 
62650. 

LAKE  CITYt  FL  The  Columbia  ARS 
wril  hokj  its  2nd  ^Gateway  to  Florida"* 
Tailgate/Hamfest  at  Robert  B. 
Harkness  Florida  Natl,  Guard 
Armory,  153rd  Engr.  Co.,  Lake 
Jeffeiy  Rd.  Call  (904)  755^7969  for 
details.  Talk-in  on  145.490  (-). 
alternate  147,1  SOW- 

SPECIAL  EVENT  STATIONS 
DEC  6-DEC  7 

MESA,  AZ  East  Valley  Amateur 
Radio  Group,  WA7USA*  will 
commemorate  the  Battleship  USS 
Arizona,  from  1500Z-2400Z  on 
14.240  MHz  and  21-340  MHz. 
Stations  contacted  may  request  a 
certificate  by  sending  a  QSL  card 
and  a  9"  x  12"  SASE  to  EVARG, 
3264  E.  Carol  Ave.,  MesaAZ85204- 
3245 

DEC  14 

CHRISTMAS,  AZ  The  TrtCity  ARC 

will  operate  from  Christmas  AZ  in 
celebration  of  the  Christmas  season. 
Phone  operations  will  take  place 
from  1500  UTC-2100  UTC,  on 
722S  MHz(+)  and  14.240  MHz(+). 
Send  QSL  and  SASE  to  the  event 
eallsigrVs  Calitoook  address.  Callsign 
to  be  announced. 

DEC  14-0  EC  15 

NAZARETH,  PA  The  Delaware- 
Lehigh  ARC  will  operate  W30K  (or 
possibly  WX3MAS)  as  the 
Christmas  Cities'  Special  Event 
Station.  The  station  will  be  on  the 
air  1400Z-0200Z  from  the  twin 
Christmas  cities  of  Nazareth,  PA, 
and  Bethlehem,  PA.  Freq+;  3.965t 
7.265,  14.265,  21.365,  and  28.365. 
For  a  certificate,  send  QSL  and  a  9' 
x  12'  SASE  to  DLARC,  RR  4, 
Grey  stone  Building,  Nazareth  PA 
18064  USA. 


DEC  14-26 

BELEN,    NM      The 

Valencia  County  ARA 
will  operate  KC50UR 
1800Z  Dec.  14th- 
0000Z  Dec.  26th  to 
celebrate  Bethlehem, 
(Belen  is  the  Spanish 
word  for  Bethlehem.)  A 
QSL  card  will  be  sent 
to  all  who  provide  an 
SASE,  QSL  to 
KC50URt93Nash$tt 
Belen  NM  87002  USA* 

JAN  1997 

GISBORNE,  NEW 
ZEALAND  The  amateur 
fraternity  is  fast  heading 
into  a  new  century, 
with  the  year  2000 
rapkly  approaching.  To 
acknowledge  mis  event, 
the  Gisborne  ARC 
(Branch  11,  NZART)  will 
sponsor  an  annual 
international  award, 
using  the  callsign 
ZL2000,  until  the  year 
2000,  The  award  is 
open  to  all  amateur 
radio  operators  and 
SWLs.  To  achieve  an 
annual  award,  only 
one  contact  is  required 
with  a  ZL2000  station 
during  the  month  of 
January  each  year, 
until  the  year  2000.  A 
special  complimentary 
award  will  be  issued  to 
all  stations  that  contact 
a  ZL2000  station  for 
four  out  of  the  possible 
five  years,  up  to  and 
including  the  year 
2000,  The  fee  for  the 
annual  award  in  New 
Zealand  is  $5,  for 
Australia  $5,  and  for 
the  restofthe  world  US 
510.  Contact  Gisborne 
2000  Award,  P.O.  Box 
1017,  Gisborne,  3815, 
New  Zealand. 


What  piece 

of  ham    J 

gear  would 

you  most 

like  to  get 

for 
Christmas? 


Radio  Bookshop 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  79 


QRP 


Number  80  on  your  Feedback  card 


Michael  Bryce  WB8VGE 
2225  Mayflower  IMW 
Massillon  OH  44646 


December  already?  Yes,  it's 
true,  1 9%  is  coming  to  an  end.  I 
smv  linfv  the  year  w.is  better  for 
you  than  for  mc.  Whatever  I 
touched  or  did  seemed  to  come 
apart  this  year.  Let's  hope  1997 
is  better. 

Aside  from  the  Jack  of  sun- 
spots,  operating  QRP  has  been  an 
exciting  hobby  within  ham  radio. 
We've  seen  all  sons  of  new  gear 
tailor-made  for  QRPers,  Some  of 
the  gear  is  getting  rather  fancy 
compared  to  what  we  have  be- 
come accustomed  to. 

Small  thin  film  solar 
modules  for  QRP  use 

I've  had  several  letters  asking 
about  soldering  wires  to  thin  film 
solar  panels.  These  amorphous 
silicon  panels  have  been  turning 
up  at  surplus  stores  around  the 
country-  Some  of  the  prices  have 
been  very  attractive  as  well — but 
the  downside  is  that  there  are  no 
wires  connected  to  the  modules. 
In  fact,  when  a  thin  film  module 
is  made,  it  can  easily  he  cut  up 
into  even  smaller  modules,  with 
only  a  glass  cutter.  This  is  what 


Low  Power  Operation 

a  thin  film  module?"  Their  an- 
swer? You  don't.  Here's  the  whys 

and  the  why  nots  of  soldering  to 
a  thin  film  solar  module* 

The  backside  of  the  thin  film 
module  is  made  out  of  a  sub- 
strate of  cither  tin  oxide  or  alu- 
minum oxide.  Both  are 
deposited  on  the  glass  by  flash- 
ing the  material  (let's  say  alu- 
minum) onto  the  glass  or  in  a 
plasma  chamber.  The  coating  is 
only  several  microns  thick.  So, 
with  a  material  so  thin,  there's 
not  much  to  hold  onto. 

Since  we  don't  know  what  the 
substrate  is  made  of  we  can  try 
one  (or  both)  of  two  methods. 
First,  a  silver  solder,  with  a  high 
content  of  silver,  should  work 
with  the  tin  oxide  substrate.  The 
silver  solder  must  have  a  very  low 
melting  point  If  the  melting  point 
is  too  high,  the  tin  oxide  is  burned 
away  before  the  solder  has  a 
chance  to  stick. 

If  the  silver  solder  did  not 
work,  then  the  substrate  must  be 
aluminum  oxide.  We  can  then 
try  some  aluminum  solder. 
Right  offhand,  1  don't  know  of 
a  source  for  this  stuff.  The  alu- 
minum solder  must  also  have  a 
low  melting  point,  You'll  also 
need  an  adjustable  soldering  iron; 
you  must  lower  the  operating 


"A  thin  film  module  about  the  size  of  this 
magazine  will  produce  about  3-5  watts 

under  a  full  sun" 


happens  if  the  buyer  gets  a  ship- 
ment of  large  modules.  If  the  guy 
who  does  the  cutting  keeps  the 
same  amount  of  cells,  the  mod- 
tiles  will  always  be  the  same  volt- 
age, but  will  generate  small 
currents.  The  amount  of  current 
is  dependent  upon  the  physical 
size  of  the  module. 

Now,  to  make  matters  even 
worse,  you  just  can't  solder  wires 
onto  the  glass  substrate  of  a  thin 
film  module!  In  late  August,  1 
spent  a  week  at  Solarex  in 
Frederick,  MD.  One  of  the  first 
questions  1  asked  was,  "How  do 
you  solder  wires  onto  the  hack  of 


temperature  of  the  tip  to  prevent 
burning  off  the  oxide. 

A  cheap  and  dirty  way  to  make 
your  soldering  iron  so  you  can  vary 
the  tip's  temperature  is  to  use  a  lamp 
dimmer.  You  can  get  these  from  any 
home  improvement  center. 

If.  by  chance,  you  manage  to 
get  the  wires  soldered,  then  you 
must  protect  the  connections.  Re- 
member, there  is  not  enough  ma- 
terial for  a  strong  joint.  A  coating 
of  RTV  or  hot  melt  glue  will  be 
needed  to  secure  the  connections. 
With  a  lot  of  luck,  you  may  be 
able  to  make  connections  to  the 
backside  of  a  thin  film  module. 


If  you  do,  then  apply  a  film  of 
RTV  around  the  edge  of  the  glass 
Water  will  seep  up  into  the  active 
material  if  you  don't.  Solarex  pre- 
vents this  b\  using  a  laser  to  bum 
off  a  strip  of  active  material  all 
along  the  edge  of  the  thin  film 
module.  This  effectively  isolates 
the  active  material  from  the 
glass  edge. 

A  thin  film  module  about  the 
size  of  this  magazine  will  pro- 
duce about  3*5  watts  under  a  full 
sun;  combining  this  module 
with  a  small  gelled  lead  acid 
battery  will  power  most  of  the 
single-band  QRP  rigs  on  the 


DX  news  for  QRP  ARC! 

Dick  G0BPS  has  resigned  as 
the  UK  rep  for  the  QRP  ARCI. 
What  does  this  mean  to  you?  If 
you  live  outside  the  USA  or 
Canada  you  must  now  send  your 
renewal  fees  directly  to  me  and 
not  to  Dick.  It  also  means  we 
have  to  rethink  the  way  you  send 
your  funds. 

First,  the  QRP  ARCI  does  not 
accept  credit  cards.  Second,  I 
know  the  price  of  getting  an  in- 
ternational money  order  often  ex- 
ceeds the  price  of  the  dues.  So 
what's  a  ham  to  do?  Send  cash. 


"This  power  supply  will  produce  12  volts 
at  1.5  amps,  and  it  costs  only  six  bucks/3 


market.  See  my  Micro  "M" 
portable  charge  controller  in  the 
September  issue  of  QST  if  you 
want  a  charge  controller  for  your 
portable  station* 

Low-priced  power  supplies 

Pd  guess  most  QRPers  have 
access  to  several  sources  of  power 
for  their  rigs.  If  not,  and  you  don't 
want  to  home-brew  one,  I  have 

found  several  that  will  power  a 
QRP  rig.  The  best  part  is  the  price. 
These  power  supplies  are  surplus 
and  were  made  to  power  laptop 
computers. 

Many  of  these  supplies  are  of 
the  switching  type,  fm  not  sure 
if  the  switching  noise  would  get 
inside  a  direct  conversion  rig  or 
not.  Perhaps,  but  you  should 
have  no  trouble  running  a 
superhet  rig  with  one. 

Hosfell  Electronics  (800-524- 
6464)  has  several  units  that  look 
good.  One  in  particular  is  a  tiny 
guy  who  measures  only  6  by  2 
inches.  It  will  produce  12  volts 
at  1.5  amps.  Best  of  all  .it's  only 
six  bucks.  Its  stock  number  is 
56-448.  For  $10  you  can  get  one 
that  produces  13  volts  at  1.4 
amps  (40-140),  ideal  for  battery 
charging.  By  adding  on  an  ex- 
ternal three-leg  regulator  you 
would  have  the  basics  for  an 
adjustable  power  supply. 

If  the  switching  noise  is  get* 
ting  into  your  rig,  then  Hosfell 
has  a  linear  supply  that  produces 
12  volts  at  3.4  amps  (40- 176) 
for  $25, 


Yup!  I  know,  I've  said  it,  they've 
said  it,  even  your  mother  said  it; 
Do  not  send  cash  in  the  mail. 
However,  you  can  send  cash  if 
you  follow  these  simple  steps. 

First,  do  not  put  my  callsign  or 
your  callsign  on  the  letter.  You 
want  the  letter  to  look  as  generic 
as  possible.  Second,  do  not  ad- 
dress the  letter  to  QRP  ARCI. 
Address  the  letter  to  me.  Do  not 
send  the  Icncr  certified  or  request- 
ing a  signed  return  receipt.  Re- 
member, you  want  the  letter  to 
look  just  like  one  you  would  send 
to  dear  old  Mom.  Are  you  going 
to  send  her  one  by  certified  mail? 
I  think  not!  If  you  want  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  your  letter  and 
money,  enclose  a  mailing  label 
and  first  class  unit  of  postage  in- 
side your  letter  IRCs  are  fine  if 
you  have  some  lying  about. 

Wrap  your  money  in  either 
carbon  paper  or  aluminum  foil. 
This  prevents  prying  eyes  from 
seeing  the  money  through  the 
envelope.  If  possible,  use  large 
bills  instead  of  singles  or  fives. 
A  twenty  and  a  five  will  mail 
cheaper  than  five  fives.  Some  of 
the  postage  rates  are  incredible, 
one  reason  why  the  QRP  ARCI 
has  raised  the  DX  dues  to  $25  a 
year  for  airmail  delivery. 

For  all  members  of  the  QRP 
ARCI,  Tve  moved.  The  new 
address  is: 


QRP  ARCI 
P.O.  BOX  508 

Massillon  OH  44646 


80    73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


Hboue  &  Beyond 


Number  $1  on  your  FeeabBck  card 


C.  L.  Houghton  WB6IGP 
San  Diego  Microwave  Group 
6345  Badger  Lake  Ave 
San  Diego  CA  92119 
Internet  clhough@aoLcom 


Now  that  we  have  built  several 
converters  and  covered  ihem  in 
quite  a  bit  of  detail,  I  am  ready  to 
put  the  carl  before  the  horse,  so 
to  speak,  and  discuss  IF  system 
operation.  1  admit  that  1  did  not 
plan  to  cover  this  aspect  of  mi- 
crowave operation  because  it  just 
didn't  occur  to  me  before. 

I  have  been  an  amateur  for  a 
good  number  of  years  and  have 
accumulated  quite  a  pile  of  mate- 
rial that  1  draw  upon  to  construct 
projects,  I've  been  known  to  take 
an  existing  complete  radio  which 
has  fallen  into  disuse  and  con- 
struct something  inside  it*  chang- 
ing the  main  function  completely. 

Back  then,  when  radios  were 
not  quite  as  small  as  today's  de- 
vices, there  was  plenty  of  room 
to  construct  adjuncts  into  a  radio 
case,  changing  the  rig's  opera- 
tional point  of  view  while  retain- 
ing the  beauty  of  the  original 
product.  Take,  for  example,  one 
of  my  early  converters,  con- 
structed to  replace  my  2  meter 
transmitter  and  separate  receiving 
converter,  At  that  time  I  was  using 


VHF  and  Above  Operation 


a  tube-type  transmitter  for  2 
meters  that  was  crystal -controlled 
on  145,5  MHz  (AM)  and  ran  with 
three  6AQ5  multiplier  tubes  and 
a  single  6C4  oscillator.  You  might 
point  out  that  the  6AQ5  was  an 
audio  amplifier.  I  agree,  but  il 
worked.  The  receive  converter 
was  a  premium  crystal-controlled 
downconvener  from  144  MHz  to 
14  MHz  for  the  IF  frequency. 


This  project  gave  me  a  deluxe  2 
meter  station  (and  the  beginnings 
of  2  meter  SSB  operation),  using 
mostly  scrounged  junk.  This  was 
my  start  with  VHF  and  the  late 
*60s/early  '70s  construction,  My 
tool  collection  included  a  round 
rasp  file  and  rattail  file  to  round 
out  holes  drilled  on  the  back 
porch  to  hold  tube  sockets,  meters 
and  suck  Quite  a  humble  start. 

I  think  back  to  those  days  and 
the  enjoyment  and  struggle  that  I 
went  through  to  put  together  what 
1  consider  quite  easy  today.  How 
much  lime  1  could  have  saved  if 


Sometimes  you  eat  the  bear— and 
sometimes  the  hear  eats  you" 


The  main  shack  VHF  receiver 
was  a  National  NC-303,  about  the 
size  of  an  apple  box.  The  plan  was 
to  take  a  recent  surplus  Heathkk 
20  meter  single-band  transceiver 
and  convert  it  to  2  meters.  1  was 
able  to  pick  it  up  for  minimal  cash 
output  as  parts  were  missing  and 
it  was  unfinished,  Wellt  to  make 
a  long  story  short,  I  removed  the 
high  power  parts  and  finished  the 
transceiver  (20  meter),  then 
mounted  the  144  MHz  converter 
and  a  transmitter  from  a  salvaged 
Gonset  transmitter  for  2  meters. 
This  new  transmitter,  though  still 
crystal-controlled,  used  a  2E26 
final  and  put  out  5  watts  (AM), 

All  this  was  stuffed  into  the 
Heathkit  20  meter  monobander. 


Vd  had  a  better  grasp  of  technical 
details  and  math  applications! 
Today,  with  a  computer  at  my 
home  and  model  simulation  at 
my  fingertips  for  circuits  that 
were  bench-top  struggles  then, 
I  can  make  vast  improvements, 
even  using  a  slow  286  IBM 
mainframe* 

Yes,  I  still  have  a  286,  and  even 
some  old  CPM  machines  that  still 
function.  They  sit  next  to  my  486 
super-duper  speedster.  I  guess  it's 
always  speed  and  performance  for 
the  assistance  of  mant  but  I  still 
retain  the  slower,  more  comfort- 
able old  shirt  and  blown-out 
tennies  for  when  the  mood  strikes. 

Well,  there  you  have  some  of 
my  deep  dark  projects  of  years 


gone  by.  The  ideas  still  have  a  fa- 
miliar ring;  only  the  tune  has 
changed  a  bit.  Today  we  build 
converters  into  cases  that  seem  to 
suit  the  material  and  retain  the  IF 
system  outside  the  environment  of 
the  converter.  This  is  because  the 
IF  system  is  in  plentiful  supply 
due  to  the  very  heavy  use  of  2 
meters  and  mutiimode  rigs. 

Sure,  some  of  these  rigs  are  old 
by  today's  standards  of  CTCSS 
tones  and  two  or  more  synthe- 
sized VFO  oscillators  or  pro- 
grammed frequency  entry.  Don't 
be  fooled  by  the  expensive  price 
tags  on  the  newest  rigs  and  let  that 
prevent  you  from  using  a  simpler 
version  of  the  same  radio.  Look 
in  the  used  market  for  a  suitable 
unit  that  might  not  have  all  the 
newest  bells  and  whistles.  Used 
equipment  stores  and  flea  mar- 
kets may  provide  an  IF  system 
that  can  be  applied  to  microwave 
converter  use. 

A  bargain  can  be  had.  espe- 
cially if  you  purchase  a  blown  or 
defective  radio  that  might  have  a 
high  power  transistor  amplifier 
stage  destroyed.  Don't  tell  the 
person  you  are  haggling  with  that 
this  is  just  what  you  desire,  as  you 
don't  need  a  power  amplifier  in 
your  IF  system  radio.  (My  Rule 
#/ .  I  disable  all  power  amp  stages 
as  it  is  not  a  requirement  in  con- 
verter  use.)  A  low  power  output 
in  the  100  milliwatt  range  is  ideal 
as  you  still  need  to  reduce  it  to 
+  10  dBm  from  this  power  level. 


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CIRCLE  56  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


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:iE  54  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1 996  81 


Al  the  100  milliwatt  power 
range  (100  mW)  we  still  need  a 
small  value  of  attenuation  to  re- 
duce power  for  input  to  a  micro- 
wave mixer.  While  there  are 
mixers  that  will  handle  100  mW 
+20  dBm  of  power,  most  pre IV r 
+  10  dBm.  Converting  power  in 
watts  to  dBm  might  seem  a  little 
intimidating  at  first  but  it  is  quite 
easy  if  you  know  a  couple  rules 
of  power,  The  main  rule  is  that 
every  power  change  in  watts  thai 
doubles  or  divides  by  two  results 
in  a  3  dB  change  in  power  A  10 
watt  radio  output  power  is  the 
same  as  slating  your  radio  outputs 
power  of +40  dBm;  10  watts  and 
+40  dBm  are  the  same  power 
level,  just  stated  differently.  Now 
subtract  3  dB  from  the  +40  dBm 
level;  -3  dB  =  +37  dBm  =  5  watts 
of  power  Keep  going  and  the  fol- 
lowing is  true:  +34  dB  =2.5  watts, 
+3 1  dB  =  1 .25  watts,  +30  =  1  watt, 
+27  =  .5  watt  and  +20  =  ,1  watt 
or  100  milliwatts. 

Why  use  a  30  dB  attenuator  to 
reduce  a  10  watt  transceiver 
power  to  +10  dBm  for  input  to  a 
mixer?  Yes,  it  can  be  done,  but 
you're  wasting  a  lot  of  battery 
power  in  portable  operation  and 
giving  it  up  as  heat  with  no  use- 
ful application.  The  same  trans- 
mitter with  the  power  stage 
removed  or  disabled  can  be  put 
to  much  better  use  with  less  drain 
on  portable  batteries. 

Rule  #2;  My  used  2  meter 
transceiver  doesn  7  have  any  re- 
pealer tone  control  built  into  the 
radio.  Well,  this  is  a  benefit  again 
because  the  CTCSS  tone  and  re- 
peater subaudible  tones  are  not 
used  on  the  microwave  bands. 
Details  like  this  make  the  radio 
somewhat  high  on  the  priority  list 
to  be  replaced  from  a  repeater 
operator's  point  of  view.  Many 
amateurs  will  take  this  older 
equipment's  used  value  in  trade 
towards  the  purchase  of  newer 
transceivers.  This  is  where  the 
microwave  land  sharks  come  into 
play,  trying  to  locate  these  older 
transceivers,  especially  the  units 
capable  of  SSB  operation. 

Where  can  you  find  these  trans- 
ceivers capable  of  SSB  operation? 
Well,  try  your  local  flea  market 
and  ham  club  swap  meets.  Do 
what  the  big  guys  do — advertise, 
Use  a  small  file  card  on  your  club 
bulletin  board  or  al  your  local  ham 


radio  store's  courtesy  bulletin 
board.  Mention  your  wants  dur- 
ing various  net  activities  on  the 
air.  You  will  never  know  how  suc- 
cessful you  can  be  until  you  iry 
some  of  these  methods. 

My  successful  finds 

Some  of  the  rigs  that  meet  the 
multimode  2  meter  plan  of  attack 
include  Ihe  Santec  LS-202.  [COM 
IC-202,  IC-245,  1C-260  and 
Yaesu  FT-480.  All  of  these  radios 
are  2  meter  capable  and  have  SSB 
operation,  and  some  have  FM  and 
CW.  The  LS-202  is  a  handie- 
talkie  and  a  multimode  miniature 
transceiver  with  SSB,  upper  and 
lower  SSB.  CW,  and  FM,  in  a 
pack  with  8AA  batteries.  Its  det- 
rimem  is  that  the  knobs  are  quite 
small  buL  it  performs  well  in  any 
mode  of  operation. 


lion.  In  a  chance  encounter  he  of- 
fered it  to  me  for  $5,  so  he  could 
be  rid  of  the  dreadful  device. 

Well,  my  first  ICOM  radio  was 
an  TC-211  that  had  similar  prob- 
lems, and  this  IC-245  was  a  mo- 
bile version  of  that  same  radio. 
The  circuitry  problems  that  I 
troubleshot  over  several  years  on 
the  IC-211  related  to  the  plated 
rivets  used  to  connect  the  top  and 
bottom  PC  board  traces.  They 
became  flaky  in  the  conductivity 
department  with  time,  even  with 
soldering,  and  would  go  open, 
(The  fix  put  a  wire  through  the 
rivet  and  bond  to  top  and  bottom 
trace  of  the  PC  board.)  Having 
spent  a  bunch  of  time  to  repair  the 
IC-21 1  (a  repair  job  approaching 
an  act  of  love),  you  could  say  1 
got  a  real  education  on  very  early 
ICOM  radios,  I  applied  the  same 


"Don 't  attempt  to  repair  an  expensive 
piece  of  equipment  before  doing  your 

homework" 


I  obtained  this  radio  as  a  bas- 
ket case  junker  with  no  power 
transistor,  driven  and  a  busted 
audio  potentiometer*  and  it  ar- 
rived in  10  pieces.  It  wasn't  that 
bad  as  most  of  the  wiring  was  still 
in  place  because  it  had  been  dis- 
assembled for  repairs  thai  were 
never  made,  h  sat  in  someone's 
junk  box  for  quite  a  few  years 
until  1  asked  the  question,  "Got 
any  multimode  rigs?"  It  was 
brought  out  and  I  bought  it.  The 
seller  would  have  never  thought 
about  selling  it,  and  was  almost 
not  going  to  sell  it  because  it  was 
in  such  bad  shape.  But  I  insisted 
that  I  was  willing  to  take  it  with- 
out any  guarantees.  Thai  satisfied 
ihe  seller,  relieving  him  of  any 
obligation.  That  was  some  six 
years  ago  and  since  then  thai  ra- 
dio has  operated  well,  with  only 
three  other  trouble/repair  sce- 
narios. These  were  completed  and 
it's  still  working  today  as  my 
smallest  portable  multimode 
radio. 

You  might  think  me  crazy  be- 
cause of  some  of  my  other 
choices.  1  obtained  an  IC-245, 
with  an  SSB/CW  adapter,  that  had 
driven  its  owner  nuts  with  drift- 
ing VFOs  and  intermittent  opera- 


fix  to  the  IC-245  that  I  had  used 
forthelC-211. 

Standing  now  on  familiar 
ground  (the  IC-21 1  and  the 
IC-245  synthesizer  are  exactly  the 
same),  I  grabbed  the  file  with  my 
repair  notes  on  where  all  ihe  sol- 
der rivets  were  on  the  synthe- 
sizer chassis,  and  other  shortcut 
fixes  I  used  in  repairing  the 
IC-21  K  and  installed  the  standard 
fix  to  the  IC-245. 1  put  the  covers 
back  on  and  applied  power,  and  I 
lucked  out!  It  worked  right  off  the 
bat.  It  has  one  related  idiosyn- 
crasy that  1  am  still  trying  to  fix 
but  that  is  intermittent — it  only 
happens  about  twice  a  year. 

Would  everyone  tackle  such  a 
project?  Well,  we  will  never  know 
the  answer  to  that  one,  but  if  you 
should  choose  to  attempt  such  a 
task  it  can  only  reap  rewards.  This 
reward  might  only  be  increased 
technical  awareness — -hut  be  pa- 
tient and  don't  spend  a  lot  of 
money  to  only  tempt  fale,  Be  pru- 
dent and  improve  your  trouble- 
shooting and  repair  skills  using 
inexpensive  items  to  work  on  at 
first.  Don't  attempt  lo  repair  an 
expensive  piece  of  equipment 
before  doing  your  homework. 
Build  up  to  the  experience  level 


needed  to  work  on  a  complex 
piece  of  equipment.  You'll 
improve  with  time. 

What  was  the  disposition  with 
the  Yaesu  FT-480  multimode  rig? 
It  was  purchased  at  a  swap  meet 
from  an  unfamiliar  person  and 
was  advertised  lo  be  in  good 
shape  and  tested,  Well,  the  price 
dropped  when  there  was  no  mike 
or  power  cord  to  be  had,  nor  any 
manual.  This  to  me  meant  the  ra- 
dio was  in  very  dubious  condition 
and  unchecked.  With  my  hand 
still  on  the  unit,  and  alert  for  other 
bargain- hunters,  haggling  com- 
menced. Soon  a  mutual  price  was 
worked  out  and  it  was  mine. 

1  took  it  home  and  made  a 
power  cord  and  mike,  turned  it  on, 
and  the  receiver  was  dead.  No 
audio  at  all,  with  or  without  the 
squelch  „.  nothing.  The  frequency 
dial  responded  OK  so  I  tried 
transmit  in  low  power  and  it 
worked  well  and  on  frequency. 
Looking  at  the  chassis,  which 
had  a  very  tightly-packed  com- 
ponent high-density  construc- 
tion, I  opted  to  order  ihe  manual 
and  schematic  before  beginning 
surgery.  The  manual  was  very 
reasonable — $20 — and  avail- 
able from  Yaesu  (my  hat's  off  to 
Yaesu  and  their  excellent  service 
department), 

1  received  the  service  manual 
and  in  the  troubleshooting  guide 
there  was  my  exact  trouble  con- 
dition as  trouble  #1,  The  fix?  Re- 
place a  dirty  miniature  relay 
contact  used  to  switch  a  DC  volt- 
age between  the  transmit  and  re- 
ceive conirol  circuits.  Three 
minutes  to  fix  the  radio  and  10 
minutes  to  put  the  covers  back  on. 
It  had  been  a  simple  problem,  but 
a  hard  one  to  locate  without  the 
manual.  Sometimes  you  eat  the 
bear — and  sometimes  ihe  bear 
eats  vou. 

In  retrospect,  1  guess  1  got  eaten 
by  the  bear  in  my  dealings  with 
my  IC-21 1  repair  job  and  pulled 
off  a  reverse  on  the  LS-202  and 
the  IC-245.  It  takes  persistence 
and  application  and  the  willing- 
ness to  overcome  repair  obstacles 
to  extract  a  bargain  from  surplus 
or  swap  meet  sources,  Have  I  ever 
received  perfect  equipment  from 
swap  meet  sources?  Absolutely! 
An  1C-260  multimode  2  meter  rig 
in  perfect  shape.  Don't  cast  doubt 
on  everything,  just  examine  it 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


carefully   instead  of  letting 
emotion  run  the  purchase. 

The  2  meter  IF  system 

What  is  the  best  attribute  of  the 
radios  I  have  described  so  far,  and 
what  improvements  would  1  sug- 
gest? Well,  by  using  a  2  meter  IF 
system  for  your  microwave  con- 
vener you  have  the  ability  to  uti- 
lize its  different  modes  of 
operation;  SSB,  CW,  and 
nairowband  FM.  Additionally,  you 
have  an  accurate  frequency  dial 
lo  amble  about  your  converted  mi- 
crowave frequency,  usually  the 
selected  converter  frequency  plus 
4  MHz  of  tuning  range. 

[f  you  were  operating  at  5760 
MHz  and  using  a  144  MHz  IF 
then  you  can  span  the  5760  MHz 
to  5764  MHz  tuning  range  on  the 
IF  system  at  2  meters  via  the  con- 
verter. This  gives  you  a  great  re- 
ceiving and  transmitting  system 
by  allowing  the  IF  system  to  ba- 
sically run  the  show.  Allowing  for 
transmitter  power  reduction  or 
disabling  the  power  stage  is  a 
must  for  converter  use.  Also,  a 
point  to  consider  is  the  frequency 
control  knob  on  most  of  these 
transceivers  I  have  described. 
With  the  exception  of  the  IC-211  s 
all  have  detent-type  harsh  tuning 
for  frequency  control  of  the  2 
meter  radio. 

I  wish  some  of  the  manufactur- 
ers would  take  heed  and  produce 
a  radio  capable  of  making  the 
transition  from  a  multimode 
transceiver  with  power  and  sen- 
sitivity to  a  low  power  converter 
mode  device.  There  should  be 
some  means  to  shut  off  the  power 
stages  and  bypass  them  for  low 
power  output,  not  switched  low 
power.  Having  a  switch  that 
changes  power  level  is  not  pru- 
dent to  run  switched  low  power 
into  a  microwave  converter, 
While  this  option  will  work,  it  can 
destroy  Lhc  convener's  low  power 
input  mixer  and  other  circuitry  if 
the  power  switch  is  accidentally 
bumped  or  operated.  It  is  better 
to  have  a  fixed  hard  pulled-down 
low  power  conversion  thai  will 
not  harm  a  sensitive  expensive 
microwave  mixer. 

Well,  that's  it  for  this  month 
and  this  year,  1  hope  you  and 
yours  have  a  very  Merry  Christ* 
mas  and  a  Happy  New  Year.  Best 
73  Chuck  WB6IGP. 


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73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1 996  83 


New  Products 


Number  84  on  your  Fe&dbsck  card 


Perfect  Stocking  Stuffer 

Alinco  Electronics  introduces 
the  DJ-S41T,  a  handie-talkie 
transceiver  that  operates  on  the  70 
cm  (440  MHz)  hand,  lis  only 
slightly  larger  than  most  pagers, 
runs  on  three  A  A  batteries,  and 
it's  priced  under  $150  at  most 
Alinco  dealers. 

At  a  price  nearly  everyone  can 
afford,  the  DJ~S41T  features  21 
non-volatile  memories,  CTCSS 
encoder,  offset  capability  up  to 
15.995  MHz,  and  transmits  with 
a  power  of  340  milliwatts,  more 
than  adequate  to  hit  repeaters  or 
carry  on  simplex  communications 
over  a  considerable  distance. 

The  DJ-S41T  has  a  pivoting  "swing  up"  antenna,  keeping  the  radio 
compact  enough  to  carry  in  purse  or  pocket,  on  a  belt  like  a  beeper,  or 
in  a  kid's  backpack:  and  if  you  don't  have  to  detach  the  antenna,  you 
probably  won' I  misplace  it  The  universal  reaction  when  people  try 
out  the  DJ-S41T  is  "How  can  1  get  one?"  Find  out  for  yourself  at  your 
nearest  Al  inco  dealer. 


Slimline  Mobile  Antenna 

Palomar  Engineers  announces  a  new 

slimline  mobile  antenna  for  the  75,  40,  20, 
15,  10,  6  and  2  meter  bands.  The  AN-7's 
Fiherglas™  base  section  is  four  feet  long  with 
a  spring  protected  three- fool  whip  on  top. 
Change  bands  by  selecting  taps  on  the  helical 
base  coil.  The  AN-7  was  developed  by 
Antronic,  a  major  South  African  manufac- 
turer, and  has  been  in  use  in  the  South  Afri- 
can bush  country  for  years — it  is  now 
available  in  the  United  States  for  the  first  lime. 
The  complete  antenna  weighs  only  two 
pounds  and  presents  a  very  small  wind- load- 
ing area.  Its  discreet  size  and  attractive  finish 
make  it  suitable  for  use  where  other  antennas 
would  not  be  permitted,  and  it's  priced  at  only 

S249.95, 

For  more  information,  contact  Palomar  En- 
gineers, PCX  Box  462222,  EscondJdoCA92029. 

Telephone  619-747-3343,  FAX  619-747-3346, 
or  E-mail  75353.2 175@compuserve.com. 


Affordable  DSP  -  to  Go! 

Kenwood's  new  TS-570D  HF 
transceiver  offers  the  world's  first 
CW  Auto  Tune  feature,  which 
eliminates  VFO  adjustments  dur- 
ing CW  operation,  The  TS-570D 
also  has  a  Radio  Control  Program 
that  will  be  available  for  opera- 
tors to  design  and  program  mul- 
tiple radios  with  custom  settings 


w  hile  conventionally  saving  them 
to  a  file  for  future  use. 

If  you've  been  waiting  Tor  a 
DSP  (Digital  Signal  Processing) 
HF  radio  thafll  fit  into  your  bud- 
get, check  with  your  authorized 
Kenwood  dealer  for  details,  so 
you  can  enjoy  the  TS-570D,  des- 
tined to  take  its  place  alongside 
other  world-renowned  Kenwood 
rigs  like  the  TS-505,  


.-* 

i 

■ 

- 

i 

Atomic  Clock  Accuracy 

Novatech  Instruments,  Inc,  in- 
troduces the  Model  2955AR  Ru- 
bidium Standard  with 
Synthesized  Output.  It  has  a  di- 
rect digital  synthesizer  output  that 
is  32  bit  programmable  from  10 
Hz  to  4  MH/,  and  fixed  outputs 
of  10  MHz  and  1  MHz.  The 
2955AR  contains  an  Atomic 
Resonance  Rubidium  Oscillator 
and  has  long-term  stability  of 


Sun  spot  Cycle  Got  You 
Down? 


Down  on  the  lower  HF  bands. 

that  is?  Biial  Company  may 
have  the  answer  lor  acreage- 
challenged  hams  who  want  to 
work  the  160  meter  band.  Many 
conventional  HF  antennas  re* 
quire  lots  of  space — but  the  new 
Isotron  160C  is  under  10  feet 
tall  and  mounts  on  a  conven- 
tional mast.  This  resonant  an* 
tenna  requires  no  radials,  is 
tunable  and  can  be  set  for  a  pre- 
ferred portion  of  the  band. 

YouMl  be  impressed  by  the 
Isotron  160Cs  transmitting  and 
low-noise  receiving  perfor- 
mance; and  it's  only  SI 59.95. 
For  more  information  about  the 
Isotron  antenna  line  or  a  free 
catalog,  contact:  Bilal  Company, 
137  Manchester  Drive, 
Florissant  CO  80816, 


better  than  5xl0n  per  month  and 
short-term  stability  of  better  than 
0.7xl()'TI  in  10  seconds. 

There's  an  EEPROM  memory 
in  case  of  power  shutdown,  and 
it's  ideal  for  use  in  communica- 
tions system  applications  since 
the  2955  A  R  can  be  set  to  standard 
frequencies  such  as  the  1.544 
MHzTl  frequency.  Of  course,  it's 
also  perfect  for  laboratory  and 
ground  station  use,  as  a  master 
oscillator,  as  well  as  for  tests  and 
calibration,  and  the  2955AR  is 
attractively  priced  at  $4,295.  You 
need  one.  Yes,  you  do.  Check  out 
the  specs  on  the  web  site  at  http;/ 
/www.eskimoxom/-ntsalcst  or 
write  Novatech  Instruments  at 
1530  Eastlake  Avenue  East,  Suite 
303,  Seattle  WA  98102. 


Connectors 

Rl-  Connectors  has  released  two 
series  of  connectors  for  semi-rigid 
cables.  Rear-mount  N  female  bulk- 
head connectors  are  available  to  ac- 
commodate .086,  .141,  and  .250 
cablet-  SMA  plugs,  bulkhead  jacks 
and  two-hole  and  tour-hole  panel 
mount  jacks  are  avai  (able  for  .086  and 
,141  cables.  Connectors  feature 
Teflon™  insulation,  gold  contacts, 
and  nickel  or  gold  plating. 

The  connectors  are  a\  ail  able  from 
RF  Connectors  distributors  through- 
out North  America.  For  additional  in- 
formation, specs,  and  availability* 
call  800-233-1728  or  E-mail: 
102061.2261  @  compuserve.com. 


If  s  Worth  It 

New  Ham  Companion  from 
the  ARRL,  With  the  League 
membership  growth  stagnant, 

and  the  only  significant  growth 
in  the  hobby  being  the  no-code 
licensees,  the  League  has  ad- 
dressed this  group  with  a  64- 
page  booklet  (about  half  of  it  is 
ads).  It  explains  how  repeaters 
work,  about  packet,  antennas, 
satellite  contacts,  learning  the 
code  and  low*cost  low  band 
QRP.  You  get  your  $2  worth. 


84  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996 


:,.     |  I 


M 


fl.'f 


Iflition  Tcol; 


IlJ 


PLUKE 


Spiffy  Free  Catalog 

Time  Motion  Tools  has  released 
its  new  1 72-page  catalog  of  tools — 
and  it's  full  of  cool  toys:  hand  tools, 
power  tools,  lighting  and  magnifi- 
cation toots,  all  kinds  of  meters, 
including  the  new  Fluke  7-300  and 
other  Fluke  meters.  If  you  haven't 
yet  got  hold  of  this  one.  write  or 
call  Time  Motion  Tools.  12778 
Brookprinter  Place,  Poway  CA 
92064.  Phone  (800)  779-8170, 
FAX  (800)  779-8171;  or  visit  their  web  site  at  http://timemotion.com. 


Get  More  Ladders! 

Cable  X-Pens.  Inc.  announces, 
two  more  ladder  line  cables — the 
300  £2  ladder  line  cable  and  the 
14ga 450  Q ladder  line  cable.  These 
balanced  transmission  cables  pro- 
vide low  Joss  attenuation  across  the 
HF  (>30  MHz)  bands.  Prices  start 
at  100  feet  and  up— 0. 13/fi  for  the 
300  il  version  and  0,25/ft  for  the 
14ga  450  Q  version— discounts 
^)ply  at  500  ft  and  1000  ft  quanti- 
ties. For  more  information  and  other 
special  offers  SASE  to:  Cable  X- 
Perts,  Inc.,  416  Dkns  Dr.,  Wheel- 
ing IL  60090.  Phone  orders  only 
(800)  828-3340,  or  E-mail: 
cxp@  netcom.com. 


CAT  Got  Your  Code? 

Computer  Aided  Technologies 
announces  the  Code  3-GoId*  a 
new  VHF  and  shortwave  decoder 
that  uses  the  best  of  software  de- 
tection technology  and  the  latest 
in  miniaturized  electronics  for  the 
hardware  interface. 

Systems  supplied  as  standard 
include  packet,  BAUDOT  SSTV, 
NAVTEX,  PACTOR,  and  more, 
For  further  information,  contact 
Computer  Aided  Technologies  at 
P.O.  Box  18285.  Shreveport  LA 
71138,  or  call  (318)  687-2555. 
Internet  users  can  contact  the 
company  on  the  WWW  at  <htip:/ 
/w  w  w.scancal  .com>. 


It's  Like  Being  There 

Pacific-Sierra  Research  Corpo- 
ration offers  a  guided  Internet  tour 
of  their  new  HFx  software,  which 
provides  quick,  easy  accurate 
propagation  predictions,  HFx  cal- 
culates ionospheric  signal 
strength  from  2  to  30  MHz,  using 
an  intuitive  Graphical  User  Inter- 
face, The  central  feature  is  the 
HFx  Interactive  Map.  which  can 
display  the  subsolar  position,  day/ 
night  terminator,  the  great-circle 
path  between  transmitter  and  re- 
ceiver, major  cities,  and  the  high- 


latitude  auroral  ovals.  Just  click 
the  mouse! 

It's  designed  especially  to  be 
easy  enough  for  beginners  to  use, 
and  thorough  enough  for  experts, 
and  if  s  only  $  1 29  postpaid  world- 
wide—check it  out  at  the  HFx 
home  page:  http://www.psrv.com/ 
hfx.  For  more  information  or  to 
order,  contact  HFx  -  Dept.  73,  Pa- 
cific-Sierra Research  Corpora- 
tion, 2901  28th  St.,  Suite  300, 
Santa  Monica  CA  90405-2938, 
USA  Phone  (800)  820-4 PS R; 
outside  US  and  Canada  (310) 
314-2346;  FAX  (310)  314-2323, 


Orchid  City's  Newest 

Orchid  City  Software  has  com- 
pleted the  Voyageur  vLI  Radio 
Database  for  DOS,  a  comprehen- 
sive suite  of  database  programs  for 
broadcasting  radio  stations'  infor- 
mation gear  toward  the  radio  DXer 
and  listener  You  want  to  know 
what's  going  on  in  the  DX/SWL 
world?  Here's  a  list  of  DX/SWL 
program  schedules.  Find  any  pro- 
gram h\  ihc  day  of  the  week,  time 
of  day,  station,  etc.  You've  gpi  a 
program  for  writing  log  reports  an 


printing  in  a  number  of  formats — 
type  it  once  and  print  mutti  formats. 
Schedules,  frequencies*  addresses, 
radio  station  slogans— in  English. 
Spanish,  Indonesian.  French, 
Portuguese,  and  more! 

The  Voyageur  vl.l  already  con- 
tains thousands  of  records  and  is 
completely  read/write;  it  can  be 
updated,  changed,  or  added  to  eas- 
ily. To  order  your  copy  send  $29.95 
to  Orchid  City  Software,  P.O.  Box 
18402.  West  Palm  Beach  FL  334 16. 
Overseas  orders  add  $  1 0,00  for  ad- 
ditional  postage. 


Radio  Bookshop 


Phone  SOO-274^737?  or  603-924-0058.  FAX  603-924-8613.  or  sec 
B£  for  ordering  information. 

Great  ARRL  Books! 


h 


irm  on  pace 


AR 1086-4  ARRL  Operating 
Manual  Information  on  how  to 
make  the  best  use  of  yuur  station, 
including  interfacing  with  home 
computers.  OSCAR,  L'HF-VHF. 
$22.00 

AR4I73  Now  You're  Talking!  Ail 
You  Meed  To  Get  Your  First  Nam 
Radio  Li  cense- A  complete  study 
guide  for  the  Technician  and 
So\ice  written  exam.  Practical 
information  every  beginner  needs  is 
written  clearly  and  simply  and  in 
small  doses.  $19*00 
AR4714  ARRL  Antenna  Book 
Best  and  most  highly  regarded 
info  on  antenna  fundamentals, 
transmission  lines,  design,  and 
construction  of  wire  antennas. 
530.00 

AR4971  ARRL  Repeater  Direct- 
ory 1996  Over  19,000  listings  with 
digipeaters,  bandplans,  CTCSS 
(PLfTM))  lone  chart,  frequency 
coordinators,  ARRL  special  service 
clubs,  and  beacon  listings  from 
14MHz  to  24GHz.  $700 
AR3I77  ARRL  Spread  Spectrum 
Source  Rook  From  a  deceptively 
simple  beginning,  a  group  of 
experimenters  set  out  to  develop 
first  theoretical  and  later  practi- 
cal systems  for  spread  spectrum 
communications.  This  book 
consists  of  articles,  papers  and 
government  reports  that  docu- 
ment the  process  whereby  amateur 
spread  spectrum  progressed  from 
the  drawing  board  to  the  airwaves. 
$20.00 


AR1KM  Hints  iind  Kinks  Ideas  for 
setting  up  your  gear  for  comfortable 
efficient  operation,  $10,00 
AR3I85  The  Satellite  Experi- 
menter's Handbook  by  Martin 
Davidoff  K2UBC  Expanded  and 
revised.  Focusing  on  satellites  built 
by  and  for  Ihe  international  radio 
amateur  community  $20.00 
AR4645  Satellite  Anthology  The 
latest  information  on  OSCAR*  9 
throu  13  as  well  as  the  RS  sate  lines, 
the  use  of  digital  modes,  tracking 
antennas,  RUDAK,  microcomputer, 
and  more!  $10.00 

AR44B3  Weather  Satellite  Hand- 
book by  l)r  Ralph  Taggart 
WA8DQT,  Expanded  and  re  vised  To 
reflect  todav's  weather- fax  satellite 
technology.  $20.00 
AR4653  Companion  Software  for 
Weather  Satellite  Handbook 
5-1/4"  MS-DOS  floppy  $10.00 
AR2973  Complete  DXVr  by  Bob 
Locker  W9K1  Learn  bow  to  hunt 
DX  and  obtain  han-io-get  QSL 
cards.  S  12.00 

AR0402  Solid  State  Design  Good 
basic  information,  circuit  de- 
signs and  applications;  descriptions 
of  receivers,  trans  nutters,  power 
supplies,  and  test  equipment  $15.00 
AR4661  ARRl/s  Antennas  & 
Techniques  for  Low -Band  DXlng 
can  be  your  ticket  to  low -band 
success,  $20,00 

ARI996  The  ARRL  1996 
Handbook  includes  the  latest 
innovations  in  ham  radio,  plus  all 
the  fundamental  data  $38,00 


Books  for 


TAB4354  Beginner's  Handbook 
of  Amateur  Radio  by  Clay  Laster 
W5ZPV.  395  pages.  Wonderful 
book  for  newcomers.  It  is  basic  and 
well  illustrated,  Even  if  you  have 
all  ihe  other  ham  handbooks,  you  11 
still  find  this  one  useful.  $22.00 
W5CWNV  No-Code  Video, 
Manual,  Pari  97  Rules  by  Gordon 
West  Learn  how  to  be  a  ham  radio 
operator  $29  95 

W5GWNC  Technician  Class 
License  Manual:  New  No- Code- 
by  Gordon  West  This  book  covers 
everything  you  need  to  become 
a  Technician  Class  Harn.  Every 
question  and  answer  on  Ihe 
examination  is  found  in  this  one 
book.  FCC  Form  610  application. 
59.95 


Antenna  Books 


LTE220  The  Easy  Wire  Antenna 
Handbook  by  Dave  Ingram  K4TWJ. 
AH  of  tbe  needed  dimensions  for  a  full 
range  of  easy  to  build  and  erect  "sky 
wires,"  $9,95 

WGP87034  All  Aboul  Cubical  Quad 
Antennas  bv  William  Onr  and  Stuart 

- 

Cowan  "The  Classic"  on  Quad  design, 
theory,  construction*  operation.  New 
feed  and  matching  systems.  New  daia. 
$13,95 

TAB3270P  Practical  Antenna  Hand* 
book  2nd  edition  by  Jos,  Can.  This 
560- page  book  is  a  treasure.  Starts  with 
fundamentals,  explains  pmpagaiion  of 
all  kinds,  and  provides  a  ton  of  easy 
antenna  projects.  526.95 
WGP87077  Simple,  Uw-Cost  Wire 
Antennas  For  Radio  Amateurs  by 
Willliam  Orr  and  Stuart  Cowan.  Low- 
cosl  multi-band  antennas;  inexpensive 
beams,  "invisible"  antennas  for  hams  in 
lough"  locations.  SI 3.95 


73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  85 


Number  86  or\  your  Feedback  card 


Mobile  or  Chairside  HT  Holder 

A  simple,  practical  project  based  on  a  boat  accessory. 


Peter  L.  Barker  XF1 /KB6ASH 

La  Jolla  de  Los  Cabos  AB-506 

San  Jose  del  Cabo 

B.C.S.  23400  Mexico 


My  other  hobby  besides  amateur 
radio  is  sailing.  As  with  ham 
radio,  many  "cute"  products 
are  developed  for  thai  market,  One  of 
the  best-known  is  an  ashtray  mounted  on 
a  small  bcanbag  so  thai  it  can  be  safely 
used  on  a  boat  in  motion.  I  was  looking 
at  this  one  day  and  it  occurred  to  me  that 
this  simple  idea  could  be  applied  to  a 
holder  for  an  HT  on  board,  in  the  car,  or 
even  by  the  favorite  chair  at  home.  Like 
many  simple  ideas,  creeping  elegance 
set  in  and  the  project  soon  started  to 
mushroom    into    a    universal    holder. 


Eventually  common  sense  prevailed  and  I 

came  up  with  the  idea  described  here.  Even  if 
you  don't  have  a  wife  who  is  a  talented  seam- 
stress,  as  I  do,  this  project  should  be  within 
the  capability  of  any  determined  "putterer" 

Make  a  simple  bracket  in  the  shape 
of  an  acute-angled  "L"  from  aluminum, 
Plexiglas™  or  thin  plywood.  Choose  the 
size  and  angle  to  suit  the  radio  and  the  de- 
sired operating  position.  The  length  of  the 
foot  of  the  "L"  should  be  at  least  half  the 
length  of  the  long  side. 

The  ,cbeanbag"  can  be  made  of  almost  any 
material  or  fabric  that  is  not  slippery.  The 


You  Up... 


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CIRCLE  6S  ON  READER  SERVICE  CABO 


'"beans"  (or  in  my  case,  sand)  are  poured  into 
a  locking  plastic  bag  and  slipped  into  the 
beanbag.  TTie  bottom  of  the  "L"  is  inserted 
into  a  pocket  sewn  onto  the  outside  of  the  top 
layer  of  the  bag.  The  bag  is  then  folded  over 
to  sit  with  the  weight  of  its  contents  resting  on 
the  foot  of  the  "L  "  If  the  material  used  to 
form  the  "Ltf  proves  to  be  too  slippery  to 
allow  the  belt  clip  to  hold  the  HT  securely, 
a  piece  of  thin  rubber,  such  as  inner  tubing, 
or  fabric  can  be  glued  on  with  contact  ce- 
ment to  provide  added  friction.  Alterna- 
tively, an  elastic  band  can  be  slipped  over 
the  "L"  and  the  radio. 

I  have  used  this  simple  support  success- 
fully on  a  heeling  sailboat,  in  a  bouncing 
Bronco  (Ford  type!),  and  next  to  my  TV 
chair. 

Oh,  the  creeping  elegance^  pocket  for 
speaker  mike  and  spare  battery  pack,  a  dual- 
radio  model,  Velcro™  closures,  cable  strain 
relief,  etc. 


S^port  ley  mod 

M 


Mucin  final  ntffx* 


t1n*fa*»ar*«f4]TO0d 


U&e  leg  to  nujcb 
the  pockec  us  bewi  rv  t 


Cb**c*frfl* 


hxkeSb 


Fig.  1.  Beanbag  mobile  HT  holder  A) 
Bracket.  B)  "Beanbag"  made  of  denim  or 
tight  canvas. 


86  73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1 996 


Propagation 


Number  87  an  your  Feedback  card 


Jim  Gray  WlXU 
210  Chateau  Circle 
Payson  AZ  85541 


Radio  propagation  on  the  HF 
bands  this  month  suffers  from 
seasonal  lows  combined  with 
low  solar  flux  values  near  the 
bottom  of  sunspoi  cycle  22,  al- 
though there  is  hope  for  substan- 
tial improvement  during  1997. 
tn  general,  QRN  will  be  low  and 
the  bands  quiet. 


The  best  days  are  expected  to 
be  the  Znd-Sth,  9th- 1 2th,  and 
1 4th- 1 7th.  The  worst  days  are 
expected  to  be  6ih-8ih.  lSih— 
23  rd,  and  27th-29th.  Use  the  ac- 
companying calendar  to  guide 
your  operations.  There  may  be 
some  intensive  geophysical  ef- 
fects felt  on  or  around  the  20th 
and  2 1st,  possibly  ionosphere/at- 
mosphere-related, earth-related, 
or  both.  Stay  alert  and  prepared. 


EASTERN  UNITED  STATES  TO: 


GMT: 

00 

02 

04 

06 

06 

10 

12 

14 

16 

IS 

20 

22 

ALASKA 

20 

20 

ARGENTINA 

20 

40 

40 

40 

B0 

80 

20 

15 

15 

AUSTRALIA 

2D 

20 

40 

40 

20 

20 

15 

:: 

CANAL  ZONE 

15 

20 

20 

-■: 

40 

20 

20 

15 

15 

i  15 

15 

ENGLAND 

20 

i   40  '  80 

40 

40 

20 

20" 

20 

20 

20 

20 

HAWAII 

2G 

20 

40 

40 

80 

20 

15 

15 

INDIA 

20 

20 

40 

20 

15 

JAPAN 

20 

20 

20 

20 

MEXfCO 

15 

20 

20 

40 

40 

20 

20 

15 

15 

15 

15 

PHILIPPINES 

20 

PUERTO  RICO 

15 

20 

20 

40 

40 

20 

20 

15 

15 

15 

T5 

SOUTH  AFRICA 

40 

40 

15 

t5 

15 

20 

20 

U    S.^.ri. 

40 

80 

BO 

40 

20 

2C 

20 

40 

WEST  COAST 

BO 

80 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

20 

iLUIV 

IITED 

>STA 

TES* 

ro 

= 

CENTRA 

ALASKA 

80 

40 

20 

ARGENTINA 

20 

40 

40 

40 

15 

15 

AUSTRALIA 

15 

40 

20 

20 

20 

15 

CAMAL  ZONE 

20 

80 

40 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

15 

15 

15 

m 

ENGLAND 

40 

40 

40 

80 

20 

15 

20 

40 

HAWAII 

15 

20 

40 

40 

40 

15 

15 

INDIA 

15 

20 

20 

40 

20 

20 

JAPAN 

80 

40 

20 

MEXICO 

20 

60 

40 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

15 

15 

15 

20 

PHILIPPINES 

I 

20 

PUERTO  RICO 

20 

80 

40 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

15 

15 

15 

20 

SOUTH  AFRICA 

20 

40 

15 

15 

20 

20 

U.S.S.R 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

WESTER 

IN  Uh 

IITEC 

ISTA 

TES' 

TO 

■■ 

ALASKA 

1S 

20 

40 

4C      40 

40 

40 

20 

ARGENTINA 

15 

20 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

15 

15 

15 

AUSTRALIA 

15 

20 

20 

40 

B0 

40 

15 

15 

15 

CANAL ZONE 

20 

20 

40 

40 

40 

2D 

15 

15 

15 

ENGLAND 

80  , 

Aft 

I 

iv 

tv 

HAWAII 

15 

15  j 

20 

20    20   | 

20 

15 

INDIA 

20 

JARAN 

15 

20 

40 

40 

40 

^0 

40 

20 

15 

MEXICO 

20 

20 

40 

40 

40 

2C 

15 

15 

PHILIPPINES 

*5 

20 

40 

- 

20 

22 

PUERTO  RiCO           20 

20 

40  .   40 

4C 

20 

15 

15 

15 

SOUTH  AFRICA 

20 

40 

40 

15 

15  | 

20 

u.s.s.a 

40 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

EAST  COAST 

80 

B0 

40 

40 

40 

20 

20 

20 

SUN 

MON 

DECEMBER  1996 

TUE       WED      THU         FRI       SAT 

1  F 

2  F-G 

3  G 

4  G 

5  G-F 

6  F-P 

7  P 

8  P-F 

9  F-G 

10  G 

11  G 

12G-F 

13  F 

14  F-G 

15G 

16  G 

17G-F 

18F-P 

19P 

20  P-VP 

21  VP-P 

22  P 

23  P-F 

24  F 

25  F-G 

26  G-F 

27  F-P 

28  P 

29  P-F 

30  F 

31  F-G 

10-12  meters 

A  few  possible  daytime  F2 
layer  openings  to  Souih  andCen- 
iral  America  on  the  Good  (Gl 
days. 

15-17  meters 

Fair  DX  openings  on  Good  <G) 
days  between  noon  and  sunset, 
and  short-skip  openings  during 
the  day  light  hours.  The  band  dies 
at  sunset, 

20  meters 

DX  to  most  areas  of  the  world 
during  daylight  hours,  peaking  a 
few  hours  after  sunrise  and  again 
during  the  early  afternoon.  Al- 
though the  band  usually  closes 
soon  after  sunset,  you  may  find 
occasional  openings  to  South 
America  and  Antarctica  until  mid- 
night. Daylight  short  skip  from 
several  hundred  to  2T000  miles  or 
so  possible  on  most  Good  (G)  or 
Fair  (F)  days. 

30  meters 

DX  toward  the  Europe  in  the 

late  afternoon  and 
evening  on  Good 
(G)  days  until  mid- 
night, and  then  to- 
ward the  Orient 
in  the  early  sun- 
rise hours,  Possible 
long-path  DX  in  the 
morning  and  also 
short  skip  most 
days  out  to  a  thou- 
sand miles  or  more, 
and  farther  in  the 
evening. 


and  Africa  in  late  afternoon 
hours,  toward  South  and  Cen- 
tral America  around  sunset, 
and  good  openings  lo  the  West 
and  South  Pacific  peaking 
around  sunrise  on  Good  (G) 
days.  Expect  daytime  short 
skip  to  1,000  miles,  and  2,000 
miles  at  night. 

80-160  meters 

Both  are  excellent  bands  for 
DX  during  hours  of  darkness, 
peaking  at  midnight  and  just 
before  dawn.  Daytime  skip  on 
160  is  nonexistent,  but  on  80 
iL  can  be  up  to  500  miles,  and 
over  2,000  miles  at  night,  On 
160,  short  skip  can  reach  from 
1.000-2,500  miles  at  night. 
Experts  prefer  vertical  polar- 
ization for  transmitting  anten- 
nas (low-angle  signal  take-off) 
and  horizontal  polarization  for 
receiving  antennas  (less  noise) 
on  160  meters. 

Don't  forget  to  Listen — even 
on  the  worst  days — as  you  may 
be  pleasantly  surprised;  also, 
now  and  then  CQ  into  a  seem- 
inglv  "dead"  band  for  the  same 
reason.  WIXU. 


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CIRCLE  355  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  •  December  1996  87 


Hare'*  what  people  are  saying  about  the  best  propagation  software  available: 


This  is  a  coal  produce!  -  Mam  Radio  On  I;  tit 

HFx  will  become  a  powerful  force  in  the  field  of  HF-propagation 

prediction  and  analysis.  —  QST 

HFx  figures  among  the  most  complete  and  best  developed 
prediction  software  tools.  -  Megahertz 

Very  intuitive  and  visual .  . .  easy  ro  understand!  -  CQ  (Japan) 

It*s  uncanny  how  accurate  (HFx)  is!  —  N9VHW 


Check  out  our  web  site  for  more 
information.  Take  the  guided 
lour  or  download  a  demo  copy 
and  try  it  our  yourself! 

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CIRCLE  226  ON  READER  SERVICE  CARD 


How  you  can  get  the  ham  gift(s)  you've 
c*?  always  wanted  ..♦  and  didn't  know  how 
™f  to  ask  for: 

1.  Read  this  issue  cover  to  cover  (including  all  the  ads), 

2.  Circle  the  item(s)  you  wish  you  had  in  your  ham  shack, 

3.  Show  this  marked  issue  (turned  here  with  arrow  circled)  to  your  gift- 
for-you-huyer  (who  will  actually  welcome  your  subtle  suggestions  as 
they  don't  need  the  frustration  from  wasting  time  and  money  getting  you 
something  you  don't  really  want  when  if  s  so  easy  to  make  you  happy). 


PEESQMAUX  l  THtUfc  ALL  1UOSE  PEOPLE  MT?A\D 
OF  HEAGHT5  ARE  JUST  PLftlM  COWARDS  2 

73  Amateur  Radio  Today  *  December  1996 


Updrtes 


Number  8&  on  your  Feedback  cant 


Speaking  Frank-ly  about 
corrections... 

"A  Versatile  QRP  Random- 
Wire  Antenna  Tuner,"  Oct.  '96, 
page  21 :  In  the  sixth  paragraph  in 
the  first  column,  a  line  reads "... 
from  wiper  terminal  1  of  SI..."  It 
should  read  "...  from  wiper  termi- 
nal of  SI..." 

Fig,  1  on  page  19  seems  to  have 
been  cut  off  (just  Eike  the  tops  of 
my  family's  heads  when  I  take 
vacation  photos).  This  is  Ihe 
ground  thai  was  missing: 

Ml 


And  please  check  the  Parts 
List;  there  are  two  corrections  to 
be  made  to  it.  The  first  is  that  the 


"Toroid  FT50  43  (LI)"  listing 
should  be  deleted  because  it  is  re- 
dundant. Secondly  (and  lastly), 
please  pencil  in  a  3  in  the  Tl  list- 
ing so  that  it  reads,  "6  turns  AWG- 
22  on  FT37-43  core  (see  text)/* 
Once  again,  our  apologies  to 
Mr.  Brumbaugh. 

An  economical  high 
current  mistake. 

Fig-  4  of  "Economical  High 
Current  Power  Supply"  on  page 
52  of  June's  issue  contained  a  full 
wave  bridge  labeled  D2.  Half  of 
it  is  backwards.  Here's  how  D2 
should  look: 


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