DECEMBER 1998
ISSUE #459
USA $3.95
CANADA S4.95
Get more features for your dollar with our
REP-200 REPEATER
A niicmproces£Qr-cQntTo||ed repeater with full auto-
patch and many versatile dtmf remote control fea-
tures at iess than you might pay for a bare bones
repeater or control ler alone!
' flE'Vatw K&SAna
• kit smonty $1095
• f3 ctory assembfed s till only $ 1295
50^54, 143^174, ?13-23-a. 420-475- MHz. ^902-925 MHz sr-o^ily higher.)
**■ FCC lypB acceptgd forcQinniciciat scrvece hi 15fl i 450 MHi bands.
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
periodical voice id^ or both. Great for making club
anriouncements! .../only $100.
REP-20QC Economy Repeater. Real-voice ID, no
dtmf or autopatch Kit only $795, w&t$1195,
REP-200 N Repeater. Without controller so you can
use your own .i^^n^^. Kit only $695, w&t $995.
You'll KICK Yourself
If You Build a Repeater
Without Checking Out Our Catalog Fir$t1
Hamtronics has the world's most
complete line of modules for
making repeaters. In addition to
exciters J pa's, and receivers, we
offer the following controllers,
COR-3. Inexpensive, fiexibJe COR moduSe with timers,
courtesy beep, audio mixer. ,,... only $4S/kit, $79 wit
CWID. Traditional diode matrix iD'er kit or^ly $59.
CWID-2. Eprom-controlted IDer only $54/hit, $79 w/t.
DVR-1. Record your own voice up to 20 sec. For voice id
or playing ciub announcements. ., $59/kit, $99 w/t.
COR-4. Cornpiete COR and CWID all on one board. ID in
eprom. Low power CI\^OS only $99/kit, $149 w/t.
COR -6. COR with real- voice id. Low power CMOS, non-
yolatiie memory kit only $99^ w/t only $149.
COR -5. |jP controller with autopatch, reverse ap, phone
remote control, lots of DTMF control functions, all on one
board, as used in REP-200 Repeater $379 w/t.
AP'vi. Repeater autopatch, reverse autopatch, phone line
remote control. Use with TlD-2. ......kit $&9.
TD-2. Four-dtgit DTMF decoder/controfler. Five tatching
on-off functions, toll calf restrictor. .kit $79,
TD-4. DTMF controller es above except one on-off function
and no toll call re stricter Can also use for selective cailing;
mute speaker until someone pag^s you. , ,....klt$49.
SUBAUDIBLE TONE ENCODERiDECODER
Access all your favorite
closed repeatersf
* Encodes all standard CTCSS
tones wUh crystal accuracy and
convenient DIP switch selection
* Comprehensrue rnanual aiso shows how you can set up
a front panel swjtch to select tones for several repeaters.
* Decoder can be used to mute receive audio and is
optimized for installation in repeaters to provide closed
access. High pass filter gets rid of annoying buzz in
receiver © ISiew low prices I
-TD-5 CTCSS Encoder/Decoder Kit now only $29
* TD-5 CTCSS Encoder/Decoder Wired /tested .,$49
LOW NOISE RECEIVER PREAMPS
LNG-{ ) GaAs FET PREAWIP
STILL ONLY $59, wired/tested
• Make your fhends sick with
envy? Work stations they don't
even know are there.
• Install one at the antenna and
overcome coax losses.
• AvaHable for 28-30, 46-56, 137-152, 152-172,210-
230, 400-470, and 800-960 MHz bands.
LNW«( ) ECONOMY PREAMP
ONLY $24/kit
• Miniature MOSFET Preamp
• Solder terminals allow easy
connection inside radios.
Avaiiable for 25^35, 35-55,, 55-90, 90-120, 120-150,
150-200, 200-270, and 400-500 MHz bands.
TRANSMITTING &
RECEIVING CONVERTERS
No need to spend thousands on
new transceivers for each band!
• Convert vhf and uhf signals
to & from 1 0M.
• Even if you don't have a 1 0M rig, you can pick up
very good used xmtrs & rcvrs for next to nothing.
■ Receiving converters (shown above) available for
various segments of BM, 2M, 220, and 432 MHz.
■ Rcvg Conv Kits from $49. wired/tested units only $99.
Transmitting converters
for 2M, 432 MHz.
Kits only £39 vhf or $99 uhf.
Power amplifiers up to
SOW output.
|HM>-K WfilTMIP HF^T'IVT''
WEATHER ALERT RECEIVER
A sensitive and selective
professional grade receiver to
monitor critlcai NOAA weather
broadcasts. Good reception
even at distances of 70 miles or
more with suitable antenna. No
comparison with ordinary consumer radios!
Automatic mode provides stomn watch, alearting you by
unmuting receiver and providing an output to trip remote
equipment when an alert tone is broadcast. Crystal
controlled for accuracy; all 7 channels {162.40 to 162.55).
Buy just the receiver pcb module in kit form or buy the kit
with an attractive metal cabinet. AC power adapter, and
built-in speaker. Also available factory wired and tested.
RWX Rcvrkit.. PCB only $79
RWX Rcvrkit with cabinet, speaker, &AC adapter $99
RWX Rcvrwireditested in cabinet with speaker S adapter $139
WEATHER FAX RECEIVER
R1 afe ivea fhep- fajh mcei ve;^
V
Join the fun. Get striking
Images directly from the
wsath&r satellites]
A very sensitive wideband fm
receiver optimised for NOAA
APT & Russian Meteor weather fax on the l37MHz band.
Designed from the start for optimum satellite reception; not
just an off-the-shelf scanner with a shorted-out IF filter E
Covers all 5 sateElite channels. Scanner circuit & recorder
control aliow yoij to automatiGally capture signals as
satellites pass overhead, even while away from home.
• R139 Receiver Kitless case , $159
• R139 Receiver Kit with case and AC power adapter $189
» R1 39 Receiver w/t in case with AC power adapter ...$239
• Internal PC Demodulator Board & Imaging Software $289
Turnstile Antenna .,..
<4-)-l-iH-i4+4-ll-*-ni-B--i^-l-«-l^->l-<
.S119
- Weather Satellite Handbook ,.„, 520
SYNTHESIZED FM
EXCITER & RECEIVER MODULES
NEW
We recently Introduced new vhf fm
exciters and receivers which do not
require channel crystals.
NOW,., uhf modules are also available!
Exciters and Receivers provide high quality nbfm and
f sk opera t io n . Fea tu r es i rrcl ude:
• Dip switch frequency sefection.
• Exc&ptianBt modulation for voice and ctcss.
• Very iow noise syn th esizer for repeater s erv/ce.
• Direct fm for data up to 960Q baud,
• TCXO for tigiit frequency accuracy in wide
range of environmentai conditions.
• Next day shipping. No wait for crystafs.
EXCITERS:
Rated for continuous duty, 2-3W output.
T301 VHF Exciter; for various bands l39-174MHz*.
216-226 MH2.
• Kit (ham band5onfy) ...$109 (TCXO OpliOn ^40)
• Wired/tested, ind TCXO... $189
T304 UHF Exciter: various
bands 400-470 MHz*.
• Kit (440-450 hajm ba im only)
IncI TCXO ...$149
• Wired/tested... $1S9
■ (Or g<jv'l &, export use.
RECEIVERS:
R301 VHF Receiver: various bands 139-174MHz*,
216-226 MHz.
• Kit (hamtandsorly) ...Only $139 (TCXO OptiOP $40)
• Wired/tested $209
(includes TCXO)
R304 UHF Receiver, various M
bands 400-470 MHz*,
• Kit (440-450 ham bflnd ctr^ly}
inci TCXO. $179
• Wired/tested,.. $209
TRADITIOniAL CRYSTAL-COAITROLLED
VHF & UHF FM EXCITERS & RECEIVERS
FM EXCfTERS; 2W output coritinuou'S duty.
• TAS1: foreM, 2M, 220 MHz „._.„.kit S99, w/t S169
• TA451; for 420-475 MHz. kit $99, w/t Si 69
• TA90t: for 902-926 MHz, (0.5W out) w/t S1B9
VHF & UHF POWER AMPLIFiERS.
Output tevelsfrom 10Wto 100W Starting at $99
FM RECEIVERS:
Very sensitive - 0.1 SpV
Superb selectivity, >100 dB down at ±12 kHz. best
available anywhere, flutter-proof squeEch. For 46-54,
72-76, 140-175, or 216-225 MHz. ... kit $129, w/t $189
• R144 RCVR. Lil<e RlOO, for 2M, with helical
resonator in front end kit $159., w/t $219
. R4S1 FM RCVR, for 420-475 MHz. Similar to RlOO
above, kit $129, w/t $189
- R9D1 FMRCVR,902'928MHz $159, w/t $219
WWV RECEIVER
Get time & frequency checks
without buying multiband hf
rcvr. Hear solar activity reports
affecting radb propagation.
Very sensitive and selective
cr/stal controlled superiiet. dedicated to iistening to WWV
on 1 0 MHz. Performance rivals the most expensive rcvrs.
- RWVW Rcvr kit, PCB only $59
, RWWV Rcvrkit with tabl. spkr,^ 12Vck adapter $89
SI 29
RWWV Rcvr w/t In cab! witln spkr & adapter
Buy at low, factory-direct net prices and save!
For complete info, call or write for complete catalog.
Order by mail, fax, email, or phone 0-12, 1-5 eastern timeK
Min* $€ S&H charge fof I" lb. plu^ add'l wetght & insurance.
Use Visa, MC, Discover, check, or UPS C.O,D.
See SPECIAL OFFERS and view
complete catalog on our web site:
www.hamtronias.com
tmail: Jv@hanntronics.coni
Our 36'^ Year
ronics, inc
6S-D Moul Rd; Hilton NY 14468-9535
Phone 716-392-9430 (fax -9421})
4'
&
ASTRON
CORPORATION
9Autry
Irvine, CA 9261 8
(949) 458-7277 * Fax (949) 458-0826 www^astroncorp.com
SWITCHING POWER SUPPLIES
CONT. ICS WT,(LBS)
SS 10 7 10 3 2
SS-12 10 12 a4
SS-18 15 18 3 6
SS-25 20 25 4.2
SS-30 25 30 5.0
SS-25M With volt t amp meters
SS'30M With volt & amp meters
ASTRON POWER SUPPLIES
HEAVY DUTY • HIGH QUALITY • RUGGED * RELIABLE
SPECIAL FEATURES
• SOCIO STATt ELECTRONICALLY HEGULATH)
• FOLO-BACK CURRENT LIM|T^NG Protects RM«r Supply
from excessive current & contrnuQUS sh^^rted output
• CROWBAR OVER VOLTAfiE PROTECTION on all Models
!j(cipl RS-3*, RS-4A. flS-SA. RS4L RS-SL
• MAINTAIN REGULATION & LOW RIPPLE at low Tlrte input
Votage
• HEAVY DUTY HEAT SINK • CHASSIS MOUNT RJ^
• TWREE CONDUCTOR POWER CORD except for RS-3A
• ONE YEAR WARRAI^TV • MADE tN U.S A
PERfORMANCE SPECIFrCATlONS
• INPUT VOLTAGE 105-125 VAC
• OUTPUT VOLTAGE: tlB VOC + 0.05 volts
(Intefnally Adjystatle: 11-15 VDC)
• RIPPLE L&ss tt^an 5mv peak to peak (fuN load &
low line)
• All units available in 220 VAC input voltage
(except for SL-11A)
SLSE
• LOW PROFILE POWER SUPPLY
MODEL
Coloft
Sny BliGk
Continuaus
Duty [Amps]
fCS*
(Amps)
SL'IIA
SL^IIR
SL-11S
SL-11R'RA
• •
7
7
7
7
11
11
11
11
Size (IN)
Shloplflo
^v. * m X ¥h
12
2%^? "W
12
m =< Tk X 9V<
12
A^k'l "9^4
13
RS-L SERIES
• POWER SUPPLIES WITH BUILT IN CIGARETTE LIGHTER RECEPTACLE
ConllnttDU£ ICS* Size (IKl
Duly |Amp«| (Anpt) H ^^ W ^ 13
Shipping
Wi [lbi!l
RS-4L
RS^SL
T^-^Vk^l
M.
6
7
m SERIES
Duty jAmpf)
9
25
37
MODEL ftM-35M
19" RACK MOUNT POWER SUPPLIES
Continuaus
mm.
RM'12A
RM-35A
RM'SOA
RM^&OA
Separate Volt arrd Amp Meters
RM-12M 9
RM'36M 25
RM-50M 37
RM^eOM 50
ICS-
lAnpt]
12
35
50
55
12
50
56
Size (Ml
NxWxD
5'A X 19 K e%
b% X 19 X 12^6
5Vi X 19 X Wh
7x19x12^^
S'A>cl9x8^A
5Vi X 19 X 12%
5^Ax 19x12%
7xl9x12'A
SMpjinn
WL mx
%
3S
50
60
16
3a
50
60
RS-A SERIES
MODEL ftS-7A
MODEL
RS-3A
RS-4A
RS-5A
FIS-7A
RS-10A
RS'12A
RS'12B
RS-20A
FtS-35A
RS-50A
RS'70A
Colors
Qriy Black
«
*
■
CHliiitii
PUT (A-Ml
23
3
4
5
7.5
9
16
25
37
57
ICS'
3
4
5
7
10
12
12
20
35
50
70
Sill tmi
N X W X B
3 X 4^/4 X 5^
3^* X 6V3 X 9
Z\k x6Vfi X 7V4
3^/4 X 6^/? X 9
4x Vh X ^Q%
4^y^ X 8 X 9
A X Tk X Wk
5 X 9 X 10V?
5x 11 X 11
6x 13^^ X 11
fi X WA X 12*4
Sltippini
WL (titj
4
S
7
B
11
13
13
IB
n
t
RS-M SERIES
MODEL RS'35M
MOQEL
Switcliable vdt ifid Amp meier
RS^I^
Separate vott and Amp meters
RS-aOiWI
RS^aSM
RS-50M
fiS-70M
Clitiiiftut
fiiltf [Aapsj
9
16
25
37
57
ICS*
|Al|t)
12
20
35
50
70
Ski IIH)
IxWxl
41i X fl X 9
5 X 9 X TO^
5 X 11 X 11
6x 13^ X 11
6 * 13V* X 12\
5bip|ih|
HfL |Jlt.|
13
18
Z7
48
VS-M AND VRM-M SERIES
Separate Volt and Amp Meters • Output Voitage adjustable from 2-15 volts * Current limit adjustable from 1.5 amps
MODEL VS-35M
t€ RjII Load
MODEL
VS-T2M
VS-20M
VS-35M
VS'7DM
Variable rack mount power supplies
VRM-35M 25
VRM-50M 37
Ctilinion
Dtly |Ari$|
#13 8VDC @10VDC @5VDC
9
16
25
37
17
5
9
15
22
34
IS
22
2
4
7
10
IS
7
10
ICS*
@13.8V
12
20
35
50
70
35
50
Si2i (IMI
IX Wx II
4'j^ X 8 X 9
5 X 9 x 10^^
5x 11 X It
6 X 13^ x t1
6ic13'^^x12';
5Vi X 19x Wk
5V4 X 19 X IZVi
Sli|pli|
WL [III]
13
20
29
46
49
38
50
RS-S SERIES
MODEL RS-12S
Built in speaker
MODEL
RS-7S
ftS-lOS
RS-12S
RS^20S
SL'IIS
Calors
Gray Slack
•
Cinllniiii
Dtjly [Aapi]
5
73
B
16
7
Ampt
7
10
12
20
11
Size |1N|
H X W X D
4 X 7^^ X 10'^
4x7'hx WA
4'k X 8 X 9
5 X 9 X Wk
2=^ X 7^-i X 9%
Shijlplil
WL [llr|
10
12
13
18
12
«C&— Intermitttnl Commtjnicaliofi S^v^ce (50% Oirty Cycle 5<tiin on 5 mi n, off)
CIRCLE 16 ON DEADER SQ1VICE QAFID
J
World's
' Smallest
Transmitlers
WecalUhemlhe^Cubes'.,
Perfect video transmission
from a transmitter
you can hide under
a Quarter and only
as \h\Crk as a stacl<
of four pennies-
ttiafs a nicl^el in
the picture!
Transmtis color or B&W with Fantastic quality - aJmost like a direct
wtred connection to any TV tuned to cable channel 69, Ciyslal
controlled tor no frequency drift with performance that equals law
enforcement models that cost hundreds more! Basic 20 mW
model Lransmits up to 300' while the high power 100 mW unit
goes up to 1/4 mile. Audio units Incfude sound using a sensitive
built-in mike that will hear a whisper 15 feet away! Units mn on 9
volts and hook-yp to most any CCD camera. Any of our can^eras
have been tested to mate perfectfy with our Cubes and work
gr&at. Fully assemblect - just hook-up power and you're on the air!
C-2000, Basic Video Transmitter Cube, ...,.., „ $89-95
C-3000, Basic Video and Audio Transmitter Cube ,„,.S149.95
C-2001, High Power Video Transmitter Cube .-$179.95
C'3001, High Power Video and Audio Transmitter Cube $229.95
mmm.
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I':
Super Pro FM Stereo
Radio Transmitter
A truly profes-
sional frequen-
cy synthesized
FM Stereo
transmitter sta-
tion in one
easy to use,
handsome cab-
inet. Most radb
stations require
a whde equipment mck to hold all the features we've packed
into the FM-IOO. Set frequency easily with the Up/Down ireq
buttons and the big LED digitaJ display, Plus there's input low
pass fiftering that gives great sound no matter what the source
(no more squeals or swishing sounds from cheap CD player
inputs!) Peak I im iters for maximum 'punch' in your audio - with-
out over modulation, LED bargraph meters for easy setting of
audio levels and a built-in mixer with mike and line level inputs.
Churches, drive-ins, schools and coiieges find the FM-100 to be
the answer to their transmitting needs, you will too, No one
offers aJI these features at this price! M includes cabinet, whip
antenna and 120 VAC supply.
We also offer a high f^ow&r export versiOQ of the FM-IQO that's
My assembled with one watt of RF power, for mites of program
covemge. The export version can oniy be stiipped outside the
USA, or within the US if accotnpariied by a sigr^ed statement
that the mit wiiS bs exported.
FM-IOfl, Professional F!lil Stereo Transmitter Kit $299,95
FH-IOOWT, Fully Wired High Povifer FMTransinitter 5429.95
AM Band
Radio
Transmitter
Tl'T^
Ramsey AM radio transmitters operate in the standard AM broad-
cast band and are easity set to any clear channel in your area.
Our AM'25, 'pro' version, Jully synthesized transmitter features
easy frequency setting DSP switches for stable, no-drift frequency
control^ while beinq jumper setable for higher power output where
regulations allow. The entry-level AM-1 uses a tunable transmit
oscillator and runs the niaxtmum 100 miiiiwatts of power. Mo FCC
license is required, expected range is up to 1/4 mile depending
upon antenna and conditions, Transffiitters accept standard line-
level inputs from tape decks, CD players or mike mixers, and run
on 12 volts DC, The Pro AM-25 comes complets with AC power
adapter, matching case set and bottom loaded wire antenna, Our
ent[)^-level AM-I nas an available matching case and knob set lor
a finished, professional look.
AHil-25, Professional AM Transmitter Kit S129.95
AM-1 1 Entry feve[ Aim Radio Transmitter Kit $29.95
CAM. Matching Case Set for AM^I , ,..S14,95
CCD Video Cameras
P^"^IP™P^P^^"^"^^"^^^^i^^ilP^^^^^^^P^W
B&W Camera
ife
It you're looking for a good quality CCD board camera, stop
right here! Our cameras use top quality Japanese Class VV
CCD arrays with over 440 line line resolution, not the oft-
spec arrays that are found on many other cameras. You
see, the Japanese suppliers grade the CCDs at manufac-
ture and some manufacturers end up with the off-grade
chips due to either cost constraints or lack of buying 'clout'.
Also, a new strain of CMOS single chip carneras are enter-
ing the market, those units have about 1 /2 the resoiulion
and draw over twice the current that these cameras do -
don't be fooled! Our cameras have nice clean iields and
excellenl iight sensEtivity, you'll really see the difference,
and it you want to see in the dark, the black & white mod-
els are super IR (Infra-Red} sensitive. Our IR-1 Illuminator
kit is invisible to the human eye, but liglits the scene like a
flashlight at night! Color camera has Auto White Balance,
Auto Gain, Back Light Compensation and DSPt Avaiiable
with Wide-angle (30^1 or super slim Pin- hole style lens.
They run on 9 VDC and produce standard 1 volt p-p video.
Add one of our transmitter un^ts for wireless transmission to
any TV set, or add our IB-1 interface board for audio sound
pick-up and super easy direct wire hook-up connection to
any Video monitor, VCR or TV with video/audio input jacks.
Cameras fully assembled, including pre- wired connector.
CCD\'VA-2, B&W CCD Camera, wide-angle lens. S99.95
CCDPH-2, BSW CCD Camera, slim fit pin-liole len......S99.95
CCDPH^a, Color CCD Camera, wide-angle lens $149.95
If^-l IR Illuminator Kit for S&W cameras...... $24.95
IS-1, Interface Board Kit., ......424&5
FIM Stereo Radio
Transmitters .
:,:.^^,^^:^^y^.^^:,.«^^
Microprocessor controlled
foreasy frequency pro-
gramming using DIP
switches, no drift, your sig-
nal Is rock solid all the
time - just like the com-
mercial stations. Audio
quality is exceElent, connect to the line output of any CD
player, tape deck or mike mixer and you're on-1he-air.
Foreign buyers will appreciate the high power output
capability of the FM-25; many Caribbean folks use a sin-
gie FM-25 to cover tfie whole island! New, improved,
clean and hum-fr^e runs on either 12 VDC or 120 VAC.
Kit comes complete with case set whip antanna, 120
VAC power adapter - easy one evening assembly.
FM-25^ SyntiiesLzed FM Stereo Transmitter Kit ...$129.95
A lower cost alternative to our
high perfonnance transmitters.
Offers great value, tunable over
the S8-10B MHz FM broadcast
band, plenty of power and our ,
manual goes into great detail '
outlining aspects of antennas,
transmitting range and the FCC
rules and regulations. Connects to any cassette deck. CD
player or mixer and you're on-the-air, youll be amazed at
the exceptional audio quail tyf Runs on internal 9V battery
or external power from 5 to"i5 VDC, Add our matching
case and whip antenna set for a nice finished look,
FM-IOA, Tunable FM Stereo Transmitter Kit .$34.95
CFi, Matching Case and Antenna Set,..., $14.95
AC12-5, 12 Volt DC Wall Plug Adapter. $9.95
Add some serious muscle to your signal, boost power up to
1 watt over a frequency range of 100 KHz to over 1000
MHz! Use as a lab amp for signal generators, plus many
foreign users employ the LPA-1 to boost the power of their
FM Stereo transmitters, providing radio sen/ioe through an
entire town, Runs on 12 VDC. For a neat, professionally fin-
ished bok, add the optional matching case set,
LPA-1 Power Booster Amplifier Kit „ $39.95
CLPA, Matching Case Set for LPA-1 Kit „ .......$14,95
LPA-1WT, Fully Wired LPA-1 witfi Case $99.95
*. ^
S^-w-
Treasure
Finder Kit
J Search for buried treasure at
I the beach, backyard or park,
TTiis professional quality kit can
detect metai at a depth of up to
6 inches. Easy to use, just lis-
^ .-^^ ten for the change in tone as
' "^ you 'sweep' the unit across the
surface - the larger the tone
change - the larger the object.
Has built-in speaker or earphone connection, runs on stan-
darel 9 vott battery. Complete kit includes handsome case,
rugged PVC handle assembly that 'breaks down' for easy
transportation and shielded Faraday search coil Easy one
evening assembly. This nifty kit will literally pay for itself!
That guy in the picture looks like he founci something -
what do you think it is - gold, silver. Rogaine, Viagra? You' I
have tun with this krt.
TF-1, Treasure Finder Krt. „ , S39.95
Binocular Special
We came across these
nice binoculars in an
importers close-out deal.
Not some cheap in-Eine
lens jobs, these beauties
have roof prisms, a super
nice rubber armored
housing over light weight
aluminum. 10 x 25 fxjwer with fully coated optics. Includes
lens cleaner cloth, neck lanyard and nice carry case. For
extra demanding use in bright sun, choose the EX module
with ruby coated Objective lens. First quality at a close-out
phcel WeVe seen the exact same units with the 'Bushnell'
name on them being sold for $3D more!
BNO-1, Binoculars and case $24.95
5N0-1€X, Ruby Coated Lens Sinooulars and case $29.95
Speech Descrambler
Decode all that gibberishJ This is the
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THE TEAM
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Associate Publisher
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Nitty Gritty Stuff
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Contributing Culprits
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Mtke Bryne WBSVGE
Joseph E. CarrK4IPV
Michael GeierKBIUIVT
Jim Gray WlXU/7
Jack Heller KB7N0
Chucl< Houghton WB6IGF
Dr. Marc Leavey WA3AJR
Andy lyiacAllister W5ACI\^
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Advertising Sales
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DECEMBER 1998
ISSUE #459
Amateur
Radio Today
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURES
DEPAFITMENTS
10 Probing Auto Electronics — W6WTU
Help your neighbor identity his car's problem
and be an electronlo's hero!
14 Announcing the QRFeanut — N5GZH
Here's a compact QRP transmatch you can build
for next 10 nothing.
17 Keys to Better Operating — W6BNB
Yes. much otitis common sense ...
27 Electronic Bug Emulator — W4LJD
Put some personality back into your CW.
31 Low- Voltage Detector - W6WTU
... k>r a number of uses,
32 George's XE-lent Adventure - WB2AQC
Part 2: Days 10-18.
WB6IGP
39
AtMve 8l Beyond
49
Ad Index
64
Barter 'n' Buy
K4IPV
42
Carr's Corner
KB7N0
45
The Digital Port
W5ACM
45
Hamsats
NZ9E
43
Ham to Ham
6
Letters
W2NSD/1
4
Never Say Die
46
New Products
KE8YN/4
47
On the Go
W1XU/7
62
Propagation
8
QRX
6,8,
2a
Radio Bookshop
62,
63
39
Special Events
REVIEWS
24 A Real Handful - VE3EGA
Inside Alinco's DJ-C5 dual-band transceiver.
29 Seeing Drts and Dahs — N1FN
The K2659 Morse Decoder Kit from Velleman Electronics.
52 The Drake TR Series; No Introduction Needed - W2BLC
,.. but here's the skinny on some of the best vintage equipment
available today
On the cover: And how many hams out there have visions of these two sugarplums dancing in their
heads? Photo of ICOM's IC-Q7Aand IC-T8A handheld FM transceivers by Norman Marion, Happy
Holidays to all!
Feedback: Any circuit works better with feedback, so please lake the time to report on
how much you like, 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 U's and it's 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) fs published monthly by 73 Magazine, 70 N202, Peterborough NH
03458-1107. The entire contents ©1998 by 73 Magazine. No part of this publication December be reproduced
without written permission of the publisher, which is not ail that drfficuit to get. The subscription rate ia: one
year $24.97, two years $44.97; Canada: one year $34,21, two years $57.75, including postage and 7% GST
Foreign postage: $19 surface, $42 airmail additional per year, payable in US funds on a US bank. Secor^d
class postage is paid at Peterborough, NH, and at additional mailing offices, Canadian second class mall
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Arbor Ml 48106. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 73 Amateur Radio Today, 70 N202, Peterborough
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Contract: By being so nosey as to read this fine print, you have just entered into a binding agreement with 73
Amateur Radio Today. You are hereby obligated to do something nice for a ham friend— buy him a subscription
to 73. What? A!l or your ham friends are already subscribers? Donate a subscription to your local school libraryl
Number 1 on your Feedl^scH csrct
NeUER SnV DIE
Wayne Green W2NSD/1
JYl
I was discouraged to read
that His Majesty JYl was
back at the Mayo Clinic in
Minnesota and still '*fighting"
cancer. The normal treat'-
nicnts for cancer are legalized
torture, with chemotherapy,
radiation and surgery. I wish
there was some way to (a) get
word to him and (b) convince
him that he doesn't have to be
tortured and then die. Even at
this stage, which obviously is
very far along, if he'd read the
book by Dr. Bruno Comby
(Maximize Immunity), which
I've been recommending for
several years as a book "you're
crazy if you don't read," Fm
convinced he could be totally
well now, complete with a
full head of hair instead of
totally bald.
We get cancer for one reason
only: We've compromised otir
unmune system. Our bodies
generate tiny cancers con-
tinually, but our immune sys-
tem cleans them up for us.
Then, when we weaken our
immune system enough, it
isn't long before a cancer
somewhere is going to win
and then we're in deep doo-
doo. That's when we hear the
two words from our doctor
that we never want to hear;
"Uh-oh,"
The National Cancer Insti-
tute and the American Cancer
Society have been doing ev-
erything they can, with the
help of the AMA and FDA, to
make sure that alternatives to
chemotherapy, surgery and
radiation are stopped from
being developed or known.
Hey, if we stop making our-
selves sick we could stop
spending a trillion and a half
dollars a year — ihal's one
4 73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998
and a half thousand billion
dollar a year we're costing
ourselves. Of course, that would
put thousands of hospitals and
tens of thousands of doctors
out of work, and virtually wipe
out the pharmaceutical and
insurance industries.
Gee, lough.
So don't upset things by
changing your habits and take
your chemo torture like a man.
Chemo and radiation both wipe
out your immune system, so
your first and last lines of de-
fense against cancer are gone.
Yes, the last stages of cancer
can be extremely painful, but
the doctors won't give you
the painkillers you need for
fear of losing their Hcenses.
The needed narcotics can be
addictive, you know, so the
medical review boards are al-
ways on the lookout for any
doctors who are prescribing
narcotics, and never mind if
there are good reasons.
In 1996 the Federation of
State Medical Boards met in
Chicago and agreed to coor-
dinate a national network to
punish any doctors who used
alternative methods. For in-
stance, there was Dr. Glen
Warner, who had been using
the required cancer therapies
for more than 20 years at one
of Seattle's largest hospitals.
He left and started his own
cancer institute and, using al-
ternative therapies, had one
of the best records for success
of any doctor in the country.
They revoked his license.
Dn Warner said, "We have
a multi-billion dollar industry
that is killing people, right
and left, just for financial gain
.. . doctors, oncologists, they
don't want chemotherapy to
be disproved. That is where
their money is,"
From John Robbin*s book
Reclaiming Our Health: '\..
the vast majority of studies
show that radiation cannot
cure cancer, and that it can
rarely extend life for people
with the disease ... the truth
is that, for more than 90% of
people with cancer, chemo-
therapy had next to nothing to
offer ... oncologists say that
they would not allow chemo-
therapy to be given to them-
selves or their families ..,
oncologists characteristically
downplay the level of suffer-
ing involved with chemo-
therapy-
The chief chemotherapist
at the Mayo Clinic admitted
in a published paper that he
gave chemotherapy to cancer
patients which he knew would
not help them, right up to
their deaths, in order to keep
them from trying alternative
therapies.
No, it is not easy to change
a lifetime of eating habits, but
as you eat you should be
aware of what's ahead. And
not even the wealth and
power of a king will be able
to save you from what you've
done to yourself.
Hear Wayne Talk!
On my way to a short As-
pen ski vacation Til be stop-
ping off in Denver to give
a talk, 1 hope you can make
it. ItMl be at the Airport Em-
bassy Suites, January 5lh at
7 pm. Yes, it's free. So what' 11
1 be talking about? The same
things I write about in my
editorials — amateur radio,
your health, how to make
money, and so on. Or, for that
matter, anything you ask about,
This Ml give me an opportu-
nity to meet you personally,
and maybe answer some
questions for you.
At the recent Peoria hamfest
one chap asked me if the uni-
verse is expanding or not. The
preponderance of evidence in-
dicates that it isn't, that it's a
steady-state universe.
If you're planning to come
it would be most helpful if
you'd let me know so I won't
try to fit a hundred people in
a 20-person meeting room.
How About Skiing?
ril be skiing at Aspen
January 6-1 1 and I really hate
to ski alone. It's a lot more
fun to be with some others on
those chair rides, and to share
the incredible excitement of
whooshing down the slopes at
breakneck speed. I love it. The
English language is the pits
when it comes to explaining
emotions like that-
And it's fun to go to the
many superb Aspen restau-
rants with friends. And lalk.
If you can get away for a few
days, this is the low season
time at Aspen, right after the
New Year's holidays, so the
slopes are relatively open and
the lift lines normally zilch. I
hope the weather cooperates.
Last year it snowed all but
one day during my visit,
which took the fun out of it,
reducing the visibility to
inches- 1 like to see where I'm
going and get there fast rather
than feeling my way along.
Yes, of course FU have an
HT in my pocket tuned to the
local repeater.
Scramble
The Kachina, featured on
our August cover, seems to
have left the rest of the ham
industry in the dust, scram-
bling to catch up. I think
we*ve now seen a good pre-
view of what our top 21st
century ham rigs will look like.
Well, it only makes sense Lo
marry our rigs and comput-
ers. After all, our rigs have
been increasingly computer-
ized with frequency synthe-
sizers and digital signal pro-
cessing, so the move to a
knobless rig that's 100% com-
puter-controlled is an obvious
next step.
I'll bet the engineers in To-
kyo and Osaka are working
overtime to catch up with this
American- made evolutionary
producL
If you're fortunate enough
to get a Kachina, let's hear
how it's doing for you. With
the sunspots perking away,
opening our DX bands for
more and more hours a day,
let me know what goodies
you've dug out of the pileups.
Oh yes, if you luck into a
truly interesting contact, please
make a note of it and let mc
know the details. I keep fan-
tasizing that such a thing is
possible, but I need some
sort of evidence to prove this
isn't just another W2NSD/]
fantasy.
Skills
Talk about fuzzy thinking!
The FCC believes we should
have several license classes to
"to encourage amateur opera-
tors to advance their skills/'
Skills have never been devel-
oped by memorizing a Q&A
manual — they're built by
doing, so the whole idea thai
different classes of licenses
will build skills is really
dumb. It's a crock.
If you want to build your
packet skills you get involved
with packet. Ditto satellite
communications, fox hunting,
and all of the other fun facets
of our hobby. Unless you're
too damned lazy.
Which is why 1 think that
having more than one license
class is a holdover from the
pre-war ham days when a
Class A license permitted you
to operate in the two narrow
phone bands on 75 and 20m.
In those AM days there was
room for about nine round
tables and that was that, so it
was necessary to make it
more difficult to get the privi-
lege. Well, that was 1940 and
now we're going on 2{XX), and
it's about time our regulations
were tailored to meet today*s
world instead of one a few
old-dmcrs like me remember.
It's nice that the ARRL
grudgingly has proposed that
we cut back to only four li-
cense classes. Only? Lordy!
rd like to see this whole
class business junked. Then Fd
like to see a lot more articles
telling our somnolent brelh-
' ren how much fun you're
having on 6m, with slow scan,
and so on. Fan the flames of
interest. Tell 'em what fun
you're having on our ham
satellites. Show us some of
the stuff you're doing on
slow scan.
How about getting your
club to start putdng together
some videos showing what
can be done with moon-
bounce, with fox hunting, and
so on. I'll be glad to help
make copies for other clubs
to show at their club meet-
ings. We desperately need to
get some life into club meet-
ings. So how about producing
some 20-minute or half-hour
ham videos which will help get
a few hams off dead center?
What's happening down on
160m these days? Do a video.
Next summer, how about a
video of your club's Field
Day effort? Don't tell me
your members don*t have
video cameras — so get busy.
You could do some great vid-
eos of fox hunts. How about
one on getting on RTTY?
Clubs go on DXpeditions
every now and then. So
when's the last dme you
saw a video report made
available for other clubs to
enjoy? A video could in-
clude both video and slides.
We build our skills by
doing things, so iei's get
rid of our many classes
and get busy encouraging
hams to get involved with
new modes and bands,
which really will help
build their skills.
Unlimited Memory
Yes, I know, I've written
about memory before, but
since (a) there are some
new readers and (b) your
memory of what Tve writ-
ten is probably approach-
ing zilch, let's walk through
all this again.
Firstly, scientists don't
know where our memory
is stored. Oh, they know if
they poke an electrode
into the brain about here
they can stimulate a spe-
cific memory. But that's
like sncking a test prod
into a telephone switch-
board.
If you've read much about
the brain you know that we
have had people who've sur-
vived accidents which de-
stroyed around 90% of their
brain with no loss of their
memory or other functions.
Worse, other people have also
lost 90% of their brains, but
another 90%, and they're do-
ing just fine, too. We don't
seem to have any limit to how
much we can learn. Our
memory, unlike that of our
computers^ seems completely
unlimited. Not that possible
memory limitations are much
of a potential problem for most
people. They read (but not
much) and they forget most of
what they We read.
Inputting Data
Reading makes it possible
for you to gel your informa-
tion from the most knowl-
edgeable people in the world.
It's a direct line. It's also an
excellent source of strongly
held, but unfounded, opin-
ions, so you have to be picky
about what you accept as
valid data.
Most of us are taught to
read in school. But just
barely. A growing percentage
of our graduates, even from
college, are virtually illiter-
ate. Lordy, I wish you could
see some of the letters I get!
Reading is a skill and as
such it can be improved by
you forcing yourself to read
faster and faster. But yoy
have to push. It's the same as
with running or swimming.
You get better at skills by
pushing yourself and then
pushing harder. The really
great thing about reading
faster is that the faster you
read, the more you retain of
what you've read.
Undl, with your help, I can
get our educational establish-
ment to start producing out-
standing educational videos
that will teach all of the K-12
subjects in a fraction of the
usual time, and make the ma-
terial available anywhere the
ContUiued on page 57
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CIRCLE 335 ON READER SERVICE CARD
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 5
Lehers
Nuntbor $ on yaiir Feedback csrd
From the Ham Shack
Richard Tlninipsiw; Abi- indusiry ai ihis lime and who
lene TX. I'm hoping ihaf the
Raders of 73 Magazine can liclp
me with some research ihal
I'm carrying oui. Vm ^u^rking
on a btKJk on ihe devefopmeni
of quarlz-cryslal -control led
coinniunicationb during World
War n.
As Vm sure many of you
know, the Army waited until
1940 to decide to su iich lo crys-
tal-controlled radios. At the
lime, they feU thai *;ince we
weren't in a war, the handful of
companies manufacturing
quartz crystal unii!> (QCUs)
could handle the demand. WelK
in another year, we were in the
war. the demand for QCUs was
far beyond what they'd esii-
mated, and diere was no way
that the cuircni crystal industry
could luuidlc I he job.
The response by the Army
was 10 form ilic Quari/ Crystal
Section, under the Signal Corpus,
whose job it was to develt>p
mass production lechniqucs for
QCUs anil ihen in find I he
manufaciurcrs lu prod tic c ihem.
A small yrtHip of civilians (ge-
ologists, engineers, and physi-
cists) liierally created an
industry from scraich. A scci>nd
problem thai develojied afier the
indusirv came on line was the
"aging" problem with crystals:
a niystcrinus increase in the
natural oscillating frequency
after a shon time in the field.
The physicists at the Signal
Corps Lab in Fl. Monmouth.
New Jersey, were called on to
find the reasim behind this prob-
lem and develop a solution.
which ihey did.
For my boi>k,rm kxiking for
first-person accounts uf ihesc
events. Tm interested in two
major areas: L I would like to
make coniacl with anyone who
may have worked in the crvstal
would know something of what
i[ took for this industrv^ to be
created, or a ham who might
know snniething about the state
of ihe an in crystals at the bc-
sinnins of the war: and 2. Anv
military veterans (especially
Army .-\ir Corp^) who might re-
member tlie efiecLs on commu-
nications of firsL the shortage of
cnstal units at thebesinnins of
the wan and second, ihe prob-
lems caused by the aging prob-
lem (one of my sources who
worked in the Quartz Crystal
Section speaks of an urgent tele-
gram to ihe Pentagon from Gen.
Eaker of the Hth Air Force
complaining of a serious problem
with communications and
sia>iig[y urging that a solution be
found).
Any B-I7 radiomen out
there? I would love to hear what
you have to say. I can be con-
tacted at the following address:
Dr. Richard J. Thompson. Jr
McMuiiy University
McM Station, Box 38
Abilene TX 79697
Phone: (915) 793-3875
E-mail: [rihompson@mcm.
edu]
How aboui ir? Lefs dim off
some memories! — Eif.
John G. Boles KA6LWC, I
would like to comment on a re-
cent "QRX" article in the Octo-
ber 1998 issue of 73 Amaieur
Radio Today, "What to Do
About YourTechnician Accenr
bv Bill Smith N2SZW.
In the second paragraph, he
mentions not to use the word
"clear" when nobody replies to
the announcement one is on fre-
quency. This ts a "lerri tonal**
issue, because in many areas, it
indicates that the operator is
leaving the locaJ frequency and is
not monitoring Ihe repeater. (Iius
ending liis cuiiimunicatiuns or
attempted commimicalions. Tn the
second paragraph from the bot-
tom, beginning "Avoid endless
.,,," he proceeds lo state that the
use of "clear** is acceptable to end
a con>municalion. This appears to
be a contradiction because when
one ]e^ve% the local frequency,
there\s an end lo communicaiions
and monitoring.
Another issue: The letters
PTT have often been used to
indicate Pnsh To Talk, If vou
think about it, it really means
Push Think Talk. The Ihink de-
lay'* allows transmitter^ auJ re-
peaters time 10 get into the
transmit nuKle so thai the first
worIs ane not cut off.
1 notice that "QRX*' has no E-
mail address for respt>nses, nor
is there any E-mail address for
73 Magazine. It would be help-
ful to note any E-mail addresses
available on a separate eolumn/
masthead.
Aciuallw 73*5 E-mail address
is on ihe '"Table of Contents**
poi^c a /id is (he same for all
Depanmenis : {design 7S@aoL
comf. — Ed.
Ned Stevens K7ELP,
Murray UT. I really enjoyed
the urliclc "WhaTs the Scoop on
the Lazy ljK>p?"; by WA2UGT
ill the September 1998 issue.
Besides being very interesting to
me it was timely as 1 was in the
process of deciding what low-
band antennas to install at this
QTH. It sure proves the more
wire you have in ihe air the
belter you will do.
This article reminded me of
an experience 1 had some 30
years or so ago. I was on active
duly with the US Coasi Guard,
stationed at Lualualei, Hawaii
(northwest section of the island
ofOahu, a lew miles from Ho-
nolulu). 1 was in charge of a
conuiiunications station trans-
mitter site. We were having
some difficultN in communicat-
ing with our ships in the nonh-
west Pacific Ocean, At the time
all our transmitting uniennas
were either conical monopc>Ies
or an occasional quarter-wave
wire vertical. The conical mnno-
poles were broadbanded, as I
recall. They were operated from
about 4 MHz to 16 MH/, The
site had enough space for a
longwire antenna so we built a
horizontal V antenna, with Uae
vertex poind ng to the location
of the ships. Wc made each leg
four wavelengths Ions at the 16
MHz frequency. We used a
small ham CW transmitter tuned
to 16 MHz to tune the antenna.
As 1 recall, the transmitter was
an ATL We were fonunate, as
the feedpoint of the antenna
turned out to be 200 ohms. We
then made aquaner-wave batun
out of the large coaxial cable we
used for transmission One. The
coax was 5\J ohm but about one
inch in diameter. This aiuenna
improved the signal to the ships
by a iremendouN amount as the
communications went from mar-
ginal to 05 at tx>ih ends. Some-
thing in my memory tells me that
we designed the V antenna for the
radiation angle fur the distance
that we wea^ transmitting.
Rich Mollentine WA0KKC
Shawnee Mission KS. Ham ra-
dio is a hobby, but on occasion
sotnc take it as an obsession —
lu the detriment of 1 heir family
and friends. It's like anylhing
else: ll shoutd lie baktiiccd with
the other things of life. Many an
XYL will question why we
spend 24 hours straight in a con-
tesl talking to strangers in
Borneo or Pago Pago but have
no time for rhem.
Balance your hobby with your
other family oblifiations.
WANTED
Fun, easy-to-build
projects for
publication tn 73.
For more info,
write to:
Joyce Sawtelle,
73 Amateur Radio Today.
70 Route 202 North,
Peterborough NH 03458,
6 73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998
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Nutnb^r 8 on your Feedback card
Who's Your Hero?
Each year the ARRL honors four dedicated
ham radio instructors, teachers, and recruiters.
Clubs or individuals are asked 1o complete a
romination form for the nominees, More infor-
mation about the awards can be found at [htip;//
www.arrl.org/ead/award/). If you do not have
internet access and would like a nomination form,
please contact Jean Wolfgang WB3I0S at (860)
594-0219, in the ARRL Educational Activities
Department.
• Nomination forms must then be sent to your
ARRL Section Manager before January 31 , 1 999.
A list of ARRL Section Managers is available at
[http://www,arrl.org/field/org/srTilist.html] or can
be found on page 12 of any QST.
Ham Astronomer Honored
James Moran K1AKE, of Concord, Massachu-
setts, has been elected to the prestigious National
Academy of Sciences, one of 60 new members
announced last April 28. Moran is a radio astrono-
mer at the Harvard-Smitiisontan Center for Astro-
physics and a professor at Han/ard University, He
is best known for his application of the techniques
of Very Long Baseline Interferometry to the study
of astronomical masers.
From the ARRL, via Newsline, Bill Pasternak
WA51TF, editor.
Hams Serve in Times of
ISIatura! Disaster
Ham radio was en the scene as flash flooding
hit Mexico City on Monday, September 28th. Five
people died and thousands were left homeless af-
ter mudslides unleashed by weeks of heavy rain
buried homes in the Mexican capital and left entire
suburbs underwater.
The storms and mudslides knocked out utilities
and telephone service to the affected parts of the
city. According to news reports, ham radio opera-
tors stepped in to provide lines of communications
forsearch-and-rescue groups and relief authorities.
They also worked at warning the people of the dan-
gers in the area and gave basic recommendations
to avoid danger.
Ham radio operators in the Balkans were also
on the spot with reports as a tremor rocked
Belgrade and central Serbia. The quake, which
measured 5.4 on the Richter scale, rocked the area
8 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
early on Wednesday, September 30th. ft caused
minor damage in the center of Belgrade, knock-
ing out power and telephone service in parts of
the city.
Reports from amateur radio operators said
people in the area had run from their homes in
their nightclothes. clutching their children. The
reports said that rubble from one building did
crash into a city street, but nobody was injured. A
ham in the town of Valjevo reported slight damage
there, as well.
From VHF Reflector, published news reports,
via Newsline, Bill Pasternak WA6ITF, editor-
Yet Another Visit
from You Know Who
Twas the night before Christmas, and all
through two meters.
Not a signal was keying up any repeaters.
The antennas reached up from the tower, quite
To catch the weak signals that bounced from
the sky.
The children, Tech^Pluses, took their HTs to bed,
And dreamed of the day they'd be Extras instead.
Mom put on her headphones, I plugged in the
key,
And we tuned 40 meters for that rare ZK3,
When the meter was pegged by a signal with
power.
It smoked a small diode, and, I swear, shook
the tower.
Mom yanked off her phones, and with all she
could muster
Logged a spot of the signal on the DX Packet
Cluster,
While \ ran to the window and peered up at
the sky
To see what could generate RF that high.
It was 'way in the distance, but th e moon made
it gleam—
A flying sleigh, with an eight-element beam,
And a little old driver who looked sNghtly
mean-
So I thought for a moment it might be Wayne
Green!
But no, it was Santa, the Santa of hams,
On a mission, this Christmas, to clean up the
bands.
He circled the tower, then stopped In his track,
And he slid down the coax, right into the shack.
While Mom and I hid behind stacks of CO,
This Santa of hamming knew just what to do.
He cleared off the shack desk of paper and
parts,
And filled out all my late QSLs for a start.
He ran copper braid, took a steel rod and
pounded
It into the earth, till the station was grounded.
He tightened loose fittings, resoldered connec-
tions,
Cranked down modulation, installed lightning
protection.
He neutralized tubes in my linear amp—
Mever worked right before— now it works like
a champ!
A new low-pass filter cleaned up the TV;
He corrected the settings in my TNG,
He repaired the computer that would not com-
pute.
And he backed up the hard drive and got it to
boot.
Then he reached really deep in the bag that
he brought
And he pulled out a big box. ''A new rig?" 1
thought.
'A new Kenwood? An ICOM? A Yaesu, for
me?!"
(If he thought Td been bad it might be QRPI)
Yes! The Ultimate Station! How could I deserve
this?
Could it be all those hours that I worked Public
Service?
He hooked it all up, and in record time quickly
Worked 100 countries, all down on 160.
I should have been happy— it was my call he
sent,
But the cards and the postage will cost two
months' rent!
He made final adjustments, and left a card by
the key:
'To Gary, from Santa Claus. Seventy-three;'
Then he grabbed his HT, looked me straight
in the eye,
Punched a code on the pad, and was gone—
no good-bye.
I ran back to the station, and the pileup was
big,
But a card from St. Nick would be worth my
new hg.
Oh, too late— for his final came over the air.
It was copied all over It was heard everywhere.
The ham's Santa exclaimed what a ham might
expect;
''Merry Christmas to all and to all, good DXI"
From Squeich Tale, Dec. 1996, newsletter of
the Chicago FM Club, Inc., Timothy M, Garrity
WD9DZV. editor,
Sorry, but we don't have a clue who Gary is
(assun}ing Gary is the author of this year's
parody), or we'd definitely have given hjm
credit— Ed
Back Issues
" of
73 Magazine
Only $5.00 Each!
Call RO0-677-8S?S or writu- to Joyce Sawtclle
at 70 Route 202 Nortli. Peterbomugh. NH Q3458
1.8-170 MHz
Reads complex impedance . • • Super easy-to-use
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Reactance(X) or Magnitude(Z) and Phase(degrees) . . . Coax cable loss(dB) . , . Coax cable
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or as magnitude iZ) and phase (degrees).
You can determine velocity factor^
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You can read SWR^ return loss and
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ibu can also read mductance in uH
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Large easy-to-read two line LCD
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Find your antenna*s true resonant fre-
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Adjust yourYagi, quad, kwp and other
autenna^s, chiinge aniennu spacing and lieighl and
watch SWR, resistance and reactance cnange
insiantly. You'll kiiow exactly what to do by
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Perfectly tune critical HF mobile anten-
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jecting your transceiver to high SWR.
Measure your antenna's 2: 1 SWR band-
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Check SWR outside the ham bands with-
out viol at i nil FCC rules.
Take die guesswork out of building and -
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Accurately measure distance to a short or
open in a failed coax. Measure leneth of a roll
of coax, coax loss, \elocity factor arnf impedance
Measure inductance and capacitance.
Trouble shoot and measure resonant frequency
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And this is only the beginning! The
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MFJ-259B is a complete ham radio test station
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Number tO on yoitr Feedback card
Probing Auto Electronics
Help your neighbor identify his car's problem and lye an electronics hero}
Hugli Wells W5WTU
1411 18th Street
Manhattan Beach CA 90266-4025
Being a ham. youVe expected lo
know everything about elec*
tronics regard le^*^ of ihe appli-
cation. So have vou ever had some
neighbors drop over and indicate thai
they needed your help with their car?
Chances are, ihcv've indicated thai it
won't sLarl or runs poorly, or that the
battery is dead.
In most casesi, the symptoms de-
scrihed seldom fit the actual situatit>n.
Bui because you're a ham, you re looked
upon to be "the neighhorho*xi electron-
ics resource." So how do you approach
Ihe problem?
Do you agree lo lake a look? Or do
you shine ihcm on and suggest ihat
they go see the local mechanic? Let's
assume that you're at least willing to
take a look at the problem Lo help sort
out the details, which may lead lo a so-
lution if the problem is electrical. And
if it's mechanical you may have lo
suesest the mechanic after all.
Electrical problems and solutions in
older cars were usually easy to sort
out, but the compulers used in modern
cars make Uie problems more difficuU
for a ham to diaiznose. In fact, the
things thai one might be able to do are
limited to only a few things, but thoj^e
10 73 Amateur Radio Todsy * December 1998
could have an ideniitlable solution
within your grasp.
Three situations are discussed here
that can help solve many aggravating
problems that cars experience and are
not under computer control. These
situations involve the spaj^k plugs and
HV wiring, alternator and baUery. and
curi'ent leakage paths that run a battery
down unexpectedly. The test equipment
for troubleshooting these three situations
is typically available on a ham's work-
bench: oscillosci^pe: digital %ollmeter/
animeien and #1 157 (ot#1034) taillight
bulb. So there is ver\' little financial in*
vestment required, beyond whal a ham
normally has available.
Most hams have had some exposure
to Ohm's law problems as part of their
electronics training. The logic and cir-
cuitry involved in Ohm's law problems
is exactly the same as that required for
solving electrical problems in a car*s
electrical system. Troubleshooting then
becomes a matter of developing a plan
or procedure lo follow in sorting out ilie
various measurements and symptoms.
Spark plugs
Being able lo diagnose a problem in
an automobile's hish voUatic i*inition
ik^ ■_- c^
system is both interesting and satisfy-
ing. Because of the pulse nature of the
system, it can be analyzed dynami-
cally. Using an oscilloscope provides a
means of looking at the HV pulses for
one or all of the cylinders. Observed
conditions can be related to inequality of
spark, weak spark, shorted spark plug,
dereclive plug wiring, or intermittent
plug firing.
In the case of a standard ignition sys-
tem (ptmils and capacitor), the point's
dwell time can also be obser\ ed to deter-
mine if coil saturation is being
achieved. Dwell time is not a factor in
electronic is2niiit>n s\ stems. The oscil-
loscope display can be focused for de-
tailed analysis on one or all of the
spark plugs to help sort out differences
between them.
To make up an engine analy/.er using
an oscilloscope, it will be necessary to
make up a couple of interface boards
10 be used as scope probes as shown in
Figs, 1 and 2. S}iic tor the horizontal of
the scope is obtained from the high volt-
age using the circuit shown in Fig- 1 . A
wire cuff or broadfaccd spring clip is
used to provide a capacitive coupling
to the HV wire, as a direct eonneclion
is not desirable. The circuit integrates
the HV pulse to create a single con-
I«jHVGLTjICE
PUUGWCE
OJfF.
y *AA/* — * — lAAA
10 K
10 K
"1 COAX
r^^vv f u — H fr^
^ I TO HOftlZi
— ^-1
HOftlZQWrAL
100-500^ W-20V
5dOV zp@
f i^- /< Sync input circuit.
slant amplitude (a zener diode is used
as an amplitude li miter) trigger pulse
suitable for synching the scope.
The HV pulse train to be analyzed is
obtained from ihe primary side of the
ignition coil using the circuit shown in
Fig, 2 and is applied to the vertical in-
put of the scope. All HV sensing is
done in the primary of the coil, not in
the actual HV circuit. All of the
system's performance is viewable in
the primary more so than in the sec-
ondary, or HV side, of the coiL A small
amount of integration is performed by
the interface board, but only enough to
make the pulse visible on the screen.
The amplitude pot is used to bring
the vertical signal amplitude within the
control range of the scope*s input al-
lenuator. The poi remains fixed after
the iniiial adjustment. In modem en-
gines, there is a separate ignition coil
for each pair of cylinders. Therefore, it
will be necessary to move the vertical
scope probe from one coil to another
to view the next pair of cylinders.
Construction of the probes indicated
m Figs. 1 and 2 is not critical* Some
shielding is recommended io keep stray
signals from entering the scope, but even
unshielded boards have been used suc-
cessfiilly, TTie minimum construction
should entail placing each circuit within
a plastic box to prevent the circuit from
shorting to an engine component-
Test preparation includes connecting
the interface circuits to and starting the
engine, and runninji the engine at idle.
In operation, the scope sweep is ad-
justed to approximately 20 ms/cm
when displaying all of the plugs at once.
Attaching the HV pickup (sync) to plug
#1 will allow all of the plugs to be
viewed in the order in which they fire
(only when one coil is used for all of
the cylinders).
Adjust the sweep timing to display
four, six, or eight pulse sequences as
tsii
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liTl ¥7i fllMll
mdUiino
•NOfLEl SUTWlXn
aBCLE 275 ON READER SERVICE CARD
73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998 11
i
_ i
+12V
TRfGGER
CIRCUIT
10 K
■it — /W^^
05
j 600V
11,
^1 — I
COAX
TO
VERTICAL
INPUT
) — o— ►
100 '500 K
LEVaSET
^
Fig. 2, Piihe ininu cinwi m wrrical anrpliffer,
determined by ihe number of cylinders
present (only two cylinders at a lime
can be viewed when an ignition coil is
provided lor each pairulcyhnder^j. To
^lew a single plog, attach the HV
pickup to ihe plug to be viewed and
adjust the sweep to approximate!) 1
ms/cm or until one pulse scL|uence is
observed. Move the HV pickup Ironi
one plug wire to another to make pulse
comparisons.
Typical waveforms suitable for com-
parison are shown in Fig, 3. Because
the wavef[*rms obtained vary some-
what from one engine to another, it is
necessary to identify a "norm" wave-
form for the engine being analyzed. A
norm can be deier mined by looking
first at all pfugs firing (typical sweep
of 20 ms/cm) and observ inn the simi-
larity as a norm. Then note any differ-
ences in the plug patterns observed for
a poieniial problem. Obtain a closer
NORMAL PATTiRN
analysis of individual plugs using a
sweep of about 1 ms/cm to provide
clues as to the health of the ignition
system.
To aid in the analysts, look for the
series of HV pulses thai occurs during
a plug firing, then look for the short
delay before the next tiring- The right-
hand end of the delav indicates the be-
■if
ginning of the firing cycle and the
left-hand end of the next delay indi-
cates the completion of the firing
cycle.
The pulse waveform between the de-
lay periods provides the clues for com-
parison to the examples shown, A
shorted plug wire can be .simulated by
holding a screwdriver between the en-
gine block and the top of a spark plug
while ohser\ing the waveform. It is
not recommended, however, to simii-
laie an open HV wire by removing a
plug wire — as electronic ignition sys-
tems are !;ubject to damage when an
open HV wire occurs.
Alternator and battery
Troubleshooting a battery and/or al-
ternator problem is fairly easy with a
digital voltmeter, and the short lime
that it takes could satisfy your neigh-
bors and make you a hcni. The use of a
digital voitmeter is prefeiTed. bui an
analog volimeier will work with a little
less satisfaction in determining spe-
cific voltage values. But the general
function of "what's happening^ can be
displayed with an analog voltmeten
COIL
SATURATIOiS
I*— T1W£
STANDARD IGNmON
]r~
OPEN PLUG WIRE
DEFECTIVE COIL
OR CAPACITOR
SHORTED PLUG
Fig. 5. Typical igmhn wave panems exhlbuing specific conditiom. Dwell rime pattern
is specific ia a siandard ignition system,
12 73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998
Test condiiii>ns involve the logic of
what happens during static and dy-
namic conditions where static condi-
tions occur when the cneinc is turned
off. During this period both loaded and
unk^aded tests can be performed on the
battery to clclcrminc \\^ ptcscnl health
regarding being charged or discharged.
What you may not know at this time
is whether the battery has been
charged rcccnih or disclursed due to
an inadvertent current leakage path.
But the first test involves performing a
load lest v^hich begins by placing the
voltmeter across the hailery terminals
and noting the vintage indication,
which should be approximately 1 3.5 V.
While observing the meter, the head-
lights are turned on. Typically, if the
batter) is heallhyv the voltage indica-
tion will remain above 12.6 V and the
lights will be fairly bright. The small
voltage drop between the load and no-
load test indicates the battery to be
healthy, If the battery has not becji
charged recently, perhaps if the alter-
nator has Tailed, then the voltage dif-
ferential would be hiiiher — makine the
battery suspect. But before installing
another battery, the alicmator will re-
quire testing. Because the battery and
alternator together make up ihe power
system for the automobile, they must
be tested as a system,
Test conditions
LA. To determine if « battery is ca-
pable of starling the engine, you need
only to engage the starter. Assume first
that the solenoid just clicks, with the
starter failing to turn. This indicates
one of three conditions:
1 . The battery charge is low.
2. TliL^ battery is dolective.
3. The starter is defective.
B. Two tests are required for an
evaluation of the batterv, because if the
battery is good and the solenoid still
just clicks, then the starter is suspect.
The starter and solenoid are both sus-
pect if Ihe battery is fully charged and
the solenoid fails to click. The first test
of die battery involves measuring the ter-
minal \oltagc under k>ad (headligliLs on)
with the engine ojf. Record the voltage
readings. Tlien, after char^inn the bat-
ter>'. the load/m>load tests ;ire repealed
and the voltage salucs compamd.
C, Expected results:
L ir the battery will retain a charge,
the lenninal voltatje will he ahtjve 12.6
V for bdlh K)ad and no-load tests,
2. ir the batlerv terminal voltaiie is
below 12,6 V after beioe charued, then
the battery is susjpccl, as it ma) be
defective.
ILA. Deierminin«i the status of an
alternator is much easier and consider-
ably faster than testing a battery. Alterna-
tor testiniz is alwavs done witli the
engine running. With one exception, the
engine bhimld not be running when
checking for alternator diode leakage.
1 , Tti perform a diode leakage test on
an alternator, the following procedure
is used. With engine off, the hatler>'
cable is removed from the aUernalor
and a voltmeter is placed between the
terminal and the cable. Because of the
high reverse resistance of the dindes. a
voltage indication of less than 12.8 V
should he expected. If the leakage is
more than might he expected, a #1 157
(or #1034) light bulb with pigtails al-
tached to one filament may be placed
between the cable and terminal as an
additional test method. The light bulb
should not exhibil any fiUuncnt glow.
If the bulh filament does glow, then
suspect leaky diodes in the altemaLot;
Another symploni of a bad alteniatoiV
regulator (particuUirly if the filament
gkmrs during the light bulb lest) will
be a dead battery after a lew hours of
non-use,
2. Dynamic tests on the alternator
will also check the regulator, brushes,
and diode conductitMi. The terminal
voiiage across the battery vulh the en-
sine runnimi at or above idle should
VOLTAGE
CONDITION
15.2
13.2 -14 J
13.0
12.7
11.5
Overcharging
Normal Range
Not Charging
Possible
OpenyDefective Diode
Low Battery
Table i. Expected battery lermmai volt-
age values based upon typical system
cotiditkms.
yield a voltage between 1 3.2 and 14.7 V
The voltage value should remain ap-
proximately the same whether or not
the headlights are turned on.
B. Expected results:
1. If the terminal voltage remains
fairly constant at a value between
13.2-14J V with or without a load,
then the alternator and regulator are
functioning OK.
2. If the terminal voliase is at 12.8 V
or below with or without a U>ad, sus-
pect the alternator/regulator as being
defective.
i. If the voltage appears to he regu-
lated but hangs at about 12.7 V, then
suspect an open diode in the alternaHir
C. Table 1 provides a guide for mak-
ing diagnostic decisions regarding an
automobile^s electrical system. Be-
cause of the cost factor of replacing a
battery or alternator replacement deci-
sions should be based upon as many
symptoms and available lest data re-
sults as possible. It is best to perform
aU of the tests and compare the results
of each to identrfy the bad component.
IlLA, One of the most dilTicull
electrical problems to diagnose is a
current leakage path that Lends to run
down the battery during a short pe-
riod of unuse — 24-48 hours, perhaps.
Because of the elusivencss of llic prob-
lem, only a few hints can be provided
as to how you would go about solving
it. Hams have a solution for almost all
electronic problems, even those in-
volving cars. The best suggestion is to
consider the car's electrical system as
an Ohm\s law problem in which there
is one voltage source feeding a great
number of parallel current paths, U
will then be necessar\ to deicmiine the
current flow in each path when each is
intended to be open circuited.
B. Before starting a troubleshooting
process, make sure that all lights in-
eluding the glove box, irimk, engine
compartment, map light, etc., are
turned off. It may be necessary to tem-
porarily remov e them from their sockets
to niaJ^e sure they are compleieiy tunn^
off. It's also a good idea to remove the
cisarette lighter from its socket. It tiiu^i
be recognized that the clock and com-
puter will draw some current, but the
value should be relatively small in
comparison to what a glove box light
might draw.
C. The first step in chasing a leakage
problem is to determine the magnitude
of ihe leakage path. This can he done
by removing the battery cable from the
battery. This operation can wipe out
the theft code on some electrical de*
vices, such as the radio, within the ve-
hicle, so you must be prepared lo
re-enter the proper codes following the
troublcNhouting i^rocess. Otherwise, do
not remove the battery cable fi"om the
battery.
D. Assuming that the above items
have been accounted for and fotind to
not be a problem, a DVM and a #1 157
(or #1034) light bulb can be used as
diasinostic tools for tmcins currenl paths.
I* Remove the battery cable and
place the light bulb between the cable
and batter\' terminal. If the bulb fila-
ment glow s, then take note of the bril-
liance ^i> a reference for later measure-
ments. Place a DVM set on the amps
scale and measure the current value,
Anvihins greater than about 50 mA is
considered suspect. The measured value
is essentiallv the current value that
must be traced to the suspected branch
circuit causing the leakage path. It is
assumed here that the alternator and
regulator have been found to be OK and
checked as in step number II above.
2. Circuits Ihai do not normally go
through the fuse block are the head-
lights, cornputer, transmission shift in-
dicator, temperature sensors, starter,
alternator, etc. If no problem is found
in the fuse block test (below), then
each of these circuits will require an
examination. Each of the circuil> listed
will have a switch or relay that pro-
vides power to the circuit. It will be
necessarv to examine each.
i 3. Reconnect the batterj^ cable to the
battery and move to the fuse block.
Each fuse is to be remo\ ed, one at a
lime, and the current measured in that
path. Either the light bulb or ammeter
may be used as a current indicator.
E. Expected results:
L The current in each circuit path
should be zero if the circuit is open,
2. The circuit containing the high
Continued on page 23
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 13
NtimJwr 14 on your Fwiil>ack cartt
Announcing the QRPeanut
Here's a compact QRP transmatch you can build for next to nothing.
James R Fisher N5GZH
RO. Box 856
Kyle TX 78640
When I was faced with the
need tor a cheap and com-
pact matching unit for por-
table. lo\\ -power operation, ii soon be-
came clear that my options were
limited. Available units. I found, were
larger than I needed for QRP. And be-
sides, who needs an ATU ruled at 200
watts when yoif re camping or back-
packing on batteries al only five? Enter
the foriiivinii bcaulv of QRP and a
simple solution! Low voltages encoun-
tered at QRP pDw er levels make ATUs
easv to home-brew. And as Ihev say
about traveling, "Gettin" iherc is half
the fmi." Hence the QRPeanut.
Design and building details
Design of the QRPeanut is a sU"aight-
forward adaptation of the classic T net-
work as described by Doug DeMaw
and others. The chief advantage of this
design is its obvious simplicity (see
Fig, 1). On the dow n side, it has a "high-
pass characteristic," which means that it
wonl liltcr oui spurious haniionics.
However, if your QRP signal is dean
to begin with, this shouldn*t matter
much.
1 made LI, L2. and L3 from #22
enamel wire wound on loroids (Am-
14 73 Amateur Radio today • Decembef 1998
idon T8()"2 for LI and L2, TKO-6 for
L3), chosen for low loss and compact-
ness. (Toroids are easy. I would rather
wind 10 of them than one of those cy-
lindrical things.) The coils arc center-
tapped and mounted on a "one size fits
air' type of circuit board from Radio
Shack. After soldering, it's not a bad
idea to check connec lions for DC con-
tinuitv, since residual amounts of the
wire's enamel coating wiU sometimes
produce a bad solder joint.
Size and type of enclosure are
mostly up to the builder, but the from
panel should be nonmetallic for rea-
sous I will explain later I boil I mine in
a Rve-inch by two-and-a-half-inch by
two-inch ABS plastic box (Radio
Shack 270-1803). Important tip: Un-
less you have the hands of a neurosur-
geon and tlie paiicnce of Job, wijing
the rotaty switch in place with a box
this size will be nearly impossible. If
compactness is your goal, consider
wirins the loroid board to the rotarv
switch on a simple "jig" (see Photo
A). Radio Shack was kind enough to
package this line of enclosures with
both a plastic lid and one made of alu-
minum sheet. I made my jig by drilling
mounting holes for CI, C2, and the
rotary switch and I hen adding a right
angle bend roughly one-hall-inch wide
for a foot. This a! loured me to nnumt
the jig on a small block of wood with
screws, formins a stable base on w hich
to work. The compleied assembly was
then removed from the jig and eased
into the enclosure with a little wire
bending wliere appropriate.
The stiffness of the wiring is prob-
ably enough to hold the board in place.
1 used a lump of Coax Seal - as addi-
tional insurance. An inductance meter
is also handy for checking to be sure
Cofi tinned on page 16
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Photo A. The wired ATV on the assembly jig,
the rotary switch and toroids are wired
correctly.
Since the affordable, air-spaced vari-
able capacitor seems to be going the
way of the dinosaur, I chose to use a
lype of mica compression trimmer
having a boill-in shaft (ARCO S463).
There are tradeoffs. The S463 is a bit
quirky; operation is not linear, and the
metal shaft is electrically common
with one side of the capacitor. Do not
attempt to use these capacitors
mounted directly to a conductive
paneL They seem to work fine
mounted on plastic and with plastic
ri flt
Photo B; Top view,
knobs. Since the single mounting
screw is also '*hot,'' use nylon hard-
ware or simply tape over it, (Did I
mention the beauty of QRP?) All in all,
a small price to pay for components
that are compact and cheap.
Choose your favorite flavor of co-
axial connector, but since the chassis is
plastic, it's a good idea to strap the
ground sides together with a bus, I
used SO-239s for universality. You
may want to build even smaller
A couple of la.st tips about those cheap
but quirky capacitors. For reasons un-
knowTi» shaft diameters arc a hair larger
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16 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
Photo C From view,
Chan one*quarter inch, so it may be nec-
essary to drill the knob collars to a
slightly larger size; 17/64-inch is about
right Hold them for drilling by mak-
ing a hole in a piece of wood in which
the knob will fit snugly. Also, giving the
adjuslmenl screws al the back of the ca-
pacitors a squirt of contact lubricant (1
used Caig DeOxit®) makes operation
smoother and should improve service life.
Remember when operating that most
of the range of the capacitors is in the
last two clockwise turns. Other than
that the QRPeanut works like any
other transmatch.
C1,C2
L1
L2
L3
Rotary
switch
Toroidal
cores
Circuit
board
Parts List
ARCO S463*
28 turns #22 enameted
wire on Amidon T80-2
core, center-tapped
24 turns #22 enameled
wire on Amidon T80-2
core, center-tapped
18 turns #22 enameled
wire on Amidon T80-6
core, center-tapped
2-pGle, 6 -position,
RS #275-1386, cut shaft
to 5/8"
2 ea, Amidon 180-2 (red)
1 ea. Amidon T80-6
(yellow)
RS #276-159
Enclosure plastic, 2''x2-1/2"x5'
* Source:
Surplus Safes of Nebraska
1502 Jones Street
Omaha NE 68102
Table 1. Parts list.
Number 17 on your Feedback card
4
Keys to Better Operating
Yes, much of it is common sense . , .
Bob Shrader W6BNB
1911 Barnett Valley Road
Sebastopol CA 95472
[w6bnb@aol.com]
There is a proper way of operat-
ing radio transmitters on the air
to produce the most eflicienl and
interesting cohimiimcatTons. The basic
rules arc reasonably simple. They arc
things with which you will probably
agree if they are considered a bit. The
undesirable operating iteni& discussed
here have aJI been heard recently on
the ham bands. Let's not be the ones
who operate that way.
It might be said that the cardinal
requirement in any communicating,
whether by telephone, by computer, by
RTTY, by SSB/AM/FM radiotcleplione,
or by radiotelcgraphic CW, is to make
sure that ah of the information trans-
mitted is received by the receiving op-
erator. Actually it is up to both the
receiving operator and the transmitting
operator to do everything possible to
ensure that this cardinal requirement is
met.
The emphasis here will be on phone
and CW operating. One of the things
that can interfere most with receiving
all of the infomiation sent is speed. If
transmission speed is faster than can
be received correctly, regardless of the
ineans used to do the communicating.
all of tile desired infonnation will not
get through.
Radiotelephone operating
The basic theory behind calling an-
other station is to attract the attention
of the station to be contacted (usually
by calling CQ) and then advise who
is doing the calling. Using voice com-
munications, if two stations know each
other wcif the desired station's callsign
can be transmittedp fi>llowed by 'This
is/' then the callsign of the calling sta-
tion, piobably transmitted only once.
When stations are not known to each
other too well, if at all, the called
station's callsign can be sent once
(maybe twice), then "This is/' and
then the calliniJ station's callsisn, first
with regular spoken letters and then re-
peated phonetically. If conditions are
not good, callsigns may have to be re-
peated more than this.
There have been many different * 'pho-
netic alphabets" used in amateur radio.
Some used names, some used cities,
some used .states or countries, and some
were just supposed to be witty. Today
the generally accepted international
phonedc alphabet is:
A fa
1
1
November
Bravo
Oscar
.... ......
Charie
Papa
Deta
Quebec
Echo
Romeo
Foxtrot
Sierra
Got
Tango
Hote
Uniform
India
Victor
Ju iett
Whiskey
Kio
X-ray
Lima
Yankee ;
Mike
Zulu
73
Table 1. hitenmrionaUy recognized "phonetic*
alphabet.
Amateur Radio Today * December 199S 17
A suggested protitinciaiioii of the 1 0
nuiiibc!> k^ make tliem more distin-
guishable when spoken mighi be:
1
i
8
Wun-uh
Too-uh
Thu-ree
Fo-wer
Fy-yiv
Sicks
Seven
Ale
M Ny-yun or Nine-er
0 Zee-row (not "Oh^
Table 2. Promnmve the fnimerals so there
urn be iiuli' possibifify- ofcvnjimon.
As an example of the use of phonei-
icH, suppose you warn to call an ama-
leer station with a call such as
''VESBCG." Since Lhis call is made up
of all *'ccc** sounding letters and num-
bers, unless very carefully eiuiiiciated,
some of the letters could easily be mis-
undcrsluud, U" spoken as "Viclor Echo
Thu-ree Bravo Charlie Golf," there is
little chance of receiving the letters
incorrectly,
Claritv
Clarity is one of the things which
can interfere with the cardinal require-
ment of phone-lypc operation. Received
signals may not be understandable if the
transmitting operator is not using the
microphone properly, if the modula-
tion circuits are not functioning prop-
erly, if the microphone gain control is
not set properly, if words are mispro-
nounced, or if the person doing the
talking does not enunciate clearly.
Microphones can be misused. There
is always a certain amount of noise
generated in audio circuits, hut the mi-
crophone signal should be about 30 dB
above that. If this value of signal is used,
your contact is likely to be successfui-
18 73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998
This value can be found by on-lhe-air
tests to determine how close the mouth
should be to the microphone, and llie
point where the audio gain control
should be set Since most amateur ra-
dio station rooms are not sound-
proofed, if the moulh-to-mike distance
is more than perhaps four or five
inches, the mike sain may have to be
raised to w here room echoes begin to
be picked up and transmitted. I have a
wire guard on my microphone that ex-
tends out tw^o inches. If the guard wire
is held to the upper lip the modulation
will be kept reasonably constant.
It would be nice to be able to set the
mike on the desk, lean back two or
three (eel from it and talk (in sound-
proofed rooms at broadcast stations, this
is possible and is what tliey often do).
If amateurs speak too far from the
microphone, room noise and echoes
will usually become annovin<r to lis-
leners and can interfere with under-
standiuii. Wiih ttx) hish a sain scrtini^, if
a telephone rings, or another receiver in
the room sounds off^ or people are talk-
ing nearby, or dogs are barking outside,
all of these will create interfering out-
put sounds from the transmitter If the
speaker is too close to a microphone^
aspirant letters such as B, R S, T and X
tuay produce a puff of air or a hissing
that hits the diaphragm and causes a
distorted output signal. Rubber foam,
cemented over the microphone front,
may reduce this effect. If the operator
speaks across the microphone from a
distance of about an inch, rather than
directly into it, the unwanted aspirant
effect will be lessened. A person who
speaks in u loud voice can be farther
aw ay from the microphone tlian some-
one who has a more subdued voice. All
of these items must be considered
when setting the microphone gain con-
trol. The best way to determine gain
settings is to check with some other
ham on the air.
Pronunciation, the proper sounding
of letters and syllables in words, is im-
portant. Foreign amateurs, not skilled
in speaking your language, are often
unable to pronounce even some fairly
common words, When speaking to
these people, slow your speech materi-
ally, clearly enunciate all words and
pronounce them carefully and prop-
erly. Think of yourself as helping to
teach foreign hams the proper u>e of
your language.
Enunciation is improved by using
the lips, tongue and jaw to altow^ all of
the syllables of all words to be pro-
duced properly. This is very important
when speaking into a microphone. When
you speak face to face with someone,
their lip movements are seen as their
voice is heard. When a microphone
alone is being used, the assistance of
reading the lips and facia! expressions
is gone, It is therefore more dilficult to
understand what is being said. InsulTi-
cicnt movements of the lips can result in
mumblinii. which interferes with com-
prehension. Keep those lips nioving!
CalUtig and an5\veri|||
When calling CQ on phone, listen
first on what is apparently a clear fre-
quency for a while. Make sure your
transmitter is on the same frequency to
which your receiver is tuned by turn-
ing off the RIT control nn newer
equipment. If the frequency appears
not to be in use, and if tuning is neces-
sary, tune up on the tVeqiicncy as rap-
idly as possible and ask, "Is this
frequency in use?" If there is no an-
swer, after a few seconds, call ''CQ'' a
couple of times, sign once a little
slower than normal, using plain letters,
then repeat the callsign phonetically,
ending with, '^Over,'' or perhaps,
"Standing by." If no one answers it
probably means no one happened to be
tuned to and lislcninn on thai fre-
quency. A single short "CQ" only pro-
duces results if someone happened to
have his receiver mned to that fre-
quency. The chances arc poor that
someone will happen to tune across
your frequency, let alone zero in on it
precisely during the few seconds that a
short CQ takes. Look al it as if you
w^ere Ushing. You would not throw a
line out and then in 10 seconds pull it
back in again and quit llshing for the
day. After about 1 5 seconds try another
CQ to try to catch someone tuning
around. This time call ''CQ" four or
five times and sign once. Repeat this
two or three times so anyone tuning
across your frequency will have time
to zero in on your frequency. After ihe
last CQ, sign once using plain letters
and then phonetically, followed by an
'Over" It is not good to string a long,
long series of CQs together that lake
up a minute or more* Use 20- to 30-
second CQs. If no one answers, iry
again after 10 or 15 seconds. Unless
you are after DX contacts, don't an-
swer the CQ of a station you cannot
hear well, particularly if you are using
low power
Remember, when using SSB there is
essentially no carrier being transmitted
that a receiving operator can hear.
Many times a u-ansmitiing operator
hesitates at the end of a sentence and
the other operator starts talking, think*
ing it has been turned over. Unfortu-
nately at Ihe same instant the first
operator may resume speaking. The
resulting "doubling" results in neither
operator's hearing the other. Always try
to use an "Over," or the other operator's
name with a rising inflection, or your
callsign at the end of transmissions, to
indicate you want the other operator to
start talking. When listening, wait for
some kind of indication that the other
operator is expecting an answer
To check into an SSB net, if trans-
mitter carrier and antenna tuneup is
necessary, either zcro»beat the fre-
quency of the station transmitting to
do your tuning, or move to a clear fre-
quency three or more kilohertz away.
In the laiter case, when tuned, shift to
the net frequency and wait for the
transmitting station to turn it over to
the next station. If the net is operating
properly, the next station should not
start transmitting for a second or so, to
give any station wanting to break in a
ct^jice to do so, A break-in station
should say, "Break,*' or perhaps "Here
is XXXXX'^ (your callsign). The net
control should step in, recognize the
new station, and advise the proper ac-
tion to be taken. Always allow the net-
control station to handle break-in
stations. If two or more stations try to
handle a break-in station there will be
confusion on the frequency.
Any time a u^ansmitier emits a signal
on the air the FCC requires it to be
identified by callsign. At the end of a
tuning session always transmit your
callsign. Station identification is also
required every 10 minutes during
QSOs. It is not necessary to continu-
ally identify if making short back and
forth transmissions which require only
a few seconds to a minute or so. Keep
track of ID times with all QSOs. A
wind-up timer works nicely for this.
Whenever you transmit your station
callsign set the timer to 10 minutes.
When it rings it is an indication that it
is time lo send your callsign again as
soon as it is possible. Tt is wise to ID at
the beginning of any transmission. If
one of your transmissions lasts more
than 10 minutes, at the bell, stop at the
end of a sentence, sign your call and
then continue with the transmission.
Most phone QSO transmissions do not
take 10 minutes, but each lime you
sign over to another station your
callsign should be given and the timer
set. Station ID is always required when
a station makes a final sign-off. There
Continued on page 20
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Keys to Better Operating
cant it luedj'rom page 19
is apparently oo requiremeiu thai ihe !
other siaiion's calls isn must be sent,
bui il seems only proper courtesy lo
sejid il ai Icust when signing olT.
CW operating
The term **CW' means "Continuous
Wave," a diflerent kind of a wave ihan
the original spark-type emissions used
in ihc early days oramaieur radio code
irtmsmissions. Spark tranKmitters pro-
duced waves Ihai varied up and down
at sonic audio rate. U was Lhc varia-
tions that the old receivers delected.
When vacuum tubes were developed
and were used in RF oscillalors, ihcv
produced a consiaul-ampHludc wave
output, thus the term CW. WTien spark
Ifaa^niiltcrs were outlawed on the ham
bands in the late 1920s the tenn CW
continued on as meant ne Morse code
radio iransniissions.
Radio code operating has many well
estahiishcd and excellent communicat-
ine rules first developed by commer-
cial railroad Morse operators and then
seagoing and point-to-point radio op-
erators. Such jobs depended on mak-
ing perfect copy of all Lransmissjons.
Over the vears thcv ironed out all of
the undesirable methods of sending
CW on die air. It is from their basic
rules that our modern CW und even
most of the phone transmission recom-
mendations above were developed.
The basic caUing procedure with
CW is to caTI a station hv sendins its
catlsign. then "DE" (meaning "tVooi"),
and then sendinii the calliniz station's
callsign. If conditions are good and the
two stations know^ each other well.
sending the calls only once may be ad-
equate, hi many cases in amateur ra-
dio» two stations will not know^ each
other well. When answering a CQ.
v\'ilh nrodern equipment, probably one
transmission of the calling station's
callsian is suincienl but after the DE
the answering station should always
send ihe answering siutioii's call at
least twice. Even if the path is good,
fur a variety of reasons an answering
station should repeat his/her callsign
two or three times. It is not often that ,
73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998
the called stadon's cfttlsign must be re-
peated— that station can recognize its
own callsign quite easily, even through
QRM and QRN. An exception would
be when the answering station is not
on the frequency of the calling station.
In this case it may be necessary' to
transmit the CQing station's call sev-
eral times. WTien an answering station
does not answer very close to the caU-
ing station's frequency, troubles may
develop.
Obviously, if an operator sends too
fast to another operator, time is being
wasted. Only minimal information
will be received. Tf an operator can
only receive at 13 words per minute, it
will be Liseless to send at 20 wpni. On
the other hand, ii 30-wpni operator can
slow to 13 wpm v\iih no trouble. If
CW operators try to send faster than
they can copy well, there is htUe
chance that the higher-speed transmis-
sion will be ton readable. (Of course, if
a keyboard is used, sending speed \\ ill
only depend on the nping abilit)^ of
the person at the kc) board,) Try to de-
termine the other operator's highest
correct receiving speed as soon as pos-
sible. Whenc\cr quesiions are asked
but arc not answered, the sending
speed is probably too fast, assuming
the sendinc is faultless. If break-in
keying is being used and there are loo
many breaks being made, slow the
sending- It may not be poor sending at
the sending end. nor poor copying at
the receiving end; it may be QRN
crashes or QRM signals which may be
unheard at the sending end that are in-
lerfering with the copy. Do not hesitate
lo use "QRS " (send slower) when con-
ditions are poor. When QRN is bad. al-
ways reduce sending speed. The
longer doLs and dashes of slower send-
ing extend the time of each letter,
causing only part of a letter lo be bro-
ken rather than possibly two or more
letters by a static crash. One broken
letter can usually be guessed, but two
or more may cause confusion at the
receiving end.
If sending CW with a keyboard, de-
termine what speed a receiving opera-
tor who is not using a machine can
copy adequately. Do not exceed that
speed. If an operator is hand-sending
at 20 wpm and it is being diij^Myed oil
a monitor fairly welL send no faster
than that when answering. If answered
on a keyboard at 25 wpm, ihe sending
operator will probably try to speed
up, may make a nic:^^ of il, and the car-
dinal communications requirement is
defeated.
When an operator is sending by
hand to a computer keyboard monitor-
ing station, the operator musi send
only up lo the speed at which letters
and spacing are error-tree. Machines
can only copy Morse code letters
which are made within certain lime
limits. The dots must be close to one-
third the length of the dashes, and the
space times between dot and dashes
must he equal to the length of a dot.
Spaces between words must be more
than those between letters. Letters
must not be split. Diditdahdii is F, but
(Hdif dahdit is IN. It ma> ^ound almost
the same to the ear, but ihe machine is
not fooled! When there is QRN at one
or both ends, slow down, even when
using a machine.
Splittini! letters or mnnins two let-
tcrs or words together when sending
Morse code is easy lo do, hut can be
very confusing lo the receiving opera-
lor. If GT. MA. TK. or Q is sent, but
the word MET is wha( was supposed
lo have been sent, the receiving opera-
tor can get confused. When an L is sup-
pcjscd 10 be U"ansmitted hut il comes out
''dhlahdii dit:' that is RE. which re-
sults in a misspelled word and possible
confusion. Make sure there is spacing
in between all letters, but no added
spacing in between the dots and dashes
of letters. Furthermore, ihere should be
more space between two sentences
than between two words. If "deter
mine*' is sent, does it mean that or was
it supposed lo mean 'deiemiine?"
While it is quite proper to use key-
board*iype punctuation marks on the
air, such as a period at the end of sen-
tences and commas, amateur opera-
tions have come down through ihe
decades with the general character
"BT'' used to mean the end of a sen-
tence, or end of a paragraph, or just a
means of stalling while thinking about
what is eoin^ to be transmitted next. It
is noi required to send a 'KA" at the
start of operations, nor is anylhing
other than a K needed to turn over to
another station in most cases. In DX
operations the use of KN is OK as it
indicates *1 am not finished talking to
this station; please do not break in."
Never use KN after a CQ!
A hard and fast CW sending rule is:
"If an error is made while sending a
word, slop, send an error sign, go back
to the beginning of the word, then
resend the whole word." Never stop
and send only the mis-sent letter cor-
rectly. Worse yet, do not add a missing
dot which was supposed to have been
the last pan of the previous letter!
Send only whole letters, never broken
letters. Send only whole words, never
broken words. The correcting rule can
be expanded to:
•When an error is made in sending
the first letter of a word, stop* send an
error sign, go back and resend the
whole word before the improperly sent
letter and continue on.
This is absoltitely necessary when
handling traffic messages.
How is an error sign made? Interna-
tionally it is eight dots, although "?" or
**??** may be used, and sometimes
"SN" is used. Whatever error sign is
used. It really only has to be something
that cannot be copied as a letter, num-
ber, or a misplaced punctuation mark.
It has to be something that stops the re-
ceiving operator's copying.
As with phone communications, af-
ter 10 minutes of operating, a station is
required to send its callsign. End all
five- to lO-tninute transmissions with
your callsign and a K. If a short answer
is required, after sending the question,
end with the question mark and a K.
With such short transmissions do not
bother with callsigns. Wait for the 10-
minute period to come up. Operators
often use "BK," apparently meaning,
"Back to you." The letters ^^BTU"
mean the same thing.
It is standard procediu^e in DX pile-
ups to call the DX station with jusl the
callsign of the calling station once or
twice, close to the DX station's fre-
quency, or on any frequency to which
it indicates it is listening. The loudest
station being heard by the DX station
will be the first worked, of course. But
keep trying every time the station
signs clear. However, do not use this
procedure when answering non-DX
CQs — it may sound to the CQing sta-
tion like some statiijii is ending a test,
or some station is being improperly
called, A CQing station wants to know
that whoever is answering is actually
calUng the CQing station. In many
cases the CQing station may not be
tuned to the answering station*s fre*
quency for some reason and may not
hear the first part of the answering call.
The Q signals
When calUng CQ on CW the proce-
dure is very similar to that discussed
for phone. With CW you should nor-
mally send at the speed at which you
want the answering station to use.
Don't be afraid to answer a 30-wpm
CQ call at 20 wpra. Most of the better
operators are quite willing to work at
somewhat slower speeds, but it is gen-
erally not a good idea to answer a 30-
wpm CQ with a 5- or lO-wpm reply. If
band conditions are bad, due to QSB
or QRN, always call and operate at
slower than normal speeds.
Using CW, before calling "CQ" on a
frequency, use the Q-signal, QRL?,
which means, "is this frequency in
use?" Do not send "QRL'^ before a CQ
because it means, 'This frequency is in
use^ please do not use it.'* QRL alone
indicates someone is replying to a
"QRL?" call of a station which the lis-
tening station may not he able to hear.
If someone sends QRL? on a fre-
quency you and another station are us-
ing, answer this question with the
statement, "QRL/' or possibly, "Yes,"
Always remember, the station you are
copying may be in the skip zone of the
station sending the QRL?,
There are over 50 intcmaticinally
used CW Q'Signals. Those that ama-
teurs are most likely to use are shown
here in table form.
Coniiniwd on page 22
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73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 21
ORG
QRK
QRL
QRM
QRO
QRP
QRQ
QRS
QRT
QRU
QRV '
QRX
QRZ
The frequency is .-.
Your readability is ... (1 - 5) (See QSA also)
Tilts frequency is in use; please do not interfere
Interfering stations
Increasing to ...; or using higher power
Decreasing to ,„; or using low power
Send faster
Send slower
Stop sending
1 have nothing for you
am ready; start sending
Wart: I will call you shortly
You are being called by
Table 3. Handy reference fo tlw mosi commonly used *'Q" codes.
QSA
Your signal strength is ... (1 - 5)
QSB
Your signals are fading
QSD
Your keying is defect ve
QSK
1 can hear you between my signals (1 am using break-in) ,
QSL
1 acknowedge or confirm receiving „.
QSO
1 can conimunicate with you ...
QSP
Re ay a message to ..,
Keys to Better Operating
€:ontinuedJrofn page 21
IMien followed by a question mark,
any Q-signal asks a question. For ex-
ample, QRG? means. ^^Whai is my (or
your) frequency?" QRZ? means, **By
whom am 1 being called?" While there
may be amateurs who discourage the
use of Q-signals wiLh radiotciephune
CTmrnunications, some Q-si^nals fit in
very nicely with such operating. As
examples. QRM QRN. QRR QRX.
22 73 Amateuf Radio Today • December 1998
QSB. QSO. QSL (also a continuation
card for amateurs) and QSO are ollen
heard. On phone. "Use VOX" (Abice
Operated Xmissions) means the same
as "QSK'* does with CW, The use of
QSK and VOX helps greatly in QSOs
and nets on Lhe amatenr bands and
should always he used if possible.
Tuning
Tuning a transceiver exactly to an- ■
other station's frequency with CW is \
more difficult to do than with SSB.
With SSB, il the receiving operator's
RIT control is off, when a station is
tuned in so the voice sounds most natu-
ral, the listener's transmitter should be
exactly «vii the oilier station's I'requcncy,
This is known as ''zero- healing" the two
U^ansmitter frequencies.
When tuning in a CW station using a
transceiver, and again, providing the RTF
conu^l is oil; the receiving operator *s
transmitter will be set to something be-
tween perhaps 300 and 1000 Hz from
the transmitting station's frequency
when il is tuned in. With most trans-
ceivers, whatever beat-Lone frequency
is produced by a received signal, if the
tone heard when the key is pressed is
the same, the transmitter sisnal will be
very^ close to zero-bcai with the re-
ceived signal, ir the kcx-doun and the
beat-tone frequencies arc different by
500 H?,, then the receiving operator's
transmitter will be 500 Hz away from
the other station's carrier frequency. If
a receiver uses a 250-Hz wide CW IF
niten signals 500 Hz or more away
may never be heard. It is very impor-
lani when answering a general type of
CQ to answer as close to the calling
station s frequency as possible. In DX
pileups if there are many signals on the
DX station's frequency, il may pay to
detune a few hundred hcrt/ to answer
lhe DX station.
In older-type equipment, where the
transmitter and the receiver are sepai ate
urats, if you want to call '*CQ'' it is nec-
essary^ to learn how^ lo tune tlie transmit-
ter to a desired clear spot in the hand
Eidier lum ulT the final amplifier stage,
or use a duinmy load on the transmilten
or mm the transmitter's output power
down Lo miuimum before tunin^j it
across the band until the transmitter's
signal is heard in the receiver as a lone
of aboul 700 Hz. A CQ can now be
called on this frequency after an unan-
swered QRL? is transmitted. Unless
you are aller DX contacts, do not an-
swer the CQ of a station whose signals
are poor due to band conditions.
Zero-beating
To zero-beat a received sisnal. sucb
as a CQing station, with a separate
transmitter and receiver, tune the
transmitter's oscillator until its tone in
the receiver exactly matches thai of the
tone of the CQing station. Many trans-
mitters have a "Calibrate" or 'Test*'
switch or button which only activates
the transmitter's oscillator to allow
zero-bealing the local transmitter to a
received frequeiKry. It provides a weak
transmitter oscillator signal for the re-
ceiver but produces no radiated signal
dudng the zero-beating process. When
using more advanced transceivers,
with their RIT control off, when the
frequency check switch is on, the tone
heard must match that of the beat-
signal tone of the received transmitter
signal to ensure zero-beat operation.
How close to zero-beat should sta-
tions be? If they are on exactly the
same frequency that is as good as it
can get. In the case of CW stations,
they probably should be within 1 00 Hz
of each other or they may be taking up
bK> much of the band. Vacuum-tube
transmitters wiih VFOs almost always
drift. They may have to be checked for
zero-beat operation every few minules
while the other station is transmitting,
particularly if they have not been
wanned up for 30 to 60 minutes.
Stations operating several hundred
hertz apan are just asking for interfer-
ence troubles. While one of the sta-
tions is transmitting the other station's
frequency is not being used. It may be
selected as a good spot for a QSO by
two other stations, or a good spot for a
CQ. If a QRL? on that frequency gets
no answer from the transmitting opera-
tor, there is no reason why that fre-
quency should not be used for a CQ or
QSO. It will then be up to the transmit-
ting operator to advise the other opera-
tor with whom he is in QSO to
zero-beat with his/her frequency. If the
transmitting station was using QSK,
the QRL? call would probably have
been heard and an answering QRL
could have been sent to stop the CW or
QSO on that frequency.
It should be meniioned thai there are
procedures used by the various armed
services which may vary from interna-
tional operating procedures. Those
procedures were developed to fit the
needs of their particular services. Ra-
dio amateurs have always used the
procedures which are in general use all
over the world, those which have been
explained here. Communications will
be much more pleasurable if all ama-
teurs use the same basic time-tested
procedures.
It is unfortunate that thousands of
well-meaning amateur radio Elmers
are either ex-mihtary people or are
mostly phone operators and do not
know the proper international proce-
dures for amateur CW operating. The
result is many poorly trained new ama-
teur radio operators on our bands to-
day. Poor operating takes much of the
fun out of both phone and CW operat-
ing. Hopefully this inlbrmation will
get to some of those Elmers and to
those they are helping so much.
Probing Auto ElectronFcs
continued from f>age 13
leakage path should exhibit a current
value similar to the value determined
as a reference at the battery terminal.
E Taking note of the circuit and the
current measured at each ^e position
(circuit branch) will provide a clue as
to which circuit contains the excessive
leakage path.
There is an alternate test method that
may be used when two people are
available, one to perform the test and
the other lo watch the light bulb. If the
light buib filameni glows when con-
nected between the battery terminal
and cable, then leave tfie bulb con-
nected and open each fuse circuit and
potential circuit path. The light bulb
will cease to glow when the leakage
path has been opened.
Following the logic of an Ohm's law
problem analysis will provide the
clues necessary to diagnose automo-
tive electrical systems. Help your
neighbor identify his automobile's
electrical problem and he a hero I
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73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1 998 23
Number 24 on your feedback card
73 Review
A Real Handful
Inside Alinco's DJ-CS dual-band transceiver.
Terry Bennett VE3EG A
PO Box 293
Markham ON L3P 3J7
Canada
[tebenne@ibnn.netl
A credit card-si/cd iwo-mcler + 70 I
cm transceiver small enough to
reuUy go in >uur shirt pockei was loo
much for this minialiire -radio lover to
resist — I had to get me one of those
babies! As an Alincu DJI-FT owner. I
was familiar with the company "s atten-
tion to detail and ihe general reliability
of their prodticls. A qtiick look at the
Q5\ .specifications convinced me that
the DJ-C5 had a lot uoijii! for it.
1 had heard thai the new Alinco DJ-
C5 radio was going to be available al
Dayton, so as soon as the main arena
opened I was chcckini; out prices {the
Dayton piice was just under S20()). I
had previously checked the DJ-C5
specifications, so my justification was
Simply this — T needed a radio that was
versatile, easy to use straight from the
bo?£. and small enough to can-y just
about everywhere ( WHD = 56 mm x
94 mm x 10,6 mm. 2.2 inches x 3.7
inches x 0.417 inch). What s more, the
DJ-C5 weiizhs in at a mere 80 irrams
(2.82 oz.) and operates off a 3,8 VDC
lithium-ion battery.
Out of the box and on the air!
On unpacking the radio (al the
HamvenLion'j I was delighted to find
that It actually did work straight from
24 73 AmalGur Radio Today * December 1998
the box — no battery charging — as the
iniemal lithium -ion battery was aUve
and well! I tjuickly set up a simplex
frequency in VFO mode and was in
QSO within lU minutes of purchasing
the radio — not many handheld manu*
tacturers can guarantee this kind of
quick setup! The radio is housed in an
aluminum case and all functions are
keypad-controlled except for the on/
off switch and PTT. The radit> comes
complete w iih a charger and clear plas-
dc {1 didn't like this!) carrying case. The
C5's transmitter is 3(X) mW — enoush
fbr litie of siuht working, but within
buildings (Hara .Arena) sometimes hit-
and-miss. On nonrepeater channels.
QRP usually needs unobstructed RF
takeoff! Higher-powered radios also had
their share of probletiis (due to high RF
noise and obstructions), so I was not
unduly concerned.
The radio's audio output level (60
mW) was, unrorlunatcly, not high
enouszh to overcome the extremely hii»h
ambient noise le\ el at Davton, and even
an addniomd purchase of the liny
EME-49 speaker/mike did little to im-
prove matters. I initially solved the
problem by initiating the Bell feature
on the radio, which gave me a pleasant
alert tone when someone called on the
frequency! However, T did make a
mental ntvte of a neat solution for fu-
ture Ilea markets, so watch out for a
future article!
First repeater contact
Later that day and back at my hotel,
I was able to find the local (Piqua) re-
peater and exchanged reports with a
couple t>f hams who gave the radio an
excellent audio report. My Dayton
friends challenged my wisdom in pur-
chasing a 3(K) mW radio instead of a
topical higher powered unit (I was
ready for this one!) I explained that
with two meters and 70 cm on hoard. I
will always be in range of at least one
repeater practically everywhere I
might visit in the USA or Canada.
With dU memories to play with, life
will never be dull!
iTie skeptics were still unconvinced,
hugging their brick-sized radios, their
speaker- microphones hanging from
dieir collars like sleeping bats, as they
mumbled thimss about needins lots of
power. In the meantime, I simply
popped the C5 in my shirt pix-kei and
off I went to load more repeaters into
the radio's memor\. Riuht now^ (davs
after Dayton). I am at the office, C5 in
my shirt pocket and ready for more
lunchtime QSOs — V\\ lake a bet that
their radios sit at home in their shacks
until the next hamfesi.
Plamitng
A word of caution! Loading 50
memories needs some careful plan-
ning— 1 suggest thinking carefully
about future trips and your general
ham radio activities. Enter frequencies
according to your own personal re-
quirements! Adding and deleting fre-
quencies is, however, very simple with
the C5, and a few minutes with the
manual will get you started.
I set up my C5 so that the first 10
memories would be two^meter local
repeaters, the next 10 would be the
major two- meter metropolitan area (in
my case, Toronto) repeaters, and the
next 10 would be oul-of-lown ones.
UHF repeaters were programmed from
#30-45, leaving room for five simplex
or "scratchpad" channels as required!
The two-meter calling channel of
146.520 MHz was programmed into
the VHF call memory. I didn't bother
pfOgramming a UHF call frequency
due to low activity on UHF simplex in
my area*
Operating and programmins the C5
I have noticed that most small radios
have comprehensive manuals thai re-
quire you to sit quietly for an hour or
two in deep concenlration studying the
intricacies of the radio. Not the case
with the C5, The folks at Alinco man-
aged to condense theirs into an easy-
to-understand (and remember!) 20
pages — which can also fit in a shirt
pocket if necessary!
Programming the radio was a piece
of cake. Simply select the desired
memory channel number (using up/
down buttons); return to VFO mode
(VM/MW button); use the up/down
buttons to select the desired frequency^
press function (F); and hit the VM/
MW button to store! This procedure is
all that is required to change a stored
frequency. The range of repeater off-
sets can be set between zero and
99.995 MH7., Once the offset is pro-
grammed, pressing Monitor allows you
to monitor the repealer-input frequency.
Pressing Monitor again returns the radio
to normal operation.
A neat feature of the C5 is the inclu-
sion of the aircraft band and of Auto-
matic AM Receive^ — ^gieat for checking
out the action at local air shows!
The DJ-C5 has CTCSS built in for
both TX and RX (as required); select-
ing from 26 standard tones will give
you all the regular tones in use. The C5
will automatically activate the encoder
with the same decode tone when set!
The C5 features Automatic Power
Off, Key Lock, Adjustable Frequency
Step, Channel Scan, Battery Saver, Bell
and (for those of you who are overseas
Uavclers) Eurt>pcan Tone Burst. As a
general rule of thumb, I find that the
C5 will access local VHF/UHF repeat-
ers that are within an eight- to 10-miIe
radius of my QTH and that the com-
munications capability is somewhat
more efficient at UHF as the antenna is
much closer to one-quarter-wave-
length long. Walking around my town,
I found that the audio level (range is 1 -
8) was most comfortable at level 7,
even with vehicular QRN. I find that I
am now taking a radio to places where
I would previously wouldn't have. If
you arc part of an ARES group or local
Emergency Service, this nexibility
may help you to avoid missing a
callout message. I am even consider-
ing putting a DJ-C5 on my Yorkshire
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73 Amateur Ractio Today * December 1998 25
Photo A, Alinco's DJ-C5. actual slze^
tBfiier to avoid f^houting! The possi-
hi lilies are endless with such a liny,
liLihtweiuhl radio.
Battery charging
The DJ-C5 charger operates by
dropping the radio on its hack into the
charger (a realK neat unit thai holdi
the radio in place). A gneen LED indi*
caiefi charging and extinguishes after
charging is complete. Maximum
charge time is two hours. A great thing
about lithium-ion batteries is ihev do
not develop a memory (unlike nickel-
cadmium) and therefore uill offer
much longer periods of operation per
charge! The manual suggests that they
arc good for 500 charges, so I strongly
recommend charging huh its diffeienl
from those used for nickel-cadmium
baticiics. For example. If the radio
works, the battery dott^t need charg-
ing! The reason? It has a straight-curve
discharge (think of your car's gas
26 73 Amateur RadfO Today * December 1998
tank!). Using this think-
ing, you will be sure to
get the maximum ben-
efit from your liiliium-
ion battery technology!
Removing the screws
on the rear of the radio
accesses the C5's bai-
terv (if this is ever re-
quired!). Gently lift off
the back cover and set
it aside. I recommend
purchasing a new set of
tiny Phillips screwdriv-
ers fRadib Shack®)
prior to attempting this,
as the screws are
tightly fitted and there
is alwavs the danger of
damaue to the screw
head! The battery takes
up about one third of
the total size of the ra-
dio. To remo\e the bat-
tery, simply ease it out
and unplug its connec-
tor. Replacement bat-
teries are available (at
this time) from Alinco.
priced at approximately
Specificatlotis
The DJ-C5 (out ol' the hoK) covetl
118-173.995 MHz R\ (118-135.995
AM Rx) and 420-449.995 MHz, Tx
coverage is 144-147.995 and 420^
449,995 in two bands.
A MARS/CAP modification is avail-
able (simple) that will extend the Tx
from 136-173.995 MHz and 380-
472,995 MHz faircratt band is unaf-
fected).
The radio's sensitivity is excellent,
even with the supplied 4.5-inch llex-
ible antenna. 1 receive the weather radio
stations quite well (gocxl sensitivity test
for Rx and antennas!).
I have not tried an alternative an-
tenna on the radio, as I felt this
uould compromise the threaded con-
nector, but the radio may accept a
modified antenna for balloonist or
similar operation.
As I pre\iously mentioned, the Rx
audio (60 mW) is not as high as with
'^brick" HTs, but it is more than suffi-
cient for nonnal personal outdoor US©
in parks or streets. An audio accessory
is recommended for Ilea markets or ar-
eas where the ambient noise is likely
to be high. This is a miniulure (2.5
mm) stereo-type jack soclcet on the lop
of the radio that accepts remote mike/
audio accessories.
To date there is a gotxl range of
Alinco accessories that can be used
with the DJ-C5. 1 purchased the minia-
ture speaker/mike {model EMS 49)
and 1 will ultimately add an ear mike
(and dark glasses!),
A word of advice: Stibminiature
stereo jacks are hard to find. Those
of you who want to add your own
mike/audio I/O (e.g., packet) won't
find them at Radio Shack — ^youMI
need to check out Mouser or a similar
supplier.
Conclusion
I love radios that arc easy to under-
stand, program, and operate. And I
hate hunting for the manual and rel-
evant sections every time I want to
chani^e something. For these reasons
alone, the C5 is the perfect partner
for the user who wants a less conipli-
catcd radio, yet still needs to retain
commonly-used features such as in-
put-frnqtiency monitoring, channel scan,
and quick frequency entry. Plus, the
DJ-C5 has dual-band versatility, loo!
Wilt 1 sell mine at the next Ilea
market and get something with more
power? No and no, Fll keep this rig,
thank vou — well done. Alinco!
Sources
The Alinco DJ-C5 dual -band trans-
ceiver is available from:
Alinco USA
438 Amapola Ave. Suite 1 30
Torrance C A 90501
Tel: (310) 618-8616
Further inlbnnatibn is also available
JVom Alinco al [www.alincoxoni].
And you might he interested in my
own Web page lwww.angcinrc.com/
biz/cqradio], where there is also an
Alinco link (a linko?). Have fun!
-•i
Number 27 on your Feedback card
Electronic Bug Emulator
Put some personality back intoyour CW.
J. Frank Brumbaugh W4LJD
RO. Box 30— c/o Defendini
Salinas PR 00751 -0030
How niiiny of us initially suc-
cumbed to ihe lure of an elec-
ironic keyer and sold our bugs,
only to become dissalisfied at the lack
of personality in our CW? Or made
keying errors with the new gadgets and
wished we had our old bugs back? Yes,
you and me and loLs ul oltiers. With
this article. I hope to Lake many o^ us
fomard to the past.
New standard Vihrople3C*l5«igs cost
SI 60. and the price rises rapidly for the
fancier models. This is a cost most of
us cannot afford to pay. But all is not
lost. Described here is a very simple,
cheap, and easy way to put the feel of a
bug back into our operating, and it can
be dune for less than five dollai-s!
However before \vc spend that five
dollars there is a minor problem to
solve. Some of us already have single-
lever paddles, which is what is needed
to complete the electronic bug. As far
as I know, all such paddles have
grounded wipers. This circuit requires
that the paddle have all three coniacis
floating — dot, dash, and wiper. Unless
an existing paddle can be modified, it
may be necessary to home-brew a
single-lever paddle in order to take
advantage of this project.
Fig. 1 illustrates the simple clec-
trnntc portion of the single paddle bug.
!
Stalled with a portion of a 25-year-old
design by W7Z01 and made some
The circuit is not original with me. I j mudiftcations to gel the results I
RIO
WEIGHT
+12^
DOT DASH
KEYING
Q2 UNE
t
Fig, L Schenuaii of spaced dots generator.
73 AmaWur Radio Today • December 1998 27
FROM 02 COLLECTOR
TO KEY UNE
+12VT0S1
CONNECT WITH
AAALE-MALE STEREO
CABLE
FROM +T2V
KEYER
RIG
Fig. 2. Power and keying wiring,
needed. The original circuit was more
complex and did things not needed in
this final design.
Both timers in Ul together produce
perfect dots and spaces, the speed of
which is controlled by the weight po-
tentiometer, RIO, which serves the
same purpose as moving the weight on
a bug. When the paddle is pressed for
dots, a stream of perfectly spaced dots
is generated and keys the rig through
Q2, the Iceying transistor. Dot speed is
adjustable, as on a Vibroplex, from ap-
proximately three to 25 dots per sec-
ond— equivalent to a keying speed
range of seven to 60 wpm.
When the paddle is pressed for
flashes, this is a "key down" condition
exactly as in a bug, allowing the opera-
tor to make his own dashes and bring-
ing back the familiar bug "feel." In
addition, the dash side of the paddle can
be tapped just as if it were a hand key for
those times when it is necessary to key
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very slowly. Also, this function is re-
tained even if the circuit is not powered.
Construction
The spaced dot generator can be
constructed on a small piece of
perfboard or a general-purpose printed
circuit board, or you can use the *yead
bug" style of ugly construction on a
small piece of unetched printed circuit
board. Parts placement and lead
lengths are not critical It can be
mounted in a small enclosure, or possi-
bly right on or inside the base of the
paddle.
To reduce clutter, it will be prefer-
able to solder three jumpers on the bot-
tom of Ul before mounting it, whether
a socket is used or noL Strip the insula-
tion from a short length of stranded
wire and separate the strands. Solder
one strand between pins 4 and 10 on
the bottom of the chip, making the sol-
dered connections high on the pins of
the chip, and clip off any extra lead
lengths. Solder another jumper be-
tween pin 3 and pin 11. Place a small
piece of cellophane tape on the bottom
of the chip covering these two jumpers
as insulation. Now solder a final jumper
between pin 10 and pin 14 as before.
Power can be supplied by an internal
battery or by taking operating voltage
from the rig it will be used with. Fig. 1
includes an optional On/Ofif switch
and LED if an internal battery is used.
In this case, you may or may not want
to include the voltage regulator U2,
If taking power from the rig for op-
erating this unit, a stereo jack must be
added to the rig. It will carry +12 V,
ground, and the keying line through a
connecting cable. The ring carries the
C1,C5
C2, C3, C4
D1, D2
D3
Q1,Q2
R1. R8
Parts Lrst
1 jiFlO V
0.1 iiF disc or
monolithic
1N4148, 1N914, or
equivalent
LED
NPN bipolar transistor
(2N3904, 2N4400,
2N2222i etc.)
33 k 5% 1/4 W
R2, R5, R9 47 K 5% 1/4 W
R3, R6
R4
R7
RIO
R11
SI
Ul
U2
100 5% 1/4 W
10 k 5% 1/4 W
2.2 k 5% 1/4 W
10k linear
potentiometer
2.4 k 5% 1/4 W
SPST toggle or stide
switch
556 dual timer iC
78L05 regulator
Table 1* Parts list.
keying line, the tip carries +12 V, and
the sleeve is common ground. Fig, 2 il-
lustrates using a stereo jack on both
the dot maker and the rig, and connect-
ing the two through a three-wire cable
with stereo plugs on each end. How-
ever, the cable can be hard-wired into
the electronic circuit and the stereo
plug on the other end plugged into the
new jack on the rig.
This circuit draws only about 10 mA
with U2 installed. If you wish to have
audio monitoring of your keying, per-
haps for practice sessions, a smaU pi-
ezoelectric alarm can be connected
directly between the +5 volt bus and
the collector of Q2. This will add
about 10 more milliamps to the total
drain with key down.
Forward to the past
Now that you have your new elec-
tronic bug emulator, no one you QSO
with will have any idea you aren't using
a Vibroplex!
28 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
73 Review
Number 29 on your Feedback c^rd
Seeing Dits and Dahs
The K2659 Morse Decoder Kit from Velleman Electronics
Marshall G, Emm N1FN
2460 S. Moline Way
Aurora CO 80014
[n1fn@Mp.rs.eX.coml
AS one whose ham activities are
95% HF C W, I hiivc long held the
view that when It comes to copying
code, the human ear will beat a com-
puter every time. An experienced CW
operator can copy code that is barely
audible^ signals plagued with QRM,
QRN, and QSB.
Computers need a good solid sig-
nal with a high signal-to-noise ratio.
And when conditions are sood enough
for compulers to copy Morse, there
are far more efficient modes available
io them. The Velleman Morse Decoder
has done nothing to change my
opinion, but it was fun to build and
does indeed have some practical
applications.
I saw the decoder kit at Tech America®
where some 30 different Velleman
Icits are Svdilable (Velleman makes
about 150 different kits), along with
kits from several other suppliers.
The Velleman kits are made in Bel-
gium, and reflect an unusually high
standard of packaging — the kits are
in plastic boxes, which are useful for
sorting parts during inventory and
construction.
In many cases the box can be used
as a permanent enclosure for the
completed project.
How it works
The Morse Decoder kit includes a
small microphone, which is placed
near the speaker of a radio receiving a
Morse code signal. The audio from the
microphone goes through an A/D con-
verter, which passes a digital signal to
a microprocessor.
When the unit is correctly tuned, die
digital signal is either on or off de-
pending on whether a tone is being
sent. Three pots are used to process the
audio signal before conversion. They
control the audio bandwidth, the center
frequency of the audio bandwidth, and
the sensitivity of the microphone. An
LED is used in tuning, and blinks in
time with the Morse signal when die
unit is properly adjusted.
The processor analyzes the pattern
of dots and dashes and inteiprets them
as characters which are scrolled along
a 16-charactcr LCD display. The de-
coder recognizes the alphabetical char-
acters, numbers 0-9, and most of the
prosigns ordinarily used in CW traffic.
The manual says the unit will read code
at ' 'almost any speed/' and that^s pretty
much true.
How well it does ail this is a matter of
judgment, but Til save my comments on
performance for later.
I
73
Construction
The decoder kit was relatively easy
to build, with step-by-step instructions
in the manual. It took me about an hour
to put the kit together As is my usual
practice, I installed the IC sockets first,
even diough the instructions don't have
you do them until aftej' the resistors and
diodes. With nothing else on the board,
so it will Ue Hat on the tahle. the sockets
ai^e a. lot easier to manage,
The PC board was of very high qual-
ity, sillc-screened with component lay-
out on one side and solder-masked on
the other. Generally I found the com-
ponents to be of high quality and easy
to identify, with ihe exception that
some of the terms used for component
types were not what I am used to in
kits from US manufacturers. For ex-
ample, there was one capacitor de-
scribed as "100 nF MKM" and three
described as '"sibattit." Fortunately, the
pans count was low enough that these
were quickly idendfied, even though
the MKM proved to require the tail
end of the process of elimination. Last
one left? Fits the spot? Must be it!
All of the axial-lead components
CTlaf' resistors, diodes, etc.) were
supplied mounted on a single ''ammo
strip,'' and — ^get this — they were on
Amateur Radio Today * December 1998 29
L.£ NIRN m\
*/1
Photo A, Test-dn'ving the \sencr seiup.
the strip in the order m which they
were called for in constiuction. That
lit^ made it a lot easier to find the
components when they were needed!
The installation of the LCD disp[ay
was a bit tricky, as was llie LED. The
display is mounted above the main
board on metal stand-offs, and is con-
nected by 14 plain wires (supplied on
the ammo strip!) which go through a
hole in the display and then through a
hole in the circuit hoard, and are sol-
dered in both places. I discovered that
the spacing of the wires on the ammo
strip was sucli that every other wire
matched a pair of holes, so I cut them
apart, leaving seven wires still at-
tached by one side of the ammo strip. I
fed them through the odd holes Th the
display and down through the circuit
hoai'd, and the remaining piece of ammo
strip tape held them in place while I sol-
dered Uicm on the circuit boai\i. Then it
was a simple process of trimming the
leads above the LCD display and sol-
dering that end. and finally repeating
the process lor the remaining seven
wires in the even holes.
The instructions for the LED read,
"The upper side of the LED should
slightly overlap the display." That took
me a minute or two to figure out, but
what it means is that the LEDs ai^e in-
serted only a little way into the holes
so that the top of the LED is flush with
or a little higher than the top surface
of the display. Now that I think about
it, Lm not sure how I would have
described it myself!
The instructions tell you to connect
the microphone using a '^ screened
cable/' but the manuars illustration
shows the microphone soldered direct
30 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
to its connecting pins on the front side
of the circuit board. It seemed reason-
able to me that you would w^ant to put
the display between yourself and the
audio source, so a microphone on the
back of the unit would make more
sense than on the front. I used shielded
audio cable long enough to locate the
microphone at the back of the reader.
No real problems were encountered
in construction, but I mention the com-
ponent ID and documentation situa-
tions because I can imagine that these
could be serious problems in a more
complex kit.
The smoke test
The power supply for the decoder kit
can be either a small transformer pro-
viding 7-8 VAC at 250 mA (there is a
rectifier circuit on board) or DC at 9-
12 V. The circuit includes a voltage
regulator, so I connected my 13.8
WDC shack supply without further
consideration. Actually, there was a
little consideration necessary because
they tell you to connect power, but not
exactly where. TTiere are three pins,
marked VA, VB, and a symbol. A
quick look at the board and the sche-
matic should tell you that the symbol
indicates the common or ground termi-
nal, the VA and VB pins are both used
if you are connecting an AC supply,
and +DC can be connected to either
VA or VB. There is no on/off switch.
As soon as power is connecledj the
display reads ^'VELLEMAN KIT^
and you can use a small trimpot to ad-
just the contrast. At that point you are
ready to place the microphone neai'
your radio and start to copy code.
The Morse Decoder in operation
Aeain. the documentation is rudi-
mentarv at best. Which is unfortunate,
because the decoder is not particularly
easy to use. They give you starting set-
tings for the three controls, and then
have you adjust them until the LED
flashes and the decoded text is dis-
played. The adjustment can take a few
attempts but you get used to doing it
with a Uttle practice.
There are some things they could tell
you that would make life a lot easier.
For example:
•A character is not displayed until
the following character has been sent,
or after about tlu:ee seconds of silence.
•The unit takes a considerable
amount of time to synchronize to the
speed of the received code. When the
speed changes, meaningless characters
will be displayed for several seconds
until the decoder can re-synch. This
seems to be less of a problem w^hen
speed is increased. When the speed is
decreased, you will often see the indi-
vidual elements of characters sent as
an endless stream of Es and Ts. Some-
times, in fact, it seems the unit will
never re-synch unless you disconnect
the power and let the processor start
over.
There is nothing in tlie documcnta^
tion to indicate how non- alphanumeric
characters and punctuation (periods,
commas, and question marks) will be
displayed. An unrecognized character
will be displayed as an asterisk. For
the record, here's the list, as far as I
was able to determine from trial and
em)r:
Sign
Displayed As
BT
—
HH
% (error sign)
CT
I
AR
m
1
f 1.'
AS
KN
SOS
i
Table I. Key to the signs thai appear in the
display.
•I was abfe to verify correct code
reading at speeds from 7 wpm to
around 50 wpm, using the sidetone on
my electronic keyerand a test message
sent repetitively from the kcyer's
memory. At the upper end of that
range, an increase in sending speed re-
quired two or three repetitions of the
message before the decoder would
synchronize, A reduction in speed
Coatinued on page 56
Number 31 on your Feedback card
Low- Voltage Detector
, . ,for a number causes.
Hugh Wells W6WTU
1411 18th Street
Manhattan Beach CA 90266-4025
Recently, a friend asked me to
assist him in developing a cir-
cuit thai he could use on a car
haltery-powered system that he has in-
stalled in his ham shack. The battery
operation, in his specific application,
provides power to his electric door
locks, alarm system, enunciatpr, ham
gear a:nd other iterns. The 12 volts
from the car battery is bused through-
out his house and shop. Because the
battery is the central power source foi'
a multitude of critical systems, die
health of the battery is extremely im-
portani. Under most circumstances car
batteries and chargers arc quite reli-
able, but there are occasions when a
power failure may occun Dislodging
the charger's powder cord or having a
commercial power loss happens more
often than we'd like to admit. Also,
car batteries fail upon occasion — and
seldom give any warning.
My friend asked if a project could be
developed to provide a warning because
his system did fail when the charger
became unplugged, The problem went
undetected until everything failed, in-
cluding his door lock control. After
studying the variables involved in a bat-
tery-operated system, we determined
that the most predominant failure
mode is a loss of terminal voltage,
which is easily detected. Because my
friend's 12- volt system is bused every-
where, wamins detectors could be
placed in strategic locations where at
least one would be observed, should a
failure occur
The devised circuit is simply a
voltage comparator driving an LED-
What could be simpler? During the
development of the circuit, many
threshold detector designs were con-
sidered and all would have worked
well. The design selected for my
friend's apphcation is shown in Fig, L
The criteria used for selecting the cir-
cuit required a variable threshold ad-
justment and a circuit that would drive
an LED. The use of an audible alarm
Contmued on pc^e 38
SOURCE
+11-15 V
Fig. 1. Low battery voltage detector.
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1 998 31
George's XE-lent
Part 2: Days 10-18
Number 32 on your Feedback card
George Palaki WB2AQC
84-47 Kendrick Place
Jamaica NY 11432
iiesday. The Radio Club Azteca
doesn't have its own place, so
it holds its meetings twice a
month at fhe Federation. Not having ils
own place, it doesn't have a station,
but it does have a beatitiful QSL card:
XE 1 RCA. However, this does not com-
pensate 1 or those XEs who have stations.
do operate, and promise QSL cards —
when they don't even have one.
iP6unded in 1932, Azteca is the old-
est amateur radio club in Mexico City,
presently having about 30 members.
Once a year, the club organizes a na-
tional contest, Theodoro XEIYQQ and
Rosa XEIYQR drove me to the Fed-
eration in the evcnins. There I met
Memo XEINJ, the director of lARU
region 2, area C, and the executive sec-
of the Federation. Memo, a
Photo A, Ai the XEILM chih station, stanJing, left to right: Efraim XEIJGM, Manuel
XEIJRL Artnro XEINAD, Carlos XEIEOX. Smin^, left to right: Felipe XEIMHF, Jean-
Pierre XEI YVE, Emir XEIPAR.
32 73 Amateur Radio Today ■ December 1998
buildinjj adniTnistrator, was licensed in
1978; he is a DXer with 317 countries
conllrmed, and works only SSB on 10-
15-20 meters. His wife Rebeca is
XEI RUN and she is active. His son
Memo Jr is XEiOJ, and his daughter
Ady is XEJ NG — both arc inactive.
In 1985, Memo participated in the
DXpedition to Reviilagigedo when the
XF4MDX call was used.
Wc met some of the members of the
Azteca radio club (Photo A). First to
arrive was Arturo XEINAD, the club's
president (Photo B), Every year they
have an election for president and you
can be re-elected just once. 1 visited
his station the next day.
I also met Felipe XEIMHF. He
works in the printing industry, w^as li-
censed in 1990, and operates only on
SSB, mostly on two meters. His wife
Olga XEI XZT was licensed in 1 996.
Jean-Pierre XEIYVE is a French-
born electronics engineer, licensed in
1988; Emir XEI PAR is a retired doc-
tor who — despite his name — does not
have a harem, I visited Emir three days
later.
Manuel XEIJRI sells and installs
computers, and trains the users, I saw
him and his family of amateurs the fol-
lowing Saturday.
i
Photo B. Armro XEI NAD, president of the
Radio Club Azteca, is active on satellites
en 144/432 MHz and on 6 m with a rotas-
able dipole.
Carlos XEIFOX is assistant director
of lARU, region 2, area C, and also di-
rector of the Federation. Carlos works
in advertising. He is a DXer, works
only SSB, and has over 200 countries
conliimed.
Efiraim XEl JGM, is a past president
of the club; I had visited him three
days earlier,
I took some group photos at the
XEILM club station (the one that
seems not to have QSL cards), said
'*Hasta la vista^** and returned to my
hotel.
Wednesday
In the morning, AfiMIO XEINAD,
the president of the Radio Club Azteca,
picked me up from the hotel and took
me to see his station, Arturo, a physi-
cist, is the system manager for
Penoles, the world's largest silver-
mining company, Arturo is very enthu-
siastic about amateur radio and has
plenty of excellent equipment. He was
licensed in 1994; operates SSB, RTTY
and satellites; and has a nice QSL card*
He has a 40-foot tower on the roof,
120 feet from the ground On that
lower, Arturo has a three-element
Photo C. Lorenzo XEIU has two great sta-
tions: one in Mexico City, the other in
Tepottotlun.
monobander for 1 0 meters; a three-ele-
ment TH3-Jr that is a three-element
yagi for 10-15-20 meters; and a two-
clement yagi for 40 meters. He also
has a roiatable dipole for 17 meters
and a rotatable dipole for six meters.
Furthermore, a G5RV is used for 10 to
80 meters and, with a luner^ for 160
meters.
Arturo is working satellites on two
meters and 70 cm, in the B mode, and
is planning a setup with a L2 GH/ for
uplink and a 24 GHz for downlink,
operating on S mode. Arturo XEINAD
is a contester; he created his own con-
test computer program. In his car, he
has a duaiband mobile rig for 144
MHz and 432 MHz. Arturo is also an
excellent amateur photographer, and in
martial arts he has a black belt, second
dan. His E-mail address is: [arturo_
enriquez@penolesxom.mx].
Arturo look me to the office of Luis
XEIL, in a beautiful Spanish-style
building surrounded by tail office
buildings. Tt is easy lo find Luis' builri-
ing because it has a tower with a large
yagi on the top.
Luis took me to see Lorenzo XEIU,
who has a Ph.D. in civil engineering
but works in insurance as the vice
president of La LatinoAmericana
(Photo C). Lorenzo is fluent in En-
glish^ French, and Italian, and besides
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thoto D. Keytui XEILMV tiiul her iiiofher,
Olga XEINBJ.
Spanish, he also speaks u dialed used
in the Canary Islands. Licensed in
1969, Lorenzo has a Iremendous sta-
tion, but is nol a DXcr: he works only
SSB mostly with tVicnds, His Lower is
66 leel from ihe roof, 90 feet from the
ground. On the lower Lorenzo has a
30-elcnient. veriically-ptjlari/ed yagi
for two meters: a TA-33-40 yagi for
10- 1 5-20-40 nicteni: a wire dipole for
40 and 80 meters: and three verlicats
for 144 Mil/, 432 MH/. and 1 .2 GH/.
He likes 40-nieter SSB. And lo lop ii
all off, he has a separate room just for
consimcting.
In Tepotzotlan, he has a second
house with a complete station; an 82-
foot tower with a 30-elemenl yagi for
two metecs; a TH7DX type of antenna
which is a seven-element yagi for 10*
15-20 meters: a two-element yagi for
40 meters: and an 1 8HTS vertical from
Hy~Gain for 10 to 160 meters, Lorcn/o
XEl U has a nice, colorful QSL card.
Thursday
For this day I had scheduled a visit
with a ham who did not show up and
did not even catl to cancel the appoint-
ment. I went people-walching, and
again [o the two large artisans' mar-
kets. I prefer lo shop where there are
Photo E. Mux XEIXA. wiih his antennax
for safellire and EME ioiuffumhaiious.
fixed prices; 1 really don't like hag-
gling. As a dilettante in bargaining, I
am no match for the professionals. No
matter how much time 1 spend check-
ing out prices and trying to push them
down, after making the purchase, I al-
waj s Inid heiter buys. That is the rea-
son I prefer to do my shopping on the
last day of my trip — at least then 1
don't see that I have made bad deals.
Some merchants spoke some En-
glish, but many of them, even after
dealing for years with foreign— mostly
American — -tourists, knew very little.
When asked abcmt prices, they showed
them to mc on their calculators.
Friday
Today Emir XEl PAR came to the
hotel and took me to his house- Emir is
a retired medical doctor who worked
as a hospital adminisiraion He was li-
censed in 1984. His daughten Maria*
Eugenia XEl PAT, is an architect living
in Leon Guanahuato: they have QSOs
every day on 40-meter phone.
Rmir has a 40-root tower on his root
which itself is 33 feet from the iiround.
His antennas are: a six-element yagi
for 10-15-20 meters; a Ringo for two
meters: a Diamond for two meters and
70 cm: and a wire dipole with traps for
40 and 80 meters.
Emir XE [ PAR has a second house in
the state of Morelos. where he takes
his Kenwood TS'440 or his Drake TR-
3 lo use with a wire dipole, Emtr has
QSL cards.
In the afternoon, I took a taxi to sefe
Nellie XEICL who lives in a very
high-class section of the town. The
taxi driver stopped four times to ask
for directions: twice he w^as scnl the
wroni! wav. To enter the buildinq. I had
lo pass two security checks. When I
got to the lobby and entered the eleva-
tor and pushed the button for tiie filth
(NcUie's) floor, the ele%'ator went
dow n instead of up because the lobby
is on the eighth floon That really can
contiise aburslar!
If you talk about Mexican YLs or
Mexican DXpcditioners. then you talk
about Nellie XEICI. She was licensed
in 1 968: her late husband Max XE 1 TX
was also a very active amateur. Her
three daughters and their husbands are
also hams: Patricia XEITX , who got
her lather's call; Dcbora XEIXYZ;
and Lorena XEIXYW, Thev are nol
as active as Nellie XEICL but who
is?
Nellie's tower is 165 feet trom the
ground and has a 30- foot mast. She has
the following antennas: an omnidirec-
tional two-meter vertical on the top; a
12- or 24-element (she did nol remem-
ber exactly) vertically-polarized yagi
lor two meters; a THI IDX vasi from
Hv-Oain for 10-12-15-17-20-30 meters;
a Cushcraft two-element yagi for 40
meters; and an inverted-V wire dipole
for 80 meters, Nellie XEICI works on
SSB. RTTY and satellite. She is on the
No, 1 Honor Roll and has the SB WAS
with YLs only.
In Nellie's radio room, among aTI
kinds of interesting ham memorabilia,
I saw a dedicated photograph of JYl,
King Hussein of Jordan.
Nellie has operated in many DX-
pcdiiions and from many locations,
such as Easter Island XR0Y; Rcvil-
lagigedo XF4CI; Jordan YJ8XE; Israel
4X/XE1CI: Guantanamo Bay KG4CI;
Puerto Rico XH1CI/KP4: Belize V31CK;
Grenada J37NL; St. Pierre FP/XEICI;
British Virgin Islands VP2V/XE1CI;
as well as in Venezuela: German v:
Sweden; Hilton Head Island IOTA
NA-I 10; Isla del Carmen in XE3; etc.,
etc. Her E-mail address is: [xelci@
mail internei.com. nix].
Saturday
Manuel XEIJRL whom 1 had just
met at the Radio Club Azteca meeting,
came to get me and take me to his
house, where I met his spouse Olga
XEINBJ, and their pretty daughter
Photo F, Vic XEIViC is on the Honor
Rolls for Phone and Mixed, No. I Honor
Roll. 5BWAZ, 58 WAS. etc.
34 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1 398
Reyna XEILMV, who was just finish-
ing college (Photo D). All three were
licensed in 1992.
Manuel XEIJRI is the most active
ham in the family; Olga XEINBJ is
mike-shy and Reyna is busy with her
studies. They have a small station and
a wire dipole for 40 and 80 meters, but
no QSL cards. Their QSOs are virtu-
ally only with Mexican stations. The
standard excuse for not working DX is
that they do not speak a foreign lan-
guage. This may be so in the case of
Olga, but Manuel speaks enough En-
glish to be able to use it in QSOs, and
Reyna's English is even better Be-
sides, there are a great number of
countries in Central and South America
where the hams do speak Spanish, so I
wish the Mexican amateurs would get
over this presumed language barrier
and start to talk with the world,
Manuel XEIJRI is active in public
service communications; he relayed
messages after various hurricanes de-
stroyed part of the public communica-
tions system. The Mexican amateurs
have drills preparing them for poten-
tial disasters created by earthquakes,
hurricanes, and the possible eruption
of the Popocatepetl volcano. Once a
year, Manuel participates in the Boy
Scouts Jamboree demonstrating ama-
teur radio communications to children.
We agreed to meet with Max
XE1XA (Photo E) in a restaurant,
halfway between Manuel's and Max's
houses. They had never met before, but
hams can always find each other So
we met, and I went with Max. First, we
went to the house of Vic XEIVIC
(Photo F). Vic is an accountant; he
was licensed in 1978 and is one of
Mexico's Big Guns. He has a very big
station with lots of equipment. His
tower is 75 feet high from the roof, 95
feet from the ground. It supports a
TH7DX which is a seven-element yagi
for 10-15-20 meters; a two-element
yagi for 40 meters from Cushcraft; a
G5RV for 10 to 80 meters; a Butternut
vertical for 40-80- 160 meters; a short-
ened wire dipole for 160 meters; and
an inverted-L for 160 meters. He can
also resonate his tower on 160 meters.
No w^onder he has over 100 countries
worked on this band. Vic has a nice
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73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 35
Photo G, Marisa XEIIRF and her da tighter,
MarizaXEIJVK
QSL card. What was suiprising is that
Vic does not use computers — he does
noi like tbem.
A member of the Mexico DX Asso-
ciation and Mexico DX Club, Vic
XEIVIC is on the No. 1 Honor Roll
has both Phone and Mixed, and has
5BWAZ, 5BWAS, 160WAS, and
scores of other awards difficult to ob-
tain. He has twice gone on DXped-
itions — ^to XF4 Revillagigedo and to
4J1 Malyj Vysolskij,
I saw that Vic's house, Uke many
Mhers in upper class neighborhoods, is
protected by pulsating high voltage,
among other devices. I wonder if that
creates any radio noise.
After finishing at Vic's place, we
went to see the staUon of Max
XEIXA, Born in Italy, Max came to
Mexico for a visit and then decided to
slay. He manufactures medical equip-
ment and various electronic parts and
assemblies.
His tower is 40 (eel from the roof,
and 53 feet horn the ground. It has an
eight-element yagi for two meters and
a TA33, a three-element yagi for 10-
15-20 meters. His claim to fame is his
satelUte activities: he has made thon-
sands of QSOs with over 100 countries
using a 16-elemenl cross-yagi for two
meters, and a 40-elemcnt cross-yagi
for 70 cm. Furthermore, Max XEIXA
is known for his EME work. With his
home-made dish. J6J feet in diameter
with a 24 dB gain on 70 cm. Max has
made hundreds ol' QSOs with 28 dif-
ferent countries. He has been a mem-
ber of AM SAT since 1974, and has had
articles published in the AMSAT Jour-
naL His main interest is buildino
equipment for vei7 low level signals.
Max has a nice QSL card.
36 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1'998
In April 1989, Max XEIXA made
the first satellite operation from
Revillagigedo, making 52! contacts.
He also operated via satellite during
the Easter Island XR0Y DXpedition,
making 43] QSOs with 41 countries,
uphnk 70 cm, downUnk two meters.
He was pan of the group who made
the first six-meter EME contact from
Easter Island.
Max's E-mail address is: [coramexsa
@ supernct.com.mx],
I returned to my hotel to rest but
then I got a call from Manuel XEIJRI
that he had found some more hams
willing to be photographed. I could not
miss the opportunity, Manuel came
over and drove me to the Tioine of
Roberto XEINDN, an oithopedist. A
family of four, all hams! Roberto
XEINDN was licensed in 1990; his
wife Maris a XEIIRK a kindergarten
teacher, hcensed in 1992; his daughter
Mariza XEIJVF, a university student
studying business administration, li-
censed in 1992 (Photo G); and son
Roberto XRl JRS, a salesman, Hcensed
also in 1992, 1 have noticed the tendency
in many families to give tlie children the
same fu^st names the parents have,
Roberto XEINDN was saying that
he has to have three jobs to suppt>n his
family. I told him that in the US medi-
cal doctors make quite a iol of money,
and the best season for orthopedists is
winter, when people slip and fall on
ice, and break some bones. In Mexico*
there is httle chance for ice. "Oh/' said
Roberto, "Santa Palineta takes care of
us orthopedists!" He was referring to
accidents caused bv children on roller
skates.
Here I found hams acting more like
CBers: no logs; no QSLs; only short
distance contacts, mostly with friends,
w^ithout trying to extend their radio
coimmuni cations to faraway places in
other countries. Again, the unjustified
excuse was that they don't speak for-
eign languages. Roberto XEINDN has
a computer, T>ut does not use it to its
full capabilities, for example, to log
his QSOs. After taking their pictures I
returned to mv hotel wishing I could
go home — but according to my sched-
ule and airline tickets I had two more
days to stay.
Sunday
In the moniine I went with Tlieodoro
XEl YQQ and Rosa XEIYQR to a big
market which had two distinct sec-
tions: one with the usual new clothing;
and the other one. a real Ilea market
with genuine antiques which I have
rarely seen in other places. I did not
buy anything, but it was fun to foolc at
them.
In the afternoon, all three of us went
to Palacio de Bellas Aries, a few
blocks from my hotels and saw tbur
very well executed and imaginative
modern dances presented by the Cam-
pania Ncicional dc DanzcL 1 especially
liked the ballet created to the music
by Georges Bizet, on the theme of
Carmen. It was fantastic. The best seat
in the house costs about 14 dollars.
The Palace of Fine Arts, an architec-
tural masterpiece, had a painting exhi-
bition with the works of Diego Rivera,
his wife Frida Kahlo, Siqucros, Orozco,
and other great Mexican artists.
Monday
The end of my trip was approaching,
[ did the last-minute shopping and I
took everything I bought to Theodoro's
hardware store, where they packed it
in two cardboard boxes that were later
taken to my hotel.
During the last few days, I had got-
ten .sick of the spaghetti I had eaten
almost daily. I had not wanted to ad-
venture in typical Mexican food, so I
had bought in the market the bread,
cheese J and tomatoes that T would eat
three times a day.
I noticed some peculiarities in
Mexico City. The subway, which has a
very extensive network, is very cheap:
1 ,5 pesos, which conies to 18 cents.
However, the highway tolls are much
too expensive. Going to Cuernavaca
we paid 50 pesos each way for about
an hour's drive.
On the streiefs of Mexico City, esipe-
cially in the business districts, there
are men with red flags, some with a
large letter E, others without it or just
with a piece of rag, jumping around
and waving their flags to get the atten-
tion of the drivers and attract them to
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ihelr piridng garages. The letter E
stands for estacionamiento.
Buses and minibuses often have a man
standing in the open front dotir yelling
out the route and invidng passengers to
gel on.
The traffic is tremendous and noisy,
with impatient drivers blasting their
ftoms, cops blowing their whistles, and
scores of cars tTOssing the intersections
after the lights turn red.
Tuesday
I look a whole-day tour going to
Puebla and the pyramid of Cholula.
Pucbla has 3,000,000 inhabitants. There
we visited the Hidden Convent of
Santa Monica, filled to the brim with
religious paintings and car\ings. Just
on the two lours alone that I have
tiiketi, I have been to so many churches,
chapels, and convents, and bowed my
head in from of so many crosses and
various saints, that I now believe I
have earned my place in Heaven.
As usual the guide took us to a "fac*
tory," this dme to a TTalavera ceramic
factory." During my travels, when I
took tours I was taken to many, many
*Tac lories'* but never saw a worker; the
**faclories" were just stores only for
foreign tourists^ where the guide gels a
commission on everything his group
buys, and that makes the prices higher
than if you shop by yourself.
Another bit of information: For ab-
solulely the same tour, various travel
agencies charge different prices. For
example, I found three brochures from
three agencies asking for the above
lour $35, $43, and $46. Why do I say
that it is the same tour? Because in-
stead of sending three buses with three
drivers and three guides, they combine
everybody in a single bus, no matter
where you booked the tour and how
much you paid. I paid $43 (silly me)
and a guy sitting near me paid $35. So,
collect all the tour brochures you can
Tmd, decide on a lour, and book the
cheapest one.
Wednesday
1 had return tickets for an afternoon
flight, but I went to the airport early in
the morning and changed my tickets
for an earlier flight I had kind of fm-
ished my job and run out of money,
and il was very hot, I was anxious to
gel home.
At the Dallas/Ft Worth airport, I had
to pass immigration and customs and
change planes. I was the lucky winner
of perhaps a random selection by the
customs officials and they checked not
only all three pieces of my luggage,
but also I had to hand them my Jacket
for inspection. They examined it care-
fully, even the books I was carrying:
DX-Aku, Messages from the Easier Is-
land Expedition\ and VK0IR; both by
KK6EK, received as gifts from Luis
XEIL.
I believe it was not a routine customs
inspection. Initially I had had the in-
tention of taking a side irip to Cuba to
visit some hams, and that is forbidden
because of the embargo, I had told this
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CmCLE 1S0 ON READER SEflVlCE CARD
Amateur Rad/o Today • December 1998 37
I J
to a couple of people. Perhaps word
got around and the authorities were
waiting for me. I certainly do not
match the profile of a smuggler, and
they could have brought their sniffing
dogs to check me out. But the dogs
wouldn't find any proof that I was in a
forbidden place. For that, sniffing
people were needed. Let me express
my restrained opinion about the em-
bargo: it is completely useless, and is
restricting the freedom of US citizens
to travel wherever they want,
I truly enjoyed the trip, despite the
unusually hot weather I met really
nice amateurs and non-amateurs alike.
Mexico has everything — and even
more than you could expect on a vaca-
tion. And you don*t even have to cross
the pond to get there; it is right in our
own backyard I
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CIRCLE 351 ON flEADER SERVICE CARD
Low-Voltage Detector
continued from pv^e 31
sQunder was rejected in this application
even though die circuit is capable of
driving a Sonalert'^^ or similar sounder
An LM741 op amp was chosen to be
used as the detector because of its avail-
ability and low cost, not for any specific
technical reason. Yes, a voltage com-
parator, which was designed for the pur-
pose, would work equally as well in this
application. As a matter of fact, if you
decided to use a voltage comparator,
there would be no changes to the circuit
except for the device pin numbers.
A zener diode is used to establish a
stable voltage reference at a convenient
voltage level between 4.5 V and 8 V and
is connected to pin 3 of the LM741.
Also, the voltage at pin 2 of the LM741
must be adjustable above and below the
zeher value in order to achieve a detec-
tion threshold level. The voltage value
on pin 2 normally remains higher than
the voltage on pin 3, and as long as it is
higher, the output ai pin 6 will remain
low. Potentiometer R2 is adjusted to
allow the voltage at pin 6 to rise when
the supply voltage falls to and/or be-
low a selected leveL In my friend's
situation the threshold voltage was set
for 11 volts. At that value his critical
functions would still continue to oper-
ate while the flashing LED would pro-
vide a warning of a potential failure.
Although turning on a light is a
warning, a steady glow might not be
noticed. A flashing light has a much
better chance of attracting attention to
a potential problem. To make a flash-
ing light, a 555 IC was used as a low-
frequency oscillator for controlling the
LED on/off function. An LED with a
built-in flasher would perform just as
well in this application, and would sim-
plify the circuit by eliminating the 555.
The actual flash rate is not critical as
long as it attracts attention.
There is nothing critical in the con-
struction of the low voltage detector Ad-
justment of the threshold is performed
by attaching the detector to a variable
voltage power supply. The output of the
supply is adjusted to the desired detec-
tion voltage threshold value. Then, R2
on the detector is adjusted until the LED
Parts List
R1 1k 1/4 W resistor
Jameco #29663
R2 10 k pot
Jameco #43001
Hosfelt #38-120, #38-145,
#38-192
R3 4.7 k 1/4 W resistor
Jameco #31 026
R4 1 00 k 1/4 W resistor
Jameco #29997
R5 33 k 1/4 W resistor
Jameco #30841
R6 330 1 /4 W resistor
' Jameco #30867
CI 1 jmF 50 V radial cap
Jameco #29831
Hosfelt #15-550
Zener 1 N4734 {4.5-8 V)
Jameco #36118
NTE#5013A
Ul LM741 op amp
Jameco #24539
Hosfelt#LM741CN
RS #276-007
U2 555 timer
Jameco #27422
Hosfelt #NE555
LED red LED
Jameco #9451 1 , #94529,
#1 04248
Hosfelt #L01, #25-307,
#25-325
RS #276-041
Table h Parts list for the low battery volt-
age detector^ including part numbers of
suppliers.
begins to flash. The correct setting is
then verified by raising the supply volt-
age sUghtly above the threshold until
the LED stops flashing. The supply
voltage is then lowered until the LED
starts flashing again.
The low voltage detector can be
used for a wide variety of applica-
tions— you are limited only by your
imagination. It's suitable for use on
any battery-operated system subject to
a voltage loss situation, including an
automobile. Build the circuit and try it
out on your 12- volt battery and/or
power supply system.
38 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
Number 33 titi your Few^tMCk cttd
Specirl euents
Listings are free of charge as space permits. Please send us
your Special Event two monttis in advance of the issue you
want it to appear in. For example, if you want it to appear in
the March *99 issue, we should receive it by December 31.
Provide a clear, concise summary of the essential details
about your Special Event
JAN 2
MORRtSTOWN, TN The Lakeway
ARC will host a Hamfest and
Computer Show on Jan. 2, 1999,
attheTaliey Ward Rec. building in
Monrislown TN. For info please
contact Perry Henstey N4PH,
(423) 826-4848, E-mail [n4pt}@
juno.com}; Kemp Lawson KF4AGB,
(423) 587-3320, E-mail [kemp-
lawson@aol.com}: or write to
Lakeway ARC KF4JJJ, P.O. Box
BBS, Talbott TN 37877-0985. Talk-
in on 147.030(+) and 53,03O(-)-
JAN 16
ST. JOSEPH, MO The Missouri
Valley ARC and Ray-Clay ARC
will hold their 9th annual
Northwest Missouri Winter Ham*
test 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Ramada
lnn» 1*29 and Frederick Ave. {Exrt
47 on h29), in St. Joseph UO.
There will be special room rates
for hamfest participants. VE
exams, major exhibitors and flea
market all indoors. Free parking.
Advance tickets $2 each or 3 for
$5; at the door $3 each or 2 for
$5, Pre-registration requests
received after Jan. 5, 1 999, will be
held at the door. Dealers: Swap
tables $10 each for the first two
tables. Commercial exhibitors
welcome, write for details:
Northwest fi/tfssouri Winter Ham-
fest, c/o Gayten Pearson WB0W,
P,0, Box 1533, St. Joseph MO
64502, or E-mail IWB0W@
IBM. Neil
JAN 17
HAZEL PARK, Ml The Hazel Park
ARC will hold its 33rd Annual
Swap & Shop on Jan. 17, 1999,
at the Hazel Pad^ High School,
23400 Hughes St. Hazel Park Ml.
The pubfic is welcome 8 a.m.-
2 p.m. General admission is S5
in advance or at the door. Plenty
of free parking. Tables $14;
reservations for tables must be
received with a check. No
reservations by phone. Talk-in on
146.64(-), the DART rptr. For info
atx)ut the swap, tickets, or table
reservations, mail to HPARC, RO,
Box 368, Hazel Park Ml 48030.
SPECIAL EVENT
STATIONS
DEC 13
AURORA, CO The Second First
Annual Great Colorado Snowshoe
Run, sponsored by the Colorado
QRP Club, will be on the air
03002-05002 December 13th,
1998. This equals Dec. 12th in tfie
following time zones: 7 p.m.-9
p,m. Pacific; 8 p.m. -10 p.m.
Mountain: 9 p.m -1 1 p.m. Central;
10 p.m -12 midnight Eastern. 40
meter CW only. 7.040+. Power: 5
watts maxrmum for all entrants,
but QRO stations can be worked
for credit. CertHicates will be
awarded to the highest scohng
Station in each antenna class, and
the highest scoring station in each
SPC. Full details are on the CQC
Web site at [http://www.cqc,ofg],
or E-mail [cqccx@cqc.org]. Up lo
three contacts with the same
station are allowed, 30 minutes
apart. Logs must be postmarked
or E-mailed no later than 30 days
after the event. Mail to Colorado
QRP Club, Inc., P.O. Box 37 1 B83.
Denver CO 80237-1 883, or E-mail
(ASCII text files only) to:
[cqccx@cqc,org].
JAN 26-27
ST. LOUIS, MO All Amateur
Radio Clubs of St Louis MO wiJI
sponsor Special Event Station
WOK during Ihe papal visit of
Pope John Paul M, Jan. 26-27,
1999, Operations from the
Monsanto Amateur Radk) Assn.
shack will be on 1 0-80 meters, 24
hours per day. QSL with #10
SASE via Rev. Mike Dieckmann
KAOIAR^ 703 Third Sf., HIHsboro
MO 63050 USA.
Hboue & Bevond
Number 3B on ytwr F^Mlhack card
VHF and Above Operation
C. L. Houghton WB6I6P
San Diego Microwave Group
6345 Badger Lake Ave.
San Diego CA 9211 9
[dhough@pacbelLnet]
HP power meters and
thermistor mounts:
Evaluating surplus
material
Due to several requests for an
overview covering Hewleii-
Packard and similarmicrowave
power meters, I will re-explore
power meters and how to evalu-
ate them at a swap meet to at-
tempt lo avoid spending big
bucks on a defective unit. Most
important is the evaluation of
the power head, as this is the
most important piece of equip-
ment in the evaluation equation.
There are several tricks of the
trade that can he brought ro t>ear
to eva]uate surplus niaierial "on
the fly" at swap meets and other
events we micro waven delight
in. For one thing, 1 usually cany
(in the glovebox of the car) a
suiiablc set of simple tools lo help
in testing should the opportunity
present itself*
The first item I want to cover
is just what to pay for surplus
power meters and — most impor-
tant— the RF head and connect-
ing cables. Other questions to
answer include what conditions
TRANSMITTER LOCATION
Mew fixed site direction
finders provide 2 degree
accuracy, and include
software tor triangulation from
a central control site. Mobile
versions also available covering
SOMHz to 1 GH2
Soppier Systems Inc.
i Box 2780 Carefree. AZ 85377
^ Teh (602) 48S-9755 Fax: (602) 488-1295
ww/U'-dapsys.com
European Marketing Director Denis Egan
PO Box 2. Seaton, Devon EX 12 2YS England
Td& Fax: 44 1297 62 56 90
CmCLE 13 ON READER SERVICE CARD
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 39
to expect and huw you know if
scaitething is in working condi-
fibn. I know wc need a sc[ nltL^si
parameiers ihrtnigh which lo pul
a device lo avoid the purchase
of another doors tup. Well. I
can'i guumnicc you thai these
pointers will be 100% perfect,
btit perhaps they will help lo
iiiininTi/e aiiv a*;i!ravatioiL
1 am basing my observations
here on ihc Hewlett-Packard
431-type power meter with
matching RF cable and 478-iype
power meter head, which is the
most common. There are several
other typos of meters, such as
those by General Instruments. I
picked the Hewlett-Packard 43 1
because it is an inexpensive sur*
plus meter thai seems lo be
prevalent on I he surj^lus market.
When you happen upon a
power meter at a sw ap meet or
flea market, its kind of hard to
really evaluate it in its opera-
tional Slate unless \ t>u have AC
■r
power and a source of RF to
fullv lest it. However, there are
some basic operations you may
perform nn the unit liulclcniiine
ifit is indeed "alive/*
In this example, our HP-431/
HP-47S system should he able
to measure freipiencies from 10
MHz to over 12.4 GHi with
ease and accuracy using the "N"
coaxial connector of the 478A
power head. Oilier heads are
available wilh waveguide in-
stead of coaxial input cnnncc-
tors. The 478A coaxial head is
the must popular, us it has I he
most comnion frcqtiency range
of use. However \ i ) and 1 8 GH/
waveguide heads are \ cry goud
also.
The division of cost can be
split up into the three compo-
nents of the HP'43! power
meter system. First, the meier
itself is valued at $25 to $40: it
is readily avatlahle as a stand-
alone device — but it Is useless
wtlhoui the control cable and
power head i478A|, which are
the two more cxpcnsi\ c pans of
the systems. The RF head cable
is valued at S40 and the power
head type 478 A. slightly higher
at $50, making a package price
in the S]5i) range somewhat
common. I have seen meters
with cables and 4fS ft^3s
priced at over $200. but ihey sti II
reappear month after month
with no one purchasing them at
swap tiicets here.
Don't rush to pick up a meter.
First gel a cable, and if you w ant
lo check it, a simple ohmmcter
check of continuity will do tlie
job. 1 have never found a surplus
cable defective — just ver>^ dirty,
and sometimes with cracked
cable covering (fixable with a
little black electrical tape).
Didn't look ven swift, but it
m
functioned well. If you're a pur-
ist, get some gray electrical tape
and do the best you can.
Recently I evaluated three
|K)wer heads with a wa\ eguide
input for the frequency range of
12.4 lo 18 GHz and lound unly
one suitable for purchase. I also
applied the same techniques to
evaluate seven coaxial General
Microwave power heads and
tbund them all defective. They
all carried sticker prices of S40
each^ — not too bad for a door-
stop. Jusi don't ict your pick-
il-up'itis get in the way of
reason — evaluate what you are
con tempi all ng purchasing.
The cosl of a complete powder
tneter package with cord and
themiistor mouni should be less
than S200. A setup like this can
measure power from 10 MHz to
over 12.4 Gil/ with ease and
accuracy, using a terminating
*'N " ccaxia] con nee Lor. T have
also seen systems go for a lot
less, with $125 or so being
more commonplace. Remem-
ber, there are a lot more 431-
typc meiers around than cords
and the scarce thermistor heads.
Thermistor heads can go for S8()
to $ 100 each depending on con-
dition (appearance). If youTe
desperate and have a batikrolf
well, judge it for yourself. I
would purchase a lower-priced
head providing I couid test ii
with an ohmmeter Used, gotxl.
chec ked-oul'b ul'-gru ngy -appear-
ancL' h jads demand the lower fig-
uie. while new checked-out heads
command the top price at swap
meets. This is somewhat back-
ward from a calibration stand-
point, which would make more
sense to me.
Bvaluaiion at swap meets can
be difficuh, hut if there is AC
power you can plug in the mclcr
and see if you can make DC bal-
ance wilh I he RF head attached.
(Set the meter's resistance
switch on the front panel to 2(M)
ohms when usinii the 478 A RF
head.) Adjust the meter balance
controls for zero indication us-
ing both the coarse and fine bal-
ance pntcntiomelers. Usually, if
a power meter will balance, it's
in reasonable condition.
While in the AC p*)wer mode,
pull out your little RF test gen-
erator to make an on*scale read-
ing. It's a single TTL high
frequency crystal oscillator
module and its 9 V transistor
radio butterv. Tlie unit t built is
quite small, and only uses eight
components, including a crystal
oscillator module, a nine- volt
battery, five-voll zener with load
resistor, and three resistors in the
output attenuator circuit to limit
output to zero dBm or so.
If .^C power is not available,
you can still confirm several
good test conditions to deter-
mine if il indeed is a bargain.
What you want to detennine is
whether the RF therm islor head
is "alive." To accomplish this,
wc make a DC resistance check
of the thentiistors in the 478A
thermislor mtuinL For these
me as LI re men Is, yini need an
older-style POVM— that's a
Plain Old Volt Meter, or more
exactly a VOM, analog- or digi-
tal-type. The new digital types
work, hut with autorangingyou
don't get repcatablc results.
What is desirable is a range sel-
ling like xlO that does not pro-
vide high current output like the
xl scale, or the higher voltages
Si- ■■-
used w^hen in ihc megohm
ranges. The times ten scale of
an analog resistance meter
(VOMj isperfcei.
Make a DC resistance check
between the shell i ground) of
the HP-478A thermistor head
and the pins that would connect
to ilie meter's cortl. You will find
one pin open and three pins con-
nected to ground. The remain-
ing two pins are direct
connections to the thermistor
leads. Pins 1 and 3 are the
ihermistorVs to-eround. Pins 2,
4. and 6 are grounds. Pin 5 is
open. One of the thcnnistors is
the actual RF thermistor that
responds to RF power, and the
other is isolated and is used to
provide temperature stability bal-
ance lo the hridee circuit. Both
thermistors must be matched to
balance the power meter bridge
circuit. I measured on my bench
this way and got 3.22 k ohms
on pin 1 and 3.75 k ohms on pin
3. This unit just would not bal-
ance on the power meter. A bel-
ter head measured 2.96 ohms on
pin 1 and 3.01 ohms on pin 3
and balanced perfecdy w iih lots
of balanced range.
In desperation, heads can be
fixed by adding some extra bal-
anced resistance lo the pan of
the thermislor circuit thai is un-
balanced rinstde the 43 1 meter).
Of course, catibralion will be
affected but you get a balanced
unit when there is no other pos-
sible fix available. It's not too
bad, considering the alternative
without any meter at all This is
a drastic last step to tide you
over until you can get a good
balanced head — one that will
give you some service until that
time. Just remember that if the
difference is loo great, the unit
will not balance on the HP-431
power meter.
Now, what follows is not a
Hewlett-Packard thermislor se-
lection process but rather a
simple, quick, and casy4o*per-
fonn DC resistance check. The
resistances of the thermistors
should be quite close in relation-
ship U> each other. Nomiiiatly, I
have made readinss near the
3000-ohm area using a 1000-
ohm-per-volt VOM a Radio
Shack SIC special. The specific
resistance is not important — just
thai the ihemitsiors are in the
range and close to each other.
What is critical is the match
between the two thermistors.
I have observed some power
head thermistors read 2.758 ohms
and 2.786 ohms, 1 320 ohms and
1285 ohms, 3.956 ohms and
3-984 ohms. Others 1 have tested
all showed being in the vicinity
of each other (let\ sav to less
than 5wf or so). If this match is
40 73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998
quite close, the head should
worL Out of 25 or so heads veri-
fied in this manner, only two
showed problems. One was tcm-
peramental in that it showed in-
siabilities like a microphonic
connection, and the other one
was 5 dB off in calibration and
not linear. The other unitji evalu-
ated out of a batch of some 75
heads considered over many
years were not suitable for fur-
ther evaluation. Most had one
thermistor open or the match
was quite bad.
Examples of bad
thermistor heads
A bad or defective thermistor
head is one that has one ther-
mistor open, usually the RF
detection thermistor In an HP-
478 A mount the maximum RF
power to be detected is 10 mW.
I usually suspect that 10 watts
or some excessive power above
10 mW caused the themitstor to
go up in smoke .,. Usually the
RF head will handle an over-
range input of +20 mW for a
short dme, but you are '*tickling
the tail of a dragon'" if you try.
Over-range input power also
has caused matched thermistors
to heat up excessively and
change their resistance values,
rendering a previously matched
set of thermistors unmatched
due to excessive RF healing.
The result is a head that will not
zero-calibrate and is considered
smoked just as much as one that
is open for all practical pur-
poses. When this happens, you
will not be able to balance the
meter, rendering the RF head
useless.
Checking the themiislor heads
in this case, you might obtain
DC resistance readings that vary
according to the Lype of meter
you use. Just be sure that the two
thermistors are somewhat close
to each other and you should
be OK. 200 ohms imbalance
should be OK, but as it gets
higher, suspect trouble* If the
price is low, give it a try. If the
price is quite high* I would avoid
heads that are over ihc 200-ohm
range unless you can test ihem
on a workbench or gel a return
guarantee. The resistance must
be less than 200 ohms difference
to be able to bring die HP-431
power meter to balance. 100 ohms
on the HP-432 proved to be
OK, but 1 could not find any
over 200 ohms to test on my
bench meters to confirm my
resistance speculation.
The pinout is the sam^;lbr
many different manufacturers
besides Hewlett-Packard that
also make the 43 1 -type power
meters. I suspect most are au-
thorized duplications made un-
der contract to HP but carry
other designations and are
physically identical to the HP-
478A thermistor heads. Most
were manufactuied by Struthers
and other manufacturers. Re-
cently I picked up an 18 GHz
waveguide head that was manu-
factured by PRD. It was strik-
ingly similar to the HP types.
Even the connector seemed
identical, so I tried the old
POVM meter I carried in the
car glovebox and put it to a test.
Out of three tested, only one
proved to be any good in
matched thennistors,
T\vo other units tested with
both thermistors showing con-
tinuity, but their resistance read-
ings seemed at the edge of my
tolerances. I talked the surplus
store into letting me take the two
heads on credit, to be returned
that day, if a home test proved
them not compatible with the
HP meter system. WcIK I am
happy to report that the one PRD
head that tested within close tol-
erance balanced and reads quite
accurately. The other two heads
that seemed to be at the edge of
my tolerances would not bal-
ance and were returned to the
surplus store. Did not wunl to
make a costly mistake again.
Terminations and
RF attenuators
The other components needed
to make good power measure-
ments into the microwave region
are a good set of various attenu-
ator values. Usually a set in-
cludes 3, 6. 10, 20, and 30 dB
two- watt attenuators or, as more
commonly called, pads. Two
things are important in selecting
or paying a price for a pad. Pads
are rated in frequency and at*
tenuation. If you intend to use a
pad at 10 OH/., make sure that
it is rated for operation at this
frequency.
Usually; the auenuation and
frequency characteristics are
printed on most pads. If it is not,
you are on your own as far as
frequency is concemed. I have
had some very high quality pads
that looked top of the line, but
as far as perfonnance was con-
cemed, they became screwball
and nonlinear as to attenuation
when the frequency increased
beyond 6 GHz.
At 10 GHz, diis particular pad
exhibited some 35 dB of loss;
at 8 GHz, loss was 32.4 dB; and
at 6 GHz. it measured 30 dB.
Decreasing frequency, the 30 dB
loss maintained stable. This
showed that this pad was not
designed for operation at all
above 6 GHz, By the way, it did
not have any frequency marking
or rating on it. I have tested HP
pads that are rated to 1 2 4 GHz;
they are quite good even far
above their 1 2.4 GHz frequency
limits.
The other rating that is impor-
tant is the loss value of the pad.
Here we can make some deter-
mination just if the pad is OK.
Enter the handy VOM again. An
attenuator or pad is usually con-
structed in a '*T' fashion, giv-
ing equal resistance to both the
input and output coaxial con-
nectors with respect to ground.
Ustial construction comes in the
form of a small cylindrical in-
put and output resistor fonning
the center conductor of the "T'
pad. The shunt or center resis*
tance to ground is a very large
diameter resistor coihill kd at its
center to die two input/output re-
sistors. Being circular in design,
its outer edges are connected to
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aRCLE 22 ON READER SERVICE CARD
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 41
Chrr's corner
Number 42 on your Feedback catd
Joseph J. Carr K4IPV
P.O. Box 1099
Falls Church VA 22041-0099
[carij||@aoLcom]
Hyhrid couplers are an mlcr-
esliiig class of devices. Tlie must
inlercRling property is thai they
wilt split an input power two
ways. Each of those outputs re-
ceives -3 lIB of the input power
{i.e., a two-way split). Some
hybrids produce in-phase oui-
puts, olliers (called "quadiiuure"
hybrids) produce *>0-degree out-
put?v. and oiherK pR^duce 180-
degree (out of phase) oulpuUv.
There are a number of devices
that are useful, but among those
thai 1 find most inleresling are
the Magic^T device.^. In this
month*s column we will take a
look at the lascinatins Mai!ie-
T. The Magic-T produces 180-
degree out of pha.se outputs.
The Magic-T transformer
Fig, I shows the Magic-T
iruasibnner hyhrid. Ii consists
of one centeM lipped winding
and one non-lapped winding.
Which of those windings will be
used ;\s llie input or output de-
pends on the applicalion. The re-
hnionship of the impedances is
shown in Fig. 1. The system
impedance. R^, appears ai the
ends of the center-tapped wind-
ing tPun'2 and Pon-3i, while
!he impedaiiLC at the lap (Port-
4 J IS R /2. The impedance ai [i\c
unerounded end of the non-
tapped winding ( Pon-1 ) is 2R^,
Let's take a look at two situa-
tions. First, a signal is applied
ground and it acts as a shield
between Lhe input and output at
the pad.
Well. 1 hope I have given you
some good information with
which 10 evaluate power meters
and power meter heads. Good
hunting at yournext swap meeU
73.Chuck\vB61GR
' lo PonK If Ports 2 and 3 arc
I properly terminated in the sys-
tem impedance, then the power
wit! split 3 dB to each port, but
the voltage appearing at the twt^
ports is ISCroul of phase. Port-
3 is thus 180^' with respect to
Port -2. Both Porl-2 and Port- 3
are -3 dB with respect to the in-
put level. Because Port-4 is the
common between pori^ 2 and 3,
lhe vol I age is zero, so Port-4 is
the isolated port.
The next case would be a sig-
nal applied lo Pon-4. This sig-
nal is split l^^o ways, -3 dB each
10 Port- 2 and Port-3. The signal
at Pon-1 will be zero because
equal bui opposite currents from
Port- 1 /Pon-2 and Port- i/Pon-3
are induced into the untapped
winding* thus canceling each
olher.
Practical 50-ohm example
The comhiner/splitter shown
in Fig- 2 is designed to 50-ohm
systems, so the tap is terminated
in a 25-ohin noninUuclive resist-
lor The input is the non-iapped
winding. In order to reduce die
100-ohm impedance ihat one
vv ould expect from the previous
ease* where the turns ratio is 1 : 1 ,
the turns ratio is adjusted lo
1 .4 14: i . although in practice a
1.5:1 ratio is normally used.
This tratisforms the impedance
to close to 50 ohms.
Transformer matched
Magic-T
A different approach to input
impedance transformation is
shown in Fig, 3. The circuit is
otherwise similar to the previ-
ous circuit, except that the trans-
former turns rado is the same as
the straight Magic-X i.e., 1: 1 . A
second transformer, T2. is used
10 transform the 100 ohm im-
pedance reflected from the
tapped winding lo 50 ohms.
Transformer T2 is an auiotmns'
former, a transformer made with
a single tapped winding rather
than I wo windings The lap is
placed at the two-thirds point
from gn>und.
Construction
The Magic-T can be built for
any power level using appropri-
ate toroidal ferrite or powdered
iron cores for transformer TL
Vov receive-only Magic-Ts you
cnn use cores such as the T-50-
2andT-50-6inthe I to 30 MHz
high frequency (HF) region, orT-
30-15 in the 100 kHz lo 15 MHz
medium wave region. For re-
ceiver applications use #24AWG
or #26 AW G enameled wire.
For QRP transmitters, you
can use a core of lhe same ma-
terial (the^'dash number" in the
type numbers abtive), hut you
should increase the size to
something between ihe HK) ( l-
inch) and 240 (2.4-inch) sizes.
Use wire of #22 AWG to # 1 8
AWG, or larger if power levels
are more than a few w^atis.
If you build one for transmit-
ting at higher power, then you
will need lo use one of the larger
hybrids commonly found on
high power balun transformers.
Also, scale the wire si/.e up ac-
cording to the power level used.
One of the applications of this
type of coupler is to combine the
signals from two antennas. Al-
though any type of antenna can
be used, let's consider the case
of the quaner-wavelcngth vcr*
deal spaced a half-wavelengih
apart. These can be fed either in-
phase or 180 degrees out of
phase, depending on the direc-
tion that you want to squirt sig-
nal. A high power Magic-T and
some switching can be used for
feeding the antenna.
Why? One fellow told me that
he would simply use a half-
wavelength extra of coax to the
IKO-degree antenna, and that
would take care of the phase
shin. Yes. it would, but it also
distorts the pattern. Loss in lhe
coaxial cable means that the two
Fig. 1.
hybrid.
Magic-T inmsjormer
antennas will receive different
currents, and thai messes up the
radiation pattern. By using the
Magic-T device you can use equal
lengths of identical coaxial cable
lo the two antctiuas. If you want
to feed them in-phase. then don't
use the Magic-T But i f you want
to feed them out of phase con-
nect the Magic-T into the circuit
such that Port-2 and Pon-3 go
to the two antennas, and Port- 1
goes to the transmitter*
Other matters „.
Several readers over Uie past
year have asked me about the
avaihibility of small parts. Too
many distributors rcituire a high
minimum order or won't deal
with amateurs at alL The list be-
low is compiled from the infor-
mation I have available of ouUlts
that .sell small quantities of small
parts at reasonable prices. Con-
tact me if you know of others.
Parts suppliers
Small Wonder
Dave Benson NN 1 G
1
M
■^WV-
/
t
ism,ri"
mo DftUS
/77
^?7
Fig. 2. Cotubiner/splitier,
42 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
Hrm to hrm
Humter 43 on y&ar W^^Oback card
Your Input Welcome Here
Dave Miller N29E
7462 Lawler Avenue
NilesIL 60714-3108
[dmillerl 4 @ juno.coni]
High-tech cleanup
Here's a Iiajidy little gadget
thai I ran across recently at the
hardware store. It's called a
PrepPen*. and it's made by Pro
Molar Car Products of Clear-
waien Florida, The intention of
the maiuifac Hirer is that the
PrepPen be primarily used for
line-detail standing, such as
those hard-io-get-ai contours in
fancy miiiwork, or the *iniall re-
cesses in nicta! castings that are
otherwise inaccessible to normal
sandpaper and other grit-based
materials.
In fact. Pro Motor Car Prod-
ucts bills its PrcpPen as "The
Hieh-Tech Sandina Tool,"
While cleaning wire ends prior
to soldering is mentioned on the
package, Fvc found that the
PrepPen can be us^ for all man*
net of electronic cleaning jobs
around the shop. In addition to
sprucing up highly corroded
wire ends, it's also handy for
burnishing terminal connec-
tions, PC board solder pads,
corroded portable-equipment
battery contacts, soldering-iron
lips, and anything else that
needs fine touch-up cleaning
prior to use. While the PrepPen
will reniove some of the softer
enamel-wire finishes, h won*!
w-'ork (by itself) on Fornivar*^'
and others that are extreniely
lough. They'll still need to
scraped. It can, however, be
used for the final, just-before-
tinning, cleanup.
Physically, the PrepPen is
about ihe diameter of a husky
marking pen, which makes it
easy to handle and control. Its
plastic pen-shaped body houses
a bundle of 20,000 very fine
strands of glass fibers (each
Fmcr than a human hair), at-
tached to a screw-thread feeder
cartridge. You can adjust the
length of the fibers exposed
from the wurking end of the
"^pen'* by simply turning the
adjusting post al the far end.
Fig, 1(a) shows the overall
concept of the PrepPen. and (b)
how the glass-fiber replaceable
cartridge iabi^ui an ei*2hth of an
inch in diameter) itself looks-
Some of the other jobs that the
manufacturer mentions tin ad-
dition to cleaning ends of elec-
trical wires) are removing cor-
rosion from plumbing parts;
brushing rust from small areas
GL6SS
FIBER
TIP
PEN BODY
WCOMI
END POST
{TURN TO
ADJUST
I
t
4-3/4'
M-3/T6H
t\
Fig. /- The PrepPen^ by Pro
Motor Car Products features a
rephiteahle sflass-fiber car-
trid^e ami can be med jbr a
number of fine'demil cleaning
jobs on your ham radio work-
bench ,
of chipped paint prior to touch-
up (such as on an automobile);
sanding hard-to-get-at recesses
j prior to painting; preparing parts
for gluing til dulls a shiny tin-
ish nicely); and cleaning battery
contacts,
[We recently had occasion to
u\ to remove some silk-screen-
ing fmm the fn>nt of an older rig,
in order to change it according
«QNMl
i
1
1 iHigT
nrmmi
Fig, J* A differed approach,
80 East Robbins Ave.
Newington CT 061 1 1
[bensondj@aol.coml
Dan*s Small Parts and Kits
Bo.\ 3634
Missoula MT 59806-3634
Phone or FAX (406* 258-
2782
f h 1 1 p : / / w w w , f i X . n e t /
dans, html J
Buckeye Electronics
10213 Columbus Grove Rd.
Bluffton OH 45817
[buckeye@alpha.wcoiLcumJ
S & S Eneineerine
14102 Brown Road
SmithsburgMD 21783
Phone: (301)416-0661
FAX: (301) 4 16-0963
Milestone Technologies, Inc*
3140 S. Peoria St, Unit Ki56
Aurora CO 80014-3155
(303)752-3382
(800) 238-8205
Kanga Products
Sea view House
Crete Road East
Folkestone CT18 7EG, En-
gland UK
Tel/FAX (44) 01303^891106
[sales # kanga.demon.eo*uk]
Reading list
Another tftftig people ask me
about is books on RF and related
topics (such as antennas). I im-
modestly recommend a couple
of ray own. but the Ltst is below.
Use it for what it's worth,
L hiirodKcin^ QRP: Dick
Pascoe G0BPS. £6.95, USS15.
2. Pascite Is Penm Pinchers: Dick
Pascoe GOBPS, £4.95. US$8.
3. QRP Notebook: WIFB
(ARRI.).
4. WIFB s Design Notebook:
fARRL).
5. WiFB's QRP Notebook:
(ARRLK
6. Your QRP Operating Com-
panion: KR7L*
7. flow to Get Srartciiin QRP:
K4TWL
9. The Joy of QRP: WORSR
10. Practical Antenna Hand-
book, 3rd Edition: Carr, Joseph
J. McGraw-Hill. New York
(1998).
1 1 . Microwave and Wireless
Comnnm ications Technology:
Carr. Joseph J. New nes. Boston
(1997).
12. Secrets ofRF Circitir De-
sign, 2nd Edition: Carr. Joseph J.
McGraw-Hill, New York i 1996).
13. Radio- Frequency Elec-
tronics: Circuits and Applica-
tions: Hagen, Jon B. Cambridge
Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK
( 1996).
14. High Frequency Circuit
Design: Hardy, James. Reston
Publishing Co. (Olvision of
Ptentice-Hall ). Reston V^ i 1979),
!5. Standard Radio Conmnt-
nica lions Mauuoh with Jnstrn-
mentation and Testitig Tech-
niques: Kinley. R. Harolds
Prentice-Hal L Englewood Clilfs
NJi:i985).
16. Practical Microwaves:
Laverghetta, Thomas S. Howard
W. Sams, Indianapolis IN
0984).
17. Microwave Devices £
Circuits: Liao, Samuel Y.
Prentice- HalK Fngtewood Cliffs
NJ(I9y0X
18. HF Radio Systems & Cir-
cuits. 2nd Edition: Sabin« Will-
iam E. and Schoenike. Edgar O.,
editors. Noble Publishin|, At-
lanta GA (1998),
19. Electronic Communica-
tion, 3rd Edition: Shrader. Rob-
ert L, McGraw-HilL New York
(1975).
20. RF Design Guide:
VizmuUer, Peter. Artech House,
Boston/London (1995).
^ 2i,AUoftheARRLsbooks.
I
I
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 43
SW-1
TRAVELER A
SW-2
I
0AD(g7
TRAVELER B
I HOT
^
NEUTRAt
I 120 V
AC
(al
TRAVELER A
SW-1
SW-3
TRAVELER 8
TRAVELER C
\
SW-2
J
TRAVELER D
10 A
C— -^ 1 t hot'\
C ^ } 120 VAC
lb)
TRAVELER A
TRAVELER C
SW-1
SW-3
TRAVELER B |
SW-4
TRAVELER E
SW-2
TRAVELER 0
TRAVELER F
I
OAD (C
HOT N
NEUTRAL ^
120 VAC
Ic)
Fig, 2, ia\ Well-known rhree-way s^iiehmg configitrathn. (b)
Four-M'ay smTching configuration allow ing On/Off ionirot from
three distinct locations, (c) four-way invitching configuration allow-
ing OnlOffcoumi! from four, fivt\ six or more distinct locations. Note:
'Travelers'' are defined as conductors benveen switches.
to a mod we had done. Some slv
Hi
testine showed ihat nothing —
including rubbing compounds
and soft abrasives — seemed lo
work wiihout atlcciing and mar-
ring, however slightly, the un-
derlying finish. Nothing, thai is,
until retired Grumman Corp-
icchnician Stan lev Rasanen of
Nesconset NY pulled an ancient
fiberglass penoiuof his JLiiiktx>x,
hoarded ^^ince die '60s, and sug-
gested using it as an eraser Same
idea as llie PrepPcn, and workcai
gfeat for this. — Ed J
The Prep Pen measures four
and tliree-quarters inches long
and is about nine-sixteenths
inches in diameter at its widesf
points. The giass41ber cartridge
is one and three-sixteenths
inches long. and. of course.
wears down as the tool is used,
but it still should last a reason-
able amount of lime before
needing replacement. With my
PrepPen, the manufacturer had
thoughtfully packaged one spare
cartridge in the hollow of the
rear adjusting post Uhe unit eas-
ily comes apart for cartridge m-
placemenl). The PrepPen is
available at most automotive,
hardware, and home -center
stores nationwide. — de NZ9E.
Analyzing .„ the problem!
From Stephen Reynolds
NOPOU; A word ivt se^'eral) of
caution: "Using an RF antenna
analyzer to determine the accu-
racy of the match for an HF
antenna am sometimes be mis-
leading ... especially if a strong
local broadcast station is on the
air in the area. Strong RF fields
can tliruw die analyzer off be-
cause it can't distinguish between
locally strong uut-of-band sig-
nals and the signal that the
analyzer itself is developing "
Interesting point, Stephen
also mentioned that you must be
very careful when connecting
the coax connector onto the
Autek RF Analyst^: Any twist-
ing of the connector's center
pin. during inslallaiion or re-
moval, can break connections
on the inside of the unit, neces-
sitating time-consuming (and
perhaps costly) repairs, His an-
sw^er to the problem was to
permanently install a UHF
right-angle adapter onto the
AuLek's UHF fitting, and only
install the coax cable connector
to that right-angle adapter, thus
absolutely avoiding an\ twisting
of the instrument's buili-in coax
fitting during normal usage*
Good lip. Stephen,
Stay in control
From Jim Kncsis WA9PYH:
How lo control just about any-
thing that you*d like to turn on
and off. from as many locations
as you can imagine: '*Tf you need
to control a circuit from several
different locations, then this
mav be just the thing vou've
been looking for! Using two
SPDT switches to control a cir-
cuit from two distinctive loca-
tions is no big secret „. so-called
three-way circuit switching has
been used for years in the elec-
trical trade and it's likely that
you now have one or two light-
ing circuits in your home con-
trolled by three-way electrical
switches. Fig, 2(a) shows how
the circuit is wired, and of
course it's used to turn the same
lights on or off from two differ-
ent places. But what if you want
to have more than two diflerent
conuol locations?
"Eleelricians use four- way
switches (DPDT switches that
are crosswired internally so that
only four of the six lemiinals are
brought outside) to accomplish
just I hat task. Fig, 2{b) shows
how it's done. SW-l and SW-3
are SPDT three- way switches
and SW-^2 is a DPDT internally
cross wired four- way switch. No
matter what position any of the
switches ends up being left in,
at any of the locatiuns, the cir-
cuit can be turned on or off from
any other location.
"Now take a look at Fig. 2(c).
Here we see two SPDT three-
way switches and two DPDT
crosswii'ed lour-way switches*
This combination allows us to
control our circuit from ari> of
four distinct locations, again,
regardless of what position any
of the switches is left in ai any
of the other locations. In fact,
just by adding more DPDT
crosswired four-way switches,
you can control the circuit from
as many positions as you wish
(jusi remember that you need
to end up ^a ith the SPDT four-
way switches ai each end of the
circuit as shown),
'in addition to using this
scheme to cunirol a lighting cir-
cuit, yuu can use it to turn on or
off anvthrne vou*d like, such as
a whole-house speaker audio
feed from vour ham shack! Just
use miniature SPDT and DPDT
toggle switches, capable of han-
dling the voltage and current of
the circuit that you wish to con-
trol, and wired as shown in Fig.
2(cK Of course, if you're con-
trolling a 120 volt AC circuit,
use only UL-approved three-
way and four-way electrical
power switches and wiring spe-
cifically manufactured for that
purpose/*
Why ane they called Jiree-way
switches when they are installed
in two dilTensnl locations? Only
Edison know s for sure, but the
best answer is that * thrcc-way*'
refers to three different modes
of operation. In Fig. 2tii), the
lamp can be turned on and off
from SW- 1 . on and offfnom SW-
2, or on fmm one switch iind off
from the other— three distinct
ways that die circuit can operate.
Pot luck!
From Herb Foster AD4UA:
*The MFJ-418 Pocket Morse
Code Tutor is a realty handy
44 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
lilUe device and trulv does lit
easily in jus! ahaiit any pocket.
The e;irphonc opt ion is p^micu-
larly nice, sparing innocent by-
standers from the pain and
miseiy of the Morse code disci-
ptine! Since I use mv 418 datlv
lo keep my CW speed up to
par, 11 eventually developed a
scratchy volume control, appar-
ently just froiii plain wear. The
obvious fix was to replace the
control en (i rely; it's a 10 k pot
Willi a switch, and is available
from MFJ i(601) 323-5869 for
credit card orders] for $3.48.
including sliipping.
''Here are a few lips to make
replacing the 4 I8's vnlume con-
trol a hit easier: Be sure to use
care when opening the case.
since there's a flat ribbon cable
that connects the board lo the
LCD display. Try to disturb this
cable as little as possible. The
old pot comes oul easily by us-
ing a pair of niinialure side -cut-
ters to cut the five connecting
straps that connect the pot to the
board. Then, a fast touch w ith a
fine- tip iron will remove the
stubs of these straps. Save the
knob, as the replacement pot/
switch doesn't cojik with one.
After you*ve soldered ihe con-
nect! jig straps lo Uie new pol Jusl
drop it in. solder down the five
conned ioj)s to the board, and in-
stall the (^Id knob (ii rakes a mi-
cro-tipped Phillips screwdriver).
**When tlie nine-voli battery
gels weak, you'll notice the
LCD display blinking in time
with the transmitted code. This
is a gotxl indication that it's time
for a new battery,
**I feel thai MFJ mav have
slipped on one small point in the
design of the 4 18, If you like to
be able to observe die LCD dis-
play as you use the Morse Tu-
tor in your CW practice, the
natural tendency is to lav ii
down on a desktop with ihe
LCD display facing upward,
UnforiLMiately. this also puts the
speaker facing downward to-
ward the desktop, and the sound
becotiies muffied.
*The fix to this is to buy a
package oi rubber bumper feet,
available widetv from hardware
stores and supennarkets, and cut
oul small pieces about three-
eighths of an inch square. Put
these at the four comers (on ifie
underside), where the speaker
grill is located. Two of them %vifl
end up lui the comers of the bat-
tery cover. Now you should be
able to put your 418 on a desk-
top with the display upw ard^ and
hear the code audio loud and
cicarf
"By tlie way, use the MFM18
in the practice QSO mode, and
after a few exchanges, die cull-
ing station will say that he must
QRT for a variety of reasons —
the most imaginative one being
lo change the baby! These are
the ^ 90s. aren^t they r
Murphy's Corollary: A "fail-
safe' circuit w ill usually destroy
the circuit tfs protecting!
As always, our thanks go out
to those who've contributed their
ideas to this month's column,
including:
Stephen Reynolds N0POU
510 S. 130th Sl
Omaha XE 68154
Jim Kocsis WA9PYH
53 1 80 Flicker Ln,
South Bend IN 46637
Herbert L, Foster AD4U A
M)2ii Pennsylvania St,
Melbourne FL 32904-9063
If you're missing any past
columns, you can probably find
thetn at 7i*s **Ham To Ham"
column home page (with special ^
thanks to Mark Bohnhoff
V\ ayUOMK on the World Wide
Web, at: [hup ://w\vw.rrs ia.com/
hih].
Note: The ideas ami sugges-
tions contributed to this column
by its readers have not necessar-
ilv been tested bv die column's
moderator nor by the staff of 73
^ta:^azif7t\ and thus no guaran-
tee of operational success is
implied. Always use your own
best judgnieiU before modifying
any electronic item from the origi-
nal equipment manufacturer's
speci n caiions. No responsibi 1 ity
is ijnplietl b\ ihe moderator or
73 Magazine for any equipment ,
dantage or malfunction resulting
Hrmsats
Number 45 an your Feedback c&rd
Amateur Radio Via Satellites
Andy MacAliister W5ACM
14714 Knights Way Drive
Houston TX 77083
If youVe wailing expectantly
for Ihe launch of Phase 3D,
don* I, Once a launch opportu-
nity is announced, it wil! still be
a while before the actual event.
But, with the addition of two
new digital satellites, TMSAT-
0 SCAR -3 1 and Cfunvin-OS-
CAR-32 (Techsai-Ifi}, and tnore
hamsats on the way. there are
plenty of exciting opporlunitit-^
coming soon.
TMSATI (T0'3l} from Thai-
land and the University of Sur-
rey should be ready for general
use by the time you read this.
Although there is some concern
about the transmitter output
level on 436,923 MHz dropping
from 1 .8 W to 0.9 W, the other
onboard systems are work! tig
very w^ell. Many excellent pic-
tures ha\ e been taken by the sal-
elliie and can be downloaded
directly from the saiellile or
viewed via the Intemel on the
AMSAT Web page at Ihtlp://
www.amsat,org]. Just look lor
the links to TMSAT The direct
URL (Universal Resource Loca-
tor) to TMSAT is: [http://www.
ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/
UOSAT/amateur/lmsal/].
Although T-0-31 h capable
of running 9600 baud, it is ex-
pected that 38.4 kbps (kilobits
per second) wiil become a stan-
dard downlink speed due lo the
large size {33 Mb) of tlie Earth-
imaeimi pictures the satellite is
producing. The compressed im-
aees available via the Internet arc
over 5(K) K each, JPEG format,
I so there is some minor image
quality loss. For the multi-spec-
tral images, data irom the Nar-
row Angle Camera, sensing in
the green, red, and near-IR spec-
tra, is processed to create an
image 1 020 x 1 020 pixels, cov-
ering an area of 100 x 100 km
at a mean ground resolution of
98 melers/pixel. The T-O-JJ
picture of San Francisco shows
excellent dctiiil w iih many easily
recognizable areas.
Informaiion has been a bit
slow about activities surround-
ing the new Israeli hamsat
Gnrwin-OSCAR-32. The pri-
mary dow^nlink has been on
435.225 MHz 19600 baud*, but
the sateUite can also transmit on
435.325 MHz. During ihe test-
ing phase, a three-second burst
of daia could be heard once ev-
ery 30 seconds, but while the
satellite is in nomial operation,
signals can be contiiuioLis. espe-
cially during picture downloads,
G-0-32 has already taken sev-
eral pictures from space. Like
the ones taken by 7-0-31. the
Techsai ioKtges can be found on
the Internet, To find out the lat-
est informaiion and look for
Eanh-imaging pictures, check
iheL^L: [hllp://lechsat. intemet-
zahev.oet/].
New signals from space
There's more on the way! The
SEDSAT-1 satellite project has
been moving slowly forward
for nearly a decade^ and launch
is imminent. Another exciting
from information supplied in
this culunuL
Please send any ideas that you
would like to see included in this
column to the address at top. We
will make every attempt lo re-
spond to all legitimate ideas in a
tiniely mannen but please send
any specific quesdons, on any par-
ticular lip. to the originator of ifie
idea, not to this column's mod-
erator nor to 73 Mamzine.
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1 998 45
Phofo A, TMSAi OSCAR-31
rook rhi\ shot of the San Fran-
cisco Bar urea.
progriun is ARISS (Amateur
Ruclio on ihe International
Space Station h
SEDS slands for Small Ex-
peiidahle Do plover System. A
2()-km tether is used to deploy a
small satellite uui lo a higher
orbit froiii a larger mass while
both are connected together via
a cord or lether. The satellite^
SEDSAT' L has three basic pay-
loads, incUtJini! SEASIS (SEDS,
Earth, AuuoJiphere and Space
Imaging System ). TAS (Three-
Axis Acceleration Measurement
System), and ihe ham-radio pay-
load.
SEASIS wilt provide some
scientirie experimciii^ and allow
for unique pictures from space.
The CCD camera systems use
a lelephoto lens and also a PAL
(Panoramic Angular Lens J that
will pnn ide 360-degree pictures.
The TAS unit is pan of the
dala coltectiofi system to study
the dynamics of a mass { the sat-
ellite) deployed with a leiher.
After the initial tether experi-
ments are complete, the amateur-
radio pay load will be available
for use.
The ham radio, analog Mcxle-
A transponder has an uplink pass-
hand from 145.915 to 145»75
Mik coupled to a downlink
iTom 29 350 lo 29.410 MHz. It's
the firsl American-made, Mode-
A linear transponder in many
years.
The digital communications
system uses a 1268.213 MH?
uplink with a 70-cm downlink
on 437,907 MHx. It is capable
of 96(K) band like the current
high-speed digital satetlites.
Other experimental digital modes
and higher speeds can he sup-
ported. Check the SEDS AT Web
page at [htip://www* seds.org/
scdsat/I and the AMSAT Weh
page at: [hiip://www: ambat.org].
ARISS
Manned-space ham acrivities
will experience a quantum leap
Photo C* SEDSAT-1 is ^mier comtntcikm in Himts\ilh\ Alabama ,
Shunle Anmlcur Radio Fxpcri-
ment. was delivered lo orbit
with STS-9 on November 28,
I9S3. The small Motorola two-
meter HT and window-mounted
antenna systems have done ex-
tremely well lor over a decade
and have been enhanced with
SSTV (Slow-Scan Television),
packet, and FSTV (Fast-Scan
Television) gear As NASA
Principal Investigator until his
retirement just a few years ago,
L4)u McFadin W5DID supponed
the effort from its inception.
Since then. Matt Bordelon
KC5BTL has taken over to pro-
vide continuity for the program,
AMSAT Vice Presiiloni of
Manned Space AcliviUes Frank
Bauer KA3HD0 is the designer
with the full implementation o
ARISS. or Amateur Radio on
the InLernalional Space Station.
White the advances of voice and
packet operations on MIR have
pnn ed to be incredibly valuable
for educational and recreational
activities, they will be viewed as
only a step on the path to a rather
significant, full-featured ham
station in orbit, in just a few
years.
While a very simple amateur-
radio pay load was propiised for
Owen Garrioit'sSlT/ai? mission
in 1973. it would be 10 years
later w hen Owen finally got to
operate from space. NASA did
not approve she Sky la h ham stu-
lion due to time constraints and
olher factors, but SAREX, Ihe
PhoioB, This view of Earth wm taken from Gyr\\in-OSC^VR-32.
4S 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
Photo D, ARISS Coonlmator and AMSAT VP Manned Space Ac*
mities Frank Bauer KAMiDO sh(>i\*s off the insiife of an ISS fmHfule
mockup.
On the Go
Numt^f 47 on your Feedback card
Mobile, Portable and Emergency Operation
Steve Nowak KE8YN/4
1011 Peacock Ave. NE
Palm Bay FL 32907-1371
[keSyn @ juno comi
Up, up, and away
Part of the run of opcnuing
jnohilc or poriahle is ihc actual
operation, whj le an equal pari is
the location or condi lions under
\^hjcli you operate. Nol every
mobile operation is in a car. and
some vehicies are more chal-
lenging than others. Although
wc arc licens^ed to operate our
iransmiriin^ eguipmeni, ^ome-
limes that alone is not sufficient
to permit ike uperatiun of a
transinitier. In some operating
postttons there are others v^ho
can dictate as to whether or not
a station may he operated. Two
classic cases are on board a boat
or ship and aboard an aircrafL
Botli situations are similar be-
cause ihe master of the vessel.
whether a ship's captain or the
pilot in command of an aircraft,
must give permission before
someone may operate a station
i)n hoard.
Operating aeronautical mobile
can be a lot of fun. bui a number
of factors must be considered.
J^irst* it cannot be done on a
commercial scheduled Hight,
since all airlines nor only pro-
hibit the operation of transmit-
ters by passengers, but also die
operation of radio receivers.
This is because there are con-
cerns that electronic equipment
may interfere w'tth the aircraft's
electronic eciuipmenl. which
provides bulh communications
and navigation support. Virtu-
ally all commercial flights are
operated in controlled airspace
under instrument flight rules
which require frequent coiurnu-
nieation w rih air trafFic control.
Transmissiims which occur
within the skin of the aircraft
may create inierlerence lo the
navigation equipment There are
even concerns that receivers can
cause interference because of
the intermediate frequencies
which they produce. Given
some of the interference we
hams have seen with cnnsimicr
electronics, this is not an idle
concern. How^ manv times have
■r
you heard of RFl problems with
electric organs, inexpensive
telephones, or even doorbells?
On some aireraft radio opera-
tjon may he possible, "Aiirraft"
may mean a hnl air balloon » a
glider or sailplane, a blimp, or a
private plane. While radio op-
eration may be possible on a
helicopter most helicopters pro-
duce enough noise to make it
impractical.
Of all of the t^ptions, the one
you may have the greatest op-
pori unity to try is on a private
plane. Once again, remember
this is subject to the approval of
the pilot in command. Courtesy
and curiosity should dictate be-
ing aware of the pilot's radio
equipment belbre considering
die addition t>r amateur commu-
nications. Navigation is gener-
ally between 108 and 1 18 MHz.
Communicaiions among aircraft
or beiv^een aircraft and the
gRiund are generally conducted
between 118 to 137 MHz. These
fi^quenctes use amplitude m(x!u-
lation, wliich is not as commnidy
used as either FM or single side-
band> Tve read \arious anicles
which Slate dial this is because
there is too much old equipment
to convert to FM. but there is
also another explanation which
nuiv be more accurate. FM receiv-
ers capture the stronger of two
signals, whereas AM allows two
signals to bodi be heard to some
degi^ee. With AM, if an aircraft
were to make an etnergencv call
while another aircraft were
transmitting, the emergency call
could be heard. Some aire rait
may have other navigational tc-
ceivcrs (ox nondirectional radio
beacons (NDB) or for the glo-
bal pusitioning satellite system.
Interestingly, aircraft are not re-
quired to have radio equipment
if not flown in an area which is
under air traffic control, al-
though iiTosi do have several ra-
dios, often backed up by an
aviation hand handie-talkie.
An aircrai't with radio equip-
ment operating in most areas
will he in communication with
some form of air traffic controL
Tliis mav t>e a tower of a center.
If no traffic control is available,
a common frequency will be
used as a unicujn or cojiuiiun
traffic advisory frequency for a
panicularairlleld. Many aircraft
will use a second radio to moni-
tor the emergency frequency of
121 J MHz, which is used both
to request ass [stance and by
emergency locator beacons.
Naturally, operating as an
aeronautical ninbile amateur ra-
dio station will have cenatn re-
strictions based on room for a
rig and an antenna UTtile exter-
nal antennas can be configured
from many frequencies, the an-
tenna creates drag on the air-
craft, which mav affect its
performance. A vertical antenna
C^yniinued on page 50
and chief organ tzer of ARISS.
His three-stage plan to make a
permanent place for ham radio
on the buernational Space Sta-
tion has required many hours of
dedicated effort.
The first stage of Frank's plan
calls for two-meter and 70-cm
FM capabiUty with an external
antenna. In addition in voice, an
automatic packet BFiS (bulletin-
board system) would be in-
cluded. The radios would be
imrinsically-safe commercial
HTs from Ericsson. Thev are
simple to operate, include
screen displays for frequency
and other data, and cdi\ be eas-
ily reprogrammed in orbit via
the laptop computers carried on
the ISS. The TNC, or Terminal
Node Controller, for packet op-
eration is to be a PicoPacket unit
from PacComm. It should func-
tion in a very similar fashion to
the uniicurrenilv on MIR^
The second stage of the
project, in about five years, is to
arrange for space on an Express
Pallet. This is an externaily
motmted experiment container
tiv^i ean be loaded with ham gear
that can emulate a ham-radio
satellite and attached to the ISS.
The contents are not brought
aboard the station, but are pow-
ered from the ISS and can be
controlled from the statinn or
from the gromrd. A repeater or
OSCARlike linear transponder
system could he built into die con-
lainer. complete with external
antennas.
The third and final currently-
plaimed stage of the >VRJSS pro-
e;ram includes ham near in
permanent rack space in the
habitation module of the space
siaiion. The proposal has been
approved and the gear is in
development.
Goals for the svstem include
voice, packet, satellite and ATV
(Amateur Television J concur-
rent operation. Based on the
goals, the envisioned hardware
would require 24 inches of rack
space and would draw 200
watts, Multiple transceivers
would be used to cover 10
meters, two meters, 70 cm, 23
cm and higher bands. Power
output will be five to 25 watts
except on ATV, where lOU watts
is more appropriate. External
onvni antennas would be incor-
porated except for gain antennas
Un satellite uJid liigh-daia-rate
disital communicaiions.
The ARISS program is pn>
gressing verv^ well with partners
from tnany countries. You can
study the details tor yourself via
the Internet. Start at the URL
lhltp://garc,gsfc,nasa,go_v/
-ariss/].
1
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 47
New Products
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Snip, Snap
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Two MFJ- 1 762s can be slacked
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The MFJ' 1 762 is an excellent
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light weight (two pounds), and
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of course it*s covered by MFJ *s
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We Could Show You the Photo ...
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you — aiiiennas designed Wrv the FBI, US Marshalls, DBA. ei al.,
are now avaihibk' on ham. SWL, and scanner frequencies!
If you need slcakh antennas for HF, VHF. or UHF, or if you
need high-pcrlonnaiice, low-cosi invisible antennas, you should
be browsing Ihrougli Hamco's new catalog of covert antennas.
It\s packed wilh infornialioii about hidden antennas, and all you
need to get one is $2.00 for shipping ik handling. Send the two
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I
I
Code Practice for Your Connmute
Buckmaster's Copy This and Paxs^^^ audio CD collection wi
give you something to do besides cuss at the Dodge that just cut
you off — ^or you can listen and learn in the (less sU-essful) coni-
fon of your home (or office, or the park, or the beach ... well,
you get the idea). The 5 wpm disc teaches the code with left-
channel voice assist. The 13 wpm atid 20 wprti discs build profi-
cieiicy and skill in higher-speed operadon.
Each CD is 74 minutes of near-perfect computer-generated.
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the ones you weren't sure about, and you can varv the practice
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Each Copy This ami Pass audio CD is S 1 0.LHJ, or get all three
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use your Mastercard, Visa, or Discover card, or send check or
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Keys of the (United) Kingdom
Gordon Cnou hurst G4ZPY, as aficionados are awafe, has long
been handcrafting premiumqualily keys and paddles. The
straight keys range from simple brass keys on stone bases to the
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Paddles range from the postage slamp-sized ihree-in-one to
the VVi> High Speed Paddle (rated at 60 wpm), available in solid
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Huir can I ^ei one'/ you ask excitedly. Well, through your
source for all things Morse, of course! Credit card orders can be
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use the secure order page at the Morse Express Web site: f http:
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To request a catalog or lor more infomiation about the G4ZPY
keys, call Marshall Emm at {303) 752-3382: Emiai] him at
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Better Late
than New Year
Svetlana Electron Devices,
Inc., of St* Petersburg, Russia,
has released its I99H Audio
Tnhe Catalog. Svetlana has
been manuracturfng vacuum
tubes since 1928. and is one of
the largest iiueniational suppli-
ers of atidio tubes to OC^I^.
Svetlana' s extensive variety of
audio iul>cs are designed and
built with exceptional quality
and sonic performance charac-
teristics. Catalogs are built
with bureaucratic perfomiaiice
characteristics. Never mind.
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check the Web site at |www.
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48 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
Rduertisers' Indek
351 Absolute \felue Systems ... 38
68 Advanced BaAery Systems 1 6
• All Electronics Corp. ■,.. 23
• Antennas & More 59
16 Astron COTpora!ion 1
il Barry Electronics Cojp 37
^ Bilai Company €1
168 Buckmasier Publishing „,. 19
Hi Buckmaster Publishing 54
222 Byers Chassis Kits 61
184 C d S Sales, Inc. .............. 35
186 Coaxial Dynamics ..-...-. 25
99 Communicalbn Concepts 11
to Communications Speciajists35
13 Doppler Systems „. 39
114 EH. Yost ..
75 Fair Radio Sales
193 GGTE
page
19
57
7a Hamsure «. _ .., 33
• Hamtronics, Inc. CV2
* iCOM America. Pnc .-.„... 7
42 isotfon 61
243 Jan Crystals ..,„„„«..«....... 59
156 Japan Racflo Co. ............ CVS
KachJna CommuriicationsCV4
275 Lake view Company Inc. ... 11
150 Llttllte ,....37
335 Menu Plus 5
96 MFJ Enterprises...... »*.„*&
150 Mtcrp Compyter Concepts €1
B.S.# page
136 Milestone Technologies .... 33
136 Morse Express ,,.. 33
193 Morse Tutor GoW ..»»..,..... 25
246 Molron Electronics *,.« 57
64 Mouser Electronics , 53
114 Mr. isiicd
...19
page
• MultlFAX .................,....„,_ 55
64 NCG »„.«33
• OCENS ..49
• Omega Sales 49
« PC Electronics .,.,..„,... 61
• Peel Bros .„., ,„ 21
66 Perlphex 16
• Radio Book Shop 6
« Radio Book Shop .„,„„,..„„. 6
B.S.#
• Fladio Book Shop , 23
• Radio Book Shop ............. 62
• Radio Book Shop 63
34 Ramsey Etecimnics ,»„„„„, 2
• RF Pans ,.„ $i
254 Ross Distribuling . 54
36 ScrambHng News 38
241 Season Connpary ..,.„.. 54
167 Sescom, Inc. ..,,...„„„.„ 59
141 The Nicad Lady 11
• Thomas Miller.. 26
22 Tri-Ex Tower Corp ., 41
• Universal Radio .53
• Wm. M. Nye Co. .,♦.....- 59
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73 Amateur Radio Today * December 1998 49
Number 50 on your i^eedback card
The Digitrl Port
Jack Heller KB7NO
P.O. Box 1792
712 Highland Street
Carson Cily NV 89703
[iheH6r@sierra.net]
^fon may have read or heard
,€ii0iments about the stale of
amateur radio and how wc need
to get off our duffs and gei back
lo culliag-edge lechnology. Tlial
is, wc need lo gel beyond the
work! ol rag-chewing on repeal-
ers and SSB. There are commer-
cial out fits out there who are
wiOing lo push hams right off
the spectrum map so they can
purchase, uitli^e and make
bucks using the frequencies wc
lake tor granted.
Additionally, these capitalists
justify their right to purchase
**Oiir air space" by taking the
position that ham radio has
ceased to contribute to the de*
velopmcnt of the an of commu-
nication and is merely Following
its lead. If that isn't enough,
many Incni government emer-
guncy coordinators are not st^kl i m
the value of ham radio in an emcr-
gcncy and choose to rely on ihcir
own sophisticated syslems.
While pondering these vicw-
points» I reviewed a recent letter
from Bob W6EUZ concerning
his experiences with SSTV. He
wrote because he had read t>f
some of my experiences and felt
he could help mc "gel a grip"
(my phrase — not Bob's) on re-
ality about HF SSTV in the
western stales.
Bob was not having the in-
stant success I had promised and
expressed some needs for pos-
sible organization of 40> and 80-
meter SSTV activitv out west.
The more I ilioughi about ihib,
the more sense il made. Experi-
ence had taught that it is diffi-
cult at best to work the folks in
the east on 14.230 \vithoul an
amplifier (At this writing. I am
Slid without the amplincr that
smoked during a reccnl RTTY
session.)
As the above two facts
chewed on my senses tor a few
days, it became obvious that
something more in-depth than the
return letter to Bob was justified.
He hadn't left his phone number,
so 1 started tracking it duw n. This
was a little comicaL My first at-
fempt was to look in the Internet
*%hite pages" listings.
There was one listing that al-
most fit Bob's description, and
1 called hoping it was a relative.
No, there are just a lot of list-
ings with the same lirsi and last
name. But I had the area code
now. Still il would seem that
one of fhe on-line databases
should come through* I was be-
gii^ning to think he was unlisted.
One more try. Dialed inlor-
tnation on the otd-fashioned
land fine and ... Bingo! I had a
number The lesson? Those da-
tabases on the Net are not com-
plete. Enough of that. I could have
saved 45 minutes, but you know
the male ego when it comes to
slopping to ask for directions.
Bob had some interesting in-
put. He. like most of us* at-
tempts to be a frugal ham, SSTV
can be done on a budget, as I
have demonstrated, but filings
go wrong. He told me of a nifty
new unit by Kenwood that 1 had
noi heard about. I looked up a
description of il. U appears to be
a digital camera that nut only
interfaces to the computer hut
also to Kenwood radioes, it is
model VC-Hl.
Ttiai sounds very inno\ ative
and should be an ideal setup. He
says il works great interfaced to
his Kenwood HT for VHF as
well as to his Kenwood HF rig,
but that the compan> ib still
workjno out the details (cables)
to work with other rigs. I found
the scam details listed on the
Kenwood Web siie. but Bob*s
info filled in ihc chinks. The
little camera should be a great
addition to anyone's array of
Kenwood gear and other lines as
cables are made available.
Bob and 1 arranged to meet
on 40 meters ihe next day to see
what conditions were like, They
sounded good* so wc made tin
attempt on the next weekday
morning to try a litllc SSTV
operation. It looked good at
about 7 J 65 and I sent him an
image which was recognizable
on his screen— far from first rate
but, nevertheless, a workable
image.
This was without the help of
an amplifier or any fancy an-
tenna at either end. What was
suiprising to mc was that there
was something close to that fre-
quency that was cutting up
Bob's SSB signal badly, yet the
audio carrying Ihe image still
worked. At least we came uway
assured that low^ power was not
Continued on page 5 1
On The Go
continued from page 47
will be limited to VHF or UHF
frequencies, while an HF antenna
would create a greater chal-
lenge* It is possible to run a wire
from the tail of the plane to the
fuselage, or to trail a wire, but
these arc not practical for most
applications. Fortunately, a
hnndie-ialkie with a rubber duck
can produce some interesting
results, so we'll stick to UHF or
VHP frequencies.
VHF transmissions are lim-
ited U\ line of sight, which is one
of the reasons that effective ra-
diated power ( ERP) is a func-
tion of output power and the
height of the antenna. A few
milliwatts can be quite efifective
at 7500 feet above ground level.
This is one of the reasons that it
is considered very bad form to
ever use a repeater from an aero-
nautical mobile unless it is an
emergency. An HT in an air-
plane can bring up every re-
peater on a given frequency for
hundreds of miles, which is not
appreciated by the other users of
those repeaters. Incidentally,
this is another reason that cellu-
lar telephones arc not permitted
lo be used on aircraft Since
each cellular phone is low
power, the expectation is that il
will reach only a few cell tow-
ers and the computer can pick
the strongest signal: from an air-
craft the cellular telephone
would sin^iiliifteously affect
many cells over a wide area, ere-
atjng problems for the network.
Simplex frequencies are the
way to go for aen)nauiical mo-
bile operations, although a few^
more caveats are in order. First,
never forget tJiat the pilot is in
full command. If things get busy
in the cockpit and he or she tells
you to cease transmissitm, you
must comply. Second, remem-
ber thai some simplex frcqucn'
cies have designated purposes.
The standard two-meter calling
fi-equency of 146.52 is also used
as the wilderness protocol fre-
quency, with priority the tlrst five
minutes past the hour from 7:00
a,m. until 10:05 p.m. This is why
it may be inten^^stin*! to lake an
^ HT along on a prixate plane even
if you do not expect to transmit.
If the pilot in command allows
you to at least monitor, you may
be surprised by what you hear
from that aliiiudc. Besides, one
more working radio is good in-
surance in any cockpit.
What's the most interesting
place you operated a station, ei-
ther mobile or portable? What's
the most interestini: ihinc ihat
has happened lo you when op-
erating? What wt>uld von like to
do. do again, or do differcnl? Let
mc know, either by E-tnail or
snail-mail to the address at the
lop of the column. I hear a lot
of mobile and portable stations
out tlicre. Why not share your
experience?
50 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1 998
a hindrance to working slow
scan on 40 meters*
What IS needed is u clear fre-
quency ai the righl time of day.
In ihe eastern pari of ihe coun-
try, the recommended frequency
is 7. 1 7 1 . However, neither of us
had heard a 40-mclcr slow scan
signal from this end of the coun-
try and there is an apparent
broadcast signal close by.
We decided to meet as often
as we could in the early pan of
the aflemoon ai 7.100, a.^ ihat
sounded like it had the least in-
terference. Bob was in a iransi-
tinn between rigs and 1 had to
be out of town, so it was a week
or so befon^ we gin our schedule
together.
Incidentallv. iher^ is SSTV
activity oii3 J85, 1 ran aonoss it
one evening. An anempt to copy
failed due to the splauer from
an adjacent (about 3 kHz away)
ham engaged in ensuring he
could he heard in the next
counly. Been ihal way ever since
I can recall on 75 meters. Tliere
must be some simple justifica-
tion lor the California Kilowatt,
hut I have never heard iL
What does this mean fur 40-
meter SSTV in the w est? If vou
arc like nianv of us who feel it
■V'
shouldn* t take a megabuck/- watt
station to play with SSTV. lis-
ten around 7.190 at approxi-
niaiely 1 to 1:30 p.m. Pacific
lime. If you cnrne by when ihcrc
is no activity, give a call. There
may be someone just like you
listening for an organized net, A
net it is not. It is just a place to
meet to uy t>ut some of this fun
stuff and exchange ideas.
As I was talking to Boh, sev-
eral ideas came to mind. The
first was establishing a place and
time to play. Another was the
fact that most folks who would
like to get involved don't know
where to stan and soon discover
a lot of the ad \ ice falls short or
just plain misses the mark.
Don't let it get confusing
Many of today's digital modes
require a relatively small invest-
ment- especially when com-
pared with a few years back
when the approach was expensive
hardware. Computers have
made a huge difference.
To get started in SSTV, 1 tell
people thai with a good com-
puter ihc} can get their feet wet
for under $50. One method in-
cludes using free soHware (EZ
SSTV from Pasokon) and build-
ing a serial modem as described
on the Pasokon Web site (see
Table I) plus cables, If you ap-
proach it this way. you witi have
a lot of fun watchine somethine
work thai vou have built from
scratch. This is DOS program-
ming and it works. If you like
what you see, they have upgrades
for exU^a bucks and you can en-
joy U'uly great perlbruiajiceH
There is another way that is
even more painless in the pock-
etbook for a budget introduction
to SSTV. This one uses the
soundboard in your PC. w i th no
modem to build, and no hard-
ware except a few cables. Con-
nect vour transceiver to vour
PC. and you are in business. The
initial otUlav? Tlie cost of the
cables. I used some old audio
cable v^ ith a few new plugs and
eot the svstem workine for un-
der Slot Check out ChromaPIX
in Table L
There is a slight catch, but it
is not reaOv anno^in^. This is
shareware — a lot of work went
into it, and the authors deserve
to be paid if the program works
for you. The program is not
crippled and you can use it for-
ever without registering, but it
will only run for 30 minutes at
a time until you pay your dues.
You will find that is enough
lime, if you plan your sessions
wiseh , to get a g(x>d feel for this
excellent program and decide if
it is for you.
Help for your soundcard
SSTV operation
One of the problems when
using a soundcard for digital
coiiununications r^ that there is
no way for the soundcard to au-
tomatically operate the pushto-
talk (PTT) on the transceiver.
When I first tested the Cliroma-
PIX program I found that Uic
method to tniliate the transmis-
sion of an image was to manu-
ally place my rig in transmit
Cordinued on page 56
Current Web Addresses
Source for:
Web address (URL)
HF seria modem plans + software
http://www,accessone.com/-tmayhanyindex.him
PCFlexnetcomiTiunications free programs
http://d10td,afthd.tb-darmstadt,de/-f!exnet/index.html
Tom Sailer's info on PCRexnet - i
http:>/www.ife.ee.ethz.ch/-^sailer/pcf/
SV2AGW free Win95 programs
http :// w WW. f 0 rth net . g r/s v 2a g w/
Bay Com - German site
http://www,baycom.de/
Pasokon SSTV programs & hardware
ht1p://www.uHranet.Gom/-'Sstv/lite.htmf
Winpack shareware for Windows
http://www.duGkles.demon.co;uk/ham/wp.htm
Baycom 1 ,5 and Manual.zip in English
Source for BayPac BP-2M
Tucson Amateur Packet Radio — where packet started — new
modes on the way
http:y/w wwxs.wvu.edu/-acm/gopher/SoftwarejTjayconi/
htlpiy/www.tigertronics.conn/
' TIMC to radio wiring help
http:y/wwwJapr org
http://prairie.lakes.com/--meclcalf/ztx/wire/
ChromaPIX & W95SSTV
http://www.silicQnpixels.com/
Timewave DSP & former AEA prod
http://www,ti mewave.com
VHF packet serial modem kit
http://wwwJdgetectrQnics.CQm
Table L Current Web addresses. All of ihe above were cm and parted direaly from rhe Web page fo avoid the inevitable errors h Aeif
copying. If you encounter a problem \\ith a European address, the netivork is often at fault. Try again later.
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 51
73 VINTAGE REVIEW
Numtysr 52 on your F^tdtsck c^rd
The Drake TR Series:
No Introduction Needed
.,buf here^s the skinny on some of the best vintage equipment available today.
BiU Clarke W2BLC
764 Altamont-Voorhaesville Road
Altamom NY 12009
[BillClarke@bigfoot.com]
In ihc early 1960s, ihe R.L. Drake
Company introduced a very suc-
cessful line ofSSB ham cqaipmcnl. As
a resull. Drake equipmenl became
tnown for its high quality and high
dollar \aiue. Tt>day, Drake equipment
is again becominj; pupuLir, as \ image
equfpment^rcpnesenting an era of ham
radio '^5 past
Capability- wise, Ihe Drake TR se-
ries ol HF uranscei\ ers o Iters good sia- i
biliiy, has excellent receivers with
great selectivity, and can do better than
200 wutl5 outpul. Another real positive
feature Is that they are supported by a
company thai is still in business.
The TR-3
The Drake TR-3, introduced in
1963. was Drake's first HF transceiver,
r
Photo A, The face phte, with dials in
dunwd good shape, of rhe TR-4C. Phoms
by Joel Thitndl KSPSV.
52 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
It was to become the basis for the
TR'4 series thai followed.
The TR-3 used three lubes in the final
RF amplirier, as do aJI the TR series
ifaiisceiveiTi. unlike its contemporaries from
CoUias. HalUcrdJteni. and National
The chassis of the TR-3 is copper-
plated, although most units you will
see today have some xuhi showing
through. The IVont pinel is labeled by
reverse engraving (brushed meiu! thai
is sliiihth hiiiher than the painted
■b- » ^> i^
background). There is very little in the
TR-3 ihul is solid state,
A new^ TR-3 sold for $550, Accesso-
ries were priced at: AC supply $79.95,
MS 3 speaker SI 9.95, RV-3 remote
VFO $79.95. In 1 998 dollars the entire
station would ha\c cost about $35U0,
SpecifiLations for the TR-3
GENERAL
•Frequency coverage; 10-80 meters
in seven 600 kHz ranses
•Modes: LSB, USB. CW, and AM
•Built-in sidctone
•Automatic T/R switching on CW
•30 lubes and semiconductors
•VFO with I kHz dial divisions (on
the VFO knob skin)
•Dimensions: 5-1/2 inches high, 10-
3/4 inches wide, 14-3/8 inches deep
•Weight: 16 lbs.
TRANSMIT
•Input pi>wer: SSB 300 watts PEP
•AM 260 waits PEP controlled
carrier
•CW 260 w alts
•Adju stable pi -network
•VOX or PTT
RECEIVE
•Scnsitiviiy: >]/2 (.iVfor lOdB S/N
•IF selectivity: 2 J kHz @ 6dB
•3.6 kHz m 60 dB
•AGC (fast attack, slow release in
high noise) ,
•RF izain control
•Noise blanker
•Diode detector lor AM lipcpiion
ACCESSORIES
•MS-3 Mytching speaker
•RV-3 Remote VFO (XMIT/RX or
split operation)
•AC-3 Power supply (120 VAC)
•DC-3 Power supply (12 VDC)
#
The TR-4 series
Progressing from the TR-3 into the
TR-4 series, the early TR-4 transceiv-
ers had a TR-3-stvlc main tuning knob
(kHz. markings on the VFO knob
Phoia B. Rear view.
skirt). The 9 MHz sideband filters used
in early TR^s are four poles and are
enclosed in sealed boxes. The tubular
capacitors used in the radio are white
in color and were manufactured by
CD. No noise blanker control is oa the
front panel and there are no provisions
for its installation (no receptacle) on
the chassis.
Late TR^ transceivers have the TR-
4C style main tuning knob (1 kHz divi-
sions on the dial), a VFO "in use"
indicator (used in conjunction with a
remote VFO), and some front panel
markings different in color from the
early units. The 9 MHz filters have
eight poles. Internally, the tubular ca-
pacitors are yellow in color and manu-
factured by CDE. There is a noise
blanker control on the front panel and
provisions for its installation on the
chassis.
As with the TR-3, the TR-4 series
chassis was copper-plated until the
TR-4C came along. After that time, it
was no longer plated.
The TR4CW/R1T was the final
model in ihe Drake TR scries. Appear-
ance-wise, it has the RJT control posi-
tioned tn the lower right-hand comer
where the noise blanker control was on
earlier models. Two push switches on the
lower front of the panel turn the RTT and
noise blanker functions on/off.
Photo C\ The top view of the interior. Note
the noise blanker.
By the time the series had worked its
way through to the TR-4CW/R1T, the
following features had been added:
•CW sidetone
•Optional noise blanker
•Receiver incremental tuning (RIT)
•Selectable 500 Hz CW filter
•Redesigned dial showing 1 kH?
calibration points
•Redesigned main tuning knob
•Relative RF power output monitor
•Changed final tubes from 1 2JB6s to
6JB6S
•Solid stale FIX) (permeability-tuned
oscillator)
•Fully silk-screened front pan^l
Overall, the TR-3 and TR-4 series of
transceivers saw few major changes
externally and only what amounted to
upgrades internally. Also, some bells
and whistles were added along the
way, such as the noise blanker, op-
tional filters, and RIT
Drake made a 15-year run of this se-
ries before moving on to fully solid
state equipment, and then slipping into
obscurity in the ham radio field.
Specifications for the TR-4
($599v95 in 1965, less power supply)
GENERAL
•All amateur bands 10-80 meters in
seven 600 kHz ranges
•Solid state VFO with 1 kHz dial di-
visions
•Modes: LSB, USB, CW, and AM
♦Built-in sidetone and automatic T/R
switching on CW
•30 tubes and semiconductors
•Solid state VFO with 1 kHz dial di-
visions (on the VFO knob skirt)
•Dimensions: 5-1/2 inches high, 10-
3/4 inches wide, 14-3/8 inches deep
•Weight: 16 lbs.
TRANSMIT
•VOX or PTT on SSB or AM
•Input power: SSB 300 watts PEP
•AM 260 watts PEP controlled
carrier
•CW 260 watts
•Adjustable pi-network
RECEIVE
•Sensitivity: >l/2 jiV for 10 dB S/N
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•IF selectivity: 2.1 kHz @ 6 dB
•3.6 kHz @ 60 dB
•AGC full on receive modes
•Variable with RF gain control
•Fast attack, slow release with noise
pulse suppression
•Diode detector for AM reception
ACCESSORIES
•MMK-3 Mobile mounting kit
•MS-4 Matching speaker
•AC-4, DC -4 Power supplies
•RV_4 Remote VFO (includes five-
inch speaker) and space for AC supply
•34-NB Noise blanker
m
The TR-4C sold for $599.99 in 1972
(less power supply). Here's how it
compared:
GENERAL
•All amateur bands 10^80 meters in
seven 600 kHz ranges
•500 MHz CW filter on CW models
•Solid state VFO with 1 kHz dial
divisions
•RIT (receive incremental tuning) on
CW/RIT model
•Modes: LSB, USB, CW, and AM
•Built-in sidetorie and automatic T/R
switching on CW
•30 tubes and semiconductors
•Dimensions: 5-1/2 iiK;hcs high, 103/4
inches wide, 14-3/8 inches deep
•Weight: 16 lbs.
TRANSMIT
•VOX or PTT on SSB or AM
•Input power: SSB 300 watts PEP
•AM 260 watts PEP controlled carrier
•CW 260 watts
•Adjustable pi-network
RECEIVE
•Sensitivity: >l/2 ^V for 10 dB S/N
•IF selectivity: 2 J kHz @ 6 dB
•3,6 kHz @ 60 dB
•AGC full on receive modes
■Viuriable with RF gain control
•Fast attack, slow release with noise
pulse suppression
•Diode detector for AM reception
ACCESSORIES
•MMK-3 Mobile mounting kit
•MS-4 Matching speaker
•RV-4C Remote VFO
.AC-4, DC-4 Power supplies
•FF-1 Fixed freqiiehcy adapter (two
fixed channels)
•34-PNB Noise blanker
Getting older
Interested in getting a vintage Drake
rig? When purchasing, owning, or using
any older ham gear, lake note: Age will
lake its toll. Below is a list of several
common age-related problems associ-
ated with Drake equipment:
MECHANICAL
•PTO end play needs adjustment
•PTO lubricant dried out
•Vernier drives wear, dry out, and
become stiff
•Switch and control shafts dry out
and become stiff
•Switch contacts wear out, corrode,
or get dirty
•Dirt, dust, and rust on chassis
ELECTRONIC
•Electrolytics dry out (particularly in
power supplies)
•Small parts such as resistors and
ceramic caps fry
•AC line cords need replacing
•Tubes become weak with use
•Alignment is required annually
•Unknown and undocumented modifi-
cations by past owners
APPEARANCE
•Blemishes on case/face plate
•Lost or incorrect screws
•Control knobs missing, damaged,
or discolored
•Front panel spacers missing
•Dial plates scraped or discolored
•Clear plastics are scratched
•Blue filters wash out
Maintenance hints
This recommendation is not just
for Drake owners, or even vintage
equipment owners; it applies to all of
us. Start and maintain a logbook for
each major piece of equipment you
own (transmitters, receivers, transceiv-
ers, amplifiers, computers, etc,)^ A
single logbook will suffice for all the
small stuff, such as tuners, filters,
scopes, switching systems^ and anten-
Photo D. Bottom view,
nas. Don't use a segmented logbook,
as you wiU one day have to remove
some of it (when you sell or trade a
piece of equipment). A loose-leaf
binder with dividers, however, would
be quite appropriate.
In these logbooks, enter information
about the equipment, including its his-
tory, source, past owners, price, serial
numbers (for insurance purposes), date
of purchase, when it was placed into
service, and other comments* Every
time you perform maintenance, do an
alignment, make a modification, etc.,
make a logbook enliy describing what
work was done. These entries can prove
invaluable as dme passes — and you for-
get what you have di>ne to the rig. Re-
vere engineering of past mods is not
A complete logbook will also help a
new owner in understanding the equip-
ment and anything unusual about it
(such as old modifications).
Owaiag a vintage Drake
A vintage piece of Drake equipment
is a piece of history. It is also a rugged
unit designed to be used and enjoyed.
Do just that! Get it on the air and have
a balK Of course, seeing that the rig is
probably 20 to 30 years old, a little
care should be taken. No doubt some
servicing will be necessary before you
place the rig on the air, unless you got
really lucky and found a top-notch
one. However, at someiime in the fu-
ture you will be servicing it.
Service your Drake
Finil and foremost— get a manual for
the rig (original or copy). An "owner's"
manual will normally suffice, as back
when these rigs were built, most hams
serviced and aligned their own equip-
mcnl^ — hence instructions for this
work were a pan of the manual.
These Drake transceivers, like other
equipment of ihc time, did not use PLLs,
digital systems, elecU"onic switching, or
logic circuits. Everything was ana-
log^very straightforward and easy to
understand from a schematic diagram.
With some good common sense, the
ability to read schematic diagrams and
understand cincuitiy, and armed with a
minimum of equipment and tools, most
hams should be capable of maintaining
this equipment.
WARNING: Unlike modem solid
Slate ham equipment using 12 VDC,
tube equipment uses voltages that can
be considered lethal. Know what you
are doing BEFORE you venture inside
these rigs.
Hints to help
Controls {potentiometers) that sound
noisy (cause crackling to be heard)
should be cleaned chemically If this
does not correci the problem, the offend-
ing control wiU require replacement
Switch contacts can become inter-
mittent or nonconduclive. Use chemi-
cal cleaners to correct the problem or
replace the switch, switch wafer, or
individual contact
Lubrication can be made easier by
using a medical-type hypodermic sy-
ringe to inject lubricant into hard to
reach and tight areas.
Only use plastic or nylon tools for
alignment work. They w ill not damage
the fragile slugs.
Over the years I have found it better
to replace relays than to repair them.
Che mica] cleaning may help; however,
burnishing them is only very tempo-
rary in effect, with failure assured to
happen again.
Pull each tube from its socket, cli^k
the socket, clean it and the tube's pins
chemically, and reinsert the tube,
WARNING; Chemical cleaners are
not friendly to the user or to the environ-
ment. Use only according to directions.
A prime cause of intermittent prob-
lems is terminal strips which are at-
tached to the chassis with a single
screw, nut and bolt, or rivet. It is a
good idea to go over the entire rig and
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73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 55
tighten each lermtnal >irip. If rivets are
cnctninlered, yt)ii can drill ihem out
and replace them vviih nuls and bulls,
when necessary-
Cases and hardware can be cleaned
us'm^z LiLiloniotive materials such as
waxes and bulTcrs. From panels are
another slory. If there is significant
damage or wear to the tronl paneK yi>u
may have to hire the work out. In
many cases it is nearly impossible for
an individual lo do the work and set it
10 look like new.
Use hint
With all those vacuum lubes (glow-
bugs) packed into a relatively smaU
cabinet Drake iran^^ceivers make great
heaters — and they get even warmer
when transmitting,
1 reci>mmend vou use a muffin fan
over the filial lubes to provide cooling.
In the past. 1 have put rubber feel on the
mutlin tans and just set them on the top
cm en This works and doesn't call for
drilling or cutting holes in an} thing.
Drake coiiipany
Drake still offers factory support for
their equipmcnL c\en iliimgh some
rigs are over 30 years old. For more in-
ibrniaiion, contact the l^l.L. Drake
Company at (513) 746-6990, by FAX
at (5 1 3) 743*4576 or by E-mail (service
related onlyj at [hin_frosl@rldnike,
com]. The Drake list home page at
[www,min-nci/%7Ethom/drakclisl/
index.html] is the single best source
of Drake inlbniialion thai 1 have found
on the Internet. The Web page is main-
tained by Thorn LaCosia K3HRN, Be
sure to visit tlie section about modifies-
I tions lo the various Drake rigs by
Wayne Montague VE3EFJ: it is very
complete and cxlrcmely interesting
(you could and should spend hours
reading this). Thorn also maintains the
Drake Mailing List, which you can
learn more about by sending an E-
mail to [drakcli-St-rcijuestt^'hallimorcmd.
cxmh] with a subject of [helpl* The list-
server will reiuni a message lo you
with finlhcr instructions.
A special thanks lo Joel Thurlell
K8PSV for the photos used in this ar-
ticle, Joel is a specialty radio dealer
and operates The Radio Finder, a Web
site fi^r the buying, trading, and selling
of lube- type amateur and military ra-
dio equipment. The address of The Ra-
dio Finder is [wuvvradiotlnderxom]
or you may contact him at 11803
Priscilla. Plymouth MI 48 1 70,
Seeing Dits & Dahs
continued from page 30
(from any starling point) most often
resulted in a scries ofTs and Es being
displayed for 30 seconds or so, and
someiimcs retiuired a ^'hard vcseC by
turning the unit oiX and then on again.
Often it seemed that the decoder could
correctly interpret characters, but
could m)l quile figure oul ihe breaks
between words.
The decoder requires a very steady
signal, so using it to receive off the air
is dilTiLuh imless you are trying to
copy a WIAW bulletin or something
similar, cbnsisting of perfect code with
astiong signal.
But the Velleman Morse Decoder is
very good at one application, and that
is in evaluating hand- sent code. Since I
had a straight key hooked up to my
keyen il was simply a matter of switch-
ing over 10 the key to determine \\ hether
I can send, by hand, Morse code that a
machine can read- The answer was ..,
yes. with a bit of praclicel I Ihoughl my
fist was better tlian iliat but it didn't take
Ions lo coord inaie sending and readins*
SO that I CiJulU adjust my sending to
what must be darned near periccl
spacing and speed consistency.
As a training aid for sendina* Ihc de-
coder has considerable potential and
could be worth the S89.95 price tag.
Sources:
Velleman Components N,V,
LcMn Heirwei! 33, B-9890 Ga\ ere,
uiuni
+32 (0) 9 384.36. 1 1
[www.vcllcman.be]
TechAmerica
P.O. Box 1981
Ft. Worth TX76I0I-I981
(8{)0> 613-7080
[www.techam.ciiml
I
The Digitrl Port
continut^d/ront page 51
I^Dde, then lell the program lo
transmit the image.
Thn! works pLN-rccily well, hut
How ynu Will find iwo eircaiis
delBiled on ihe ChromaPK Web
sile that facilitate simultaneous
automaiiu keying of the trans-
ceiver an J iransmiiuil of the
image.
I opted to build ihe simpler
circuit, as pieturcd in Photo A»
Lo bring one-handed push-but-
1011 operation inio the shack.
56 7B Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
So ,„ what are w^e going to do
to attract youth to the ham
ranks? What do kids do loday
ihal is similar lo what we
thought was cuuiiig-edge when
TV was black and while? (Oops,
revealed my age.) All right —
lei's look Qi when I was a kid
for a minute, 1 had pui together
a short w^ave radio trom a kit
(Knight. I think — probably
about S20 woithj and listened to
the most fascinating signals
imaginable. Ordinary people
were talking lo each other from
all over ihe counU^y and some-
limes from other countries.
They were having tun anil I
wanted Ki be a part ut iL
Today s youth are caughi up in
the IiilemeU satellite TV', hLUidhcld
games, cell phones, pagers and so
many gadgcis and toys that w ere
nearly inconceivable just a few
years back except for readers of
**Buck Rogers'* comic strips. Thai
is quite a load of technology to
compete w idi, and 1 doubt ll can
be done by making hain repealer
access available to the masses.
If that is alt ham radio has to
otter, we lose— big lime.
Ask yourself: What holds my
interest in ham radio*^ W'hv am
I reading this maeazmc? You
know the answers. There are
still rrontieis to explore via ham
radio that simply are not avail-
able by purchasing a few toys at
the local electronics discount
emporium and plugging them in.
Those toys are good antl u.^e=
fuK but ihey don't make the user
different. He cannot express
himself any dilTerently than ev-
eryone else who made the same
purchase* He can't modify and
inipruve. There are no contests
Neuer shv die
continued from page 5
student is, your best bet for learning is
reading books. The trick is to find books
that are both easy to read and reliable.
I've made a stab at this wiLh my Secret
Guide to Wisdom review of around a
hundred outstanding books. But I keep
asking my readers and listeners to keep
their minds peeled for outstanding
books. And Fve been keeping Barnes &
Noble busy trying lo get ihem for me.
Improving Your Memory
You can retain virtually everything
you've read if you take a little time to re-
fresh your memory. This is a secret tech-
nique that I've never seen mentioned by
anyone, and it is simple.
This is best done with the help of
someone else. Someone with patience.
They're going to sit down with you and
help you refresh your memory. What
you do, just after you've finished read-
ing a book, is to sit or lie down and get
comfortable. Close your eyes and go
through the book, from beginning to end
in your mind, remembering every detail
you can. Your helper will stop you every
now and then, asking you where you are
and what you are remembering. Then
you'll continue scanning the book.
When you get to the end, go back and
start all over again, remembering every
detail from the first scan, and adding other
parts that you missed the first time
through, as they come to mind. You'll
find you can scan the first run through in
a fraction of the time, but without skip-
ping anything. When you are stopped
you* 11 be able to say right where you are
tn the booL By the fourth scan of the
book you'll take just seconds to cover
every detail of the whole book.
Every couple of months you'll want lo
refresh your recall of the details, so scan
the book again in your mind a couple of
times to get back up to speed. In this
way you'll be able to keep the details of
hundreds of books right fresh in your
mind.
Like any muscle or (^mr fuiKJtion of
the body, the more you use your mind,
tlie more powerful it will get, They say
we*m using about 2% of our brains. I sus-
pect Ihafs a serious understatement. It*s
probably more like 0,1 % of its real poten-
tial. Alas, laziness being what it is, many
(most?) of us tend to avoid thinking as
much as possible. And exercising, too.
Thus many of us end up doddering, hunch-
backed geezers who haven't thought an
original thought in years.
Spirit Memories
When we are able to contact departed
spirits via psychics, Ouija, tape recorders,
near-death experiences, etc., we find that
the spirits seem to still have all of the
memories they had when they were
ahve. If our memories aren't electrically
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for proficiency — only the day-
to-day repetitive use. Curious
people demand more.
There lies one of the great
secrets. Pique a man's curiosity
and soon there will be no holding
him back. He will move moun-
tains to satisfy his desire to know
and do more. You know ihere are
hams working at culdng-edge in-
novations for communications
and we have mentioned them and
their waj^s in this column. Take
a look at the Web sites in Table 1
for some ideas. Look closely at
the TAPR Web site. We hams
have a lot lo offer.
If we take advantage of what
is available, use it frequently,
invite the young people in our
Uves to observe what they can
do, and give a hint where it is
going, we just may convey to
the up-and-coming generation
that there is something beyond
the horizon. If these things couJd
be introduced to school groups
and Scouts, the kids just might
take the ball and run. If they do,
they will become the greatest
asset ham radio has. It is up to
us to stimulate that appetite.
Apology for missing last
month's issue
I had a great project going last
month, but it just wouldn't pan
out. I had worked several days
past deadline time with nothing
to show for it and no backup
plan, I was quite disturbed and
embarrassed by the time I called
in to the 73 office to say I wasn't
making it for November.
I enjoy the feedback from this
column and realize there are fatth-
fill readers. If you will accept my
apology, I will attempt to not let
that happen in the futttre. And
please keep those cards and let-
ters (E-mail responses are very
appropriate) coming. You give me
a lot of great ideas.
If you have questions or
comments about this column,
E-mail me at [j heller @ sierra,
net] and/or CompuServe
[72 1 30 J 352]. I will gladly
share what I know or find a re-
source for you. For now, 73^
Jack KB7NO.
Fhoto A. To add to the collection of dedicated cables and little
black boxes, this is my version of the PTT circuit when using the
soundcardfor SSTV, The circuit is available from the ChromaPIX
site. The size of the box is overkill for the few components, but it was
what 1 had on hand and keeps it neat. The computer cable connects
to the serial port. The audio cable connects the soundcard Lineout
to the accessory jack on the back of the ICOM 735,
73 Amateur Radio Today * D9cember1998 57
or cheinically stoneii in our
brains, hui in stniic oiher me-
dium which we don't yei
underslaml, thai could help
explain how wc can have
un limited memory storage.
This isn't cxaellv a new
idea — ! wrote ahoul Ihis al
leasi 30 vears a 20. Blu, vtm
know, in spite ot the many
books Tve read on ihe hruin
and the mind, I dotil reeall
anyone else propi)sing such a
controversial concept. But
thai might help explain why
people who have lost lar^e
parts of ihe brains in acci-
dents still have all of iheir
memories.
We mav be dotn!: well w ith
otir electronic lechnolagy, bui
when it conies to conscious-
ness, we* re still in the Middle
Ages, We know plants can
communicate with each other,
and with us. We kntm we can
also communicate with any
living thing, but we have few
dues as to how it works. We
know our cells are able 10 stay
in instant communication w^ith
u^, nn matter hou far remo\ ed.
Again, no clue iis to how;
Tliere are still [itnvcrlul bar-
rier:^ preventing research into
this area. Barriers of disbe-
lief, kept in place by a refusal
to look at the data. Barriers of
a lack o\' funding. After all.
even if it's all true, where are
the bucks to be made from
funding consciousness sttidics?
Ice Age?
Looking at the temperature
data across the nt^rthern tier
states from Washington to
North Dakota, temperatures
since 194Q have fallen lower
now than they were in 1890,
when they had the Little Ice
Age. This agrees with the
similar decline in temperature
since 1940 in every Scan-
dinavia countrv. also with ris-
ing precipitation. This agrees
with tlie declining tempera-
tures reported by satellites
and balloon radiosonde data.
It also agrees with tree ring
data from weslem and snuth-
em L'S and Europe, with the
temperature high ariiund 1940,
The US Dept. of AgricuL
lure Plant Hardiness Zone
Map shows a southern tlellec-
tion of one zone or ID F be-
tween their I960 and 1990
maps. This strongly affects
plants.
In New Hanrtpshire, Vermont
and Ltpstate New York we're
secina a migration of moose
coming dow n from Canada, so
perhaps Robert Felix is right in
his predictions in his book^
Not By Fire, But By Ice. So
much for slobal warmins. eh?
American researchers al
the South Pole, who have
been keeping accurate records
for over 40 years* reported
that Jul} 1 997 was the coldest
month on record.
Yes. I know about the Ant-
arctic ice pack starting to
melt and a lump the size of
Connecticut calving off So
what's reallv soina on here?
Come on. fellas, vou can't
hu\ e it both ways. Are we i20-
ing to need heavier parkas or
more bathing suits and sun
screen?
Child Psychology
It's been a while since 1
pushed you to subscribe to
The Nen' Yorker, so 1 can un-
derstand if you missed the
great article in the August
1 7th issue about child behav-
ior. Too bad. for it was an
amazing article.
It turns out that child psy-
chologists and behavior ex-
perts have had it wrong about
the influence that parents have
on the development of their
children. It seems, on the nui^-
ture side, thai parents have far
less of an impact on their
kids' behavior than do their
peers. Kids don't v^^ant to be
like adults, they want to be
like other kids. So they dress
like the other kids, talk like
the other kids, and act like the
other kids.
It's pertinent that the kids
of recent immigrants almost
never retain iheir parents" ac-
cents. And that the children
of deaf parents learn how to
speak as well as those with
normal parents. It also turns
out that it doesn't make any*
where near as much differ-
ence as supposed if there is
one parent or two.
Thi^ goes counter to Freud
and the teachings of profes-
sional psychotherapists, but
is in line with the results of
recent research aimed at find-
ing correlations between par-
ents and how thctr children
turn out. The Newsweek edi-
tors apparently read The New
Yorker, because the Septem-
ber 7th isstie had the report as
the cover fcaiure.
Serendipity
Do you believe in reincar-
nation and i>ur having past
lives? My first introduction to
past lives surprised me. Oh,
rd read a little about 'em,
and then there was the fa-
mous Bridey Murphy case,
but that, I thought, had been
explained a\va>'. Then one day
I was regressing a patient un-
der hypnosis- trying to find
the rtH)t of a problem that had
been making his life miser-
able. We went back and re-
lived several relevant earlier
traumas, removing their im-
pact on his life for him. Then
1 asked him 10 go to an earlier
event which was connected to
his problem and suddenly he
was telling me alx>ut some-
thing which had happened in
an earlier life.
I didnM know if it was real
or not, so 1 had him reli\c the
traumatic event just as if it
were one fixim his present life,
and he was never bothered by
this problem again. Hnnii. It
didn't make any difference to
me whether it was real as long
as decnnditioning the iramna
did the job.
After several more patients
had nipped into past lives, and
more often, past traumatic
deaths, the rcalitv that these
w
weren't just the mind's way
of handling a current life
painful event, but were some
sort of past life memories, I
began to help my patients ex-
plore and retTiember more of
their past lives, I found that
they ctmld recall pet)ple. places,
and events with a remarkable
degree of detail and that iliese
memories could be tied to
historical records.
That realitv took some get-
tins used to. The rami Ilea-
tions look even more getting
used to, and got me to ques-
tioning the accepted beliefs in
HeaN'en, Hell, Gtxl, Satan, and
so on. It got me to reading to
see what other people had
discox crcd or thought.
If you don't believe in past
lives and reincarnation, it's
because you haven't ix^ad very
much about it. There are sev-
eral books reviewed in my Se-
cret Guide to Wisiiom which
wall help fill in this neglected
pan of your education,
Sunday school teaches you
about heaven, but the "real
world" teaches that w hen you
die, that's it. and never mind
all that Bible baloney.
Tve told this storv before,
but knowing how short your
memory is> TU repeat it. It
has to do with how I discov-
ered a book that I recommend
anyone read who wants to
know about death. It's a great
book forcomfoninsj someone
with a recent loss.
My mother had always
been sensitive to things- Us-
ing a Oiiija board, she found
out that her uncle would be
return in u from France after
WWl, and was able to de-
scribe his cabin and exactly
when he would land and call.
One time, when I was in the
middle of the most upsetting
moment of my lite, she called
and asked what was wrong.
Thai was the only time she
c\erdid that.
One day, a ct^uple of years
after her nmihen Net la. had
died, mother was washing the
dishes and one of the elastic
straps holding her stretch
pants down suddenly broke.
She thought, "Oh. darnl Fm
going to have to drive down
10 Littleton atid get a new
elastic,"
When she finished the
dishes she sat down to rest
and read a little. But it was
kind of cooU so she decided
to go out to the barn and see
if she could find a shawl in
Neita's clothes trunk. She
dug down into the trunk and
found the shawL When she
shook it out, an elastic strap
fell to the floor, "Hmm/" she
said. "Neita, are you trying to
tell me something?"
She went back to the house
and sat down again to read.
But none of the magazines
kx)ked interesting. She sud-
denly got the notion to go
back out to the barn and pick
out a btx)k at random from
the old books in one of the
cow stalls. These were books
from her father-in-law's es-
tate w hich had been moved lo
the bam and just left there.
58 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
She picked oul a book with no title
showing on the spine and went back to
the house to read. The book turned out to
be a 1920 book. Neither Dead Nor
Sleeping, by Mae Sewail, with an intro-
duction by Booth Tarkington. The story it
told gave my mother the answer to her
queslion.
Mae Sewall, who was a world famous
wonfian of her time in the woman's rights
field, told about how her husband, after
he'd died, contacted her to help her find
several missing papers she needed. He
then went on to set up a communications
system and did cxperimenis with his
friend on the other side, the pianist Amir
Rubensiein, It's a fascinating story and
one of the best Tve found about communi-
cating with the dead. But it's obviously
long out of print.
A few years ago I attended a lecture ,
by Dr. Hal Huggins, the dentist who has
been fighdog the ADA over the use of
amalgam fillings. I read his book, Ifs All
In Your Head, and included it in my
Guide to Books. Huggins had proven that
the mercury from our fillings was poi-
soning us. Then I found Dr. Judd's Goad
Teeth, Birth to Deaths which also damned
mercury and the illnesses it causes.
The next step was when 1 was being
interviewed by An Bell on his talk show
a couple years ago and I pointed out that
good health depends a good deal on our
not pt>isoning our bodies with stuff like
mercury. An got all upset. His dentist
had assured him that amalgam fillings
were harmless and he believed hen Ser-
endipity stepped in when two dentists
called the show, both confirming what I
was saying.
More serendipity when a btxik arrived
in the mail from Dn Lydia Bronte. The
Mercury In Your Mouth. This, too, im-
mediately was added to my Guide to
Books, I sent Lydia a copy of my Guide
to Books and she called to say that some-
one sure ought to get busy and reprint
some of the seriously out of print books
rd reviewed. I agreed, but said I just
didn't have the time. Further, if I both
recommended a bm>k and sold it, that
would be a confiici of interest. She said
okay, sheM do it, which book would I
recommend to start with. I looked
through my Guide and decided the
Sewall book would be the one which
might do the most gtHxl for people.
I sent her a copy, she had it set in type,
and printed up a short run to see how
much interest there might be. When it*s
finished being bound it'll be $15, plus
$3 s/h, from Quicksilver Press, 10 E.
87th, NYC 10128, 1 guarantee that this
is a book that you* 11 treasure, plus be buy-
ing copies for any friends who have suf-
fered a loss.
In the Sewall book, every^ time Artur
Rubcnstein needed her to make a major
expenditure for his experiment, those on
'*lhe other side'' arranged in some way
for her to gel a well-paying lecture lour.
How much of u hat we think of as seren-
dipity actually has been organized by those
on '"the other side"? There are a couple of
books reviewed in my Guide to Books
which cite some incredible "coinci-
dences." Things which have no logical
expl^mation.
Reports from "the other side" try to
explain to us that ttine is different there.
Il isn't linear as we experience it, so
they're somehow able to arrange things
so they'll happen in our time stream for
us. Our past, present and future are just
another dimension for them — which
puts a different aspect on our birth and
death.
When something serendipitous hap-
pens, try not to ignore it. Follow it up
and take advantage of the serendipity.
The Raw Facts
iferc I go, talking about health again.
Well, I keep seeing that long list of Si-
lent Key awards in 25r every month and
Vm now convinced that virtually every
one of those guys would slilt be alive
and polluting our bands with vacuous
nonsense if only Td managed to get
through to them.
This conviction was reinforced by the
arrival of a book from two of the authors
of Nature*s First Law: The Raw*Food
Diet. Having already been convinced of
the power of raw food to cure almost
anything by Dr. Bruno Comby and his
Maximize Immunity, plus the writings of
Dn Henry Beier, this new book just fur-
ther reinforced my conviction. Plus, the
whole concept makes perfect sense. I
like it when theories make sense.
What aJ! these experts are saying is
that if you change to eating all raw food
you're going to get over any illnesses
you have. You won't get any new ill-
nesses. And you'll be able to live in ex-
cellent health to 1 20 and even 1 50 years.
How come? Just think about it. Our
bodies were developed millions of years
ago when all everyone ate was raw food.
Il wasn't until we invented cooking that
we began to gel sick and die early.
Dr. Comby has been nescuing his pa-
tients from near death due to cancer,
AIDS, and so forth JiLst by changing their
diet to all raw tlxxl. The Natures Lmv
guys have a similar string of successes.
This is a tough change to consider.
Sure, there's lots of raw food available.
But darned few restaurants serve much,
so if you go out to eat very often you are
going to have a major problem.
Eating bananas, oranges, apples,
grapes, melons, grapefruit, cherries, and
so on is easy. Raw vegetables are more of
a problem. Salads arc easy. Tve been
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73 Amateur RadfO Today * December 1998 59
eaitns a bis bowl of salad for
boih lunch and dinner lor a
long time now. Spinach, beet
greens, watercress, bean, clo-
ver and alllilla sprouts, with a
few raisins make a yreai
salad.
I've (bund ihal when I chop
up ra\% broccoli, caiiliHower
and carrois thai the mixture,
with a tittle coleslaw sauce on
it, is rine. Raw cabbai];e with
the sauce on ills good, too,
Bui after have eaten cot^ked
fotnl for a lifetime, ifs dim-
cult lo jusi Slop, You see,
there's ihis liitle Chinese res-
tail rant in Hillshoro with a
Tabulous biiircl lunch. Sigh,
And a slice of pizza now and
then? The ads for the Taco
Bell pocket sandwiches Itxiked
so inviting on TV, but when
we tried a couple one even ins,
what we eoi looked aothin^i
like the ads. Ugh. Tbose bi^
ovcrslulTed TV sandwiches
had \erv little in them when
the real world struck. The
onlv thins that was the same
was the price.
Instead of a howl of hoi ce-
real for breakfast, now Vm
eating three bananas tir three
oranges. For lunch a tomato,
a big bowl o( salad, and a
bovvlolchuppcd raw veggies.
Dinner is about the same as
lunch. But Sherry stilt wants
to go out and eat. There isn"t
any way to get her to eat raw
stuff. Or even fruit or veg-
etables, for thai matter. Fll
bet I'll have the same success
with you. Sigh. You'd rather
die than change your diet. So
who wants to live to 150 any-
way? My bet is that you'll
continue to cat what tastes
got>d and go to the dtKlor for
repairs when your body starts
breaking down — lumine the
responsibilit) (v\ertohim.
When you go raw you'll
find that you can eat all you
wan I and vour bit: fat eul will
gradually go away, replaced by
muscles. You'll automatically
get down to your normal
hvdy weight, Sluhlike asthma,
arthritis, diabetes, allcrsies,
and so on will blow^ away.
Yoifll find vi>ur body rebuild-
ing itself, atid you'll be full of
energ\ and enthusiasm. Or you
can continue yourpnesent slide
into the obits and a Silent Key
me.
I've been promised an
uncock biKJk thalMI explain
how I can enjoy raw potatoes,
beets, onions, and other such
vegetables. Tvc always pre-
lerrcd my cooked \cggies al
ticfUe, so now Fll chanae to
super al dvniL\
If you're game to expose
yourself to a powerful po-
emic — verbal overkill on
the subject — invest $15,
plus $3 s/h, for d copy of The
Raw FfHHi DieL sent to
Nature's First L^w, Box
900202, San Diego CA92190,
or call 800^205^2350. If you
can read Ihis book and not
change your diet, you've got
niiuc resistance lo common
sense than L
Small Biz
New^ small businesses are
thriving in Europe, helping to
reduce iheir serious unem-
jiloyment situation, and bring-
ing new life to their economics.
While the targe businesses
have been cutting payrolls by
4^ a year, these new small
businesses have been adding
employees at the rate of 16%.
I wish 1 had the time lo or-
ganize a lecture tour of Eu-
rope, including visits to their
heads ol state, so I could ex-
plain the benefits of setting
up my new style oT business
incubau^rs. Fve written about
this in my past editorials, and
my system is explained in de-
tail in my book 24 lltvyv lo
Improve State Government
($5). This tells how business
incubators can be set up in
any town wl^ich will help
fund and cuide the ojowih of
new small businesses.
Large businesses are mo\ -
ins their manufac luring to the
least expensive countries and
replacing much of their middle
management with infomiatinn
systems ([Lk.a. ci>jTiputers}. so
we can'l look for job growth
there for either blue or white
collar workers. Worse, large
businesses tend to be preda-
tory, looking always tor growth
by swallowing up smaller busi-
nesses, and to have the political
clout to get away widi almost
anything they want.
The health of anv counirv
increasingly is dependent on
the growth of entrepreneurial
businesses — and mv incubator
svstem makes their successful
startup simple.
Our states and other cnun-
tries could do worse (anti will)
than sci aside a fund lor busi-
ness incubators to draw on.
It would be a profit- making
no-lose fund and would result
in more jobs and increased
business revenues.
Funny Coincidence
A number of scientists have
been claiming thai nuclear
bomb lesLs, even when under-
2n>und. can have some Ions:
range effects. In mid-May In-
dia tested five nukes. A few
davs later a killer heat wave
hit India and Pakistan, killinsz
scores, A few davs later the
high pressure bkxrkage of
winds over India brought mas-
sive Hooding to Cliina, killing
I2S.
The next dav Pakistan
tested five nukes. The dav af-
ter that 366 died from the
most devastating heal wave
that had hit India in vears.
And the day after that an
earthquake hit nearby Af-
shanistan. killiniz 2.500. The
nexi day another heat wave
hit India, killing 100 more.
Four days later the heai
waves in India and Pakistan
had killed over 1,300 people,
The same day tornadoes hit
all across the USA. iiic hiding
one in Antrim NH. just a
couple miles from where 1
li\c.
A week later the India/Pa-
kistan heal death toll was up
to 2.500. with still more
Hooding in China.
In some way the glolxd
weather patterns seem lo haxe
been affected by the nuclear
tests. So much tor messing
with Mother Nature.
Hcadstart
The governor of New Hamp-
shire has been pushing hard to
ha\e all NH schools stan
with kindergarten when kids
are five years old. She was
pushing this agenda when she
and I were on the Economic
Development Commission
Education Subcommittee a
few years ago, and she was
as impervious to facts then
as she is now. Her mind is
made up and facts are only a
nuisance.
As Thomas Sou ell says,
"It*s ama/ing how much time
and ingenuity people w^ill put
into defending some idea that
they never bothered to think
through al (he outsell
Headstart was supposed to
give disadvantaged kids a bet-
ter chance of geuing an educa-
tion. With 2000 agencies and
36,000 cias.srooms, it's been
an expensive expcritnenL The
k>ng-lemi effects nl Headstart
have been carefullv nsscarclied.
They found no long-lasting ef-
t'ects on IQ. teen pregnancy,
welfare, crime, later eco-
nomic success, etc. The only
people who benefited were
the HeadsLtri employees and
adminisirators,
WTien the National Resejirch
Council of the National Acad-
emy ot Sciences reviewed ev-
ery post-secondary training
prograjii of the last 20 years
they found that none of the
programs worked. Billions of
vour money have been wasted.
More Headstart programs?
More social spending? I sure
hope ycHJ'll do your best to
slop these wastes ol' money.
The Swedish, whose stu-
dents outperform ours by a
w idc niiirgin. don'i start schiiol
until they are seven yeiirs old.
Nursing Homes
Did you bother to read
some of I he horror stories in
the news media citin*! recent
Studies of nursing homes? It
makes grim reading. w4rh
beating, malnutriiion. dehy-
dration and neulecl bein^i
more the rule than ihe excep-
tion. The nursing home in*
dustry is powerful and seems
to have control over the state
overseers, according lo a Ttme
maga/ine Aug. 3id issue reptm
im Calilomia lionies. What
I hey found was just awful.
Yet, that's where a high pcr-
centasc of vou are headed un-
less you change your diet.
Indians
The Indians have been do-
ing w^ll by setting up casinos
on their rcscrA at ions, I'm see-
ing more and more ads on TV
by these casinos, so it's obvi-
ously a thrivinii business. Take
60 73 AmatBui Radio Today • December 1 998
the Foxwood Casino in Conncdleii Less
than 15 years ago there were only three
people Uving on the re&ervaiioo. Now
they've got gaming revenues of over a bil-
lion dollars and the tribe has expanded to
260.
The Indians arc complaining that the
Europeans came in with higher technol-
ogy and look their country away. WeJL
iteyYe right, that's what happened. But
the same thing has been happening all
through history. The guys with the big-
ger and better clubs win and take over.
The Jews did it when ihey pushed the
Arabs aside and formed Israel. Israel
then took the West Bank away from Jordan
with their army; they've kept it, and don*i
seem to be much interested in giving it
back.
It was their higher technology that al-
lowed the European countries to take
over mosi of Africa and big lumps of Asia.
Through massive mismanagement they've
managed to lose most of ii. They did the
same thing in the Caribbean, with En-
gland controlling mosl of the islands, the
French a few, and the Dutch a few. Spain
was doing fine until the US shoved *em
out*
All the people who are begging for
peace should take a good long look at
history and see if they can find any in-
stance where might didn't make right.
When you lay your weapons down ycm
are doing it to grab for a yoke to wear.
And today, technology is providing us
with the bigger club.
Schools
A review of a book by Fred Holden
had this quote: "Our system of education
teaches just about everything except the
three things that matter most — How to
make a hving, how to live, and how to un-
derstand life, especially in areas of eco*
nomics and politics,"
Since, if our schools did teach these ba-
sic concepts, our counU7 and our lives
might be vastly different, 1 woiKfer if the
neglect of these subjects is entirely acci-
dental. These are exacily the things F ve
been writing about, but 1 should be writ-
ing for kids instead of old people whose
minds are so closed thai the light of
reason is unable to penetrate the gloom.
Well, 1 may be exaggeruiing, but that's the
impression I get much of the time.
As far as living successfully and mak-
ing a gtx>d living are concerned, around
90% of the stuff that is ^laughi" in high
school and 100% of college is a waste of
time. That was my experience, and things
were supposedly a whole lot better those
days than now.
Most of what I was taught in science
classes has subsequently been proven
wrong. Mosi of the math I suffered
through has never been of any real use.
and Fve been involved with a lot of dif-
ferent businesses* The English literature
classes were a huge waste of time. And
so it went. Humbug!
Wagging the Dog
It's my fault. I haven't been ragging
you lately to subscribe to The New
Yorker so you wouldn*t miss the out-
standing articles they manage to come
up with. Like the one in the October
1 2th issue, The Missiles of August, sub-
titled, "The Annals of National Secu-
rity/* It had to do with the missile attack,
just three days after Clinton's grand jury
testimony about his affair with Monica
Lewinsky; on the pharmaceutical factt)ry
in Sudan, The attack was claimed to be
in retaliation for the truck bombings of
the American embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania.
The article quoted American business-
man Bobby May, who was in Khartoum
at the time of the attack. He was very
surprised because he and Bishop
Brookings (from Nashville) had just vis-
ited the factory a few days before and
had been shown every part of the opera-
lion. The place was a showplace, where
kids routinely toured the plant, and not,
as the White House spokesman claimed, a
heavily guarded chemical factory.
The net result of the use of $60 million
of Tomahawk missiles was the destruc-
tion of a badly needed pharmaceutical
factory in Khartoum, a mess in Afghani-
stan, no one important killed, and an
entirmous buildup of resentment through
the whole Arab world. Well, it did keep
Monica out of the headlines for a few
days, so perhaps the White House strate-
gists felt it was worth the expense.
By the way, as you read the article,
you'll see that the Joint Chiefs were not
consulted before the attack. You'll also
probably not be particularly surprised that
the intelligence reports which were cited
by tte White House as an excuse for the
attack were of the usual low grade in
accuracy*
A propos, Vm enjoying a discounted
book (S8) published by Barnes & Noble,
Senseless Secrets, by Lt. Col. Michael
Lanning — subtitled, 'The Failures of US
Military Intelligence irom Geoi^e Wash-
ington to the Present/' You no doubt have
suspected that, being government agen-
cies, our intelligence departments were
probably bungling almost everything
they've been doing. What 1 doubt you've
suspecced is the extremes that this bun-
gling has often reached. Pester B&N and
spend the $8. You're going to be highlight-
ing the hell out of the book and reading
sections to anyone who will listen. The
author said he'd spent several years as an
Continued on page 64
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73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 61
Proprghtion
Numi)^ 62 Oft your Feedback CMtd
Jim Gray W1XU/7
210 E Chateau Circle
Payson AZ 85541
Qimpeg ^^ netzone.com]
The HJ-' bands in AugU!ii and
September were quite good at
times, with DX rolling in on Ire-
queticies in the bands between
40 and U) meters. At one point
the solar ilux ruse to 176 — tliL*
highest I've seen it since Cycl
e
22 — which h a ^uod sign, but
requires a word of caution.
Cycle 23 is likeK lo provide
the lowest peak solar flux value
of the last feu cycles. One fore-
caster predicts that the peak will
occur in 1999, which 1 believe
is a year or two early, if every-
thing proceeds nnrmally. But
nothing about Cycle 23 has been
**normaL" so it's possible he
could be right. WeM! just have
to wait and see.
Propagalion this month is
likely to be irref^ular because
December is traditional ly a
month when HF propagation is
seasonally low, and we huven^l
yet seen consistently high solar
flux values durine this cvcle.
Therefore, use the calendar to
pick ihe best days (G) for your
effons, but alwavs tisien and
make a few calls into the void
on other days, uio, bee li use the
universe is full ul surprises,
10-12 meters
Possible opcnitigs to Europe
in the morning, midday openings
to Africa and South America, and
late afternonn openings to
Ausinilasiaand the South Pacific,
Daytime short-skip openings
between 1000 and 2000-f miles
arc likely as well,
15-17 meters
Worldwide DX possible during
daylight hours, peaking loward
turot>e ajid the east in eariy mom-
ina. loward the southern hemi-
sphere in the aftemooc, and
toward the west. South Pacific
and Australasia in the late after-
noon, with daytime short skip
from lOOO to over 2000 miles.
20-30 meters
Openings to Europe and the
east during late aftemoon hours,
with the bands remaining open
tu various areas of the world
during hours of darkness until
shorth afler sunrise. Dav light
short skip lo 1000 miles and
2()00 rnikN or so ai night
40 meters
Generally low^ noise prevails.
and openings toward Europe
and the ejst beginning in laie
afternoon, with the band re-
maining open all night until nf-
Ilt sunrise to various areas of the
world. Daytime short skip lo
about 1 000 miles and over 1000
miles at nighL This could be
your best DX hand this moaih!
80 meters
DX to all areas of the world
between dark and dawn with
signals peaking loward Europe
I
Great gift idea for yourself,
your ham friend(s),
your child's school library
is a subscription to 73 Magazine... onty $24.97!
Call 800-274-7373 or write to 70 Route 202 N,
Peteri^ofough NH 03458
December 1998
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRl
SAT
i
1 G-F
2 F
3 F-P
4 P
5 P-VP
1 6 VP
7 P
8 P'F '
9 F
10 F-G
It G-F
12 F-P
13P-F
14 F
15 F-G
16G
17 G
18 G-F
19 F
20F-G
21 G-F
22F-P
23 P
24 P-VP
25 P
26P-F
27F-G
28 G F
29 F
30 F
31 F-P
1
and east around midniizht, and
to other directions jusi before
dawn. Daydmc short skip to 500
miles attd nightiime openings to
2000 miles or so.
160 meters
DX possible during WtMy
evening and hours of darkness.
No daytime short skip, hut ex-
cellent possibilities ai night
from 500 to about 1500 miles.
Don't forget to work the dark-
ness path (±30 minutes around
load sunset).
Check the bands \xbo\c Liiid
below the suggested ones for
possible DX surprises. It's of-
len a goixl idea to park your re-
ceiver on a seeminslv unused
frequency and just wait ADX
station is very likely to pop up
before any one else hears him,
and you can snas a good catch,
73/W1XU/7.
.^ -♦ c-^
[
EASTERN UNITED STATES TOi
1
QN^';
00 02 04 0& Dfl 10 12 t4
16
16
20
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HAVVAli
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62 73 Amateur Radio Today ' December 1998
Here are *^)me of the book;fi Wa^ne
has wrjtl4?n. Some tan chiinge yuur
life, if you11 ki them. If thv idea, iif
being healthv, wealthy unci wKo is
of interest toyoii.^tart reading, Yes»
you can ht all thai, hul (snly when
you know the sec re Is which Wayne
has spent a lifetime uncovering.
The Secret Guide to Health: Yes,
there really is aseoet to regaining your
health and adding 30 to 60 years of
heaJthy living to your life* The aiHwer
is simple, but it means making litMiie
ven dirncuh changes. Will you be
'ikiing the ii lopes of Aspen with me
w ht?n you're 90 or diKktcring around
a nuTiing home? Or pushing up dai-
sies? No, f m nor setting any health
products. %5 iH»
The Secret Guide to Wealth: Just as
with health, youll find thai you have
been brainwashed by "the system^
into a pattern of life that will Iceep you
from ever making much money and
having the freedom lo (ravel and do
what you want. I explain how an\ one
can get a dream job with no coJlcgc,
no fi^sume. and even w ilhoul any ex-
perience. 1 expJain how you can get
someone to happily pay you to learn
what you need to know to sian your
own business. S5 (Mj
The Secret Guide to W'i«idom: This
is a review of around a hundretl books
that will help you change your life,
No, I don't sell these hooks They're
■9
on a wide range of subjects and will
help to make you a very inieresting
person. Wail' 11 you see some of I he
gems you've missed reading. S5 (B)
Cold Fusion Overview: This is both
a brief history of cold fusion, which I
predict will tie one of the InrgesI in-
dustries in the world In the 2 ] si ten^
tury. plus a si nip II L'^pluniitinn dIIiovv
and why it works. This new field is
going to generate a whole new bunch
of billionaires, just as the personal
computer industry did- $5 (C)
The BJoelectrifier Hand hook: This
explains how to binJil or buy a little
electrical gadgei that can help clean
the blood of any virus, tnicrobe, para-
site, fungus or yeast. The prtKess was
discovered by scie mists at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, pat-
ented and then hushed up Jt's curing
AIDS, hepatitis C, and a bunch of
other serious ilhiesses. The circuit can
be built for under S2() from the in-
structions in ihe biKik. $10 tA^
Moondoggte: After reading Renews
book- iVi45.A Mooned America. \ read
everything I could find on our Mixm
landings, t watched ihe \ rdcos. looked
carefully at the photos, read the
asfronaughts' biogmphies. and talked
with some of my readers w*ho worited
for NASA. This book cites 25 s!i>od
reasons I believe Ihe wtiote Apotlo pio-
gfam had to have been faked S5 iD^
Mankind's Extinction Predictinns:
If an\ one of the experts who have
written liooks predicting a soon-to- (
Radio Bookshop
come catastrophe which will virtually
wipe us all out are right, weVe in
trouble. In this book I explain about
the various disaster scenarios, from
Nostradamus, who says the poles will
soon shift, wiping out 97% of man-
kind, fo Sai Baba, who has recently
warned his followers to gel out of Ja-
pan and .Australia before December
6th ihis year. The woi^t part of these
predictions is the accuracy record of
some of the experts. WitI ii be a pole
shift, a new ice age, a massive solar
Hare* a comei or asteroid, or even
Y2K? I'm getting ready, how alxjut
you? $5 (E|
WayneN Sobmarine .Vd^entnres In
WA^ II: Ves. I spent from 1943-1945
on a submarine, right in the middle
of ihe war w ith Japan. We almost gol
sunk several times, and twice 1 was
in die right place at the right time to
save ihc boat, Whai's it realJy like to
bt depth charged? .And what^s the
doily life aboard a submarine like?
There are some ver\' funny stories. If
you're near Mobile, please visit the
brum. S5 (Si
Improvini^ State Government: Here
are 24 wa> s that aLnost any si ate gov-
ernment can cut expenses enor-
mously, while providing far better ser-
vices. I explain how any government
bureau or department can be gotten
to cut its expenses by at least 50% in
three years and do it cooperatively
and emhusiastically. I explain how, by
applying a new technology, the state
can make it possible to provide all
needed services without havinc to
levy any taxes at all? Read the book,
run for your legislature, and let's get
busy making this country work like
its founders wanted it to. Dont leave
this for 'someone else*^ to do. S5 (L)
Travel Diaries; You can travel amaz-
ingly ine?t pensively - once you know
the ropes. Enjoy Sherrv^ and my bud-
get visits to Europe, Russia, and a
bunch of other interesting places.
How about a first class flight to
Munich, a rented Audi* driving to visit
Vienna* Krakow in Poland (and the
famous salt iiiincs^. Prague, back to
Munich, and the tlrst class fhght home
for two, all for under SLOOO, Yes,
when you knou how you can ttavel | -^^"'^
incsipensjvely, and srill stay in first 1
class hoiels. S5 \T} .
Wayne's Caribbean Adveniures: '
More budgei travel siories ~ w here I | City-State*Zip .
V i s i I the hams and sc uba di ve most of ■ ^^^ onfcieii ■ use k
the islands of the Caribbean. Like the
special tJai fare w hich allowed u^ to
visit 1 1 countries in 21 da vs. with me
dtvtng all bui one of ihe islands,
Guadeloupe, where ttie hams kept me
so busy with panics I didn^t have time
to dive, S5 (U>
Silver W'ire: With two 3** pieces of
heavy pure silver wire + three W bat-
teries you can ntake a thousand dol-
lars wonh of silver colloid. Wtiai do
you do with it? Ii does what the anti-
biotics do, but germs can't adapt to
it. Use il 10 get rid of germs on food^
for skin fungus, wans, and e\cn to
drink. Read some botjks on ihe uses of
^d\ er colloid. it*s like inagic. S15 t Yj
CJas.sical Music Guide: A list of tOO
CDs which wilt provide you with an
outstanding colleciion of the finest
classical mu^ic ever written. This is
what you need lo help you reduce
stress. Classical music also raises
youngsters* IQs, helps plants grow
faster, and \ull make you healthjen
Just watt' II you hear some of Gotschalk^s
fabulous music! $5 iZ)
Reprints of .M> EditariaK Srmn 73,
Grist t: 50 of my best ncm-ham oriented
editorials from before 1997. $5 tF»
Grist 11: 50 more choice non-ham
editorials from before 1997. S5 (G^
1997 Editorials: 240 pages. 216 edi-
torials discussing health, ideas for
new businesses, exciting new books
Tve discovered, ways to cure our
country's more serious problems,
night KOO, the nkbhoina City bomb-
ing, more Moort mutlness, and so on.
In ihrce S5 volumes. S15 (O)
1998 Jan- Aug Editorials: 1 8B pages
in two S5 volumes, Tiringing you up
In date. S 10 (Pi
Hum-to-Ilum: 45 of my ham -ori-
ented editoriids. These will help you
bone up on ham history. Great stuff
for hum club newsk'ticr flUer Yes, of
course ihe^c arc controversial. $5 (Q)
%y Million Sales Video: How to gen-
erate extra million in sales using PR.
This will be one of the best invest-
merits yoLir business ever made, $45 (V)
One Hour CW: Using this sneaky
method even yo/i can leani the ^torse
Code in one hour and pass that dumb
5wpm Tech-Plus ham lest. $5. (C W)
CfKle Tape (T5i" Ttiis tape will teach
you the letters, numbers and punctua-
>
tion you need to know if you are go-
ing on to learn the code at 13 wpm or
20 wpm. S5 (T5)
Cade Tape (T13): Once you know the
code for the letters (TS) you can go
immediately to copying 1 3 wpm code
fusing my system). This should only
take two or three days. S5 ^Tl 3J
Code Tape (TlOj: Stiirt right out at
20 wpm and master it in a weekend
for yoiu-Extru Class license. S5 (T20)
Code Tape (T25) Same deaf It
docsn*l take any longer to handle 25
wpm as il does 13. Or use the ARRL
system &. take six monihs-S5 <T25)
Wayne Talks at Dayton: This isa90'
minute tape of the talk f'd have given
at the I>ayton, if ins iied. S5 ( W U
\\ ayne Talks at Tampa: This is Ihe
talk 1 ^ave ai the Tampa Global Sci-
ences conference. I cover cold fusion,
amateur radio, health, books you
should read, and so on. $5 f W2>
Stuff I didn't write, hut \iMi need:
NASA Mooned America: Rene
makes an air-tight case that NASA
faked the Moon landings. This book
wilt convince even you. $25 (Rl >
Last Skeptic of Science: This is
Rene's book u here he debunks a
bunch of accepted scientific beliefs -*
such as the ice ages, the Earth being
a magnet, the Moon causing Ihe tides,
andetc. S25(R2)
Elemental Energy Subscription: t
predict this is going to be ihc tnrgest
indusiU} m ihe world in aboui 20 30
years. They laughed at me when I pre-
dicted the personal computer growth
in l^J75. PCs arc now the third larg-
esi industry in the world. The elcmcn-
luiJ cticrgy grojnd Hoor is still wide
open, but then that might mean giv-
ing up watching ball games and talk
shows on the boob tube. S30 for six
issues. (EE). A sample issue is !)j 10.
Three Gatto Talks: A prize-winning
teacher explain.s what's wrong with
American schools and why our kids
are not being educated. Why are
Swedish youngsters, whosiari school
at 7 years of aee, leaving our kids in
the dusr^* Our kids are intentionally
being dumbed down by our school
system — die least effective and most
expensive in the world. S5 (K>
Radio Bookshop
70 Hancock Road, Peterbaroueh, NH 03458
Call
phone
,Addpess
I
.^,- HHJ Eiufk books vbioLfiL OuLt Lutil pius S> 5>h m L'S.S6Ciil
uss ^
Fofftgn oilfiil&ilttlAHifiweifa^vti^ havi Ijxnh i kjui amBul «iU cost - mikc k gAiJ fue&s
MCATm for d«toi over £ 10. «.
Etpin:
Phone orders: 603^924-Ot)5S • 800-274-7373 • fax: 6C)3-924-S6 1 3
Yes * f^it me down for a vear of 73 for onh 525 fa steal ). Canada US$32*
I
I Foreign LSS44 b> sea, USS67 b\ air Whew!
73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998 63
Barter 'n' Buy
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 you'll get a far
more realistic price If you have it out where 100.000 active ham po-
tential buyers can see it. rather than the tew hundred local hams who
come by a flea market table. Check your attic, garage, cellar and
closet shelves and get cash for your ham and computer gear before
It's too old to sell. You know you're not going lo use it again, so why
leave It for your widow to throw out? That stuff lsn*t getting any
younger!
The 73 Flea Market, Barter 'n' Buy, costs you peanuts (almost)—
comes to 35 cents a word tor individual (noncomnnerciall) ads and
S1.00 a word for commercial 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
number, ir>clude a check or your credit card number and expiration. If
you're placing a commercial ad, include an additional phone number
I separate from your ad-
This is a monthly magazine, not a daily newspaper, so figure a coyple
months before the action starts; then be prepared. If you get too many
calls, you priced it low. If you don't gel 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 newcomer or re-
tired 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 ^As and payment ta; 73 Magazine^ Barter "n'
Buy, 70 Re, 202N, Peterborough NH 03458 and get set for
tht phone calls* The deadline for the MiirLli 1999 classitlcd ad
I section is Januar>- 10, 1999_
I
SELL QRP++ (UPGRADED).
MANUAL. POWER CABLE. HAND
AND DESK MIKES. EXCELLENT
RIG. $400 MONEY ORDER. SHIP-
PING INCLUDED. W4LJD, BOX 30,
SALINAS PR 00751-0030,
BNB340
BIOELECTRfFfiRT'^ 5 Hz micro
current supply for plant and animal
research. Semi-Kit S38.00. As-
sembled complete with batteries and
silver electrodes $89.50. Add S2.50
postage, Thomas MJder, 314 South
9th Street. Richmond IN 47374.
BNB343
RF TRANSISTORS TUBES
2SC2879, 2SC1971, 2SC1972,
MRF247. MRF455. MB8719.
2SC1307. 2SC2029. MRF454.
2SC3133, 4CX250B, 12DQ6.
6KG6A. etc. WESTGATE, 1 (800)
213-4563, , BNB6000
Cash for ColDns: Buy any Coilins
Equipment- Leo KJ6H1. Tei./FAX
(310) 670-6969. [radioleo^earlh-
Irnk.nel] BNB425
MAHLON LOQMIS. fNVENTOR OF
RADIO, by Thomas Appleby (copy*
right 1967), S€H:ond printing avail-
abie from JOHAN K.V. SVANHOLM
N3RF, SVANHOLM RESEARCH
LABORATORIES. P.O. Box 81,
Washington DC 20044. Please send
$25,00 donation with $5.00 for S&H.
BNB420
METHOD TO LEARN MORSE
CODE FAST AND WITHOUT
HANGUPS Johan N3RF, Send
Si .00 & SASE. SVANHOLM RE-
SEARCH LABORATORIES, RO. Box
81 , Washington DC 20044 USA,
BNB421
WWII MILITARY TELEVISION
WANTED: Army /Navy SCR, AT J,
ATK. ARK. ARJ, CEK, CRV, Receiv-
ers, cameras, monitor, transmitters,
dynamotors. Maurice Schechter
590 Willis Ave., Williston Park NY
11596. P/F (516) 294-4416.
BNB69
OSL CARDS. Basic Styles: Black
an6 While and CoJor Picture Cards;
Custom Printed. Send 2 stamps for
samples and literature. RAUMS,
8617 Orchard Rd., Coopersburg PA
18036. Phone or FAX (215) 679-
7238. BNBSig
WANTED; High capacity 12 volt solar
panels for repeater. [kk4ww@tairs.
org] or (340) 763-2321 . BNB2630
COLLOIDAL SILVER GENERA-
TOR! Why buy a "box of batteries"
iOT hundreds of dollars? Current
regulated. AC powered. luMy as-
sembled with ?^12 AWG silver elec-
trodes, S74.50. Same, but DC
powered. S54,50, Add $2,50 ship-
ping. Thomas Miller. 314 South 9th
Street. Richmond IN 47374.
BNB342
Number $4 on your Feedback C9rd
Presider^t Clinton probably doesn't
have a copy of Tormef 's Electronics
Bench Reference but you stiould,
Check it out at [www.ohio.net/
-^rtormet/index. htm]— over 100
pages of circuits, tables, RF design
information, sources, etc.
BNB530
Orlando HamCatlon™ and Com-
puter Show Feb. 12-14, Central
Florida Fairgrounds. ARRL North
Florida Section. Commercial areas
feature over 200 vendors, and swap
area includes over 400 tables. Tail-
gating, forums, testing. Overnight HV
parking witti electric and water. Com-
mercial Information. Tim Stair. (407}
850-9258. E-mail ;AE4NJ'gaoLcomj.
vfsrt our Web page at [WWW.
OARC.ORG] or ser^d SASE tO: Or-
lando HamCatlon™. PC Box
547811 , Ortando PL 32S54.
BNB213
VisualRadio'^ Is a powerful control
software tor AOR, ICOIVI, Kenwood,
JRC, YAESU and more. Starting at
USS 122. Download demo: [http://
oufworld.compuserve.com/
homepages Visualfadio]. For fnfo^or-
der: Cord Schuette St. Johns Ml.
TEL/FAX: (517) 224 1791. E-mail:
ISc^uette ^ email.mintCftv.coml.
BNB601
WANTED: NYE VIKING STATION
MONITOR RFM-003. RFM-005.
Paying S600, Randy Ballard N5WV,
(903)687-3002. [TMTtgPrysm.netl-
BNB5001
ASTRON power supply, brand-new
w/warranty, RS20M S99. RS35M
$145, RS50M S209, RS70M $249,
AVT. Call for other models. (626)
286-0118 BNB411
TELEGRAPH COLLECTOR-S PRICE
GUIDE: 250 pictures pnces. $1 2 post-
paid ARTIFAX BOOKS Box 88,
Maynard MA 01754. Telegraph Mu-
seum: [httpy/wltp.comJ. BNB 1 1 3
HEATH COMPANY is seJHng photO-
copies of most Heathkit manuals
Only authorized source for copyright
manuals. Phone: (616} 925-5899.
8-4 ET BNB964
Neuer srv oie
continued from page 61
officer during ihe \\ ar in Viei-
nam and had never gotten one
useful piece of information
from anv of the inlelliiiciice
age nc ies . Amiy In Le I i igenL c uii iy
is aaintradiction of terms.
%o bad if you missed the
New Yorker article. This was
the masazinc ihat forced the
AM A lo admit I hat ulcers are
caused by the Heliotobaaer
Pylori germ and could be
cured quickly uiih antibioi-
ics, newh thai has cosi ihe
medical eslahtishment billions
of dollars in endless doctor
visits tbr ihe uld ineffective
ulcer treatments. On the posi-
tive side, a recent survey
showed that thousands of doc-
tors are still happily unaware
of the new ireaimcni — and
probably inicnU lu stay un-
aw are of it*
Sporadic E
A note from Neil Spokes
AB4YK points out Ihal spo-
radic E is anything but spo*
radic, in the sen^e of being
non-predictabie. These events
I'cpeat every year, over and
oven on the same days. Thus
ihey must be lied into W'here
the Earth is in its orbit, going
through something — perhaps
a comeiaiy effect.
My Ballot
The Oftlcial ARRL Balldt
allowing me to vole for ihe
Vice Director, arrived. Appar-
ently no one wa.s interested
enoueh in the job to run for
Director, ^o our old used Di-
rector is holding down the spot
for two more years. I looked
o\er the promi>iions for the
two contestants for Director of
Vice. One was Andrea Parker
KIWLX. Her promotion told
all about her niar\elous ac-
complishmenLv bui said noth-
ing about bow I or even the
hobbv iru^ht benefil from her
imporiani self being elected.
Also, she was not smiling in
her phott>. Her look said to me
that she's very, very important
and I'm an insignillcant some-
ihing that probably stuck to
iiumeone's shoe.
The opponcni in the elec-
tion was Michael Raisbeck
KITWR His piece was al-
most all about the Ihings he
wanted lo do to make Uie
hobby better, with just a short
paragraph at ihe end about
himself. And he was smilinu
in his photo.
Cane tu guess who I voted for?
Mtikeawild.stah.
64 73 Amateur Radio Today • December 1998
JRC]
160-10 Meters PLUS 6 Meter Transceiver
Fifteen reasons y\fhy your next HF
transceiver should be a JST'245. . ,
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
All-Mode Operation (SSB.CW.AM.AFSK.FM) on all HF amateur
bands and 6 me!ers, JST-145, same as JST-245 but withCKJl 6
meters and builHn antenna tuner.
ir JST-145 COMING SOON •
MOSFET POWER AMPLIFIER - Final PA utilizes RF MOSFETs
to achieve low distortion and high durability. Rated output is 10
to 150 watts on afi bands including 6 meters.
AUTOMATIC ANTENNA TUNER • Auto tuner included as
standard equipment. Tuner settings are automatically stored
in memory for fast QSY,
MULTIPLE ANTENNA SELECTION • Three antenna connec-
tions are user selectable from front panel Antenna selection can
be stored in memory.
GENERAL COVERAGE RECEIVER • 100 kHz-30 MHz, plus 48-
54 MHz receiver, EJectronically tuned front-end filtering, quad-
FET mixer and quadnjple conversion system {triple conversion
forFM} results *n excellent dynamic range (>100dB) and 3rd order
ICP of +20dBm.
IF BANDWIDTH FLEXIBILITY • Standard 2.4 kHz filter can be
narrowed continuously to 800 Hz with variable Bandwidth Control
(BWC). Narrow SSB and CW lifters for 2nd and 3rd IF optional.
QRM SUPPRESSION • Other interference rejection features
include Passband Shift (PBS), dual noise bianker. 3-step RF atten-
uation, fF notch filter, selectabie AGO and all-mode squeldi.
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.
I 0 CW FEATURES • Full break- in operation, variable CW pitch, built
in electronic l<eyer up to 60 wpm.
I I DUAL VFOs • Two separate VFOs for split-frequency operation.
Memory registers store mosl recent VFO frequency, mode, band-
width and other important parameters for each band.
1 2 200 MEMORIES * Uemoty capacity of 200 channels, each of
which store frequency^ mode. AGC and bandwidth.
1 3 COMPUTER INTERFACE • Built-in RS-232C interface for
advanced computer applications,
1 4 ERGONOM I C 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
suppfy with 'silent" cooling system designed for continuous
transmission at maximim output.
JRC| 0apan Radio Co.,Xid,
430 Park Ave,, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10022 Phone; (212) 355-1 180 Fax: (212) 319-5227
CIRCLE 159 ON READER SERVICE CARD
M£3Il}l^ ^^
m
H
^ 1
J
^'^ ^p^ *ippi jLa i^ i-' ' ' f ,
'Ji. '^ ^ Cl^ r*^ #te ^_ '^ ^- /*■
— ^^ ^"^ JtoMi ^^^ J '^^n»*xv ^^
PC not
induded
The Kachina 505DSP the-art DSP
Computer Controlled HP processing p
Transceiver After twenty years capabilities c
of buitding commercial ^^^^ wondei
transceivers in Arizona, Kachina ^^^^'^ desigr
has decided the time is right for a ^^*"^ ^^^ ^ ^''
new approach to amateur radio, when your a
The Kachina 505DSP ts nothing s^rnuitaneoui
short of a revolution in HF aclivity. antei
transceivers. ^^^^ ^'^'^ '^^
forward and/
Why Use Knobs If You Have and a host o
Windows? The old-fashioned
front panel has become too 13
cluttered to be useful Too many Pertornrtani
knobs, too many buttons. i^'^^*' ^^^P'
Kachina's 505DSP transceiver Kachina 505
connects to your computer's exceptional
serial port and is completely performance
controlled under Windows'^ With "brick-wair d
optional cables, the radio may be adaptive not
remotely located up to 75 feet ^roise reduct
away from your computer '^^ in-band
Imagine combining a state-of- signaMo-noi
Windows /s s trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Specifications and feafur^s subject to char^ge wiihout notice.
the-art DSP transceiver with the
processing power and graphics
capabilities of your PC and you II
soon wonder why all radios
aren't designed this way Why
settle for a tiny LCD display
when your computer monitor can
simultaneously show band
aclivity antenna impedance,
heat sink temperature, SWR,
forward and/or reflected power
and a host of other information?
16/24 Bit DSP/DDS
Performance In addition to
100% computer control, the
Kachina 505DSP offers
exceptional 16/24 bit DSP/DDS
performance. IF stage DSP,
"brick-wair digital filtering,
adaptive notch filters and digital
noise reduction, combined with
low in-band IMP and high
signaHo-noise ratio, produce an
excellent sounding receiver.
Sophisticated DSP technology
achieves performance levels
unimaginable in the analog
world. The transmitter also
benefits from precise 16/24 bit
processing. Excellent carrier and
opposite-sideband suppression
is obtained using superior
phasing -method algorithms. The
RF compressor will add lots of
punch to your transmitted signal
without adding tots of bandwidth,
and the TX equalizer will allow
you to tailor your transmitted
audio for more highs or lows.
The Kachina
•505DSP Computer
Controlled
Transceiver
I
eatures:
Works with any Computer
Running Windows 3.1, 95
or NT
Covers all Amateur HF
Bands plus General
Coverage Receiver
IF Stage 16/24 Bit Digital
Signal Processing (DSP)
J II DSP Bandpass Filter
Widths from too Hz to 3.5
kHz (6 kHz in AM Mode)
Band Activity Display with
Toint and Click"
frequency Tuning
I On-screen Antenna
^ "Smith" Chart. Logging
Software and Help Menus
~ Automatic Frequency
Calibration from WWV or
Other External Standard
"Snapshot** Keys for
instant Reca I of
Frequencies and Settings
Optional Internal Antenna
Tuner
Seeing is Believing
American-made and designed,
and able to stand on its own
against the wor Id^s best, the
505DSP is bound to set the
standard for all that follow. But
don*t take our word for it
Visit our website at
http://www,kachina-az.corfi
for detailed specifications, to
download a demo version of our
control software, or to see a
current list of Kachina deaiers
displaying demonstration models
in their showrooms.
COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
P.O. Box 1949, Cottonwood, Arizona 86326. U.S.A.
Fax: (520J 634-8053, Tel: (520) 634-7828
E-Mail: sales@kachina-az.com