`The Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club Newsletter
THE TRANSCEIVER
January 2021Club Web Page: http://www.KVARC.org
Not for This Weekend
(It might be too cold!)
There are a few things that just about any amateur radio operator should be able to do. And one of those things is to build a useful antenna.
Many new technician operators build their own ¼ wave ground plane antenna for 2-meters. This antenna will most likely be useable in some portion of the 70 centimeter band.
But what I really want to talk about is some antenna basics. But we will start with a story. A man posted to the internet that he had built an end fed dipole (40 meters) with 49:1 unun. He was asking if he should use it as is, or shorten it. His post indicated a SWR of well over 2:1 on low end of the band, 2:1 in middle, and a bit lower on the high end of the band. On 15 and 20, he just gave a range of readings, but all were higher on the low end of the band. But then 40
Editor: Doug Dunton www.kvarc.org`
ARRL Affiliated Since 1926
2020 Club Officers
President: Paul Mills Vice President: Leo Hoffmann Secretary: Susan Sims
meters was not good, over 2:1 all across the band, but again highest on the low end of the band. My instant response was that it was already too short.
I responded with it appears to already be too short. And then asked how long. His reply was 65 feet. My head instantly told me 67 feet. I suggested he try 67 feet, give or take a few inches. Other than experience, how did I know this? First, lower SWR on high end of the band, told me it was too short, resonate point was most likely above the top of the band. Second, the speed of light.
The speed of light is 300 million meters per second (actually a little less), megaHertz is 1 million cycles per second. Therefore if we divide the 300 million meters/sec by the frequency in MHz, we get the wavelength in meters.
300 / 7.000 = 42.857 meters divide by 2 for ½ wave 21.429 convert feet 70.285 feet 300 / 7.150 = 41.958 meters 20.979 ( x 3.2808 ) 68.811 feet 300 / 7.300 = 41.096 meters 20.548 67.397 feet
So, as you can see, my off the top of my head answer was close. And probably close enough. If you don’t remember the conversion factors to feet, just type it into your internet search engine for an instant answer.
Now get ready to make some antennas when spring gets here!
No club meeting for January, as the club voted to not have a meeting on New Years Day. Also, no banquet this year due to Shawnee County restrictions making it difficult.
Until next Month,
73 de AC0HY
Treasurer's Corner
It's membership renewal time, so please bring your dues payments to a club meeting or mail your renewal to us at the address on the membership form.
The PO box is normally checked a few days before the end of the month, so don't be concerned if it takes a while for your check to clear. I will be checking more frequently for November through January. Monthly Financials
Checking Savings Repeater 1 Nov. Balance $1,141.01 $4,407.37 $409.88 Dues $ 90.00 Donations $ 115.00 $115.00 Interest $ 0.55 1 Dec. Balance $1,346.01 $4,407.92 $524.88 ~K0SPN
KVARC Web Site Calendar
There is a calendar on the club web site again, to help people keep track of upcoming events, test sessions, etc.
If you know of an event that local amateurs would be interested in, please email [email protected] and put ‘Calendar’ in the subject line, and give as much detail, and links if possible, to the event and I will get it put into the calendar as soon as possible.
Field Day:
Some thoughts on Field Day, Covid-19 and Contesting
Covid has surely changed the way people interact with each other. As it pertains to amateur radio it has drastically increased participation in contests by people who most likely would not even consider putting forth the effort. This, most recently, was dramatically displayed when 2020 rules changed on Field Day which allowed Class D stations to work other Class D stations for credit. Lets analyze the impact that it had in the contest.
Historically viewing the last 10 years of Field Day Entrants regardless of class for each year total entries:
Year Entrants 2010 2617 2011 2632 2012 2617 2013 2548 2014 2687 2015 2619 2016 2697 2017 2965 2018 2902
2019 3112 2020 10212
What impact did this have on the previous year’s numbers?
The classes that emerged were Class D and E. In 2019 there were 769 D and 452 E for a total of 1221. In 2020 there were 6318 D and 1980 E for a total of 8298. WOW! Now looking at this from an emergency standpoint this increased E or emergency power operators by 1528 running generators at their home stations. That is more people preparing for Emergency communication in the entire history of Field Day. That my friends is a positive impact. Covid-19 had a significant role in having people prepare for emergencies. More than ever before, emergency
preparation was tested and readiness for emergency operation was displayed. This has never happened in the history of Field Day. Changing the rules so that D stations could work D stations for credit was a game changer in participation by true operators.
2019 2020 CW QSO 456,346 821,190 Digital QSO 138,848 380,317 Phone QSO 500,775 661,478
First and for most, many excellent CW ops do not get much of a chance to
operate the mode at field day. Fast CW Ops can rack up the QSOs far better than Phone operators. There is not any of this how is the weather there and all this, “Copy your Twoooo Allllllllpha Kansas, Keeeeng Shuuuugarh, now Pleeeeezee Copy my 2 Bravo Michigan that is, I say, 2 Bee Mike India QSL? and by the way how is the Weather there in Kansas and what are you guys havin foah suppah?” CW exchange is 2B KS K then R TU QRZ NJ8M. At 35 WPM that is a max of 8 TO 15 seconds per QSO.
In 2020 phone QSOs stayed pretty much the same with increased participation where CW QSOs almost doubled with digital QSO more than doubling. People who wanted to operate got to operate and really could have a great time because there was not assigned op times from home and you could operate as much or as little as you wanted and had all the comforts to really get into the contest. Oh, sorry, FD is not a contest!
The final conclusion from all the stats is in 2019 there were 1,095,969 QSOs and in 2020 there were 1,862,985 QSOs. An increase because of rule change by 767,016 QSO or roughly an increase of over 2019 by 75%. This is the highest participation of OPERATORS in any FD event in the history of FD.
What did this mean for me? There was always somebody to work. The bands were never dead. It was great fun and I mean one of the most enjoyable contests that I have ever worked. It does not count and it was just for the sheer joy of operating. My conclusion is: Don’t change the rules back and send this message to the Contest Advisory Committee of the ARRL. This year was a blast.
What did this mean for Jackson ARC. Well, NS0R and NJ8M reported all of our scores to count for Jackson ARC. We placed 45th out of 10,212. Which means that
Jackson ARC was put on the map with it’s operators winning the Midwest division. In the world of contesting there is only First place because Second place is next to
last and Third place is Last. Everyone else gets a participation certificate. Bla Bla bla...in reality, in Zero Land we took 4th...I guess we got more work to do. There is
always 2021 and what can give us a higher place in the pile. Maybe we should run QRP CW and get 5x mults instead of 2x. 2 12volt deep cycle batteries would easily run the whole contest and a solar panel to charge them and then do a satellite contact and add another 200 point and another 100 points for the message sent to the SCM and another 100 points for copying the message from W1AW and another 100 points for putting it on Facebook and another hundred points for a sign in the front yard and another fifty or a hundred points here and there...etc. Now there is a few thoughts! Oh hell, I would just rather call CQ and work stations and rack up the QSOs.
73 from the antagonistic voice of reason, Morgan NJ8M
Reminders:
Annual 2020 Membership form at http://www.kvarc.org/Forms/KVARC%20App%201.pdf
Ham FAQ: For Hams new to the area or are just licensed - http://www.kvarc.org/misc/Ham-FAQ.pdf Ham bands Chart from ARRL
-http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf Larrys List web page - http://larryslist.info/
Skywarn Info
If you are on Twitter follow @SkywarnTOP to get spotter activation for NE Kansas. For Wichita area follow @SkyWarnICT
Contesting
info at https://www.contesting.com/ and https://www.contestcalendar.com/contestcal.html Arrl contest pdf at:
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Contest%20Calendar/2019/ARRL%20Contests%20Calendar%202019-2020-RevA.pdf
At the December meeting, the topic of running a special event station for the Heartland Military Day on 12 June, 2021 at the Kansas National Guard Museum was again brought up. It was moved, seconded, and voted in favor of having this special event, and we will be using a 1x1 callsign (TBD). While details still need to be finalized, the overview of what we plan to do is have one or two stations on the air, say 20m and 40m SSB, setting up in the morning and working until evening. There will be a special certificate or QSL card to be sent to those who contact us during the event.
If you would like to help plan, run the station, help answer questions from the public, (or anything else you can think of) during the event, please let us know, and definitely send along any other ideas for the event to our usual email address ([email protected]) with “Military Day” in the subject line. We will apply for the special event callsign soon so that the event info can be sent to ARRL for publication in the Special Events section of QST magazine.
From the Kansas National Guard Museum website :
“The Kansas National Guard Museum will be hosting its annual Heartland Military Day on June 12, 2021.
There will be a pancake breakfast in the morning followed by a day packed with military equipment displays Civil War and World War Two reenactments, live bands and a noon cookout. There will be military vehicle rides courtesy of the MVPA and a silent auction.
Please join us for a day of comradery as we commemorate the service of thousands of Kansas National Guardsmen.”
Also on site from 9-16 June will be the national Remembering Our Fallen exhibit, which is a tribute to the 5,000+ American lives given in the Global War on Terrorism since 9-11. It is a series of panels with photos of those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice.
More information about the exhibit can be found at :
• Test session on Jan 30th at Museum of the Kansas National Guard at 2pm. Pre-register with Paul
at wpmills.com go to the Amateur radio tab open the exam link, scroll down the page and fill in the form
•
NO KVARC meeting in January due to falling on New Years Day
and NO Banquet this year due to Covid etc
• KVARC Club meeting on Feb 5th. Meeting starts at 730pm. Location is
Kansas National Guard Museum. Eyeball QSO starts between 600pm and 7pm
• Monday night Shakk Yakkers net at 800pm on 10m approx. 28.350 mHz • Monday night 900 mHz net at 700pm on 927.525 mHz repeater
• Tuesday night - Alpha 1 ARES net on 145.27- (88.5 tone) at 830pm
• Tuesday night at 7:30pm, on the 224.84 repeater in Topeka. Minus offset (i.e. 223.24 in) and
88.5 Hz tone.
• Wednesday night - Wild on Wednesday simplex net on 147.440 at 730pm run by KB0WOW –Dan • Saturday nights – K-Link net 444.525- (162.2 tone) 9pm run by N0MXI Chuck covers the entire
K-Link repeater system
• Thursday - every Thursday of the month except the 3rd – Osage County Club holds a net on 147.300 repeater at 2000 hr.
• Osage County Amateur Radio Club has their monthly meeting at Scranton Tavern every 3rd Thursday starting at 7pm. Members usually get there starting a 6pm and have dinner first
• ERC net on Sundays at 830pm on 147.575 simplex. from N0JRD
• CW Training net Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm (0600 UTC Wednesdays) - Frequency:
3.555 mHz
+/-• Amateur Extra Class Jan 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th - location is the Shawnee County
Kansas repeater information is available at www.ksrepeater.com on the left side click on ‘repeater directory’. Once there you may click on any column heading and re-sort the list. Click once for ascending and a second time for descending
Local Repeaters: Alma 444.525 + W0KHP-1 162.2 K-Link Auburn 146.805 - WV0S-1 162.2 DMR Basehor 443.550 + N9GRQ-1 151.4 Allstar Burlingame 443.875 + N0OFG-2 88.5 Carbondale 147.300 + KB0WTH-1 88.5 Carbondale 443.125 + WB0PTD-1 Holton 146.775 - AA0MM-1 Lawrence 146.760 - W0UK-1 88.5 Lawrence 147.03 + KE0QNS-1 88.5 Lawrence 444.750 K0USY-3 DMR Lawrence 442.275 N1HWC-1 YSF Lawrence 443.800 K0USY-1 88.5 DMR+ Lawrence 444.900 + K0HAM-4 88.5 Lecompton 444.825 + K0USY-4 88.5 DMR
Osage City 146.925 - N0OFG-1 88.5
St Mary’s 146.955 - K0HAM-2 88.5
Topeka 52.91 - K0HAM-1 88.5
Topeka 145.270 - W0CET-1 88.5
Topeka 145.450 - W0CET-2 88.5
Topeka 146.670 - WA0VRS-1 88.5 ECHOLINK157350
Topeka 224.840 - WA0VRS-2 88.5
Topeka 442.025 + W0SIK-1 D-STAR
Topeka 442.225 + W0CET-3 88.5 DMR Topeka 442.425 + W0CET-4 88.5 Topeka 443.625 + K0USY-1 DMR Topeka 443.925 + WA0VRS=3 88.5 Topeka 444.725 + K0HAM-3 88.5 Topeka 927.525 - N0YUR-1 88.5 Topeka ??? 444.400 + N0CBG 88.5 Local Simplex:
146.52/446.00 National simplex frequencies
147.440 used by KB0WOW Wednesday night(730pm) informal net and other informal conversations
Just a quick reminder of some best practices for repeater use.
Recently on the 145.27 repeater, it seemed that there was someone deliberately interfering with the repeater, but it turned out to be a hardware problem with the repeater itself.
Certainly, when it appears that someone is trying to use the repeater but has a signal or audio problem, we should definitely let that person know they are not being heard.
However if there is someone maliciously interfering with the repeater, it's best to not in any way acknowledge that there is interference; either at that moment, or talking with others later, as that just tends to exacerbate the problem.
When there is a problem with the repeater, the best thing to do is report it to the repeater owner/trustee, along with as much information as possible about what is happening: Times of day (if it's regular); transmitting
music/swearing/dead key, etc.; if you can hear the interferer on reverse mode (the input frequency), and if so, if you can get a bearing on the signal. Once we found out that the repeater controller was saying "port 2 timeout", that narrowed down the possibilities and made it relatively simple to find and fix the problem.
Also, get some experience tracking down "rogue" transmitters an
upcoming foxhunt. Then, if we do have someone interfering with a repeater in the future, you'll know how to pinpoint their location.
Other info:
• Do you have interest in a particular mode or band etc? Would you like to get others involved also? Why not contribute an article or column here in the newsletter? Could be 220mHz, CW, Antennas,
contesting, digital modes(FT8?) or mesh networking. There are hundreds of other topics. Send me an
email at [email protected] to talk about it. Or, if
you are an expert in a particular subject, help others join in that interest by giving a program on it at a club meeting. (Let’s give Paul a break now and then)
Local club websites: Topeka – www.KVARC.org
Osage County - http://osagecountyarc.org/
MFJ-259C Antenna Analyzer - $200
Excellent condition, covers 530kHz-230MHz
Includes analyzer, padded case with strap, and TransTenna software to make the analyzer function more like a VNA and allowing you to save plots for future reference
MFJ-29D - $25
Padded case for MFJ-259C. This is an extra, one is already included with the 295C I am selling.
Contact me at [email protected] for more.
~K0SPN
Yaesu FT227 2 m portable for sale
Vern KE0QYO
The equipment of silent key KA0FZR will be for sale on
Jan 8th 9a to 5p Jan 9th 9a to noon and Jan 10th 9a to 5p
Address 5201 Sw 27th St, Topeka
If someone wants a list please email
[email protected]
or
call 785 272 6102
Vern Failor
KE0QYO
Please send any equipment you have for sale and I will include in next month’s issue
Elmer-ing
Attached is a form for letting me know what you might be interested in having help with. Or If are available to help someone. Please fill in as appropriate and email back to me or bring to the club meeting Friday.
I have mentioned this new item to a few people, I would like to suggest adding a get together some other time of the month as a learning session. I am open to suggestions as to a day and time. I can try to schedule time at the library or if a different location is available I would take that as a suggestion also. So what do you think? Let me know by email or at the club meeting.
“Need/willing to be” an Elmer Info
Call ________________
Name ______________________________
How to contact Location
Phone _____________________ City ____________________ Email _____________________ Long/Lat____________________ Other _____________________ Grid square__________________
want/need help
Interests level of expertise Willing
to help Antennas CW Digital General Info Radio to buy APRS ATV
Level of expertise (1-5) 1=beginner, 5=expert
