Our March Guest Speaker will be one of Oahu's more notable Hams, NH6YK, Ted Brattstrom. Ted is a teacher at Pearl City High, and has many interests in all parts of the Ham spectrum. He works satellites, 6 meters, goes on DXpeditions to the Pacific islands and works some of the contests. Ted has also been doing incoming QSL distribution for Oahu, for those using the ARRL Bureau. He has been president of EARC and will have alot of interesting things to say about Ham Radio. KARC Member Pete Scheller, NH6VB, will also bring a hand-held AO-27 Satellite Station. There may be a satellite pass during the meeting!
At the Next Meeting the Exchange Box full of magazines, catalogs, parts and books will be there. Come and take some of these magazines and items home or donate some for others. "Show and Tell" needs you to bring something from your shack to show those attending, while you tell about it. Remember, you can not win the prizes, contribute your special ideas and catch up on the latest from your ham friends if you do not attend.
Albert Kaopuilli, WH6CUZ will bring the coffee, and Len Young, KH6NFN, will bring the Donuts! Thanks to all that volunter bring the snacks help keep the room clean.
WANTED IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATE NEWSLETTER EDITOR: We need someone to follow the simple established format (produces Identical "online" and mailed versions of KARC NEWS) if uninterupted publishing is to continue. It is as easy as filling in the story material and information at the right places in the HTML file template with your word processor.It is not Rocket Science or Brain Surgery, and it can not be too hard Greg, WB6FZH, does it!
Future travel and work plans will have Greg off-island more in the future. A smaller content with the same meeting announcements and minutes would be the minimum, and your imagination is the limit. Steal from QST, CQ, World Radio, Playboy, Field and Stream, just make up things! Contact Greg, WB6FZH/KH6 for details.
It is written in JAVA Script and downloads the entire directory. http://pdarrl.org/pacsec/HSRAC/index.html is the Repeater Directory Website URL. The page can be sorted by band and island. This site will be updated as new information is received and be a permanent reference.
A link to this important resource has been added to the KARC Website for your convenience and a print out will be included in a future issue of KARC NEWS.
This year we had so many donated prizes, almost everyone went home with something. There were tools, tape, solder, connectors, soldering kit, and the like donated. As an extra bonus, Len- KH6NFN, donated a used 2m mobile antenna & coax.
Greg said perhaps another place will be availiable next year that meets our requirements of a semi-private area, central location, reasonable price and varried menu. Check with your favorite places, perhaps we can go somewhere else next year.
MARCH
Rod Leap, KL7W, donated his recently deceased computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse to the KARC Computer Program! Thanks Rod, now all we need are some more computers, working or not.
There is growing interest in APRS. If these initials do not do much for you now, wait and see what it will be doing for you in the future! More on APRS in April. Hint: It is a packet program that automatically or manually reports where you are located and displays it on a map!
Theory of operation; This radio is powered by only one thing, the amount of signal you detect with the diode or crystal detector and hear in your heardphones, or amplifier. Your coil, or coil and condenser combination tune to the Broadcast Band frequency of your choice, and you hear the signal that is changed from Radio Frequency energy to Audio Frequency energy right between your ears.
For this project I will make some subsitution suggestions to give you more choices in your project. You may want to build this for fun or a gift or it as a project with a grandchild, etc. If you wish to build a more genuine replica, I have some photocopies of 1920s & 30s crystal set projects that I would be happy to copy for you. If you contact Antique Radio Supply, 6221 S.Maple Avenue, Tempe, AZ (602)820-5411, has a free catalog with parts, tubes and some great books. In their catalog they also have a few kits too. Antique Radio Supply is also a good source of parts for repairing that old tube set you have too.
Parts List for Crystal Radio Set
-PICTORIAL DIAGRAM ON BACK OF ADDRESS PAGE-
Congratulations, you have just built a time machine...73, Greg, WB6FZH.
As the MIR Space Station was almost 1800 miles away and out of range, at 3 degrees above the N/E horizon, thier signals were received in Northern California at N6CO's, QTH, and a message was quickly sent back by Dave saying "Hello Hawaii" with the 358 Mile up MIR .30 (less than 1 degree) above his horizon in what Greg estimates was a 20-30 second window.
Sid and Greg had hoped that their signals would be read in Mainland US, but figured it would only be if someone used the "MH" function of MIR's TNC. They never really figured that they would get that lucky, as MIR is rarely ever in the optimum position for KH6 to mainland contact.
Sid will be bringing some prints of SSTV pictures received by himself and others to the Club Meeting 3/13/99. Pete, NH6VB, is working on an adapter too. Pete will bring a handheld AO-27 Satellite Station to the 3/13 meeting.
I was at the big 5 watt level this time with a choice of two verticals. One at the edge of the water, one 70' inland 10' up. Contacts to the East Coast on 20/15 & 10 were made, but several operators worked hard to pull my KH6 QRP signal through. Propagation was good for most of the CW section.
The ARRL DX Contest/SSB section (March 6/7) was another story...conditions were not as good, and were up and down... on 10 and 15 it seemed every few minutes signals would come and go. Even the East coast US was hard to reach.
During the SSB portion, it is always fun to hear the astonishment in the voice, or when they ask for a repeat of the power level. It is not unusual for the often stoic and disiplined contest operators to make nice coment or wish good luck (knowing we QRPers will need it!) with QRP, etc.
This year I did not have the time to mount defense of my last several years winning of the QRP division of the SSB/CW Pacific Section of Pacific Division of ARRL DX Contest, I did send my entry in to atleast show I was there in the pages of QST.
I have been asked by a few KARC members how does one make QRP contacts in Contests while people with beams, kilowatt amplifiers, automated voice keying, with computer logging and the like and expect to he heard with a signal that is several "S" Units under the average station. The answer is that it is not as easy, but with persistance it is possible. A few suggestions...
1) Listen to the band for a while, get a feeling for what part of the world is finding it's way to your location. Then see which signals are the strongest, where are they? Who are they talking to? Are they working station after station without calling "CQ Contest" ? If so imagine that there is a real pile-up on his frequency at his end, and you would be on the very bottom!
2) Did you hear someone just ask if the frequency is in use? Did they just call CQ Contest for the first time? Try immediately to call this station, if no luck, try immediately after he concludes with the station he is exchanging information with, you many get lucky..your QRP signal may be the only station he hears. If there is a silence, immediately try again, while pausing from time to time to listen on the frequency incase he has started calling CQ right on top of your QRP signal!
3) Keep moving, turn that dial.. Make notes as you go, jotting down the call letters, SPC (state,province,country) and last digits of the frequency he is on, you may want to go back and try again, propagation changes, the number of stations all calling at one time changes.
4) Listen to the callsigns of the stations they are recognizing... are they all in the oposite direction? He probably has a beam pointed elsewhere. Do not be afraid to call even those stations that are using beams pointed elsewhere, if they have a strong signal. If the signal you are listening to is 20/S9, and running as much as a KW, all things being equal you might be S6 or stronger at his location.
5) If all else fails, find a clear freqency and call CQ Contest, short calls, with lots of listening...if you do not have any takers after a few tries.. Keep moving, look around the band and try again, always keep listening and do not be afraid to call stations that are not very strong either. Often when the conditions are very good, and you have no results with the strong stations (because they are working stations with more power than your 5 Watts, that are stronger at his end)..Then start calling the moderately strong signals, If you call several times, and get a couple QRZs or part of your call correct..try a few more times, but do not waste alot of the other stations time or your own. Keep moving...listening... writing.
6) Consider a headset with microphone and VOX, it leaves your hands free to write and tune as you go up and down the bands. These tips will work at any power level. If you have not tried contesting, give it a try, there are lots of skilled operators with patience compassion for everyone, who help you along. There are also a few jerks like in every part of society, that will not work with a weak signal stations.
7) Consider visiting URL www.contesting.com or one of the other sites that have helpful information, or subscribe to a contesting magazine, like ARRL National Contest Journal.
The CQ WW WPX Contest is coming up, stations all over the world will be listening for your prefix...will you be there to answer the call?
DIRECTORS
PROGRAM CHAIRMAN- Howard, WH6LF 247-0775
NEWSLETTER
CLUB MEETINGS
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN- Jerry Mulherin, WH6BKQ, 235-3042, email:jerham@aloha.net
MAILING ADDRESS- KARC c/o J.Mulherin, 45-145 Mikihilina St., Kaneohe, HI 96744
VEC TESTING
2 METER ACTIVITY
CLUB CALL: KH6J
KARC WEBSITE