Cheese Bits Aug 2004 - Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club Inc.
Contents
1. CheeseBits sruffin c3iusa com AUGUST 2004 9 CheeseBits clo Doc Whitticar W3GAD 28 Twining Bridge Rd Newtown PA 18940 9704 REMINDERS EME CONFERENCE 6 7 8 August UHF Contest 7 8 August PACKRATS AUGUST MEETING and PICNIC 14 August with rain date of 15 August 10 Ghz cumulative Contest 21 22 August and 18 19 September September QSO Party Club Competition PACKRATS HAMFEST 10 October this is also Columbus Day weekend TEST CLASS MT AIRY VHF RADIO CLUB INC ee DOWN EAST MICROWAVE Manufacturers and Distributors Of VHF UHF SHF Equipment and Parts 50 to 10 368 MHz Microwave Loop Yagis No Tune Linear Transverters Linear Power Amplifiers Low Noise Preamps Coax Relays Coax Cable Connectors Crystals Chip Capacitors MMICs Transistors RF Modules For All Equipment and Antennas Steve Kostro N2CEI 954 Rt 519 Frenchtown NJ 08825 Tel 908 996 3584 Fax 908 996 3702 http www downeastmicrowave com2. SM5BSZ will run a number of commercial radios through a battery of tests designed to establish their strengths and weak nesses Transmitter tests will include spectral purity under constant carrier hand keyed CW and normal voice SSB operation receiver tests will also be per formed Tests will be made using Linrad Leifs ex tremely capable software defined radio as a high dy namic range spectrum analyzer as well as conven tional signal generators spectrum analyzers etc Find out how well your radio stacks up against others Learn which ones are unusually susceptible to QRM from nearby strong signals on RX or may pro duce strong out of channel interference to others on TX If you bring a radio to be tested we will need 1 The radio and an operator who is familiar with it 2 DC power cord if required 3 The microphone that came with the radio 4 Optional connector or cable for the ALC port and the user manual A 13 8 V DC power supply and dummy load will be available It will be helpful if you let us know in advance what radio s you will bring for testing There is still time to register for the Confer ence but please do not wait until the last minute Please email us if you have any questions info eme2004 com 73 Marc N2U0 amp Al K2UYH New QTH for Walt BohIman K3BPP 5024 Clymer Rd Quakertown Pa 18951 E mail Work walt bohlman baesystems com E mail Home walterbohlman comcast net work would probabl
3. 18301 Phone 570 424 0845 Email w3mj ptd net e 10 October 2004A PACKRATS ANNUAL HAMFEST HEALTH and WELFARE It is with sincerest sympathy that we report that Joe Landis AA3GN lost his mother to pancreatic cancer on July 14 2004 Services were held on July 16th CheeseBits AUGUST 2004 8 September VHF QSO Party Club Competition Fellow Rodents of an Acquisitive Nature Packrats As some of you who closely read their August QST may be aware the September VHF QSO Party features club competition similar to the January VHF contest From the September rules 7 1 6 Top scoring club in each club competition category will be awarded a gavel See General Rules for all ARRL Contests for club competition information I have volunteered to be the September contest chairper son this year so I am giving all Rats the heads up that the contest dates are 1800 UTC Saturday September 11 through 0300 UTC Monday September 138 2004 Over the next weeks and days I will be encouraging all club members through various channels to get on oper ate the contest and submit your logs for club scoring I could use advice on how best to motivate everyone to get radio active for the September contest This might be the start of a proud new tradition of winning gavels like we have done consistently through the years in January 73 and more to follow Joe W3KJ RAIN SCATTER REPORT I have an interesting 5 7 ghz rain scatter story I was
4. RATE 16 00 PER YEAR USA 20 00 PER YEAR CANADA 24 00 PER YEAR ELSEWHERE 10 PDF only We operate on a PDF exchange basis with other non commercial publications Anything that is printed in CHEESE BITS may be reprinted in a not for profit publication unless stated otherwise provided proper credit is given Deadline for articles and swap shop is the monthly meeting date Non commercial swap shop items free of charge Pack Rat Web Site http www ij net packrats SUBSCRIPTION ADVERTISING MANAGER Bob Fischer W2SJ 7258 Walnut Avenue Pennsauken NJ 08110 856 665 8488 bobw2sj prodigy net EDITOR Doc Whitticar W3GAD 28 Twining Bridge Rd Newtown PA 18940 215 968 6397 CLUB TREASURER Dave Mascaro W3KM 1603 Mink Road Ottsville PA 18942 215 795 2648 dmascaro motorola com TRUSTEE OF CLUB CALL W3CCX Ron Whitsel W3RJW 215 355 5730 W3RJW aol com PACKRAT 222 MHz REPEATER W3CCX R 222 98 224 58 MHz Churchville PA doc docstech com OFFICERS 2004 05 PRESIDENT K1DS Rick Rosen VICE PRES N4HY Bob McGwier rwmcgwier comcast net CORR SEC WA3EHD Jim Antonacci tonacci worldnet att net rick1ds hotmail com An REC SEC K3EGE Bill Shaw K3EGE aol com TREAS W3KM Dave Mascaro dmascaro motorola com DIRECTORS 1 Yr W3KJ Joe Keer 1 yr KiJT Joe Taylor 2Yr KB3HCL Dave Fleming 2Yr AA3GN Joe Landis COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN w3kj comcast net k1jt arrl net KB3HCL arrl net joe landis draegermed com
5. fan noise despite running several hundred watts on the bottom 4 VHF bands He has engi neered the basement shack in a series of rooms so that the control portion of the station and rigs is well isolated from the amplifiers their racks and power supplies and all of the interconnecting cabling He has an ambitious plan to continue to increase his output power with additional amplifiers and with signals through 3456 at present he is sure to be a popu lar station from that sparsely populated grid and will certainly be a strong competitor for the contests ha ae Phil KSTUF at home in his quiet operating position WISDOM They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth PLA TO AUGUST 2004 4 NR6CA s Rover trip Our trip started early on Monday 31 May My self Della and Kako our little Bichon Frise headed out in a rented 29 foot motorhome The motorhome was well stocked with supplies and complete equip ment for 13 ham bands We set out for Delta Utah our first overnight stop We took our time on the drive and spent some time in CO then on to WY and then to the Mt Rush more area of SD state 48 for me where we spent 3 days and 4 nights What a wonderful place but more then a week is required to see all the major attractions Then we moved on to ND state 49 and stopped in Rugby ND the geographical center of North Amer ica Over the next few days we traveled through MN WI IL IN OH and then into West
6. folks on the mountain That eve ning I worked W3CCX on 6 2 222 432 and 5760 and got those bands out of the way With the microwave guys busy I let the other bands go until Sunday Sun CheeseBits day morning we made the 10 GHz 24 GHz 47 GHz and laser contacts Then I went off to repair the 903 3456 equipment The temporary fix was easy so those bands were on the air quickly All I did was to lift the common grounds for the relays and put a 12 volt bat tery from it to ground giving me about 26 volts I did n t set the antennas up for those bands and instead used a dummy load This was easy but did not allow me to work other stations Time was getting tight W2PED asked if I was willing to go to Sandy Hook and try to work W3CCX from FN30 About 3 hours later I had 144 and 5760 set up We were able to work on 144 but signals were not that strong with a lot of QSB We found that 5760 was not going to work after a half hour or so of putting carriers up at both ends By this time it was around 1900 or so and the winds were getting really strong Much to Paul s cha erin I decided to pack up and call it a day Had the winds been calm I would have tried at least a couple of other bands starting with 10 GHz We headed down the Garden State Parkway to find a place to spend the night A couple of days visiting my Dad and other family in NJ and then we headed through Delaware Maryland and Washington for a visit with Della s sister and hus
7. joins the board for a 2 year Director s term _The remaining members of the Executive Board are all familiar faces The entire Board of Directors needs your support and your input to keep the club moving ahead August is shaping up to be one of the busiest months in 2004 To start off we have the INTERNA TIONAL EME Conference at The College of New Jersey 5 6 and 7 August see article That same weekend is the ARRL UHF Contest As the month progresses we have the PACKRATS picnic at Al s N3ITT on August 14th or 15th if it rains and the 10 GHz cumulative Contest All these scheduled activities plus lots of antenna parties to be fin ished for the September Contest We are also continuing with the follow ups on the excellent efforts for W3CCX in the June contest it looks like a 2 place showing ahead of N3EAR The team tried many new ideas and improvements to stations I had the pleasure of wielding the spatula for the entire weekend and tried different menu ideas to keep meals simpler and keep ere down too Your comments on the food are always welcome The Rovers have done an excellent job for June and we are looking forward to working them in September and more importantly in January 2005 I have several rover tales this month and a few pictures too There has been a lot of traffic on the reflectors about the recent e skip on 50 and 144 meters with reports of a bit spilling over to 222 A little E Skip would make the Sept
8. we do it again next year Who knows but we just might be up for it I told W2PED if the Club gets 76 GHz gear that I will come out with all 14 bands Something tells me that s not quite enough in centive but you just never know 73 de Randy NR6CA DM09cj Reno NV QRV 160 meters 76 GHz plus laser thtp www nr6ca org Robert A Griffiths Attorney at Law KLETT ROONEY LIEBER amp SCHORLING A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 12th Floor Two Logan Square Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19103 2736 215 567 7857 215 567 2737 e mail ragriffiths klettrooney com FAX AUGUST 2004 7 WHATS HAPPENING A LISTING OF INTERESTING EVENTS e Aug 6 7 8 2004 International EME Conference The College of New Jersey Check http www qsl net eme2004 Contact Marc Franco N2UO 3 Nami Lane Unit C 9 Hamilton NJ 08690 Phone 609 584 8424 or Email info eme2004 com e Aug 7 8 ARRL UHF Contest For rules see page 107 of the July issue of QST e 68 Aug 2004 Jersey Shore ARS Hamfest For more info check http www jsars org or contact Ed Genoino WA2NDA 1429 Island View Drive Forked River NJ 08731 Phone 609 971 2792 e mail wa2nda aol com e 12 Aug 2004 Packrat BOD Meeting at W3KKN s all are welcome e 14 August Saturday PACKRAT Picnic at N3ITT s Rain date is Sunday 15 August e 15 Aug 2004 Carroll County MD ARC Hamfest at Westminster MD For info check http www qis net k3pzn or check Steve Beckman N3S
9. B 2145 Bethel Road Finksburg MD 21048 Phone 410 876 1482 Email n3sb qis net e 2 22 Aug 2004 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest See August QST page 107 for rules Second weekend is 18 19 September e 22 Aug 2004 Gloucester County ARC Hamfest at Mullica Hill NJ Contact Harry Bryant AA2WN PO Box 496 Pennsville NJ 08070 Phone 856 678 6091 Email aa2wn arrl net e 9 Sept Packrat BOD Meeting e Sept 10 12 The 2004 TAPR ARRL Digital Communications Conference will be held September 10 12 at the Air port Holiday Inn in Des Moines Iowa You ll find more conference information on the Web at http www tapr org dcc We are now accepting papers for the conference proceedings You do NOT have to be present at the conference to have your paper included in the proceedings Please send your submission by August 10 to Maty Weinberg ARRL 225 Main Street Newington CT 06111 or Email maty arrl org e 11 12 13 Sept 2004 VHF QSO Party See August QST page 107 for rules e 11 12 Sep 2004 Maryland DC Section Convention Foundation for Amateur Radio Hamfest at Gaithersburg MD For more info contact http Awww amateurradio far org or Dan Blasberg KA8YPY PO Box 1013 College Park MD 20741 Ph 301 345 7381 Email ka8ypy arrl net e 11 Sep 2004 Pocono ARK amp Eastern PA ARA Hamfest at Bartonsville PA For information check http www qsl net n3is hamfest htm or contact Bill Connelly W3MJ RD 3 Box 3165 East Stroudsburg PA
10. January Contest AA2UK June Contest N3ITT amp KF6AJ HAMARAMA WA3DRC VHF Conference KB3XG 610 584 2489 Awards Chairman WA3SGFZ 215 884 3116 QUARTERMASTER K3IUV Bert Soltoff soltoff uscom com PACKRAT BEACONS W3CCX B FM29jw Philadelphia PA 50 080 144 284 222 065 432 295 903 071 1296 251 MHz 2304 037 3456 220 5763 190 10 368 140 MHz as of 3 1 01 MONDAY NIGHT NETS TIME FREQUENCY NET CONTROL 7 30 PM 90 150 MHz WA3EHD K3EOD 8 00 PM 144 150 MHz N3ITT 8 30 PM 222 125 MHz W2SJ N3EXA 8 30 PM 224 58R MHz W3GXB 9 00 PM 432 110 MHz W3RJW FN20le 9 30 PM 1296 100 MHz WA3NUF FN20le 10 00 PM 903 125 MHz AA3GN FN20ig 10 30 PM 2304 085 MHz W3KJ FN20hg amp go to 3 4G amp up as net progresses CheeseBits Editor s Column As we begin the new year with the PACKRATS Board of Directors a lot has been happening First as the nominations committee chairperson I ae Rick K1DS to be President His acceptance came with a caveat I had to become editor of CHEESBITS I am not as articulate as Rick but I will do my best to carry on his tradition with this excellent publication Our new Vice President Bob McGwier N4HY is full of energy and also gets along well with Rick I am sure he will find some very interesting programs for our meet ings K3EGE has now been elected as Secretary AA3GN returns for another 2 years as Director W3KJ replaces K1DS and KIJT will replace me for the 1 year Directors KB3HCL Dave Fleming
11. Mt AIRY VH F RADIO CLUB INC CHEESE 3lys W3CCX Affiieted CLUB MEMORIAL CALL Club Volume XLVI AUGUST 2004 Number ins Prez Sez It has been gratifying to see all the activity this summer both socially and on the air I know that several members are doing antenna and tower work while there is good weather and plenty of help avail able as some of us were out at K3TUF s place and WA3NUF got W3GXB s tower and antenna situa tion fixed Please make your needs known and let s make sure we re prepared as we participate in the UHF Contest for those not going to the EME Conference the September VHF QSO Party and the Fall Sprints The winds of winter will be here so don t delay The 10G amp Up activity also takes place over two weekends in Aug and Sept and even if you don t have 10G gear you might want to tag along with some of us as we rove those days to see what it s like I understand that besides myself WA3GFZ W3KJ N4HY and possibly N3FTI will do some mountain topping The Board of Directors has en dorsed club participation in the September event and Joe W3KJ is serving as the chairperson for this event Please give him your support air time and submit logs We are expecting to see some potential changes in the VHF contest schedule and rules for the upcoming year so enjoy the current formats while they last The write up by W3IY for the January 2004 VHF contest results in QST were quite compli mentary to
12. V Webmaster amp Trustee W3RJW Picnic N3ITT White Elephant WA2OMY Auctioneers K3JJZ amp K3IUV Listserver AA3GN Subscription Mgr W2SJ Awards WA3GFZ amp KB3GJT appear to be stable at present Please bring any club business that you want addressed to the Board of Directors CheeseBits AUGUST 2004 6 W3CCX SCORES ONE MILLION PLUS The contest 1s over and the intrepid band of Pack rat Mountaineers have returned feeling like Mil honaires As well they should After many years W3CCX has finally broken the million point barrier in the June VHF QSO Party Be proud Packrats now we REALLY run with the Big Dogs Congratulations Team Packrats this was not an easy accomplishment And the operative word here is TEAM This is what made it happen Within our ranks lies an enormous pool of talent and they all contributed to this success In the weeks and months leading up to the contest many members were working on different projects Checking or improving replacing antennas and feedlines rebuilding rotors upgrading the electri cal system putting the stations together organiz ing the rovers planning the transport logistics general organization planning the menu and pur chasing the food to feed this crew and of course the great K3TUF computer network logging system that was huge I guess if I HAD to name a MVP for the this years team it would be Phil K3TUF But we ALL made it happen as AJ said we should all bask in the glor
13. band in Virginia We spent a couple of days there visiting the new WWII memorial and several other war memorials We even got to see a piece of the Ber lin Wall in the Reagan building Our next tourist stop was Nashville Tennessee where we did the Grand Old Opry and had lunch with W4PZA who I have been mentoring via e mail Then we went to a Tuesday night Opry show and headed to Arkansas state 50 We were heading to San Antonio since Della had never seen the Alamo This gave me a reason to visit AR couldn t think of one before and let me tell you AR has the worst roads I have ever seen You d think they were paved 50 years ago and never touched after that Also we were over 100 miles into Arkansas on the very heavily travel I40before a road sign even told us how far it was to Little Rock I guess they can t afford road signs and blacktop But they had money for plenty of Bill Clinton signs Go figure Della enjoyed The Alamo which I had seen previously and then we had lunch with ND2X 5 and several of his ham friends Then the River Walk finished up our tour of San Antonio and we headed back to the Campground in a heavy hail and thunder storm From there it was for the most part a drive home with only a few brief stops in Carlsbad NM Continued on Page 7 AUGUST 2004 5 PREZ Says Continued note the following list and send me an email or call me on which responsibilities you can have several you would like to fulfill or apprent
14. ember contest really interesting Our shack is under a major revision I hope to have everything running up through 2 3 before September With a new product line in my business I hope there is time to get all the goodies oars I don t rush into these things it took 2 years to get the 903 on the air and the 2304 an tenna has only been up for 4 years To digress a bit I found a recent news clip about CD RW s RW s use a dye layer to hold those strin of 1 s and zeros there has been a lot of discussion about the archival quality of the CD RW media PC ACTIVE maga zine in Holland ran tests on 30 different brands of CD RW s and evaluated them over a 2 year period The stored them in a dark cupboard They found that 10 of the products had shown data loss They believe if these discs had been stored in daylight even more of the products would have lost data As a general rule most computer folks say 3 to 5 years fora CD RW Regular CD s and CD R s do not seem to display the same fading tendencies For more on CD s and what makes them tick check out http www burnworld com cdr rimer whatis htm and also ttp www xdr2 com CDR Info dye htm If you like tech nical stuff about you computer this is one place to find some Hope you all get to the picnic at N3ITT s 73 de Doc W3GAD AUGUST 2004 2 11th International EME Conference August 6 8 2004 I have registered and sent in my we are
15. ern PA We spent the night before the Contest in Clarion PA about 120 miles from a possible starting site in FNO1 Driving along unknown roads only going by a mapping pro gram we scouted around for a possible site to begin the Contest There was an easy to access location right off of 80 but there was a distant ridge maybe 40 50 miles away that would likely block any chance of microwave contacts to W3CCX After several miles of scouting around we moved on The next stop was at a site right on the border of FNO0O and FN10 which I was told was a terrific site good for contacts through at least 10 GHz out well over 100 miles When we got there what greeted us was scrub brush 6 8 feet high and scattered 20 foot trees I set up anyway hoping to work W3CCX on at least the lower 8 bands I never heard W3CCX on 2 or 432 That was not a good indicator but I did work a couple of other stations so I knew the equipment was working Then I discovered a relay switching problem with 903 to 3456 putting them off the air I spent some time doing troubleshooting and determined the prob lem to be my 12 volt to 22 volt boost power supply It was only putting out 14 volts Of course it had worked on the bench By now it was getting late afternoon and we still had to pack up which we did and headed to Camelback We arrived there around 1930 It was great to see some old friends and meet some new ones Della also enjoyed meeting and talk ing with many of the
16. ice for the next year or more The 50 Anniversary year for the club is 2006 Many ideas have been suggested at various meetings and now it s time to shape the events for this Silver Anniver sary of the Packrats Your energies and thoughts are appre ciated let us know how you would like to celebrate and how you ll contribute to the effort I want to thank Al amp Carol Sheppard in advance for hosting the Packrat picnic With an added emphasis on family fun and games I hear let s all enjoy the hospitality and relaxation at the N3ITT QTH C U There 73 Rick KIDS Paul WA3GFZ does a little pre auction shopping DON T FORGET THE PICNIC on 14 AUGUST Joel Knoblock W3RFC www therfc com The R F Connection 213 N Frederick Ave 11WWW Gaithersburg MD 20877 USA World wide shipping via FED EX or US Post OFFICE Tech Line 301 840 5477 Order Line 800 783 2666 All major credit cards taken Fax Line 301 869 3680 Hours Monday Friday 9 30am 5 30pm Eastern Responsibility Gurrentmanager NOS Cheesebits Editor Doc W3GAD Pech writers contributors reporters pictures 50 Anniversary Chairperson ew position Chair sub chairs support historians ip Chairperson ew position Chairperson Regalia ew position Manager for pins jackets QSL cards etc O Box Manager ew position Manager Monday Night Net Chairperson oe eee amp backup Band backups The responsibilities of Historian KB3 XG Quartermaster K3IUV QSL Mger N3EV
17. planning to stay at the conference hotel for Fri amp Sat nite XYL Jani is also registered as spouse guest and will be at the banquet Please sign up asap so they can be sure to count you in Several Packrats also volunteered to help with nf gain test ing please speak up now Note that three Packrats are speakers including K1JT as the featured dinner speaker C U there 73 Rick K1DS The 11th International EME Conference will be held on August 6 8 2004 at The Col lege of New Jersey The Conference is open to all radio amateurs interested in moonbounce and other weak signal communications particularly at VHF UHF and microwave frequencies There will be a good number of technical presentations that cover weak signal opera tion expeditions digital modes and radios RF design techniques high power amplifiers low noise amplifiers portable operation antennas wave propagation etc The registration form can be downloaded from the Conference web site http www qsl net eme2004 The approx 200 page Conference Proceedings includes all the technical presentations plus some additional papers The CD includes the electronic version of the proceedings 1n full color plus the spreadsheets and software used for the presentations Preliminary Events Schedule Thursday evening Aug 5 Hospitality room at the Amerisuites Hotel Registration for the conference Friday Aug 6 All day technical presentations Swap session on Friday evening bring you
18. r stuff Saturday Aug 7 Technical presentations until 4 PM The banquet is at 7 PM which includes door prizes awards key note speaker etc Sunday Aug 8 Informal ac tivities People are welcome to tailgate so we can have a flea market there is a covered parking lot available if weather is bad We can have also local EME stations tours K2UYH and N2UO There is also a family program featuring tours of the Princeton and Hamilton area We are working on other activities of interest to Hams On Friday and Saturday there will be test equipment available noise figure meter spectrum analyzer network analyzer etc tables if you want to display pictures of your station etc and rooms for eyeball QSO s Also the SETI conference will be run in a nearby room The registration for the EME conference includes the SETI as well Some commercial vendors will be displaying their products Technical presentations The following papers will be presented by their authors EME receiving system optimization Paul Chominsky WA6PY 003 JW SM2BY A 432 MHz EME operation includes technical aspects of radars Gudmund Wannberg SM2BYA Circular polarization feed with septum Zdenek Samek OK 1 DFC 2 x GI7B 23 cm 500 W amplifier Marc Franco N2UO Portable EME Operation Allen Katz K2UYH AI is bringing a homebrew portable off set dish to the conference room for a live demonstration Multi reflector antennas Paul Wade W1GHZ Fundamental limits on weak
19. running 35 watts and 4 foot dish from my old loca tion FM29QO W2UR Mark was just finished building a home brew 10 watt station in his basement Mark s QTH is about 25 miles and obstructed by a forest in my direction He set his station up on a tripod in his basement looking out a window in my direction during a massive thunderstorm near his location He had asked me to put my station in beacon mode I quickly got a call back from him on the landline telling me I was S9 through his basement window ground level I got to my rig and unkeyed andwe exchanged 59A signals via CW both ways Over the next several weeks wewere able to duplicate the contact on both rain scatter and morning enhanced tropo Also K1WHS and my new station are able to work the 503km path without enhancement every time we try The 5 7 band has some very interesting modes of propagation My current station FM29PN is 5 watts and a 2 foot dish at 190 feet Dave runs about 20 watts and a 2 foot dish I now have a new FET 35 watt amplifier ready to go up behind the dish 73 Bill AA2UK Top Quality Performance Durability Cost Others make claims C3i Delivers Call FAX or E mail or Order from our Web Site Our K1FO and K1JX VHF and UHF Antennas are proven Performers in Contest after Contest K8GP FM08fq GO WITH THE WINNERS VISIT OUR HOME PAGE TODAY FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION http www c3iusa com 1 800 445 7747 Antennas Owormser c3iusa com
20. signal communication Joe Taylor K1JT Progress toward 47 GHz EME Gary Lauterbach AD6FP Using the SDR 1000 as a 2 meter EME IF Software Defined Radio Bob McGwier N4HY High accuracy Doppler shift computing deep technical discussion Franck Tonna F5SE You Know You Have Become a REAL VHF UHF Weak Signal Operator When everybody will enjoy this presentation Doug Millar K6JEY The W2DRZ Antenna Controller board and software Russ Pillsbury K2TXB Tom Mott W2DRZ Banquet keynote speaker Joe Taylor K1JT The Proceedings CD will also include the following papers and software REMEMBER OCTOBER 10 2004 is the PACKRATS ANNUAL HAMFEST Ed WAS3DRC is looking for help for set up staffing during the HAMFEST as well as clean up Can YOU help CheeseBits AUGUST 2004 3 EME Conference Continued LNA design Guillermo Villamayor LU7EIM Improving the dual band 10 amp 24 GHZ feed for offset dishes Paul Wade W1GHZ EME system V5 New Generation Interface J Jacques FIEHN amp Rex KKOMK Moon Forecaster Franck Tonna FSSE very user friendly and sophisticated Windows based moon position prediction software Septum design spreadsheet Zdenek Samek OK 1 DFC EME receiving system optimization spreadsheet Paul Chominsky WA6PY Complete Power Point presentation including animations for 2003 JW SM2BYA 432 MHz EME operation Gudmund Wannberg SM2BYA A special feature at this year s conference will be a Transceiver Clinic Leif Asbrink
21. the club Thanks Our White Elephant auction was another success with great weather refreshments a fine crowd a working PA and a quick and effective auctioneer who managed to move everything in record time Thanks to our host Gary WA20MY our auctioneer El K3JJZ runners WA2YUE et al and W3KM for tracking the successful bids and pay ments If you didn t go home with a goodie you weren t paying attention as there was something for everyone from TWTs to computer support to classic plumber s delight amplifier construction This year s White Elephant was purchased by KB3XG and you ll have to contact him for the details of this year s treasure Justin N3 NGE s harmonic collected some good heavy metal for his adventure into elec tronics recycling As a vigorous and active club there are several offi cial and unofficial responsibilities to be fulfilled for smooth function and special occasions Due to the long standing success of many of the club activities and the dedication of the members who support them certain tasks have been al most considered permanent assignments but after many years some of those who have served long term are seeking or accepting relief Please F SS El W3JJZ Auctioneer and Dave W3KM Continued on page 6 CheeseBits AUGUST 2004 1 Pack Rats CHEESE BITS is a monthly publication of the Mt AIRY VHF RADIO CLUB INC Southampton PA SUBSCRIPTION
22. y There is plenty of it to go around What for the future Let s build on the momen tum Let s build W3CCX bigger stronger and faster KF6AJ suggested 1 5 million next year I second the motion It is an ambitious goal but not out of reach Remember the first million is the hardest Long term Why not set our goal high The 50th anniversary of this esteemed organization occurs 1n 2006 What better way to honor the club than to be No 1 in 2006 and win it all I have been told nobody can do that Well we re not nobody We are THE PACKRATS We CAN do it We can beat W2S8Z Hope to see everyone at Otto s for the election of new officers DON T FORGET THE CLUB PICNIC AUGUST 14 15TH AS RAIN DATE This years theme will be THE MILLION POINT PARTY The picnic will again be at my QTH N3ITT COME ONE COME ALL EAT DRINK AND BE MERRY GREAT JOB PACKRATS 73 de AL N3ITT PACKRATS HAMFEST Sunday October 10 CheeseBits NR6CA continued from Page 5 NR6CA setting up the 5 10 and 24 GHz then on to Tucson AZ We did stop at White Sands National Monument for an hour or so but decided to save that for a later trip From Tucson we spent two days driving back to Reno via the Hoover Dam and through Las Vegas no donation stops there We ar rived home on 1 July around 1830 local time We then found that Kako somehow had saved up a lot of energy during the trip and has been extra hyper for the past 3 days So will
23. y be the best place to send e mail CheeseBits K3TUF HAS ANTENNA REPAIR PARTY Our club members live in a wide radius and I got to visit Phil K3TUF our FN10 member s QTH to assist with some antenna and tower work recently Since N8NGE lives nearby and a few locals were also avail able Phil had an antenna mast repair party at his place after a sudden summer storm put a 10 degree tilt on his schedule 80 aluminum main mast just above the tower top It will also allow him to make some antenna rear rangements placing his yagis in easier reach as he sus pends them from a new H frame that will be accessible from the upper tower section He also is adding another long yagi for 432 to make better gain and pattern Len and Phil spent two hours at the 80 level while I and two other local hams manned the ropes and served as ground crew to lower the arrays Mounting of the new improved mast was completed before the heat of the noon sun and the antennas will go back up at an other session Phil s QTH is in the woods and up on a nice 800 ridge with his 80 tower just clearing the trees He is also neighbor to a pair of commercial communications towers but they don t seem to give the ham band signals too much grief After the mast replacement was complete and his triband FM vertical was reinstalled as the lightning rod atop the mast we took a quick station tour Phil is proud of the fact that he has a quiet shack free of cooling
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