January 2006 - Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club
Contents
1. it is there to use a metaphor then perhaps we can get together at after club meetings CAKE meetings or after net time to talk about this interesting ham radio activity and how you can succeed in logging that rarest of the rare 3Y0X callsign country Simply logging a single contact on any band or mode in the early hours that they open up will be a challenge due to the massive pileups that will occur but wouldn t it be a thrill to succeed in the early hours not by using big antennas or QRO power but by finesse and technique On the other hand QRO and big antennas deliver results and their own kind of satisfaction just as say a 200 Hp Lotus Super Seven delivers to it s operator Either way it can be very fun to do Another challege is to log Peter 1 in all modes all bands they are even equipped to do Moonbounce during their limited stay Whatever floats your boat it should be fun and lets talk it up this month so that all who want to can be succcessful in working Peter 1 73 DX de Pat Barthelow AA6EG DSL FILTERS I have recently discovered a situation with DSL telephone noise filters where two dif ferent manufactures E Line and Excelsus Technologies of filters to the same specification are not compatible The vendors of the DSL filters are Verizon Cambridge and SBC from Santa Cruz Both filters were made for the FCC part 68 rules and comply to Ringer Equiva lence 0 1b I save everything so while instal2. I reached for the volume control and saw the knob lying on the table where she had placed it The beautiful but cheap plastic knob had simply lost its grip on the pot control shaft I compressed the attach point on the knob and reinstalled it The set works fine Donna has always advised me to check the easiest things first Whatever happened to fine old knurled bakelite knobs with brass set screws The Grumman Mallard tourist seaplane which crashed recently in Long Beach on takeoff was the result of a cracked wing spar don tcha hate that The latest issue of Aviation Week had a photo of the spar area where the crack began Two unex plained holes had been drilled in the spar at some forgotten time One hole was apparently for a rivet The other hole was drilled at an angle and adjacent to the rivet hole Metal fatigue No way yet to determine when how why etc but they appeared to be very old holes The spar area is covered by wing skin and never removed Sealant covered sections also The Mallard is a beautiful airplane vintage 1940s I was crew chief on its smaller brother the JRF 1Goose circa 1948 NAS Alameda had one for photo recon pur poses They used to take it to Clear Lake for water landing practice One thing we flight crew members radiomen flight engineers pilots navigators always hoped was that the wings didn t come unglued JANUARY 2006 Have been having fun working some CW contacts WB6CRM Bill
3. in West Sacra mento and I were on 40 mtrs When I told him that my daughter lived near him in Fair Oaks he came back saying that his dotter lived in La Selva beach He was born in November 1922 We are both Scorpios Small world On another day KG6VPU and I chatted away He was a helo mechanic working on police helos is Ontario CA He had to go to work or we would have swapped a few lies about airplanes It doesn t seem like things change too much Was listening around the band and one op was sending good code at about 18 wpm but I had trouble copying him The op he was working told him to standby until he could get a pencil and piece of paper When he was asked why the reply was that while he could copy the char acters the words were all run together The first op was offended and said They are not They went back and forth a bit until the second op finally gave up and simply sent 73 SK There had been some fast discussion about how long each had been licensed hams over 20 yrs for each Golly Hey I too thot the words were run together W1AW CW transmissions are fun to copy The schedule can be downloaded from the ARRL website or taken from the monthly issues of QST Magazine The bulletins are sent at 18 wpm several times a day For copy practice W1AW offers high and slow speed CW The text is taken from the pages of QST if you want to see how well you are doing While all indications are that CW will be
4. relegated to the scrap pile with vacuum tubes and slide rules it is still a fun and unique part of the hobby U as in What or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Phonetic Alphabet Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta we all know a phonetic alphabetic either the NATO or one of the others But it was different for me during the 1970s when I was liv ing in Alaska in a bush village where the regional school district office was located As secretary to the superintendent one of my duties would be to keep communica tions open with our sixteen schools up and down the Kuskokwim River One of the most important types of communica tions was relaying orders for such things as emergency generator replacement parts Ifa part number was not relayed correctly dire consequences could ensue including frozen and burst water pipes After being issued a Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit without any test as I recall and without any reference materials or training on using a phonetic alphabet I was put in charge of the radio When transmitting part numbers I would just grab a word out of my brain for any letter of the alphabet One day while relaying a generator part number I came to a letter for which I couldn t think of a word I said U asin long pause Someone across the office said underwear and heck I couldn t think of a better word so I said underwear No that wasn t an earthquake
5. striking the Alaskan Interior it was dozens maybe hundreds of people monitoring the communications radios across the state chuckling chortling guffawing and rollick ing at my phonetic license Kathleen KI6AIE Here is Reed KG6RQH building his tiny Soft rock RX More details on the project will be forthcoming W6W0 4 JANUARY 2006 Peter 1 Island DX pedition In early February the biggest possibly most difficult ham radio DXpedition in history will get underway for as many as 16 days if weather hazards don t change their plans Peter 1 off Antarctica with a callsign of 3Y0X will have perhaps only the 4th or 5th visit by humans in history with the well seasoned crew of hams that is going there at the end of January Early February See some of these websites for information about Peter 1 http www hamradio hr modules php name News amp file article amp sid 462 http www bigskyspaces com w7gj 3Y0XMoonbounceUpdate doc http www strangeradioteam com inc inc_news_ detail asp IDnews 157 http 8 3 8 118 peterone main htm Each of these participants going have anted up at least 16 000 to cover expenses Some of you in the SCCARC may not be familiar with the art and science and fun of DXing and dealing with pileups in order to work rare DX countries Many may not ever care or understand the attrac tion to this activity thats OK too If you ARE interested in climbing the mountain because
6. the impending hazardous material restrictions about to be introduced in Europe which could mean the end of lead based solder This might affect not only Elecraft products but almost any other electronics Lead is nasty stuff but hope fully there will be a phase out period to allow manufactures to adapt Eric mentioned that our past President Rich ard KG6AXD is doing well in Idaho and can be reached via KG6AXD Elecraft com The choice of antenna wire is almost as controversial as the choice of antennas Consider the Alpha Delta ad for a DX OCF featuring 12 GA PVC coated cable compris ing 65 strands each strand being individu ally tinned The flexibility might have some merit but what about RF loss Skin effect losses on tin would be greater than for copper and surface oxidization of copper doesn t actually increase loss does it Hy Art Lee WFREP CHATTER When we turned on our expensive and beloved stereo set CD Tapes Radio the volume blasted our eardrums from its two speakers I grabbed the control and tried to cut the sound before the speaker cones blew out It was terrible then got worse I cut the power After a few minutes of trouble shooting I decided that some limiting circuit was at fault Where did I put the wiring diagram How do I tear the plastic case apart without it cracking to pieces Shop labor charges would exceed the value of a new set A day later my XYL Donna AB6XJ said Turn on the stereo
7. JANUARY 2006 THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER of the SANTA CRUZ COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO al Instant Messaging History Repeats by Wayne Thalls KB6KN Many think the miracle of instant communi cations is something new After all grandpa didn t have the Internet or a cell phone Like many things what we are witnessing is evolution not revolution The CNN coverage of the West Virginia mine tragedy this week reminds me of the story of the birth of on the spot as it happens news broadcasting In January of 1925 a Kentucky disaster closely paralleled the events of the past few days A young cave explorer Floyd Collins became trapped in a previously unexplored cave He was hoping to create a tourist attraction rivaling nearby Mammoth Cave In recent years it has been determined that Sand Cave is actually a branch of Mammoth Cave The nearest radio broadcast station was a couple hundred miles away in Louisville The cave was several miles from the nearest telegraph office in Cave City Two amateur radio operators radio hams came to the rescue They set up a low powered battery operated radiotelegraph station at the cave entrance Another station was established at the terminus of the telegraph line For four days the two hams relayed the story of rescue efforts It became a world event The scene of the tragedy was a circus An estimated 20 000 onlookers arrived There were jugglers medicine men preachers and movie crews Repor
8. broadcasting the meetings to local areas using ATV TX gear Perhaps the club could accumulate a bunch of DVD records of programs and sell them to interested parties as a club fundraiser Step Up Step Up Who s gonna do it 73 DX de Pat Barthelow AA6EG SHORT SKIP Ron W6W0 outlined plans to set up a sta tion at his home in Kentucky and asked for advice on crank up towers as one of the first steps is to put in a tower base A 330 degree clear horizon and a beam will no doubt make life interesting Dave W8FLL showed a broadband 300 Watt solid state amplifier made in China called a Paloma 300 HD It could be argued that these are illegally aimed at CD users The use of a heat sink was quite inventive I am not suggesting what you may or may not do with this Dave but it would make quite a handy bedwarmer wm Pat AA6EG came up with a f new 25 gadget for inter net linking that deserves and will receive more attention than it received _ today Reed KG6RQH showed a kit for building a Rock mite radio that looks like a fun project Bring it along to my QTH if you need F any assistance 1 We also discussed Kasie s need for a pet locator and ms it seems there has been some local news on such devices If anyone has more to offer please contact her at breezer armory com Eric WA6HHQ is always good for the lat est products and I was really impressed with his Casio 7 2 Mpixel camera Ex I 750 Eric mentioned
9. can take the FCC exam on March 11 or at a later date if you wish You will NOT have to learn Morse code to pass this exam There is a charge of 15 for the required textbook payable at the firstclass session This textbook titled Now You re Talking was written specifically for this type of class There will be a fee of 14 for taking the exam This fee is payable on exam day to the examiners not to me The class size will be limited to 12 students so I can give each student individual help You can call me at 336 8421 to obtain more information or to sign up for the class Ray Wentz W6LPW SHOKI SHIP January Meetings ARES ACS Training and Updates We get the double whammy this month Rich KI6EH and Cap KE6AFE talking about amateur radio public service during emergencies Recent exercises and events have shown how much good we all might do and how practice and preparedness help Emergency communications stuff is worthwhile to all of us and that percep tion is what preserves our amateur radio spectrum privileges ARES ACS Training All hands Thursday January 19 7 30 p m Zayante Fire House mid county Instructor Rich Details including what to bring at our local ARES webpage http ares santa cruz ca us Then the next night there s our Club Meeting Third Friday January 20 7 30 p m Dominican Hospital Education Center upstairs A good opportunity to pay 2006 club membership dues in per
10. d it to make a QSO The FT 897 is nice because it has its own self contained bat tery packs though People HAVE gone there not as a ham radio thing but rather as a GPS based thing called the Degree Confluence Project http www confluence org index php The corner of this grid square is a Lat Long confluence point as are the corners of all grid squares If you go to this website and look up the loggings for 40N 124W you will find the records of several people groups who have made the trek in and out sans radios of course One of the photos you will see there was taken from the pack trail along the ridgeline with a beautiful clear shot to the east Close but no cigar It s not in CM79 Mother Nature just didn t cooper ate here For counties I still need eleven Del Norte Trinity Plumas Sierra Yuba Alpine Mono San Benito Kings Tulare and Continued page 5 CLUB MEETING FRIDAY JANUARY 20 7 30 P M 2 VP REPORTS Program Progress It is great fun to meet up with and recruit as speakers the upcoming slate of speaker hams Many of which will be coming over the hill from Silicon Valley locations to our meetings This month we will have our own Cap Pennell KE6AFE speaking on new stuff applied to ARES communications In February we welcome Professor Bob Twiggs KE6QMD from Stanford University who will present on his work leading the Microsat community inspiring the ham community in our U
11. day 7 30 PM 146 79 147 180 440 925 linked e SCCARC 10 Meter Net 28 308 MHz USB Monday 7 00 PM San Lorenzo WR6AOK 147 120 PL 94 8 Ben Lomond Valley ARC e SLVARC Net Thursday 7 30 PM Loma Prieta RC WR6ABD 146 640 PL 162 2 e LPRC Net Tuesday 8 00 PM Naval Postgraduate K6LY 146 97 PL 94 8 444 700 PLI23 Linked Monterey School ARC e NPSARC Net Wednesday at 8 PM on K6LY R e Monterey ARES Net Wednesday 7 30 PM K6LY 146 970 PL 94 9 ARES Nets SC County Wide ARES Tuesday 7 15 PM on AB6VS 440 550 WE6EWLS 147 180 AE6KE 146 835 Linked repeaters PL 94 8 Followed directly by e SLY ARES W6 WS 146 745 PL 94 8 amp WR6EAOK 147 120 PL 94 8 on alternate Tuesdays e South County ARES K6RMW 147 00 PL 94 8 e LPrieta ARES AE6KE 146 835 AB6VS 440 550 Linked PL 94 8 e Santa Cruz ARES K6BJ 146 79 PL 94 8 e Newsline Ham News Broadcast Wednesday at end of NPSARC Net e Santa Clara Valley Section Traffic NET Tuesday 9 00PM 146 640 PL 162 2 FOR MORE INFO SEE http www k6bj org freq html E TiNa hee LE OPIT a Pts SHORT SKIP CLE eS el LEE i nt L Fl SANTA CRUZ COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB PO BOX 238 SANTA CRUZ CA 95061 0238 CLUB MEETING FRIDAY JAN 20 7 30 P M Membership Renewals Now Due If you haven t already done so it s time to renew your Club membership for 2006 Annual dues are 25 for full members 6 each for each addi tional member at the same mailing address and 10 for ful
12. ed to get a player Here are some of my post event notes I started the tape about 10 minutes after the main event Seconds before I pushed record we had a Mag 5x aftershock If you listen closely you can hear my neigh bor s alarm sounding in the background There were several more aftershocks that happened during the taping One knocked my phone off the hook You can hear the alert beeps One aftershock interrupted the net due to net control having to leave the Sunnyvale Fire Station he was in I pulled out my generator at dusk and we had the whole neighborhood at our house watching the news We were without PG amp E Power for 3 days after the event The night of the quake around 11 00pm I was called to open a Red Cross Shelter at the Senior Center in Mountain View I checked people in all night but in the morning the city condemned the building due to damage We moved the shelter to the Rengstorff Park Recreation Center where I finished my shift Hope you enjoy the audio files 73 Eric N60IM You can find the recordings on either Eric s web site at http earthquakeadvisor com articles 00032 html http earthquakeadvisor com articles 00032 html or at Donald Kern s website at http www kernsanalysis com loma loma mp3 http www kernsanalysis com loma loma ram http www kernsanalysis com loma loma2 mp3 http www kernsanalysis com loma loma2 ram http www kernsanalysis com loma loma3 mp3 http www kernsanalysis com l
13. grave of Floyd Collins The graves of my ancestors on the old family farm are essentially inaccessible There are no access roads Cal DX cont Imperial No one inside or outside CA has ever claimed the WACC award for working all CA counties on 6M It has been done several times on 2M from within the state The award is sponsored by the NCCC Wonderful opening on 6M this evening Had 53 QSOs worked three new grid squares including a very short path EM03 on spo radic E backscatter extreme weak signal CW and a very long path to FM15 eastern North Carolina on double hop sporadic E with good SSB signals Most of the 53 Q s were 5x9 Very strong and long lasting opening Guys in the southeast US were working California on double hop with strong signals No CA propagation here though at least nothing that could get above the signal levels of the southeast US stations Love this band 73 Bill W5WVO SCCARC Board 2006 President Christopher Angelos KG6DOZ 688 3562 Vice President Pat Barthelow AA6EG Secretary Treasurer Kathleen McQuilling KI6AIE 476 6303 Board Mike Doern KM6IKE 477 1161 Allen Fugelseth WB6RWU 475 8846 Rich Hanset KI6EH 438 0615 Bruce Hawkins AC6DN Vic Linderholm AE6ID 476 5567 K6BjJ Trustee Royce Krilanovich AC6Z 475 4798 MONTEREY BAY REPEATER ACTIVITY Santa Cruz K6BjJ 146 790 PL 94 8 Santa Cruz County ARC KI6EH 147 945 PL 94 8 Watsonville K6BjJ 440 925 PL 123 0 Santa Cruz e SCCARC Net Mon
14. l down the hillside about 30 meters through thick brush At that point from the corner of the grid square you re looking at a not insurmountable uphill path to get a signal over the ridgeline and out to the east Theo retically you could shoot a 6M dipole up into the tops of the trees and it would probably have enough height to put a halfway decent signal out to the east That s about the only realistic antenna option I can envision but it just might work And it just might end up staying there forever I doubt you could ever get it back down I don t think anybody has ever successfully activated this grid square on 6M and it is really the ultimate in hard scrabble gridDX peditioning You would basically be operat ing a battery powered radio for as long as you had good batteries from a treacherous 35 degree slope covered with trees and underbrush A Yaesu FT 897 with internal battery packs would be a good choice here I used to have one but traded it It would run about 25W on 6M under battery pack power You would probably have to have multiple battery packs recharged from a solar array up on the ridgeline trail where the sun could see it or else schlep some large gel cell storage batteries down the hill to the transceiver antenna site probably more practical in the long run despite the significant weight Doing it this way would actually allow you to run 100W from the FT 897 or any other 100W 6M radio if you neede
15. l time students age 18 or under Dues may be paid in cash or check payable to SCCARC at regular Club meetings or checks may be mailed to SCCARC P 0 Box 238 Santa Cruz CA 95061 0238 Kathleen KI6AIE SCCARC Calendar of Events SCCARC Board Meeting 6 30 Friday Jan 20 SCCARC Meeting Friday Jan 20 Short Skip Deadline Monday Feb 6 SCCARC Meeting Friday Feb I7 MONTHLY MEETINGS The SCCARC Meets at 7 30 PM on the THIRD FRIDAY of the each month except December Meet ings are at Dominican Hospital 1555 Soquel Drive Santa Cruz SHORT SHIP Published 2 times per year Free to members Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club Inc Post Office Box 238 Santa Cruz CA 95061 0238 Editor and Publisher Ron Baldwin K6EXT 831 419 1025 K6EXT fireclay com Columnist Art Lee WF6P Writer Ron Skelton W6WO
16. ling the Verizon system I inadvertently installed one of the old SBC filters on the telephone answering system As soon as the modem was up and running the answering machine started misbehaving and recorded messages became very noisy for about 15 seconds obscuring the messages and then cleared up Fortunately for me the DSL filters do not resemble each other and I noticed that the filter on the answering machine was the older SBC unit and guessed that it may be a problem as there did not seem to be a problem on the two phones and fax which had the Verizon filter Consequently I have a DSL modem and some line filters available for someone in the SBC service area if anyone is interested let me know I miss you all in the Santa Cruz area and have not yet hooked up with a local group We are still unpacking sorting and a lot of the Ham gear is still among the missing 73 N1IPP James Koger pv544 earthlink net HAM CLASS I will soon be teaching a class which will prepare people to pass the written exam for the Technician license the entry level amateur radio license offered by the FCC No prior knowledge of electronics is required I have been a licensed amateur radio opera tor since 1957 and I have taught amateur radioclasses before with good results The class will be held on Wednesday nights February 1 through March 8 7 00to 9 00 PM Location is the parish hall of St Andrew s Episcopal Church Ben Lomond You
17. niversities to build and launch small satellites often no larger than a cube 4 on a side In March we welcome Frank W6QI a VHF UHF Microwave contester who holds some world records as high as 23Ghz who will talk about some of his adventures in the world of Microwave Contesting In the queue but not yet fixed as to Month will be Jeff AE6KS and Eric WA6HHQ An old friend Mark Hubbard ex WA6LIU may speak about radio data links soon Mark was the repeater guy in Monterey many years ago and now has grown as a successful data radio manufacturer and now has the incred ibly pleasant headache of filling a single recent order for 30 000 of his radios I the club is looking also for a Field Day Chair person it s not that far away so think about getting ready for FD By the way I have been in the South Bay area for a couple of weeks and after testing the link was unable to make the Monday night net for a VEEP report The VHF UHF path is dynamic what tested OK prior to the net dropped out at the time of the net Sorry Folks Give me your input as to what you want for future programs Some club members have mentioned the utility benefits of taping our meeting progams I did this years ago at NPSARC meetings and have archived some real good programs The club needs someone to step up to be the Videographer Historian to set up a simple Video Recorder Tripod system on meeting evenings to record Programs I will check to
18. oma loma3 ram http www kernsanalysis com loma loma4 mp3 http www kernsanalysis com loma loma4 ram Thanks to Donald AE6RF for bringing these recordings to our attention Rich KI6EH Santa Cruz County ARES Training Coordinator Instant Messaging cont receiving eyewitness updates on the situa tion as events unfolded Of course this was before the era of broadcast networks The information was delivered to local newsrooms via telegraph Through it all the two amateur radio operators performed their emergency service without relief until they were released after a temporary wire line was erected to Cave City A rescue shaft was finally completed on Friday February 13 seventeen days after the entrapment began Alas Collins had died of exposure and starvation three days earlier The carnival packed up and returned home Tronically the sole survivor of the 2006 disaster is a licensed ham Randal L McCloy Jr is KC8VKZ He is clinging to life in a Pitts burgh hospital Much of this information was acquired through my second passion genealogy My pursuit of family history has taken me to Mammoth Cave No I haven t traced my ancestors back to the cavemen My maternal grandmother was born near Mammoth Cave My great grandparents their parents and other relatives are buried in cemeteries which are now within the bound aries of Mammoth Cave National Park While conducting family research in the area I visited the
19. s the Net Control during most of the recording and provides a fine example of what a good Net Control Station should be under pressure Here is a brief explanation and his tory of the recordings from Eric s webpage of those dramatic moments following the earthquake lt http earthquakeadvisor com articles 00032 html gt http earthquakeadvisor com articles 00032 html Editor s Note In the midst of colossal upheaval it is the rare person who recognizing historical significance has both the opportunity and the presence of mind to do something about it Eric Tofsrud is such a person As the dust was still rising from buildings jolted apart by the Loma Prieta quake Eric a ham radio operator powered up his equipment and hit the record button preserving for history the voices and sounds of the events that followed Eric volunteered with the Palo Alto Califor nia Red Cross Disaster Action Team from 1983 to 1991 He works for the USGS This is the record he made Below are four audio files that I recorded just after the Loma Prieta Earthquake Hear damage reports being called into the W6ASH SPECS Ham Repeater s Net Control station Hear the excitement and fear as aftershocks happen during the net Excuse the open microphone it s all I could do at the time You will need an MP3 player to hear them Most current operating systems come with a player that can decode MP3 files If you have an older 0S you may ne
20. see if maybe all the required gear might be available to us from Domini can but would prefer someone who has access to a recorder Maybe a student at a local college Jr College could do this as a Multi Media project In Monterey a local TV KION station has a free Broadcasting Com mnity service program that teaches the art and provides equipment loaned to students All you have to do is register free and JANUARY 2006 We were pleased to welcome Mike N6IL today and to have Eric WA6HHQ join us Mike brought his implementation of a tube type audio amplifier which unkind persons might describe as a rats nest while oth ers would describe it as a piece of modern art just the kind of object we enjoy Mike thanks for bringing it You efforts to defeat desensing of co located radios at a repeater by enclosing one of them in a paint can is innovative That should certainly remove the direct exposure I will send you details of some filter designs in QEX using RG174 type coax that you might find useful Bob K6XX showed details of a FTdx 9000 radio At 13 000 it s no wonder you had to go back to work Bob Incidentally listing the menu options required 30 pages in the user manual attend a few evening meetings learning the various Professional Multimedia equipment And then you can check out cameras etc to produce your own projects Do this as an ATV project An ATV er could do the recording at the same time
21. son Cap will speak about Emergency Communications topics some New Stuff RadioFest 2006 February 25 2006 Stillwell Hall Ft Ord RadioFest is a FREE Public Ser vice and Family Event It is sponsored by the NPSARC Naval Postgraduate School Amateur Radio Club We will have many great events like FLEA MARKET VENDOR BOOTHS HAM RADIO DEMOS FREE LICENSE EXAMS FANTASTIC SPEAKERS DOOR PRIZES and many more great Ham Radio activi Please visit our www page http www radiofest org After RadioFest you are invited to N6lJ Super Station Open House http www n6ij org SHOMT SHIP JANUARY 2006 Loma Prieta Earthquake The topic of Tactical Net Procedures the most recent Santa Cruz County ARES Training Session presented December 8 2005 at the Zayante Fire House discussed proper procedures and protocols for tactical nets duringemer gency operations Subsequent to that training session Donald Kerns AE6RF steered us to his web site where he has posted 4 each approx 15 min audio tapes in MP3 or RealAudio format recorded soon after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake See below The recordings bring back a lot of feelings and emotions as for a few minutes we relive those traumatic days and nights following the Loma Prieta earthquake The recordings were made by Eric Tofsrud N60IM a Telecommunications Specialist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park Our own Frank Wyatt N6FM i
22. ters were there from throughout the world Jurisdictional dis putes erupted between the local sheriff and the state guard The incumbent governor and his rival in the upcoming election both arrived seeking media exposure For the first time audiences in far away places were Continued page 5 SHORT oh California DXpedition Anyone I received this note from BillVanAlstyne W5WV0 who is evidently a very keen opera tor on 6 meters and needs a few grids and counties in California CM86 should not pose too much of a problem for us but what about CM79 Ron W6W0 Bill explains I ve researched this one a bit just because it s so improbable CM79 is kind of the ultimate DXpedition grid The only way you can get into it is by foot or boat and boat isn t really an option from a radio perspec tive If you were to try to operate from the beach the sheer mountain faces going almost straight up would make any kind of 6M propagation next to impossible You could probably get a signal out of there on 80 40M with an NVIS type antenna but that doesn t count Grid squares are VHF UHF only There are not even any pack trails through this small sector It is all trackless mountain forest wilderness on a very steep slope There is a pack trail that goes right past the north east corner of it along the mountain ridge line but it never actually goes inside the grid square To get down into the grid itself you have to go off the trai
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