Stillwater Amateur Radio Club News

August 1, 19989Volume 2, Number 8

From the Editor

Gordon Couger W5RED

My apologies for missing the last few issues of the newsletter. I have been both busy and in poor health. I am still busy but my health seems to be getting better so I hope to be more dependable in getting this out. It is a small effort compared to the work many of the members of the club have done in getting the station on the air and working on the Trailer.

With the peak of the sunspot cycle coming next year it is time for any of you that want to get into DX to go to it. If you don’t have a HF station at home use the club. If you are interested in HF and only have a Tech ticket I will be glad to meet you at the station and help you get started.

Unfortunately this sunspot cycle does not look as good as the last one but it is still a pretty good one. The last cycle was one of the best ever.

While I don’t have the rules of the Buffalo link yet good sense says we shouldn’t use if for local rag chews and that we shouldn’t use it while weather traffic is going on over it. Remember what ever you say on the W5YJ repeater will be heard over nearly half the state. The linked repeater should give us much better coverage on what is going on to our south and not require 440

radios to hit the Buffalo link.

73 W5RED

O S U A R C Announcement:

Building it in the Dark Part 2

By Martin McCormick

In a previous article, I talked about what hams who are blind use in the way of test equipment. One device which wasn't mentioned

in the last article but which is very handy for a ham who is blind is the audio signal tracer. This is a high-impedance amplifier with an

input probe much like that used on FETVM's or oscilloscopes. Instead of a meter, there is a speaker on the front and some signal tracers

have a meter or tuning eye tube, also. While those are purely visual indicators, the speaker on the signal tracer is the most important

part. It is possible to listen to signals at test points in a circuit and to get some idea of how pure a power supply's output is.

A DC voltage should have no sound at all. Half-wave power supplies have a 60-HZ hum while full-wave supplies have a 120-HZ hum.

I recently started building a charge pump to produce the negative supply I needed for an audio peak level detector. The actual

power supply is one of those small wall warts that happens to produce about 20 volts with no load. The signal tracer told me that there was

quite a bit of ripple in the output and that a regulator might be in order.

I keep a notebook in Braille of sheets containing the pin-outs of IC's I have used from time to time and the LM317 and its big

brother the LM338K are in there.

I hooked up the LM317 and the first one turned out to be a dud. Nothing like trouble-shooting a new circuit in which one doesn't

know whether the problem is a wiring mistake or a bad part. This aspect of ham life is no different for hams who are blind than for

anybody else. Another regulator worked perfectly. With this type of regulator, the output voltage must be about two or more volts below

the input voltage. Surely enough, if I set the resistors to give an output of around 16 volts, the hum went away and the output was about

as quiet as that of a battery.

Just to be safe, I turned it down to 12 volts, using the talking DMM to help set it.

The next part of the project was the charge pump, itself.

Charge pumps are used to double the available voltage or to provide an opposite polarity power supply.

To understand what a charge pump does, think of what happens when one charges a capacitor. Current flows heavily at first and then

gradually falls to 0 as the capacitor is fully charged. You can then discharge the capacitor to ground and current will flow back the other

direction. My charge pump uses one half of a NE556 timer chip. The output is called a totem pole output in that it has a pair of

transistors. When the output is high, a transistor is turned on that couples the output to the positive power supply. When the output goes

low, that transistor turns off and another one turns on which connects the output to ground. If one wires the timer circuit in to a

multivibrator or oscillator mode, the output repeatedly cycles from high (VCC) to low (ground.) The NE555/NE556 timers use a formula of

.7*RC as the method for figuring out the size of the resistor and capacitor one needs to get a certain time constant.

I chose a 30-K-ohm resistor and then dug through a supply of mica capacitors until I found one that gave me a frequency around 70

KHZ. The NE555 can't go much above that frequency and the idea is to get it as high as practical so that it does not effect any nearby

audio components.

It is quite easy to tell when the oscillator is working by placing an AM portable radio next to the circuit. When the power is

on, one hears carriers every 60 or 70 KHZ across the broadcast band from the harmonics of the square wave oscillator. It is normal for

this kind of oscillator to be a bit drifty, but the exact frequency is not important.

As I said, the output of the NE555 is a totem pole that alternates between VCC and ground. If one were to connect a capacitor

directly between the output and ground, it would charge on the positive half cycle and discharge on the negative half-cycle. If the

capacitor is large enough such as 100 or more UF, it might either burn out the gate because of the amount of energy needed to instantly

charge and then discharge it or it might effect the proper operation of the oscillator as it would act like a short at first during each

charge cycle. That's not what we want, however. Instead, The output of the timer goes to the positive end of a tantalum capacitor. The

negative end of that capacitor goes to two diodes. One diode has its cathode at ground potential such that it allows only positive

half-cycles to go through and charge the capacitor. The other diode lets us tap off the negative voltage as the capacitor discharges but

does not allow any reverse current. In other words, that is where the external load is connected.

While handling the diodes, I use the diode test feature on the meter to determine which end is which. I have also built a little

voltage-controlled oscillator whose purpose is to test the polarity of electrolytic capacitors. The oscillator monitors the voltage between

ground and one end of a 10-K resistor whose other end goes to the positive supply. When an electrolytic is connected backwards, it

never charges. When connected correctly, there is a sound like a siren as the cap charges and the voltage across it rises.

The 10-K resistor limits the amount of current to the capacitor so there should be no explosions or other damage if one

connects it backwards.

Now for the truth about the charge pump. It does work and I get about -10.1 out for 12 volts in. This is to be expected because

the negative voltage is actually going through one transistor and one diode. The size of the tantalum capacitor is not terribly critical as

well as the fact that it is tantalum, but it must be large enough to not discharge fully in to the load. In other words, the charging

cycle should put more in to the capacitor than is drawn off during the discharge period.

The regulation of this type of circuit appears to be rather poor. I placed a 550 ohm resistance across the negative output for a

load and the voltage dropped down to a little more than 7 volts with the load being 12.5 mills. The real truth will come when I connect

the op amps and see whether the negative supply drifts around much. If so, I will have to do something else to get the stable supply I

need for this circuit.

That will come in the next installment.

73 WB5AGZ

Mick’s Humor

via Mick Forquer

Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?"

The man said, "I do Father."

The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall."

Then the priest asked the second man, "Do you want to got to heaven?"

"Certainly, Father," was the man's reply.

"Then stand over there against the wall," said the priest.

Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and said, "Do you want to go to heaven?"

O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father."

The priest said, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?"

O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now."

Field Day comments

A. J. Ketch K5AJK

Just to clear my " Good Name"? My cooking skills consist of blowing the butts off of hot dogs in the microwave and boiling water.

Do have about 15 pounds or so of vinson hamburger that I can bring in for FD. Will be glad to do KP duty but I can't cook. So any of the

group that can bring in a grill or grills, there's an old side walk on the south side of the back parking lot of the RC, lets do it. Would

really like to see FD be a family event. The club hasn't had one since the who-do at the Holiday Inn a year and a half ago. That event was

alot of fun! It would be great if we as a club could do it again!

For those of you who have done FD the traditional way, out in the sticks, getting chased by snakes, bitten by bugs and rained on, not to

mention no running water or crappers, this FD is a walk in the park. AC, running water, a microwave, indoor toilets, etc. All the comforts of

home!

Since the club has hooked up with the Red Cross we have been able to help with Health and Welfare traffic and provide needed support between

the Red Cross and the Mulhull area. ( BIG THANKS to KC5MMY, Ron and KC5GJN, Mike ) FD is a real opportunity for the club to show the Red

Cross what we can do!

For the members who do not have HF privileges yet, FD is your chance to get a real feeling for working HF. Years ago worked China during FD

flying under the W5YJ call sign. First and only time to work China, haven't heard a peep from that country since. Was holding a Tech. ticket

at the time, but it was FD and control op and third party rules apply. It was Great!

Bring the family, friends and spread the word, WB5KQL will be on the air for FD and everybody is invited! Kinda the official opening of the

club station. We're gonna try to squeeze something out of the local press.

In parting, I CAN'T COOK! 73 de A.J. - K5AJK

I wish I had been able to be here for field day. I spent the whole day explaining a computer program to a China man that couldn’t speak English. Fortunately he could read and write English.

I did try to do 6 M FM on my handy talky but all I heard was some 6 M CW and a fm HT doesn’t do CW very well. [Ed]

-----Original Message-----

From: Merlin Griffin [SMTP:megriffin@ionet.net]

Sent: Saturday, June 12, 1999 6:38 AM

To: k5ttt@tulsa.com

Subject: Y2K and Hospitals

Charlie:

Pass this on:

The Tulsa hospitals are requesting the presence of a an amateur radio operator on Dec 31, 1999. To sometime after 0000 local January 1, 2000. Just an in case of a communications outage. The safety directors at the various hospitals are making this request. The hospitals are agreeing to even buy identical equipment at each site so amateur's could move from location to location and see the same knobs and buttons. I encouraged them to at least make an external antenna available with a feed-line running down to the operating position, if nothing else. Getting a signal out of those big buildings with just an HT could prove challenging.

Ron Lancaster KB5VDB my representative to the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency is heading the project up, and we are coordinating this effort through TAEMA. A net control will placed at the EOC and the operator's at the hospital will talk to him.

We've also had a request from the Medical Examiner's office for amateur assistance during a communications outage, although they are not really concerned about Y2K. Just if the telephone system crashes, at any time for any reason they would like an amateur radio operator there.

In other news, the ARES operators in Cherokee County were really on the ball during the Tornado that his Western Hills State Park. They tracked the storm as it entered the park, then stayed around to help Cherokee County coordinate disaster relief and rescue operators. One of the amateurs served a dual role, not only as a communicator and weather spotter, but he is a practicing physician and responded to the scene to provide medical aid to the victims. Tahlequah EOC passed one piece of traffic to the Tulsa Red Cross via SKYWARN net control WA5LVT. Since we didn't know a phone number for the Red Cross. Miss Georgia KA5VIL walked across the parking lot to the Red Cross and passed the request for a canteen in person. The Red Cross disaster response unit happened to be holding a meeting at that time, and immediately agree to respond. I will add some names and calls to this when I review the logs and refresh my memory.

Also we were supposed to pass out some certificates to the guys that helped with the October 3 telephone system crash at Green Country. However, Jim Haynie didn't make it up here and I didn't see any certificates. Could you and Coy conspire to possibly get some of these released by Field Day. I think that might be an appropriate setting to hand a few out.

In other news I met with Lans Rothfuzz the MIC (Who I am proud to say holds amateur license KD5EJN)of the Tulsa National Weather Service Forecast Office, and actually formalized a written agreement between NEOK ARES, and the NWS to provide the services we've been providing for the past ?????? years. Send you a copy of this when I get a chance.

73 for now

de WB5OSM

[I don’t think that it is likely that Y2K will present us with problems. But it is not very likely that a tornado with 300+ MPH winds will hit OKC either. We should all have our batteries charged on new years eve. Bennett W5ZTN reports that he has had request that the amateur community be ready in case there are problems this new years eve. -73 W5RE]

=============================

The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster

DX Bulletin No. 420

August 2, 1999

Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, N2WK, WB2YQH, W3HC, N6RT,

DJ5AV & DX News Letter, EA5XX, EA6VQ, EI6FR, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, JH4RHF, RZ1OA, SM7MPM, SM0DTK, SV2CWY, VE3ZZ, VK3EW, UA0MF and ZL2HU

for the following DX information.

3A, MONACO. The "LNDX" reports that Patrice, F5RBB, will be 3A/F5RBB from August 23-28th. Look for activity on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.

QSL via home callsign.

Meanwhile, remember to look for 3A/IK1SLP and 3A/IK1YLL who will be active on CW/SSB/RTTY until August 5th. QSL via homecalls.

3B9, RODRIGUEZ ISLAND. Robert, 3B9FR, can often be found on 20 or 15 meters on 25 KHz up from band edge. Check after 0300z on 20 meters and

after 1300z on 15 meters. It has been mentioned that he can also be found on 40 meters (around 7015 kHz) between 2000-2100z. QSL to the

following address: Robert Felicite, P.O.Box 31, Rodriguez Island, Via Mauritius Islands

4U1VIC, VIENNA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE. This station, which counts as Austria for DXCC, will be active in the coming months. Look for 4U1VIC

in the following planned activities: August - WAE CW Contest, Multi/Single by DL6RDR and JH4RHF

September - CQ WW RTTY Contest, Single Op by JH4RHF

WAE SSB Contest, Single Op by JH4RHF

October - CQ WW SSB Contest, Multi/Single by DL2OBF, JH4RHF and others

November - CQ WW CW Contest, Multi/Single by DL6RDR, JH4RHF and others

December - ARRL 10 Meter Contest, VE3IAY

Please note that 4U1VIC is a separated multiplier (county) for the WAE and WW contest. QSL via OE bureau unless otherwise mentioned.

9A2000, BRIONI ISLANDS (Brijunska Otocja, IOTA DXpedition/Special Event). Sado, 9A2OP, reports that a team of operators (Kreso/9A7K leader,

Sado/9A2OP and 4 others) will activate these Croatian islands located in the Adriatic Sea, September 1-6th (possibly 2 extra days). The IOTA

reference number is EU-110. The callsign to be used will be 9A2000FT in celebration of the President's 77th birthday (FT stands for President

Franjo Tudjamn, and the 2000 is to celebrate the upcoming new millenium). Also, these islands are the exclusive summer residence of the Croatian

President Franjo Tudjman. Activity will be on all bands including the WARC bands and 2/6 meters. QSL via 9A7K, Kresimir Juratovic, POB 88,

KR-48000, Koprivnica, Croatia.

HU4, EL SALVADOR (Special Prefix/Event). Operators from Spain and El Salvador will be active as HU4U, on August 16-23rd. This special operation

is organized by URE, Spanish Radioamateurs Association, to rebuild all the digital net destroyed by hurricane Mitch. The Spanish radio amateurs

will carry everything from Europe, incluiding PCs, transceivers, antennas, etc, to help establish a new network in El Salvador for packet radio users.

This big and expensive operation is possible thanks to the sponsoring of La Rioja province goverment, and the help of the URLR (La Rioja Radiomateurs

Association), Radioamateurs Without Frontiers (RSF) and the perfect organization of URE, the Spanish bureau, and Angel, EA1QF its General

Secretary. The HU4U operators will be: EA1AU, EA1QF, EB1ADG, EA3CUU, EA4BT from Spain and YS1AG, YS1FAF, YS1FI, YS1GF, YS1MS, YS1RR and some

more YSs from El Salvador. The suggested operating frecuencies will be: SSB - 1845, 3795, 7065, 14195, 18145, 21295, 24945 and 28495

CW - 1833, 3503, 7003, 10103, 14023, 18073, 21023, 24893 and 28023

RTTY - 7034, 10114, 14084, 18094, 21084, 24924 and 28184 kHz

QSL cards via EA4URE.

IOTA NEWS.....

AS-066. This one was sent in late. Operators Mike/UA0MF. Alex/RU0LL

and Vitaliy/UA0LCT will be active CW/SSB on 15/20 meters from

Putyatina Island (RR-16-03) between July 30th and August 2nd.

QSL for UA0MF/A to his Box 20, Vladivostok-21, Russia. QSL

all others per operators instruction.

EU-???. Look for F6HQP, F5NGB and F6JSI to be active from some

different islands from Britany (Finistere Nord) between

Aug 1st to 15th. Those islands will count for IOTA and DIFM.

EU-004. Members of Radio Club Mallorca will be active August 13-15th

from the island of "Na Galera". Other reference numbers:

DIE-Spanish Island award E-126 and Grid Location JM19IM.

Activity will be on 2, 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 meters with two

stations running at the same time on HF plus another on VHF.

The activity will take place mainly on SSB, although an

ocasional operation will also be on CW. The callsign used

will be ED6EIG and the QSL Manager is EA6VC.

EU-067. Members of the Southwest Scania Radio Amateurs (SSRA) will

activate Santorini Island, August 9-15th. Operators will be

SM7BCX/Yngve, SM7DXQ/Mats, SM7EQL/Bengt, SM7GIB/Mats and

SM7MPM/Tore. Look for the operators to sign SV8/homecall and

be active on the usual IOTA frequencies SSB and CW. QSL to

the respective operator's homecall, direct or bureau.

EU-121. The WestNet DX Group will once again team up with the Saltee

Dog DX Group from Switzerland from the island of Ireland's Eye

on the east coast of Ireland. The group plans to be active

from the evening of Thursday, August 5th, until the early

afternoon of Monday, August 9th. The callsign used will be

EJ7NET and QSLs will be handled by EI2GX. They will be active

on all bands but hope to concentrate heavily on 6m.

LIGHTHOUSE SPECIAL EVENT. The Western New York DX Association will operate Special Event Callsign K2L during the period of August 8-22nd, in

conjunction with the Buffalo (New York) Harborfest and culminating with an operation from the Buffalo Lighthouse during the Lighthouse/Lightship

Activity Day August 22nd. The August 22nd operation will be on or near these frequencies:

CW - 3531, 7031, 14031, 2031 and 28031 kHz

SSB - 3821, 7261, 14231, 23331 and 28421 kHz

During the August 8-21st period, activity will be on CW, SSB and RTTY on all bands, including WARC. A special photo QSL will be available for

QSOs of August 22nd, and a regular QSL will be used for all other dates. QSL via WB2YQH, P.O. Box 73, Spring Brook, NY 14140 with SAE/SASE.

OH0, ALAND ISLANDS. Just a reminder! Start looking for Hartmut, DJ7ST, as OH0/DJ7ST. He will be here until August 20th. Activity will be on all

bands CW running 5 watts. QSL via DJ7ST.

P29, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (IOTA activity). Uwe, DJ9HX, will be active as P29VHX from August 7-31st. He will activate a few IOTAs while in the area.

Uwe will first be active from Loloata Island (OC-153) from the August 7-9th. From August 10-12th, look for him to be on Rabaul (OC-008) and

from Kavieng (OC-008) August 13-15th. Activity will continue on to Manus Island (OC-025) August 16-18th, and ending with activity from Madang

(OC-034) August 19-22nd. Uwe still may plan to travel to other IOTAs between August 23-31st. Activity will be on 40-10 meters CW/SSB. QSL

via DJ9HX (he prefers via bureau).

QSL INFO AND NEWS......

The logs for KH3/NH6D are now online and are updated frequently at: http://dx.qsl.net/logs By the way, Bill's older callsigns KH2/NH6D and KH4/NH6D logs are also online.

Wayne, N2WK, reports that he is NOT the QSL Manager for 5B4AGC. Please send direct to G3LNS. He also mentions that W2UTH is NOT the QSL Manager for any station.

QSL Manager Jean, F6AJA, reports that he has received the HK3JBR/1 (SA-040) QSL cards for the activity during July 17-20th. Also, he reports that he has the logs for Gerard's operation as 5K8T (SA-081) and is ready to QSL any request.

QSL SV2EWN to: Kouras Vagelis, Fraglinou Rousvelt 79, Neapoli, 56728 Thessaloniki, GREECE.

QSL RZ1OA/A for activity on EU-153 (July 24-30th) via RZ1OA, Vlad Sadakov, P.O. Box 48, Arkhangelsk, 163040, Russia.

QSL UA1OLM/A for activity on EU-153 (July 24-30th) via UA1OLM, Dima Kucherin 26-23 Pavla Usova str., Arkhangelsk, 163002, Russia.

VE3ZZ/VE2 was activated by Gregg, VE3ZZ, for a few hours on Sunday, August 1st (beginning approx 1500Z) from Ile Bizard. Ile Bizard is an island in the suburbs of Montreal and does not count for IOTA, but is PQ027 for the Canadian Islands Award. Coincidentally, July 31st-August 1st was also the weekend for the annual W/VE islands contest. QSL to VE3ZZ direct or via Bureau.

ZL9CI QSL cards are being received. Ken, ZL2HU, reports, "The Kermadec DX Association has received 11,700 envelopes containing approximately 45,000 QSOs, and all envelopes RECEIVED up to and including July 31, 1999, have now been processed. Please note that if we DID NOT receive them, it is impossible to process them." Ken's complete press release with more details will be sent out to all OPDX InterNet Subscribers as an additional bulletin.

SV5, DODECANESE. Dieter/DL9UDS and Andreas/DL9USA, will be active from Kos as J45K until August 11th. Activity was spotted on 30 (around 1330z) and 17 meters (around 2300z) so far.

WEB PARTY GOING ON! Yep! David, VK3EW, one of the lucky few to work P51BH, has added a new twist in celebrating on working a new one. Join in on the fun and see a rare QSL card from P5 at: http://www.qsl.net/vk3ew/p51bh.htm

ZK1, SOUTH COOK ISLANDS. Watch for Yoshi, JJ8DEN, to be active as ZK1MSG until August 6th from Mangaia Island (OC-159). Activity will be on 80-10 meters, including the WARC bands, on RTTY and CW. Operations will be limited because he has only power between 0500 and 2400 local time. As this bulletin was being prepared, QSNs were reported that he was on 10106 kHz at 0904z and 18084 kHz at 0246z. QSL via JJ8DEN.

ZK3, TOKELAU ISLANDS (DXpedition JULY-AUGUST 2002). Following their very highly successful DXpeditions to Campbell Island in January 1999, Chatham Island in October 1997, and Raoul Island, Kermadec Island Group in May 1996, the Kermadec DX Association is planning a further Dxpedition to the Tokelau Islands in July/August 2002. They are planning a multi band all mode operation with approximately three weeks on the island. Because of the shipping situation and the logistical costs involved their target is substantial at around 515,000 USD. They report donations are vital at this early stage to ensure ZK3 is activated in July/August 2002. Donations for this operation can be sent to: Kermadec DX Association ZK3 DXpedition, C/O - Ken Holdom, ZL2HU, P.O. Box 56099, TAWA, Wellington, New Zealand. OPDX InterNet Subscribers will receive the complete press release as an additional bulletin.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

OPDX INTERNET SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE REQUEST: opdx-request@nshore.org

OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME PAGE (provided by John, K8YSE):

http://www.en.com/users/k8yse/opdx.html

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Tedd Mirgliotta KB8NW

InterNet: kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org

Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS (BARF-80) +1 (440) 237-8208

"Totally devoted to Amateur Radio" - 24 Hrs a day 8/N/1 28.8k-1200 baud