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.. ·-:-·'1··· ······ .." ···· ···,, I., I, I,. rI,.,.11" .11 J", I, ,1111'" 1"1.1,',',, .i.u 11 •• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••• 3-0IGIT i 3l JU' 7' 4~ BUCKHASTER PUBLISHING 3 ~~g~o~l~ll·'·R 61 96 JEFFERSON HIGHHAV p • HINERAl VA 23117- 3425 • « - , Alinco Delivers HF Adventure! Allnco's HF Transceivers Deliver Incredible Perfonnance at a Tiny Price You're only afewhundred dollars away from abrand new Alinco HFTransceiver. That's right! Just a few hundred dollars gets you on theair with a big 100-wan signal, great aud io andan easy-to-operaie package that's perfect for base, portableor mobile operations. The Alinco DX-70 and DX-77 make it easy for everyoneto enjoy HF with adependabletransceiver thaI's backed by Alinco's 1year warranty. The world of HF is calling. What are you waiting for? Alinco DX·70TH Base/MobilelPortable HF + 6 Meter Transceiver • 100 watts 558, FM & CW, 40 watts AM • Standard narrow filter fights aRM on SSB, CW or AM • Continuous coverage HF receiver + fuLL 6 meter coverage • • • • • 100 memory channels • Speech compressor • Great CW rig, full aSK, semi or automatic break-in Two VFO's and easy "split" operation Removable face for remote mounting. RIT I rxrr, IF shift Multi function control for easy operation Alinco DX·77T Desktop HF Transceiver • 100 watts SSB. FM & CWo 40 watts AM • Enhanced Direct Digital Synthesis • GeneraL coverage receiver (DDS) eliminates 150 KHz - 30 MHz need for SSB Narrow • Two VFO's; easy "split" operation Filter • Standard speech processor • Front panel connections for mic, key, speaker & phones • Front panel speaker provides loud. clear audio • Built-in electronic keyer 6 - 60 wpm • EDX-2 automatic wire antenna tuner • Full aSK, r-step semi break-in or auto break-in • EMS-14 desktop microphone • DM·330 MVT switching power supply • DM-340 MVT reguLated power supply Options Iron Horse Mobile HF antennas for Alinco and other HF transceivers Order the Iron Horse IHF55 package from your dealer and go mobile fast! r - IHF5S Mobile HF Antennas IH1H·1 Optional Trail er Hitch Mount 9:1 . You get a package of 5 rugged. easily tuned antennas fo r 10. 15. 20, 40 & 75 meters from Iron Horse, a name recognized for its strength and dependability. Each has 3/8 x 24 t hreads and is rated fo r 500 watts. Order t he IHKD35 5 antenna quick disconnect mou nting kit to make changi ng bands a quic k and easy operation, just push, t urn & go! J0 IJ www.ALINCO.com IHKD3S Quick Disconnect Kit Distrib uted in North America by AlOC Am atl!Uf Diltributing l l C - 23 5. High 51., Covi ngton, DH45318 - (937) 473·2840 5pecilicaliaftl H biecl lo ~h~ • • iliolll llGtict Dr Obligatio, . Proouo:tl; illIenlled 101 use by pro(lI!I1y' b1sed operJIOIS. "'' "1tS reQU~ !of ...... RSW use, Scwo;i"'''''~~~lli Sl.flIe(l tl ~ wiItIQuIllOIICe or ~ AlIr1cIemir'S:t t , 9% 3Yo:t 7 :t 9% ,. •"., ' .0 MODEL S5-18 DESKTOP SWITCHING POWER SUPPLIES WITH VO LT AND AMP METE-RS MODEL CaNT. (Amps) ICS SIZE (inches) 5S·25M· 20 25 2h :t 7 :t 9'l{, 5S-3OM' 25 30 3% :t t c 9'10 ., WI.(lbs.) '0 MODEL 55-25M RACKMOUNT SWITCHING PONER SUPPLJES MODEL CONT. (Amps) SRM·25 20 SRM-30 25 ICS 25 30 SIZE (inches) 3:4:t 19 x 9Yo wt.(lbs.) 3'" :t 19 :t !Woo " 70 ICS 25 SIze (Inches) WI.(lbs.) 3V, :t 19:t 9% 3)',:t 19:t 9)1, 6.5 70 2 ell SWITCHING POWER SUPPlIES ON ONE RACK PANEL MODEL COHT. (Amps) ICS SRM-25-2 20 25 SRM-30--2 25 30 SIZE (inches) 3/,:t19:t \1% 3:4:t 19 :t 9% wt.(lb$.) 10.5 WI'Tli SEPARATE. VOLT & AMP METERS MODEL CONT. (Amps) SRM-25M-2 20 SRM-3OM·2 25 SIZE (inchli!s) 3'1i:t 19 :t 9% 3I> :t 19 :t 9% wt.(lbs..) WITH SEPARATE- VOLT & AMP METERS MODEL Ca NT. 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FT·2011, FT·7Q11 MODEL SS-10EFJ-98 SS·18EFJ S5-1G-EFJ.98, S5-1 2·EFJ.98, SS· l8-EFJ.98 5S-12MC SS· IOMG. 5S-I ZMG 5S-101 F, 5S-121F 5S-10TK 5S-12TJ( OR 55·l8TK 55·1OSMGTX 5S- IOSM'GTX, 5S-12SM'GTX. 5S-18$M'GTX S5· IORA SS·12RA S5·l8RA 55- 105MU, S5-12SMU, SS·l8SMU S5·10V. 55-12V, 5S- IBV • $lSS Sold Separately Visit www.raroseykirs.comIqrp to order this special deal! PROFESSIONAL FM STEREO RADIO STATION 35 WATT LPFM STEREO TRANSMITTER .-._. ..;.~ * .. .t 35W RF 0t.(ptA. VSWR proleClC:d .I Automatic audiO & power COIllfOls ./ 0igbI S)'I ideiled FU ,/ FtJ front pi!OCI control . ./ 11 0/2 2fNN::... 12VDC operation 'M'ldIa )'IUapp. isoportorlPfM, the PXl has)OJ ~ Fromlhe oYer ·1<1100 oonlDJous 0Jly ~ supply & power ~ to the 2 IJle v.n.un 1lIo~ display. )'CU 5taI.ioo ..... be the easiest to setup and the most reiabIe for ceotinuous operation. FuI microprocessor controls provide a "virtual eogioeef': Olec:k 0'Jl W'WW. h~ for full details. . ,/ Synlhe:sized 88 10 108 MHz wilh 00 drift ! ,/ Buit-~ rrix« - 2 h inpWi and one microphone ~! ,/ HiP power IrOlllie available tor c:opor1 use ,/ Low pass fiIlef kif great arlo response aD., PXl 35W Professional FM Stereo Transmitter $1,795.95 TOUCH·TONE TONE GRABBER ..;ff/ ./ New-built~ RJ1' phone jack • . ./ l.1rge memof)' holds over 500 Il.JIl"bln ./ Big tdd 8 (ip~, AIIo i1seltion of dashes ./ New~ laId1 jack 0iaIed phone rurben 00 the radio. ~ codes. control codes, an')~e toodl-tones are used. you can read and stofe them! ..... new desip lor 2002. Capttn!hose IOOeS v.th the TG2! TG2 Tone Grabber Tone Reader Kit $59.95 $14.95 CTG2 Matching Case & Knob Set $9.95 AC1 25 11 0 VAC Power Adapter ./ Visible and aJdible di~ of your heart ~ ./ Re-usable sensors included: just like miliflg the hos~ ' aI! ./ BrWt LID ' tea" l'Idic1lPECIAI, ,"" M 1.000 ChlInnels ' 20 50 Select $can C_...... PASS cIo8nnel s: 50 _ -en banIt • so for VFO _ F.---.cy step I'f"O'IIIra"""- In mu lti"," of 50 H:o. S ize : 2'/T Wide x , - Deep II 6·.... H i g h Trunk Lodlout -Trunk Delay' ClotIlng c.pability 10 Priority Ch-annela • Progr.lm..-d S4-rvice Sellfl'h Size : 2'/T Wi de. 1...• Deep . 6- High FnKlwncy Mfg . suggested list price 5529.95 Less -$190 Instant Rebate I Special $339.95 500 Channels ·10 banks· CTCSSIOCS' S Meter Size : 7- Wide x 6" "" Deep X2'111.. High F~u.n<;y CO_IfrJ. : 25 0lI()().{;12,OOOO MHz.. 800.000- 8239815MHz.. 849 0125-856 9875 MHz " 894 ,012S.1300,OOO MHz. The Bearcat 780Xl T hil s 500 Channels and Ihe wide st frequency ClWefag8 of any Beercat scaener ever. Packed with features $I.lCh es TMJnklradri ty channel alklwl you 10 keep u&d< of activity 00 your moIIl important chan""ls whil. moniloring oth", channels lor u s nsmis.ioos. Praprogrammed Service ( SVC l Se ar c h - "1I 0w. y o u to togg l" through preprogtammed police. fi.-ele mergerocy, ",ilroad . aircraft. ....nne. a ro:l _Iher fr aquMlQ.... Unique Dala Slip - AIIIMs your scan"", to ....ip unwanled d4>1a mount antenna par1 number ANTMMBNC br$29.9S; The BC780XLT comes wittI AC adapter. telescopic an19fWlll. owne(, manual and one yeat lilmed Uniden warranty. Not compabble with AGE IS . ASTRO or ESAS system,. For fastest delivefy, order on-line at _.usasean.COfll, Bearcat" 895XLT Trunk Tracker Mfg . s ugge s te d list price $4 99.9 5 Less ·$320 Instant Rebate I Special $179.95 300 Channels '10 ba nks' BUilt-In CTC SS' S Mel ar Size: ,O,/T Wide II 7' /T Deep II 3- Hi g h F~ c~ 211000-54000 l.elz . 108,000-11~ ~ . 216000-512-000 1IoIHz.. 806.(J(I(I..823.995 l.elz.• &ole 0 125868,995 r..-tz.. 8901 01 ~, OOO MHz. The 8ean;at 895I1l.T is supetb for~".~._"".",og tnried com~ions Iram ,, · with fIlat.....,. Iile Turt>oScan'" Ib search VHF chal'll'H!B al 100 steps per second. This ~ and mobile scanner ia elsa ideal for inlelligence profe,sooroltls because rt has a Signal Slfength Metef. RS232C Portio allow computerong scanrwog only when a correct C Tess lone is .--wed. For maxinun IlC8f1oning enPfmenl. Older the toIkMing oplional aCC9$8Ol"ie-s; PS001 Cigarette light", power cord for lerTV'Xa y ~bon from 'fOW" vehicIoI'. eigBreIIe lighter $ 14,95; PS002 DC PQ'MII" cord - ellables peffnanent opaflltion from)'OUr ve-hide', fu..e bole $ 14 ,95; MS00 1 Mobile mounting bfackel S 1 ~.95; EX1 11 E ~teffl al s peaker w ith mounting bracket & 10 f....1 of cable w llh ~ ug altached $ '9, 95, Th e BC895XLT COmeS with AC adapter. telescopic antenna, owner's m.........1 aNj on e yea r limited Uniden wa...anty. Nol compatiDlft wittl AGEIS. ASTRO. 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For credit card orders call 1-800-USA-SCAN e-mai l: [email protected] www.usascan.com PO Box 1045 , Ann Arbor, M ichigan 4 8 100- 104 5 USA ca' For 734-996-8888 Of =FAX 1~3-88ll8 _information _ _ _ .. ... _ _ ne_ ( ... _ - • COMMUNICATIONS ELECTRONICS INC. Emergency Operations Center QRH • • • ron tinuedfrom page J We have rattlesnakes, copperheads. and water moccasins. Ho-hum. They talk of gas and biological warfare. They have never pulled in behind a cattle truck while it's raining. or ridden in the front seat of a pickup between two COWboys after they've just eaten a big bowl of Texas Red . Texas ain't for sissies! We have posted signs all over the state that say "Don't mess with rexesr' Osama and the rest of you (soon to be Texas deep-fried) turkeys, consider yourself warned' From the Internet. Pay to Listen to Old Art Bell Radio Shows If you are a fan of Art Bell W60BB's Coast-toCoast AM radio program and you miss tuning in one night, it's going to cost you money to hear a repeat of the show on the World Wide Web. This, after Premiere Radio Networks announced that as of Monday, October 15, 2001, there would be a fee to access old shows. According to the Premiere announcement, the longtime Iree audio streaming has disappeared and has been replaced with a new $6.95-a-month subscription service called Art Bell's Streamlink. With Streamlink you can lislen anytime you like to any Art Bell show from the last 30 days. Not everyone is happy with the decision 10 charge, inclUding Bell. According to a posting to his Web site, it was not his decision to change the free Internet access. Rather, it was adecision made by Premiere based on cost. Bell says that there are now millions 01people on the Intemel, and bandwidth costs money about $1 .5 million per year for all the Premiere shows. He says that Premiere hopes to break even . W60BB says Ihat he has been receiving many angry E-mails and that he understands the anger at having to pay lor what was free. But he also understands that the company cannot continue to cover the ever growing cost. Bell adds that there is at least one bright spot. Says W60BB: "tt is stilt free on the radio." More information is on the Web at [www. artbeILcom]. Thank.s to the Art Bell Web site. via Newsune. Bill Pasternak WA6ITF, editor. FCC Creates New Disaster Communications System You may want 10 write your congressman on this one. "This, in essence, is designed to remove third party relays - Amateur Radio operators" per s cott Verily KC2FBV in his letter 10 the editor of World Radio, October 2001. Scott goes on to 6 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 quote Part 97 Subpart A - General Provisions #97.1 (Basis and purpose), the FIRST item listed: -(a) Recognition and enhancement otthe valu e of amateu r service 0 the public as a vol- untary noncommercial communications service, particul arly with reepecttc providing emergency communications." 'To thai end. RACES is provided l or by FCC regulations (#97.407)," per Scott. and he goes on to say "The FCC. by creating and implementing this new 32-channel interservice communications system, will ELIMINATE Amaleur Radio Service's PRIMARY reason lor existence," Soon discusses hobby versus service and comes to the answer: "A SERVICE is pUblidy viewed as VITALand a hobby, in the public's eye. is seen JUST as a hobby. A hobby. in the pub~c 's eye. is done SOLELY for fun and is of no enduring value to society.Amateur radio is ... a service, that, to our advantage has a hobby side." This new 32-channel system wi ll be spending our tax dollars on operators. equipment, repair, maintenance, training, and perhaps facilities lease payments. The goal is year 2006, which should give the FCC 10 reallocate UHF TV channels 60 through 69 from broadcasters. Mr. Verity suggests that the U.S. govemment openly endorse amateur radio, thus avoiding the outlay of tax money lor training, equipment, personnel, facilities, etc. We suggest that these channels be allocaled to the amateur radio community specifica lly for such emergency communications. (II is suspected thauhere would be video signals included in Ihe new crcoosar.) There would be no waiting till the year 2006; radio amateurs are here now. Scott encourages all citizens to get involved forno increase in taxes for these services. "I urge EVERY amateur - ESPECIALLYthose involved in publicservice (NTS, ARES. RACES) - to write a letter urging your public officials to REJECT the new FCC decision and to affirm their support of amateur radio. Which public officials wouk:l I suggest sending letters to? Whether by mail or E-mail: Senators Representatives Governor FCC (FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell) President George W. Bush Vice President Dick Cheney Take a moment to write each of the above. Ask them to REJECT Ihe proposed 32-channel inter-service communication system and to fully support amateur radio instead." (References: World Radio, October 2001 , "letters to the Editor: Scott Verity KC2FBV. World Radio, July 2001 , "FM & Repeaters." Bill Pasternak WA6ITF.) Thanks fo Tuned Circuit, November 2001 , a bulletin of The L'Anse Creuse ARC, via Newsloe. Bill Pasternak WA 6JTF, editor. DARA Opens Nominations for Ham of the Year The Dayton Amateur Radio Association has opened the nominating period for the 2002 Dayton Hamventi on Awards. There are three award s presented each year. They are the Radio Amateur of the Year, Special Achievement, and Technical Excellence. The Radio Amateur of the Year is described as the special person who has made a longterm commitment to the advancement of amateur radio. We are looking for a well-rounded individual who has contributed to our hobby in some outstandlnq way. The Technical Excellence award is for the person who has made an outslanding technical advancement in the field 01amateur radio, while the Special Ach ievement Award is reo served for the ham who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of amateur radio. This latter award is usually given to a respected amateur who spearheaded a single significant project. All amateurs Novice through Extra are eligible. Awards are decided by the Awards Committee, based partially upon the information received. Magazine articles, newsletters, newspaper clippings, videos, and the like are appreciated but cannot be relumed. The deadline for nominations is January 31 ,2002. Nominations can be submitted by U.S. Mail to Post Office Box 964, Dayton, OH 45401 , or by completing the convenient e-torm on the Web at [www.hamvention.org]. Thanks to DARA, via Newslink, BillPasternak. WA6ITF, editor. FAR Scholarship""s _ The Foundation for Amateur Radio, Inc., a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Washington DC, plans to administer 62 scholarships lor the academic year 2002-2003 to assist licensed radio amateurs. The Foundation, composed of over 75 local area amateur radio clubs, fully funds seven ot these scholarships with the income from grants and its annua l hamlest. The remaining 55 are admin istered by the foundation without cost to the various donors. Licensed radio amateurs may compete tor these awards if they plan 10 pursue a full-time course of studies beyond high school and are enrolled in or have been accepted for enrollment at an accredited university. college. or technical school. The awards range from $500 to $2,500. with preference given in some cases to residents of specified geographical areas or the pursuit of certain study programs. Clubs, especially those in Delaware, Florida, Maryland , Ohio. Pennsytvania, Texas, Virgini a and Wisconsin, are encouraged to announce these opportunities at their meetings, in their dub newsetters. during training classes, on Itleir nets and on their WOOd Wide Web home pages. Additional information and an application form may be requested by leiter or a SL card, postmarked prior to April 30, 2002, sent to: FAR Scholarships, PO Box 831, Riverdale MD 20738. The Foundation for Amateur Radio, ecoporated in the District of Columbia, is an exempt organization under Section 501 (C}(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 011954. It is devoted exclusively to promoting the interests of amateur radio and those scientific, literary, and educational pursuits that advance the purposes of the Amateur Radio Service. Hell-o-o-o-o ••• Ham radio played a role in reuniting with his family a man who had been hiding in the jungles of Guatemala for over three decades. The CQ Magazine Web site reports that 72-year-old Salomon Vides of 8 Salvador emerged from the Guatemalan jungle recently alter hiding there for 32 years from a war that lasted about 100 hours. In 1969, 8 Salvador invaded Honduras and VIdes, a migrant worker, ran into the jungle to escape retaliatory raids. The Organization of American States quickly brought the war to an end, but VlCles says he never got the word. He was discovered in August by Rene Sonabo, a taxi driver and Guatemalan ham radio operator, and Sonabo's son. Alter persuading vdes that no one was trying to kill him, SonabO used his amateur station to relay the news to vces's stunned family in 8 Salvador. He has since been reunited with his brother, but the family had not been able to locate his wife and three children. Thanks to ca, via Newsline, Bill Pasternak WA 6ITF, editor. Using Microwaves to Clean Exhausts Radio waves could be the answer to solving ooe of the world's major environmental problems. Industrial researchers from the Australia's Swinburne University of Technology in Melbou me have announced a new microwave system that can remove up to 90% 01 the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from automotive engine exhausts. The microwave emissions converter is being touted as the most important breakthrough for reducing automotive exhaust gases since the development 01 the catalytic converter. The research team is now working 00 ways of transIomling the carboo particles that are filtered and coIIeded alter iooizalion, and further processing them. The researchers say that similar microwave deposition techniques are being used to transform carbon particles into artificial diamond powder, which could be used as a scratch- or wear-resistant coating on optical lenses, cornpact discs, and watches. It might also be used lor prolonging life 01 bioengineering materials, including prosthetic hip joints, orthopedic pins, and artificial heart valves and veins.Thanks to Graham Kemp VK4BB andQ.News, via Newsline, Bill Pasternak WA6ITF, editor. Real Sky-'-H-"'o'-"o"'ks"---- _ The proposal b' these sky hooks comes from ATG industries in southem England. It wants to build reflective airships and have them operate at a heighl of 65,000 feel. These craft would be unmanned and use solar-powered electric engines and a lightweight diesel engine. ATG claims that these -skyhook" ships could keep their position for up to 5 years, and that they could act as transponders lor services such as mobile telephones, broadband Internet, and digital radio. ATG estimates that 19 of these sky hook ships could cover most of the UK and replace as many as 4,000 mobile telephone poles and up to 10,000 towers that are expected to be needed fOf the new G-3 technology. It's not known how long these sky hook ships Continued on page 58 The SG·2020 Now with ADSP' SG -2020 A[)S P #05-02 $795. 00 SG· 2020 Ca t. /lO~ O I $67!U lO e••. Adaptive Digital Signal Processing Eliminates Noise for Unsurpassed Signal Quality For the first time ever, the popular SG-2020 is available with optional digital signal processing. Receive clearer AM , FM, SSB, CW at all speed levels and data in all existing di fferent modes. No other mac hine under $800 even comcs close to the many features of the SG-2020 ADS P. When you need a great little IIF-55B rig, choose the standard 5G-2020. Or, for the clearest possible signal, the new SG-2020 ADSP is thc right unit fo r yo u. Find out what everyone is talking about! Get free QSL cards , and download the manual at www.sgcworld.com , • Toll Frcc (800) 259.7331 • Tel (425) 746·6310 • FlU( (425) 746- b3 ~ 4 • Email: sg~ (u!sg~ wor ld.c"m Mailing: PO Box 3526, Ikllcmc. WA '1MOO9 - Shipping: 13737 Sf: 2b1h St. Ik llC'o'uc . WA 98005 USA 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 7 LETTERS From the Ham Shack Jim Beeson WA5QAIJ. Shreveport LA. shape. Terms like " we ho pe nothing e lse I have worked m any modes in my 35 years fails" and " it is roc ket science" were two o f of amateur radio . I have see n some good m y fa vorites. My gosh. I thought the people thin gs happen in am ateur rad io and some who we re runni ng this bird W ER E rocket 11 0 \ so good thi ngs happen. That is why I scientis ts! am wri ting thi s note w ith m ixed emo tio ns. r had pUI my faith, not to mention a lot o f Ouc of m y more favorable ex periences m y hard-earned money, into an organizawas working Low Eart h Orbit (LEO ) satcl- tio n that did not seem up to the c halle nge. lites in the ' 90s. T hey were fun to work and A nd all [ saw. w hen toug h questions were did not req uire muc h equipme nt or expense. asked. we re e motio nal. dcfcnsivc answers. The o nly drawback was that the contac ts I have been in the engineeri ng industry fo r were relat ively short - 15 10 20 minutes a lo ng time now. and some of this group - and I am more of a rage-hewer than that . .....o uld not haw surv ived with thi s ki nd of I never worked Mod e B on Osca r t 3 e ve n track record. though I wished 1 had many times. Thai is And thai's no t the latest. The same group, why. when I first heard about A0 -40, I was with p lans to bui ld ano ther b ird w ith much very excited. the sa me capabilit ies as A0-40 , is asking I read art icle afte r article on AO-40 and fo r donation s. Is something wro ng with thi s was defi nitel y caug ht up in the excitement pi cture" ! It has been my e xperie nce th at of wbu t was 10 he the best amateur radio unle ss up per m anagement is changed . (hen sate- llite- ever. a ne w era o f sate llite . Toward e ng ineering is do ne m uch the same way. the e nd of the ' 90s, I decided to bite the syste ms ge t put to gether m uc h the same bullet and go all out for A 0-40 . I spent o ve r way. etc . $ 2,OJO o n ne w eq uipment. Some incl uded I th ink that before we start sending in o ur t w o new antennas ( 144 an d 450 M Hz). A 7.J money and suppo rt, a clear picture of what El, rotator, new coa xial cable and rotator is proposed needs to be addressed. Where wire , pream ps. downco nverters. satell ite are we goi ng '! W hat did we lea rn from o ur trucki ng software, antenna co nt rol bo ard. m istakes o n AO-40 '! How can we avoid and on and o n and O il . them o n this new bi rd '! The same types o f The-n I wai ted. launch de lay after launch things th at any respon sib le organ ization delay. Months went by, and I wonde re d if addresse s. AO-40 would ever fl y. T he n the day came. With AO-40 now lim ping a long w ith on ly T he excite me nt wns felt all over the atria- o ne functional tra ns mitter, I am hoping and tcur comm unity. A nd a perfec t lau nc h, 10 0 . praying that it w ill last a while until some Now. after a bri e f lime fo r th e ground con- o f the se issue s can be sorted o ut. trollers to comnnsslon the b ird. I could start A n dy MacMlister »'SA CM responds: using my shi ny new equipment. Item A of the bylaws ofA MSAT-NA directs Well. it wa s not meant to he. A0-40 was the organization to develop and provide satme t almo st Immediately with problem s. ellites. related equipment, mill techno logy Some- were unavoidabl e, but ot hers were fo r amateur radio operators worldwide. no t. Hum an error pl ayed a huge hand in A MSA T·NA achieves this end "ill many wh at I sa w was goof-up a fter goof-up. AOmeans. including internal proj ects and co40 kept lo sing ground . and I was wonderoperative ejfi,r/s keith other o rganizations. ing at o ne point whe the r there wou ld there Phas e 31) ( /10 1" A 0 -40) represents the mo.rt he anything left to work at all! Everything ambitious cooperative program to date. 0 11 the AMS AT Weh site and prelimin ary While it is true that th ree of the transmitart ic les indicated th at whi le some systems ters ( V. U. and S I ) appea r 10 be inoperawere malfu nc tioni ng, we we re still in good ri ve , t wo others are c u rrently in th e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ __ _, operating schedule (S2 and K ). while mh-: of ers a re still being tested o r wait ing to be commissioned. The glass is riot emp t): In fact it is f a r better than halffull.' Check 0111 the s ta tus c hart lit {hup :// 73 .\1uf:u: ilu ww"~amsa t -dl.org/jollrtlaVadlj-I'-1d·lllmJ. Only S5.f1O Each! Ye.r, AMSAT-NA is soliciting SlII'l'emfor new projects. this lime to be directed and built here ill Na rtli America. The organization Ra ck Issues Ca ll1100-274· 7373 8 73 Amateur Radio Today . January 2002 has learned a g reat d eal from the experience ofm e Phase 3D p rog ram. hut will continue 10 strive f or cutting -edge endeavors. II is through ambitious undertakings thatthe imagination and dri ve fo r /I('W horizons is cuttivatn t in AMSAT volunteers. other p artner groups, and educational institutions that wish: to pl/r.me their O W II efforts o r j oi,1 AMSA T-NA in theirs. Tha nks for the inp ut, Jim. A r no ld Sa m uels KH6C O \'. Oc ean Shores \ VA. I am anno uncing the death of m y very good frie nd Richard foster K7AJT o n Octobe r II . 200 I. at the age of 77. Dic k was hom October 8, 1924, at Tol edo OH. He m arried Catherine G arbe o n June 30. 195 1. She survives at th e fa mily home in A berdeen WA. D ick wa s bl ind for ma ny years and became a self-e m ployed piano tuner in 1956. He retired in 1980. He wus a four-term prcsident of the Grays Harbo r ARC. and was also a m ember of the Northwest District Quarter Century Amateur Radio org anizatio n. He hclped deliver Me a ls on W hee ls in Abe rdee n . D ick w as a great fan of the Mari ne rs. He he lped m an y ham s in his ea rlier ye ars, and we w ill m iss this very active a nd helpful man . George V ic k e r y KH40QU, Davidson SC . I ha ve an idea to hel p im prove th e sa les of am ate ur rad io eq uipme nt. W hy do n ' t the m a nufac ture rs lea se radio s just like c a r c o m p an ie s le ase c a rs? I h a ve leased au tos and I ha ve leased te st eq ui pment for a co m mercial radio re pa ir busine ss . W hat's in it for t he ave rage ham ? W hy. you c a n use a top-o f-the-line rad io with li ttle o f yo ur c ash in it. You don ' t wo rry a bo ut t he m ai n te nance , it' s no t yo urs . W he n the lime is up fo r th e lease. yo u ca n h uy it a t an al re ady -agreed -to pri ce . Maybe p ick up a new OIl C, o r wa lk away, it's up to yo u. T his wo u ld gi ve ux a large num ber o f goo d used radio s in the ma rketplac e . I th in k most people are m ore in to opera tin g th an bui lding . May be w e wou ld get mo re people on the air and support o ur bands. If you are willi ng to spe nd $ 50 to $ 70 fo r c a b le T V an d $ 2 1.9 5 for a n Internet co nnectio n, then w hy not $ 30 to $4 0 a m o nth for a ne w rad io '! It ' s a lot m o re fu n t h a n watc hi ng s o me dum b sitco m . lNY-( ) ECONOMY PREAM P FM EXCITERS: ONLY S29Iw&t Rated for continuous duty. • Miflialunl MOSfET Preamp. • Low noise figuru. • AvadabJe lor various bands from 28 10 450 MHz. lNK-( ) PREAMP ONLY $59/w&t Low noise LN Y-lype preamp in alum case wi BNC jacks. lNP-( ) PRESElECTOR ONLY S391w&. • Eliminate intennod1 • Sharp 3-seclion filter • Low noise preamp • AvaiIabI8lor bands from 13710 110 MHL Rl21 AVIATION RECEIVER • ExcitIng new AM receiver lor thE! 118-1 37 MHz aircraft band • Ideal fOf monitoring at airports. • Allows pilot control of runway lighting . • ELT monitor to detect and locate downed aircra ft. • Dip switch frequency selection . • Superior Seflsi~vity and seledivity. R121 Reeew., module wiredftesled R121 Receiver in cabinet 1_ _l _$209 $299 2W continoous duty ovtpul. T301 Synthesized VHF Exciter: for various bands 139-174MHz. 2 16226 MHz. Dip switch freq . setting. o Kit (ham bands only) (T CXO oplion $40) $109 o Wired/tested. incl TCXO $189 T304 Synthesized UHF Exciter: for various bands 400-4 70 MHz. o Kit (<<6-450 IIItm band only) ind TCXO $1.9 • Wimdltesled $189 CRYSTAl CONTROlLED: o TAS1 : for 6M, 2M. 220 MHz kit $99, wit $169 o TMS1: 1or.20-475J.Hz. kit$99,wlt5169 • TA901 : for 902-928 MHz. (0 .5W out) wit 5169 VHF & UHF POWER AMPLIFI ERS: Output levels from t OW to 1QOW._._._. Starting at $99 1'8C8 ; ~e r optImized for NOAA APT \.:l...<-...:=~:..t & Russian Meteor weattM'r fax on the 137MHl baoo. Covers all 5 sat.-Iite chal'lflElls. Scanner circuil & recorder control allow yoo to automatically capture signals as satellites pass overhead, even wh ile away from home. • R139 Receiver Kit less case ,$159 o R139 R.ceiver Kit with case and Be power adapler ,$18t o R13t Receiver wit in case with ac power adapter ,...$239 o lntemal PC dernodIAator boaord & imaging software ..$289 oTtJlTI$tile Antema $135 R301 Synthesized VHF Receiver: various bands 139-174MHz. 2 16-226 MHz. o KiI (ham bands only) (TCXO option $40) _ _ o Wiradllesled lind TCXOI onty5139 5209 $179 , $209 CRYSTAL CONTROlLED: • R100 lor 46-54. 72-76. 140-175, or 216-225 MHz. . ....................................................... kit 5129, wit $189 • R144 Like R100, for 2M. With helical resonator in froot end kit $159, wit $219 • R451 for 420-4 75 MH z kit $129, wit $189 kit $159, wit $219 • R90l for 902-9 28MHz Access all your favorite o Encodn all standard Sl*'"' ditlle tones with aystaI acar.tey - and ........ enienl DIP swdd1 se' H Iion o Decoder can be used 10 mute receive audio and is optimized for installation ,n repeater5 to proyide dosed access. High pass filler gels rid of annoying rcvr bun. o TD.s CTCSS Encoder/Oec:OOer Kit $39 o TD-5 c ress Encoder/Decoder WiredJlested $59 No need to spend thousandS 011 new transcei-vers for each band! o Convert vhf and uh f s ignals to & from 10M. Get time & frequency chKlIs w lthoul: buying multlband hi ~. Hear $(liar acliYity reports - • IJ dedicaled 10 ltsI&ring to WNV on 10 lotHz. Perbmance rivals the most expensive rCYfS. o Evun if y100 ct8 down at t f 2 kHz. basI avai/· mellitesl A YllrY sensibve wideband • leit still only $1095 o factory .ssembled stili onl)' $1295 FM RECEIVERS: R304 Synthesized UHF ReceIVer. Join tht fu n . Get s trildng ~ d lrKtly from the .. eattwr A microprocessor-controlled repeater with full autopatch and many versatile dtmf remote control features at less than you might pay for a bare bones repeater or controller alonel Hamtronics has the most complete line of moduln for making repeatel'$. In addltlon to exciteni, pa's , and reeeiVers, _ offer the fol lowing cont rollers. COR-3. lne> lrrnen>. cou1esy beep , audoo mi_er . . 'onl'Y S49111lt, $79 wit CWID-2. E~ lO·er only $S4IkIt, $Tt wit OVR·1. Reoord yeo.- own voice up 10 20 sec. For voice ill or playing d ub announcements $S9Ikit, $99 wit COR-4. Complele COR and CWIO all on one board , 10 only $99Iklt, $'.9 wit in eprom. Low power CMOS COR-6. COR with real-volce id. Low power CMOS. n0nvolati le memory.. """"" ... ,.. kit only $99, wit on ly $149 COR-5. IJP cowcuer with autopatch, reverse ap, pllone remole control. lots of DTMF control fllrlCtiOllS. all on one board . as used in REp·2OQ Repe at....-. . $319 wJ1 AP-3. Repeater 8lAopalch, reven;e autopatc:h. phone line remo4e cortroI. Use with TD-2 kit 589 fD.2. FOU'-dogiI DTMF decoderlcontroller. FiYe Iatc:tiog kit $Tt, w it $129 on-otr fI.ncbons. toll call rustriclor ~. DTMF conln:ltler as above ewept one on--o/f fu1cbon and no 101 call restri<;:tor w it S89 HANDY FREDUENCY COUNTERS Pocket s ized, but lab quality! 3GHz bandwidth, 1ppm accuracy, very afford.. able. NiCd batlery. ac adapterlctlarger, rugged black anodized aluminum case, Telescoping whip antenna a rid great S8flsitivity a llow measurements eVlln trom a distance. Three model l with prlees from $99 to $219. Al l go up to 3 GHz. Some go a s low as 10 Hz WIth noise fi llers and oIher advanced leahM'e$. See ou r _bsit. for delalls. Hamtronic s, Inc. 65 Moul Rd; Hilton NY 14468-9535 Ph : 716-392·9430; Email: [email protected] Erik Westg ard NY9D 3990 Virginia Avenue Shoreview MN 55126 [ny9d @arrl.net) Build a 1.2 GHz FM Repeater With a lot oj initiative and perseverance, these hams realized success. l[ you ever need to put an FM amateur repeater on the air, the 1972 ARRL book FM and Repeate rs for the Radio Amateur has some clear advice: "ldeslly, and in keeping with the true amateur spirit, the repeater operator or club technical com mittee would build the complete system [rom scratch, " n the case of our 23cm (1.2 GHz) band. that is curre ntly your only choice. The one factory-built repeater. the leom IC·RPI 220. has bee n discontinued for some time. This model. a nd an older one. the Icom RP1210. may show up occasio nally secondhand, I was concerned about the older one, as it defaults to the obso lete 20 MHz split and operate s in the wrong part of the band. When I brought home my quad-hand leom T81 -AT handh eld almost two years I Photo A. Top ,' jew ofthe repeater. 10 73 Amateur Radio 'toaev » January 2002 ago, there we re no voice repeaters for this band in my area. and only a few other hams nearby with equipment for it Reuben Rcun WB0BWL lived eight miles away and had a 1.2 GHz mohile rig. We tried to set up a poi nt-to-po int link, hut had poor rcsuhs. e ven with a lfi-clcrncnt beam at my end. J called aro und to some of the microwa vc equipment supp liers like Down East Microwave and SSB Elec tronics. They did not al the time ( 1999) se ll any amplifiers that could be used with an HT. as you needed a microwave-rated tra nsmi t/rece ive switch for this application. One of the companies did suggest yo u could build a repeater using their transvcrters added to the inputs and outputs of a 2-meter repeater. Our local VHF/UHF club, Th e Northern Lights Radio Society, runs a mi ni -ham fest every year called Aurora. There I found a kit-b uilt 1.2 GH,. lra ns verter based on th e Rick Campbe ll KK7B series of designs. The unit came in a cardboard box including 1.2 GHz 3-watt and Hj-watt amplifier modules and a 900 MHz 3-watt amp all for a hu ndred bucks. The seiter said the receive section was broken. The transvcrtcrs mu ltip ly a local oscillator (LO) signal. a nd use mixers and or bandpass fillers with an incoming or outgoing 1.2 GHz or 144 MHz signal to down- or upconvert. I found the calculator under some stuff on my workbench and learned to figure out my incoming a nd ou tgoing signals less the LO. A Radio Shack 1.2 GH z-rated frequency counter (on closeout for $79) was going to be my test benc h. I found out my LO was runn ing. and attached my trusty 2- metcr leom u2AT (the othe r part of my test bench) to the input. I hooked up a n HF dummy load and sat the T8 IAT nearby. I set the u2AT at 144, and the TSI AT to receive at 1291 and pushed the P'IT. S uccess! I was on the air o n 1.2 G Hz with the transverter. I now had two problems - how to build a repeater wi th this setup, and how to get myself do wn to the proper repeater subband. Our local frequency coordinator, Paul Emeott K0LAV, took an interest in my project. I went o ver to his place, and he loaded the _back of my pickup truck with all kinds of "microwave-type" stuff he had accumulated. This included parts from an old commercial microwave link syste m, a nd some TYRO sate llite receivers. He also handed me a coordi nat ion packet and the ARRL-approved band plan - I needed to be at around 1285 MHz on my output, and -12 MHz down the input. I called Down East Mi crowave, who agreed that I needed a new LO crystal to move the transverter frequency downward. The idea is to adj us t the 2m ou tput freq uency (I' ll call that the IF from now on) to Slay in the norma l tuning range of 2m equipment. I did not wa nt to be worki ng wi th several watts of RF on the aircraft hand. even be tween modules. Now I need to build a 2m repeater. I thought a bo ut using o ne of my 1.2 GHz HTs as the rece ivcr, and my transverter coupled to anothe r 2m HT as the transmitter. I would also need a controller a nd IOcr module to stay within the rules. Hamtronics has a line of low-cost controllers an d other parts. I selected their COR-4 controller kit. It was simple to build, and did n't work. I replaced the CMOS chips one at a time with spares from my co llection. On e of the 4020B chips was no good. I was using an ungrounded solde ring iron at the time, and may have zapped the chip accidentally. 'The controller sprang to life and beeped out my call over the speaker. Now I needed to interface my HT as a receiver. For that I would need to come up with carrier-operated squelch, which did not appear o n the radio anyplace. The transmitter was easy - j ust add aud io and P'IT. There we re many schematics for interfacing PTf to the HT in the packet radio literature . My extens ive QST and 73 files revealed a sample squelch board, and there was another one in the RSGB VHF Handbook. Nei ther one worked very well for my app lication, despite many hours of wiring and testing. I added the largest reed relay I could find in my parts stock to switc h o n the transmitter(s), as the built-in transistor in the controller was rated at only a n amp or so. In tryi ng to interface the HT to the PTT line , I got some 12V into the speaker mic jack and burned o ut the audio section o n my u2AT. At this point I called Hamtron ics again. They had a nice synthesized 2m receiver with COR kit. the R 30 1-2 Y. O the r than o ne slight ly tric ky surface mount IC on the bottom of the board , th is one went together rapidly and wo rked the first time. The directi ons called for an RF signal gen erator for alig nment of the many slug-tune d coils. Back 10 Reu ben again - he got a Wa vetec 3000 series RF sig na l gc nerator on loan from Don Rice N0BVE, who also had a 1.2 G Hz mobile rig. 1 would need another transvcrter for receive. I ordered a receive-only model fro m Down East. The one I got at the hamfest was by this point driving me crazy - the LO was interm itten t, and did not seem too happy with the ne w crys ta l. I kept noticing that some of the coils on my unit did noL mat ch the doc umentation for the board in the A RRL Microwave Proj ects book. I also got a $99 1.2 G Hz SWR bridge and wattmeter from Radio Ci ty, a Comet CM- 120. Of the two amplifier kits I got, the 3-watt unit seemed O K, but the to-watt model was baffiing. I could not ge t more than 3 wa tts o ut of it. I studied the data sheets on the Mitsubishi modules used in the a mplifiers, which are fairly simple devi ces to wire, but you have to be careful to ens ure the resulting amplifier is stable. My leorn T 81AT se rved as test signal generator for much of this project. I ordered a Hamtro nics fac tory-built 2 m transmitter (T301 ·2T) as wel l, For o nly a little more than the kit you get a free crystal oven. Reu ben kept telling me to be careful of freq ue ncy stability. si nce we we re multiplying the crys tal so many times. I a lso ordered a 20 dB ILL ELE CO R RA T ION SHOP OUR ONLINE STORE www.allelectronics.com LED Tesler I_---===~:.--_I Poc ket-size led tester. Make s I, " . it easy 10 check functionality. color. brightness aoo unilormity, Plug any leaded L ED into one 01 ~~~~ 12 posrtcos Of! the socket st~ 10 test at current ratngs lrom 2-5Orna, The seven micldle positlOflS 00 ee sf~ are set al1 0 rnA a llowing ~ nSOfl 01 LEOS in those spaces. Requires 9 v battery (not included). S895 CAn LT·l00 each TD K-2090. Inverter lo r small to medium CC FT lamps Operate s on 3·5 No olliCial specs available at thiS time . Our tests Il"ldlCale thai II lights lamps of 25Qmm length or less. Module is 2. 17" It 1.1" It 0.4 ' high. PC PI"S on 2" It 0.84· centers, Large Ql.i8nhly ava Ilable. voc. s5l!ll . ach CAn INV·7 I Video I RF Modulator ~ Converts aucc and video line level signals 10 RF wh ich can ee inpuned to any tele vision on dlannel 3 o r 4 . Channel 34 selector SWItch. Video. eeoc and power inputs are through a 71001 cable terminated with a mini-DIN plug v.niCh generally needs to be cut oil so COfVleCIiOnS can be made dlmctty 10 conOJdors I(l cable. Sl4>P'Y a 1'lo0Io;'\41 diagram Requres a 4.5 ~ 6 Vdc. 50 rnA power we supply or wal adapter (no! included r_)~·" . , _ , 5 $ 00 Large quantity available. CAn MOD-6 10 I", each $4.50 each TERIolS, NO M I/IIMlJ4I ORDER SI'lopPform OJUcI $ ' 2.!15 Specify 10M, 15M, 20M, . 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FAX ~J ~1 laflp:l......eom-spKi.com 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 13 that we have the highest-freq uency a ma teur voice repeater in three states, b ut that we built it o urse lves . We have a very mi nor problem still with some RF feedback. but if I can upgrade some of the rat's-nest of j umpers and adapters in between modules. that should se ttle down . References A RRL UHF/MicrowQw! Projects Man ual Volume I , A RRL, 1996. ISBN 0·87259-449- 1. This one contains Rick Campbell KK7B articles on 23cm transverters and LO boards. It Photo C. The Hamtronics COR-4 repeater controller: also has a Bill Olson W3HQT article Build a 1.2 GHz FM Repeater continued from page 13 trunk well past the ZD-mile mark on the way to a Wisconsin hamfesl. Reuben said he was surprised and delighted at the coverage. The machine. w ith abo ut 12 watts of ERP between the a nten na g ain and a little fecdl ine loss, seem to be about even in terms o f tra nsmit and receive sensitiv ity and coverage. I put the parts from my hamfest Down East 3 watt in, 17 watt out amplifier into a proper cabinet. and may experiment with that. This amplifier can be connected between the existing transm itte r and duplexer 1285 MHz input connector and wo uld not need a TIR relay or switch. I as ked aroun d about in-li ne coax lightni ng supp ressors. The club di d not use them. but every commercia l machine on the site d id. O thers consulted on the topic said not to bothe r. After re turning from a business trip a week later. I jumped in the car and keyed up the machine. Nothing was heard. all the way home. My wife said there had been a "ton" of lighting that day. A ll I co uld th ink of was th e pile o f cre d it card receipts that led us here and how m any more wo uld be needed for the lighti ng d amage . I called Ed o n h is cell p ho ne - we 've got to get to the site. The next morning Ed called me back - he sa id the machine see med fine, and then he turned down the squelch - there was o ur 10. The one problem I was sure was fix ed was back . I asked him to power cycle the receiver module - it was hack on the air. The re ceive converte r LO was not locking up again . We arc do wn from the normal LO crystal frequency by almost 2 MHz. and the local oscillator shou ld probably be adjusted a bit. Down East suggests tweaking the 8 tum LO choke. After all thi s, we are still learning about this interesting band. We have so me bragging rights in town. not only -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -J on the 3-wau amplifiers. Cable X-Perts Inc ., 416 Diens Drive. Wheeling IL 60090. (847) 520-3003. [hu p:/Iwww.cablexpcrts .cum]. Craswc ll. J. WB0VNE, 'The PortaPeater," QST, 4/97 . Pp. 37- 39. Dow n East Microwave. 954 Rt. 51 9, Fre nc htown NJ 08825 . (908) 9963584. Ihttp ://downcas tm icrowave .comJ pre-cat .htm] . Hamtronics, 65 Moul Road, Hilton NY 14468-9535. (7 16) 392-9430. (hUp:/Iwww.hamtronic s.com) . Jessop. G.• G6JP. VHF/ UHF Manual. RSG B, 4th Edition. 1985. P.4.37. Lau, Zack , WI VT, "SHF Systems 1240K 1296-MHz Transvcrter Kit," Product Revie w. QST, 2/90. Pp. 33-34. McMullen, Tom. WISL. "Elmer's Notebook - The Il (o"MHz Band," Ham Rad io,1 2I 1987.pp.1I 3- 11 5. (NOle : Thc ARRL no w has a Ham Radio C D). McMu llen, Tom. W ISL. Editor, FM and Repeaters for the Radio Amateur, ARRL, 1972. P. 103. Northern Lights Radio Society [hnp:/! www.te.umn.edul- hushyOO2Inlrs.hlm ). Putman, Peter, KT2B. "A Guided Tour of 1.2 GHz," 73 Amateur Radio, 6/87. Pp. 24-26 . Radio C ity. 2663 County Road I, Mou nds View MN 551 12. 1-800-4262891 . [hnp :/Iw ww.radioi nc.co m] . 5SB Electronics. 124 Cherrywood Drive , Mountaintop PA 18707. (5 70 ) 868-5643 . [http://www.sshusa.com]. TXlRX Systems, 8625 Industrial Universal Radio Parkway, Angola NY 14006. (716) 6830 Americana Pkwy. Reynoldsburg,OH 43068 549-4700. (http://www.tux .com]. + Orders: 800431 ·3939 + Inlo: 614866-4267 + Fax: 614866-2339 t 4 73 Amateur Radio toasv » January 2002 Whitaker, R., KI5PG , "Speaker-Mikes and Replacement Microphones: ' QST, 7/95. Pp. 62--63 . flll Jack A. Smith K8Z0A Telecommunications Con sulting 7236 Clifton Rd. Clifton VA 20124 (JackSmith @cox.rr.comJ All-Star Expanded-Scale AC Voltmeter Monitor your line voltage with this high-performer. With the stress being p ut on our electrical distribution systems, th e voltage delivered to your house may widely vary [rom the nom inal 120 volts. While inexpensive digitu! voltmeters arc now widely available, it doesn't make sense to keep one tied up monitoring line voltage, not to mention feeding it batteries every few days. standard a na log m ultimcter scale, say 0 to 25 0 vo lts, is neither easy to read nor particularly accurate. Hence , I decided to create an expanded-scale AC vo ltmeter, read ing bet ween t 10 vo lts and 135 volts. Thi s idea isn't original - a vacu um tulle version was available from RCA in the 1950s - but it's stilt a nice add ition to the shack. A Theory of operation The princ iple behind an expanded- sca le vo ltmeter is simple - by floating n ne end o f a vo ltmeter with a prec is ion voltage reference , we c an increase resolutio n and accuracy. Suppose we want to measure the voltage o f a battery that we kno w is some where between 5 and 6 vo lts DC. The simplest me thod, o f course, is to set your voltmeter to the 0 to to-volt sca le and connect it across the battery terminals . If you have a typical a nalog mu ltimc ter, you will have an accuracy of about 2% of full sca le, in this case 0.2 vo lts . If the "true " batt ery voltage is 5.5 vo lts, your meter cou ld read an ywhere between 5.3 and 5.7 volts and still be within its ra ted accuracy. S uppose that you a lso ha ve an accurate 5.()()()..volt power supply. By using it as a reference and read ing the difference between the voltage standard and the unknown, you can usc a lower voltme ter sca le and sig nificantly improve measurement accuracy. In this case, yo u can use the 0 to )volt sca le on the voltmeter, as the voltage reference "cancels out" 5.7 ~ . ')4 ~7 " "" "., ''' \lbI 111f n~ \\ ' .,'''''' PIV TV ami SaleU· te Dtscram blina 2002 • NEW! • satellite and cab le. Incl ude s latest in form at ion . $ 19 .95 pl u s $ 1.75 sh ipp~i Hllcking Di&ilal Satdrte Sij"swms Vtdeo 2 - Newt- $29.,95 plus ~3 .5 shir Ping . . StrBmhUJlI: News Online . Online service for lhose interested in satellite television news. $59.951 ar. $59.951 . m in . all 13 vol umes over pages. 59.95 plus $3.50 shipping. (lest Deal • Everyttu n~ listed above for only $99.95 plus $3.50 shippmg. • a 2. & U O_ya_rw 4 I& , ...... U'J 1tC.1HOV us•.•• 11tC-1D0I1n.•• Micro Computer Concepts ' . . . . G. . 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(+ Code, Windol'-1i1S49.95 General Class (3+Code, \\l ndows). 534.95 Extra Class (4 + Code, Windows).. $34.95 Ham Operator (ltd l.· E rtn + Code) 559.95 Morse Software Only ...................•...512.95 , , , I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I • YI.I!EQ VHS with study manual I I No-Code Tech Video Course $31.95 I Add SS.OO wipping h t iaem..50 eadudditiona1 I Mail 2-) day o.ervice .avaIlable I 1 VISA.Priority MiWCTCard. Disrover. &: AMEX Aoeepttd 1 WSYI Group 1 I P.O. BOx 565 101 · D all as TX 75356 I 1-800-66.....5. . 1 1 L WWW,wSYLo rg .. Fig. 3. Schematic. 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 19 ground (green wire) to the copper foil of the board. The photos show a two-wire line cord that I use with an iso lat ion tran sformer for testing and calibration. If yo u use a metal box to house this project. the bo x sho uld also be connected to the AC line ground wire . Photo G. I punched out tile copper pads with a Roper-whitney No. 5 Junior hand punch. All-Star Expanded-Scale AC Voltmeter ccnunuedjrom paye 19 important to protect against inadvertcnt co ntact with potentia lly letha l voltage. The plastic box provides an additional layer of protection. Note also that one side of the AC line is common with the negative side of the low voltage reference DC supply. While normally I wou ld have used the copper fo il o f the m ain PC board for the negati ve low voltage DC connecti on. this would mean that one side o f the AC line was co nnected to what is usually co nsi dered "ground:' This cou ld lead to an unp leasan t su rprise or worse . If you use my wiring technique, please use a 3· wire (hot. neutra l. and ground ) line cord and con nect the After construction, carefully check your wiring fo r errors. If you use the Manhattan-style construction, check the resistance be tween the PC foi l and the rest of the ci rc uit. T his shou ld be an open c ircu it. Discon nect M I from th e c irc uit for the following initial checkout. Connect the circuit to a variable AC power so urce, such as a VAR IAC*and p lace an accurate digital voltmeter across the AC line. Please remember that a standard VARIAC is not isolated from the AC line and thai inadverte nt contact with the AC line can cause severe shock or injury. Please be careful! I stro ng ly recommend using an iso lation transIormer between the VARIAC and the expanded scale voltmeter at any time when the case is open and voltage is exposed. l'hota H. Wirin g techniques ca ll be seen here. 20 73 Amateur Radio Today • January 2002 Checkout and calibration Photo I. More wiring. Always unp lug the meter fro m the VARIAC before attaching or detaching clip leads! The ste ps be low req uire you to measure voltages and adju st pote ntiomete rs whi lst AC line voltage is appl ied. Please be careful du ring thi s p roce ss ! Re m em ber th e old ru le of keeping o ne hand in your poc ket when working arou nd dangerous voltages. Set the VARIAC to the "zero" voltage le ve l you have se lected. Check the vo ltage across D I wi th an accurate digital voltmeter. It sho u ld be 5. 1 volts ±O.25 vo lts. (If you haven 't a lready determined the proper value for RI , do so now.) Note this value as Vnor In crease the VARIAC to the voltage leve l you ha ve established as th e " full scale" vo ltage. T he actua l voltage le vel is n ot so importan t. It is m uch more important that V'd sho u ld be esse nti al ly un ch anged as th e AC line vo ltage is varied . If V",r changes more tha n a fe w m illi volts, you ha ve a proble m wit h QI , RI , or DI. ( M y prototype changed only 0 .5 milli volts .) Move your digital voltmeter to read the voltage across C2. Set the VARIAC to the zero voltage leve l you have se lec ted. Adj ust R6 through its ra nge. You sho u ld see the voltage acro ss C2 vary from 4 volts (or less) to 6 volts (or more). Set R6 so the voltage across C2 is equal to V",r' If you can ' t o btai n this ra nge of voltage adjustme nt , c heck R5, R6 . R7, 04, R4. and C2 and the as sociated wiri ng . • ,• , I ,. : i ,, , , Photo J. The completed circuit board is mounted on the back of the meier, using the lWO meter terminal studs. It is necessary. of course, to remove the copper foilfrom the area around the meter lugs. I used a milling machine, but you could etch it chemically, or cut it out with an Exacto knife and peel the copper from the fiberglass substrate. Disconnect the circui t fro m the VARIAC. Preset R2 to midran ge and connec t M I into the circuit. Reconnect the c irc uit to the VARIAC and set the AC line voltage to the zero vo ltage le vel you ha ve selec ted . Using a nonmetallic adjus tment tool carefully adj ust R6 to zero the meter. Use a nonmetallic tool to hel p reduce the risk of contacting line voltage. Increase the AC line voltage to the full -sc ale val ue an d. usi ng th e nonmetallic adjustme nt tool , adj us t R2 ca refully until the meter reads full sc ale. Photo K The board installed in place, It may be neeessary to repeat the R2/R6 adj us tment once or tw ice, as they interact slightly. Disconnect the circuit from the VARIAC and install in the box . C heck the accuracy of your rueter at several points ove r its sca le range. I found that my expanded-scale voltmeter is within 0.2 volts of my HP 3468 preci sion digital meter at the worst point readings are within and that almost all 0.1 volt Of course, the accuracy of your expanded scale meter is directly tied to the acc uracy of the digital voltmeter used in calibration. A standard. "runof-the-mill" digital voltme ter o btained for a few dollars may be surprisingly inaccurate whc n reading AC voltage. I recently received a "free" 3- ln-d igit DVM when ordering some equipment Thi s DVM is rated as ±O.8% of reading and +3 digits on the 0--200 VAC scale. For 125 V, the refore, the error limit would be 1.3 volt. If you can borrow a more acc urate DVM, such as a Fluke 187 or 189 (±O.4%, ±40 digits; resolution 0 .01 volts), the error will be reduced to 0.9 volts . Even a la boratory- grade instrument. such as the HP 3468, is only speci fied to he within 0,727 volts when reading 125 volts. However, whe n reading AC line voltage , my flu ke 189 ag rees with my HI' 3468 within 0.05%, while the " free" DVM diverges fro m the Fluke 189 and HP 3468 by aboul l%. O ne po int noted when ca libra ting th e e xpanded-scale me ter is that the AC line is not particularl y stable; appli an ces cyc ling off and on in the house c an cause 0 .5-voll varia tions , Hence , some degree of "eye ball averaging" ma y be necessary whe n calibrating the meter. iI SAVE 47"10! on 12 months of 79 Only $24.97 Call 800-274-7373 Special! u. '400.00 Cb....k O" t Our SptclMh ! Wr 'n On Thr Wrh. ROSS DlST1!IBl'fNG COMPMOY ... _ ..... 11 s SI=t. Pre-.ID 100 100_ _" T ·2_ C'Inor1l'llld•.ctlm 73 Amateur Radio Today - January 2002 21 Henryk Kotowski SMOJ HF S ibeliusgAng en 28 XI . S E-l6477 Kista, S we den [he nryk.kotowski @c hello.sel Travels with Henryk Part 2 SM(i)JHF shares some photos - and the fun of hamming. Poland is a cen tral European co un try with a stormy history. Political changes in this region som e 12 y ears ago resulted in a m ore independent governing system . The country h as recently become a m ember of NA TO. Some ~O million people live here. bu t just as many Poles live abroa d. scattered around the world. Ppro ximate ly 15,000 licenses arc iss ued in Poland. with prefixe s S P. SQ . SN, and 3Z. Foreign nationals visiting o r settled here arc g iven an SO prefix. As of January lst. 2001. the CEPT ag ree ment is effec tive in Poland. The nat ion al organization, PZ K. an IARU member, has its headquarters in Bydgoszcz no wadays. [hn pJ lwww.pz k.org .pl]. During last year 's IA RU HF c hampion ship. PZK \ "head quarters" station SN0HQ did extre me ly we ll. Chris SP7G IQ is 45 years o ld and receive d his license at the age of 16. He learned contesting and bu ildi ng A yag i ant ennas at cl ubs near Warszawa, Poland. About ten years ago he moved to the small tow n o f Lask. e rected a few towers. built qu ad ant ennas, and started winni ng contests (sec Photos B and C) . When last checked, his statio n consisted of S-clemem qu ad at 27m. 10m 5+5+5+5 stacked q uads. top at 35 m; 15m. 20m - -l-clcmcnt quad at 27 m. 4+4 stacked q uads at 35 m; 40m - 2-eleme nt q uad; 80m, 160m - vertical for transmi tting, Beverage wires for receiving ; • ,.0- _ . IC-75 IA plus similarly ancient Alpha ampli fie r. C hris's E-mail address is lsp7giq @ pro.onet.pl] . ..* Kazimicrz SP2FAX is 47 years o ld and got his lice nse mo re than 30 years ago. Soon therea fter. he fou nded a club (S P2 PDI) wi th a serious OX and contest approach right in his home town of Bydgoszcz. Poland. A num ber of cubical qu ads we re bu ilt. but it seems that they were difficu lt to keep in the air. ,, - •- • £ • • Photo A . Chris SP7GlQ shows off his shad ill Lask. Pola nd. 22 73 Amateur RadiO Today · January 2002 I'llOtO R. SP 7G1Q's alltellllaS a re really up there. ,I Photo D. Kasimier: SP2FAX relaxes in his shack in Bydgoszcz. Poland. Pholo C. SP7GIQ 's stacked 5-elem ellt quads. I .» In 19NI. all amateu r radio activity was suspended in Poland by martial j law. and Kazimic rz closed his mind and heart to ham radio - but only until 1995 . when he came hack to our hobby in a g rand manner. He bought a piece of land. after first checking the ground cond uctiv ity charts. He set up a few towers with large yag i arrays. Refer to P hotos D and E to see what he has today: 10 m - 6-e lemcn t yagi a t 32 m , 6clement yagi at 23m: 15m - 6-elemcnt yagi at 32m. 6-elCIDenI yagi at 20m: 20m - 6-e lement yagi at 46m . 6c le me nt yagi at 24 m, 3-dcmc nt yagi fi xed so uth: -tOm - 3-c1emcnt yagi at 44m; 80m. 160m - vertical for transmitting. Beverage wires for rece iving : If you're a No-C o de Tech , a nd you're having fun operating, tell us about it ! Othe r No-Cod e Tech s wi ll enjoy reading about you r adventure s in ham radio-and we'll pay you for your art icles. Yes , lots of n ice clea r photos, p lease . Call Joyce Sawtelle at 800-274-7373 to get a copy of "How to Write for 73 Magazine." II L_ II ' ,~' !' l' '- - I, ~ ---r-----1-t I I I II " Photo E. SP2FAX's huge vagi arrays suit the scale of his home. FT- IOOO. p lu s a h o m e - b re w amp lifier. Subscr iptions His E-mail address poe, ta, wp.pl] . IS [sp2 fax @ fa WANTED to 73 Magaiine O nly 524 .97 $44.97 565.00 - I year 2 years 3 years" " best b uy (54 % o ff cover pri ce !) Call 800-274-7373 Fun, easy-to-build proj ects fo r publication in 73. For more info, write to: Joyce Sawtelle, 73 Amateur Radio Today. 70 Hancock Road Peterborough NH 03458 . 73 Amateur Radio Today · Ja nuary 2002 23 Parker A. Cope W2G0 M/7 8040 E. Tra nqu il Blvd. Prescott Valley AZ 86314 [pamaco @mwaz.com] Ms and FETVMs Theory and practice. Wllcn the loadlng presented by a volt-ohm-milliammetcr (VOM) is too gree t, the vacuum tubc voltmctcr (VTVM) or field ettect transistor voltm cter (FETVM) is there to save the day, or at Icast save the time n eeded to calculate the loading effects. he VTV M ha s been largel y supp lanted by the FETVM ; they usc the same principles but di ffere nt components. Vacuum tube s arc hard to come by and expensive compared to fi eld effect transistors WETs ). which In many res pects are better. Since vacuum tube s are alm ost passe , the emphasis here will he on FETYMs. A de sign example IS g rve n fur an T FETVM. Both the vac uum tube and N-c hannel FET are voltage- operated de . . . ices that req uire a positi ve supply: They respond to the voltage on their inpu t, the vo ltage on the grid for a tube and the vo ltage on the gate for a FET. Bot h o ffer an almost infi nite impeda nce . The ~ ET actually come s c loser to being an infi nite impedance than the vac uum tube . The input resistance of an FET is se veral orders o f magnitude greater ~q v ( + RI > 3 .LK -= Fig. I. A simple FE7VM call have sensitivities of J VO/l full scale. 24 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 12 1<- > R5 -= 1.51<: than the grid curre nt of a tube . Gri d current is typica lly a microamp. while gale c urre nt is ty pica lly a picoamp. A picoump of g ate cu rrent can be ig nored e xcept whe n yo u ha ve to pick the fly specs o ut o f the pe ppe r fo r an electrometer, an ultra-hi gh-resistance vo ltme te r. So me o f you ne w rcchs may not be familiar with tubes. and some o f yo u o ld guys may have forgotten so me o f the fine de tails. In any event. the grid in a tube intercepts so me electrons. and while there are o nly a fe w elcctro ns intercepted, they represent maybe a ~ A or so of current. hu t into a I meg grid resis tor that 's a vol t. T hat can' t be ignored. In a VTYM conta ct c urrent is usually balanced out by a not her similar tube wo rking into an eq ua l grid resistance. For example. a 12AU7 d ual tri ode is ofte n used. O ne ha lf for the uctua l voltme ter and the other hal f j ust to balance o ut the contac t g rid current. O f course, contact c urrent cou ld he balanced out manua lly. bu t given the drift of tube s. that would be a cumbersome so lutio n. Both FETs and vacuum tubes look like an infini te resistance to the circuit under te st. T he vol tage is indicated o n LOW PROALE HF ANTENNAS 'qV ( THA T REAllY WORK! "Work tM World Without working Up tbr Nrighborhood~ • ( +"1 'Z~15457 r-, DIVlQrR I-- , """~ t"Zr ' VV\; - R'i 3 .bK f. - '- 'F.3 - 5 tSOTRON 1<2 !>J( .i: r-', y B I L AL COMPANY @l Call for aFREECatalog: 719/687·0650 137 Manchester Dr. --I- Florissant, CO 808 16 lO"lO"lO~ ra.\jidd. nn liJo'ron / (;1)) ' ~ RI vvv--O R R Lj We make a new HamCsIl every month! Clearly, the most current and complele CD-ROM avaUable. Fig. Z. Higher sensitivity can be achieved with an op-amp driving the galvanometer: Latest Features a conventional d ' Arsonval galvanometer (named after the French physicist, Arscnc d' Arsonval). The galvanometer requires a small current of 50 J.1A to I rnA to deflect the voltage indicating needle. The tube or FET essentially isolates the galvanometer from the voltage being measured. The FETVM is simpler than its vacuum tube counterpart because there is practically no contact current ( 0 be balanced out and it operates with a single battery supply. Fig. 1 shows a possible FETVM . The circuit is basically a bridge with one side of the hridge composed of an FET source follower and the o the r side a resistance divider. A variable ca libration resistor R2 in series with the galvanometer sets the current or deflection for a given gate voltage. The galvanomete r connects to a zero ing pOL R3 in the divider side of the bridge. T he source fo llower circuit is used instead of an ampl ifier hccause of the improved stability as a result of the 100% negative feedback. An amplifie r can provide gain and increased se nsitivity, but a bias voltage is needed. A source resistor can provide the bi as bu t it would ca use a loss in gain. The complications of a separate battery weigh agai nst it. The source follower see ms the better choice. The zero pot is adjusted for zero when the inpu t is shorted. The calibration control is a one-ti me adjustment La indicate a known voltage applied to the input. The known voltage is usually a battery, but a d ivide r o n the supply ca n also be considered until a calibrated sou rce like a standard cell is available. In the circuit shown in Fig. I , the 3.6k so urce resistance R2 controls the source current of the FET and the gain. The gain of a source fo llowe r is often assu med to he un ity, hut in fac t it is always less than one . The gai n of a source follower is VG.r = GmR/O + G",R.). The G. of the FEr is G. = 2IJ (V",,~..), where 10 is drain current, a nd Votr IS the vo ltage needed to reduce the drain curre nt to zero. V ~. is the gate-tosource voltage that produces 10 , Votr is not always given in the data sheets but it can be easi ly measured: Measure the drain current as the gate is made increasingly more negative (the source is made more positi ve with respect to the gate) until the c urrent is zero or at least less than I !lA. For a typical 2N5457 Votr is 3.06V and V" is l.8 1V for 10 = 0.5 rnA. T hese conditions will e xist when R I is 3.6k. Under these conditions G m will be 8 x I ()-", a nd the voltage gain of the so urce follower VG.r' 0.74. When I volt is appl ied to the input, the source voltage increases 0.74V to 2 .55 volts. The current in the I k ga lvanometer wi ll he 100 JlA when the voltage at th e arm of R4 is 1.8 1V, and R2 plu s the galvanometer is approximately 7.4k. Measuring voltages greater than I volt requires a voltage divider that reduces the unknown voltage to I vo lt at the gate. T he voltage divider es sentia lly Ch OOlle font and ooIor ol data disp~y. Oisplay s fl ag an d maplor each country, &>ow. ca.ITU zone. andeontinOOl. History list aIlows e ach Cll bign ente red. P rn t lao.ls in a variety 01 formal!>. View & S8af'osI;II lJoJwtUIpot'llfIO O.aa. 'tIPf"'I'len" ...iIoe Ifno drI "" OI'difwIa • • pedide al .>1tenjero pot' ~Ie . .. e..,;" _' r .,,' "".10 pnor ~ano Q drI _ <*Ie . )rOT k ~lIo# Ol!MIlHIt/U.CTCIl 110 acex C'Jl)l~ Map..,~ . nV'i''''Ta\lJl''''"IIIj~ _H""UIoHylO CTOtI lrIOCfIo o n " t .. np"op "",",QTQ QTnpllfl '~II"'" " !lit. npoo:TOrO n K~ , ~.".eoooTQ"Jol rp.IHMn1 110 ),'1 -r.... • • Fig. J. The reverse side is a translated version of the front text in English as well as Arabic, Chinese, German. Russian, and Spanish. e22 / 150 Fl f,, ,, , " ,~- - - -, "'' ,' , , . Pig. 2. The f rom side of the earlier versions of the C 22. which was availobte f or sale until the earl)' 199Os. 73 Amaleur Radio Today . January 2002 27 eN 01 COUPON A&PoNsE INTERNATIONAL ~IJIdeo1C 22) ~ Ce coupon est ~geable dlDl too& Ia pays de l'Unlon post. unlversalle cco tre un ou p1USHtuJ'$ tlmbree-pcete rep res'ntant l'affranc:hiSNml'nt ~ d'lrl envoi prloiltali. ordlrniiAt au d'tJ"le lettre-evlDn on:liol'n el .- • o The ABCs of IRCs continued from page 2 7 the same. except that the word "surface" has bee n repl aced by " air." T he present CN 0 1 sty le was o n sale until 31st December 2001. On 1st January 2002. a comp letely new style o f IRC was int roduced - also known as thc CN Or. Thi s new type of IRe is larg er than those prese ntly in circulation and will rema in valid until 3 1st December 2<:06. The name of the country o f origin will be pri nted on these coupons as a matter of course . Also printed o n them , amongst o ther things. will be a standardized UPU bur code containing the ISO code o f the country and the date of printing . Each country ' s postal adm inistration will have the option of pri nting the se lling price o n the co upo n itself. There is. at prese nt , no theoretical eN 01. IRCs can be bought "new" over the counter of the larger post offices at a current cost o f £0.60 each and may be hand-stamped in th e len-hand box by th e issuing o ffice . This box is marked "E mprcintc de com rcle du pays d'origmc (fac ultative)," This means : "Contro l stamp o f the country o f origin (op tional)." Some IRCs ha ve the name o f the country of origi n preprinted in red in th e left-hand box (F ig. 5). Even with this preprinted information. there COUPOM-REPONSE ....... " UNION POSTAI.E UNtVERSELlE CN 0 1 ~ C22) INTERNAOONAl r • : \ mlnimald'unenvoi priorilaireou d'une letlre ortlInaire e~p&d,e8 a I"61rarQ8!" par vole 8or\enne . Fig. 5, SOllie IRes have the name of the country of origin preprinted ill red ill the left-hand box. 28 73 Amateur Radio Today . January 2002 I 5-'.'EROtJ : " . , ... - ii' "". . ' ,......., i __ ....../ . • HIe w ille un ou pIusi«n timbres·poeM r.presenlaot faltrarllhssemenl .•, ;• COOPON--REPONSE eN 01 INTERNATIONAL l " ' " C22) ce COIJIXll'l nt ~ dans tool In pays de l'\.JrIiOn pelS_ t.ft'IeI". ,...... --.....-, , ~ can be a hand stam p from th e issui ng o ffice o ver thi s wri ting. Co ntrary to popu lar op inion, the hand stamping by t he iss uing office or the overprinting by the country of ori gi n is op tiona l and the lack of this detail d oes not invalidate the IRe. Ideally. and where used. the hand stamp should incl ude the datc of issue. but thi s is not e ssential. For some unkno wn reason , IRCs issued in Fran c e d o no t al wa y s be ar th e date o f issue . b ut m erel y th e name of the issu ing office (Fig. 6). When presented in exchange for postage stamps. the receiving office should legibly date-stamp the right-hand box. This is a mandatory requireme nt to validate the IRC. 1bis box is marked "Timbre de bureau qu i e ffec tuc l'echangc." Thi s means: " Stamp of the offi ce making the exchange." One IRC is curre ntly exchangeable in the U .K. for £0.-1-5 worth of postage stamps or an ecrogramrre. limit to th e period o f exchange for IRCs. a lthough postal officers can. not unreaso nably, satisfy themsel ves as to the ir genu ine ness. particularl y in res pect of the older versions. In m y own experience and if properly stamped. either type is ge nerally accepted without q uestion in e xchange for the current m inimum airmai l postage . This may change in the light of th e ne w Sly Ie of ce coupon est ~ oans IOuS 18$ pays de !'Union postale uriver· sale cortre un ou pIl lIi8Ill'l li 'Ibl. .~ fepr68en1anl ralfnLr'l:h-.ent mirIlrnaldun envoi prioritaint ou ltune Ietll'8 ordinaire e~p6dille a j'6!:ranget par voie "rienne. ~I ,. \ i J• \ ... .... __......./. Fig. 4. The f ront side of the more recent versions ofthe C 22. Fig. J. The fro m side of the more modem CN 01. UNION PQSJALE UNIVERSEllE C22 COUPOffoftEPONSE • Fig. 6. Some IRCs issued in France c/o /lo t always bear the date of issue - merely the flame of the issuing office. ~:r--~~ .- ..... r;:; ,""",-~~-=-""" COUIltOM-R!PONSI: INTERNATIONAl UNION POSTALE ...u.~LYE.R.S~lJ f" • CN 01 (1II'I(:iItn C 22) Ceo COIJIXII'l est 8chengIabiedans tous les PQy$ de l'UI"Iton posiale tJlIy8l'seHe contnt un 0 ... pWs.ieurs timbres-poste repr6serllant l'affranchls&elT1ent f\iniTIIIf d'menvoi ~ordin&ir9oud'IrI8~~~ -_ ....-;;: ;;..~~ • retrangw , • ::'::----- ., TonIlrtI "" lion-. I "" -.etut ........ '11'" S 1.05 • o Fig. 7. The issuing office may affix a postage stamp in the middle hox, but onlv 10 indicate or supplement the price of the me. The ce nter box is intended to show the price paid for the IRe and is marked " Prix de vente (indication facultati ve)." This means: "Sell ing price (optional informat ion) ." The post offi ce may fi x a postage stamp in this box. but only to indicate or supplement the price of the IRe (F ig. 7) - net a date stamp such as wou ld be used in Fig. 8. This IRC;s potentially worthless (I S it bears no hand stamp from the issuing office. the left-hand box. The price of IRCs in the USA recently rocketed from 51.05 eac h to 5 1.75. and the U.S. postal authorities are using up their old stock by fixi ng additiona l stamps to make up th e value . In many countries thi s va lue is already prepri nted. usuall y in red: in others. it is left blank. Either is acceptable. Unfortunately. many of the post offi ce e mployees in man y countries do not understand the rules and stamp the wrong box by mistake. fail to stamp any hox at all . or refuse to exchange IRCs (whether or no t the y arc correctly stamped ) for postage sta mps. The offic ial policy of the UPU is that "if the IRe is incorrectly stamped. the ELMERS • VE's • INSTRUCTORS· CLUB GREETERS Become A HAM AMBASSADOR The ham industry wants to support your efforts for ham radio growth with free instructor materials. • Wall Maps ' Log Books e Band Plan Charts • Frequency Charts e Grid Square Guides • Discounts on Licensing Materials • Equipment Discount Program • Gift Certificates To request a detai led Ham Ambassador Introductory package. write to: Gordon West c/o 73 Magazine 70 Hancock Rd .• Petcrbcmugh. NH 03458. E-mail dcsign73 @ao1.com 73 Amateur Radio Today • January 2002 29 -- UNlONPOSTAl.E UNIVERSEUE • COUPON-REPoNSE CN 01 IHTERNATlONAl lMc*I c ~ ce coupon e.t6changeElbie dans tous las pays de l'Uniofl poetal8'Univer· sene coolre un ou plusi&urs timbres-posle repr8senfanl l'alfrar'lChissemenl minimald'un envoiprior(lalreou d'une Iettre ordinalre IIxp8di6e a I''tranger r:--'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'--'-'-';' i[OOUPON-REP ONSE INTERNATIONALll I •.., ! i i IntenoIlllo.-l Reply Coupon i ! • • ThiI ......_ io _ _ * ill &.". <>lIUftt1'J' i I ! ! of Ibc Unh'dW lWto1 U "k>a for • _ ' - • • I I otam p Of _ 110 .....m P" NprMOMin, Iho ! ! ~._._._._._.-._ ._._._ ._ ._._ , f 11<'I_ • dl>_ IS C E l"O'S ~ "" l'",." -,=' 0. ' 60 Fl ! . This IRC ;.1 potentially worthless as it has been stamped in Fig. 9. the right-hand box. ! •'. " stirn, " $ r.: •• . 30 73 Amateur Radio Today " January 2002 '" t. tII", 1 .... _ __ ..,.. .., l-U Il1U>d At _ Ii ~ Oil. 011 ... li",k U; _ ," p._ _' Ie ...... do \'.trroo " i _I d'lnw ....... orGinon .. por1 linlp!, ...... 1notion "" .-t... " ..... ! ! i1..:._._._._._._._._._._._. I';:-:~#tJ 1[;is~~;d·.~;i~;'·~~;:~ . S. iai"~~A~::~1 ._._._._. 1 -;,:..- I ! ._ ._ ._ .~ Fig. 10. All IRC originally issued ill Cleveland, Ohio. III 1969 which ""as sem to me ill 1998 f or a 9MOC QSL face val ue of postage s tamps for which th ey can he exchanged , T he ac tua l selling price is fixed by the postal adminis trations concerned , but m ust not be less than an intern ationally agreed minimum value. IRe s purchased new in the US for $ 1.75 can s till only be e xchanged for $0 .80 worth o f postage stamp s. Second hand IRCs c irc ulate widely in the US for 5I e ac h, Recently, I ha ve had several American amateurs appro ac h me to buy "secondhand" I RCs at about 50.90 each! Howe ve r. th is on ly bec ome s econom ic al whe n larg e num be rs o f IRCs are in vo lved. Q SL managers will usua lly filter out and d ispose of incorrectl y s tamped IRCs. b ut will offe r for sale correctly s tamped and valid " second hand" IRCs. S uch "second hand" IRCs are sometimes available from U.K.- based QSL managers at around £0.55 each, T hese circ ulate " UN I O N POS TA I.E U NI Y E A SE L L E" C • wide ly within the "" CANADA amateur radio como •o 1. C ENTS m unity as "ham •• eo.. lftof lp a _ ~ c urrency:' with: :;: ! I~ ell COIij!on 1st ~.bl. dana I _ I. . Payt: dl I·Utl IOll posUoll ""l~le o ut ever being ex" '" conkl un 11mbfl-po.l. 011 d. . limb...• • I" rpOll e ~p'~Hnlanl II moman' d. 1'1'changed for postm I rlTlCh l_ nl d '\ln. lltt.. Ordln,l,. d. port ,Impll • o..U".11Oll d. I·.'ranglr, age s tamps, and it c 11'\1_1.,.,. Rep " Coupon '. ' is no t uncommon ThII coupon II ""ChanQNbII In ...., < , llOl,II\ll)' 01 1"- Utll...,.r PoItaI UnlOll to recei ve IRCs lor. pool iii Of POll gl AI..-tlng II.- amount 01 p . . or ,0 In Ofll~ Ilnll-- IIltIr _1I\IId with date stamps lor • IorIogn CO\OIIIfy. •rseve ra l years old. rI n 1998. wh ils t .. COU"ON .A IPON I E ~ ,"~T~E~'~.~A~T~'~O~.~A~'~'~~~~~~~:!J p roc e s si n g t h e Fig. 11. All n ell older IRC. i.\·sIlCt/ ill VtmCOI/I'er. Canada. ill 1963. 9 M0C QSI. cards I also sent to me ill /INSfor a 9MOC QSL rece ived some validi ty or otherwise of the coupon ha s to he examined on a case by case basis." However, it is fair to say that unstamped or incorrectly stamped IRCs arc ge ne ra lly worthless a nd . under normal c ircumstances, can not be exchanged fo r postage sta mps. Loc al and unofficia l exceptions to the ru les d o exist. but do not expect to receive a d irec t reply if you usc worthless IRCs , Examp les o f poten tia lly wort hless IRCs arc shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Some administra tions. s uch as in Germany. require the ac tual postal items to he handed over the cou nter at the same time as the IRCs and will not merel y e xcha nge them fo r loose s tamps. To account fo r variations in intemational c urrency exchange ra tes. adm inistration costs. etc.. " new" IRe s generally cost over 70% m ore than th e I lot. . ~Ii_ for • r........ cotIntr)'. par ~ eel18Ml1. te ; fot All oflll",., linp,... te I RCs o rig inally issued in 1963 and 1969 ! Sec Figs. 10 and I I. Some difficu lties arise in decidi ng exac tly ho w many IRCs to send with an application for a DX station 's QSL card . as the definition of "m inim um postage" varies widel y between postal adm inistra tions. In the U.K. , it currcmly means 20 grams to a E uropean desti nation or 10 grams to an intercontinental des tinatio n. In the U .S .. it c urre ntly means 0 .5 o unces to an intercontinenta l desti nati on. Other criteri a appl y in Germany and Japan. for ex am ple. The best approach is to incl ude a minimum o f o ne IRe if you require a sing le card fro m an address in the same conti nent. and a mi nimum of two IRC s if you require a sing le card from an address in another conti ne nt. If you make more tha n o ne QSO or requi re more than o ne card. then you should increase the number o f IRC s acc ordingly o n the basi s that each add itio nal one- or two -sided Q SL will we igh approximatcly 5 gra ms and a fou r-sided one approximately 10 grams. If you are in any doubt, then include an add itiona l IRe ! A lternatives T he upshot of all thi s is that IRC s arc not a particularly good va lue for the money. especially when bought o ver th e post office counter and e ve n on a " seco ndhand" basis, You c annot th en rely o n them be ing accepted for Conllnued 011 page 5 7 2001 ANNUAL INDEX SUbject/Article Description Author IssuelPg. a-cbanne t fiber optic control system . Tnband delta loop 30/18/12 M Talk to near stations on H F Modify a d esk-size globe 01 th e wor1d. An tenna photo essay Some things ne ver Change WA6TlK VE3 XI (S K) S EP 10 APR 16 VE2EQl MARl S W9PJ F KD51 0U H L1INBH I MAR 34 DEC 17 DEC 32 SSTV 200 1 ATV 23c m FM Receiver ATV Exciter KB7NO ZL 1A AN ZL1AAN FEB 51 All About Class 0 Amplifiers DTMF Remote Controlling IG-706 Goe s 10 Heil Need a Noise Blanker ? Transisto r Bia s: The Secret Story What you do know can't hurt you. Remo te control your electrical systems. Mate your lcom rig with a Heil h ead set Add 10 any SW L, ham , or C B receiver Shore lJ P YOlJr shaky transistor Iheory W2GOM/7 Sanati W5RK Sellen W2GOMf7 DEC 3 7 FE B 3 5 J AN 18 Cons t ru c tion Beginner's Ba ttery Charg er Build Thi s Narrowband Tunable Filt er Build This Variable AC Bench S upp ly Crystal Oven Control ler EZ·Build Preselectoe Inside Digital T VN CR Tun ers Inside Digital T VNCR Tuners Inside Digital T VN CR Tuners Kiwi TV - PI. 1 Kiwi T V - Pt . 2 Microwind to the Rescue! Modular Remote Coax Switch Way Cool Rock et P roject, Part 1 Way Cool Rocke t Project, Part 2 Way Cool Rocke t Projec t, Conclusion A simple proj ecl to get you going . lor receiving PS K3 1 signals If you ca n l ind a Variac transforme r B uild this solid state regulator Use an old broacast Xcvr. tuning cap. Part S: Dec imal -to-binary conversion Part 6: Making your own PC boards . Part 7: Conclusion ATV 23c m FM Receiver ATV Excit er Keep your emergency ballery charged HF switching system 70cm rockelbome rad io te lemetry 433 MHz teleme try receiving ant. 70cm rocke tbom e radio telemetry W2GOM/7 N2DCH K8 1HQ WA4WD L N2DCH W6WTU W 6WTU W 6WTU ZL1AAN ZL1AAN WA8YKN K81H Q N4XVF N4XVF N4XV F FEB 38 S EP 24 MAR 23 FEB 3 2 JU N 10 J AN 14 FEB 25 MAR19 JAN 23 J AN 26 D ECl O MAY 10 F EB 10 MAR lO AP R 18 CW, Code Morse Code Decoder Cha rt Cl ever chart - Byers JU N 54 Digital Modes "How Hig h's the Water, Mama ?" The Digital Port The Digital POll The Digital POll The Digital POll The Digital Port The Digital Port The Digital Port The Digital Port The Digita l Port The Digital POll The Digita l Port Packet public service project IZ8BLY Stream software SSTV 2001 DigiPanning More New Stuff Me et SSTV·PAL and MM SST V Join the Digi tal Re volution! More New Stuff MixW2 WinUnk 2000 and the Airmail Package Cutting-edge hamware lrom DXlab Hams Make Good Use 01 H igh-Tech KC71ZH KB7NO KB7NO K B7NO K B7NO KB7NO KB7 NO KB 7NO KB7NO KB7NO KB7NO KB7NO MAY 16 JAN 53 FEB 5 1 MARSO APR40 MAY 54 JU N 41 JUL 40 AUG 42 SEP41 OCT 47 D EC46 Bear Island on the Air "CQ ET !" OX Forum OX Forum IOTA - AS096 Sabah -land Belo w the Wind SV8 from the Geranium The Antenna That Never Was Off the coast of No rth Carolina The UF O Watchtower DXpedition Changes in the Wind Whither e·QSLs? That's St. Mary's Island to you ... DXpedition to 9M6 Mykonos is a great D Xpedition Sri Lanka DXpedi tion KD4PBJ WA3QLW N6N R N6NR VU2SBJ G3SWH G3SWH G3SWH OCT 36 AUG 12 APR 46 OCT 42 D EC 20 APR1 0 J AN 10 JUL 10 Editorials Never Say Die Never Say Die Never say Die Two Triple Zip; Yes, You Can Helpl CAFR , Reaching Th ai 78% Dayton 200 1: Transfu sions W 2N SD/l W2NSD/1 W2N SD/1 J AN 4 FEB 4 MAR 4 Antennas Ant enna Tun ing at the Speed of Light Arachnida Warcum Build Yourself an NVIS Guessle ss Beam Poi nting Sutxlivision Subtertuge Ve Ode Fishpole Vertical ATV/sSTV The Digital Port Kiwi T V - PI. 1 Kiwi TV - PI. 2 JAN 23 JAN 26 Circu its NOT for takin g the te et. FE B1 S DeT2S OX 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 31 Neve r Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Never Say Die Mooned ; Couple-a-Quotes Die De Die; ITU 2003?; Money Talks Me, a Cash Cow?; lake Wobe ", Yeah, MOf9 Mooning; Birthdays Abraham Lincoln; Another Consp iracy Ham Club Talks; Anothe r Birthday Stag nant: Teaching A Call to Arms; The Ch allenge Surviving aroterrcr: The Silver Bullet W2NSD/1 W2N SD/1 W2NSD/1 W2NSD/l W2NSD/ l W2NSD/ l W2NSD/1 W2NSD/ l W2NSD/ l APR4 MAY 4 JUN 4 JUL 4 AUG4 SEP 4 OCT4 NO V4 DEC4 EducaUon Way Cool Roc ket Project, Part 1 Way Cool Rocket Project , Part 2 Way Cool Rock et Project , Conclusion 70cm rocketbome radio telemetry 433 MHz tel emetry receiving ant 70Cm rocketbo m e radio telemetry N4 XVF N4XVF N4XV F FEB 10 MARlO APR18 Emergency Preparations Disaster Overkill 00 YOU Want to Help Out? One More Hosp ital Test On the Go On the Go On the Go How prepa red are you? Organizations This time, you play doctor. Springtime SkyWam ' PrOUdly Serving Those Who ServeYou be safe out there! KLOXK KE8YN/4 N8SUA KE8YN/O KE8YN/O KE8YN/O APR 23 JAN 52 SEP 27 APR 48 AUG 37 OCT 54 Fie ld Day Field Day 2000 with the Xerox ARC Field Day Follie s Hamsats Hamsats Field Day in EI Segundo C A Reprinted from The Hertzian Herald Summer and Field Day! Field Day 2001 W6WTU K8JWR W5ACM W 5ACM JUN 32 JUN 35 JUN44 SEP 34 Gadget s Movable Microphone Boom Why not ope rate like a pro?1 W4DXV SEP2Q General Inte rest Ama zon Death Flight "Back later toda y, dear...." Bookbind THI S! - Part 1 Bookbind THIS! - Part 2 Bookbind THIS! - Part 3 Bring Back the MagiC! Cle anin' ancl Climbin' Gold Is Whe re You Find It! Hamfest loser Helsinki or Buzz! "How High's the Water, Mama?" On the Go On the Go Radio Brat SK Night - the REAL Meaning! Travels with Henryk - Part 1 The Builder's Dozen Vaya Con (Ra)Dios - Part 3 When Computers Were Only Dreams ... Missionaries shot down by Peruvians Tomo rrow's hamfest today Get orga nized, and save money too. Bindings Conclusion Is this guy living in a dream world? Hams get involved again. My first on- the-air expe rience. Reprinted from The H ertzian Herald Trip to OH -Iand Packet public se rvice project Just What Does "Amateur" Mean ? Get the ham rad io message out. Bill Jackson W6HDP Th is guy is pretty spooky. SMOJ HF shares photos and fun Uncommon uses for com mon stu ff. Mad rid and Valencia You read about them in 73 . W8NXD VK3CQE W6WTU W6WTU W6WTU G3LDI W6WTU W2UW K8JWR G3SWH KC71ZH KE8YN/O KE8YN/O W2GOMn AA2JZ SMOJH F AA2J Z WB2AQC K1NUN AUG 10 AUG 29 MAR 31 APR 29 MAY 32 JUN 20 OCT 33 SEP 3 1 JUN 52 DEC 38 MAY 16 MAY 47 DEC 53 JUN 36 OCT 40 DEC 30 DEC 36 JAN 29 SEP 28 MobilelPo rtable On the Go On the Go Pocket A PRS The Right Tool KE8 YN/O KE8YN/O J Ul 47 SEP 40 DJ-596 Dual-Band HT DJ·X2ooo HT Scanning Receiver DJ-X3 Scanning Rece iver EJ·43U Digital Voice Co mm. board Frequent Buyer's Club AR 8600 Wide-Ra nge Receiver Motorized HF luners HamCall CD- ROM Log Windows version 3.07.33 PkTerm '99 Version 1.5 SafeTenna for 2m The Hold -It NEOTM Code Learning Instruct or Cassettes Code Leaming Instructor Ca ssettes Staff Sta ff Staff Staff Staff S taff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff OCT 48 FEB 48 DEC 48 OCT 48 SEP 48 MAY 48 SEP 48 MAY 48 JUL48 DEC 48 SEP 48 JAN 48 JAN 48 MAR 48 New Product s (by ma nu f acturer) Alinco Alinco USA Alinco Alinc o Am-Com Inc . ADA Bliss Z MatdlMaster Buckmaster Creative Services Software Creative Services Software Creative Services Software Cutting Edge Enterpris es Gordon West Radio Sch ool Gord on West Radi o School 32 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 Hamcalc Hamcalc lcom Kenwood MFJ Enterprises, Inc. MfJ Enterprises, Inc. MFJ enterprises, Inc. MFJ Enterprises. Inc. MFJ Enterprises , Inc. MFJ Enterprises, Inc . MFJ Enterprises, Inc. Morse Express Oak Hills Rese arch Palm Radio Rockwell Collins Universal Radio Universal Radio Wireless Industry Assn. & N5CN N Version 48 software on CD-ROM Version 50 software on CD-ROM IC-9 10H satellite radio Group Video Otter Antennas: From the Ground Up MFJ-297 Professional-grade Desk Mic MFJ-394 l eft Ear boom rmc MFJ·434 Con test Voice Keyer MFJ-1717Pl Back-of Radio Antenna MFJ-431 2 Regulated Power Supply MFJ-4322 power supplies Christmas Key OHR 100A QRP CW transceiver Mini Paddle System (Morse Express) Propagation Software SG-239 Smartuner Antenna Coupler A Family Affair - The A.L. Drake story Grundig Satellit- All Models ... Ham Radio Market Web Site Stan Stan Stan Stan FEB 48 MAY 4a MAR 48 MAY 4a MAR 48 JAN 48 JAN 48 JAN 48 FEB 48 FEB48 FEB 48 DEC 48 JAN 48 OCT 48 JUl 48 JUl48 MAR 48 MAR 48 SEP48 Power Supplies Bare Bones Battery Booster Build This Variable AC Bench Supply Power Supplies Explained The Cheapest Supplies Ever The Wall-Wart Bibl e Constant current Charger If you can find a Variac transformer The esoteric facts . Surplus computer powe r supplies Troubleshooting techniques NOGJ K81HQ W2GOMf7 W6WTU KJ4W DEC 23 MAR 23 JUl 16 SEP 10 AUG 14 QRP Asylum That Almost Closed ORP Asylum Update ORP Drives Ham Nuts On to the HW·9 More HW-9 Remembering me ' Dntt-o- matic" Neat Stuff Wish list Antenna Talk Troubleshooting QRP-pourri The mad building spree con tinues The latest from our build-crazy ham .. . Mini reviews WB8VGE WB8VGE WB8VGE WB8VGE WB8VGE WB8VGE WB8VGE NY9D NY9D NY9D FEB 54 MAR 43 APR 54 AUG 40 SEP 45 OCT 46 DEC 45 OCT 30 JUL23 MAR 28 Rad io Direction Find ing, Fox Hunt s Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In Homing In A New Millennium for Foxhunling Albuquerque Invites the World ... Your RDF Questions Answered Foxhunting : Melbourne to Notti ngham Find Foxes and Fight RFI with ADF RDF Secret Weapon Revealed Secrets of me RDF Whirligig Bringing ADF and Am . Radio to Teens Texas Teens Track Transmitters ... Wildli fe tracking update .. . AR DF Championships, Part 1 KOOV KOOV KOOV KOOV KOOV K00 V KDOV KDOV JAN 47 FEB46 MAR 39 APR 51 MAY 36 JU N 47 JUL 43 AUG 46 SEP 36 OCT 55 DEC 54 Repeaters Portable Personal Repeater Handy, inexpensive, and fun! WB61QN FEB 23 Reprints Field Day Follies Harntest l oser Read All About ltl Read All Abo ut It! Read All Abo ut H! Read All Abo ut It! Read All About It! Read All About It! The History of Ham Radio The History of Ham Radio The History of Ham Radio The History of Ham Radio The History of Ham Radio The His tory of Ham Radio Reprinted from The Hertzian Herald Reprinted from The Hertzfan Herald Part 5 . .. from The Hertzian Herald Part 6 .. . from The Hertzian Herald Part 7 ... from The Hertzian Herald Part 8 ... from The Hertzian Herald Pan 9 ... from The Hertzian Herald Part 10 ... from The Hertzian Herald Part 4 : The early 19205 Part 5 : The first convention. Part 6 : Across the Atlantic Parts 7 & 8: Broadcast and early '205 Parts 9 & 10 : Portabl e; experimenting Parts 11 & 12: More 192Os; The IARU K8JWR K8JWR K8JWR K8JWR K8JWR K8JWR K8JWR K8JWR W9Cl (SK) W9CI (SK) W9CI (SK) W9CI (SK) W9CI (SK) W9CI (SK) JUN 35 JUN 52 MAR 56 APR 32 J UN 24 JUL34 AUG 33 SEP22 MAR 53 APR 36 JUN 28 JUlSO AUG SO SEP50 Reviews (by manufacturer) Hamtronics Air Hamtronics N6NR MAY 44 SGC aRP aRP aRP a RP aRP aRP aRP a RP Staff Staft Stan Staff Cebik Stan Sta ft Stan Staff Staff Staff Siaff Staff Staff Staff KDOV KOOV KOOV 73 Amateur Radio Today · Ja nuary 2002 33 Thumbs Up tor ROTOR-EZ Kenwood's Hot New 'rs-zcco. PT, 1 Kenwood's Hot New 'rs -zoco. PT, 2 up-n-et-em Stealth Vertical Antennas Build the PSK· 20 Q RP Kit AS-22S9 man-pack antenna KSLAD N6NR N6NR W83C EH K7GCO W4DXV VE2EQL JU L 3 1 MAY 23 JU N 13 JUN 18 DEC 24 SEP 18 AUG 27 Up-'n'·at·'em Ste alth Vertical This transceiver is a Small Wonder, Mini kit reviews RF Inferno Air Hamtronics Thumbs Up for ROTOR -EZ Kenwood's Hot New 'rs-zcoo. PT. 1 Kenwood's Hot New 'rs-zcce. PT. 2 Surplus Find ... WB3CEH W4DX V NY9D K7GCO N6NR KSLAD N6NR N6NA VE2EOL JUN 18 SEP18 MAR28 DEC 24 MAY 44 JUL 31 MAY 23 JUN 13 AUG27 Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Hamsats Awards Microwave Antennas tor AO-40 Modifying the TranSystem 3733 Practical RF Ground Stations Risky Business The PCSat APRS Satelli te What IS an EasySat , Anyway? Amateur Radio 00 the ISS S-band has come of age. The prez tells us. A low-cost tracking inte rlace, AMSAT 2000 Spac e Symposium Aloft at Last - AMSAT-OSCAR·4 0 AO-40 Update SUNSAT Sunset AO-40 at Hom e Sum mer and Field Day ! Hams in Space Modes Explained Field Day 2001 Welcome, Newcomers' New hamsets in orbit Join the lun! The expe rt speaks. For Mode S For AMSAT AO-40 A way to describe designing AR sats. More fun on the horizon ... Now you know. KA3HDO G3RUH VE3FAH KAOYOS WSACM W5ACM WSACM WSACM WSACM WSACM WSACM WSACM WSACM WSACM WSACM KKSDO GM4Pl M KAOYOS GM 4PlM KSN RK WB4APR KSOE NOV 40 NOV sa NOV 58 NOV 26 JAN 43 FEB 43 MAR46 APR 44 MAY 52 J UN44 JU L38 AUG 38 SEP 34 NOV 10 DEC5 1 NOV46 NOV17 NOV 24 NOV 11 NOV 53 NOV 33 NOV29 Software Inside Digital TVNCA Tuners Part 5: Decima l-to-binary BASIC W6WTU JAN 14 Test Equipment $5 Infrared Remote Tester Beginner's PS Tester CTCSS Encoder-Decocler Test Device Test infrared transmitting devices. Try this variable active load. Useful piece of equipment. WA9PYH WB9Y BM W6WTU MAR26 DEC 40 OCT 16 Tutorials All About Class D Amplifiers Bookbind THIS! - Part 1 Bookbi nd TH IS! - Part 2 Bookbind THI S! - Part 3 Inside Digital TVNC R Tuners Inside Digital TVNC R Tuners Inside Digital TVNCR Tuners On the Go Preventive Brain Surgery for Icom Xcvrs Return 01the Wavemeter The Wall-Wart Bible Transistor Bias : The Secret Story YOM Primer Your long-lost Transistor Notebook Your long-lost Transistor Notebook Your l ong-lost Transistor Notebook Your l ong-lost Transistor Notebook What you do know can't hurt you. Get organi zed, and save money, too. Bindings Conclusion Part 5: Decimal-to-binary con ver sion Part 6: Mak ing your own PC board s, Part 7: Conclusion Attention, Newcom ers! Protect your loom's memory. Nostalgia? Fun project? Or both ? 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Build the FODTrack Hamsats VHFIUHF Above & Beyond 34 73 Amateur Radio Today • January 2002 Steve Nowak KE8YN/O 16717 Hickory St. Omaha NE 68130-1529 [ke8 yn @netzero.net] 73 Review The Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2000 A weather station with hams in mind. There is a peculiar fascin ation am ong ham radio opera tors Iot: the wea/her. Among hobbyist', perhaps only pilots and fishermen share such a passion [or knowing what the wea ther is doing and what that tnigh: mean [or the future, M any ham radio practices are based on the condition of the sky. the sunspot cycle. and the time of day. There are also various myths. For example, most hams believe thai antcnnas constructed during bad weather will pcrfonn bette r than those erected under blue skies and sunshine. Perhaps some of it is because of the problem s with QR N. the noise created on the radio ca used by storms. Of course, there is nothing a", impressive as watching every coax connectio n tossed outside on fie ld Day when thunder is heard in the distance. As weather spotters for the National Weather Se rvice, we have the perfect excuse to chase Mother Nature when she is having a bad day. Of course. SkyWarn. our weather spott ing service. is an import ant service performed by the Amat eur Radio Ser vice . as well as one of the most exciti ng roles we fulfill. I admit that I am just as much of a weather nut as the next ham. and as such there was one thing I knew I needed to add to the ham shack - a weather station. Today it is possible to connect weather-se nsing devices to a computer and monitor the result s on a continuing basis. As any meteorolog ist will tell yo u, the discrete readings may be interes ting, hut the trend may be more hel pfu l in de termi ning what the weather may be in the future . Of course. the professiona ls have a few other tools available. such as weather satellites and Doppl er radar, hut you get the genera l idea. On the other hand. there arc certain tools that have always bee n the mainstays for any weather station, and even without the multimillion dollar pieces. a good weather station can he designed. The best news is that the tools needed to monitor the weather are not only easy to use and easy to interp ret, bUI they lend themselves to interconnection via amateur radio. The most common mode for weather reporting is APRS - the Automatic Posit ion Reporting System - which was originally developed by Bob Bruninga WB4APR . Since APRS aut omatically indic ates the location of a given station. it al ready provides o ne of the key data points for collecting weather Pholo A. Dill' ofthe attempted locations for the tempe rcuure/hutnidity St'IUOr. m lnn airf rom the air conditioning unit required it to be moved. lVlu'fl the finaltocaiion is determined. make sure you lea n' a loop of cable so that moisture can drip uf! the cable, 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 35 Photo R. Wind speed and direction detector mounted Oil tele vision ma st to adequa tely clear turbulence as wind crosses the roof Notice the balun attached to the mast at tile roof 1(1) level - allows fo r the mast to do double duty. info rmatio n. It is possible to use APRS to display weather information to ot her ham stations and via IGate statio ns. for this inform ation to be available through the Internet. Because of A PRS. the statio n loc ation is show n on a map di sp layed o n a computer. Yo u can cl ick o n the sta tion icon to acce ss the weathe r in formation. o r you can se t the APRS program to di splay all wea the r data, and e ve n limit the di splay to weather stat io ns! Many APRS programs have the ability to accep t hand-e ntered weather data. hut most of us wo uld prefer not make a periodic trip to the thermometer, barometer, ctc. . and then enter that informat ion into the computer. Hams are , after a ll, gadget nuts. and there are appropriate technological tools to perform these services for us. Althou gh there are a number of manufacturers. I had heard a numhcr of positive attributes about Peer Bro thers and decided to see if their we ather statio n co uld meet my needs. The Peel Bro the rs Ultime ter'" 2000 appeared to meet virtually every requirement I mig ht have for the home we ather station. It is a modula r syste m to Photo C. From the fro m of the house, the wind vane is visible, hut flor intrusive. 36 73 Amateur Radio Today· January 2002 that is easy to asse mb le, easy to usc, and extreme ly easy to interface with an APRS station. The U-2000 is co mposed of a junction box, a display unit. and an impressive se lection of sensors. The junction box is a type of a hub that provides a unit into which the other units arc connected. It is al so where the power supply is connected. and lends itself to being located in an o ut-o f- the-way location. Thi s means tha t the usual cl utter of wire s we find with computers and rad ios doe s not need to be right in the middle of the ham shack . It can be wall-mounted. although I elected to place mine above the cei ling tile s of the drop ceiling in the ham shack. O nly two cables might need to be located in a visible area: the power supply with its "wall wart't-typc transformer, and the cable that connects to the display unit. If properly installed and carefu lly locat ed. this is a device (hat eve n the XYL co uld tolerate or even enjoy. When I first received my unit, I pawed through the box like a sevenyear-old at C hristmas. The configuration I received included qui te an array of componen ts. There we re the basic units plus a temperature sensor. a combination temperature and humidity de tec tor, a wi nd gauge and a rain gauge. I exami ned each item . Then . holding my heartfelt desires in check , I pulled out the instructio n manual. I ha ve ( 0 ad mit that this is one of the eas iest-to- read manuals I' ve ever had the pleasure to usc . It is we ll writte n in real English and is geared toward the person who j ust got a we ather station. not toward other engineers. At 47 pages. it manages to provide all the relevant information wi thout a lot of ex traneous trivia , There is even a "Q uick Sta rt G uide for those who don ' t have time to read instruct ions (and those who do) ." This is e no ugh to get things started without taking the time to read the wh ole manual. Or, if you do read the whole manu al. you can claim that you only read the Quick Start and keep your reputati on as a technological guru intacl There is almost no assembly required for thi s equi pment. The various units need to be interconnected. of course. hut almost e verything is ready to go from the box. The wind gauge is a combination anemometer to measure wind speed and weather vane to determine wind direction. The ane mometer utilizes three c ups that re volve in the presence of a wind. The cups need to be in...talled. hut that is a job that requires no tools and takes only a few minute s. There are clear directions in the manual ensuring that they are installed in the proper orientation. If you purchase the optional rai n gauge. the body must be removed from the base and the base mounted on a suitable shee t of plywood, plastic. or other material. For all intents and pu rposes, that is the extent of the assembly. Other than that. it is an exercise in connecting cables. Mo...t of the cables use the same plug and jack arra nge ment as modular telephones. Others have a different configurati on to preve nt inad verte ntly confusing cables and connecting the m where they don "t belong. Probahly the most important message from the manu al was to connect eve rything together before unwinding the cables in order to test each item. T hey even recommend that if extension cables arc going to he used. they be placed in the circuit du ri ng the testing phase. Being an honored graduate of the School of Murphy's Law. this seemed like good advice. I ran through the tests as ind ica ted in the manu al, and eac h item see med to func tion prope rly. Thi s ra ised my confi de nce le vel so I felt th at whe n I decided on a fina l location. th is equipme nt wou ld work properly. There is a battery compan ment on the hack of the d isplay unit. and I had installed the required e-ven battery without a second thought. What l had overlooked in the manual is that the battery serves the same func tion as the battery in the a ve rage alarm cloc k. It provides a backup but is not intended to operate the unit for any extended period of time . When I went hack to the uni t a fe w days later, I was greeted by a non working unit. A new hattery and plugging in the power supply solved the problem. It is the little things that must be watched. and I decided that I re ally needed ( 0 take a few minutes to read thro ugh th e short owne r ' s manual. Satisfied hy the manner in which everything seemed to work. and with my fami liarity with the U-2OOO. I began to give so me thought as to how I would install the various components. M y neighborhood has had cove nants a nd restrictions that ha ve e xpired. but I did not want to make a highly visible stateme nt that would offend my neighbors. On the other ha nd, there are certain req uirements a nd recomme ndations that are dea rly e numerated in the manual. I took the manual out to the hack porch, and alternated het ween reading the manual and walking around the back yard staring at the roof. It was late on Sunday. a nd I kne w I had at least a week until I'd have time to start the installation of the sensors . If any of my neighbors had been watching when I was grilling dinner a couple of nights later, they probably wo uld have wondered why the roof attracted my atte ntion as much as what was on the grill . I wanted to make sure that eac h sensor was mounted so as to give the most acc urate reading. My e xpectation as to what would be easy and what would he a challenge was not qui te accurate. I e xpected the wind gauge to present the biggest cha llenge. and although there were a fe w issues, it went up relatively easily. On the oth er hand. the temperature sensor seemed to present no visible challenges. but did provide a few interesting twists and turns. I decided that the easiest part to install would be the temperature sensor. Actually. there are two choices: a discrete temperature sensor and a combination temperature and humidity sensor. I highly recomme nd the combination unit. because humidity is a very useful weather indicator and both arc extremely easy to insta ll. The temperat ure ind icator is a small cy li ndrical probe tha t requires only one sc re w. T he combination unit is a small box mounted with two screws onto standoffs to a wall or other fl at surface so that air ca n now all arou nd the unit. It must he loca ted so that it is not exposed to direct sunlight and somewhat protected from ra in and snow. One recommended location is at the top of a wall under an cave. whic h was the fi rst loc ation I tried. Installation was re latively quick and painless. At least four fee t of the cable needs to he outside to ensure acc urate reading s. Finally. add a dri p loop. a section of the cahle that dro ops be low the se nsor so that mois ture can dri p from the low poin t without ge tti ng into the se nsor. I carefully dressed the ca ble by attaching it to the wall with cable clamps, and Contl"nued on page 3 8 • Photo D. Rain detector mounted on back of privacyfence. It . vould be better ill the open. but this keeps it a little more secure fro m my playflll three-year-old SOil. 73 Amateur Radio Today · January 2002 37 me Photo E. The "brains" of Peer Brothers Ultimeter 2000. showing disp lay of the data and lire control pal/d. The unit is connected to the compllfer below a nd from there to the TNC and 2-lIIeter rig for A PRS operation. The Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2000 continuedJrom page 87 moved on to m y ne xt task . U nfortunatel y, I hadn 't comp letely th ou ght th rough m y se nsor location . Under a n cave may be a good location, but where I had insta lled the se nso r was at a j un ct ion o f a wa ll a nd a short o utc ropp ing that met at a 90· degree an gle. Thi s a llowed air to stagnat e in the locati on . Eve n worse was the fact that the location \vas in the llow patte rn of the air cond itioner compressor. As summe r temperatu re s rose, the se nsor began to read about ten degrees too high becau se of the hot air from the air conditione r. I had to move it twice before I was satisfied with the results . My ad vice? When locating the temperature and humidity det ector, ins tall it but leave the cables loose. The owners ' manual calls for at least fo ur fe et of cable to be located out side , so plan on at lea st that much . Gi ve the unit abo ut a week so that you can compare your temperatures with the weather bureau and ot her weather sta tions . If yo u're within a fe w degrees, then you probabl y have it located properl y. Once you 're confi dent in yo ur locatio n, then dre ss the cables accordingl y. Lessons learned from the temperature and humidity se nsor'! Keep the 38 73 Amateur Radio rooev » January 2002 un it out of direct sunlight, all ow for adeq uate airflow around the uni t, and keep it out of unu sual air Flow s. These include pockets of trapped air, or air discharged from a heatin g or coo ling unit. My next step was the wind gauge . Thi s look s a lot m ore impressive than it really is, b ut care ful thought is app ropriate. The w ind gauge needs to be mounted high eno ugh so that it is reading direct wind, not wind that has cha nged course o ver a rooftop or other obstruc tion. Thi s is gene rally going to require that the wind gauge be mounted at least five feet above the roof. Don 't expect to use the chim ney a s a mount, becau se the fum es produced in a furnace or fireplace during combustion are highly corrosive and will have a negative impact on yo ur w ind gauge . Hea vy walled pipes , soil stacks, etc.. arc also not recommended becau se the wind gauge works by magneti c acti on and thick ferrous materials can have a significant im pact. PVC or othe r plastic pipe is too flex ibl e , and an y sway can cause reading errors. The mounting material of choice is antenna mast such as would be used for a lightwei ght beam or TV antenna (remember those?). I expected to use one ten-foot section of TV mast located at the peak of my roof to get the wind se nsor well above the roof. Unfort unately, there was not enough wo od on the fascia at the peak to mount the stando ff hardware. After a lot o f head scratching, I moved the location to the back of the hou se , where there was enough material to ho ld my lag bolts. It look ed like it was adequately above the roof line , al though I confess I did not crawl around the roof wi th a tap e measure . Naturally, the di stance from the wind gauge to the j unctio n bo x was about 15 fe et lon ger than the included cable. Thi s is a relatively easy probl em to solve, but it mu st be approached with care and thought. As I mentioned earlier, man y of the cab les use modular plu gs ide ntica l to those used i n telephones. Ex tens io n cables are available from Peet Brothers, or yo u can use telephone cables . If yo u use off-theshe lf tel ephone cables, it is important to make sure they ha ve fo ur co nductors and not merel y two, as is the case in some " bargai n" cab les. I decided that I would make m y o wn cahles using a heavier-duty cable and attaching the modular plugs w ith a plug-crimping tool. T his seemed to go we ll, although double-checkin g the orientation and conductivity is critic a l. I used (what I belie ved was ) a highquality con nector between the wind gau ge cable and m y exte nsio n. I then wrapped the co nnection with the popular nonhardening black putty-like coax se al. I do not recommend this, since I began to have erroneous readings within a week . Turns out that the coax seal got soft eno ug h in the summer sun to ooze into the connecto r and cover some of the co nnecting point". After cl eaning up the connectors, I wrapped the connecting blo ck with electrical tap e and then added the coax sea l over top o f the tape. This see med to work mu ch better. My readings still we re somewhat suspect, though . They appeared to read correctl y from some directi on s but not from othe rs. This seemed to indi cate that the wind gauge was mounted too lo w and I was getting some turbulence from the roo f. Time for one more trip to the roof to add a second ten-foot sectio n of antenna mast. This seemed to do the trick. Companionship The ideal co mpanion for the Pcet Brothers Ultirncter 20Cl0 is WinAPRS . T he late st version at the time of this writing is 2.5.1, wh ich interfaces we ll to the weather station. Keith and Mark Sproul have been doing a fantastic j ob o f kee ping this so ftware up to date. Some of the latest fe atures I like incl ude the ability to interface to a download of the FCC database so that clicking o n a station icon can he used to identify the ham by name and address. Kind o f nice when tracking mobile sta tio ns or fo r determining details about weather reporting stations . You can set the parameters that you want displayed for o ther weathe r statio ns, and with one button click into weather mode. By doing this. o nly weather stations a nd the ir da ta is displayed. It is al so possible to display zone s under weather advisories with a si ngle button. Th is sho ws areas experienci ng watches and warnings. The latest d ow nloads are avai la ble at [http://ww w.tapr.orgJ, or (http :// www.aprs.rutgcrs.edu] . Lessons learned from the wind gauge ? W hen in doubt, put the uni t a little high er. Make sure that if you use an ex tension to the cable it is robust, has all the right wires and connectors, and is well protected from a ll the e lements, not j ust mo isture . One other thi ng to mention is that the wind gauge must be properly oriented to the north. The mount is marked o n the gauge itself, but this is not visible from ten or twe nty feet bel ow. Once yo u mount the wind gauge on the mast, mark the "North" at tbe bottom of the mast to make your life easier. The last piece to add outside the house was the rain gauge. This looks like a small bucket with a wire running from the bottom. As I mentioned earlier, it will need to he attache d to a base of so me type . I chose inch plywood. When you take the ra in gauge apart to mount the base, you'll sec how the mechanism works. Tbe bucket is really a large funnel that feeds into a "sec-saw arrangement" SIXKln that allows the rain to he measured in increments of 0 .01 inc h. The rain gauge m ust he mo unted level, and ideally it will be located we ll out in the open . Rain , as we a ll know. rarely fall s straight do wn. I d id not have a truly open locat ion, and o ut of deference to the ne igh borhood. I mounted it on the back of the privacy fence . Not ideal. but it is in a locatio n where my three -year-old son canno t reach it and (hopefully) wi ll not usc it as a basketball goal. I would mount it on the roof, but am concerned that if it got cl ogged with leaves or became the site for a nest, I might not be aware of that. I mounted the plywood base to the fence with gatvanized"l," brackets. Lessons learned from the rain gauge, Eithe r this was getting easier, or I was getting smarter. The barometer was the easiest of all. A sensor wi thin the di splay unit itse lf measures the barome tric pre ssure . There is no installati on requirement, b ut it is necessary to ca librate it to the c orrect barometric pre ssure . Baromet ric pressure varies with altitude, so this needs to he cal ibrated to the local we at her sta tion. I tu ned the two-meter scanner to the local NOAA weather sta tio n and waited for the barometric pre ssure to be an nounced. It see ms tha i NOA A an no unces barometric pressure in inches of mercury and APRS in my area use s mi llimeters . Fortunatel y, the Peet Brothers U-2CXXl can he set to the commonly used measurements, so I ca librated the un it to the weather bureau in inc hes , then sw itched it to read in milli meters . I carefully routed all the wires, incl udi ng the power supply, to the j unction box . I mounted the d isplay un it o n the d esk stand supplied with the ki t a nd placed it on top of m y APRS computer. I now had a working weather sta tion. The LCD d isplay requires a few key pi ece s o f data to be e n tered in o rder to provide accurate in formation. Thi s Cont in ued on page 5 7 orld's best ham weather station* T he ULTIMETER@2000 tracks more than 100 values so you can monitor and r ecor d weather extremes in your area. • " ,'I: I ns tant access to: - c u r re nt va l ues - today's highs and lows - long term highs and lows time/date for all highs/lows - rain tot al st for today, yes. 6'/: ,,1'1' , ~\LC ' ,,",wa terday. and long term - alanns, and much more. Easy to install. - Connect data out put directly to TNC ror APRS wea the.. station. Fea tures superbly accurate: - heromc rO nly $379 plus shipping (t Optional ric pressure - j-hr, pressu re c hange - sensors add'l. ) Other ULTIMETER modindoor/outdoor humidity'[ - dew poi nrt - e1s starting at S 189. wind speed/direction .- i nd~r and out- - Even WeatherWa tch magazine condoor te mperaturc v wind chill tempera- eludes "the best we have seen ." ture » rainfall t . " ..... An eyepopplng add-on to lour ULTIMET ER , • " •, The Weather Picture" The most popular accessory for ou r precisio n weather systems, The W("lIt her P icture- continuou sly displays allthe vital weather data you've pre-selec ted from your ULTIMETER- Weather Station . Big red numerals arc eas y to read from across the room, d ay or night. Available in two sizes, in brushed aluminum. traditional oak, 01" solid teak . C a ll T OLL.mEE: . . . . . . . ..., . w • -- , --- , c '. , p - c s • -_. _ .,. _. c 1-866-364-7338 FAX 407-892-8552 PEET BROS. COMPANY, Inc. 31 E. 17th Street. St. Good A.. 3-1769 0 2001 1'«' Bros. Co Our 26lh Year Visit o ur Home Page to see a nd actually "yo ur Weather Stations: www.peetbros.com 73 Amateur Radio Today · Jan uary 2002 39 THE DIGITRL PORY Jack Heller KB 7NO P.O . Box 1792 Ca rson City NV 89702 ([email protected] t) Me 'n' M. E. This month. y ou are among the flrst to kn ow I h ave finally succumbed to the Jur e of moder n -day technology. I am writing this January col um n on the n ew wh iz-bang 1.2 G/lz wonder-tnecbtne. I look a long time to COilvincc II1e of the necessity. No , it is not a C hris tmas present. though the XYL said it wa.., even if the purchase was in August I thi nk the push came as she saw how much ham so ftware was acc umulating on the hard drive of vbcrvlasr year's Christmas present . I had found plenty of softw are (0 fit the needs of the speed-challe nged ham computer user. bUI I kept look ing 31the ne w sluff you guys were interested in and much of this was faring poorly on the old 120 MH l machine . The new machine showed me some fcatures I hall never before e xperienced on cc rtain software. That is fun and I will tell you about them as I e xplore. The transition did not occur as smoothly as OIlC would hope. The fancy new hardware only comes with the Mille nnium Edition (M.E.) ope rating sys tem installed . Seems as though a windows" ope rating system should act about like pre vious systems and the last one of those I had take a dive 0 11 me was Windo ws 3.1. Surprise! It took abou t a week and M.E. crashed, as in "deader than a doornai l: ' Previous phone calls to the Hel p line of the manufacturer had led me to believe I should explore restoration myself. J dug out the disk marked M.E. restoration and hunted for documentat ion. Instruct ions appeared to dwindle after the "i nsert disk" porti on . I persisted . It was not exactly a walk in the park. but hy crawling inside the head of the designe r of the disk, it came off prc uy wel l. I found it was pos sible to restore the entire operati ng system and that, other than two ham programs, all were intact and ready to use followi ng the learning experience. Pretty slick. Estimated recove ry ope ration time - two hours. As I did n't unde rstand e verything I saw whe n I was through with the major pan of the rec overy, I called the manufacturer Help line again. It is good to keep them apprised I 40 73 Amateur Radio Today . Janua ry 2002 of yo ur ac tivities. They are often curi ous what people actually do with their equipment, and our ham applica tions mostly th reaten their sense of control. I wonder if a ham eve r answers a non ham computer component Hel p line. lt would be nice to be on the same page with someone just once. Suspicions confirmed! I was dea ling with a group who were nearly as much in the dark as I was. When I told them what I was doing, their response was an incredulous. "You ran the recovery disk and got it goi ng all by yourself!' I go t the feeling they were having troub le leading folks through this exercise over the phone. Just a surmise on my part, mind you . but the confide nce le vel di mini shed after that conversa tion. Anyway, it appeared I was headed for a long battle with a le mon computer. But ... stra ngely, that see ms 10 he in the pa st. Maybe M.E.j ust had to become accustomed to Nevada air, hUI it is working superbly and ge tting better hy the day. 'Null said on the woes of new computer buying. I don ' t know where a person should purchase a new computer. I think the sa les programs arc a bit overkill. and the promi sed service is something you have to force the issue on, regardless of the vendor. I wi ll refrain from mentioning the name of this OIlC. I did purchase a Ic-Inch monitor. Th is is the really necessary new feat ure. almost as much so as the faster CPU. I ha ve not explored all the ham programs as ye t. but I am finding much greater operating convenience with this added space. Of course, it occ upies a much larger footprint than the tee nsy 15" monitor. r see that ca n he allevi ated with just anothe r measly $ l k or so for a nat monitor, hut there is a hudget. I also looked at a 22" monitor, but those folks were still a bit too proud of that size for me to even consider it. One of the remarkable things about the ME operating sys tem is most of my previous software works j ust as well as it did on Win95 and 98. Not all. but as an instance. r happ en to lik e t his o ld versi o n o f Microsonw Word which was wri tten originally for Windows 3. 1 and it is running just fine on thi s syste m as we ll as it di d on 95 and 98 . I see no advantage. fo r my pu rposes. to upgrade to an ythin g e lse. Plus. I . don't like the idea of ha vi ng to run an Interne t browser to make a word processor function . No one has adequately defe nded that nonsense to me as yet. (Since I made the last stateme nt. I found the spell check mod ule got lost on installation. Tried a quick fix. Maybe there is none. Had to do the c heck on another computer. Dam, don' t quite have that homey fee ling yet.I As I mentioned. I ha ve run had a c hance to insta ll a nd run all the ham software available as yet. MixW 2 works great. and it is one whe re some of the fe atures are finally com ing to life with the new speed. It was wor king adequately for cas ual ccrnrnunicuuons at 120 MHz, but now it dues all the basic stuff and, bit by bit. J am finding things such as the connectio n to the webctustcr works where it ne ver did before. More freebies for you WinWa r blc r a nd the ot he r DX Lah freeware works just fine as far as I have gone with the m at thiv writing. There arc more new a nd wondrous works on the DXLah s ite . I see rig co nt ro l has ex pa nde d to Kenwood and Yaesu. That should hring a whole new group of followers to some very nice software. Plus. I sec the new release of WinWarhler 2.0.0 in the past few days has added new modes. Well , at this writi ng, it a ppears RlTY has arrived in the so undcard mode using the MMTTY Engine. But - the re is a Big Plus which I will ha ve to defer e xpe rimenting with for a week or so. 051 "<>do ::r lATTY cw_ TX RX RTlY Baud ~ r UOS j:fiSfl' s... jf"i;;:: r ,... 0...-.1 J;l' r _ 0. ' r ;we r 2M. lNtIR~ R_PoIM" Fig. I. Han.Scope 1.4 screeushor - This is a somewhat skewed shot (see text) of the Hamscopc fo rmat using the spectrum display instead of the waterfall. This is a very nice spectrulll display witts the sensitivity adjustable fro m the "from" of rile screen. The Im terfall option is ' °eT)" good also. Eas ily t il/ led with either option. The two 101' panes are fo r receive. and ill PSK3 J. you ("{/II em ily track tlm signals at a rime. The third pane is the COIII/ JOJe area where yon tvpe ahead while the other station is transmitting. This was displayed on the / 9-inch monitor: This and the rig control screensnot were on the monitor at the same time. The image was cropped and became 01'0 images ill order 10 fi t the poge and retain the sought-after resolution. This is a slick little package offree ware in lise by a lot ofsatisfied hams. It will a lso control the PK·232MB X or the KAM controller. I am led to understand that thi s allows full control of the se controllers by using DOS command s . Sc ri pt files arc in ev idence to make thi s a ll co me together. This means yo u can work RTI Y, Pactor. C W, or whatever mode yo ur controller provides. So unds intrig uin g . Mayhe a he tte r p hrase would incl ude amazing. Conside r the cost of the update - free ! Another popular piece of software doe sn't see m to wa nt to cooperate and tha i is Zakana ka . I th ink the Zakanaka p rog ram did no t install . and then a s I looked a t the instructions I fo und the Logger software and the Zakanaka run pri mari ly o n 95 and 98, so if yo u a re using the se packages, :\f.E. is not for that combo. I install ed the last full ve rsio n of Logger and it functio ns exce pt it doc s not ta lk to the rig . This is not a big prob lem if all I want to do is log Q SOs manuall y. There arc alternatives to Logger, h ut it was always a faithful progr.nn in earlier operating systems. A lesson in graphic s Yo u m ay ha ve noticed so me poor quality in the scrcc nsho ts I supply to 73 in the p a st few mon th s . T hey called se ve ra l times and I was at a loss to fi x the reso lu tion of the imag es for them . It wa s finall y made clear to me that the y needed more pixel s per inc h. It was a strugg le and I thought I fo und the a ns we r. After shuffling th ro ugh the graphic s program co ntro ls (p lus the Help tile ), I fou nd a pixel "adj ustme nt" box . The first ex periment yielded a high reso lution image that wo uld have been fine e xcept it was abo ut 10 megabytes in Sil l'. Makes a prob lem with transport by an y method . So I co ntinued and made a discovery to store in the hack o f yo ur mind. After a lot of comp romises, I think I ha ve a co m bo that will be acceptable . Th c ol d images looked and prin ted j ust fine here. hu t after they were saved and put o n a d isk the re sults were pre tty lackluster. Wha t I found was that the g rap hics program I am usin g , Paint Shop Pro 6, resizes image s , sto res them in va rious po pu lar formats. a nd allows more ed iting than I c an become pro ficient in; b UI seems to not re siz e smalle r and retain definition. I d iscove red the ide al resol ution is available when the image is the same d imensio n as the o rig inal. So, fo r thi s month's image s. I ske wed the dimens ion s o f the Ha mSeo pe pane l to co me as clo se as possible to a " fi t" o n the magazine page . I was using a 12-i neh rule r on the mon itor as I d id so. I cop ied the scree n to the cli pbo ard (w ith the " Prin t Screen" ) a nd pasted it 10 the graphics pro gram. It re ta ined its d imen sion as well as it s sharpness. Therefore , I beli eve you will see a defin ite improvement in th is mon th 's scree nshots. T ho ug ht th is mi gh t be so mething for those who seek the best definition for computer images. espe ci ally tho se who dabble with SSTV. Although I do ubt the SST V· transmitted images wo uld benefit, it is possib le you may fin d some value wi th othe r uses fo r yo ur di gital camera output. Yet another homebrew interface approach I had an e nlig hten ing c hat w ith a ham o n PSK the o the r even ing. He was doi ng a f irsto f-its-ki nd lash-up as far as I can imagine . If I understood co rrectly, he was runni ng the output sound of his compute r program to the speaker and picking it up with a hoom mike to feed it into his rig . Believe it or not. his sig na l was fairly clean, even had a dece nt IMD read ing, and was prin tin g we ll on the monitor. I a m no t sure w hat he was using (0 key the rig . The 73 Amateur Radio Today · J anua ry 2002 41 turnovers were no t immed iate, bu t he was co mmunicating first rate o nce he got all the switches and, I thi nk , he said he had a towel wrap ped a round the mic-spcaker setup. Perhaps the turno ve r time included towel placement. I ha ve to g ive c re d it w he re cred it is due . T h is ham fi g ured ou t a me thod to do so me thi ng ju st a li ttl e b it in novat iv e and s tuc k wi t h it unt il he m ad e it work. I adm ire th at, eve n if y o u rook wha t I said to me an I was m ak ing fun. I wasn ' t. T his is part o f wha t h am r adio is a bo ut , ex per imen ti n g . Mo st of what we do here is ex perimenting, even when it is wit h a kn own prodUCI . Consider this month ' s go-around wi th the ne w compu ter. T he o nly aftertho ugh t o n that area is so meth ing that goes uncxplained. The comp ute r wou ld c rash in irs automatic " slee p" mode (when it gets all q uiet and the moni tor goes d ark). Since d isabling that feature, there have bee n no c ras hes or othe r visi bl e problem s with the c om pute r. I think that te lls a story b ut lacks proof. So me thing to keep in the back o f the mind . Latest on HamScope Back to the program I chose for this month, HamScope by Gl en KD 5HIO . This is a highly re fined update of the software package in its ori ginal form. I wrote about this program in the April 200 I co lumn. I belie ve that was version 1.21. T he latest is ve rsion 1.4, and the screen la yo ut has chan ged, with many adde d feature s along with some bug removal. Now there are the dual-receive pan es, allow ing two signals to be tracked simultaneou sly, and there are quite a fe w new b uttons for your o perating convenience and pleasure. One o f the subtle new fea tures is a " Lo g it" butt on . Onc e I h ad a QSO wrapped up, I clicked this butto n and a small windo w came up, giving me a choice of where to save the AOIF fi le the pro gram generated. I agreed with the pro gram 's choi ce and, sure e no ugh, there is a file with all the contac t information I n eed in the correct format to im port to a regular lo gging program o f my c ho ice. I follow ed th e trail and read th e info j ust to be certai n. Pretty si mp le. Another great leap forw ard is the capability to use the MMTIY e ngine for RTIY. T his article was written during an RTIY contest. I d idn't have tim e to participate, but spent about 15 minutes observing the copy qual ity. There is a definite advantage available in RTTY reception wi th a soundcard and thi s program overlay. What I fou nd was that amo ngs t the normal high activity of a RTTY contes t, the massive input to a " wide-ope n filt er" setting confu ses the issue . I disco vered that clic king the RTTY in the rig control panel auto matically set the Icom fi lter at 350 Hz. No w it was necessary to reach over and tum the knob to get a signa l within the passband. With the signal all alone as it en tered the soundcard, the co py be came nearly perfect. I thou gh t perhaps it was my imagination, so I clicked ba ck to the sideband or open filter mode and the same signal was obliterated by a stronger signal a few hundred hertz away. Usuall y, with casual RTIYoperation fro m thi s statio n, I do not need the narrow filter because there is such limited RTIY activity, bUI this was a good application of the modern, com pute rized, nearinstant optimization. I was impre ssed. Say you saw it in 731 r Freq Band ----1 r Mode i r 160M r: 15M i i r ,LS ~, I~ ~~~ ~ ~~~ ! I ~ ;~s.; r' IF Frequency Shift I I r 30 M r i Nerrow IF Filter i. i r. 20 M r , r 17 M r -JI-RF Power ------J RF - - -J Gain 6 M 'I, r cw 2 M Il r CWR I, ' FM l_ ,,_ , ,_ ,,_,_,_,~ !' Scan Mode' -"-1 (i' Scan Off r: r: Program Fine Program r Delt.F r Fine Delta F I r - I. I. L-- I RTTY RTTYR i ., I Memory I ! ! r Select ,-,_. - ._ _.. Memory : _ - _ ._ . +~_ ._. - Close I Fig. Z. Rig control with Hamscope - The rig control panel is shown separately here although it was along side the panel shown in the other screenshot. Necessary footw ork to get good resolution (see text). It functions very' well with: the lcom. It also works with Kenwood, yaesu. and Pegasus. With the Icom, the bands, modes. and filters are available at a click. Va riable adjustments include RF gain and IF frequency shift. Once you get u sed to using a panel like this you begin tofeel stressed when you have to reach over to twist a real knob. Vel)' convenient. 42 73 Amateur Radio tcosv » January 2002 So I had to do a lill ie experimenting . It was proved thai stro ng RTTY can clobber anothe r RTTY si gnal and we could fix that with a filt er. After a bit o f hunting during this bu sy period. I found a few PSK 31 sigs on 20 and the RTIY folk we re being po lite and leaving a small window for "t ha t other mod e" but staying close with strong sig nals. 1d id a li tt le quic k manu al lilter adjust ing to see if it improved the copy on the mo nitor. II appeared to belp. at least at first. Then I turned o ff the fill er and the copy cor ui nued just fin e . Conclusion? It should have been a lon ger rest. b ut it appears the PSK31 signal is not both ered nearly as much by the adjacen t big gun as the RTIY signa l. Maybe th is is not a fair test. b ut that was the way it looked. Altho ugh lm ust ad mit. I have seen SiC I I I I Source for: Web address CUR L.): U IX W Soundcard prog.am'Of PSKJ1 , AnY. new modes. U TTY . FSK31. more http://lav kiev.uaf_nicklmixw2f FREE UUHam sill' - UUTTY FREE Vt<7AAB - SSTV-PAL - I I www.nvbb.fIIll/~ja llel'fl'llmixwpage,1l\m UMSSTV www.{jII