•

REP-200 REPEATERA mjcrcprcceescr-contrclted repeater w ith

full autopatch and many versati le dtmf con­trol features at less than you might

pay f or a bare-bones repeateror controller alene!

::.:::::::~-~

Get more fea tu res for your dollar with our

LOW NOISE RECEIVER PREAMPS

LNG-( ) G ".As FET PREAMPSSTILL ONLY $591o Make your friends siel<. wilh

envy l Work stations they don'teven know are there.

• Install one at the antenna andovercome coax losses.

o Aveilable for 28-30, 46-56, 137-152. 152.172. 210-230,4QQ-470, and SOO-960 MHz bends.

LNW-( ) ECONOMY PREAMPS

~ONLY $29 kit, $44 wiredltested

, 0 Mlnialu re MOSFET Preampo Solder tenninals allow easy

connecbon ,nside radios ,o Available for 25-35, 35-55, 55-90, 90-120, 120-150.

150-200,200-270, and 400-500 MHz bands.

Hamtronlcs has the world 'smost complete l ine of mod­

ules for making repeaters. Inaddition to exciters, pa's, and

receivers, we offer the fol ­lowing controllers.

COR_3. inexpensive, flexible COR module with timers,courtesy beep, audio mi~e r. " ,.......only $49/klt, $79 wit

CWID. Traditional diode metne !D·er......... kit only $59

CWIQ..2. Eprom-controlled lD'er... on ly $541kit, $79 wit

OVR-1 . Record your own voice up 10 20 sec. For voiceid or playing club announcements ...... $59/klt, $99 wit

COR-4. Complete COR and CWIO allan one board. 10in eprom Low power CMOS only $99Iklt, $149 wit

COR-6. COR with rear-voice id, Low power CMOS,non.voTatile memory kit only $99, wit on ly $149

COR-5. IJP ccntrouer with autopatch, reverse ep. phoneremote control, lots of OTMF control functions, all on oneboard, as used in REP-200 Repeater. . $379 wit

AP-3. Repeater autcpatch reverse autopatch phoneline remofe control. Use with TO-2, ." ....... ki t $S9

TO-2. Four-digit DTMF cecceer/ccntrcaer. Five lalchingon-off functions. loll call reeectcr. " kit $79

TO-4. OTMF controller as above except one on-off func­tion and no toll call restrictor. Can also use for sejecnvecatling; mute speaker until someone pages you. .. kit $49

o leit stili only $1095~ facto/)' 8558mb/ed still only $1295SI).SoI , 143-174, 213-233, 420..0175 MHl: (91)2.92. Mfiz . li9htly hi\1h"" jFCC typo Iccepted !of comm.'ci"1HrV1ce in 150 & 4 5-0 "'Hz bando

D igital Voice Recorder Option. Allows messageup 10 20 sec. to be remoteiy recorded off the air. Playback at user request by OTMF command. or as a periodi ­cat voice id, or both . Great for making club announce-me ntsl " " " " only $100,

REP-200C Economy Repeater. Real-voice ID, nodlmf or aulopalch " Kit only $795. w&t $1195,

REP-200N Repeater. VVlthout controller so you canuse your own ....... Kit only $595. w&t $995,

SUBAUDIBLE TONEENCODER/DECODER

VHF & UHF POWER AMPLIFIERS.Outpul levels from l OW to 100W Starting at $99.

FM EXCITERS: 2W output. continuous duty ,

• TA51 : for 6M , 2M, 220MHz .. kit $99, wit $169.

• TA4 51 : for 42Q-475 MHz,.. kit $99, wit $169.

• TA901: for 902-928 MHz,(0.5W out) .......wlt $169.

FM RECEIVERS:o R100 VHF FM RECEIVERSVery sensitive - 0.15IJV , Superbselectivity - both crystal andceramic IF fillers, >100 dBdown at :t12kHz. beet availableanywhere, f1ulter-proof sque~h .

For 46-54. 72-76, 140-175, or 216-225 MHz, ..." ........ ......... kit $129, w/tS189

o R1441R220 RCVRS. like Rl00, for 2M or 220 MHz,with helicai resonator in front end.....klt $159, wit $219

o R451 FM RCVR, for 420-475 MHz. Similar to R100above, , , kit $129, wit $1S9

o R901 FM RCVR, 902-92SMHz $159, wit $219

No need to spendtho usand s on newtransce ivers foreach b and !

o Convert vhf and uhf signals tolfrom 10M.• Even if you don't have a 10M rig. you can pick up very

good used ~mtrs & rcvrs for next to nothing,• Receiving converters (shown above) available l or

various segments of 6M. 2M, 220, and 432 MHz,• Kils from $49, wiredltested units only $99.

o Xmitting converters (atleft) for 2M, 432 MHz.

o Kits only $89 vhf or$99 uhf

o Power amplifiers up to50Woutput

Go on a ham satellite adventure! Add an­other band for the next contest Thrill In theexcitement of building y o u r own gear, and

save a bundle.

.sz» Access all your favorite closed repeat­

~ ers with TO-S CTCSS Encoder/Decoder

EnCOdes all standard sub­audible tones with crystal ac­curacy and convenient DIPswitch selection Compre­hensive manual also showshow you can set up a frontpanel swil ch 10 select be­tween tones for several re­peaters. Receiver decode rcan be used to mule receive audio and rs optimized for in­stallalion in repeaters to provide closed access. Highpass filter gets ri<I of annoying buzz in receiver.oTO-5 CTess EncoderlDecoder Kit " .." ,only $39 f-cc-'-,..,.,.,.- ::-- ---,- ::--::-- - c-- - - - ---j010-5 CTCSS EncoderlDecoder Wiredltested __ .,... $59

--

-

--.-.."""'.

Join the fun . Getstriking irnllges d l.rectly f rom the_lither S1lt9llites tA very sensitivewideband 1m receiv­er optimized forreception of NOAA APT and Russilln Meteor weathllrfax images on the 137 MHz band.

The R139 is lower cost and easier to maintain thansynthesized units , And it is designed from the ground upfor optimum satellite reception; not just an off-the-shelfscanner with a shorted-out IF filler!

Covers all five satellite channels. Scanner circuit andrecorde r control allow you to automatically search for andtape signals as satellites pass overhead , even while awayIrom home

e Get time and Ire­NEW ccercv checks

without buyingmulliband hf rcvr. Hear solaractivity reports affecting radiOpropagation, Very sens itiveand selective cryslal con­

trolled superhet. dedicated to lislening to VNN on 10.000MHz. Performance rivals the mosl expensive receivers.o RWWV Rcv r kit, PCB only, ........ ,,,,,...... ,,,. " " ,$59o RWWV Rcv r kit with cabt, spkr, & 12Vdc adapter $S9o RWWV Rcvr wit in cabl with spkr & adapter , $129

~ Our new RWX is a very sensitive and~ selective Hamtronlcs" grade receiverto monitor critical NOAA weather broadcasts.

Eltcellent O. 15~V sen­sitiv ityprovides good recep­tion even at distances of 70miles or more with suitableantenna. No comparison withord inary consumer rad ios!

Automat ic mode provOdes storm watCh, alert ing you byunmuting receiver and providing an output to trip remoteequipme nt when an alert tone is broadcast.

Essential fo r airports, police and fire departments.CAP, broadcast stations, state and local emergency man­agers, amateur repealers - anyone needing a professiona lquality receiver. Because of ~s reasonable price, it is alsohandy for bikers, hikers, boaters. hunters. farmers - oranyone who needs up-to-date weather info and emer­gency wamings, even from distant stations.

Small enough tor emergency or portable use, it caneven be powered from a small 9-12V batlery whenneeded. Crystal controlled for accuracy: all 7 channelsprov ided (162.40 to 162,55),

You can buy just the receiver pcb module in kit form orbuy the kit with an attractive metal cabinet, AC poweradapter, and buill-in speaker. It is also available factorywired and tested.o RWX RC'lr kit, PCBonly ".".,..,..,....,..,..,..,....".,..,.".,..,."., ,$rso RWX Revr kit with cabnet, speaker, &ACadapter $99o RWX Revr wired~es led in cabnet with speaker & adapter $139

WWV RECEIVER

Finally - A Professional­Quality Receiver to Monitor

Weather Broadcasts!

o R139 Re<:eiver Kit less case , , ,$159

oR139 Rec eiver Kit with case and AC power adapter $189

• R139 Receive' wit in case WIThAC power adapter ,.f~39

• Internal PC Demodulator Board and Imag ing Software ..$289

oTurnstile Antenna " " " .,,"' .. ,." " "" , $119

oWeather Satel!iteHandbook .. " " ,.. . ,.$20

Half·Size ArrowBeam ? ArrowBeams

~~~~~%e:~a~ ~~~~~nda:w~- ~:;~~~nf ~:~ ~~gth !l?(Q half the Walking Stick Gain 6.1 dB Front/Back 10.1 dBsize-the Grab-N-Go Arrow SWR <1.1 min. <1.5 band edgesBeam. For storage the boom Add $6 S&Hseparates at the cen ter. so • G ra b-N-G o 2m $89the whole antenna stores in Same as above, but breaks downhalf the length- perfect for to <25" for storage. Mast mountslipping in a backpack. and Forest Green Stuff Sack in-

You get the same great eluded. Add $6 S&Hperformance, the same ease • Walking Stick 70cm $49of assembly, the same robus t Elements 5 Boom Length 40"durability, but Grab-N-Go Gain 7.3 dB Front/Back 12.1 dBfits in your suitcase. SWR <1.1 min,<1.5 band edges

The Grab-N-Go Arrow- Add $5 S&HBeam comes in its own for- Other Range Extendersest green stuff sack. There's ·Pico-J2m $ 19.95ppdextra room there for other • Pico-J 2m17Ocm $26 ppdgoodies you may wish to • 2m Packet Pico-J $22 ppdcarry with your beam- • TigerTail (2m170cm) $8 ppd

fecdline, homebrew PVC Save $5mast, omnidirectional Pico-J Order more than one item andantenna, etc. This is the ver-

knock $5 and shipping off the,si?n Becca is taking on her price of each after the first.flp... ------------- ..• D Yes. Send A rrowBeam: D WS2m ONS70cm D GnG 2m .

I NameYesoSend my 0 Pico·] Model: - --DTigerTail I

ICan Phone _

Street Apt II City State_ Zip IAntennasWest InfoPak Order Hotline~o~~-s.:o:.u~~ _ ~ _ ~~2~7~ ..

Have Beam, Will Travel!Shake, nvist-your walking stick becomes a beam!

How would you like a and Arrow Beam is ready tofour element 2 meter yagi ShOOl your RF right wherethat travels the mountain you want it.trails as as walking stick? Th is handy versatile an-Pick a rest stop, remove the tenna is made to be dropped,end cap. shake out the ele- bumped, and stepped onrnerus and feedli ne. and in while you are racing throughtwo minutes your HT is full brush and branches in pursuitquieting wherever you point of the elusive radio fox.it. Drop it? It bou nces. Snag a

Finished resting? Un- low limb as you drive by?screw the elements and drop Twang! the tempered ele-them into the boom: you 're ments JUSt spring back intoready for travel. But whcnev- position. Sit on it? You'ller you ge t the urge, it's there, need a bandaid for your fan-ready to zero in on a jammer, ny, but ArrowBeam will bechase a radio fox, or shoot ready for more.your signal out of a hole in Of course ArrowBeamtime of difficulty . will do just fine in an attic or

What is it? ArrowBeam. on a mast even though it'sIt shoots straight and true, made for the torture of the T-and its strong flexible ele- hunt.ments are stored in the boom Performance? ArrowBeamlike arrows in a quiver. It scored best for its boomweights only a pound and a length at the Dayton VHFhalf and is balanced in the competition. It's the antennahand, but it can take abuse. chosed by the FAA for its

Keep it in the trunk of the spook beacon and rogue ELTcar. It's tough exterior pro- search teams.tects everything against dam- Now you can have At-age as it ge ts toss ed and rowBeam's performance andknocked about. But when it's toughness for your rad io ad-time for action-shake, twist. ventures.

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44 Is Your Mixer Circuit Mixing U<e " Should'? - N20CHIts net bad.. I's just rrisulldeISIOOd:

MAY 1997ISSUE #440

Including Ham Radio Fun!

FEATURES DEPARTMENTS10 Build an AudIo Multiplexer for Your Frequency Counter - KB8XI WB6lGP 74 Above & Beyond

ColIWcress PIes withott eJ(petls've lXi"m('IW~J91lf. 73 Ad _ ,KB1UM 76 ... ..boom

13 Bui611he Bioele b iller - W6WTU 77 Barter 'n' BuyCan )OJ heal ).QISeIand takea poI(e at the medcaJest:1lltslflJ91lt af /he same time? KMPV 59 Carr'. Comer

KB7NO 56 The DIgital Porteo Mult).BaI'ld Aemotety.Tunable Invefted L Antenna - W82CQM WB2MGP 58 Hams With Class

Heres if neat l(!i()-4(i'n wire Wllema pro/ed using flexble parrs-pQcellJ91 illechtliques. NZllE .. Ham 10 HamKCOV 80 Homlng ln

2E Ham Vacation - WB2AOC 6 Lon",A siJ(-weekjoumey If!rotJ[fl Yl.9QSIalria, W2NSI>'1 4 Never Say Die

63 New Products34 The Atlantic Cable - K8KWD KE8Y~ 54 On the Go

Have yoo ever thougflt you've had a bad day? W1XU 67 _ ,IonW88VGE 66 ORP

56 TVNCA Tuner Applicalions - W6WTU • ORXPart Two 01~may wafIllo keep Pari Ole, from last mmtt!·s 73, hatJdy 9,63,79,88 Radio Bookshop

WA3A.JR 72 RTTYLoop40 RevIewing the Packet Scene: UK 1996- GB7lOl 76 Special Events

Bntrsh Isles hams are ready lD ffl98t )'OIl! sa UpdolM

®A m a te u rRadio Today

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Associate Techn ical Edi torLarry Anlonuk WB9RAT

Advertising Sa lesFrances HyvarinenRoger Smith603-924-0058800-274-7373Fax: 603-924-861 3

THETEAMEI SYpremo & FounderWayre Green W2NSDfl

Nitty Gritty SluflJ . Clayton BurnellPriSCi lla Gauvin

Joyce SawtelleDavid Underwood

Contributing CulpritsB,ll Brown WBBElKMike Bryce WB8VGEJoseph E. Carr K41PV

MIChael Geier KB1UMJim Gray W l XUI7

Jack Heller KB7NQChuck Houghton WOOl0POr. Marc Leavey WA3AJRAndy MaCAllister WA5ZlBDave Miller NZ9EJoe Moell K00VSteve Nowak KE8YNI5Carole Perry W8 2MGP

Au oclate Publisher

F. L MariOn

Circulatio nUnda Coughlan

48 Build. HaIf-5quare OX Antenn8 - KGSANIt's atxU as SIi7pIe as they rome. And if sure lt01fs!

Data Entry & Other StuffChristine AubertNorman Marion

69 ~Brew TransistorlOio1e Tester - BowmanNot jvst blinking lights and wem:1 noises.

REVIEWS HAM RADIO FUN SECTION

Contracl : By being so nosey as to read tms line print, you have just enlered into a bind ing agreement with 73Amateur Radio Today. You are he reby ob ligated to do something nice l o r a ham friend-buy hi m a subscriptionto 73. What? All 01your ham friends are already subscribe rs? Donate a subscrip tion 10 your local school l ibrary!

On the cover: Ramsey Electronics' Sty Fox Fox-Hunt Transmitter Kit signals this month's construc­tion theme. Photo courtesy of Ramsey. The rest of you can now get busy earning your 15 minutesof fame (and slightly less fortune) by shooting and sending in your color shots of the antenna farm,the shack, Field Day, or ??? Remember to format your goodies for cover use (and leave somemainly send-color background for blurbs), but otherwise, the sky's the limit!

Feedback: Any circuit works better wi th feedback , so please take the t ime to rep ort onhow much you like , hate , or don't care one way or the othe r about the art ic les andcolumns in this issue . G = great !, a = okay, and U = ugh . The G's and D 's will becont inued . Enough U's and it' s Silent Keysville. Hey, this is your communicat ionsmedium, so don 't just sit there sc ratching your. ..er.. .head . FYI : Feedback "number" isusually the page number on which the art icle o r column starts ,

73 Ama'eur Radio Toda y (ISSN 1052-2522) is published monlhry by 73 Magazine , 70 N202, Peterborough NH03 458-1 107. The ent ire contents 0 1997 by 73 Magazine . No part 01 th is publication may be reproduced withoutwritten permission 01 the publisher, which is nOI all that d ifhcull 10 get. The subscription rate is: one year52 4.97, IwO years $44.97; Canada : one year 534.21 , fWO years 557.75, including postage and 7"4 GST.Fore ign postage: 519 surface, $42 airmail additional per year, payable in US funds on a US bank . Secondcrass po stage is pa id at Pete rbo rough, NH, and at additional ma il ing offices , Canadian second class mailregistra tion '178101 . Canadian GST reqrs traucn . 1253933 14. Mic rolilm eemcn: Universily Microlilm, AnnArbor 1.41 48 106 . POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 73 Amateur Radio Today. 70 N202, PeterboroughNH 03458-1107. 73 Amateur Rad io Today is owned b Shabromat Way Ltd . of Hancock NH.

AD1B 68 2m Self-supporting Oefta LoopSo 9i'Ipe a Id perloa lor~11l1lelll'dI,ehs.

K2QAW 64 Communications Simplified,P;wt17

52 1'harIQ lor the MelllOi Ies! - AAOXWK5FNThe~ IslandKeyer from a '51:-'HatW Press..

50 The Yaesu FT·1 OOOMP Transcelvef - N1VXWCIlec:k WIthe -e.g Rigs,•

30 nmewllVe Technology's O$P·599ZX - WA9PYHEJU:eIIence n digital signal processing,

enueertpts : Contributions orpossible oooucanon are mostwelcome. We'. 00 the best we CRn toreturn anything you request. but weassume no respon:sbilrty for bssor damage. Pa."neol for St.CmIlted<WtJCIes d be ITl<Ide LflOrl poJ)li(:a!iOrLPease SI.IJnWt bQh a risk am ahaId 00f1f 01 yo.. <nde [IBM (ok)or Mac (P<Clciiedj foIiiillS~ c::an'!Uychecl<ed dl3'o'Kgs am sdv3matlcs,<rod the dooresl. best 00 zed am'!jlted phobs you caf1 manage,"tbvo wrwelor T.1' !Jli1e'i es ate availableon 1eQUeSl. US alkells rn.s I1cU:teIta Social Security rurrber 'MIhSlbmItted rrenecjxs so we canSlbmt ~ to kllOW who.

Printed in the USA byQuad Graphics

Reprints: S3 per articleBack issues: $5 each

BuSlne.. OfficeEdl10nal • .A.I:Mlrtisiog • CircUationFeedback - Product Reviews73 Ama teur Radio Today Magazine70 ROule 202NPelerborough NH 03458-1107603-924-0058Fax : 603-924-8613

,OJ"''''

Take a look at the graph. Itcompares the growth of amateurlicenses in Japan and the U.S . inrecent years. The American no­code ticke t re sulted in an uptickof U .S. l icenses . But lo ok atwhat 's been going on in Japan.Whi le we have around 700.()(x)licensed hams on the hooks.Japan has now o ver three mil­lion ! And that 's with half ourpo pulat ion.

O ne see s the diffe rence j ust bylooking at th e Ja pane se hammag az ine . It ' s we ll ove r -1- 00pages a month and packed withinterestmg-looking constructionproj ects and techn ical art icles . Acou ple o f ge neral ion'> ago wehad a secncn o f Manhattan witha half dozen or so ham stores allin the Cortlandt Street a rea. Boy.d id I haunt those stores. In To­kyo I ju st couldn't gel o ver theAk ihahara sec tion o f to wnwhere there arc hundreds ofstores sell ing el ectronic parts, allswarming with Japa nese young­s te rs bu ying 'e m by t he bag sfull . We don' t nav e anything likeCortlandt S treet an ywhere in ourc o untry a nymore - ..... i th CyW2BN W sell ing surplus gear,Blan The Radio vtan. HarrisonRad io, and so on. Sigh.

Wi th ham clubs in everyschoo l in Japan it's no wonde rthey have so m.IOY hams. And.as used to ha ppen here , a nigh

Continued on page 7

and adventure. If we blow th isone. I' m going to miss it.

Who are these LEO compa­nies that the League has threat ­ened? Well , there 's Teledesic.which is planni ng to loft 840sa tell n e s. Th at's Bill G ale sand Craig f\1t{ :aw. There' s Iri­di um w ith 66 sate ll i tes andhacked by Motoro la, Raytheon.Lockh eed Mart in. Sprint, and 13others. Glohalstar plans 48 sa tel ­lites, backed by Lorul Space andCommunications and QualcommInc. Orbcomm plans 28 sa tell ites,hacked by Orbital Sc iences andTel eg lo hc . Tha t adds u p toaround 1.<XlO more sate lli tes .

The biggest. Teledesic. wi ll bean "Internet in the sky" and aimsto replace the need for fiberopticcable syste ms. These ne w ser­vices w ill a llow h and-hel dphones, pagers. remote phones.the keeping track o f trucks andplan es , the remote monitoring ofanything, FAX, e tc. And that' swhat the 2 1loo t century is going tobe like. We ' ll gel used to it.

Eas t vs . West

busy expe rime nting and pioneer­ing new modes of communica­t ions. We were providing a veryvaluable service in exchange forour ham band s. Worse, if ourgrowth hadn' t be en sud de nlystopped. we would have aroundfive or six million hams today,and m o st o f ' e m would heyoungste rs bent on high-tech ca­reers , j ust <IS it was be fore the1965 catastrophe.

It 's going to lake mill ions o ftechnicians , eng ineers, an d sci­e nusts to de sig n , bu ild. se ll ,install . operate. and service thecoming world com mu nicationsne two rk . And mo st o f the sec haps are /lot going to beAmericans. Not with our schoolsyste m.

So can you sec why the LEOgroup, with bilfions of dollars atstake, is snicke ri n g ove r theARRL power play? Or why Icall the League a paper dragon?

Instead o f urging the hundredsof A RRL member clubs to wri tenasty le tte rs to the LEO gr oup.we might stand a better chanceo f survival if the cl ubs (a) sta rtedelecting members to their stateHouse and Senate so we' d sta nhaving some political clout, and(b) pu sh th eir local sc hoolboards 10 insti tute an eight-yearco urse in th e fund amenta ls ofelectricity, computers, and com­munica tions for an y student in­terested in bei ng able to copewith the needs of the 2 1st cen­tury work force. Instead they 'ret ry ing to fi g ht an unw innab leb a tt le w hic h co uld has ten o urdestruction.

But I' ll be t I won't sec anyhint o f this scenario in any hamclub newsletters .

On the brigj nside . I don't seeany commercial needs for ourHF hands. so I' m waiting anx­iously for the sun spots 10 returnand propagation to pick up. Ama­teu r rad io has provided me with alife time of enjoyme nt, learn ing

lei' S look. at the game bo ard .It's a map of WashingIon and thegoal i~ influencing Congress. Onone s ide we see an army o f well­heeled lobbyists surrounding theappropriate committee mem­bers, waving wads of "reelec­tion" cas h at Ihem---on the other,an old AR RL lobbyist hamsitt ing the re with no budget.wondering what in hell he can do .

or course, if we had three mil­lion hams, as they do in Japan(with half our population), thaiwould be another s10I1i.

How se rio us are the LEOguys? Their plan is 10 provide ase rvice wh ich will vi rtual lyeliminate the need for wires orcoax into bu sine sses and thehome. Over three quarters of allthe satellites planned to be or­bited in the next few years aTC

for this service. We're talkingpoc ket telephones which will le tus talk to an yone on earth. We'retalking high-speed digita l dataand video. And all this meansband widt h (spec tru m) , w hi c hhas to come fro m somewhe re,and guess wh ich "service" hasthe least polnical clout to protectits spectrum?

Who needs emergency hamcommu nications when there arehundreds of low earth omit sat­ellites to rel ay voice , data andv id eo 10 a nyw here o n ea rth?Tornado e s, e arth quake s andot her disaste rs aren' t going to af­fect this system. So what otherham services does that leave, forus to cite as a reason for our be­ing alloca ted badly-needed spec­trum? We' re up in the trilliondollar range.

Sure, in WWll days the hampopul ation helped sa ve th ecountry's bacon by providing-1-0 .000 radio and e lectronicstechnic ians and radio operators.An d before the ARRL gutted our

Fi/:. I. Comparison ofgrowth of gro wth with their monumentall yumalel" licenses in Japan and stup id pu sh to expand member­(he US. ship 30 years ago we hams we re

4 73 Amateur Radio tcaev » May 1997

220 Pt1Tl?

Wayne Green W2NSOIl

I am pleased to report that ev­cry c tub nc wsletter I've seen thatmentioned the potential loss of1-1--1- and -1-50 M Hz to the LowEan h Orbit (LEO) co mpanieshas 100% supported the A RR Lposition. I like to sec solidaritylike that , no mailer how wrong­headed . Obvious ly no ne of thenewslette r editors has read myedi torial views on this subject. norhave any of their club memberstuned them in. Figu res.

For any newcomers. and forreaders ..... ith particul arly snortmemories, I reponed that whenthe LEOs decided 10 go for our1-1--1- and -1-50 hands for their sat­e llite usc. the ARRL met withthem and. instead of trying toreason or come to some compro­mise. the Leagu e re presentat ivesth rea tened to ha ve thei r mem­hers make life miserable for theLEOs if they didn' t stop tryingto take our bands.

The LEO react ion was pre­d ictabte. It was the same as Iwould have reacted. The LEOgroup gOI mad and an)' chanceo f the ir bac king dow n wasblown. So I was sort of amusedto read that the LEOs haveadded our 220 ~tHl band totheir list. Maybe , if our paperdra go n blu s te rs some more .thcy'Il add our 1296 M Hz handto their list. Hey, it 's worth a try.

NEllER SRV DIE

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CIRCLE 34 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Ke n Dummin ger N8VWZ . membership of th is fraterni ty isFremont OH . (See April ' s bccommg alarming. We are notli­"N ever Say Die." ) Recently. censtng new hams in o ther thanKenwood announced that the y Technician Class. We are hung upwere changing their dealer struc- o n the "code issue" 10 the poi ntlure to sell through more outlet s. thai we arc willing 10 lose every-T he amateur rad io co mmunity thing rather than adjust to the newwas in an uproar regarding this markets. Jam 50 years old. I havepolicy. I read messagcs on packet been working with my local cl ubtha t indicat ed that Kenwood 10 ge t memhership. Bottom linewou ld he selling radios at truck is why do I want to become a hamstops. etc. T he economics is quite and pay big bucks for equipmentsimple. If you are a manu factu rer when I can communica te ei therand your products aren' t selling with cell phones, the: Inte rne t, orthen you have to find new arenas inexpensive G RS radios from Ra-in which to sellbefore you go c ut dio Shack. Young peo ple see noofhusiness. When you connect to need for the hobby. Olde r peoplethese manufacturers ' Web pages arc driving up and down the high-you find that many o f the m ha ve way using cell phones and can getdiversified and arc sell ing 10 othe r on the Inte rne t for the pricc of amarkets (c.g.. marine, etc.j. meal and can connect to an yone

What I am try ing 10 say is that or anything. Even the publ ic scr-in the foreseeable future we in the vice people are getting so sophis-ham community arc going to be ticated that their need forthe hamtcld that our spectru m is worth a community fo r emergencies andlot o f money to the general pub- public safely is becoming mi ni-lie so the FCC and Congress arc mal. I recent ly he ard a Red Crossgoing 10 sell u to the highest bid- offic ia l state that in their emcr-der. Rased 011 recent sales of spec- gcncy plan they have decided totrum by the FCC, the: commercial usc cell phones rather than hams.radio community is willing to pay Wh ile we can debate thi s issue: forlarge sums of money 10 gel thi s quite a long time, the s imple factspectru m. An example of this is is the public is going around us.what has happened to the broad- We are spe nding so much en-cast industry. The y ucgotiarcd ergy regard ing classes o f licensew ith Congress to loc k in their and the importance of code thatspectrum for the purpo se of the we have convinced the public thatnew d igi tal HD TV broadcast . it is so difficult to participate inRecently it was announced thai amateur rad io that mos t don 't;'\l BC was purchas ing new trans- want 10 get in vo lved El mering isminers for their future and the almost a lost art. Most of the in-ot he r network s a rc do ing the tercsted people cannot even findsame. an Elmer. They just go buy a book

This leaves two other organi- and take the rest. Code, for thezauons that have a large amount most pa rt, is o nly used to keepof spectru m; the military and the people out of the hobby rathera mateur commun ity. I am sure th an bring them in. O lde r hamsthat the milit ary isn't going to arc re luc tant 10 give on th is issuegive up any spect rum, or if they becau se they have the bands anddo it will be minimal . This leaves enjoy ope rating with less interfer-only the am ateur spect rum. In the ence . The usc o f Morse Code forpast we haven' t paid a cent for our all prac t ica l purpose s is gone.spectrum. but Congress and the Most ships don't even have radioFCC have a wealth o f buyers at rooms. The mil itary dropped thetheir doorstep with new tcchno to- code years ago. I could go on andgies. Where do you think they are on, but the bottom line is the factgoing to look for new spectru m? that very lill ie licens ing is beingIt doesn ' t tnke much 10 figure th is done o n the level that we need toone out. j us t ify the spectrum. " If you

We as a lobby g roup arc lo s- snooze you lo se," seems to be theing our po s ition. Th e drop in pos ition at the FCC.

6 73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997

LETTERSNumb« 6 on rout Fwdtn d . c.tTJ

From the Ham Shack

The FCC is e ve n look ing atthei r sta ff. You are seeing an­nouncemcnts of people who arclea ving the FCC 10 lake jobs inthe private sector. We are seeingthe requirement for paperw orkdropping . :"to renewa l notice s,instant licens ing, e tc . Even thetesting has go ne VE. What is go­ing on? Si mply, th e FCC is anorganization that is going 10 col­lect fees and sell spectru m. Thenew people at the FCC are inte r­ested in the bottom line. The tech­nical aspect is goi ng or alreadygone.

In closing, I would like to saythat I enjoy amateur radio. I en­joy the act ivities and the technol­ogy. Ho we ver, am J going tospe nd months learning code soth at J can get permission to usethe lo w hand s? Why sho uld I?Amateur radio is a hobby and Idon't have the t ime to spend. Ihave a business and a family, plu sI am involved in my community.Most of this is more importantthan gell ing a higher class l icense.I have no problem laking a te st 3-\

to what I know... I have typingskills and a compute r which isvery fast. Why can ' t I usc that and

take a typi ng test rather than learnto reinvent the wheel? Wh y aren'tthe astro nauts required to learncode to be able to fly our space

hi "S Ip S••

Troublemaker... Wayne .

\ Iike \ Iillcr WA8YKN . Rich­mond IN. I read the inte restingreport from George Bergst rom o fRan cho Cordova, Californi a, inthe Letters colum n of the Marchissue, which incl uded George 'scircuit for his "blood purifier."While this perhap s overly-com­plex circu it will probably work

fine and giv e the same results asthe othe r me thods used (Q produce

the same output. I feel I sho uldpoint out tha t it violates the firstrule of bioelectric experimenta­tion. II is impo rtan t that any de ­vice which is attached 10 the bodyvia low- res istance: electrodes he

battery powered! There shou ld beno potential anywhere in the cir­cuit higher than that wh ich isneeded to achieve the requiredcurrent n ow. The Bergstrom cit­cult is operated from the 120-voltAC power line . There is alway sthe po ssibility that someone may

improperly wire the circuit. whichcould leud to a tragedy. h en ifeverything is properly connected,you shou ld keep in mi nd that yourlife depends on the: integri ty of thetransformer wire insulation everytime you connect it to your body!Electrocut ing experime ntal sub­

jects ca n ge nerate bad press .Th ere arc po l it ici ans w ho arewait ing to do the biddin g of thedrug lobbyists. so let's not g ivethem a rea son we c a n easi lyavoid.

M ike \ righ t , Butte rie s a recheap and lawsuits aren't, Howmany of you would ber your lif eon hOM· well your A C line isgrounded? ... WaMe .

Scott Rorex K I5FC, ImbodenAR . In your March editorial youasked that we let you know if weare interested in doing anythingabout the young ham situation. Iam inte rested . This is what ha shappened here so far. Our chil­dren arc seven and nine years old.I agree with your thinking abouted ucation and have tried for acouple of years to gel ham radioand o ther techno logy incorpo­rated into the existing school here.

Ge nerally I have found the 00­ministration and some teachers in­terested, but the bureaucracy preuymuch has tied their hands. ;'IIeXl,I got so me extra copies of 0 1'­d are War. Dumbing Us Down,Smarr Schools - Smarr Kids, and Iffilii Want To Be Rich and lIappy,

Do,, '1 Go To SChtH'1. I've handedthe se out to the superintendent andsome teachers, pr incipals, boardmembers an d other parents.

Your me mion ing the SudburyValley School is just what I .....aslooking for. When I read that I wcnt101>CC if they had a Web page. Theyhave a great one, with a list of about20 similar schools around the worldand links to several o f the otherschools I.....ww.sudval.org j. Pleasecbeck it out. l bclicve that simplyby making parents and studentsaware of the Web pages and thenseeing what is on those Web pages.the bureaucracy won't he able tostop them. I see amateur radio as aperfect fit in a school like SudburyVal ley.

Thanks for helping wake us up.CoOtI sho w. but Scon, we need

irritants like )'01/ ;/1 e~·erJ 1mi'll ...Wa\·nt'" .

Lester Wa r riner WA7 HAM ,Prosser WA. Please check out thead on page 148 (Marc h QST) forthe AR RL Amateur Rad io Li­cense Weekend Technician Class.$ I59 for 20 hours o f class, twobooks and a binder. That leaves alot for the instructor ' s pocke t,Who said this hobby was non­commercial? And non-profit? IsElme r reall y de ad? Lay somegreen on my hand and I'll helpyou into this great hobby of ours!But don' t expec t me to do it forfree . I would have thought anARRL·sponsored class would befree except for texts. That 's howclasses are conducted out here. Inthe ARRL's o fficial meeting theywere crying about the technicalincompetence of the present dayham. What technical informat ioncan be given in 20 hours? Who'skidding whom? The sickness isspreading.

Th a t 's a b unch of ca rp ...Wayne.

Jim Giunta W H3HDA , WestC h es t er PA. I o rde re d a

Bioelectrifier kit and put it to­gether. I assumed it was just an­other gadget. so I let it sit on mywo rkbench without trying it. Iwas sure I'd wasted my money,Then a few days ago, I woke upwit h a toothache. I decided to trythe Bioelectrifler and see whate ffect it might have. I used it for20 minutes and the toothache wasgone ! I don' t believe this was acoincidence. I' ve had toothachesbefore and I' ve never known oneto simply go away in 20 minutes.The Bioclectrifier works ! iii

NCUCR SRV DICContmued jrom page 4

percentage of their k.ids go oninto high -tech careers as techni­cians, engineers and sc ient ists.When I visit the research anddevelopment labs in Japan I' mgreeted by hams at every tum ,So we' re surrounded by leom.Yaesu, Kenwood, Sony, Hitach i,Toshiba, Aiwa. Pioneer, Sansui.Alinco, Azde n, JRC, Standard,Onkyo. etc.

Of the 700,000 Americanhams listed in the Calfbook, I' llbet we don' t have 100.000 stillact ive o n our HF bands. The,.TC keeps us on the books forten years, even if we' ve droppeddead or d ropped out. so that o ffi­cial number is seriously inflated.

Will you complain that I'mARRL-bashing if I suggest thatperhaps our fait h in the League'sleadership may be misplaced?Any corporation that prod ucedsuc h a d isg raceful perfo r­mance- such a loss of customerbase compared to the compcti­tion--would have their hoard ofdirectors and officers replacedby bette r performers. The ARRLdirectors aren't asleep, they ' redead! And not only is the hobbyhuning as a result, but so is ourcountry. If this is ARRL-bash­ing, who else is there to bash?It's o ur only national organiza­tion, so we 're totally dependenton the qu ality of its performancefor the life of our hobby- and ifyou feel it' s unfair to hold theboard of d irectors responsiblefo r the corporati on 's perfor­mance, the n who do you feel is

responsible? You have the proofand it is undeniable. The Japa­nese are kic king the s...tuffingout of us.

With over three mill ion hams,do you think. the Japanese coun­te rpart of o ur FCC is go ingto auction off their well-occu­pied UHF and microwave hamha nds? Not a chance.

So what can you do? I e x­plained that a long time agoand it went in one eyeball andout the other. Get some youngham with guts in your club torun for director; get behind himwith a ve nge a nce . and helpfl ush the old-timers out ofNewington. Let's get some lifeioto our hobby, Le t's see somedouble-digit growth again.

Yes, I've heard al l the feebleexcuses. Whine, whine, the kidstoday, e tc . Well , the Japa nesekids today are going for ham ra­dio in one hellaccous way, andthey have the same toys we do.In fact, that's where most o f ourtoys are designed and built .

I suppose I should he nice andplay it cool so I don't screw up

Continued on page 39

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73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 7

QRH . . .=Help Wanted: Dayton YouthForum

New York Crty-Educator Carole Perf}' WB2MGPwill be moderating the popular Dayton Youth Fo­rum on May 17th. She is looking for articulate, en­thusiastic young people (8-16 years of age) whowould like 10 be cresemers. Please call Carole at(718) 76105733 as soon as possible.

Congress OrdersReallocation of 13-cmAmateur Radio Spectrum

The , Q4lh Congress adtoumed OCtober 3, 1996,the day after Ihe Senate coocluded ils business.Much cttne important legislation in the final hourswas wrapped into the 2.000-page omnibus budgetresolution, HR 4278.

Unfortunately, the lollowing language was in­cluded in this bill-flow Public law 104-208. Thisbill was signed into law by President Clinton onOctober 4, 1996. Here is the text of Ihe legislation:

Title llI-5pectrum Provisionssec 3001. Competitive Bidding for Spectrum(a) Commission Obligation to Make Additional

specuum Available-The Federal Communical ions Commission

shall-(1) reallocate the use 01 frequencies at 2305­

2320 megahertz and2345-2360 megahertz to wire·less services that are consistent with internationalagreement concerning spectrum allocations: and

(2) assign the use 01such treqoerces by cern­penuve bidding pursuant to section 309(j) 01 theCommunications Act of 1934 (47 USC 309(j)).

(b) Additional Requirements-In making the bands 01frequencies described in

subsection (a)availablelor competitive bidding, theCommission shall-

(1 ) seek to promote the most efficient use of thespectrum: and

(2) take inlo account the needs of public sajeryradio serviced.

(c) Expedited Procedures-The commission shall commence the corroeu­

nve bidding for the assignment of the frequenciesdescribed in subsection (a) (I) no later than April15, 1997, The rule govemingsuch frequencies shallbe effective immediately upon publication in theFederal Register" .

(d) Deadline for c cnecuon-.The Commission shall concoct the competitive

bidding under subsection (a)(2) in a manner thatensures that all proceeds 01 the bidding are depos­ited in accordance with section 309(j)(8)of the Com­munications Act of 1934 not tater than September30, 1997.

What coes this language mean? On the surlace

8 73 Amateur Radio Today • May 1997

it appears 10 mean that Congress and PresoentClinton have authorized the 2305 to 231 0 MHz seg­ment of our Amateur Band to be transferred intolhe pool lor auction andcompetitive bidding tocom­mercat interests, and that it will be removed lromthe Amateur Radio sewce. That still leaves the2300-2305MHz segment lor Amateur operations...at least for the moment. At this time no one knowsexactly when the 2305 10 2320 MHz band will beeocrcneo and " the 2305 10 2310 MHz segmentwill be removed from Amateur use. The new lawrequires the competitive bidding to begin within sixmonths.

AcCOrding to Brad Wyan K6WR. ARRL PacificDivision Director, the League had wor1l.ed with thekey Congressional members 10 avoid this out­come-and hoped that they would be successful.During the final two weeks 01 the 104th Congres­sional session, •...the ARRL repeatedly submittedwritten and verbal statements to the key Congress­men asking that Congress stay out of the direClspectrum allocation business as it has in the past."But, it was to no avail.

Congress has now directed that the 13-cm spec­trum should be quickly reassigned as part of thebudget and oenct reccctcn process. In Short, theradio spectrum represents "big dollars" to the UStreasury. Commercial interests have already paidmore man $20 billion to megovernment in recenttyheld spectrum auctions. And you can certainty ex­pect this trend to continue. "Sell everything in sight:continues 10 be the policy...

TNX to The Repeater, November 1996, whichcopied it from the W5YI Report dated Nov. 1, 1996.

Worked All Parish Award

Since Louisiana is the only state in the US thatusesparishes as its primary political suoowtson (in­stead of counties or boroughs) and Baton Rouge isthe capital city of Louisiana, the Baton Rouge ARChas decided to sponsor a Worked All Parish Award.This award is being offered as an effort10 stimulateactivity on the high frequency bands. and wilt in­clude an attractive certificate suitable for framing.

Copies of the Rules and Requirementsare avail­able by sending an SASE to the BRARC Awardsccmmmee at P.O_Box 4004, Balon Rouge LA70821.

TNX L. Wayne Gordon K5EOA, President ,BAARC.

Phase 3·0 LaunchNow Set for July, 1997

Silver Spring MD (AMSAT News Service)-Apublished report re leased on Tuesday. December17th by the European Space Agency (ESA) hasshed new light on the planned launch date forAMSAT s phase 3-D international satellite aboardthe next flight of the Ariana 5 booster, Anane 502.

FOl lOwing a plan of action set in molion last Sep­tember among ESA, the French Space Agency(CNES) and the firms concerned in building therocket, a detailed timetable lor operations leadingup to Ariana flight 502 has now been establishedby these organizations.

ESA reports that, while each individual opera­tion will require very close analysis, the Ariana 502launch is now scheduled lor early July. Thelast qualification launch of the Ariane 5, Ariane503, managed by anenespace. has now beenscheduled for November 1997.

AMSAT·NA President Bill Tynan W3XO wel­comed the news, saying that. "It gives us a definitegoal to shoot lor in our preparations of the Phase3-D spacecraft: however, every month the launchis pushed back means more funds are needed."Bill noted that a leller is currently going out to allAMSAT-NA members asking for additional contri­butions to the prQJeCI. He emphasized that, "It isparticularty imcceantrc the successful completionand launch of Phase 3·0 that recipients of this let·ter respond as generOUSly as they can."

AMSAT is a not-far-profit, 501(C)(3) ecoceucoerand scientific organization that was first Charteredin Washington DC, USA. Itsobtectives include pro­moting space research and communications bybuilding, launching and controlling Amaleur Radiospacecraft. Since its founding, over 25 years ago,many other like-minded organizations have beenformed around the wor1d 10 pursue the same goalsand who now also bear the AMSAT name. Oftenacting together, these groups have used precomt­nantly volunteer labor and donated resources todesign, construct and, With the added assistanceof government ancl commercial space agencies,successfully launch over two dozen Amateur Ra­dio communications satell ites into Earth orbit.

The Phase 3·0 satellite. now under construclionwith the help 01 over a dozen AMSAT groups onfive continents, will be the largest. most complex,and most expensive Amateur Radio satellite everbuilt.

In North AmeriCa, for more information contact:

AMSAT·North AmeriCaKeith Baker KB1SF, Executive VICe President1324 Fairgrounds RoadXenia OH 4538509514 USAPhane!Fax: 513-429-5325[kb1gt @amsatorg]

In Europe:

AMSAT-GennanyWerner Haas DJ5KQ. Vice PresidentHolderSlrauch 100 -35041 Marburg. GermanyPhone: (06421) 684121Fax: (06421) 285665[dj5kq@amsal.org]TNX AMSAT.

Hams Want Morse Code

The numbers are in, and by a wide margin hamssay that they want the Morse code to stay. In a re­cent survey conducted by lhe American Radio Re­lay League, amateurs have made metr feelingsknown. SIXty-twOpercent of AARL members polled

said yes to keeping the code, while thiny percentsaid no. Of all amateurs polled, members and non­members alike, fifty-lour percent said yes to keep­ing the code, while thirty-seven percent said no.In this era 01 the popular No-Code Tech license,amateurs say no to the total no-code licensing,

The touom line: In months past, some high­ranking offiCials have publicly hinted that the ARRlmight not be opposed to expansion ot privilegeslor no-code hams. As a result 01this survey, whenthe l eague goes to WRC '99, it will have to standits ground. It will be forced to say no to mcse ad­ministrations whose tereccrnmumcauo ns leaderssay that it's time to delete the Morse code as atesting requirement for getting ham radio voiceoperating privileges on bands below 30 MHz.

Found in SARA News, January 1997, with TNXto Newsline RadiO, CBBS Edition . 1008, 12/6196.

FCC Exams 2001 ?

Considering the genera! directoo in which Ama­teur Radio seems to be heading and the climatethat exists at the ARRl and FCC, I propose the fol­lowing to be used as the official examination formby the year 2001...

FCC Examination Form For All Classes of Ama­teur Radio operatco-cen. 1, 2001. Pick one ormore of the answers as appropriate.

1) A"ham" is:a. Adelectable dish served for Christmas or with

eggs lOt breakfast.b. An uplifting phrase found in operations manu­

als lor Japanese amateur equipment, meaning,"'H'onorable 'AM'erican," usuaily applied to theoperators 01said equipment.

2) A "'rig" is:a. A oevce used to dig wells, usually lor water,

but it you are lucky. perhaps for oil.b. Adevice used to send electrical signals around

the worid. Archaic definition: "used to communicatewith CW, RnY, AM. or SSB:

Note: Since communication has long sinceceased to be an objective of amateur radio, weat the FCC will not consider either answer to beincorrect. This is a freebie. not a trick question.

3) An "antenna" is:a. A wire strung between the rafters in your attic.b. A "flagpole" with a strange btack box attached

to the base.c. A large array 01 tubing, wire and insulating

material held from 50 to 200 feet in the air by adevice called a "tower," Due to widespread ordi­nances, these are extremely rare, and found onlyin the remote comers of the desert Southwest.

4) "TVI" is:a. Any form of interterence whatsoever that is

blamed on the operation of an amateur radio sta­tion. This canoccur whether the station is on the airor not.

b. An ebbreveucn lor the Tennessee Valley In­quisition, a fierce battle for tower righ ts that tookplace in the late 19905.

5) "Guy" is:a.A person you meeton the street andask about

Ihe time, as in "Hey. Guy, what time is it?"b. A wire used 10 hold up a lower in winds 01 25

mph or less.

lis use is considered to be optional by mostamateur operators,

6) "Groulllf' is:a. What a tower crashes into wI1en the winds

reach 30 mph Of more.b. What keeps Japan from being Line ot Sight

from here in the good ole U.S. of A.l7) "Packet" is:a, Agrand experiment in digital communicatioos

that started in the early 1980s but ground to a haltbecause of too much infighting among SYSOPS.

b. Something you put your leiters into whenyou really want the message to get where it is sup­posed to go. Stamps are applied to the outsideof this packet and in a few days it arrives at itsdestination. Just like magic!

8) A "computer" is:a. A device that has lured potential amateur

radio operators away from the hobby by methousands.

b. An enormous waste 01time and energy, but,~ ke women, "Va can't live with them, ya can't livewithout them!'

9) A ' printer" is:a. Someone who works for the newspaper.b. Adevice attached to a compuler to accurately

translate the tones received from the sending sta­tion into all the typos. misspellings and grammati­cal errors as they were originally entered by theoperator.

10) ' ElectroniCS" is:a. A mystical art that no one unde rstands

anyway, so why try to define it?b. All of the above.c. None of the above.

Congratulations! If you gave any answer al all 1070% of the questions above, you are worthy of be­coming an amateur radio operator. Just fill out thelorm on the other side of this exam and send it in tothe FCC offices shown at the bottom of the lorm.

TNX Q·Fiver, January 1997. who got it fromK/4QJ BBS, who got it from Jim Stanicek AG3Y,whO hopes that none of the above will be true in20011

FCC Plan Would EaseInternational OperatingL _

The FCC has proposed amending the AmateurRadio rules to make it easier for hams holdinga European Conference of Postal and reeccmrrc­nicalion Administration (CEPT) radio-amateur li­cense or an International Amateur Radio Permit(IARP) from certain countries in Europe and theAmericas to operate during short visits to the US, Iffinally approved, hams would be able to operate lorshort periods in participating countries Without firstoblaining another license or permit trom the hostcocnrry

The FCC says the arrangement is intended tomake it easier for UShams to operate stations iem­porarily in several countries in Europe, Central andSouth America. Likewise, hams trom those coun­tries would be allowed to operate stations in placeswhere the FCC regulates ham radio. "We believethai US participation in both the CEPT agreementand the CITEUAmateur Convention would benefitUS amateur operators who travel to Europe and to

the Americas," the FCC said in its discussion of wrDocket 96-188.

Operating authority by CEPT or IARP holders inthe US would be lor 'up to 180 days within the pre­ceding live years: The two classes of CEPT li­censes would correspond either to Amateur Extraor Technician class. Resident aliens or US citizenscould not operate in the US under a CEPT licenseor IARP.

last year, ARRlpelrtioned the FCCto implementthe CITEUAmateur Convention. The league alsoasked the Commission to acknowledge ananqe­rnents to be made between the ARRl and the De­partment of State to issue IARP documents to UScitizens lor use in other CITEl countries. The FCChas asked the State Department to apply lor par­ticipation in the CEPT Agreement as a non-CEPTcountry andexpects the agreement to be concludedthis year.

E-mail comments should mention "wr DocketNo, 96-188" on the subject line and should beaddressed to mdepont@lcc.gov. Include your fullname and Postal Serv ice mailing address inthe message te xt . Mail written comments to:Office of the Secretary, Federal CommunicationsCommission. Washington DC 20554---de FCC.

From CARS, The Clearwater Connection,October, 1996.

There's a Moral Here...

'weu. hello, Doug, good to see you, We've beentrying to reach you lor several days now!"

"rrers interesting, Mike. I don't understand why.I have a telephone, call waiting, call 1ofWarding,caller 10 , an answering machine, a pager, facsimilemachine, E-mail, all the amateur radio bands from160 to 2 meters, packet radio. slow scan TV, and,of course, my portable cellular ptcoer

-scrrv. Doug. but I simply rang your frontdoorbell. It must not be working!"

TNX KB8OlT, from March 199T s TunedCircuit.monthly bunetin of the l'Anse Creuse ARC. E.I

Radio Bookshop

1

1'h""" 1><....274· 7.1H 00' 6O\·924-1 ~ ~8 , FA X 1'003-924 8613, or..., orJe. form On p"~e ~H for ('I<'d<nn~ in lormo<ioo .

Rene's Books

NASA Mooned America. Rene makesan airtight case that NASA neverlanded anyone on the monn. Ridicu­lous. of course" so maybe you can bethe firs t to find fault with Rene 's 30"gotchas." He sure convinced Wayne.525.

T he Last Skeptic or Science. Reneblows holes in one cherished scientificdogma after another, Do you believethere have been ice ages? That themoon causes the tides? That the ironcore of earth causes its magnetic field '?That the transmutat ion of elements isdi ffi cult? Another $25 well s ent.

73 Amateur Radio rcaev » May 1997 9

Build an Audio Multiplexer forYour Frequency Counter

CO/lilt CTCSS tones without expensive commercial equipment,

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Tired of struggling with low-endaudio frequency cou nter read­ings. but not ready 10 she ll out

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Obtaining an accurate reading of rc­pcarcr cress (Continuous Tone CodedSquelch System) Of lone-burst audio

tones can he very difficult. If thecounter's gate lime is set to read out to 0.1HI.• then usually the acquisition lime re­quired is too lung. If the gate time is short ­cncd as much as possible. the accuracy

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FiN. 1. Schematic for the Audio Multiplexer.

10 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

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MFJ-259 but less RF resistance this custom bandswitched dip meter.mete.r. Includes 1.8· 170 M.H~ Carrying Pouch. With a d:r' meter you'llcontmuous coverage. l fj- digit Made with a special save time an take theLCD frequency co~nter and f -fi lled f bri . guesswork out of windingsmooth vernier Iurung oam I cu a nco It . . .

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without LCD frequency counter taking it out of pouch. Fully-adjustable two coil s cover 1.8-1 70 MHz depending onand RF resistance meter. Has jack webbed fabric carrying strap has snap books on your MFJ SWR Analyu r"'.for external frequency counter. both ends. Wear around waist or over shoulder.MFJ-249fMFJ-209 are 4x2lJ2X6J/~ Keep your analyzer safe and looking new!inches and uses 8 AA cells or 110 MFJ.29, $19.95, no window or cutouts.VAC with MFJ·1312B. $12.95.

IS fed back to the U2 error

Ana log ~ ~ Digita l input. pin 3. through the mul- Parts List

G tiply-by-IOO dual decade up- (Unless specified otherwise,V counter. U3. a ClJ45 18BE.

resistors are 1/4W and capacitors,

: ~Jforcing the U2 y eO (voltage-Signa l In S 1 are in ~F .)controlled osc illuror} 10 pro-

Q ducc an output 100 times theJ original PLL input freque ncy Rl 100

(pin 14). A -5 VDC power rc-R2 2.2kquiremcm for VI is mel hy, U4. a 555. operating as an os- R3 3.3k

An a lo g S 1- A S 1-COM d ilator, whose output is recti -1MIn fled to prod uce the negative R4

Fig . 2. For a single input, change 51 from an SPD Tro avoltage. U6. a negat ive vall- R5 47kage regulator, provides -5

DPDT.VDC. US provides a regulated R6 4.7k

often proves inadequate . Un til now. +5 VDC lu the rest of the circuit. R7 lkyou had 10 buy either a more cxpen- Switch 51 pro vides for select io n ufsive counte r o r an ex pensive prcpro- a nalog (sine) input, o r fo r TTUCMOS R8 10k

cessmg unit to achieve the desired sq uare wave signals. Cl -C3. C7.readout. But there is a way around th e C12. C13 0.1problem. Construction

C4 2.2116VThe solution All part s are standard values, and

C5 .02are ava ilable from a varie ty o f parts

If we were to mul tiply the low Ire- sources. C5 can be two .01 JlF in paral - C6 22 pFque ncy audio by 100, we could then leI. Although the Audio Mult ipl e xer

C8 220/25Vget the desired dig tr accuracy in a fa st may he wi red poin t-to-point. the use

C9 .047

"Remember to mel/tally adjust the decimal point two places..." C10 47/25V

Cll 10/25V

lime gale . We would o nly necd tu of a printed circu it hoard IS recom- 01 .02 lN914

place the decimal point properly. Since mended (see Part s List ). A metal bo x is 0 3. 04 l N4001shorteni ng the ga te lime reduces th e recommen ded if the unit is to be used NJM3600 (hi-speedaccuracy by one decade cou nter eac h ncar tran sm itters. The choice o f input/ Ul comparator)step (a factor o f len), shifting the sig- o utput co nnectors is left to the bui lder.

C04Q46BE (phase-nal up times 100 restores the lost d igit Although the main sche matic (F ig , I )U2 locked loop)accuracy at the fa st gate . It also adds shows a sp lit inp ut, a single input may

C04518BE (up-another d igi t o f acc uracy, giv ing 0 .1 he used by c hanging S I from an S POTHz readings in the fast gate mode . The Switch to a OPOT (see Fi~. 2 ). If +5 U3 counter)

Audio Mult ipl exer wi ll upconvcrt in- VDe and -5 VOC is a lre ady avai lable, U4 555commg audio frequencies through a make appro priate con nectio ns at the (LM)7805 (+5range o f 20 HI. to 8,000 Hz (8 kHz), co nnection poin ts marked +5 VDC. U5 regulator. 1A)and pro vide a TIL (transistor-transis- and . -5 VDC . U4 , U5, U6 . and associ -

(LM)7905 (-5lor logic ) ou tput level. The unit may atcd power supply components canU6 regulator. 1A)he powered fro m a n)' s ing le OC supply then he e liminated .

from 12 to 18 V DC. Sl SPOT swi tchUs...'

The circuit Hardware, case, connectorsWith no circuit adjustments to make, Parts available from

The circ uit diagram ( Fig , 1) shows operation is simple. Just connect power, Mouser Electronics (East)the input a nalog signal fed 10 a vo ltage an audio source (below 8 kil l) to the in- 1-800-346-6873.limiter (R2 . 01 , 0 2) to allow inputs 10 put. and a frequency counter 10 the oUI- PC board available from FAR50 VAC. U I, an NJM360 D hi-speed put. Use S I to select sine/square input

Circuits, 18N640 Field c.,co mparator, am plifies and converts an waveform. Remember to men tall y adjust

Dundee IL 60 118; (847) 836-9148.incoming sig nal as low as 10 Il v to a the deci mal point two places to the left$5.50 each +$1.50 S&H per order.TTL sig nal. The TTL sig na l then goes on the counter readout Shielded cable is

VisalMC accepted with 53.0010 U2. CD4W6BE PLl. (phase- recommended for inputs, to. . .a rmmrrn ze

locked loo p). The output o f U2, pin 4 . ex ternal noise. Ia service charge per order.

12 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

Hum"" 13 on you. F.-dbacll. card

Build the BioelectrifierCall )'0 11 heal yourselfand lake a poke at the medical establishment at the same lime?

Thomas M. Miller WA8YKN3 14 South 9th StreetRichmond IN 47374

Hack by popular dema nd , this arliclt' is reprin led -\Oilh a new addl.'ndum - frum !\Ia, - 19WI.

Fi1(. J. Four transistors (Ire used to reverse the C //ITl'lll flaw by being energized in pairs ,

I>esigning a Hiocleelrifier

Before attempting to design any de­vice. it's a good idea 10 make a list ofgoals. In this case, it' s a simple list:

(1 ) The device should produce a cur­rent llow of 50 microamps from oneankle to the other. Experimen tation hasshown that this req uires 30 to 35 volts.

(2 , It mu..t be capable of reversing thec urrent Ilow several times per second.This rate should he adjustable .

(3 ) It must be all solid-stale- noDPDT relays clacking away. eating upthe batteries.

73 Amaleur Radio Today • May 1997 13

Photo A . The Bioetectrifier with belt cliplind antle electrodes ,

obta ined parts, so that it co uld beduplicated by other amateu rs.

At this po int , let me state that I makeno medical claims for this device . Toparaphrase a famous Chief Med ical Of­ficer. 1'01 an engineer. not a doctor.S ince very few doctors are e lectronicsexperts. there arc many who would loveto research the possibilities of this ap­proach to eliminating viruses in theblood. but arc unable to build the neededexperimental device. They need your help.

So I present this circ uit for those wish­ing to help doc tors experiment in an un­known fie ld. and also as an interestingstudy in design and construction.

Q3

Q2

+

FIGURE 1( 9 )

only 50 microumps through the bloodcan prevent certain viruses. notab ly theHIV virus. from replicating. The currentbecame even more effective w'hen thepolari ty wa.. reversed several times a..econd. The implications arc e normous.

Unfortunately, there has been verylittle interest in this phenome non by themedical community. Those of us whoread Wayne Gree n's editoria ls have be­come aware of a simple device which in­troduces a small e lectrical currentthrough the legs by placing elec trodeson the ankles. Since the arteries in thelegs are large. and the blood has lesselectrical resistance than the surround­ing tissue. this technique results in mostof the c urrent flowing through the blood.This is an ideal approach for amateur ex ­pcrimc ntntion. since it is totally external.and the required vo ltage and curre ntlev­c is arc so tiny as 10 pose no danger. I de­cided to design such a device. using asimple pri nted circu it board, and easil y

Cu r r e n t Oow wi th lranli i9 to r8

Q2 a n d Q4 c o n d ucUn a;

Ql J Q2 Ql IL b • .-J

wt4QaI Q3 Qa

j • b l

FIG URE t (A)

o

+

b·

Cur ren t fl ow with l ran9istor.!

Ql and Q3 condu cttn g

One of the first things a new ama­leur learns is that electricitv andbiology arc not very comp;tible.

A brush with the AC line can be a pain ­ful experience. and accidental con tactwith the high-voltage supply of a largetransmitting tube can be fatal. Becauseof this early training. occasionally rein­forced by an unpleasant acciden tal jolt.it might surprise some hams that tinyelectrical currents can be beneficial tothe human body.

For some time, doctors have knownthat passing a small current through abroken bone will cause it to heal faster.Damaged tendons and nerves also seem10 respond to this treat ment. Exactlywhy this works is not known. alt hough adoctor once ex plained to me thai itseemed to focus the body's attention onthe area .

Recently, docto rs at the AlbertEinstein College of Med ici ne reporteddiscover ing that passing a current of

and reverse DC motors. It uses four Iran­sistors in an ·'11" configuration, the loadbei ng in the center (see Fig. I). Whentransistors I and 3 cond uct, the curre ntflo ws in o ne di rection. while energizingtran sistors 2 and 4 reverses the flow.Most small switching transistors willstand up to our requirement of 35 voltsat 50 microamps. hu t here we run into anew problem. For each di rect ion. twotransistors are in series. with the load inthe middle. This creates a difficult biasarrangement to drive both transistorbases equally. Fort unate ly, there is a neatsolut ion-the optocouplcr, This invalu­able device contains an L ED and apho totransistor in one package . Energiz­ing the LE D produces light, whichcauses the pboto transistor to conduct.No hase voltage is required. there­fo re there are no bias requircmcms.Optocc uplcrs are usuall y used to driveanother device. but our requirements areso small that we can use them as outputtransistors.

The cheapest optoisclators cost lessthan a dollar and will withstand over 30volts with current ratings in the hun­dreds of milliamps. For a few centsmore, optocouplcrs are availabl e thatwill withstand gOvo lts or more.

With four oprocouplers in the outputo f o ur device. all that remains is to alter­nately drive the m in pairs. The sim­plest ci rcuit to accomplish this is themultivib rator-c-nothing more tha n twogeneral-purpose transistors, two resis­tors . and two capacitors . Voltage is nOL atall critical, and s ince we will he connect­ing batteries in series to get 35 volts . wecan tap ofT at the 9 vo lt point to powerthe circui t. Wh ile we' re at it, adding IWO

more resistors and two tiny LEOs will givea visible indication of circuit operation andwarn us when the battery goes dead.

Varying the freq uen cy of a multivi ­brator requ ires that IWO re si stors bevaried toget her...no big deal. Two ­gang potentio meters are ideal fo r th is .In fact. our design goal s do not specifythat an eq ual d uty cycle is req uired , oreven de sired , Two trim pots will giveindependent adj us tment o f the twos ta tes if this is needed. A fi xed resi storin series wi th each pot will es tabli sh amaxi mum freq uency limit, preventingthe ci rcuit fro m dropping o ut o f oscil­latio n when the pot is adj usted all theway.

We now have the bas is o f a simple.

....••

01 1_

use logic chips. or perhaps a 555 Limerand a flip-flop to get a variable timebasewith an equa l on-off ra tio . However. thisdirection leads (0 a regula ted power sup­ply. high current drain. and a comp lexcircuit. Also. logic chips will not switch35 volts without an additional driverstage. Remember rule number six ... thesimplest way!

Maybe we'd he better off startingfrom the ether end . Revers ing polarityrequires the sol id-state equivalent o f theDPDT relay. As it turns out. there is justsuc h a ci rcuit commonly used to drive

QI, Q2: 2N22Z2 lWH nwest9TORS

tU -U4: OPTOCOUPUR l ANY or4N~1l. 4N,., 4Nn. 4N~tJ OR 4NU

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. !

....,

O.Z ncona, no01'\d

RJ'n'RSAL TtIlES:C, .. CZ

The Bioelectrijier .-*.. -- Nau wt1H. t1U: OK (0 Uft

.i.6.K to 'OOK find n N ton .w

no - - .... - .- .. N .. - - wn n .. .- .. .r" • .....-.. ,

'"~ .. ~,

•• • - ..•! !• -" - w...__......w

Fig . 2. Scnenuutc diagram of the Bioelectri fier,

14 73 Amateur Radio Today 0 May 1997

(-t) It must he small. light. and easy tocarry. The ideal form would look like apocket pager.

(5 ) It must ha ve a lo w current d rain forlong life from small batteries.

(6) It must he as simple and inexpen­sive as possible. so that it may he easilyreproduced .

This last goal is oneof the most Imp ortantin designing any device orcircuit. II is. in fact,Occam's Razor. a COOJlIary which states thatwhen there arc many ways to solve a pmh­lem. the best solution is the simplest one.

At first glance. iLwould he tempting to

"A'm 6:io.. l ..etr;(f.i" J r__ ,.

Photo 8 . Four circuit boards art' etched on a single piece of copperclud and are cut aportafter drilling .

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Pholo C. Th#! Bioelectrifier - componentside ofth#! board.

practical design: four optocouplers, twotransistors, one dual pot, two capaci tors,two LEDs, and eight resistors, all of thesame value ! The schematic d iagramis shown in Fig. 2. Of course, we willhave to add a box, switch. and batteries ,and some sort of electrodes. We alsoneed a name. Since we arc experiment­ing in bioelee tric s , let's call it theBioclectrifier!

T he prinled circuit board

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When des igning a printed circuitboard for this type of project. a compro­mise must be made between size andease of construction. The board shouldbe single-sided with as few j umpers aspossible, and there should be enoughroom for 1/4 watt resistors, in case thesmaller 118 watt are not available. Thefinal design is shown in Fig.3.

In my work, I desi gn and bu ild a loto f prototype circuits , and I've settledon an easy technique for c irc uit boardfabricat ion . I use a Computer AidedDesign (CA D) program to create theactual pattern, and then use (he com­puter to generate a mirror image . If theboard is small , as in this case, I willthen copy th is mirrored pattern toget the maximum number of circuitsfrom a standard positive pre-sen sitizedcopperclad board . Thi s mirrored arrayis show n in Fig. 4, After printing thispattern , I copy it with a standard copymachine and inspect the copy fo rplaces where the toner is less than pureblack . These areas, if any, are to uchedup with a felt-tip marker. When I'vegot a pattern that will give a good,pure black copy, I run two or three

73 Amateur Radio Today - May 1997 15

Build ing theBloelectrifier

Ffg, 5 shows !he partslayout for the Bioclectrifier.Be sure to install theop tocouplcrs correctly.Also, the very small LEDsoften do not have a natspot to indicate the cath­ode. but instead have onelead shorter than theother. Check before cut­ting the leads! The longlead connects to thedropping resistor.

There are two ways that this circuitcan be built. For experimentation, thedevice can be mounted in a larger box,potemiornetcrs used to vary the fre­quency and current, and perhaps even amicroammcter to monitor the current.However. I've discovered that it's not al­ways wise to give a device with manycontrols to a non-technical person, espe­cially if changing any of the adjustmentswould nullify the experiment. Also, wewant a pocket-sized device, or one thatcan be clipped to the belt. Once the oper­ating parameters are established, the re­sistance of the potentiometers can bemeasured and the pots replaced withfixed resistors (I used 68k). This makesa much smaller package possible, withonly a single on/off switch and two tinyLEOs on the outside. I built onc in a 27/ 16" by 5-1116" plastic box (RadioShack 270-233) and mounted the switchand LEOs in the end. Four 9 volt bauer­ies would nor fit in this box, but one 9volt and two 12 volt "N" batteries willfit with no problem, and produce 33volts. Radio Shack sells 12 volt alkaline"N" batteries in a package of two, (23­154) and "N" battery holders (270-405).

1 made a belt cl ip from a strip of steelbanding material and glued it to theback. I also glued a two-pole terminal stripto the end of the box to connect the elee­trode leads, although a plug and jackwould be fine. I used what I had on hand.

Electrodes for the prototype were sim­ply strips of aluminum foil, folded to formtwo strips several layers thick, 2 incheswide and 12 inches long. Wrapped aroundeach ankle, the foil was held in placeby rolling the socks up over it. Later, a bet­ter electrode was made by gluing alumi­num foil to strips of cloth-backed vinyl

.......".­rABYI:'N B<Deledril(w

Fig.3. The circuit board pattern, shown actual size.

copies to warm up the drum, thenmake a fi nal copy on clear Mylar, soldin office supply stores for making over­head projector displays. It may be neces­sary to set the copy machine one stepdarker than normal, since machinestend to vary in how well they workwith Mylar. This copy can be used as apositive for printi ng the circuit board.

Using a standard (4.5" by 6.5") pre­sensitized board, place the Mylar sheetwith the circuit board pattern toner-s idedown on top of the board. (The writingshould be correct- not reversed') Placea piece of glass over the Mylar to hold itin contact with the board, and expose itfor three and a half to four minutes usingan Ultra Viole t sunlamp 12 inches abovethe board. Be sure to protect your eyesduring the exposure!

After the hoard is exposed, dunk it inthe developer until all the copper be­tween the traces is shiny and clean; thisusually takes around IWO minutes, butyou really can't overdo it. Rinse theboard with cold water, and It's ready toetch.

I etch my boards with ferric chloridesolution in a tall, thin plastic tank that al­lows the board to stand up vertically.The use of an aquarium heater and airpump will cut the etching time in half.Do not get the etching solution on any­thing made of metal- it will corrodebadly. It also stains everything, so wearrubber gloves and be careful !

After etching, clean the etch resistfrom the board, polish with steel wool,and drill the holes. The individual pat­terns can be cut from the board using abandsaw, j igsaw, or even by hand with ahacksaw if that's all you have. You nowhave not one, but four circuit boardsready for construction.

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73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 17

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OK, it 's done. Now what?

Even if your doctor doesn' t knowanyone with the HIV virus, there aremany experiments he can try with theBioelectrifier. If it works on the HIV vi­rus, what abou t others, such as those re­sponsible for herpes, Epstein-Barr,colds, and flu? Will a few minutes a dayactually prevent colds and flu? What ef­feet will different frequencies have? Thelong-term benefits can only be determinedby experimenting and recording the data

It is interesting to note that all animallife on earth has evolved in the magneticfield of the planet. Blood, being mostlywater and containing salts and iron, mustgenerate a tiny voltage as it movesthrough this field. Is this voltage neces­sary for good health, and can it be dis­rupted by exposure to much more intense60 Hz electromagnetic fields?

I've often wondered, as we think aboutmanned missions to other planets, if wewill one day discover that we cannot livefor a great length of time without theEarth's magnetic field. So far, only a fewpeople have ever left the planet. and onlyfor a short time, These astronauts, how­ever, have found that after a few days inspace, the immune system starts to shutdown! No one has yet found a good expla­nation for this. Perhaps a small applicationof bioclectrics is in order!

One interesting result reported byWayne Green was that when his friendBeck used a similar device for two hoursa day instead of the usual 20 minutes,just to see if there might be any harmfuleffects, he started losing weight! Theweight loss continued until he reached hisnormal weight, then stopped. Since, asWayne has repeatedly noted, many hamsappear to be "eleven months pregnant."this could be the biggest thing since FM!Perhaps this device will open new fields ofcommunication. Just adjust the frequencyto match the 7 Hz resonant frequency ofthe Earth and tune your brainwaves to Dr.Jung's Universal Consciousness!

upholstery material, with hook-and-loopfastener material glued to the ends.

In either case, connect two 36-inchlengths of hookup wire to the Bio­electrificr 's output terminals, and soldera paper clip to the other end of eachwire. Sliponepaperclipovereachelectrode,clip the Bioelectrifier to the patient's belt. andyour doctor is ready to go.

All kidding aside, Ihere have beenenough results from experiments to daleto warrant serious study, and, as usual.mainstream science will continue (0 ignoreit, while sucking up government funds forexpensive and ineffective research. Butbreaking new ground is the amateur'sforte. We have thc technical skills and themanpower. Keep in mind that every newfield is pioneered by anuneurs-c-since theprofessionals do not yet exist!

One final caveat... do not build Bio­elccirificrs and sell them as medical devices!This will surely bring unwanted anentionfrom the wrong people. After all, these dayseven tbe U.S. Department of Health and Hu­man Services has a S.WA.T. team! So buildit wert with a doctor to experiment. andmake sure to keep careful records, Don'teven giveone away 10 someone woowants 10try it but doesn' t have~ skills 10 build it, tm­

less you have no qualms about opening your­self to alrrost unlimited liability. Remember,the fDA and several other government agen­cies have unlimited funds 10 persecute you,and they love nothing better than the slightestexcuse 10 appear to be working. The last thingyou need is to get ibc anenlion of the bureau­crats, who would probably protectthe in­tcrcsts of the pharmaceutical cartels by

outlawing bioelectricity, requiring us all towear grounding straps on our behinds.

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY.ASKEDQUESTIONS [NEW]

The response to the Bioetectrlfier hasbeen incredible. It 's been a year since theoriginal article .w w print , and t can stillcount on a stack ofle tters every week . Thisstack becomes a flood whenever Wayneguests on the An Bell show, Since there arecom mon threads to many of these letters , Ithought I should address .fOme of the mostfrequently asked questions .

Bare circuit boards for the B ioelectrifierare am i/able from FAR Circuits, / 8N640Field Court , Dundee IL 601/8. And no , thephone has NOT been disconnected... theChicago suburbs were assigned a newarea code. Fred's munber is (847) 836-9148.

Un like the Rife devices, this circuitachieves its effect with direct current.However. the pola rity must be constantlyreversed because the body tends toquickly "charge up " and th e currentflo w drops off. The f requency does notseem to make milch difference , and I've

used rates from 20 Hz. down to 0.2 H z.successfully. One fellow sent me a verylong table of resis tor-capaci tor values

and wanted me to fill in the f requency

for each combination! ( Yes, he wm aham.) The time constant will varyslightly with the leakage of the transis­tors. but you can get very close by multi­

p ly ing MEGOHMS by MICRO FARADSto get time in SECONDS.

The original ankle Cliffs lined with foilmade a good "field expedient " electrode ,

but after a time, the foil becomes wrinkled,and the resulting hot-spots feel like tiny

critters nibbling at your ankles. An alter­native is to line the cuffs with l-inch-wideheavy stainless-steel tape, available fromany auto parts SlOT(', or by mail f rom J.c.Whitney . This material is hea l')' and pol­ished, and doesnr wrinkle easily. It 's also

possible to t ake the advice ofDr,Hulda Clarkand "'TaP a layer ofsaltwater-dampened IJ(J'per towel between the metal surface and theskin. If the electrodes are working properly,

)'0" can }feel / (X) microamps,By f ar the best alternative is the dlspos­

able EKG electrode . These are "peel-and­stick " with a non-messy conductive jelly,

These are so good that yOlt can get hl.'o tothree times the current flow and not feel athing! They are a mi/able from your doctoror chiropractor, or you can order themthrough your pharmacist. EKG leads are

Fig.4. Make )'0111' oll'n "positive" by copying this mirrored pattern onto clear M)'/ar. Shown actual sire.

18 73 Amateur Radio Today· May 1997

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mode to snap onto the electrode. but smallalligator clips work j ust fine .

If you write to me for information,please include a business-size SASE. Myupdates are now running three pages , soa post card won 't do it .

While J can answer questions about

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NOTE FROM W2NSDI/I would make a lot more noise about this

except for two things . Make that three.First, I'm not an MD, so the medical in­dustry wi// probably have no interest inanything J haw to offer. Second, efforts totry and bring down the COSt of medicaltreatments could easily trigger an FDA at­tack and prison. Third, Jneed more peopleto ca// or write to say they used it with suc­cess. I' ve never had anyone write and saythey had tried it and it didn 't work, but I'dlike more positive testimony. II

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Numbn 20 011 YOIHF~t catd

Multi-Band Remotely-TunableInverted LAntenna

Here's a near 160-40m wire antenna project using flexible parts-placement techniques.

Ronald lumachi WB2CQM73 Bay 26th Street

Brooklyn NY 11214-3905E-mail: WB2CQMOJuno.Com

In the vast majority of antenna build­ing projects, irs safe to ass ume thatno two identically constructed arrays

will exhibit the same electrical andperformance parameters . Ground char­ac teristics, proximity of trees, antennaleng th. contiguous buildings. heightabove ground. coaxial cable loss. veloc­ity factors , etc., affect the ability of thesystem to radiate energy with a perfor­mance level equal to the criteria listed inthe reference source.

When I set out to build. install . andtest a base- loaded. remotely-tunable.multi -band inverted "L" for my homeQTH. and then duplicate the project formy country location , little did I reali zethat the two locations had absolutelynothing in common with each otherexcept that space was restricted forantenna erection. Ah! Ignorance is bliss!

I expected to breeze through the in­stallation. For example. in order to raisethe vertical portion of the antenna . I'duse the tower in the city and a conve­nicnt tree at the country location. Thetower would be easy to climb to attac hthe supports. In the country installation,a slingshot. fishin g pole, reel, monofila­ment line. sinker. pulley, and some ny­lon rope would make short work of thisobstacle.

So. in my naivete. I started on the cityprototype. Duplicate capacitors. coil.motors. and hardware were assembled toaddress the requirements of both base­loading networks. Afte r construc ting thefirst matching network; wiring the entireassembly into the ground system (in­cluding the piping of my backyard well20 73 Amateur Radio Today· May 1997

and the tower itself) : and j ugglingcomponents, the unit did a morethan respectable job on 80/40 meters .Tweaking performance while surfingthe frequency was as simple as tog­gling power to the remote motors andtuni ng for low SWR.

Confident in my skills. off I went tothe country, armed with a clone of mysuccessful prototype. I made absolutelycertain that all the components werecarefully spaced. fi rmly installed. andwell bonded. Solder connections weredouble-checked for integrity and thecircuitry was verified.

Suffice it to say that no manner of ef­fort could get the array to work. Rocks,instead of concrete, and trees. instead ofbuildings (and who knows what else ). allconspired to make for a monumentalnon-event. When every possible varia­tion and combination of profanity hadbeen expended and a cooler head pre­vailed. it became evident that obstacleshad to be overcome by altering compo­nent positions (coil-capacitor relation­ships) to compensate for what 1 nowknew to be a vastly different SCi of an­tenna-matching parameters. Exasperated, Itook the unit apart.

That disheartening disassembly expe­rience, however. resulted in the develop­ment of the construction techniques inthis article. In a nutshell, it's a systemof breadboarding using jumper cables.rather than ha rd wiring. It' s easyto change component configurationswithin a circuit. on a temporary basis, ofcourse. to maximize antenna performancefor a particular locale.

Then. and only then. can all the parts behard-wired into place. for a solid. low­loss, high-performing matching network.

What's first?

To utilize this strategy successfully.it's vital that you overcome the mindsetthat the location and hookup of the coiland capacitor components in the match­ing network are cast in stone! Simplybecause they were used successfully inone set of circumstances does not guar­antee automatic success in another(seemingly similar) situation. Keep inmind that although the number andvalue of components may be the same.the way they' re wired into the systemand how they respond to the peculiari­ties of a particular environment make aworld of difference.

Fig. I shows that there are plenty ofmatching options at your disposal toachieve tha t e lusive I : I SWR. Withthat firmly in mind. a qu ick hookuptechnique gives you great flexibili ty.and min imal timewasting, movingcomponents in and out of a ci rcuit to

test the vari ous configurations . Thegoa l is maxim um signal radiat ion co­inciding with the lowest standingwave ratio with the least expend itureof effort- the most gain with the leastpain !

The answer is not to remove. rebuildand rewire the unit after each unsuc­cessful attempt to power up the antenna.That strategy becomes a tedious chore.increases your level of frustration. andis no longer even close to a remotely

rewarding situatio n after even only o ne 1500 pF. borrowed from an old linear.or two failures. To make life easy. sim- worked well . I also used a moderately- Parts List and Suppliersply bypass the continual disconnec ting spaced dual-gang variable 050/150 pF)and moving of hard-wired components for the second unit This component can be

Part # De s c riptio nRadio

by electrically isolating each of the d is- paral-leled for increased capacitance (with Shack #crete parts used in the circuit (coil. ca- j umpers. of course). or left as two inde-pacirors. tie points, ctc.) and prepare pendent units for wiring up Flg, l (i). SW1 SPST 2755651"

Jumpe r leads to complete temporary It's importan t that both air variables SW2 DPDT 275652"configu rations. rotate a full 360 deg rees, since they will

If a particular arrangemenl docs not be driven remotely by the gear motors. SW3 SPST 2751556"work. remove the j umpe rs, refer to a As a last resort, the capacitors may have

SW4 SPDT 275709"second schematic, and reconnec t for an- to be purchased from retail outlets: how-other try. If memory serves, program- ever. home-brew coils cons tructed from Neon pilot.ming the old IBM mainframes (circa readily available material and tailored to NE1

(110 VAC)272707"

1960) was accomplished in the same the projec t's specific needs can save amanner. using a rat's nest of jumpers and bundle. 5-conducto r rotator 151201"clips. There's really nothing new under If you decide o n remote luning. pick cablethe sun! up one or two gear head I-rpm re vers-

.. Ra d io S ha c k o r equivalentlblc moto rs. To red uce project costs

Gathering the basic pa rtssomewhat, the second motor (or both) Synchronous Motor Suppliers

It' s a good idea to locate a source of can be a standard l-rpm sync hronous che ck with supplie r fo rsupply and to purchase all the parts be- model. It works j us t as well , but I c urrent invento ryfore planni ng any further. Reasonabl y- found that it wasn't as co nvenient for

spaced air-vari able capacitors as well as quick fine-tuni ng . Try to find un its Marlin P . J o ne s (800) 652-6733

coils arc expensive, so check the surplus with identica l drivi ng voltage requ ire - Lake Pari< FL

catalogs. or sco ut a local bamfest for me ms. S uppliers are listed here. butSurplus C enter (800) 468-3407

these items. In my case. I fou nd that my they should be telephoned to verify1015 West "0" Street

primary loading capacitor with about current inventory.Lincoln NE 66501

Fa ir Ra d io Sa les (419) 223-2196

0) RF ® 0 Box 1105

@)--. E. Eu re ka S tree tL ~ Ali I. A Lima OH 45602I,

A Variable Capacitor Supplier@ ~

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0 0 0 Don't forget to scout the local hamfestsfor your needs. You 'll need everything athand to layout the parts in the mostcompact manner. Keep in mind that all

¢0- r... the componen ts arc mounted above~

ground potential.

j, II!- ' ' J;o T '" T Si nce the matching unit also needed tobe protected from weathering, the con-tainer selected was nonconductivc PVc.I made a q uick visit to the housewares

0 0 r-; 0 department of the local K·Mart1M andended up with a plastic box originally

A '- ;>. designed for storing shirts and sweaters.

, You'll d iscover an almost endless array

~~~

~ " of sizes. but irs important that there

.k ~~

is adequate depth so the cover can be fit-; ted for weatherproofing without anyI

obstruction .With the exception of the coil, all

Fig . 1. Possible coiitcopucitor combinations for antenna matching. the parts were mounted d irectly to the73 Amateur Radio tcaey » May 1997 21

scored at 6 tpi . If you're not fort unateenough to have (or have a friend with) alathe. visi t your local machine shop. Itmakes for foo lproof winding. but again.threading or scoring is not essent ial forthis project.

Assuming you're unable to have thethreading done, close-wi nd the full lengthof wire on the form, keeping the wiretaut (P hoto A ). Do exactly the samething for the lathe-prepared coil fo rm.except follow the thread ing . In eithercase, remove the coil of wire from theform after wind ing . You ' ll find that yo urnewly-wound coil resembles a Slin kyTM,and it will be OK to reminisce abo utyour c hildhood (hut on ly brie fly) . Forceyourself not to try it o ut on the staircase.s ince it doesn' t have quite the samecharacteristics as the origi na l.

Usi ng a tape rule. measure around theperimeter of the PVC pipe and divide thecircumference equally into fourths (ap­proximately 2-3/4~ in tervals ) ( }'iR. 2).

Usi ng a try square, draw a pencil linedown the le ngth of the PVC. perpen ­d icular to the face o f the pipe at each ofthe four points. Draw two parall c l linesone inch on each side of the referenceline, stopping one inch from each end o fthe PVc. Form fo ur rectangles (eachmeasuri ng 2" x 4 ") and drill a 3/8"starter ho le at each o f the eight insidecom ers (P hoto 8 ), and usc a saber sawto make the cuto uts as show n.

Before rew inding the wi re onto whathas no w become an air-wound form,

Photo B. Remove the coil and measure the 4sections , Cut owavtne four z · x 4 " sections(marked with the X).

5/32" hole

3 112"

(with permission. o f cou rse) or purchasea 3- foo t length at a home improvementcenter. It 's cheap enough and there willbe many other occasions when there willbe a need to wind coi ls.

You' ll need approx imately 25 feet ofsolid bare wire (available off the shelffrom an electrical supp ly house or othersource). If you experience any difficultyin locating this type of material, electrician'shousehold AC wire with the protectivecoveri ng is OK (# 12 AWG wire can besubstituted wi th only a slight reductionin performance). Supp liers will cut it tolength off a roll, but make certain that itis not kinked in the process.

Remo ving the covering is tedious. soit's vital to have a wire stripper with afixed calibration for IO-gauge wire.Clamp one end of the wire in a vise orloop it around a fencepost and stretch ittaut. Remove repeated 6-i nch lengths ofplastic insulati on material by walkingthe covering down the length of wire.Try not to nick the wire. because thatcreates an obstacle to the smooth re­moval o f the coveri ng as you move eachlength down the wire. It may help ifyo u keep the bare wire lubricated withconcentrated dishwashing liquid.

Although not essentia l for wi nding ac­cura tely-s paced coils, it helps if yo u canhave the PVC tubing threaded or at least

"Don't be afraid to tweak yoursignal with the rocker switch."

# IOAWG Bare Copper 6TPI

cut o ut 2"x4"

5/3 2" hol e

Dri ll inside cornerwith 3/8" drill b it

Home-brewing the coil

contai ner using j unk box hardware. As aprecaut ion. thc coi l was furt hcr isolatedfrom thc other components by usingshort porcelain standoffs. All that rc­mained was to construct (or purchase)a hefty wide-diameter coil that wouldprovide about 22-28 mHo

If you want to experience stic kershock, take a look at the prices for ai r­wound coils with 3 to 3- 112" specs. I de­cided to wind my own using a sectio n of3" PVC tubing (3· 112" OD) 6" long and22-24 turn s o f # 10 AWG solid copperwire at 6 tpi. Look for discarded PVCcutoffs at a new home construction s ite

Photo A . The six- inch length of PVC piping.threaded at 6 tpi, with the coil temporarilywound on the form .

6"

Fig 1. Coilform details .

22 73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997

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drill two 5/32 " holes in alignment alongone of the support ramps one inch fromeach end of the PVC. If your measuri ngand cutting is reasonably accurate. theremaining four sections of wire-supportingPVC should each measure approximately3/4" x 4")ong.

Start the rewinding process by placingan end of the coil into one of the smallholes (P hoto C ). Rewind your Slinky,keeping a moderate tension on the form.It might help if you can borrow anotherpair of hands. since IO-gauge wire oftenhas a mind of its own. At the 24th tum ,thread the end of the coil into the re­maining hole. give it a twist with a pairof pliers, and you're ready to move on.

Leave a suffic iently long pigtail oneach coil end for hookup points. If theform is not threaded. adjust the spacingevenly along its length. If you're con­cerned about minor changes in the valueof inductance, run a couple of beads ofsilicone caulk or hot glue along thecoil's length to ensure rigidity.

PhOIO C. Rewind the coil on the form . Notethai the ends of the coil are protruding fromthe top and the side and ·....i ll be used forhookup points.

I IOVAC

Pig. 3. Straightforward power supply wiring schematic to power the two remote synchronousmotors .

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73 Amateur Radio tcaey » May 1997 23

Pholo D. Located below the coif is the antennainput feed'hrough insulator. At the upperrigh' is 'he anlenna output feedthrough .

The home stretch!

Mount each of the components anddrive motors directly onto the enclosure.Don't forget the standoff insulators for

the coil. Use my model (Photo D) as aplacement guide or feel free to configureyour own. Mount feedthrough insulatorson the side for the antenna output andone on the botto m for input. A heavybrass nut, bolt, washer, and so lder lugprovide for a solid ground attachmentpoint.

1 used a five-position barrier strip towire the remote tuning motors, via afive-strand rotator cable, to the 110 VACvariac supply. The Powerstat drivenvoltage supply was used only as a con­venience to drive gear motors of anyvoltage. Often, it's pot luck when you'relooking for appropriatel y rated minia­ture AC motors, and only odd voltagesare available. Incidentally, it's usuallycheaper to buy 20 VAC units insteadof 110 VAC models, for obvious rea­sons. Remember, if you want to stayflexible use a variac with this aspect ofconstruction. However, discrete isola­tion transformers, with output ratings toaccommodate odd motor voltages, canbe substituted and will work j ust as well .

Keep in mind that the use of a vari­able-voltage power supply optio n willnot affect the shaft output speed if youdevi ate from the synchronous motor'svoltage rating . They're specifically de­signed that way in o rder to maintainrated output even with 10·20% power­line flu ctuations . C hec k Fig. 3 for thestraightforward wirin g of th is powersupply component.

I used a scrap piece of 4-inch PVCand two matching caps to form the en­clos ure (Photo E), but any type ofcase will work j ust fine . The z-ampvariac was mounted inside one of thePVC caps along with an onloff swi tchand a power indicator light. Five bind­ing posts were placed ncar the bottomof the unit. In close proximity, mou nt aOPOT and SPST (normally open) mo­mentary-contact switch. These togglevoltage to the two motors and acti vatethe l-rpm synchronous motor, respec­tively. The momentary-contact center­off SPOT switc h drives the reversiblemotor and will c hange its rotation

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24 73 Amateur Radio Today. May 1997

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el iminate the possibility of damagefrom the wind . Before flat-toppingthe array, it ' s always a good idea toget ' the vertical radiating portion upas high as possible for the bestpropagation characteristic s. Althoughrandom lengths of wire will usu­ally work okay, it is preferable tomeasure out multiples of 65' to easeloading.

Using the jumpers, wire up the firstcircuit following one of the sche mat­ics. I' ve found that the MFJ-249 SWRanalyzer q uickly indicates if you 're onthe right track and is infinitely moreconvenient than using your transmi tterand SWR bridge: It ' s great to watchthe SWR dip as the capacitor valuesinteract in the matching network whenaltered re mo te ly from the convenienceof the shack.

If you ' re not happy with the results,move on to the second wiring option andhit your switches . Coil taps may have tobe altered, but it won't be long beforethe exact combination of componentsand values will be radiating your signalinto the air where it belongs. When thebest combination has been determined,and max imum signal radiation has beenachieved, replace the jumpers with hardwiring and install the weather-protectivecover.

Once you 're set up on an y fre­quency, don ' t hesitate to make excur­sions over the entire band and tweakyour signal by using the rocker switchto dip the SWR meter. If you 're fortu­nate , you 'll find that you can tune 40meters with a minimum of capacitanceand move to 75/80 meters on the samecoil tap by adding more capacitance.Try it-you'll like it! iii

Photo G. The alligator-type jaw of a clip 1found at a ham/est is opened by looseningthe set screw and then pressed onto the coil.

'.•

depending on the switch position . Thisis a great (optional) feature since itallows you to rock the capacitorto tweak the output (Photo F). Useself-tapping screws to secure both thetop and bottom cap to the length ofpiping.

Solder eight- to 10-inch tinned lengthsof 58U copper braiding or flex iblewire to the input and o utp ut of the coiland capacitors, and attach alligatorclips at each of the ends. Prepare anadditional supply of jumper cableswith double-ended clips (P hoto G ).Mount the matching network en clo­sure near the base of the antenna. Wirethe coax to the input an d ground , andthe output to the longest length ofantenna you can muster.

Use a strain insulator between theantenna and the network's input to

Photo E . 1\vo PVC caps and a short lengthof[our-inch plastic pipe provide an enclo­sure/or the variac AC power supply.

Photo F. Coupling the capacitor to the syn­chronous motor can pose a minor problem ifthe shafts have different diameters .

Number 26 on your Feedback Cflrd

Ham VacationA six-week journey through Yugosla via .

George Pataki WB2AQC84-47 Ke ndrick Place

Jamaica NY 11432

In the summer of 1996. I visitedmany amateurs in Hungary and Yu­goslavia. l was able to sec many

radio clubs and personal stations. ....hereI noticed the large number o f YLs andXY Ls. as well .LS youngsters. participatingin the bobby,

Family tics in eastern Eu rope may he

stronge r than those in the West. T his canbe attributed to tradition and ed ucation.and perhaps to the fuct that there arcfe wer a ttrac tions available o utside thefamily than there arc in more ulflucntsoc ie ties.

In Yugos lavia. a large part o f ham ac­tiv ity is in radio clubs. To operate a radiostation. just like in other countries. youhave to pass an examination. T here arctwo kinds of amateurs: those who arc li ­censed to operate radio statio ns hut don ' thave personal calls . and those who havecallsigns . To get a personallicense and acallsign you have to he .11 least 18 yearsold. Therefore. even well-trained yo ung­sters arc limi ted to work ing throug h ra­dio clubs. using the club's call. under thesupervision of a fu lly licensed amateur.Even ad ults in the first stage of theirham activ ity s tart l1y being an operator ata club.

Photo A . loco YUJJS and his u"ife SvetlanaIT/JJS ill Ri/J</IIj .

26 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

Every club has a name. The most fa ­vorite namesakes arc Nikola Tcsla andMibailo Pupin . two famous native sonswho made important cont ributions toelectrical science. If these two names arcalreadv taken in a locale then a new• •

club will go for a geographica l one.Many hams and radio clubs have hu getowers and antennas , and there don' tseem to be any restr ictions or zoninglaws whatsoever.

"The economic situation illthe caul/try has deteriorated

because of the war,.. The salestax,for example, is 26%.;"

Every amate ur has to he a mem ber ofa cl ub and every club has a full yequipped radio station. Those who havepersonal callsigns and can affo rd 10 buy

thei r own gear and se t up a stat ion athome often involve members of theirimmediate family in this hobby, I sawseveral husband/wife and parcnt/chil­dre n learns. In most cases the husband.or fa ther. was the more advanced in thefamily. bu t there were also instanceswhere husband and wi fe had licensesand achieveme nts a t the same level.

The Radio Amateur Association ofYugoslavia. a member o f the IARU. isvery well organized . There arc manykinds of activities. roth in the numerousclubs and by individual hams. Years ago.the YU hams had the bes t equi pmentin easte rn Europe because they hadmore freedom to travel. Thousand... ofYugoslavs worked in western countries,

especially in west Germany. and theycould afford (and had the chance 10 buy)all so rts of modern appliances.

In recent years. ho wever. the eco­nom ic s ituation of the count ry has dele­rioratcd because of the war in Bosniaand the bloc kade that follo wed . Thesales tax. for exampic. is 2ML Thesedays. there arc very fe w dealerships seil­ing radio equipment. Most of the gear,made in Japan. is brought in by occas ionaltravelers and is very cxpcnsive.

In Yugos lavia . there arc six catego rieso f license, A bei ng the highest and F. thelowest. The max imum al lowed power is1.5 kw: on the WARe hand and on sixmeters. o nly 300 watts is permitted . Thelest for the A license requires code op­eration al 20 wpm, and the A hams haveallhand privileges. The no-code E lic­ensees can use a maximum of 30 W 0 11

two meters and 70 ern.I used Belgrade as headq uarters on my

trip . At the YU 1I0P radio cl ub there.among the many hams I was forum atcenough to meet were two coup les : LidiaYTILID and her husband DraganYTI SDV; and M ira YTiMIR and herspo use Uros YUIEG.

1'llOto H. Tomo YUIAB lind hi.i wife StadicaYU/SL if! Vo/jao .

Photo F. Rlllli.O YV INR and his X YI. (110

persona' Ctlf/ ) in Kragujevae.

73 Amateur Radio Today • May 1997 27

YT IFCI (Photo (; ). All have YHFIU HFlicenses and operate on the 2m hand.which in Yugoslavia extends from l-l-t to

146 M Hz.Rade 4NI RK drove Miodrug YZIMC:-'1.

Zoran 4N IEV, and me to C uprij a, wherewe saw Mi le YU IM l. A sa lesman o felectrical and electronic equipment,Mi le uses a computer for packet. has aJ(){).wan transcei ver. and is building anamplifier. On his 50-fnot homemadeto wer. he has a 3-c1cment yagi for1{).1 5. 20 m; two ll -clcmcnt yugis. onevc nicall y-. the o ther one horizonta lly­polarized: and 3 dipoles for 80. 40 and20 m. Mile ha s an A (Extra) class licenseand a nice QSL. His daughter DragunaYZ INZC has a VHFIU HF license for

1. meters and 70 ern.In Kruscvac. population 4 2.()(X). I

found the YU I ADO radio cl ub . Its sec­re ta ry is Lil a YZISL. who received herB license in 1995. She works at the po stoffice. The cl ub has 80 members. Theyuse a TS...BOS with an 8oo-walt YaesuA .-2277B amplifier. The antennas arc : aDelta loop for 80m: a dipole and an in­verted Y for 40m; and a ground planefor 20. The club has about 200 countries

toward the ir DXCC.I also ..aw Lila' s home statio n.

YZ 1SL. Hcr fami ly arc refugees from

"JwlO 1:.'. Mile YUIQQ and Ili.~ S O li NiJ.:.o'a

0l1l'nlTillg at tilt' YV I EFG du/) station inK reI /{Uj t- I'IIC .

Toma has only a multibaml dipol e. and a17.element yag! for 2m. because he is onthe DXCC Honor Roll No. 1; CQ DXHonor Roll ; WPX Honor Roll ; and hasthe 5BDXCC. 5BWAZ, etc . T he reasonis that in Lajkovac. in his parents' house ,Toma has a big sta tio n feeding I kW to a-i-clcment mbander on the top of his

50-foot-high lower.To ma is the president o f YUI GT U,

contest call YTIL. the radio cl ubin Lajkovac. T hey usc 1 kWand have3J8 count ries contin ued . We also metSluvko 4N IRS, Dusan YT IDL, Voj aYTlDOS and his son Milan . On top ofthe club's 6Q.foot tower there is a j -ete­ment yag i for IO-1 5-20m. an l l -elcmcntyagi for 2m. and a co uple o f wire dipoles

for IS and 80.One morn ing, Rade YTIFRR, his wife

C il.: a YZI DTS (P hoto C ), and MilanYZ I PWO picked me up at my hotel.We drove to Kragujcvuc . population180,lOO. about 65 mi les south ofBelgrade. There we visited Ivan YU IHA.president o f the local radio cl ub YU IEFG.Ivan. a ret ired sergeant . was a part isanduring World War II . Hi s wife RudmilaYU1 GR was lice nsed in 1968. T heyhave a cood statio n, with a ground planefor 10-15-20 meters and a wire dipolefor 40 and 80. Both work only on CWand have im pressive records. Ivan is aco ntester. with 700.000 QSOs. 36 1countries confirmed, and 1,384 awards:Rndmila ha s 289 countries for her

DXCC (Photo D).I also met M ile YU IQQ and his so n

Nikola while they were operating fromthe YU I EFG club sta tion (photo E). aswell as Ratko YU INR and his XYL attheir home in Kraguj cvac (ph oto F ).

Ivan and Radmila have a second housein Knic. about 13 miles from Kraguj cvac,with a homemade 70-foo t tower. a 3-e le­mcnt cubical q uad for 20m. and a -r-ele­mcnt quad for 10 and 15. A secondtower. 33 feet high, ha s a 5-element yagi. , ,for 6m and a z t-clemcnr yegr tor zm.They also have a 2-c1emcnt wire beamfor 40m di rected to the US, and a hori­.lllllta lly .pola rized Della loo p for 10 to80 . They usc 1.2 kW and have 100s o fhomemade equipment. Now maybe youunderstand where those 700JX)() QSOs

have co me from?In Jagodma, I found Miodrug YZ IMCM.

who work s in the local electrical cablefactory, his wi fe Ana YT IECA, and theirdaugh te rs Mon ica YTIEC~l and lsidora

rhoto l) , Radm j/a YV IGR and her husband

Iran YUlIIA . ill Kra gujem c .

While in Belgrade. I went to seeElmax. a repair shop speciali zing inamateur radio equipment. They havegear made by Kenwood . Yaesu. kum­even some vintage Collins transccivers.They also build new equipment onspecial order: I saw a ve ry nice I kwamplifier. The shop 's owner is MaxMaksimovic YU IMM: his wife is RoseYTINZN. Thci r shop is a meet ingplace for amate urs wi th or without any

busi ness to conduct.Belgrade is also the home o f Buda

YT IRBB, his wife Jclu YTIEYL. andtheir daughter Jasmina YTI RYI.. Allthree have VHF licenses and operateonly on 2m with a homemade 25·waltamplifier. They live on the ground Floorof a Ib-story building. where the coaxcable fro m their shack to the tz-ctcmerahomemade yagi on the roo f is 247 fcet

long.In the village of Ripanj. whe re we

went ne xt , there is a couple livi ng on asmall farm: Joca YU US and his wifeSvetlana YTlJJS (I' hoto A). Theirdaughter Dragana, who died in a car ac­cident. was an operator a t the YU I AlEd ub station in nearby 1.'1pOVO.

In Valjcvo . about 62 miles southwesto f Belgrade. we met Toma YU lAB, ex­YU IDZ. and his wife Siadica YUI SL(Photo B ). It is hard to believe that

Plwlo C. RlUle ITI FRR and his wif e CicoYlIDTS oJwr(//{' Oil the 2m band in

Kra Kllje\'(/c .

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president of the Radio Amateur Associa­tion of Yugoslavia. Hrane is in the im­port-export business and lives part of thetime in Moscow. Russia, where he isRV7AD. Because he was at a ham meet­ing in Kraljcvo. his brother MilovanYTi 1M showed the whole setup to meand Sima 4N ISM. who had also comealong. The station has a couple of trans­ceivers and linear amplifiers-nothingunusual in the house of a very rich man.Milovan, Simo and I tried to figure outthe multitude of towers and antennas.On a I22-footer, there is a 7-elementyagi for 10m; a a-element yagi for 40m;and a 6-element yagl for 10m fixed inthe direction of the US. On a 99-foottower. there are two yagis for zm. onehorizontally-polarized. the other verti­cally-; and a fi-element yag i for 20m. Onanother 99-foot tower. there is a s-ere­men! yagi for 15m; a 3-element yagi for12·17-30m; and a 6-element fi xed yagidirected toward the US. Near the house,on a mast, is a 6-element yagi for 6m.All cables are run underground. despitethe long distance from the towers to thebuilding . There are also a bunch of wireantennas we could not figure out.

I met many hams on my trip. I'm surethat among them there are many morewho have licensed amateurs in theirfamilies . I did not always ask them aboutthis. Those who suppl ied such lnforma­tion were proud and happy that theirhobby and interests are shared hy thepeople closest to them. And that's theway it should be. iii

Photo I. Rate YTJEKR and his wife GocaYfJRGA of Kraljevo ,

•

Photo G. Miodrag YZ 1MCM and daughterMonica Yfl ECM in Jagodina .

Bosnia, where she was X5SL. Her hus­band Saki works in a metallurgical fac­tory-he used the X5SV call, with thecontroversial X5 prefix, in Serbia. Theirson Andrej is in high school, and theirdaughter Aleksandra is in college study­ing economics; both have class C oper­ating licenses withou t personal calls .They work on SSB and CW with a smalltransceiver and a dipole for 80m (PhotoH). [Note: The X5 prefix used by thehams on the Serbian side of the dividedBosnia-Herzegovina is unofficial. It willbe used until the status of this disputedland is clari fied and an official prefix isassigned.]

I finally got to Kraljevo, where thefirst hams I visited were Rate YT IEKRand his wife Goca YTi RGA (Photo I).Both have been enthusiastic CB opera­tors for many years . Now they haveno-code E licenses without personalcallsigns. and with 30 watts and a 7-ele·ment vert ically-polarized yagi they alsooperate on 2m.

About 6-7 miles from Kraljevo is thesmall village of Vitanovac, where one ofthe greatest stations I have ever seen islocated. It belongs to Hrane YTIAD, the

Photo H . Son Andrej (no personal call),mo ther Lila YZJSL, and father Saki X5SV inKrusevac ,

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Timewave Technology'sDSP-599ZX

Excellence in digital signal processing.

Jim Kocsis WA9PYH2217 Hidden Oaks Ct.South Bend IN 46628

T imcwavc Technology. Inc.ts newDSP-599ZX is an audio digital sig­

nal processor (DSP) made to improveco m munic atio ns in m any di fferen tmodes by reducing noise and intcrfe r­cncc. It uses an A-Io -D converter to d igi ­tize the incoming audio signal. runs thedigit ized data through soft ware algo­rithms to eliminate all hUI the desiredsignals. and then outputs the remai ningdigital data through a Dao-A converterand audio amplifier.

why did I want a US)"!

I had read several product revi ewson avai lab le units and tutoria l artic leson how they work . After reading abou tit. and see ing how powerful DSPs arein ap plications where J work , I decidedI could make good use of one inmy DXing. CW and future satelli teactivi ties .

The fi rst thing J noticed about the599ZX was the high quality of construc­tion. It is very solid and heavy. Digitalencoders are used for two of the three

Photo A . Front "jew

30 73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997

variable controls. Thi s is nice becausethey won' t get dirty and become inter­mittent like typical potentiometers. Thethird knob is the volume control-c- it isa common potentiometer. The displaywindow is a 2-line by 16-characterbackli t yellow-green LCD. Addit ionalindividual LEOs are green. yellow andred. The uni t is compact-approxi­mately 8 x 9 x 2 inches, small enoughtha t I set mine on top of my HF rig. sothe controls arc close whe n they needto be adj usted .

All input and output connections arcvia phono jacks. so you won ' t need tobuy any high-priced or hard-to-fi nd con­nectors. You can also usc the two DINconnectors that provide access to thesame signals. The 599ZX has connectorsfor two radios. Via the front panel youselect radio A or radio B and audio out­put A or B. Having two channels that areselectable from the front panel elimi­nates having to unplug and plug connec­tors when switching between radios. Thepower connec tor is supplied so youdon ' t have to run OUI to get one. Accord­ing to the manual. the unit requires Jamp at 12 VDC for proper operation, butI measured .65 amps at nonnal volumelevels. They probably speci fied I amp tomake sure the voltage doesn' t droopwhen the volume is set to high levels. Ipowered my 599ZX from my HF rig'spower supply since it is rated at over 20

amps and one more amp of currentwon't even be not iced .

So how do lOU operate this litt le gem?

The man ual is very we ll organized.II has a Quid Start section so you canbegin using it immediate ly, and sepa­rate chapters on C W, voice , da ta andtest modes. I highly recommend read­ing the entire manual first so you ca ndetermine all that this ve ry powerfulunit can do. Be aware, though . thatthere is a lot 10 this unit and you won'tremember how all the functions workby reading the manual once. Themanual I received had occas ionalqu irks- extra words , awkward sen ­renee structure. ctc.. but this didn ' tkeep me from usi ng any feature . Themanual was three-hole-punch pagesheld toge ther hy prong paper fasteners .As l turned the pages. the manual li ter­ally fell apart in my hands. I bought a50-cent three-ring binde r wi th fold­down tabs and a c lear front cover (itwoul d have been nice if Timcwa ve hadsupplied this). Pictures arc plent iful.showing which button or control toadjust.

CW- where the unit r eally excels

The 599ZX has a spot feature that youusc to match the tone of the desired sig­nal to the center of the bandpass fi lter.

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Tone reduction

Thi s feature comes in ve ry handywhen someo ne decides to tune up o ntop o f a voice sig nal. The Tone Reduc­tion should be relabeled Tone Eli min a­tion since the tones are gone , notreduced! To check it o ut. tunc in WWVon AM with the tone re duction off.You will hear the usual tone every sec­ond . Now turn on the tone red uc tion.The tones are gone! The same th in ghappens when you' re usi ng SSB and atuner-u pper comes o n. All you hear isa very short ping when the interferingcarrier comes on , and the n no morecarrier! Very neat ! Just elimi na ting theto ne is neat in itself. but there 's alwaysthe problem of the receiver's AGCwe aken ing th e desired signal if thecarrier is stro nger than the S5B signal.The 599ZX overcomes this p ro blemby us ing audio AGC to bring the audioback up to a cons tant level . It was re­ally neat to be able to hear an 59 signal(before the carrier appeared) below alOdB over 9 carrier! Imag ine th at theDX station yo u're talking to is runni ng59 at your QTH (not an uncommonle vel d uring this suns po t cycle mi ni­m um). A ll of a sudden a carrier comeson at 10 dB o ve r 9. The Scmerer isn 'tfo llowi ng th e SSB statio n's voice be­cause the carrier is s tro nger than theDX station' s voice! You push Tone andth e carrie r is gone. Yo u push AGC andth e DX stat ion 's audio comes rightback up to where it was before the car­rier appeared . N ice, very nice! I haveVariable Passband Tun ing on my rig .With th is control you can adj ust the IFpassband to reject an interfering sig­nal. Sometimes it hel ps wi th a n inter­fering carrier. so metimes it doesn' t.

The man ual d idn 't say what band widthcorresponds with what number, e xceptthat o ne is narrow and five is wide .Advanci ng thi s nu mber from six tonine results in a d ual notch that hastwo notches th at are 180 Hz apart. Themanual claims that the d ual fi lter isuseful fo r eli minating in terferencefro m data signals. I don 't know whatdata signals they 're referri ng to , butth ere were two de fini te deep n ull s as Jswept the center frequency near th edes ired signal. The disp lay indicates ifyou have th e sing le or dual notch fil terselec ted by showing an S or a D.

You then narrow the filter and a ll s ig ­nals outside the passband disappear.Disappear is the correct word, Theyare not reduced- instead , th ey actu­ally disappear! You must adjust thele vel of th e spot signal so that itdoesn't get covered up by other stron­ger signals or so that it doesn 't maskthe signal you are try ing to hear. Thi stakes a few button pushes b ut is notdifficult. Other brands of DSPs don 'toffer this spot feature . Without it youcould eas ily eli m inate th e signal youarc trying to isolate . It is a de finiteplus ! The bandwidth can be adjusteddown to to Hz. This is too narrow fornormal CW operation-ahout 150 to200 Hz. is as narrow as you can go andnot have the individ ual dots anddashes start merging . Don't confusethe ringing associated with typ ica l au·dio filte rs. This filter doesn't ring. Thebest descri ption I can give is that eachdot (and dash ) doesn't s tart instanta­neously. but instead turns on and o ffslowly. At high speed and narro wbandwidth, it is hard to tell when o nedot (or dash) stops and the nex t o nestarts. The to Hz. bandwidth is usefulfor low speed C W in app lications suchas moon bounce where sig nals are veryweak . If the speed is slow enough youwill be ab le to discern the ind ividualdots and dashes ,

Even though you have adj us ted thebandwidth as narro w as you ca n forth e speed , sometimes there is st ill o nestation too close to the desired signalto be el iminated. For th is s ituation the599ZX has one more tri ck up itssleeve-it 's called the tunable notch .This is a very deep notch that you canmo ve anywhere to remo ve a narrowband of frequencies. You simply tuncit until the interferi ng sig nal d isap­pears. Of course. the notch center fre­q uency is displ ayed o n th e front pan elalong with the bandw idth. For th isfeature the bandwidth is shown as anumber from one to five instead ofdisplaying the notch width in cycles .

Photo B , Rear ~'iew (Photos by Jim Cie.fielski ,J

The to ne red uction In the 599ZXalways works .

Noise red uction

The Noise Red uctio n feature is notthe panacea th at I had envisioned. If asignal is weak, it defin ite ly helps.Noise reduct ion is just that: The noiseis reduced . hut not gone. Most weaksignals are made more readabl e whenact ivating th is fea ture. Ho wever, thesignal m ust be just above the noise andnot in it. The audio is a litt le moreharsh (not distorted) whcn using NoiseReduction . Ho wever, i f the audio isdistorted, the noise re duct ion actuallymakes the a udio worse . My g uess isth at the so ftwa re doesn 't recogni zed istorted audio as speec h and re­moves parts of it, causing eve n mored is tortion (all the more reaso n (0

keep your transmit audio as clean asposs ible! ).

I tried the noi se red uction featureon 2-meter FM. Signals that werebare ly above the noi se we re mademore readable . They too we re made alitt le harsh-sound ing by thi s featu re .

I also tried the noise reduction onlightning static cras hes. It d id help someon SSB, but apparently there is verylitt le you can do to fight those largebursts o f energy.

AM line-noise reduction

This featu re is absolutely amazing !I occasionally do so me DXi ng o nthe AM broadcast ba nd and eventhough power lines in o ur neigh­borhood arc bur ied, I am some­times plagued by 60 Hz line no ise .This noise completely co vers weaksignals and is at best a m inor annoy­ance on all but the ve ry st ro ngestsignals.

To test th is feat ure. I tuned in a weaksignal on the AM broadcast bandthat had so much 60 HI. no ise on itthat spoken words co uld nOI be under­stood . Activati ng the AM Line NoiseReduction fea ture prod uced a perfec tlyclean signal. There was no sign o f 60Hz line noise . This feat ure is differentfrom the Rando m Noise reduct io n de ­scribed above . It ca n he set to either 50or 60 HI. (user selec table) and o nly re­moves noi se pulses at the selected fre­q uency. The manual notes that th is32 73 Amateur Radio toaey » May 1997

feature won' t work on SS B, and itdoesn 't, but there's no explanationwhy.

Data modes

There is not a single mode hut manydifferent o nes. They include RTTY,AMTOR, PACTOR, G-TOR, HFPacket, CLOVER, SSTV, WEFAX. I didnot try any of them so I can ' t tell howmuch the 599ZX improves operation-butif operation in the other modes is any indi­cation, the 599ZX will really help in these.

Test mode

This mode reconfigures the 599ZXinto several different pieces of testequipment. They include a sine-wavegenerator, a two-tone generator, a peakand true RMS volt meter, and PL(CTCSS) decoder/encoder.

"A ll you hear is a very shortping when the interfering

carrier comes on, and then nomore carrier! Very neat!"

The slnc-wave generator produced avery clean sine wave on my oscillo­scope. The level and frequency are bothadj ustable and are di splayed on theLCD.

The two-tone generator prod ucedthe two tones that can be used fortransmi tter adjustment. The level isadj ustable.

A peak and true RMS voltmeter arcavailable simultaneo usly. The range islimited to 2000 mV (2 volts ).

The PL decoder is an inte resting fea­ture. I connected th e 599ZX to a 2­meter rig and began kerch unki ng thearea repeate rs (and yes, I identifi edwith my call!). The unit will di splaythe PL frequency in Hz and the level inmilli volts. The 599ZX can be used todetermine the PL freq ue ncy of a pri ­vate repeater, pro vid ing thai you canhear stations on the input or if the re ­peater transmits its o wn PL. The599ZX can also generate PL to nes .Si nce most VHF and UHF rigs no wcome with PL (so me ca n even detectthe PL frequency of the transmitter),the o nly uses I can see for th is featu reare (1 ) your rig 's PL has fail ed; (2)you 're using an old rig without PL (ad­mittedly clunky a nd expensive-but it

would work); or (3) you need PI. toaccess a lO-meter repealer with yourHF rig .

These features are interesting but Idon 't know where or when I would usethem. However, they are there if youneed them.

Whi le I was shopping for a DSP Ifo und o ut th at o ne o f the other brandso ffered an audio spectrum analyzerfunction when coupled to a PC. Iwould have expected the 599ZX to in­cl ude this function since it is the mostexpensi ve un it available. I would defi­nitely trade th e AC vo ltmeter and to negenerator func t ions for an aud io spec­tru m analyzer. Most people have anaud io generator, osci lloscope (to setthe le vel) and freque ncy counter (10

set the frequency), but how many of ushave a spec trum anal yzer '? I have ac­cess to o ne at wo rk , bu t most hamsdon't have o ne, either there or athome . I hope so ftware upgrades willincl ude thi s option .

Lew-pass/high-pass filter

The filter high-pass and low-passcutoff frequencies arc indivi dually ad­j ustab le . They we re most effect ivewhen the low pass was set to 3000 Hzand the h igh Pass to 300 Hz. Themanual sa id that they co uld be used inp lace o f a SSB filter. I adj usted thesecontrols in an attempt to red uce someof the interference from nearby sta­tions when using SSB, but aud io DSPis no subst itute for a good SSB filter inthe recei ver ' s IF. My HF transce iverhas IF shift and th is does hcl p in manysituations .

DSP in the work environment

I work in an aerospace test laborato rywhere we do vibration testing, amongother th ings. Vibration testing consistsof putting the test item o n a shaker (verysimilar to a speaker but much larger).The shaker is driven by a large ampli fi er(approx imately 50,UOO watts) over a Ire­q uency range of 5 to 3000 HI.. Vibrationsensors are attac hed to the test item atlocat ions where parts may go into reso-­nance at certain freq uen cies. These sen­sors arc not frequency sensitive andreturn signals from the vibration fre­quency, rattles. fuel or air passingthrough the test item and any ot herso urce of no ise .

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During testing we sweep the fre­quency of vibration over the 5 to 3000Hz range. We plot the outputs of thesensors vs. frequency to see where ce r­tain areas or parts go into reson ance.Very often the rattles, fuel and airnoise completely cover the vibrationsignal. To filter out all this extraneousnoise we use DSP tracking filte rs.They have a moving narrow bandpasswindow that tracks or follows the exci­tation freq uency. Without them all wecan see is noise-no signal is visible.With them we are able to identify veryweak signals buried deep in the noise. 'At times the signal can be as much as20 dB below the noise !

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At $370, the Timcwave Technology599ZX is the most expensive of allDSPs available. but you' re gellingyour money's worth and a lot more .The 599ZX has the fastest processingtime. so there is no delay in o utputwhen yo u tune the dial. You listen innear real time (18 ms). The six memo­ries are a defini te plus-you canswitch modes at the push of a buttoninstead of havi ng to adj ust many knobshoping that yo u have them all set prop­erly. It is also very nice having all ofthe values and the mode displayed on abackl it window rather than tryi ng tofigure out the sett ings by looking atthe pointer on a knob. The 599ZX hasprovisions for connections to two ra­dios-a defin ite plus if you plan to usethe DSP with more than one. There isno need to switch connectors- you justpush a few buttons to switch radios.

I am very pleased with the DSP­599ZX. In several weeks it has enabledme to make DX contacts that wouldhave been impossible without it. Othercontacts that would have been difficultwithout it were made much more enjoy­able. Every feature that I was able to testworked as stated in the manual. Therewere no operating quirks or compro­mises. The design and operation ofthe unit was well thought out in everyarea. For further information. contactTimewave Technology. Inc., 2401 PilotKnob Rd.• 51. Paul MN 55120. Phone(6 12) 452-5939; FAX (6 12) 452-4571;E-mail dsp@timewave.com. Their Website is at hUpJlwww.limewave.com.Besure to tell them 73 sent you! fiI

The Atlantic CableHave you e"er thought you' ve had a bad day ?

L. VanProoyen K8KWD8330 Myers Lake NE

Rockford MI 49341

Cyrus W. Field had tots of hadJays. Thirty-five years o ld in the1850s. and already rctin..xl from

a successful paper manufacturing busi ­ness, Cyrus wa.. aimlessly drift ing throughli fe when he happened into conversationwith one F. N. Gisboumc. Gisboumchad earlier been invol ved in an unsuc­cessful cable laying project: insta ll ationo f a cable fro m Newfoundland 10 NewBrunswick. part of the circuit needed (0

link Cape Race (Newfoundland) (0 NewYork. Linking Newfoundland withNew York would speed up late-break­ing news III (and from) Europe by acouple of days. Cape Race bei ng thelast North A merican port of callfor ships headed (0 Europe across theAtlan tic.

Gishoumc was trying to resurrec t hisproject (the undersea part . unde r theStrait of Cape Breton ) wi th new money,and Field was a poss ibility, No one asyet knew ho w to bridge the Atlantic witha cable. As it happened . their conversa­tion about money drifted to the mo refrivolous. settling on a discrepancy o verthe true di stan ce between Newfoundlandand Ireland . Cyrus co nsidered the dis­crepancy tri vial, hut the conversationgot him thinking. "Why not a cable allthe way?" Armed wit h this idea. Cyrussoon lau nched into a twelve-year serieso f (misjndvcmures that was 10 ult i­mately end with laying the first Atl anticCommunica tions Cable .

Ear ly submarine ca ble development

By the time Cyrus began organi zinghis cable- laying plans, considerable de­vclopment of undersea cables had al­ready been done by the British, drivenby a desire to link England with the restof Europe . They had the best facilities ofthe time for product ion of a suitablecable. as we ll as ha rd-earned experie nceand capability instructed through se veral

34 73 Amateur Radio toaev » May 1997

failures in laying cable links bet weenIreland and England, and across theStraits o f Dover.

The fir st successful cable-layingacros s the English Channel was com­pleted hy 1850. hut the cable soonfa il ed. suffering fro m abrasions causedhy the Channel's grave l bottom. ByIH53. the British had o vercome mostsuch problems wi th the developme nt o fa lead-coated. resin-insulated cable, asshown by the success of several opera­tional links between England. Irelan d,ami the rest of Europe.

"With over a million bucksspent, they finally had the

strait successfully bridged byJlIly of1856, Only one

problem -the Morse systemwouldn't work!"

Further reinforcing Field ' s plans wasnew information about the topographyof the Atlantic Iloor. released by the USNavy. The naval survey revealed that theocean floor alo ng the proposed cablero ute was much more regular thanpre viously though t. making the task o fcab le- layi ng easie r than expected .

T he 1\"e" foundland and LondonTelegraph Cu.

On May 6, 1R5~, Cyrus Field nrga ­nized the Newfoundland and LondonTeleg rap h Co. , Inc., with the aid o f hisfriend. Peter Cooper, and othe r \....ell-offNew York investors. The co mpany ini ­tially raised $ 1.5 mill ion (and a pledgeof support from Newfo undland ) forstarting their first atte mpt at laying anAtlantic cublc. (At the time. they be­lieved thi s mo ney would finance the en­tire project... and that o nly one uucruptwou ld he rcq uircd.)

Cyru s le ft almost immedia tely for En­gland to initi ate manufucture of thecable. Thi s project went to mid · 1855whe n Cyrus, now armed with the wirehe needed. turned up to lay the firstsection of cable.

Remember the Strait of Ca pe Breton?

Span ning this 5 5~ llI i lc stretch wasprobably an excellent introduction tohow things were to go: The cable brokewithin two miles o f shore, splices alsosubsequently broke, an uncooperativeship's captain had his own ideas of theproper ro ute for the cable, and, finall y, as torm forced the crew to abandon theproject with 0\'Cf forty miles o f cabledo wn. Cyrus and compa ny were forced10 regroup fur anot her try in 185 6. Withover a million bucks spe nt. they finallyhad the strait success fully bridged byJuly of I R50 . The only problem? TheM orse system wouldn' t work !

Having started with lillie knowledgeo f co mmunication systems j ust three orso years earlier. Field was rapidly be­

coming an expert in the subject. He wasaware of earlier work in signa ling by theGermans and particularl y a system de­veloped by the British Professor Wil liamT hompson (probably bcuer rememberedby his later ritlc, Lord Kelvin ). Cyrusadopted Thompson's system for theStrait of Cupc Breton link and it worked.It wa.. complicated. based on a sensitivegalvanometer detector directing reflec tedlight in a Mo rse-like code to an operatorwho in tum translated the reflectio ns intotext, but it worked. Cyrus hoped it wouldabo work over a 2,3(X)..-mile cable.

The Capc Race to New York link wasnow essentially complete. That wasthe good new s. The had news was withon ly 2.300+ miles to £0 acro ss the At­lan tic, the New foundland an d Londo nTelegraph Company was ba nkrupt.

The Atlant ic Telegraph Com pa ny ofGreat Britain

Cyrus had spent a good deal o f hisown money and a 101o f his friends ' get­ting th is far. and his search for more"sports" in the US was being hamperedby his critics. Undau nted . Fie ld set ufffor England to gain additiona l fi nancialsupport. and by the c nd o f I R56, he hadsecured British backing of more than $2million (a lot of money for the times)and orga nized the At lan tic TelegraphCompany of Great Britain.

Back in business. Cyrus and his origi ­nal friends (The Newfoundland andLondon Telegraph bunch ) immediatelyset n ut to pick up where they had le ft off.By Aug ust. 1857. he pushed o ff fro mIreland. laying cable toward Newfound­land . After four days and 350 miles. thecable snapped in two and half a mill iondollars went down the drain.

I\t this point. it was obvious that heneeded a new cable-laying method. Thescheme these guys came up with.though. was unique . The y decided thebest way was to use two ships. start ingin mid-Atlantic. one headed for Irela nd.and the o ther. Ne....foundland. each pay­ing out cable en route. Cyrus got it allgo ing by mid- 1858 with the two shipsand all (he had to co nvince his backersthis would work) .

Arter several highl y embarrassing ex­pcncnccs. both ships returned to Irelandto regroup. This was an occasion prob­ably onl y Field the undauntable wou ldhave been able to handle . He had to rc­convi nce his backers. and indeed he d id.Underway again at the start o f August.1858. the two ships headed toward theirdestinations . Witho ut major event, eachship reached its destinatio n after s ixdays. The Atlantic cable was in, But was. .,01 .

A hero's welcome turns to rebuke

In the first week of operatio n the cableworked well. but by the end of the sec­ond week o f August. 1858. trouble be­ga n. In the meantime. celebrations werethe order o f the day for the "Atl anticCable Heroes: ' the t)'PC of activitiesCyrus Field was adept at promoting. Theculmination of th is hype was to be theexchange of messages between Prcsi­de nt Buchanan and Queen Victoria onAugust 16th, but by the 16th the line was

almost dead . In sp ite of this. the mes­sages got through (after two days oftry ing ).

While the line contin ued to work tosome degree well into Octobe r o f 1858.word was spreading about the problem.The ensuing outrage that followed frombo th sides o f the Atlantic resulted inFie ld ' s lying low for a few mon ths,

After the d ust had settled, Field andhis backers decided to blame the prob­lem on "faulty cable manufacture" whichled 10 the premature failure of the cable(the "dust" had included allegatio ns o ffraud and the like ). No o ne really knewwhat ac tually ha ppened . but one thi ngthey all knew was that they were broke.and new money was hard 10 gel. Weeksran into months and on into years withCyrus o ut beating the bushes, trying torarse more mo ney ,

Fie ld we nt o n withou t success for overli ve years, both in England and theUnited States. The Civil War was ragingthroughout America at the time, and it.on its own. generated some interest inthe need for a cable. But even the Britishat the time were reluctant to spend moremo ney on the deal. having been recentlyburned by another undersea cable fiasco(i n the Red Sea ).

The Anglu-Amertcan Company

In 1860. hal fway through the project.Cyrus W. Field had been fo rced infobankruptcy. lie had cons umed most ofhis personal fortune and that of hiscreditors 0 11 the venture. There carne atime. d uring the nadir of his financialwoes. that he became the object o f ridi ­cule and publ ic a voidance. No netheless.he had persevered. making countlesstr ips back and forth acro ss the Atlanticto promote his cable project until hefinally succeeded .

After seven years. Field was again onspeaking terms with his o ld budd ies atthe Atlantic Te legraph Company andmost o f the other investors associatedwi th his Atlantic cable projcct(s ). As theCivil War was drawing to a close. he andhis colleagues recruited the usc of a pas­senger ship. the Great Eastern. for usc incable-laying. for a year. By July o f 1865.they were ready for another go at layin g.an Atlantic cable.

In the usua l Cyrus W. Field style. theydeparted fro m Ireland after much fan­fare. One thing he never learned was to

avoid publicity, bUI with all the ex peri­e nce this bunch had. they had learned tocontinuously test the cable while enro UIC. They were also using the latest inundersea cable design wh ich. unfortu­narcly for Fie ld. st ill had several years o fmaturing to go . As cable de fec ts weredetected. they reeled the cable hack untileach bad sectio n was located ; they thenrepaired the defect. and continued on.

With all going we ll and about two­third s of the distance traveled , theyso me how lost the cable . Ten da ys later.they found it... o nly to lose it again. thistime for good-c-or so it seemed. Cyrusmust have personally known the coinerof t'Try, try again: ' because (Iff he wenttu London aga in. 10 reassure his backersthat he knew what he was doing- and hedid it; agai n. he organized a new com­pany (the Anglo-American Co mpany);he reloaded the Grea t Eastern; andheaded for New fo undland . althoughdelayed almost a full year.

"Day after day. night after night. hergreat pistons glided in their channe ls.and the cable po ured o ver the stern with­out a hitch. At last they had learn ed howit was do ne !" -c-Harlow. Old 1Vire,{ andN ell' \ \'cl l'e,L

On Ju ly 27 , 1866. the Great Easternentered Trini ty Bay, Newfound land. stillin comm unication with their termi nus atValentia Bay. Ireland . The cab le wasgood, The cable was in!

Upo n securing: the Jul y 27. 1866 ,cable. Cyrus turned the Great Eas ternback to sea to look for his lost 1865cahle. Armed with better grapplingequipment than he 'd had the previousyear. he found the 1865 cable on Sep­tcm ber 5. Ig66. spliced it. and brought itashore at Trinity Bay on September 8.This second cable worked perfect ly. andthe world now had tH 'O Atlantic cables,(Odd ly. thi s stunt did more to restoreField 's cred ibili ty than the dock ing o fthe Ju ly 27 cublc.)

A fter losing an estima ted $ 10 millio nover the preceding twelve years. Fielde ventuall y paid back all of his backersand investors. made money for everyoneassociated with the venture. and wasthen ublc 10 retire as a great world hero.By I R75 . using the technology Cyrus W.Field pioneered, virtua lly every popu­lated continent of the world was linkedvia cable. fa

73 Amaleur Radio toaev » May 1997 35

Number 36 0l'I yOOf FfNdb8c1l. c.rd

TVNCR Tuner ApplicationsPart Two ofthree -s- you lIlay want to keep Part One ,from last month :,. 73, handy.

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AC

2" vcrr---, lOOrnA

AMFM

RCVR

.uV appro

Dial calibratio n

After the converter is operating and theIF established at a spccitlc frequency, a"look-up" table may be construc ted to

Mechanical construction is not critical.allow ing a lot of freedom for the builderto choose the mounting of the tuner.pots. switch. etc.

Although the regu lators are operatingwell below their dissipation rating. Isuggest that they be mounted against aPC board or onto a small heat sink. Theobjective is to reduce the tendency for avoltage shift as a function of heal rise.

'. "

.!-

"7 - 63 MHz

...,COnTro l 711 12

+12V +16V approx.0

6.8 ~ + .01.01

IO~ A(iC 1.()(~1 f' ~ ~

~"70~1 1:J;.

LM _~ 17 •

r uninl:

A

VHF -Ili YI"I"I"I"I" I'C rUS M L M F

.0 1

Antrnn;u. --f~--:;::;--lL:HF -

Fig. J. TV/VCR tuner as a wideband frequency convener.

Construction

Fig. I shows the typical wmng andvoltage requirements to support a TVIVCR tuner used as a frequency converter.

If the tuner has an AFf terminal, youcan utilize the feature for line tuning. Ifunused. the terminal must he grounded.To be used for fine tuning. the terminalmay be connected to the wiper of a 5kpot . Voltage for the pot should be a lowvalue not exceeding 2-3 volts. One e ndof the pot can be connected to a posi tivevoltage and the other to ground or to- I volt.

Voltages developed for usc withtuners must he regu lated antiheavily fi ltered to reduce noise

anti voltage variations. Noise and volt­age variations can cause tuner frequencyinstability, since tuners are voltage-oper­ated devices. Regulators such a.s the 78 12and LM317 work well in tuner powersupplies.

The mixer and band control ci rcuitsoperate on +12 volts. A pot attached tothe +12 volt bus is used to provide anadjustable voltage of approximately +7volts which is connected to the AGC ter­minal. The actual AGC voltage value isunique to the tuner and must be deter­mined experi mentally while listening toa signal. In operation. the AGC voltagemay be varied with a pot and used as anRF gain control.

Tuner tuning is accomplished by pro­viding a voltage which is variable fromo to 29 volts. The 29-volt supply may re­main fixed . but the voltage applied 10the luning pin of the tuner can be variedwi th a pot. The most satis factory tuningresolution is obtained by using a len­tum pot. The additi on of a vernier knobto drive the pot is helpful. Even withvernier adjustment. the tuning can seema little erratic. To smooth cut the tunin gaction. a H.l.F capac itor may be con­nected from the tuning pin to ground.Although a larger capacitor value maybe used. the voltage time constant couldthus be made too long. allowing fre­quency adjustment overshoot should thetuning knob be moved roo rapidly.36 73 Amateur Radio Today • May 1997

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BU

BS

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s

and/or 2nd decimal place is desirable.If a sig nal generator is not available

for determining frequency calibratio npoints . known spot frequencies may beidentified and logged . Signals such ascordless phone, FM Be , aircraft, public

'T hese tune", have one majordrawlxu:k in nwbik applications."

service. taxi cabs. ham bands. weather.TV audio channels and cellular phonecan provide the necessary frequency ref­erences for roug h calibratio n. In mostcases it is sufficient to identify the bandedges for each service.

Take advantage of tuner avai lability­build a wideband frequency converterand tune in to the action taking place inthe 45-900 MHz spec trum !

.. ........ ...... ....• ••••

1>-21'"112 \11

34567Dial Position

........ . .. ..... .. .. ............ .. -•.•~.'-. - - - - - ---,-oc= ..... .. -

2

+12-ISV

.... ........ ..-. ........ .­... . .. . ........ .... .. .... '.. '

•

.. ,. '

47(IjIF

"V

1

.'• ••

• •• •••

... .. ....'..'•• •.'

••

'--------,-;z-- -=-- - - - - ­•.'•••.'•.'••

••••••••••

o

90080070060050040030020010045

NJ::E

Fig. J . DC-DCswitching convener.Ail diodes are /N4/48. Operatingfrequency is approximately56KHz.. Transformer core: powdered iron, OD-O.4 to 05 in., /D-O.J25 to 0./50in. Windings: PR/­15T '26 enamel wound bifilar, SEC-3OT 130 enamel, TlC-/T' 30 enamel wound bifilar.

PN22222M4ll1

I"

Fig. 2. Dial-so-frequency translation .

translate dial position marki ngs 10 fre­quency. Specific frequency settingsare then interpolated between knownfrequency calibration points.

Another method is to construct a cali­bration curve as shown in Fig. 2. Al­though the tuning curves are not linear, astraight line may be drawn betweenknown frequency checkpoints. The read­ability resolution of the chart is setby the spacing between the X and Ycoordinates on each axi s.

Instead of using dial position mark­ings on one of the chart 's axes, you mayuse the luning voltage for greater accu­racy of frequency repeatability. TVIVCR tuners are quite rel iable in theirfrequency resetability as a functio n ofthe tun ing voltage. The use of a DVM tomeasure the tuning voltage to the 1st

ornately into saturation. The core. be­g powdered iron. doe s not saturates ily. Therefore. the switching fre­ency is desirably high (approx imatelykHz) in orde r to take advantage o f a

mall core size and to aid in the ripple

tcring process.Another method of obtai ning thegh vo ltag e is to utilize a vo ltageultiplier. But for a vo ltage mult iplierfunct ion . it must be d riven with ACa DC chopper c ircu it. Fig . 4 shows555 IC used as a c hopper driv ingcompleme ntary pair of trans is tors.

Working alone . the 555 cannot sourceno ugh power. hut the trans isto rs can.he trans istors arc drive n from cutoff

saturatio n by the sq uare wave out­ut of the 555. There is litt le o r noonduction o ve rlap in the tran sistors ,hich results in litt le or no heat gen­

rati on - there fore, a heal s ink is notcquircd.

With the AC voltage componentcncrarcd b y the chopper. the volt­ge m ult iplier will increase the out­ut vo ltage to approximately 29 voltswhich is marg inal for tunin g the h ighrequcncy end ). It is diffi cult to obt ai n

hi gher voltage fro m the circ ui tho wn, because o nly one volt age railf the multip lier is mo ving. not two as

would he the case with an AC source .ingl c rail switching lim its the func­

Ion to a ma xim um voltage mul tiple ofhrec , min us losses .

F ig. 5 shows an LM 3 17 regula torhat is req uired to regul ate thc output)f the +30 volt source. Adj ustment ofhe regulator is cr itic al in o rder to ob·a in the highest po ssible s table volt­

age . The correct setting is foundduri ng a but tery non-charging condi­ion when the source vo ltage is low.

Pot R I is adju sted to red uce the o utputvoltage just enoug h 10 obtai n o utputs tability. which will occur when thevoltage drop across the regul ator risesto about 4 vo lts. O utp ut vo ltage stabil­ny achieved by this method will be re­tained as the ba ttery voltage rises/varieswhile under normal charge.

Because of mobile operat ion. allparts must be supported mechan ica llyto pre vent vibration damage . Heat­s inking. though , is not req ui red si ncea ll part s are operati ng be low the irdi ssipation factor.

Next time : Spectrum analyzer. signalsource, multifunction signa l device. i3F Ig. 5. 29 HIlt regulator.

38 73 Amateur Radio Today· May 1997

alt+12V

In

eu:1/4A qu

56

*s;l3OlJ Ftil2W

r"-' ~.'i.'i •z.n ," 2:-u.w1 h;

7 m

bt Ht~FItJ -.L -.L +29Y to,

,13k 't ~ ., .. .. 10 rei:ul,W>ri 3.\(\I f0'.U Y r ''''''',

_~ .'iY a, 2W• 2N-m.\ a

L

i Ol F = 2ILfuHOJrrI •.. ,I,.- l)i,,<1..,., I N4 148 e

TFig . 4. 555 driving a voltage multiplier. to

volts dependingp

l\ Iobile power about 12.6 to 14.7 cupon engine speed. A standard 9 V to w

Because of their mechan ical stabil ity, 12 V regulator could be used to pro- cTVlVeR tuners work very well In vide stable voltage fo r tuner use ex- rmobile applications. However. there is cept during the periodic loss In

one major drawback that requires ancn- regulator headroom at perhaps a 12.6 glion. TVlVeR tuners arc volrage-opcr- V val ue when the battery terminal aatcd devices and arc not tolerant of voltage falls. A simple zencr diode pchanging vo ltage values . Therefore, mo- regulato r IS normall y sufficient and (bile operation presents a real cha llenge solves the pro blem nicely for the ffor the expe rimenter. With serrucon- tuner. aductors av ailable. the cha lle nge can be The real challenge for mob ile ope ra- sminimized. ti on is the +30 volt req uirement for the 0

The volt age requirement s of a tun er tuning volt age. There are several waysarc +1 2 volts and an ultra stable tun ing to ge ne rate a high volt ag e from a 12· Svoltage supply of appro xi matel y +30 volt supply. Two o f the ways, a DC· t

.

volts . T hc + 12 volts sho uld be regu- DC conver ter and a voltage multiplier. tlatcd because it is used to power the are presented here . Perhaps the easiest

mix er/e sc. han d contro l and AGC c ir- method o f obtaining the desired volt- tcuits . Altho ugh most tuners prefer + 12 age is to bu ild a DC-DC con verter de- cvo lts. they w'iII function witho ut no- signed around a powdered iron core as tticeable degradation dow n to about shown in Fi~. 3 . Most an y powde red t+10 volts. An automobile ' s elec trical iron cure. e xcept ferrite. will work

system is a suitable source and has a In thi s application. Switching IS ac·

voltage value which can va ry from complished b y drivin g eac h transistor t

•0t

L~1317 ~ +29V approx.+32V+

.01 :'= Adj :': .01 Ik i220~F35V

-

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t-• ,.

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NfUfR SRV OilConttnuedJrom page 7

A reader sent me a [ape of K3Z0 during acontest, What I heard defied all the acceptedideas of sponsmanship. Yes. Ihis gal me tothinking. What can be done about egre­giously rude behavior on OUf bands? Jam­ming, had language, and so on? Have youany ideas?

One basic problem is that when a nasty­tempered ham lets loose on the bands thereare few, if any, repercussions. It is comfon­ing 10 know that nasty-tempered people diemuch sooner than happy people. but theysure can spread a lot of misery while we'rewaiting for thei r nastiness to kill them.

Well. I tend to think in terms of solutions,so here's what I propose- How about 73 issu­ing a " Bad Apple" certifi cate to hams nomi­nated for this award? The floor is open fornominations. so the next time you are as­sailed by some dirty rotten SOB on the air.why not nom inate this turkey for this award?

Conllnued on page 49

Bad Apples

geuing my 60-year me mbership pi n nextyear.

Okay, now tell me where I'm wrong. Bet­ter yet, what do you propose be done and bywhom to gel our hobby growing like it is inJapan?

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73 Amateur Radio toaev » May 1997 39

Reviewing the Packet Scene:UK 1996

British Isles hams are ready to meet you!Roger J . Cooke Ga7lDI

The Old NurseryThe Drift, Swa rdestonNorwich, Norfolk, UK

NR14 8LQG3LDI@GB7LDI.'35.GBR.EU

ing inrerconti- area sti ll. and Nation is obvious. Theere has unfortu- on ly disadvantage of this program is thathie resistance a list of BBS with it ins talled . world-d ally over in wide, is necessary to make full use of it.

volved with HFI thought the H I-' forwarding and Satgate operation

I and a solutionblems cncoun- With the poor propagation that we arc

in trallic . Con- at present suffering. my US link is only

is is indeed the on 20 meters. I forward with Joe, KIRQG. located in Bucksport, Maine,

uld enable most every day. Thi s is the only Stateside link

my Of area they I have at present. bUI it is a good one. 1

usly. if the full have cried tests with West Coast stations.is won ' t he nee- but despite good signals, the QSB on thelctin. however, polar route defeats packet totally !ere is a prolif- If. for any reason. the HF route fails.

lletins. most of then trafflc for NA is sent up 10 Andrew

CLIVE DATA BASE COMMAND SUMMARY

AFTEA ~1 Lists flies ntaIed on/af1ef 30th Mall;:t t1 99 1

BYE QUIt working the CLIVE staten

DOWNLOAD Sends all seecec Illes to U5eI'

HELl' Sends Ihos eceen, as does ?

HELP AfTEA Sends help oo ee AFTER command

HELP HELP SendS fUll help file lor all commands

0," Sends inIormalion abOulltl8 ClIVE StatIOn

SCAN XXXX YYYY seercn eeecee files for words XXXX Of y y yy

SELECT 1, 2 Select files using file numbers

SELECT FT290 Selecl aI hle$ with !he ke) WOIO FT290

STATS Reports OIl COOlants 01!he dalabase

TOPIC 3 seec topic number 3

TOPIC MODS seec a topic by I<e,.WOf<l

TOPICS LISts whal lQpics CLIVE has available

UPLOAD Send msg to Oisk (Leavll a filllJmsg !Of SYSOP)

WHAT lists files in curreol topic

WHAT SELECTED Lists all files curmmly selected

WHAT NOT Lists all files nol CU'rllntly seected

that exist when forwardnental mail. However. thnatcly been consideraagainst this change, espcEurope. Having been inforwarding since 1985.sugges tions quite logicain some cases to thc protered in directing ccrtavincing everybody that thcase is a diffe rent matter

Using the BBS list shu10 target mail to the coudesire in the UK. ObvioHR address is known, thessary, Targeting a bulcan be a real problem. Theration of @WWW huwhich are not relevant.or are out of date, bythe time they reach theother side of the world.This problem can behelped with the usc ofthe REDIST server forthe FBB BBS. Thisserver, written by ChrisMcMahon G6FCI, canprovide four specificareas of coverage for abulletin. These areLueHBS. l-ocal. Regionand Nation. The serverhas to be configuredin the targeted BBSin order to work. butit is gai ning popularityworldwide now.

LucBBS is the tar­geted RBS only. Localis a few BBS surround­ing the targeted BBS.Region can he a larger

Obviously quite a few of you haveread my ank le in the February1993 edition of Radio Fun,

j udging by the response I' ve had by bothpacket and snail mail. II is gratifying 10know thai the UK packet scene is ofsuch interest to our friends in the US.M any thanks for the comments andrequests.

Some of the requests asked aboutpacket addressi ng in the UK andwhether a list of BBS was available. Up­dated lists arc sent around the UK net­work. every few months. and the amateurresponsible for producing these lists isBrian G8ASO. He puts in a lot of workin compiling the lists and they arc veryuseful. (Ed. 1I00e: A copy of tire currentlist ma)' be obtained by sending a# /0 SASE to UK Packet List . 73 Ama­leur Radio Today. 70 Route 202N.Peterborough NH 03458 USA .)

Just to explain the HR addressing: My full~s is G3LDI@GB7WI.#35,GBR.EU.Originally. we used an underscore and anumber in place of the #35 . Then weadopted a county coding. For example. Iam in Norfolk. so that would have beenNOR in place of the #35 . However, toavoid confusion. and Ihere was some,the # and a number representing eac hcounty was adopted. I see thai this sys­tem is being used in other parts of theworld. 100. The subject of internationalHR addressing is an ongo ing thorn yone and an international standard wouldreally be a great idea.

There have recently been lots of sysopmessages debating the suggested cha ngefrom the two-leiter continental field 10 afour-letter one. This change was origi­nally suggested by Tom Clark W3IWI,in order to avoid some of the anomalies40 73 Amateur Radio tcasv » May 1997

Ollle, !Io' l in.BO I 373 !l4~~

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However. there arc several 9k6 linksin place o n 23 cm now, and experi­ments arc being carried out by someon 64-kbit Jinks. In Norfolk, we are atpresent setting up a full-duplex link­ing to the main local repeater by allthe BBS. at 19.2 kbaud on 23 ern, toshift all forwarding off two metersand 70 cm, making life easier for theuser. Thi s is being achieved by the useof a very nice modem, capable of 38.4kbaud, designed and built by MatthewPhillips G6WPJ and John FergusonG8STW.

Licensing of BBS operation in theUK is also different. M y GB7LDIpacket BBS license is a variation onmy full pe rsonal call G3LDI. Wehave to obtain a Notice Of Variation(NOV ) to operate a BBS. Contro l o fthe issuing of these is maintained bythe Digital Co mmunications Com­mittee (neC) which was set up toavoid a proliferation o f BBS opera­tion, and also to maintain a negotia t­ing body with the Radio Authority(RA). who co ntrol amateur licens­ing in the UK. Node licensing iscontrolled in the same way, and site L,-,clearance has to be obtained if unattendedoperation is required. These regulationsarc at present undergoing a complete re­view and the NOV is being rewritten. Thi swill streamline the issue of NOVs andavoid the long wait that some have had inthe past. In the UK, our two-meter and 70em bands arc half those in the US, so atighter control has to be maintained andband-planning is essential. Tberc is athreat to parts of the 70 em band now fromthe manufacturers of car alarms and secu­rity devices. which arc being placed delib­erately within the amateur band. alongwith commercial data links and radar. Thesharing of the band is becoming a problemin which the amateur. having no vestedfinancial interest, has little leverage.

By using the BBS listing you will nowhave a complete and acc urate way to routemail to any part of the UK. Even if there ismore than one BBS in a particular county.there should be no problem, Send it to anyone of them and the correct home-Blifcan soon be found. As long as you direct itto the correct county in the first place. thiswill save the sysop a load of hassle. How­ever, if you have mail for Cornwall andyou send it to a BBS in the north of En­gland. the sysop then has to do quite a bitof research to reroute it.

A lot o f the UK linking is still at 1200bauds. us ing two meters and 70 em.

UK linking

GB7LAN in Lancaster for forwardingvia his Satgate. This prevents undue de­lays occurri ng in NA traffic. I also ru n aSatgare. thc second in the UK. and mailis split between us . This is how the mai lis split:

GB7LAN serves the following areas only:North America-NA NOAMCentral American countries-CEAMCaribbean area-CARBSouth America--SA SOAM

and parts o f Europe via REQSATserver onJy - Iceland, Norway. Fin­land . Sweden. Denmark , Germany,Netherlands. Belgium. Luxembourg,Austria. Czech Rep.. Sl ovak Rep.•Pol and. Spain. Portugal. Gibraltar

GB7LOI serves the fo llowing areasonly:

New Zealand. Australia. PacificOcean---QC

Africa-AF AFRI by Satgate orHF if there is no Satgate route to thedestination country

Asia-AS, ASIA by Satgate or HFif there is no Satgate route to thedestination country

Middle East-M OLE by Satgate orHF if there is no Satgate route to thedestination country

With the backup of my HF port. maildelays shou ld be minimal. despite prob­lems of propagation. and the mechanicaland electronic failures that we all sufferfrom time to time .

There is another route to the US, alsovery fast, and that is the Lonny link. Thisis a New YorklLondon wormhole. TheNew York end of the link is situated 66floors up in Rockefeller P laza in NewYork City. This link is provided by theNBC TV Employees Amateur RadioClub. The mai n sysop was FrankWA2NDV, who even na med his dogLon ny! However. Frank has had to ceasehis sysop work and has now handed thetorch to Tom NY2S. The Lonny node inCentral London gives BBSs such asGB7HSN direct access into the US net­work. This enables users to have real­time connects wi th US nodes and evenjoin in on-line co nferences across theAtlantic . Access to the Lonny link is at9k6 bauds . The sysop at the UK end o fthe link is Derek GIHSN.

73 Amateur Radio Today ' May 1997 41

CUVE- a versatile database with aname!

C LI VE is the name give n to a verypop ula r database run by Co linG6W HL@G B7 KLY.# 19 .G BR.E U

C urrently the mailbox holds O\'c r1300 Illes and is expandi ng weekly. Youcan obtain files from C LI VE with ease .f irst you want to know what filesC LIVE holds which will be o f interest toyou. so you have to send a C LIVE RE­QUEST message to the database.

You have to tell C LI VE what TOP ICyo u arc interested ill . SELECT whatpart o f that topic you want. You thenask C LI VE to send details on WHATyuu have SELECTED. Then say BYE(control Z ).

Exumplc: If yo u want to kno w all thereci pes contain ing ei ther Chicke n orFish then do the follo wing:

Connect to your local mailbox andtype

SP CLiVErgGB7KLYWhen "S ubject:' comes up. typeREQUESTWhen " Send your message, end with

cmrl Z or lEX' comes up. type the fol ­lowing (on separate lines as sho wnbelow )

TOPIC FOODSELECT CHICKEN FISH POULTRYWHAT SELECTEDBYE

' zIt's tha t easy- C LI VE will send yo u a

list of all n..-cipcs containing ei therC hicken or Fish .

The reason yo u SEL ECT C HICKENFISH POULTRY is to cover any waythat yo ur subjec t may he stored. (Cl ive isclever and will sort things o ut to covermo st combina tions o f your selection}

The only lines you need to alter forany subject arc :

TOPIC (the subj ect of your choice).SELECT (the item o f interest within

the subject).If you had chosen the TOPIC PAC KET

and SELECT BSX2 BSXClive would have sent yo u a list (ami

a few poi nters to what you se lected )similar to the one at the top of the page.

Now you can select .... hich ti le youwould like to sec. so you ha ve to send amessage to C LIV E REQ UESTing a tile.You have to tell CLI VE the TOPIC (sub­j ec t) from which you want a file dow n­loaded , You the n must SEL ECT the tile

42 73 Amat9ur Radio Today . May 1997

No. Date Bytes Description of contents

38 18/08/90 7808 TNC2IBSX2 COMMANDS: A list of commands

39 31/08/90 4505 TNC2IBSX2 COMMANDS: A list of commands

40 31/08/90 4702 TNC2IBSX2 COMMANDS: A list of commands

45 17/09/90 3448 Modify ing the BSX2 for STATE MACHINE DCD

48 01/10/90 1508 BSX2 DC D m o d . T he ci rc uit d iagra m for file 45

92 03103191 3282 Lin king DL and BS X T NCs for use a s nodes

96 18/03/91 1030 BS X2 T NC m o d for o pen O R c lo s ed squelch

CLIVE> BYE

Tha nk you fo r u s in g the database.

I ho pe you find the reply useful.

73, Colin, G6WHL@GB7KLY.#19.GBR.EU

(or tiles) and ask C LIVE to DOW~- llF and VHF. using J VFAX. or some-LOAD the file (or files). Then say BYE thing simi lar. Pict ures can he made into'Z. BM P. G IF. or similar files ami passed

OK. the TOPIC is PAC KET anti the around on the ai r. Q uite a few arc to hetile I wam is the d iagram for the DCD fo und on the satellites .mod ; if you loo k at the list above. tha t is TC Pt lP is gaining in populari ty. albeittile ~8. So to download the file of your rather slowly. There seems to he a ten-choice do the followi ng : dcncy to shy away from this protocol ,

Connect to your local mailbox and mostly because o f a lack of information .type To help with this situat ion, Ian Wade

SP CLlVE@GB7KLY.# 19.GBR.EU G3NRW has written a very good book.When "Subj ect:" comes up, type called ~OSImm. which explains TCPt lPREQUESTwhen "Send yo ur

..,. ..- Content 01 Toples

message. end with c ntrl Of BBSs Bulletin boards & mailtJ-oxes on amateur radio

Z or l EX" comes up. 02 PACKET Packelrelaled files excluding BaSs

type the followi ng on 03 MOOS Mods 10cas. amaleur . and PMR equipme<lI

separate lines as shown .. HUMOUR Articles !rom I<e~ ARS newsletter

below: 05 SOFTWARE Amatellf related programs (sent as ASCII Files)

TOPIC PACKET 06 GENERAL General inte rast---mainly lor VHF users

SELECT 4R er VIRUSES Descriphon & cure 01some COfmlOO corTlJUIer viruses

DOWNLOAD 06 PRINTED WrtD,j . short storie$. non-ham lochnical articles

BYE 06 COMPllTERS ~Ionnaton and art icles (other Vlan programs)

'Z ro REOFIL l 000s ollil&& !rom lit( BeSs via reqIil proIoooI

T hat's it. C live will t t SPACE Ariana . uaueo. Giolto, M~. Wlyager, ATlantis, etc.

send you the tile yo u ta ACORN Acorn corTl"J ters , BBC. Master. Alchirne<les. etc.

have chosen. Yo u can ta ewes Clubs. ecceees. llSeflspedalWereSi gr~. etc.

send for a sel ection of" YAXPAK News.~, and reviews ollhe Yor1<shll'9 ne\WI:lfll

files wi th SELECT -1.8" SYSOPS SYSOP conterence proposals. decisions. & mnutes

92 96' there arc cur-• " ATV Amateur televisionrcntly 23 topics on the

" LIFE VM?WS ollile . !he universe, and otter ttlingsdatabase. re MOBILE U~·installir>g transceNng~ in 'itlfl;des

Snippets " USTS Lisls lor use wiIh SCAN (X)O ••• IdIld. no do<omIoaCI

pass"'"

Other data modes are so MISCSOFT MiscellaflllOUS sollware-nontechnical

gaining in popularity in at FOOD A coilectiOn 01recipes

the UK. SSTV and FAX za ICOM ModificatiOnS exclusP./(jly /of ICOM equipment

arc used a 101. both o n ea YAESU ModifiCations exd; IS' fEIly /of Yaesu equipment

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and also shows the user how to set up asystem. It comes complete with a disk andis a good value for the money in the UK. Idon't know if it is available in the US, but itwould make a very nice present forany ham.

One of my HF forwardces. who visitedme in the late 1980s prior to setting up hisown BRS in Moscow, is Leo LabutinUA3CR. I forward every day with Leo,and have a very reliable path to him.

In Norfolk. UK, we have a yearl y eventon the last Sunday in June. the annualBBQ. It started off purely as a local packetBBQ but has grown over the last 8 yearsso that now we have over 100 people at­tending. It sometimes has an internationalflavour. too. John Bayes VK2SB. fromSydney, and Fred Wyatt VE7PL. fromVictoria, have visited, along with theirwives. If you are in the area of Swardcston,near Norwich, on the last Sunday in June, youwill be most welcome.

Some experimental high-speed packetwork is also going o n.

Rob G1ZPU is currently working on aID-Mhit (yes, megabit) 100GHz link be­tween GB7KHW and his system. Al­though the distance involved is only acouple of miles, it should be possible toprove the technology, leading to the possi­bility of linking hilltop sites ar: this un­beard-of speed using simplc and cbeapequipment.

For example. the LX kit will work o utat around £40. based on an ATV rx withmods for data. The rx will bc nothingmore than a cheap Amstrad or sim ilarsatelli te ex which can be had for aroundten pounds at the rallies. An LNBmodded for 10 GHz ex will be about £30(new) or £25 (secondhand). The rx willonly need to have a baseband o utput forthe raw video s ignal. For "video" read"data" ! The communicatio n medium isactually 4 -wire ethemet. Speed can beanything from I Mbitlscc to 10 Mbitlsec. (tOO M bit would require moddingthe rx circuit even more. and also someserious tx mods. plus it's also prettyband-hungry, as the IO-Mbit link willwant 20 M Hz for a full duple x. link­therefore. a IOO-Mbit link will want 200MHz!) Others have bui lt 64-kbit lin ks at

10 GHz for short poi nt-to-point linking.lllat just about brings you up to date

with what is going on in the UK... 73 and

happy packeting! faClRa.E.1 ON READER S£RYICE CARD

Is Your Mixer Circuit MixingLike It Should?

It S not bad... it 's j ust misunderstood.

John Pivnichny N20 CH3824 Pemorocke Lane

Vestal NY 13850

The two input signalso f a mixer can he pre- IKnvented from appearingat the output by means ~of a clever connection .,--,_-,__-r- --lwhich "balances out" tbeir Fig . 1. Resistive signal combiner and amplifier.

Amp lifierIOKil

IOKU

effect on the outputs . A typical circ uitfor doing this is sho wn in Fig. 3. T hecirc ui t uses a we ll-kno wn M e 1496double balanced mixer part . The in­p uts , labeled carr ier and signa l. can beapplied as d ifferent ial (push/pull ) orsingle -ended (unbalanced) sig nals. Fo rexample. a push/pull c arrier sig na l canbe applied to pi ns g and 10 with .0 I·IlF coupl ing c apac itors. An unbal­anced carrie r s ig na l "vo uld be appliedto pin 8 with a .0 I- JlF co up ling capac i­tor and pin 10 bypassed to ground a lsowit h a .OI-IlF capaci tor. The output istaken from p ins 6 and 12 as shown.For ope rat ion fro m a 12-vo ll supply.the mixer is biased for 7.23 volts onthe carr ie r input s. 3.97 volts o n themod ulating s ignal inputs and 1.2 rnAo f c urrent into p in 5.

The bias arrangement of Fig. ~ isused . T he ou tpu ts can be fed di rectlyfrom 12 volts through an appropriatepush/pull transformer as shown in Fig.3. Outputs can also he fed with 3 .9·k!2resistors connected to +1 2 volts . Theoutput s ignal is then taken from pin 6o r 12 by coupling with a DC blocking

Signal a .... ~AA~­

Signal b o-'VVv---+--

The double balancedmixer

Any circui t which partially or co m­plctely multiplies two sine wave signalswill gene rate sum and difference signalso f hal f the amplitude of the product ofthe amplitudes of the input signals.

All mixer circuits use this fac t in one wayor another. Pract ical mixers may do morethan just multiply the input signals. Theymay provide some gain. output filtering,and "balancing."

A mixer circuit's purpose is to com­bine two signals so they will intention­ally interact with each other. The twosignals arc mu ltiplied in a m ixer. whi lethey are merely added in the amplifiercircu it o f Ftg , 1. In a m ixer. o ne signalis said to " mod ulate" the o ther. WhenIWO sine wave signals arc m ultip liedtogether. additional freq uencie s arcprod uced . cons is ting primarily o f thesum and difference freq ue nc ies. SecFig . 2.

"AllY other liaise is probablycaused by overdriving;

flattopping , or nonlinearitiesill tile amplifier."

Amplifiers ' ·S. mixers

Ampli fier circuits routine ly handlemultiple s igna ls by amplifying themequally without causing interaction be­tween them. For example, '''''0 signalscan be combi ned (added together ) with aresistive combiner and then ampl ified asshow n in } 'ig. I.

Both signal a and signal h will ap pearat the OUlpUI of the amplifier. If they arcsine waves of d iffe rent frequencies. thenthe two can he separated after urnpbfica­tion with freq uency-selective fil ters. Ifthe amplifie r is operating properly. thetwo signals do nut interact wit h eachother. Each is amp lified as if the otherdid not exist and nu other s ignals aregenerated. In fact. if any other signal ornoi se occurs. it is freq uently caused byimproper operation of the amplifier.such as o vcrdriving or fl anopping. or bynonlineuritics in the ampli fier. The spu­rious s ignals ge nerated h)' imprope r op­eration arc called "distortion" becausethe y distort the wavcshnpc of the twosignals .

44 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

NcarlY every receiver. transmit­ter. transceiver. or rransvencrcontains at least one mixer. yet

this is one of the least understood clr­cuits-c-and you wil l need to know abouttheir operation if yo u want 10 build hamequipment. If you ask an old-timer howthe mixer works. you' ll probably gelsomething about sum and di fference fre­quencies. B UI what about the signal lev­els? What should they he'! How can youmeasure them?

__ _ _ _ --, r - - - -O Mixer,-h UJ..J ou tput

How can you tell ifthis mixer is operating correctly? Supposethis circuit is used (0 mix a 5-MHz carrierwith a 9-MHz modulating signal to pro­duce a 4-MHz output in the 8O-mcterband.

You can check for a signal at the out­put with a sensitive wideband RF volt­mete r. Some examples of RF vo ltmetersyo u can build are given in the refer­ences. The one shown in the photograph.known as a dBm meter. is available inkit form [reference I ].

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remove either the sumor difference frequencyand allow the otherone to pass through tosubsequent ci rcuits.

F,g. 2. Mu~r diagram ,

capacitor. For the frequencies in the HFrange (3·30 MHz) a .Ot.j.1F capacitor issatisfactory.

Balancing of both the carrier input andthe modulating signal input occurs be­cause the collectors of transistors c and dare cross-connected to those of transis­tors a and b. If the circuit is workingproperly, only the mixing products willappear at the output terminal. Usuallysome type of filter circuit follows, to

Frcq.X .. Frcq. X + YMixer

Frcq. Y ... Freq. X - Y

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Fig. 3. MC/496 double balanced mixer circuit. CIRCLE 64 ON READER SERVICE CARD

73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 45

1'110(0 A. Usc of tnnahlc f il ler ahead of HF voltmeter.

sig na l and a drop by -mdB or more asthe 10k resistor is removed .

If all is well so far, you have verifiedthat the mixer is tru ly a double balancedone .

No w what about the sum and di ffer­ence frequencies'? Apply both the carrierand the modulating signals. You shouldsee an output again with a level two tothree times the level o f the weaker of thetwo inputs. provided the stronger one isgreater than 100 mY rms. But is this thesum or the difference'?

Wel l, at this poi nt it's beth . Onc wayto check is to usc a tu nable fi ller aheadof your RF vult meter Wig. 5). By tun­ing the filter fi rst to the d ifference frc­quc ncy (-t M H z) yo u can check it sprese nce on the voltmeter. Then bytu ning the filter up to the sum Ire­qucncy (14 M Hz) yo u can check forthat , too. As the niter is tuned from -tto 14 MHz. the le vel on the voltmeter

" You CO il check/or a signal atthe output with a sensitivewideband RF voltmeter."

should be at least -to d B lower. Thi s in­c1 udcs the fundamen tal s at 5 and 9~IH 1. , as well as harmonics (for e x­ample , at 10 and 151\111 1.). Higher or­der mixing prod ucts suc h as (3 x 5) ­( I x 9) = 6 MHz shou ld also be of lo wamplit ude.

Every mixer c ircui t should includeo r he followed by a n iter circ uit to se­lect e ither the sum or di fference outputand reject the other. Typical amate ur­quality filters will also provide at least40 dB rej ection of the unw anted mixerout put freque ncy. Yo u ca n also checkthis wi th your voltmeter and tu nablefil ter.

pin 10Carrier inputs

pin 5 Bias

a level two to three times the input level.Now remove the 10k resistor and theoutput should drop by -10 dB or more.For example. a ]OOmVnns ou tput withthe ci rcuit unbalanced should drop toless than 1 mV when the 10k resistor isremoved.

Now try re mo ving the carrier inputand applyin g the modulating signal.Temporarily unbalance the circuitby connecting pin 10 to ground wi tha 10k resisto r. Check for an output

10K

470

470L - -"\.IV'V- - - - - -o pin 8

+ 12V

l.2K

.0 1

~ I--

The first step is to apply one input sig­nal (the carrier). and remove the other(the modulat ing signal input). Thereshould he no signal at the output.

Just how weak the signal is att he out­put depends Oil how we ll the mixer cir­cuit is balanced. A typical MC14% part

sbould have a carrier or modulatingsignal suppression of -10 dB or more.Temporarily unbalance the mixer byconnecting a IO-kQ resistor from pin Ito ground. T he OUlpUI should j ump up to

~

•

8uild in g a simple tunable filler

FiX. 4. Bitl.l' circuit for 12-w lt operation.

46 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

H20

.01

~ I--

l.OK

470pin 4

470L_--"'.AA~------o pin I

Modulating signalinputs

A basic tunable fi lter can be con­structed using a single tuned circuit. Itcan consist o f a high-Q toroid coi l andan air-dielectric variable capacitor (Fi~.

6 ). After winding the toroid core withthe main tank coil. two link co ils of twoto fi ve turns eac h are added to serve asinput and o utpu t ports.

Almost any frequency range ca n becovered by selecting an appropriate coreand number of windi ng turns. As a

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2. "A Sensitive RF Voltmeter," JohnPivnichny N2DC H. Ham Radio , July1989.

Other circuits

In addition to the MC 1496, otherdouble balanced mixers are the TIA42CN,formerl y know n as SN765 14, and theNE602 . Sing le balanced and unbal­anced mixers are also widel y used­the only d iffere nce is whether or northe carrie r or modulati ng signal is re­jected at all by the mixer ci rcu it itself.In a si ng le balanced mixer such as theCA3028. one will be rejected.

With an unba lanced mixer such asthe dual- gate 40673, neither input isrejected .

Both will appear at full strength at theoutput along with the sum and differencesignals.

It ' s up to the filler fo llowing themixer to rej ect all hu t the desired sumor differe nce frequency. As a mini ­mum. at leas t 40 dB of rejection shouldbe used.

Signal levels at the inputs and outputshould be checked to ensure that onlythe desired mixing produ ct is passed onto the following stages in a ham trans­mitter or receiver.

A sensitive wideband RF voltmeterand outboard tunable filter are essentialto perform the checks, hut can be easilyconstructed at low cost. With these onhand a ham can verify or troubleshoothis mixer circuits with con fidence.

l. "dBm Meter," John PivnichnyN2DCH, Electronics Now, Nov. 1995. Acomplete kit including case is avai lablefrom Unicorn Electronics , Valley PlazaDrive , Johnson City NY 13790, (607)798-0260.

3. "An RF Voltmeter," Ian BraithwaiteG4COL. Ham Radio. Nov. 1987. Ell

References

/'--() "",

You can mark frequency calibrati onson the tunable filte r dial by using acalibrated signal generator. Feed aknown frequency into the filter andconnect its output [ 0 the RF voltmeter.Tunc the fi lter for maximum outputand mark the freque ncy on the dial.Continue with other known frequencysignals unt il the entire range has beencalibrated. A dipper with a two-turncoupling link wound over its coil andconnected to the in put BNe jack cansubstitute fo r the sig nal ge nerator ifnecessary.

convenience. an optional DPDT slideswitch can be added to bypass the fi lter.Mount the who le thing in a small (3" x2" x 1.5") aluminum box. using BNeconnectors for input and output.

Circuit

Fig. 6. Basic tunable fi tter circuit . For 7·20Mill. , use 38 1urns 1126 wire on T68-1O core .Links , 5 turns #26 . For 22-60 MHz, use 10turns 120 wire on T68-JOcort' . links , 2 111rns

'22 .

E

Build a Half-Square DX AntennaIt 's about as simple as they come. And it sure works!

William Van Tilburg KG8AN5198 West Valley CirclePortage M149002·1 932

The hal f-square antenna is a gainantenna. yet it is one of the easi­est, quickest types of antennas to

build. This half-square configu ration is aDX ante nna that on 10m starts picki ngup signals from aOOul 500 hundred milesout and gets stronger as the signals comefrom farther away.

The physical size is a full wa ve­length long. divided into three sec­tions. You have a half-wave section ontop, with a quarter wavelength d roppedstraigh t down on each end. To fi gurethe length of an antenna you work asimple math problem. The form ula is1.005 di vided by the fre quency inMHz. This results in an answer for afull wavelength in fee t.

Let's try a sample

First, let's go for the 10m phone sec­lion . The middle of the band I wantwill be 28.4 M H /,. where the Novices!Techs can operate . That ' s 1.005 + 28 .4

r> ,n.. .... • •

<.... ,

Ii....~

,,,.... , ...u

6 : :: :

coax

Fig. 2. Feeding the cable and wire through the pre-drilfed holes will lock it ill place withnothing but the force offriction .

= 35.387 feet o f wire to start o ur an- wire back to find the ce nter and markte nna . That ' s 35' 4 .5". Yo u wi ll need it with a piece of e lectrica l tape . Ne xt,an ex tra three inches to allow fo r a you need 10 measure 8 .846 fee t o utsmall tic loop at the bottom end of the from o ur tape marker toward the ends.quarter-wave down legs. Eac h active The do wn legs will a lso measure 8.846quarter-w avele ngth is going to ~e fe et. plus the o ne and a half inc hes for8.846 fee t long (8 ' 10") "0 do uble the the t ic loop.

Fig. 1. The whole hal f -square antenna complete with insulators made f rom broken {OWII

chairs,

Nylon cord

1/4 wave length

1/2 wave len th

5U ohm cone [0 shack

Nylon cord

1/4 wave length

I have fou nd that a broken whi teplast ic lawn chair can he cut up tomake very good an tenna insulato rs.C ut recta ng les 1.5 inche" by 2.5 inchesand d rill holes as shown in Figs. 1 and2. I usc a covered wi re abou t # 16gauge. which he lps keep down snowstatic . String the half-wave sectionin o ne ho le , over and through the sec­ond hol e , and dow n through the thirdhol e to wards the ground . O n the otherend , cut the wi re at the corner ofthe top and do wn leg. Feed the wireac ross two ho les to lock it in place.The o ther quarter-wa ve wire is fed upfro m the vertica l through the holes inthe plastic to lock it in place as seen inthe diagram.

Nex t. we need to feed the RG·5848 73 Ama teur Radio Today · MaV 1997

CIRCLE 161 ON REAOER SERVICE CARD

11M New October t IM ed ition.. ..- avllllllbloll 0-- totO,ooo .__"pd lll8d Ine.matlonaI uatJnte.. :..... 0,.no.~ C()..R()l,l~ you tD _ •.

took up _ 1.362.000 ' ' ; .!rom ¥.III oYIIr the wond , no. sarna CD works inOOS. Windows 3,)(, WindOWlI95. lind Madntosh.

On • PC IU'VIing WinllcrWa or DOS. you can took up"""" by cal, ....... 1Iddra8. c:ily. stew. ZIP. callIign-.db, and eo..fty. PC, can Moo ...... "':J'IIojlhI..EDIT .......<la• .-.d ....... ' 1& BEAM HEADl andDISTANCE. Maot can .eII;;,; by e.t. Iesl ....... andZIP. and now view photos..Suppo<ted by IT\lIny Bas -rctems and loggingPlOQll' ..•• .·~~lor rnoct~based onciI:y 0( _lor gtMW 8CClnty.

oCIiIaAtei beam haeo;Ing and cbl-.ce from yourhome QTH -1It:lII)'.'Prinhi .lIIn(jard 1-up labolc lor QSt C81'ds.Alto on H......caHlire oYIIr 130.000 orosI rel;renc:ll'

!rom QiI:I to.- e-IIi. OYer 3.000 photograph;. O'>'ert 8.OOO;-malI add_.and mudI. muc:lIrI"Iln. W,wiI po.ob/Ith your PHOTO 0( 0Sl. c-.f lor juM ter'IlIiI-.ng _ ; ;ignad "",", . ' ion trip '" .. 10 ...~ n our producta. P'fIo2 ren'IWliI $50,00 pl4 $$.00. hipping U.S . and $8 .00 lnlematior\ellh;ppiog.

·~;ficatioDs sub;ect 10~ ",;1houI 1lOIicc,

I:!!!:l . .. . 83

CIRCLE 54 ON READER SERVICE CARD

73 AmateurRadio Today · May 1997 49

T/Ie~A' POCK£f isll?' ..., fnlmlllOSt~ Am.lteur A'¥ho I1oYIef$, Of~

~••- NCG COMPANY

._ ""' Gro.W,,,AAiheiIll. CA 92805

(BOO) 962·2611(714) 630--454 1Fax (714) 63/}-7024

Without

power, lOur

NT is useless!

Don 't be

caught with­

out aPOWER

PoCKET when

you need it

m"t

POWER=' OCI ET

NEUER SRV O/ECcntrnued jrom page 39

The Code Again

Describe his offense briefly, and if you havea tape recording so I can join you in yourcondemnation. that won't hurt.

Perhaps the potentia l for public exposureand humiliation will help make our hobbymore fun for us .

BUI. while we' ve an interest in cleaningup our bands by exposing the bad apples, wealso should have a medi um for rewarding theham s who are helping 10 make the hobbybetter. So I' ll gel busy on both Good Appleand Bad Apple Nom ination Certifica tes. Ifyou know any ham s who have contributedposulvely to the hobby, please don't wait un­til they're silent keys to nom inate them forthe Good Apple Certificate.

If you are an artis t or cartoonist (or knowone). how about a cou ple of Illustrations forthe certificates? I need a really disgustinglybad apple drawing. and a good apple.

No w let's see what we can do to rewardthe good guys and humiliate the bad guys.And if you run into K3Z0 on the air, pleasetell him "Turnips from Wayne."

A note from reader Boucton in Francementioned thai France has decided to end allCW maritime transmissions as being obso­lete. It is expected that the other Europeancoumnes will follo w suit. Thai pretty muchleaves the use of Morse to a smal l group ofaging amateurs. How quaint.

In a si milar vein there was a mention inThe Old Timer s Bulletin that rad io pioneerLee DeForest had always had an inte rest inamateur radio , but could never build up hiscode speed enough to get a license.

Continued on page 55

through two holes to lock it in place;secure the center connector to the tophorizontal section and then connect thebraid or shield to the down leg as seen inFig. 2. Next, stri ng the nylo n antennasupport cord through the end holes tosupport it between trees. towers. orbuildings. The connections of all wiresneed to be soldered and then taped forweatherproofi ng.

Yo u need to keep the coax end of yourantenna toward the transmitter and atrigh t angles if possible from the topwire. Now pull your anten na up as highoff the ground as you can get it.

The height of your antenna off theground will affect its tun ing. Remember,the higher the frequency, the shorter thewire will be. Shorten the wire top sec­tion and the legs to make the re so nantfrequency of the antenna higher. Makeyour adjustments about 112 to 3/4 inchesat a time. If you change o ne leg by 112inch. the top section will have to changeby one inch. Make any required adjust­ments to find the center freq uency andit's ready to transmit. TIe a loosely dan­gling retainer cord to each of the downleg loops to keep it fro m blowing overthe top wire.

The maximum radiation is broadside,so an antenna stru ng north and southwill do best to the east and west. I usethis type of antenna at home on 10m,and also d uring Field Day an 20 fromKalamazoo County, Mi ch igan.

Some of the half-square advantages 1-----------------'are about 4 d B gain, a low radiationangle. good noi se-canceling c haracter­istics, both vertical and horizontalpolarization. and low cost.

I' ve talked all over the world with thisan tenna, so be sure to le t me (andWayne) know how it does for you!

Editor snote: You can greatly simplifythe trimming of the antenna ifyou cut ita little long to start, then find where itresonates (minimum SWR). Now you canmake a simple ratio of the antennalength divided by the resonant frequ encyequaling the des ired length divided bythe desired frequency. This way, ir takesj ust one trim session and you're in busi­ness without all that half inch at a rimefrom each part of the antenna . For ex­ample. ifyou come our S - too long, justcur l- from each quarter-wave section ­4" from the horizon tal section and 1"from each vertical leg . Fa

73 Review

The Yaesu FT-1 OOOMP TransceiverCheck out the "Big Rigs ,"

Richard Lubash N1VXWE-mail: r1ubash@poco.mv.com

T his transceiver was introduced byYacsu to commemorate the fathe r of

SSB communications , Yacsu founderJAI MP. The IOOO~IP combines some ofthe best of traditional radio construction(Collins filters) with high-end. high­tech. state-of-the-art design.

When I got the rad io home I reallywanted to try it oUl- 1 didn' t want tospend lime going through the 104 -pageuser manual. Though I have since be­come good friends with the manual (avcry well written ami useful tool), J wasable (0 get the 1000 on the air with mini­ma l refcrrul to it. The first th ing yo u no­tice when you tum on the receiver is thesound. It' s a big sound, quiet and full:not thai traditional midrangy basic com­municaticns-typc sound. After spend ingsome time tuning around and enjoyingthe reception in both the CW and phonesections o f the amateu r bands, I took itfor a cruise into the general coveragewaters. If you 're a ham who enjoys oc­cas ional SWL. here 's a treat for you. Themanual even turns you on to how to lis­ten to a general coverage station with themain rece iver tuned to one sideband andthe sub-receiver tuned to the oppositesidehand-with the combined outputinto a stereo set o f phones .. . whew !

Receiver

The Yaesu lOOOMP offers d ual YFOreception with separate tuning and dis­play for main and sub-receivers. Bothreceivers usc q uad conversion superhet­erodyne circuit ry with three IF stages at70.455 MH/ . 8.2 15 MHL and 455 kHzin the main recei ver and two at 47 .2 1MHz and -l55 kHl in the sub-receiver.The tuning is accompli shed through theuse o f Direct Digital Synthesizers drivenby a TCXO master osc illator, resultingin extremely line tuning with thirteen50 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

selectab le tuning steps down to .625 Hz.Receive range is from 100 kHz to 30MHz. with front panel selection of USB.LSB. CW, A~I, FM. RTIY, and PKT.

Frequency selection on bo th receiversis available by direct tuning; a shuttlejog ring that allows large or small ftc ­qucncy change without cranking; indi­vidual amateur hand keys with dualaccess 10 two user-defined sections andmodes of each band from 160 to 10meters; d irect keypad input and memoryselection from 99 regular memories;nine program limit memories or livequick memories. Memory ean be config­ured in an almost unlimited variety ofscanning options. and hath VFOs can hemod ified in receive and transmit with aclarifier offset.

The QRM·fighting arsenal o f theI(XXlMP incl udes individually selec tedcascaded second and third IF crystal fil ­tcr banks. with 2400 Hz and 500 Hz fiI ­tcrs installed and room for additionalfi lters at 2 kHz and 250 Hz; an IF notchfilter; IF shift and width contro ls andEDSP. EDSP stands for Yacsu's En­hanced Digital Signal Processing . Thissystem works at the IF stage of the re·ccivcr and prov ides settings fo r random­noi se reduction. selectable bandpassfiltering with adj ustab le low and highcutoff skirts and au tomatic heterodynenotch filterin g.

Transmitter

The transmitter in the 1000MP is ca ­pablc of output on all amateur handsfrom 160 to 10 meters. The outputpower is adj ustabl e to tOO watts in allmodes e xcept AM where output carrierpower is 25 walls max. Output modula­lion include SS B, AM , FM and AFSK.The transceiver includes a high speedantenna tuner with 39 memories. and a

full-function electronic kcycr with mul­tiple emulation types for the CW cnthu­slast. The EDSP used in the receiveris also capable of transmit audio en­hance ment utiliz ing four different voiceequalizat ion schemes.

Display

Yaesu engineers have left nothing tochance in terms of visual indicators foroperating parameters. The lOOOMP dis­p lay has a fl uorescent. mu lti-color. easy­to-read dig ital contro l panel. The tun ingfreq uencies of both receivers arc shownin large orange numera ls. In addition.there is an ex panded tuning scale thatworks as eithe r an Rx, T x clarifier tun­ing scale. or a tuning indicator for incre­ments of less than 10Hz. SeparateSvmctcrs for each receiver are bargraphdigital type with the main rece iver me teralso inco rporating RF power outpu t. fi ­nal amplifier collec tor curre nt, SWR.speec h compression. ALC. and DC sup­ply vo ltage or microphone aud io inputlevel. If that ' s not enough meterin g.there is also a tuning scale that providesa center tuning segme nt for zero-beatingCW statio ns and twin bars for mark andspace tone tun ing of digital modes.

Want more display'? There are multi ­color indicators for everything fromHI SWR to ex ternal computer control.The Multi-Display wi ndow allows for achoice o f memory channel frequencies.split offset or CW pitch. As a final touch.the sub-receiver. not having lightedmode selection buttons, prov ides visualind icators under the frequency display.

Front panel controls

The manual suggests that you famil­iari zc yourself with the front panel con­trois and then goes o n with seven pages

o f short descriptions. Thi s rig has all theknobs and bu ttons you will need to keepyour twisti ng urges satisfied. Alt houghthe number of controls is daunting, thelayout is log ical and the silk-screened la­bcls very readable (wh ite against black).The left s ide of the rig has provisions forboth .25-i nch an d 3.5-mm stereo head­phones, a three-contact paddlezkcycr in­put and a microphone . Concentric AFgain contro ls le t you adjust audi o outputfro m both recei vers and allow mixinginto stereo phones in the dual receptionmode. You can monitor your transmitRF audio, switc h antennas adjustsideronc CW pitch and RF power fromthe fro nt as well as all the standards:SQL, meter select, stepped AGC speed,mike gain, proc and a host o f o thers toolong to me ntion.

The receiver bandwidth modu le iscontro lled from its o wn silk-screenedsection o f the front pa nel. Second- andthird-stage IF fillers, both facto ry in­stall ed and optional. can be configuredfor a wide variety o f operating condi ­tions. Bo th the 455 Hz and 82 15 Hz IFstages have filte ring selectable at (2ndstage) 2.4 kHz, 2 kHz, 500 Hz and 250liz; (3 rd stage) 6 kUz. 2.4 kHz. 2 kHz,500 Hz and 250 Hz.

The control cluster around the mainand sub-luning knobs allows for fre­quency and ope rational mode adjust­ment The band keypad pro vides fordi rect freq uency entry, or switching toany of the avai lable amateur ha nds forthe main and sub-receivers. The amateurband switching mode lets you select ei ­thcr of two VFO settings per ba nd,allowing you to push o nce for settingsin the phone sec tion o f the band and asecond time for the CW or d igital por­tions. Memory input and selection.quick memory, split and dual-chan nelreception arc also controlled from here.

To the right of the front pan el you'llfi nd the controls for the EDSP, clari fier.notch, shift and width. noise blanke r,antenna tuner and electronic kcyer, Ihaven't included every contro l becauseas I mentio ned the brief descript ionsection in the man ual is seven pages long.

what's around hack

As we all know. no matter what yousec in the way o f enhancemen ts up frontthere should be an easy way 10 interfaceyour transcei ver to the rest of the shack.

The IOOOMP covers thi s need with awell-laid-out back poreh . We start thelour wi th twin PL-259 selectable an­tenna jacks. These co nnectors arc al ­ways used to feed the antenna fortransmi t, with or wi thout the antennatuner, and may be selected for receivefunction as well . If a separate receive an­tenna is used . it can he plugged into anRCA-type j ack thai is selectable fro mthe fro nt. Additional inpuLloutput provi­s io ns include: CW phone jack; RS4232for computer interface ; digital voi ce re­corder in/out: packet: RTTY' linear, , ,ALC; audio in (AFS K or vo ice): exter­nal speaker; low leve l AF our for record­ing or amplifie r input; ground; band datafor external linear or tuner; + 13.5 VOCou t; rransvcrtcr drive outpu t; linear Tx/Rxswitching and ground ; 13.5 VDC input forexternal DC supply, and AC line in.

In the way of hack panel control s theonly two arc a backup slide switch thatenables power-off memory for thememory an d VFO settings and a CWsidctone vo lume adj ustme nt tri mmerthat I would have preferred as a frontpanel knob . Additional adjust ments (1 1)arc found by way of a top panel accessha tch.

User configuration

One thing that stands out about theIlXJOMP is its ability to cus tom ize thetransmitter and receiver pa rameters toalmost any imagina ble user prefere nce .The rig comes with o ver 80 selectablemenu options that arc divided up intoeight subsets. These sets allow for con­fi guration of memory groups , shu ttle jogring tuning speed. If shi ft wid th step,d isplay frequency reso lution, transmitaudi o tailoring, digital mode parameters,and electronic keyer configuration, tomentio n just a few. The concept here is"have it your way" and Yaesu has goneout of their way to make it so. As ici ngon the cake. the user button allows you10 preco nfig ure a whole set of operatingparame ters so that you can switch to amod e such as RTTY or SSTV-with theto uch of a button. all parameters for themode are set.

O perat ion

The first time I had an opportunity toreally get into the ope ration of the rigwas, as luck would have it. a co ntestweekend . Although that did not allow

for an y leisurely DXing. it did give me agreat opportunity to check out all the re­ceive features that are so appealingly de­scribed in the manual. I found that therece iver, although o ffer ing a multiplici tyof options for confi guration, was veryuser-friendly and, with not much prac­tice, I was able 10 sort the weaker conteststations fro m the general chaos found on20 meters. The 2,4 kH z IF filters workedgreat, giving a nice clean SSB sound,tho ugh if you are thinking of using therig for seriou s contesting the optional 2kill. filter would be a plus.

J took the rig down to forty meters togive it a rea l interference workout andafter first configuring the programmablemenu for selec table auto or manualnotch filter. I found some real nice hct­crodynes working o n a station andkicked in the auto notch function o n theEDSP. It pe rformed li ke magic by wip­ing o ut the o ffending heterodynes withthe push o f a buuon. While I was downon -i0 meters I thought I'd gi ve C W a try.I switched to a dipole from the multi­band vertical and gave a short CQ. I gota come back from KE-iLRH in Rich­mond and had no problem cuttingthro ugh the 40-meter QRM usi ng a com­bination o f the 500-- H l filter and theEDSP noi se reduction. The electronicke yer was easy to use and had the nicefeature of having the sidctone adj ust­ment (pitch, as well as speed o f code) onthe fron t; a numbe r of other keycr fea­ture s arc available through menu con­figu ration . The QSK mode worked greatand switching between transmi t and re­ceive was sile nt and instantan eous. Iworked some more o n -i0 and the n wentdown to 80 meters. The no ise reductionand big q uiet sound made copying apleasure. even on the crash ba nd . Thetransmit audio was judged very nice by anumber o f hams I talked to----all in all.the rig performed like a tho rough bred.

I used three different antennas. and thetuner met the challenge without a whimpereven on a damaged G5RV. The basic feelo f the tuning knobs and controls is one ofquality. and the layout, though compli­cairo. is logical and has what I would con­sider a relatively easy learning curve forsuch a complex piece of engineering. TbeI(XXJMP is a rig that would do the seriouscontester or ()X chaser proud-but isn 'ttoo complicated for the ordinary hamwho's into multirnodc communicationsand wants to step up to a big rig. fl3

73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 51

Numb« 52 0l'I rOUT FHdtJ.d t:Md

73 Review

Thanks for the Memories!The WB9KZY Island Keyer from Jackson Harbor Press.

Marshall G. Emm AA0XINK5FN2460 S. Moline WayAurora CO 800 1475230.1405 @compuserve.com

D esigner Chuck Olson (the cpony­mous WB9KZY) was templed 10

call this the "YAK," for "Yet AnotherKcyer," Fortunately he reconsidered, be­cause the "Island" is a lot more than j ustanother keyer.

Take a look at what memory keyersand kits cost in the marketplace. Here'sa complete ho ard kit for $2 1.95 thathas four separate memories for a totalof 500 characters. it's physicall y tiny( 1.5" x 2"), and it can be confi gured tousc less power than your average LED .It has straig ht- key input. a sidc toneosci ll ator with selec table audio pitch.speeds from 7-48 wpm (set with a pot).and it will eve n te ll you (in Morse )what speed is currently set.

This is a kcycr that is physicallysmall enough (and has low enoughcurrent drain ) tha i you can mount it in­side the smallest of QRP transceivers .Actual power requiremen ts will de­pend on a numher of optio ns, but ifyou leave out the memory and the volt­age reg ulator. it will idle at less than amicroamp. On the other hand. it is soversatile that you may also wish toconsider mounting one in its own en­closure as your "main" keyc r. Severaloptions arc described in the documen­tat ion, and you arc bound to think ofmore as you put it together.

Ph oto A . Top "j('w uf PCB.

52 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

There arc some features "missing ,"of course. but in man y respects, espe­cially the memories, it is way ahead ofthe Curtis 8044 series kcyers. andcosts less than most of the non­memory keycr kits ! In his documenta­lion. Chuck ac knowledges a fewshortcomings . Here they are-s-decidefor yourse lf how importan t they are .The Island Keyer doesn't do contestseria l numbe ring; weighting is fixed ; itdoesn ' t do au tomatic spac ing, and itcan be difficu lt 10 load the memoriessince the re is no facilit y for editingthem. Wail a... there is a faci li ty foredi ting the memories. Just ask, andChuck- will send you a QB asic° pro­gram and instruction s for using yourPC to load the keyer!

OK, what ahout the other"shor tcomings"?

Weighting is fixed? I see thai as aplus. Standard lTV Morse 1:3 weigh tingis fine for 99% of us who routinely oper­ate slower than 30 wpm. and generallyacceptable up to the keyer 's maximumspeed. Besides which. variable weight­ing is nOI all it's cracked up 10 be- I hadno end of diffi culty in selling 1:3weighting on another keycr kit I built.I' ve heard of people overweighting sothat Iheir kcyer will sound like a "bug."but in fact what they are emulati ng is notgood Morse-s-a properly adjusted bugdriven by a competent operator shouldsound just like a kcyer!

No automatic spacing'? Who needs it?Again. if you change operating speedyou have to change your keying methodsanyhow. so why worry about the lackof a feature which just encourages slop­piness'! And serial numbers are becom­ing less important as a kcycr feature.because most serious conteste rs are

already us ing keyboards anyhow. andmany contests have dropped serialnumbering from the exchange . No. Idon't thin k there is anythi ng o f anyco nsequence missing fro m this keycr.

Const ruct ion

When you set out to build the IslandKeyer. you need 10 do a bit of planning.because there are so many directionsyou can take.

First, decide how you intend to mountit (you may need to drill mounting holesin the PCB. and that's a lot easier beforeyou solder components onto it).

Then think about power-c-it's de­signed for 3-5V operat ion. and includesa 78L05 regulator. If you leave the regu­lator out you can power it with a coupleof AAA batteries. If you power it with a9V battery (or a 12V supply) you willneed the regulator, but keep in mind thatit will draw perhaps a milliamp itself. Ifyou want. you can install a socket forthe regulator. so you can pull it (and per­haps also the memory IC) for batteryoperatio n. Mine's sci up as a stand-alonekeyer. so I did n' t worry about cur­rent consumption and in facLadded apower-on LED.

Decide whethe r yo u will want toconnect a speaker to the audio output.Thc output is adequate 10 drive a smallspeaker. and it is great to be able tocheck memory conten ts. speed. oreven j ust to prac tice without keying arig . As suggested in the manual. youmay also wan t 10 add an SPST switc hin the output (ke yed) line 10 segregatethe keyer from the rig. I included thespeaker. and a volume contro l pot-infact. I used a Rad io Shacktv comhina­tion pot and switch. so that the onecontrol would turn it on and set thevolume .

Ph oto B . Complete!

You should also decide whether youwill want to connect a straight key, andif so whether you want the straight keyto trigger the keycr or just go acrossthe key line. The documented approachmakes sense, so you can usc the keyer asa code practice oscilla to r.

T he r ig requires 7 push-buttons. Ra­dio S had sells momentary buttons insets of four, wi th two red and (WO

black in each package. T he colo r cod­ing is handy, si nce there arc fou rme mory/send button s and three func­tion buttons. But what to do wi th theextra button'! 1 s imply put it across thekey line as a "tunc" switch.

Finally, if yo u ask fo r them. Chuckwill pro vide instructio ns for add ing in asimple delay timer based on a 555 timerchip. II req uires o ne more pot and acouple o f resistors and caps, but it isan easy way to set up the keyer as a boa­con. or for repetitive CQ calling with avari able delay.

I' d suggest that yo u install wires foreach o f the off-board connections, evenif you don 't intend to usc them. If youdecide to add something later. it will bea lot easier to connec t it to the existingwire than to try to connec t a new wire tothe hoard after it has been installed in arig or box .

Building instruct ions arc incl uded withthe kit. a nd if you have modest skills youwill have no trouble in co mp leting theproject in about an hour. There is sometricky solderi ng invo lved, due to compo­nent spacing. so yo u will need to usca low-wattage iron with a line tip,and work under a magnifier (or at leastcheck each j oint with a magnifier). Tak eyour time. and watch for solder spattersan d drips.

The two ICs (CPU and memory) arestatic-sensitive devices, so exercise theusual care in their handli ng- keep han­dling to a minimum. and make sureyou are grounded: for example. wi th acli p lead be twee n your wristwatch and aconvenient grounding po int.

I installed the comp leted ke yer in asmall p las tic bo x wi th hol es for thespeaker in the bo ttom ; the eight but­tons a nd t wo pots o n the top; a nd j acksfo r padd le, straig ht key. and o utput,along with an o utput toggle sw itch. o no ne end. You may want to usc a metalbo x if yo u will be using a lo t o fRF power-s-the mi croprocessor maybe susceptib le to interference. but noproblems we re fo und in m y QRP oper­at ing env iro nme nt. T he power curd ex ­its from that end o f the box andterm inate s in a Molcxtv con nec tor.Here ' s a handy h int for you : Calcu la tewhat size box you need. then get o nethat is hal f-again as b ig ! No mat te rhow care fully I measure and p la n. I a l­ways seem to end up hav ing to si t o nthe box to get the lid closed .

The smoke test

As you might expect wi th a kit havingso few parts. there's not much that cango wrong if yo u did a good j ob of solder­ing . Once yo u've co nnected power (andassuming you' ve connected a speaker),just press the speed button-the key crshould send Mo rse numbers refl ectingthe currently set speed in wpm. Thenconnect a rig 10 the output and see if thekcyer docs. in fact. key. If connectinga rig is not convenient. j us t connecta mult imeter across the o utput. se tthe keyer for its slowest speed. and ob~

serve a change in resistance as the cir­cui t is keyed. Finally, check memoryope ration by loading a character or twointo each memory. in accordance withthe instruct ions.

If the keyer fails any of the abo vetests . take another look at compone ntplacement and exami ne the solder joints .And if you Mill have trouble. get in touchwith Chuck at Jackson Harbor Press.

Operation

Thi s is a nice keycr to use . It keys pre­cise ly, and doe sn 't see m to have much"feel." By feel. I mean operating charac­terist ics that ta ke some getting used 10 .

so lack of feel is a good thing . BUI theab ility to practice keying without con­necting a rig is a real plus. Anothe r fea­ture is that if you con nected a straightke y jack 10 the straight key input (ratherthan across the output) yo u can use thekeycr as a code practice oscillato r a ndsharpen up your hand-pu mp skills.

The controls are sirnplc-c-scparate potsfor sidctone vo lume and speed . andseven ur eight buttons. Four buttons arede voted to the memories: one repo rtsspeed: one stops memory send ing: andone triggers memory loading. As stated.un my version an eighth button goesacross the ke y line as a "tunc" button,ami the volume control also serves as anon/o ff switch .

To load a memory. yo u si mply pressthe load butto n followed by the buttoncorresponding 10 the me mory (1.4)

yo u want to load . T he kcyer will re­spond with "T: from the speaker. andthen it ' s j ust a matter o f keying in thetext yo u wan t to store . Automatic char­acter and word spacing arc enabled dur­ing memory load. so you can take yourtime. Press the load burton again whenyou are fin ished. then the memory but­to n to play back the recorded message.T he total un used memory capacitycan be considered as "available" to anyunused memories. so. for example, mem­ory o ne can contain up to 500 characters.Memory two can use all but the first 120characters. and so o n.

T he Island Keyer is a lot of fun tobuild an d a lot o f fun to use, representingoutstanding va lue for the money. In do­ing this review I spoke to C huck person­ally. and fo und him very help ful as wellas very interested in suggestions fromuse rs for a poss ible "upg rade version."O ne of the great benefits of programmedkcyers. as compared with, say. the 8044 .is that an upgrade will be ju..t a matter ofpopping in a ne w chip.

Availabi lity

The W n9KZY Island Keycr kit. consist­ing of circuit board and all board-mour nedcomponents, is available at a cost o f$2 1.95 (+$2. IX) shipping/handling) from:Jackso n Harbor Press. RR I. Box 9 1C.Washington Island WI 54246. Phone (4 14 )847-276 1: E-mail: [chuekolson@juno.com].Credit card orders (only): (8(Xl) 238-8205.

Author S note: After reviewing thiskeyer, I found myself so impressed andpleased with it thar its also noll' avail­able f rom my mm company. MilestoneTechnologies . We also have ami/able a"hardware pack " containing the neces­sary pots , kIlO/H , switches. jacks. and aspeaker. Our Web site is [httpittwwwnuechnotogies .cnmhuthome] . fa

73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997 53

T h e go vern ment age nc ie swhich the amateur se rvice sup­port s receive this support at nocosr. A s amateurs. not on ly arewe expec ted 10 provid e emer­gency communications. bUI alsowe arc proh ibit ed fro m hcmgpai d. In addit ion , we show upw it h ou r ow n cq u ip me nt l Itwould he tough 10 find a betterdea l.

E nthus iasm

Di verse t alent p ool

Hams repre sent a fairly broadspec trum o f talcms. Sometimesthese other talent s allow a..s ign­me n t o f people 10 loca tionswhe re th ey c an re all y hit t hegrou n d r u n n ing , Ha m s withhea llh care backgrounds. fo rexample. can be assigned 10 hos­pir als ; tho se w ith a m ili t ary

background arc a more naturalfi l for the National Guard. It isamaz ing what some hams are

capable of do ing . During the af­termat h o f a tornado a few yearsago . I was impre ssed by the ex­t rem e smo othness o f t he ne tcontrol operat or. lie kept tracko f evcrybody's name. cal ls rgnand local ion . better th an I couldhave with a co mputer, Later Ifo u nd o UI he was b lind , W:lS

used to keep ing a ll these factsas menial notes. and had no need10 refer 10 anything 10 refresh hismemory.

There arc lots o f possi bil ttiesfor th e amateur co mm unity toprov ide key service in an e me r­gency situation, Howe ver. thisis nol an autom:l1ic guara nteeIhal hams w ill he ready. willing

The p rice Is ri g ht

Let 's face il . in an emerge nc ysituation req uiri ng the supporto f ha m o pe rators . we ten d toshow up charged ..... ith a healt hydose of adrenaline. Amateur ra­dio is one o f tho se special hob­bies which gi ve s us the chan ce10 make an important conmbu­l ion to our co mmunity. In do ingso. we arc usin g many o f thesarne communications tool s andtechniques th at we count asfun on other days. In my expe ­rience. whe n the call goes OUI.the respon se is ove rw hel mi nglypositive.

it is possible 10 utilize the old­fa shioned mel hod of relayingme ssage s.

Cross-coverage

Coverage

Although nOI eve ry repeaterhas lung-term battery or emer­

gency po wer. usuall y there aread eq ua te reserves to allow fo rininal o pe rat io n. After these rc­serves are exhau sted . it is pos­s ib le 10 SCi up portable repealersor arrange for auxi lia ry powerfor the re pealer. For w ider areaco verage. the h igh frequ encyba nd s c an be u se d to per m itlon g er di s ta nce co m m untc a­lions. And . when all else fails .

Becau se o f the portab ili ty o fam ateur radio . an d the ra nge offreq uencies available. hams canact as a br idge be tween variou sagencies. In many cases. pol icedepartment ra dios muy no t heable to comm unicate ..... itb thefire department. or neighboringpo lice d e pa rtm e nt s; t he RedCross frequencies arc d iffe re ntf ro m bo t h : a nd the Nationa lG uard uses mi lita ry frequencieswhich are di ffe rent sl ill. A ma­teur radio operato rs ca n be sta­tioned wi th the com municationspe ople o f o ther se n ' ice s andpass traffic fro m one service 10

anothe r. Li kewi se. it's not un­heard o f fo r a ham statio ned a ta police or fi re d i..parching post10 spe nd 9O'k of his o r her timebacki ng u p the dispatchers 0 11Iheir equip me nt and 10'11, o n th eham bands .

nOI everyone is as comfo rtablewith taki ng detailed messagesas ham s arc. More importantly.a well-run. properly d isciplinedne t w o rk w i ll le s s l ike ly b ej amme d h y wou ld -he u se rs .Ce ll ular systems. o n the o the rhand. can be overloaded duringnorm al o pe rat io ns in so me ar­ea s. an d ha ve s ig n ifica n t lyh igher usage during e me rge ncysinranons.

Numb¥ 5<1 on r OOTF_bIIe~ ca rd

"Cellular telephone systems can getoverloaded in normal usage; in

emergencies they jam up. "

II see ms thai almost every­one th ese d ay s is as comfort­ab le wi t h th e l n te rn c t an dWorl d W ide Web as th e y arc.....it h lhe le le phone , Ho .....e ve r.

Multiple s im u lta n e o usc o n tacts

up in a school gy m ca n be quickly..p lugged into the emergenc ynetwork.

Whi le ce ll ula r phones ha vegrow n in popularity. the y do 1I0tlend the m..elves to di sseminat­ing certain types of informa tion .S ince eac h inte nded re ci p ie ntmust be individually contacted.multi ple calls must be made foreach message. With amateu r ra­dio. all s la tio ns o n ;1 given Ire­q uc ncy can he si multaneous lymade aware o f the same infer­rnauon. Frequencies can he as­signed 10 allow o ne netwo rk 10pro vid e ge ne ral co rn muuicu­l io n s . anomer fo r co m ma ndfunctions. ell'.

Portability

T he days whe n an amateu rsta tion was a large tube-drivensta tionary sys te m are long gone .Hand-held and mobile units pre ­do mi nate in the VHF an d UHF

frequencies. and the re a rc somany z-mcter and -l.·W-~lH l re­pealers thatthe frequencies haveto he coord inated. M ost modernHF rigs can be ca rried in onehand and po wered from an au­tomohile batte ry/alt ernato r aswc ll as from a 11O-vol t 10 13.8­vo lt powe r supply. An a mateurstation ca n be quickly se t up ina loc ation whic h has inadequateor no n-operat iona l commun ica­t ions. This means that a shelter SCi

ON THE GoMobile, Portable and Emergency Operations

Steve Nowak KE8YN/S15475 Summerwood AvenueBalon Rouge LA 70817

A few years ago. a friend o fmine said 10 me. "Disaster com­munications isn' t one of the rea­

so ns for t he amate ur ra d ioscrvtce -c-n's the onlv re ason !The rad io frequency spectru m istoo val uable to g ive 10 anyonejust fo r ho bby usc . especiallythe number and different typeso f hands available 10 ham opera­tors. Th e gove rnme nt le ts u sha ve these fo r support in disus­ters: if there ' s no disaster. goahead and have fun!"

He was definit el y right aboutthe value o f the radio spectrum.As we' ve seen recently. not o nlyis there more de mand fo r accessto Ir. hU I also th e gove mrneruhas fo und tha i freque ncies ca nhe so ld for substam ia l amou ntsof money. We arc priv ileged tohave access to choke portion so f so many ba nds. Wh ile OX .rag-chew ing and comestlng arcfun . they do nOI justi fy the in­ve stment the govem me m has ina mat e u r ra d io fr cq ucncic s .A ma teu r com m unica tio ns insupport o f di saster relief is oneof the be st ways we have to pro­vide enough value 10 society 10

allow us to have one o f the hcst

playgrounds in this universe.Nat urally, the re arc other scr­

vic-es wh ich arc povi t ioncd topro vide sim ilar suppo rt. andthey wi ll usc such clai ms IU j us ­t ify expand ing, Most public ser­vice agencies. such as pol ice amifi re departme nts. now ha ve mul­uple rad io syste ms. C e llulartelephones arc almost as com­mon as cnsscnc tape playe rs incars. Th ese arc o fte n vie wed asha ving eu mtnarcd the need for

our tradit ional role. Fort unately.amate ur ra dio doc s pro vide a Trainingnumber of ad van tuge s o ve rot her se rvices . and acts as asig n ifica nt augmem anon 10the co m m unicati o ns se rv icesuse d in d a ily p ublic se r viceope ral ions.

54 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

•16Bit Sound Card $2lOX Speed CD $9912X Speed CD $125

Call!

about having my o wn show. Butsomething like that ties youdow n, and I st ill have a hunch ofcountries I want to visit that Ihaven' t seen yet. So I' ll have tomake do guesting on talk shows.But if I were to do my own showit would be different from anyother I' ve heard. My aim wouldbe to get people excited aboutimproving thei r lives. Aboutgetting healthy. Abo ut makingmoney. Abo ut self-education.About making ou r lives bette rthrough a much smaller govern­ment. Through re-Inventing ourschool system. About eliminat­ing poverty and the drug prob­lem. Mak ing prisons less ofa gro wth indu st ry. Well, youknow, all those things I' ve beenwriting about.

But, would it sell? Probablynot. Heck, I haven' t been ahle toget you interested in living longeror getting healthy, so perhaps I'mjust spinning my wheels.

Sure, you want me to writeabout amateur radio. Fine. Butwhen I ask you 10 write and tellme about the most exciting timesyou 've had with the hobby I getbupkis . Ham radio has provided

Continued on page 77

CIRCLE 163 ON READER Sl:RVICE CARD

73 Amateur Radio Today' May 1997 55

rsmeu

hear well is WTAM in Clevelandon 1100 kllz, and they onlycarry three hours. Art interviewssome very interesting people,plus he also lets the audiencecall in to ask questions and makecomments. He gels into veryweird stuff at times.

I keep a litt le radio beside mybed and. if I happen to wakeup during the 2-5 am slot. Icheck to sec who he's got on.Just in case he has something Iwouldn 't want to miss, I se t myvideo recorder with the radio in­put to the audio jack, and recordthe three ho urs e very ni ght.Well, it's something to listen towhile I'm openi ng my mail, andthese days thai often takes anhour or two.

Check the broadcast band somemorning and find out which sta­tion brings in Art's show best foryou. And every now and thenyou' ll hear me being interviewed.

My interviews on his showhave resulted in letters from listen­ers in aliSO states. Puerto Rico,the Virgin Islands, and even Israeland UK. The last two are from anInternet "broadcast" of the show.

I' ve got so many thi ngs to talkabout th at sometimes I th ink

Back in the '50s Jean Shep­herd K20RS got started in radiobroadcasting in Cincinnati, as Irecall. Soon he had a nightlyshow on WOR, clear channel7 10. He was on fro m around I Ipm until 5 am nightly. This wasnot talk radio as we know it to­day. Jean just sat there andtalked for six hours a night, withno call-ins to take up the slackand no guests to interview. AndJean built up one heck of afollowing. Then he got into writ­ing, with a bunch of prize-win­ning stories published in Play­boy, a series of great hoo ks, andeventually he wrote a string ofwonderful movies.

He was follo wed on WOR byLong John Nebel , who broughtin gues ts to interview and built ahuge aud ience by getting intothe weird stuff. These days he' dhave contactees and such.

And that's pretty much the ArtBell W60BB formu la. He's onnightly from II pm to 4 am PSTon o ver 300 radio stations. Someon ly carry his program for threehours. The only station I can

Time was when I'd get severalham-promoting newspaper clip­pings a week from readers. Now,it's rare. Sure, I' ve tried to sellthe idea that every ham clubshould have a PR officer whosemission is to make sure thatmeeting notices are published inthe local newspapers and pro­vided to local radio stations, buteven more important, to makesure that any club or member ac­tiv ity that provides a possibleexcuse for newspaper, radio orTV coverage is exploited. FieldDay? Ge t a story and photos tothe newspapers before and afterthe e vent. Any emergency ser­vices ditto. If there's a localschool radio club get the storyinto the papers. If someone inthe club makes DXCC or wins acontest, get photos and a story tothe papers. We need visibili tyand we need it desperatel y.

My thanks to Ed Lappi AFAECfor sending a copy of the ChapelHill Herald, where there was a fullpage story of the local school ra­dio club. But I should be getting r""""-"''''-'''':::::=:::::",:,,,::::::::...1._ - _''''::::::::::::::::''::::''<:=:''':.c.clippings like that every day, notonce every few weeks. Get on thestick. clubs.

Talk Radio

Our Story

NEU£R fRV 0/£ContinuedJrom page 49

d iffe rent viewpo ints on whatworks wel l. We'll explorenetwork operations, d iffe rentt ype s of equipment , setti ngup portable statio ns, coord i­nating amateur activ ities withlocal govern me nt operatio ns .Likewise, we' ll look at the typesof emerge ncy service sup­port req uired in d ifferent sit­ua tions. W hat ' s needed fo rSk yWarn weat he r s potti ngis different from what is need­ed following a n earthq uake .Winter storm situ ations placea different dem and on opera­tors tha n a ha za rdo us sp illsituation. We'll also look atmanaging an operation-whilet he respons e in th e ea rlys tages of an eme rge ncy isstrong, ho w can we maintaint hat re sp on se d ays or e venweeks lat er?

I hope you' ll find this columnfun and interesting. If you'vegot ideas. please feel free to

send them either by E-mail to74640.1442@compuserve .como r by snailmail to the address atthe top of th is column. fa

"Amateur radiogives us

a chance tomake an important

contribution toour community."

a nd able to follow th ro ugh.There is also no guarantee th atour services will be welcome. Ifyou were a mayor or a city man­ager faci ng a c risis, wo uld youreali ze that amateurs were a re­source at yo ur disposal? Howwould you le t them kno w theywe re neede d a nd coordinatethe ir activities? A lot o f workneeds to be done before the needarises , but fortunately most ofthe wor k is fu n, interest ing ,and more sat isfy ing than e x­cha nging RST, rig and antennainformation.

Thi s co lumn will explore anu mber of d iffe rent as pect sof emergency communications.Si nce the re are man y excel­lent organizations throug ho utt he cou nt ry. I ' ll Ir y to get

Hum"" 56 on your FHd/;J~" e.rd

THE DIGITRL PORT

Photo A . Opening screen to node. A series of commands were listedafter hitting Enter 011 a blank scree". One of these K ·a.f He/I' . I merelytyped the "h" ill tire tower "transmit " box hil Enter. and sfi f(hlfy

/II ore than a screenful of instructions scrolled IIJl the screen.

56 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

wh ere it's very d ifficult to makegoo d so l id contact wit h anyVHF node. becau se th is valleyis surrounded by real mountains.That pl ays ha voc with line-of­s ight communications and espe­ci a lly with packe t where thes tr ings o f informat io n come infairly lo ng bu rsts ,

To understand why that is aproblem you need 10 understa nda phenomenon known as mul ti­

path. You can work FM repeate rsa ll o ver this neck o f the woodsand the multipath. thoug h it ex­ists . has litt le effect. With a packettransmission. however. it can bea di saster. Reg ard le s s o f th epower. if the signa l bounces o ffa mountain . th e rece ived signalh its the antenna two o r more

t imes and turns the duta str inginto mu sh- and software jus tcan't deciph e r it.

A few ye ars hack. the closestPBBS was on the other side of the

mounta in. A di rec t connect io nwas diffic ult to establish a ndnearl y imposs ible to mainta in.Transferri ng Intelligible infonna­tion was hopele ss , I sol ved theproblem for a time by selling upa digipeater o ut in the middle ofthe valley. It co ns isted o f anIC2AT and an MFJ 1270 with aCommodore (H to load softwareand mon itor the ncuvny.

T his worked hut it was slowand it was buggy. I freque ntly hadto trek across town to reset the

TNC. a great experience . becausewhen you exerci se the gray cell sthey get stronger- and I felt I hadovercome the evil multipath de­monoAfter a few years. I had totake the system down: it was atmy husiness location and I de­

cided to stop doing business. Itwas the be st deci sion I made inyears. hu t I was virtually o ut o fpacket rad io.

To the rescue came a local hamwho set up a PB BS, right in th el ine o f sight I needed to rcgainaccess to the packet hulletin boardsyste m. and wit hout ha ving togo through two repe a t ing pro­cesses. Working packet is now thepleasure it should he .

Those of you who use serv ices

such as Compuscrvc. AOL. andthe Internet take a 1ut ofthis trans­

fe r of informatio n fo r granted .T he o n- line serv ices store andmove massive amou nts o f data in

the bulle tin bo ard sys te ms hav emore than one function. In thecase of th e local sys te m. the reis a node available fo r connect­ing to other d igital stations inth e area or to o ther node s. T henode. in it!> simplest fo rm. canhe thought of as a re peate r. T henode has a d iffe rent identi fie r­I can connecr to it by te ll ing mypack et s tatio n to c o n nec t toCARSO~ . Onc e co nnecte d. aseries of commands is a va ilable(see Photo A ). These commandsare s im ila r. but not re lated . tothe commands o f the BBS .

Th e bulle tin board (PBBS) canhe connected to after connecti ngto the node. so you can think o fthem as individual stations on thesa me frequency doing differentj o bs . If the)' a rc hot h b u sy.though. the throughput will hered uced becau se they fo llow apo lite protocol and wait for eachother to finish before they proceedwith thei r particular task.

Inte rmingled w ith this is an­

other function. the database. YourPBB S operator (syso p) has a

computer dedicated to thi s entireope ration and you have access to

many file s re siding on his harddrive . One of th ese will be theuser manual.

On the local sys tem I found myuser manual hy typing. the " W"command (Phot o 8 ). " W" is apretty standard command used onmany sys tems a nd it translatess imply to Wh at li s there"]. Youwill get a li st ing o f the files andsubd irec tories o f the database.In the local database, there is afile . USER ~IA:'II . DOC . andwhen I downloaded this I got a24·page te xt of how to usc thePB BS. You'd be tte r believe tha t

I printed it.If yo ur syste m does not haw a

" W" in the comm and line . type" H" for Help an d it wi ll reveal anab breviated lis t o f what all th ecommands can do . II' you do notsee a hint of where you might finda manual. send the syso p a mes­sage and tell him you are an avidreader and need thi s informationfor your library. He will te ll youhow to get it .

I learned . o nce aga in. howhelpful and encourag ing the hamcommuni ty can he. whe n I fi rstcommitted to ente r the d igita lspect ru m. I res ide in an area

Every bulle t in board I haveseen has a use r manua l read ilyavailable for dow nload. xtost of

Where do you get it?

Heard category. there were ahout adozen callsigns. and one of themhad a " · 1" extender on it. l tboughtit wou ld he fun to leave this ham amessage in his mai lbox-hardlyanybody gets personal ITL1.i1uuu way.

I was connected to th e nodeokay, hut my att empt s to connectto the ham stat ion we re cont inu­ally rebuffed. The command II..'kb7xxx ] j ust wasn't recognized.As they say. when all else fail s...I remembered. once again. why Igo to the effon 10 download theuser manual from the local node!bulletin board s when I first getacqu ainted with a new one. Theuser manual spells out the steps10 take. It is necessary to dcsig­nate the pon nu mbe r on this sys­tem to make the connection andpre.f to ! There I was in his mai l­box. A few days later. I receiveda nice note on the PBB S after hefound the me ssage. I look in o nthe PHBS frequently as it is a goodsource o f recent happenings bothlocally and across the country.

So how do we o vercome theselillie fru s tr ations? Unless youhave psychic gifts and can readthe mind of the pcrson who wrotethe soft .....are. the easiest method Ihave found is 10 read th e manualfor your local PB BS.

I- p....... •u _ 11._ CIIflSOfI I. 1 """~ nrc GI "Z2 , ... 1!l'l1 lEI 1~ · 'Y.J

I strayed from the norm a littleand was exploring the node p ortionof the local syste m. In the 1115t

po - ... . _n..c...... -."._....-.-.. 1_ •• .... . ht r n• • u _.-.1 . u .._.I( ••_.Ulft. to . ..... u .... !>or . ... Moo... . .._ ••• •

c _ ..- -' r~ C.0._.11If "' I n u • • _ • f b~ .hi• • • •••hI" \;1 u lb1, n I 10 r' n_ r to n" .~te ' If "n CI f .~ . f n•• ' ••_. ' 0 •n. l gh ho rlng n" ¥Or b n.d. . . ... <on , . I .n ..III be ~•• ~. ~

p l ain U . 2 ~ ..n n• • ' <I .• •• II"" . Iw . ..~d. b~ k.oot .... . I <. M no d..

Learn ing experience

How to get the most outof your local PSSS

Would you lik e to get bcucracqua inted with the strict ly-for­hams bulletin boards and staypo sted on such hot ite ms as OXpro pagation. AMSAT in forma­tion. the la tes t from the FCC orwhat your local club is up IO'! Youcan also hunt for bargains for yoorham shack or clear out some ofyour own clutte r for cas h-a-t hereis a cont inuou s swap mee t inprogress and you can visit it fro mthe comfort of your shack. Plus,there are no membership costs.and it is available 24 ho urs a day.

You will he well rewarded forthetime you spend getting to know theins and outs of your loc al hampacket b ulle tin board sys te m(PBBS). If you haw been lettingthis exci ting technology p<l-<;s youby because you just didn ' t want tolearn another new thing (and itlooked expensive). getting startedis easy-c-ard can he accomplishedon a budget. And you'Il haw funlearning something new. and thatis what a lot of ham radio is abcur .

Jack HeUer KB7NO712 Highland StreetCarson City NV 89703

• Ip - Gi ve. th lo I nfo i.n

Ef O - Cl v•• 1>0.. 1. i nfo i nn ~ bo n• • hio nnd e

. . . ... . ..... - I. • • u .. . ti. n n. h "" ....... A n",. hoo . _~ bo g i v.n• ••n o p tio nol .~e' ' 0 U n i n . "" on .ho• .... r. on ly

. d . - 1.10 n l ""~... " A .,or. n r g iv.nI u lo.. ' __n. '0 U d• • 100 n 10 .Mo '"~'' ' - 1.1 ' _ . b • • d.. 100 ............ - Gi r l.ti_ fo r b ...r<_.~. - 1.10.. _." • ••• to .., • • n . . ..hlb - e- nsOP'S )00 ) ko,-......... ... - Llo _ <1, ._•••_....,

CIRCLE 226 ON READER SERVICE CARD

73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997 57

•

•

•

•

For mo re information or 10

o rder, call or wri.e U$ at:

HF,,·73Padfic·S~rra R=arch Corpu,arion290 1 28lh SIR..,I . Suioe 300Sanla Monica. CIt 90405-2938, USA

1-800-82()....oi PSRFAX: 31()..314-2323Outside the U.S. & G nada,310-31<\·2300E-..... il : hfrlt,mp~.com

V"", and M"'te.c.rd acap.t'd$129.00 poslpaid worldwide

about th is column, E-mail meat (jheller@sierra.RCI) and/or atCompuServe 72 J30,1352. I willbe glad 10 share what I know orfi nd a resource for yo u. Onpacket, when you get a chance,drop me a line at: [KB7NO@N7NPB.#NONEV.NVUSANOAM].For now, 73, Jack KB 7NO. Fa!

Check ou' our YXcb site for moreinfomution. lili Ill(' guidnJtour or download a demo copyand try it OUI yourself

hrrp://www.psrv.comlhfxl

(We [dlt INc

•

This is awol prodllCI!_ Ham /&dIO OnliM

H Fx will become a powerful force in the field of H F_propagalinnprediction and analysis. - QST

HFx figures among the most w mpk,t and best developedprediction software took - Mrgalvrrz

Very intuitive and visual . .. easy to understand! - CQ Uapan]

II's unClllny how accurate (H h) is! - N9VHW

j_ p.- 011· ill .. :: •u-_It_aw5 10 , , _

_ 11 uu: UI n~ 1"" 0 15·11

or when th is happens to you,you' ll find a 101 of hams on theether-end of the keyboard who arevery reassuring, so don't be afraidto try something new.

Ifyou have questions orcomments

Can we talk?

Photo B. Opening screen for RBS. The ft rst four lines appeared. thenI entered the"?w" , pressed Enter. and it displayed information aboutthe " W" command. Then it redisplayed the command line and is nowwaiting for the next command .

is to find a ne ighbori ng hamwho'll show you what he is us­ing. If it looks like something youcan handle, you have a built-intutor. The next best is to jump inand figure it OUI on your own. It' snot as diffi cult as it may seem.

Ifyou are lookingto get the mostbang for your buck, there are sev­eral factors to consider. If you aregoing to concentrate on packet forthe foreseeable future , severalchoices are avai lable, includingMFJ, Kantronics. BayCom andPacComm. Ifyou cancomeup witha used TNC and need software,there is a good selection of packetsoftware that won' t put you in thepoorhouse. You can buy all new(except for the radio) and get intopacket these days for $50-150(more about that part next month).

Hams use programs o f allkinds, from telephone terminalprograms to a variety ofdedicatedprograms, such as the one I amusing; they all tell the packet sys­tem at the node or PBBS the samecommands. The fancier systemsuse the power of your computerto accomplish keyboard shortcutsso you can get on with your ham­ming and not spend all your timetyping in commands.

Com municat ions soft wareused in ham radio isn't the sameas in word processors or fol low­ing hypertext links around on theInternet. This stuff forces you toget a lillie more involved. By thatI mean it won't let you get awaywith a thing. If you want to useyour computer for ham commu­nications, at least study the opera­tional commands and keep a listof them handy when you are mak­ing contact. Whcn you first useany program, it is helpful to keepa few notes close to the keyboardunt il you get the hang of things.

As you may guess, the modernprograms are equipped with helpwindows for ready reference, soyou can usual ly look anything upwithin a half minute. In fact, itappears the entire instructi onmanual is conta ined in the helpfiles, all categorized alphabeti­cally. It is usually faster than fi nd­ing the correct page in the hardcopy manual .

I have occasionally had to eata ration of humble pie for notremembering a command in themidd le of a live contact on HE If

all forms. including text, graph­ics, and sound, accurately andspeedily down the phone lines.

The amazing thing about thisis that, except for the speed, wecan do all this via our radio con­nections. That's right: Most of thedata passed through the packetradio system is in basic text for­mat with no fancy fonts, and thepictures, if drawn, are done withkeyboard symbols. However, it ispossible (and some hams arc do­ing it) to move binary files suchas word processor data, graphics,and even sound fil es through thepacket syste m. And one day,maybe even the speed bumps willgo away.

There is quite a prol iferation ofham bulletin board programs, so itwould not be reasonable to attemptto list all the variations of com­mands and what they do for eachsystem. Here Ifind acommand linelisting with 21 of the 26 tenere ofthe alphabet-and that's just thebeginning. When you get the insidedope on these commands, manyofthem are combined with three orfou r other leiters for variations ofthe command to help you becomemore efficient.

"A" is a nice simple commandthat stands for Abort the opera­tion you have in progress. Theycan' t fool with that. "B" is anothercommon no-brainer that allowsyou to disconnect from the PBBS.Now "C" becomes another story.On a node it is used for connect ,whieh seems straig htforwa rdenough. The system I am work­ing into has some variations. If Iwere connected to the node andwished to connect to another nodeor station I would normally typein [C callsign). This system re­quires a port number after the "C"and then the callsign.

When I connect to the PBBS,that "C" is anot her story It thenstands for conference. Well, notvery many keyboard conferencesare held, but there is a way and Iguess this double use of lettersjust shows that we don't haveenough leiters in our alphabet.

Photos A and B arc screen cap­tures so you can have a look atmy screens as I use my CUlTCnt(AEA) computer program. Thereare many good programs on themarket these days. The best wayto get comfortable with software

Fig . 1. Postal covers are commemorative envelopes issued by the US Postal Service in honor ofhis toricalevems.

years," Lynn po ints out. "xtan'slanding on the moon will go downin history as the single greates tscientific accomplisbmcm of thecentury."

Lynn o ften followed up our let­ter exchanges with rad io co ntactsto our classroom. He always feltthat you ng people were the lifeblood of any o rga niz at io n orbobby. Without youngsters andthe enthus ias m and en ergy theyo ffer, a club or o rgan izatio nwould eventually die out. Thesewere al wa ys the things he and Iwould tal k abou t thro ugh the threeyears we knew each other. Lynnwas very interested in moti vatingyou ng people to ge t invol vedin ham rad io and in the spaceprogram.

lie always encouraged the chil­dren to get involved by collect­ing s pace c o ve rs , a tt end in glaunches. vislting NASA ce nters,read ing about space , and talkingto hams on the radio ..... ith mutualinterests .

A ham since 1932, Lynn loved

the idea o f teaching ham radio toyoung adults, and continued to be

support ive of my program untilhis death three years ago , His ex­pressed adm iration for the chil­dren who stud ied the theory andrules, and who practiced the codeand got their licenses. was sur­passed only by the warmth andrespect my kids fe lt for Lynn.

Through my rad io classes. Lyn nfound an o utle t throug h which

he shared his ent husiasm andinterest in space an d ham radio.

Lynn always hoped that chil­dren would look at the past spacecovers and remember the eventsthe y mark . ''''0own a cover whic hwas canceled on Moon Land ingDay or on ~v-,"ager ' s closest en­counter with any of the planets isto hold a piece o f history in yourhands, It is a rec ord of a greatevent , and o ne th at will s tandthrough the years:' Lynn affinned.

There is a permanent tribute tothi s wonderful ham friend in myclassroom at Intermediate School72 in Staten Island, New Yor k. Allthe beautiful space cover albums

Lynn scm us through the years arcon displ ay for st udent s to keepenjoyi ng and learn ing from. Hislov e for space and radio will longbe remembered and passed al0!!E.to a whole ne w gene ration. flj

I

cancel covers o n lau nch day aslong as the covers were mailedbefore the set day or were hand­carried into rbe post office the dayof th e launch.

Lynn told us that in all the yearshe's been co llec t ing cove rs, hehas found postal employees 10 bevery cooperati ve in supplying theproper cancels on the right date.He particu larly praised !\1r. AlMoore and his sta ff at the KSCpost office fo r supp lying superiorservice to collectors .

As the space program grew,more and more cover coll ec torsappeared on the scene, includi ngthe strictly philatelic ones (collec­tors o f postage stam ps). Th ismeant more cachets, di ffere nttypes of covers. and cancels fro mall sons of places, suc h as a townwhere a particular astronaut washom .

Lynn chose to spe cialize in get­t ing astronaut signatures on cov­ers; bur he also includes NASAofficials, scientists involved in theprogram, cap co rns, test di recto rs,launch directors , e tc.

The astronauts and others in­vo lved in the space program werealways very happy to sign cove rsfor Lynn. He wrote the ch ildren :"As someone who has lived mostof 10 ) ' li fe in this century, I be ­lieve I have seen more history­mak ing events than those livingin prev ious centuries.

" When one cons iders the spaceprogram alone , think o f what weha ve witne ssed just in the last 36

FIRST DAY OF ISSUE

A letter writing exchange soonbegan betw een Lynn a nd myclas se s. T he c hi ldren eagerlylooked forward to the many al ­burns and kind letters he took thel ime to send to us. In October.1991, Lyn n wrote us a beautifullett er describi ng ho w he go tstarted in the fascinat ing hobbyof collecting space covers . Thechildren and I agreed that LynnB re ece wa s o ne o f the m o stinteresting hams we had ever met.

In 1961 Lynn started workingat C ape Canaveral and t heKenned y Space Center. At thattime. the po st o ffice closest to theCa pe was in Port C ana ve ral.Fl orida . Fo r this reason, you canfind cov e rs ca nce led at PortCanaveral for the lau nch of AlanS he pa rd in the f irst Me rcurycapsule .

As the ~Iercury la unches pro­ceeded and the Gemini Programgot under ....uy in 1965 , cancel sbegan to come from the cities ofCape Canaveral. Cocoa Beach.Satelli te Beach, and a few othertowns which were close to the

Cape.In 1965 . the post office at the

Ke n ned y S p ace Cen te r wa so pe ned so that all th e KASAlaunches could then have a ca n­cel from the Kennedy Space Cen­te r in Fl orida. It was s tandardpractice fo r the post o ffice to

WITH CL nSSHnMS

Carole Perry WB2 MGPMedia Mentors Inc.P.O. Box 131646Slaten Island NY 10313-<xx>6

20thArmiversaryMoon Landing

Space Covers: History InYour Hands

Several yea rs ago. Lynn A.Breece K-tLFV. Lt. Col. US AF[Rct.). co ntacted me aft er readingseveral ank les about my workwuh young people in ham radioand about my involvement withthe space program.

Lynn began se nding un usualand beautiful wall posters of thespace shuttles 10 our classroom.One day, something really specialarri ved in the mail for the chil­dren. Our friend had meticulous lycollected and assembled I W O

space cover albu ms for us. Spacecovers arc special commemora­tive envelopes from the US Pos talService wuh the mission patch or

insignia on them. that are can­ce led at the launch site. The IWO

albums Lynn sent us containedspace covers an d memorab ili afrom 5TS-30 and 5TS-3-l.. Thechildren in m)' 6th, 7th. and 81hgrade radioclasses were delight edwith the albu ms. which containedthe canceled envelopes, newspa­per clippi ngs, and a collection o freports about the missions,

58 73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997

Num"" 5 9 on your FHdbltf:k <;ard

CRRR'S CORNER....;.;.;...;.::,.~---

Test ing

Books on humancomputer Interface designand relaled topics

Te stin g is a ne ce s sa ry a l­t ho ug h o ft e n n o t suf f fcie ntmeans fo r te ll ing ho w well theprogram works and ferre ting outb ugs. Unfort unate ly, most hamso ftwa re seems 10 be tested bythe programmer, rather than bya ty p ical use r. Prog ra mme rsmake lo usy teste rs because theyare usuall y too clo se to the pro­gram. T hey ca n easily overlookob vious problem s because theyhave little men tal workarounds.They know ho w the program issu pposed to work. so they mayo verlook some obv ious errorsthat ty pical users might make.T hey are al so confiden t usingco mpu te rs, where re a l use r smig ht be frightened of rhe ma­chi ne. The goal is to make theuse r population as represe nta ­ri ve of the customer populationas po ssibl e. eve n if it meansg iving a way free beta testingcopies.

Obse rving teste rs can some­times he a problem. The tasksthey are asked to perform shouldbe realistic and trul y represe n­tative o f the tasks normal use rswill face . The tasks should al socover the full range o f possi blesituatio ns. although my answerto trying to figure all of them o utis, "Good luck!" Also, the ob­se rve r should be as unobtrusiveas possible . The presence of theobserver should in no way alterthe perfo rmance of the user. Ingeneral, ha ving so meone look­ing over the tester 's sho uld erwill induce more errors than isnormal.

users than for "newbies." If thep ri nc ipal au dience is peoplewith li llie comp ute r experie nce.then sti fle the colo r.

Long lo ad times are o ften re­q uired for progra ms. Unfo rt u­nately . a lo ng lo ad keeps blankstuff o n t he sc ree n a nd t hatmake s users nervo us. The userwill then start hilli ng keys orclic king the mouse inappropri­atcly and make the program doodd th ings. About ten seco nds 'lo ad time is considered exces ­stve by most users. T here arcse veral things that can be doneabo ut it:

• First , a sp lash scree n can beprovided. This is a sc reen. usu ­a lly wit hout bo rde rs. th at ap­pears a s soo n as the prog ramloads. II remains on unti l theentire program is loaded . It typi­ca lly does not have graphics o rany controls because these take10 0 long for load ing . In some

cases. a 200-mS (or so) timercontrol (a s in Visual Basic ) mayhe used 10 load t he rest of theprogram from the sp lash screenLo ad Event.

• Another Irick th at can beused is to prov ide a progress bar.That 's one of tho se green or hluebar grap hs that show the per­centage o f complet ion. Alterna­t ive ly, a n o n-sc reen me ssag ecould be prov ided.

Som e q ue s t ions that yo ushould ask include:

• Does a desired feature havea pe rformance effec t ? I f not,then dump it un le ss there is agood re aso n to keep it.

• Is the feature likely to con-fuse the user? If it does. dump Laure l. Brenda (1990). Theit o r rede sign it. Art of Human Computer Inter-

• Are a ny of the con trols , face Design . Apple Co mputerfu nct io ns , o r fe at u re s non - ( re p u b li s h ed by Ad d iso n -val ue-adding? If so. then d ump Wesl ey).them . Preece , Jenny (1994). Human

• Can controls be co mbined or Computer Interaction . Addi son-el imi nated? If so. do so. Wesl ey.

• Is the in te rface as intuitive TUfte . Edward R. (1990). En-as possible to the user? If not, visioning Inf ormation . C heshireredesign it. For the mo st part, CT: G raphics Pre ss.th is me an s thai the prog ra m Tufte . Ed ward R. (1983 ). Thes ho u ld follow the Win d o ws Visual Disp lay of Quanritati l'estandard format because that is Inf o r ma t io n . C heshi re C T :what the user will u nderstand. G raphics Press. fa

73 Amateur Radio toaev » May 1997 59

'T here is no excuse for offering MS-DOSsoftware any longer. "

sta ndard. then make it a la rgeand obvious c hange so that us­ers know it is not a standardpresentat ion.

Color is one o f the mo st Ire ­que nt icky th ings about co m­puter interface desig n. and leadsto what o ne a uthori ty ca ll e d"colo r pollution: ' Some peopl eseem 10 thin k that the more colorthe better. Or that sexy-lookingcolors are neat to use.

Color should be used to maketh ings stand o ut, especiall y atthe specific times when needed.If there a rc too many co lo rs o na sc ree n (vcolo r poll ut ion" ).then the user has a difficult t imefind ing things. No rmally. d im ord a rk co lo rs (d e ep b l ue .Micro soft gray. etc .) are betterfor screens than most light col ­o rs. Also . solid colo rs generallywork be tte r th a n th e pa stelshad es . es pecially wh e re thesta nd ard x-poim type is used o nlabels placed on the screen.

Colo r differences can be quiteu seful wh e n you se g me n t ascreen. You can use colors to d i­vide a screen into separate tasksor classes of in formatio n. Also .it ha s be e n fo u nd th at co lorworks bet ter fo r ex pe rie nced

• Func tion al it y refe rs thefunct ions and controls that arcavai lable on the screen. andtheir optimal use.

• Aesthetics refers to the ap­pearance. s patia l layout . andcolor sc heme. Ask w hether ornot it en hances or ta kes awayusabil ity and functionali ty.

Another au ribu te of a goodprogram is co nsis tency. It isvery impo rtant to de sign theprogram so that the system al­ways interprets user actions thesame way from event to e vent.II sho uld aha respond the sameway to diffe rent instances of thesa me e ve nt. If yo u m ake achange from expected behavior.o r d e s ig n a n Inte r race t ha tdoc s no t matc h the Wind o ws

More on ham software

Joseph J . Carr K41 PVP.O. Box 1099Falls Church VA 22041E-mail : carrjj@aol.com

Some guidelines

I wo u ld li ke to o ffe r so meguideli ne s fo r develope rs o fham software. I .....ould also liketo hear from e xperienced soft­ware developers ..... ho have ot herideas. Keep in mind that I amnot sound ing o ff from any " highhorse .' because I readi ly admitthat I'\'C made all the mistakesI' ve complained about in others.But I also bought so me books o nhuman co mpute r interface de­sign (see list below) and learneda bit o f s tuff.

The three pi llars o f de signare usab ili ty, functional ity andaesthe tics:

• Usabil ity means that users caneasily learn to usc the interface(scree n) and then eff ic ie ntlyinteract with it.

Wel l, it seem s tha t my co m­plaints about ham so ftware seemto have hit a resonant c hord. Ireceived a la rge amo unt of E­mai l and snail mail from peoplewi th o ne complaint aft er an ­other. The suspect soft ware cov­ered everything fro m antennaanalys is to te rminal node con­troll e rs to in format io n da ta­bases. It see ms t ha t a lmos ta ll fo rm s o f so ft wa re wereinvolved.

The most frequent compla intwa s o n ~I S -DOS non -Wi n­do ws'" sof tware. we are seve nyears into the Windows era. sothere is no excuse for o ffering~IS-DOS software any longer.Also. Windo ws software ....-ritingused to he a big dea l. but nowVisual Basic° and Visual Co areo n the marke t a nd make the"...contriving o f con tri vance s II

game for all.. ..· v isual Basic 5.0should be out by no w. It is sa idby heta testers to run as muchas 20 time s faster than VB4. andnow co mpetes with Visua l Cspee dwise .

NumbM60on your Fe<ldb.c~clml CBer's Pl indicate which transmitt er themicrophone was delegated to. Ieven used a different colored LEDon the switchbox for each o f thethree trans mitte rs. T his would al­low the operator/driver to deter­m ine which tran s mitter wa s' re ad y -to- go' at a g lanc e . Itworked great! Even the speakeroutputs from each rad io were runthrough the switching box and anoutput jack made av ailable to

drive either an external speaker ora headphone for 'silent running' ...all automat icall y switched wi ththe microphone . Hey, no tellingwhat an engineer can do with alill ie lime and imaginat ion!

"When all was sa id and done, Iran into an interesting problem,so me thing I' d not anticipated. Attimes. when switching the mic ro­pho ne vi a t he sw uch bo x. thetransceivers would key into trans ­

mit briefl y. I theorized that theprob lem stemmed from the factthat the Touchtone keying circuitin the mike-which was poweredby the transc ei ver ' s +5 volts­would create a spike on the +5volt line as the switch was rotatedand the power to the mike's ITcircuit was pulsed on and off IIwas using a break-before-makerotary swi tc h) . After in stallingthree diodes, >;0 that the micro­phone could draw power from allth ree radios but without allowingthe +5 volt s from one rad io getinto anothe r, the problem d isap­peared. One of those ' Iinle things'that doesn' t show up unti l youactually put an idea into practice !

" Now eve rything was workingfine until my friend actually drovethe car! Yep , you g uesse d it.'Caer's PL ' But I co uldn' t seehow the alternator whine was get­ling into the transceiver 's audio.I had brought the power for thetransceivers directly from the bat­tery and had even used a 3D-am prela y to switch the rigs on and o ffwith the ign ition key... same as theregular car AMIF~I radio. Thisallo wed my friend to keep theaudio volume co ntro ls in the sameposition and ensured that all of therigs were O FF when leav ing thecar, and ON whenever the igni­tion was ON . I even installed aswitch on the radio console to se­lect either the ignition switch ord irect battery power to enable therel ay. That way the radio "tackcould be powered up without the

" Knowing that microphonessometimes never make it back totheir correct hangers, and withusc, could beco me a confus ingtangle of microphones and coil­cables, I decided to use only onemic rophone for all three radiosand switch it to the desired trans­cei ve r with a rotary selecto rswitc h mounted in a min i-box.The three transceivers are a llYaesu. and fortunately, they usethe sa me type of microphone andpinout con nec t io ns. So u nd ssimple enough!

'The microphones arc o f the g,wire type, with signals for micro­phone audio, up/down frequencycontrol, speaker audio , +5 voltsfor powering the Touctuones cir­cuit in the microphone , and ofcourse a common ground for ev­cryt hing. With a lillie bit of imagi­nat ion , I thou ght of all thed ifferent things I could possiblydo to make this a really whiz-banginstallation. Realizing that the ra­dios would be used at nigh t andthe position o f the transrmuer se­lector switch knob would not beeasily visible, I decided to use the+5 volts in the mike cahle topower three LEDs... which would

From Ga r)' lI oloube kW86GCT : " E ve r he ard of'Cacr's PL"!That's the name I' vegiven to the alt ernator whine thatcan he heard on all too many ofeven the best o f ham rad io mo­bi le installations, and nearly allC B mobile signals ! I thought Iknew all about suc h problem sunt il I installed a bank of radiosinto a friend's 1990 Lumina. Myfriend and I both enjoy having 3­band capabili ty (146, 220, 440MHl) in our mobile s, and it tookme se veral days to design andbuild the hardware to stac k theequ ipment be tween the vehicle 'sfloor and da.shboard in a neat ver­tical rack array. Today' s smallcars can often he a real challenge!Everything worked fine ... that is,unti l I did some customization...and that ' s when Murphy struck!

"""NIMH

,_cer...+

"When you compare these to thename-brand alkalines, the choice is

pretty clear... "

"u se-cm-once-ec-toss-' em-away"alkaline cells, the cho ice is preuyclear... es pecially for ba ttery-op­erated equipment that's used a lot.Though the better alkaline "AX 'cells are rated at 2,45D-mAH ca­pacity, 2 or 3 uses from the NIM Hcells will quickly put you in the" money-ahead" bracket. Fig, Ishows the bas ic cons tant-currentNIMH l lO-m A "safe" chargerthat I've been using for the " AA"ce ll s in m y G PS rcceiver.c-deDave N"Z9E.

same manner as :O-;iCds, using aone- tenth-capacity constant-cur­rent charger (110 rnA constant­current forthe 1,100 mA H NIMHcell s me ntioned) . Th e NIMHchemistry has less te nde ncy to­ward " memory effect' than doc sthe NiCd formula and the cellscan withstand more heat. All inall, a wort hy competito r to thevene rable mainstay o f our re ­chargeable repe rto ire of ce llche mistries. One source of re­chargeable NIM H "AA" ce lts isDC Ace Electronic s (84 7-82 1­8122) , who li sts the 85Q-mA H" AA" NiCds a t $2 eac h and the1,I 0 0 -mAli " AA" NIMli s at$2 .50. When you compare theseprices against the name -brand

Your Input Welcome Here

680

68 Ohms. 2 Walts

,J4,-""""--__$ Yellow LED

HAM TO HAM....:.....--::-:-:-----:-:--

--

Wall LUbe\Iodel PI·D-OI211 VOC @ 500mA

Dave Miller NZ9E7462 Lawler AvenueNiles Il 6071 4-31 08

Fig , 1. A conSf(1 I11-C/lrrenr ( l/O·rnA J nickel metal hydride chargercircuit suitable for charging four NIMH ails in series , The l·o/ue ofthe 68- oh", resistor IIIU\· need to be adjusted 10 achieve 110 mA , de ­pending 111'0/1 the characteristics of the transformer that's used, SU

test for further details ,

60 73 Amateur Radio rcasv » May 1997

Superman 's AA cells

Looking for a super-capacityAA cell? If you usc rechargeableAA ce lls in any o f your portablegear, as I do, it mig ht be worth­whil e checking ou t the relativel ynew line of NIMH (n ickel metalhydride) rechargeable cell s. TheNIMH che mistry automaticallyincreases the mAli (milliampere­hour) capacity of a rechargeablecell by roughly 25 'if , and the new

AA size NI\1 H cells boas t an1.100 mAli capacity (a 25Q-mAHincrease o ver even the ir newer850 -mA H KiCd counte rpart s).N I~1H cell s can be charged in the

~L--__---I-,~-

L- .,.,-

Hew about some more good,down-to-earth tips and ideas tomake our hobby more enjoyableand perhaps make it run a littlernorc smoothly? And speaking ofrunning, I' m running a lill ie lowon ideas, so please don't put offse nding your favo rites. Just jotdown some things that have mackham radio probl em-solving easierfor you or for o ne o f your frie nds,and send them to me at the ad­dress above. Uncle Wayne' s elveswill send you a check for $ I0 eachso that you can afford to buy acouple o f the books on his " mustread" lis t. He' s recommendedsome very interesting ones... andhere are some othe r interestingtips:

"Everything was working fine until myfriend actually drove the car."

SITOR AlBARQ/FECBAUDOTPACKETNAVTEXFAX 480AMTORWEFAXSYNOP

ASCIIr:::j RTTY"- SSTV

CWMore...

@) BayPac

BP·2 P acket Only $49. 95BP·2M MultiMode $69.95

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since the alternator is mounted onthe engine , and thus grounded tothe engi ne, and the ve hicle'snegative battery te rmi nal is alsogrounded to the engine via a nicethic k cable, a classical groundloop was set to exhibit itself. Andit waited there patient ly just forme to come along!

"The bulk of the alternator'sground current will travel via theheavy cable to the battery. Butwhat I had done by grounding theswitc hbox to the rad io stackbracket was to provide anotherpath for the electrons to get to thebattery via the ca r frame groundin the swttchbox: the n to thetranscei vers via the microphonecables; and finally 10 the batteryvia the transceivers' power wir­ing. Admittedly, the actual currentthrough the microphone cablewas probabl y small, but not allth at much is nee d ed sincethe mic rophone is a low -levelcircuit whose aud io is greatly

ignition key for those times whenope rating mobile at a fixed posi­tion (as might be done during ex­tended publ ic service duty) wascalled for.

" In trying 10 figure out j ustwhat was causing the 'CBer's PL'problem, I did what every bud­ding enginee r (?) does when hehas a problem. I talked it overwith anyone who would listen!Following the suggestion of an­other techn ically-oriented ham­friend, I di sconnected the twounused mike cables that run be­twee n the switch box and thetransceivers, leaving only the ac­tive o ne in use . No hel p. Ofcourse, the a lternator whi newas gone wit h the microphoneconnected directly to the trans­ce iver, bypassing the swirchboxen tirely...but the swnchbox wassuch a neat idea!

"So one wee ken d, armed witha portable scanner recei ver set tothe transmitting freq uenc y in

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amp lified... along with any noisein the form of alte rnato r whine.End of mystery!

" If you would like more exactdetails on how I connected every­thing up, or on where I found theparis to do it, etc., j ust sendme an SASE (self-addressed,stamped envelope). I' ll tell you allabout it-perhaps more than youcare 10 hear! I hope these tips andexperiences prove helpfu l at sometime to other 73 readers."

Moderator's note: Interestingstory, Gary-thanksfor sharing itwith us, Gary's experiences are agood lesson for all of us ro keepin mind. It pays to watch for thosesneaky multiple ground paths,especially where very low-levelaudio circuits are concerned. Italso illustrates how every prob­lem (ho pefully) has a solutionwaiting to befound in a regimenof logical thinking and practicaltro ub leshooting approaches.Sleeping on it often helps, tool

Cleaning pots,••but notpans

From Richa rd Mea suresAG6K: "Noisy or intermittentfront-panel control potent iometers

hand, I decided to ge t 10 the bot­tom of the problem. First, I foundthat removing the metal box fromthe rad io stacking bracket {i.c.,simply ungrounding it from thevehicle's frame) eliminated mostof the noise. Inte res ting! Now,disconnect ing the unused radiosremoved all the rest of the annoy­ing whine. Even more interesting !It turns out that what I had donewas to connect all of the groundstogether inside the switchbox andthen ground them to the metalswitchbox itself, so that every­thing would be shielded from anysource of noise. So much for thatgreat idea! Instead , I now discon­nected all the grounds from eachother and from the box ground,and routed them through the ro­tary switch instead (fortunately, Ihad an ex tra set of contacts to doit). Now, none of the microphonecable grounds were connected tothe switchbox or to each other anylonger... and that turned out to bethe final cure.

" Here's what was happening:As we all learned in bas ic elec­tricity, electrons will lake any andall paths available to them to getto wherever they are going. Now

CIRCLE 268 ON REAOER SERVI CE CARD

"So much for that great idea!"

Good labels

From I'hil Salas AI>5X: "Forlabeling front panels on my horne­brew projects, I create a full -size

control act ion when the wintertempe ratures drop be low zero inthe northern nreas ofthe ("(m nlf Y.

often req uirin g this "de -gum­ming" sooner than home-basedequipment, Radio Shack™ nowsells several cleaning chemicalsthat can also be tried-some (I re"plastic-safe" as well (1.1' EPA-ap·proved, Another bra nd worthlooking lit i.f made by Caig Labo ­ratories of San Diego CA (800­224-4 /23 Of 6 /9 -451-1799), I tgoes under their brand name ofV euxl p M. V eox fT is a deoxidiz­ing solutio" th at deans. pre ­.1'('1"1'('.\' , lubricates and improvesconducnvnv, all ill one treatment.Using the procedure outlined byRich . however. will pretty wellassure you of getting the cleanerinto the right spor -s not ern)'­

where else that you don't want it

to be.'

Recycled t u b ing

upon te mperature and hu midity).Next, simply reinsta ll the bu lbback into the rad io from whenceit came, reassemble everyth ing,and turn it on. MyTM -241 A nowsports a nice pu mpkin-orange tinton its LCD, than ks to the newlyco lored bac kli ght. It ' s no tice­ably less distracting while driv­ing at night in a mostly darkenedpassenger co mpartment.

" A few precautions on th is pro­cedure shou ld he mentioned: Do1I0t co lor-tint any lamp larger insize than three watts, nor one thatnormally ge ts warmer than youwould he uh!c to touc h safelywhile in operation. I' ve had noproblems w ith the gra in-of-whea tbulbs used in radios, or with #47pilot lamps used as panel indica­tors, but automotive-type lamps(suc h as 1157) get much too hot.T he paint will flake off fro m thee xcess heat in j ust a short time,Also , lI e1'er ap ply this treatmentto any k ind o f haloge n lam p.Halogen hulhs must be meticu­lously f ree o f any fore ign sub­stances on their glass or they canshatter vio lentl y! The co lors thatI' ve found to work best arc #30-­Light Blue, #27- 0range, #26­Lemon and #2H-Light Red ,Note that lamps treated with the#30--Light Blue color will havea reduction of about 60 ,}(, in theirvis ible light output.

"I'd recommend us ing th is pro­cedure on glass bulbs o nly if youtry it on a ' throw-away' first. Plas­t ic -en capsul ated light devices,such as LEOs, might he chem i­ca lly attacked by the sol vent baseof the gl ass paint."

From Rob Boehm N8EX I":"The plastic tub ing used in hos­pitals and nursing ho mes can of­te n have app li ca bi li ty to ourhobby! The rippled hose used foroxygen transfer to a patient canoften he salvaged for u se as aplast ic conduit for running cablesin your ha m shack or pe rhaps ina mobile installat ion. The hosi ngcan he used as is, or slit with asharp knife along its length so thatwires and cab les can he tucked intoit and given additional protectionin harsh environments. Or maybeyou can just keep those wires andcables a little neater-looking forappeara nce 's sake...

Color me DEKA

From George Pr-imave r-aWA2RClJ: A tip for chang ing thehue o f incandesce nt lamps usedin radio LC D edge-lit displays,mete rs, d ia ls, an d many otherplaces: " f\.l y Kenwood T M-24 1A2-mete r rig ca me w ith the stan­dard edge-l it LCD display. Thefirst thing 1 not iced was that thewhite incandescent edge-li t LCDwas a bit dis tracting in the car atnight. even with the d ial dimmerturned down to the low back-lig htsetting. What it needed was acol­oration on the edge-light ing bulbsthat was mo re ni g ht - vi si o nfrie ndly! A tri p to our local artsupply store netted a variety ofcolored (but s till transparent)g lass p ain t bott les un de r t he'OEKA' brand name (made hy

Dccart USA, lnc.. Lamoille In­dustrial Park. Box 309. Morrisville,VT 05661). OEKA is a color base'paint' used hy artists to paint pic­tures on glass, but I fou nd that the'paint' cou ld also be usefu l foraddi ng a nice color-tint to them iniature inca nde scent lampsused in my 2-metcr rig.

"The procedure itself is veryeasy. First remove the bu lb(s) thatyo u want to co lor-t int, then gripthem hy their wire leads. using anall ig ator cl ip . W ith th e leadspointing up, dip the hulh di rec tlyinto the bottle of glass 'paint ,' tak­

ing care to not get any paint onthe wire leads themselves... thebul b should he dipped into thepa int up to about 3/4 of its length.

"Now touch the tip of the hulhto a clean piece of metal once ortwice to remove any excess pa intf rom the b ulbs tip -e nd, thenwed ge the alligator cl ip holding:the bulb under some heavy object(m in iat u re organizer drawe rswork well) to hold it in place, Thebulb sho u ld be suspended in' midair ' and all owed to dry over­night (ge nerally eight hours is theminimu m dryi ng time, depending

covering made by Confact1' ''' asa protective film for panel labelsand o ther paper surfaces thatl 've wanted to preserve [ romwear lind fear. It can be found illmost hardware and varietv stores .

on today's ham transceivers cansometimes make operation frus­trat ing instead of the joy it shouldbe. The reason for the intermit­ten t pots can often be traced to thegrease originally used to lubricatethe m becomi ng st ic ky andgu mmy with age and the effectsof oxidat ion. This in turn cau sesthe contact between the rotati ngwiper-arm and the resistance-filmto suffer, making poor or even no

contact at times."One cure is to stand the set up

on its back, using th ick paddingor the or iginal pack ing foam as aprotective cushion, and the n care­full y remove the knobs fro m theoffending controls. Us ing a sy­ringe with a small-gauge needl e,inject Te E dcgreaser down intothe clearance spaces next to theconcentric shafts of the pot or potsyou wish 10 cle an . Once thedegreaser has penetrated, rotatethe shafts back and for th a num­be r of times to work the cleanerin a nd to loo se n the g um mygrease , When the pot has beenthoroug hly 'exercised: inject a hitof GC Electro nic s deoxid iz ingcleaner or one of the other newerproducts that are now on the mar-

ket. The GC Electronics material from -panel sheet on my computercan be thinned with about 50% with all the label ing neatly done ,TCE to help it pene tra te down and then I print it a m on a laserinto the tiny clearance areas he - primer. I make the sheet slightlytween the pot's shafts if neces- sm aller than the front panel itself,sary. Caut ion: TeE is cons idered then cover it w ith clear shelf pa-to he ca rcinogenic and should he per lining ... with enough overlapused only in a wel l ve ntilated to hold it to the front panel. Thisarea, wi th tools an d hands thor- clear shclf pape r lining is very in-oughly cleaned afterward. Wear- ex pe nsive. You ca n buy a largeing disposable latex gloves will roll of it at most grocery stores,help to protect yo u even more ef- in the kitchen sundries section. forfec tivcly hy preventi ng ahsorp - about $3 or so . The switches. in-tion into the pores of your hands. d tcarors . connectors, and so forth

" Once you've completed the on the fro nt panel itself will con-procedure. turn the set hack o n tribute to holding the sheet firmlyand check for any further inter- in place. You could also applymttrent act ion in the cleaned po ts, some type of glue to the hack ofrepeat ing the operation if needed. the paper, although I' ve not reallyThis is a good deal quicke r and fou nd that to be necessary."less costly than replacing the Pv- Moderator 's note: 3W" alsote ntiometers, and should keep makes a ScotchH I brand double-the m work ing prope rl y for a stick tape that mav work ill COIl-

number of years to co me," junction with Phil's suggestion:Mo dera to r ·.f note: Pots on their No . 66 series tape. ami/able

equipment used in a mohile envi- in 1/10 .1'1 office supply stores, It's aronmellf may need this Irealmem clear-film type that 's adhesive oneven 1II0re frequently due 10 Ihe both sides, and small strips of ilrigors ofhe lit , cold, and dUSI that can be placed O il the back of thelire often present i ll a mobile areas where a wide expanse mightinstallation, In fact. e\'('11 [airly otherwise resun in huckling . Fvenew rigs will exhibit I'ery "SlijJ" also /I.H>(f the clear, self-adhesive

62 73 Amaleur Radio Today. May 1997

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the column will be reimbursed bya contributor 's fee of $1O. whichincludes its exclusive use by 73.We will attempt to respond to alllegitimate contrihutors' ideas in atimely manner. but please be sureto send all specific questions onany part icular tip to the ortgina­torof the idea, not to the column'smoderator nor 10 73. fa

Bob Boehm N!lEXF6821 Le Conte AvenueCincinnati OH 45230-2935

Note: The ideas and sugges ­tions contributed to this columnby its readers have no/ necessar­ily been tested by the column'smoderator nor by the staff of73.and thus no guarantee of opera­tional success is implied. Alwaysuse your own best judgment be­fore modifying any electronic itemfrom the orig inal equipmentmanufacturer 's specifications.Noresponsibility is implied by themoderator or 73 for any equip­ment damage or malfunction re­sultingfrom information suppliedin this column.

Please send all correspondencerel ating to thi s column to themoderator at the addre ss shownat top. All contributions used in

Gary Holoubck WB6GCT1961 Evergreen AvenueFullerton CA 92635

Richard L. Measures AG6K6455 La Cumbre RoadSomis CA 93066

"Halogen bulbs must be clean, or theywill shatter violentlyl"

A very special thanks to thismonth's contributors:

George Primavera WA2RCBR30 Park DriveCherry Hill NJ 08002Packet addre ss:[WA2RCB@ KE3cz.#EPA.PA,USA NOAMI

Phil Salas AD5X15 17 Creekside Dri veRichardson TX 7508 1

Murphy's Corollary: Everyonehas a foolproof scheme. It' s easyto spot... it' s usually the one thaiisn't working!

..Likewise. the smaller-diam­ete r plastic tu bing used forintravenous feeding. etc.• makesgreat insulated. protective tubingfor a numbcr ofham and etectroncapplications. I usea length of itovermy HF mobile whip antenna to actas a cushion between lite whippingantenna radiator and the paintedbody of my van. The thick plastictubing keeps the bouncing whipfrom marring the paint joh on thebackof my van very nicely. Goner­ally. these hospital throw-aways aremadeof good-quality plastic mate­rial and should last for a number ofyears of exposure to the extremesof weather and friction. Give it atry."

Moderator's note: I like Bob 'sidea . I saved some of the smalltubing f rom my own hospitalstay a number of yean OROand have used it in numerous

applications since that time .The len gths are usually longenough to protect a verticallyrising antenna wire from directcontact by the inquisitive fingersof neighborhood children (orpaws of pets), and you surelycan 't beat the price! [That maybe subject to debate .-Ed.j

CIRCLE 248 ON READE R SERVICE CARD

Communications Simplified,Part 17

Pete r A. Sta rk K20AWP.O. Box 209

Mt. Kisco NY 10549

Optical Fibers

As fiber optic cables fall in price.they are being used more andmore for communications. In a

nutshell, electrical sig nals arc convertedinto a light beam (possibly visible. butmore likely infrared) with an LED(light-emitting diode) or laser: the lightbeam IS sent through a fiber made ofglass or plastic; and then it's convertedback into an elec trical signal with a pbo­todiode or phototransistor. Th us the fi bercable simply replaces the copper wire.

The optical tiber. however. has a num­ber of features that make it superior forsome app lications. For one, its attenua­tion IS much, much lower than that ofcable. especially at high bandwidths. Itis entirely practical to send high-speeddata or analog signals some 30 to 40miles witho ut need ing to amplify orregenerate signals along the way.

Optical fibers also offer immunity toelectrical interference . They do not leakenergy outward , are extremely d ifficult

to tap, and do nOI accept interferencefrom other nearby signals. They arc alsoimmune to nearby lightning strikes, al­though this is sometimes compromisedby cables that contain both optical fibersas well as electrical conductors insidethe same cable.

Fiber optic cables can be made of ei­ther glass or plastic. A typical cable gen­erally looks like Fig. I , and consists ofthree parts :

a. The core is at the center. Made ofvery pure. clear glass or plastic. the corepasses the light beam from one end ofthe fibe r to the other.

b. The cladding is a second layer ofglass or plastic. wrapped around thecore. This layer is made of a slightly di f­ferent glass or plastic. one that lets lighttravel j ust a bit faster than the core.

c. The jacket covers the outside ofthe fi ber and protects it. In some fi bers.additional j acket layers, incl ud ingperhaps even metal shea thing , mayprovide add itional pro tect ion .

To understand how this works, imag­ine that we arc laying out an automobile

race course. In order to keep cars fromstraying off course. we construct it asshown in Fig . 2. In the middle is the racecourse itself. constructed of a verysmooth surface designed for minimumfriction . This is where we want each carto drive .

O n each side o f the rac ing lane weput a second lane made of a slightlyd iffere nt material. one which providesslight ly better traction. Thi s is labeledthe speed up lane in the figure . Finally,at the very edge. just in case a car getstoo far o ff course . we' ll put a layer ofsa nd (Q sto p it so it can' t wander backinto the course and get 10 someonee lse 's way.

So now look at car I. which has some­how gotten slightly off course. As soonas it enters the speedup lane. the leftwheels will have slightly better tractionthan the right wheels. so its left side willwind up traveling just a hit faster. Thi s isgo ing to turn it sligh tly to the right. so itgoes back onto the racing lane. Car 2. onthe other hand. is so far off course that ittoo will tum a hit to its right, but not

......

- - - - ...Speedup Lane (Cladding)

...Racing Lane (Core)

- - -

Speedup Lane (Cladding) ••..• •••- - - - .. -- -. . . . .- - - - -. . . - .

Q)

/ /iCore CladdingFig . 1. Optical fi,"r construction.

64 73 Amataur Radio Today. May 1997

Fig . 2. Ku ping a ra)" on track ,

~..-....'-JL 1

Fig. 6. Single-mode fiber.

73 Amateur Radio Today - May 1997 65

Fig. 5. Graded-index fiber.

apart. This limits the number of pu lsesthat can be sent per second. In otherwords. the bandwid th of the fiber de ­pends on its d ispersion. which in turndepe nds on its length-the greater thelength. the lower the bandwidth.

A graded-i ndex fiber (Fig. 5) is apartial sol ution to the problem. Ratherthan having a sudden cha nge in the in­dex of refraction be twee n the core andthe c ladding. the graded-inde x fiberhas a gradual c hange in the index . Th ishas two effec ts . First, it results in thelight rays gradua lly bending back to­ward the middle. rather than abruptl y"bounc ing" back and forth. This te ndsto gradua lly stra ighten out the lightpat h, causing more of the rays to travelalong low-order modes rather thanhigh-order paths. A more important ef­fect is caused by the fact tha t the indexof refraction is highest in the middle ofthe fiber. and gradually decreases asyou go outward . Light rays travelingtoward the edges of the fiber thereforemove faste r than those in the middle .Eve n though they tra vel a longer d is­tance. the faster speed let s them catchup with the lower mode ray s in thece nter. The result is less d ispersion .

Thc best sol ution to the d ispersionprob lem is with a single-mode fiber; afiber which has only a sing le possib lemode of lig ht transmission . Just as twoout-of-phase elec trical signa ls cancance l. so two out-of-phase light ray scan cancel. Because of th is interfer­ence effect, there are only certain spe­c ific light paths (modes) in a fiberwhic h arc possible; all others cancelout because of interference . If the coreis made thin enough. the only modethat is possible is the one stra ight­thro ugh mode in the middle . The re­sulting si ng le-mode fiber. shown In

Fig. 6. thus has much less d ispersionand there fore a higher bandwidth.

lal""

I _ro

The di fference is primari ly due to thefact that glass is clearer. and thereforesignificantly more light gets through thefi ber. Because of the loss of light, plasticfibers are only usable in short lengths ofa few hundred feet, whereas glass fi berscan be dozens of miles long.

Referring to Fig, 2. we can see that acar which goes straight down the corewill make better time than a car whichconstantly bounces from edge to edge .This is an extremely important conceptin optical fibers as well . because itde term ines the di spe rsion of light.

Fig . 3 shows a stepped-index ormulti-mode fiber. It is called stepped­index because there is a sudden c ha nge(mathe matic ians ca ll it a step) in theindex between the core and the clad­ding; it is called multi-mode because itpermi ts many modes. T he mode de­scri bes the path that a light beamtakes : a low-order mode is one thatgoes directly through. taki ng as fewbou nces as poss ib le . A high-o rde rmode is one that takes many bouncesbefore arriving at the fa r end. Obvi­ously. a high-order mode light raymust travel a greater distance to the farend. and so arrives later tha n a low-or­der light ray. If the light is pu lsed onand off, as show n at the le ft. the pu lsearrives at the far end spread out. asshown at the right. The term dispersiondescribes how spread out the pulse isat the output.

The amount of dispersion depends onthe length of the fiber. When a fiber isshort. the difference between a low-or­der path and a high-order path is fairlysmall. so the total d ispersion is fairlysmall as well . The longer the fiber. thegreater the difference in path length. andthere fore the greater the dispersion .

Fig. .l shows why dispersion is aproblem. Most fibe r optic cables arcused for d igita l signa ls; the band widthof such a cable depends on how manypulses ca n be sent per second. When afast series of such pu lses is se ntthrough the cable. dispersion spreadsout each pulse as shown. The pul sesthe n ove rlap, making it harder to prop­erly separate and detect them. Whendispersion makes adjacen t pulsesblend together too much. the only so­lut ion is to separate the pulses farther

Transmission modes

Combinedoutput signal

,~

"' '\.

{ ~Individual pulses

..~

-

Inputsignal

,~,

""

JL

Fig. J . Mul,j-mod~ fiber.

enough to return to the course. It willeventually get stuck in the sand. and thatwill keep it out of trouble.

Thus the speedup lane keeps the carsfrom straying off course, without any in­tervention un their part. You could al­most put a blindfolded driver into a car,and the course itself would keep him ontrack.

The optical fiber works exactly thesame way. The claddi ng is made from aglass that lets light travel just a bit fasterthan the core. In terms of physics, thecore has a slightly higher index of re­fraction than the cladding; this makeslight travel slightly more slowly in thecore than in the cladding. When a ray oflight tries to lea ve the core and enter thecladding. it is bent back just enough toreenter the core. If it's like car I , it re­turns to the core and keeps going. But ifit's like car 2. then it goes right throughthe cladding until it hits the jacket. andgets stopped.

It is important to realize that the pro­cess of "bouncing" off the cladding backinto the cure is not the same as reflectionoff a mirror. Reflection in a mirror al­ways loses a small amount, since no mir­ror is perfect. Refraction, as it is called.is 100% efficie nt-there is no light lostin the process . The on ly ligh t that islost is due to any im purities In theglass .

Fiber optic cables can actually bemade from either glass or plastic . Assuch. they come in three types :

-All glass is best. and most expensive.-All plastic is worst. but cheapest.-Plastic-clad silica (PCS) is a compro-

mise. where the core is qu artz-like formof glass called silica. but the cladding isplastic.

Fig. 4. Dispersion spreads pU/U 5.

You can understand . though. thai a also be quite thick . The thinner fi bers

very thin single-mode fiber will lei obviously must be much clearer to letthrough much less ligh t than a thicker through enoug h light.multi -mode O( graded-i ndex fiber. For

Attenuationthai reason. sing le-mode fiber gencr-ally requires a glass core Whi ch. be- The attenuation determines how longcause of its clarity. atte nuates the light a cable can be used before the signalless. Plas tic fi bers. on the o ther hand. becomes too small to be useful. It isarc usuall y thic ker to let through more

rated In dB of sig nal loss per kilo-ligh t. This Increases dispersion and rneter of length. The best glass fibersthus red uces their hand width. h ut thi sis not much o f a problem because their

have losses below 0.5 dB per kilo-meter. whereas some of the plastic Il-

ancnuanon IS so h igh that they can hers have losses of as much as 400 d Bonl y be used m shorter le ngths; at pe r krn.these lengths. di spersion is not us bad The be st g lass fibers are amaz inglyas it would be in "a)' long lengths. dear-a o-km length o f g lass si ngle-

Fiber charactertstlcs mode fiber, about 4 miles. wou ld havea loss of about 3 dB . To realize just

Let us next look at some charactcrls- ho w amazing this is. think o f a piece

tics of actua l fibe rs of various ki nds. of wi ndow glass 4 miles th ick. Wi th

listed in Table 1. ordinary glass. you probably wouldnot even be able to detec t light th rough

Core and cladding diameter it. With a fibe r, a 3-dB loss means that

Fiber diameters are g iven in urn o rhalf of the light entering it comes o utthe far side!

micromctcrs-c-l O" mete rs . To put thi s Even with 30- mile lengths (about 50into conte xt. note that a typical human km) of a good glass fiber, the loss is on lyhair is about 50 J.1m thick. so the thin- some 20 or so dB- a loss of 99% of thenest fibers are abou t 1110 of the thick- light power. but still within a reasonahleness of a hair. F iller dimensions arc range. Plastic fi bers. on (he othe r hand.usually stated as two numbers scpa- can have huge losses. At 400 dB per km.rated by a slas h: that is. a 50/ 125 fiber 20-dB loss would occur in about 1120has a 50-Jlm core di ameter and a km. or about 150 feet. Because of thisI 25-Jlm cladding d ia meter. high loss, the maximum usable length of

In ge nera l, the plastic fibers arc a plastic fibe r is a few hundred fcet-much thic ker than the glass fibers. al - long enough to go within a small building.though multi -mode g lass fi bers can but not much more .

Type Co re CladdingAttenuation BW

Diameter Diameter NA(dBlkm) MHz-km(urn) (gm}

S ingle mode glass 5 125 0.5 1000+ sma ll

8 125 0.4 1000+ s ma ll

Graded inde x glass 50 125 4 400 .20

63 125 7 250 .29

85 125 6 200 .26

100 140 5 20 .30

Multimode gla s s 200 380 6 25 .27

300 440 6 20 .27

Multimode PCS 200 550 10 15 .30

800 900 6 20 .30

Multimode plastic 980 1000 400 20 .50

Table 1. Optical fiber characteristics.

66 73 Amateur Radio Today - May 1997

It is interesting to compare fi ber at­te nuat iun with the attenuation in l:0P­

per cables. The attenuation of coppercables increases with the frequency ofthe signal. For ex ample. good qualityRG -S with a foam die lectric has about1.2 dB loss pe r !OO feet at 50 MHl .about 2 d B loss at 150 MH z. and 3 dBloss at about 300 MH z.

Let's look o nly at the loss at 50MH z, since tha t is cl ose to the 47.736MHl data rate of a T3 line. a commondata speed in optical fibers . Sincethere arc about 3300 fee t in a kilome­te r. a l -km len gth o f RG-8 would haveabout 40-d B loss at 50 MHl. Eveno ne of the bes t a nd most expen­sive coax cables (7/S ·inch-di ameterhard line ) wo uld have a loss o f 12 dBper km at 50 MHz. Compare th is withthe 0.5 dB per kilometer loss o f a goodg lass opt ica l fiber, and you can clearlysec the advantages of fib ers over longd istances.

Attenuation vs . frequency

As we just men tioned. the uttenua­tio n in copper cables depends greatlyon the freq uency. and there fore af­fects the bandwidth. As the fre­quency incre ases. the attenuation goesup very fast. and this greatly limits thehandwidth.

When talking about fi ber cables,however. we must he careful . becau sethere are two frequencies to co n­sider- thc frequency of the light(w hich actually desc ribes the light' sco lor). and the freq uency of the data(which describes how fast the light isturned o n and off in the case o f digitaldata. o r ho w fas t it s inte nsity c hangesin the case of analog data ). Rather thanuse freq uency, ho we ver. physici sts uscthe wavelength since it is easier to

measure (as you re me mber, the wave­length is the veloci ty di vided by thefreq uency. so it is easy to co nve rt back.and forth ). The wavelength is mea­sured in nano mete rs or nm (one nm is10·\1 me ters). and the co lors measureapproximately as follo ws :

- Ulrraviolet : sho rte r than 400 nm-Violct: -1-00--1-50 nm-B luc : 450-500 nm-Grecn : 500-570 nm-Ycllow: 570-590 nm-Orangc : 590-6 10 nm-Red : 6 10-750 nm

Wavclcn glll (nanUm"ln'S)

Fig. 7. Atten uation ufglass fiber.

-In frared: from about 750 to about1400 nm

(Ultraviolet and infrared wavelengthsarc also considered to be light, but theyare invisible to the eye.)

Light's wavelengths are so short thatthey arc greatly affected by molecularand atomic characteristics of materi­als. For example, Fig. 7 shows theatten uation of glass at various wave­lengths. We see that the attenuationvaries quite a bit with wavelength. Atvery short wavelengths (toward theleft of the graph), light transmission isaffecte d by individual atoms-the far­ther left you go, the greater the attenu­ation, so these wavelengths are notvery useful for opt ical fibers. Atlonger wave lengths (toward the right),light tra nsmission is affec ted by cer­lain combinations of atom s, and sothere arc spec ific waveleng ths that arehighly attenuated, while other nearbywavelengths get through with relativecase . As long as we stay away fromthese att enuat ion peaks, the red andinfra red wave lengths will work best.

Thi s is fortunate, becau se LEDs anddiode lasers are easier to build , moreeffic ient, and cheaper at infrared anddeep red colors. Glass fibers are gener­ally used with infrared light between790 and 1300 nm because that is wherethe attenuation is least. Plastic fibers,on the other hand, arc usually usedwith red light at about 650 nm.

Note that it is possible to send sev­eral different colors through a fibercable at the same time. as long as wechoose the colors wisely. Thus it IS

possible 10 send two or more differentsignals through the cable . Still, this isnot too common in longer cables, be­cause feeding two or more colorsources into the same fiber, and thenseparating them again with colored fil ­ters, introduces losses that limi t thedistance.

The attenuation o f vari ous colors isthus a separate topic from the conceptof signal bandwidth.

Signal bandwidth

The bandwid th of a fiber is relatedto how fast we can turn a beam on andoff, or more likely, how fast we canchange its brightness (because even indigital applications, the beam is usu­ally switched between bright and dim.rather than between bright and off) .

This speed is determined by twofactors: the speed at which the lightsources and detec tors can work, andthe dispersion in the fiber itself.

As we showed in Fig. 4, dispersionmakes adj acent pulses blend together;they therefore have to be separa tedfarther apart.

Since the dispersion increases withthe length of a fiber, the pulse rate fora given fiber is inversely proportionalto the distance. If the length (in km) islarge, the frequency at which we canswi tch the beam (in MHz) is small .and vice versa . The prod uct of theseIWO quantities is there fore fairly con­stant for a given fiber. and is givenin "MHz times km" or Mlfz-km. Thisnumber is listed in the bandwidthcolumn of Table 1.

For example. the bandwidth forsingle-mode glass fiber is shown as1000+ Ml-lz-km (the + means that it is1000 or greater). Assuming a value ofan even 1000, a I-km length of fiberwould have a bandw idth of 1000 MHz;a tu-km length would work up to 100MHz; and so on.

Co mpared with 1000+, the rating of20 Mlfz-km for multi-mode plastic fi­ber looks awful. .. until we put it intocontext. Remember that, because of itsattenuation, plastic fiber is limited to asmall frac tion of a kilometer. For in­stance, consider a plastic fiber 1/20 kmlong; at that length, the bandwidth isstill a respectable 400 MHz (since 400MHz times 1/20 km is 20 Mllz-km).Thus plastic fiber can also be used forhigh bandw idths, but clearl y only forshort distances .

This helps to explain why no onebothers to make single-mode plastic fi­bers- there is simply no way to takeadvantage of the lower di spersion thatthis would provide.

Fig. 8. Numerical aperture with cone ofacceptance.

NA or numerical aperture

The last column in Ta ble 1 shows thenumerical aperture for various fi bers.The meaning of this measurement IS

show n in Fig. 8.The dark line at the left in the figure

shows a lig ht ray which comes into thefiber at such a steep angle thaL it hit sthe cladding and stays there; it doesnot "bounce" off it back into the core.Clearly such a light ray is nOI goingto make it 10 the far end. Furthermore,any other light ray that is at that angleor more will not make it througheither.

The result is that there is what wecall an angle of accep tance q, whichdefines the cone shown in Fig. 8. Lightconung 10 within that cone will betransmitted through the cable; lightcoming outside that cone will not. Thelight coming out the far end of a fiberwill generally come out In a coneof the same angle, though 10 somecases the higher-order light modes canbe attenuated in a longer fiber. withthe res ult that the light comes nul in anarrower cone.

The numerical aperture NA is simplythe sine of the angle q, namely

numerical aperture NA = sin q

From Table 1, we see that the NA isbetween 0.2 and 0.3 for most of the fi­bers shown, corresponding to angles qof 12 to 18 degrees. Multi-mode plas­tic fiber 's NA of 0 .5 corresponds to 30degrees, while single-mode glass fiberhas acceptance angles of less than 10degrees.

The NA is important when matchinga fiber to the light source or light de­tector, or when connecting two fiberstogether. For example, a plain lightbulb would be a very bad light sourcefor a fiber, since its light comes from alarge area , most of which would beoutside the angle of acceptance. tli!I

73 Amateur Radio Today· May 1997 67

Numw 68 on I'our FHd~1r urtJ

2m Self-Supporting Delta LoopSo simple-and perfect for apartment dwellers.

Thomas M. Hart AD1B54 Hennaine Ave.

Dedham MA 02026

WhilC sitting on the couch,reading the newspaper, andlistening to some local 2m re­

peaters on my handie-talkie, I decidedmy signal needed some additionalpunch. The handle-talkie with three-inchantenna was not producing anythingnear the desired "dead full quieting" oncertain local machines when it was mytum to comment. Buy an amp? Resur­rect that S/8-wavelength whip? Bothof these were unalluring prospects forreasons of cost and ergonomics . Mythoughts turned to something different.

Pholo A shows a full-wave delta loopfor 2m that can be deployed when ncededor folded up and stored at other times. Theloop is self-supporting, fed with 5O-ohmcoax, and olTers an excellent SWR. Thewoodworking tools required are simple;tunc up is easy; and it travels well.The de­sign is for vertical polarization. the nonnon 2m f1\.1 work.

The materials for the frame include aIz-Inch-wide pine board, two So-inchdowels of II2-inch diameter, a bolt withwing nut, and a spring-loaded clothespin.The wire used in the element is RadioSheckt» hookup wire fed by an 50-239fitting. An appropriate length of coax isused to connect to the rig.

My only test instrument was a RadioShack 2m 5WR meter. The final tunc-upassembly eliminates the traditional "cut.cut. cut. oops-too short" method in favor

.' '.. .

.'. ...-.. r...IInotMll ..... • 1.. ...

. ...... ..... . '.:.' .....\:..~tI : ..::_:.::".'.: ',.-

..

...

Photo A. 2m self-supporting delta loop .

after the addition of hardware and finalshaping.

The loop has worked very nicely for me.I stand it in the middle of the floor andhave no trouble working all I can reason­ably hear. Recently, it was interesting topick up a signal from a repeater located onLong Island. By rotating the loop, I wasable to bring the signal up 10 a very reason­able level. I could not work thai repeaterbecause the local machine would come onand cover up Long Island. I was impressedby the directivity of a single loop. how­ever. This self-supporting loop ha.s workedvery well and is a simple alternative (0

running higher transmitter power. Ell

•_.u,.- '._ . Iia.. • 1

Fig. 1. Soft....art' analysis. A:.imulh plot of fieldstrength by Ermec software program . Gain is shownperpendicular 10 plane of loop .

,:-_-----...........- .--~

... ...,..­_....-

,.

.~,,-Fig. I . Construction details .

68 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

Num_ 6 9 on yow~bac/c CNd

Home-BrewTransistor/Diode Tester

Not just blinking lights and weird noises .

Henry L. BowmanRt. 1, Box A-190

Parsons TN 38363

Although I'm not a radio amateur,I enjoy reading each new issueof 73 Amateur Radio Today.

Unlike other electronic magazines,which offer construction projects withsilly blinking lights and weird noises, 73provides useful projects that are well

worth the time and effort to build. I builtJ. Frank Brumbaugh's Capacity Meter(March 1996) and have found it to beone of my most useful test sets.

I have always needed a hctter methodto identi fy and test transistors, but Ididn't want to invest a lot of money in

commercial test equipment. I decided tobuild my own tester. The test set de­scribed here is designed for out-of-cir­cui t testing, uses two ICs (only I if youuse the dual 556 timer), and can he builtin an afternoon. It will automaticallyidentify transistors for NPN or PNP type

T1~0(}8 ohm

VR'I Meg Pitch

Cl

I I"""

MI

- '-' - 8 0= ~ C3

C4 _ L

- 555 - 0.1 J.1 F .05 . " =r:DI ,*- 11"914

Ie R7 lOt>.- -- - 5 S3 ~TeM Leads • B ' C '

With C lipsE

-";0Speaker

( @ l£D' ~LED3

tI" "1':';- -1"PN'"

ifR2 JIr,; +9

VRI10k

s 4 Gain

R5+9 Supply

52 7 +9 4.7k"" IC I

~+>55 3

3 0 s 4, r 6 R6220 Rl 470 -=- BT l, 5

-=- 9VI := IC' 7

1R4

,555C''60' .OIJ.1 F 6 l£DI ~..... 3~ I ,,.

--+

I

R3520

I

4

Fig . 1. The transistor/diode test set schematic. 52 positions: ( I, diode test; (2) transis tor test/identify; (3) freeze last pulse ,

73 Amateur Radio tcaev » May 1997 69

as well as give you a relative indicationof gain. In audio mode. unmarked tran­sister leads can be identified Diodesalso can be checked for shorts. opensand polarity.

Operation

SUTC to usc red . instead o f ye llow org reen. because they are usually (butnot always ) rated for highe r curren t.During no rma l ope ration. with a Ira n­sister con nec ted for tes t, the total testse t curre nt drain is approxi mate ly 30milli amps.

After assembly is completed and thetest set is connected to a 9-vo ll ba ttery,p lace the selec tor sw itch in positio n 2and turn power switch S I on . LEO Isho uld light. indicating power has beenturned o n. Usi ng an analog voltmeter.place the vo ltmeter leads across the col­lector and em itter test leads. Wilhthe gai n potentiometer (VR I) turnedful ly clock wise (all res istance o ut). youshould sec the vo ltmeter indicate ap­proximately 6 volts for a second. then apo larity reversal d uring the next second.then the cycle repeated o ver again . If novoltage is o bserved. move the vo ltmeterblack lead 10 ground (negative) and con­nect the red lead to pin 3 of IC I. If apu lsing voltage is obser....cd. mo ve to pin3 o f IC2 and also check for voltage. Re­c heck all wiring and rcplace ICs if nec­essary. Afler the problem is located andcorrected. return to (he collector andemitter test po ints an d recheck foralternating voltage. Change the selectorswitch 52 to position 3. The voltagesho uld remain constant fro m the lastp ulse. an d you may ha ve to reverse yo urmeter leads 10 verify. Cha nge the sclec­lor switch 52 to position I and veri fythat ccllcctor-cmiuer voltage drops toappro ximately 2- 3 volts. This is becauseo f the rapid reversals ( 100 cps) tha t arcOCCUlTing; the meter is only providing anaverage readi ng.

Connect a kno wn good NPN- or PNP­type trans is tur 10 the three rest leads,turn switch 5 I to po sition 2 an d tum onthe power. T he LED indicating the cor­rect tran si sto r type should li gh t fo r ap­pro ximately l -sccond intervals and thesecond LED should remai n unli t Ifswi tch 53 is in the "audio" position, anaud ible tone should be heard from thespeaker each lime the LED lights. To"freeze" the p ulse. switch S2 10 po sition3 j ust as the LED ligh ts. Adj usting VR2will change the pitch o f the tone and alsohave an effect on gain. Throw switch 53

use of sockets. All resistors. capacitors.transformer T I and Ihe 9-voll batte rywere mounted on the pc rfboard; thercmainder of the components were mount­cd on the faceplate. Parts locations arcnot critical. For the test set faceplate, Icut out a five- by seven-inch pane l fromscrap alumi num and dri lled o ut holesfor the pots, swi tches. meter. LEOsand tes t leads. Four 118· inc h holeswere drilled in the m idsection to allo waud io from the spea ke r. T he al uminumpanel just fit a small metal enclosure Ihad in my j unk box. A plastic cabinetwith alumi num faceplate is availablefrom Rad io Shack" and gives anyhomemade lest set a professional look. Iused color-coded c1ip-on test leads forIhe emitter, base and collector connec­tion s. These leads have alligator clips onboth ends and are also available fromRadio Shack. I cut the cl ips o il" a t oneend and so ldered the cui ends to theproper components on the pcrfboard andfaceplate. then installed a rubbe r grom­met in the faceplate ho le for the testleads, and the n ran all three leadsthrough the same hole . I placed a smallnylon cable tie around the test leads onthe inner s ide of the faceplate for strai nrelief; you may prefer 10 use a largerfaceplate and mount several types oftransistor sockets. wired in parallel. toprovid e test co nnections .

I salvaged the meter from a d iscardedstereo amplifier, bu t an y 150-200 micro­amp meter should work nicely. I havealso had good luck with 50 microvoltfull- scale meters for aud io level usc. The5D--microvolt meter is intended to be par­alle led wit h a high.-currenl shunt bar,and telep ho ne compa nies usuall y re­place these meters when increasing theirpo wer distrihution capaci ty. If you knowsomeone who works with te lephoneSWitching eq uipment. they may donateo ne that was removed fro m their powerboards after an upgrade. If yo u areunable to locale a 3·positio n selectorswitch, you can use an SPOT sw itch tochange the pulse rate, and add an SPSTswitch in ser ies, between C I an d pins 6and 2 of IC I. to open the RC ne tworkand stop the pulse.

The LED indicators LED2 and LED3sho uld be capa ble o f 50 milliamps o fforward current in case a sho rted transis­tor is con nec ted for test ing. If you intendto usc LEOs fou nd in your j unk box, andarc unsure o f their current capacity, he

C ircuit description

Fig. J provides the sche rnanc diagramo f the transistor rester set. IC I and IC2are both 555 timers and their o utputs arccapable of sourcing o r s inking up to 150milliamps of current. IC I is connected<IS an astuble multi vihratnr and the out­p ut clock rate is depe ndent upon the va l­ues of C I. R2 and Ihe setting of selectorswitch 52. The o utput clock from ICI isconnected to the trigger input of IC2 andalso counce..ted to one side of variablerheostat VR I . IC2 is wired as an inverterand simp ly pro vides a complementaryoutput. o f IC I . 10 the other s ide o f VR I .

Whe n the selector switch is in position Ior 2. the DC voltagc on the two 555timer o utpu t pins is continually revers ­ing in polari ty and similar to a flip- flopin operation. Whe n the selector switch ismoved (0 po sition 3. the RC networkof IC I is disconncclcd so that the lastoutput voltage pu lse remains co nstant.

The wiper arm of VR I pro vides an ad ­justablc vohagc, in series with LED Iand LED2. to an os,.. illator circuit, whichdepends upon the transis tor under tes tfor oscillalion. If a known good N PNtransistor is correctly connected to leadsE. B and C and the selecto r switch is setfor posit ion 2. the NPN LED sho uldlight for approx imately one seco nd. re­main off for one second and repeat thecycle. During the p ulse period that theLED is lit, the transistor will o scillate asindicated by a tone from the speake r oran output indication on the meter, de­pending upo n the scuing of switch 53.If the NPN LED ligh ts o n one p ulseand the PN P LED lights on the nextpulse. then Ihe tran sistor sho uld becons idered faulty. R6 provides cur­rent limiti ng to the LEOs. if a sho rtedrruns is tor were inserted . VR2 providestone p itch cont ro l and a lso has ane ffe ct o n transistor gain.

Circuit construction

I built the circuit on pe rfboard us ingtwo 8-pin wircwrap Ie sockets to mo untthe 555 timers. If a low wattage so lder­ing iro n is used . wiring can bc so lde reddirectly 10 the IC pins. eli mina ting the70 73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997

Parts List TUIS IS ITI Iv

O~-~/LqTM1

NE555 IC timer orIC1, IC2NTE955M

(2) a-pin IC socket"We're sure you're aware of the backbreaking work involved in

> uncoupling tower sections which have stood for only a few years.Now comes "Tower-Jack," the ~reatest tool you'll ever need for

A1 470n 1/2W) assembling and disassembling Ro n 20, 25, 4S or S5 lower seeuons.

G, You'll nnd It a SO? with "Tower-Jack:'

A2 1000n 1/4WSend check or MO for 39 plus $5.50 S&H to:

n ..A ~ TMA3 520n 1I4W r .o. .." .:13::11. ___ ."'ee. LA 70884·232 •

A4 160k 1/4W.....atorm.tIon" Call (5M) 9 :1. · 7 7 08

AaII. about __ other pt'Oducte. DtaIcn inrited.

A5 4.7k 1/4W CIRCLE 30 ON READER SERVICE CARD

A6 220n 1/2W

A7 10k 1I4W from audio to meter. The meter should the collector and inserting the milliam-indicate an output level when the LED meter in the center of the bridge. The

VA110k variable rheostat lights. If the meter that you used pegs bridge diodes will route the current in

linear taper out with every transistor tested, you may the same direction through the meter

1 megohm variab lehave to install a 5Dk potentiometer in se- regardless of whether an NPN or PNP

VA2 ries with the meter to adjust sensitivity. transisto r is being tested. The dioderheostat linear taper It would be a good idea to check both bridge will cause an additional voltage

S1 SPST toggle switchNPN- and PNP-type transistors before drop of approximately 1.4 volts andcontin uing. To cheek a diode, simply this will affect the gain of the test set.

S2 3-position rotary switch connect the emitter and collector test In order to compensate for this, youleads to the diode and switch S2 to posi- may want to increase the power supply

S3 SPDT toggle switch tion 1. A good diode will light only 1 voltage to 12 volts. The 555 timers can

10l'F 16V electroiyticLED, while a shorted one will light both. safely handle the voltage increase. Do

C1 Neither LED will light if the diode is not use a 12-volt supply unless you in-

C2 .011'F disc ceramicopen . tend to add resistance of some type in

the collector-emitter test circuitry to

C3 0.1~F disc ceramicGoing further compensate . The higher voltage can

Experimenting with different types of cause the transistor, under test, toC4 .05~F disc ceramic break down with reversed voltagetransistors will quickly get you familiar

Audio transformer with the test set. You can rapidly sort (avalanche current) and both LEDs

T1 will light providing a false indication400VCT: an" transistors for types and discard defee-

that the transistor is shorted.rive ones found in your junk box. YouAnother alternative, to measure cur-

M1 Meter 150-200!JA will be able to identify leads on un-rent, is to add a loo-ohm resistor in se-marked transistors because the transistor

an mini-type speaker will only oscillate when properly con- ries with the collector lead and use the

neeted. I noticed that some horizontal measured voltage drop across this resis-LED 1,

NTE3007 or equivalent output power transistors caused both tor to calculate the current. For example,2,3 if the measured voltage across the resis-LEDs to light during testing, even

D1 Diode 1N914 though they would oscillate and provide tor is 1.5 volts, then use Ohm's lawto determine the current: I = EJR ora good output on the meter. After

(3) Test leads w/all igator clips checking the specifications for these 1.5 voltsJ l00 ohms = .0 15 amp or 15

transistors, I found that they were manu- milliamps. The base current can also be

Bn 9V batttery factured with an internal damping diode calculated by measuring the voltage

Snap-on connector for batterywhich made the transistor appear to be drop across the 10k resistor R7 . The Hfe,

shorted! or gain, of the transistor can be calcu-

Case· You might want to consider adding a lated by the formula Hfe = Ic/lb where Ie

milliammeter in series with the collec- equals collector current and Ib equals

Perlboard" tor test lead to measure the current base current.

of the transistor under test. To main- I hope that this transistor/diode test(3) Pointer-type knobs tain the correct current polarity to set proves to be a val uable part of your

• Available at Aadio Shack" the meter will require installing a test gear. If you find a modification that

bridge rectifier circuit in series with enhances it. I'd like to hear from you!1iI73 Amateur RadiO Today · May 1997 71

Number 72 on Yf;lur FfHldbllck card

Marc I. Leavey, M.D., WA3AJRP. O. Box 473Stevenson MD 21153

RITV LOOPAmateur Radio Teletype

With the recen t demise ofAEA , as repon ed in this co lumna hit ago, W~ arc beginning tosee more unanswered questionsabout some of their products.

Such a question comes fromWell , about all that comes to Ch ris Ciesl ak AA 9H D , who

mind is that wonderful o ld song writes: " I've been using RTTYwhic h goes , " T hough April now since last su mmer. sta rtingshowers may come your way I with the HamComm circuit andthey bring t he fl owe rs t hat recently graduati ng to a usedbloom in May." While we have PK -232 bought at the localhad our share of prec ipitation hamfest. (The first time I usedhere in the mid-Atlantic stales, it after replacing a few parts andbloomi ng here a t WA3AJ R cl eaning it up was the RTT Yare your quest ions, and what Roundup- talk about tri a l byquestions they arc! This mont h fire! ) 1 have one question: Dobrings a pack of real problems . you kno w of a ny home-

r II start with one from Wayne brewab le scope-style tuning cir-Grove K9SLQ, who writes that cuits for the PK· 232, which hashe recently uncovered his Model outputs on the back for a scope?28 in the garage, picked up a The tuning indicator on the fronttape recorder and T U, fired the is nice, but I' ve always liked thesucke r up and enjoyed t he cros s displayed on a scope .

I kno w I coul d use a n ol dsounds ag ain from th e or 28.Well , his quest ion is, "Where hamfest scope, but my limitedcan I find some of the old PIX shack space and sense of aes -we used to send in file form? I thetics requ ires something a bit

smaller."com bed your articles but could

Well , Chris , I' m afra id thatnot find any mention of the PIX

the short answer is "no." 1 havein the 'Good 01 ' Days ' ."

seen a few circu its in the pastWell , Wayne, several years

fo r LED ~type display boards,ago 1 ra n an entire feature on

but these were years ago, andTTY pictu res, some of them

re lat ive ly clum sy by tod ay ' squ ite complicated. In fact, it standa rds. I would not be sur­see ms to me that for some years prised , though, if some reader ofthere was a competition on the th is column has not already putair to see wh o could co me together such a de vice. If 1 hearup with the most creative pic- about it. I' ll print it for all toture . Some o f them were benefit.very creative, indeed! Unfortu- Anot he r ABA use r, Ronnately, with the onslaught of Modes te N3A l-I D, bought ancomputer terminal s, many of AEA CP-I at a local hamfest,which sported a diffe rent line and is looking for a way to copylength than teleprinters, and few RlTY or CW with an IBM-styleof wh ich co uld back scroll to computer with this de vice, de­view tra ns mitted pictures, it signed for the C-64. Well , Ron ,seems to have gone out of while 1 have printed a lot on thevogue . I have asked severa l C P- l over the years, never hastimes here in th e column for anyone wr itten with a conncc­submis sions, and have recei ved tion scheme for the PC. Some­none. So, unless you happe n to how, 1 feel this is posvihle, butrun across someone with a good not having access {Q a CP-! norcollec tion of old paper tapes, I fu ll doc umentation, 1 am loatham afraid that this may well be 10 suggest a way. If any of ourone area where the computer is readers have done it, I' m surejust not as much fun as an old we will both hear about it, realmechanical printer. soon!

72 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

Not sat isfied with one ques­t ion , C hris Ciesl ak A A9 H Dadds:

"Oh. OK. One more question .Have you heard anything abou tusing the ICOM 728 for RTTY ?I' ve been us ing it fu ll powe rfor a while and while it' s got­te n quite warm, it wasn't hotenough to burn or anything. Themanual ment ions nothi ng proor con on ke ydo wn RTT Y.QST says the radio was barelywarm after se ve ra l minuteso f keyd own fu ll powe r, butwhat about repeated use? l loveRTIY and operate it more thanany th ing else (except maybeSSTV) so I' d hate to ha ve toturn the power down."

While I have not heard anyspecific information about theICOM 728 , in general , mostmodern rigs should not be runwi de ope n, ke y dow n, forany len gth of time. 1 hear youabout getting only barely war m,bu t that's on the outside . Whoknow s how warm it is at theco mponent leve l? I' d play it abi t safer and back the powerdown a notch. After all, in thescheme of th ings it may only bea decibel o r so difference on theair, versus a decade or so life ofthe equi pme nt. I'm o pen, ofcourse , for com ments on thisone, as well!

Ford A. Pe te rson N0 0 QWwri tes t ha t he i s look in gfor so ftwa re to ru n his HALCommunications ST-6000. Heind ic at es tha t an old prog ­ram, HAMRTTY, worked well,whereas the newer Hamcommprogram does no t co mpare . Hewonde rs whi ch of the ne we rcrop can usc all of the featuresof the ST-6000.

Well , Fo rd , my experi e ncewith HAL dev ices ende d withthe ST-6, I' m afraid . [...Why areyou afraid, Dave?] 1 do recallt hat t he ST-6000 ha d somegizzies that took it head andshoulde rs abo ve other de modu­lators of its time, but although Ilooked through so me of thepac kages in the RTT Y LoopSoftware Collection, I did notsee any which specifically men­tioned the ST-6000. I would beinterested in any reader' s ex pe­rience with this TV in modernsys tems.

Of course, things can get toomodern ! A while bac k we weretalking about usi ng vario ussound cards on RTTY, and TomPetruzze ll i WA2ANG is "st illlooking for any programs thatuse the Soundblastcr card forsending or recei ving RTTY andlor CWo Do you know of anysoftware either co m mercial,freeware or share ware'?"

Well , Tom, while I was notable to find any RlTY programfor the Soundblaster card, I haveloca ted a progra m calle dSSTV BL.ZI P, wh ic h al lowsslow scan television with acomputer, Quick-Cam camera,a nd Soundb laster card . I' vea lso found a pro gram ca lledSB PMO RSE.Z IP whic h is aMorse co de re ader using themic rophone input of the Sound­blas te r card. I don't know ifthese will run with "compatible"sound cards, as they both list theSo undblas ter by name as theaudio card of choice. I will beputti ng both of these programsonto a disk in the RTTY LoopSoftware Collection. See detailsbe low for how you can obtainany or all of these programs foryourse lf.

While some of the fol ks men­tioned above have been tryingto get C·64 hardw are, like theC P- I . to run with PCs, Je rryOlson WB0 AAC says that he islooking for software to interfacehis Commodore C-64 com puterwith the Kantronics UTU de­modu lator, for runn ing RTTY,AMTO R, or CW. Again, I can'tsee why it shouldn' t work, if theco nnections can be put together.Anybody?

I have mentioned the RTTYLoop So ftw are Collectionabove. The listing of this coll ec ­tion, over fiftee n disks of RlTYprograms for DOS and Windowsoperat ing sys tems, is detailed onthe RlTY Loop Home Page , onthe Web at : http://www2.arLnetlaj r/rtt yl o r you may obtain itby sen ding a self-addressed,sta mped enve lope to the aboveaddre s s. Next mont h, 1 havea ne w offering fro m overseas,wh ic h re prese nts a un iq uemerger of two ends of this crazyhobby. Intrigued ? Don't missnext month's RTTY Loop ! fa

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73Amateul Radio Today · May 1997 73

+--x...... '\.Main.....011. ..i",h

11'.... 11

..,~

'"'Wre, i, l< ..

relay. T he d iode is connec ted insencs with the DC·rclay maincoi l. Thi s ci rcu it (d iod e andrel a y coil) is co n nec ted be­tw een th e main DC power inputand grou nd . with the main DCpo wer to th e c ircu its it is go­109 to prot ect passing throughnormal ly-open rel ay contacts .

when correct pola rity is ap­plied. the relay operates and itscontacts close. applying the cor­rec t-pol arity DC through to theCircuit toe ing protected. What hap­pens if reversed-polarit y DC isconnected to this same protect ionCircu it? T he d iode in series withthe relay coi l will nol allow rc­versed current to n ow to opera tethe re lay coil. It will pre vent thereversed battery from operatingthe relay co il and save the equip­me nt from possible dcsuu cuon.See Fi~ , 3 for detai ls .

Do Iw ttestthis c ircui t and me­chanically operate thi s re lay, asyou will destroy the circuit youarc t rying to protect. l.e t the DCvoltage operate the relay when thepolari ty is proper, Remember. theprotecti on ci rc uit " Ill he o ver­come toy ma nual inte rventi on ifso meone pushes th e relay andd oses its contacts. Just don 't tryto force its opera t ion.

These modificat ions are quiresimple-c-but don't rush into theproj ect thinking it' s a cmcb. Takecare even when doing an easyproject, and don' t he ovcrconfi­dcr u. That's when simple projectscan become easy miscalculat ions.Th in" it out and ver ify everythingwuh an ohmmeter III be sure o fj us t what you are doing. And heaw a re t hat (//1\' mod ific ationmight vo id yo ur warranty o n anew un it.

r<~ )11( ' b .,l-t-O

' A.A ' :,·~II , -

,-------<0 "..".-Sbin..,,'"."ill;h

(internal to the power connectorsocke t), and the bouorn left oneis the center co nnector or +DCvoltage. The +OC co nnection alsobas a wide trace going to the on/olfswitc h center connector, Th is tracewill be cu t and replaced with a rec­

tille r diode for polarity protection.This diode will not protect the

:"iCds from reverse charging, hutwill pro tec t the electronic cir­cuitry o f tbc ~IFJ SW R meter. Toprotect the NiCds from reverseCharg ing, add anothe r rect ifierdiode in series with the a-ohmresistor connecting d iode cathodeto ground. Currcn t-nmumg I S

done by the -t-ohm j -watt rests­tor that tics the grou nd a ndsw itc hed g rou nd togethe r a sshown in Fi~ , 2.

Consult . 'ig, 2 fo r a brief sche­mat ic of the standard circuit be­fore and afte r modification. Youcan use thi s as a guide to "ohm­meter o ut " the exact po ints o fmodification fro m the power con­ncct or to so rt o f test it prior tomodificat ion-c-just to be sure youand J are tal king about the samecon nec tions and don't have anyIII lsundc rsmnding .

I have to tell you that operationwith f'\ iCds (8 each) wi ll produce

about 10 vol ts, The protect ion di­ode will drop that voltage 10 9 .3volts for feeding the meter cir­cuus. T his is su fficie nt 10 operatethe meter, to ut if you arc a puristth ere IS a mo re so ph ist ic a tedmete r pola rity c ircuit that ) '0\.1 caninstall. Normall y this circuit IS

reserved for s itua tio ns that can'twithstand a protection diode andits associated voltage drop,

The no-voltage-d rop c ircuit isaccornpfishcd by add ing 10 th eorigina l c ircuit a d iode and DC

Se vera l cautionary notes needto he observed when making amodifi cat ion like this. The para­mount thi ng is to make the exter­na l connection idintproof. xtakethe mod ificat io n impervious tore ve rse-connected DC power,wrong polarity connec ted, nothinghappcns-,-a great insurance policythat provides a great deal of pro­tcction for the cost of a small d ioderectifier like a I f'\.uJ02,

The last thing you would wantis to connect po wer and destroythis SWR mete r. My garage is lit­tered with carcasses of car stereosand other toys that were re wiredfor liulc experiments, only 10 hesubj ected to momentary loss ofsanity (polarity) and q uick de­st ruc tio n. If you do so methinglike thi s modification, please takethe time to do it r ight. The modi­ficatio n has to account for ( I) re­versed polarity; (2) supplying at rickle charge to th e :-.IiCds in­stead ofa fast o ne; and (3) re tain­ing the origina l exte rnal powerconnection to keep the unit's orig i­nal appearance. See .'i~ , I for theoriginal power connections circuitand how il wa... modified with ill­temal l'\ iCds to acco mm odate thenew charging opt ions.

I hav e oriented the ~'C board toshow the unit foce down and w iththe hack cover removed . I placedthe UIIF co nnector up, or at 12o 'clock . Note the connec tor forexterna l power and its three sol­der tabs. The top co nnector IS

common hoard ground , the one atlower right is switched to ground

I"....... M ·oI l1..."",

~llll " .11-,-_ -'"3...... •..,..,." '"!'-.uv .....' "'*' 6. aid "'It d--~-

+} ', - ,

r1i~;" Lj" 00 0, . . . , .

VHF and Above Operation

Fig , I . PC board prior 10 modif ications. anduftcr modifications with DCpo/aril.'" protectionand NiCd -t-ohm current-Iiminng resistor added.

74 73 Amateur RadiO Today · May 1997

,- . . "

I......, ;--' : .

, ; ;.00

o00".­

~.,.,....] ........ 11.....,

....1.. 1111 .. ·1>-_ -'.-L·V · .. \ · ......

RBonE I} BEVOND

Modifications to theMFJ-2591219SWRAnalyzers

I just hate 10 tum on a piece oflest equipment and find the bat­tcncs dead , I would ra the r havethe batteries d ischarged and re­charge them than have to purchasea replacement set of alkaline bat­tcrics. Considering th e curre ntprice for alkalincs and the cost ofl'\iCds , the luncr become very at­

rracnve-ccspcctatt y after youpurchase your second set of theformer. The trick here, though. isthat the bauery connector on theMFJ-259 SW R an alyzer is fo r anexte rnal battery. when an exter­nal batte ry is connected. it d iscon­nects the internal alkaline pad ..

I had 10 modify th is operationso that I cou ld use e xter nal hat ­tcrics if I wa nted 10, as well ascharge an inte rnal K iCd pack.These modificanons were to he

made in suc h a manner that the~FJ - 259 was protec ted fro m re­verse voltage and its hasit,.' ope ra­tion not a ffec ted. The probl emhere was that the origi nal counce­tor. when hooked to an ex te rnalbattery, cut oil the ground counce­tion to the orig inal internal batterypack. wh en inMall ing f'\ iCd-;, avoidthis by shunt ing around the switchwith the current-limi ting resistor.

C. L. Houghton WB6IGPSan Diego Microwave Group6345 Badger Lake AveSan Diego CA 921 19(dhough@aol.comj

, , , , . , , , .., .., , , , . , ,

Fig, 3, Alternate no-voltage-drop re,·ersecl-I·olrage-pm tection <"ircuitusing II DC relay lind a small diode rectifier. Relay will not operlltl'unless the polarit), is pmitin' on the input lead , which then closesthe retav contacts. Select a retav with contacts that will carrv the. . .amperage of the unit yo/( are tryin f: 10 protect,

I cons tructed my -t-ohm z-wanresistors o ut of two z-ohm units;wrapped them in heat shrink toinsulate them: and then formedthe leads and soldered them to thePC board.

The OC power trace feeding theonfolT s..... itch was cut in mid-tracepos ition with an X_AClOTtol knife.The protect d iode is installed withthe cathode end to wards the on!off switch. Any suitlhlc diode orresl'ilor rornrnnation will do ttr jobhere, an d values or exact p arts are notnecessary

The ~IFJ meter will function asoriginally intended wit h the ex­ception that it now has internalS iCd hancnes that can he chargedfrom the exte rnal connector. Th emeter can he operated Irom eitherthe internal NiCd batte ries or theexte rn al (charging ) DC po wercable. (Note: The bcrteries will al­ways be under charge through thea-ohmlimiting resistor in the NiCdbatte ry ground circuit when us ingthe external power opnoo.j

After the modification is com­ple te, the meter can be used witheither power feed option. internalor e xternal. and retain its origi nalfec i and appearance. I have usedmy meter with this modificationfor about 6 months and find it tobe ve ry good. I have left thepower switch on, or it got bumpedon, and I did no t notice it. Th ebenefit now is tha t wh ene ver Ipull it out for usc I don't have toworry whether the internal batter­ies are ready to go. If they are n' t.I stick it on a be nch charger for afast charge cycle and it's ready foruse in less than half an bour.

O f course, t':iCds be ing whatthey are, I don', ge t a lot of ca­pacity time in a half hour cha rge(although it usually is sufficient).With a littl e plan ning the nightbefore, you can charge it up o ver­night, savin g the cost o f a new seto f alkaline batteri es.

The MFJ-219 450·MHz SWRanalyzer

While the MFJ -259 wil l workthe full frequency spectru m from2 M liz to just o ver 170 M Hz,what can be done for 1-1 /4 meters(~50 MHz)? Well, they also makean SW R meie r ( the MFJ-2 19Jwith inte rnal genera tor fo r the450-M H I frequenc ies. I pit-kedone up. tried it on the 4 32-MHz

antenna projec t, and am happy torepo rt it works just fine. And whilethis meter is touted to operate from~20 t0 450 ~1I1z., I discovered it basa few other extra benefits.

I fo und the 2l 9 ' s f req uencyreadout scale [ 0 be inaccurate our­side the amateur bands markings.Using the calibrat ion markers totheir e xtreme, I found that the unitI ha ve w ill function from 4 10~lHz to shghtly over ~65 Mil t ,

Thi s all ows measurements in theco mmercial port ion o f the 450MHz freque ncies to nearl y 470~tHz . I suspect it could be coaxedup the re, if tha t is your interest ,by a slight tweak o f the oscillatorcoil. To know what frequency theme ter is set at. use the externalfreq uency meter connector andget a direct readout .

Th is uni t is quite a bit smalle rthan the VHF (259) one and the

circu itry is quite dense. There isj ust about enough room for thetwo alkaline s-vott transistor bat­te ries. If I were to make a sim ilarNiCd mollification to this MFJ ­2 19 un it , the 9- \"011 varie ty would

st ill have 10 be retai ned eve nthough there is not much time-to-­current capacity in this type o fbauery. The bottom line is th atthere is no room for a larger bat­re ry. The electronics pac kagetak es up most of the case interiorand thus this unit will stay uncon ­verted for the time be ing . I amshopping fo r c-volt NiCd bar­gains and will modify the uni twhen they are picked up.

T he al kal ine varie ty of e-venbatteries will give good perfo r­mance. hut due to thei r cost andlimited m A il capabil ities, youthink twice about leaving this uniton for extended pe riod s of time.To conserve the 9-voll banencs.I recommend you make your tes tand then turn the power off unti lthe next one. Li fe is nor all thatbad , as I left the ba ttery switch o nfor a half hour while transport ingthe unit fro m a fie ld trip and st illhad battery life \0 operate it. It'sjust that I am now on the verge ofpurchasing a replacement set ofnew 9· v'0 1l alkaline batteries. andthai tugs Oil the walle t.

My reco mmendation here, du eto th e limited size. is to keep theal ka line batteries and get an ex­ternal po wcr connector and 12­volt rechargeable bat te ry 10 usefor ex te nded tes t sessions. For

+DC

Fuse

you pu rists out the re, the d ial cali­bration in the amateur segment isq ui te good fo r reference u se .Howe ver, for band-edge ope ra­tion you might be well advised toattac h a n ex terna l f req ue ncymeter to the sample port for ac­curate freque ncy readings. Opera­tion with the external frequencymete r re mo ves all doubt as toyour exact freq uency.

There are se vera l adj uncts thatcan pro ve 10 he very useful withthe MFJ-259 SW R an alyzer. Thislitt le self-contai ned unit intendedfor aligning antenna s can be putto usc in many other app lica tio ns,making it very ve rsatile.

Both the 259 and the 219 canbe u sed as a genera l- pu rposebe nc h signal gene rators to adj ustcircu its wit hin the ir respec tivefreque ncy ranges. Suc h a un it isnot suitable for SSB narrowbandrecei ver tests , bu t it can he a greathelp for workbench circuit test­ing when you connect it to as imple resistor artenuator d iodedetec tor arrange me nt. Test ingreson ant circuits like cavities ando the r bandpass circui ts is quiteeasy. The SWR analyzer is not atool that is used every day, but whe nit is needed for antenna analysis orother tasks, I'Ioth of uesc units workwell. I jere is a briefmndown on thetwo SW R analyzers.

The MFJ-259 IIfN llf unit iscapable o f opera tion fro m 1. 8~H1 z to 17~ MI-b in a six-bandstep arrangement. The output ofthe s ignal gene rator is nearly 2(X}

mW. T he high po we r o utput canbe qu ite useful in adj ust ing cir­cuits that need to be attenuated.such as cavuies that are out of reso­nance. The power output can beadjusted with an external resi!'>tor

OC powerTo Equ ip .lRadio

Sm all Il V re lay

=Inside equip.

to be protected

s tep at tcnuaror as yo u get ncarresonance and lower loss. Usedtogether wit h th e interna l fre ­quency readout ind icat o r, thismakes for a very po ....-er fu t bench

s ignal ge ne rator.A s with all ba sic units.there is

always some thing more that canhe added to a device to make itmore useful. The analyzer as itcomes from the factory is quite apowerful 1001that is usable wit hcase 10 adjust ant ennas in its fre­quency range. One more stockfeature might make this un it re­all y shine . II would be to add aprotect ive case 10 allow ou tdooruse witho ut subjecting the ana­Iyrer to rough handling and per­h ap s ac c ide nt a l j arr in g . T heMFJ · 29 case, av ailable sep a­rately, is not e xpens ive ($20) andaffords the me ter a good de al ofpro te c ti o n . I found a sma llTcktronics pocket o-scopc case atour local swapmcet (for a buck)to protect the meter, and it workswell.

The MFJ· 21 9 C HF SW R ana ­lyzer doe sn' t need a carry ing case.as it is more robust than the moredel icate 259 meter with its LCUd isplay to protec t. I provided acase for my uni t , as I don ' t wantit to get tossed around . After all,it's !'>till a precision instru mentthat needs protect ion if you ex­pect (0 make reaso nable test re­sults. I am on the lookout for asing le carry ing case for both unitsand their accessories, and havebeen looking at the feasibility o fsome small comp uter laptop casefor this purpose, There are a lotof surpl us laptop computer caseson the market for very reasonableprices , so ....'e will see what turnsup. 73, C huck WB6 IGP. flI

73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 75

NumbM l ' 011 your FHatJ«1t. cllld

Your Tech Answer Man

RSK KRBOOM

remove the reference, the oscil­luror will stay in "hlind sync" withthe reference for a short period o ftime before drift ing off into never­neverland. You'd never get awa}'with that son o f thing using an LCosci ll ato r. hut it work s wit h acrystal. Of course , a "short pe­r iod" is a subjective quantit y.Luckily for co lor TV, th at timeperiod only need ed to be 62.5 mi­croscconds. or the length of onehorizontall ine.

So. a refe re nce s ig na l w asplaced at thc very end of eachhorizontal sync pulse. Called the"colorburst," it consisted of aboutseven cycles of the unrnodutatcdcolor subcarricr freque ncy. II waseasy enough to create a "burs t gate"circuit which let only that s igna lpass . s ince the horizontal synccould he used 10 trigger the gate,The reference burst could then heused to syrc the crystal oscillator.with new color sync occurring at

the stan of each horizontal line .right after the hori zontal sync pulse .and before any picture informationwould be displayed.

Using the phase-locked crystalosc illato r as a t ime re rercnce. mcsynchronous detector could ex­tract the values o f R-Y and B-Yencoded o n the oppo..ite peaks ofthe subcarrier. 1\ 11 it had to do wa..examine the voltage value of thesubcarr icr when the reference wasin. say, the po s it ive s ta te . andass ign that to R-Y. and then do thesame when the reference was in thenegative state , and assign that 10 B ­

Y. Thus. the two signals wen: split01T and recovered. and then scm to

o f saying that the receiver regen­e rates the equiva lent o f a nunmodulated sutcarrier, and thencompares it to the real one. Theunmodula ted one tens th e re ­

ce iver whe n th e po s iti ve andnegative peaks should occur. le t­ting it examine each polarity sepa­ratel y. In other wo rds, time, ratherthan amplitude, is used to find theoccurre nce o f the two polarities.

How to do that '? Luckily, quartzcry stals a re pretty stable. If yousynchronize a crystal oscill atorto a reference s ig na l. and then

was in th e Y sig nal. In o the rword s, green, which was hidingin the re all along ! This is a clas­s ic, if convoluted, case of soh ­ing for one missing variable whenth e o the r IwO are kn own . It ' sde tec t ive work, more or less.

Synchronize your crystals!

Th e answer lay in sync hrono usde tection. That's j ust a fancy way

Since Y woold heavailable at theother end of the precess. this Cl'3Zything eoold actually work-but theproblem of how tu encode R-Y and

B-Y onto one subcarricr remainedRemember when I mentioned

th at you could use the two pola ri­tie s o f the subcarncr indcpen­dcntly? Well, wh y not? What ifyou used th e amp litude of thenegat ive peaks , say. for th e B-Ys igna l and the amplitude of thepostn ve pe ak s for Ihe R -Y ?

Would that work? It sure would!(Ac tually, I don 't rememberwh ich peak was USN for wh ich ,

and my video reference books areall packed away. But it doesn'tmatter; the principle is the same .)

OK. it was in there. but how thchec k could you recover that infor­mation? With a normal. ..ymmctri­cal AC waveform. the center, orzero-crossing. line is easy to findBut this thing wou ld heriding alongon top of the Y signal. so its centerline would he wandering all over

the place ! Simple amplit ude detec­tio n of the positi ve and negativepeaks wouldn' t work,

Ride 'em, subcarrler

In o rde r to gra..p the reco very

o f the green s ignal, it's importantto keep the relat ionship of Y tothe chroma s ignals in mind. Re­

member. the Y signa l is a cornbi­

nat ion o f all th re e o ri g in a l.pre-matrixcd red. green and blues ignals. So, if you recover the R­Y and B-Y signal s (we' ll get 10how they did that, in a moment ),and then add Y to each of them.you've got the R and B signalsback. Now, add those together andsubtract the result fro m Y, andwhat's left is the amount of G that

"Sending three elements on one subcarrierwould have been tricky with the vacuum

tube technology of the day. "

se nds th e L+R sign al [whic his s im ply a mon o mix of thetwo channels ) on the main carrier.and se nds the L-R signal on asubcarricr. T hat way, a mono re­ceiver will hear a normal monosignal. while ignori ng th e L-Rsubcart icr. The stereo rece iver,though, will detect the carrie r. re­cover the L-R signal. and thenmix it twice with the L+R signa l.Tw ice '! Yes-one mix will be anadd it ion . w hic h w ill produce(L+R) + (L-R). which equals 2L

+ OR.or simply 2L. The other mixwill be a subtrac t io n (by invert­ing one of the signals first ), whichwill produce (L+ R) - (L- R), or OL+ 2R, or s imply 2R . Thus. the La nd R sig na ls a rc recovered.Pretty slick, huh?

Color TV used the same idea,but it Wil S a little bit more com­plicat e-d . Since there we re threecolors 10 represent (red, g reen andblue ). the mat rix consisted ofthree e lements, Sending three el­ements on one subcarricr. though,would hal e been rather tricky, asit would have required sequentialtiming circuits . to ug h to imple­ment with the vacuum tube tech­nology of the day. Sending IWO.

though, wasn' t o verly hard. as anyAC wave (such as the subcarrie r)has two potanucs. positive andnegati ve . which can be used torepresent two clements of infer­marion. and then be separa ted atthe receiver. Was there a way toreduce the matrix to two elemcmsand sti ll recover all three colors?

Michael J . Geier KBWMc/o 73 Magazine70 Route 202 NorthPeterborough NH 03458

Matrix!

For the past few months, we ' vcbeen exploring the developmentof television. and the makeup ofvideo signals. This time , le t's taLca close 100L a t t he c olor, or"chroma," signal.

As I mentioned last time. it wasdecided that the color informat ioncould be separate from the brig ht­ne....... or "lurninence," port ion o fthe- picture, and could he hiddeno n a subca rrie r ridi ng: o n thebaseba nd vid eo itse l f. ( By" baseband:' I mean the actualvideo signal. ra ther than the ....1­

dio signal coming from a trans­miuer. ) We took a look a t thebasic scheme : a high-frequencys igna l, non-harmonic wi th the

line scanning nne. s imply addedto the vi deo signal. But ho wdo you get that one s ig na! torepresent the 1w0 essential colorclements o f hue and saturation?

If you' re famil iar wit h F~l ste­reo broadcasti ng (whic h camemuch late r, but that's irrelevanthere). you know ho w two signa l...can he added and subtracted Immcech other algd.raically. Hmmm.let's talc a quick detour and goover it; the concept is cruc ial touocersranding color video signals.

To add two signals , you feedthe m throu gh re sistors wh ich Ta d a !meet a t a L'O llt11l0 11 point. To xuh-

truer them. you in vert o ne first In thi s case, ye s, Luckily. the(tum it upside down). and then do iunurcoce si~'llitl was there. too, and

lhe same thing. The resulting von- could be used as p art of the equalion.age at the common point will rep- Let's see how they did it:re sent the combination of the Tbcjuminence signal.callcd-Y"two signals, e ithe r an add it io n (Y call illhat?- Idon' t know), wasor a subtrac t io n. depending o n used as a reference . It , o f course,whether one of the s igna ls Wi. S was just an addirion of RiG un d B.Invcrtcd. And. orccnrsc. tt uu "olt- By subtracting Y from each indi-age will move lip nnd down as the vidual color signal, R-Y, G-Y ands ignals change. B-Y were produced. Then, the G-

In stereo audio, there arc t.....o Y signa l was s imply discarded!items to represent: left and right. w hat"? 1I0w could they ever re-So, you can create two marrixcd cover the green informalion if theysigna ls: L+ R and L-R. F~l ..terce thre w G-Y away?

76 73 Amateur Radio Today . May 1997

Color me video!

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H",)"! Wake Up!

what could be more fun? Butwhen I suggest that you considergelling out of the rat race of work ­ing for SOffit-'OIIC else and experi­encing the freedom of hav ing yourown business. you JUSt sink lowerinto your commuting rut andyawn. Get some sme lling salts o r abottle of ammonia and rome outof that hypnolic uurce you'vebeen in for the last few ye ars .

Grumble ,

per.>on. I've been-there-done-that.When I was a kid I commu ted

to high school. an hour trip o nthe jam-packed New York sub­wa y every morning and after­noon . Then there wa s the time afew years late r when I was aneng ineer ar Airborne InstrumentL aboratorie s in Mineo la andcom muted an hour each wayfrom Brooklyn . I tried it via thesubway and the Long IslandRailroad, and I tried it d r ivingthe Belt Parkway and the GrandCe ntral Parkw ay. Both ways

what is it going to take 10 blast suc ked. But then I was in as deepyou out o f that rut you 're in? bypnosts as you and d idn ' t know

Rut ? Me? 'res. you! If you arc any bette r. Yet.working for someone else-if yo u I ' vc been through the hiringare commuting to work every a nd fir ing routines. completeday-if you arc s ick- i f you with resumes and interviews.aren' t an exciung and interesting Co ntin ued on page 81

73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 n

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Send your ads and payment to: 73 MagaZine, Barter 'n' Buy, 70 RI. 202N.Pete rborough NH 03458 and get set lor the phone calls , The deadline lor theAugust 1997 ctesssee ad section is June 5th, 1997.

LARGE ASSORTMENT of used testequipmen t . MOSI mstruments a reercee at 10% 01Original cost or less.Request list. J im Stevenson, 3401Sunny Slope Road, Br1clgewater NJ08807; (908) 722-6157, FAX: (908 )722-6391. BNB2084

Barter 'n ' BuyTum your old ham and computer gear into cash now. Sure, you can wail lor ahamfeSI to lry and dump ii, but you know you'll get a far more realistiC price if youhave it Oul where 100.000 active ham potential buyers can see it lhan the fewhundred local hams who come by a Ilea market labre. Check your anc. garage,cerrar and closet shelves and get cash lor your ham and computer gear beforeirs too old to sell, You know you're not going to use it again, so why leave it foryour widow to lhrow OUI? Thai stuff iso't gelling any younge l1The 73 Flea Market. Barter "n ' Bu y, costs you peanuts (almostj --<:Omes to 35cents a word lor individual (noncommercial!) ads and St .OO a word lor ccmmer­carecs. Donl lell a long story. Use abbreviatiOnS, cram it in, Bul be honeS! .There are plenly 01hams who love to fiK things, so if it doesn't work, say so,Make your list, count the woros, includ ing your call. address and phone number.Include a check or your credit card number and expi ration. If you're placing acommercial ad, «enos an additional phone number, separate from your ad.This is a monthly magazine. not a daily newspaper. so ligure a couple monlhSbefore the ecuon starts: then be prepared. If you get too many calls, you priced itlow. If you don't gel many cans, too hIg/'I.So gel busy. Blow the dust Off, check everyltl ing out, make sure it still works rightand maybe you can help make a ham newcomer or reurec Old·limer happy Withthat rig you' re not using now. Or you might get busy on your computer and puttogether a list of smarr gear/parts to send to those interested?

ASTR ON power supply, brand-new w/warranty, RS20M 599, RS35M $145,RS50M $209. Call lor other mooers.(818)286-0118 BNB411

me wit h a lifetime of adventureand. apparently. no excitementor adventure for you. Oh, I' vetried to get you interested in ourham sate llues. I fa iled. r ye triedto gel you on ..low scan, Fa iledagain. I'v e tried to gel you upto 10 G H z, where I wo rkedseven states, No sa le , I' ve ta lkedup DXpedition ing. Evert mini­DXpcditioning to the Caribbeanor some nearby spot like 51.Pierre. Another blank.

And when I write aboul the funI've had doing the ebove I getcarping crapola about my ego . Ihaven't suggested doing anythi ng.I haven' t done. And I'm just a guywho 's been dumb enough 10 makehis hobby his life's work. Hey,

/IIW£R SRV 0/£Conflnued Jrorn paI.Jl! 5 .';

There was one little ano maly.though. and we live with it today.Although the colorhurst signal didprovide a reference for the syn­chro nou s detector. it d idn 't sayanything about how accuratelythe transmitted color values rep­resented the picture. An d. unfor­tunatel y. various TV stations andnetworks we ren ' t 100 uni formabout that. Plus , phase shifts inthe TV 's c ircuits could throw theprocess o ff even further. So , eventhough the T V se t might seem 10

be working perfect ly, somet imesthe color was o il. Enter the huecontrol.

By varyin g the phase o f th esynchronous detector's reference(from the crystal osci llator). val­

ues intended for one color couldbe made to appear in anothercolor. because the detector wouldhe looking a t the wrong pan ofthe waveform. due to the time dif­ference, As th e phase ....'as con­

tinuously varied. the hue of thepicture would shift. The hue con­trol. wh ich shifted the referenceoscillator 's phase, could be manu­ally adjusted 10 get everything inline for the best perceived picture ,By the way, some other T V sys­tems, in use in o ther parts o f theworld. haw refe rence signals thatelimina te the need for a hue con­trol. Oh well . that's the price wepaid for being First in color TV,

Th e upshot of a ll this r olor en­coding is that color signals are verytime-sensitive. So what? Well , it allworks fine for live broodc'.L"ing, bulit played havoc with the develop­ment of colorvide o recording. Nexttime. we"ll begin exploring the re­cording of TV signals. h's a fasc i­nat ing topic in and of itself. Untilthen, 73 de KB lU~t fa

Almost perfect

the matrice s that recovered greenand finally outputted R, G and B!All that was left was amplifyingthem, sending the m to the picturetube's e lectron guns, and enjoyingthe resulting colo r picture,

Whew !I realize that was pre tty com­

plicated-it might pay to readit ove r a few l imes and let itsink in. Bas ica lly, it wa s a ll acleve r man-ix ing sc he me, de ­signed to fit a colo r picture intonearly the same bandw idth as amonochrome o ne, And it worked!

Numb« 78 on y our FHdtNJt:k t:Md

SPEC/HL EIJENTSListings are free of charge as space permits. Please send usyour Special Event two months in advance of the issue youwant it to appear in. For example, if you want it to appear inthe September issue, we should receive it by June 1. Provide aclear, concise summary of the essential deta ils about yourSpecial Event.

donation, S3 advance. Talk-in anddirections on 147.03 rptr. For moredetails. contact Medina Hamfesl ,eo. Box 452, Medina OH 44258.

DAYTON, OH The "Four DaysIn MaywD QRP Symposi um onThursday, May 15th , held inconjunction with the Daytonbamvennons. wi ll kick off ORPactiv it ies at Dayton . Full day otac t iv it i es on Thursday at theDays Inn Dayton South (513-847­8422); includes multimedia ORPpresentations, catered lunch, doorprizes, tech talks, tutorials by clubs.Thursday registration $30 beforeMay 1, $35 after (it still available).Make checks pa yable 10 "BobFalleN" and send to: Bob FollettAB7ST, 286 1 Esta tes Dr., ParkCity ur 84060, E-mail: [bfol/ett@ditell.com). On Fri., May 16th, theQRp·ARCI Awards Banquet willbe hosted by FDIM Banquet Chair­person Pete Meier WK8S. Pleasesend $15 banquet ticket fee (UScheck, MO, internan M0) made outto ·Pete Meier" by May 1st. Mail toPete Meier WK8S, 4 18 1 Rural,Wate rford MI 48329; or E-mail[pmeier@tir.com}. Also on the 16th.Preston Douglas WJ2V will host theFOIM ORP Vendor Evening Social.To register, contact Preston DouglasWJ2V, ORP Vendor EveningChairperson, 2 76 Harbol View N. ,Lawrence NY 11559, or via E-mail:(pdouglas 12@aol.com).

MAY 16, 17, 18

MAY 15-18

MAY 16

OAYTON, OH The Dayton Ham­venlion, sponsored by the DaytonARA, Inc., will be held at the HaraArena. Fri., May 16th : Flea Marketopen and bus service even., 8AM-

DAYTON,OH The southwest OhioChapter ot the Quarter CenturyWireless Assn. will hold its 1997Annual Banquet in coolcncnon withthe Dayton Hamvenlion. Alex'sContinental Restaurant , 125Monarch lane, is the location for aC.O.D. bar at 7 PM. and a banquetaI 7:30 PM. geservaton deadline isMay 14th.acWA membership is nota requ irem ent tor attenda nce.TIckets are $1 5 ea.: make checkpayable to Robert L Dingle, Treas.,Chapter 9, and mail to 1117Big HillRd., Kettering OH 45429- 120 1.Charles Stinger W8GFA, formermgr. 01 Voice of America Radi oStation at Bethany OH, will give aninside look at this pcwertultransmitting station.

YONKERS, NY The Metro 70cmNetwork will host a Giant ElectronicFlea Market at Linco ln H.S.,Kneeland Ave., 9 AM- 3 PM, rain orshine. Indoor flea market only. 1sttable, $19; each additional table515, or bring your own tables at $14tor a 6' space. At the door, $25 eachtable. S20 ea. 6' space. Full paymentdue with reg. Adm. 56, kids under12 free. Setup at 7 AM. For reg.,contact Ono Supliski WB2SLQ, 53Hayward St., Yonkers NY 10704.Tel. (91 4) 969-1053. Talk·in on449.425 MHz PL 156.7, 223.760MHz PL 67.0, 146.91 0 Hz, and443.350 MHz PL 156.7.

GREENVILLE, SC A hamfest willbe sponsored by the Blue RidgeARS, 8 AM-5 PM, at the AndersonCounty Fairgrounds, E ot Andersonon Hwy. 29 Business. Flea market.Buck Roge rs , K4ABT SEDANpacket conference , VE exams atnoon , overnight camping . treeparking . Talk-in on 146.01/ .6 1,Advance ecm. $4; $5 at the door.Contact Gene WB4ZB~ or DavidKE4QOO. (864) 476-2609, E-mail:{ke4qqq@innova.net}.

MAY 10

FORT WORTH. TX The LockheedARC and the Kilocycle Club willsponsor VE exams lor all classes atthe lockheed Rec. Area Facility.2400 Bryant IMn Ad., at 7 PM. Fordetails, can Ted Richard AB5QU,(817) 293-6745.GAOL testing doneby appointment only.

original and copy ot present licenseand/or cernflcates of successfulcompletion, two terms of 10 andthe 56.25 examrnanon fee (Noviceclass free). Talk-in on 147.09/.69rptr. and 146.52 simplex. ContactJohn D'Onofrio, 1255 Manor Dr.,Warminster PA 18974·2102. Tel.(215) 675-9165, 9 AM-9 PM. E-mail(warc@crompton.com].

MAY 8 & 22

HURON. SO The Huron ARC willsponsor their 4th Annual AmateurElectronics s weetest 8 AM- 3 PMat the Nan. Guard Armory , SOState Fairgrounds. Flea marketsetup 7 AM, VE exams g AM. Talk­in on 147.09(+) . Contact LloydTimperley W80ULX, Po. Box 205,Huron SD 57350. Tel. (605) 352­7896 eves.

MEDINA, OH The Medina CountyHamtest will be held at the MedinaCountry Community Center, 735 Rt.42. VE exams at 9 AM. Tables $6,outdoor space $4, entrance $4

MAY 4

on Fri., Mayzro.4 PM-9 PM. Setupfor all others, including dealersarriving Iale, will beginat 6 AM, Sat.,May 3rd. For info and reserveto ne.call Peg Richard KA4UPA, (9 15)672-8889 (leave a message. yourcall will be returned ); or E-mailUimrtl swconnect. nel]. Find moreinfo on the Web site at {h tlp:l/www.acu .ed u/ -cummingsg/kcarc.html}.

BLOOMINGTON, IN The AmateurRadio Go Getters will host their 3rdAnnual AA9Hl Hamlest at MonroeCounty Fairgrounds. 8 AM-3 PM.Setup Sun., 5AM--8 AM. VE examsreg.at l 1AM, testing starts at 11 :30AM. Inside vendors: 55 per table,$5per erec. hookup, 55 per ticket.Outside vendors: $5 per flea marketspace, 55 per tcket.Talk-in on K9TCrptr. 146.895(·) MHz (Tim CraftonK9TC) . Contact John AndersonAA9HI, (812) 332-3734 after 5 PM;or Randy Kinser KF9NA, (812) 332­3588 after 7:30 PM.

HAGERSTOWN, MD The AnlietamRadio Assn. will present the 5thGreat Hagerstown Hamtest andComputer Show at the HagerstownJr. COllege , Athletic , Rec. andCommunity Center. Talk-in on146.940(-) and 146.520 simplell:. thenight eetcre and the day of theevent. Adm. 55, children under 12admitted free . Write to AntietamRadio Assn., Inc., P.O. Box 52 ,Hagerstown MD 2 1741.

MAY 3

MAY 2 & 3

MAY 3& 4

KINGS BU RG, CA The FresnoARC. Inc., will host it s annualHamfest at Rivel1and RV ParK 3miles south of the town ofKingsburg , on Freeway 99. Thehamfest will be held 7 AM-4 PM,Sat., May 3rd. Hams begin to arriveat the park on Fri. May 2nd, withple nty of RV parking ava ilable.Displays of new and vintage radioequip. and swap tables loaded withused radio equipment for sale ortrade will be featured. VE exams forall classes . Information will beexctenceo on new radio operations,new radio equipment, and operatortechn iques to improv e work indisaster and emergency services.Contact FresnoARC, Inc.. PO. Box783, Fresno CA 93712.

CADILLAC. MI The wexaukeeARC will hold their annual Hamtest,8 AM- 2 PM, at the Cadillac MiddleSchool. VE exams for all classes at1 PM. Adm. $5; 8' table $6. Setupat 6 AM tor table holders only. Talk­in on 146.98 rptr. Cont act DanKE8KU, Wexaukee ARC, P O. Box163, Cadillac MI 49601. Tel. (676)n 5-(J998.

KANSAS CITY, MO The PHDARAwill hold its annual Hamfest 8 AM-4PM at the Kansas City MarketCenter, 1-435 and Front St., southof Wor1dsof Fun. Vendor tables $40/$20, flea market tables $10, radioclub tables, call fo r price. Adm.$6 advanced, $7 at the door.Contact Bob Roske WAOCLR, Box28954, Kansas City MO 64 188·8954. Tel. (816) 436.Q069; E-mail{waOc/rfljuno.com}.

WRIGHTSTOWN, PA The 23rdAnnual Hamfest of the WarminsterARC will be held at the MiddletownGrange fairgrounds , Penns Parkg d ., start ing at 7 AM. Setup at6 AM. 8' tables $1 2 ea., pre-reg.recommended. Unlimited outdoortailgating spaces $9 ea. Computer

ABILENE, TX Abilene wigagain be hardware and software vendors arethe site for the ARRL West Texas invi ted to participate . Adm. $6,Section Convention and the Key unlicensed spouses and childrenCity ARC Hamfest . Prearranged under t z nee. VE exams at 11 AM;setcptoroeaiers anc manutacmrers reg. at 10:30 AM. Applicants bring

78 73 Amateur Radio roosv » May 1997

May 1997 79

ry a t z-issuc subscriptionf or $50. Thi s i s going 10 belone of the largest indu strieslin the w orld in a fe w yea rs,land the ground floor i s stilllopen .

TAMA.IA The South Tama ARS willoperate WDOGAT 1SOOZ-2300Z toceleb rate the annual Linco lnHighway Bridge Festival. Operationwill be in the General 40----15 meierphone, Novice 10 meter phone, and2 meters. For a certificate. send yourOSLand a 9" x 12° SASE to STARSIWDOGAT, P.O. Box 94, Montour IA50173.

MAY 17

Cold Fusion Journal

PHILADELPHIA. PA The OlympiaARC will operate WA3BAT from1JOOZ May 3rd-2000Z May 4th. tocommemorate the 99th anniversaryof Admiral Dewey's triumph over theSpanish fleet at the Bailie of ManilaBay. SSB/Phone: 3.B98.5, 7.24B.5 .14 .248 .5 . 21.368 .5 , 28 .368 .5,145.270 FM. CW: 3.7t 0, 7.0301.110.14 .030, 21.0401.110 . 28.025. For acertificale, send a SL and a 9" x 12"SASE 10 ot;npia ARC, .tldepel Jda JCe~ (j Philadelphia. 2 11 SouthColumbus Blvd., Philadelphia PA19106 USA.

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL PascoCounty RACES "Disaster Fair," willbe hekl l JOOZ- 1700Z 00 14.2251.275 and 2B.4oo(±) DRM. For acertificate, contact Michelle Baker,EOC, 8744 Government Dr., NewPort Richey FL 34654 USA. !II

MAY 10 & 11

1

_ IlOO-2U -7J7J or fI0391 4..(.)~8 . FAX If4n .914-.Il6Il. or .... onkr form 011 pa~ 88for ........... imorma''''''

FLOYD, VA The Foundation forAmateur International Radio Service(FAIRS) will operate FAIRS Clubstations N4USA. US5WE, BY1QH,BR1WD AND S21AM. 10 celebratethe 6th anniversary of FAIRS.Freq.:General portion 01 40, 20. and 15meters. For a certificate, send QSLand a 9" x 12° SASE to FAIRS, P.O.Box 34 1, Floyd VA 24091 USA.

MAY 31

Phone, ATTY and CWoFor operat­ing rules. contact CARA. P.O. Box344 1, Danbury C T 06813-3441USA. Please remember to send anSASE.

MAY 3-4

DANBURY, CT The fabulous 1997Connectic ut aso Party will besponsored by the Candlewood ARA.2000Z May 3rd- 2000Z May 4th ,with a rest period 0400Z- 1200Z.

73 Amateur Radio Today ·

NOVI. MI The t st Annual Nov!Specia l Ra ce Car ( Indy 500)Celebration will be sponsored by theNovt ARC, 1400Z- 2100Z. The clubwu use Ihe callsign KCBFSW. Freq.:CW-7.030. 7.125, 21.050. 21 .1 50;PHONE- 14.225, 14.250, 14.300.21.325. Please request "Car PhotoaSL.~ QSL to N.ARC., P.O. Box268, Novi MI48376-0268. For moreinfo , call Greg Tullar KB8UBL at(8 10) 474-3633.

Schiffman WB2 YXB. (7 18) 343­0172.

JUN 7

FALL RIVER. MA W tACT, the FaitRiver ARC's annual DXpedition toMartha's Vineyard (10 TA-NA0 46) .and Massachusetts a s o Party, willoperate on the lollowing treq: CW­1810, 3550. 7050. 14050.21 050,and 280 50 : SS B- 18 50 . 38 90 ,7290 , 14 260 . 2 13 90 , 283 90 ,146.550,446.000 (FM). 434.0, and439.25 MHz (ATV). Send an SASEfor QSL via N1JOY, 19 Davis Rd.,Wes!pOrt MA02790. E-mail [rolaOO­d @ici.netJ.

TEANECK. NJ The Bergen ARAwill hold its annual Spring Hamfestat Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Buyeradm. S3, with XYLs and harmonicsfree. Seller adm. $10. VE exams.Talk-in on 146 .790/.600. ContactJim Joyce K2Z0 at (201) 664-6725before 10 PM.

MAY 3

MAY2.3&4

GRAND RAPIDS. MI The annuallysponsored IRA Hamfestival will beheld at Hudsonville Fairgroundsnear Grand Rapids. Doors open at8 AM for general adm. Dealers canset up on the 61h after 7 PM, or after6 :30 AM o n the 7th . Overnightcamping. Bring your equip ., etc., tosell and trade. VE exams at 8:30AM. Talk-in on 147 .1 6 li nk rpt r.system. Reserve early for the bestspots. Indoor table space and trunksales spaces available. ContacttheIRA voice mail/info line at (616) 534 ­6803; or Tom KA8YSM or KathyKB8KZH at (6 16) 698-6627.

SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS

MANASSAS, VA The Ole VirginiaHams ARC w ill sponso r th eManassas Hamfest and ComputerShow at the Prince William CountyFairgrounds, on Ate 234 . Gatesopen to public 8 AM, tailgaters7 AM . General a dmission 5 5 ,tailgating 55 additional per space.All activi ties are wheelchair acces­sible. Talk-in on tptr, 146 .37/146.97and 223 .06 /22 4 .66. Unl imit ·eo ta ilgat ing spac e. For mo reinformation : Commercial vendorscontact Jack N4 YIC al (703) 335·9 139; General information contactMa ry Lu KB4EFP at (703) 369­2877.

JUN 1

PRINCETON, IL The Starved RockRadio Club Hamt est will be hekl atthe Bureau County Fa irg rounds,starting at 6AM.Advance tickets are$5 with 4 stubs before May 20th.and S6 witha single stub at the gate.Camping and outdoor flea marketarea is free. 8' tables indoors are$10 ea. Talk-in on 146.3551.955 PL103.5. Contact Bruce Burton KU9A.or Debbie Burton N9DAU, 11 53Union St., Marseilles IL 6134 1·1710. Tel. (8 15) 795-220 1; E-mail[brburton@mtco.comJ.

QUEENS, NY The Hall of ScienceARC Hamles1 will be he ld at theNew York Hall of SCience park inglot, Flushing Meadow Park., 47-01l111h 51. Vendor setup at 7:30 AM;buyers admitt ed at 9 AM . Freeparking. Adm., buyers $5. se lle rs$10 per space. Talk-in on 444 .200WB2ZZ0 rptr. and 146.52 simplex.For more info, call, eves. only, Amie

MAY 25

O9OOZ s at., May 24th. Prearrangedmeel ing roo ms for any amateurorganizations. Talk-in on 145.110(-).Contact Charles F. Kimmerty (Kim)N5XGI. 19 000 Busby Rd.,Vancleave MS 39565. Tel. (60 1)826-58 11.

HILLIARD, OH Flyers, sailors, andamateur radio operators are invited10 come and search for that pertectbargain at th e Franklin CountyHamfest. The event begins at 8 AMat Fra nkl in County Fairgrounds .Adm. $5 per person. Inside tables$5 ea . Outdoor space 55 per 4wheel vehide. Setup at 6 AM. Callfor advance t ic kets . Overni gh tcamping wi th elect ric hookup isavailable on the grounds. ContactChris Lind . P.O. Box 142 8 1,Columbus OH. Tel. (614) 267-7779;FAX (6 14) 263- 7934.

MAY 23 & 24

MAY 17

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO PikesPeak RadioAmateur Assn. will hosta hamlest at Doherty H.S., 45 15Barnes Rd .Adm. $4: 1st table 512,eac h add it ion al ta bl e $1 0 . AClimited to outsid e wall tables . bringex te nsion co rd. Free park ing .s etup May 16th , 6 PM- 9 PM ;vendors 6 AM on the 17th . Talk-inon 146 .97/1 00 Hz, and 146 .52simple x. Contact Dennis MajorKBOSXC at (7 19) 535-1160; or E·mai/{DENNlS.MAJOR@MCI.COMj.

PASCAGOULA, MS The Jackson .County ARC will hold its 3rd AnnualHamlest in the Pa scagoula MSCivic Center, J ackson CountyFairgrou nds . Hours are 17OOZ­21DOZ May 23 rd, and OBOOZ­1500Z May 24th. Adm. $2.50 for 12yrs and okler, under 12 free. Tables$8 per B'. Free park ing . RV parkingin designaled areas only, electriconly, no dumping station. Nearbyhotels and motels at reasonablerat es . VE exams av ai l able at

6 PM; Exh ibits , Noon-e PM;Forums 1 PM-5 PM. Sat., May 16th:Flea Market and bus service 7 AM­5 PM : Exhibits 8 AM - 5 PM;Forums. VE Exams, Activit ies, 9AM-5 PM; Hamvention Banquet atIhe downtown Dayton ConventionCenter, 6 PM. Sun., May 17th: FleaMarket 7 AM-4 PM; Bus serviceava ila ble 7 AM- 5 PM: Exhibit sopen 8 AM- 2 PM : Forums andactivities 9:30 AM- l :30 PM: Prizedra wi ng s 2 PM . Prog ram savailable Fri. at 7 AM in the HaraArena lobby and in the tent in Iront01 the East Hall entran ce . FleaMarket spaces are sold in advanceonly; a maximum of 3 spaces perperson (non-transferable] , Limi ted10 amateur radio, electronic, andrelated items only. Elec tri cit yavailable in a portion of the testFlea Market row for S60 a spaceext ra . Ta ble s an d chai rs notavailable. Contact the Flea MarketChairman by FAX at (937) 253­1289, by E-ma il at ( f1ea m kt@hamvention.orgj. or by voicemail at (937) 276-6932; allow 30seconds fo r the phon e rout ingsystem to t ra nsfe r the c all.Regist rat ion tickets in advanc e$13 , at the door $15 . Banquettickets in advance, $25; atter May17th, if available, 530. Flea Marketspaces $50/1 sp ace , 511 0/2adjacent, $220/3 adjacent erec.$60 ext ra each space. Coveredtent w/elec. $325 ea.

HOMING IN

C I

Pno B. Bandmaster quads forIlI"O meters are (lI l lill/hlt' wilh two,fi lllr or six elements. Note the 50­1J9 c oax ClJllIlI'( ·tor at the tower

earner ofthe dr/I'I'/I element .

s ignal dead ahead. Dopplers takebearings seve ral hundred timesper second , so they can capture as ignal of very short duration andhold the bearing to it when thesign<l l goes 0 1T.

Many hams have successfullybu ilt th eir o wn Do pp lers . Themo s t po pu lar suc h projec t forhome construction is the RoanokeDoppler. which you can duplica tefo r le ss than S150 . Com pleteplans for the di splay unit and atwo-meter fou r-c lement antennaare in the l -Hunt Hook. I recentlydes igne d an impro ved ante nnasystem that is more sensiti ve. co v­ers a wider frequenc y range andcan he built e ither as a one-pieceassembly or with four ord inarym agneti c mo u nt whip s. See"Hor ning In" for April and June1995 or the " Homing tn" Web sitefor details of th is antenna.

By bcifdmg your own Dopplerse t. you will saw money and learnabout Doppler techno logy. Forhams who aren't read y for tha t orw ho wa nt mo re " belts andwhis tles." two commercial Dop­pler ma nufacturers ha ve afford­able products for the ha m market.The 4000 and 5000 series mod­els fro m Doppler Systems Incor­pomtcd feature a patented methodo f "soft-switehing't the four whips10 red uce cross-modulat ion ef­fect s . Price s s tart a t $620 foran LED di splay unit pl us fourmagnetic-mount whips. Higher­priced model s add vo ice readout.di gita l bearing output and otheradvanced features.

As )IOU get closer to the s ignalyou're seeking. your S-meter wi llgo to ful l-scale no matte r wherethe beam is po inted. RF attenua­t ion in the coax line from antennato receiver wi ll knock the s ignaldown to ..... ithin the meter' s dy­namic range, Re sistive anenua­

tors like the one in Photo A areeasy to bu ild at home from plansin thc T·Hum Hook and the ARRLHandbook. FAR C ircuits scll s asolder-up RF-tight enclosure foryour home-brew ancnuator tosave you a session at the shear.Wiredlte sted anenuato rs a rcavail able from Arro w Antenna.

Yagis and qu ad s are simple.inexpensive. and effec tive fortw o-meter mobile RDF, but theyrequire the operator to turn care­fully and interpret the Scmctcrreadings . If the ta rget signal isvary ing in power o r pu ls ing o nand off. it may he impossible toge t an accura te bearing w ith abouncing Svmeter. O n the otherhand. Doppler se ts do not use sig­nal strength as a bearing criterion.

Dopplers have no mo v in gparts- just an array of vertica lwh ips (u suall y four) atop the vc­hiclc . The di splay is a c ircularring of light-cmiuing diodes (usu­ally 16). Doppters work in con­j u nc t io n with you r ex ist in gV H F- FM mobil e transcei ve r,handle-talkie. or scanner. anach­ing to the antenna and externalspeaker/earphone connectors.

Switching d iodes connect eachwhip to your receiver. one at atime in seque nce. The recei veroperates as if it were connectedto a s ing le an ten na rotatin garound an invisible vertical ax isin the cente r o f the array, Thi sp seudo-rotat ion ca uses F Mmodulati o n to appear. supcrtrn ­posed on the rec eived Fl\1 s ignalas a lone at the rotation frequency,The ph ase of this demodulatedto ne . rel a ti ve to t he an te nn aswitching sequence. determinesth e d irec t io n o f the inco m ings ignal,

From an ease-of-use stand­point, a Doppler is nearly ideal.One LED at a t ime co me s on toind ica te direction o f the s ignalrelative to the front of the vehicle.The top LED in the ring represents

Instant bearings fromDo pple rs

your receiver inpu t th an a di rec tc ross-po larized signal.

O n a 'f-hunt , i f the polarizationof your RDF ante nna is not thesame as that of the transmit an­tenna, reflec ted signals will beenhanced relative to the direct s ig­nal. If the hidden T is in an areao f high s ignal re flect ions and ifthe po larizat io n you choose isperpendicular to it. you may chasesignal re flect ions from start 10 fin­ish . Unless the T-hunt rules inyour area prohibit non-verti calpo lari zat ions, make sure yourquad or yag i ha s provi sion s toadjust po larization to matc h thetarget s ignal.

The T-HIIII I Book shows aneasy way 10 put a slipjoint on yourquad's boom/mast junction so youcan tum the boom to vary po lar­ization. The book also has lo ts ofideas for easy way's to mount therotat ing mast of your beam o rquad on your vehicle for safetyand ease o f usc. For an ali-e lec­tronic method of polarization se­lecuon. see "Horning In" forFebruary 1997.

Gell ing RDF heari ngs with ayagi or quad is s imply a ruaucr o fturning yo ur beam for maximumsignal and driving in that direc­t ion a s road s a llo w. Yourreceiver's S-me ter is usually be t­ter than your ears for detecting thes ignal peaks. so be sure to locateit suc h that it is easi ly viewed bythe driver and any RD F helpe rs.when the s ign al is too we akto deflect the meter. tu rn fo rth e cle a re st a ud io w i th best"qulenng" of noise.

Radio Direction Finding

Joe Moe!' P.E. KOOVP.D .Box 2508Fullerton CA 92633

Many hams can' t imagfnc turn­ing a VHF beam o r quad in 11

moving car. hut it's a com mo nsight here in southern Californ iaand lots of other places. Whensignals are weak, noth ing elsepulls them in and gives sharp di ­rect ional bearings. what's more,IlOI:hing works beuer when the sig­nal you're hun ting is boeizontally

polarized.As you remember from study­

ing for your Element 2A ICSI. theorientation o f an antenna's radi­ating clements de term ines thepolunzation of the electrica l com­ponent of the transmitted or re­ceived RF wave. Let's say that thepath between a transmitter andreceiver is line-of-s ight. Transmitand receive antennas are polar­ized at right angles. one horizon­tal and one vertt cal . Thi scross-polarized condition resultsin the signal at the recei ver inputbe ing. weaker by as much as 20dB . which is the diffe rence be­tween full scale and ze ro o n mostYIlF-FM Svmctcrs.

Now imagine w hat happenswh en tha t pe rpe ndicu larly po­larized s ignal stri ke s a building,mountain. o r o ther non -absorb­ing. o bjec t larger t ha n a fewwavelengths. The s ignal will herefl ected or scattered. The sca t­tered s ig na l will have pol ariza­t io n co m po ne nts t ha t a rehorizonta l. ve rt ica l. and all va l­ues in between. As a result. sca t­tcrcd signals wi ll he st ro nger a t

Photo A . You will need f ill NF attenuator for closing in on the transmitt erlI 'ilh .HJllr beam or 'I1((1l1. 11,ISresistive unil lwu 1I1I.II.ll' by Arrow Antenna.

80 73 Amateur Radio Today • May 1997

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NEUER SRV DIEContfnuedjrom page 77

I was "downsized" when the TV station Iwas working for (KBTV in Dall as) shiftedfrom live programming to all film. elimi­nating the need for a director for the ir liveshow s.

Okay, what 's the first lettc r on the eyechart? Thai big one up on top? II 's an Eand for me it stands for entreprcncurialism.That's the subdivision of capitalism thatworks the best. And iI'S the key to yourfreedom from being hired or fired. fromcommuting, from being downsized. or re­placed by a someone in Pakistan who'sbetter educated than you and will work for10% of what you've been pulling down.

If you' re tot ally wasting an hour or twoa day commuti ng to work, what do I haveto do, come and shake you personally togel your attention ? How can I gel you towake up and take charge of you r life ?

And the same th ing goes for your health.You've heard the old saw about you beingwhat you eat ? Well, you know it' s true, butas long as your body is ab le 10 surv ive thecrap you've been eating, drinking andbreathing, you make do with arthritis, anoccasiona l hea rt attack, cance r. and otherresults of your gross neglect.

As far as you r health goes, no, I' m notgoing to tell you what to do. BUI I am go­ing to aim you at some books which I' vefound reliable which will let you educateyourself.

Those years you wasted in our publicschool sys tem did nor educate you, Wait 'llyou read so me o f the books on my Iislabout tha i scam, It may almost make youmad.

Book list? It' s a 28-page list of almostone hundred hooks I say you are crazy ifyou don't read. No, I don' t se ll thebooks-that would be a conflic t of inter­est. The list includes a brief explanation ofwhy each book will be valuable to you andhow you' ll benefit from read ing it. I' vereviewed many of the books in my editori­als. but you've forgonen about 'em al­ready. The list is a meas ly $5 fro m RadioBookshop.

Just the books on health that I re viewcan cha nge your life, adding at least an ex­tra 20-30 years of robust health to it.

continued on paqe 84

CIRCLE 68 ON READER SERVICE CARD

73 Ama leur Radio Today· May 1997 81

End of the road-time tosniff

The D~jr from A grc to Engi­nccnng h a new entry into theDopple r market featuring d igi talprocess ing of hearing datu. AtS350. it includes the LED displayand a set of four magnetic-mountwhips o n an aluminum crossharframe,

Once the incomin g signa l isabove the le vel necessary for aDo pple r In acquire bear ings. di­rccuon indicat ions are indepcn­dent or the signa l st reng th. Sohow do you know for sure "henyou arc close 10 the hidden T !When searching with a Doppler

on my mobi le transceiver. I re­move the ante n na f ro m myb andie-talkie. tum it on and placeit on the dashboard. As the signa lbreak s sque lch o n the ha nd le­ta lkie and becomes full-quie ting.I am able to gauge my progressas I dose in.

A Do ppler is rapid-responding,convenie nt, and easy 10 mount onany vehicle. but it is not a lwaysthe best 100 1 tor the job. In areasof high signa l reflect ions. Dopplerdisplays may dance wild ly. milk­ing il d ifficult 10 d isce rn a bear­ing trend. Because they do nol usegain antennas . Dopplcrs arc tessscns ut ve than beams. Dcpplcrsare se ldom usable at the starti ngpoint of southe rn C ali for nia 'slong- distance weak-signal hunts .

Sens itiv ity and accuracy o f theDopp ler meth o d is d eg radedwhen the target signa l is hori zon­tall y polarized. In that case. s ig­na l re fl ec t io ns arc e nha ncedrela tive to the direct signa l. mak­ing tracking much more difficultin urhan or mo untaino us te rra in.

The Do ppler tec hn iq ue re­quires a recei ver wi th (-1'.1 de ice­lion. no mailer what modul ationis on the ta rge t signa l. Do pplersets w ill not t rack no n-carr ie rmodes such as single s idebandand pulsed noise. Bearings takenwhi le the vehicle is inmot ion arcusua lly more reliable than whenstopped.

Photo C. The Looper dual-antenna and receiver set b)" t -Tronics isdes igned fi l( 011-/001 fr ad i l/X of aircraft emergency beacons us weltas hidden ham transmitters , Cathy U\'(1/!i KD6CYG is using this oneat the Fullerton Airport .

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RDF Antenna andEquipment Manufacturers

equipment. Come back next time10 le arn a bou t "bu zz bo xe s"and field -stre ng th meters. Youwill also find out what TDO Astands for.

~I y " Ho ming In" site 011 the\\'orld W id e Weh j h ll p :/1membcrs.aot.cornzbomtnginq hasa wealth of information to helpyou and your club ge t started inthe fun of hidden transminer hu nt­ing. You will find hot links to sitesof many RDF equipme nt suppll­e rs me nt ione d in th is arti cle .There are se vera l detailed techni­cal articles. incl udi ng mod ifica­t ion s a nd improve me n ts topopula r RDF prod ucts . One pagelists sources o f components andassemblies for horn e co nstru ct io nof RDF gear. incl uding four mak ­e rs o f c ircuit hoards and ki ts forthe Roanoke Doppler project.

Want to find out about Tvh unt­

ing in your ne ighborhood ? Checkthe links page for Web s ites andE-mail addresses of RDFers ino ver 40 urban and rural a reas ofNorth America. All o f them areeager to hear from " Homing In"readers who mighi join in the ir

hunt acti vities . There arc evenRDF-rel ated li nks to 15 othercountries around the wo rld. 1I10 :-to f them in English.

Even if you don ' t ha ve Wehaccess. I can put you in touch withRDF enthusiasts nca r you. Sendinquiries via E-mail to IHomi ng !n@aol.com ] or via po stal mail tothe address a t the beginning o f theco lumn. If your c lub has T-huntsand isn 't lis ted at my site. be sureto let me know about tha t. too.

foot wh en you ha ve d ri ven asclose as you can i.. usua lly ca lled··..niffing."

Int ernati o na l- s t yl e rad io ­orienteer ing contests are a ll sniff­ing. no vehicles at all . If you arctracking the beacon at the end ofa high-alt itude balloon flight. youmay need to look mi les awa yIrom the nearest road . Your rno­hile-nmumed beam or Dopplerisn't suited for these tasks.

A crude way to get bearin gs inthe fi eld is to usc body shieldingmaneu vers wi th you r handic­talkie. Directional antennas arefa r more effective. however. L SU'

ally yo u have plenty o f s igna lw he n sniffi ng. so a sma llhandheld beam o f tw o or th reeelements is fine , The ~6WZI yagidescribed in " Ho m ing In" forMay 11)l)6 is a great do-it-your­self sniffing: proj ect. If you don'twant to home-brew, consider thethree-cle ment yagi fro m ArrowA nte nna or the two-eterncnr quadfro m AAE Bandmaste r.

An ordinary re..isrivc aucnua­to r won't stop your hand-held re­

ceivcr o r scan ne r f rom be ings w am pe d by s ig nals le ak ingthrough its case as you approacha hidden transmitter. To ge t bear­ings under these c ircumstance s.cons ide r an offset atrenuaror. Theosct ttaro r and mixer stages in thisde vice shift the T s frequency t-oyabout a megahertz and contro lampli tude of the shifted signa l.Just ret une yo ur recei ve r to theoffset freque ncy and conti nue to

take bearings. You can purchasean o ffse t ancnuator fmm Anten­nas West: plans for a ho me-brewversion arc in recent ed itions ofthe ARRL Handbook .

Anothe r way to cont inue whe nthe two-meter s igna l is too stm ngis to track its third harmonic witha dual-hand handheld. Normally,harmonics arc 40 to 60dB we akerthu n the fundame nta l. so a beamfor 440 Mi l l. will get hearings o nit 10 wi th in a few fe et. The Band­mas ter Q --\.40-6 quad and the Ar­row 440-5 yagi arc small enoug hto rotc along when you sniff. The

Sometimes you can' t d rive a ll Arrow I46/-\.40-Hhas separa te e l-the way to the signa l source. The crnc r us and Iccdpotm s for bet hspurious s igna l you' re tracking two meters and 70 em on the samemay he inside a build ing. Which boom.floo r? Wh at room ? A hidd en I am nearly out o f space for thi sT may he in a Fielder a park. away month 's column. hut I' m not ourfrom vehicle acce ss . RD F o n o f sugges t io n s fo r VHF RDF

82 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

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73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 83

Cancer!

NCUER SRV DIECcnrmued from page 81

There's an awful lo t of baloneyo ut there in the alternativehealth fie ld, so you need some­o ne to sort things out fo r you .

f'ow, gett ing back 10 the big EIf you've forgotten the thingsI've written about that downthrough the years, you'll do wellto invest $5 in my Making M om')'.A Beginner' s Guide, Every nowand then I get a phone cal l or letterfrom a graduate of Green's Schoolof Emrepreneurialism thankingme for changing their lives. f wantto get you to con sider the freedomI offer and go for it so I'l l getthat k iter from you in a couple ofyears.

The s tre ngth o f our countrylies in small businesses. not ingiant ind ustries . As far as Iknow, eve ry big business bcrooked and aiming to get big­ger and bigger. When th ey getreally hig th ey become inte rn a­t ional and their inte rest s aren'tthe same as ours. But with theirmoney th ey haw the power topretty much cont ro l o ur coun­try via hordes of lobbyists inWa shington and every statecapital.

So Slop wasting your life work­ing for someone else and startthinking about h aving your ownbusiness.

Darn , they're making soapboxes out of cardboard these daysand they keep breaking.

sluff). fluorides in our drinkingwater. chlorine ditto. dioxinditto. dental amalgam (mercurypoiso ning), air pollu tion (howwell arc you filtering the air inyour home and office '?), keepingneeded UVs OUI of our eyeballs.eating crap like sugar and whiteflour products. burgers and fries .meat laced with gro wth hor­mones . fruits and vegetablesgrown in almost totall y mine ral ­depleted land. We' re giving ourbodies a fraction of the water itneeds to flush out tox ins. Andbavc yoo read the list of chemc a rsthey' re pming into OUT foods tokeep ir from spoiling on groceryshel ves? Do you really think thaIsurff won ', collect an d screw upyour body? And I'm not even go­ing to bother mentioning the ef­Iects of alcohol. cigarettes. andcaffeine. Ooops. I a1ITll.N focgoCroo! canals and E.\ IFs.

Over a million years or so ourbodies developed to work best(10 the nutr ients then available.Now we've changed all that andwe wonder why we' re dodderinginto nursing homes in our 60sinstead o f raising hell?

So we po ison our Nxiies intosickness and then we go to thedoctor and get an ex pensivemed ication. Another po ison. The$ 1.5 tri llion medical industry iscontrolled almost totally by afew major pharmaceutical com­pa nie s. Their worst nightmare isan inexpensive cure for an ex­pens ive illness, And remember,nobod y in the industry makesany money unti l yo u get sick.Th at's when you' ll spend what-

A hundred , '..ars ago cancer h d d IIn ~ .. ever t ey eman to ge t we .was almost unknown. Today it And this is happily suppo rted bywill affect the lives of at lea...t the insurance industry (you'v e50% o f you. II' s morc li ke seen their huge modern build-100%, if you cou nt your family. lugs. right?). wh ich also has 11So what's go ne wro ng to hri ng large negative inte rest in youron th is epidemic. and how come being healthy. Wh en you getthe medical industry has been al- s id.. they pay, and that's knownmost powerless to do anything as cash flow, Then they chargeabout it? higher premiums. They get their

As you read the book s I' ve cut. so the more they have to payreco mmended o n healt h you' ll out. the more profit they make.find th at our medical industry St art reading the hooks onis cente red o n trcuring sy mp- health on my list. The Combytoms, not gelling at causes so book on a raw food diet. Th ethat illness can be prevented. Batmanghelidj book on water.So what's cau sing this cancer The Wallach book on playingplague ? And what can )"011 doctor. The Coca book on alter­do to avoid being another vic- gjcs. The Lane book on sha rktim"! T he major problem see ms carti lage, which looks like oneto he a weaken ing of our irn- o f the best answers to the cance rmune system s, caused by an in- problem. once you've po iso nedcrease in our poi soning our- you r body to that extent.selves. Poison ing? Yo u bet! Cayenne to avoid heart attacks.We're doing a real job on o ur- The Bioclectrifier looks likeselves wi th stuffl ike aspartame it can help rebu ild im mu ne(a.k.a. Nutraswe etw-c-t he blue syste ms. a nd collo idal silver

84 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

holds some great promises. I'lltry to keep you up to speed inthese fiel ds as I lcarn more.

But if you keep putting sandand sugar in your gas tank. yourengine isn' t going to last long andyo u'll be doddering with yourwalker to hamrests. O r zippingaround in one of those handi­capped mobiles. So go ahead.hoist a few more beers and buyanother carton of cigarettes.

I cat mostly vegetables andfrui t these days. I' d eat moremeat if 1 kne w where to buymeat safe enough to eat raw. 1100'e raw meat and raw fish.Sashimi . In Tokyo I was treatedto a chicken dinner that startedout w ith chicken sashirni and itwas delicious. But the chicke nwe gel fro m the supermarke t isso laced with salmonella andother microbes that it's as dan­gerous as eating blowfish. Hey,I' ve got to find out more, but I'llbet a good dou sing in silver col­loids might make fis h and meatsafe 10 cat ra w. Do you knowanything about that? It seemsreasonable. but I' m not yet readyto bet my life on it.

Yes. I've eaten blowfish, Am sur­vived. I recency saw the episode of"The Simpsons" ag ain wh ereHomer ale some and was told hewas going 10 die in 24 hours.

Speaking (well, writing) ofmedical alternatives. if you thinkI'm alone in putting down themedical industry. do some alte r­native cruis ing of the Inte rnet.Check out the Royal Rife Webpage and see what that bunchhas to say about the medics andtheir support by the feds, whichis an incestuous relat ionship.

One of the books on my list isabout Dr. Nacsscns. who . likeRife. hut more recently, inventeda supe r-powerful microscope.And he, like Rifc. was thus ableto see an even more basic formof life th an the cell, one whichseems almost indestructible. Hecalled it a somatid. And he. likeRife. w as persecuted h y th emedical establishme nt, completewith swat teams raiding his labo­ratory and destroying his notesand equipment. Well. he , likeRife, did a terrible th ing : hefound an inexpens ive cure forca ncer a nd used it to c ure abunch of people .

Screw the Generals

1"0. good heavens . 1101 GeneralClass opcrators-c-l 'm referring tosuch generals as General Mo­to rs , Ge neral Food s, Gen eral

M ill s . Ge neral Ins t rum ent,a nd Gene ral Dynamics-c-theglgabuck conglomerates. Capital­ism works first rate when ilcomes to smaller businesses, butit goes aw ry when co rpo rationsget big enough to dominate anindustry.

I keep a copy of Ted Quinn's1953 b oo k, Gian I Busines s ,Threat To Democmcv, at hand.Ted had be en an insider. the vicepres ident of GE. an d saw whatwas going on whe n corporat ion sget too big, Not only can theysquash or l imit their compe ri­non. they al so have lobbyists inWashington 10 make sure th atthey ha ve the government be­hind them in doing it. Largercorporations have lobbyis ts ine very state capital too . I wa samazed when 1 looked o ver a Ii!>tof the registered lol'ibyists inConcord. my state capital.

The real strength of any coun­try lies in the proliferat ion ofsmall businesses. not in growinggrants. which tend to be interna­t io nal enuncs. with it be ingirrelevant where the owner is .

For a while our governmenttended 10 keep a loose lid on big­ness with their ant i-monopolysu its. but how long has it beensince you've read about one ofthose? They did break up AT&Tand slowed IBM down for afew years, but these days we'reseeing the big ge t bigger by gob­b li n g up the o ther b ig guysas we ll as bundles o f smallerbusinesses.

I don't have any proposed so­lutions for this weakness in capi­talism, I just wanted to makesure th at 1have company' in .....o r­rying about it. Since the giantsarc essentia lly ru nning the gov­ern ment, we can't really expectmuch help fro m that quarte r.And, until we're able to impro veour school system, we 're notgo ing to have many people witht he gut s to coo pe ra te to dosomething fro m the grass roots .

A recent lcucr fro m a readermentioned tha t a psychologypro fessor opined that our schoolsyste m destro ys initiati ve in allhut about 5'1- o f the people. Thathelps explain wh y I' m up hereon my soap box waving my armsin d ismay to so few people. Ev­eryone else is hy pnotized some ­where watching a ball game. Orat a c hurch supper.

Shortchan~t"d

I've been shortchanged. You'vebeen shortchanged. We've been

T he ~laJtie Rullel

Now, wi ll f'ASA and the C IA,who ap parently worked withNASA to put over this charade,le t this come to trial or willKaysing and Rene both d isap­pear or inexplicably die ... ashave se veral other whistle-blow­ers? Will they be afte r me IOO?I' ve already had one govern me ntagent te ll me Oat out thai if Ie ver wrote about hi s ag encyagain he guaranteed I would hepu t in prison and never get out .No , I haven't written ahout themagam .

The government we have to­day bears lill ie resemblance tothat envisioned by our found ingfathers. No, it's not as bad asRuss ia or C hina, b ut we surecould use some hou seclean ing.And the Senate too.

How could NASA and the C IApull off a S-JO bill ion swind le Iikcthat? Well, you saw the Apo llo 13movie, righ t? That was a movie.And maybe you saw CapricomOne? Well, rent it, then.

when Kennedy said we ' d go10 the moon and Cong res s bud­geted for it , NASA was facedwith a serious problem whenthey later discovered that theyweren't going to be able to do it.Should they give up years o fnicc-paytng jobs or fake it? Notma ny people had tu know thetru th, so there was a good chanceof maintaining secrecy,

Since I originally wrote .n:utRene's book I've heard from severalpeople who were 001 at all surpriseda, a result of their own work on:'-lASA and related projects.

Well. I hope they won't feel itnece ssary 10 terminate me- Ijust have so mu ch more to writeand do be fore terminat ion . AndI' m anx ious to be around to secif the prophecies for world cata­clysm in 2000 and 2012 pa n out.Golly, I' d sure hate to miss OUIon a ca taclys m.

While we' re healthy we don'tgive much thought to pre ventingillness , When we get s ick welook for a fa st remedy-c-at leastsomethi ng to get rid o f thosedarned sympto ms. The body hasan excellent repair system buil tin, but it can be di sabled, a ll­owing all sorts o f opportunisticinvaders to take hold .

T he Bioclcc tri fie r looks l ikea good approach 10 he lpin gthe bod)' gel rid of im'aders suchas microbes, parasites. yeast infec­tions, viruses. fungi, and so on.

Coli lirUtL>tl on P(J[IC 88

73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997 85

w ayne Dfsuppears!

go ing to crap out first. But yo ugo merrily Oil , knowing or notkn owi ng how you' re lousing upyour hody. Your "educa tion" didnot teach ) 'OU much about bodymaintenance, and even less aboutcontinuing to learn al l throu ghlife. So you suck in 0 11 a life ofCheers bars, bowling, or watchingbal l games. Or sitcoms. And com­muting to work until a computeror a Pakistani replaces you.

A call from Rene. who wrotethe book NASA Mooned Amer­ica, wh ich he 's sclf published,reminded me that Bill Kaysing.who wrote We NCI'er Went ToThe Moon-America 's $30 Bil­lion Dollar Swindle , is suingone of Ihe astronauts who calledhim "crazy" for libel. The casecomes up in October. so Bill an dRene are bu sy organizing cxhib­it s w h ich w ill back up theircc menuon that a ll the moonlandings were fak ed.

I get koo ky books sent 10 meall the ti me, so when Rene sentme a copy of his book I s ighedand expected to read the usualpo le mi c, Well , Pve writtenabout my eonversio n. Since thenI' ve helped Rene sell hundredsof his books and not one pe rsonwho's read his NASA hook haswri tten to say he th inks Rene hashis facts wrong.

K aysing, wh o worked fo rRo c ke td yn e during the yearswhen they were developing theengines for the Apollo program,knew that the eng ines powerfulenough for the moon shots hadall fa iled and that the enginesthey ended up using couldn' tposs ihly provide enough powerfor the trip. Knowing that themoon shot s were impossihle. Billsta rted re searching the project.looking for other deceptions. ..and he found plenty.

Kay smg's book makcs some ofthe s ame pomrs as Rene's. but healso has a hunch more. Like thepilot of a commercial airl iner fly­ing to Tokyo who reponed see­ing a high-flying plane drop acommand module, wh ich thenchuted to tbc oce an below. Or therecording NASA released ofArmst rong and Aldrin ta lki ngwith M iss ion Co ntro l whi le de­scending to the moon. The prob­lem here is simple; a rocket engined.!wloping IO,lJX) pu .mds of thrustgenerates about 14{) dB of sound,so voces anywhere ncar it couldn' tp ossibly he heard . And so on, for along list of colltrad ictions.

getting in return for all thai t imeand work'! Hmm, let ' s see. Weget roads to drive our cars on. Ofcourse, un less we pay a stiff taxon our car every year, we ca n' Iuse it . And Ihe gas we use istaxed 100. Indeed , that a lone issuppo sed 10 be paying for theroads . But tha t' s a state matter.not federal. Whal is the federalgo vernment doing for us?

Well , there 's the mili tary. Yep,we genu ha ve o ne of thuse. Well,there goes 5% of the federalbudget . We get thc services ofthe FAA, wh ich makes flyingsa fer. Okay. A nd we g el theFCC, wh ic h reg ulate s the air­waves . There ' s some good inth a t too . And there are ou rna tional forest s and parks.

Well, how about social sccu­rity? As Steve forbes has po intedout, if the fcds would lei us putas ide the same money in privateaccounts we 'd get back almos tfour times as much as we do now.Well, it costs a lot to support mil­lion s of government employeesand their generous pension funds.Social security is one hcllaceousscrew job. It' s just another taxwh ere they. in essence , takearound S,UXXl from a senior c\'C'l)'

month and give him S1,200 back.Here, let's see you live on thai,old-timer.

If you weren' t to tall y brain­washed you ' d never in th isworld send yo ur l id s to a pu blicschool. And you ' d be pretty an­gry o ver the poisoned garbagebeing so ld by our supermarket s.I'm exaggerating? I wish I were,bu t then I haven't been able toget you to do your homeworkand learn what's actually going0 11. I'm not asking anyone to be­Iicve me , but I am asking thatyou check out the books I'vefound that make a lo t o f sense tome and which will give you ane w perspect ive on th ings.

So you go along do ing thingsyou know you shouldn' t and nOIdoing things you know youshould. and then when you finallybreak down your body you go to adoc tor. II mm , headaches, eh ?Here ' s some pa in killer. Cancer"Lordy, we ' ve gut to pour some in­dustrial -strength poisons into yourbody and kill thar damned cancer.If you ever find a doctor who triesto find out why you have the can­cer, please let me know. I don' t ex­peer any mail to result from thatrequest.

When you get sic k i t's be­cause YOU '\'C done it to yourself.Th e element of chance is whatorgan or part of your hody is

lied 10, hypn otized, and brain­washed by the media, the schoolsystem, and thc government ...with thc result that around 99/fof us are taki ng al l the crap thai 'sgoing on and believing that the reisn' t an ything we can do thatwill make a difference. Imaginewhat a country this would he if250 million people decided toma ke a d ifferen ce ! Heck. ifjust a few thou sand decided thatthey we re go ing to act ually dosomethi ng about the mess.

We' re taught in schoolthat hon­esty pays. Well, that's hooey ' A n­other con job. Honesty doesn'tpay wort h beans. I' ve had biggerscrew jobs tha n anything you canimagine. and not aile was don ehonestly. Hey, I had a $100 mil­lion propeny stolen and therewasn't one damned thing I coulddo abou t it.

Every indu st ry that l'vc got­ten into has tu rned out to hecrooked 10 the core. r ve wri tte nabout the magazine d istri butionindustry and its crime connec­tions. And about the music in­du st ry, a lso with o rga niz e dcrime connections. ;-.Jo t one in­dustry that I' ve gouc n to knowabout intimately has tu rned out10 be ho nesl .

Our country is ru n by crooks.I'm ex agge rat ing? T he n youha ve n ' t don e your homeworkand read the books o n my list of98 Books }(", 're era:.)' if } ()I/

Don ', Read. J' JI be l you haven'teven read P.J . O'Rourke's ror­liament of Whores . If the gov­ernme nt wa s ho ne s t the rewouldn' t be tho usands of lobby­ists be ing pa id billions of dollarsevery year to bribe govern mentofficials .

You ? H yp no tized ? Brain­washed ? Sure, gel angry with mefor bringing it up. But, just for aminute, remember the denial alco­holics and other dru g abusers areinto . Remember that whe n some­one is given post-hypnotic sugges­tions (orders) they will faithfullycarry them out, rational iring lheirevery act jon.

If yo u are commut ing to work. . . if you are worried about beingdown sized, outsourced. la id o ff.fired, then you're in need of adeprogramming inte ....-ennon. Ifyou don' t love what you're do­ing you' ve been brainwa shedinto accepting a sort o f sla very.Slavery 10 big government andbig business.

Docs it hother yo u that thefirs t five months o f the year youare ....-orkmg for the govern ment?Or is il six now? So what arc you

QRP kits from Ten-Tee

I have no PC board for thisproject. I fig ured it would takeabout as much t ime to lay out aPC board as to use po int-to-po intconstruct ion. Pcr tboard would bethe first choke for me. I used aprototype solderless setup to testtbe circuit. If you don't have one o frbese. I suggest you invest in one.

Keep the v ee stead y: as idefrom thai. you can use + 12, +8.or +5 volts for the vee. If youchange the Vee from the +8 voltsI used, yOll may have to fudge ei­the r or both R7 and R9. There isno need to c hange out R16 orR I? They will d ivide the Vee inha lf regardless of the Vee used.

You can save some money hygett ing CI with a 16 VDC rating.The Digt-Key price for the cap isahuut $4 each. r \'C seen caps that willwork from Hosfclt foraquancra rxl{l!

The entire idea of the 10 timer isto lISC a leftover op amp in one ofyour projects. You may have onesec tion le ft over from an audio fil ­ter in a direct conversion rig. Hereis }'our chance 10 wire up an 10timer without adding an extra chip.

Playtime

For goodness' sake, please playwith th is ci rcuit. It 's meant to hechanged. Use the baste ci rcuit tosta rt with and change values asyou go. If you have a left over opamp in one of your rigs. go aheadand huild in an ID timer!

to prevent the E,\1P pulse from 1~1p­

ping the switct nng earstsor.

Here' s some info on the new­est QRP kits from Ten-Tee: Thenew rigs arc des igned for SO, 40,3D and 20 me ters. Easy to bu ildand s imple 10 operate. eac h un itcovers a 50-ki ll segment selectedat time of construction. Kit in­cludes all required compone ntsand profe s si onal enclosu repainted and fully s ilk-screened.Receiver performance is superla ­t ive and QSK is just what youexpect from the hams at Ten-Tee.I' ll have a complete review o f thisnew QRP transce iver fro m Tell­Tee . Lo ok fo r i t so o n . Nex. tmonth, I'll have some ideas forrunning our 10w power rigs onbatteries in th e field, and ot herinteresting stuff . fa

Building the IDer

constant makes up the long-termtime period of the timer.

w hen the comparator switchesstates- it is nonnally off or low­several things happen.

First , the long-duration timermus t he rese t. Th is is accom­plished by turning on Q2 via R1 8.

Now we mus t also generateth e tw o -se cond pu lse a t th esa me time. To accomplish thisfeat , I added some rather heavyhysteres is to th e op amp. Thishysteresis loop consi sts of RIO.0 4 and R8 . When the op ampsw itc hes. thi s hyste re s is loopwill offset the vo ltage of the R7fCI sam ple , effecti vely holdingthe out put of th e o p am p o ns lightly longe r. Howe ver this isstill not enough to produce thetwo-seco nd pulse .

I had to add R9 to s lowly dis­charge CI , The trick was to finda value of R9 to produce the re­qu ired two second s while d is ­chargi ng C I down enough togene ra te anot her ten m inutes 'worth of charging. If you increasethe value of R9, you get a longerpulse at the end. but yo u shorte nup the ti mc it takes 10 rec hargeC I. xtake R9 smalle r, and you geta shorter pulse and longer re­charge time on C I . With the val­ue s I have shown in the schematic.you ' ll get a two-second pulse aboutevery 9.3 minutes.

Yo u can also change C I. Add­ing mo re c apaci tance w ill o fco urse ma ke t he ti me r runlonger. A smalle r va lue for C Iwill red uce the t imi ng cycle .If y ou d on ' t have o ne largecap. fee l free to use several inparallel.

The o utput from the op ampcan be used 10 drive an LEO ortone generator. I usc a solid-state

sounde r I p icked upfrom a ha rnfcst. Its lowcurrent a llows it to bedriven d i re ctl y fromthe L:\1351f s output. Ifyou require higher out­put switching.you canuse a transistor switchas shown in the sche­matic. Basicall y, it ' sjus t a c heap NP:'>Jtrans isto r that' s turnedon by the output of theLM358. If you decideto use a rel ay as thehigh current switch. hesure 10 add a small diode3l.TOSS the coil's terminal

--"~'j

)".,~

"'-'".,~,

Low Power Operationwhich to build a long-duration timerand produce a two-second pulse.

I also required the circu it toreset and start timing agai n oncethe long-duration time period wasup, so what you see in t'iK. 1is the result o f many hours o fdaydreaming and lots of paper!

Generate the ten minutes

:\1y one sec tion of an L:\1358or amp is the heart of the t imer.For clarity. I show this one sec­t ion on ly. T he othe r section isuse-d by the rest of the circui t andis not requ ired by the ID timer.

How It works

The Vee in this ID timer is +8volts. I used a small 781.08 regu­lator. It ' s part of the overall ci r­c u i t and no t sho w n In th isschematic. vee is app lied to R7and slowly charges C l. Capaci­tor CI is a husky 4700 J.1F elec­t rolytic capacitor. T he time ittakes to charge is determined bythe vee and R7. For thi s reason.we use the eight-volt regulator toensure a constant timing period.

The pos it ive input of theL:\B 58 monitors the charge onC l. The neg a tive input o f theLM 358 compares the charge onClIO the re ference generated byR16 and R 17. In effec t. they di­vide the vee by hal f. Again. an­o ther (Cason for the regulated veerequired for the ID timer.

With the values shown for R7. ittakes ahout 9 minutes for the chargeon C l to match the reference on pintwo of the op amp. The RIC time

."~

".~

, .:[:1.",-,..... ,•

vee.",~

" ct' • •." " ..,

"-

QRP

La st mo nth, I me nt ione d Iwould be presenting a di fferentproject. Howe ver. th is is a projectyou should nOI necessarily ron outand build. It' s more of an experi­mental project. although u doesseo..e a real purpose in life.

Michael Bryce WB8VG EP.O . Box 508Massillon OH 44648

As odd as it sounds, the projec tis a ten-minute ID timer, As I said.no thing speci al. Oh, no? Whatmakes this time r d iffe re nt I S

how it works . But first . somebackground on the ID timer.

Another project -anothercircuit

The project

I had been working on a differ­ent project and needed a way 10

produce a pulse every ten mi nutesor so, and at the end of the pulse.the outpu t hal! 10 slay on for asecond or two as well.

Normally. when someone needsa circu it fo r a simple timer such :r>

Idescribed etove. an L\1555limcris used. However; in this case. I alsoneeded a two-second pulse at the­end of the time- period. With twoseparate time periods, that wou ldrequire two LM 555 timers, or onedual timer, the LM5M,

This wa s no t acceptable . Ineeded a very smal l pans count forthe circuit I was.. developing. andadding one more chip was Il()( anoption. In fact, I did not want toadda single chip to the project. I hadone section of an op iun p left with

Fig. 1. The low-tech JO-mlnllte lIma, shown with the high-current driver oonon.

86 73 Amateur Radio Today . May t 997

PROPR6RTlON SUN MON

MAY 1997TUE WED THU FRI SAT

EASTERN UNITED STATES TO:

3 G2 G

Subscribe to73 Magazine theeasy way...call

800-274-7373 orFAX 603-924-8613.

A lways be aware that a hal fhour before and a fter local sun­SI,' I o fte n prov id es some reallyfine DX alo ng the paths of dark­ne ss on all hand s. V .H' it to youradv.ar uage . WI X U. fa

80-160 meters

The se tw c band s a re notknown for su mmert ime DX, andMay is close e no ugh to summerto be a probl e m because of highno ise (Q RN ) leve ls. Howe ver,o n 4uift eve nings yo u may findsuperb . DX across the Atlantico n 80 meters fo r US and Euro­pean hams. One-sixty is alwaysa su mm ert i me p roblem. b utthose of you with Beverage an­tennas for receiving and verti­ca l an lennas for tran smittingwill do better than average.

Forty wi ll be ex cellent afte rdark unle ss the no ise lewis fromthu nderstorm activ ity are exces­si ve . T hese w ill he "all- night"hands. with 40 sli ghtl y bet tertha n 30. e xcept for no ise. Day­t ime sh o rt ski p will average1000 miles o r more and night­t ime s hort sk ip w ill average1500 miles o r more-usually

more .

40-80 meters

21F 22 F-P 23 P 24 P-F

28 P-F 29 F 30 F-G 31 G

7 F 8 F-G 9 G 10 G

14 G 15 G 16 G 17 G

1 G

25 F 26F-P 27 P

4 G 5 G-F 6 F

18 G-F 19 F 20 F

11 G 12 G 13 G

10-12 meters

As almost always. 20 metersw ill be yo ur best DX band forhath d aytime and evening peri­ods. Twenty w ill stay open un­til we ll a fte r da rk , and thir ty

• really begins 10 sh ine in the lateevening hours. Peak condi tionsex ist s hortly after sunr ise atyour location. and again in thelate afternoon . M idd ay condi­ti ons are not l ikely 10 be gooddue to exce sstve ionizatio n andabsorption. Sho rt sk ip will heexce lle n t o ut to abo ut 2500mile s on both bands o n the bestdays.

You may expect occasionalshort-skip open ings from about500 to 1500 m ile s. T here maybe ra re o pe ni ng s to g rea terd istance s, bu t no t reg ularly.

Yo u can expect some reason ­ab le short-sk ip propagatio n outto 1500 mi les o r so , and occa­sio nally greater distances. par­ticul arl y transequa torial DXskip--with sometimes surpris ingsignal stre ngths.

year 2003, Most observers con­sid er a n average solar cycle tobe around 11.2 years, but the reseems to be mo unt ing evide ncethat the trlle cycle is closer to23 years o n a ve rage-with twopeaks and three r ninima-c-s imi ­lar to a si ne wave , if you want10 visualize it. I ferve ntly ho pethis rat her gloo my fo recas t iswrong. but we ' ll have 10 wa itand see , won' t we?

20-30 meters

15-17 meters

or magnet ic field upsets or anymajor geophysical problems thismon th. At the lime of preparingthis fo recast (February), the so­lar nux re mains at a di sappo int­ing lo w value of hetween 70 and75. with no appare nt upsw ingyet in sight. Sunspot numberscont inue lo w. and the sun is ve ryquie t . Consider ing this pro ­longe d minimum. I sus pec tcycle 23 will he off 10 a slowstan and a low peak of 150-200nux unit s sometime around the

ALASKA zo '" '" " " so " 15

ARGENTINA ts '" " " '" ts tsAUSTRAliA ts '" '" '" "CANAL ZONE '" '" '" '" sc '" tsENGLAND '" '"HAWAII ts '" '" " '" '" '" 15

'""'" '" '"JAF¥.N '" '" '" '" '" " '" '"MEXICO '" '" '" '" '" 15

PHIUPPINES 15 '" '"PUERTOR1CO '" '" '" '" eo '" 15

RUSSIA C.I.S. '"SOUTH AFRICA ts rsEAST COAST 80 80 " eo " " eo ec so

ALASKA

ARGENTINA " ts tsAUSTRALIA ts '" '" '" '" teCANAl ZONE '" '" '" " eo ao 15 ts is '"ENGLAN D '" '" eo so '" '"HAWAII te '" '" '" '" '" '" 15

INOLA '" '"JAF¥.N '" '"MEXICO '" '" '" " '" '" ts 15 15 '"PHILIPPINES '" '"PUERTO RICO '" zo '" e '" '" rs 15 15 '"RUSSIA C.I.S. '" '"SOUTH AFRICA 15

GMT: 00 oa " 00 00 10 " " 10 ta zc 22ALASKA eo acARGENTINA 15 15 " ts tsAUSTRALIA '" '" eo ts tsCANAL ZONE '" '" '" '" '" '" 15 ts is ts eoENGLAND '" '" '" ze '" '" soHAWAII '" '" '" '" so rsINDIA '" '"JAF¥.N '" soMEXICO " '" " '" '" te ts rs 15

PHILIPPINES '" '"PUERTO RICO '" '" " '" 15 15 ts 15

RUSSIA (C.l .S.) '" '"SOUTH AFRICA te is rsWEST AST 80 80 " '" '" '" '" '"

CENTRAL UNITED STATES TO:EI' _

Jim Gray W1XU210 Chateau CirclePa yson AZ. 85541

May is expected to he a ratherbland mo nt h for DX propaga­lion because of the app roachingsumme r solst ice. although theremay be some days of high spo­radic E prop agation . Look forprime conditions (G) between I·4, 9 -17. and the 3 151. Look fo ro nly fair (F) conditions 6·7.19-21. 25. and 29 th . The re­mainder will be tre nding. I don 't

foresee an y major ionospheric

73 Amaleur Radio Today . May 1997 87

Number 88 on , our~bac" C8rd

Rusty Auxier KG4A Uaddress correction.

without frying them. II unlytakes a few m inutes a day.

Read the books on water, ourmiss ing minerals , on a raw fooddiet, and so on. Either educateyourself and stan avoiding things..... hich will make )'tX! sic\.: (no mat­ter how good they taste], or sufferthe consequences. turning to yourdoctor to (I) and effect repairs.Wboo. is that an expensive andpainful way to go! !l.I

In the February IYY7 issue ,

Rusty Auxier KG~AU, presidentof the Gu unt ana mo Bay A RC,appeared in our Ham Help sec­tion. His E-mail add~ was irv,.u ­rect . II SHOCLD IIAVE BF.E~

(rustmanl @aol.com) . iii

___ Phone _

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Inthc February 11}97 issue. Iolg,..J on p;.tge 18 and }o~. 6 on page 20were .....rong. If yoo are interested in.\ tr. Garrison 's bcam-aimer pm;''\.1COOl.al..1LL'i. We will be happy to sup­ply you with full-size layu .l15 of theI."lJPPCf sKb of beth boards, P1C'dSCSCM a 6w x 9w SASE

ens ue when you don't . Whic hmost of us don't. We keep win­dows in o ur homes and cars be­t.....een the sun and our eyes. Andthen, .....hen we go out. we wearsunglasses. I haven't ....orn sun­glasses since reading the book.Read th e book! And no, lm notreco mmend ing anyone stare d i­recuy into the sun. But you cancast your eyes into the sky nearthe sun so it can get into them

lv"" may <Wet b)' m.1il1dqft..,.. ur fu AIr-~ air k' '-' in l 'S fuBh . AI"•• _ .... b dliI""') l"""" d'l<""lk>~ ..il/o;OlI .."",,, if~ IIlCIaOC'~Of IlL...· ............lI.I ... ,.ft' )

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other is stress-a-the psychologi­cal fac tors. A long time ago I re­viewed a book. Who Gets Sid;,by Dr. Blair Just ice. I' H have toadd that to my list o f becksyou' re crazy if you don't read .Blai r makes an airtight case forthe triggering effect of psycho­log ical problems. Almost 50years ago. when Hubbard pro­posed this concept in his book,Dianetics, it wa s ridiculed by themedical establish ment. Germs i-- - - - - - --- - - - - - - - ---- - - - --­m ak e peo p le s ick , not badthoughts , Doctors have gradu ­ally come to accept the idea. but(as I' ve ment ioned a few do/ entimes) none of the m tha t I' veever heard o f is doing o nedarned thing about it. Th ey ' rehu xy tre ati ng sym ptoms w ithc hemicals and kni ve s, a nd 10hell wit h the ac tual causes of theillnesses.

You ga ll a ha ve both ge rmsand bad thoughts, And a weakimmune system.

So , sure. the Bioe lec tri ficrmay be able to work some rem­porury mi rac les, but in the longterm you'd bette r sta rt cleaningup your act, with both goodnu trients and good thoughts .

A reader. whose father man ­aged to bl ind himself by staringinto the sun. was aghast over myment io ning the importance o fgetti ng UVs into yo ur eyeba lls.He y, I keep asking you to get myreview of the hooks you reallyneed to read, and one o f them.ny Dr. Will iam Dou gla ss , e x­plai ns in detail about Uv -ingyour eyes and the s icknesses that

NEUER SRV DIECon !lnlll,.'t1Jrorn page 65

But these beasties wouldn' tlikel y have established a beach­head if the imm une system wasworking well. so getting rid ofthem b only going to be tempo­rary unle ss you make so mechanges.

The nioc tectrtner. or Bed..Blood Puri fier. was orig inallydeveloped as a way 10 right theA IDS scourge. BUI the altema­live hcallh care fie ld is no morehonest tha n our medu-al-phar­rna ce u t ica t. i nsu ran ce -FD A ·Nl l-l -e tc. monopol y. so whoknows what In be lieve ? Th erearc crooks and hucksters at ev­ery tum . The med ical (ctc.) in­dustry has the govern me nt be­hind it becau se tbar' s where thebig money is. The doctors ' Of ­

g.anizations. nurses. hospitals.drug and insurance companies(etc.) all have well-heeled lob­byists wi th bribe mo ney 10 in­vest in our politic ians to makesure their companies prevail.

Now thaI there 's no quest ionbut that vitamins he lp keep usbcalthy. fbe doctors via their 100­byists and their kept politiciansare pushi ng the FDA to makesure tha I doctors get a piece o fth e vi ta m in action by m ak ingthem av ailable by prescript iononly.

Now, gelling hack to stayingheal th y. T here are t wo maj orfac tors which combine to makeus sick. One is the lousy treat­mem we g ive our bodies and the

I FOU>JD A BOOK OU HOtlJ TO IUC.I<£A-Sf 'fOUl<HA....OHELD I<A....6 E"--- 1 eoUGHT A DoZElJ COPlE,;,aJT """ RAHGE 15 ABOUT 1\-11' ,;A""E

88 73 Amateur Radio Today · May 1997

We er GAP reasze there isn't a perfect antenna. No sin­gular antenna will scream OX on 80 and be the best forlocal nets on 10. If anyone tells you there is, beware! Theperfect antenna does not exist, but the right one for youmay. If you want something to bust the pile on the lowbands, then consider the Voyager. Just starting out inham radio and need <'I great general coverage antenna.the Challenger is easy to assemble and for little effort willyield superior performance, espe-cially on DX. Maybe you know-ingly or unknowingly moved intoone of those "restricted areas"where the Eagle~ lim ited vis ibility,but un!imited ability is desired.

This chart helps you select the right GAP antenna. W hen comparing Gl\Ps, bandw idthis not a concern, With few exceptions, a GAPyields continuous coverage under 2:1 for theENnRE BAND,

All antennas utilize a GAP elevated asymmetric feed, A major benefit is the virtual elimi­nation of the earth loss, so more RF radiates into the air instead of the ground. This feedis why a GAP requires NO RADIALS. Just as elevating a GAP offers no significant improve­ment to its performance, adding radia ls won't either, m<'lking set up a breeze.

A GAP antenna has no traps, coils or transformers. This is important. The greatestsources of failure in multiband antennas are these devices, Perhaps you heard someonediscuss a trap that had melted. arced or became full of water. !mprovements to these inher­ent problems are the focus of the antenna manufacturer, w hile the basic design of theantenna remains unchanged. GAP improved the trap by eliminating itl Removing thesedevices means they don't have to be tuned and, more importantly. won't be detune<'1 bythe first ice or rain . The absence of these devices improves antenna reliability, stability andincreases bandwidth.

Another major advantage to a GAP antenna is its NO tune feature. Screws are simplyinserted into predrilled holes w ith a supplied nutdriver

The secret is out and people in the know XlY:Co-"The GAP consistently outperformed base-fed areeonas., .aoc was quieter."73-lhis is a real DX antenna. much quieter than other vernca's."RF- I o say this antenna is effective would be a real understatement. SwitChing back andforth on 40m between another multiband HF vertical and the GAP. there was no compari­son. SignalS w ere always stronger on the GAP, sometimes by Sunits, not just DBi;, "Worldradio - "These guys have solved the problem associated w ith verticals. That is, anawful lot of RF is wallowing around and dropping into the di rt instead of gOing outwardbound, A hCllf-wClve vertical does need racnars if it is end fed (at the bottom) . But the samehalf-wave vertical does not (CIS much, hardly at all) if is fed in the center.·IEEE- "Near field and power density analyses show another advantage of this antenna(asymmetric vertical dipo le): it decreases the power density close to the ground. and soavoids power dissipation in the soil below it. The input impedance is very stable andalmost independent of ground conductivity, This antenna can operate With high radiationefficiency in the MF PM standard broadcast band. w ithout the crasscar bu ried groundplane. so as to yield easier Installation and maintenance:

This all purpose antenna isdesigned to operate 10m­80m. WARC bands included ,It sits on a 1-1/4 " pipe andcan be mounted close to theground or up on a roof. Itsbandwidth and no tune fea­ture make it an ideal antennafor the limited space environ­ment as well as a terrific addi­tion to the antenna farm .

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160-10 Meters PLUS 6 Meter Transceiver

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to achieve low distortion and high durabil ity. Rated output is 10to 150 watts on all bands including 6 meters.

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5 GENERAL COVERAGE RECEIVER ·100 kHz-3D MHz, plus 48·54 MHz receiver. Electronically tuned front-end filtering, quad­FET mixer and quadruple conversion system (triple conversionfor FM) results in excellent dynamic range (> 1OOdB) and 3rd orderICP of +20dBm.

6 IF BANDWIDTH FLEXIBILITY. Standard 2.4 kHz filter can benarrowed continuously to 800 Hz with variable Bandwidth Control(BWe). Narrow SSB and CW filters for ano and 3rd IF optional.

7 QRM SUPPRES SION· Other interterence reject ion featuresinclude Passband Shift (PBS), dual noise blanker, a-step RF atten­uation , IF notch filter, selectable AGC and all-mode squelch.

8 NOTCH TRACKING· Once tuned, the IF notch filter will track theoffending heterodyne (.::: 10Khz) ifthe VFO frequency is changed.

9 DOS PHASE LOCK LOOP SYSTEM. A single-crystat DirectDigital Synthesis system is ut ilized for very low phase noise.

10 CW FEATURES. Full break-in operation, variable CW pitch. builtin electronic keyer up to 60 wpm.

11 DUAL VFOs • Two separate VFOs for split-frequency operation.Memory registers store most recent VFO frequency, mode, band­width and other important parameters for each band.

12 200 MEMORIES· Memory capacity of 200 channels, each ofwh ich store frequency, mode, AGC and bandwidth.

13 COMPUTER INTERFACE· Built-in RS-232C interface fo radvanced computer applications.

14 ERGONOMIC LAYOUT. Front panelleatures easy to read colorLCD display and thoughtful placement of controls for ease of oper­ation.

15 HEAVY· DUTY POWER SUPPLY· Built·in switching powersupply with "silent" cooling system designed for continuoustransmission at maximim output.

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