DOUGLAS COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB NEWSLETTER Vol. 31, No. 9, September 2001 Articles and information for the News letter may be submitted up to the 20th of the month before the next meeting. Ken Blair, KCØGL, Editor 1711 West 19th Terrace Phone: 785-843-8826 Lawrence, KS 66046 e-mail: kc0gl@arrl.net This Newsletter is published monthly by the Douglas County Amateur Radio Club (DCARC). Rreprint permission is granted to other Amateur Radio-orientated publications for non-copyright material provided that credit is given to the author and source. Copyright(c) articles require permission to use from the holder of the copyright. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the club or its officers. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. P R O G R A M F O R S E P T E M B E R How GPS Works Our program will be on how the Global Positioning System (GPS) works, presented by KCØCW/Sheldon Wheaton. This multi-media presentation is being made by a man with intimate knowlege of how GPS works, since its his business. Jim Canaday, N6YR, Program Chair ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. MINUTES OF THE AUGUST 8 MEETING Rex Lockwood/WØFOG, Secretary The DCARC meeting started at 7:30 p.m. There were 22 people present. Bob Drake, NØTFU, presented a ARRL video on computer aided antenna design. The programs are used to find the 'perfect' antenna design for your operating preference. The computer programs are available from ARRL. September's presentation will be GPS training. The business meeting stated at 8:07 p.m., Dan Gravatt, N2PRC, President presiding. Last month's meeting minutes and the new reports were accepted and approved. The club voted on paying KARC Dues ($15.00) for the repeater, the club newsletter ($65.57) for August and the ordering of the new ARRL Technician Class Video Course ($157.00). That left the club with $371.40 in the repeater fund and $334.15 in the general fund. In September a Nominating Committee will be selected to pick new Club officers. So everyone should be thinking who to nominate or what position they want. Everyone welcome our newest club member, Matt May, KC4WCG. Upcoming events: September 08 - DCARC Tailgate at the 6th Street HyVee at 7 a.m. September 15/16 the MS150 Bicycle tour, volunteers welcomed. October 13 - The Nowhere special event station. October20 - The Southside Radio Club Hamfest in Granview, MO. " ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ WE WELCOME A NEW MEMBER - James 'Matt' May, KCØWCG, PO Box 814 Mission, KS 66201-0814 785-594-9826. email: mattm@boelte.com The following is a brief autobiography from Matt: I'm Matt May, KC4WCG. I grew up in Lawrence and graduated from KU as well. Moved around for a while and landed in Tallahassee Florida in 1989. I got involved in ham radio as the result of my interest in disaster services with the Red Cross in Tallahassee. Licensed in 1990 as a tech then a tech plus where I am still am today (and WILL take advantage of the general upgrade soon). As a result of my theory of "If you don't like the way it's being done quit crying about it and fix it" I was elected first as vice president then president of the Tallahassee Amateur Radio Society. Shortly after that I found myself in the post of Emergency Coordinator for Leon county (very much like Douglas and Shawnee counties put together ). In addition to my EC duties I also held the Red Crosses Communications Director position for the 8 county chapter. I found that doing both positions at the same time was not nearly as difficult as it might seem with a great group of well trained folks to rely on. As you might guess my interests in ham radio centers around 6 meters and above for the most part and using them for emergency communications. I resigned both posts to move back to the Land of Ahhhhssss at the bequest of a wonderful lady I met while visiting about a year ago. Leigh and I live in Baldwin City with her youngest son due to graduate high school there May of 2003. I am working in the printing industry for Boelte-Hall Litho as a sale rep. in Roeland Park KS. and plan to be active in both the Red Cross and in Emergency Communications as much as possible. I look forward to the fellowship and fun of ham radio with all of you. " ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ NOMINATION COMMITTEE-The Nominating Commitee will be chosen at the September meeting. Many of the long-time members have served as officers more than once and some very new members have also served in recent years. If you have not yet served as an officer, please seriously consider saying "yes" if asked to serve in 2001. Thanks! " ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ It's coming in October . . . . The DCARC Special Events Station at Nowhere, Kansas Saturday October 13 In conjunction with the Baldwin City Maple Leaf Festival Come join the fun! Drive south on Hwy 59, one mile past the Douglas-Franklin County line, turn east and go until you reach the railroad crossing. Set-up time: 7:59 a.m. Everyone is invited to operate the station. Certificates will be available to those who send in a QSL with a SASE. See announcement in October QST under "Special Events" ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ WBAUQ's WEB PICKS OF THE MONTH Bob Rainbolt/WBAUQ Not much time spent surfing this past month but the following were earmarked as being worthy for another look: Tired of the ordinary antenna projects in the ham mags? Then you will be interested in this amazing new concept. Ask Wes/NØWU to explain: http://www.antennex.com/preview/cfa/cfa.htm Even if you don't collect old boatanchor rigs the following is interesting reading: http://dealamerica.com/history.htm Having trouble getting an antenna up in that tree? You might try one of these devices, or at least amaze your friends with historical facts: http://members.iinet.net.au/~rmine/seemore.html A pretty good site for practice ham exams (commercial also): http://www.aa9pw.com/radio/exam.html Just in case the recent media blitz didn't convince you that you need a firewall installed on your computer, check out this site for info and background: http://grc.com/lt/howtouse.htm Happy surfin' 73, Bob/WBØAUQ ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club Will Celebrate its 75th Anniversary On October 27, 2001 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. the Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club will clebrate its 75th Anniversary. The celebration will start with an open house at the Club headquarters in the basement of The American Red Cross building, 1221 W. 17th St., Topeka, Kansas (use the West door). The open house will start at 9:00 a.m. on October 27 with displays of vintage and collectable radio equipment and related items. There will also be displays in the parking lot of the KVARC's tower trailer and generator trailer. At the same time there will be a Special Events Station operating from the KVARC room from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. using the call sign WØCET/75. The Special Event station will work 10-80 meters as well as 2 meters and a special QSL card will be used to commemorate the event. There will also be soft drinks and treats available to everyone. After the open house there will be a banquet from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Holidome at 605 SW Fairlawn Road. For dinner reservations contact Cindy Watson NØYUR, . " ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ U.S. AMATEUR RADIO HISTORY, PART IV - E.H. ARMSTRONG By Mike (aka Billy) Graham, K7CTW (c) Copyright 1999, 2000 by Michael G. Graham K7CTW. Used with permission In a previous installment of this series, we saw that by the early 1920s the commercial use of radio as a broadcast medium and its attendant monetary implications began to rapidly overtake and ultimately overshadow its use as a means of point-to-point wireless communications, or as an experimental medium for amateur enthusiasts.(1) Author Tom Lewis, in the Prologue to his "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio", notes "The new medium of radio was to the printing press what the telephone had been to the letter: it allowed immediacy. It enabled listeners to experience an event as it happened."(2) Lewis' book focuses on the lives and intrigues of the three men who most influenced this new medium; Lee deForest, David Sarnoff, and E.H. Armstrong. Clearly, the work and rivalry of Westinghouse Broadcasting and its nemesis, General Electric, the precursor to RCA, of which Sarnoff was to become its first Chairman, fueled the rapid development of commercial broadcasting, not only in the U.S., but throughout the world. And Lee deForest, with his invention of the Audion and some other subsequent work, was important. However, much of deForest's work has been tainted by scandal and by allegations of piracy of ideas from the work of others, most notably Armstrong. Only Armstrong's brilliant scientific work and researches stand out cleanly as having laid the foundation for the technical development of modern radio as we amateurs know it. Edwin Howard Armstrong, the eldest of three children, was born on December 18, 1890 in New York City. His father, John Armstrong, was a salesman for the Oxford University Press in New York and eventually became Vice President of its American branch. His mother, Emily (Smith) Armstrong, was a former school teacher in the New York City school system. Both parents were strict Presbyterians and their lifestyle was upper middle-class with the strong Victorian influence of that period. These were people who believed in the "certainties of rock-solid Republican nationalism, financial mobility and stability, and the assurance of unlimited opportunity."(3) In 1900 the family, together with Emily's extended family, relocated further up the Hudson to Yonkers to escape the city, crime, the influx of immigrants, and to nurse back to health the young Howard, who had been ill for several years. They chose two homes next to one another on a prominent bluff overlooking the Hudson River, and it was there that Howard Armstrong spent the remainder of his youth. In 1904, after returning from a trip to the home office in London, Howard's father presented him with a book titled "The Boy's Book of Inventions: Stories of the Wonders of Modern Science". Apparently the book had a most powerful and immediate effect on young Howard, as he immediately decided to become an inventor. The following year his father brought him another book on inventions, and this one detailed the story of Marconi. In both books the authors stressed that an inventor's work was that of a gentleman whose inventions were for the good of mankind. Any work done which borrowed upon the work of others was always acknowledged and due credit was given. "The implications were clear: with the creations of the inventor, America would realize its true greatness in the new century."(4) Ideally, these inventors worked alone or with a small team of personal assistants in a private laboratory, not in the giant conglomerate labs which would begin to dominate the commercial world of the twentieth century. There were great personal and financial rewards for the inventor who succeeded. It was in this idyllic setting of Victorian principles and ideals, together with the strong influence of the Presbyterian work and honesty ethic, that young Armstrong spent his formative years, and it was these influences which would govern his life, work, and ultimately his untimely death. As a student at Yonkers High School, Armstrong began serious investigations into radio and built a 125-foot tower on the grounds of the family home. And as we previously discussed, in his Junior year at New York's Columbia University, Armstrong made his first significant discovery, that of regeneration and self-oscillation in audions.(5) In 1913 he received his engineering degree, filed for a patent on his invention, and returned to Columbia University as an instructor and assistant to the inventor and professor, Michael Pupin. It is interesting to note that, even though deForest had invented the audion (the first and only authentic invention of his), deForest was never able to satisfactorily explain how an audion operated. But because of the extensive and meticulous research Armstrong had done on the audion while developing his regenerative circuit, he was not only able to explain the action of the audion, but was the first to do so and published his findings in the Dec. 12, 1914 issue of Electrical World. With the onset of World War I, Armstrong was commissioned an Officer in the Army, sent to Paris, and was assigned to research on detecting very weak enemy signals. Investigating an earlier technique called heterodyning which had never been developed, Armstrong soon devised a complex receiver circuit with a sensitivity previously unheard of. This he called the superheterodyne circuit, and today it is still the basic circuit around which most receiver systems are designed and built. For his significant contributions to the art and the war effort, he was awarded France's Legion of Honor Medal and was promoted to the rank of Major. After the war, he returned to Columbia University. In 1920 he sold rights to his two major circuits to Westinghouse, and later sold rights on a lesser patent, the superregenerative circuit to the newly formed RCA Corporation. With the success of broadcast radio, he was soon a millionaire, but continued at Columbia, and later succeeded Pupin as Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department. With the success also came love, and he married Marion MacInnes, secretary to RCA Chairman, David Sarnoff, on December 1, 1923. However, the 20s were times of great turmoil in broadcasting and more and more there were major corporate wars to control broadcasting. And Armstrong was soon embroiled in these battles. His original patents had been issued on Oct. 16, 1914. A year later, deForest filed for a patent on the same invention, which he sold, together with all rights to his audion, to AT&T. With the coming of the broadcast boom, AT&T mounted an all-out campaign to overturn Armstrong's patents in favor of deForest's. In a classic case of corporate greed, and of stupidity and ignorance on the part of the U.S. Supreme Court, Armstrong was to wage a 12-year legal battle to preserve his integrity and his rights to his patents, which he ultimately lost. It cost him millions of dollars, and he subsequently lost all trust of the court system and large corporations. The reclusive Armstrong became even more so over the ensuing years. These injustices, among others, which affected his health and his marriage, and which ultimately cost him his life, were not righted until a decade after his death. Members of the scientific community stood behind Armstrong and would not accept the verdict of the Supreme Court. In a dramatic meeting following the ruling, the Institute of Radio Engineers, which had in 1918 awarded Armstrong its first Medal of Honor for his invention, refused to take the medal back. Reaffirming this action, the Franklin Institute in 1941 reviewed all the evidence and awarded Armstrong the highest honor in U.S. Science, the Franklin Medal. Even as distrustful as he now was of the corporate world, he stubbornly continued his research work. In the late 1920s he began extensive studies into discovering what, if anything, could be done to eliminate the "bane" of radio - static. Lightning and man-made static easily and noisily interfere with amplitude-modulated signals. Armstrong became convinced that the only solution was to devise an entirely new system, one which modulated the signal carrier and held the amplitude of the carrier at a constant value. And once again, as we have seen so many other times before, the scientific community held that such a frequency-modulated (FM) system would be useless for communications. Undeterred by these pronouncements, Armstrong set out to disprove them and, using his own money, in 1933 he built an experimental broadcast system, and began transmitting from atop the Empire State Building. In a series of tests extending from May of 1934 through October of 1935, the system was proven to be far superior to AM, eliminating static and providing Hi-Fi quality audio at the receiver. On November 5, 1935 Armstrong presented a paper to the New York Chapter of the Institute of Radio Engineers, announcing his discovery. Try as he might, however, the radio industry was not ready to accept FM. The U.S. was in the midst of the great depression, and the implication of the new system was that all the previously-built AM transmitters and receivers would have to be scrapped in favor of the new FM system. Additionally, the new system occupied 200 kHz of bandwidth, whereas AM signals only occupied 10 kHz. Undaunted, Armstrong built a 400-foot high tower on the Palisades of New Jersey at Alpine, across the Hudson from his family home in Yonkers, and finally received a license to begin transmitting commercial FM signals in the greater New York area following another 2-year battle with the FCC. The FCC allocated a 3 Mhz band, 41-44 Mhz, for the FM broadcast stations, and radio station W2XMN (later KE2XCC) went "on the air" on July 18, 1939 with a power of 30 KW. At the same time, Armstrong had been approached by the Army Signal Corps to adapt FM to mobile military communications. He spent the next two years volunteering his services at no cost to them. During World War II, he devised a highly superior long-range FM radar system for the services, but development of that system did not conclude until after the war. Following the war, the FCC decided that the FM band would have to relocate to the 88-108 Mhz range. This rendered obsolete 50 transmitters and more than a half million FM receivers in use. But the setback was short-lived. Soon all companies, save RCA and its child NBC, were paying royalties to Armstrong. But the cost of maintaining his research center to remain free from corporate control was such that he was slowly going broke. He decided to sue RCA and NBC for patent infringements on his five basic FM patents, and on July 22, 1948 he went to court for the first time. The legal battle was exhausting and bitter, and Armstrong continued drawing inward more and more. In what must have seemed like the last blow, Marion Armstrong left her husband of 30 years in November of 1953, and went to live with her sister in Connecticut. She could no longer cope with his constant legal battles and worsening personality. It was only later that she learned the true extent of his financial straits. No longer able to deal with the pressure, on January 31, 1954 Armstrong leapt to his death from his 13th floor apartment in Manhattan. And with his death came the expected closing of his beloved Alpine station on the Palisades. It ceased operation on March 6, 1954 with the following remarks: "This is Station KE2XCC at Alpine, New Jersey, concluding a special program in memory of Major Edwin H. Armstrong. This is the last program of our 15 years of broadcasting. To our faithful audience of music lovers we say: 'Thanks for your attention and your letters of praise and criticism. Good-bye and Good luck.'" [Star Spangled Banner] "As we now prepare to pull the switch and shut the station down, we salute the memory of Edwin Howard Armstrong." (6) ..........And so do we. Notes (1) "DX Rx", Michael G. Graham, K7CTW, Nashua Area Radio Club Bulletin, Oct. 1999. (2) "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio", Tom Lewis, 1991, Edward Burlingame Books, HarperCollins Publishing. (3) ibid., p. 58. (4) ibid., p. 57 (5) "DX Rx", Michael G. Graham, K7CTW, Nashua Area Radio Club Bulletin, Sept. 1999. (6) The Harry Houck collection of E. H. Armstrong documents - excerpts from the Station Log of Radio Station KE2XCC, March 6, 1954. Copyright(c) 1999, 2000 by Michael G. Graham, K7CTW ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ MAKE YOUR OWN "RUBBER DUCKIES" By Paul Stump, NØLRF (c) Copyright 1998 by the American Radio Relay League Inc. Used with permission >From QST, March 1998, pages 39-40 Has the dog chewed-up, a car door snapped-off, or you simply just can't find that H-T antenna? You can build a replacement antenna that delivers a lower SWR and more RF output than the one that came with your radio---and you can do it for $10.00 or less and in just a couple of hours of fun! Let me tell you how... This design is based on using a maximum applied RF power to 5 W at 144 to 148 MHz. Figure 1 shows antenna cross-sections and part dimensions listed in the bill of materials. All materials are readily available, if not from your junk box, then from Digi-Key (Note 1), Radio Shack or your local hardware store. Initial Assembly Refer to Figure 1. Prepare a 3/8 inch OD X 3/16 inch ID coil form from water faucet tubing, CPVC or cross-linked polyethylene (all available at hardware outlets) as shown. Use a sharp utility knife to cut the tubing. Deburr the holes and edges. Optionally, bevel the top edge of the form (Note 2). If you are starting with a bare BNC connector, insert a short piece of coax into the connector. Cut the coax at a distance of 1/4" from the rear of the connector. Remove the coax outer jacket and shield at the end of the plug, leaving 1/4" of center conductor and insulator. Hold the inner conductor and insulation with needle-nosed pliers (otherwise, the center insulator can pull out with the stripping action), then strip and tin the center conductor to a 1/8 inch length. Insert one end of a length of #24 wire through the bottom coil-form hole and route it out the end of the form. Solder the wire end to the coaxial cable's center conductor. Slide the form onto the rear of the BNC connector and "super" glue the form to the plug as shown in Figure 1 (See note 3). Allow the assembly to dry, 10 to 15 minutes while you prepare the whip. Take a three-inch length of RG-58 coaxial cable. Using a small screwdriver, remove (push out) the coax center conductor and its insulator. Pinch one end of the jacket and shield. Grab the shield with long-nosed pliers and remove it. Place the outer jacket over the center insulator and conductor. Strip and tin the center wire at one end. Add enough layers of heat shrink tubing at the base of the whip to provide a snug fit inside the coil form (Note 4). Wind 11 turns of wire around the coil form, keeping the turns snug. Pass the free end through the upper hole in the form, then outside, and pull the wire snug. Trim the wire about 1/4" from the end of the coil form. Strip and tin the wire end. Solder the whip to the coil wire end. Gently feed the connection into the coil form with needle-nosed pliers. While doing this, hold the upper turns of the coil against the form and create a loop of coil wire inside the form as shown in Figure 1. Insert the lower 1/4" of the whip inside the upper end of the coil form. Final Assembly For optimal performance, use a VHF SWR/power meter and a field strength meter to tune the antennna. If you don't, yoour homemade antenna may still work at least as well as the factory antenna. I used a Diawa Model CN-101L meter and a "homebrewed" multimeter/field-strength meter positioned about eight feet away from the transceiver. Connect your new antenna to the SWR/power meter using the proper combination of connectors. (A right angle SO-239 adapter and a PL-259-to-female BNC adaptor worked for me.) Connect an external power source to your HT (to avoid battery sag). Attach the radio's antenna output to the SWR meter's transmitter input with a three-foot (or shorter) length of coaxial cable. Attach your homemade antenna to the SWR meter's antenna port. Select a transmit power setting of no more than 5 W. Choose a simplex frequency of 146.00 MHZ and check the SWR and field strength. Adjust the field-strength meter's location and its antenna for a mid-scale reading. (Now is a good time to commit adjacent radio channels to the H-T's memory: 145.00, 146.00, 147.00 and 147.90 for testing purposes.) Connect your commercial rubber ducky to the SWR/power meter and check the antenna's performance all five frequencies; log your measurements. Those are the numbers you're going to beat. We're looking for minimum SWR, maximum power and maximum field strength. Don't move any of the equipment and always key the H-T while standing in the same position. (You act as a ground reflector.) Now, attach your homemade antenna to the SWR meter. Check the antenna's SWR and field strength (Note 5). Gently adjust the vertical position of the whip until there is an improvement in the readings. Try squeezing the coil turns closer to each other. Continue making adjustments until the readings are optimized. Once you are satisfied, run a bead of glue around the base of the whip. Place the 1/2-inch-diameter heat-shrink tubing over the coil, overlapping both ends of the coil form. Don't heat the tubing yet. Recheck the SWR and field-strength readings. I found that the addition of the shrink tubing increased the electrical length of the antenna and therefore, lowered the resonant frequency. If that's so, carefully trim the whip length in 1/16-inch increments until the antenna is resonant at the desired frequency (Note 2). My antennas generally required two 1/16-inch trim attempts to resonate them at 146.00 MHz. Using a heat gun, hair dryer or a match, shrink the tubing while rotating the antenna. Recheck the SWR and field-strength readings at 145.00, 146.00, 147.00 and 147.90 MHz. If the antenna resonates below 146.00 MHz, clip a little more off the whip. If the antenna is resonant above 146.00 MHz, you'll either have to live with it, or try to pull the whip a bit out of the coil. If the antenna is still too short, you can carefully remove the shrink tubing with a razor or knife and make a new, longer whip. (You've got extra materials, don't you?) Next, install the tip cap (which will slightly lower the resonant Frequency). Recheck readings and trim the whip if necessary. Finally, open the beverage of your choice and admire your work! Notes 1. Digi-Key Corp, 701 Brooks Ave S, Thief River Falls, MN 56701-0677; tel: 800-344-4539; http://www.digikey.com. 2. A belt sander with a fine-grit belt is useful for fine-pruning the whip and beveling the top edge of the coil form. 3. All super glues are not created equally. Try to get that which is listed or a similar product from a hobby (ie: radio controlled model airplanes) store. The hardware/department store varieties do not hold up (pun intended) as well as the others. Five-minute epoxy should also work fine, but I have not yet tried it. 4. If you use thinner-walled coil-form tubing, you can cut a rubber grommet in half and use it as a reducer between the whip and coil form. This works well with 3/8-inch OD rigid polystyrene aquarium tubing. 5. The antenna's SWR should not exceed 2:1 across the 2 meter band. Bill of Materials 1-BNC, connector, male, with 1/4" of RG-58 coax (junk box). 1-Coil form, 3/8" OD x 3/16" ID Water faucet tubing, CPVC or cross-linked polyethylene (hardware store). 1-Tip cap, screw protector Serv-A-Lite #10SP. (hardware store) 1-18" Coil wire, #24 AWG Solid, insulated hook-up wire, or equiv. 1-Assorted heat shrink tubing Radio Shack 278-1627B, or equiv. 1-3-inch Whip, RG-58 coax Modified per Figure 1 (junk box). 1-A/R Glue, CCA, "super" Hot Stuff Super "T"(r), or equiv. (hobby store). Paul Stump, NØLRF, was first licensed in 1964 as WNØJWS at the age of 13. He upgraded to Technician in 1966 as WAØJWS. After years of radio inactivity and license expiration, he started all over again in 1990 as NØLRF, working up to Advanced class that year. Paul joined our Club in 1999 and may be reached by e-mail at: critterfox@birch.net " ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ THE END