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May 1975
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FEEDBACK
The OFFICIAL Newsletter of the Georgian Bay
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May 1975
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FEEDBACK
The OFFICIAL Newsletter of the Georgian Bay
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The April meeting was attended by 28 members and guests, including K5EVE/VE3 who is now living in Kincardine. The minutes were read and the bank balance stands at $132.66. VE3BSF suggested that a letter be written to ARRL to have the date of Field Day changed in future as he feels that it conflicts with the July 1st holiday. A vote was taken and the suggestion was carried. VE3FOT was appointed as a one man nominating committee for the executive elections to be held this month. A thankyou card was received from Mrs P. Cox. VE3CAB has requested a license to operate a beacon station on 10m. A vote on a change of time for the net was defeated, there were those who wanted to have it earlier so that they could romp off to do their thing at the various religious establishments and others wanted to have it later so that they could sleep late after doing their thing the previous night at establishments of a different nature. As far as the majority was concerned 9.30am is a happy medium and doesn't involve getting up too early on a Sunday. A 50mhz rig was given to the club by VE3HIN to be auctioned off and the highest bidder was VE5KW/1E3 who took it home for $12.50. The auctioneer was Slippery Shave who is rather well known locally as a con artist. The door prize was provided by VE3FFN and won by SWL Bowers.There was a movie on electromagnetism and afterwards Terry showed a Rick, VE3HIO, was presented with his prize for winning the beginners CW contest last December. It was in the form of a plaque suitably inscribed. Sorry about thedelay Rick, but it was due to various strikes in the postal service and also in the firm that we ordered it from initially. It appears that the membership is not interested in a contest as no comments have been forthcoming since I mentioned it some time ago. Information on the Balloon Launched Repeater at press time is as follows. Dates, each weekend in May depending on weather. Times, loam Saturday or Sunday. .Input: 144.03 - 144.13 mhz. output:145.85 - 145.95 mz. Power o/p: 5w pep or 3w AM and CW. Telemetry beacon on 145.97mhz will run 250 - 300mW Locater beacon on 146.94mhz will run 30mw. There will be launches each weekend if the WX is favourable and they have a 432mb translator ready for the last two weekends. It's input is 432.0 - 432.2mhz and it's output is 145.2 - 145.3mhz. The duration of flight will be 2-4 hrs depending on winds above 50,0001. If wind is light it will operate till balloon burst occurs. Expected range of operation is 1,000 miles if the package reaches 100,000ft A 5 - 10 watt signal into a 10db gain antenna will be enough to work through the translator. As most of you will know by now the rally we were to assist with last month was cancelled due to impassable roads on the route. Watch the Ontars and CJ nets as well as special announcements in the Stateside portion of 80m on Friday evenings for information on the above mentioned balloon launches. They will get computer forecasts for the weekend and hope to get one up each Saturday or Sunday in the month. If you can tune these frequencies the sponsors will be very glad to hear your reports. VE3AYM was down here last weekend and was able to work into OSR with his / 2m rig from Underwood which is only 5 miles North of Tiverton. That antenna of Charlie's seems to be the answer. Those who wish to take the Advanced exam should attend the classes at Georgian college in the navigation room starting on Tuesday May 6th at 7.30pm. The classes will run for four weeks and the exam will be held on the 3rd June. These classes are for theory as it is assumed that everyone can do any code practice they need on their own. FOR SALE: A general coverage receiver type S40 with SM40 signal strength meter 550khz - $Omhz. Price.... $50 Call VE3HI0 or VE3HIN. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Worked All States table standings are shown as of the beginning of M
VE3HIR worked 50 confirmed 48VE3HIN worked 36 confirmed 22 VE3HIO worked 32 confirmed #9; 18 VE3HIP worked 19 confirmed 18 VE3HRV worked 13 confirmed 13 VE3HIZ worked 9 confirmed 4 VE3CGU worked 8 confirmed 2
HIDDEN TRANSMITTER HUNT VE3BIS and VE3DQA have organized a hidden transmitter hunt for icy 11th and all club members are invited to participate. Operation of the TX will be on 146.94 mhz and 146.52 mhz with the first transmission being made at 10am . The transmitter will be in the area bordered by Hwy 21,Hwy9, and Hwy6. There will be a QSL card in a prominent place near the position of the TX and the one who picks it up first is the winner. Each car involved will pay $1 to enter and payment can be made at the club meeting. There will be a prize for the winner. Talk to Dick or Cy on the repeater for any further information you may require. Terry plans to go up in a plane and bomb the Tx and operators with bags of flour so if your rig fails you can just drive around looking for a white spot or a couple of ghostly figures high tailing it for home. Rick, VE3HIO, has worked a couple of German stations on 20m lately. Tess, VE3HIR has 5 continents worked and 4 confirmed. VE8RA/CX is her best DX to date, and a QSO with Asia will give her WAC. I received a nice letter from Art, VE3AKC, and he extends an invitation to all the club members , their wives and families to come up to his cottage at Woodland each on Saturday, August 23rd for a picnic. All those wishing to go should take along a picnic lunch and Art will set up picnic tables etc. You can take advantage of the swimming facilities, operate the rigs, or just enjoy a ragehew in very pleasant surroundings. I'd suggest that we let Art know how many are going by the end of July at the latest. By the time you get the next issue of Feedback , the Amateur and Advanced exams will be over and hopefully all the participants will have passed the test. Art, VE3AKC, is the first club member that I know of to make a contact through Oscar17. He worked a W4 using his Multi 2000 with 10 watts output into a Hygain 8 element wide spaced beam horizontally polarized. We must make up our minds whether to operate two or three rigs on Field Day at the May meeting so let your intentions be known if you are going to be able to come out and do some operating. Info to be in my possession by the meeting night. How many of you read the account of the club operation on the Snowmobile Marathon In QST last month ? I sent a report in to the SCM and it came out right on sked. Did you know that Terry, VE3CAB , played hooky from school to attend the club meeting last month ? Ian, VE3HIP, crept crabwise into the meeting after a hernia op last month. Hope you are feeling OK now Ian but if you work all the other States you need during the convalescence, that should ease the pain. VE3EFX is mobile on 2m now with a HR212 and it is getting out fine apparently. Contacts have been made through OSR, KSR, LAC,GOD, SAR, RPT and VE3EYN's machine. Rick, VE3HIO, built up the Octopus from last month's Feedback and got it into operation the day he got the newsletter. Good for you Rick.
Terry, VE3CAB, will be giving a talk on SWR at the meeting so perhaps he will be able to clear up some of the mystery that appears to surround this subject for any of the club members. Antenna matching is a lot more important than increasing the power when it comes to putting out a good signal. A good example of what can be done with low power and efficient antenna systems is the record of W2QHH, who has an impressive list of certificates and awards all obtained with about 25 watts. By the way you can work Howie almost any day on Ontars, and his QSL is covered with the list of awards he has collected. Here is important information with regard to the fishing: trip.. Dick, VE3BIS, says that the cost of the boat rental is now $75, so we need to have 15 people to keep the cost down to $5 a head. Those who plan to go must get the money in to Dick by the meeting night on June 19th so that he can have the boat booked and the money in hand. All you prognosticators who normally dither till it is too late better get organized on this one or the trip will be cancelled.
Jim, VE3CRV, now has the crystals in for the Prog Line rigs, so if you ordered any be sure to get them and see that they are paid for as soon as possible. I hope that we shall see an end to operation on 94/94 in the area very soon as it sure screws up the repeater operation for those in range of the transmitters on 94.
VE3EFX went to Barrie with the 2m rig in the car and found that although the .crystals for the Barrie repeater weren't available, RPT is easy to get into from that area. I managed to get into OSR from a spot about 5 miles East of Stayner on .Hwy 26, and worked VE3HIO and VE3FFN/m from there.
VE3EYN, in Kincardine now has his new 68ft tower up with the 2m antenna on top and he is just waiting to get his repeater licence from DOC before making it operational on 46 /06. Tests so far show that coverage looks good down into the Douglas point area.
Good signals are being received by VE3EFX from Oscar 7. The beacon is strong on optimum passes and CW stations working through the satellite are heard at good strength although the SSB stations tend to be hard to copy.
Nominations for the club executive elections at the May meeting are as follows.
If you have other nominations , you can let VE3FOT know or voice your opinions at the meeting. If you cannot attend the meeting you may send in your vote or other comments by mail. the election will be held at the meeting and the new executive will take over on the night of the June meeting.
The movie "HAM'S WIDE WORLD" will be shown at the May meeting so plan to attend and Its sure you will enjoy the show. The repeater developed a bout of problems on the weekend of April 19th and 20th and we are indebted to Ken Slack for going out thereon his Sunday off to fix it. The Ontario Hamfest that is being hosted by the Burlington club on July 11, 12, & 13th looks like being an interesting affair.I received a letter on April 26th from the RSO Secy. With apologies for the non-arrival of the trophy and much bemoaning of the fact that it is difficult if not impossible to get up to our meetings and back to Toronto in one evening. They have changed their records and should be able to get all the club mail up to Cy in future.in my reply 1 gave him a similar story to the one I sent to Lorne , VE3SZ and I'll read the reply at the meeting if the members wish. 'he Peterborough Club is issuing an award to those who work 2 amateurs in that city. You must get the two QSL cards and mail them with $1 to cover postage and handling to VE3ALQ. The certificate is called "The Lift Locks City Award". The May meeting will be held at 8pm on May 15th in the CIAG Computer Bldg. The GBARC net is on 3.783 mhz every Sunday at 09.30 EDT.
THE EDUCATION OF RADIO AMATEURS
The Polish Amateur Radio Society (Polski Zwiazek Krotkofalowcow - PZK) is continuing its training programme in close cooperation with the Polish PTT Administration. This cooperation is based on the well-known fact that the field of amateur radio is one of the best training schools for highly qualified radio and telecommunication specialists. And what is also important - this specialized training is provided by the amateurs themselves, without any expensive buildings, equipment or teachers. The PZK also carries out its amateur educational programme in cooperation and alliance with two other youth organizations in Poland: the Polish boy scouts (ZHP) and the League of Home Defence (LOK). The first of these unites hundreds of thousands of schoolboys and girls; the second has multiple activities, such as motoring, competition shooting, the building of ships or aircraft models, telephone and radio training etc. Each has its own radio clubs, operating amateur radio stations. The educational programme of the PZK is orientated in the following three directions: 1. The propagation of the basic principles of amateur radio among a wide public, especially among boy scouts and school children. 2. The technical and general education, of newcomers, both shortwave listeners and novices; 3. The specialized training of experienced amateurs, helping them to be "au courant'l with the latest state of the art in telecommunications. The first line of action is administered by the Public Relations Commission of the PZK HQ Council, directed by Vice-President SP5JE who is Director of the Technical Department in the Polish PTT Ministry. The commonly used methods are: amateur programmes in broadcasting and television articles concerning amateur radio in newspapers and popular magazines, and PZK' s own publications and leaflets, such as: "How to become a Radio Amateur," "Amateur Radio" (intended for boy scouts etc.) At the end of 1970 the second TV programme came into operation in Poland and the PZK has commenced weekly amateur lectures at a popular level. In addition, the weekly bulletins, dedicated not only to amateurs, are transmitted on 80 and 40 meters by our HQ station, SP5PZK. The most important activity in the second direction is aimed at converting the young newcomer, who is just starting to listen in on the amateur bands, into an experienced operator ready to construct a do-ityourself station and to operate it under various conditions. This part of our programme is supervised by the HQ Commission for Amateur Education and managed by PZK Vice-President SP5JH (who is also Chief of Cmm»nication in the Boy-Scouts' Headquarters). The newcomer's training programme is based on the fact that our Society is responsible not only for strictly technical education, but also helps schools and parents in the general education of young people. The training programmes of the PZK are officially accepted by the PTT Ministry and are coordinated with the official requirements for amateur examinations.
LOOKING FOR TROUBLE in equipment built on circuit boards usually involves removal of components, one at a time, for testing. This is a time-consuming procedure at best, and one runs the risk of damage, not only to the part being checked but to the board itself, and to adjacent components. The likelihood of making trouble for yourself increases as the size and spacing of parts decrease. Moreover, ohmmeter testing cannot detect a shorted coil or an open capacitor, even after such parts are lifted from the board circuits. Also, some ohmmeters pass enough current at low resistances to damage solid-state components during the testing process. Obviously, some safe form of in-circuit testing is highly desirable. The method described here is used with the equipment turned off, and uses voltages and currents low enough for safe testing of almost any transistorized circuit-board assembly. The needed tests can be made in most instances without removing the board from the equipment. The overall component tester, quickly dubbed "Octopus," is inexpensive to build and simple to use, involving only an oscilloscope as an auxiliary device. Construction The Octopus uses low-voltage ac, and limits currents to less than 1 mA. It energizes circuitboard components without removal of any connections, in much the same way as they are used in normal service in the equipment under test. It tests for shorts and opens, and shows forward-reverse ratios on junction components (diodes and transistors). By use of Lissajous figures and other combination displays on the oscilloscope, the
Octopus facilitates analysis of circuits involving reactive components,
transistors, and ICs that defy ohmmeter testing. It can show up
high-resistance solder joints or test continuity of switches, fuses,
lamps, or circuit-board patterns. The resistor network assures that the
voltage and current will be limited to safe values.
The six most common displays are shown in Fig. 2.
A rough check on transistor condition is evident from the patterns
of Fig. 3. An ideal single-junction pattern is the 90-degree step at the left
(open in the reverse direction, short in the forward direction). A wider angle
than 90 degrees indicates a less-than-perfect junction, with the quality
degradation indicated by increasing angle.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Our thanks go to David Ludlow. W7QHX, who wrote up his Octopus in a naval publication, and to David Walsh, W1FYX, who sent us the material for adaptation to QST. January 1975 |
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