THE AIRWAVES April 2013

SIERRA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

An ARRL Special Service Club

RACES ARES

P O Box 1442 Ridgecrest California 93556-1442

BOARD President Hal Hazel N6HAL 371-3208 n6hal.ae@gmail.comFirst VP Paula Herr N6VGW 608-3176 n6vgw1@gmail.com

OF Second VP Dave Aubin KJ6VRV aubindav@verizon.netSecretary Bill Burns WA6QYR 375-8566 bburns@mediacombb.net

OFFICERS Treasurer Julie Stephens KI6YRA 446-3095 KI6YRA@webstephens.com

SARC OWNED AND MAINTAINED REPEATERSRandsburg WA6YBN 145.34 MHz (-), PL 100.0 Hz, Wide Area, Emergency PowerRidgecrest WA6YBN 146.64 MHz (-), Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency PowerRidgecrest WA6YBN 147.00 MHz (+), PL 107.2 Hz, Local, Emergency Power

SARC CommitteesTechnical Assistance: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324 Public Relations: Paula, N6VGW 608-3176Program: Dave, KJ6VRV Airwaves Editor: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324RF Interference: Bill, WA6QYR 375-8566 Emergency: Hal, N6HAL 371-3208

THE AIRWAVES CALENDAREvery IWV Emergency Net 730pm

WA6YBN Translator-146.64MHzMonday Visitors Welcomed!

Night 75 meter AM rag Chew Net 8 pm 3905 Kcs AM

08 Apr 7:00pm SARC Officers Meeting

08 Apr 7:30pm SARC General Meeting

06 April CERT Block Party – Contact Hal, N6HAL, see details inside

04 May SARC and BARC in the PARK

18 May 9am SARC T – Hunt – details inside

22, 23 June Field Day

Every Even Month, Second Saturday

13 April Volunteer License Exam SessionLocation: Guns 4 Us, basement classroom417 East Ridgecrest Blvd, Ridgecrest CANo handicapped access Pre-reg by 08 April. Limited to 9 applicants. All must register at 9 AMContact Elvy Hopkins NØLV 760-384-3589E-mail <lvrh7589@iwvisp.com>

President's ShackHere we are, April 2013. Did you find the "April's Fool" story in QST? Did you find more than one? Lots of Ham radio activities going on right now. By the time you're reading this, SARC, ARES and RACES will have provided communications support to an Easter Egg hunt at Leroy Jackson Park. Upcoming events include the annual CERT Emergency Prepardness Party in April and a new "Mass Casuality" drill in May. Read elsewhere in this newsletter for more details. As many of you know, Bob Fletcher/WB6KWE became a Silent Key a couple of years ago. Based on Bob's wishes, his family has donated much of Bob's equipment to SARC. We are in the process of checking out the equipment. Look for FOR SALE notices in upcoming newsletters.

Don't forget the SARC/BARC/PARK event on May 4th. Those who attended last year had a GREAT time! See the article elsewhere in this newsletter for more details.

That's about it for this month. I'm off to Home Depot to pick up some copper pipe. A bunch of us are going to make the Q-Pole antenna as described on page 33 of the April 2013 QST.

73 de

Hal/N6HAL

Treasure's ReportBeg Balance $5,782Income $238Expense (93)End Bal $5,927

Income is from memberships and class fees

Julie Stephens

SARC TreasurerKI6YRA

Minutes from SARC

March 11, 2013

meetingThis SARC meeting was at the historic USO Building. The board meeting before the regular meeting discussed having the program before business meeting and the Treasurers report. SARC had received a “thank you” card from the organizers of the Twenty Mule Team horse ride.

The regular meeting opened by Hal, N6HAL and our speaker David St Amand was introduced. Mr. St Amand spoke to earth quakes in the local area and our impact by the LA area power. Being self sufficient for a period of a week was the plan before help

could be coming to the Indian Wells Valley. Most important was having a well stocked pantry and a case of water per family member and pets per day until help would arrive in Ridgecrest. Mr. St Amand had samples of freeze dried food that would be nice to have before help arrived. Without power a family would want to use food out of the refrigerator first followed by that out of the freezer. Pantry food would be the last to be used. A number of folks in attendance had questions for St Amand following his talk.

The upcoming T-hunt on 16 March will have two foxes. The DX convention in Visalia in April was mentioned. Help was needed for the Ridgecrest Easter egg hunt on 30 March. Staffing the booth at the CERT display on 6 April was needed in Jackson Park. The tower trailer was desired to be put up for the booth. The May 4 SARC and BARC in the Lone Pine Park was announced.

Tom, N6NPG announced several DX-peditions in the coming months. RACES installed a radio in the city communications van. The Tech class had some 15 people in attendance as did the Extra Class.

The “DXing on the edge” ARRL book was the door prize which was won by Richard, KJ6VRX. The 50/50 drawing netted Tom, N6NPG $10.

Submitted by Bill WA6QYR SARC Secretary

SARC April Meeting

USB Dongle Software Defined RadioJohn, KJ6MQN will be talking on his work on the SDR dongle radio featured in the QST Jan 2013

article "Cheap and Easy SDR". The basic principles of SDR radio and the particular details related to the RTL USB dongle device which can receive 64 MHz to 1.7 GHz is discussed. Also demonstrated

is a up-converter for receiving signals down to 100 KHz including HF and broadcast AM. the presentor.

SARC T- HuntThe March T-Hunt went with a bang! This was a two transmitter t-hunt, a tad bit confusing but all the hunters got to the area of the two transmitters. Then the real hunting started. Keeping the two transmissions was difficult, with the KJ6HBY starting and

WA6ARA (run by KJ6MQM) right behind it. The hunters got to withing 20 feet of the 'HBY transmitter but could get any closer. The site was the park on Upjohn, which doesn't have a lot of cover. Then, by accident, the transmitter stayed on continuously. This preclude searching for the 'MQM hidden transmitter but meant finding the 'HBY box a bit easier. The spot was found but no transmitter! WA6ARA grabbed

the drip hose at the tree and reveled the antenna. Once found KJ6HBY dug up the transmitter and discovered part of the cake box it was in had bent down and pressed on the transmit button on the hand held used.

Next was the transmitter hidden by KJ6MQM. For several cycles the transmitter was tracked, only to lead us into circles. Finally Erin took pity on us old guys and did a little “your hot, your cold” to direct us closer to the transmitter. Turns out it was stuffed into the lift slots of a dumpster, with paper shoved into each end. It was unanimously agreed that these kids have way too much fun in planning these hunts.

The next T-Hunt will be held on 18 May. This promises to be an interesting hunt as Mike, WA6ARA, plans on being the Fox. Should prove a most interesting time. The time will start at the

normal 0900 at Crest Donut. Hope to see you all there!

Silent Key

Jim Dixon K6PQIt is with sadness to report the passing of Jim Dixon, K6PQ. Jim was a SARC member and would attend club meetings from time to time. I first met Jim in 1978 when we flew hang gliders together. Jim was a member of Mountain Rescue, Over The Hill Track Club and an accomplished musician. Jim, 73 and good DX.

SARC and BARC in the ParkLast year we re-started the old tradition of the Bishop Amateur Radio Club and the Sierra Amateur Radio Club meeting in Lone Pine for a get together. It was great and we are going to do it again this year. This year's SARC and BARC in the Park will be on Saturday, May 4th at the Lone Pine Park. It will be a good opportunity to meet and greet each other as well as to unload some of the excess "stuff" in our junk boxes for someone who might find a use for it. Everyone is encouraged to wear a name tag and this is a time for new hams to interact with some of the older heads in the hobby.

Start time is 11am. It's a potluck, so please bring a dish to share. The Lone Pine Park is located on the north end of Lone Pine by Carl's Jr. Talk-in will be available on the W6TD repeaters, 147.21 from the south and 146.76 from the north.

Both clubs are active in providing communication for long distance events and we canswap stories. Another common activity is the transmitter hunts. It would be interesting to share someof the techniques used. And last, but not least, we have some die hard HF operators that will be gladto talk about life below 2 meters.

ARES / RACESThe Eastern Kern County ARES/RACES has been busy this past month. Some of the members installed an Icom IC-F1821 2 meter rig in the Ridgecrest Police Department's Mobile Command Center (MCC). They also replaced one of the antennas on the MCC and installed a ground radial system so the antenna would be more efficient. To provide power to the IC-F1821, the installation team installed a 5 port RigRunner. Besides powering the IC-F1821, this will provide power for a 12VDC LED work light and a hand held scanner. The extra ports could be used in an emergency to provide power to recharge HTs or to power other ARES/RACES rigs if the MCC ARES/RACES station must operate on multiple frequencies. The MCC is going to be used during the March 30th Easter Egg Hunt at Leroy Jackson Park.

Other activities included a meeting with the California City Chief of Police, KCFD Battalion Chief, CERT leader, myself and the new Eastern Kern County Assistant Emergency Coordinator/Radio Officer, Scott Plude/KG6COM. Items discussed included what types of support California City might need during a disaster, services that the Kern County ARES/RACES members can provide and the difference between ARES and RACES.

The Eastern Kern County ARES/RACES organizations are always looking for new members. Sure, as a General or higher class Amateur Radio operator, your license allows you to contact other Amateur stations around the world and pass emergency traffic when necessary. The main question is, do you plan on providing emergency communications/health and welfare messages to your local neighbors or to your community? If the answer is community, then you should become a member of ARES/RACES. Learn what the needs are of both your community and your neighbors. Participate in training and drills. Become a communications asset to your community. Send me an email for more information.

73 de Hal/N6HAL

n6hal@arrl.net

Upcoming Community Support Opportunities...

Annual CERT Block PartyMark your calendars. The annual Emergency Readiness Block Party and Family Awareness Day will be held at Leroy Jackson Park on Saturday, April 6th. SARC and the Eastern Kern County ARES/RACES organization will have a combined booth. We also hope to have the SARC antenna tower trailer set up. If you'd like to help staff the booth, set up and operate your portable HF station, help set up the tower trailer or just sit around with us providing moral support, please email to wa6ybn@gmail.com.

Egg Hunt Saturday morning, March 30th, found nine IWV Amateurs at Leroy Jackson Park to help out with the annual Easter Egg Hunt. This was the first year that

SARC and the IWV Amateurs have participated. Not knowing what our tasks would be, all volunteers arrived at the park by 8:00 AM. Our assignments included Net Control located at the Lost and Found/First Aid tent, safety observers around the egg hunt and activity areas, Registration area and the parking area near the museum. The safety observers turned out to be a good thing because "Rock Wall One," Jim/KI6PTA had to call Net Control to get the paramedics to respond to the Bouncy Tent area for a child who had hurt himself and was having difficulty breathing. During the event, several children reported "lost" parents and some more children lost one shoe. Yup, one shoe. There were lots of "Lessons Learned."

Look for an article on "After Action Reports/Lessons Learned" in the May 2013 Airwaves newsletter. We all did our jobs so well we have been invited back next year. A super THANK YOU goes out to the following Amateurs who participated: Bill/WA6QYR, Clyde/KJ6VRY, Dave/KC6UUR, Dave/KJ6VRV, Jim/KI6PTA, Mark/N0BLM, Roy/N6JR, Sandy/KJ6VRW and Tammy/KG6VYA.

73 es de Hal/N6HAL

Visalia DX Convention April 19World Famous International DX Convention at Visalia, CA

The 64th Annual International DX Convention, sponsored by the Northern California DX Club, will be held at the Visalia Conference Center in downtown Visalia, California from April 19-21, 2013. If you’re a DXer or interested in any aspect of Ham radio, then IDXC is the place to be. Top DX operators from around the world will be there. You'll match those familiar callsigns with new faces, and shake hands with the person you have had a sched with for the past 10 years but never met. Learn the secrets for big signals on the top band (160M). How to have fun adventures chasing IOTA (Islands on the Air), attend the Contest forum, DX forum, DX Academy or Contest Academy. There are interesting DX related seminars for everyone from the seasoned pro to the beginning DXer. Visit the Exhibit Hall, where you can browse the vendors and meet the people who design and use the best DX equipment. We have some great raffle Prizes the likes of which top even the famed Dayton Hamvention. And don’t forget the XYL’s — we have a Special Tour for them as well. The Saturday evening banquet is quite a feast and the keynote speakers have never failed to entertain the audience with photos and videos of adventures to far off DX adventures.

This year the forum for the event is moving to the beautiful Visalia Convention Center, which will provide us with many advantages for the 2013 meeting. The Convention Center has 17 meeting

rooms and 2 Board Rooms, which will allow us to put together several concurrent presentations. They can easily handle 80 to 100 Vendors in their Exhibit Hall, as well as a banquet for 900 attendees. Any vendor wishing to Exhibit at IDXC 2013 will be guaranteed a space. Anyone wishing to attend the Saturday evening banquet will be guaranteed a seat. There is ample free parking in the area. For a small daily fee, RV visitors will be able to park in a special section in the parking lot. Food and beverage needs will be catered by the recently remodeled Marriott Hotel, which is the host hotel immediately adjacent to the Convention Center. All meetings and events will take place at the Convention Center.

If you're a DX'er and you've never been, you're in for a real experience. If you're a young ham just starting out, you might be lucky enough to be the = 'youngest ham' in attendance and walk off with the prize for that category, which is usually a very nice major prize. So come on up to Visalia and bring the family for a great weekend of ham radio.

Check out the DX Convention website at www.dxconvention.com

SARG Field Day 2013 EditionEditor's Note: The SARC field day activites are as yet undefined. SARG, the group from Lake Isabella, has extended an invite to all. Below is the invitation.

Once again we will return to our favorite Field Day location, Camp Andrew Brown located high in the

Sierras at Big Meadow near Chimney Peak. This year the dates are June 22nd & 23rd. We will begin

arriving on Friday June 21st to pick out our operating spots.

This year we are inviting any members of the three nearby clubs that choose not to participate with their club to join us if they desire. We do this not to “steal” their members, but to offer an alternative

site to those members who may desire a little variety in their Field Day experience. We do advise any of them that join our group, we are NOT avid contesters. We are avid eaters and campers.

We will use a wireless network and FDLogger to manage our contacts. Participants should have a computer available with a wireless network card. We have not yet set our class and will choose one after we find out how many plan to participate and what bands and modes are planned on.

We usually have a few non participating spouses, so feel free to bring the XYL (or OM) and the kids (or Grandkids). There are plenty of opportunities for hiking, gabbing, or napping. We are behind a gate that is locked in the evening and usually shut during the day as the camp is a private camp

leased by the LDS Church. This will mark our 4th encampment here in the last 5 Field Days.

For those of you with GPS or Google Earth you can find us at 35°52'27.20"N / 118°20'53.48"W with an elevation of 7,784’. For more information contact Mike Higgins, KA6IYS, at (760) 378-1028 or mike@n6krv.org.

Visitors and casual operators are invited. Come spend a few hours, spend the day, or spend the weekend; whatever suits your desires and schedule. Hope to see you there.

In case you missed it...

Comet PAN-STARRR, taken by John, KJ6MQN

Ask Elmer

The Question... My buddy and I were out testing a new antenna but we ran into a problem. My antenna analyzer said the SWR was 1.5 and his said 1.4. How do we know who is right and how important is the difference?

Elmer Says...Well, one or neither of you might be right, with just the above information there is no way of telling. Another group of yahoos who call themselves the Brain tRust investigated the SWR miss reading and here is what they found. A total of 5 instruments were checked, two IP30s and three MFJ 269 antenna analyzers. The IP30 is a small analyzer just covering the HF frequencies and only indicating SWR. The MFJ 269 is somewhat the amateur standard for analyzer, covering HF, VHF and UHF, indicating both SWR as well as the complex impedance (except for UHF). Testing was done with a 50 ohm load (SWR=1:1), 25 ohm load (SWR=2:1) and a 150 ohm load (SWR=3:1). All loads were non reactive as possible. The IP30 units were labeled as Mike IP30 and Hal IP30 while the MFJ 269s were labeled as Mike MFJ, Hal MFJ, and Rick MFJ. Here are the results.

50 ohm load, SWR = 1:1As expected, all the instruments measured at 1:1, kind of boring so I didn't bother with presenting the results.

25 ohm load, SWR = 2:1The plot shown here is the result the Mike IP30 and the Rick MFJ were pretty much dead on with the Hal IP30 a bit below and the Hal MFJ a bit above. The Mike MFJ read way low. Hmmm, something may be amiss there. Of the instruments reading more or less the correct 2:1 SWR, the spread was about 10%, or 2.2:1 to 1.8:1

150 ohm load, SWR = 3:1

Now things are happening a little more.

There is a definite slope to the results,

with all except the Mike MFJ reading near

3:1 and dead on at about 14MHz. Again

the Mike MFJ is reading way low.

Something is definitely a miss here and

the results of the Mike MFJ should be

thrown out until it can be calibrated.

Looking at the tabulated results the

values drifter to above 3:1 at 5% and

below at 10%.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

SWR, @ 25 ohm load

Mike IP30

Hal IP30

Hal MFJ

Rick MFJ

Mike MFJ

Frequency, MHz

SW

R

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

0

1

2

3

4

SWR @ 150 ohm load

Mike IP30

Hal IP30

Hal MFJ

Rick MFJ

Mike MFJ

Frequency, MHz

SW

R

Ok, so what do we take away from this, other than not to trust the Mike MFJ analyzer? The typical

results were about 10% off. That really isn't bad for a piece of non lab equipment in the hands of

amateurs. If the values don't exactly agree between two SWR analyzers, don't get excited, as long as

they are agreeing in general terms. Also, a SWR analyzer that gives you what you want to see may

be lying to you. Work on and get the SWR below 2:1 and unless you have really long coax runs, have

old bargain basement coax or operating VHF / UHF, a lower SWR probably isn't worth worrying

about.

Looking for WorkI am looking for some odd jobs or yard work to earn some money. If you have any work you would like done please contact Ryan Richard, KJ6HBY, at (760) 377 – 4757

(from the editor: I've employed Ryan for some heavy yard work. He is a hard worker and you will definitely get your money's worth. I whole heartily endorse him)

For SaleSolar panels 12v 12 inches by 24 inches free.40 meter vertical $5Butter-nut 4 band vertical $20Homemade 6 meter j-pole ½ inch copper pipe $154 homemade 220 MHz 9 el beams- freeCushcraft 220 MHz 7 el beam $202 Cushcraft two meter 11 el beams $302 meter 13 el beam $15Many 920 MHz 9 el M Squared beams less feed $5 eachHomemade 2 meter 5 el cross polarized satellite beam $10Cushcraft 440 MHz 9 el cross polarized satellite beam $10Az/el rotors for satellite beams with fiberglass boom $20TVRO dishes 10 ft, 6 ft and 5 ft free2 motor home motorized Az/el 5 ft TVRO dishes $10 eachTeco 108-156 MHz helical antenna 4ft long $106ft 19 inch open rack $56 ft 19 inch rack $5Andrew LDF-4-50 (1/2 inch 50 ohm) heliax coax cable in 50 to 70 foot lengths $5 eachGuy wire 3 strand #12 copper plated steel by reel or by coil freeCommercial CB vertical 10 ft long FreeMisc steel plate, pipe and rod free

Bill WA6QYR 247 Rebel Road Ridgecrest 760-375-8566 bburns@mediacombb.net

www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/

SARC OWNED AND MAINTAINED REPEATERSClick the Freqs for Coverage Map of Repeater

Status Location Call Freq in MHz Tone Notes Distance

Up Randsburg WA6YBN 145.340 (-) CT 100.0 Wide Area, Emergency Power S 18.6 Mi

Up Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.640 (-) - Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power S 2.5 Mi

Up Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.000 (+) CT 107.2 W 2.5 Mi

Up Ridgecrest YBNBBSWA6YBN

145.050 - Bulletin Board, 1200 Baud

Open Area RepeatersStatus Location Call Freq in MHz Tone Notes Distance

UP Randsburg WA6YBN 145.340 (-) 100.0 Wide Area, Emergency Power S 18.6 Mi

UP Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.640 (-) S 2.5 Mi

UP Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.000 (+) 107.2 W 2.5 Mi

Standby Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.060 (+) 100.0 Club Portable Repeater, used only for events SW 1 Mi

UP Randsburg N6BKL 52.680 (-) 82.5 S 18.6 Mi

UP El Paso Pk WI6RE-2 145.050 Packet Node (ELPASO) S 10 Mi

Ridgecrest WA6YBN-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000 S 2 Mi

Ridgecrest AI6S-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000 S 2 Mi

Calif City KG6COM-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000

UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 144.390 APRS W1 Digi, iwvaprs.net – KI6PSP@gmail.com S 10 Mi

UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 147.975 (-) 100.0 Allstar Node usually on WINSYSTEM S 10 Mi

UP

Trona K6YYJ 146.970 (-) 123.0

E 15.9 Mi

UP Little Lake W6TD 147.210 (+) RF Linked to Mazourka Peak NW 24.9 Mi

UP Bird Springs KF6FM 146.085 (+) 141.3 Wide coverage of Indian Wells Valley - swrrc.org WSW 27 Mi

UP Mazourka Pk W6TD 146.760 (-) RF Linked to Little Lake N 96.5 Mi

UP Hauser Pk K6OX 146.730 (-) 100.0 Near Palmdale, Wide coverage of Antelope Valley SSW 80 Mi

UP Keller Pk KE6RYZ 146.385 (+) 146.2 kpra.net - Near Big Bear, Wide SoCal Coverage SSE 104 Mi

UP Ridgecrest W5HMV 447.020 (-) 123.0 RF Linked to 146.970. Input is about -4 KHz off. SE 2.6 Mi

UP Ridgecrest WI6RE 446.500 100.0 IRLP-3741, contact tiplerek@iwvisp.com for codes W 2.8 Mi

UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 448.800 (-) 100.0 IRLP-3877 - WinSystem.org S 10 Mi

UP Ridgecrest NC9RS 927.0125 (-) 88.5 Input: 902.0125 – Linked to others - NC9RS SW 2.0 Mi

Email to wa6ybn@gmail.com to report invalid data.

Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power

IWV Emergency Net Mondays @ 7:30 PM

Allstar #27178, Echolink #518309, Info *510

ARRL Audio News on Mondays @ 7 PM

Linked to other 6m repeaters in SoCal. Net

Thursdays @ 6:30 PM

RF Linked to 447.020. 6m Remote Base on FM call frequency 52.525 MHz - Controls: Rx 61, Tx 62, Off 63

Last Update: Feb 11th 2013