come join in and have some fun with the mara
TRANSCRIPT
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June 25 & 26
Come join in and have some
fun with the MARA
The ARRL New England Convention
Boxboro 2016! September 9, 10 & 11
Tickets Now On Sale
The Boxboro convention committee has announces that tickets for the 2016 convention are now on sale. You can purchase general admission tickets ($15) in-store at: HRO, 224 N. Broadway D12, Salem, NH, (off of I-93 between exits 2 or 3) line + additional info at http://www.boxboro.org: General Admission $15 (good for the entire convention) Flea Spaces = $10 (good for the entire convention) Friday DX/Contest Dinner = $40 ea or 8 for $280 Saturday Grand Banquet = $40 ea or 8 for $280 Special Convention : Electronics Plus, 480 King St,
Littleton, MA.(off of I-495 exit 30) Ticket also available on General Admission + Friday Dinner + Saturday Banquet = $90
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I'm EXTRA Ignorant
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
On Sunday, I received the following e-mail
from a reader: "Just wanted to let you know I passed the General exam using your study guide. It was very helpful. I am now generally ignorant whereas before I was only technically ignorant. Ha!" My reply to him was: "Well, if you're generally ignorant, I guess that makes me EXTRA ignorant!" This isn't just a joke--being ignorant is part of the hobby. Amateur radio operators will always be ignorant about something or other. Even if you could master every facet of the hobby at some point in time, your mastery would be short-lived as the technology continued to advance. Over the course of my amateur radio career, we've gone from equipment that primarily used vacuum tubes, to solid-state gear that first used discrete transistors and then integrated circuits, to software-defined radios. I could have, at some point, simply given up on the new technology and still enjoyed amateur radio. Some guys do that, and that's OK. It is only a hobby after all. I'm not one of those guys, though, and if you're not one of those guys, then you have to resign yourself to being ignorant. But, that's a good thing, as long as you realize that you're ignorant. Realizing that you're ignorant will spur you on to learn new things and accept new challenges. Recently, I realized that I'm mostly ignorant about satellite operation. I know some of the basics from having read articles and writing about the topic in my study guides, but I have never made a contact using a satellite. I think that might be one of
my next challenges. With the advent of CubeSat, there are many new satellites up in the air and many more opportunities to have interesting contacts. So, what are you ignorant about? By that I mean, of course, what's going to be your next challenge in amateur radio? ==================================
When he's not challenging himself
with new things, Dan falls back on
something he knows pretty well--
operating CW. You'll find him
mainly on the 80m, 40m, and 30m
bands. Dan is the author of the "No
Nonsense" amateur radio license
study guides, and blogs about
amateur radio at KB6NU.Com, and you
can contact him by e-mailing
From ARLB015
The FCC has put on public notice and invited
comments on a Petition for Rule Making (RM-11767), filed on behalf of an amateur amplifier distributor, which seeks to revise the Amateur Service rules regarding maximum permissible amplifier gain. Expert Linears America LLC of Magnolia, Texas, which distributes linears manufactured by SPE in Italy, wants the FCC to eliminate the 15 dB gain limitation on amateur amplifiers, spelled out in Part 97.317(a)(2). Expert asserts that there should be no gain limitation at all on amplifiers sold or used in the Amateur Service. RM-11767 can be found on the web at, http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001536394 .
"There is no technical or regulatory reason [that] an amplifier capable of being driven to full legal output by even a fraction of a watt
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should not be available to Amateur Radio operators in the United States," Expert said in its Petition. Expert maintains that the 15 dB gain limitation is an unneeded holdover from the days when amplifiers were less efficient and the FCC was attempting to rein in the use of Amateur Service amplifiers by Citizens Band operators. While the FCC proposed in its 2004 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order in WT Docket 04-140 to delete the requirement that amplifiers be designed to use a minimum of 50 Watts of drive power and subsequently did so, it did not further discuss the 15 dB amplification limit in the subsequent Report and Order in the docket. The R&O is in PDF format at, https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-149A1.pdf.
"Although no party advocated retention of the 15 dB limit, it remains in place today," Expert pointed out in its filing." In the intervening years, advancements in Amateur Radio transmitter technology have led to the availability of highly compact, sophisticated low-power transmitters that require more than 15 dB of amplification to achieve maximum legal power output. Therefore, Expert seeks to remove the 15 dB limit from Part 97.317 so that Amateur Radio manufacturers and distributors will not be forced to needlessly cripple their amplifiers for sale in the United States." Expert pointed to its Model 1.3K FA amplifier as an example of a linear "inherently capable of considerably more than 15 dB of amplification," which would make it a suitable match for low-power transceivers now on the market having output power on the order of 10 Watts.
LED Lightbulbs In
The Shack
An article posting by Phil, KO6BB,
to Yahoo Group's ndblist, described
his recent search for some LED
lamps to replace the CFL's in his
shack / radio workbench area. If you
have been wondering how much RFI
that LED lamps might be producing,
you may find Phil's findings of some
value.
"Recap
I had a 60W equivalent CFL in the floor
lamp directly over my operating position. I'd
tried a 100W equiv one but it was extremely
noisy! Also a couple CFLs in the ceiling lamp.
This is a floor lamp with a crookneck at the
top and a triangular metalshade reminiscent
of the old style desk lamps, bulb is horiz to
thefloor. I've used it for years and like it
because it places the light directly over the
operating position work area (keyboard,
radios etc). The actual bulb was about 4.5
inches from the front of the Softrock SDR
receiver (in a plastic case), with the base of
the lamp (where the electronics are) about
7.5 inches (somebody asked about the
distances).
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This coupled a LOT of RFI directly into the
SDR, visible on the waterfall. For best results
when recording and having the light on I'd
slip a 60W incandescent lamp in place of the
CFL. The lamp is also about 16 inches above
the operating table, and when listening to
ANY portable radio on the table, if it was in
the AM or Longwave band and
using the built in loopstick antenna, got a LOT
of RFI from the lamp (unless the lamp was off
;-)
So today I went down to Lowes (we have
a Costco, but I don't have a card) and looked
at their LED lamp offerings. As I expected
they had a large variety of them, from a low
cost 3 pack for ~$9.00 for 60W units
to about $18.00 or so each (Sylvania). From
what I read here I wanted to avoid the
REALLY cheap ones as some reported them
to be 'noisy'. Also, I wanted to put a 75W
equivalent unit in the one over the
operating position, and a pair of 100W
equivalent units in the ceiling
lamp. All three had CFLs, and if I walked
around the radio room with a
portable radio and the ceiling lamp on I could
hear it's 'hash' anywhere in the room.
The ones I settled on were a brand I'd
never heard of, "UtiliTech Pro"
soft white, 75W for the bench and 2 100W
ones for the ceiling. They were what I'd call
"mid-priced", $8.98 for the 75W and $9.98
for the 100W ones.
Specs:
75 W one draws 12W and gives 1100
Lumens. 100W one draws 16.5W and gives
1600 Lumens (the pair in the ceiling should
then be 3200 Lumens if I calculated right).
How low is the RFI to my Radios?
75W one over the bench:
NO trace from the lamp electronics visible in
the SDR waterfall at all. With a portable radio
on the bench-top, NO audible RFI. Put a
portable radio up to the "bulb" part (light
area) and with no station
tuned in can't hear ANY RFI. Move the
portable to the base area of the
lamps there is SOME RFI, but I won't be
putting the radio that close to
the lamp, move it a couple inches away and
the noise disappears.
100W ones in the ceiling lamp, NO
audible RFI in the portable when
walking around the room, RFI just barely
perceptible right next to the
light wall switch that turns the lamp on,
again, audible IF I put the
radio right up to the base of the lamps, not a
likely real-world scenario!
Upshot?
Based on the sample of three that I
bought and the almost non-existent RFI from
them I'd consider the UtiliTech Pro lamps to
be a good product and suitable for use in the
radio room. I consider them good value for
the ~$30.00 I spent for three."
___________________________
Editors Note: With LED bulbs you get what
you pay for. Some cheap ‘Chinese’ LED bulbs
can produce RFI. I purchased a three-pack
at Walmart for $10 and so far so good but
they are not used in the shack.
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MARA
members do
NEQP from
N1TRC
station
Topsham,ME: On Saturday afternoon
May 7th a small group of MARA members
set up a small contest station at the
American Red Cross building and put the
Red Cross N1TRC station on the air for the
New England QSO Party (NEQP). The
contest kicked off promptly at 4:00pm with
several folks trying their hand at
contesting. Prior to the event Steve
Kercel, AA4AK had assembled an excellent
computer assisted contest station with
automatic logging, voice and CW calling
and reporting program all run from pre
programmed macros. Steve also built a
very professional interface audio
coupling/mixer module that made the
system run smooth.
Saturday afternoon and evening met
with success with many CW and SSB
exchanges with hams all over the eastern
half of the country and a few DX stations
too. However, Sunday morning from
9am to noon a magnetic storm appeared in
the HF spectrum and the contest team only
made 28 CW contacts, mostly on 20
meters. The following graph shows the
the K-Index for the contest period.
The team made a practical decision to
end the event early because it was turning
into a futile effort on their part and shut
down at 12:00 noon
Overall the N1TRC contest team made
246 contacts, a pretty good number
considering Sunday was a bust.
Thanks to the following folks that came
out and participated in the team effort:
AA4AK-DR Steve Kercel (Team leader),
K1JJS- John Goran, N1TTT-Harry McNelley,
W1ZE- Bruce Randall, KX1I- Marjorie Turner
AB1YX- Richard Michael and W1MKD= Norm
Bosse
Brunswick,ME: The 2016 Race the
Runways took place back on April 23rd
had MARA and Midcoast ARES
members setting up and provide
communications for the run at the
Brunswick Landing, the old Brunswick
Naval Air Station.
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There were about 900 individuals
participants in the run. The crew put up
the CERT push-up poll and ran the
generator in the gentle during sprinkles.
Fortunately, it was not a cold day and the
rain stopped in time for events.
The MARA/ARES team consisted of:
1. Harry McNelley/N1TTT as net
control
2. Richard Michael/AB1YX at Rest
Stop 1,
3. Jim McIrvin/N1IPA at Rest Stop 2
4. Marjorie Turner/KX1I at Rest
Stop 3.
Rest Stop 3 was moved into the trees so
that any trash would not blow onto the
windy runways.
This was another good showing for
mid coast Amateur Radio and the
participating skilled ham communicators.
Sadly N1HOC is a
Silent Key (SK)
We received this late news that Carolee A.
Tribou, 67, of Bath passed away
peacefully on January 6, 2016 in Bath.
Lee, N1HOC as she was known to us was
an active member of the MARA and the
Midcoast ARES/CERT teams.
Lee was born in Framingham, MA the
daughter of the late William and Claire
Waugh. Carolee graduated from
Framingham North High School in 1966.
She lived in the Framingham/Ashland
area for many years prior to moving to
the mid-coast of Maine in the late 1980s
where she worked in the health care field
and volunteered for the Red Cross.
Funeral services were private, just family.
However, Association members and ham
radio friends may want to consider
making a donation in Carolees memory to
the American Red Cross Mid Coast
Chapter in Topsham, Maine.
Obituary was published in MetroWest
Daily News on Jan. 13, 2016
- See more at:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/metrow
estdailynews/obituary.aspx?pid=17726764
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Ham Flea Markets summer
& Fall in new England
Now that warmer weather is upon us, it is the season for ham radio flea markets and swap meets. The following is a list of the known events for this summer and fall:
4 Jun Hermon, ME PSARA @ 8am @ Herman High School 11 Jun Windsor, CT VR+C Museum 115 Pierson LN 13 Aug St Albans, VT STARC @ the VFW @ 8am 6 Aug Milo, ME PARC 8an @ Kiwanis Hall
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20 Aug Windsor ME AARA @ Fairgrounds @ 8am 28 Aug Adam,s MA NoBARC @ Bowe Field 28 Aug Newtown, CT CARA @ TownHall 17 Sep Forestdale RI RIAFMRS @VFW Hall 9-11 Sep. Boxboro, MA FEMARA NE Convention 10 Sep Windsor, CT VR+C Museum 115 Pierson LN 24 Sep Brookline, NH NEARC Antique @ Event Center 14,15 Oct Deerfield NH NEARfest XX @ Deerfield Fairgrounds 16 Oct Meriden, CT Nutmeg @Sheraton 29 Oct Gails Ferry ,CT TCARC @ Fire Company 12 Nov Bourne, MA FARA @ Upper CC VoTech 3 Dec Windsor, CT VR+C Mus
115 Pierson LN
BECOME AN ELMER and
help someone get into this
great hobby an guide them
through the exam study
process. You can do it!