Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club

I was reading through some of the amateur radio feeds I have on Facebook.  Yes, I have a FB account, mostly because of the grand kids but as time has passed I have subscribed to some of the amateur radio pages.

          As I read, something struck me about many of the posts.  These posts are asking for someone to tell them about various subjects.  Isn’t that what these pages are all about?  What bothered me was many of these requests were expecting someone to do the researching and experimenting for them.  I realize that some things can be beyond our capabilities and we hope others will provide insight for us.  Explaining the difference between two electronic designs is probably beyond most of us.  Finding out the requirements for an amateur license shouldn’t be beyond our abilities. Google “how to get a ham license” and you have it.

          One of the qualities many hams have is an avid curiosity.  The desire to find the “why” or “how” to a problem or piece of equipment.  Modern technology has tended to stunt the development of an avid curiosity.  Why put your mind to explain a question when the computer is so close and so easy?  Just “Google” it.  One of reason to “put your mind to it” is that exercising your mind is like exercising your muscles, use builds the mind like reps builds the muscle.  Satisfaction is another motivator, the feeling of accomplishment is incredible!

          Some things are going to be different for different cases.  For instance, one ham was asking which configuration works best for a G5RV antenna.  Should he install it horizontally or as an inverted V.  When you think about it, there are so many variables that may not work for your installation.  The W8 station with an inverted V that works very well for that station but following the installation at a W3 station’s horizontal configuration may be best for you.   Yes, it is a lot of work to try different configurations; but, experimenting has been a fundamental premise of amateur radio and is the only true way to find out which works best for you!

          Another post was from a disappointed ham who had taken the recommendations of numerous hams and purchased a specific  transceiver.  Now he is not happy with the layout of the controls!  Ergonomics, the science of efficient operation within a work environment, has been the reason why some people love their Toyota and others trade in the  Toyota for a Buick.  One works well and fits that driver while the other seems clumsy.  The ham who wanted to buy a new transceiver should try-out the possible choices.  A number of ham radio stores have models on display and often “on the air”.  Or at a ham fest, other local hams may have the unit you are interested in and would be glad for you to give it a test drive at their QTH.

          An example of this sort of thing in Icom came out with the IC-7300 and many reviews raved as to it’s qualities.  The unit has been a best seller for some time.  But, check out the used ads such as QRZ and you will find many IC-7300 radios for sale.  Obviously it was not the “perfect radio” for many hams.  Or as a friend of mine often says, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”

          Develop a “ham curiosity” and do the work yourself.  Sure advice, be it online or over pie and coffee, is valuable and can be very time saving.  However, our society needs to work at developing self-sufficiency.  That’s why it is so valuable to practice programming your handheld.  It is entirely conceivable that your could be in a situation when no computer is available and you need to establish communication with a repeater you have never  used.

          In the 1970’s and 80’s EMP was something hams and others in electronics thought about and took preventative measures for.  You may ask what is EMP?  Electromagnetic Pulse is a sudden huge burst of electromagnetic energy.  Why would we be concerned?  It could wipe out most modern day electronics destroying the transistors and chips.  No computers, cellphones, and many modern day appliances such as toasters and refrigerators would be non functional.  Any thing using a transistor or microchip would cease to function.

          Is it something to worry about?  Many preppers think so and have electronic devices protected and stored in such things as metal garbage cans or Faraday cages.  The USSR built a modern fighter that had all tube electronics.  EMP has little or no effect on electron tubes.  Therefore, that plane would continue to be functional should an EMP from either nuclear or solar storm flux strike the earth.

          So there are many reasons for becoming self-sufficient.  Ask for help and advice but, first continue to seek your own answers and solutions.

73, Chuck W7CRG

          OK, I’m trying to produce my blog for this month and boy am I having the “roadblocks.”   So many that my original theme which was “Dealing with the unexpected” really seemed apropos.  Since starting this month’s blog, my wife was hospitalized, my kids have had problems and if my pickup truck wouldn’t start and my dog ran off, I would have the perfect country song.  I’m not asking for sympathy; I’m just stating how sometimes things don’t work out like we expect them to.  By the way, after four weeks she is out of the hospital and in a “advanced care facility”.

          My original intent was to discuss how we as hams should be ready for the unexpected.  The unexpected could be a natural disaster such as a storm, earthquake, or fire.  It could be something involving friends or family.  The point is that your help or services may be needed at a time which you have not planned for.

          I have mentioned friends and family so I would like to emphasize that they are your first responsibility before rushing off to help with other things such as a flood or fire.  It is the responsible thing to do and it insures that your focus is clear if you are responding to a disaster or whatever.

          How do we prepare?  Sometimes you will have little or no time to prepare.  You will go with what you have.  I remember way back to when I was 16 or 17 and my buddy Rick and I had purchased SCUBA equipment and wet suits (water is chilly on the Oregon coast even in the summer).

          We were down at the Taft dock discussing what we should do as we had an hour of air in our tanks.  The Sergeant for the Oregon State Police drove out onto the dock and asked, “I was told I might find two divers here, does anyone know who they are?”  He was less than impressed that the divers were teenagers but he took what he could get.  Two sport fishermen had fallen overboard above the Kernville bridge and they were dragging and searching  for them.  Did Rick and I have any experience searching? No. Were we willing to help? Yes.

          We were put on a small river tug with two “Coasties” and the tug’s skipper.  The Coast Guard men had been manning the lines with grappling hooks they had towed over the area.  They had “hooked” something a couple of times but lost it as they pulled the lines in so they hoped divers might be able to retrieve whatever it was.

          We went in going down an anchor line and tied another line to the anchor and swam two-abreast in a circle using the line to create our search pattern. I was on the outside and the river was very murky.  I could only see about 12 to 18 inches in front of my mask so it was quite a surprise when the face of the first corpse I’d ever seen suddenly appeared in front of me!  I probably sucked five minutes of air out of my tank in one breath!

          This story from my youth only relates to ham radio in that we sometimes find ourselves trying to help in a situation we are neither trained for nor really equipped for.  On active duty with the Army I spent two years with the 2^nd Armored Cavalry in Germany and their motto was “Tojours Pret”, “Always Ready” a good motto to live by it would seem.  Sometimes we are offered training and we either pass on it or do not take it seriously thinking “how will I ever need to know or use that skill.”  When I learned to SCUBA dive bringing a corpse to the surface was NOT one of the reasons for diving that I had in mind.

By W7CRG

          Sometimes my mind has lots of ideas and other times it is fairly empty as I am sure my wife will attest.  As I searched for a topic this month I didn’t find one that really resonated with me. 

          I thought about my first QSO but since that  consisted of dots and dashes and was the product of an overly excited 16 year old I quickly discarded that idea.

          But the idea of beginning anew stuck with me.  My novice license expired without me upgrading and KN7ORZ fell by the wayside.  The interest never faded.  Work, family and life took the forefront.  Retirement found me and provided less conflict so when my wife told me about a class in Newport to get a ham license I decided to renew an old interest.  Took the class, passed the test and KF7WZV was born!

          I found an excuse to go to Salem and stopped at a dual purpose store which sold ham gear as part of the dual purpose.  I bought a Wouxun HT for 2 meters and 70 cm.  I was ready to get on the air again!  I carried it with me, listened and occasionally responded.  I showed up at the Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club and paid my dues.  I was accepted into the group and was eager to participate.  I met new friends and put voices on the airwaves to the faces at the meeting.

          VHF communication was great but I wanted more.  I knew how far my Novice CW signal traveled with 75 watts and decided I needed to get on HF.  I didn’t want to use CW as I was never very good at CW.  So, I started to study for my General and I started to search eBay for ham radio bargains.  The first “bargain” that fit my needs and my pocketbook was a TS-140 by Kenwood.  It arrived in the mail encased in a briefcase with foam padding inside and complete with a wire dipole antenna.  Perhaps someone’s radio for going on Field Day.

          Thus began my friendship with eBay “ham radio”.  I looked at all kinds of items offered for sale and learned the value of equipment.  I found items I had no knowledge of and researched them.  Most often I determined I had no use or interest in the item but I now knew what it was.

          The Kenwood TS-140 gave me many interesting contacts and I learned what “100 watts and a wire” could accomplish.  I also improved my technical skills when it suddenly developed a problem.  Joe Joncas, who has forgotten more than many hams will ever know about electronics, came to my rescue.  Joe insisted that “we” could troubleshoot and hopefully fix the problem.  I stood behind him in his crowded workshop/ham shack as he poured over the schematic of the TS-140 and he showed me what various sections did what. 

          I have some technical skills but I would never have been able to determine the problem was part of a large integrated circuit (IC).  The IC was functional for everything but this one small section.  “What do we do Joe?  Can we buy a new IC?”  Joe informed me that the likelihood of that was smaller than small.  But we could build a replacement for that section.  Wow, I wanted to see how Joe did that!

          Once again the term “we” was used.  Joe dug around through the vast supply of electronic components in his workshop and showed me that all the necessary parts to replace that section were on the desk.  Then I was told to sit down and start soldering the parts together on the small perforated board.  Once I had done that and Joe accepted my solder job, he showed me where to solder the leads thus replacing the bad section of the IC.

          We connected everything, hooked up an antenna and tested it!  Voila it worked!  So I learned a number of lessons.  I learned that a segment of an IC could be replaced.  I learned that my soldering skills weren’t as bad as I thought.  And I learned how an “Elmer” worked, taught and passed on skills to other hams.

          Did I think I could do that?  No, I didn’t until Joe helped me to do it.  I have tried to pass that kind of “Elmering” on.  It is a valuable experience to learn what we are capable of and that often flows over to other things in our lives.  I’m pretty sure I still could not identify which section of an IC was the problem.  But I grew one step closer to being technically proficient.

          Later at one of the meetings, Joe asked if anyone would like to try an Icom IC-746pro that had come to the club collection.  Since no one was using the radio, I thought I would give it a whirl.  I was satisfied with my Kenwood but this 746pro was so much more radio.  I soon was in love with it and constantly amazed at what it offered me.

          A couple of months later Joe asked me at a club meeting when I was going to return the Icom 746pro.  Did someone else need to use it?  No, and l, I realized that it was not mine to keep using for free.  I dug down and found the money to purchase it and the club treasury grew.  The capabilities of my ham shack grew far more than the club treasury.  That radio is still my primary radio.  I have come to depend on it so much, that when I started to experience some problems with it I found a backup at a very good price (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)  I could send the radio out for repairs and still have the familiar radio to operate with.

          What I’m trying to convey is that one does not need to obtain an expensive bunch of equipment.  Be aware of bargains and if the bargain appears at the same time as the means to purchase the bargain, go for it.  Try to avoid creating a situation where the significant other is asking “So just how many radios do you need?”  (This has been a failure on my part and a response of “Just one more” is not a recommended.)

          Moving to new and different factions of the hobby involve more than changing radios.  If you are going to operate on HF you need bigger antennas.  Now depending where you live this may be a big or a not so big problem.  Wire antennas tend to be the cheapest and easiest to put up.  I’ve talked to hams using everything from pieces of wire strung together to speaker wire or just some wire they found along the side of the road.  Hams have used drain pipes and gutters, slinkys and coax to create high frequency antennas.

          But having the space to string it up and not get complaints from the HOA, neighbors or the other resident in the household can be another matter completely.  It can also be difficult or downright dangerous getting the wire up high enough to suit you.

          Back when I was younger and far more agile than I am now I owned a climbing belt and spurs.  Was I an experienced and trained climber?  Do I really have to answer that question?  My parents had owned a logging company at one time.  I had watched climbers top and rig spar poles to bring the logs up to the landing and then load them onto log trucks.  Far better than watching a You Tube video wouldn’t you say?  (I know the internet wasn’t even a dream back then.)  Besides, I was a Lieutenant in the Toledo Fire Department and we had done rope training which I had also done in the Army.  What more did I need to learn?

          I was up early one Saturday, my wife was pregnant so I let her sleep in.  I donned my climbing gear and started up one of the 80 foot tall trees in my back yard.  Our yard slopes in the rear and the house has a daylight basement at the rear.  Imagine the surprise my wife got when she walked out into the living room and looked out the large window and saw her husband slightly above her in a large fir tree.  He was affixing a rope to the tree as he hung there in his climbing belt.

          A very loud, familiar and angry voice directed me to get out of that tree!  I started to comply and luckily I was out of her line of sight when the lack of experience thing got me.  Spurs are meant to allow you to support yourself as you climb, work or descend the tree.  They are strapped to your leg and foot.  You must be sure the spur is well into the tree or pole before you put all of your weight on it.  One should never hurry setting your spur.  I’ll claim the demanding voice over ruled the never hurry part of that advise.

          I put my left spur down lower but it was not solidly into the tree.  When I put weight on it my leg just slid down the tree.  My climbing belt held me to the tree and my right spur was still well anchored at the original height.  So there was Charlie, right leg bent as tightly as possible and held firmly against the tree by the climbing belt, and left leg connecting mostly to air.

          A possible headline flashed through my mind.  “Fire Department Officer trapped in tree and must be rescued by his own Department.”  Frantically I tried to anchor my left spur.  A lot of the tree’s bark had been ruined as the spur slid down the tree.  By moving slightly to the right and lifting with my right leg and my arms grasping the climbing belt I was able to get the left spur to set about 6 or 8 inches higher.  I rested, recouped my strength, and was able to gain another few inches allowing me to reset the belt’s rope and get into a more advantageous position.

          The familiar voice called out again.  “I’m almost down I’ll be up to the house in a couple of minutes.” I assured her.

          The belt and spurs hung in the garage for a long, long time.  There are some things better left to the professionals.  There are all kinds of devices to keep us out of trees.  Slingshots and air guns which trail fishing line that is then used to pull heavier line up into the tree are popular and much safer than spurs and climbing belts.

          “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” is not just a Ricky Nelson song from the sixties.

Chuck Gerttula  W7CRG

By W7CRG

          It was called a Big Ben alarm clock made by Westclox I believe.  As I remember it was about 4 inches in diameter and came in white or black.  Mine was black.  I’m not sure but I think it had a luminous dial so when I woke at 2:00 a.m. I could know it was not time to wake up.  I would like to be able to say it quit telling the time; but, in the 1950’s that was seldom the case.  Planned obsolescence was a concept of the 1980’s -90’s.  Things broke but it was not the common occurrence.

          I think I can blame it on curiosity. How did all those cogs and gears fit together and create a machine that circled the dial in one hour?  And it continued to do so for a day or two after which you wound it for the next period of time.

          I could have just removed the back and marveled at how that little machine worked.  I didn’t.  I disassembled it.  Why, you ask?  Why does a ten year old do most dumb things.  I assured my mother that I could put it back together again.  Alas, like Humpty Dumpty, I couldn’t put Westclox back together again and I didn’t get another alarm clock until my birthday. 

          Yeah, just what every kid wants for his birthday!  I think it was more that Mom was tired of having to wake me in time for school and to teach me a lesson, which happened more than once as I grew up.  At any rate I was one year older and the proud owner of  a new and functioning alarm clock.

          This was a portent to my life of building and working on things.  Most turned out better than the Westclox but there were drawers and cardboard boxes scattered through my parents house with “projects” that were not completed.  Some may have been for lack of parts.  Some for loss of interest or lack of time.  But some actually were finished and …. wait for it … worked!

          I may have mentioned my uncle Bob was an electrical engineer for Boeing and got me interested in electronics and radio.  I got a crystal radio kit for Christmas from uncle Bob and aunt Maxine, I’m relatively sure aunt Maxine had little to do with choosing the gift.  Christmas day I found the time to follow the directions and assemble the kit.

          That led to my first real lesson with electronics!  Was it the concept of radio waves coming through the atmosphere and the thrill of hearing a station on a radio I had built?  No, it was not.  It was the shocking reality that the antenna picks up a current and when you hook the bare ground wire to a water pipe you might feel the wonder of electricity!  Shocking!  I was much more careful connecting wires in the future and have succeeded in have relatively few similar experiences.  Keeping one hand in your pocket insures that you don’t form a circuit and experience the shocking affects of electricity.

          Being partially colorblind has been a hindrance in my electronics development.  I would often times have to bother my wife asking if the band on the resister was red, green or brown.  She was generally cooperative and willing to help the handicapped until the “Transformer Incident”.

          We were always on a budget as a young family and therefore most of the parts for my electronic builds were salvaged out of defunct radios, TVs or electrical devices.  Color coding was used for parts and certain wiring.  Transformers had a multitude of wires blossoming out of holes and you were supposed to be able to determine what they did by the color of the insulation.  So the primary power leads were black.  Good I can tell black unless the lead has become discolored due to heat, dirt and dust.  High voltage is red and the center tap is red and yellow (I know, for many of us this is getting rather technical, but bear with me).  The filament winding, these are lower voltage and are what “heats” the vacuum tube, the colors are green, brown, slate and usually really discolored from heat and dust.

          As I said before most all of my parts were salvage.  I was in my workshop trying to figure out which wire was what, when my loving wife brought me a cup of coffee.  She set the coffee on the bench (lucky for me) and asked, “What are you doing?”

          “You can help me, I’m trying to identify two green and two brown wires.”

           She picked up two wires and said, “These two are the closest to green that I can tell.”

          Now here is where the infamous “Transformer Incident” went awry.  I asked without thinking, “Oh, do you feel anything?”  It only took her a millisecond to realize that she could have been shocked!

          In defense of my actions I was thinking which wire was which, it was very low voltage as I was working with a Variac, she was holding the insulation and I had a very stupid sense of humor!  I was also lucky she was no longer holding a cup of hot coffee.  Needless to say, color identification help was not as forthcoming in the future and it was quite awhile before I got a nice cup of coffee in my workshop.

          This meandering diatribe has wandered from windup alarm clocks to electronic projects and gone a little far afield.  I apologize to the reader but the point to be gleaned from it all is the satisfaction one can get from putting something together and having it work!  It might be setting up your radio station or installing a mobile rig in your car. It could be building a simple kit on Wilson’s Wednesdays Workshop or constructing an antenna.  The satisfaction of making that purchase from the swap meet work or learning to use a new mode such as digital.  These are a few of the things that can bring a grin to an operator’s face.

          One of the best things I’ve received from my dalliance in amateur radio is the satisfaction of achievement.  That was why I pushed to upgrade my license.  That is the feeling I got when I built a buddipole from the inventor’s instructions.  That is the hit I got when the broken VTVM (Vacuum Tube Volt Meter) worked.  Did I really need it?  No, but it is nice to have and makes me feel special when I use it.  A sense of achievement can give a real boost to an otherwise bad day.

          Am I an avid DX’er?  No.  But you should have seen the grin on my face when I made my first contact with a station in Finland!  My father was the product of a Finnish family so it was the same feeling as my first contact from Germany as my maternal Grandmother sailed around the Horn to become an indentured servant in the Hawaiian sugar fields.  Ham radio was relating to my heritage.

          Are you stuck on a problem with your radio?  Ask at a club meeting or call in on the Noontime Net. Go to the 2:00 Wednesday Pie and Coffee or call one of the members.  I can’t tell you how many times Joe Joncas NJ7OK has helped me with a problem.  He always does it in such a way that I’m the one fixing the radio and learning new skills and information.  We have a vast array of experience, ability and talent in the Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club, don’t be afraid to tap into it!

          Hope to hear you on the air!

          Chuck Gerttula  W7CRG