Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club

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

Get On the Air!

I remember my first bicycle. It was blue. It was small enough that my feet could touch the ground. It was new and beautiful! My brother and I had a very special Christmas that year ! His was normal sized and red while mine was smaller, blue and had training wheels. TRAINING WHEELS??? I assured my dad that I didn’t need TRAINING WHEELS! Then I got on the bike and proved myself wrong. But within a day (or two) I pretty well mastered the art of bicycling. That is if the art of bicycling was riding in circles on the smooth street in front of our house.

In the 1950s most of the side streets in Taft were gravel. Some were well compacted and relatively smooth; others not so much. A decent road for the big tires of a 1949 Ford; a real challenge for bicycle wheels. If the road was a sloping one, stopping before reaching the bottom was usually due more to a crash than successful braking. On one trip down that steep road behind our house the lever fastened to the bike frame that allowed the brake to work when the rider pressed the pedals in reverse came loose. I tried to slow the bike and all that happened was I was repeatedly lifted up in the air as the lever allowed the wheel to rotate the pedals in reverse! My only choice, more fate than choice, was a crash into the ditch which bent my front wheel as well as a few of my body parts.

How does this relate to getting on the air with your brand new shiny radio? Well, new experiences can be daunting and sometimes you need training wheels, sometimes you need to have a harrowing episode to teach you the things you need to know to successfully practice your new hobby. In my case training wheels allowed me to learn the balance necessary to ride a bike. The crashes were painful lessons to teach maintaining a bike meant to periodically tightening screws and bolts. We all had to learn to walk before we could run. Some did so easily and somewhat naturally … others took a more circuitous and painful route.

I’m hoping to inspire new hams to turn on their radio (after connecting it to power and an antenna), pick up the mike, listen for an opening and press the PTT. Oh, yeah, and to speak … “This is K7XYZ checking into the Noon Time Net” A great way to start is on 145.370 Mhz. When net control welcomes you onto the net you are hamming! Don’t be afraid to let everyone listening know that it is your first time. If you need help with a particular problem with your radio or radio station … ask.

Most new hams start with a small VHF hand held transceiver. Programming these little wonders is often a daunting and confusing task. There are numerous videos on the internet some are helpful and some are just more confusing. But what is confusing to one may be enlightening to another. Check the programs until one seems to be right for you. Ask for help. If you can’t get on the air to ask, come to the meeting either in person or by zoom. Chances are someone can help you out of the confusion and onto the airwaves!

The Technician class license is meant to be the introduction and pathway to amateur radio. Many think it is a great way to get into the hobby and a quick way to operate on the air with relatively inexpensive radios. It is. But it provides opportunities that many overlook. I offer the following to consider diving deeper into your new hobby.

As an interesting experiment, I put 28.300 MHz on my transceiver and began to slowly turn the dial until I reached 29.700 MHz. Why slowly? Because my radio covers more of the spectrum the faster you spin the dial and I wanted to simulate a normal search for a station. Also, if you tune too fast you can pass over signals without knowing they are there. In this instance “slow and steady wins the race.”

This is the 10 meter band and a part of it is available to Technician class for HF phone operation. From 28.300 Mhz to 28.500 Mhz is the portion of the band open for Technician operation Many Technicians don’t take advantage of the privilege and equate HF High Frequency phone with the General and higher license. Not only is the band a decent slice of the spectrum; when conditions are right one can communicate all over the world! And right now conditions are right and getting better as part of the sun spot cycle improves the band.

Tune, listen, make sure you are on frequency and respond with your call sign after the station finishes calling CQ. Tune along the band to find a station that is coming in strong and clear. Why? Chances are good that if the station is strong coming to your receiver your return signal will do its best getting to them. Listen how the station operates. Some call CQ for a long period of time; some for a very short period of time. It would seem that some want to broadcast a CQ more than answer a CQ because they pause for such a brief time before calling CQ again.

If the station doesn’t answer, keep trying. Sometimes the conditions at a station are very heavy with static or noise. Keep trying and if you are lucky your call will hit a clear spot and the station will hear you and return your call. If you don’t connect within a reasonable time move on and keep trying. Patience is an important quality for a ham!

Many times it is band conditions. Sometimes it is something with your station. Your fingers have touched or moved a control (how could that have happened with my banana fingers?). I have found that the mike gain on my transceiver got turned down; the RF power was way low; or that I was a little off frequency. These things can all drastically affect your signal and success in making a contact. Patience and perseverance often times win out. Keep trying and the thrill of making that contact will be a real reward!

What do I talk about? That depends on you. What sort of conversation do you have over a cup of coffee or tea? Possibly the comment about Starbucks or your preference for Earl Gray tea would not be appropriate in this case; but the idea is not without value. You can ask about the weather, or what it is like where they are. Do they have other interests besides ham radio? Whatever you do when you are trying to get to know a new acquaintance is good advice. Maybe creating a “script” of questions to ask would up your comfort level.

Try to stay away from religion and politics and don’t get too personal is good advice. I was listening to a female operator and this male asked if she was married. I was so astounded, I wanted to contact him and tell him this is amateur radio not a dating service! The young woman handled it very well by answering him with the question if hams asked HIM if he was married and what did her martial status have to do with ham radio. Ask about their station; their experience in radio; their contact that was the most interesting or the most distant.

The important thing is to pick up your microphone and depress the Push To Talk. Get on the air! There are no “contact police” until the operator begins to use foul language or disrupts other amateurs contacts in a purposeful and damaging manner. If the contact is a “Rag Chew” the topics are pretty much open to whatever the parties want to discuss that is not considered inappropriate.

Climb on that “bicycle” and start riding. The reward will be worth the possible bumps in the road and hopefully any “crashes” will be minor!

73, Chuck Gerttula W7CRG 

I’ve always been a fan of music.  When I was a kid, long long ago, music was listened to on the radio, on a phonograph, or live.  I think it was 1959 or so that I got my first transistor radio.  It was about the size of a pack of cigarettes but much heavier.  Mine had a brown leather case and could pick up AM radio stations and it also had a band for shortwave stations which was mostly useless except at night.  But I could take it almost anywhere and listen to a myriad of songs, programs or shortwave broadcasts.

          On AM I would tune to KBCH “The voice of the Twenty Miracle Miles” (my friends and I spent some time trying to figure out what was just one miracle mile, let alone twenty).  As I listened, if I was lucky, they would actually play a song or two that was popular with teens.  Why did I listen to all the schmaltzy Perry Como and Doris Day songs mixed in with commercials for Jones Colonial Bakery, Kenny’s IGA or the Rexall Drugstore?  Because it was the only station I could receive!  OK, if I pulled the antenna out to the full 14 inches and held the radio just right, I could get Newport’s KNPT which wasn’t any better program-wise.

          At home my radio picked up stations in Portland that played music a teenager wanted to hear.  Stations like KISN and KGON and even KEX knew teenagers liked a certain kind of music and played songs by artists such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, The Teddy Bears, Etta James,  The Del Vikings or Connie Stevens to name a few.

          The home radio was a Halicrafters S-38C with four bands to choose from.  White paint along side of the dial marked where my brother liked to listen.  We would listen to the fishing boats, tugboats and Coast Guard on the shortwave bands.  When Dad went back to sea we would listen for his tug as it went by Taft.  “WC3839 the tug Daring calling the charter boat “Jimco”  are you on Freddy?  I’m just off of Cape Foul Weather and if you come along side I’ve got an item for my wife.”

          I remember Freddy Robison retelling that story and how the passengers on his “Jimco” were thrilled to come along side  a 130 foot tug with spray soaking everyone as the 50 foot “Jimco” got close enough to pass the items from tug to charter boat.  Then the two skippers raced to the respective helms and the 3,000 horse power tug raced the swifter charter boat for a few drenching minutes of fun!

          So I drifted into shortwave listening and found a fascinating array of stations from the BBC to Asian broadcasts.  But the ones that really grabbed me were the 75 meter rag chewing hams.  Their broadcasts came booming in with powerful AM signals as they yakked back and forth drinking copious cups of coffee (so they said) and discussing everything from the best radio to some thing new to their ham shack or the fact that they really needed to mow the lawn but the radio was more fun.

          To me, they were just having a great conversation with friends just like people I saw at the local cafe … but across the table of ham’s coffee cups was miles and miles of air.  Of course, they couldn’t see their round table friends but that didn’t bother anyone.

          I guess we were brought up in a more aural society than the children of today.  As those hams talked I could “see” the radio gear with glowing dials and tubes and a big chrome microphone on the desk.  It was amateur radio and it sounded good, but if wasn’t the polished sound of commercial radio stations it was amateur radio.  I could “see” the ham with his cup of coffee in front of the microphone just like when I listened to “The Whistler” I could “see”  a shadowy figure in the fog and gloom tracking the bad guy.

          One on the hams who was a regular on the net had a stutter and I was amazed that he was treated no differently by the group.  That was not how my friend Larry was treated by his teenage peers.  So subconsciously hams grew in my mind as accepting and cordial people.  I’ve since learned that although we hobbyists are generally understanding and empathetic people, we are a slice of society and have the good, the bad and the ugly within the ranks of our hobby.  Although to be honest, it is seldom that I have heard a ham criticize another ham’s operating skills.  More often I have heard them try to help a ham improve their skills.

Women On The Airwaves

          I didn’t have a sister, only had a brother two years older and six inches taller than me.  The taller was notable to me because for some unknown reason my parents bought boxing gloves for us.  Neither of us was overly interested in the pugilistic pursuits but occasionally we would don the gloves and go at it.  The result was usually the same.  My brother would hold me off at arm’s length and use his other hand to pound me on top of the head as my gloves futilely swung at air.  The resulting headaches may have been the portent for some of my quirks today.

          Geri the neighbor girl three houses down the street was one year older than me and one year younger than my brother Kerry.  Geri was one year older than me in age but she was YEARS ahead of me in maturity.  She and I got along very well and I considered her my “sister”.  Looking back with the clarity of many years passing, I have trouble understanding why she put up with me.  By the time I was in  high school I was passably acceptable as a teenager and Geri continued to provide me with “big sister” advice and counsel.  Such was the majority of my early education about females.

          First of all,I think if I’m trying to help more women get on the air I should ask them, “What keeps you from keying the microphone and getting on the air?  How can we help you?  What can local amateurs do to help?”

          I provide this family background so the reader does not think I have any special insight into the female gender of our species.  I have successfully worked with, supervised, taught, socialized with and attempted to advise women during my lifetime.  I should not have included advising in the success column but I did use the word “attempted” in that statement.

          I have found women to have some of the finest brains and minds I have associated with.  Some of the female troops under my command were among my best soldiers.  Bright, tenacious, capable and self-sufficient are all adjectives describing many women.  So why don’t we hear more of them on the airwaves?  I read a statistic that 15% of amateur radio licenses are held by females.  I do not hear 15% of the QSO’s having female voices and viewpoints.  Obviously there is some interest or they would not have pursued getting licensed.

          Here are a few names amateurs should check out:  Jeri Ellsworth AI6TK, Ria Jairam N2RJ, Cat Scogins W4DXY, Mary Domaleski KI4HHI and Rasia R1BIG (Russian) and OH7BG (Finland).  Each one of these amateurs has a special story and each one is contributing to the hobby of amateur radio.

          Jeri Ellsworth is: a ham, race car builder and driver, entrepreneur, inventor, computer developer and a free spirit.  She grew up in the Monmouth / Independence area and would ride her bike over to the ham fests held at the Rickreal fair grounds and pick up equipment that was left behind by exhibitors.  She learned from playing and tinkering with the equipment. She is self-taught having dropped out of school.  She learned computer programming and developed video games one of which sold millions of units.   She went to a ham fest and passed all three tests in one sitting.  Obviously she is an extraordinary person with an extraordinary brain. She sees a challenge and works to solve it by herself.

          Rasia is a Russia YL who operates out of Russia, Finland and Canada, the some times remotely.  She is enthusiastic and even learned Japanese phrases to respond to Japanese operators for contesting.  Rasia produces many interesting videos and tries to bring people to the hobby, especially women.  She can’t operate out of her home 27^th floor apartment in St. Petersburg. Russia so she does a lot of her radio work outdoors or with another amateur’s station (i.e. Finland and the remote station in Canada)

          Ria comes from the Dominican Republic and is now an American citizen, an Electrical Engineer, a mother, was an ARRL Director for a number of years.  She creates a very interesting web page “Ria’s Shack” and is an advocate for women in amateur radio.  Ria wrote a Technician Class study series and checked with the ARRL if there was any “conflict of interest” as she was a Director on the Board.  They gave her permission to publish the series and later rescinded permission and used her actions as a reason to remove her from the board.

          Perhaps the Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club can do something to help improve female  participation and membership.  I have talked about a class that would be  on the subject “I Have My License, Now What?”.  I need to quit talking and create the class.  If you have any ideas which would help with this, please contact me.

          Some ideas would be a regular class but could be a breakout at a Club meeting or during Field Day.  Perhaps a zoom session like Daron’s Wilson’s Wednesday Workshop.  Subjects could range from setting up a simple station to putting up an antenna or “what do I say on the air”.  One ham told me that making contacts on the air with his computer keyboard  gave him experience and confidence to pick up the microphone and have a verbal QSO.

          One of the major frightening aspects seems to be “making mistakes while I’m talking on the radio”.  I think that the fact that there is no facial “feedback” can be a factor.  Maybe what you say will seem strange, silly or wrong to the receiving station.  OK.  Everyone has to start somewhere and everyone has made and will make mistakes.  One can say, “oops” or “so what?  You’ll likely never see nor talk with the person again and if they can’t overlook your mistake … perhaps that is for the better.”  I have seldom had a QSO with the same person (other than local hams) multiple times and if it was not for my computerized logbook I wouldn’t know that we had a QSO in January of 2020 let alone know what was said.

          I talked with one ham who had multiple scripts that he used during his first few months on the air.  Many hams seem to be obsessed with the weather.  “It’s sunny and warm here on the Oregon coast, we are 78 degrees and no wind.  How is the weather in the Himalayan mountains?”  Is it an obsession or just a interesting comment that almost anyone can relate to?

          Others will discuss their station.  This can lead to common and not so common ground.  “I’m running a Flex 6500 through a 1,000 watt amplifier to a StepIR beam on a 150 foot mast.”  Which can bring up many comments such as “Wow you must really be rich.”  “I’ve always been interested in the Flex radios, are they hard to set up?”  “I had a Flex radio but I didn’t like it as it had no knobs to fiddle with.”  Or it might bring a comment like, “Well I’m running 100 watts and a wire 30 feet off the ground.”

          QSOs, like life can be good, bad, interesting or boring (you might ask yourself is this guy ever going to stop talking?)  And with that comment, I will take the hint and “stop talking”. 

73

Chuck Gerttula

W7CRG

orefinn@yahoo.com