Category: Chuck’s Blog

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

Starting the new year can be problematic. Do I change things or do I
leave well enough alone? If I do change things, what things do I change and to
what extent do I change them? Some things get changed for you. I am no
longer President of Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club, I’m beginning to feel
my age, and my family responsibilities have increased. Some things you are in
the driver’s seat and can decide direction, speed and duration. Then there are
those things you would LIKE to change and which you must conjure up the
resources to affect that change if you want to accomplish them.

Changes I want to make for my amateur radio life can be easily listed and
can be difficult to get done. First of all, I must decide which of the lengthy list
I want to work on. Then I have to muster the willpower and other resources to
get started. The biggest problem to getting started is always the “circle of
projects”. That is to start this project I need these tools and items. I know I
own all those tools and items … but I must FIND all those tools and items.
My mind says, “It would be far easier to round those items up if you just
clean and organize your shop.” Alas! Now I’m off course! I’m cleaning and
organizing instead of trouble shooting that Hallicrafter’s SX-100! But relax
Chuckie, you just found that VTVM (Vacuum Tube Volt Meter) that you will
find very useful when trouble shooting! See, you are making progress! You
are starting on the project!

But look, when I plug the VTVM in it isn’t working! Probably just one of
the tubes. Get out the Tube Tester and check the tubes. How much trouble is
that? Where are you going to set the tube tester? Clear that work bench and set
it there. OK

Oh, look, there is that box of vacuum tubes I was given last year. I might
as well test them too. Kill two birds as they say. Three hours later and the box
of tubes are tested, dead ones discarded, good ones boxed and labeled and
numerically stored with all the other vacuum tubes! Good job, Chuckie!
Oh, I forgot to check the tubes in the VTVM. Well how much time can
that take? There are only a few. Common ones too. This isn’t going to be a
problem at all! There, it only took 45 minutes and all the tubes are checked and
they were all good! OH! That means the problem is elsewhere. Where is the
manual for that meter? 45 minutes of going though the files and Voila there it
is a printout from the internet. I must have done that when I got the meter.
Good for you Chuckie!

So, would you look at that fried resistor and the two capacitors leaking
wax! This thing is older than I thought. 30 minutes and I have found replacements for the capacitors and the resistor. Get the soldering iron on and
remove and replace the three items. Wow! Am I good or am I good? Look at
that; the VTVM is working … except where is all that smoke coming from?
Two hours later, I have a working, non-smoking VTVM. One hour later I
have the tube tester and other equipment put away and the workbench is clear
and usable … OK, relatively clear and usable.

So now you have an idea of how the “circle of projects” works. If all
goes well I should circle my way to working on the Hallicrafter’s SX-100 in a
month or so. Hopefully I will still have the determination to work on it.
The “circle” exists in other part of my life as well. For instance I would
like to relearn CW. I determined that the Koch method would be a good way to
accomplish that goal. I determined which computer to put the program on and
set it up. In setting it up I found that I had begun to load a program which had
a Ham Clock on that computer and began checking the extent to which I had
committed the computer to being the Clock. I then remembered I decided to
put the Ham Clock on a Raspberry Pi.

Where is that Raspberry Pi now? Oh gee, I found three. Why do I have
three? What is on each one? Oh, I think the readers see where THIS is going!
My life can be a series of “circles” if I let it. Fortunately, I can also get projects
into a “linear” status and I can actually accomplish something!
So to the hams who have labored through this piece I wish you a Happy
New Year! Go forth and try new things. Hopefully one or two of those things
will involve amateur radio. Extend your horizons. Try something you have
thought about doing. Contact other hams whether they be within the county,
the state, the United States or around the globe. We are part of a wonderful
hobby that holds possibilities for new experiences, new friends, and new
accomplishments! Experience things with this new year!
Chuck Gerttula, W7CRG 73

“73” Which reminds me of my first effort for this New Years Blog. The
term 73 and how we use it.

We’ve all heard something like the following come across the airwaves.
“Hey, it’s been nice talking with you! I hope we meet again on the bands.
This has been a very interesting QSO. 73.”

I’ve heard something similar to this hundreds of times on the ham bands.
I’ve never thought much about such statements. Today I heard a ham sign off
with “73s”. You will hear “seventy-three” and “seven-threes” often as hams
end their conversations. The intent is to wish the other ham well or have a
good day.

First of all, it is SEVEN THREE. Two numbers not the third number to
show in the seventies. Remember much of our lexicon comes from the beginnings of amateur radio which was Morse Code sent over the radio. Why
did they choose 7 3?

First of all, Morse Code numbers consist of Zero through Nine. There are
no teens, twenties nor seventies, hundreds, thousands, etc.. If you know Morse
Code, which is not my forte I was a novice in 1960’s and very poor at CW, you
know that Seven is . . . – – and Three is – – – . . ! How about that they are the
reverse of each other! Easy to learn, easy to send and easy to hear.
This, like the Q codes was to make sending and receiving CW easier and
faster. Also, like many things from the beginning of our hobby the use and
meaning has been diluted or changed.

Will this explanation make a big difference to anyone in our hobby? I
doubt it. Just an interesting sidelight to add a little depth and verve to our
favorite pastime. “7 3” Chuck W7CRG

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Chuck Gerttula W7CRG

          This is hopefully the last effort for this month’s Blog.  I’ve started and tossed numerous efforts and thought I had a finished product when I fact checked something and the result caused me to toss the “finished product”.

          The coming of Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year.  Growing up in Taft (now part of Lincoln City) I remember greetings and Christmas scenes painted  on store windows.  Bernie’s Sports and Fishing Tackle store had a big speaker hanging outside his door playing Christmas carols.  Even today when I hear “Silver Bells” I think of Bernie’s.  Even with LP records having ten to twelve songs on them it was a constant chore for Bernie or his wife to change records.

          Another more current reminder that “Tis the Season” is the appearance on TV of Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” hoping to find a Red Ryder lever action BB rifle under the tree.  His story, along with all the family drama of a post WWII mid west snowy quirky holiday is so entertaining.  The story is a favorite of many and most certainly one of mine.  It was written by a fellow amateur radio operator Jean Shepherd who coincidentally was also a radio personality on station WOR doing a nightly show without phone calls and guests, just the host’s monologue.

          There are remastered recordings of his show on the internet if you google him.  The show I enjoyed was describing getting his amateur license in 1935 at the Chicago FCC office when he was 14 years old.  It starts with two minutes of music which made me wonder if I had the right tape but that was  the style back in the 1950’s and ’60’s.  If you think it is difficult to obtain an amateur license in 2023 you will be amazed what it took to get one in 1935!

          In many ways I look at our hobby in the same way I viewed my family.  We, as a hobby, tend to stick together.  We have our differences and some have talents others don’t but for the most part we like and appreciate each other much like many families.  There are those of us who jump in to help when one needs assistance.  There are those of us who provide comfort and understanding when a member experiences disappointments such as failing the test to upgrade their license, or a tragedy within their life.  There are those who anger us as my brother did me so many times, but we persevere and most often forgive and forget.

           Within any community there are the generous and the not so generous.  Hams often are generous with their time, experience , expertise, equipment, help, information and many other things.  I know hams who consistently give equipment away and expect nothing in return but the satisfaction of a ham on the air.  I also know hams who are happy to get equipment to those in need but view the action more like a businessman.  But the thing many hams are generous with is their time; time to work with emergency operations, time to help get an antenna up and connected, time to teach a class, time to teach an operator to use a specific piece of equipment.

          Time is something we cannot get more of.  Time is one of the most valuable resources.  It is one of our most often donated and valued things.  If and when you have the time to help our hobby ….  here’s to you!  Thank you! 

We don’t always acknowledge our appreciation but it’s there.

Chuck Gerttula  W7CRG

Well, Here I am, the month of my birth and 79 years later. That
was of no help in writing this blog except it gave me an excuse for the
muddled thoughts I sometimes write. These months seem to fly by.
Didn’t I just post the September blog??

I know that each ham has different interests and priorities. I like
operating in the HF (High Frequency) bands. I like to think the
stations I reach are interesting new acquaintances and I learn
something about them, their station and their QTH (home location). It
is like being invited to someone’s house for coffee and a chat. For the
extraordinary contact I will send a QSL card and in most cases I will
receive one in return. Yesterday I received a card from W1AW which
is the ARRL’s station at their headquarters in Connecticut. My signal
went from my Icom IC-746Pro up the coax to a folded dipole antenna
30 feet high, which is partially obscured by the roof of the garage,
across the continent to their sophisticated station! Wow!

Of course I have had contacts much farther away but this one was
special as they have been a large part of American ham activities since
the very early days of amateur radio. I am glad to have the QSL card
to confirm our QSO. I don’t have a good open space in my shack to
display my cards so I scan them and use the file containing those cards
to create my computer screen’s wallpaper. It changes from card to
card constantly every 20 seconds.

Another pursuit many Hams have is being a volunteer. I’m
guessing we have members of LCARC who have volunteered for
committees, community positions, church positions, activities to help
others such as food banks and lets not forget ACS. When the need
was there for help, other than communication duties, Jenny Maris has
found hams stepping up to assist. Then of course the communication
duties are always the most interesting to help with.

Those studying for their license often mention such quotes as;
“When all else fails …” Which tells us that they view ham radio as a
resource in times of need or catastrophic events. It’s true, hams can
continue to communicate when other means are no longer
functioning. Cell phones are great but they depend on towers and the
tower depends on a source of electricity which may have backup to
the power grid but when the fuel runs out or the batteries discharge the
system fails. Also, the cell phone operator needs to know the phone
number to call for help and assistance and 911 is not always the
number to call.

Such activities as the “Noon time Net” on the Cape Foulweather
145.370 Mhz repeater are great training. “Training” you ask? Yes, for
those who help out and fill in when W7ALX is not able to run the net
that experience is invaluable. During an emergency or event, a Net
Control may not be available. Someone needs to step in and get the
communication started. If you have done it before in an informal
situation, you will be more at ease and do a better job in an
emergency. But, just picking up that microphone and pushing the PTT
(Push To Talk) button is a major step for some hams. Across the
nation clubs offer courses with titles like “I got my license, now
what?”

People in general, and new hams in particular, are reticent to
make themselves look foolish or inept. We all started somewhere and
have made mistakes everywhere. We have been tongue-tied or lost
our train of thought while talking on the radio. As central to our ham
identity as our call sign is many of us have “forgotten” it or misstated
it, particularly if it is not a series of letters that flow together such as
KF7WZV which was my old call sign. (I found that using phonetic
letters helped both myself and the stations I was communicating with.
Kilo, Foxtrot, Seven, Whiskey, Zulu, Victor resonated with the other
operator much better than KF7WZV.)

Some of us are by nature quiet whether it be having coffee with
friends, at a meeting, or on a radio net. Others seem to talk easily and
sometimes endlessly. The well thought out expression is often appreciated and more easily taken to heart by the listeners. I knew a ham who used multiple “scripts” for his QSOs. He preferred to use CW or Digital operations as it allowed him to communicate without having to talk. As I learned, he had slight speech impediment as a child and it has always made him self-conscious when speaking, even though he had lost any impediment.

These are some of the things that make our hobby so adaptable.
No matter what our abilities or interests we can find a niche in
amateur radio. I just read a blog from the Eugene radio club and a
woman who is by no means a “techie” has become fascinated with
moon bounce. Her husband is a ham and she got a license because of
him. But poetry rather than radios and antennas were her interest.
Then somehow sending a signal a quarter million miles into space,
hitting the moon’s surface, and reflecting it back to earth became a
fascination!

We all need to find interests within our hobby to keep it relevant
to us. We may not even see it coming. It may sneak up on us and all
of a sudden – Wow! 73 Chuck Gerttula W7CRG

I was born and raised in Lincoln County.  I lived in Taft which is now a district of Lincoln City.  Our house my father built was on “Taft Heights” and looked out to the ocean from the front and Siletz Bay from the back porch. 

          We didn’t have television until I was in the seventh grade, about 1957.  It was a huge 24 inch black and white that my dad built into the end of the living room and was part of a state-of-the-art High Fidelity (not stereo) sound system.  Dad was a real craftsman and the mahogany cabinet was a work of art!  A company from the Portland area sold him the electronics and provided hookup instructions.  The TV signal was provided by an antenna and rotor on the roof and my brother and I were the “remote controls”.

          With that picture of my childhood reality, one can understand that radio was a large part of my early entertainment.  I listened to and was thrilled as each week a new episode of “The Lone Ranger” came to me via the Halicrafters S-38B’s speaker.  “The Lone Ranger and Tonto camped in a grove of cottonwoods just outside of town ….”  I imagined the old west to be a bunch of small towns all having a grove of cottonwoods nearby.

          Radio programs like “Big John and Sparky”, “The Whistler” and “Captain Midnight” came to life through my little Halicrafters speaker and my imagination!  Occasionally I would search the shortwave frequencies and hear boats operating up and down the coast, or a foreign country’s broadcast and sometimes ham radio usually having a “rag chew session” on 75 meters.

          The cable system was just getting started and was run by Carl Schmauder who lived in Wecoma Beach at the north end of what is now Lincoln City which was then a bunch of small cities and communities: Cutler City, Taft, Nelscott, Delake, Oceanlake, Wecoma Beach and Roads End.  Carl was the mainstay of the cable system. I remember him driving his pickup around and working on the cable strung from pole to pole wearing a climbing belt and spurs.   I thought it would be so neat to climb up those poles and work on whatever while suspended by that belt.

          As we know, antennas on the Oregon coast are not maintenance free!  Carl had approached  Dad on numerous occasions to hookup to the cable and Dad always declined as his antenna and rotor “were doing just fine”.  But Carl drove by one day as Dad was on the roof working on the antenna/rotor, connecting cables and guy wires.  “Say Ben, that’s a lot of work and that shake roof can be awfully slick here on the coast.  Why don’t you let me help you bring that antenna and rotor down and I’ll hook you up to the cable.  That way the maintenance is my job and you’ll get more channels and better reception.”  It was an opportune timing and Dad became another of Carl Schmauder’s customers and we had snow-free reception on multiple channels!

          Right now you are probably wondering, “This is all well and kind of interesting, Chuck; but, what does it have to do with amateur radio?”  Well, Carl was a ham and a few years later when I was in high school, he was one of my “Elmers” that helped me get my Novice ticket, KN7ORZ dated March 9, 1962  (Yes, I found the notification from the FCC a number of years ago and have kept it with my other and more recent licenses).  It started a fascination with electronics and radio that blossomed and waned over the years but has always kept my interest and now as an Extra is a wonderful hobby!  Mentors like Carl are a wonderful resource for amateurs!  They take a seed of interest and help it develop into thriving plant.  I sometimes hear or read of a ham asking a question that seems so simple.  Then I remember there was a time when such a question wasn’t so simple!

          We need more Elmers!  An Elmer can be a technical whiz or more often just a helping hand or an opinion.  Someone to help or advise on some of the myriad of questions a new (or not-so-new) ham can have.  Someone who is willing to take the time to teach; or to help install an antenna; put that mobile radio in a vehicle; or show how to have a  QSO and pickup that signal that is elusive.  Sure, one person can install a dipole antenna; I’ve done it.  But it can be exhausting and frustrating and take many times longer than if two or more helpers are there.  Little things like waterproofing the coax connection or using the right kind of line to hold it in place can make such a difference immediately and down the road!  How disappointing when you find your antenna on the ground because the line you used to suspend it has deteriorated from the sun’s UV rays and broken!

          I remember not so long ago I thought 15 meters was a dead band.  Then I got some advice to use the pre-amp on my transceiver (I have a pre-amp? Oh yeah I do it’s that little button there!) and tune the band more slowly and, zounds, there were signals there!  Those signals became contacts and 15 meters has become a band I visit.

          Helping others not only is beneficial to the person needing assistance; it can bring satisfaction to those giving the assistance.  Stretch yourself, Elmer.  Maybe you don’t think you are experienced enough to Elmer; your support can often mean a lot to a struggling ham.  Who knows how much you might learn while helping another ham or want-to-be ham work through a problem?

          The memories can last a lifetime.  I remember had a storefront on Hwy 101 in Oceanlake.  If I drove by I would stop to ask a question or chat when I saw he was there. One time Carl invited me to his house to see his station!  It was much like the ham stations pictured in magazines but better!  This was a real amateur radio station!  The room’s walls were covered with the bottoms of egg cartons to provide sound deadening.  He had a display of QSL cards from special contacts around the world.  On his operating desk was a Halicrafters SX-100 receiver and a Multi-Emac Trans-Citer to drive his amplifier.  All those glowing tubes, all those switches, it was so mesmerizing to a 16 year old kid!  I was hooked for life!  I still have a special place in my head for equipment using vacuum tubes … and in my radio shack as well!

          Mentoring is teaching and after 30 years in education I can truthfully say teaching was seldom monetarily rewarding (at one time I worked as a teacher, soldier, grocery store worker and fire fighter to make ends meet and provide for my three children) but the thrill of getting a student to grasp a concept has always been a tremendously rewarding occurrence!  One of the best things about our hobby is that there is always something more to learn.  Often times by teaching you learn more than you give to the student.  Many of you already are helpful to other hams.  Thank you!  To the rest, if an occasion comes your way help a ham. 

Chuck Gerttula   W7CRG

By Chuck Gerttula  W7CRG

          Why do we pursue Amateur Radio?  The answer is many things to many people.  Some find satisfaction in building things.  The smell of solder smoke and the accomplishment creating of a working device is very alluring to these hams.  Then add to that  the pride of operating a something you have crafted and the feeling of accomplishment can be immense.

          Other hams are not into the technical side of the hobby.  They like to operate!  And operate they do!  Code, or CW (Continuous Wave), is the oldest modes of radio operation.  Going back to the telegraph operators who sent messages over wires using Morse Code to spell out the words; this has been, and still is, a stalwart of radio communication.   Since the FCC dropped the code requirement for getting an Amateur Radio License CW has become more popular than ever before!  Now we don’t need the wires strung from pole to pole across vast distances, radio waves have very effectively replaced those wires and the dots and dashes of  CW carry the message when other modes cannot communicate.

          The modes of operation have progressed with the hobby and often have created new technologies and industries.  Many hams prefer to use their voice.  Transmitting voice over the airwaves has many modes; AM, FM, SSB are among the most popular.  When the “Titanic” sent it’s distress calls, it was using Morse Code.  Now the letters SOS are more often replaced by a voice calling “Mayday” and giving the position of the ship or plane in trouble.  Hams have been the innovators who developed and improved these modes of voice communication.

          But we also have the “microphone shy” people who still are fascinated with the concept of communicating over the airwaves.  Yes, there are modes that give them the ability to “ham it up”.  The first was our old friend  CW.  Some operators had a “script” that they used so that they were never at a loss for words.  Then another mode transitioned from over the wires strung between poles to the airwaves, Teletype.  This system basically put a keyboard as the means to send a message that was printed out on paper at the receiving station.  It had been developed by the news agencies to send everything from election results to the progress of baseball games.  Ronald Reagan spent his early years “calling” baseball games over the radio by reading the teletype printouts.  He used his wallet to whack the desk for the sound of the ball being hit by the bat.  Hams took the technology and used it to communicate.  Often times creating pictures using the letters and symbols on a keyboard creating a picture as simple as a Christmas tree to as complex as a portrait.  In the beginning it entailed using machines the size of a small refrigerator.  Now radio-teletype (RTTY) is still used but a laptop interfaced with a radio replaces the huge electro-mechanical machines of yore.

          Lately, digital technologies have been the mainstay of alternative modes of communication.  Computers and keyboards have created new and innovative methods of  amateur radio.  This was very attractive to hams with hearing loss as they could participate in their hobby despite their limitation and modes such as PSK31 and FT8 have become popular.  FT8’s popularity has grown as it has been a means to make contacts that have been elusive to all but the high power expensive antenna array stations.  Thus making Worked All States (WAS)  and other achievements such as working 100 countries (DXCC) or a certain number of Parks On the Air (POTA) possible to the ham with 100 watts or less and a simple antenna.

          Others have developed modes such as Slow Scan Television (SSTV) which transmits a still picture, or Fast Scan Television (FSTV) which transmits a moving picture with sound like a commercial TV station does.  Lately, groups have developed microwave communications utilizing re-purposed antennas from TV services such a Dish.  Other specialized modes such as (EME) Earth Moon Earth or Moon Bounce and transmitting to an orbiting satellite which re-transmits it to another amateur station are interesting certain hams.

          Besides the various modes we have hams who are motivated to provide their skills to Emergency Service and developing communication links during disasters and the like.  Some hams like to check into various nets on a regular basis; and there are many nets on HF (High Frequency) as well as VHF/UHF (Very High Frequency/Ultra High Frequency).  Others are challenged to get the highest score on contests. They gain points for the number of contacts made, bands used, for using different modes and power and other such things.  And some hams just like to talk (Rag Chew) about everything and anything.  Sometimes it is about amateur radio and sometimes it is not.

          Yes, there are multiple reasons to be a ham.  There are multiple interests for amateur radio and multiple activities to participate in.  As one activity ends another emerges.  I remember during the Vietnam war Military Auxiliary Service (MARS) stations were a source of messages home as the internet and cell phones were nonexistent.  Many times a phone-patch was used linking the radio to the telephone system so the family actually heard their soldier’s voice and had to remember to say “over” when they were done talking.

          I remember working  a station in Zimbabwe for 40 minutes and learning what it was like running a large farm in that African country.  Politics and other differences were not part of the QSO, just two people exchanging information on their life and livelihood.  Amateur radio can be a wonderful means for people to meet and get to know other people.

          What ever is your interest, techie, contester, public service, experimenter, or friendly voice on the airwaves; ham radio has something for you.  Look into an aspect of the hobby you didn’t know about or one that has always tickled your fancy and see what it might add to your life.

          Chuck Gerttula,  W7CRG

          President, Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club

It’s the middle of summer already!  At least in my mind it is the middle of summer.  I know, the first day of summer was just a few days ago; but, I am a product of the 50’s and 60’s and summer started right after school ended as far as we were concerned.  And in those days school ended a day or two before or after Memorial Day as the Taft High School band always played for the  Fleet of Flowers and we had to wear those wool uniforms and get them turned into Mr. Kelmer even though school was out.

           But alas and alack, Chuck, this is a blog for the Amateur Radio Club so get with it!  The last month has not treated me to a lot of time to play with my radios.  I have had a few highlights like learning to use the new magnetic loop antenna I acquired.  It helped me with a problem I didn’t know I had.  I was on my deck using the magnetic loop with two different transceivers, an Icom IC-706mkIIg and a software defined Resent RS-918.

          It was a Sunday afternoon and I was tuned to a 40 meter net The Western Social Net which operates on Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 on 7.230Mhz.  The receptions was good and I was copying stations from British Columbia to Reno and Southern California.  I tried a number of times to log onto the Net to no avail.  What did I expect, I was only putting out 10 to 20 watts PEP on SSB.

          After an hour with no success, I went down to my ham shack and tuned up my Icom IC-746 Pro putting out 100 watts or if I kicked on the amplifier I would generate 500 watts.  I could barely hear the stations that had been 59 on the magnetic loop!  This did not bode well!  My finely tuned Ham Diagnostic Sense (somewhat akin to the cartoon character’s Spidey Sense) told me, “There is a problem with your station!” 

          My  diagnostic mind shifted into high gear!  Two weeks before, my son had been weed eating and suddenly my signal strength dropped to zero.  Was it interference from the noisy weed eater’s engine?  No, it was the weed eater cutting my coax thus in technical jargon preventing the signals captured by my antenna and traveling down the coax to my transceiver to get to my transceiver.  My acutely technical mind immediately came up with a solution; “you must replace the coax, Chuck!”

          That may seem like an easy fix but you must realize some important factors.  First of all I’m 78 y.o. And crawling under the house (which used to be a simple chore) now is neither simple nor safe.  I had to ask myself do you really want the embarrassment of the Fire Department extracting you from that crawl space??  Secondly will the current body type even fit through the crawl hole used by the earlier version did string the coax?

          The answer to both questions would be, probably not!  But I have multiple runs of coax as at one time I had multiple antennas.  “Substitute W7CRG … substitute!”  So I picked the LMR 400 cable which had run out to a vertical antenna.  It was the newest and would conduct a signal the best.  The connection had been on the ground but I carefully “waterproofed” the coax connector with antenna tape.

          To get to the point, the expensive tape job didn’t work.  Water had seeped up the dielectric and caused all sorts of bad things from corroding the shielding to creating a resistance between the shielding and the center conductor.  I substituted another coax and wow!  I had signals getting to my radio!

          Putting up antennas and stringing coax is not an easy task.  Therefore, when we get it done we tend to leave it alone and “not fix  what ain’t broken” …. until it is broken.

          Lesson to be learned, no matter how much precaution we take … things break and deteriorate.  If things change at your station, there is usually a reason and it is better to fix it as soon as you can.

          So, get on the air!  If you need help or advise, ask for it!  Enjoy your summer and tr y to include Ham Radio!  July 1^st starts the 13 Original Colonies special event.  Check the web page for info!   

          Happy 4^th of July!  73  Chuck Gerttula W7CRG