The Monitor

Amateur Radio continues to play a major role in the relief effort. Amateurs have established HF and VHF stations throughout Gujarat to aid in supplying food, clothing, medicine and shelter to the earthquake victims.

Amateurs from ARSI, the IARU member-society, and from the National Institute of Amateur Radio have been on the scene since January 27 providing communications support and information on victims. Telephone service in the earthquake zone remains out for the most part. Traffic is being handled on 40 and 20-meter frequencies as well as on VHF. Indian amateurs have asked for cooperation in maintaining clear frequencies in the vicinity of 14.155 and 14.160 MHz as well as on various net frequencies between 14.250 and 14.270 MHz.

B.L. Manohar, VU2UR, in Bangalore, says media reports about ham radio's presence in the quake zone has led to a flurry of calls from all over India requesting hams to radio the affected region for information on friends and loved ones.

Edge of Space Sciences (EOSS) is a Denver; Colorado based non-profit organization that promotes science and education by exploring frontiers in Amateur radio and high altitude balloons.

Formed in early 1991, EOSS has grown to a membership of over 100 individuals who actively utilize Amateur radio and balloons to further scientific study of the upper atmosphere and encourage studies of mathematics and science by students. Membership is available to all interested persons. EOSS conducts four or five balloon projects each year, sending scientific payloads to approximately 100,000 feet. An on-board computer and command and telemetry system provide for control and real time data down link of experiment data in the payload package. In many cases, live video from the payload is available and views of the earth and the edge of space have been made. Educational institutions and other scientific oriented organizations are encouraged to participate in EOSS projects and programs.

They fly a variety of radio payloads on each flight. A two-meter beacon on 147.555 MHz, a B&W (shuttle I) or Color (shuttle II) TV picture transmitted via ATV on 426.250 MHz, and a telemetry stream on packet radio at either 144.340 MHz or 144.290 MHz. In addition to the electronic payload systems they also occasionally fly a 35 mm still camera.

An onboard computer is used to collect data from various onboard sensors (internal and external temperature, barometric pressure in the form of altitude, position information derived from a GPS receiver) and student experiments. It then assembles the information into AX.25 packets and transmits them to the ground. This signal is easily monitored by anyone within the radio horizon of the payload. In the event of a GPS failure, direction-finding teams out in the field can use the various transmitters onboard to locate a payload using radio direction finding (RDF) techniques.

While many EOSS members are Amateur radio operators or "hams," being such is not a requirement, although a number of members have taken up the hobby after joining EOSS.

The Canadian Amateur Jan/Feb 2001

HMCS HAIDA’S RADIOS IN THE MOVIES. Read how the Haida’s radio equipment was used in the production of a TV mini-series titled "Haven".

BUILD A POGATOE MINILOOP. A 4-foot version that can be used from 18 to 28 MHz.

FRESH ON THE AIR. This article, targeted to the new ham, describes how to put together an emergency preparedness kit.

QST January 2001

A GROUND-COUPLED PORTABLE ANTENNA. A homebrewed portable antenna for 40 through 6 meters.

MFSK FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM. Try the newest super-RTTY for yourself.

THE HF DIGITAL "TOWER OF BABEL". How fast is the world of HF digital communication growing?

ALINCO DR-135TP 2-METER FM MOBILE TRANSCEIVER. Relatively small in size, but big in capabilities.

QST February 2001

TALES OF SAILS. Two Amateur radio groups celebrate and assist OpSail 2000.

"SO PEOPLE STILL DO THAT?" An Amateur radio club set up a ham radio display in the foyer of a movie theatre during the opening of the movie "Frequency".

THE WORLD’S SMALLEST CODE-PRACTICE OSCILLATOR. Using state-of-the-art technology, you can easily build a very small and flexible code-practice oscillator.

AN HF MOBILE INSTALLATION. A step-by-step instruction of a typical mobile installation.

CQ January 2001

MULTI-TURN LOOP ANTENNAS. If a single-turn antenna is good, are multi-turn loops better?

HUMAN FACTORS IN THE HAM SHACK. How to physically layout your station for better enjoyment.

THE ICOM IC-718 HF TRANSCEIVER. A review of this high performing transceiver at an affordable price.

FUEL-CELL-POWERED AMATEUR RADIO. Fuel cells are at the cutting edge of energy technology.

CQ February 2001

GO SURF THE GREY AND DARK LINES. The art of low and high HF band Dxing, Part 1.

FIRE IN THE HAM SHACK. Important advice on preventing ham-shack fires.

A MOONBOUNCE PRIMER. The ultimate DX, EME (Earth-Moon-Earth).

HOMEBREW YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS. Homebrewing, kit building is a big-time interest in the world of QRP.

Don't throw out those old copies of your favorite ham radio magazine. Here is a simple idea to give more community awareness of electronics and radio hobbies.

Ever been to the doctor, dentist or hairdresser only to find the magazines in the waiting room of no interest? Next time you go, take a couple of your old hobby magazines that you don't want any more and leave them behind!

Fort Myers, FL: Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club, Inc., W4LX, 1400Z Feb 12 to 2000Z Feb 16, Edison Festival of Light & Thomas A. Edison's Birthday, 14.257 21.357 28.430. Certificate. FMARC, P.O. Box 61183, Ft. Myers, FL 33906.

Myrtle Beach, SC: Grand Strand ARC, W4GS, 1200-2000Z Feb 17, commemorating the fourth year of the Myrtle Beach Marathon. 14.270 21.270. Certificate. Glen Bowden, 703 Connie Ct, Myrtle Beach, SC 29588-6003.

Alexandria, VA: Mount Vernon ARC, K4US, 1600Z Feb 17 to 2100Z Feb 18 commemorating George Washington's Birthday, 10.110 18.080 7.240 14.240. Certificate. Mount Vernon ARC, PO Box 7234, Alexandria, VA 223VA, 22307.

West Chester, OH: West Chester Amateur Radio Association, KD8C, 1700-2300Z Feb 24, to commemorate the 58^th anniversary of the first Voice of America broadcast. 7.270 14.323 28.450 146.55. Certificate. WCARA, PO Box 1759, West Chester, OH 45071.

Arlington Heights, IL: Peace Corps ARC, KA9NLX, 1600-2200Z Mar 1, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps. 7.283 14.325 21.375 28.550. Certificate. John Paskevicz, 1423 North Ridge Ave, Arlington Hts, IL 60004.

Port St. Lucie, FL: PSLARA, K4RSL, 1700-2100Z Mar 1 to Mar 10, commemorating the arrival of the New York Mets baseball team to Port St. Lucie for their spring and summer training. 14.050 14.230 21.230 28.350. Certficate. Dr Maurice I. Sasson, W2JAJ, 8590 Florence Dr, Port St. Lucie, FL 34952.

February 1 to February 28, 2001

Special Event Call Sign VA7A has been authorized to be used by the Beaver Valley Radio Amateur Club between February 1 and February 28, 2001 to commorate the Radio Wave Reception Testings by Marconi's Engineers in the Trail, B.C. area in July, 1929.

Two Russian space agencies have agreed on March 6 as the official day for the deorbiting of the Mir space station -- its date with death.

A Progress M1-5 cargo ship with increased fuel capacity will be launched and is planned to dock with Mir. The Progress will fire several pulses to slow down Mir enough to drop out of orbit and plunge into the Pacific Ocean. If there are any problems docking, Russia will send up an emergency crew of cosmonauts to complete the procedure.

The ISS ALPHA is keeping the international flair by hosting several amateur radio callsigns from around the world. So far the ISS ALPHA has four callsigns from three different countries, Russia, USA and Germany. Also, each of the crewmembers of Expedition 1 has their own personal Amateur Radio callsign. The newest callsign is now R0ISS (R Zero ISS). The new callsign will become the official callsign of the Space station. You can expect the ISS crew to be using this callsign on both voice and packet operations.

As this issue is being written, we have a couple of members in sick bay. Jim VE3CQM has been sidelined for a couple of meetings and it looks like he's mobile now. Good to see him back. On the other hand, Paul VE3IUA had a bad fall recently resulting in a broken hip. It could be a while before he is fully mobile, but he's been keeping an ear on the VHF repeater. He probably won't be at the meetings for a while so give him a call on VE3TCR to wish him well. Bob VA3BIK's XYL had a heart attack recently. I understand Isabel is now resting at home and Bob is staying close at hand. We wish Isabel a full and speedy recovery.

ARRL International DX CW Contest – 0000z 17 Feb to 2359z 18 Feb.

CQ WW 160-meter SSB Contest – 2200z 23 Feb to 1600z 25 Feb.

ARRL International DX SSB Contest – 0000z 03 Mar to 2359z 04 Mar.

January's installment of Mike's monthly tech talk was about super regenerative receivers. His presentation included a hands-on demo of an MFJ 8100 World Band receiver he built from a kit. Mike VE3BSE explained some basic theory behind this radio and pointed out some of the modifications he made to the kit. He added an audio pre-amp, changed the RF circuit pot and added a power supply. Mike suggested that this might be a good kit to be given to new members to build.

On January 23^rd, Bob VE3PWF gave an interesting talk on some recent experiences he's been having with LED's. LED's are showing up more and more in our lives now and Bob decided to learn more about them. With some simple circuits, he was able to experiment with them and brought the results to the meeting. One such device was a small flashlight made with one white LED. We all had an opportunity to flick the switches and push the buttons to turn on the different coloured LED's.

To supplement the interesting talk given by Bob VE3PWF on using LEDs as an alternative light source,

he has provided the following information.

Radio Shack LED's come with four useful pieces of information: voltage, current, luminous intensity and spread angle of beam.

Voltage: Your batteries must provide this much voltage or the diode will not light. However, it is easy to cook the diode by trying to turn it up to rated voltage. Make sure it does not exceed rated current.

Current: Adjust the current to a little less than the rated current. Current may increase slightly as the device warms up. The ideal solution is to use a constant current power supply.

Luminous Intensity: This is the intensity at a certain distance (e.g. 1 metre). With Radio Shack LED'S, if you go for 2500 mcd, you are not buying 10 times as much light as compared to 250 mcd. You are getting the same amount of light in a more concentrated beam.

Spread Angle: Narrow angle, high intensity (spotlight). Wide angle, low intensity (reading light).

POWER SUPPLY:

For the Radio Shack LED'S, use 2 alkaline cells. In series, they give 3.1 V when new, far too much for a LED. As shown in the diagram, the control circuit consists of the battery, a switch, a 10 W1% 0.5 watt resistor, a 100 Wtrimmer pot, all in series with the LED. Start with the pot at maximum value (or in the centre if you are not sure). Measure the voltage across the 10 W resistor with a sensitive digital voltmeter. Adjust the pot until the voltmeter reads 0.20 V. Then the current will be 20 mA. A readjustment may be made as the dry cells age. All trimmer pots are small but don't get the smallest. Look for one 0.5 inches or larger in diameter (or square).

COLOURS:

I have tried yellow, red, green, blue and white. Red is very efficient but I find yellow more natural, especially for reading. I tried red, yellow and green together, which all work with two dry cells, but the green was so dim it did not contribute much. The blue requires 5 V, which means 4 dry cells, and it is much less efficient than yellow or red. With the Radio Shack colours, I would recommend yellow and possibly red to improve the colour balance.

White LED's are the latest trend, and they are very good. Basic LED's produce one narrow band of colour, but it is possible to insert a fluorescent screen in the tiny plastic bulb, as in a fluorescent light. The fluorescent screen emits a full spectrum of light, but favours the bluish end. I have not seen white LED's at Radio Shack, but they are available at Active Surplus, Queen St West, Toronto or from Digi-Key Corp. and Mouser in USA. They require 3.6 V, so you must use 3 dry cells in series, with the rest of the circuit the same. The ones I have, operate at 20 mA.

HAMS AND BRIGHT LED's

In an emergency, electricity is commonly the first thing to go. We all have handheld 2m rigs, and if we are smart, we have alkaline battery adaptors and some spare batteries. We also need a light source which will last as long as the ice storm in Quebec (about one week). Bright LED'S, powered by D cells will do this job easily and safely. Be prepared. Build an emergency light source.

RADIO SHACK SPECS. Radio Shack has stopped stocking many parts but they say that they may still be ordered.

Part Number Description Volts I mA L. 1. Mcd Spread

276-302 Wide angle yellow 2.1 20 250 50

276-301 Extreme bright yellow 2.1 20 2500 12

276-205 Yellow jumbo high brightness 1.9 20 6000 6 (est.)

276-309 Wide angle red 1.7 20 500 40

276-307 Extreme bright red 1.7 20 3000 12

Not Radio Extreme bright white 3.6 20 15 (est.)

Shack

5. Maxim, an IC maker in California produce a small current regulating chip for LED'S.

Over the weekend of the 12th to the 14th of January, stations in Canada, the USA and Europe attempted the first two-way transatlantic contact on the 136 kHz band. Although the two-way was not successful, the one-way distance record was broken in both directions. The new world distance record now stands at 5736 kilometers.

G0MRF, who was the first station to cross the Atlantic on 136 kHz, put up his antenna on an apartment block on the Sunday, but was hampered by high static levels and poor conditions that made that day's tests a washout at both ends. On the Saturday, however, several European stations received good signals from VE1ZZ and VA3LK. MM0ALM and OK1FIG were the only Europeans received in Canada.

Extremely slow Morse was used by all stations to enable signals to be decoded well below the noise level. VE1ZZ was occasionally audible in the UK but the strength was not sufficient to read normal speed Morse.

No word if or when another attempt at this record will be made.

Let's not forget the long-awaited DXpedition to the Comoros, which takes place from the 8th to 28th of February. The 'Five Star DXers Association' will be active as D68C with a minimum of six stations operating around the clock with high power and large beam antennas on all bands from 6 and 80 meters. There's also an 82 foot high vertical at the water's edge for 160 meters.

3G0Y, EASTER ISLAND. A joint Chilean and German DXPedition will activate Easter Island between March 4-19th. Operations will be on all HF Bands mostly on CW/RTTY, on lower bands and the WARC bands. The callsign used will be 3G0Y. QSL via DK7YY.

4^th Annual Spring Fleamarket.. Sponsored by the Burlington ARC on February 17^th at the Burlington Legion Hall 9:00 AM.

Hamex 2001. Sponsored by the Peel ARC and Mississauga ARC on March 24^th at the Brampton Fall Fairgrounds 9:00 AM.

Durham Region Amateur Radio Hamfest. Sponsored by the South Pickering ARC and the North Shore ARC on April 28^th at the Iroquois Park Rec. Complex 9:00 AM.

Annual Spring Hamfest and Fleamarket. Sponsored by the Skywide ARC on May 12^th at the Westway United Church in Etobicoke 9:00 AM.

Belgium is the latest nation to tell its hams that 5 words per minute is the only Morse that they will ever have to know. This as the Belgian Minister of Telecommunications signs a new decree on Amateur Radio.

Among other things, the Belgium telecommunications regulator has reduced the Morse code requirement for access to the High Frequency to 5 WPM. According to Internet delivered information the new rules will take effect in a few weeks.

Our club has debated this issue as Canada gets set to follow the footsteps of other countries that have reduced the Morse code requirement. A recent vote at the January business meeting indicated that a majority of our members are against this proposal and the club has written to the editor of TCA and Industry Canada to voice our opinion.

Don't forget our club is hosting an Open House/Social at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Wednesday February 21^st about 7:30 PM. Invitations have been sent out to area hams that are currently non-members. Come out and support this event and meet some old and new friends. Refreshments will be served.