HOT DOG SALES WERE HOT!

The club had another successful year selling hot dogs for the annual JPL ERC Picnic. "Profit" this year was approximately $200; however, $70 was plowed back into improvements of the stand. This included a new preparation table, which was a convenient stand-up height, new dispensers for mustard and catsup which provide a much more sanitary arrangement than the old insect and dust-filled open containers, and a new plastic container for shipping and storing hot dogs.

Jim Lumsden gets ready to boil more hot dogs while Gordon Crawford and his XYL help out at the table.

As usual, the stand was well supported by the members of the club and there was more than ample help for setting up in the morning, selling throughout the day, and tearing down at the end. Following the new club policy for secrecy, as exemplified by the Repeater Committee, names of the "Control Operators" for the hot dog stand will not be revealed. -Ralph West, N6YM. (Ed. note: Ralph is referring to a difference of opinion he had recently with the Repeater Committee on the subject of secrecy, which culminated in his resignation as Secretary of the club. No secrecy here - we try to tell you all the news that fits!)

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN By Jim Lumsden, WA6MYJ

The most significant news this month is that some 19 aspiring hams have completed the club's Novice Training Course. The class has been received very well and the demand is there for another one. The current plan is to continue in the fall with a "General" class. If you can help, or could run another Novice class, please let Ron Ploszaj (x4429) know. It's not really very hard!

The attendance at the first Wednesday Breakfast was very good, but because I did not call each and every member on the phone with a personal invitation to the subsequent ones, the following two breakfasts had a much lower attendance. Please put the Wednesdays between club or Board meetings on your calendar now! As a direct result of one of the breakfasts, the OSCAR antenna system at W6VIO is installed and operational! Thanks, George (W6ABW.) With a few relatively simple patches to the Yaesu and ICOM 211 gear we will be on OSCAR for real.

The major goal I have had for the club station is to;

1) Provide a station for those who can't afford or don't have space for a station, and
2) Provide capabilities that one would not likely have at home.

Get your feet wet at the club station. Try those modes you have wanted to try but didn't have the equipment for. (The leaking trailer roof will be fixed soon, I have been told.) If our dream of remodeling comes true, the shack will really be a pleasant place to operate.

Sad news! I am trying to build a test bench into the trailer for the use of all members. However, I am ashamed to say several pieces of hard-earned club gear have grown legs: The Bird Thruline Wattmeter, the SSTV Cassette Recorder, Headphones, Swan SWR Bridge, etc. What good will a test bench be if we have to keep all the instruments locked in a cabinet? Whoever has these club items, please return them to the trailer no questions asked. Don't make it hard for all the other members.

It is really good to hear so many club members getting on the repeater, WR6APS. The machine sounds great, despite the almost imperceptible defects that Walt's superfine ear can detect. The Repeater Committee is actively organizing the final details for the WR6APR autopatch. Also, APR should be on Solar Power very soon.

The club has 4 solar panels: two for APR and two yet to be dispositioned. Rex Quinn, WD6EWN, is arranging the installation.

How would you like to see the Energy Fair at the LA Convention Center for free ... almost? Gil Yanow, K6TOS, needs operator support for the Natural Energy Powered Radio Station sponsored by our club. (Ed. note: Sorry, we couldn't get hold of Gil at press time for a briefing on this activity, but if you would be interested in helping, please call Gil and offer your services.)

For the next year, it looks like club activities will reach frantic pitch. If everything planned happens, we are really going to be busy (should it be otherwise?) Between station remodeling, 40-metre beam antenna erection, contests, energy fairs, tours, commemoratives and classes, brother' we gonna be busy'

FLASH! FIRST OSCAR CONTACT WITH NEW INSTALLATION

George Morris, W6ABW reported that on August 28, 1978, W6VIO established two-way contact with W8DX through OSCAR 7, Mode A on CW. Receiving antenna had vertical polarization. A great beginning, George: Congratulations!

ALTERNATE ENERGY EXPERT-ON THE AIR

Ham radio operator Enos L. Schera, Jr., of Miami, Fla., who's also an amateur radio contact for Alternate Sources of Energy magazine, holds forth on sun, wind and water every Sunday on 14070 kHz at 2 pm EST and on 14345 kHz at 2:30 PM. His call sign is W4VPD. (Tnx Solar Age magazine via W6HCD)

BICYCLISTS NEED COMMUNICATORS

The JPL Bicycle Club is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Angeles Crest Century and Half-Century Bicycle Experience on Saturday, September 9, 1978. The JPL Amateur Radio Club will be providing communications support along the route which starts from the JPL Visitor Parking Lot at 6:30 am and goes up Angeles Crest highway to Dawson Saddle. The half-century experience only goes as far as Charlton Flats. At least seven stations are needed: A base station, a station at each of the two end check points, plus 2 intermediate stations along each leg. It is tentatively planned to communicate primarily on 220 MHz, with possible backup on 2 meters. A plan is afoot to put a portable repeater on top of Mt. Waterman to cover the entire route. If you can provide some support for this half-day affair next Saturday, contact George Morris, W6ABW at x7066, or at home, 249-6023. (Tnx W6ABW.)

AMATEUR RADIO PROGRAM ON RADIO STATION KIIS

"An Introduction to Amateur Radio," a series covering many aspects of amateur radio is aired every Sunday night at 11.30 pm on KIIS (AM, 1150 kHz) in Los Angeles. Guests on the half-hour program include Larry Guy, Engineer-in-Charge of our local FCC office; Wayne Curley, WA6NRB, operator of WR6ADH; Lenore Kingston Jensen, W6NAZ; and other experts in the field of Ham Radio. The program is produced by Los Angeles air personality Don Elliot, W6IFR; KIIS Chief Engineer Mike Callaghan, WA6KPD; and Jerry Burnham, WA6FEQ. (Tnx WX - Crescenta Valley RC)

CONGRATULATIONS ...

... to Neil Dipprey, Dave Fedors, Sonia Balcer, and Mark White, all members of the SUNFIRE group of the JPL Explorer Scout Post, upon passing their Novice code tests after a mere 4 weeks of instruction by club members. They're now anxiously awaiting arrival of their written exams. Good luck to all! (Tnx N6WU)

DE WR6APS Conducted by Booth Hartley, N6BH

220 MHz Spectrum Management Association. This association has been formed to take over spectrum management of the 220 MHz band in Southern California. The old Southern California Repeater Association (SCRA) coordinated only repeater usage, ignoring the other users of the band. With recent FCC decisions (expanding repeater sub-bands) opening the way for possible conflict between repeaters and other users, it was felt that a new organization should be formed to represent all 220 MHz users. The new organization takes over all the 220 MHz responsibilities of SCRA as well. Any interested ham can join the new association and each individual has one vote. One meeting has already been held (in August). The next meeting is being hosted by JPL on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 14. We urge all interested club members to attend (and join!)

Solar Cells for WR6APR. Plans are being made to power our closed autopatch repeater by solar energy. Several members are contributing their efforts: Rex Quinn, WD6EWN is looking into installation of the solar cells Gil Yanow, K6TOS, is arranging for the actual cells; and Dick La Belle, W6FXN, is providing the batteries.

Repeater Committee Meeting. The JPLARC Repeater Committee met in August to discuss status and future plans. It was agreed that implementation of our autopatch is of highest priority. Other items were:

1. We see no utility in implementing a repeater on Mt. Palomar linked to WR6APS. Only rarely are club members in the southern part of the state where such a capability could be used.

2. The combining of WR6APS and WR6APR onto one antenna will not be done in the near future. The technical problems are great, and we would rather dedicate the technical efforts into the autopatch right now.

Autopatch status. Walt, WA6PEA, has done some design of control circuitry. Vince Wirth, WA6BZB has volunteered to help with the coordination. One major problem now is how to obtain a residence telephone (with wide area dialing - "ORTS".) Only business phones can be installed on JPL property, and business phones are not eligible for ORTS service. Since Amateur Radio cannot be used for "business" communications by FCC law, it certainly doesn't seem fair to pay business rates (which are higher than residential.)

Formal Traffic Appears on WR6APS. To our knowledge, the first piece of formal, written traffic, in proper ARRL form, was handled on WR6APS August 9th when WB6KHK in Barstow came on through the link with a request for someone to handle a message for Sunland. Nash, W6HCD, was pedestrian mobile and stopped to take it. (He found the back of his HandiTalkie made a good writing surface for the envelope he wrote the message on!) The message had come from Ohio via Daytime Region 6 net and was picked up by KHK as an experiment for relay through our 220 system. Nash delivered the message when he got to a convenient phone and discovered the addressee was an old friend who had donated some equipment to his Flying Samaritan organization. Nice work, gents!

FCC EXAM SCHEDULE The FCC Office in Long Beach gives amateur exams on a no-appointment, no-advance-application basis. Exams requiring code tests are given Wednesdays 8 AM - 12 noon. No-code tests (Novice upgrading to Tech or General to Advanced) may be taken Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8 am-2 PM. The office is at 3711 Long Beach Blvd., Suite 50l.Telephone: 213-426-4451. (Tnx Hughes ARC Bulletin)

MIDLAND 13-509 220 MHz TRANSCEIVER MODIFICATIONS

Spurious Response Modification. In June 1977, this newsletter included a modification by Walt Diem, WA6PEA, to eliminate a spurious receive response problem. Walt now reports that while that mod worked well, Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP, has come up with an even simpler modification. In fact, the factory included Jim's mod in the latest production group of Midland 13509's. Without this modification, you may hear signals on other frequencies than your desired receive frequency. As an example, members are frequently plagued in the San Gabriel Valley by hearing WR6AFG (223.98) while listening to our repeater, WR6APS (224.04).

To eliminate this spurious response problem (more fully described in the June, 1977 W6VIO Calling), replace the 200 pf C71 with a 100 of silver mica capacitor. (Tnx to WA6VQP)

Receive Frequency Problem in Late Models. The last shipment of Midland 13-509’s would not go on frequency with some receive crystals that were made for the Midland and worked normally in older 13-509’s. Walt Diem, WA6PEA, found that the new rigs seem to have less capacity than the crystals require - apparently due to a manufacturing change to a different channel selector switch. The addition of approximately 5 pf from the base of TR8 to ground will make the crystals go on frequency. Use an NPO (Negative-Positive-Zero) ceramic or silver mica capacitor. You will need to readjust L13 to obtain 0.5 volts on the emitter of TR9. If you have the equipment, adjust L13 for maximum SINAD; however, 0.5 volts on the emitter of TR9 is very close to optimum. The capacitor can be added on the component side of the board in existing unused holes. Remove the four screws holding the receiver PCB. Locate TR8 and the coax from the channel selector switch. The unused holes are where the coax is connected to the PCB. One hole is connected to the base of TR8; the other is connected to ground. Remember to readjust L13 and all receive crystal trimmer capacitors. (Tnx WA6PEA)

(Ed. note: Although not affected by this modification, it would be advisable to check the alignment of the discriminator before final adjustment of all channel trimmer capacitors.)

AMATEUR RADIO LICENSING CLASSES START AT PCC

Pasadena City College will offer an Adult Education course in Amateur Radio two evenings a week beginning September 11 and will run for 24 sessions. The class meets from 7 to 9 pm in the PCC electronics lab, room V202, on Mondays and Wednesdays. At least one hour each evening is devoted to discussing basic electronic theory, operation and techniques, and regulations, while another hour is spent studying Morse code. The goal is to reach 13 wpm. This course, taught by Stan Coutant, has been popular in many past sessions. Unfortunately, a rule change by PCC in an attempt to recover from the effects of Proposition 13 now requires that all non-credit courses are charged fees. The fee for this course is $40 (and the old 36-session course is cut to 24.) The textbook, The Radio Amateur's License Manual, will cost you another $3, and on-campus parking permits cost $5 for the semester. While a bit steep, it is still a good course. For more information, call the Office of Engineering and Technology at 578-7267 and ask for information about Engineering 4065: Amateur Radio Licensing. (Tnx W6HCD; PCC)

FLAGRANT VIOLATIONS OF FCC RULES

Flagrant violations of FCC rules on the ham bands may be directed to the Allegan, Michigan enforcement center: 616-673-2063. Illegal CB operations may be reported to the Grand Island, Nebraska center at 308-382-4296. According to K9UQN, an Official Observer for the ARRL, someone is always there to take a complaint. (Tnx HR Report via HESEAARC Bulletin)

9N1MM, RARE DX PERSONALITY FROM NEPAL, VISITS JPL

Father Moran's QSL card, showing his "children" visiting at his hamshack in Kathmandu.

Rev. Marshall Moran, S.J., a missionary from Chicago who has spent half his life in the Himalayan nation of Nepal returned to the USA after many years to visit his family in Chicago and also some of the many American hams he has worked over the years. Winton Smith, W6MBA of Fullerton, and Harry Mason, K6MOO of Laguna Beach, escorted Father Moran to JPL on August 23rd where Jim Lumsden, WA6MYJ, showed him the "sights" of the Laboratory. The group made a brief stop at your editor’s office where we were delighted to hear some of Father Moran’s interesting ham experiences. Father Moran, who is totally dedicated to his mission in 9N1 land and is now a Nepalese national, is the only permanent ham there, and a QSO with him is a significant DX achievement. We hope he enjoyed his JPL tour and will have a good time on the rest of his journey. Meanwhile, a number of us will be listening for him next month in the mornings on 20 SSB trying for our first QSO with 9N1MM! (N6NO)

ARRL NEWS is missing this month due to Jay Holladay's European trip on IRAS project business. Hope to catch up next month!

BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS are missing this month, too, because there was no Board Meeting. This is the second month in a row where no business could be transacted at the Board meeting because of lack of a quorum. This condition could cripple a club as active as ours if it is not cured soon. True, July and August are vacation months and we can expect some difficulty but we only need 4 of the 7 directors to reach a quorum - not really very unreasonable. Perhaps what we need is a penalty for those missing more than two board meetings a year... say something a little painful, like $5 or shack clean-up detail? Regular business, meetings are vital to the progress of your club. Let me hear your comments on how you think we should approach the problem! (N6NO)

LAST MINUTE UPDATE ON RECEIVE FREQUENCY PROBLEM [above] Walt Diem reports that the channel selector switch change apparently occurred in Midland 13-509 production runs with serial numbers 80400000 and higher. The fix described has worked on every unit.

FOR SALE: Magnum Six RF Speech Compressor for Yaesu FT101. Brand New, $110. Walt Diem x 3186; 248-7525

FOR SALE. Icom IC-22A, 2-meter, 10-watt FM transceiver, including crystals for 34/94, 94/94, 52/52, 22/82, 28/88. In original box, never used: $185. Additional crystals for IC-22A available at $10/pair:

145.30T/145.30R RACES County Common
145.66T/145.30R RACES Repeater
145.42T/145.42R RACES Crescenta Valley
146.01T/146.61R WR6ABB Hollywood Hills
146.04T/146.64R WR6ACF San Diego
146.16T/146-76R WR6AFX Barstow
146.25T/146.85R WR6ACJ Crestline
146:46T/i46.46R Remote intertie
146-76T/146-76R Simplex
146.34T/146.34R Simplex
146.82T/146.82R WR6ACD Output (Pomona)
147.69T/147.09R WR6A.AA Catalina Island
147.72T/147.12R WR6ADH Autopatch
147.93T/147.33R XE2RBC Tecate Mexico
147.435T/146.40R WR6AMD Mt. Wilson

Please contact Merrill Burnett, K6BER, x6441.

FOR SALE: Walt Diem's 220 MHz crystal bank is being liquidated by Ron Ploszaj, WA6TPW, x4429. The following crystals are available for Midland 13-509, Clegg FM-76 and Cobra 220 MHz rigs: (Xmit/Rcv)

224.04/222.44 APS Reverse
224.08/222.48 AFR Reverse
223.00/223.00 Simplex
222.30/223.90 ARO
222.34/223.94 NTW/RPT Los Angeles
222.38/223.98 AFG Johnstone Peak
222.42/224.02 AOX Ventura
222.54/224 14 NGC/RPT Long Beach
222.58/224.18 N6TK/RPT Norwalk
222.62/224.22 W6HIL/R Long Beach
222.68/22 .28 AKU Palos Verdes
222.70/224.30 ABR FACES
224.30/224.30 Simplex RACES
222.78/224.38 AVQ Carson
222.84/224.44 AOY South Pasadena
223.14/224.74 ABJ Hollywood Hills
223.34/224.94 AJI Mt. Wilson
224.3 222-70 ABR Reverse

These will be sold at $10 per pair. Some frequencies are available in depth, while others are single pieces only, so first come, first served!

FOR SALE: Brand new "TI Programmer" Calculator with rechargeable battery pack, AC adapter/charger, vinyl carry case & owner's manual. Calculates and converts in integer hexadecimal, octal and floating point decimal. Two's complement arithmetic, bit-by-bit logical operations and one's complement capability in hex and octal bases. Independent memory with summation to memory capability. 15 sets of parentheses at each of 27 levels of processing. Battery saver mode & automatic shutoff. Jim Fuhrman, WB6HIE, x5358 or home, 793-0942

A ONE DOLLAR TRANSMITTER PROJECT USING TTL

The September Worldradio had an article describing a 1/4 watt transmitter for 40 CW built with a couple of TTL chips and a few other parts. The "logic diagram" for the transmitter is shown in the figure. The transmitter is divided into two sections, the crystal oscillator and the four-in-parallel 7403's as the final amplifier! Keying can be through the power supply as shown or by gating the final at pin 9 of the 7400 chip. In this case, a pull-up resistor on pin 9 should be used, and ground it on key down.

The output of the parallel finals is attached to the antenna through the pi-network. The pi values are set so that a 50-ohm antenna will reflect about 50 ohms to the finals. Calculated power out is then V*V/2R or 5*5/2*50 which is 0.25 watt.

Measurement with the scope indicated about 0.36 watt actual power out; however, the unit was hooked to a 6volt supply. The 7403 chip got a little hot so a metal heat sink was glued to the top of it.

The two chips should cost about 50 cents max, the resistors and caps another 25 cents, and you can wind your own coils, using perhaps toroids. If you don't have a 5-volt supply, a 6-volt unit or battery will do nicely. Have fun! (Article from NRP" column in Worldradio by Phil Anderson, WOXI, 3005 W- 19th St., Lawrence, Kansas 66044.)

1/4 watt TTL 40-meter transmitter logic diagram.

ANTENNA OF THE MONTH (Tnx SANDRA Squelch Tales)

With the cost of everything going up, money saving ideas are always welcome. If you can save money and increase radio performance at the same time, it is a double bonus.

The J -POLE antenna offers numerous advantages. It is omni-directional, requires no ground plane, achieves a 6 db gain over 1/4 wave, and is easy and inexpensive to build. I have tested this antenna on 2 Meters against a Hustler Collinear type and found the J-POLE far superior as well as smaller. I also tested it on 220 MHz against a LARSEN 5/8 wave mobile antenna in a bad area of Spring Valley and on one repeater it showed an increase of over 3 units on the "S" meter.

The center conductor of the coax feeds the short element, shield to the long element, matching is accomplished by varying, dimension "X".

The elements themselves can be made of stainless steel, copper rod, or simply telescoping radio antennas if you desire a collapsible model. adjusting the antenna is most easily accomplished by using set screws thru the aluminum block.

Use of the following dimensions should get you to within a VSWR of 1.5:1 before any adjustments are made .......

Bill, WB6HTU, in Stanton manufactures these antennas. Anyone desiring more information can contact me at hare or at the next club meeting. ROGER WB6QMM


Go back to the W6VIO Calling Index