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Newsletter of the Silverado Amateur Radio Society W6CO - Napa California An ARRL Special Service Club Updated 2/20/07
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What's with the curious cat and the resistor? |
Looking Back From the May 1968 newsletter RufzXP: Rufzeichen-Hören Faster than a speeding bullet Feld-Helschreiber No this is not the German edition of the Sars Newsletter. See Digital Modes. Propagation and the Farmer's Almanac or a guide to getting up with the chickens. You got your license where? SARS announces changes to the training program |
Calendar of Coming Events
The next meeting of SARS will be on February 20th, 7:30 PM in the Lee Lounge, at the Veterans Home in Yountville. Bring a friend.
The 2007 schedule for Technician Training and VE Testing has been announced. Watch the links below for the full schedule.
The next Class and Test Session will be February 3rd and 4th
Revised Schedule of Test and Training Dates
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The Relay: May 5th and 6th If you can help with either of the above two events please contact Don KG6IZS
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Harold A Walker WA6TRH sk "The Rebel" 1920 -2007
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It's Official! The last Morse Code test in the US will be given before Midnight February 22, 2007. Details here
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 Ham Gear and miscellaneous updated: 1/31/07 |
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Minutes of the January Meeting Mark KE6O called meeting to order. Mark asked for introductions. We had several new people show up. Rich KO6FR gave Treasury report and stated testing would be held on Feb. 4th. Jim KD6KQC asked for net controllers. (same ones). Ken WB6IVK gave VIP report; dinner in Santa Rosa on Jan 31st, 5:00 p.m. Newsletter report by John N6XN, then he talked about the new General question pool and class after July. He said the new pool is harder and you still have time to study the old one and take test in May. Mark KE6O gave presentation on WINPACK packet. Its like a closed E-Mail system, and will be great for emergencies at the Queen Of Valley and others. If you need more info go to WEB site napasars.org or contact Mark. Meeting closed and raffle held.. We had two new members sign up, now we need the ones who have not renewed. 73 Rich KO6FR
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Now that Morse Code has gone the way of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, here's a way to increase your speed to as much as 200 words per minute! (takes practice though) Digital Modes: One of the oldest modes around but still hi-tech. Feld-Hellschreiber, or just plain Hell. Impractical but fun to play with. DX at Sunrise and other arcane data from the Farmer's Almanac
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Looking Back: From the SARS newsletter, May 1968Hertz
It has come and now with the FCC and the military changing over to Hertz, Kilohertz, Megahertz, it seems the last shred of common sense in the utilization of cycles per second has gone too, We sympathize with those who wish to honor Mr. Hertz, but we never in our hearts can see Kilohertz or Megahertz waves. Frequency is still in actuality measured in cycles or Kilocycles or Megacycles or even Gigacycles per second. If we are forced to adopt it that is one thing, but they can't make us like it. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. I'm like a horse....RM W6ZF
Norman Hale, W0JIH has undertaken the task of determining if there were a simple conversion chart that could be formulated to aid in converting Hertz to Cycles and after many attempts he has succeeded in developing a simple one. In fact it can be memorized without any difficulty. A more complete report on his investigations is in the April 1968 issue of QST. With the advent of the space age and transistors, IC circuits, it behooves us to get acquainted with this method of converting Hertz to Cycles. Below is a sample of the simple nomograph:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hertz (Hz) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CPS by W6HOP
You've all heard it...Snide remarks from blowhards: "He's just one of them five word per minute extras!". Well, pretty soon you'll be hearing the same jerks complaining about the no-code Generals "Getting their licenses out of a Wheaties box." Do me a favor: Tell them to go to our 2007 Training page and take the sample test. These are 25 actual test questions beginning in July of this year. It's plain to see that this isn't any Wheaties Box!.
Technicians: This is the year to do it! Don't put it off any longer. Propagation will be on the rise and the HF bands are going to take off. Be there!
Technician Class Operators: We need your input: See 2007 Training
The State Controllers office wants you to know that it may be holding your assets. |
Mark, KE6O demonstrates WinLink 2000 from the meeting. Click on PACKET RADIO below
I'm reading an interesting white paper on RFI entitled A Ham' Guide to RFI, Ferrites, Baluns, and Audio Interfacing by Jim Brown K9YC. K9YC White Paper This is a copyrighted document so I can't reprint it so I'll paraphrase:
Telephone cables have always been unshielded because the pairs within the cable are twisted. This was proven many years ago to be the best way to ward off common-mode interference. (The cables are, in fact, covered with a metallic "turn-plate" under the plastic sheath but that is not for shielding; rather for protection from foreign voltages such as lightning strikes and falling power lines.) Jim goes on to say that because twisting works so well, Cat-5/6 cable makes for a fine microphone cord.
I can vouch for that because I use it in my mobile as well as for the audio lines in the Echolink system and the Voter system at N6XN. I have run audio on Cat-5 cable as far as 50 feet in a fairly RF-hostile environment without problems.
Jim goes on to offer a very effective solution for hard to solve RFI problems involving consumer electronics. He calls it "The Bucket Solution". You take a bucket large enough to hold the equipment, fill it with water, then dip the equipment into it twice but take it out once. Sounds good to me but the XYL's TV would require a Large bucket!
Dorothy sends along this interesting tidbit from history:
After having dug to a depth of 1000 meters last year, Massachusetts scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 1000 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the Massachusetts Pilgrims, in the weeks that followed, Michigan scientist dug to a depth of 2000 meters and shortly thereafter headlines in the Kalamazoo newspapers read: "Michigan archaeologists have found traces of 2000 year copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a thousand years earlier than the Massachusetts Pilgrims."
One week later, The Huntsville, Alabama Observer reported the following: "After digging as deep as 5000 meters in Northern Alabama, scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have therefore concluded that 5000 years ago Northern Alabama inhabitants were already using wireless technology."
If there is a particular topic you'd like to see discussed, or better yet, a topic you'd like to present, please let the editor know. Contact me at:
Links from the past: Photocredits: Valley Scenes by KE6O
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