The Illuminator

November Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be on Thursday, November 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center in Nesquehoning.

This month’s presentation will be: “An Introduction to D-STAR” by Charlie (N3WXO).

Note that some of the gang meets at Albi’s Restaurant at the intersection of Routes 93 and 209 at 6:00. If you get the chance, stop by for some “good eats” and camaraderie!

See you at the meeting!

Carbon Amateur Radio Club

Regular Meeting Minutes

October 16, 2008

The CARC monthly meeting was officially called to order at 19:34 with N3WXO (President), W3SG (Vice President), K4IKM (Treasurer) and KB3PQR (Secretary) presiding.

The September Meeting minutes were motioned to accept by WB3W and seconded by N3TVV and carried by the club to accept as posted in the newsletter.

The Treasurer report was motioned to accept by W3MF and seconded by N2HCS and carried by the club to accept as posted in the newsletter.

Old Business

Charlie, N3WXO, updated the club on the status of the Boy Scout radio class that is in the works. There is a definite interest in the class and a location to host the class has been established. N3TVV volunteered to teach the class and anyone else who would like to volunteer is more than welcome.

A presentation has been established for December. Rodney Wolfe, N3XG will be presenting: “Extending the range of your HT.”

The Christmas party will be discussed at the November meeting.

New Business

Net control operators are needed. Please contact W3SG or N3WXO if interested.

Goody, K3NG has volunteered to be the Field day operating chairperson. This position will be responsible for organizing big events. This position is strictly a volunteer position and does not require a nomination or vote.

The club received and approved the family application for Lori (KB3RTA) and Todd Deem (KB3IKX). Welcome to CARC!

Repeater Update:

The echo issue has been resolved. K3NG & W3SG pulled the audio delay board and discovered that the echo disappeared. W3SG informed the club that since the audio delay board is not currently present, users will now notice that the squelch tail will be present again.

The meeting was adjourned at 20:18.

Program for October: SLA Batteries by W3SG.

Treasurer’s Report

By Steve Walters, K4IKM

As of the October 16, 2008 meeting, the treasurer’s report was as follows:

Previous Balance	$876.67
Receipts (50/50 drawing)	$12.00
Sub-total	$888.67
Disbursements (insurance and newsletter)	-$26.88
New Balance	$861.79

2008 Field Day Results Posted

(From the ARRL Letter)

The results from this year's Field Day are now available online http://www.arrl.org/members-only/contests/results/2008/FD/. "The addition of the online ARRL Field Day Locator site was a huge success, as more than 1500 sites were listed in this first year of use," said ARRL Field Day Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. "When you scan the online

Soapbox http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox, Field Day continues to be the most popular on-the air event in Amateur Radio." You can find the results in the Members Only section of the ARRL Web site.

City of Manassas Takes Over BPL System from Private Company

(From the ARRL Letter)

Late last month, the Manassas, Virginia City Council voted 4-2 to assume control of the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) service from the private company that serves approximately 675 residents. As a result of the vote, the City of Manassas will now have to use monies from an enterprise fund — around $110,000, in addition to the approximately $640,000 the city has already spent on BPL infrastructure — to fund the service and recoup the cost from the subscribers; monies in an enterprise fund come from the utility's ratepayers. BPL technology uses the electricity grid in a city and the wiring in individual homes to provide direct "plug in" broadband access through electricity sockets, rather than over phone or cable TV lines. Because BPL wiring is physically large, often overhead and extends across entire communities, these systems pose a significant interference potential to over-the-air radio services, including Amateur Radio.

According to "BPL Today," "Manassas was the first city in the world to have BPL deployed to all its residents and has been a demonstration center for utilities, integrators/operators and government entities from around the globe." It was in Manassas that then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell and then-Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Pat Wood announced completion of the FCC's BPL rules and FERC's support for FCC jurisdiction over BPL before the October 2004 meeting at which the BPL rules were finally adopted, prompting an ARRL complaint http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/10/13/1/. "BPL Today" is a weekly journal for the BPL industry.

The City of Manassas launched a field trial to test out BPL technology in July 2002; 15 months later, they awarded a 10 year franchise to Prospect Street Broadband. This company agreed to expand the field trial and offer high speed Internet service to the entire Manassas community via power lines. In April 2004, the city terminated its contract with Prospect Street and puts the contract out for rebidding. At this point, the City of Manassas had spent $140,000 in BPL equipment to serve 200 accounts.

In March of 2005, Manassas reported that it had signed up more than 200 customers for BPL services, with another 1300 on a waiting list. Manassas officials said they "expect[ed] to spend [another] $500,000 enhancing its telecommunications and electrical infrastructure by the time COMTek completes the installation [later that month]."

In October 2005, COMTek, based in Chantilly, Virginia, announced the first city-wide BPL service in Manassas. According to COMTek, the City of Manassas — located 30 miles southwest of Washington, DC — had the potential for more than 12,000 residential and 2500 commercial subscribers. In May 2006, Philadelphia-based GridPlex announced it would acquire Manassas' BPL program from COMTek.

In May 2006, "BPL Today" reported that GridPlex had the goal of "growing the deployment into a state-of-the-art smart grid including a wide range of municipal applications such as electricity demand response, energy and water conservation, security monitoring and many more." GridPlex also announced plans to upgrade and modernize the network in Manassas, including the provision of smart meters.

In July 2008, the Manassas City Council held a public hearing concerning GridPlex's takeover of the BPL system. The Director of the City of Manassas Utility Department, Mike Moon, told the council that the cost for BPL services — currently $28.95 per month — could be lowered and said GridPlex had plans to improve connection speeds. Moon did not give a timetable for when the change would take place, but said subscribers would be notified when it was to occur. No one at the hearing spoke in favor or against the provider change.

Moon said that if GridPlex acquired COMTek, this would permit city residents to utilize GridPlex's smart grid technology, allowing them to tap into "cost effective, conservation encouraging technology." Residents could keep track and control their consumption of water and electricity on a daily basis. "We are in discussions with [GridPlex] on using those services, but we're not to the point of making that final decision," he said. "That's a $4-5 million project for us, so we have to make sure it's the right company, the right business plan for the city."

At the Council meeting in September, Moon explained that GridPlex's takeover of Manassas' BPL system — scheduled for early August 2008 and postponed many times — would not occur. According to the meeting minutes, "The inability of GridPlex to take over the COMTek franchise has made it necessary for [Manassas] to assume the operation of the BPL system and the current customer base, which consists of approximately 675 residents. The City must now purchase all assets owned by COMTek and will then exercise a short-term service agreement to service existing accounts." Speaking for Moon, Manassas' Utilities Deputy Director (Electric) Gary Paulson told the ARRL that the cost of the assets totaled approximately $110,000. "This includes all the hardware, software and licenses needed to operate the BPL system," Paulson said.

Four members of the six member Council voted to take over the BPL service. According to Kipp Hanley, a reporter for the "News and Messenger" daily newspaper in Manassas, this means the city will have to use a small percentage of its electric department reserve fund to pay for the service for the next six months. After six months, Hanley told the ARRL, it will be up to the Council if they want to include it in the city budget.

One reason to keep the BPL technology, he said, is Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) via the smart grid, something that the Manassas utility department has advocated. Moon said that his office is also looking at other ways to carry AMI, such as wireless. This was put out to bid in September 2008.

Manassas Vice Mayor Andy Harrover was one of the four who voted to take over the service from COMTek. Harrover told the "News and Messenger" he voted in the affirmative as a "common courtesy for those who use the service and for the future of the AMI system," but said he has a "fundamental problem" with the city providing Internet services. "The philosophical question is should the city be in the Internet business and the answer is no."

Councilman Jonathan Way was one of two members who voted against taking over COMTek's services. "If we really feel compelled to compete, we should do so with modern, fast and reliable technology," he told the "News and Messenger." "The current operator of the BPL system cannot make a go of it and wants out. There should be a lesson hiding somewhere in that fact."

ARRL Propagation Bulletin

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 45 ARLP045

From Tad Cook, K7RA

Seattle, WA October 31, 2008

To all radio amateurs

K7RA is on the road for a few days, and this bulletin comes to you via a very weak Wi-Fi signal in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cycle 24 slowly builds momentum. We saw sunspots for eight days in a row, from October 10-17, then twelve days of no spots. Now on October 30 another sunspot appeared, numbered 1007 and from cycle 24. It is a high latitude sunspot, and may provide some fun for this weekend's ARRL CW Sweepstakes. After a calendar year of very few sunspots, this is the fourth time during October that sunspots have emerged, and all from the new solar cycle 24.

Of course Sweepstakes is a domestic North American contest, but it would be nice to have some propagation on 15 and 10 meters.

For a comparison, we look at W6ELprop (http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop/) to compare zero sunspots over this weekend to several days of two sunspot groups (a sunspot number of 24, for example). We will look at two paths, the first from Beaverton, Oregon to Savannah, Georgia, and the second, from Cleveland, Ohio to Central California. Because this is a contest weekend, we will only consider the five bands used in most contests, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.

From Oregon to Georgia, with zero sunspots we see little or no likely 10 or 15 meter propagation. 20 meters looks good from 1700-2030z.

40 meter propagation is best from 2230-0130z, fair from 0900-1100z, signals may disappear around 1330-1430z, and there is propagation building throughout the day from 1500-0130z, with the weakest daylight signals around 1730-1900z.

80 meters looks strong 0200-1130z, from after sunset in Oregon until prior to sunrise in Georgia.

With a sunspot number of 24 for several days, 15 meters has a possible opening 1830-1930z, 20 meters 1600-2200z, and 40 meters looks good 2200-0430z, then with excellent signals 0800-1300z, and weakest 1630-2000z. 80 meter propagation should be about the same as with no sunspots.

From Ohio to California, with zero sunspots 15 meters might open 1600-2130z, with a better chance 1730-1930z. 20 meters should be good 1430-1500z, then 1700-2000z, and 2200-2330z. 40 meters should be open nearly around the clock, with weak signals around 1300z, strongest signals 0100-1230z, and strong again at 1400z and again at 2300z. 80 meters should open after 2200z, with strongest signals 0300-1200z, and weak or no signals during daylight from 1500-2200z.

With a sunspot number of 24 sustained for several days, from Ohio to California 15 meters comes alive with excellent signals for most of the day, 1630-2130z. 20 meters opens 1400-0030z with weak spots at 1530z and 2100z. 40 meters should be open 24 hours a day, with strongest signals 0100-1230z, then again around 1400z and 2300z, weakest 1700-2000z. 80 meters looks about the same, but opening slightly later than with zero sunspots.

Propagation programs give us some general guides to openings, based on statistical models using smoothed sunspot numbers.

G3REP, Bob Parkes of West Sussex UK, sends along an interesting link (http://terra1.spacenvironment.net/~ionops/ES4Dintro.html) about visualizing the ionosphere, a subject not mentioned in this bulletin for some time. This bulletin first covered the subject earlier this year on May 2 in ARLP019, which you can find in the archive at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/.

Bob is now semi-retired, but his telecom engineering work over the past few decades has taken him all over the world. In 1979-1981 he was VS5RP in Brunei, P29PR in Papua New Guinea in 1983-1987, A45XF in Oman from 1992 to 1993, and 4S7RPG in Sri Lanka, 1993-1997. You can read his bio and find a link to his photo at http://www.qrz.com/g3rep.

Joaquin Montoya, EA2CCG wrote this week about conditions last Friday, October 24. He turned on his mobile rig to check conditions before the CQ World Wide DX contest, and found everything dead in the dead of night. Conditions were also poor through the weekend from his location in Spain. But on October 29, perhaps around the time our new sunspot 1004 appeared, he worked WH2P (Guam) on 15 meters. He didn't say what time that was, but I might wager that it was during his morning hours from 0700-1100z, perhaps around 0900z.

Joaquin has a very interesting blog at http://ea2ccg.blogspot.com/ which I found along with his photo at http://www.qrz.com/ea2ccg by clicking on ''Detailed info''.

Many of us in the U.S. (myself included) unfortunately only speak one language, English, and sometimes not that well. But I used the language tool at http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en and pasted the http://ea2ccg.blogspot.com URL into the http:// field under ''Translate a web page''. Although the translation is rough, sometimes laughable, considering that a mere AI machine did this the result is pretty impressive, and you can definitely understand Joaquin's fine writing. Check it out. This is really a great blog about amateur radio with impressive photos and other graphic images.

Dave Fisher, KA2CYN of New City, New York, says that during last week's contest on 10 meters, October 26 with a roof-mounted rotatable multi-band trap dipole he worked a number of South American stations, the furthest ''in Brazil and Argentina''. He wonders if it could be F2 propagation, but this was probably E-skip. W7FA (see last week's bulletin ARLP044) reports more 10 meter propagation from Oregon, on October 22, 2100-2130z, a short opening to LU and PY, just like KA2CYN a few days later.

So what does the upcoming week hold? I don't know how long this new sunspot will remain. According to the U.S. Air Force and NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, planetary A index is predicted at 8 for October 31, then a nice low index of 5 for November 1-6. But November 7, look for a big geomagnetic upset, complete with more absorption on HF, especially over polar paths, with a planetary A index of 35. But this may also give VHF operators some nice auroral reflections.

The same forecast does not predict sunspot numbers, but solar flux, which has been right around 67 since October 26. They predict solar flux at 69 for November 1-6, then 70 for November 7-12.

Geophysical Institute Prague predicts ''Relative sunspot number in the range 0-25'' for October 31-November 6. They forecast unsettled geomagnetic conditions for today, October 31, quiet to unsettled November 1, quiet conditions November 2-5, and quiet to unsettled November 6.

It is possible that around November 4 we may see a return of sunspot number 1005.

Just before this bulletin was released, Joaquin EA2CCG wrote: I worked WH2P at 0937z 29 October''.

''Today 31 October we also have good conditions...and a Surprise. On this moment at 1647z listening to LU on 15 meters. This morning I worked VU7NRO on 15 meters, weak but workable. Suddenly 10 meters were also opened, listening to some European beacons. At 1111z I caught a sporadic-E opening on 6 meters and worked 8 European stations from OK, DL, OE and 9A. What a day.''

So the ''wager'' about 0900z turned out to be not far off. This was done looking at W6ELprop, assuming one sunspot.

Also, Jim Henderson, KF7E in Arizona says ''VU4MY was actually workable on 14.240 MHz this morning. Good sign.'' Local morning for Jim might be 1300-1700z. Jim also reported some 17 meter long path propagation to a station that turned out to be a fake, so he doesn't really know where it was. He wrote, ''Back in early 1972 there was a guy signing ZK2 something, with the name of 'Back' or 'Bach'. He would show up every other week or so''.

''In about July of that year I found myself on Niue as ZK2DX (the original issue of that call). On one of my first nights operating, there was ZK2?? with a grand pile on 20m.''

''I would have loved to have seen his face when I called him and said 'Please tell me where on the island you are because I would love to come visit your shack'.

''He vanished forever.''

For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/.

Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/.

Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email.

Sunspot numbers for October 23 through 29 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean of 0. 10.7 cm flux was 67.2, 67.5, 67.5, 66.9, 67, 67.1, and 66.7 with a mean of 67.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 2, 1, 4, 1, 4 and 11 with a mean of 3.7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 0, 1, 3, 1, 5 and 16 with a mean of 4.1.

ARRL DX Bulletin

DX Bulletin 45 ARLD045

From ARRL Headquarters

Newington CT October 30, 2008

To all radio amateurs

This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by NC1L, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.

MALTA, 9H. Anne, OH2YL will be QRV as 9H3YL from November 1 to 8. Activity will be on all HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL to home call.

TONGA, A3. Ulli, DL2AH is QRV as A35AH from the Tongatapu Group, IOTA OC-049, until November 9. QSL to home call.

OMAN, A4. Members of the Lufthansa Amateur Radio club and DARC club I09 are QRV as A43DLH until November 11 while guests of the Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society. Activity is on all HF bands using CW, SSB and various digital modes. They plan on using EME as well. They will also be QRV as A43DLH/p from an Omani Scout Camp. QSL via DK7PE.

IRAN, EP. Sadegh, EP3HF has been active on 15 meters using SSB around 0900z. QSL direct.

ANTARCTICA. Nicolas, F4EGX will be QRV as FT5YI from the French base "Dumont d'Urville" on Petrel Island, IOTA AN-017, from November to mid December. Activity is on the HF bands using SSB in his spare time. QSL to home call.

GUERNSEY. Martin, G3ZAY and Michael, G7VJR are QRV as GU3ZAY and GU7VJR, respectively, until November 2. Activity is mainly on the HF bands using CW and SSB. They may also be active from Lighthouse WLOTA LH-0013. QSL both calls via G7VJR.

ITALY, I. Special event station IY1EY will be QRV from November 1 to 9 to commemorate the radio experiments Guglielmo Marconi made on his yacht "Elettra" from 1919 to 1936. Activity is on all HF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL via IK1QBT.

BELGIUM, ON. Special event station ON55INR is QRV until December 31 to mark the start of TV broadcasting from Brussels from the Institut National Belge de Radiodiffusion. QSL via bureau.

ARUBA, P4. Garry, K9WZB and Sharon, K7WZB are QRV as P40ZB until November 6. They may also be active from Lighthouse WLOTA LH-0033. QSL direct via K9WZB.

GUATEMALA, TG. Emmanuel, TG9AHM has been active using RTTY on 20 meters around 2000z.

ANTARCTICA. Bob, VK2ABP will be QRV as VK0BP on Davis Base from November 1 to March 7. He will be active in his spare time. QSL via VK2CA.

CHAGOS ISLANDS, VQ9. Rick, KI1G is QRV as VQ9RD from Diego Garcia Island, IOTA AF-006, until November 11. QSL direct to home call.

LAKSHADWEEP ISLANDS, VU7. A group of operators are QRV as VU7NRO and VU7SJ until November 3. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL VU7NRO direct via VU2UWZ and VU7SJ via DL9GFB.

INDONESIA, YB. Ron, AA5DX is QRV as YB9/AA5DX from Bali until November 10. Activity is on the HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL to home call.

VANUATU, YJ. Mat, JA1JQY and Kuni, JA8VE are QRV as YJ0AQY and YJ0AVE, respectively, until November 6. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and possibly RTTY. QSL YJ0AQY via JA1JQY and YJ0AVE via JF1OCQ.

LATVIA, YL. Latvian amateur radio operators will use the special prefix YL90 during the month of November in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia.

ALBANIA, ZA. Raul, XE1MO will be QRV as ZA1/XE1MO from November 1 to 9. Activity will be on 40 to 10 meters using SSB. QSL to home call.

NIUE, ZK2. Dave, N1EMC is QRV as ZK2DF. He has been active on 40 meters using SSB, listening up, around 0930z. QSL to home call.

OPERATION APPROVED FOR DXCC CREDIT. The following operation is approved for DXCC credit: Iraq, YI9PT, 2008 operation.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The ARRL CW Sweepstakes Contest, North American Collegiate ARC CW Championship, NCCC Sprint, IPARC Contest, Ukrainian DX Contest, High Speed Club CW Contest and the DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest will certainly keep contesters busy this upcoming weekend. The ARS Spartan Sprint is scheduled for November 4. Please see November QST, page 86, and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details.

Shallow Thoughts

(Thanks to John, W3MF)

Smoking helps you lose weight — one lung at a time!

Today, if you ask a car dealer to let you see something for 10 grand, he'll show you the door!

Medical insurance is what allows people to be ill at ease!

Prison inmates are treated to cable TV, hot meals and a college education, while on the outside some people can only afford these things through a life of crime!

In retrospect it becomes clear that hindsight is definitely overrated!

An oldie, but a goody…

November 2008