The Illuminator

August Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be on Thursday, August 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center in Nesquehoning. Brian, KW3K, will be doing a program on “Advertising our Hobby,” including ways to inform the public about amateur radio and how to attract new people to the hobby. For those who might not know, Brian is the Eastern Pennsylvania Section Public Information Coordinator, so he’s good at this!

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

July 17, 2008

The CARC monthly meeting was unofficially called to order at 7:45 PM with KB3BYT (Vice President), and N3WXO (Secretary) presiding. The quorum was not met to proceed with the meeting with only 5 five members present. Just hours before the meeting, Skywarn was activated with some damaging winds and heavy down pours through Carbon and the surrounding Counties. Reports of wires and trees down, as well as flash flooding were reported. Some of Northampton Country was without power until the next morning. I would like to thank KB3QMD, Leslie L Turner and KB3QME, Darrin M Burger for visiting our meeting tonight.

Unofficially, N3WXO gave an update on the September 20th field event to be held at the Country Junction and stressed the need for volunteers. We have two months left and we will discuss the future of this event at the next meeting. Charlie will also be looking into the possibility of holding the September 18th CARC meeting at the Country Junction field where we will be holding the Ready Fest just 2 days later. The tent should be in place by then and it will better help the club to understand what we can and will be doing for the event, as this is our first time there.

There were no nominations for new officers. The next August meeting, we will do nominations and an election for the offices.

KW3K will be doing next month’s July 17th program after the meeting. The topic will be about the ARRL Public Relations Program. Several topics like antenna grounding were mentioned for future topics. If you would like to either give, or you have any thoughts on what you would like to see for a presentation after the meetings, give us your thoughts.

The unofficial meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.

Treasurer’s Report

By John Schreibmaier, W3MF

As of the July 17, 2008 meeting, the treasurer’s report was as follows:

Previous Balance	$1156.29
Receipts (50-50 proceeds)	$40.00
Sub-total	$1196.29
Disbursements	-$335.86
New Balance	$860.43

Disbursements included $329.98 to K3NG for a power supply for the repeater and $5.88 to K3PH for newsletter mailing.

Amateur Station at Smithsonian Going QRT after 32 Years

(From the ARRL Web Site)

After more than 30 years on the air from the nation's capital, the Amateur Radio station at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, NN3SI, will become silent on Thursday, July 31. Originally located in the Nations of Nations exhibit, the station first went on-the-air in 1976 in celebration of the US Bicentennial. The FCC caught the patriotic spirit, giving the station a temporary call sign — NN3SI — standing for Nation of Nations, Smithsonian Institution. The Commission later made the call sign allocation permanent.

According to NN3SI volunteer Carl Lagoda, W3CL, a Special Event operation is planned for today and tomorrow, and certificates will be available to those who contact NN3SI. "We have only one station," Lagoda said, "but we may be found on one of the following frequencies, depending on conditions: 3.840 MHz, 7.240 MHz, 14.240 MHz, 21.340 MHz and 28.440 MHz, as well as 14.240+ PSK. We might do some CW operations on Thursday, probably on 20 meters. Due to circumstances, hours of operation will be uncertain, but we probably will start at about 1130 UTC on Wednesday and Thursday." QSL information can be found here.

NN3SI has been situated in several different exhibitions in the Museum; it was most recently housed in the former Information Age exhibit. This exhibit chronicled the birth and growth of the electronic information age — from Samuel Morse's invention of a practical telegraph in the 1830s through the development of the telephone, radio, television and computer. The Museum has been closed since 2006 while undergoing a major renovation and is scheduled to reopen to the public this fall.

The station participated in many special events throughout its history. During the dedication of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, station operators made many contacts and taught children visiting the Museum how to spell their names in Morse code. Over the years, operators at NN3SI — who hailed from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia (and the occasional guest operators from various parts of the globe) — have logged contacts with amateurs in all parts of the world and with astronauts and cosmonauts in orbit. By operating the station, NN3SI ops promoted Amateur Radio as a national resource for emergency communications, trained operators, technicians and engineers — as well as an outstanding hobby — to the more than 4 million people who visit the Museum each year.

ARRL UHF Contest

The ARRL UHF Contest is this weekend, from 1800Z August 2 to 1800Z August 3. Note that this is 2:00 p.m. on Saturday to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, local time. All modes and all bands from 222 MHz and up may be used.

Entry classes are single operator high power, single operator low power, rover, and multi-operator. High power is greater than 100 watts on 222/432 MHz and greater than 10 watts on 902 MHz and above.

The exchange is 4-charter grid square, such as FN20 (signal report is optional). Stations may be worked once per band per grid square. QSO points are 3 points per 222/432 MHz QSO, 6 points per 902/1296 MHz QSO, and 12 points per 2.3 GHz and higher QSO. Multipliers are the total number of different grid squares worked per band. The total score is the total number of QSO points times the total number of multipliers.

Additional information may be found on the ARRL web site at:

http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2008/uhf.html.

ARRL Board of Directors Plans the League's Future at Second 2008 Board Meeting

(From the ARRL Letter)

The ARRL Board of Directors held its Second Meeting of 2008 July 18-19 in Windsor, Connecticut, under the chairmanship of President

Joel Harrison, W5ZN. Radio Amateurs of Canada President David Goodwin, VO1AU/VE3AAQ, was a guest of the Board. The Board considered and acted on a number of organizational and Field Organization issues as well as regulatory and operating matters.

Organizational Issues

ARRL Strategic Plan: The Board voted to develop a timeline to review and revise the ARRL Strategic Plan. The Board directed Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, to release the Plans long-range goals to the membership and to solicit comments from members on the future direction and priorities of their national organization. Member input will be considered by the Board at its Annual Meeting in January 2009. At the Second Meeting in July 2009, the Board will review and revise the Plan. The current Strategic Plan was adopted by the Board in October 2006.

2009 ARRL National Convention: The Board voted to hold the 2009 ARRL National Convention at the Dayton Hamvention(r). Carl Rose, K8CPR, chair of the Dayton Hamvention Committee, extended an invitation to the League to hold its convention at Dayton May 15-17, 2009. The last ARRL National Convention was in 2007 at the Huntsville Hamfest.

ARRL Web Redesign: Fathom, a Web Development company based in Hartford, presented their plans for a new design for the ARRL Web site.

Field Organization

Improvements to Resources Available to Section Managers and SM Candidates: Following a report by the Boards Programs and Services Committee, which included the results of a Section Governance Study and survey, the Board voted to direct staff to implement a Section Manager candidate nomination package that is similar to the current Board nomination package. The Board also voted to direct the Membership and Volunteer Services Department to review the three surveys of Section Managers conducted as part of the Section Governance Study to attempt to identify beneficial and practical modifications to resources available to Section Managers and Field Organization processes.

The Board defeated a motion that would have extended Section Manager terms to three years and begin all terms on January 1. The Board directed ARRL HQ staff to implement an online method for Official Observers to file reports that could then be delivered from ARRL headquarters on behalf of the OO.

Operating Issues

The Board voted to create a Triple Play Award. This new award, set to be implemented by January 2009, will be given to those amateurs who achieve Worked All States (WAS) on voice, CW and digital modes. All 150 QSLs must be exclusively via Logbook of The World (LoTW). Only those contacts made after the awards start date will be eligible. The Board also acted on the Programs and Services Committee report, voting to eliminate Rule 5 from Section III of the DXCC Rules. The Committee realized that while publishing log data can have a detrimental effect on operating awards, it was not possible to control such actions and the rule cannot be enforced. As part of an effort to maintain the integrity of operating awards programs, the Board called on staff to create resources and guidelines for QSLing and for QSL managers. These guidelines will help people who QSL to understand the "best practices" and help to support the work of the QSL manager so that access to log data won't degrade Amateur Radio's long tradition of the honor system.

Regulatory Matters

The Board voted to establish an ad hoc study committee to review Part 97 of the rules governing the Amateur Radio Service to ascertain what rule change(s) would be beneficial to promote wideband digital modes, while at the same time minimizing potential interference to narrowband modes.

Other Items

Awards

Hiram Percy Maxim Award: The Board selected Jim Fagan, KE7IDC, of Tucson, Arizona, as the recipient of the 2007 Hiram Percy Maxim Award.

Technical Excellence Award: The Board chose John Stanley, K4ERO, of Rising Fawn, Georgia, as the recipient of the 2007 Doug DeMaw, W1FB Technical Excellence Award.

Instructor of the Year Award: The Board selected Doug Loughmiller, W5BL, of McKinney, Texas, as the recipient of the 2008 Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award.

Technical Innovation Award: The Board chose Dave Bernstein, AA6YQ, of Wayland, Massachusetts, as the recipient of the 2008 ARRL Technical Innovation Award.

McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award: The Board selected Walter Palmer, W4ALT, of Lewes, Delaware, as the winner of the 2008 Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award for xcellence in public relations.

Technical Merit Award: The Board conferred the ARRL Technical Merit Award on Ed Hare, W1RFI, ARRL Laboratory Manager.

Partnership with VanityHQ: The Board decided to partner with the VanityHQ Web site to get the ARRL Silent Key data that was published in QST included in the VanityHQ Web site history project in an electronically searchable format.

The complete Minutes of the 2008 Second Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors is available at http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0807/.

The next meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors is scheduled for January 16-17, 2009.

German Radio Manufacturer Halts Transceiver Production

(From the ARRL Letter)

In a surprise move, Hilberling GmbH http://www.hilberling.com/ has stopped production on the much anticipated PT-8000 series of HF/VHF Amateur Radio transceivers. Apparently due to CE marking regulations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark, Hilberling had to make constant adjustments to the design of the radio and was unable to repeat the performance of prototypes in production models and was not able to justify the expense involved with further redesign work. The CE mark certifies that a product has met European Union health, safety and environmental requirements, ensuring consumer safety. Array Solutions http://www.arraysolutions.com — which had been set to be the North American distributor for the transceiver series — featured the PT-8000 at its booths at the 2008 Dayton Hamvention.

Hans Hilberling, DK7LG, explained in German on the company's Web site why the company canceled production of the PT-8000 series:

"Production of the PT-8000 equipment series has been halted. Due to the persistent challenges we've had to overcome in the process of bringing the official EU-wide manufacturer's model to fruition, it became necessary to make more and more adaptations in the design of this cutting-edge transceiver. The lofty design goals of the PT-8000 could be attained in some prototypes. We encountered difficulties that we could not overcome at justifiable expense in guaranteeing, without reservation, a high standard of mass production involving many suppliers. We appreciate the great interest this project has attracted over its entire course." — Translation by Rick Lindquist, WW3DE

The PT-8000 was featured in a 4-page pull-out advertisement in the May 2007 issue of QST. The ad stated that Hilberling had not yet received approval by the FCC to market the radio in the US. All digital devices — including Amateur Radio equipment — must be approved by the FCC, meeting the requirements of FCC Part 15 and RSS 210 (Radio Standards Specifications, Industry Canada) to ensure its compliance as an unintentional radiator and as a generic receiver. Approval was granted in May 2008. Testing was done in April and May 2008 by Professional Testing (EMI) of Round Rock, Texas.

According to the QST ad, the PT-8000 was set to feature:

· An automatically tuned preselector

· Precision matched first and second mixers, designed by Synergy Microwave, with third intercept points at 40+ dBm

· Three roofing filters at 2.7, 6 and 12 kHz

· Six hybrid amplifiers from LF to VHF with third intercept points at 50+ dBm

· Seven 16-pole ladder filters working in combination with DSP filters in the 10.7 MHz second IFs of each filter

· 13.8 V HF MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) in the 100 W power amplifier; high efficiency (70 percent) SD3933 HF MOSFETs in the 600 W final amplifier

· Three additional 70.7 MHz roofing filters in the transmitter stages for clean output

· Designed with UHF and microwave transverters in mind, 1 Hz frequency resolution with the ability to connect transverters to both receivers simultaneously

· Taps at the first and second IFs for analysis, monitoring and experimentation

· Easily updatable firmware

The price for a 10 W PT-8000 started at $12,000, going up to $16,000 for the 600 W model. Commercial and military grades were priced at an additional $10,000.

[Editor’s Note: I’m simply crushed. I was all set to order several of the red ones.]

ARRL Propagation Bulletin

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 32 ARLP032

From Tad Cook, K7RA

Seattle, WA August 2, 2008

To all radio amateurs

July ended with no sunspots at all — save for three days, July 18-20, when one weak sunspot group appeared and faded from view. Sunspot numbers for those days were 11, 12 and 11. Sunspot numbers for July 24-30 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 65.4, 65.8, 66.1, 66.3, 66.3, 66 and 66.5 with a mean of 66.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 11, 3, 5, 7, 7, 3 and 5 with a mean of 5.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 7, 2, 4, 4, 6, 2 and 4 with a mean of 4.1.

This brings us to our practice of presenting the average daily sunspot number for the past three months, then comparing it with a monthly 3 month moving average for the past couple of years. There were 92 days in May, June and July; out of those 92 days, 70 days had no sunspots. This brings us back toward the low of 3 from last fall, centered on October. The average daily sunspot number for the last three months, centered on June, was just 3.7.

Jun 06 28.9
Jul 06 23.3
Aug 06 23.5
Sep 06 21.2
Oct 06 24.1
Nov 06 23.1
Dec 06 27.3
Jan 07 22.7
Feb 07 18.5
Mar 07 11.2
Apr 07 12.2
May 07 15.8
Jun 07 18.7
Jul 07 15.4
Aug 07 10.2
Sep 07 5.4
Oct 07 3
Nov 07 6.9
Dec 07 8.1
Jan 08 8.5
Feb 08 8.4
Mar 08 8.4
Apr 08 8.9
May 08 5
Jun 08 3.7

The outlook from the US Air Force Space Weather operations for many weeks now has shown a predicted solar flux of 66; their prediction from July 31 shows the same for the next 45 days. This tells me that there isn't any period where we might expect more sunspot activity, or at least no way to foresee it. They predict the next geomagnetic activity of any note for August 10, with a planetary A index of 20. They predict a planetary A index of 8 for August 1, then 5 for August 2-6 then 8 again on August 7. Geophysical Institute Prague echoes that prediction with quiet to unsettled conditions for August 1 and 7, and quiet conditions August 2-6.

In response to WD4ELG's comments in last week's Solar Update, Jim Henderson, KF7E, of Queen Creek, Arizona, has some interesting observations: "During these spotless and near-minimum flux conditions, I have seen the extreme divergence of the day-to-day propagation paths as a function of the traditional flux numbers. Allowing for seasonal trends, the differences in direction and quality of openings on a given band from day-to-day where the flux and A and K indices remain nearly unchanged for days, the openings generally show much more relationship to the intensity of the solar wind. From here, the patterns of propagation, under the weak stimulation of near minimum flux, show much more pronounced linking to the dynamic wind speed and composition than to simple 2800 MHz flux measurements. I believe without the positive contribution of the 'ionospheric bias' provided by even a low flux, say 80-85, even a small increase in solar wind has a profound effect on the daily paths."

He continues: "Put another way, the good/bad effects upon propagation from minor solar wind changes (not associated with flares and CMEs) are much more observable when the flux is hovering under 68 or so than when it is higher. At that time, we feel the big effects from the major storms. But it is interesting to note the nuances of propagation (say, by observing the NCDXF HF beacons daily) during a quiescent Sun." Thanks, Jim!

Maurice Picard, W6FQS, of Chico, California, wrote: "I noticed a forecast on a propagation Web site that the geomagnetic field would be unsettled due to a solar boundary crossing. I don't recall seeing reference to this phenomenon in any previous forecasts. What is this boundary crossing?"

Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, provided us with this link explaining the term. Carl will be writing the bulletin next week, for Friday, August 8, while your regular author is out of town. Carl will also be on the road, travelling to Rochester, Minnesota for the W0DXCC Convention at the Rochester Amateur Radio Expo. He will post his bulletin from Dubuque, Iowa. Check out Carl's excellent propagation writings.

Another multi-hop sporadic-E report from 6 meters, and this was just last evening. Dave Greer, N4KZ, of Frankfort, Kentucky (EM78ne), reports that beginning at 2322 UTC on July 31, he worked EA8/DL6FAW (Canary Islands) on 6 meter CW with good signals both ways. At 2325 UTC, he worked EA8AK on CW; at 0026 UTC on August 1, he worked EA8/DL6FAW on SSB.

Dave reports that both stations made many US contacts, but also called CQ many times with no takers. He thinks this is a good example of distant 6 meter signals propagating to very specific areas, but not others.= For instance, he saw that EA6SX in the Balearic Islands was spotted on 50.105 MHz over several hours, but Dave never heard him. He also made Canary Island contacts in summer 2006 and 2007, again working stations in pairs, but earlier in the season and earlier in the day. On June 18, 2006 he worked them around 1300 UTC, and on July 15, 2007 around 2200 UTC.

For six years, Dave's station has been on a hilltop (on Skyview Drive!) with a very steep slope toward the East and Northeast. He notes that Northwest Africa is a "real sweet spot" for him on HF, with incredibly strong signals to and from the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Morocco and Madeira Island. This seems to be true on 6 meters as well. He runs 100 W into a 4 element Yagi at 60 feet. He said his best 6 meter DX ever was in November 2001 when he worked KH2GU in Guam, using an 80 meter horizontal loop antenna at a previous location.

Bill Reichert, N9HH, of Troy, Illinois, reports 6 meter propagation from earlier in the month. On July 9, at 2342 UTC while mobile from EM58br, he worked CT1HZE (Portugal, IM57nh) on 50.084 MHz using a base-loaded quarter-wave whip antenna.

A few days earlier, around 1500 UTC, CU2JT (Azores) called him, but interference from the East Coast prevented him from completing the contact. This was while Bill was mobile in Collinsville, Illinois.

ARRL DX Bulletin

DX Bulletin 32 ARLD032

From ARRL Headquarters

Newington CT July 31, 2008

To all radio amateurs

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

TURKEY, TA. Urcun, TA0U, will be active in the European HF Championship on August 2, between 1200 and 2359z, in the SSB/Low Power Category.

TUNISIA, TS. Look for special event station TS28ASJ to be QRV until August 3. Activity is for the 28th Arab Scout Jamboree. Operations are expected to be on the HF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK and SSTV. QSL via the Tunisian Bureau.

BERMUDA, VP9. Angelio, IK2RZP, will be active as VP9/IK2RZP from August 5 to 24. Activity will be mainly SSB and the digital modes on 17 and 12 meters. QSL via his home call sign, direct or by the bureau.

LEBANON, OD. Members of the national club, RAL, are organizing a field day in the Cedar Mountain range on August 2 and 3, signing OD5RAZ. QSL via K3IRV, bureau is ok.

FRANCE, TM. Special event station TM0WPC will be activated using CW, SSB and digital modes on 160 through 2 meters from August 3 to 17, celebrating the 18th World Parachuting Championships in Formation Skydiving. QSL via F5KEB.

SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, ZL. Tony, ZL2AGY, is on the air signing E51AGY. QSL via his home call.

CAYMAN ISLANDS, ZF. John, K8WDN, will be QRV during his vacation from August 4 to 8 as ZF2JG. Look for him mostly on 40 and 20 meter CW, but possibly with some SSB, in the afternoons and evenings. QSL to his home call.

NEW CALEDONIA, FK. Jean-Louis, FK/F5NHJ, will be QRV August 12 to 29, concentrating on 30 meter CW and digital. He may make side trips to other nearby islands.

ICELAND, TF. TF/G3ZAY, TF/M0BLF and TF/M0SCH will be QRV August 2 through 9. QSL via their home calls.

SENEGAL, 6V. Members of the Senegalese SNRASEC ARC, 6W7PCT, will be celebrating Space Week, October 4 through 10, with special call 6V7SPACE.

CONGO. 9Q. 9Q1TB (F5LTB), Philippe, continues to be QRV on 40 through 6 meters. He likes 20 meter SSB between 0700 and 0800z and 15 meters (21.188 mHz) in the 1500 to 1600z time frame. QSL via SM5DJZ.

BANGLADESH, S21. S21RC was worked on 14265 kHz, just before 1530z. QSL via EB7DX.

SOUTH KOREA, 6L. 6L0NJ/4 will be activated by the Gwangju DX Club, from August 15 to 18. They will be on all the HF bands, SSB, CW and digital. QSL via HL4XM.

UKRAINE, EM. The UR QRP CLUB is celebrating their 10th anniversary and is QRV with the special call sign EM10QRP until August 4. They have been active on 30 and 20 meters using PSK31. QSL via UT2AB, by the bureau or direct.

LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY. Operators Doug, KD8CAO and John, K8YSE will activate the Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner (USA-1077) and Grand Haven South Pierhead Outer (USA-1078) Michigan Lighthouses during the ARLHS 2008 National Lighthouse Lightship Week. Operation from Grand Haven will be on August 2. On August 3, they will try to activate other Lake Michigan lighthouses. Look for them on all HF bands. Satellite operations on AO-51, SO-50 and AO-27 are a possibility. QSL via K8YSE.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The TARA Grid Dip Contest, National Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend, 10-10 Summer Phone QSO Party, European HF Championship, ARRL UHF Contest, North American QSO Party and the SARL HF DX Contest are all on tap for this weekend. Please see August QST, page 74 and the ARRL and WA7BNM Contest Web Sites for details.

August 2008