Volume 62, Issue 7 July, 2015JULY CLUB HAPPENINGS

WARAC 2­meter netEvery Wednesday at 8pmMATC repeater 147.045 standard offset127.3 Hz CTCSSClub jackets and hats!Go to club Web site and click onThe GOLD MEDAL IDEAS blockFor more info or click here

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click here to go to web site

Club MeetingSt. Peter's Episcopal Church,7929 W. Lincoln Avenue, West AllisJuly 14, 2015 7:00pmProgramDigital Modesby Gary Sutcliffe, W9XTJoin us for a pre­meeting dinner

at Johnny V's Classic Cafe1650 S 84th St at 5:00pm

NUT NET3.985mhzMonday­Saturday8:15am CT

Milwaukee­Florida NetEvery Day on 14.290 Mhz7:00AM ­ 9:15AM ET6:00AM ­ 8:15AM CT

Nice Article on the West Allis Radio Clubhttp://www.westallisnow.com/news/west­allis­radio­club­tunes­into­local­worldwide­chatter­b99507528z1­305072641.html

Anniversary Awards DinnerOctober 25, 2015

WARAC 2­meter netEvery Wednesday at 8pmMATC repeater 147.045 standard offset127.3 Hz CTCSS

We have another Field Day under our belt and Ithink everything went very well. See Chuck’ssummary and results information elsewhere in thisissue. Thanks to Chuck for putting together asuccessful event and thanks to everyone whoparticipated. And thanks to Erwin, WI9EV,whose publicity efforts paid off with the visit ofNew Berlin mayor Dave Ament on Saturday.It was a great to see everyone working togetherand I hope y’all had fun with your fellow clubmembers! It’s great to see a lot of participation bymembers that have joined our club in the last fewyears. I don’t think there’s anything magic aboutthe way we’ve done Field Day over the years, butrepetition and experience has taught us a lot. Ithink the old farts among us are doing a good jobof passing this knowledge on to the new farts.This bodes well for future WARAC Field Days.The program at the upcoming meeting is DigitalModes by Gary Sutcliffe, W9XT. We’ve hadpresentations on this topic before, but Gary willdiscuss it from a different perspective. Gary’spresentations are always great and this should beno exception. Be there!After Gary’s program, we’ll have a Field Daywrap­up presentation by Chuck, plus our monthlyArduino update. And, of course, we’ll finish upwith our open discussion period and refreshments.Please bring your questions, comments andshow­and­tell items, as usual.Saturday, July 11 is the South Milwaukee Club’sSwapfest (Oak Creek). Due to a recent donation,we will have a lot items to sell there. ContactPhil, W9NAW, or Steve, NO9B for details.Thanks in advance to everyone who helped collect

ThePresident's

ShackJuly2015

Club jackets and hats!Go to club Web site and click onThe GOLD MEDAL IDEAS blockFor more info or click here

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From the editorSounds like all had fun at Field Day. This year I wasn'table to make it. My son Steve had his family practiceresidency graduation banquet in Madison on Saturday.

Not much else is happening with ham radio. I do geton the 80 meter nut net most mornings. A very finebunch of gentlemen! Much to my amazement I have avery good chance of being heard even with my 5 wattQRP rig SSB. I think it is because the others have verygood radios but by luck it seems my 80 meter antennais in the right position to do a good job of getting out.

The 80 meter dipole antenna is part of an 80, 40, 30meter fan antenna. The center is about 20 feet or soabove ground. One end heads south rising for abouthalf its length then dips down. The other side headseast for about half its length while dropping down 6ftor so, then heads north. It does prove that antennasdon't have to be put in nice neat straight lines to work.Some day I'll take the time to do a more accuratemeasurement and model it and see what type of patternit is putting out. That might be a idea for an article, Iwill have to see if time permits.Hope everyone is having a great summerFrank KA9FZR

and sell donated material for our Scholarship Fund.We have a few months until Sunday, October 25, thedate of this year’s annual Anniversary AwardsDinner, but these things have a habit of sneaking up.Mark your calendar. This year’s committee, FrankHumpal, Paul Hass and Erwin von der Ehe, havestarted putting the event together. We’ll be at a newlocation: Meyer’s Restaurant at 4260 S 76th St inGreenfield.Don’t forget our before­meeting dinner at Johnny V’sClassic Café, 1650 S. 84th St. at 5:00PM.See you at the meeting! Bring a friend!Tom, K9BTQ

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WARAC General Meeting MinutesJune 9, 2015IntroductionThe meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm by President, Tom Macon, K9BTQ. Overall meetingattendance was 16 with no visitors.ProgramThe evening’s program topics included:•Field Day 2016 presented by Chuck Dellis W9WLX

∙Erwin updated on his publicity activities.New Berlin Mayor will be coming by to issue a proclamation.

∙Chuck laid out the plan for the New Berlin site.∙Will be doing a 2A Station with a VHF Station and a GOTA station∙Set up begins at 8:00 AM on June 27th.

•Arduino Project Presentations∙Tom, K9BTQ, presented his serial monitor display∙Mike, WO9B, presented his FoxHunt Transmitter.∙Howard WA9AXQ, discussed serial monitoring and RS­232 interface

BusinessMotion was made and accepted to approve the May meeting minutes as published in Hamtrix.July's Program will be on Digital Modes by W9XT. August will be computer rig control andSeptember will be Milwaukee Astronomical Society Tour.Wisconsin QSO Party: Results are still pending.Scholarship winner for 2015 was announced: John Peters, KC9HLM is this year’s winner. Hewill be attending So IL University this fall and studying Mechanical Engineering.South Milwaukee Swapfest is scheduled for July 11th.

Reminder for the Wednesday evening 2 meter net. Everyone is welcomeThe meeting was adjourned at 8:42 pm.Respectfully submitted,Mike Johnson, WO9BWARAC Board MeetingJune 23, 2015Howard Smith, WA9AXQ, called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm.Present: Tom Macon, K9BTQ, Steve Dryja, NO9B, Howard Smith, WA9AXQ, Erwin von derEhe, WI9EV, Frank Humpal, KA9FZR, Al Hovey, WA9BZW and Mike Johnson, WO9B.

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Future Program IdeasLogbook of the WorldSpotting – W9XTFM38 OperationsDSP presentationYaesu Fusion SystemKreg Jig Fastener SystemW5KUB –Possible for NovSO2R

Scholarship Award UpdateARRL official notification came through. ARRL explained the non­Wisconsin determination.Field DayAntenna lines were placed today. Setup begins on Saturday @ 8:00 AM. New Berlin Mayorscheduled for noonish.Swapfest 2016Flyer is updated.Radio Merit BadgeNo update.WI QSO PartyNo update.ProgramsJuly – Digital Modes – W9XTAug – Rig Control PresentationSept ­ Milwaukee Astronomical Society

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Oct – Elections, Panadaptor with DongleNov –

Club Operations ManualWAWC operations chapter was updated.2012 , 2013 and 2014 Audit2012 & 2013 were packaged to Bill, N9KPH. Tom will determine another volunteer.Awards DinnerErwin, Frank and Paul are the Dinner Committee members. October 25th will be the big day.Venues are being reviewed.Other Items2 meter net continues and needs some more check­ins.Meeting was adjourned 9:24 pm.Respectfully submitted,Mike Johnson, WO9BSecretary WARAC

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Field Day 2015By Chuck Dellis, W9WLX, Field Day Chairman

In spite of all the recent sun spot activity, Field Day 2015 was a success! Operation was similar tolast year, setting up at the same location behind the New Berlin municipal building with similarantennas and station configurations.The weather could not have been better for operating, cool and dry. Conditions were ripe for rainto impact teardown, but fortunately Sunday was precipitation free. QRN was about what youexpect for a summer evening with the usual challenges on 80 meters. This was a welcomechange over last year, where regional thunderstorms made the band practically unusable for atime.Field Day was kicked off by a visit from New Berlin Mayor, Dave Ament, and EmergencyManagement Deputy Director, Jim Burns, KD9CIV. Their visit was inspired by some hard work byErwin von der Ehe. Erwin persuaded the mayor to issue a Proclamation to officially recognize anddesignate June 27 & 28 as Amateur Radio Weekend. Mr. Ament and Mr. Burns paid the site a visitto better understand what Field Day weekend is all about. A special thanks goes out to Erwin forhis diligence in making it happen!Setup and teardown was trouble­free and uncomplicated. Thanks to the group for greatteamwork! Antenna configuration was identical to what was used last year. The 80/20/10 meterstation ran all three bands on an 80 meter loop fed with ladder line. Two trees and one mastsupported the antenna with an average height of about 50 feet. The 40/15 meter station used anAlpha Delta DXCC multi­band dipole in a flat top configuration with a single 40 foot mast and atree as supports. The VHF station ran a 6 & 2 meter Yagi on a single rotatable mast. Bill Reed,N9KPH, ran a GOTA station on Saturday afternoon using a BuddiPole antenna. Bandcoordination for the GOTA station presented a challenge because of limited openings on 15 & 10meters.

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This year the club completed its transition to N1MM Logger Plus for all stations, making thedata compilation and analysis much easier. All stations used the logging program, takingadvantage of the way it integrates with CW and digital modes and the rich feature set it has tooffer. N1MM Logger Plus continues to be a great value and the new version is still free!Total contacts were 1540 this year, up 122% over last year’s 694. 15 meters had someopenings on Saturday, but 10 & 6 meters remained closed. Many operators QSY’d to 20 & 40meters, giving way to very crowded band conditions. Nevertheless, a few operators were ableto get some good runs in and achieve a pretty good rate. Sunday morning took a turn for thebetter when 6 & 10 meters popped open and 15 meters sounded like 40 meters did theprevious day! 10 operators took part in making QSOs, getting on the air and building theWARAC Field Day team. Congratulations!Thanks to Tom Macon, K9BTQ and Phil Gural, W9NAW for helping with site planning, to PhilGural W9NAW for securing campers for two stations, and to Howard Smith for catering thefood and coordination of the facilities. Thanks to Jim Kehoss, KC9RNY, for the use of hiscamper, and generator at the third station, John Westimayer, N9LGD, for the use of his tent,Steve Dryja, NO9B for his help hauling equipment, as well as George Dunco, AA9SR, for hisgenerator.­73, Chuck, W9WLX

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Field day PicturesMore pictures available on club web sitehttp://www.warac.org/fd/2015/pix.htm

New Berlin Mayor DaveAment with Erwin WI9EV

Tom K9BTQ withMayor Ament

Phillip W9NAW, CharlesW9WLX, Mayor Amentand Erwin WI9EV

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Officers and BoardPresidentTom Macon, K9BTQ

Vice PresidentSteve Dryja, NO9B

SecretaryMike Johnson, WO9B

TreasurerHoward Smith WA9AXO

DirectorsFrank Humpal, KA9FZRErwin von der Ehe, WI9EVAl Hovey, WA9BZW

Newsletter EditorFrank Humpal, KA9FZRfhump@milwpc.comWebmasterTom Macon, K9BTQ

Ham Radio on the Internet(click on red web address)

Anyone can submit websites for this column.I'll check them out and include them. The editorSome thoughts on commercial grade fallprotection:https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2015/07/01/The­ABCs­of­Personal­Fall­Arrest­Systems.aspxWork on cordless charging of your phones. Itsounds as if you get close to this device it willcharge it. One has to wonder about efficencythough­­­­http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2015/07/omnidirectional­free­space­wireless­charging­developed?et_cid=4662817&et_rid=353748193&type=headlineInteresting story of one of the first computers.The times were right for computers and maybemore than one person saw the way.http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/workshop/rollcall/first­digital­computer.html?trk_msg=46M5MTRBL37KTDR5KI1O9S01AC&trk_contact=A784EOJRJJFL8VFGJJ3L7F2S74&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Digital+Computer&utm_campaign=May+Newsletter+2015