The Chawed Rag Volume 43, Issue 5, May 2013 FEma region vi operations K5RWK UPCOMING EVENTS Meeting-on-the-Air Monday, May 1, 7:30 P.M. RWK Repeater, 2 Meters 147.120 (no PL Tone) ### Monthly Meeting Monday, May 13, 6:30 P.M. St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church 1220 W. Beltline Rd, Richardson Fema region vi operations with Greg Boren N5SKE FEMA Region VI Coordinator ### Monthly Breakfast Saturday, May 18, 8:00 A.M. Southern Recipe 1381 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson ### RACES Nets & Siren Test Wednesday, May 1 Noon (SirenTest) Monday, May 6, 9:00 P.M. (Net) Monday, May 20, 9:00 P.M. (Net) ### Dallas NBEMS Learning Net Every Thursday @ 7:30 P.M. 147.12 (no PL Tone) Affiliated Club Since 1952 Ham radio license exams 3 rd Thursday of each month @ 7:00 P.M. St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church Is North Texas prepared in case of a major disaster? How well coordinated are our emergency communications? We hold a discussion of the history of the FEMA‟s Denton Federal Response Center, the changes in FEMA's mission, current emergency communication capabilities and the "Whole Community" approach as it relates to amateur radio emergency communications. Included will be photos of past and present radio rooms & antennae along with many of the mobile communication vehicles. Also, Greg will explain how FEMA monitors incidents and the triggers to engage Disaster Emergency Communication (DEC) resources along with the vehicles and tools used. Come early and mingle. FREE coffee & cookies. Hey, bring a guest! Ham it up. In this issue: 1 K5RWK Upcoming Events 2 Prior meeting summary 3 RWK website & E-mail reflector information 3 Monthly Richardson sirens test 4 Future RWK events K5RWK Repeater 147.120/147.720 No tone needed - start talking!
Transcript
The Chawed Rag
Volume 43, Issue 5, May 2013
FEma region vi operations
K5RWK UPCOMING EVENTS
Meeting-on-the-Air
Monday, May 1, 7:30 P.M.
RWK Repeater, 2 Meters
147.120 (no PL Tone)
###
Monthly Meeting
Monday, May 13, 6:30 P.M.
St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church
1220 W. Beltline Rd, Richardson
Fema region vi operations with
Greg Boren N5SKE
FEMA Region VI Coordinator
###
Monthly Breakfast
Saturday, May 18, 8:00 A.M.
Southern Recipe
1381 W. Campbell Rd.
Richardson
### RACES Nets & Siren Test
Wednesday, May 1 Noon (SirenTest)
Monday, May 6, 9:00 P.M. (Net)
Monday, May 20, 9:00 P.M. (Net)
###
Dallas NBEMS Learning Net
Every Thursday @ 7:30 P.M.
147.12 (no PL Tone)
Affiliated Club Since 1952
Ham radio license exams
3rd
Thursday of each month @ 7:00 P.M.
St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church
Is North Texas prepared in case of a major disaster? How well coordinated are our emergency communications?
We hold a discussion of the history of the FEMA‟s Denton Federal Response Center, the changes in FEMA's mission, current emergency communication capabilities and the "Whole Community" approach as it relates to amateur radio emergency communications.
Included will be photos of past and present radio rooms & antennae along with many of the mobile communication vehicles.
Also, Greg will explain how FEMA monitors incidents and the triggers to engage Disaster Emergency Communication (DEC) resources along with the vehicles and tools used.
Come early and mingle. FREE coffee & cookies. Hey, bring a guest! Ham it up.
In this issue:
1 K5RWK Upcoming Events
2 Prior meeting summary
3 RWK website & E-mail reflector information
3 Monthly Richardson sirens test
4 Future RWK events
K5RWK Repeater 147.120/147.720
No tone needed - start talking!
Prior meeting summary
Roger Stierman explains RACES and ARES plans.
RWK members posed multiple questions about EMCOM.
Antennas begin their journey to the top of the tower. The large crane handled the heavy lifting at the EOC.
From a recent ARRL survey – How do you usually measure SWR ? Independent meter 43% Transceiver meter 27% Antenna tuner meter 30%
RACES/ARES Update With
Roger Stierman WA0VYU
Roger explained how RACES and ARES work together in the
Richardson area. RACES requires more extensive training on
procedures, but ARES training, conducted by ARRL is also
very desirable.
Locally, hams can monitor RACES nets without being certified
to transmit on the net. Often, Roger, Radio Officer for both
RACES and ARES in our area, closes the RACES net and
opens the frequency for an ARES net. He suggested that
anyone interested in becoming active on local EmComm nets
should contact him directly to get help setting up.
Roger also showed pictures of the large Yagi antenna,
pictured in last month‟s Chawed Rag, as the antenna was
raised up on the City of Richardson‟s tower next to the new
communications center. Mounting the beam required a large
crane in addition to skilled manpower to handle the task.
When completed a bit later this year, Richardson‟s new
Emergency Operations Center will provide state of the
technology services, and local hams will play an integral part
in the city‟s disaster plan. You will find Roger‟s presentation
on the RWK website in the „Documents‟ section.
33 members and guests attended.
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2013 Officers & Board Members
President Frank Reisch KG5LA 214.575.7866
V.P. & Program Coordinator Doug Knabe KN5DK 214.503.9357
Treasurer Doug Kilgore KD5OUG 972.231.8539
Secretary
Corey Minyard AE5KM 972.414.7855
Director Don Bowen K5LHO 972.235.3063
Director Dave Russell W2DMR 972.690.9894
Director-Historian Hal Wolff N5BT 972.233.0345
Past President/Public Information Dick Morgan K6RAH 972.931.7993
Director Emeritus Forest Cummings W5LQU 972.231.0793
The Chawed Rag is the official publication of The Richardson Wireless Klub, Inc. You may reproduce any material contained herein unless otherwise noted, with attribution to The Chawed Rag, original author(s), and The Richardson Wireless Klub, Inc. Please send us a complimentary copy for our files.
Klub membership is open to all persons interested in amateur radio. Join at any meeting, by mail or on-line. Annual dues are $15 individual, $20 family, or $5 student rate.
Archives of The Chawed Rag are available online at: http://k5rwk.org/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=55
RWK Web Page & E-mail Reflector Information
RWK Website: http://www.k5rwk.org
RWK E-mail: The Klub has a Yahoo group mailing list. Go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rwk-ntx/
All Klub members are encouraged to subscribe. The
E-mail list is a forum for announcements, comments and
ideas of interest to members.
Any Klub member on the list may post a message to the
The City of Richardson will test all emergency sirens on
first Wednesdays, at noon (weather permitting). The test
is not conducted if the weather looks threatening to avoid
confusing residents. Hams assist each month by going to
a designated siren, checking into the net on 147.12 MHz,
watching and listening to the performance of the siren,
then reporting on the net. Most sirens have an assigned
ham, but there are a few unassigned sirens.
Please contact Don Bowen K5LHO, 972.235.3063,
if you can assist with siren tests near your QTH.
Why “The Chawed Rag?”
Ham radio operators love to talk! In addition to the many emergency communications services provided to their communities, hams enjoy chatting with fellow hams on the air. Hams exchange information about their locations, radio equipment they use, antennas and tuners, etc.
Additionally, hams often discuss the weather and exchange personal and family information. With regular communications, they develop on-the-air friendships. Such discussions are characterized as “chewing the rag” with a friend or several friends over a network. That is the origin of this newsletter‟s strange name.
Frankly, rag chewing with fellow hams is something that you must experience to appreciate. Ham radio is fun! If you want to explore amateur radio, contact one of our board members and join us at our monthly meetings. You are always welcome.
Jul 13 – Saturday – Breakfast at Southern Recipe, 1381 W. Campbell Rd, Richardson – 8:00 A.M.
Jul 15 – Monday – Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 P.M.
Jul 18 – VE ham radio license exams, 7:00 P.M., St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church. Call 972.690.9894
Need help getting someone a ham license? Getting on the air? The Richardson Wireless Klub (RWK) has donated to the Richardson Public Library a set of books to study for the Technician License. In addition, there are handbooks on various facets of ham radio. Look on the third floor in referenced category 621.384. RWK now has several “loaner” HF and VHF transceivers available for short-term use by newly licensed members. For more information, contact Dick Morgan ([email protected] or 972.931.7993).
"Elmer" is the term used to identify a mentor for amateur radio. Here is a good online site with lots of references, self-study guides and video. http://www.hamelmer.com/. RWK members also act as local Elmers to new hams. If you could use some help, just let us know.
There are interactive practice exams available online at the following websites: http://qrz.com/ht/http://www.eham.net/exams/ or check out http://www.qrz.com/ht/. When you can consistently get a 90% or better on these practice exams, you are ready to take the real exam from one of our local club’s Volunteer Examiner teams. You can check for exam locations, dates, and times at http://www.arrl.org/exam_sessions/search. P.S. RWK offers exam sessions on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 P.M. For more info, call Dave Russell at 972.690.9894.
Members of RWK sponsor the Dallas area Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System Learning Net each Thursday evening starting at 7:30 P.M. The net operates on the RWK 2-meter repeater at 147.12 MHz (no tone required). If you are interested in using narrow band mode for emergency communications, check into the net and “learn by doing.”
For more information about NBEMS and the learning net, please contact Paul Newman KA5TYW at 972-437-5526, or
Doug Kilgore KD5OUG at 972-231-8539.
K5RWK VE Ham Exam sessions – Monthly Progress Report
The Richardson Wireless Klub holds license exam sessions on the third Thursday evening each month! We examined five candidates in April. Of seven exams taken five passed and two failed. Thanks to the VEs who assisted with testing.
Interested in becoming a VE? An open book orientation exam for Volunteer Examiners is all it takes to receive ARRL accreditation. If you are a General, Advanced, or Extra Class, why not get your accreditation? You don‟t even have to be accredited to be of help with greeting and other tasks! Attend an exam session soon and see for yourself how satisfying it can be to help conduct license exams. Dave is looking for more volunteers to help with sessions. For more information, contact Dave Russell W2DMR at 972.690.9894 or email [email protected].
Just for fun, since you’ve read this far… Ponder these final puns…then groan
> The fattest knight at King Arthur‟s round table was Sir Cumference. He ate too much Pi.
> A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
> Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
> The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large!
> Two hats were hanging in the hallway. One hat said to the other: “You stay here; I‟ll go on a head.”
> A sign on the lawn of a drug rehab center said: “Keep off the grass.”
> If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you‟d be in Seine!
> Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, “I‟ve lost my electron.” The other says, “Are you sure?” The first atom replies,
“Yes, I‟m positive.”
> Two Eskimos sat in their cold kayak. They lit a fire and it sank, proving that you can‟t have your kayak and heat it too!
> He sent ten puns to his friends, hoping that at least one pun would make them laugh. No pun in ten did. <groan>
Copyright 2013, Richardson Wireless Klub K5RWK, Box 830232, Richardson, TX 75083. Answer to Extra Class Question: A Trivia Quiz: 3
1.
HAM TRIVIA QUIZ Which of these was NOT a feature of the Johnson Viking II?
1. Integral power supply for 117 VAC operation 2. Roller inductor tuning of the final amplifier 3. Dual conversion with 262 Kc second IF 4. Sockets for up to 12 crystals or external VFO
New Ham - Article #3: What’s all this COAX stuff anyway?
What‟s all this Coax stuff anyway? What type of Coax do I use? What do the Coax type numbers tell me? Why 50 Ohm coax? Most hams use coax every day. We bought the antenna with coax attached or the radio instruction book said to use it. But why coax and not open line feeder cable in the 300 to 600 ohm range like they used to use? For that matter what's wrong with a wire right from the back of the radio?
A wire from the back of the radio presents some special problems. First, the wire from the radio becomes part of the antenna and radiates as well as the antenna. This causes interference as well as affecting the antenna pattern. Second, a high voltage point appears in the antenna wire at, or near the connector. This is a serious fire hazard when you consider that most of us have to pass that wire through a wall of some kind and the wall is usually have wood or some other combustible in them.
Open line feeders solved some of these problems by balancing the currents between the feeder legs. The radiation field also tended to stay contained between the legs of the feeder line until the wire was split into antenna elements or legs. This minimized the interference or strong radiation fields in the shack. Tube amplifiers were also high output impedance devices, on the order of 2000 ohms. (Plate Load = Plate voltage (Typ. 1000v)/Plate current (Typ. 500ma)) so matching a tube amp with an output impedance of 2000 ohms to a 600 feed line only required 3.3 to 1 transformer. This still leaves us with the problem of high voltage on the antenna line. Assume a power of 1000 watts, an impedance of 600 ohms and remember the formula for Voltage of E=square root(PxR). This leaves you a voltage of 774.596 volts. If the line Impedance is changed to 50 ohms this reduces the voltage on the antenna line to 223.6 Volts. Coax came about to eliminate some of the high voltage problems and radiation problems. Coax by design is self shielding since the outside jacket is at ground potential. Because the inside conductor is insulated and shielded, hazardous voltage levels don't appear on the coax except at the antenna connection itself.
Why 50 ohm Coax? This is best answered in two parts, First, coax isn't all 50 ohm, it ranges in impedance value from 30 to 90 ohms. Second, the lowest possible transmission loss occurs at about 70 to 80 ohms while the highest power handling occurs at about 30 ohms. Because of these factors, a compromise between line loss and power transfer was struck at 50 ohms. This explains however why Cable TV firms who have huge distribution networks still use 75 ohm coax.
Coax Types Coax is available to us by different Type Numbers. Most of us are familiar with 50 ohm cable types RG-58, RG-174, RG-213, RG-214, and 9913 and the 75 ohm cable types RG-59 and 783. Cable with a "RG" in the type number means "Registered", and all this really means is someone filled out the forms to register it, by itself this means nothing. Cables that are Mil Spec. qualified for lot certification (Per MIL-C-17D) will be listed as RG-XX/U. The numbers between the letters were assigned in numerical order, from 1. This can be used to indicate only the product‟s registration. For example an RG-8 coax was registered before the RG-213 coax. Coax that is marked "RG-8 TYPE" means that these cables are similar in impedance, size, power handling etc. to the Mil Spec. qualified cables, but have never gone through the actual certification. For our application these will work fine.
What Coax to Buy? If you have looked at these coax types, they come in several diameters. Generally if you are going to be handling high power (200 plus Watts) or your coax runs are going to be very long (Over 100 feet) you need to be using one of the larger coax's such as RG-8, or RG-213. If you are working the satellites and low line loss is a major concern, a coax such a 9913 or RG-214 should be used. The RG-214 coax is a double shielded RG-213 type coax and usually is a lot of trouble to find connectors for and work with. For general use such as short runs for the car, a few jumpers for the shack or a length of coax for emergency use, RG- 58 coax is a good choice. RG-58 is the least expensive of the coax types and serves very well for low to medium power applications in the HF to UHF regions.
Surplus Coax Coax can be found on the surplus market. But again, caution should be the watchword. Much of the coax found on the surplus market are leftovers from the Cable TV industry. Avoid any coax with a Teflon dielectric. These were made for High Temperature/Hostile environment applications and usually have inferior signal handling characteristics compared to standard coax. Hard-line/Heliax type coax can be found in 50 ohm impedance, and there are coax connectors available for this type of coax. About the only application that justifies this type of coax is a repeater installation. It is expensive, hard to bend, hard to connect, hard to secure to a tower and it‟s just plain heavy. Any of the 50 ohm coax will work for our application. Choosing the best coax for your application will enhance your station operation. Using the best coax for your application can make the difference between being heard and being QRM.
73's and GL from WD4BIS Gerry (adapted from Garland Arclite newsletter, April 2013)
