MARCH EVENTS. March 3rd KARC Meeting 7:00 pm. March 7-8 ARRL International DX (Phone) March Charlotte NC Hamfest. March 21 Ellijay GA Hamfest

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Clifford Black
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1 Volume 16 Issue 3 Web www. W4BTI.ORG W4BTI The Big Talking Indian Mar 2015 Chairman s Chat I hope this last month has found you in good health and spirits. This has not been a good month for some of our Board members. One has been in the hospital for eight weeks and another is going in for surgery. I ask that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers. MARCH EVENTS ON OTHER PAGES Make your own dipoles with then center insulators SOTA Your First Activation Atlanta Radio Clubs Meeting Dates For the DX s of you that are in the club and I know a lot of you like chasing the hard to find places. I hope you were able to make contact with K1N. I was not able to get my antenna up and working in time. I saw where QRP is free for this month on the internet. It looks like it will be a good month for HF work. We will have a demo of the new web site at this month s club meeting. From what I have seen it is looking good. We need to thank Nathan K4NHW for all the hard work he has put into the new web site. The hamfiest committee met on the 11 of February and came up with a theme and flyers for this year s hamfiest. I will be passing around a sign up sheet for this year at the (Continued on page 3) March 3rd KARC Meeting 7:00 pm March 7-8 ARRL International DX (Phone) March Charlotte NC Hamfest March 21 Ellijay GA Hamfest SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST Join us at the Cracker Barrel on Delk Road just west of I-75. Time 7 a.m. Metro Atlanta Amateur Radio Nets The CODE 6 West Cobb Paulding County Ham Exams Cobb Co. ARES information Local Amateur Radio Exam Sessions Map to KARC Meeting 8 Fellow Static Crash Lovers Proud Dad 9 KARC Membership Application

Make your own dipoles with these center insulators By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU O ne of the things that always gets my goat is the price some companies charge for dipole antennas.

2 Make your own dipoles with these center insulators By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU O ne of the things that always gets my goat is the price some companies charge for dipole antennas. It's not that they're charging an outrageously large sum of money, and I certainly don't begrudge them making a profit for their efforts. It's just that if hams would just buy their own wire and parts, they would not only save money over the long run, but be encouraged to experiment with antennas. That's what I started doing about ten years ago, and I've been very happy with the results. One of the first things that I did was to purchase ten Budwig HQ-1 center insulators and ten HQ-2 end insulators ( I've made a bunch of antennas with these insulators, including several 40m/20m inverted vees for portable use (such as Field Day and special events), a 17m dipole, and a 10m loop antenna. These insulators are very well-made, and can easily be reused, too. Universal Radio sells the set ( universal-radio.com/catalog/ antsup/1782.html) for $ I just placed another order for ten HQ-1s and 20 HQ-2s (the minimum number that you can purchase to get a quantity discount). The price, including shipping, is $143. There are a bunch of other center insulators on the market, including: 1. The Alpha Delta Delta-C antenna hardware kit ( catalog/antsup/0297.html) consists of a Delta-C Center Insulator, antenna connecting hardware, 1 SEP Arc-Plug static protector (installed in Delta-C) and 2 Delta-CIN end insulators. This is a little heavier-duty than the Budwig insulators, but it costs more, too ($30 at Universal Radio). Unless you're going to be running a kw, I don't see the need to spend nearly twice as much money on these insulators.</li> 2. The TEN-TEC ACRO-BAT Antenna Connector & Hanger ( dBAT-Antenna-Connector-%26- Hanger.html) is an interesting product. Unlike the Budwig and Alpha-Delta insulators, this product does not have an SO-239. Instead, this insulator clamps over the coax and antenna wire, and in doing so, provides strain relief. I haven't tried this one, but it seems like a nice design. The cost is $10, directly from TEN -TEC or from Universal Radio. 3. The Unadilla W2AU ANsulator ( universal-radio.com/catalog/ antsup/0913.html) is made from PCV (Continued on page 5) The Hooch Contributions Material for publication in The Hooch is always welcome. Publication is at the option of the club, depending upon appropriateness of the subject and availability of space. Contributions may be submitted to any member of the KARC staff. Or, send to Jim, KT4MM, at kt4mm@arrl.net. Contributors should expect editing for clarity and to meet space limitations. 2

3 The Kennehoochee Amateur Radio Club PO Box 1245 Marietta, GA Club Officers Chairman Anthony Gaito KC0CSG Tel. (404) Vice Chairman Richard Lutz KD4SEN com Secretary David Phillips KJ4IOR Tel. (404) Treasurer Ann Russ K4JGK Directors Joe Grimes, WD4FGB ( ) Lloyd Coursey, W1LBC ( ) J. P. O Connor WF4Z ( ) jpoc.yoda@gmail.com Walt Mize KI4LAV ( ) wmize@bellsouth.net Charles Earhart, KM4KB ( ) KM4KB@ARRL,net Walt Mize KI4LAV ( ) wmize@bellsouth.net Malachi Tolar KK4FKH ( ) bring328@gmail.com Mike Herod KJ0R ( ) kj0r@comcast.net Committees Club License Trustee Dale Nordin, K4HGG Repeater Chairman Joe Grimes WD4FGB WD4FGB@yahoo.com Field Day Chairmen Ed Humphries N5RCK Education Chairman Elden Morris N1MN N1MN@ATTNET Publicity Committee POI Clark Macaulay, WU4B Clark.Macaulay@gmail.com Hamfest Chairman Joe Grimes WD4FGB Club History Bill Gailey WS4F Web Master Nathan Wood K4nhw K4NHW@arrl.net Newsletter Editor Jim Cummings, KT4MM KT4MM@arrl.net (Continued from page 1) Chairman s Chat club meeting. So be thinking of where and when you would like to work. Our joint Atlanta Radio Hamfest will be Saturday the 6 th of June. On the 14 of last month I was at a meeting for the SKYWARN coordinators. They have gone to local weather nets. Then proceed with reporting on the NWS chat. This way it will keep the airways free for the traffic that needs to come over the airways. The local weather net will be on repeaters. We will be meeting at La Parilla at 29 S Marietta Pkwy SW. Marietta, GA I will be there around 1700 horsrs so I can leave early for the meeting. Hope to see you there for supper. Hope to see you at the meeting. Anthony B. Gaito KC0CSG SOTA Your First Activation KARC W ould you like to try a SOTA activation? You do NOT need to be a mountain climber or even particularly athletic in order to activate a summit. Activating is simultaneously easy and difficult. The first thing you'll want to do is to pick out a summit. Not every hill you see is a qualified SOTA summit. SOTA summits are listed at the main SOTA site. Start with one that's near home. Plan to succeed, but minimize your investment, just in case things don't go as planned. Pick a hill that's not too far from home. If you're based in the metro Atlanta area, some good candidates for your first activation include: (Continued on page 6) 3

4 Atlanta Radio Clubs Atlanta Radio Club Time: First Thursday of each month 7:30 PM - Location: American Red Cross, 1955 Monroe Dr NE Atlanta. GA Alford Memorial Radio Club Time: Second Thurday of each month 7:30 PM Location: Annistown Road Baptist Church, 4554 Annistown Road, Snellville, GA North Georgia QRP Club Time: Second Saturday of the month Location: The Shepherd Center Hospital next to Piedmont Hospital on Peachtree Rd. Information and changes of schedule are always on our web site at: Cherokee Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Cherokee Amateur Radio Society Time: Meets each month 2nd Saturday 10: a.m. Locations: The William G. Long Senior Center. Address is 1223 Arnold Mill Road, Woodstock, GA. Exit Number 8 I-575 Town Lake Pkwy go east just past Main Street. ARES Club website cherokeehams.com Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society Time: Meetings are on the Second Tuesday of the month 7:00 p.m. (except December) Location: EAA 690 Hangar at Briscoe Field Sports Aviation Complex - Hangar Airport Rd. Lawrenceville GA Silver Comet Amateur Radio Society Time: First Tuesday of the month 7:00 p.m. Locations: Paulding Chamber (lower level) Rt. 278 Dallas, Ga. past Rt North Fulton Amateur Radio League (NFARL) Time: Meets each month on the 3rd Tuesday 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Locations: Alpharetta Recreation & Parks Department Alpharetta Adult Activity Center Cogburn Road Alpharetta, GA South East DX Club Time: 7:30 p.m. 3rd Thursday of each month Location: Piedmont Hospital Peachtree Rd. Atlanta, GA in the Rich Auditorium 4

5 Make your own dipoles with these center (Continued from page 2) tubing and include eyelets for terminating the antenna wire and for supporting the insulator in the middle. For $15, I think I'd rather have the Budwig insulator. Also, you should be able to make one of these insulators for less than 15 bucks. 4. The Hy-Gain C-1C Center Insulator ( productid=c-1c) has a screw for tightening down the antenna wire, so you don't have to do any soldering, but overall, I don't think I like the looks of this model. And, at 30 bucks, it seems kind of pricey. 5. The W8AMZ Dipole Antenna Starter Kit ( W8AMZ_ACC_Page.html) comes a center insulator made from PVC pipe, similar to the Unadilla W2AU ANsulator and two end insulators. It costs $18. If none of these strikes your fancy, you can always make your own. WP4AOH has some very good instructions on how to do this using PVC pipe and fasteners that you can find at your local hardware store ( wp4aoh.blogspot.com/2012/07/dipoleantenna-center-insulator.html). Whatever route you take, I encourage you to keep several on hand and enough antenna wire and coax to complete the antenna. You never know when the urge will strike you to build an antenna, and if you don't have the parts you've missed an opportunity to do some experimenting.. KARC. METRO ATLANTA AMATEUR RADIO NETS Daily PL107.2/ Noon Brown Bag Net PL 110.9) 8:00 PM Sassafrass Mtn :00 PM WX & Skywarn Sunday :00 AM Georgia Traders Net :00 PM (EST) Winter PM Ga State ARES PM Emergency Simplex :00 PM Alford Mem. RC Roundtable :30 PM No. Fulton ARES PL :30 PM Atlanta Radio Club Net PL :30 PM ATL C.A.R.E.S Net PL :30 PM Jasper Radio Club :00 PM Six Meter Net Monday :00 PM Decatur A.R.E.S. Net PL100 8:30 PM North Fulton Tech. Net SSB 8:30 PM Regional Six Meter Net PL :00 PM Cherokee ARES PL100 8:00 PM Cobb Co. A.R.E.S. NET PL :00 PM Rockdale Co. ARES PL82.5 8:00 PM Gwinnett G.A.R.S PL82.5 9:00 PM Gwinnett A.R.E.S. Tuesday :00 PM So. Fulton ARES PL77.0, 8:00 PM Dallas (Paulding Co) PL :00 PM Bartow Co. ARES :00 PM Forsyth Co. ARES Wednesday :00 PM Chapter 49, QCWA Net :00 PM Ga. Tech Stinger Net PL :00 PM Hall Co. ARES Net Thursday PL77 Hz 7:00 PM Digital Silver CometARS PL77 Hz 8:00 PM, Paulding ARES PL100 8:00 PM, Cherokee Am. Radio Soc PL100 8:30 PM, Kennehoochee ARC Net :00 PM, NE GA ARC :00 PM, Swap Net PL100 9:00 PM, N. Ga. Disaster Relief Team PL :00 PM Thomaston Net Friday PL88.5 8:00 PM Douglas Co. ARES PL100 6:00 PM No. Ga. Disaster Net PL107.2 Midnight Turnip Truck Net Saturday :00 AM Ga. Traders Net :00 AM Chapter 49, QCWA Net PL107.2 Midnight Turnip Truck Net PL100 10:00 PM Hoot Owl Net KARC 5

6 SOTA Your First Activation (Continued from page 3) Kennesaw Mountain Stone Mountain Pine Mountain Vineyard Mountain If you need an easy/no hike, prime candidates include: Kennesaw Mountain Take the bus almost all the way to the top on a weekend. Stone Mountain summit Ride the tram to the Brasstown Bald Ride the bus to the summit Read the rules! Review Guidelines for Activators Read General Rules There two rules which receive lots of attention: 1. "The method of final access to the summit must be non-motorised." 2. "Operations must not be in, or in the vicinity of a motor vehicle. No part of the station may be connected in any way to the motor vehicle." The first rule is intentionally somewhat vague, so as to permit participation by hams with limited mobility. For example, if you're (Continued on page 7) West Cobb Paulding County Ham Exams 4th MONDAY AT 6:30pm EVERY MONTH Exams Offered: All Elements Primary area Served: West Cobb and Paulding Counties, West Georgia Location: Paulding County Chamber of Commerce 455 Jimmy Campbell Parkway Highway 278 on Lower Level Dallas, GA Contact: Elden Morris, N1MN (cell) n1mn@att.net VEC: ARRL-VEC American Radio Relay League BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT AS NEEDED Exams Offered: All Elements Primary area served: West Cobb, Paulding Counties, West Georgia Location: At the examinees convenience these special sessions are geared towards disabled hams. I need at least a week's advanced notice to put together a VE Team to travel to your location. Contact: Elden Morri N1MN, (cell) e -mail: n1mn@a.net VEC: W5YI-VEC Jim Farley KG4FXV ffound the following on the internet. Another reason to learn morse code. THE CODE: A declassified and unbelievable hostage rescue story. How the Colombian army sent a hidden message to hostages using a pop song. By Jeff Maysh The CODE Go to h p:// -colombian-army-morsecode-hostages 6

7 (Continued from page 6) SOTA Your first chase wheelchair-bound, you could meet this requirement by having someone push you for the last 100'. SOTA is on the honor system. Do what you can do. If it is an achievement for you to walk across the parking lot, that's your "final access to the summit." A more mobile Activator may set a personal threshold that requires him to park short of a drive-up summit, and walk the last 1/4 mile. Others may declare that if it isn't at least a 5 mile bushwhack, they won't activate it! The second rule is intended to prevent operation from your truck or car. SOTA is about portable operation and not mobile operation. While following the rules is necessary to get your points, don't get hung up on memorizing them. Read them. Make a good faith effort to follow them. Review your plan with an experienced activator and debrief with an experienced activator after your activation. If you violate a rule, you don't get your points. That's a disappointment, but nothing worse. Remember, you picked an easy first summit, so you haven't made an epic effort. You'll learn much from your attempt and your next try will be a piece of cake. COBB COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SECTION (ARES) INFORMATION Cobb Co. ARES net meets on the KARC two-meter repeater every Monday evening at 8:00 pm. The Cobb ARES monthly meeting is the second Tuesday of the month at the downtown Marietta Fire Station 112 Haynes Street 7:00 to 9:00 pm. More information and directions are on 73 de N5RCK Ed, EC Cobb Co. A.R.E.S.- (Continued on page 8) Local Amateur Radio Exam Sessions 1st Saturday Clayton County Emergency Mgnt. Bldg N. McDonough St., Jonesboro, GA Time: 9:00 AM (even months only) Contact: Butch Nitz AF4FS (770) Public Library, off the Square in Ellijay Time: 1:00 PM Contact: Hugh Beam, AD4E & Dot Beam, N4DTC (706) nd Tuesday Walton EMC, 3645 Lenora Rd., Snellville Time: 7:00 PM Contact: Wayne Taylor, WD4CCA (770) nd Saturday (Odd months only) Stone Mountain Methodist Chruch 5312 West Mountain St. Stone Mountain Time: 8:30 AM Contact: Bob Varone W4ETN , bvarone@juno.com 2nd Saturday Cherokee Amateur Radio Society / Cherokee ARES Time: Meets the 2nd Saturday of each month at 2:00 PM. Location: The William G. Long Senior Center, 223 Arnold Mill Road, 3rd Saturday Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 95 Holt Road NE Marietta Room 107 Time: 9:00 to 11:00 AM Contact: David Still WB4RRD CAVEC 2nd Sunday Gwinnett County Fire Station #5 Community Rm 3001 Old Norcross Rd Duluth GA Starts at 2:00 pm Contact info exams@gars.org 4th Sunday Georgia Institute of Technology, W4AQL Van Leer EE Building (Number 85) Time: 2:30 PM Contact: w4aqlec@cyberbuzz.gatech.edu 4th Tuesday United Way Service Center 6279 Fairburn Rd., Douglasville Time: 7:00 Pm Contact: Paul E Bailey, K4KJ (770) Class and W5YI Test Sessions by appointment only. Location: Acworth Contact: Jim Phillips KF4TCR@arrl.net (770)

8 SOTA Your first chase (Continued from page 7) You'll need a radio. A portable HF rig is ideal. At a minimum, you'll need something that is light enough to carry, an antenna, plus sufficient battery for 20 minutes. It is possible to activate via HT, but your QSOs must not be via a repeater. You can call people on a repeater, and ask them to meet you on simplex, but your official SOTA contact must be simplex.) If you're using an HT, you'll want to line up some friends to chase you and it helps if they have good antennas, so they can do the "heavy lifting." You'll need a portable antenna. A resonant dipole is a popular choice for HF -- particularly if you don't have an antenna tuner. With a good ATU, a 35.5 foot "random" wire with a counterpoise is another popular choice. Some operators love a magnetic loop. My personal favorite is an end-fed half-wave. Remember: You'll be operating QRP from a mountain top. RF in the shack will not (Continued on page 9) Fellow Static Crash Lovers As received from Jim K4DLL H ere is a story from the Top Band Reflector everyone should read. I had not heard this but it puts a good perspective our willingness to support DXpeditions. See September 2006 CQ Magazine for a published work. Fellow Static Crash Lovers, Ham Radio is a hobby of learning, leading, and inspiration. We learn, mostly through Mentors, clubs, and other like-minded individuals who share a love for this hobby. We, as Mentors, inspire others to challenge themselves to be better in the aspects of the hobby that interest the Newbee. We inspire young people to enter the hobby to learn about subjects like geography, the often quoted NASA core subjects called "STEM", politics, tolerance for others, and the listgoes on. At my DX clubs annual DX Dinner this past (Continued on page 9) MAP TO KARC MEETING 112 Haynes St. Marietta Fire Station No. 1 8

9 SOTA Your first chase (Continued from page 8) be a major issue; weight and simple setup are a priority. Of course, you'll need a paddle and/or a microphone, headphones, etc. Make up a checklist. Check it twice. If you discover you've left something out, add it to your checklist so you don't forget it next time. Here's a sample checklist you can customize to suit your needs. Take water, a snack, pencil and paper. Make notes on what went well and what failed. Bring warm clothing. Even in the summer, it is cooler 'up on top' than it is at home. Before you go, visit SOTAwatch and post your plans. This tells chasers when and where to look for you. Once you're set up on the summit, Proud Dad (Continued on page 11) T his one of those proud moments of a father. My 10 year old daughter is better at CW than I am. The explanation and 9 second video is on Check out by blog and other items at 73, Nathan, K4NHW Posted by: kj0r@comcast.net Nathans post about his pride in his daughter's CW skill led me to the g0nvtclassickeys.weebly.com website. Even if you aren't a CW enthusiast, you will enjoy his straight keys. He does beautiful work. Fellow Static Crash Lovers (Continued from page 8) December, Bob, K4UEE, gave a presentation on FT5ZM. After the presentation, he talked about the upcoming K1N operation. With his hat in his hand, his team was presented a donation from our club for K1N. A youngster of 11 years old, club member, DXCC holder, KF5NYQ, approached Bob and handed him his amplifier savings fund. Young Brandon refused to take the donation back. He stated that having the opportunity to work a rare ATNO was worth the donation. He would try to work them without an amplifier. Bob brought the story to the K1N team and they were so impressed with Brandon, they asked him to be the team's youth pilot. We always tell Brandon that school comes first. Myself and other DX club members are proud to be counted in the ranks of this young DXCC member's Mentors. Check out the following web site if you do not believe in the power of Mentors If donating his entire amplifier fund is worth the cost of ATNO is worth so much to Brandon, then $6 is pocket change for most of us. Let Brandon be an inspiration to all. Forgo the beer, cigarettes, fast food fat fest, soda, or other vice you may have once a month and you will be surprised how quickly $6 can add up. 73 & Best DX Charlie WD5BJT See September 2006 CQ Magazine for a published work. Topband Reflector Archives - Mike, KJ0R 9

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11 SOTA your first chase (Continued from page 9) you can call CQ on your favorite frequency. You need four contacts in order to get your points for the summit. They can be contacts with any properly licensed ham. Your contacts need not be with SOTA chasers and your contacts need not log the QSO in order for you to get your points. (Of course, if they aren't chasers, you can take the opportunity to encourage them to sign up.) If want to work a pile-up, you want to get spotted on SOTAwatch. Experienced chasers monitor SOTAwatch; when they see an activation, they turn out in force. If you QSO with a chaser, he'll probably post a spot on SOTAwatch. (You can ask him to do so, to be sure.) Once you're spotted, expect a small pile-up in 1-3 minutes. You can spot yourself. This is easy if you are on a summit with a cell signal. If you have an Internet-enabled device, visit SOTAwatch when you're ready to go on the air and post a spot. If you don't have Internet, but you can make a voice call from the summit, you can call a friend and have him post your spot to SOTAwatch. You can spot yourself via SMS. (See k4kpk.com/content/sota-self-spot-sms -usa.) You can spot yourself via APRS. (See sota-self-spot-aprs.) If you posted an alert and you use CW, you'll be automatically spotted through the wonders of RBN and RBNGate. QSOs. Then visit sotadata.org.uk/activatorlog.aspx and track your status toward the coveted Mountain Goat award. See you on the summits! 73 DE K4KPK / Kevin Where can I find out more? Official site: Mailing list: groups/summits K4KPK's site: content/sota-menu me (K4KPK). My address is available via K4KPK. Stay tuned. This is a recurring series. Bio K4KPK, Kevin Kleinfelter is Georgia's first SOTA Mountain Goat, and was the 19th North American to achieve Mountain Goat. His first QSO was on a backpacking trip to a 5300 foot summit with his 12 year-old son. He has more than 120 activations, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. This story is Copyright 2015 Kevin P. Kleinfelter. A non-exclusive right to redistribute in electronic or printed form is granted to amateur radio clubs operating in the metro Atlanta area. All other rights reserved. When you return home, visit sotadata.org.uk/ and record your 11

Kennehoochee Amateur Radio Club PO Box 1245 Marietta, GA 30060 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Club Meetings are held at 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. the 1st Tuesday of each month.

12 Kennehoochee Amateur Radio Club PO Box 1245 Marietta, GA ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Club Meetings are held at 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. the 1st Tuesday of each month. Meetings are held at Marietta downtown Fire station located 112 Haynes Street, Marietta, GA Mailing Address Goes Here In This Issue... Tuesday March 3, :00 p.m.- March Club Program In This Issue... Tuesday November ADDRESS 4, CORRECTION :00 p.m.- REQUESTED Kennehoochee Amateur Radio Club PO Box 1245 Club Meetings Marietta, GA are held at 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. the 1st Tuesday of each month. Meetings are held at Marietta downtown Fire station located 112 Haynes Street, Marietta, GA Program The new KARC W4BTI Website See Everyone at the meeting 12

SOTA. Summits On The Air Original version by Curtis KC5CW Updated by Bryan N0BCB

SOTA. Summits On The Air Original version by Curtis KC5CW Updated by Bryan N0BCB SOTA Summits On The Air Original version by Curtis KC5CW Updated by Bryan N0BCB Read the History Online Let's Jump Into the Fun Websites Equipment Apps Travel Weather Safety Logging Modes Chasing Activating