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SWOT BULLETIN THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THESIDEWINDERS-ON-TWO RADIO CLUB

PROMOTING SSB, CW & DIGITAL OPERATIONS ON 144Mhz AND UP

VISIT US ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT:

The SWOT Homepage: www.swotrc.nethttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/sidewindersontwo

Bulletin #310 Mar/Apr 2006

S.W.O.T. GENERAL INFORMATION• Send renewals and new applications for membership to Howard Hallman WD5DJT (See address above). Please make

all checks payable to SIDEWINDERS ON TWO. Include your SWOT # for your renewals.

• Send your SWOT “Members Worked” from your log to, SWOT Awards manager, Wade Massey, 1016 Weiss Ave,Princeton TX., 75407 $1.00 fee for certificate and your certificate number would be appreciated, also SASE.

• E-Mail all articles and reports to the Editors’ email address listed above or you can mail them to Jim McMastersKM5PO, 2805 Shady Lane South, Arlington, Texas 76601.

• MERCHANDISE:Decals and listings available for $1.00 each for shipping and handling from the Secretary/Treasurer.SWOT Patches are available at a price of $4.00 Each + $.50 for mailingBadges are available from “The Sign Man”, Rick Pourciau NV5A, http://www.thesignman.com/menu.html

In this issue:

• The Chairman’s Corner Arthur Jackson, KA5DWI Page 2• Vice Chairman’s Corner John Peterson, KM5ES Page 3• Northern California annual M 2 swap meet Larry Hogue, W6OMF Page 4• The RockMobile Jim McMasters, KM5PO Page 6• Transco Coaxial Switches Larry Hogue, W6OMF Page 7• Event & Contest calendar/What to expect Page 9• SWOT Net Reports Page 10• NA HSMS 2006 Spring Rally Page 12• Membership Application and Renewal Page 13• SWOT and Selected 2-Meter Nets Page 13

SECRETARY-TREASURER: Howard Hallman/WD5DJT3230 Springfield Ave.Lancaster, TX 75134-1214PHONE: (972)-224-5964EMAIL: wd5djt@swbell.netWEBPAGE: http://home.swbell.net/wd5djt

CHAIRMAN : Art Jackson/KA5DWIEMAIL: ka5dwi@sbcglobal.netPHONE: (817)-485-4977VICE-CHAIRMAN & WEBMASTER : John Petersen/KM5ESEMAIL: johnkm5es@gmail.comWEBPAGE: www.km5es.netBULLETIN EDITOR : Jim McMasters/KM5PO

EMAIL: km5po@arrl.net

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Chairman’s CornerFrom Art Jackson, KA5DWI

The Best Laid Plans of Miceand MenI survived my first semester at thehome of the Mean Green, Universityof North Texas. My opinion…. It isa school that you send your sons anddaughters to get them out of your hair.It is not a great school to continueyour education. I find them stuck torather strange policies and principlesand tend to be highly rigid and unwill-ing to work with you. In other words,it is their way or the highway.

I was somewhat turned off by it. Iagree that a college needs to put thefoot down to get these kids throughschool, but you also need to havesome flexibility to push and motivatethem through the process. I canalready see it. I have a strong desireto teach, but the more I work withthem, the more I see the desire to bean administrator. God help anyschool district when they hire me.

Anyhow, the result was that once thislast semester ended, with a combina-tion of burnout, holidays and personal

matters to be attended to, there waslittle if any attention given to mattersof this club. I had to take care of myown situations and very little else.Sorry, but that is the way it was.

SWOT Management:Am I concerned? A little bit but notenough to panic. As long as theofficers and managers take care ofbusiness, everything is well. Andthey continue to do so. The onlyconcern still rests with not securingand keeping an active Board ofDirectors. I admit that this is ex-tremely difficult and mostly impos-sible because of the demands ontime from its members. It is veryhard to put us together. This is not acorporation with highly paid execu-

tives and directors. We are just abunch of Hams that enjoy 2 MeterSideband and the other added modesthat come along with it. No one wantsto nominate and vote on new ones.Very few have volunteered. There-fore, you now will be drafted!!!!

Qualification based Board of

Directors:What will it take to put together aBoard of Directors? It is fairly simpleanswer if we can get all of you to buyin to it. If you disagree let me knowyour thoughts.

The qualifications for a Board mem-ber are:1. Hold an assigned, assumed, orelected officer or manager positionwithin SWOT or a recognized Chap-ter.2. Or, the individual is the primary orshared NCS for a “SWOT” orrecognized chapter Net. Nets that donot carry the SWOT or a recognizedChapter name do not qualify.3. You have made a recognized andsignificant endowment of time, materi-

als and/or monetary funds to SWOT.

Qualifications 1 and 2 are automatic.You are all automatically in. You donot have to actively serve, but you arerecognized and will be informed onissues as best as we can.Qualification 3 is both on a volun-teered or a drafted basis. Anyonecan inform us as to what they mayhave done or it could be in recogni-tion for a past contribution. It will bebased on the majority consent of theexecutive group (Chairman, ViceChairman, Secretary/Treasurer). Thecandidate can decline the nomination.

All current and future executiveofficers of SWOT will be nominated,elected or re-elected by the newlyrecognized Board of Directors assoon as it is possible.

The whole ordeal of having at leastsome kind of structure is important tokeeping this thing alive. We have toomany good people in SWOT and afun and exiting part of this hobby tolet this thing slip away. We need tostay active and involved in order tocontinue to promote it. Our paststructure of nominations, elections,participation and management wasnot working very well. I hope that thiscan put in the process of reversingthat trend.

Please let us know what you think ofthis plan. We are always open toideas. We need to resolve this onceand for all and move on to doing whatSWOT is suppose to do, promoting2-Meter Sideband activities andevents.

The Internet and the SWOTHomepage:We must being doing something right.I get a fairly good number of updates

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from current and old members as totheir current location and call plusquestions about SWOT’s currentstatus. What I am concerned about isa lack of links to our site from othergroups and from our own members.

Personal WebPages are representa-tions and expressions of our personalinterests and a display of our egos,which can be fairly large I admit. Atleast add our Homepage link to yourweb site. It would be most appreci-ated. That way others that visit yoursite can learn more about our hobbyby visiting the SWOT Homepage.

Sidewindersontwo Yahoo GroupPage:We still get a good number of Hamsinterested about Weak Signal on theYahoo Group site. I invite you all tojoin the group site as well as partici-pate as much as you can. We havetext and voice chat, plus files andphotos of interest. It is an enjoyablegroup site.

The group has had a slow and steadygrowth since the Spring of 2001, butafter an administration audit, I foundout that a large number (40 to beexact) of group members had E mailaddresses that no longer existed orwere not being maintained. Allmessages to them were bouncing. Ireally feel that your participation isimportant and appreciated, but pleasemaintain your Internet informationcurrent with the group page.

I deleted the following membershipsto the Sidewindersontwo Yahoogroup for having Email addresses thatwere no longer working or no longerexisted:K5LOW KC0HFLKC0NROKC7RKR KD5FVFKD5HPT

KD5JKH KD5QWOKD5RRJKE5Q KG4BMHN5HHSN5KKM N5TIFN5YPPN5ZHU N9CXOW4NULW5FKN W5PJBW6NSW8DQ W9RVGWA2WZWWA5DRQ WA5JWWB4HFRWB5CTS WH6LR and afew unidentified ones.

Some of you may currently be Yahoogroup members with new Emailaddresses. That is okay. Only bademail addresses were deleted. Ofcourse, all of you are invited to re-joinwith your new Email addresses. Besure to identify who you are when youjoin the group if you are using anemail address that does not containyour amateur radio callsign.

Also, remember that you can controlhow your receive posts on Yahoo.You can set them to Individual Emails,a Daily Digest (preferred method),special notices (Emails from Adminis-trators only) or No Emails.

I want as much participation as youcan muster on anything that is ofinterest to weak signal.

Vice Chairman’sCornerBy John Petersen KM5ES

The past several months have beenhectic to say the least here in EM25.Very poor band conditions on 2meters with very little or no troponoted. All that November and De-cember brought to the southern plainsis no rain, and a lot of fires.

December 10th thru the 18th 2005was the North American High SpeedMeteor Scatter Contest in which I

Late Breaking NewsFrom Art Jackson, KA5DWI

Update:We are currently looking at what todo about the SWOT Yahoo Grouppage. It has been great in acquiringnew members and bringing back afew old ones.

The Group Page has always beenconsidered a direct reflection of thisorganization. Therefore, we havealways felt that it should require somelevel of moderation (deletion ifnecessary) to posts when they do notfollow what is considered to be in thebest interests of the club.

Recently, an attempt (actually arequest) to keep it within theseinterests resulted in a series of whatwould best been called, threatningemails. One such email, went as far tomention names of my neighboors hewas going to contact in order to stirup a TVI complaint on me.

With that, our Vice Chairman (John)and I decided that it was best to lookinto the make up of the Group Pageand the opinions from its members onhow the Yahoo Group Page should beadministered.

After a fair time period, we willdecide on what to do with the Grouppage. I ask you all to participate in theYahoo Group Poll as soon as possible

to help in the final decision.

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worked only on 2 meters and made55 qso’s (49 + 6) * 44 unique grids =2420 points. I took a week off ofwork and bagged every 2 metercontact I could muster assisted singleband, single op and low power (180watts). It was fun while it lasted. TheGeminid’s were very good this yearfor doing meteor scatter operations. Ihope that I place in the top 5 for thecentral time zone this contest.

Our SWOT nets from what is beingreported have been somewhat betternumbers of checkin’s I guess due tothe weather getting colder. I wouldlike to thank all of our net controls fora bang up job in running our nets.

I believe that Art KA5DWI has agood point in naming our board ofdirector’s and their qualification’s. Wehave tried several times on gettingnominations from members with verylittle input. We have a good organiza-tion and I believe that SWOT cangrow bigger and have a more attrac-tive organization if we get more inputfrom our active members.

I have been working on getting on 6meters and built a yagi for the band,moving my radio room into what wasmy stepdaughters bedroom andpainting cleaning and rerouting wires.I am looking forward to finally get outof the garage shack. I plan also in thenear future to do some reworking onthe website and making it more usefulto the members. Until then I hopeeveryone had a very nice holidayseason now it’s time for us to lookupon this new year with the hope ofbetter band condtions, lots of tropo,and especially some E-skip. Takecare, good dx

John Petersen KM5ES #3331SWOT Vice Chairman

Hamcom 2006June 9-10/Friday & Saturday

Plano Centre - Plano, TX

Plan now to stop by at the SWOTtable to sign-in! It will afford you thechance to meet some new folks or puta face with a voice, plus see some ofyour old friends. And FYI, the WSJTusers have organized a dinner onFriday night at 5:30 p.m. at the Shady

Oak Barbecue and Grill on US 75not far from the convention center.WSJT users - please feel free to usethe SWOT table as a meeting spotand SWOT members - come join inwith the dinner if you would like tomeet the digital crowd. Hamcomopens at 7:00 a.m. on both days andCommercial exhibitors and table-topvendors will remain open until 6:00p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Classeswill run until 9:00 p.m. both days. Getmore details on Hamcom 2006 fromtheir website http://www.hamcom.org/

NorthernCalifornia annualM 2 swap meetFresno, California

Over 160 people attended the annualNorthern California M2 swap meetheld April 1st. The festivities tookplace at the M2 Antenna Factory in

Sue Hogue (Larry’s bride) SWOT #162, with the tray of tickets, Wyatt, of M² with themicrophone in front of the crowd.

Fresno, California. Food was pre-pared (hamburgers, hot dogs, bakedbeans, potato salad, chips, sodas,coffee ) for 200 but turned out to benot enough!. AMSAT put on a greatprogram attended by about 50people. M2 brought in a couple oftheir team to operate equipment in thefactory and it was quite a show. Thefactory and stock room was veryclean and impressive.

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SWOT members in attendance:W6BO Bob 3395WA6DAC Dave 3450AC6DC Dee 847W6HOC Howard 3419W6IZU Ken 3290W6JND Janet 3396WA6KTK Steve 3476N6RMJ Pat 2827KA8VAO Steve 3473K6SUE Sue 162W6OMF Larry 155

Fantastic auction deals wereobserved:A beautiful Kenwood TM-751 withtone and CW filter, $200Yaesu FT-847 with filters, $800Yaesu FT-736R with 222, 1.2, Tone,and CW filter, $1350FT-736R 1.2 module, $585FT-736R 222 module, $405

NorthernCaliforniaannual

M 2 swap meetFood and raffle itemswere supplied by M²with beams from 6thru 1.2, then HOloopsfor 6 thru 432. Therewere also great nonham items of Easterbaskets, great set ofcups, set of corkscrews, platters.

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The RockMobileIntroducing Bruce Brackin, N5SIX

For all you grid hunters and DX’ersout there, here’sa guy who hasworked moregrids whilemobile in histruck (alsoknown as theRockMobile)than many of ushave from ourmain basestation. BruceBrackin,N5SIX, hasaccomplishedmore on 6meters than on 2but he runs bothbands from thefront seat of hisvehicle whilemoving downthe highway! To make things evenmore interesting, his primary mode ofoperation is meteor-scatter contactsusing the popular WSJT software byJoe Taylor, K1JT! Bruce was just

awarded the Century Club Awardwhich goes to operators who have

worked 100 grids or more usingmeteor scatter propagation. “ I’vehad people ask how you can domobile WSJT. I tell them I find itmuch less distracting than voice. Don’t have to do much clicking on

6m (eitherit’s there orit’s not) andyou justhave toglance atthe laptopeveryminute orso” saysBruce.

Bruce gotinto themobilingbusiness asa result ofboth workand family.As anemployeeof the

Department of Health there were lotsof runs into Mississippi while morerecently he’s making trips into theDelta area. And there were the runsup into Memphis while his wife

Martha was doing 3 years as a post-Doc fellow at St Jude and many gridsfrom family outings to visit daughterslocated in Kentucky as well as theDallas-Ft. Worth area. He saysthere’s also a number of portablecontacts which were made by “sittingin an apartment parking lot on MudIsland in Memphis on Saturday andSunday mornings”.

Bruce has Degrees from MississippiState University and the University ofOklahoma School of Public Health.He first served 20+ years with theMississippi State Department ofHealth. Prior to public health Gradschool, he worked for MississippiState University as a Technician,Research Assistant and AssociateScientist. Bruce is currently theEpidemiologist with the MississippiAgromedicine Institute at the Univer-sity of Mississippi Medical Center.His ham background really startedvery early as a kid where he enjoyedrepairing radios and TV’s. Everythingwent on hold after discovering girls,then college, and then a family. After ascary health situation resulted inangioplasty and stints at age 47,Bruce decided to knock off the extrahours of work and take up radioagain. First came boat anchors withnumerous tube-type receivers andtransceivers brought back to life.After a friend and Elmer suggested heget a ham license, Bruce studied upand came home with a Technicianclass ticket and the call KD5IUG(December 1999). “After spendingmany many hours… trying to get thecode down, I realized and resignedmyself to the fact that it was not likelyto happen” states Bruce. “With myfairly profound hearing loss andsevere tinnitus on top of that, Idecided VHF wasn’t bad and thedigital modes very well suited for mysituation” he says. Bruce made his

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first digital contact with “Tip” (RandyTipton, WA5UFH) in April of 2002and says “ the great advantage of

WSJT modes is you don’t have towait for tropo, E’s or F2”.

The mobile setup consists of an IBMThinkpad PC laptop with an extrabattery that gives about 6+ hours ofuse. The PC is lashed to a homebrewmobile stand to keep it within easyreach and view. A Deluo mouse styleGPS and NMEATime software keepsthe timing true on the PC. A littleRascal interfaces the PC to the radiohardware which consists of an FT-100D which on 6 meters runs 6-8watts to a TE Systems 0510G and100-120 watts out although “I oftencut it back to 75-90 watts” saysBruce. The 2 meter side runs about6-8 watts to a small TPL brick forabout 90 watts out. Preamps are usedon both bands, the built in TE Sys-tems amp unit on 6 and an ARRpreamp for 2 meters. The brick ampsmount on a plywood board on theinside back wall of the cab wherethey can be reached if necessary. Theradio head is remote mounted on thehump and the main box is on the backwall with the bricks. A KB6BQ loop

is in use on 6 meters although Brucesays he still likes the homebrewcopper Squalo. On 2 Bruce uses a

pair ofKB6BQloops. Themain mountis a “goodoldWalMarttelescopingpool nethandle witha dowelrod in thesmallest topsection toprovide

stiffness and keep the u-bolts fromcrushing it” says Bruce.

The main problem encountered wasthe need to knock down noisesources in the truck. Bruce utilizedlots of braid and bonding and bettergrounds. He also passes along, “if youcan’t directly ground something withscrew and braid, Joe, K0OG taughtme an old instrumentation trick. Foldsome braid into heavy duty aluminumfoil and then wrap it around the itemto be shielded and or grounded.Ground the braid and you are good togo”. Bruce says another problemencountered was the occasional needto pull over and stop to finish a qsobefore crossing over into another grid.Rules of the “roving meteor-scatter”game declare that the grid to count isthe one you are in during the “RRR”(Rogers) sequence…

Bruce passes along the tip: “I thinkone part of WSJT that operatorsoverlook is the use of JT65 modes forworking close in grids with a mobile/rover. I handed 4 grids to AF4O on

one late afternoon run to Memphiswhich got him over the 100 grid markfor 2 meter VUCC. It was ducksoup.”

As for the future, Bruce says he wantsto continue fixing up old things andgetting them to work again. His latestproject was the resurrection of aTempo/Henry 6N2 amp which took ayear to complete. He also says that amobile-to-mobile contact would begreat and that he’s been bitten by theEME bug but “that may have to waituntil retirement 3 or 4 years fromnow”. Knowing Bruce and his moti-vation, he will accomplish all this andmore.

N5SIX six meter statistics:

GRIDS Activated = 25GRIDS Worked = 35STATES Worked = 18Initals Worked = 102DXCC Worked = 2 (US andCanada)Grid Combinations = 100(one or more QSO’s)Mobile 6m MS QSO’s =126 (78.8%)Portable 6m MS QSO’s = 34 (21.3%)Total Mobile/Rover 6m MS Q’s =160

Transco CoaxialSwitches

From the Product Data Sheet…

The Type-Y was designed by Transcoto meet the requirement for a small,lightweight coaxial switch having goodR.F. characteristics over a broadband-width (0 to 11 GHz) with1,000,000 cycle reliability. Type-YA,YB, and YC are the same basicdesign as Type-Y: Type YA and YB

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are 115 Vac and Type YC-YC hasindicator circuits.

The two independently operatingsolenoids allow make-before-breakor break-before-make operation.R.F. positions can be both on or bothoff simultaneously. Solenoids can besupplied normally open or normallyclosed so FAIL-SAFE operation iseasily provided by solenoid selection.Except for the Type-YA, switchesmay be stacked (placed one on top ofthe other using the same mountingscrews) for multi-pole operation.

Specifications:

500 watts@ 1 GHz 10 KW peakTemp. -54 degree C to 85 degreevibration: 20g’s to 500 cpsoperating time: 10 millisecondsnominalLife: 1,000,000 operations minimumweight 6 oz. max. SPDTSolenoid Power 7 W. NominalActuator voltage: 28, 120 VDC, 115VACRF connector: Type-N, This is thedescription of the 11100... (28 V withN connectors and both positions areunenergized open)Mil Spec. MIL-E-5372, Mil-T-5422

Loss <.2db to 2 GHz (.05 db typical)Isolation 50db @ 1 GHz 55 dbtypical11 GHz max rated frequency18-13 VDC Latch1-10 VDC drop out100-120 ohms coil resistance

Additional informationPlagiarized from SWOT newsletter 2/7/84 (with permission)Relay Care and Maintenance by KentBritain, WA5VJB

When you acquire your Transco, firstcheck for proper solenoid action.

Next check resistance when thecontacts are closed from the “IN” tothe Number “1” out and the “IN” tothe Number “2” out position

The exotic alloy used on the contactstarnishes easily and a relay that’s beensitting around for several months oryears can show 50 to 100 ohms ofcontact resistance. Cycle the sole-noid several dozen times until thecontact resistance consistently dropsto less than 1 ohm. In stubborn casesremove the connectors with a thin 7/16” or 11 mm wrench. Now burnishthe connector contact with a fine wirebrush or card board, reassemble, andretest. If you have an “Energize toOpen” solenoid you must energize/retract the solenoid while re-assem-bling or you will entrap the contacts.

Also on older relays it’s not uncom-mon to have some of the platingflaking off of the connectors. As longas the flaking is on the outside and notthe inside, performance is not im-paired.

An excellent find are the versionswhich have additional contactsactuated by the solenoid. Use thistype for your preamp, wiring theamplifier antenna relay thru the

external contacts of the preamp relay.

This way you cannot switch thepower amp to the antenna until thepreamp solenoid is fully retracted.

Another suggestion is to power therelay from a poorly regulated supply.(voltage doublers from 12VAC worknicely) The supply will give you 28-30 VDC no load to latch up quickly,then drop to 15-25 volts to hold inthe solenoid. At a constant 28 VDCthe coils dissipate 8 to 9 watts and getHOT!!!!!

73 Larry, W6OMF

April 2006Product Update

Single-board nuclear reactorsupplies standby power for 12years

Now available on a full-length plug-incard for IBM PC or compatiblecomputers, the QBX-1 add-onnuclear-reactor card provides backuppower for as long as 12 years. Whenthe card senses a power failure,explosive bolts eject moderator andcontrol rods from the reactor’sinterior within 20 microseconds,bringing the reactor to its fully ratedoutput of 20 kW in less than a milli-second. Over its 12 year active life,the reactor’s power decreases by25% to 15 kW. Integral heat fins provide convec-tion cooling of the reactor’s 500Wpower dissipation while the reactorremains in its standby condition. Ifyour computer’s fans can’t furnish400 cu. ft/sec of forced air for cool-ing, consider buying themanufacturer’s heavy-water coolingjacket and stainless-steel pumpmodule, which fit conveniently under adesk or workbench. Latches on each

Nuclear reactor supplies CPU power duringpower failure or other power emergencies. Thereactor also glows in the dark (as will you),which makes it easy to find your computer.

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side of the reactor module let you quickly exchange theradioactive core, should you need to replace it. Anoptional circular viewing port of lead glass lets you checkthe reactor’s internal mechanical assemblies. To protect users from undue radiation, each reactorincludes a shielding kit comprising five self-stick leadplates and 20 radiation-monitoring film badges. The leadplates mount inside your computer’s enclosure and reducethe gamma rays that cause soft errors to floppy-disk andRAM data. For further protection, consider buying themanufacturer’s 200-ft extension cords for keyboards andmonitors. Because the reactor can supply more than enoughpower for your computer, you can sell excess power toyour local utility company. An add-on phasing and meter-ing kit (PMK-1) lets you connect your reactor to the localpower grid. Each PMK-1 includes standard power-salecontracts and Rural Electrification Board rules and regula-tions. Although not required in all localities, each reactor cardpackage includes a standard 23-volume site-evacuationplan. The plan includes blank forms for you to fill in thename and address of your reactor site and then mail to theNuclear Regulatory Commission. As an option, themanufacturer supplies the plan on 12 MS-DOS-compat-ible disks in Wordstar format. User-friendly templates letyou type in information so that your word processor cancreate a complete, printed document. Reactor prices start at $2.3 million (1). Delivery, sevenyears ARO.

-Regus Patoff

Luminescent Electronic Products Inc, Box U-235,Trinity Site, NM 43210. INQUIRE DIRECT

Just a reminder to all concerning our SWOT Netsduring the storm season in which we are now in.It will be at the descretion of the net controls inthe event of severe weather that the SWOT Netsmay be cancelled for that particular evening ormorning. Especially during storms with a lot oflightning activity. Do not put your self at risk anduse common sense.

John Petersen KM5ESSWOT Vice Chairman #3331SWOT Net Manager

Event and Contest Calendar:Apr 04 1900-2300 local ETDXA 144Mhz SprintApr 12 1900-2300 local ETDXA 222Mhz SprintApr 20 1900-2300 local ETDXA 432Mhz SprintApr 28-29 SEVHF Society Conference, Greenville, SCApr 29-May 07 NAHSMS 2006 Spring Rally

May 06 0600-1300 local ETDXA Microwave SprintMay 13-14 2300-0300z ETDXA 50Mhz SprintMay 19-21 Dayton Hamvention

June 09-10 HamCom Plano, TXJune 10-12 ARRL VHF QSO PartyJune 24-25 ARRL Field Day

July 28-29 CSVHF Conference, Bloomington, MN

Aug 05-06 ARRL UHF ContestAug 10-Aug 16 SWOT Hot-Rock ShootoutAug 19-20 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest

Sept 09-11 ARRL September VHF QSO PartySept 16-17 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest

What to expect March - AprilMeteors:Lyrids Apr 22, 15zHR 2 daysEta Aquariads May 4, 15 zHR, 3 daysHalleyids May 7, 25 zHR 5 daysMay Arietids May 17, 15 zHR 3 daysFull Meteors calendar

Aurora:Watch: www.spaceweather.com

Tropo:Watch for:1. Upper Air High Pressure systems building fromNorthern Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico or SouthernFlorida.2. Pacific Fronts passing across the U.S. with a strongHigh Pressure ridge wedged between them.*The first one produces excellent Tropo for the Southeastcorner of the US. The second one produces strong Northto South paths from the Central Plains to the Midwest.

E-layer propagation:E season begins the end of April and continues until August.http://gooddx.xs4all.nl/cgi-bin/gooddxvisitors (listname="eskip-na-early")

Moon:WSJT JT65 contacts are possible any time of the monthhowever, see the moon-graphs on the last page of thebulletin. Minimum downgrade days are best for CW.

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SWOT Net ReportsHere are the net reports for Jan-Mar 2006

Northern California W6OMF (Sunday)Date Check-ins/GridsJanWeek 1 63Jan Week 2 80Jan Week 3 84Jan Week 4 66JanWeek 5 9624 stations checked in all 5 weeks33 checked in 4 times21 checked in 3 times20 checked in twice34 checked in once14 different grids in three states

February:35 stations checked in all 4 weeks27 checked in 3 times25 checked in twice35 checked in once122 different stations14 grids from CN82 to DM12

March:37 stations checked in all 4 weeks27 stations checked in 3 times30 stations checked in twice28 stations checked in once12 grids and 122 different stations

Northeast Missouri N0PB (Monday 8pm)Date Check-ins/Grids/States/SWOT01/02 28 - 17 - 6 - 701/09 30 - 16 - 7 - 701/16 30 - 14 - 6 - 901/23 29 - 14 - 6 - 901/30 28 - 15 - 7 - 602/06 34 - 16 - 8 - 802/13 31 - 17 - 7 - 702/20 35 - 19 - 8 - 702/27 33 - 19 - 8 - 903/06 36 - 16 - 7 - 803/13 31 - 19 - 7 - 703/20 26 - 16 - 6 - 903/27 28 - 14 - 7 - 9

North Texas W5FKN (Wednesday 9pm)Date Check-ins/Grids/SWOT/States01/04 22 - 15 - 12 - 401/11 25 - 14 - 12 - 301/18 14 - 12 - 9 - 301/25 25 - 15 - 14 - 302/01 25 - 13 - 14 - 302/08 23 - 14 - 13 - 402/15 31 - 18 - 18 - 302/22 30 - 18 - 15 - 303/01 19 - 13 - 903/08 22 - 11 - 903/15 23 - 12 - 1303/22 30 - 14 - 1403/29 28 - 19 - 11

Eastern Oklahoma KM5ES and KD5ZVE(Thursday 8pm)Date Check-ins/Grids/States01/05 27 - 13 - 3 KM5ES01/12 no net/weather01/19 18 - 12 - 3 KD5ZVE01/26 22 - 9 - 3 KD5ZVE02/02 28 - 15 - 3 KM5ES02/16 21 - 9 - 3 KD5ZVE02/23 27 - 12 - 4 KM5ES03/02 23 - 15 - 5 KD5ZVE03/09 35 - 15 - 6 KM5ES03/16 27 - 13 - 4 KM5ES03/23 20 - 10 - 4 KD5ZVE

East Tex. Pineywood KM5PO (Saturday 7am)Date Check-ins/Grids/States/SWOT01/07 19 - 09 - 301/14 23 - 10 - 401/21 18 - 08 - 301/28 11 - 07 - 302/04 13 - 08 - 302/11 18 - 09 - 302/18 17 - 09 - 302/25 no net/weather03/04 20 - 09 - 403/11 25 - 11 - 503/18 16 - 09 - 303/25 22 - 10 - 4

Daytona Beach Florida KU4VQ (Wednesday8pm)Date Check-ins/Grids/SWOT

Southern Utah Weak Signal Net WA0YPL(Wednesday 8pm)Date Check-ins/Grids/SWOT

New and renewed SWOT membersfrom Howard Hallman,SWOT Secretary-Treasurer

NU5D Steve Te mple, TXW5RVB Russel Vernon, TXN0XZB Cris Prairie Village, KSKA0JLF Don Prairie Village, KSN5POP Martin Baytown, TXKB5SXVHarold Lampasas, TX

K6IRZ Gary West Point, CA

DX reports Jan - Feb 2005:From SWOT member W5UWB/EL17ax:

10 GHz back up and running, albiet in a mast inthe garage! Soon I hope to get the XYL up thetower and remount it there.

On 222 all I can report is that I usually can hearthe Dallas beacon 222.060 in the morningsabout S-1 to S-2.

On 6 meters I worked YU1CF vie EME usingJT65B for initial # 7 on that band. I have 6eland 1KW there.

On 2 meters I worked JH0MHE via EMEusing JT65B on the 18th of March for initial #204 using my single yagi.

On 6 and 2 I continue to work meteors usingWSJT441 - relaible range on random meteorsseems to be in the 800-900 miles range. Aktho’W0VB at 1150 miles seems to always be there.But then he runs 1kw and the same antenna as I

do. ( 21el, 8wl by M2)

Real time Magnetic Field dials (Aurora)

Marshall Space Flight Centermeteor counts

Many of us in NA use a site to gaugehow random meteors are fairing. Thesite located at http://www.knology.net/~suggs/bigradar2.gif actually belongs to andis maintained by Rob, KB5EX. Robis with the Engineering Directorate atMarshall Space Flight Center inHuntsville AL. I’ve communicatedwith Rob several times to ask aboutthe system. Since I see questions onPJ from time to time about it, Ithought I’d paste together and passalong the info he has sent me over thelast 2-3 years.

First, the effort is his and several

others and is not an official NASAfunction. Rob says generating thecounting and plotting software was alabor of love and combined hisprofessional work on meteors with hisamateur radio hobby. As way ofbackground you might wish to readan article on SpaceWeather.com athttp://spaceweather.com/glossary/nasameteorradar.html about the setup. The additional info following isliberally paraphrased from Rob’s mail.

The mainblack line isfrom an audiostream fromone receiverusing a 2 elyagi pointed tozenith. Thegreen line is from a second receiveron the same frequency and uses a 6element yagi also pointed to zenith Both the black and green lines arefrom 67.250 MHz, channel 4 withzero offset. The green trace passesthrough a high-end sound digitizercard which isn’t as sensitive as theone for the black line stream. Thusthe green trace is less susceptible totropo ducting of the transmitter signalwhich swamps the receiver and killsthe meteor counts when “the skip isgood”. Rob says it sees fewermeteors and therefore will showlower counts and not spike as theblack line can.

The 2 recently added lines at the topshow the total power in each of thereceiver/antenna combinations. Theyfound that tropo ducting would causebig carrier(s) to boom in, swamp thereceiver, and cause the count to dropdue to loss of sensitivity. When thereceived power line goes up there is abig carrier present and you canexpect the count to go down. If thepower line stays low, Rob says he can

believe the counts. The color codingis the same as the count lines: blackfor 2 element zenith pointed yagi andgreen for 6 element zenith pointedyagi.

To get bearings to the various trans-mitters, a TV antenna and a rotatorwas used to direction find on thetropo signals. They have 5 andsometimes 6 carriers in the 3 kHzpassband and have been able to track

down the transmit-ters associated witheach trace/ping. Thegood news is that theTV stations fre-quency control isbad enough that theydon’t all line on topof each other. The

bad news is that the carriers shiftaround occasionally. He is stillworking on calibrating the wholesystem to account for the meteorscatter geometry (meteor trail orienta-tion relative to the rcvr to xmtr path)and would prefer that the carriersdidn’t move so much but there isn’tmuch we can do about it.

Hopefully the next time you look athttp://www.knology.net/~suggs/bigradar2.gif you will have a betterunderstanding of the system and itsdisplay. If any of you happen toknow or run into Rob, be sure tothank him for the many that use hissite.Bruce, N5SIX

Odds & EndsFrom Jim McMasters, KM5PO

Here’s a couple of interesting thingsthat have tugged at my spare time (haha! lately). The first is Google Earth athttp://earth.google.com/ They call thisthe 3D Interface to the planet and I

would say it’s pretty close. It is a slickinterface displaying the entire globefrom satellite photographs. My boyshave made it a quest to search out allthe SR-71 Blackbirds all over theworld and I think they’ve found 35...I’m going to challenge you to findreally large antenna arrays. The firstone to locate is the Very Large Arrayin New Mexico, http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ Good Luck!

VLA, near Socorro, NM

Another large antenna to find from thespace view is the Northern Crossradiotelescope in Italy, http://www.ira.cnr.it/

The Northern Cross radiotelescope

The last item is a new website serviceto aid us in tropo propagation predic-tion. It’s getting to be the right time ofyear for this type propagation and Irecommend check-ing this website outif you want to dig indeeper to under-stand the conditionsaround this thing wecall tropo. I recommend the “PDF to700mb” setting. http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

12

North American High Speed Meteor Scatter 2006 Spring RallySponsor: WSJT Group groups.yahoo.com/group/wsjtgroup/ Please read the rules carefully as changes in contest categories and awards havebeen made.

Rally period: 0000 UTC April 29 to 2359 UTC May 7, 2006. The rally period has been chosen to coincide with the eta-Aquarids meteor shower.More information on this shower can be found here.

QSO Procedure: QSOs can be made using any mode provided they are entirely by meteor scatter. No QSOs within own maidenhead grid square orany of the 8 adjacent grid squares. Exchange is both callsigns, 4 character maidenhead grid squares, and final ‘Rogers’.

IMPORTANT: All operators are reminded that exchanging information without the use of meteor scatter during the QSO attempt invalidates thecontact.

Bands: 50, 144, 222, and 432 MHz.

Categories: Categories are determined as follows: i) single band or multi-band, ii) high or low power (low power < 200 W for all QSOs), and iii)assisted or unassisted. Each of these categories compete against stations in their time zone. Single band operators compete with other single bandentrants on the same band.

Rovers: To encourage rover activity, a separate competition category exists for rovers. Rovers do not designate high/low power or assisted/unassisted,but time zones do apply. Rover operators must submit a separate log for contacts made from their home station.

The competition categories are summarized as follows:

Multi-Band, Unassisted, High Power 50 MHz, Unassisted, High Power 144 MHz, Unassisted, High Power RoverMulti-Band, Unassisted, Low Power 50 MHz, Unassisted, Low Power 144 MHz, Unassisted, Low PowerMulti-Band, Assisted, High Power 50 MHz, Assisted, High Power 144 MHz, Assisted, High PowerMulti-Band, Assisted, Low Power 50 MHz, Assisted, Low Power 144 MHz, Assisted, Low Power

Multi-band entries may not compete in the single band categories. Log submissions from single band stations on the 222 and 432 MHz bands are alsoencouraged, but there are no single band competition categories on the higher frequencies.

Operating assisted allows scheduling of QSO attempts during the rally period. Unassisted operation prohibits any scheduling or self-spotting duringthe rally, as well as any active or passive (i.e., read-only) use of Pingjockey or other websites. Detailed procedures for unassisted/random operationcan be found here. For unassisted entries, schedules made prior to the contest are allowed for QSO attempts over 1300 miles (2092 km). On 222 and432 MHz, prearranged schedules for any distance are permitted.

Scoring: Assisted: 1 point per QSO on 50/144, 3 points on 222, 10 points on 432. Unassisted: 3 points on 50/144, 9 points on 222, 30 points on432. Score is QSO points times number of unique grid squares worked per band. Rovers: QSO points x (Unique grid squares worked per band +Number of grids from which at least 1 QSO was completed). This is the standard rover scoring formula for VHF contests.

Assisted operators are strongly encouraged to work unassisted operators. As incentive, assisted operator entries can score unscheduled (ie. unas-sisted) QSOs with unassisted points. If a station has already been worked with assisted scoring, replace with appropriate unassisted points. Example:K1JT works W8WN on 144 MHz after scheduling on Pingjockey. The QSO is scored with 1 point. Later in the rally, these stations work randomly.The QSO is now scored with 3 points.

Log submission: Participants should submit: 1) A summary and 2) A rally log.

1) The summary should include: i) Your call, ii) Your time zone, iii) Single or Multi-band, iv) Assisted or Unassisted, v) High or Low power, vi) QSOsper band, and vii) Final claimed score. Please show the arithmetic you use to obtain your final score, ie. QSO points x Multipliers = Final Score.

2) For each QSO, the log must show: i) Date, ii) Time (UTC), iii) Callsign of station worked, iv) Grid, v) Band (50, 144, etc), and vi) QSO points.

Submission of the log as an Excel spreadsheet (arrange the columns as shown above) by email is strongly encouraged, although any convenient logsubmission format is acceptable. Electronic spreadsheet logs greatly reduce the chance of clerical errors that occur when the rally committee tran-scribes information from large logs (> 10 QSOs) into our database. OpenOffice Calc is an excellent free program that almost perfectly mimics Excel. Itcan be downloaded here. Logs should be emailed by June 11, 2006 to Mike WB2FKO (mph@swcp.com) or regular mail at 3209 Cagua Dr NE,Albuquerque, NM 87110.

Awards: Certificates will be mailed to the following stations:

Top score: Eastern/Central time zones Top score: Mountain/Pacific time zones

In addition, the top North American scores in each of the 13 categories shown above will receive a certificate — a total of 15 certificates will beavailable. All scores, including the various time zone winners, will be posted on the rally website.

Rally coordinators: Joe (K1JT); Russ (K2TXB); John (N6ENU); Mike (WB2FKO)

13

SWOT and Selected 2-Meter Nets

SWOT Nets in bold

Moon-graph used by special permission tothe Side Winders on Two Radio Club fromDavid Anderson, GM4JJJ.

New moon = sun symbol.Red data = Sky temperature.Pink data = Downgrade.Blue data = RangeGreen data = Declination

EME propagation moon-graph.Click here for full size image.

SIDEWINDERS ON TWO ENROLLMENT OR RENEWAL FORM

NOTE: Though your membership and number are good for life you must renew annually to receive the newsletter and stayon the active list..Enclosed find check/MO. to: New member—$12.00_______ Renewal——$12.00_________Howard Hallman WD5DJT, Sec.Treas.3230 Springfield Lancaster, TX 75134-1214New Member. I have worked the following members:Call: ___________SWOT No._____________ Call:___________SWOT No. _____________Renewing: My SWOT No. is __________Name:___________________________________________Call____________Grid Square_________________Street address______________________________________________________________________________City____________________________________State___________________Zip Code____________________Telephone Nos._________________________________E-mail___________________________________Receive Newsletter By Email: YES________ NO _________

Internet Links:A few links that are of interest to the Weak Signalenthusiast:WSJT Downloads (Now at version 5.9.3 - 04/01/2006)http://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JThttp://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JT/Download.htm

Lots of calculations (from Larry/W6OMF)Amateur Radio Propagation Studies

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NOM mp00:9 AV,retawediT 032.441

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EUT mp00:8 CN,orobsneerG 522.441 CH4K

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UHT mp00:8 sytiChtuoSainrofilaC LACRON 052.441 luaPJHC6AK

UHT mp03:7 KO,nacnuD/notwaLamohalkOtsewhtuoS

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