POTOMAC VALLEY RADIO CLUB - NEWSLETTER - JUNE/JULY 2000
Please support our sponsors:
Ham Radio Outlet
The RF Connection
Force 12 antennas (see discount offer at the
end of this issue)
PVRC CALENDAR
Weekly Wed
BWI Regional weekly breakfast. Wednesdays 7:30 am,
Basil's Deli, Elkridge Landing Rd near BWI.
Monthly
Over-the-Hill Luncheon. Date to be announced.
Jun 17 Sat
W3LPL open house, 3055 Hobbs Rd, Glenwood.
Jul 8-9
WRTC2000 part of IARU contest. See details in this
issue.
Jul 22 Sat
W4MYA open house. 12N-5pm, 5303 St Pauls Church Rd,
Goochland, VA. See below
? Sat
Joint PVRC/FRC meeting in the FRC area. TBA
Aug 12 Sat
Fowlfest at W3YOZ park.
Aug 19 Sat
NC picnic: 3pm at K2AV QTH, 2628 US Hwy 64 W, Apex, NC
Sep 7 Thu
PVRC/NC meeting at Ryans.
First meeting after summer recess
Sep 11 Mon
Central meeting. First meeting after summer recess
NEWSLETTER HELP NEEDED!
by Dick Wilder, K3DI 410-757-6706
I could use some help with the Newsletter! A
significant help would be an on-call Windows 95 and
Word 97 consultant to help me with such as mail merge
used to produce the bar codes. We can use some
technical and contest related articles. Is there
somebody who would feed me a monthly article about
score reporting deadlines, report formats, and email or
postal mail addresses? (If all SS logs were submitted
PVRC would be #1.)
VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR JUNE/JULY 2000
by Jack Hammett, K4VV
Guest Speakers have created some excitement for us as
Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, Tom Schiller, N6BT, and
John Devoldere, ON4UN came to speak at recent PVRC
events. Thanks to all of you who worked to make these
sessions possible. We want the tapes of these events
to add value for the membership and Regions of PVRC.
Our next visiting speaker will be Jay Terleski, WX0B,
the leader of Array Solutions. Brian and I
collaborated to invite Jay, who has accepted for the
trip to speak in July or August. Planning is underway.
There is news on the Force 12 discount program for PVRC
in this newsletter. Thanks to Jim Horton, N3KTV for
volunteering to coordinate and consolidate the PVRC
order. We may need to be reminded that this discount
program relates to commercial business, and some
aspects are not suitable for discussion on the air
(packet, voice, etc.). I made a blunder myself on this
issue.
With the recent news of our near miss on Sweepstakes,
we may ask ourselves what each of us may do to improve
our competitiveness.
WORLD RADIO TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS (WRTC20000)
DURING THE IARU CONTEST.
The WRTC2000 will be run (8am 7/8 to 8am 7/9 ET) within
IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIP, with 53 stations competing during
the July 8/9 weekend. Each team will use special call
with unique prefix from S500A-S599Z block, thus making
them rather interesting for prefix hunters. PVRC'er
K3NA will be on one team.
Each valid contact (duplicate contacts do not count)
with WRTC stations (S500A-S599Z) brings one (1) point,
regardless of mode and band. Multi and single operator
stations compete in the same ranking. IARU HQ stations
will be ranked separately.
Special WRTC T-shirts will be awarded to all stations
achieving more than: 80 points (DX) and 160 points
(EU). Plus there are various plaques and certificates
to be awarded.
Excerpts from logs must be submitted (only e-mail or
floppy disc) to WRTC2000 Organizing Committee, no later
than 15th August 2000. Their e-mail address is:
[email protected].
The announced referees to check the scores are K1ZZ
(Chief Referee), JE1CKA, K4VX, N6AA, S50R, S53R, and
UA2FZ.
The announced referees assigned to particular locations
are: 9A2AA, DJ6QT, DL1VJ, EA1AK, I4UFH, IV3TAN, JE1JKL,
K1KI, K1VR, K5RC, K6NA, K7SS, K9JF, KT3Y, LU6ETB, N2AA,
N2GA, N3RD, N5KO, N6KT, N6TJ, N7BG, OH0XX, OH1RY,
OH2KI, OK2FD, ON4UN, PY5EG, RU1AA, S50K, S51F, S53EO,
S53Z, S55OO, S57AD, S57AL, S57AW, S57U, S59L, SM3DMP,
T97M, UA2FZ, UX1UA, VA7CW, VK2AYD, W0UN, W1FJ, W6OAT,
W6UM, YL2KL, YU1AO, YT6A, and YT6T. More info can be
found at http://wrtc2000.bit.si/ or mirror site
http://jzap.com/je1cka/wrtc2000/
JOINT PVRC/CVCC OPEN HOUSE AT BOB MORRIS, W4MYA
Come inspect the new shack. I'm located just West of
the center of PVRC! Saturday, July 22 from 12N to 5pm
with food served at 1pm. Would like to get an approx
head count.. Please RVE-mail to [email protected].
FROM THE NORTH: I-95 South towards Richmond I-295
towards I-64 West toward Charlottesville. I-295 will
then dead-end into I-64 West. Get off at the Oilville
exit, the first after the rest area. Turn Left onto Rt
617; Rt 617 "T"'s into Rt 250. Right on Rt 250. The
next hard surface road on the left, Rt 632. Signs
saying Goochland Courthouse and J Sargent Reynolds Comm
College will be just before the road. Take the Left.
Rt 632 "T"'s into Rt 522. Turn Left onto Rt 522. Rt
522 "T"'s into Rt 6 at the traffic light. Turn Right
onto Rt 6. Ten miles brings you to Georges Tavern
Market which is also a Mobil gas station. The next road
is Rt 45; take a Left on Rt 45. Go 2 Miles and you
will see Rt 625 to the Left. Take a Left on Rt 625.
Go 0.2 of a mile on the right is the mailbox for 5303.
You have arrived. Number here is 804-457-9011
FROM THE SOUTH: If you are closer to I-85/95, run it
North. Take I-295 North around Richmond. I-295 will
terminate at I-64 West. Follow the directions above
from there.
If you are closer to RT 29, Run Rt 29 until Keysville.
Rt 15 North to Farmville, Rt 45 north out of Farmville.
Rt 45/60 East thru Cumberland. Take a left (North) on
Rt 45 east of Cumberland. After you cross the James
River go 4 miles. Take Rt 625 on the Right. Go 0.2
miles to mailbox 5303.
PVRC/NC MEETING MINUTES 4/9/00 by Pete Soper, KS4XG
The meeting was held at the Jim Graham building at the
Wake county fairgrounds.
Attendee Members: Jeff AC4ZO, Guy K2AV, Brian K3KO,
Bob K4HA, Jim K4QPL, Henry K4TMC, Rick K7GM, Mark
KI7WX, Pete KS4XG, Jim N3QYE, Dan N3ND, Jeff N3NPQ,
Howie N4AF, Bert N4CW, Tom N4TL, Jay NT4D, and Gary
W2CS
Attendee Guests: James KF4EZZ, Don W4ZYT, Don N4UB,
Chuck N8CH, Bob N3LDI, Robert N4ZAK, George N3GJ, John
W4AWM, Fred W4DF, Dan N1ND, Bob N2NFG, Terry K4TBN,
Joel W3RFC, Roger KD4MYE, and Linda N2YL.
Membership: This was the first meeting of Bob Turner
N2NFG of Warrenton. Bob is an active CW and RTTY
contester, scoring just under a million points in the
most recent BARTG RTTY contest. Bob has over 300
countries confirmed and enjoys PKS31 and satellite
contacts in addition to contesting and Dxing. (Bob
submitted a formal application to PVRC after this
meeting)
This was also the first meeting of Robert Little N4ZAK
of Chapel Hill. Robert is interested in contesting and
we look forward to seeing him in future meetings.
Business: K2AV called for a formal meeting at 11am but
there was no business to discuss or report except to
assert that this will be the regular April chapter
meeting site in the future.
Program: A RUFZ CW callsign exerciser was set up as
well as a short video of SSB Sprint action by KI7WX. A
map showing the club circle was on display along with a
large "Radiosport" banner and information sheets for
guests to our booth to take home. A writeup of the
day's events is here:
http://www.pagesz.net/~pvrcnc/Rfest2000.html
PVRC/NC MEETING MINUTES 5/4/00 by Pete Soper, KS4XG
The meeting was held at Jaspers Restaurant in Cary from
7-10:30pm
Attendee Members and applicants: Will AA4NC, Guy K2AV,
Brian K3KO, Jim K4QPL, Mark KI7WX, Pete KS4XG, Dan
N3ND, Jim N3QYE, Howie N4AF, Bert N4CW, Joe NA3T, Gary
W2CS, and Bob N2NFG.
Attendee Guests: W2CS introduced his wife Linda N2YL,
former Hudson division Director and his son Brian N2EKS
who is visiting from upstate NY. KS4XG introduced his
wife Jenny.
Membership: This was the second meeting of Bob N2NFG,
nominated for membership by K2AV. The vote was
unanimous. Welcome to PVRC, Bob! Chapter membership is
now 37.
Business: There was no formal business.
Announcements: N3QYE has taken over the chapter web
site and requested folks send pictures and/or URLs for
linking to their call on the main page. Jim's email is
[email protected]. Check out the web site at
http://www.pagesz.net/~pvrcnc
AA4NC observed that he was the only North Carolina
native present! KI7WX announced that Bencher was
forced to pull their tribander from the market as they
have not licensed use of a patent held by Force12.
Member News: N2NFG has moved to a new home and will be
planting a tower as soon as his lot starts growing more
grass than rocks.
N3QYE did some study of the chapter's Sweepstakes
effort in 1999 and pointed out a 27% increase in CW
points production over 1998. Jim is preparing with
K4QPL and KO4PY to do a battery powered QRP sweepstakes
effort at a high point in Raleigh. Jim hopes they'll be
able to construct some wire yagi antennas for the
effort.
N4AF had a lightning strike at his place and it took
out a lot of equipment. Howie has made repairs and is
preparing to host a serious effort for WPX/CW with K2AV
and N4CW. K2AV said he'd been working and busy with
other things with no time left.
K3KO has used up a third quarter mile reel of wire and
has beverages for seven directions now. Brian also
recently got a Titan 425 amp.
KI7WX bought three Bencher Skyhawks and has lined up
some Rohn 55G. N3ND and N4CW are having fun with
PSK31.
NA3T Has created a new version of his mapping software
that allows inclusion of towns down to population 1000
Joe's map site is here:
http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml
Program: There was a surprise visit by Slarnac,
Carnac's ham radio cousin. Slarnac divined the
identity of some PVRC/NC chapter members, holding
sealed envelopes containing their callsigns to his
forehead and discerning who they were by the vibrations
emitted:
Who will inspire and assist programming in a collection
of new ham radio programs after the fashion of RUFZ,
including one called SCRAMBLE UBN, which takes a legal
contest log and inserts modified calls and exchanges so
that points less penalties equals exactly zero,
designed to see if the contest committee is paying any
attention. (K3KO)
Who will be operating the CQWWCW in the middle of
Hurricane Schlamiel, loosing power when the hurricane
blows in a moonshine still from an adjacent county,
impaling it on the power pole out front. This
undefeatable individual takes a simple room fan, nails
it to the roof with some diodes, and runs the rest of
the contest on wind power qrp. Unfortunately all beams
are left pointing 210 degrees forcing him to work the
rest of the contest Long Path to everywhere except Bora
Bora. His high score in spite of these incredible
handicaps inspires the contest committee to create a
new class: QRP Long Path Only. He later takes the
Moonshine Still and converts it into a cooling tower
for his new system of water-cooled baluns. (N4AF)
Who, after having to move for the third time in eight
months, gives up on having a shack or putting down a
tower with a base, and mounts a crankup tower on the
back of a flatbed truck and an FT100 in the glovebox.
This works fine until the second night of the ARRL DX
SSB when his dry throat inspires him to drive the
flatbed 5 miles to the local 7-11 for a Slurpee. It is
only when he sees the 7-11 go dark as he pulls in the
parking lot, he remembers he forgot to lower the tower.
He gets off the hook for a million bux damage to phone
and power lines when the residents in the area blame it
on a low-flying inverted UFO giving off sounds like
"honkey honkey wngle Bltz ruddle ruddle oink". (KI7WX)
Who will manage to get $100,000 of radio gear through
Aruba customs both ways without a hitch, only to get
nailed for failing to declare his Lauren Bacall
designer socks bought from a street vendor operating
two feet outside the duty free zone. (AA4NC)
Who, after having lightning strike his keyer in the
middle of the SS CW, out of loyalty for PVRC and the
club score, operates the rest of the contest by
whistling into the microphone. He narrowly escapes
electrocution when the puddle of drool accumulating
under the microphone seeps into the rig coming in
contact with the 110, suffering second degree burns to
the lower lip and tip of his tongue. For the rest of
the contest he receives numerous reports about the
chirp on his signal. (KS4XG)
Who, after finally getting up towers and beams, 45
minutes before the contest suffers an anxiety attack
on account of dipole withdrawal symptoms. He later
works 98 countries on 40 meters single band using an
inverted vee, hurridly strung from the director to boom
mounting flange of his Force 12 Magnum 340N. (K2AV)
Following Slarnac we viewed about two hours of the
Force12 video presentation.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be 3pm Saturday,
August 19th at K2AV's home. Bring folding chairs,
significant others (kids too!). Guy says he might have
some tower work lined up and may send a request for
help earlier that day before the meeting. Directions:
From highway 55 take US 64 west 1 1/4 miles. Turn right
into service road (across road from Abingdon
Subdivision entrance) . Turn left on service road. Turn
right on paved driveway that has mailbox with 2628.
House not visible from the road. Take drive way to end
with loop right in front of house. Park in loop. Or
park as directed if someone is directing.
If coming from anywhere significantly west of NC 55,
any way that drops down or goes up to US 64 will be
better. At US 64 go east. East of Pittsboro, east of
Jordan Lake, east of stoplight at NC 751. 0.9 mi east
of gas station, Turn LEFT into service road across from
the Large Green Sign that says NC 55 1 1/4 miles. As
above. US 64 is four lanes all the way from Siler City
to Raleigh, except for Pittsboro.
SWVA CHAPTER MINUTES, 4/20/00 by John Mitchell, K4IQ
PVRC SWVA held a chapter meeting on April 28th at the
Sunnybrook Inn in Roanoke, VA. Present were WA4BKW,
Bill; W0MAN, Susanne, W4JAM, John; KU4RG, Anthony;
KF4OKG, Shilynn; W4YE, Buddy; N4EL, Nat and his XYL
Emily K4BSA; N4GU, Mike; K1GG, Gordon; and K4IQ, John.
After a nice meal, we adjourned to our meeting room
upstairs where we covered recent operating events.
KU4RG and KF4OKG operated together for the WPX phone
and turned in just under a million points. N4GU had a
mini-multi operation and had a lot of fun with five
operators and just over a million points. This
operation also uncovered a possible club addition, a
freshman at Va Tech who showed both interest and
promise in the operating position. W4YE operated a 10
meter solo effort, experimenting with NA. He said it
was "good practice" and we're all really happy to see
Buddy finally losing the mechanical dupe sheets!
Although, he usually beats our automated efforts with
them, we know he'll be posting even bigger scores soon.
W0MAN and W4JAM have selected a home site in Bedford
County, near Forest, and beta testing at the new site
showed some promising reception results. Nat and Emily
N4EL and K4BSA are going to be staffing the National
Jamboree at Ft. A.P. Hill next year, and are very
excited about the opportunity. N4GU operated the VA
QSO party and did quite well, possibly having this
years winning score! Congratulation Mike on a super
effort!
We then viewed the interesting video by N3RR on station
automation, and adjourned the meeting after setting our
next meeting for June 16th at the Western Sizzlin'
Restaurant in Christiansburg. We will meet at 6PM for
dinner then at 7:15 re-convene at the parking lot
behind Whittemore Hall at Va Tech, where N4GU will take
us on a tour of the Antenna Lab there. Look forward to
seeing everyone at that meeting, which will be an
interesting one, to be sure.
OTH MEETING 5/31/00 by Ben Shaver, AA4XU
The Over-The-Hill Division of the PVRC met on May 31st
for lunch and discussion at Main Street USA in
Annandale, VA. The following attended: K6ETM George
Sinclair, W3XE Andy Andersen, K3WX Tony Faiola, W3GN
Lawrence Fadner, W3UJ Henry Herman, K3ZO Fred Laun,
W3AZ Bill Leavitt, W4DM Dale Harris, and AA4XU Ben
Shaver. The next Lunch meeting will be held in Oxon
Hill, MD, Bill Leavitt, Host. All PVRC members and
their guests are welcome.
SHORT NOTES FROM THE EDITOR, K3DI
The email addresses were accidently omitted from the
membership roster distributed with the May issue. In
this Jun/Jul issue you will find those a single sheet
containing email address that may be remove and
attached to you copy of the roster. (The email list is
omitted from the electronic edition at www.pvrc.org.)
Barry WR3Z operating at WR3L had an unusual contact in
the WPX. He was called by Tom Warren DL/K3TW/BM. Tom
subsequently explained that BM was for "Bike Mobile."
The Roanoke Valley Hamfest and Computer Show sponsored
by the Roanoke Valley Amateur Radio Club will be held
August 5th from 9 am to 3 pm at the William Byrd HS,
Washington Ave (route 24), Vinton, VA. Talk-in on
146.985 (-600). Admission $6 at the door. Information:
email Dave Miller at [email protected] or
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homespages/fcupp/rvarc..
htm
K3ZO won the KCDXC annual pileup competition at Dayton.
Operating as MBOA in the reunion. Two days before
departing for England, I received word from G3HJF that
he had closed his B&B from which I was to operate.
With help from G3ZEM and G3VMW, I was invited to
operate from the station of John Dunnington, G3LZQ,
near York. He has FT-1000MP, an amplifier, a C-3 at 70
feet, plus seperate computers for CT and packet. During
the first 2 hours on Saturday morning I had 31 QSOs but
then the path crashed. I only worked only K3CKT during
following two hours. During the poor conditions, I
amused myself by answering calls from stations
participating in the European Field Day.
The referemce page was unchanged so was not included
this month.
S C O R E S
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Changes/additions/deletions *
* to W2GG via packet or *
* [email protected] *
* ### = missing information *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CQ WPX CW (#3 - 06/02/2000)
CALL PWR BAND QSO MULTS SCORE
* SINGLE OP - UNASSISTED
K3ZO C 1775 653 3,505,957
KT3Y C 20 1619 683 2,839,000
K8OQL C/TS 1238 572 1,795,508
N1WR B 1049 491 1,498,041
K4VV C 685 415 764,845
W3DAD B 368 244 264,252
KS4XG B 399 238 259,182
W3PP A 15 280 247 180,063
W3CP B 40 219 179 150,002
AA4KD B 254 ### 119,997
K3DSP B/R 275 188 115,432
N4MM B/TS 152 134 55,878
WD3P A 160 ### 53,467
W3UL C 150 123 52,275
* SINGLE OP - ASSISTED
W2GG B 630 371 630,329
W3HVQ C 578 387 611,460
K3SA C 553 341 507,408
* MULTI-SINGLE
N6TV C ### ### 256,100
* MULTI-MULTI
NR4M C 4391 1021 12,149,900
NY4A C 4576 974 11,769,816
W4MYA C 3987 974 10,523,096
WR3L C 2423 798 5,053,734
* DXPEDITIONS
V25A C 4478 891 12,213,828
A = QRP
B = LOW POWER
C = HIGH POWER
TS = TRIBANDER + SINGLE ELEM 160-40
BR = BAND RESTRICTED
R = ROOKIE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 LOGS CW TOTAL 65,369,570
39 LOGS SSB TOTAL 100,029,406
62 GRAND TOTAL 165,398,976
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LAST YEAR'S RESULTS (SSB & CW)
(Not available)
OPERATORS:
K8OQL from K2UOP QTH
N6TV K3NA plus 2 non-PVRC
NR4M K4EC K4GMH K4ZW K1SE K4EU WA4JUK
NR4M RA3AUU K7SV
NY4A N4AF W2CS N4CW K2AV
V25A N3OC plus 1 non-PVRC
W4MYA W4DR W4HJ WA4QDM WK4Y WU4G W4MYA
WR3L WR3L WR3Z K3FT AA3SC N3NT KA3TUL
PVRC REUNION SCORES (#1, 6/12/00)
Please report scores for the reuion only to
[email protected] or via packet.
Call QSO Mul Score
W3TMZ 157 19 5966
W4YE 116 19 4408
K3CKT 85 18 3060
WR3Z 84 18 3024
W3GRF 88 12 2816 Op: W3MC
K4VV 70 17 2380
K5RT 84 14 2352
W0SS 61 16 1952
K3ZO 54 17 1836
W3CP 46 14 1288
W5KL 53 12 1272
W2RS 48 13 1248
N8II 41 13 1066
N3II 42 12 1008
N6BM 42 11 924
K2BA 45 10 900
N3AM 39 9 702
KT5X 33 10 660
W6MVW 26 12 624
W4DM 28 11 616
W3PP 33 9 594
W3GN 28 10 560
M0BOA 32 8 512 Op: K3DI
W3FZV 24 10 480
W7YS 25 9 450
K3SA 23 9 414
W4ZYT 30 6 360
W3AZD 16 9 288
K4TBN 16 6 192
W4AGI 14 6 168
K4EU 11 6 132
W4PHL 15 4 120
N4AF 9 5 90
W2GG 7 6 84
W3LPL 9 4 72
KD6TB 5 3 30
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE R.F. CONNECTION
"Specialist in RF Connection and Coax"
213 North Frederick Ave, Suite 11
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
Tech Support: 301-840-5477
24-hour FAX: 301-869-3680
Order line: 800-783-2666
email: [email protected]
Please visit us on the web:
http://www.therfc.com
Our catalog includes UHF Series, N Series, BNC Series,
Adapters, F Series, DIN Plugs, Portable Radio Power DIN
Plugs, Hardline Connectors, Microphone Connectors, FME,
Reverse Polarity (TNC, N, & SMA), and two dozen coax
types.
---------------------------------------
PVRC Discount Purchase from FORCE 12.
In followup to our hosting the talks by Tom Schiller
(N6BT) of FORCE 12, Tom has offered PVRC the
opportunity for a discount on a consolidated order.
The deal is:
. PVRC will collect the members' orders for FORCE 12
products at a flat 15% discount off the catalog price.
All of the discount is to the members.
. The discount cannot be used in conjunction with any
other FORCE 12 promotion or sale (including Dayton
specials).
. We consolidate the order and receive a consolidated
shipment.
. We pay for shipping*. Shipping is to one
location**.
. FORCE 12 will take payment by credit cards for your
portion of the order.
. PVRC coordinates and consolidates the order. (That^�s
my job.)
If you are interested in participating or have any
questions, you can get in touch with Jim Horton
(N3KTV) at the following addresses.
[email protected]
Home number: 301-258-9731
Fax Number: 301-977-7962
Send me your NAME, CALL SIGN, EMAIL ADDRESS, POSTAL
ADDRESS and a PHONE NUMBER along with the FORCE 12
PRODUCT(s) you are interested in purchasing. Sending
me a note now does not obligate you to order. It gives
me an idea of who is interested, how many antennas and
what other products we are looking at. We are looking
to finalize the order at by the end of June.
You can checkout all the Force 12 Antenna selection at
their home pages
http://www.qth.com/force12/ and
http://www.force12inc.com/.
Note that the briefing on "Debugging an Antenna System"
that Tom presented is now available on the latter
website.
* To reduce the shipping cost, shipping will go to a
commercial address (my office located in Maryland.)
From there, we can distribute the antennas through the
PVRC sneaker net or make arrangement for you to pick up
your order.
** If there is a sufficiently large portion of the
order that can go to one location in another state or
distant Region, they will ship that portion of the
order separately. For instance, if there is a large
enough portion of the order to West Virginia and
everyone there agrees to get their order from one
location in West Virginia, FORCE 12 will work with us
to separate the shipment.
---------------------------------------------------------
Please send amateur radio mail for Dick via [email protected]