POTOMAC VALLEY RADIO CLUB - NEWSLETTER - MAY 2000
PVRC CALENDAR - Please see the REFERENCE PAGE for details
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.
Hosts listed on the reference page.
May 4 Thu
PVRC/NC meeting. Location to be announced.
May 8 Mon
Central meeting, Temple Hills, MD
May 12 & 13
ON4UN speaks in MD and VA. See article in this issue.
May 19-21
Dayton 2000 Hamvention, Dayton, Ohio
May 27-28
CQWW WPX CW Contest. This is a club competition contest
that earns PVRC 5 Mil points.
June 3-5
PVRC Reunion-on-the-air. See article in this issue.
Jun 17 Sat
W3LPL open house, 3055 Hobbs Rd, Glenwood. Starts at 12
noon rain or shine. Catered BBQ & beef. The N3IS ice cream
truck is expected. Great way to get in a meeting
Jul 8-9
WRTC part of IARU contest. Details in the next (Jun/Jul)
issue.
? Sat
Joint PVRC/FRC meeting in the FRC area. TBA
Jul 22 Sat
W4MYA open house. More info in the Jun/Jul issue.
Aug 1 Sat
Fowlfest at W3YOZ park.
Sep 7 Thu
PVRC/NC meeting at Ryans. First meeting after summer recess
Sep 11 Mon
Central meeting. First meeting after summer recess
We are sorry to report that three PVRC members are now
silent keys:
Adm. George Reifenstein, W3ML of Auke Bay, AK operated
from this area many years ago when he was Chief at the
Bethesda Naval Hospital. (via W3PP)
George B. Kabroth, W3PLI of Mechanicsburg, PA attained
DX Honor Roll and of was one of the charter members of the
PA chapter. (via K3TZV)
Ronald G. Martin, W6ZF of Napa, CA passed away March
16, 1999 at the age of 91. Licensed at age 12, he worked
his whole life in communications. (via daughter in Kansas
City)
The June/July issue deadline is June 7th. I'll be in
England (as MBOA) during the normal production period for
the June issue. The result is that June and July issues
will be combined and distributed in mid-June. I'm sorry for
any inconvenience. The Jun/Jul issue will contain details
of the WRTC to be held during the IARU on July 8th and 9th.
- K3DI
PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR MAY 2000 by Brian McGinness, N3OC
Lots of things continued to happen within PVRC last month.
Topping the list was the fine presentation given to us by
Tom Schiller, N6BT, who is president of Force 12 antennas.
The idea to have Tom come out from California to talk with
us came from our VP, Jack K4VV. He coordinated the entire
visit, with lots of help from other members, like N3RR and
KE3Q. N3RR did tape the presentation, and the tape is being
duplicated now and will be rotated around among the regions
shortly.
And a recent contact between K3ZO and ON4UN has resulted in
another opportunity for us to meet another world-renowned
contester, dxer and author, John ON4UN. Look elsewhere in
this issue for the details of this event from K4VV. Please
note the regularly scheduled May meeting on 5/8 in Temple
Hills WILL take place as scheduled, with dinner beforehand
at Mamma Stella's for those interested.
We will be introducing two by-law changes as that meeting.
One to allow for the club officers to be voted in by all
regions, not just the central region. This means we will
have to send out some type of ballot to each regional
coordinator in September, to be voted upon at your October
meeting, with the results to be forwarded to the election
chairman.
That sounds fancy, but the truth is that these positions are
usually uncontested. The three members of the board of
trustees that are not officers are tasked with developing a
list of nominees to be placed on the ballot. In early fall,
if anyone is interested in running for PVRC office, please
let N3RR, KE3Q or K3MM know about it.
The second by law change will be to remove the three year
term limit for only the treasurer and secretary, leaving it
in place for the president and vice-president. This was
suggested by those currently in those offices, who have
spent a lot of time setting up their systems and don't seem
to mind staying on.
If anyone has any comments on these two changes, please let
me know. They will be proposed and tabled at the May
meeting, and voted on at the June meeting at W3LPL.
Dayton is right around the corner. I won't be able to go
this year, but if anyone want's to hold a club meeting,
that's fine, and please forward a list of attendees to the
secretary.
This newsletter issue will also announce the annual PVRC
reunion. I hope to get on and work as many of you as I can.
There are a couple guys out there real serious about winning
this, so let's try to get on and give them some business!
GO PVRC!
TREASURER'S REPORT, by Dave Baugher, WR3L (4/22/00)
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to PVRC over
the past year including the following for donations in
April: N4MO, NT4D, WB4DNL, KC9LC, W4RX, N4MXT, WU4G, N6NRJ,
AND NB3O.
PVRC MEETING MINUTES for April 10, 2000 by Jack Hammett, K4VV
There were Luncheon, Dinner, and PVRC Central Meeting events
on Monday, 4/10 with Tom Schiller, N6BT, President of Force
12, Inc as the Speaker.
The luncheon was cohosted by Rich, KE3Q and Frank, W3LPL at
the Dough Roller Restaurant in Crofton, Maryland.
Twenty-four people attended including our Speaker Tom, N6BT,
three Guests, John K8JW, Rick WB2TNL, and Chuck W3PJ, and
twenty members KE3Q, W3AMY, W3LPL, W3MC, W3MR, W3DAD,W3YD,
W3OU, N7PD, N3HUV, K3DI, KF3BE, K3ZO, W3TOM, W3TMZ, K1EFI,
K2YWE, elKD4D, W3YOZ, and K4VV.
Tom told of his life-changing experience in a 1983 contest
operation using an array of broadcast curtains with 21dBi
gain on Saipan, focusing his energy to understand and apply
knowledge of why some antennas "work in a superior manner."
(I am paraphrasing.) Later in life, Tom founded Force 12 to
continue the pursuit of efficiency in antennas.
Some question and discussion topics: Debuggng the Antenna
System--a briefing with handout (available in soft copy for
personal use), was the primary topic, with many practical
tips based on Tom's extensive experience with customers
deploying his products.
Topics:
"everything works";
Baluns to balance;
spacing >14' to WARC antenna;
the Zagi;
Progression of antenna upgrades:
C3SS @ 30 ft, to 42 ft,
C3 @ 70 ft, to 90 ft, to 110-120 ft;
two short boom tribanders (eg. C3's)
stacked w/ 28 ft spacing;
"really likes stacks;"
DDRRs;
Tailgunner switch to open up the reflector;
the baloon demo on how to get 6dB of "ground reflection
gain;" Camaflage with variegated shades of grey or green
black is okay w/highlights--break it up;
MFJ and Autek reject broadcast energy;
trees don't seem to degrade;
elevated radials @ 16 ft on 160m;
shading effect in inverted stack--20/15/10m from the top.
A fun event with good info!
The dinner was cohosted by Bill, N3RR and Brian, N3OC at the
Olive Garden Restaurant in Tysons Corner, VA. Thirty-one
people attended, including our Speaker, Tom N6BT, one Guest,
Ken W8SVP, two NCDXA members: Ben W4FQT, and Ray K5RJ, and
28 PVRC members: N3RR, N3OC, W3YOZ, K4VV, K3MM, W3DQ, W3TOM,
N4ZH, N4ZR, K3SA, N3AM, W3GG, K8OQL, K2UOP, K3WC, N4MM,
WK3W, W4NF, W4RM, W4CE, W3EMH, W3UJ, W4LIP, KE3Q, N3KTV,
W8ZA, and NE3H.
Topics:
Saipan--a 60 dB difference vs a tribander!;
verticals on the ocean--~16 dB difference;
best heights: 30', 42', 70', 90', and 120';
use of YT Terrain modeling software,
Digital Topographic Map data;
WARC bands troublesome near tribander:
separate tower;
lateral separation:
~1/2 wavelength (~70' on 20m);
use of test range;
lobe suppression with gain;
Gain of various objects
Light bulb -18 dB
dipole 0 dB
very good 6 el monobander +8 dB
Illuminator 3 element array with +4 dB gain and 20 dB f/b;
Receive antennas on 160:
EWE--fair,
Beverages--tops,
Mag loop-very good;
rooftops--C3SS.
Tom talked over the Music (QRM). Bill, N3RR did a video
tape of the dinner remarks.
The meeting was hosted by Brian--N3OC at the Vienna
Community Center in Vienna, VA. Brian gave the Presidents
Report:
1) Still awaiting word from FRC on the joint
meeting--having it at W3LPL is the backup plan,
2) Next major HF contest is WPX CW; PVRC did very well in
WPX SSB with some very big scores, and
3) N3OC will not be at Dayton this year.
Jack, K4VV introduced Tom--N6BT as an accomplished leader
and successful entrepreneur who has turned his energy to
antennas through Force 12, Inc.
Forty-five people attended, including Tom--N6BT, 5 guests:
Ben W4FQT, Ray K5RJ, Hal WB3KOV, Bill W3HXF, and Tom N4ZPT,
and 39 PVRC members: N3OC, WR3L, AJ3M, W2YE, W4RW, N4MO,
W3TOM, N3AM, W3UJ, K3SA, WK3W, N7PD, NE3H, N4ZR, N3FX,
WZ3AR, W4RX, W3DQ, N3JT, W3EMH, W3AZ, K3WC, KT3Y, K4VV,
K3MM, W8ZA, N3KTV, W4NF, W4RM, W4CE, AD3F, N4ZH, W4LIP,
N4MM, K8OQL, K2UOP, N1KC, N1KCE, and W3YOZ.
Some notes:
Debugging;
Saipan w/ Gary Caldwell 21 dBi, 3xTCI 611
Curtains on 240' towers in CQWW;
the baloon--+6dB;
Dream F12 Installation for 80-10m on a single tower?
Typical is C4E w/shunt fed tower on 80m
"Millennium" is 2el 80, 2el 40m, C31XR;
height is a budget issue;
Interaction?--Beasley software;
Advantage of 1/2 wave vertical?
no radials,
feedpoint is elevated;
Everything works--
Lightbulb,Illuminator
is -18 dB to dipole (lots of enjoyment)
to 2 el beam
1/2 way to "World Class Performance";
what angles for DX?;
Examples from Dean Straw;
ZR verticals;
Vertical lobe suppression--
"if you can't make it high,
make it big--gain";
6Y2A data and performance;
the Team;
verticals & radials on the beach in bad wx
Range of what works is 25 dB;
2 el yagi works 95%;
WX0B Stack Match with 300 watt bulbs:
33 countries
Impressive improvements?--Horizontal,
rotatable dipole, 6-10 dB vs Inv Vee;
Triple Monobander;
ZR type vertical,
+2 to 6dB vs. trapped vertical;
New 40m design--uses solid rod loading,
stacks w/in 7' of C31XR;
Rivits--reliable;
Good height for C4 is 42';
Stacks of C3's.
These topics listed are from rough notes, and I may have
misunderstood some points, so check the tapes for Tom's
actual words.
Special thanks to Tom Schiller for traveling and giving his
time to engage the members and guests of PVRC. Cudo's and
congratulations to N3RR who cohosted the dinner and provided
the powerpoint projector and taped both the dinner and the
meeting for copies to be available for members who did not
attend; to KE3Q who provided back up equipment and led the
effort to put the Luncheon together, with help from W3YOZ
who scouted Restaurants and gave Tom a tour of Annapolis; to
W3DQ who helped with messages and coordination; to
Ben--W4FQT and Ray--K4RJ, both from NCDXA, who handled the
arrangement for the Vienna Community Center, and to N3OC who
provided leadership in guiding the activities. This was an
extremely interesting and stimulating day. [email protected]
ON4UN PRESENTATIONS; MAY 12 IN MD AND MAY 13 IN VA.
ON4UN Presentation on May 12 in Maryland. The PVRC
Leadership Team is pleased to announce that John Devoldere,
ON4UN--Author, Innovator, and Accomplished Contester and
DXer--is traveling through Maryland and will join us to make
a Presentation focused on antennas. The planned topics are
Radials and Beverages, with photos of his antennas eland
contesting experiences. The Radials briefing is one that
John will also present at the Antennas Forum a week later in
Dayton. John will answer questions and offer practical
suggestions for our antenna challenges. John's planned
Presentation was made possible due to a contact with Fred,
K3ZO who set the process in motion. John is driving here
from New Jersey on Friday 5/12, pausing at W3LPL for a tour
of Frank's master station, then joining us for dinner and
then to speak.
The Presentation with Q&A is scheduled for 7:30 to 9:30 PM
on Friday, May 12, at the Auditorium of Capitol College in
Laurel, MD. John will stay afterwards to meet the local
Hams and answer questions. Bill, N3RR has made all the
arrangements for use of the Auditorium, parking, and
coordinating the audio/visual support for the Presentation.
Tyler, K3MM and Rich, KE3Q have volunteered to video tape
the session for use by interested Regional Units within
PVRC.
This session is a meeting of PVRC. Brian, N3OC will Chair a
three minute opening to expedite John's Presentation.
PVRC and NCDXA members and guests are all welcome. The
Auditorium seats 300, so there is plenty of room for guests
and all comers. The Presentation is open to all interested
hams. Please pass the information to your friends and to
the local clubs whose members may have interest. Please
email to [email protected] for reservations.
John will have copies of his recent Book available. He will
also autograph any of his books that are available.
Directions will be posted on the PVRC site soon--see
http://www.pvrc.org, or see
www.capitol-college.edu/general/map.htm.
N3RR has planned a dinner event at 5:00 to 6:45 PM at the
Moose Creek Steak House, which is the Restaurant in the
Holiday Inn where the "Over the Hill Gang" meets. Driving
Directions:JCT I-95/I-495 CAPITAL BELTWAY & US ROUTE 1 AT
EXIT 25A . For a map see http://www.basshotels.com/holiday-inn.
The hotel telephone is 301 345-6700.
The dinner is limited to PVRC members and guests due to
space limitations. Dinner conversation will probably focus
on contesting. Please email Bill at [email protected] for a
reservation.
We are very pleased to host John Devoldere for a
Presentation that will contribute to building our contesting
and DXing capabilities. Please help pass the word to
friends and local clubs who may have interested members. A
separate short message is being circulated subject: "ON4UN
Speaks...", that is useful to pass to friends and local
clubs.
Comments or questions are welcome to [email protected] or to
[email protected]. 73 Jack Hammett Jr, K4VV
ON4UN presentation on May 13 in Virginia. For any outlying
chapter members who may not have the opportunity to attend
the ON4UN presentation in the Capitol area he is still on
schedule for a visit to SWVA region on May 13, in Lynchburg,
VA. G.P. Howell, WA4RTS, who is arranging the visit for the
local club in Lynchburg, has arranged for a 200-seat
auditorium at the Ericsson facility there, and has requested
I provide him a head count of PVRC SWVA attending. So, if
any members from Central or NC (or any other member for whom
the venue is convenient) are planning to attend, please
email me. I have not received details of his presentation
yet, but understand he has a lengthy slide presentation
which may be part of it. Presumably there would be some
overlap of material presented between the Capitol Area and
SWVA presentations. 73, John Mitchell, K4IQ [email protected]
NW REGIONAL MEETING MINUTES- 4/18 By Greg Altig N5OKR ([email protected])
In attendance were members N5OKR, K4VV, K3WC, N3YDT K3ZO,
W3ZZ, NE3H, W8ZA, N3KTV, K3UG, K3IXD, WD3A, K3MM, K3LP,
W3YOZ, and guests Laurie and Tayler Stewart, and special
guest speaker K4ZDH.
Business: There was no business conducted. I was a little
disappointed by the large number of members who said they
would be there and didn't show. It makes me, and therefore
us as an organization, look a little foolish to tell the
restaurant manager that I have 27 confirmed and to expect
30-35 (considering walk-ins), and have only 15 attend. By
the way, the buffet at our meeting location, the Paradise
Restaurant, was outstanding and a return is definitely in
the future. Thanks to those who chipped in to pay for
Riley's dinner.
Special Guest Speaker: In lieu of our normal roundtable
ramblings from the members, the floor was turned over to our
guest speaker, Riley Hollingsworth of the FCC's Compliance
and Information Bureau. His presentation was video taped by
K3MM, and will be available for distribution to the other
regions after reformatting and duping.
Given that Riley's talk was video taped in its entirety, I
won't go into detailed notes on its content. To summarize,
he has seen progress in the 14 months since he last visited
us (18 months on the job), but hasn't worked himself out of
a job yet. There is much more to be done, and he counts on
us to be his eyes and ears to prevent backsliding into what
he calls the "dark ages" of amateur rules enforcement.
Riley views the license restructuring as having very little
effect on the bands compared to what they are now, and
considers the code requirement, however minimal, to be the
filter between those that are serious about the hobby and
those that are not. One thing he welcomes is the fact he
won't be seeing any more medical waivers for the code from
podiatrists cross his desk. Meeting adjourned.
PVRC/NC MARCH AND APRIL MEETING MINUTES by Pete Soper, KS4XG
The 3/2/00 meeting was held at Ryans Family Restaurant in
Cary from 5:30-7:30pm.
Attendees: Will AA4NC, Guy K2AV, Bob K4HA, Jim K4MA, Jim
K4QPL, Mark KI7WX, Pete KS4XG, Bert N4CW, Joe NA3T, Jay
NT4D, Gary W2CS, and Will WJ9B.
Program. This month we had a presentation by Joe NA3T about
VHF propagation based on contest log analysis.
The 4/6/00 meeting was held at Ryans Family Restaurant in
Cary from 5:30-7:30pm.
Attendees. Will AA4NC/W4MR, Guy K2AV, Brian K3KO, Bob K4HA,
Jim K4MA, Alan K4PB, Jim K4QPL, Debbie WD8EBI, Pete KS4XG,
Jim N3QYE, Jeff N3NPQ, Bert N4CW, Joe NA3T, Jay NT4D, and
Gary W2CS.
Membership. This was the second meeting of Debbie WD8EBI
sponsored by Jay NT4D. Jay said Debbie has expressed an
interest in joining him in future multiop efforts and
presented her as a new member. A vote was taken and it was
unanimous. Welcome to PVRC, Debbie. Chapter membership is
now 36.
We are sad to report that Alan, K4PB will be moving with his
wife to Jupiter Florida later this month. Alan has
contributed 2,758,564 points to PVRC during the 5mil award
period as of ARRL 160. His contributions to the club, to
local member's tower work, the Cary ham club and other
efforts in the community have made a difference. We wish
Alan and his wife luck and all the best down South.
Business. RARSfest (Raleigh Amateur Radio Society Hamfest)
is this Sunday, April 9th (note this has past - editor) from
8am to 4pm at the Graham building at the Wake County
Fairgrounds (corner of Hillsborough and Blue Ridge in
Raleigh). PVRC/NC will have tables for selling junque as
well as showing videos and hosting computer contest
simulations, RUFZ, PED, VPED and other six legged animals.
KS4XG, K4TMC and N3QYE will set up equipment and member's
junque Saturday night (contact us if you want to help:
[email protected] ALWAYS WORKS). One or all of us will be
on site from 7am Sunday (so we can get a jump on reading the
paper before the crowds hit). N3QYE will monitor 146.775
(PL 88.5) and KS4XG will have a cell phone (604 0721).
K4HA will have a phone from a bit later in the day at 215
2018.
It was moved and seconded to make the RARSfest a regular
PVRC/NC meeting. A signup sheet will be present and a
formal meeting will be held at 11am.
The special May meeting will feature video of the Force12
presentation to PVRC that we expect to be taped this month.
Unfortunately we're sure that last year's meeting place
(Fox&Hound) is too small this time so we've got to line up
an alternative and we didn't do it in time for these
minutes.
A notice will be sent out ASAP, hopefully in time to update
the web site before the Fest!
Announcements. The chapter is pleased to recognized
potential recipients of PVRC 5 Million point awards for the
current season. N4ZR's data indicates that Brian Alsop
K3KO, Guy Olinger K2AV and Jay Brookover NT4D will likely
pass the 5 million mark this season. Joining K4MA and AA4NC
from the '97 season and N4AF and N4CW from '98 we
congratulate Brian, Guy and Jay for their accomplishments.
W2CS needs a new wafer for his SB220 band switch. If
anybody has solutions for Gary please contact him at
[email protected]. Gary also wonders if there exists a
decent 7 band wire antenna that presents a 50 ohm match all
bands and avoids the efficiency and maintenance pitfalls of
typical trapped designs?
K4QPL is hosting a tower raising party starting 8am April
15th (details sent to pvrcnc reflector, follow-up to
[email protected]).
K3KO will be at RARSfest eager to get two watt carbon
composition resistors of 470, 560 or 620 ohms. (see
Beverage adventure below)
Member News. N4CW has rediscovered RTTY with an old PK232
and the WF1B software. Bert said this is the best tool ever
for finding amplifier and antenna trap weakness.
W2CS has likewise gotten involved with PACTOR but is working
on computer controls for this. Gary said the duty cycle is
similar to CW.
K4PB has QST, CQ and other ham magazines to go to the
hamfest. Alan has 1 1/4 acres and a new home in south
Florida and will hopefully be heard on the low end of the
bands from his new QTH soon. He reports that he had a
nightmare recently that AA4NC left CP&L (NC power company)
and moved to South Florida to work for Florida Power and
Light and living very close to him, continuing the plague of
strong key clicks that Will has visited on Alan for so many
years (Alan's current home is roughly 3/4 mile away from
AA4NC). Will said that he has bad news, as CP&L is buying
FP&L and he expects to be moving to Jupiter around a month
after Alan. Will is changing his callsign to AA4FL to
commemorate this move. (A slightly late April Fools)
Jay hosted a M/S effort for the DX phone contest with N3QYE
and KS4XG but skipped the WPX contest.
K4HA is focused on helping K4PB disassemble his station and
will be taking Alan's tower down with help from other area
hams on the 7th.
KS4XG has his new hamshack finished and is focused on the
antenna farmette. Pete took part in WPX at AA4NC but simply
stunk on the Sunday morning and hurt the effort.
K3KO received notice of his induction into the DXCC Honor
Roll, luckily just before the inclusion of 4W. Brian put up
four 550 foot Beverage antennas with help from N4CW to
augment his EWE. He had an adventure with terminating
resistors. On the up side he found that using an Autek RF1
to look for minimum SWR variation as he swept the frequency
was the easy way to zero in on a proper terminating
resistor. For Brian's Beverages this was 560 ohms, but he
said that 470 and 620 ohms worked OK. Going outside that
range showed jumps in SWR however.
The downside was finding proper terminating resistors.
Carbon composition two watt resistors are quite rare now and
ceramic resistors are risky as there are both noninductive
and inductive types with unclear distinctions between the
two. Brian was saved by N4CW's junk box, which provided all
the resistors he needed.
N3NPQ has a new house, a tall Oak for an HF antenna and a
newly purchased FT100 to explore HF. Jeff will be taking at
least one upgrade exam at RARSfest.
N3QYE has been hard at work editing the KI7WX SSB Sprint
video so it can be viewed at RARSfest. Jim snagged a
Moseley Junior that may be of use to N3NPQ. AA4NC thinks
this is like a TA33 but with lower power traps.
AA4NC sponsored a M/S for WPX with KI7WX and KS4XG ops,
worked some DX and did QSL card duty. Will has plans to add
an extension to the house to support additional operating
positions.
K4QPL has concrete! Lots of concrete! Concrete with a
section of 25G in it, concrete with guy anchors, concrete
stuck to Jim's shoes. Jim hopes to be squinting at a TH7 @
75' soon!
K2AV has been under the weather for many weeks but is better
now. Guy has also been swamped with family activity as
relatives finish moving into the area from New York. Guy is
preparing with N4CW and W2CS to join N4AF at Howie's place
for a mini-M/M WPX/CW contest.
K4MA made a strong showing for WPX (beating the much
stronger hardware and three ops at the AA4NC station).
Next Meeting. The next meeting will be Thursday, May 4th,
location TBD very soon.
The May meeting will be the last of the season. Summer
meetings, if any, will be scheduled via email. The next
regular meeting of the chapter for the next season after May
will be Thursday, September 7th at Ryans.
CVCC MINUTES 4/11/00 by John Youell, WA4QDM
The April meeting got off to a good start with about a dozen
present at the "Greek" restaurant for a pre-meeting meal.
Our guest speaker Sam (W4PK), his wife Judy and his daughter
Terry joined us there. In addition to the regulars at the
"Greek" were W4DR's wife Rosalie (N4CFL), Phil Hughes (W4CSA
the former KN4U) and Jim-Bob (don't remember the call).
We lost Phil between the "Greek" and the Mennonite Church
(allegedly he had to go to work), but we met another dozen
members at the meeting site. Paul (K4JA) took a break from
building his super station and joined us (did he say 80
yards of concrete?)! The meeting started at about 7:30 pm
and the first order of business was the presentation of our
new awards by Bob (W4DR). Bob did an outstanding job of
presenting the handsome plaques that he designed. The
highly coveted and much sought after awards were for "Most
new band countries", won by Jon (W4HZ) and "Most improved
percentage of band countries" won by Sam (W4PK) our guest
speaker. The "Most new band countries" award is sponsored
by the club and the "Most improved percentage of band
countries" award is sponsored by Herman (N4CH). Honorable
mention goes to Mike (N4MXT) runner-up for the "Most
improved percentage of band countries" award by a fraction
of a percent.
At the conclusion of the awards presentation, Bob (W4DR)
introduced Sam (W4PK) who put on an excellent power point
presentation entitled "A serious Foxhunt a long time ago".
The presentation was based on Sam's stint with the FCC in
Florida during his college years (I think he said in the
50s, hope I got that right!). There were several
photographs of vintage radio equipment including loop
antennas for the mobile and other RDF gear. The "serious"
foxhunt was the DF effort in locating a station that was
sending brief coded messages in CW. Listening stations
spread over the eastern U.S. had pinpointed the station as
being near Miami, so Sam's office got the call to further
pinpoint the station. Since a mobile loop antenna would be
a giveaway, one of the FCC agents devised a portable loop
that was concealed in his hat! The station was pinpointed
and the antenna spotted in the trees, but because the coded
transmissions had now been "cracked" the station was allowed
to continue operation, giving Federal agents the dates and
times of gun smuggling operations! Sam got a well-deserved
ovation at the end of the presentation and we took a break
to help Sam pack up, as he had a two-hour drive home.
After seeing Sam and his family on their way we continued
with re-electing club officers for the coming year. (Hey,
we had no competition running on the "We brought the
sunspots back" ticket)!
We had two great sites offered for the June picnic, Jim's
(W4ML) Mattiponi River place and AC's (W4HJ) cousin's place
on the Appomattox River. By a narrow vote, Jim's place was
chosen and the date is June 10.
Jim (W4ML) and Bob (W4MYA) both gave updates on their
respective M/M Virginia QSO Party efforts. I think Jim said
he had about 125,000 +/- points and Bob had about 715,000
(this should be a new record). Jim had some new contesters
and pointed out that this is an excellent training
opportunity. Tom (N4ZJ) said that he and Henry (N4HB) had
about 20,000 points mobile. It will be interesting to see
how we did, since the Loudon ARG put on an all out effort.
Bob (W4MYA) pointed out that his WPX SSB M/M score is
presently 4th in the US. Bob is looking for operators for
the WPX CW contest at the end of next month.
Jim (W4ML) is holding code practice on 146715 Sundays at 7AM
and Becky (KS4RX) is willing to work with anyone interested
around 8PM Wednesdays on 28 mhz.
Two final items. We voted to fix the south side packet
antenna amd Jim Green will look into arranging for a crane.
Bob (W4MYA) is going to have a joint PVRC / CVCC picnic - I
think it is July 22.
Lots of good DX coming soon, including 7O and A5! See you in
the pile-ups!
THE WORLD CONTEST STATION DATABASE by Pete Smith, [email protected]
Several years ago, Scott Tuthill (now K7ZO) harvested a pile
of contest reports from the 3830 reflector and produced two
Excel spreadsheets giving station descriptions for close to
1000 contesters worldwide. As you can imagine, collecting
and updating the information was a lot of work, and after
about two years he suspended any further updating.
Last fall, I contacted Scott and got his permission to make
the database available on the Internet, together with a
facility for updating on-line. Initially, I deployed it on
a machine at work, and the response was immediate. The
database grew to over 1500 stations, and hundreds updated
their existing station descriptions.
Anticipating my retirement on March 31, I went hunting for a
new home for the database. Bill, W4AN, volunteered
www.contesting.com, and I went to work with Leigh, KR6X, who
modified the database and web pages to run on
contesting.com. You'll find it there, under "resources," at
the bottom of the page.
So why care? Well, I've often wondered why OK2RZ was so
loud on 10 meters -- the database tells you why. Get waxed
in a pileup? See what the other guy was using. You can get
a really interesting snapshot of competitive station design
here that isn't available anywhere else. The data can be
harvested for conclusions on everything from the most-used
contest radio to the average number of elements on 40...
The possibilities really are endless.
The database is available at
http://www.contesting.com/stationdatabase.htm.
Are YOU listed?
SHORT NOTES by the editor, K3DI
Scott at Alpha/Power said that they normally limit their
advertising to major publications. PVRC says thank you to
Alpha/Power for helping in the cost of distributing our
annual jumbo issue.
A Testimonial Dinner to honor Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC, will be
(or was) held on Saturday, May 6th at the Goddard Recreation
Center. Starts at 5:30 PM with dinner at 6:30 PM. Tickets
are $18 but the seating is limited to 110. You may contact
Hugh O'Donnel W3FUO for more information at 301-286-7684 or
[email protected].
I will be signing M0BOA from G3HJF's B&B station just north
of London in the Saturday morning period of the reunion. I
don't know about bands other than he has a 20m monobander.
Please remember to swing your beam NE for the rare UK
multiplier.
The deadline for tickets the Dayton Contest Dinner is (was)
May 4th. The dinner is on May 13 at the Crown Plaza Hotel.
Tickets via Radio Book Store via 1-800-457-7373.
Fred Laun, K3ZO passed along an NY Times article that
described plans for the FCC treat radio frequencies as
commodities to be bought and sold in the open market. An
item on page 15 of the May QST notes that the ARRL is
promoting an Amateur Radio Spectrum Bill to protect our
bands. I'm glad the League is watching the FCC!
John Silva N3AM passed along an item that the sunspots
exceeded 300 in early April. Sun info can be found at
http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast05apr_1m.htm
The National Contest Journal, this week opened a new Web
site to complement the printed magazine. Created by Bruce
Horn, WA7BNM, it's http://www.ncjweb.com.
Bob Dannals, W2GG notes that you can check to see if your
WPX log was received at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/
homepages/n8bjq/logsrcvd.htm
PVRC REUNION ON-THE-AIR 2000
1. Eligibility: All members of PVRC worldwide (Once a
member, always a member!)
2. Object: To contact as many other PVRC members around
the world as possible, using 7 bands as follows:
CW: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 meters
SSB: 20, 10 meters
3. Date: Always the first weekend in June. This year's
reunion will be June 3, 4, and 5 2000 (zulu).
4. Frequency: CW always 47 kHz up from the bottom of the
band (3547, 7047, 14047, 21047, and 28047 kHz). Phone
frequencies are 14247 kHz (14250 as an alternate) and 28447
kHz on 10 meters. (These are suggested frequencies.)
5. Three contest periods (2000):
3 June: 1400Z - 1800Z
4 June: 0000Z - 0500Z and
2200z - 0300Z (5 June)
6. Contest exchange: Serial number, your call, QTH, your
call when first joining PVRC, and year joined PVRC.
Example: NR73 W6XX CA W4XX 60
7. Valid contact: Completed two-way QSOs on any of 7
bands. No crossband or crossmode QSOs permitted.
8. QSO points: Two points for each completed QSO.
9. Multipliers: Total multiplier is the sum of all states,
DC, Canadian provinces, and DXCC countries worked. (AK and
HI count as a state or a country, not both.) Each
multiplier may be counted once, not once per band.
10. Reunion call: CQ PVRC
11. Please send your score listing only:
#QSO #MULT SCORE
and give your exchange such as:
W6XX CA W4XX 70
to the Newsletter editor ([email protected]) by June 7th to make
the June/July issue or by July 20th for the August issue.
See the reference page for addresses. You do not need to
send in your log or the optional dupe sheet.
If you work a station that claims to be a member (everybody
wants to be one of us), but is not listed in the roster,
please send that log information with your score. Clearly
indicate if any such questionable contacts are included in
your score. We'll check it out and adjust your score, as
needed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Nearly the same number of stations participating in 1999 as
1998 (58 in 1998 and 57 1999) but fewer stations operated
during all periods resulting in lower scores. Below, is a
listing of the top five scores from 1998 and the results I
have of the 1999 reunion.
At least three of the stations listed below as "also heard"
in '99 did sent in their score but the were lost in the
shuffle of moving my station and office during construction.
If you have been omitted from the tally please resubmit with
your 2000 scores.
TOP FIVE SCORES FROM 1998:
CALL QSO MULT SCORE
K1HTV 213 19 8094
W3UJ 181 19 6878
K3MM 195 17 6630
W3PP 169 19 6422
K4GKD 142 20 5680
1999 REUNION SCORES AS OF 6/25/99
CALL QSO MULT SCORE
K3DI 149 17 5066 #1
W3TMZ 123 15 3690 #2
W4YE 115 16 3680 #3
WR3Z 118 14 3304 #4
KT4P 86 16 2752 #5
K6ZH 91 14 2548
N4RP 89 14 2492
W0SS 91 13 2366
K2UFT 68 14 1904
N3II 71 12 1704
N3NT 76 11 1672
W4ZYT 63 13 1638
W3GN 56 14 1568
W3GRF 60 12 1440 Op W3MC
W3CP 60 12 1440
W5KL 62 11 1364
N4AF 67 10 1340
W4DM 52 11 1144
W3FZV 46 11 1012
K3OSX 35 10 700
K3ZO 37 9 666
KZ1O 36 8 576
K1HTV 36 8 576
W2GG 28 10 560
W3HVQ 33 7 462
W2RS 30 7 420
K2YWE 27 7 378
ZP6CW 26 7 364
W4PHL 18 6 216
K3TM 15 7 210
N0TK 16 6 192
W4AGI 14 6 168
W3DQ 10 7 140
N3RC 10 6 128
K1EFI 11 4 88
W6MVW 7 4 56
N4MM 1 1 2
Also heard or worked in 1999 were: DK5AD, K2PLF, K3CKT,
K3RV, K4TJ, K4VT, K5RT, KT3Y, N6RA, N6XI, W0UCE, W3AU,
W3AZ, W3AZD, W3CB, W3DA, W3KC, W4HM, W6UM, and W7YS.
S C O R E S
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Changes/additions/deletions *
* to W2GG via packet or *
* [email protected] *
* ### = missing information *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ARRL VHF SS RESULTS (Final 4/4/00)
CALL PWR BND QSO MULTS TOTAL
SINGLE OPERATOR
K1RZ H 6 598 182 228,046
K3DNE H 6 574 152 145,768
W4RX H 7 567 142 116,156
K2UOP H 7 284 116 52,200
K3ZO H 2 364 90 32,760
W4MYA H 3 197 63 14,364
K3IXD L 5 196 50 13,750
N3II L 2 215 49 10,535
K4SO L 2 210 46 9,660
N3UMA L 2 ## 35 4,795
W8ZA L 2 67 20 1,680
N4MM L 2 60 22 1,320
W3OU L 1 29 8 232
W3FG L # ## ## 85
K3DI L 1 14 2 28
MULTI-OP
W3YOZ H 2 244 78 19,032
15 LOGS TOTAL 648,731
Operators:
W3YOZ W3YOZ K4VV
ARRL DX CW (Final 4/7/00)
CALL BND QSO CTY TOTAL
SINGLE OP HIGH POWER
K3ZO 3860 408 4,723,416
N4AF 3317 372 3,700,000
K4MA 3070 338 3,105,882
W4MR 2155 332 2,146,380
N4ZR 2324 302 2,103,732
K2PLF 2046 342 2,093,040
W0YR 1578 270 1,277,370
W4YE 1318 313 1,237,602
K2UOP 1286 280 1,080,240
W3AZ 889 244 650,748
W4ZV 10 1893 104 590,616
K2AV 693 241 498,147
N4MM 556 235 480,810
N3JT 500 102 273,000
W4IF 469 167 234,969
K4VV 352 163 172,128
W3GN 162 52 25,272
SINGLE OP LOW POWER
N1WR 1270 309 1,176,363
WJ9B 1303 291 1,137,519
W3UJ 1120 273 916,461
W3DF 1027 287 884,247
W4HM 919 292 805,044
W3DAD 669 229 459,603
N3UMA 466 216 301,968
AA4KD 399 174 208,274
W3FA 298 161 143,934
K6ETM 291 144 125,712
NE3H 251 111 83,250
WK4Y 40 358 58 75,072
W3CP 303 67 60,903
K4HA 168 95 47,880
K3YDX 151 96 43,941
KF4OAD 137 106 43,556
W4VC 128 79 30,336
W4SD 100 71 21,300
K3SV 140 45 18,900
N3WK 89 67 17,889
W3DQ 53 28 4,452
SINGLE OP QRP
WD3P 101 57 17,271
SINGLE OP ASSISTED
N3RR 2749 441 3,634,281
K3SA 2201 438 2,890,800
N3AM 2033 391 2,384,709
W4NF 1936 363 2,108,304
W3HVQ 1363 326 1,333,014
W3EKT 742 279 618,543
K3UG 725 282 612,504
K3KO 808 225 545,400
K2YWE 663 260 513,240
NT4D 615 257 474,165
W3UL 549 233 383,751
W3OU 357 235 251,685
N4RV ### ### 226,548
MULTI - SINGLE
W4PRO 1198 370 1,329,780
MULTI - TWO
W8ZA 2788 429 3,588,156
WR3L 2733 425 3,483,300
MULTI - MULTI
W3LPL 8076 612 14,820,192
W4MYA 5964 535 9,538,515
NR4M 5261 479 7,519,821
K3DI 1069 363 1,164,141
DXPEDITIONS
8P9JA 5290 328 5,205,360
WP3R 4542 321 4,373,946
TI7/N4MO 1238 57 211,698
(15 m, LP)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
62 LOGS CW TOTAL 98,229,080
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OPERATORS:
8P9JA K4MA AA4NC
K3DI WA0QII K3NY K3DI
K4MA W2CS at K4MA QTH
NR4M KI4RO K4GMH K4EC WA4JUK K1SE
K4EU NR4M K7SV
W3LPL K1HTV AI3M N3OC KT3Y KD4D K4ZW
WB2FFY K3RA WR3Z K9GY W2GG
K3RV W3LPL K3MM
W4MR N4CW at AA4NC QTH
W4MYA K4BAM K4GAU N3SB W4DR W4HJ W4HZ
WA4QDM WA8WV WX3B W4MYA
W4PRO K4IX N8CH W4PRO W4SD W4ZYT
WB4DNL
W8ZA K8OQL N8II WD3A W8ZA
WP3R KE3Q
WR3L N3NT AA3SC WR3L
Note:
W3FA ex. NV3V
CQ 160M SSB (Final 4/4/00)
CALL QSO ST DX SCORE
SINGLE OP HIGH POWER
W4MYA 659 55 17 111,312
W4HZ 608 48 13 84,302
K2UOP 561 49 12 78,263
K4IQ 471 51 15 74,316
K4HA 280 45 9 34,558
NX9T 303 40 8 33,696
K3SV 226 40 16 33,656
K3SA 207 (43) 20,683
KB3AUG 160 38 6 16,236
N4MM 107 35 7 10,752
W4HJ 110 28 8 10,152
K3DNE 139 (29) 9,019
K4VV 90 28 7 8,085
4U1WB 97 (19) 3,857
NT4D 50 22 4 3,276
SINGLE OP LOW POWER
WK3I 360 (47) 37,882
W2GG 197 39 10 23,275
W3CP 102 (27) 6,237
N3GPU 85 (24) 4,512
MULTI OPERATOR
N4RV 434 43 17 62,940
K8OQL 209 37 7 20,636
K3KO 160 37 9 18,032
W3HVQ 166 40 6 17,940
K3DI 169 38 4 16,212
K3IXD 118 30 5 10,395
W3UL 60 22 0 2,838
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
26 LOGS SSB TOTAL 753,062
43 LOGS CW TOTAL 2,439,429
69 LOGS MIX TOTAL 3,192,491
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Guest Operators:
4U1WB AJ3M op.
Multiop operators:
Single op plus packet unless
indicated below.
ARRL DX PH (#8 4/4/2000)
CALL BND QSO CTY TOTAL
SINGLE OP HIGH POWER
K4ZW 3709 417 4,633,704
K3ZO 2684 367 2,953,983
K2PLF 2069 372 2,307,888
K2UOP 1411 320 1,354,560
W4ZV 10 2589 127 986,409
N4MM 1067 278 889,878
AJ3M 824 255 630,360
KF3BE 801 247 592,800
N4CW 638 214 409,596
N4GU 665 186 371,070
W3AZ 585 201 352,755
K4VV 390 161 188,370
W0YR 435 143 186,615
W4MR 40 552 94 155,664
W3JRY 302 142 128,652
W4YE 278 133 110,922
KC3TL 10 419 85 106,845
W4IF 266 127 101,346
W2BZR 10 153 64 29,376
K3SV 80 98 49 14,259
SINGLE OP LOW POWER
W3UJ 937 250 702,750
N3UMA 354 206 218,772
W2CS 374 182 203,112
K4HA 338 171 173,394
K4EP 331 142 141,006
KF4OAD 297 151 134,541
N3FX 257 138 106,398
W3DF 249 131 97,857
N3EYB 251 126 94,878
W3CP 258 66 51,084
K1SO 183 117 64,233
N8CH 126 77 29,106
SINGLE OP ASSISTED
K3MM 2568 497 3,819,942
N4RV 2255 425 2,868,750
N3AM 1462 404 1,771,944
W3EKT 1096 328 1,076,496
KB3AUG 1091 321 1,050,633
N3NT 973 344 1,003,104
K3SA 855 303 776,286
W4JVN 1003 237 713,133
W3OU 643 257 495,753
K3KO 600 239 430,200
W3HVQ 484 262 383,328
W3YD 542 203 328,860
K6IR 496 219 325,872
W3UL 486 219 319,302
K3UG 442 173 229,398
KO4MR 10 218 107 69,978
K3IXD 153 116 53,244
K3DNE 178 62 33,108
MULTI - SINGLE
NT4D 2039 366 2,238,822
N1WR 1398 348 1,458,468
W4PRO 1198 370 1,329,780
WX3B 1115 237 792,054
MULTI - TWO
W3GNQ 3335 464 4,636,752
W8ZA 2660 442 3,523,182
MULTI - MULTI
W3LPL 8817 687 18,110,007
W4MYA 6066 604 10,978,908
DXPEDITIONS
8P9Z 6757 331 6,709,701
(M/S)
TI7/N4MO 1840 59 325,680
(10 m, LP)
MM/W3LEO 255 95 72,675
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
61 LOGS PH TOTAL 84,447,543
61 LOGS CW TOTAL 96,899,300
122 COMBINED TOTAL 181,346,843
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LAST YEAR'S RESULTS (SSB & CW)
Club Logs Score
YCCC 265 282,469,426
FRC 162 225,763,743
PVRC 103 109,744,347
OPERATORS:
8P9Z K4FJ plus one non-PVRC (K3KG)
N1WR N1WR N3WZR
NT4D NT4D KS4XG N3QYE
W3GNQ N3OC WR3Z W3ZZ WI2T W3GNQ
W3LPL W3LPL K1HTV K1RA K1RZ W2GG ND3F
K3MQH KE3Q K3RA W3UR KD4D N4QQ
N5OKR
W4MR AA4NC
W4MYA K4MA K4WMA KF4QQY N4DEN N4ZJ
W4DR W4HZ W4NM WB4GVZ WK4Y W4MYA
W4PRO K4IX N8CH W4PRO W4SD W4ZYT
WB4DNL
W8ZA K3DNE K3UG K8OQL N8II W8ZA
WX3B N3SB KA3BGZ WX3B
Notes: N8CH is former NW3K
CQ WPX SSB #6 (Apr.14.2000)
CALL PWR BAND QSO MULTS SCORE
SINGLE OP - UNASSISTED
KE3Q C 3618 1014 10,186,644
K3ZO C 3178 940 8,467,520
NV4X C 2985 908 7,551,836
NY4A C 10 2648 879 6,043,125
W0YR C 1769 677 3,365,367
K2UOP C TS 1443 643 2,566,213
N1WR B 1368 634 2,452,312
KC3TL C TS 1076 547 1,731,802
W2GG B TS 1016 529 1,469,033
K4ZW C 1001 504 1,402,128
N3HXQ C 841 470 1,018,020
AJ3M B TS 726 420 802,200
W2BZR C 10 638 404 570,044
NA1DX B TS 460 336 402,192
N3RC C TS 440 289 346,222
N3UM B 391 269 304,777
K8OQL B 10 343 258 239,940
W4YE C 10 311 268 224,584
AA4KD B 360 243 211,167
W3CP B 10 252 219 148,920
N4MM B 225 194 122,802
KF4OAD B 225 201 120,399
W3FA B 148 124 45,756
K4VV C 122 110 35,420
K1SO B 75 25 2,025
* SINGLE OP - ASSISTED
KO4MR 10 1109 552 1,771,920
KF3P C 813 486 1,028,862
K3IXD C 181 146 71,686
W3UL C 151 127 60,198
* MULTI-SINGLE
N3OC 3163 949 8,191,768
AA4NC 3063 876 7,330,616
AC4XO 853 492 1,082,400
KU4RG 803 452 918,916
* MULTI-MULTI
W4MYA 6378 1319 21,602,582
K3DI 774 454 1,469,033
* DXPEDITIONS
V31RU B 10 2035 714 3,600,000
A = QRP
B = LOW POWER
C = HIGH POWER
TS = TRIBANDER + SINGLE ELEM 160-40
BR = BAND RESTRICTED
R = ROOKIE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
36 LOGS SSB TOTAL 96,958,429
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OPERATORS:
AA4NC AA4NC KI7WX KS4XG
AC4XO AC4XO N4GU N4EL KU4YL KF4YLM
K3DI W3OQ WA0QII K3DI
KE3Q from W3LPL QTH
KF3P K3MM
KU4RG KU4RG KF4OKG
N3OC N3OC WR3Z
NV4X K4MA
NY4A W4ZV
V31RU N4MO
W4MYA WX3B AC4OB
N4DEN N4EHJ
N4ZJ W4DR
W4HJ W4HZ
WA4QDM WK4Y
WU4G W4MYA
-------- The reference page was not include
-------- in the email edition this month.