PVRC NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2000
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Ham Radio Outlet
The RF Connections
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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.
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.
Sep 11 Mon
Central meeting. First meeting after summer recess
============================================================
We regret to inform you that Richard P. Scott, W3EFZ (ex-
K4JQA) of Long Boat Key, FL became a silent key. Dick was a
member of PVRC. Hew was instrumental in setting up the
Diplomatic Telecommunications System that allowed American
Embassies to communicate with Washington. (Tnx info K3ZO)
============================================================
JOINT NCDXA/PVRC FOWLFEST TO BE SATURDAY, AUGUST 12TH
It's Fowlfest time!. The joint PVRC and NCDXA meeting will
be hosted again by Marty, W3YOZ, at his "park" near
Annapolis. Festivities start at noon on Saturday, August
12, with BBQ chicken and drinks. Some folks may bring the
optional salad, dessert or other munchies. Everybody should
bring a big appetite! Directions:
>From Bridge: I-95/I-495 to MD Route 4 (PA Ave.
South/East); turn off at MD Route 258 (Bristol/Deale); take
258 to MD Route 256; turn left and go to Rodgers Road; turn
right, go to gravel road on left, turn left; go to 1062 sign
turn right and go to picnic grounds at the water's edge.
From U.S. DC Beltway/50: Take Beltway to Route 50; take
Route 50 east; after crossing Patuxent River the next
turnoff is MD Route 424 (Davidsonville Road); take 424 and
continue until it dead ends at MD Route 2; turn right, go
200 feet and turn left on Mill Swamp Road; continue to MD
Route 468 (Muddy Creek Road); turn right on 468 and to MD
Route 256 (look for Smith's Building Supply); turn right on
MD Route 256 and continue to Rodgers Road (first left after
the Churchton Post Office); turn left on Rodgers Road, go to
gravel road on left; turn left, go to 1062 sign, turn right
and go to water's edge.
>From I-97: Take I-97 South to MD Route 665 (Allen Blvd.);
take 665 to MD Route 2; take Route 2 south to Mill Swamp
Road (first left after Route 424 on right); take Mill Swamp
Road to MD Route 468 and follow the directions above.
SWVA CHAPTER 6/16/00 MINUTES by Jerry Haislip, K1SO
Members of the PVRC - Southwest Virginia Contest Group
gathered at the Western Sizzler in Christiansburg, VA, on
June 16, 2000, for a dinner meeting at 6:00 p.m. local time.
John/K4IQ presided and the following members were present;
K1GG/Gordon, N4GU/Mike, K4EP/Philip, KC9LC/Randy,
W4JAM/John, W0MAN/Susanne and K1SO/Jerry. Two guest were
also present at dinner, Randall Nealy/W4IQ, from Myrtle
Beach, SC, now working in Blacksburg, VA, at Virginia Tech
and Ross Shake/KF4TRT, from Christiansburg, son of
KC9LC/Randy.
After dinner the group moved to the campus of Virginia Tech
(VT for those of us around the area) for a continuation of
the meeting (we were also joined by N4EL/Nat who did not
make the dinner). A most interesting talk and demonstration
was given by N4GU/Mike Barts from the VT Antenna Group. Mike
covered in his program, Antenna ranges - 250 MHz - 40 GHz,
and how the VTAG does analysis of antennas for many things
we all use today in business and most any kind of wireless
communications. We also got to see the Anechoic Chamber and
Mike and Randall/W4IQ gave a demo on an antenna pattern on a
small yagi. Mike also talked about NEC and antenna modeling
which was very interesting from the amateur standpoint, in
that we can get the software from the world wide web (Public
Domain). So doing antenna modeling for our own systems was
an exciting new part of Ham radio. The entire group enjoyed
the tour of the Virginia Tech Research Antenna Lab and
thanks Mike and Randall for the invitation to visit.
A discussion was held on Dayton, out of the group present
the follow attended the 2000 Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio.
K4IQ, K1GG, KC9LC, N4GU, N4EL, K1SO, so the PVRC-Southwest
Contest Group was well represented in Dayton 2000.
There was some talk of trying to attend as a group the Open
House at W4MYA's this summer. John/K4IQ would send out an
e-mail on the details. Also the possibility of have a
Summer Cook Out for the PVRC-SW bunch. More details to
follow via radio and e-mail. Also don't forget to stop by
the Roanoke Valley Hamfest on August 5, 2000 and join the
PVRC-SW Group for a meeting.
The group then concluded the great meeting and returned to
their home.
NW REGIONAL MEETING MINUTES 6/20/00 by Greg Altig, NK3R
([email protected])
In attendance were members NK3R, W8ZA, N4MM, K2UOP, K8OQL,
K3IXD, WD3A, and guest N8UM.
Business: Greg announced his desire to turn the reigns of
the Northwest Region over to some other poor sap, er, uh, I
mean some other fine, upstanding member. The silence was
deafening from those in attendance, so I turn to our readers
in the region. Any volunteers?
>From the introductions: W8ZA, Bob, has added two AL-800H
amps to his shack. The 40m beams are down with the third
element added. Just waiting for the weather to improve to
get them off the ground.
N4MM, John, played a little in the VHF contest, but his time
and effort was limited due to QRM from W4RX. He was a CQ DX
Hall of Fame inductee at Dayton (Congrats, John!). He also
announced the July 1 start of the 15m separate band DXCC,
and the soon to be added 12m and 17m awards.
K2UOP, Tom, hosted K8OQL for WPX CW and thanked Jerry for
the points. He picked up a new Icom 746 and a bunch of junk
he doesn't know what to do with. Tom's score was down for
the June VHF contest, only 95K.
K3IXD, Ed, did the VHF contest from home after receiving
help from KC3VO to solve the neighbor's TVI problem which
was present in every electronic device you could imagine. He
will be at the W3AO super station for FD.
ND3A, Tom, has been slacking lately with only 3 Qs in the
VHF contest (and 2/3 of those with K3MQH, and about the same
level of effort in WPX CW.
K8OQL, Jerry, was more proud of his 15 lbs of cherries he
picked than he was of the 1228 Qs and 500+ mults he amassed
with Tom in WPX CW.
N8UM, John, announced his is going to be in our area for a
while from his home in Tennessee and wants to operate any
contest, anywhere, anytime. He would love to operate VHF
rover. He also told us he will take any of our FT1000 MP
"cast offs" now that we are all (?) getting Mark Vs.
Meeting adjourned....
WINNER OF THE PVRC $1000 SCHOLARSHIP IS ANNOUNCED
Brian Brandt, N3JQW of Gibsonia, PA was chosen as the winner
of the $1000 PVRC scholarship. The PVRC scholarship is
among 74 scholarships that the FAR administered this year.
Brian is 22 and a senior at West Virginia University, where
he is majoring in Mechanical Engineering and expects to receive
his BSME in May 2001. Licensed since 1991, he earned his
extra class license in October of 1999. In addition, he is
also an accredited Volunteer Examiner for the ARRL. Brian's
amateur radio interests are participating in contests,
including Field Day and the PA QSO Party, and performing
public service through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service.
He most recently participated in FD 2000 and the Wings Over
Pittsburgh special event station.
[A photo appears in the paper edition.]
JUNE MEETING MINUTES by Brian McGinness, N3OC, Pres.
The annual June summer meeting was held at the QTH of W3LPL
on Saturday, June 17, 2000.
The meeting was convened at 3pm by Brian, N3OC. Members
attending were: K6LEW, WA0QII, W2YE, K3ZO, W3KX, W4VC,
W3AZ, WB3AVN, K3GV, N3GB, K3SA, W3MR, KM3V, AJ3M, WF3J,
W3FA, W8ZA, N3OC, K4VV, N3NRS (THAT'S W3NRS IN DISGUISE),
K1HTV, AD3F, W3AZD, WB3ANE, W3EKT, W3XE, W2BZR, KG7H, K6IR,
KC3VO, W3OQ, K8OQL, W3ZZ, N1WR, K3DSP, WR3Z, W0CN, N3FX,
WZ3AR, N3FZB, K3DI, K2YWE, K3IXD, N3KTV, N3UN, K3MLA, N3II,
W3CP, N3RR, KD4G, K3UG, WR3L, K3WX, N3EYB, W8JVP, K3MQH,
N3UM, K1DQV. Visitors included YCCC President Don K2KQ, Ted
KR1G, and Mr. 160 himself Jeff K1ZM.
N3OC gave the president's report. The remaining summer
meetings include W4MYA on July 22 in central Virginia, and
the W3YOZ fowlfest on August 12, in southern Anne Arundel
County, Maryland. PVRC lost SS to NCCC this year by only
100,000 points. Several of had various reasons for being
down last year, including SS CW being the weekend after CQWW
SSB last year. So lets work out our schedules now, and plan
on putting in the best effort you can this November and we
can easily re-capture the gavel.
N3OC presented ED, K3DNE the club competition gavel for the
1999 VHF SS. Congratulations, Ed! There are remaining
gavels to be awarded for 98 SS, 98 10M, and 98 160M. As
soon as we research who has never won a gavel before, we
will get them out. I would prefer to present gavels at the
annual Christmas dinner, but since these are so old I want
to get them out right away.
Jack, K4VV gave the VP's report. After highly successful
visits from N6BT and ON4UN, we have booked Jay, WX0B to come
to a special meeting sometime this summer and give us a
presentation on stacks and arrays. Jay is very busy during
contest season, so we have to get him when we can.
N3KTV gave a brief update on the PVRC Force 12 discount
purchase. See the newsletter for details, or contact Jim.
There were three new members attending their second meeting
to be voted in. The first was Ben Bradley, W4FQT, of
Oakton, Virginia. Ben is an NCDXA member and is sponsored
by K4VV. The next applicant was Ken Irish, W8JVP, of
Oakton, Virginia. Ken has a small station and is sponsored
by K4VV. The third was Richard Hambly, W2GPS, of Saverna
Park, Maryland. Rich won the FD class 2B a few years ago,
and is sponsored by K3SKE. All three were voted in to
membership. Welcome to PVRC!
One item of old business was the by-law change on the table
from last month.
Article III, Section 2 was changed to:
"The officers shall be elected by a majority vote of the
members present attending the election meeting of each
region. The president, vice-president, secretary and
treasurer serve for one year or until their successors are
elected. The term of each office shall begin on January 1."
Article III, Section 3 was changed to:
"No member shall hold more than one office at a time. No
member shall be eligible to serve more than three
consecutive terms as president or president."
There was no new business, and the meeting was adjourned at
3:30pm.
VICE PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS by Jack Hammett, K4VV
The Force 12 Project is in its final stage as 10 of the 14
orders have been shipped since July 20 at this writing on
July 27. I saw an email today that N4ZR did receive his
order. The remaining four orders are in production,
according to Alissa at Force 12. Our members ordered
seventeen antennas and many accessories. Tom Schiller, N6BT
at Force 12 gave our order a priority to shorten the normal
4 to 5 week lead time, and the antennas are being shipped
direct to each person. Thanks again to Jim Horton, N3KTV
for doing the work to lead the Force 12 Project so
effectively for the membership.
[Tom N6BT Photo by W3TMZ Only in the paper edition]
These new antennas and other upgrades that members are
making may help us increase our competitiveness in the
coming contest season if we help one another with
installations and show up in a determined way to build our
scores.
My wife is dealing with some major medical challenges and I
am with her at Johns Hopkins. I did not accomplish the
timely coordination with Jay, WX0B to schedule a date in
August for his presentation, and he is now commited through
2000. We will work to pick a date in 2001. Jay says his
talk "will only get better by then."
I want to express my great respect for the the leadership of
many of our key members who set the pace and give us the
example and the mentoring of station building and operating
skills to drive the monentum of PVRC success.
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR, K3DI
The May issue of this Newsletter was a first -- the first
issue where the advertising income exceeded the total cost
of production. We had 2 1/4 pages of advertising.
K3DI has German postage for sale. Four 80 pf, seven 200 pf,
and five 300 pf at current exchange rate or discounted for
all.
Roanoke Valley Hamfest & Computer Show is scheduled on
August 5, 2000 - 9 AM to 3 PM - William Byrd High School -
Washington Avenue, Vinton, VA. $6 at the door.
Rich (KE3Q) and Amy (W3AMY) Boyd are parents of Hunter (6
pounds) and Emma (5 lbs 9 oz) born at 11:10 and 11:13 PM
July 3rd. Babies, mother, and even dad are reported as
doing FB.
Bill Hider, N3RR, received the "Top Gun" award in the CQWW
'phone contest by contacting V26B on all six bands. Of the
seven to do so, Bill was the first single operator. W3CF
donated the plaque.
MARYLAND-DC (MDC) QSO PARTY
The MDC QSO Party, sponsored by Antietam Radio Assoc, 16Z
Aug 12 to 04Z Aug 13 and 16Z Aug 13 to 23Z Aug 13, phone and
CW (CW in subband/no cross mode). Work stations once per
band/mode. Portable/mobiles in new county can be reworked.
No packet, repeater, or net QSOs. MDC stations work
everyone, others work only MDC. Exchange QTH and category
(Club, QRP, Mobile, Novice/Tech, or Standard). CW: 3.643
3.701 7.035 7.126 14.040 21.115 28.040; ph: 3.920 7.230
14.268 21.370 28.380 50.150 (VHF/UHF on CW/ph also).
Counts: mobile=5, QRP=4, CW RTTY ATV=3, & others=1. Final is
QSO points times each different mults (MD counties + Balto
City + DC is 25 max). MDC stations include
states/provinces/DXCC countries. Many awards. A certificate
for 50+ QSOs. Club competition. Send logs by Sept 1 to:
Antietam Radio Association, PO Box 52, Hagerstown, MD
21741-0052. Details: http://www.qsl.net/w3cwc/mdcqso.htm.
PVRC OTH JULY MEETING by Andy Andersen, W3XE.
The July meeting of the Over-the-hill group was hosted by
W3AZ at the Best Western in Oxon Hill. Ten of the Tired and
Retired met at the Holiday Inn in College Park for a little
lunch and conversation. Frank, W3LPL was full of stories
about Scandinavia and the land of the mid-night sun. Jim,
W3CP managed some time off from NRL. Next was Fred, K3ZO
who is already planning on another trip to Thailand. Bill,
W3AZ is still resisting email but he had a lot of good
antenna information. On the other side of the river we had
Dale, W4DM who manages to attend meetings in the summer when
Florida gets to hot. Our Virginia host, Ben, AA4XU was
there and will have the August meeting on his side of the
river. Ken, K6IR was on the other side of the table. If you
aren't on his email list for stories you might give it a try
as most of them are 4-0. We had a newcomer who has just
retired from the work force and is getting ready to put up
and either buster antenna -- he is Andy, N7BG who is a
retired pilot. Hugh, W3ABC claims that he isn't doing
anything but you can bet the FAR Scholarship program is
bigger and better than ever. To round out the mighty group
was your host for July. Jack, W3TMZ has fled to Florida.
Larry, W3GN was in Michigan while Tony, K3WX was out giving
a lecture on RF Safety. If you are from out of town and are
coming here for a visit contact one of the OTH Hosts and we
might put a "Welcome Aboard" Party on for you.
S C O R E S
* * Changes/additions/deletions
to W2GG via email or packet * *
* EMAIL: [email protected] *
### = missing information
CQ WPX CW (FINAL - 07/06/2000)
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
K6ETM B 406 122 49,532
N3UM C/TS 143 122 45,994
NV4X C 10 112 85 16,235
* SINGLE OP - ASSISTED
K3KO C 641 403 800,358
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
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
27 LOGS CW TOTAL 66,281,689
39 LOGS SSB TOTAL 100,029,406
64 GRAND TOTAL 166,311,095
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OPERATORS:
K8OQL from K2UOP QTH
N6TV K3NA plus 2 non-PVRC
NR4M K4EC K4GMH K4ZW K1SE K4EU
WA4JUK NR4M RA3AUU K7SV
NV4X W4ZV
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
SELECTED RESULTS OF THE WRTC
The World Radiosport Team Championship 2000 was held in
Slovenia as part of the IARU conest on July 8th and 9th. The
top three teams were:
S584M by K1TO and N5TJ
S587N by RA3AUU and RV1AW
S582A by K1DG and K1AR.
PVRCer Eric Scace, K3NA with N6TV participated in the
contest as S571W. Eric sent your editor more than two dozen
JPG photo files which will be checked for selected
inclusions in future Newsletters.
--------------------------------
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W3AO PVRC/CARA FD RESULTS EDITED FROM INFO SUPPLIED BY KE3Q
& K3RA
The Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC) with the Columbia
Amateur Radio Association (CARA) operated FD under the call
W3AO. PVRC had operated before with CARA so it was a
natural progression to invite them, particularly since they
wanted to launch a 160m balloon and do satellite. The goal
was to beat three all time records; (1) number of
transmitters, (2) high total score, and (3) number of QSO/s.
Setup began at 1800Z on Friday for a 24 hour operation. It
was a Class A entry (club portable) in Tolchester, MD with
38 transmitters thanks to VHF to "light" transmitters
provided by W3EKT and the K3MQH gang as well as K6LEW and
the W8GP gang and 40 operators using a 15 kW generator
provided by K6LEW. The Tolchester site, is a marvelous one,
allowing 12 AB-577 40 foot towers to be erected side by side
along the edge of a 40 foot cliff overlooking the Chesapeake
Bay. The take off to the U.S. is over 8 miles of salt
water! Thanks to Rich, KE3Q's, Dad and his neighbors for
permission to use this wonderful site (thanks Forrest and
Gloria for your hospitality) monoband beams were erected
for all eight band modes 40 through 10 plus 10 meter
novice--thanks to W3LPL for beams for 20 through 10 and all
that cable! The novice call was W3AMY, amy Boyd, Mrs. KE3Q.
Amy put in a lot of time on the novice band, even through
she was due to deliver twins in just a week! (All doing
fine.)
The claimed bonus points included all emergency power, media
publicity, public access location, info booth, message to SM
(and some relays), W1AW FD message, a demo of ATV, satellite
QSO, and natural power QSO. Here are the number of Q's per
band and mode.
cw digi ph
160 33 0 24
80 452 0 744
40 1040 5 1096
20 918 112 1668
15 657 11 1244
10 287 0 918
6 5 0 166
2 14 0 44
222 2 0 4
432 2 0 11
1.2G 0 0 2
Totals:
CW 3411
Dig 128
Ph 6369 (448 Nov)
QSOs 9908
Score 26,895 +bonus =31,544
While the entire list of 40 is too long to publish, the band
captains were:
160 AI3M AND N3AC
80 SSB K2PLF CW KD4D
40 SSB W3ZZ CW KE3Q
20 SSB W3LPL CW K3RA
15 SSB K3MM CW W2GG
10 SSB K3MQH
10 CW AI3M (& wife LIZ, the cook)
RTTY K3UG
vhf+ W3EKT
[Photo by Elaine, N3PQW- only in the paper editon]
And special thanks to N3KTV, who was "LAUNCH CONTROL" for
organizing the erection of the 12 rocket launcher towers;
and WA3CVG who handled the computer system. Very special
recognition to two guys who were instrumental even though
they had to cancel out at the last minute--K3UT who built a
beautiful AC power interface for the generator, and N3OC who
supplied the entire RTTY station, computer, and tower.
Now let's compare the results to their goal to beat three
all time records.
(1) Thirty-eight transmitters beat the prior record of 28
by N1FD, and squeaked by the VA3RAC team who achieved 35
this year. Use of filters and careful placement of antennas
side by side along a single 1000 foot line was key to
minimizing interference between stations.
(2) The total score of 31,544 beat a old score of 30,150.
This was tough because the old score was done with QRP
which has a 5X multiplier instead of X2 with 150W.
(3) But, the 9,908 QSO's did not beat the record of 11,201
set in 1981 by W2RQ. The W2RQ operation used 1 kW stations
but had relatively lower score because their multiplier was
1X.
Rol is already starting plans to do a better job next year
and beat all goals especially the QSO record which will be
20 years old next year. He says the most difficult task
this year was to have 40 operators on site to operate every
transmitter position simultaneously to qualify as a 38A
category, and to keep all of the HF position manned. So
please keep the last full weekend in June of 2001 reserved
for next year's PVRC shot at owning all FD records! You can
help by being there, or working the station on as many bands
as possible--K3DI worked W3AO on 21 band/modes this year.
Additional pictures taken at the W3AO site can be found in
the CARA Newsletter at http://www.qsl.net/cara/ and Bob
Dannals' page at http://homepage.mac.com/w2gg/ .
----------------------------------------
Dick's lifetime address is [email protected]