PVRC NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 1997
From [email protected] Fri Aug 29 22:58:25 1997
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 00:02:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Dick Wilder (K3DI)"
To: [email protected]
Subject: PVRC Newsletter Sept 97
PVRC NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 1997
PVRC Meeting Calendar:
Wed weekly PVRC BWI breakfast 7:30 AM at Basil's Deli Port
on Elkridge Landing Rd. -W6AXX
Thu Sep 4 PVRC/NC meeting at Luna's in Ralaeigh at 6 PM.
Sun Sep 7 Meeting at the FARfest in Gaithersburg, MD. See below.
Mon Sep 8 First central meeting of the fall at Vienna, VA.
See directions last page.
Sat Sep 13 PA meeting at K3SWZ New Cumberland, PA. See below.
Tue Sep 16 NW meeting, Legends Restr, Frederick MD at 8:00 PM
Sat Sep 20 Open house at Dave's, WR3L, Essex. MD.
See directions below.
Mon Oct 13 Central meeting in Temple Hills, MD.
Directions are on the reference page (last page)
PVRC SILENT KEY:
We regret to report the passing of PVRC member Edmund C. Lynch, W5EQD
about 1 1/2 years ago in Austin, Texas at the age of 95. This was
reported to use by his care giver, Judith Pitman.
PVRC MEETING DURING GAITHERSBURG HAMFEST SEPT 7TH by Rich Boyd, KE3Q
PVRC will meet at the Gaithersburg hamfest at 11 AM on Sunday morning
September 7th. The meeting will be held to the east side of the
commercial buildings, under the big oak trees, in the "infield" behind the
PVRCers who are tailgating there. This is the same spot we met last year.
In previous years we had met on the WEST side of the commercial
buildings...but last year we moved it to the opposite side from the old
place. Repeat, we now meet on the EAST side of the commercial buildings,
under the big oak trees.
PA-PVRC MEETING TO BE SEPT 13 NEAR HARRISBURG, PA by Glenn Kurzenknabe,
K3SWZ [email protected], K3SWZ>NE3H
PVRC/PA will hold a meeting on September 13th at my home at 23 Carriage
Road, New Cumberland, PA 17070-2302 West of Harrisburg. The time is 2:00
PM and snacks will be provided. This is only the second PA-PVRC meeting
so we don't have a big formal meeting on the drawing board. Plan on the
majority being social. We will be monitoring 146.580 simplex and 145.470
which is the Harrisburg Repeater. My phone is 717-774-1728. Please RSVP
via the Dxcluster or land-line so that we can plan the refreshments. The
directions to the meeting are:
Via Route 15:
Take Route 15 North past Gettysburg. In Camp Hill take Route 581 toward
Harrisburg/York. Get off at the next exit which is Route 83 South --
York. Get off at Exit 18, not to be confused with 18A. At top of
ramp......... (See below)
Via Route 83:
Take Route 83 North past York. Get off at Exit 18. There is
construction north of York for about 2-3 exits. It is one lane each
way........ At the end of the ramp.......... (see below)
Turn left. Go just about 1 mile (You are on Route 114) Just as you crest
a small blind hill turn right on Stetler Road. (Hard to see -- be
careful). Turn left on Carriage Road (cement thing with "carriage wheel"
in middle of street!) Go to end of Carriage Road.... I am #23 which is a
white ranch house. Park along the street where you can. Carriage Road is
a culdesac. Car pooling would be suggested although I have no idea what
the attendance might be.
ERRATA. The PA-PVRC meeting minutes reported in the August issue were by
Steve Cutshall, K3TZV. I use a CD-ROM to extract the correct spelling of
names. It would help if I interrogate the database with the correct
call-sign. - editor
OPEN HOUSE AT WR3L BALTIMORE SEP 20TH
Dave will be holding a PVRC open house on Saturday the 20th of September
from noon until ... at 695 Rockaway Beach Ave, Baltimore. If you plan on
attending, please message via packet, telephone [410-DX1-WR3L (391-9735)],
or [email protected] so he can plan space and refreshments. But, if you forget
to message him it is OK to come anyway. Dave has an improved station is
looking for operators.
Directions:
Take 695 Golden Ring take 702 (left exit) continue about 3 miles, left on
Turkey Point road. To end of Turkey point road, turn left on Roackaway
Beach Ave and proceed about 1/4 mile to marked parking area. A note if
you can come will help but is not necessary.
PVRC LOGO DISCUSSION by Rich Boyd, KE3Q
Starting with our logo search in 1993, one aspect of the discussion was
how to represent the wide-area coverage of a contest club like ours. Some
of us were uneasy, in 1993, when a logo was chosen that explicitly
represented MD/DC/VA and excluded the other states that we reach into.
Even at that time we had half a dozen or more active contesters in eastern
West Virginia and one or two in Delaware. As for Pennsylvania, the K3MQH
VHF contest station was starting up, staffed primarily with PVRCers from
Maryland, and there were other significant stations and ops in south
central PA who we were recruiting.
In 1995 when W4MYA and I got to talking about the central Virginia guys
coming into PVRC, followed by discussions with W4ZYT about tidewater
Virginia, and knowing we had N4AF/K4PQL and some other PVRCers across the
line in NC, we started seriously considering what we could do to include
NC as a PVRC region. We began to consider changing our geographical
center from the default that had been used for years, the "zero milestone
in Washington, DC" to a point further south, specifically to include NC in
PVRC.
In mid-1996 we began specifically discussing an "enhancement" to our logo
to give WV/DE/PA/NC the recognition they deserve. I was reluctant to
encourage a total rewording of the logo, remembering the sometimes, shall
we say, "lively" discussion in 1993. And, our current logo has been quite
successful and the club has embraced it by buying shirts, hats, badges,
QSLs, mugs (have I forgotten anything?) with the logo on it. We have a
much larger visibility now at Dayton and other hamfests...I think it's
contributed to PVRC's stature...these things add the respect we get from
other clubs and individual contesters, and helps attract new members,
which helps us win. We didn't want to make the current logo obsolete by
going with something totally different, so I reassured members at
meetings, "No, we don't want to `change' it; we just want to `enhance' it
a little." I suggested a change such as adding small compass points to
the outside of the circle, small triangles just large enough to add PA at
the top, DE on the right side, NC at the bottom, and WV on the left side.
I made some attempts to contact KO4FM/W4CE, who had done the graphics work
for the first logo. He's been very busy at work I'm told. The discussion
continued for a year.
compliment K3IXD for taking the bull by the horns and working up some
designs on his own, and I admit they modify the current logo less than my
"compass points" idea, by staying within the circular design and enhancing
what's inside the circle. I didn't see Ed's designs until the W4MYA
meeting and had to admit they did the job and looked great. The NC region
had even voted in favor of Ed's second design. The tidewater region,
justifiably I think, said "Hey, aren't we going to get a chance to vote?"
I assured them that I hadn't seen the designs myself even, and that Ed's
effort was not an official PVRC effort, but one man's own effort, and that
before anything was finalized all regions' input would be solicited.
That's where we are now. We solicit any designs in addition to Ed's or
any other possible changes. I'll toss one of my own in at this point:
Since the "Potomac Valley Radio Club" on the embroidered patches (on
shirts for instance) doesn't come out very well, that sort of detail
doesn't come out well, I suggest we change that to "PVRC" and make the
letters as bold as possible, so that they come out well on an embroidered
patch and, if we're in a hospitality suite at Dayton someone across the
room can easily read the letters "PVRC" rather than a jumble of red white
and blue thread that they see now. This would also de-emphasize the very
local "Potomac Valley" aspect of our name, since we now cover a much wider
region.
Several have suggested putting a map of our region inside the circle, from
NC to PA and WV to DE. It seems to me that detail tends to get lost and
clutter up a logo and we should stay as "graphic" as possible. It seems
to me that keeping the current somewhat graphic, stylized diagram of DC in
the center, with the Potomac running past it recognizes the PVRC's
successful past, and is acceptable to keep, as a link to our roots.
Adding the state letters, such as in Ed's design suggestion that the NC
region "straw voted" for, seems to cover our expansion sufficiently. And
the fact that the NC region guys seem to strongly endorse it is a very
strong statement in favor of it, because we recognize the NC region is the
farthest region from the traditional PVRC center. You NC guys are the
ones we recognize are the ones it's hardest for us to make feel a part of
the PVRC action, so if you guys like it that's good enough for me. And,
by the way, we encourage you to keep giving us ideas on what we can do
within PVRC to remain unified...we don't want the NC region or any region
to feel isolated and remote from us. With our PVRC reflector, web page,
and an on-going effort to get members from diverse regions together from
time to time, maybe we can keep building unity.
I think we should move as fast as possible on the logo so that we can
place orders for logo items this fall, with the new logo. I'm pleased to
note that some of the NC region guys are eager to get some of these items.
So, before too much more of the fall goes by let's get everyone's input
and finalize the logo enhancement.
DO WE WANT A REVISED PVRC LOGO? Time to vote by Ed Steeble, K3IXD
(The paper edition displayed the proposal #3 logo here. The border in
all the proposals are the same as the present logo. The center of this
proposal has an outline map of those states within 175 miles radius of our
center in VA and two-letter state abbreviations of PA, WV, MD, VA, DE, and
NC.)
Above are the proposals (Only #3 shown) I have in reference to my article
in last month's PVRC newsletter. Also KE3Q, in an article elsewherein
this newsletter proposes we replace "Potomac Valley Radio Club" with PVRC
in large, block letters. Below is the ballet. If you are a PVRC member,
you can vote to keep the current logo or for one of the new ones and
whether or not to replace "Potomac Valley Radio Club" with "PVRC." The
voting closes on 3 September 1997. Your ballet can be cast by packet,
email or US Postal service. I will post the results on packet, the PVRC
reflector, and in the newsletter next month.
Editors note: As I reached my publication deadline, I found the file
containing propostal #1 and #2 was bad and I did not have the art work. #3
scanned OK which is shown. #1 and #2 are the same as the present logo
except WV, PA, DE, and NC are added in two configurations relative to the
line that represents the Potomac Rive. All FOUR proposals use the same
color scheme.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BALLET FOR PVRC LOGO:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposal #0 - keep the logo as it is,
Proposal #1 has the names of the states evenly spread around DC,
Proposal #2 has WV, VA, and NC below "the Potomac" line with PA, MD, and
DE above "the Potomac",
Proposal #3 is a map that replaces "the Potomac" line and DC outline.
The outline map has two-letter abbreviations in red on each state.
Call__________________,
PVRC member: Yes ___, No ____,
Select one logo: #0__; #1__; #2__; or #3__.
Keep the name in full ___ or replace it with PVRC ___.
email to [email protected] packet message to k3ixd>w3lpl or US mail to Ed
Steeble, 14020 Celbridge Ct, Glenwood, Md 21738. Must be postmarked or
date/time stamped by midnight, local time, 30 Sept. 97
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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PVRC/NC AUGUST 7TH MINUTES by Pete Soper KS4XG [email protected]
Site. The meeting was held at Luna's Pizza in Raleigh 6-7:30pm.
Attendees. AA4NC Will, KO4PY Brent, K4HA Bob, KS4XG Pete, K4MA Jim, N3QYE
Jim, K4PB Alan, N4AF Howie, K4QPL Jim, N4CW Bert, KF4MOK Dave, WA4ZXA
Jim, and Terry Floyd
Membership. This was the second meeting of Jim, WA4ZXA -- welcome to PVRC
Jim! This was the first meeting of Brent Smith KO4PY who is a professor
at NCSU and an avid supporter of the university club there, providing a
lot of the points during last year's school competition within the
Sweepstakes tests. This was the first meeting of Alan Harp K4PB, a super
CW op with a nice station very close to AA4NC and K4HA. This was also the
first meeting of Jim Jordan K4QLL who got involved with a Franklin
county FD effort this year which reignited Jim's CW contesting interests
and he's eager to get back into it. Welcome, KO4PY, K4PB, and K4QPL! The
chapter membership is now seventeen.
Program. Club business and announcements N4CW asked about a meeting
place for next month and everyone agreed that meeting again at Luna's
would be fine. AA4NC announced that his station is available for the CQWW
phone and you can reach Will at [email protected]. K4MA is organizing a team
for the NAQP phone contest -- contact Jim at [email protected] to join
his team. WANTED: N3QYE (Jim at [email protected]) is looking for an
operator manual for a Navy TBW4 transmitter which is the "amphibious
model" transmitter designed to be used on landing craft.
Member activities. K4HA expects to take part in CQWW phone with K4MA at
the N4ZC M/M station. N3QYE finished his graduate research and just needs
to pound out the thesis to get his mind back on contesting full time --
Jim showed some pictures from his recent VHF contest effort in
Pennsylvania. K4PB offered his station to N4CW for CQWW CW again this
year. WA4ZXA has applied for vanity callsign K4ZAM, with K4ZPA as a
second choice. KF4MOK is battling with Windows NT security (and Windows
is winning) but hopes to get back to his packet/Internet gateway
experiments soon as well as upgrading to General class. K4MA got an
unusual inducement for a Thanksgiving visit to Atlanta, as wife Karen
pointed out that the W4WA contest station down there might be available
for the CQWW/CW test but, in the meantime he'll be working NAQP from home
and is preparing for his Sweepstakes effort from the Caribbean. KS4XG set
up an "antenna modeling factory" with a dual processor Pentium Pro box
running NEC2 and Perl scripts under Unix which can perform about 15000
simulations a day, stepping antenna parameters a wee skoshin between each
run -- With that it was possible to learn a lot about the behavior of
quad antennas and get a feel for how different performance tradeoffs can
be arranged. K4QPL had a blast during the recent NAQP/CW test and is
eager take part in the WAE test. K4QPL asked about contest logging
programs and how he can interface CT or TR with his TR4 (answer : "Magic")
Jim was caught by the UPS strike but got a temporary loan of a paddle and
tuner from N3QYE.
Station upgrades. K4HA is preparing to send the kids back to school and
hopes to get back to station work then such as putting up a second tower
and 40m beam. WA4ZXA has ordered a Cushcraft 40m rotatable dipole and
expects to get it when the UPS truck can make the long trek from
Greensboro to his house. The consensus is that the 40m dipole uses
capacitive end loading for high efficiency with no traps. K4MA is
ordering a chrome molly mast with a goal is still to get a 25G tower up
and running for the Fall contest season.
KS4XG is preparing to string the quad and finish a switch box this
weekend. The cable trench is started and the tower ground system should be
tied into the station ground within a few days. The goal is to get
something on the air for WAE phone. An inverted L will cover 160 and this
will be end fed with a tank circuit for temporary coverage of 80 and 40
meters while gain antennas are being dreamed up.
K4QPL just put up a G5RV. N4AF has closed on the 70+ acres of land near
Chocowinity, with about 2/3 of it covered by trees and surrounding a 20+
acre cleared area. He's expecting to move some AB105 there and begin work
on a new station soon while a house is built on the property, hoping to
move there next Spring. (from notes of another meeting)
Next Meeting The next PVRC/NC meeting will be 6pm Thursday September 4th
at Luna's in Raleigh. Directions to Luna's Pizza (3227 Avent Ferry Rd,
919 854 9600):
To get to the "Beltline" surrounding Raleigh, coming East on I40 follow
the signs to Wade avenue, then pass the Blue Ridge Road exit and take the
next exit, which puts you on the beltline going South (i.e. US1 south,
going toward US64 and Sanford).
From the "Beltline" take the "Western Blvd, NC State, Downtown" exit
toward downtown Raleigh. This is the second Western Blvd exit (the first
one goes West, toward Cary) The Western Blvd exits are the ones after the
Hillsborough street exit. Proceed about 0.8 Miles East on Western Blvd to
the second light and take a right onto Gorman Street. Go about 1.3 miles
to the second traffic light and take a right onto Avent Ferry. There's a
strip mall behind Courtney's restaurant. Take the first driveway on the
left, about 150 feet from the intersection. Luna's Pizza is directly
ahead in the strip mall. Go in, and proceed to the back, and up the
stairs to a large table set and waiting for you.
MINUTES OF W3YOZ FOWLFEST by Dick Wilder, K3DI
The annual fowlfest and joint PVRC and NCDXA meeting was again hosted by
Marty, W3YOZ near Chruchton south of Annapolis on Saturday August 16th.
Festivities started at noon with food, chatting, and plenty of that good
BBQ chicken.
Briefly, the PVRC meeting highlighted that a slate of officers will be
presented at the September meeting and nominations will be accepted from
the floor. Rich displayed another proposal modification to the club logo;
a logo that uses an outline map background. Andy, W3XE, suggested that
PVRC should send representatives to the FAR meetings. It was suggested
that a list of hot contests (ones PVRC wants to push) should be developed
and listed in the Newsletter.
Attendees that signed the join sign-in sheet were: K1DQV, K1HTV, K1MU,
N1KC [and mother], W1LRZ, W1LZZ, W2GG, W2YE, WB2BZR, AJ3M/JE2UFU, K3ANS,
K3CHP, K3DI, K3KZ, K3OSX, K3ZB/JH1NBN, K3XZ, K3ZO, KA3TGY, KE3Q, KP3C [and
daughter], N3FZB, N3HSA, N3MIL, N3RR, N3XLW, ND3A, NE3H, NV3V, W3AZ,
W3AZD, W3BY, W3CQH, W3FRG, W3GN, W3KN, W3LPL, W3MR, W3UR, W3XE, W3YOZ,
WB3ANE, WF3J, WG3U, WR3L, WR3Z, WV3B, AC4OS, K4JAB, KB4FAS, N4QQ, WB4NFO,
WC4B [and daughter].
REPORT OF SECOND ANNUAL VHF++ DAY by Brian Skutt, ND3F (with roster
comments by K3MM)
On Saturday, 23 August, from noon until dark, ND3F hosted the 2nd annual
picnic and VHF work day at his home in Ellicott City, MD.
Attending were:
W3TMZ (Jack--retired keeper of the W3VD beacons)
K1RZ (Dave--perennial single op winner),
ND3A (Rob--HF DX-peditioner and VHF rover),
WR3Z (Barry--VHF rover and HF contester),
K3MM (Tyler--2M op @ K3MQH, WRTC-96 participant),
N3KTV (Jim--222 MHz op @ K3MQH)
K2UOP/8 (Tom--from WV--perenial single op winner)
WI2T (Jeff--microwave op, rover, and the RF Connection connection)
N3YDT (Jim--also RFC, working on 1296/2304 systems),
W3PO (Pat--indoor antennas so far),
K8OQL (Jerry--just got new 2300' site in FM09)
NF3I (Scott--Univ. of MD)
ND3F (Brian--rover)
N3SLN (Adam--junior op at N3IQ)
K6LEW (Owen--EME, rover, and C3I antennas, @K8GP),
N3OPM (Dan--KW+ on 144/432)
W3EKT (Ed--rover, super system fixer, past op @K3MQH)
W3IP (Mike--multiop, microwave systems, 10' dish @ 100'
KC3VO (Bob--BIG RF amps and motorcycle rover)
KA3TCC (Tom--still working on getting QSLs returned)
WG3R (Robbie--10 GHz for a nickel)
AA3NM (Steve--"radar Gunn" and son)
WA0QII (Rod--CA Microwaver with serious experience)
W3CQH (Howard--getting new towers soon),
and maybe one or two more who didn't sign in! Jerry and Tom came from
Romney, WV, a two hour drive! This activity counted as a PVRC meeting,
and several needed it to meet membership / contest requirements.
Interesting technical presentations included: Rod, WA0QII 5.7 GHz
systems, and microwave operations/antennas, also laser demos. Robbie,
WG3R 10 GHz wideband systems using Radio Shack parts Tyler, K3MM testing
and alignment of 10 GHz and 24 GHz systems Ed, W3EKT general show and tell
stuff.
ND3F's spouse provided food; like last year the brownies and cookies
disappeared. As a result of the closely inspected and well cooked
hamburger patties, ND3A remarked that he had heard that E-coli was a new
form of VHF propagation (tongue in cheek remark of the day...).
Most of the written material, provided by W3EKT, ND3F, sponsor SHF
microwave, C3I antennas, ARR, OAL, and others, went to good homes.
At least eight 10 GHz systems were tested, using the now standard
frequencies 10.250, 10.350, and 10.280 depending on whether 30 Mhz or 100
MHz IFs are used. Several of the big wheels built at last years session
are still in operation!
NW MEETING MINUTES - AUGUST 19, 1997 by Tyler Stewart, K3MM
In attendance were members: K3MM, W3EKT, W3XE/m, N5OKR, W9LT, and N3HBX.
Reports from the Fowl-fest indicated a good time was had by all, as usual
- even the ones that had to push N3RR's boat (again!). W3XE commented
that PVRC should have 2 representatives to the Foundation for Amateur
Radio (FAR). FAR meetings are held in Takoma Park, MD and in Northern VA.
W9LT suggested resumption of meeting announcements, listings, etc., in
Autocall.
Member activities: N5OKR has a new job at Fort Meade and is looking for
new QTH. N3HBX is rebuilding his VHF/UHF station with an increase of
power in mind. W9LT plans to move back to Indiana soon. His QTH is for
sale, with towers/antennas if wanted. He also has a Force 12 4 el 20
meter beam on a 30 ft boom for sale.
K3MM has been working on multiple VHF/microwave projects for K3MQH
including a new 2 meter stack of M2 long-boom yagi's, and Gunnplexers for
10 and 24 Ghz. He decided to use Force 12 yagi's on his new tower, with
the first pair of 20 and 40 meter yagi's due to arrive in a few weeks. He
has been looking for a possible replacement for NW Regional Chairman.
N5OKR enthusiastically volunteered to take the position once things settle
down a bit for him.
PVRC CONTEST ACTIVITY FOR SEPTEMBER by Tyler Stewart K3MM
Even if you dont actively participate in these upcoming events, you can
help out fellow members by giving them contacts or submitting your score
for Potomac Valley Radio Club where noted.
September VHF QSO Party - 9/13 1800Z to 9/15 0300Z
Many PVRC members are heavily involved in the VHF and up contests and
could use your QSO(s) to boost their scores - even on FM. The usual FM
frequencies are 52.525, 146.55/58, 223.5, and 446.000. Exchange is just
your grid square. You can work each station once per band per grid
square, so if you are mobile (known as "rovers" in the VHF world), you can
start all over as soon as you move into another grid square!
WAEDC Contest (Worked All Europe) -9/13 through 9/14 - 48 hours
A very popular contest which has club competition! If you participate,
please be sure and mark your log for Potomac Valley Radio Club and be sure
and submit it. Note that in the past we've lost position due to the fact
that some sent in their logs marked only "PVRC". Please spell it out as
above so we can get one listing up near the top!
CQWW RTTY DX Contest - 9/27 through 9/28 - 48 hours
If you have RTTY capability, you can help out other PVRC members in this
contest, as you can work anyone for points. A large contingent of PVRC
operators will activate the W3LPL Mega-Multi station for this one and
could use your QSO on all bands! Be sure and offer a QSY to other bands
to maximize the effort.
North American Sprint Contests
While these havent been real popular with PVRC members, these 4 hour
contests can be a good warmup for the fall season. The long exchange and
special QSY rules make it a very challenging exercise.
SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT CQWW by Rich Boyd, KE3Q
I've been chatting on packet with N3RR about the CQWW phone '96 results.
We're comparing notes and he suggested I forward our messages to the
Newsletter editor to edit into an article, if he so chooses. It's kind of
an analysis thing, very simple, uninvolved, so maybe it'd make interesting
reading for some.
Also, N3RR and I noted the long list of stations who were single op
assisted. It seems to us, without checking past years, that the number of
ops entering the SOA category has dramatically increased.
Thoughts on multipliers verses rate. I think it's probably better to have
a really world class antenna system to "run" with than a world class mult
antenna to work mults with. In other words, an 80-100' tower with 48'
boom stacked monobanders for 20/15/10 and a good single 3-el 40 on that
tower (like at 100' rather than lower, in the case of 40) would probably
produce consistently higher scores than single high monobanders at
150-200'. If you can run Europe hour after hour you will run up a big QSO
total, and many, many of the mults will come to you, including some who
ONLY go around answering CQs and never take a frequency and call CQ
themselves. The tradeoff is that you will MISS some mults who are calling
CQ somewhere.
N3RR's single op assisted scores are an interesting benchmark because they
pretty much represent how many mults you will work if you work every spot
that comes out during the contest weekend. That is, every spot that's a
new mult. Bill generally goes after them all, at the sacrifice of
running. Some guys who have a good run going will let the new mult spots
go by, won't go chasing them. It's an interesting tradeoff to make and
sometimes makes you squirm in the chair seeing these mults come on, but
knowing many will have big pileups to break, versus staying on your run
frequency and racking up QSOs, with the occasionally HZ or V85 calling in
for a new mult.
Back to the antenna thought: Really world class monobanders at a
reasonable height of 100' or less are probably the most important antennas
in the contester's arsenal, because they're the ones you "run" with. And,
they'll be plenty good enough to break the pileups too, most of the time.
For those handful of mults for which you wish the antenna was 200' high,
don't worry about it, they will mean little in your final score, will mean
a lot less than the 100-plus QSOs per hour you can run. The goal is that
when you're running Europe you want to have a signal in Europe as big as
W3LPL's. Don't worry about it if W3LPL gets through first call on 20 when
Macao is spotted, and you might call for 10 minutes without getting
through. Run instead.
HOME BREW by John Sherrick, W3HVQ
Wish you guys could all experience this. The 4-1000A amplifier that I
put together between the ARRL contests this year is out of the rack
tonight. Its out on a low table and top and rear panels are off. The new
band-switch to go in is laying there in place. The old one, having put up
a good fight against arcing but losing the battle, has been cut out of the
circuits with side cutters.
Its 8:21 PM and don't have any meetings, choir practice, or bowling. I'm
not TDY for the company. I've got some worn out blue jeans on, my
soldering iron is laying here like a colt 45, and I'm feeling good! Ready
to install this big switch, which has five times the amount of ceramic and
air spacing as the old switch.
It has taken months to locate the new bandswitch... which was found at a
long long table full of just plain junk at the Timonium Hamfest. It was
the ceramic parts only, but last night I finished building a frame for it
complete with ten homemade detents.
I don't think there's anything more satisfying and relaxing in this
world than to take a bunch of hamfest junk and make something out of it!
Maybe I'm getting old and sentimental, but I think it beats any other form
of ham radio.
Just thought I'd send this out to encourage you guys to get out the junk
and start putting it together in some way, shape, or form. Its fun!! 73
(From a packet message to PVRC dated 21 Aug.)
FOR SALE
Rohn 25 tilt-over hinge assembly which makes a tilt-over tower from a
standard tower. It is with winch and in good condition. Also, 70 feet of
RG-333/U Prodelin 50 ohm jacketed hardline brand new with type N male
connectors. Call Glenn at 717-774-1728 or via packet K3WSZ>NE3H (Note:
If not sold by the 13th you can probably see the goodies as you attend
Glenn's open house in New Cumberland, PA. - editor)
PVRC TEAM SCORE - NAQP CW by Tyler Stewart, [email protected]
Here's the final tally for the Potomac Valley Radio Club Team
K3MM 205,155
N4AF 146,780
K4MA 117,012
N4CW 102,460
NE3H 45,472
Total 616,879
NEW TOWER REGS IN PG COUNTY by Fred Laun, K3ZO
New Tower Regs in P. G. Count The July 18 evening news on CTV Cable
Channel (15A) in Southern Prince Georges County showed P. G. County
Councilor Jim Estepp standing below a new 150-foot cellular telephone
tower somewhere in a rural part of P. G. County. While admitting that the
tower was completely legal, he fulminated against the company that put it
up for not consulting the neighbors beforehand, and announced that he
would introduce new tower legislation in the County Council soon. CTV's
reporter closed by saying many of the people the station talked to in the
neighborhood were pleased with the new tower, hoping it would improve
their cell phone service, which had been spotty in that area.
FAR-FEST SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH
The "Gaithersburg Hamfest" will be on September 7th at the Montgomery
County Agriculture Center (Fairgounds) in Gaithersburg. I-270 to
Montgomery Village Ave exit. Talk-in 146.955- 443.400+ and 146.52. Gates
open at 6AM and commercial building at 8 AM. Tailgate $15 per 10 ft space
which requires one general admission ticket . (Ad does not state general
admission price.) Drawing at 11:30 AM. IAmateur Exams on-site at 9 AM
vy Laurel VEC's.
For information: Mary Morris, N4TCI, [email protected], 703 971 3905
PVRC REFERENCES (This page will be updated and included every issue)
PVRC Officers
PRESIDENT KE3Q RICH BOYD (301) 464-8014 [email protected]
VICE PRES K3MM TYLER STEWART (301) 414-5444 [email protected]
SECRETARY N3OC BRIAN McGINNESS (301) 652-6768 [email protected]
TREASURER N3KTV JIM HORTON (301) 258-9731
HISTORIAN K3SA STEVE AFFENS (301) 774-0558 [email protected]
PVRC Charter Members:
W3GRF (SK), W4AAV (SK), W4KFC (SK), N0FFZ (SK), W4LUE, W7YS, VP2VI (W0DX),
W3IKN, W4KFT.
PacketCluster Contest/DX System (MHz):
K3NA Frederick MD 145.630
W3LPL Glenwood MD 145.590 441.250
KE3Q Bowie MD 145.570 445.375
N3RR Rockville MD 145.510 441.325
N4OHE Mt.Weather VA 145.710 440.925
N4SR Woodbridge VA 145.630 *
WR3L Baltimore MD 145.610 440.950
K4FJ Mt. Vernon VA 145.770 *
K3MQH S Mountain PA 145.630
This system is sponsored by the Potomac Valley DX Spotting Network except
for nodes marked with "*" are independently funded by each SYSOP..
PVRC on Internet.
PVRC web site: http://www.pvrc.org by K3SA.
NC (N4AF) web http://www.pagesz.net/~pvrc
PVRC reflector: [email protected] to join.
[email protected] to post.
Dues are by donation. The mandatory $10 dues have been discontinued. So
please send your donation - hopefully at least $10 - to Jim Horton, N3KTV,
8527 Calypso Lane, Gaithersburg, MD 20879-1522. Make checks payable to
PVRC. Thank you.
Newsletter Editor: Dick Wilder, K3DI, 913 Shore Acres Rd, Arnold, MD
21012-1724. The communication ports are: 410-757-6706, FAX/modem
410-757-6720, [email protected], and the DXcluster. The deadline for
articles is Monday, two weeks before the central meeting.
The Central Meeting is always the second Monday except during the summer.
The central meeting generally alternates between the following two
locations. Check the calendar on page 1.
THE VIENNA VA LOCATION is at the Public Library route 123 outside the
Beltway.." Take the Beltway to VA Route 123 South (Chain Bridge Road at
this point). Cross over Route 7 and pass Tyson's Corner. On right will be
JKJ Chevrolet. Continue on 123 into Vienna where 123 becomes Maple Avenue.
After passing Beulah Road (on right with light), look for Park Street
(about 3 blocks). Park Street has a light. The Library will be along one
block on the left, just before Center Street. Entrance to the library
parking lot is a left off 123 Maple. The lot is just before the library
itself. Alternatively, if you take I-66 off the beltway, and exit at
Nutley Street toward Vienna, you will run into Maple Ave. A right turn
takes you into town. The library will be on your RIGHT just after Center
Street. Going this way, you will not have to make a left turn into the
parking lot across heavy double lanes traffic.
THE TEMPLE HILLS MD LOCATION is at The Church of the Nativity (Episcopal),
Route 5, Temple Hills, MD at 7:30 PM. Take the Capital Beltway to Exit
7-A. Head south on Maryland Route 5 (Branch Ave) toward Waldorf.
Immediately after entering Branch Ave you will come to a stoplight, which
is Manchester Dr. Turn right on Manchester Dr. In the middle of the
block on the left hand side, you will notice the Church of the Nativity
sign next to the church entrance. Go up the drive to the top and park in
the church's parking lot.
Coming soon. A list of regions and chair person(s). Here are some notes
that will be updated and formated. Please send corrections and additions.
editor
NW Ty Stewart K3MM 301-414-5444 [email protected]
3rd Tues, Legends Rest in Hampton Inn, Frederick, MD
NC Howie Hoyt N4AF.. Meets first week monthly.
PA Steve Cutshall K3TZV 717 763 0462 First Thurs
Eastern Shore Brian McGinnes N3OC 301 652 6768
[email protected]
Rappahannock Jack O/Mara W4NF 703 680 4106 and C. Deel W4CE 703 491 0841
[email protected]
Central VA Bob Morris, W4MYA 804 457 9011 [email protected]
Tidewater VA Don Lynch W4ZYT 804 486 0728 [email protected].
PVRC BWI weekly breakfast Wed at 7:30 AM at Basil's Deli Port on Elkrdige
Landing Rd, Howard Leake-W6AXX
Over the Hill (OTH) montly luncheon day and QTH floats. Sept host is Ben
AA4XU 703-534-4740. Oct is W3XE .
NE WR3L, WV W9LT, SW Va K4IQ, Central KE3Q