Communicator - Central NH Amateur Radio Club

Monthly
Newsletter of the Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club
The Communicator
The
ARRL
Special
Service Club
July,
2015
Communicator
July 2015
CNHARC Web Page - www.cnharc.org
July Meeting Program
FOX HUNT – Seven teams will be out looking for the fox. What team will you be on?
Contact your fellow club friends and create a team. Make a directional antenna or borrow one of the club’s.
After the hunt concludes, all hunters and the fox will come back to the church. Most of the hunters will offer up excuses as
to why they came in second place or worse. Don’t forget the old saying, “Second place is as good as last.”
Refreshments will be served! Coffee, water, and soft drinks as well as cookies will be available. Snacks and coffee
provided by Peggy, KB1GQV and Dave, KA1VJU.
If you wish to present a program or have a specific subject covered please contact Cliff, N1RCQ @ 279-7763.
For directions to the meeting, the talk in repeater is 146.985 PL123.
But they didn’t.
With help from Cliff Dickinson and Bill Taffe, I loaded up my truck and drove home with tables, chairs and a
generator to be stored in my shed. There they’ll be ready to
go for next year or for any other upcoming event where we
want to gather to party or do radio.
The Saturday of Field Day had fair weather in the
morning, but as the day wore on you could see the clouds
build. It didn’t matter. The mood of all in attendance was
upbeat. I saw more grins and heard more laughs than customers at Sawyers Ice Cream on a hot summer’s day.
Our common bond is a unique hobby. It only fills part
of each day or week with you because you have other things
tugging at your strings.
If you’ve been on the edges of the club watching from
a distance, I’m here to tell you that you may want to think
From the President’s Key
By Tim, W3ATB
Several hours ago I arrived home from the Field Day
site. It was a miserable day. Cool, rainy, with a stiff wind
and gray clouds so thick I couldn’t see Gunstock Mountain
from the top of Meredith Center Road. It was a day when
any person in their right mind would be home in front of a
warm wood fire.
But guess what?
There were at least ten, maybe twelve of your club
members busy helping Jim Brown and his strike team break
down Field Day. As the rain spotted my glasses, I saw
smiles. I saw enthusiasm. I saw the future of your club. It
would have been easy for many there to leave and go home
under those conditions.
In This Issue
From the President’s Key ………………..………….…...
Power Trip .......................................................................
Adam’s Junk Box ………………………………...…….
CNHARC Summer BBQ ……………………………...
Upcoming Public Service Events ..…………………..
HamShield Turns an Arduino Into a VHF/UHF
Transciever ……………………………………..……...
2015 Mount Washington Road Race …………….….
Field Day Photos ………….. ..………………………..
Secretary’s Report ……………………………………..
Next Club Meeting - Tuesday, July 7th, 2015 at 7:00 PM
Gilford Community Church, Gilford NH
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The Communicator
July, 2015
about investing a little more time with your club members.
Why?
If you had come to Field Day, even just to have dinner
with us, you’d know why. Your club is filled with talented
and friendly people, members who are wanting to become
skilled operators and those that want to be surrounded by
such people. If you invest the time, you may be able to experience the precision of a set of Pietro Begali paddles and
a sleek Elecraft KX3. Make a time deposit in your club and
you may build a friendship for life.
Just Do It, as they say at Nike.
You’ve got two great chances to share in some of this
fraternity in the coming month. Our July meeting is going
to be a fun-filled fox hunt where you can team up with
some club members to hone your foraging skills and have a
barrel of laughs as you scramble in and out of a car trying to
home in on the fox’s shrill bark.
Later in the month, we’ll be having our summer picnic. It’s going to be a fun lunch at the Gilford Community
Church where you can kick back and tell stories about how
tall your antenna is or how you made that rare contact with
South Cook Island while you got up at night to see if your
house was safe from intruders.
You don’t have to have a story to share to come to the
summer picnic, but no doubt you have one or two or three. I
know I’d love to hear your favorite story about you and the
magic of amateur radio.
Make plans now to come to the July meeting or the
summer picnic. I promise you it will not be time wasted.
For my experiment I used the Mountain Topper transceiver from LNRPrecision. This little pocket-sized transceiver draws only 35 ma on receive. (An Icom 706 draws 50
times that.) When transmitting, it draws 500 ma. During my
experiment I worked California, Arizona, New Mexico and
Washington state among others. This is a CW rig that operates on 40, 30 and 20 meters.
You can get power-miser rigs for voice too. They're a
little more expensive, a little heavier and draw a bit more
current.
Power Trip
One Approach to Emergency Communications
By Jim, W1PID
If you play your power cards correctly, you can make
hundreds of long distance QSOs using nothing more than a
few AA batteries. Add a simple 5-watt solar panel, and you
can operate indefinitely.
After participating in the club Field Day, I came home
and had my own Field Day. I conducted a simple experiment to see how well I could make Field Day contacts with
a handful of AA batteries. I made 60 QSOs and hardly put
a dent in the stored capacity of 8 Sanyo Eneloops.
The formula for long operating times from small batteries is simple.
1) Use a power-miser rig
2) Use proven, high capacity, easy-to-charge batteries
3) Consider a solar panel
My Field Day setup
I'm using Eneloop AA batteries for a few reasons.
They have a long shelf life. They don't self discharge like
most NiMh batteries. AA batteries are available almost anywhere if you need some in an emergency. They're forgiving.
I solar charge them with no controller.
These batteries are typically rated at 2000 mAh. Even
if you discharge them to half their capacity, they would run
CNHARC Monday Night Net at 8:00 PM on 146.985 MHz
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The Communicator
July, 2015
the mountain topper on receive for 28 hours.
I use a five-watt folding solar panel rated for 12V to
charge 8 Eneloop batteries. The 8 batteries in series are
rated for 9.6 volts, but typically they charge to about 11.5V.
When they get to 9.8 or so, I recharge them. A couple of
hours with the 12V solar panel will completely charge a
discharged battery pack. I check the voltage to make sure I
don't overcharge them. Use a controller if you're not able to
check them periodically.
Emergency communications requires freedom from
commercial power, freedom from generators (no gasoline
available), portability and flexibility. With the Mountain
Topper and 8 AA batteries, I have a complete emergency
station (including antenna) in a 4 X 6 inch box. It weighs
about a pound and a half.
“It’s Only One Hill”
Paul Bazanchuk, WA1MPY makes his way up the
Auto Road.
Photo by Mary, N1RKO
Social Media and CNHARC
Central NH
ARES Frequencies
CNHARC has a presence on Facebook,
Twitter, and YouTube!
Find us on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/CNHARC
Follow @CNHARC on Twitter.
Visit the CNHARC page on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/user/
CNHARCAmateurRadio
Primary: 146.985 MHz, - offset. PL123.0
Backup: 147.300 MHz, - offset, PL 88.5
Sec. backup: 147.390 MHz, - offset, PL
123.0
Simplex: 147.540 MHz
NH Statewide ARES HF: 3.943 MHz
CNHARC 6-Meter Thurs. Night Net 8 PM, 53.770 MHz
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The Communicator
July, 2015
I find it fascinating to see how our hobby brings together such a motley collection of people. Ham radio is a
great hobby with a great wealth of diverse activities that can
be pursued within it’s wide bounds, which is possibly why
it attracts such an eclectic bunch of characters. Even within
the relatively limited scope of our club’s membership we
have people who are engineers, teachers, doctors, laborers,
technicians, factory workers, managers, retirees, and every
other conceivable occupation. Each one of us seems to have
differing interests within the hobby, ranging from working
around the world with old radios that glow in the dark, to
working the internet into radio communications with computerized radios that glow from the bright gleam of LEDs,
and everything in between. All of these activities have two
things in common, they all require an amateur radio license,
and they all require equipment that is expensive beyond
belief.
in mind when reading this. Also, please keep in mind a piece
of advice I hear myself saying to other hams all the time
when asked for equipment recommendations: “Get the radios and gear that will work best for what you wish to do in
the hobby, not the stuff that I recommend because it works
well for me.” In other words, don’t get it just because I like
it.
There are a number of things in this hobby that will
require us to open up our wallets and beat them into submission. You want a tower? Be prepared to fork out some green
paper. You need a legal-limit amplifier? You’re going to
need to cough up some dough. You want a high-end HF
transceiver? Be prepared to empty your wallet completely, at
least twice. Antennas, however, do not have to be one of
these wallet destroying items. It is possible to build for yourself any and all antennas that you will ever use, depending
on how handy and/or dedicated you are. Remember the jpole article I wrote for February’s Communicator? It costs
roughly half as much to build your own as it does to buy one
made by someone else. That is but one example of the many
There, I said it. (How dare he!) Ham radio is NOT a
cheap hobby! (Blasphemer!) Yes, you can get started with a
$35 handheld radio, and even be perfectly happy using only
that. But most of us, once we acquire our licenses and get a
taste for the irresistible drug that is amateur radio, naturally
decide that we want more. We want more radios, more DX,
more gear, more distance, more modes, more antennas,
more blinky lights, more power, more everything! Much to
the chagrin of our wallets, most of us start to collect these
items as quickly as we can afford to purchase them. I can’t
count the number of times I’ve heard of hams that have
spent their entire hobby budget, or their entire budget full
stop, in one single trip to HRO. A brand new HF radio can
cost anywhere from $1000 to as much as NASA’s yearly
budget. A VHF radio can be less expensive, but one can
still expect to spend $500 or more depending on what features are desired. To be fair, a single-band 2-meter mobile
radio can be purchased for around $150, but that is a basic
radio with few features.
Having said all of this, I want to use this month’s article to discuss my thoughts on how to be a cheapskate, or at
least be a cheap ham. Please don’t think of this as a set-instone, this-is-how-it-must-be-done kind of thing, but rather
Adam’s-opinion-on-how-it-might-be-done. Please keep that
CNHARC is on YouTube ! CNHARCAmateurRadio
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The Communicator
July, 2015
types of antennas that can be completely built by the enterprising ham for much less money than their commercial
equivalents. HF antennas can be even easier to build. If you
can cut a piece of wire, you can build an HF antenna. While
wire is getting expensive these days due to the increasing
costs of metal production, it is still much less expensive to
make your own wire antenna than to buy someone else’s.
And by far the cheapest and easiest to build antenna that I
know of is a simple quarter-wave 2-meter vertical made
from an SO-239 jack and a couple of coat-hangers!
It doesn’t get much cheaper than that! For the cost of
some old stuff you probably already have hanging around
the shack and 15 minutes of your time, you can be on the air
with your very own coat-hanger ground plane antenna. You
can also build a single-band dipole antenna for almost anywhere on the spectrum simply by cutting 2 wires to one
quarter-wavelength each for whichever frequency you want
them to resonate on. It’s that simple. Cut your two wires,
hang them up from the ends using antenna insulators on the
ends (these can be made of almost any non-conductive plastic material such as white PVC pipe), connect the inside
ends of the wires to your feedline (a 1:1 balun or choke may
be needed here), test it with your SWR meter, and you’re on
the air! See, it’s this easy:
To it’s right is a commercial 4:1 balun, and it’s obvious that it wouldn’t be difficult to build one of those either.
Again, the plans for them can be found online, and there are
so many different types out there that it can be confusing
deciding which balun to use. The balun you use is dependent on what you have on either side of it, such as your antenna, feedline, and radio, so the baluns shown above are
for example only. You will need to choose the proper balun
for your own individual setup and then decide whether to
buy one or build your own (which I encourage, of course).
Multi-band dipoles and other antenna designs can also
be quite simple to make, but there are far too many variations available for me to cover them in this article. Suffice it
to say, there are any number of easy to construct do-ityourself HF antennas out there. Google is your friend when
it comes to finding one to suit your individual needs and
wants.
Speaking of radios and feedline, these don’t have to
be expensive either. I know that most of us are familiar
with the concept of ham radio flea markets, especially
NEARfest. However, for the benefit of those that are new
to the hobby, or just have never experienced the magic of
1000 hams coming together for the purpose of buying and
selling their old radio gear, I will explain a bit. NEARfest
happens twice a year, usually May and October, and it is
one of the biggest hamfests around. There are also several
other smaller hamfests in the area, but NEARfest is the big
one, at least for this neck of the woods. Dayton is THE BIG
ONE, but I’ve never been there so I can’t say much about
it, other than that I want to go there someday, badly. You
can get more info about when and where NEARfest happens at www.near-fest.com.
I mentioned baluns previously, and they too can be
cheap and easy to make. While it would take an entire article to go into their design and construction, and would require a heap of technical knowledge that I just don’t posses,
I can show you a 1:1 balun that I built from plans I found
online:
The reason I am devoting so much attention to these
events is that these are great places to acquire ham radio
gear of all kinds! If you are looking for feedline, you will
see any number of people there selling coax and twin-lead,
new and used, pristine and mouse-chewed. I once picked up
several hundred feet of RG-213 coax for a mere $10! To
CNHARC Monday Night Net at 8:00 PM on 146.985 MHz
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The Communicator
July, 2015
this day I am still using that coax. It’s not the best coax in
the world, but it is sufficient for my needs and a whole lot
better than the RG-58 I was using before then. I have
picked up several radios there for decent prices, some test
gear, spare parts, and even some helium-neon lasers which
I have yet to find a use for. All of these things, and many
more, were acquired at bargain-basement prices. A savvy
shopper can walk out of a hamfest with an armload of very
nice ham radio gear and still have a few pieces of green
paper left in his or her wallet.
CNHARC Summer BBQ,
Saturday July 26, 2015!
What:
2015 CNHARC Summer BBQ
Open to all members, vacationing hams and accompanied
guests.
Where:
Gilford Community Church, 19 Potter Hill Road, Gilford
NH (same place as where we have our monthly meetings)
For folks that don’t mind working a soldering iron
and have a few spare parts on hand, even better deals can
be had by purchasing dead or dying radio gear. I have several radios that I have saved from a fate worse than trash,
and one that I am in the process of repairing right now.
Sometimes the repairs are as simple as fixing a component
with a failed solder joint, or cleaning dirty contacts. Other
times they can get much more complex, but if you are patient and careful you can often get these rigs back into service.
When:
Saturday, July 25, 2015 starting at 11:30AM
Why:
For the pure enjoyment of it, of course!
On the menu:
Hotdogs and hamburgers provided by CNHARC. Salads,
beans and deserts supplied by attendees, pot luck style
Hamfests aren’t the only place to get good used gear.
There are any number of places to find radio gear at less
than full price, including this very publication. Quite often
there are ads run by club members who have gear that they
want to sell, often at very good prices. Speaking of club
members, there are also listings by club members on the
CNHARC forums, which can be accessed through the
club’s web site, cnharc.org. Another place to look are web
sites like Craigslist, QRZ, and Ebay. While you will seldom be able to really look over what you are about to buy
before pulling the trigger on these sites, a careful and patient shopper can score some very good deals.
Cost:
$0, just bring a pot luck dish!
Events:
50/50 raffle
Best mobile installation: Here's your chance to show off
your cool mobile installation to other hams!
Worst mobile installation: AKA "looks bad, but it works!"
Sometimes there is fame in shame!
Volunteers needed! Grills needed!!
Of course we'll need to know who's coming to ensure we
have plenty to grill, so if you know you're going to be there,
please reply with how many are coming with you and what
you'll be bringing to share.
These guidelines are only my own personal opinions,
and much of this is probably old news to you, but I am
hopeful that this may be helpful in some way to someone.
As always, I welcome your comments and compliments,
and to a lesser extent your criticism and critiques. I can be
found most of the time on the Gunstock 146.985 repeater,
or by email at my call sign at hot mail dot com.
More info at the monthly meeting and check here for further updates
Volunteers needed! We need grill masters to cook and
bring grills.
CNHARC Nets
Who is coming? Please let me know ASAP
Monday: Two-Meter Net, 8:00 PM, 146.985
Wednesday: ARES Net, 8:00 PM, 146.985
Thursday: Six-meter Net, 8:00 PM, 53.77
I can be reached @ Clayton(at)fortress security(dot)biz
Check Out The CNHARC Page on Facebook!
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The Communicator
July, 2015
Information contact Dave Megin
at [email protected].
Upcoming 2015 Public Service
and Other Events
Mark Your Calendars!
October ? 2015 Meredith Bay Trick or Trot 5K
Information contact Tim Carter
at [email protected]
Amateur Radio Operators needed!
October 16th & 17th 2015 NEAR-Fest XVIII
Deerfield, New Hampshire
http://www.near-fest.com:8084/nearfest/
There are many other events not listed here that
also need safety communications help. Please consider volunteering your time to help at an event.
Public service events make great training for emergency communications and are a good way to show
the public what amateur radio can do.
Events are open to all Hams.
If you would like more information on one of the
events or to sign up to help with safety communications, please contact name listed after the event.
Please check on the status of the event close
to the date of the event for any changes or
updates.
Not responsible for typographic errors. Last updated 4/9/15
July 4th 2015 Fourth of July parade in Wolfeboro
Information Contact Bob,KB1DLX
at [email protected]
July 11th, 2015 Newton's Revenge Bicycle race
up the Mt. Washington Auto Road.
Information contact Cliff Dickinson at [email protected]
July 10th & 11th, 2015 The Annual Prouty Century Bike Ride.
Information http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/
default.asp?ievent=1046237
July 18th, 2015, TMCC Mt. Washington Century
Ride (100 mile bicycle ride)
Information at. http://www.tinmountain.org/?
page_id=1205
Ham info Luke Quigley KB1IIR contact [email protected]
August 15th 2015 43th Annual Mt. Washington
Auto road bicycle HillClimb (Weather date August
16th)
Information contact Cliff Dickinson
at [email protected].
The Swedish Chef, or Fonzie Fonzarelli?
You be the judge.
Photo by Jim, KB1FBQ
rd
October 3 2015 The NH Marathon Bristol, NH
(foot race)
CNHARC is on Twitter - follow us @cnharc
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The Communicator
July, 2015
HamShield turns an
Arduino into a VHF/UHF
Transceiver
2015 Mount Washington
Road Race
Story and photos by Mary, N1RKO
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
The 2015 Mt. Washington Road Race was held on
Saturday, June 20th. What an incredibly beautiful day it was
on Mt. Washington! A perfect day, so rare on the rockpile. I
don’t believe that in all the events I have worked on the
mountain I have ever seen such a beautiful day throughout
the mountain. My assignment was at Checkpoint #31, also
known as Air Force, about 0.6 mile from the summit. This
location brings a fantastic view of the summit with the Sherman Adams building, the col with the Cog Railroad, and
Mts. Jefferson and Adams. I had cool temperatures that required some winter clothing, sunny blue skies with some
long thin clouds, a slight breeze and visibility that extended
for miles. The windmills to the north could be seen in the
distance.
The Arduino seems to be making a big splash in ham
radio circles these days. The ARRL has recently published a
couple of books about the Arduino and Arduino-based amateur radio projects. And, recently, I purchased a NanoKeyer
(nanokeyer.wordpress.com), which is a CW keyer powered
by an Arduino Nano. Now, a couple of enterprising young
hams have built the HamShield
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/749835103/
hamshield-for-arduino-vhf-uhf-transceiver).
It's an Arduino shield that turns an Arduino into a
VHF/UHF transceiver. With the HamShield, you can transmit and receive on the 2 m, 220 MHz, and 440 MHz bands.
According to Casey, KC7IBT, one of the project leaders, "We have both voice and data working on the shield
right now and also have a powerful library to control it."
"We also have it talking to the Chrome browser, so
any computer that can run a web browser can operate a
packet radio station or voice station. We also have another
piece of chrome software called “APRS Messenger”, a text
messaging app for APRS. One of our prototypes is in a neat
little case that clips right to the back of your laptop (shown
in the video). I will launch these apps in the Chrome Store
once we get closer to completion.
"We have 10 working prototypes currently, but need
to raise money to fund the production cost and get the unit
prices down to acceptable levels. This means buying parts
in bulk and reducing production costs."
The Road Race is a 7.8 mile foot race up the Auto
Road of Mt. Washington that, this year, brought over 1300
runners to test their endurance, strength, and determination
on a course with an average grade of 12% and with extended
sections of 18%. I heard one runner say, “It was the toughest race I’ve ever done.” Another runner explained this was
his 21st time doing the climb. We joked that he was a glutton for punishment. And another runner commented to her
partner, “There is only one more hill,” in an attempt to convince themselves that the vertical up in front of them would
be the final push. This was a questionable comment since
the race is dubbed as being “only one hill” and the ultimate
incline just before the finish line is an unrelenting 22% wall.
There were only a few drop outs, who shortly after
starting decided for one reason or another not to continue.
The usual cramping was also a very common problem. I
heard of no runners dehydrated. All a testament to the beau-
I think this is a very cool project, and I hope that
you’ll consider supporting the HamShield Kickstarter project. I plan to get one and see what I can do with it.
==========================================
When not playing with Arduinos, Dan operates CW on the
HF bands and blogs about amateur radio at KB6NU.Com.
He is also the author of the "No-Nonsense"amateur radio
license study guides. His most recent book is The CW
Geek's Guide to Having Fun with Morse Code. The books
are available on his website or on Amazon.
CNHARC 6-Meter Thurs. Night Net 8 PM, 53.770 MHz
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The Communicator
July, 2015
tiful day.
The highlight of the event was probably George (bib
number 95) who is 95 years old and his 65 year old son (bib
number 195) who accompanied him. I saw George 2 years
ago while working the Finish Line. That year George had
trained and finished the climb with his granddaughter. Last
year George didn’t run the race. He is an amazing man, finishing the climb this year in 3 hours and 28 minutes. To his
credit, he was not the last participant to finish. There were
still a few others behind him. At the end of the day I saw
him sprightly walk up to the stage and easily make the big
step onto the stage to receive his award. He did not look like
a man who had just walked up the mountain.
CNHARC
Repeater Sustaining Members
2015 / 2016
Paul Bazanchuk, WA1MPY, from the White Mountain
Amateur Radio Club with bib number 60, also did the Road
Race. I saw him pass me by as he neared the finish line. I
admire anyone who attempts this climb. Just to finish, regardless of the time, is a huge accomplishment. I am so glad
I am able to help all these people to fulfill their goals and
their dreams.
Thanks to Cliff Dickinson, N1RCQ, for his hard work
organizing and setting up the ham radio aspect of this race,
and to Dave Megin, KA1VJU, for his excellent net control
skills.
Glen Aldrich
KC1AAI
Peter Jackson
K2SNW
Nate Ayotte
KC1DKE
Robert MacGuffie
K2HZN
Tim Carter
W3ATB
Bryan Medeiros
KC1DVN
Dick Christopher
N1LT
James Robinton
N1CRZ
Richard Wholey
K1OBP
Stephen Saunders
K1NET
Lee Duncan
W1LAD
Bernie Quartaroli
WI1I
Derek Fritz
KB1YTQ
Dick Sterry
KB1OCE
Bill Guinther
KC1BMM Dave Worrall
Ronald Bryson
Rick Zach
K1RJZ
Edward Curley
KC1CLA
Thomas Edwards
W1EDW
Ron Baker
N1JJW
Jack Barbera
WA1ZDV
Jim Brown
KB1FBQ
Bryan Letourneau
Peter Drexel
AE1T
Bruce Hamel
K1BRH
Frank Martin
NG1J
James White
KA1OEO
Frank Towle
KC1AAQ
Aleda Nichols
KC1CCU
Dana Ashton
N1WXQ
Ed Colby
N1SCJ
Jack Barbera
WA1ZDV
Bob Carollo
NHY1H
Richard Palmieri
KC1BOW Dick Christopher
Dave Benson
K1SWL
W1JY Central NH Amateur Radio Club W1CNH
9
N2IRO
N1LT
The Communicator
July, 2015
Field Day Photos
By Jim, KB1FBQ and Adam, N1RKW
Check Out The CNHARC Page on Facebook!
10
The Communicator
July, 2015
Secretary’s Report
The 2015 Financial Balance Sheet Summary on May 11,
2015:
ASSETS
Current Assets
Repeater Fund
668.16
General Operating Fund
1006.05
PayPal CNHARC Account
25.00
PayPal Internet Account
25.00
Petty Cash
27.00
Checking/Savings TOTAL
1751.21
TOTAL Assets
1751.21
by
Rich, WF1V
CNHARC STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING - Monday, 5/11/2015
LIABILITIES
Opening Balance Equity
Retained Earnings
Net Income
TOTAL Liabilities & Equity
ATTENDEES (Officers and Honored Members):
W3ATB
Tim Carter
President
KC1AAI
Glen Aldrich
Vice President
K1LQN
Tom Persson
Treasurer
WF1V
Rich Kumpf
Secretary
KB1FBQ
Jim Brown
Member 2015
N1RCQ
Cliff Dickinson Member 2015
N1RKW
Adam Foley
Member 2016
N1LT
Dick Christopher Member 2017
KA1VJU
Dave Megin
Member 2017
N1DOU
David Weiss
Member 2017
KB1GQV
Peggy Brown
Member
N1CRZ
Jim Robinton
Member
W1DDI
Mark Persson
Member
N1NYI
Bill McAllister
Member
N1HD
Chris Read
Member
KA1DPZ
Curtis Appleyard Member
KA1OEO
Jim White
Member
N1VAU
Clayton Ferry
Member
2072.66
513.06
-834.51
1751.21
Membership Report:
44 members have already renewed.
Tom sent out invoices to the remaining members, but PayPal is down.
...Options: Print out & Mail in renewals, or cash at next club
meeting.
Tim will be sending out an email to the club members tonight to explain their payment options.
Repeater Support:
2 Donations were made today
2 Members changed to RSM
SECRETARY'S REPORT - WF1V, Rich Kumpf
Rich Requested a Motion to Approve Last Month's Steering
Committee Minutes:
A motion was made and seconded. The April 2015 SC
Meeting Minutes were approved by unanimous vote and
will be uploaded to the Google drive
VENUE
The meeting was held at the Gilford Community Church.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT - W3ATB, Tim Carter
Tim called the April 2015 meeting of the Central NH Amateur Radio Club to order at 7:00 PM
Tim requested that all of the 'formal' reports be kept brief so
that there is sufficient time for discussion of new items and
ideas. He reported that the Old Man Event was well executed and hopes that Field Day is just as good.
MEETING PROGRAM COORDINATOR REPORT N1RCQ, Cliff Dickinson
50/50 Raffle:
April meeting 50/50: $35 was retained from a $70 pot
April club meeting attendance: 48
Next Meeting: Tickets will be available at the door when
folks drop in.
Attendance sheets will be available at the door so that
guests can be identified and recognized by the president at
the beginning of the meeting.
VICE PRESIDENT REPORT - KC1AAI, Glen Aldrich
New Officer. Glen reported on a new member who recently
got his license. KC1DVN, Bryan
TREASURER'S REPORT - K1LQN, Tom Persson
The 2015 Financial Profit/Loss Report Summary Year-toDate:
Total Income:
$ 1,443.84
Total Expenses:
$2,278.35
Net Income/(Loss):
($ 834.51)
Door Prizes - This would involve purchasing tickets:
This topic will be taken up at a future meeting.
CNHARC 6-Meter Thurs. Night Net 8 PM, 53.770 MHz
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The Communicator
July, 2015
June Meeting Program:
Program #1. Tim will have a program on how to sell on
eBay and what NOT to purchase on eBay
Program #2. Members will be requested to bring in their
favorite QSL cards and tell why they hold special meaning.
OTHER DISCUSSION ITEMS INCLUDING EVENT
PLANS
A. BBQ: Planned for July 25th - Dave/Peggy/Clayton are
Chairing this event.
Planning: Clayton acknowledged 2 weekends in July would
work for him.
Date: Saturday July 25th is now confirmed.
Venue: Still TBD, Possibles: Ellocoya State Park, Meredith
Center Grange, Center Harbor Food Pantry, Church Parking
Lot
...the church lot must be vacated early for a wedding also
planned for late afternoon.
Food: Outdoors. Members will bring Pot Luck. The club
will provide Hot Dogs & Hamburgers for grilling.
Event Communication: Clayton will advertise this event at
the next 1 or 2 club meetings.
July/August Programs - Weather Dependent.
1. CNHARC Radio Challenge - Recruit outdoor radio operators, setups in the parking lot. Challenges: Time to activate
the station. , Time to make a contact. First DX. Followed by
an indoor 'Outdoor Radio' Discussion Panel
2. Fox Hunt Followed by a social discussion. Need to set up
a good receiving antenna so folks inside can follow the
hunt.
Cliff is looking for 2 more volunteers to help Cliff plan programs so every other month can leapfrog each other for
planning events.
B. Boy Scouts Jamboree at NH Speedway (October 10-11,
Columbus Day Weekend):
Tim has contact info. Dick volunteered to work with: Curtis
KA1DPZ & Karen KC1CVG & KB1FBQ, Jim
Motor Speedway Requirements - Need: Tent, Antennas, etc.
Site Visit Needed: Planning Group will assign locations for
the event. Wonalancet Division.
Contact Person: Bob Waterman
Date/Time: 9AM-4PM on Saturday Oct 10th.
Requests for Needs were communicated. Tree, chairs/
tables. N1UNH will help in the planning.
Call Sign: K2BSA Special Call Sign may be requested
Planning: May 21st- next planning meeting. Curtis/Karen
will miss this one, but Tim suggested that Curtis will attend
the June meeting.
Equipment: TBD
Event Communication: Will be provided at a future club
meeting.
COMMUNICATOR - KB1GNI, Lee Hillsgrove
No report this month
FIELD COORDINATOR - N1LT, Dick Christopher, &
KB1FBQ, Jim Brown
Training: No VE Exams are scheduled. No classes are in
Process
Field Coordinator Position: Responsible for Field Day &
Field Training.
Dick requested that his long-held position be handed off to
another member.
KB1FBQ, Jim volunteered to take this responsibility over
from Dick.
Tim, W3ATB, officially appointed Jim to this position.
Then, Jim was knighted with the new Kreco CO-461 UHF
antenna
Tim thanked N1LT, Dick, for his many years of service.
C. Boy Scout Ham Shacks
Plan to re-activate the shacks for:
Troop 68 in Laconia - St. Joseph Catholic Church
Troop 43 in Gilford also interested in club contact.
This topic was not discussed at this SC meeting.
Field Day Update:
Jim reported that 25 members are signed up. He will contact
each person via phone and/or email. It appears that there
will be sufficient equipment and food for the event to be a
classic Field Day 'happening'.
Jim requested that Cliff request good pricing on perishables
from Heath's in Center Harbor.
Jim is still seeking food discounts and/or donations from
food distributors.
Glenn offered to contribute 15 lb. of hamburgers. Club
members are asking for 18 lbs. (!) The debate continues...
David will be bringing eggs & sausages for the Sunday
breakfast. Thanks to all contributors!
REPEATERS REPORT - W1DDI, Mark Persson
Mark ordered UHF Kreco antenna. - Received. Unity Gain
Antenna.
This was sent around the room for review and comments.
Got another $240 antenna for zero costs!
New Yaesu DR-1X Analog/Digital Voice Repeater - Received.
Yaesu billed the club $500. Mark requested reduction of the
billing to $300.
Mark will ship the old DR-1X back tomorrow as he suspects this is required to reduce the billing.
W1JY Central NH Amateur Radio Club W1CNH
12
The Communicator
July, 2015
Camaraderie: Adam brought up the Club's Camaraderie.
The group discussed this and agreed that we have good fellowship in our club.
PUBLICITY & WEBSITE- W3ATB, Tim Carter
Publicity:
Tim is requesting a 'HELP(!)er' to promote the club meetings and events.
...Glenn volunteered to help Tim in this activity. More helpers are welcome!
Outreach Program on the Website: Ideas were discussed on
how to make the 'HORIZONS' program more effective.
Club Table at Flea Markets:
We discussed the idea of setting up a club table at NEARFEST. The table would have to be 'manned' the whole time.
The SC agreed that this is a good idea as long as we have a
volunteer to coordinate this activity.
Tim anointed KA1OEO, Jim White to be the club's coordinator for an official 'Flea Market' table.
Website:
Glenn also volunteered to help Tim in updating the website.
Tim will train Glenn in the website Technology.
OPEN DISCUSSIONS - All Members
Several New Ideas were Discussed:
Special Event Contact Idea:
Glenn suggested that the club could create a CNARC pileup
for previously announced Special Event Stations. This idea
probably needs a leader and more development to get club
members involved.
MEETING CLOSE - Tim Carter, President
The Secretary suggested to the President that with no more
topics, we vote to close the meeting. .
With no more topics to discuss, Tim called for a motion and
vote to end the meeting. So moved and seconded.
A motion to close the meeting was made and seconded.
Vote was unanimous AYE at 8:27 PM.
Field Trips for Special Events Idea:
Tim discussed future field trips, like: Going to the Marconi
station on Cape Cod, and other cable museums, Rhode Island Steam & Radio Museum, etc. Several members expressed interest in these sorts of trips.
Visitor's Night Idea:
Encourage members to bring a visitor. First Responders
may be interested in this night and ham radio.
Some program ideas were discussed:
Program: Introduction to Ham Radio
Program: RADIO BINGO - This also ties into Prizes.
Program: 'Significant Others' night. (XYL, YL, Partners,
etc.)
FOR SALE
Astron RS-12A power supply
I used it to power my echolink node which is
now out of service... So it should be in good
running order... $45.
Photography for Events:
Glenn volunteered to take photos for the club's Facebook
page. Taking images of Repeater work was specifically
suggested. Mark agreed to smile for the camera.
Two portable ground plane antennas, one for
2M and one for 6M. I call them portable because they are easily disassembled and assembled, consisting of four horizontal radials and
one vertical radiator. While they offer little
gain, they can easily be attached to one or more
sections of mast and put up in the air where
they will provide a better signal than a mag
mount on a file cabinet. Good for emergency
setups. I'm looking for $15 for the 2M unit and
$25 for the 6M antenna.
Promotions:
Tim is planning to promote Public Service events in the
Communicator.
Cliff reported that these opportunities are listed on the
club's website & club's calendar.
Promote the website at a club meeting.
Ham Radio - Elmering/Mentoring:
Tim suggested that we formulate an Elmer-Mentoring program for new members.
This would include future licensed and recently licensed
hams. A club volunteer is needed!
Contact: [email protected]
ARES Net Wednesdays at 8:00 PM on 146.985 MHz
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The Communicator
July, 2015
Ossipee Mountain Electronics, Inc.
PROFESSIONAL 2-WAY COMMUNICATIONS
SALES &SERVICE
RR 1, BOX 396
OSSIPEE MT.ROAD
MOULTONBORO, NH 03254
TELE: (603) 476-5581
FAX: (603) 476-5587
Steering Committee
Meeting
The next steering committee meeting will be
held on Monday, July 13th at the Gilford Community Church, at 7:00 PM.
Club Officers
The Communicator
is published monthly by the Central New Hampshire
Amateur Radio Club, a non-profit corporation and
charitable trust, affiliated with the American Radio Relay
League.
Membership in the Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio
Club is open to all who are interested in amateur radio.
Payment of annual Club dues as an individual ($15), family
($20) or as a student ($10), entitles the registrant to belong
to the club and to receive The Communicator, monthly or
when published for the remainder of the year. The Club
year starts June 1. Subscription and Membership:
CNHARC, Box 1112, Laconia, NH 03247-1112. Email:
[email protected]
Editors
Lee Hillsgrove, Sr. KB1GNI, Adam Foley N1RKW
President
Tim Carter, W3ATB
603-722-0908
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Vice President
Glenn Aldrich, KC1AAI
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Secretary
Rich Kumpf, WF1V
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Treasurer
Tom Persson, K1LQN
978-774-6351
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Publicity / Public Relations
Officer
Tim Carter, W3ATB
603-722-0908
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Program Director
Cliff Dickinson, N1RCQ
603-279-7763
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Field Coordinator
Training Officer
Dick Christopher, N1LT
603-524-6567
603-581-2411
[email protected]
The deadline for all copy and classified ads for the
Communicator is 16th of every month. Send to:
Lee Hillsgrove, Sr. KB1GNI, 203 Waukeena Lake Road,
Danbury, NH 03230 or email to [email protected]
Club Historian
Dick Christopher, N1LT
603-524-6567
603-581-2411
[email protected]
Technical Coordinator
Open
Officers’ terms are for one year per by-laws
Steering Committee
Change of Address
For a change of address, notify CNHARC at PO Box 1112,
Laconia, NH 03247-1112. Phone: 603-581-2411. Email:
[email protected]
Adam Foley, N1RKW-2016
603-528-0678
Dave Megin, KA1VJU-2017
603-398-3667
603-581-2411
David Weiss, N1DOU-2017
603-545-1278
Dick Christopher, N1LT-2017
603-524-6567
Cliff Dickinson, N1RCQ-2018
603-279-7763
Jim Brown, KB1FBQ-2018
603-581-2411
CNHARC Monday Night Net at 8:00 PM on 146.985 MHz
14