OMISS Newsletter

Official Newsletter of the OM International Sideband Society
September 2016
The nominations for the OMISS 2016 Elections have been presented to the current Board of Directors.
The nominations are as follows:
FOR OFFICE OF PRESIDENT: W5JDF Jerry and W9FML Carrie
FOR THE OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT: N8SPM John and K6HP Ed
FOR THE OFFICE OF SECRETARY: W7XTZ Mike and N2KOJ Eric
FOR THE OFFICE OF TREASURER: K5ENA John
FOR THE OFFICE OF DIRECTOR: NJ8G Walt, K8APR Jim, KJ5IM Jim, N4JTE Bob and KF7TLL, Bruce
ELECTIONS FOR THE ABOVE POSITIONS WILL BE HELD FROM OCTOBER 15, 2016 TO
NOVEMBER 15, 2016. CHECK THE OMISS WEBSITE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
OMISS LENDS A HAND……..
EMERGENCY OR PRIORITY TRAFFIC?
W9FML Carrie OM#8420
I was sitting in the shack listening to KG5JIM run a net on 40m on a Tuesday night earlier this summer.
I was planning to check in for a little while since I was waiting to run my net on 80m. While the net
was just getting going, around 0130 ZULU I could hear someone calling for “RELAY PLEASE
EMERGENCY TRAFFIC”. The station was not being heard by anyone at the time and the net was
progressing as normal. I was able to get the attention of the NCS and asked for the frequency to assist.
The caller was a leader of a boy scout troop of more than 40 boy scouts on a hiking survival trip in
California. He was a licensed ham radio operator using his emergency equipment to get help notifying
the contracted agency that the food drop was not received. I was assisted by N6ADO, GARY and
W5HEH, AJ, during a 3-way relay to get the communication relayed to the appropriate agencies. The
leader could hear me, Gary could hear the leader, and AJ was able to copy Gary. I was able to email
the contracted agency with information relayed and left a phone message for the owner. Local sheriff
departments and CALFIRE, were able to locate the troop in the state park they were hiking and water
was delivered. The boy scouts found another troop in the area and were able to share some food.
KG5JIM and I communicated on AIM when I needed to transmit a response during the course of his
net. By 0220 ZULU, the boy scout leader knew help was on the way and all communication ended. I
ran my 80m net as scheduled and by the end of it, I received a call from the camp owner. He stated that
the food drop was scheduled for noon the next day, there must have been miscommunication. He was
on his way to the location to deliver the food early. He thanked the members for getting the
information to him. The local sheriff department had also reached the camp owner by this time.
In all the nets I have run for OMISS, I have not had any traffic to handle. While it does take time away
from the OMISS NETS, it was a reminder of what we have the ability to do as amateur radio operators.
Thank you to W5HEH, N6ADO AND KG5JIM for the assistance we gave. The 40 plus hungry boy
scouts got food because of our help. It was mentioned on AIM about why the boy scouts were not
prepared. I would say that thanks to a boy scout leader, who had his ham ticket, a radio and antenna to
reach out for help, taught 40 plus young boys that ham radio can be used to communicate when no
other forms of communication were available. I would say that was prepared!
Respectfully Submitted,
CARRIE, W9FML #8420
The raising of my tower – Exploits of W3SCA
By Jay Nardone,
W3SCA
Greetings fellow OMISS’ers, I wanted to write this article for no other reason than I hope it helps some
of you that might be considering installing a tower as one of your next projects.
I have been a “HAM” now for almost 30 years and I never owned a tower. This year I decided that I
really wanted to have one and with my wife’s approval I started on my journey, (or so I had thought!)
Around the holidays last year was when I really decided I was ready so the first thing I did was
research….My journey had begun… The point of my article to make you aware of the “additional”
costs that I know I did not think about when taking on this project! In my 34 years of being an
Electrical / RF Engineer for the Department of Defense, I think I have designed and built / installed
just about every type of antenna in just about every harsh environment you could think of. I know I
never “skimped” on those projects and I didn’t want to start on my own!
THE TOWER
So for the better part of 3 months I did nothing but research towers. I knew I wanted to have a “crank
up” / “Tilt Over” tower because we have a fairly small yard and I just didn’t have the space for
anything else.
I looked at US tower offerings and came to realize very quickly that a
good 55 foot crank up / tilt over tower would run around $3500 and
that was not shipped! Shipping was almost another $1000 itself and
you were responsible for getting the tower off the semi-truck when it
showed up. I then looked at “Aluma tower” offerings. I have to say if
you have unlimited funds, (which I did not….) this is the tower to get.
They are light, built like a tank and will stand up to the weather over
time. Their 55 foot crank up / tilt over would run me $7000 just for the
tower.
Discouraged, I went back and forth about 8 times with my wife stating
that I did not want to spend that much and I think I will just stick with
my wire antennas. After all, I had already logged 164 countries on my
inverted V, maybe this was silly? After changing my mind like the wind
blows, she finally said, “You are driving me nuts, you are going to do
this!!” With the fear of being strangled while I slept, I got back on the
research trail.
I then shifted focus to free standing towers like Rohn towers and a few other manufacturers and was
thinking that a crank up/tilt over might be over rated. After disappointment, after disappointment
with the free standing towers, I decided that was not the way to go. Now it was February and things
were still looking bleak. I am not a “used gear” kind of guy after being “taken” on a few occasions I
tend to stay away from buying used anything. But I decided that if I was going to pull of this project I
might have to lower my standards a bit. So off to the on line for sale sites.
What do you know? I found a US Tower TX-455 HD for a very reasonable price and it was only 4 hours
away! To make a much too long story short, I called and it was still available and I “pulled the trigger”
as they say and decided to purchase it. This was an incredible deal for such a great condition tower
that had only been used for about a year or so.
Now the fun starts. We set a date for me to make the trip to northern New Jersey to pick up the tower.
I needed a trailer to haul it back on. Here starts those additional costs I mentioned earlier. Called UHaul and rented a car trailer that would work just fine.
Convinced my buddy who isn’t a ham to ride along with me for
company and lifting power. Off we went to northern New Jersey.
When we arrived at Mike’s house it was obvious to me that he is a
serious ham. Five or Six towers of his own all close to 100 feet with
many different antennas on them. Crank-up towers laying on the
ground with spools of hardline also scattered around his property.
We met and chatted a bit and then he took us into his shop. Turns
out Mike is a Master Welder and he had made me a custom base
plate for my tower. Now one thing I learned quickly is that the bolts
and “T” bracket that US Tower provides are adequate but not great.
Instead of the small ¼” steel T plate and ¾” bolts. Mike made me a
monster base plate that was ¾” steel and used 1 ¼” J bolts that are
used for cell tower installations.
The base plate was almost 200 pounds by itself and was so much sturdier than the US Tower offering.
He also had already welded me the rebar cage to those J bolts that was also built greater than spec!
I grew concerned there on the spot because I thought, “Here we go, now I will have to pay all of this
additional $$$ I didn’t know about when we discussed the tower price.” Turns out I was wrong! Mike
was kind enough to pass along his years of knowledge and experience in raising towers to me free of
charge! The tower was the price we discussed and nothing more! Additionally he had replaced all of
the cabling on the tower and the wenches as well! With this setup I didn’t have to worry about back
filling under the base plate and I could actually use the bolts and nuts to level the baseplate if
required. What a score, I was smiling the whole way home and this project might just be fun after all!
This was my Birthday as well.
THE ANTENNA
So my next dilemma I had to deal with is what antenna did I want? The lead times on beams of this
size is typically 4 – 6 weeks so this was the perfect time to get an antenna on order. I knew I wanted
something multi band, 6,10,12,15,17,20 and hopefully 40 since it is one of my favorite bands.
I just had worked Navassa Island and I knew they were using a new antenna from JK called the Navassa
5. I really liked it because it had no traps and I am not a big fan of traps. What it didn’t have was 40
mtrs and that was a problem. So after much research and planning I ordered the Mosely TA-63N with
the 40 mtr add-on kit. I decided that after reading the reviews and talking with Mosely owners, the
traps wouldn’t be a bad thing as long as it was installed properly. They said it would take 2 months to
complete which was perfect because I still had the concrete and digging of the hole to contend with
and that would take around 2 months to complete. It’s funny how we would spend $1400+ on a radio
or amp without batting an eye, but on an antenna? That took me awhile to get over…
Almost 7 weeks later I
received a call from
Mosley that my antenna
would be shipping that
week. I was so excited and
could not wait to build it!
One of my concerns was
that it was sunny and 85
degrees out the day I
decided to start. We all
know antennas not build
in the winter and cold just
won’t work right (hi hi!) As
I had previously read in
reviews and expected their directions were not the best and the pictures were almost useless. I took
my time and checked everything twice and measured a bunch of times. Got the antenna together and
mounted to the mast that same day!
Took the rest of the weekend to get all of the cabling done and routed and the tower was ready to be
raised for the first time. Off I go cranking the winch to raise the tower. I got the tower at almost a 45
degree angle when I felt a strange feeling in the winch almost like the teeth had stripped. Looked down
and that is exactly what happened!! Now the tower is at the most weight bearing part of the raise and I
have a winch with stripped teeth. If it fell the antenna would be trash for sure! I gently backed the
winch down until the remaining teeth grabbed and I ran and got some 2x8 lumber to brace the tower
off the ground in multiple places. Once braced, I took a deep breath and decided right then and there I
was done with manual winches, (I had blisters on my hands from that incident.) I ran out to the Tractor
Supply store and purchased a 4500 lb., electric winch and installed that as my raising winch for the
tower. Works like a champ and no more blisters! After analyzing the failed winch it turns out the
installed was a 1200 pound winch but was rated much too low for that job. The tower weighs 800 lbs.
itself and due to clearance issues with my house, I have to raise and lower the tower with it extended
somewhat so the loading is much greater that if it was fully collapsed. Lesson learned!
THE HOLE / CONCRETE
This year I turned 51. I really wanted to try to dig the hole, (4 feet by 5feet by 6 feet deep) by hand. I
was trying to save money and the $200 per day fee for the back hoe seemed expensive to me. My wife
has seen me crippled for days over other things like this and put her foot down about the back hoe.
Before digging I did the right thing and called Miss Utility and had them
come out and mark so I did not hit any services. I went ahead and
rented the mini back hoe and I have to say it was one of the smartest
things I have ever done! I was done digging in a bit over an hour and I
ended up making the hole slightly bigger than the US Tower spec called
for. I made it 5 feet by 5 feet by 7 feet deep. As an engineer, I like to
over spec things where I can, if you ever see any of the sheds I have
built, they will be around long after the houses they are next too are
gone!
So with the hole complete, I built the forms for the concrete and now
had a car sized mound of dirt to move by hand because I could not get
the machine into our back yard to spread the dirt around. Got the
rebar frame with the J bolts attached into the hole and it was now time
for concrete. I called to our local concrete supplier and the spec called
for at least 2500 psi footer concrete. I ended up going with just over 6
yards of 3000 psi concrete instead.
After some planning and a Friday off (which was a Friday before a
huge archery championship. I am a semi pro archer and moving 51
wheelbarrow’s full of concrete around the day before a shoot is not
the way to win!!!) So the truck shows up on time and we could not
get the trough of the cement truck to reach the hole. So out comes
the wheelbarrow. 51 loads later and lots of splattering on me, the
vinyl siding, the drive way, our fence, etc. it was done. Now the 28 –
30 days of waiting begins for the concrete to cure.
OTHER STUFF
Well what do you know? It was almost time for Dayton and I still
needed my rotor, cabling and a few other things. I know what was on
my list and off I went to Dayton. Man once again I guess I really didn’t
think about how much those “other things” add up too! Spent more
than I wanted but I got the rotor, rotor cable and rg-213 cable as well.
I now was set to complete the tower and installation! WRONG! What
about ground rods, ground cable and copper strapping? What about
the Alpha – Delta lightning protection and protection for the rotor
cable too? Well after another order to DX Engineering I was set.
CONCLUSION
I started this project on 11 March and on 24 July I send the first bit of RF through then antenna. I am
very pleased with the whole installation as everything went very smoothly as I had planned and I know
it is a safe and secure installation. The one thing I will say now that it is up; if you want to find out who
the “nosey” people are in your neighborhood, just put up a tower. It was up one day and in the
Facebook group for our neighborhood some lady had posted; “Did anyone else see that big antenna? IS
that even legal?” I quickly posted to her post that for starters we have no HOA or restrictions in our
neighborhood that is why I live there. Secondly I am an Amateur Radio Operator and provide
emergency communications locally and worldwide when called upon. I offered to answer any
questions and also offered to show those interested what HAM radio is all about. It was amazing how
many people thanked me for what we do and were very interested. I have given two briefings now to
the local Boy Scout troops and have a few more coming up this fall.
I fully understand now what it takes and what is involved in a project
like this. I also have a much greater appreciation for a project like
this and how it should be done correctly. I am very pleased with the
results of the new antenna and have worked a few “All Time New
Ones” that I know I would not of heard with my inverted V wire.
Jay – W3SCA
OMISS #9796
OMISS PHOTO GALLEY
W9FML – Carrie and ND8F – Homer at Dayton, 2013
N4JTE – Bob and KC9NCS - Larry at an “undisclosed location”
KC9SJN – Tom and WB0VBW – John enjoying the company
Submitted by K3GLS - Glenn
K9WVL – Tim’s QTH from a birds eye view. Picture courtesy of AI0A - Dave
Out of this World Communications…………
Here's the latest pic for the homebrew satellite tracking system. I had a visit from Bill
WA1APX/8 and took him through the setup and track. This project was featured in QST January
2014 by Mark Spencer WA8SME. Since the original design, wireless XBEE adapters have been
added to the control system. First contact was with AO-85 using SATPC32 software and a
laptop battery powered PC, and a WOUXUN KG-UV8D. A duplex capable transceiver would
simplify tracking.
73 de K1GND Jim
OMISS #8781
A0-85 (formely Fox-1A) is the first of AMSAT’s
Fox-1 series of 1U cubesats. Launched as part of
ELaNa XII on October 8th, 2015 NROL 55 Atlas 5
launch from Vandenburg, CA, AO-85 is in a
roughly 65 degree inclination, 518x810 km orbit
with apogee over the northern hemisphere.
AO-85
AO-85 carries a U/V FM repeater at up to 800mw. Uplink was planned for 435.180, but initial
reports indicate it may be closer to 435.172 due to unforeseen temperature differences. Repeater
access requires the satellite to receive a 67.0Hz PL tone for two seconds. If the satellite does not
receive a signal carrying the tone, the repeater will turn off after one minute. When the repeater
is not activated by a signal carrying the tone, a voice beacon is transmitted every two minutes.
Downlink is 145.980 and includes Date Under Voice (DUV) FSK telemetry simultaneous with
repeater operation. A high speed data downlink at 9600 bps is available for experiment and
high resolution data.
OMISS offers dozens of challenging awards to its
members. Make sure to check out the club website
for more information on all of the awards that are
offered!
www.omiss.net
Check out OMISS on
Facebook
OMISS Elected Officials
President – N4JTE, Bob #1440
Vice Pres. – W5JDF, Jerry #6949
Secretary – W9FML, Carrie #8420
Treasurer – K5ENA, John #4604
Directors – ND8F, Homer #774
- N4JLT, Ken #1505