After the business meeting, FCC

VE testing is offered. Call Bill,

W9FJ for an appointment @

217-854-8261. Be sure to bring

a copy of your license, some

pencils and a non-programmable

calculator.

Mark your calendars now and

plan on attending this month’s

meeting of the Macoupin Coun-

ty Amateur Radio Club at 7:00

pm on Wednesday, April 6. We

meet on the second floor of the

Macoupin County Sheriff De-

partment, 215 S. East Street,

Carlinville, IL 62626.

Prior to the club meeting the

club has an informal dinner gath-

ering at Reno’s Pizza in the

Carlinville Square starting

around 5:00 pm.

This month’s presentation im-

mediately after the business

meeting will feature “Home

Brew Night.” A program that is

always a lot of fun and informa-

tive!

K9MCE Club Meeting on Wednesday 6 April

April 2016 Volume 4, Issue 4

K9MCE QSN K9MCE Officers:

President: Mark Kerhlikar,

WD9HBF

Vice-President: John

Nalezyty , KD8KVO

Secretary: Debbie Ochu,

KC9ULA

Treasurer: Tim Coonrod,

KC9HQA

Trustee: Skp Riba, WS9V

Board of Directors:

Gary Huff, K9AUB (past

prez)

Mark Osborn, WA9SXK

Bill Ogle, W9FJ

Jim Pitchford, N9LQF

Webmaster: Isaac Pizzo,

WX9SRV

Inside this issue:

Homebrew night 4,6

ARES

Equinox

4

5

Of Frequency

with KC9BXF

6

Solar Cycle 24 8

DX Update 10

Club Minutes 12

Ham Stats

Sloper Antenna

14

15

This is a distant, evening shot of Skip, WS9V’s antenna farm east of Virden while operating in the recent

ARRL 160 Meter CW Contest. Skip is fond of saying, “ I need to put more fire in the wire!” Notice the

coronal discharge. Since Skip lives out in the country, his neighbors rarely notice his contesting activity.

Edition

We, the undersigned, being desirous of securing for ourselves the pleasures and

benefits of the association of persons commonly interested in Amateur Radio, by

promoting civic interest, specific application, social activities and developing indi-

vidual efficiency, while improving the general interest in amateur radio, do ordain

and establish this Constitution and By-Laws of the Macoupin County Amateur

Radio Club Inc., a non-profit corporation. We do further agree that in pursuit of

these purposes, this organization shall be non-sectarian, non-partisan and that it

shall lend neither support or influence to any political party or candidate for of-

fice. The Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club, Inc., shall afford all persons,

regardless of race or creed an equal opportunity to join, participate, hold office

and enjoy in the benefits of this organization and the challenges of amateur radio.

K9MCE TRY GRIDS HONOR ROLL

Macoupin County ARC Mission

Dave Reynolds, WA9OEX

Judy Reynolds, KA9ACM

The K9MCE Try Grids Award

was established two years ago

to encourage Macoupin County

ARC club members to experi-

ence the joys of VHF/UHF

communications. Members are encouraged to learn more

about VHF/UHF propagation,

antennas and coax and to im-

prove their stations. Towards

that end the award was created

and the goal is to successfully

establish two-way VHF/UHF

contacts either from your

QTH or mobile with amateurs

in three grids. More infor-

mation pertaining to grids can

be found at this ARRL

webpage: http://www.arrl.org/

grid-squares QSL cards con-

firming the Qs need to be pre-sented to the committee and

then you, too, will be eligible

for this prestigious accolade at

a club meeting and to have

your call inscribed in the

K9MCE Try Grids Award Hall

of Fame. Who will be next?

HONOR ROLL MEMBERS:

Jim Pitchford, N9LQF

Mark Kerhlikar, WD9HBF

Jeff Naville, KC9WZO

Paul Durand, KC9YCP

Ed Kallbrier, KC9QHJ

Bill Ogle, W9FJ

Skip Riba, WS9V

Mark Lewis, KD9EFO

Lou Bartels, KC9YFU

Debbie Ochu, KC9ULA

“These club

members

earned the Try

Grids Award

and are Honor

Roll members.”

Page 2 K9MCE QSN

At the March Macoupin County

ARC club meeting; five, yes

count them, FIVE new hams

were inducted into the K9MCE

Try Grids Award Honor Roll!

Club members, Mark Lewis,

KD9EFO, Lou Bartels,

KC9YCP and Debbie Ochu,

KC9ULA earned their Try

Grids Award by making VHF simplex contacts with hams in

grid squares, EM59, EM49 and

EM58. K9MCE’s sister club,

Montgomery County ARC,

W9BXR club members Dave

Reynolds, WA9OEX and his

wife Judy, KA9ACM also

earned the Try Grids Award

by making VHF simplex con-

tacts with grid squares EM59,

EM49 and EM 58.

The purpose of the Try Grids

Award is to encourage ama-

teurs to test the limits of their

VHF/UHF antenna and feedline

by making simplex QSOs with another amateur radio opera-

tor in three different grid

squares.

The award is not that difficult

to achieve, but it does present

somewhat of a challenge. An

HT with just a rubber duck

antenna won’t cut the mustard;

however a HT with a direction-

al antenna, such as a yagi, is

more in the offing.

One of this award’s major

themes is to have club mem-

bers optimize their VHF/UHF

antennas and feed lines to pro-

vide county-wide communica-tions if the need ever arose

during an emergency and re-

peater coverage is down. This

award is also a good reason to

try roving and to activate near-

by grid squares just for the fun

of it!

Director: Dick Isely, W9GIG; w9gig@arrl.org 630-584-3510

Vice Director: Kermit Carlson, W9XA, w9xa@arrl.org; 630-

879-0983

Illinois Section Manager: Tom Ciciora, KA9QPN,

ka9qpn@arrl.org 815-498-4929

5 New Try Grids Receipents!

Your ARRL Central Division Contacts:

“This award is

also a good

reason to try

roving and to

activate nearby

grid squares just

for the fun of

it!”

Page 3 Volume 4, Issue 4

Newest Try Grid Award Recipients: (L-R) Mark Lewis, KD9EFO; Lou Bartels, KC9YFU;

Debbie Ochu, KC9ULA and club president Mark Kerhlikar, WD9HBF.

Volume 4, Issue 4

Macoupin County ARES

(Amateur Radio Emergency

Service) exists mainly to sup-

port Macoupin County citizens

by establishing an emergency

communications plan for the

communities and agencies that

will effectively utilize ARES

members to cover the needs

for tactical and formal Welfare message traffic. ARES works

very closely with the county

EOC and EMA manager.

The following radio amateurs

are Macoupin County ARES

members: Carlos Arzugas,

WD9T; Chuck Baker, N9LVY;

Lou Bartels, KC9YFU; Tim

Coonrod, KC9HQA; Paul Du-

ran, KC9YCP; Mark Kerhlikar,

WD9HBF; John Nalezyty,

KD8KVO; Debbie Ochu,

KC9ULA; Bill Ogle, W9FJ; Jim

Pitchford, N9LQF, Skip Riba,

WS9V and Jared Stueke,

KC9ZMD.

ARES members are in the pro-cess of making positive ID

ARES badges (Photo ID with

credentials). A plan is being

established to upgrade our FM

simplex systems so that county

-wide communications can be

maintained in the event of re-

peater failure.

Planning is also underway to

participate in a county-wide

drill involving multiple agencies

to provide back-up radio com-

munications and any other

tasks that may be required.

Anyone with a technician class

license or higher and an inter-

est in emergency communica-tions is invited to join ARES.

Contact Ron Ochu, KO0Z for

more information. ARES Net

every Thursday at 8:00 pm on

147.480 simplex.

likely be set up at a staging area

close to the stricken area; most

likely, a town square.

Thirdly, if allows us to show-

case Amateur Radio to the

public. Field Day is a great way

to promote ham radio to pub-

lic by inviting them to look

around and for the more daring to actually get-on-the-air!

That’s what a GOTA station is

all about. The ARRL awards

extra points for a GOTA sta-

tion.

This year ARRL Field Day will

be held over the June 25-26

weekend. This year, FD 2016

will be held at the Girard town

square.

The square offers the club a

number of attractive features.

First off, FD is all about emer-

gency preparedness. This gives

our club the opportunity to test our skills, resources and

resilience in the actual event of

an emergency.

Secondly, in the case of an

actual emergency, we’d most

Fourthly, the town square of-

fers ample trees and poles to

support antennas as well as a

pavilion with a concrete pad

and nearby public restrooms.

Fifthly, this year, if luck is with

us...maybe, just maybe, the FD

trophy will actually travel to

Carlinville, but AA9OV isn’t

giving it away.

Finally, the BBQ that WD9HBF

provides is do delicious that it

alone makes FD worth partici-

pating in!

Macoupin County ARES News Update

Field Day Update

Homebrew Contest this Meeting! rig, a station accessory, an antenna an amplifier...the sky and

your pocket book are the limit! Fame and prizes (we hope)

await! See the flyer on page 14 for more information.

Waiting is over and the time to

unveil our homebrew projects

is almost upon us! The April

6th program is, of course, the

club’s annual homebrew con-

test!

If you haven’t started YOUR

project yet; there’s still some

time, so why not gather up

some parts, a soldering iron

and go to work!

Just about anything goes for

homebrew. It can be a QRP

“Fame and

prizes (we

hope) await!”

Page 4 K9MCE QSN

Club president, Mark Kerhlikar,

WD9HBF was present a meri-

torious achievement award at

the March meeting by Ron

Ochu, KO0Z at the March club

meeting. WD9HBF helped initiate the

club’s weekly K9MCE Thursday

evening net at 8:30 pm and he’s

been the prime net control for

the past two years! The net has grown in populari-

ty over the past few years

mostly due to Mark’s friendly,

welcoming abilities as net con-

trol.

Thank you and well done Mark!

WD9HBF Recognized for Net Control Duties

mean enhanced propagation on

HF world wide.

The grey-line graph above (Fig

A) clearly shows that each half

of the globe is experiencing

equal day and equal night.

Soon the Earth’s tilt and orbit

will favor more daylight in the

northern hemisphere and less

in the southern; thereby creat-ing spring for the northern

hemisphere and fall in the

southern.

The pictures on the right fur-

ther illustrate and confirm the

equal solar illumination of each

Earth hemisphere.

Figure B depicts the northern

hemisphere and Figure C de-

picts the southern hemisphere.

Notice how each hemisphere is

equally divided between day-

light and

and nightfall. The dividing line

(dawn/dusk) between daylight

and nightfall is referred to as

the Earth’s terminator.

Equinox favors HF propagation

and it’s a great time to work

DX. So, get those skyhooks up

and work DX!

Spend any time listening to

DXers on the HF bands and

you’ll notice a flurry of excite-

ment around the solar equi-

noxes. Have you noticed that

many DXpeditions operate

near or during the solar equi-

noxes?

Equinox is Latin which trans-

lates into English as equal night. It’s that time of the year when

planet Earth is positioned in its

annual orbit around the Sun

when each hemisphere receives

the same amount of daylight.

There are two equinoxes. The

vernal equinox (spring) which

we (northern hemisphere) are

experiencing now and the au-

tumnal equinox which is in the

fall.

Equinox seasons generally

“Equinox favors

HF

propagation.

So, get those

skyhooks up

and work DX!”

Page 5 Volume 4, Issue 4

EQUINOX— Equates To Great DX!

Figure A Figure B

Figure C

Mark, WD9HBF receives award from Ron, KO0Z

On Frequency With Bob Hester KC9BXF

“Looking at the

awesome tower

and antennas,

planted the

“ham radio

bug” at an early

age.

Page 6 K9MCE QSN

At the moment, this HT is Bob, KC9BXF’s “Ham Shack.” He

does have a Kenwood TS 520 and a Gap

Debbie, KC9ULA,

Roman, KD9COA and Bob, KC9HBX

I enjoy writing this column because it affords me the opportunity to get to know someone on a more

personal level than what I am able to do at a club meeting. Everyone I meet has an interesting story and

each and every time I conduct an interview I always learn something new which I am able to pass along

to newsletter readers. Such is the case with K9MCE club member Bob Hester, KC9BXF. Bob is a

helicopter pilot for ARCH (Area Rescue Consortium of Hospitals) Air Medical Service out of Litchfield,

IL.

KC9BXF earned his wings while in the Army flying mostly Cobra gunships during the Vietnam War.

Initially Bob enlisted in the Army while attending Eastern Illinois University because as Bob put it with a

smile on his face, “in addition to studying, I also did a lot of partying and after a quarter and a half, I

found myself out of money and out of ideas.” Bob knew that once he was no longer enrolled at univer-

sity he’d be eligible for the draft and if he wanted any chance of an engineering career in the Army he’d

better enlist. It was a great plan, and after basic training, Bob found out that he was going to learn engi-

neering, but not with the Army Corps of Engineers as he’d hoped. Instead, his orders sent him to Ft.

Sill in Oklahoma where he studied topographical engineering which involves mapping out where to

locate artillery emplacements so that they can accurately deliver their munitions. Not exactly what he

originally had in mind. However, while in officer candidate school, Bob graduated as a second lieuten-

ant and the Army desperately needed helicopter pilots. Flying was much more aligned to KC9BXF’s

interests! While serving our nation, Bob accrued over 1200 hours of flight time. While stationed in

Vietnam, Bob used the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) which used Amateur Radio frequencies

to contact family and friends back home; unlike today, where Skype and cell phones are used. MARS

piqued his interest, but it wasn’t the first time he’d been introduced to ham radio.

While attending elementary school, a dad of one of Bob’s classmates was a ham and in the bus they’d

drive by looking at the awesome tower and antennas which planted the “ham radio bug” at an early

age. Bob never pursued it further with the local ham, but he knew way back then that this hobby was

interesting and he wanted to be a part of it.

It’s only been in the past couple of years that Bob has been able to pursue his ham radio dream. Col-

lege, marrying his high school sweetheart, Connie, of fifty years, raising a family, working in the agricul-

tural business, swine farming, maintaining flight status with the National Guard and now flying for

ARCH all got in the way of Amateur Radio. Connie and Bob live near Witt and he has acreage to put

up an antenna farm and that exactly what KC9BXF plans to do when he retires in a few more years.

Currently, KC9BXF’s “shack” , besides an HT, also consists of a Kenwood TS 520S and a Titan vertical.

He wants to erect a tower and he’s looking for a good deal on a 100 + footer. After Bob retires, he’ll

have a lot more time to devote to ha radio. He wants to get involved with Field Day and the emergen-

cy communications aspect of ham radio. In the meantime, Bob is instrumental in saving lives by piloting

an air ambulance.

Typically, an ARCH helicopter crew consists of the pilot, a nurse and a paramedic. On board the air-

craft, there is a mini emergency room. If the flight crew had to, they could operate on a patient. Once

a patient is stabilized, the ARCH flies the patient to the nearest trauma center. The Litchfield ARCH

mostly flies a patient either to Springfield, IL hosptitals or to St. Louis University Hospital. I asked Bob

if it feels gratifying knowing that your job involves saving lives? KC9BXF modestly replies, “I only drive

the bus from point A to point B and makes sure that everyone arrives safely.” Bob went on to add

that every once in a while, patients will drop by to thank us and that’s very rewarding! Otherwise, due

to Hipaa privacy laws, the flight crew rarely finds out how well a patient fares once delivered to the

hospital. Making a difference - Bob Hester, KC9BXF!

On Frequency With Continued...

“Every once in

a while patients

will drop by to

thank us and

that’s very

rewarding!”

Page 7 Volume 4, Issue 4

Bob, KC9BXF in his

flight suit, on duty, ready to fly at a mo-ment’s notice to help

save lives.

Rotary wing vs

fixed wing aircraft

KC9BXF demonstrates how patients are loaded The glass cockpit of the

into the helicopter for transport. Helicopter is instrumentation.

KD9COA and KC9ULA look at the mini emergency Bob’s flight gear includes night vision googles.

Room in the ARCH helicopter. A patient is loaded

Into the helicopter feet facing forward.

Page 8 K9MCE QSN

Solar Cycle 24, Where are We?

Space Weather is fascinating and anyone with even the slightest interest in radio propagation quickly realizes that space weather is a

major factor. The good folks at SpaceWeather.com put out a fantastic, informative website and I commend it to you. What’s interest-

ing to note is that Cycle 24, the solar cycle we are currently experiencing turned out to be a bi-modal (two peaks) cycle, like the pre-

ceding one. Many solar pundits predicted that it would not be bi-modal or the second peak wouldn’t be as pronounced as the first one.

The data suggests otherwise. Cycle 24 was not as intense as Cycle 23. Now the more pressing questions center on how steep will the

decline be to solar minimum, how long will the minimum last before it ramps back up to maximum and how intense will solar cycle 25

become?

The following information, as well as the graph above, is from the spaceweather.com website from March 28, 2016: “Anyone wonder-

ing why the sun has been so quiet lately? The reason is shown in the graph below. The 11-year sunspot cycle is crashing: For the past

two years, the sunspot number has been dropping as the sun transitions from Solar Max to Solar Min. Fewer sunspots means there are

fewer solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). As the explosions subside, we deem the sun "quiet."

But how quiet is it, really? A widely-held misconception is that space weather stalls and becomes uninteresting during periods of low

sunspot number. In fact, by turning the solar cycle sideways, we see that Solar Minimum brings many interesting changes. For instance,

the upper atmosphere of Earth collapses, allowing space junk to accumulate around our planet. The heliosphere shrinks, bringing inter-

stellar space closer to Earth. And galactic cosmic rays penetrate the inner solar system with relative ease. Indeed, a cosmic ray surge is

already underway. (Goodbye sunspots, hello deep-space radiation.)

Stay tuned for updates as the sunspot number continues to drop.”

Page 9 Volume 4, Issue 4

Page 10 K9MCE QSN

Kingman Reef deleted from DXCC list: The ARRL Awards Committee has voted to delete Kingman Reef (KH5K) from the DXCC

List, effective 29 March, 2016. Kingman Reef will be added to the Deleted Entities List on 29 March, 2016. The total number of entities

on the List will drop from 340 to 339

Besides being near the northern hemisphere vernal equinox, April is a good DX month because two major, rare, DXpeditions are on

the air! First to get on the air is from Heard Island, VK0EK. The second one is Juan de Nova Island, FT4JA. Both DXpedtions are

working to minimize interference with each other. Best wishes putting these DXpeditions into your log book either as a ATNO (All

Time New One) or as a band/mode filler.

The website URL for VK0EK is http://vk0ek.org/

The website URL for FT4JA is http://www.juandenovadx.com/en/

K9MCE Shorts... Skip, WS9V, as club trustee encourages every club member to use the club call sign, “K9MCE” while working DX (using your

license class privileges). When you do, don’t forget to email him with any contacts so that he can enter the QSO data into the

club’s database. All club QSL requests go to Skip and he needs the QSO data to properly fill out the card.

A big shout out to the following ops for volunteering to assist club members earning their “Try Grids award” a bit easier. Dirk, W9OSI is located in grid square EM49 near Shipman and he has a tower mounted, directional antenna. Email Dirk ahead of

time to set up a schedule. kb9pns@yahoo.com Wayne, KC9ZYQ from Lebanon, IL in grid square EM58 is also available for a sked. Wayne suggests contacting him either on the

444.250 repeater system, the 442.2775 repeater or 146.52 simplex

DX Update

Page 11 Volume 4, Issue 4

Page 12 K9MCE QSN

Minutes

K9MCE ARC MEETING

March 2, 2016

Meeting called to order by President Mark Kerhliker @ 7:01 pm at the Macoupin County Board Room-Sheriff’s Complex.

Roll Call of Members: Mark Kerhliker WD9HBF (President), Debbie Ochu KC9ULA (Secretary), Tim Coonrod (Treasurer), Jim Pitch-

ford N9LQF (Director), Bill Ogle W9FJ (Director), Ron Ochu KO0Z, Roman Durand KD9COA, Darren Schmedeke N9MFD, Chuck

Baker N9LVY, Lou Bartels KC9YFU, Charlie Ritter KB9OXH, Paul Durand KC9YCP, Bob Hester KD9BXF, Jared Steumke KC9CMD,

Chris Wewetzen N9VHL, Skip Riba WS9V, Tom Reznicek KD9COD, Mary Lewis KD9EFO, and Gaylon McAllister N9VFP (Director

Gary Huff, Vice President John Nalezyty and Director Mark Osborn were not present)

Welcome guests Rhy Schmedeke, Isaiah Stuemke, Sarah Baker and Connie Hester.

Agenda Items:

February minutes were approved on a motion by Lou Bartels and seconded by Chuck Baker.

Club Officer Reports:

Secretary Report – No report.

Treasurer Report – Tim Coonrod gave the Treasurer’s Report, stating that the current balance is $2074.67. Motion was made by Ron

Ochu to accept the Treasurer’s Report. It was seconded by Chuck Baker and motion carried.

Committee Reports:

Ron Ochu gave a hamfest report. Paperwork has been submitted to ARRL. Skip will give a presentation about DX.

Field Day will be on the Girard square this year. There are restrooms and a pavilion and we will have the whole square at our disposal.

There is power on the square but Jim will also bring the generator.

No report from the K9MCE website committee.

Jim Pitchford N9LQF, Vice President of Emergency Communication, reported on the statewide tornado drill yesterday. He encourages

people to have a tornado plan in their homes. The SNS exercise is coming up on June 14th and there will be a need for communications

at three hospitals and perhaps even the nursing home in Girard.

Emergency Communication Report on ARES: Ron Ochu thanked Bill Ogle again for the time he spent as the ARES coordinator. Ron

passed out a form for people to fill out if they are interested in working with ARES. Ron will track club members’ man-hours and report

those hours. Bill encouraged members to check in on the ARES nets. Ron spoke with the Montgomery Club about a Skywarn net for

reporting weather conditions that may not yet warrant calls to the NWS in St. Louis. They are interested in initiating and participating in

a local Skywarn net. A badge will be made for ARES participants with a picture to serve as official ID. Ron also reported on the ARES

webinar he participated in. Discussion was held about the time of the ARES net. The club agreed to the ARES net moving to 8:00 pm,

before the Macoupin net.

Old Business:

Members received their new club badges and lanyards.

New Business: Mark Kerhliker reminded members to bring their current or finished winter projects to Homebrew Night at the April 6th MCARC

meeting.

Mark Kerhliker asked if anyone would help with recruiting people to do programs at club meetings. Skip suggested a survey so that club

members can offer suggestions for future programs.

Mark has flyers for the Lewis and Clark hamfest.

Page 13 Volume 4, Issue 4

Skip reported that there is no more echolink on .250 due to a computer crash. Consensus of the club is that it is no longer needed

since there are others out there.

Lou offered tuna tins to people so that anyone who wants to try making a tuna transmitter can give it a try. Ron suggested googling the

schematics for it.

Mark reported that the club is invited to return to Camp Bunn to offer the radio merit badge program to the scouts. There will be

four weeks of sessions starting the week of June 13th (excluding the week of July 4th). Jim Pitchford made a motion.

Chuck informed members that the Lewis and Clark club will be hosting a weather class by Channel 4 tomorrow night (Thursday March

3rd) and a weather spotters class on Saturday (March 5th) with Jim Kramper.

Mark Kerhlikar presented Lou Bartels, Mark and Debbie Ochu with try grids award certificates.

Ron Ochu presented a certificate of merit to Mark Kerhlikar from the ARRL for running the Macoupin net, signed by all of the club

members.

Bob Hester won the 50/50 drawing.

Adjournment: Tim Coonrod made a motion for the meeting to be adjourned, seconded by Chris Wewetzen and motion carried.

Program: Mark Kerhliker gave a historical and interesting PowerPoint presentation about satellites and using antennas to communicate

with them.

Next meeting: Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 7:00 pm (pre-meeting gathering at Reno’s).

Minutes Correction: In the February minutes, club director Mark Osborn WA9SXK and his wife Karen Osborn, WB9OIN

were recorded as not being present at the February 3, 2016 club meeting; when in fact, both Mark and Karen were indeed

present at the meeting. We apologize for the error.

The March program dealt with low Earth orbiting satellites. Mark, WD9HBF gave an

excellent presentation over the FM birds. Mark also spent time on the linear transpond-

er birds (satellites). WD9HBF pointed out that most hams already have all that they

need to start working the FM birds. Well done Mark. Pictured is Mark holding his Ar-

row dual-band (2m –70cm) yagi used to work the satellites. Paul, KC9YCP (pictured on

the right) exclaims, “Wow, two bands with just one antenna...no way…that’s amazing!”

Page 14 K9MCE QSN

Amateur Radio Statistics…

Ham Radio Continues To Grow!

Page 15 Volume 4, Issue 4

The Sloper Antenna

The sloper antenna is a proven performer and best

of all, it is easy and inexpensive to build! There are

many variations of this venerable antenna. In this

issue of K9MCE, a couple of them are presented.

With a little patience and a little ingenuity, a sloper

could be in your yard opening up the world of DX

communications to your shack!

Notice that in Fig 1 the sloper support is non-metallic and the antenna is feed at the ground level

using a 4:1 balun. A good, earth ground is a must

for this antenna operation.

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

In figure 2, this sloper does not need a 4:1 balun. A 1:1 balun

or even a simple direct coax feed will suffice. In essence, this

sloper is a dipole tilted on edge. Antenna length is deter-

mined by the band. This configuration is better suited for

single band antenna, but traps could be installed.

Fig 3 depicts a typical sloper elevation radia-

tion pattern.

Page 16 K9MCE QSN

CALLING

ALL

CLUB MEMBERS

ANNOUNCING THE 2ND ANNUAL

K9MCE

HOMEBREW NIGHT!!!

BRING YOUR WINTER

HOMEBREW PROJECT

TO DISPLAY OR BRAG ABOUT

TO THE APRIL 6TH MCARC MEETING

SHOW OFF TO YOUR FELLOW HAMS WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING

ON

ALL WINTER

Page 17 Volume 4, Issue 4

6

2

Page 18 K9MCE QSN

Page 19 Volume 4, Issue 4

Page 20 K9MCE QSN

Page 21 Volume 4, Issue 4

Page 22 K9MCE QSN

Illinois ARRL Section Manager

News

By Tom Ciciora — KA9QPN

SM--Tom Ciciora KA9QPN

ASM/SRM--Ron Morgan, KB9NW

ASM/SEC--Brad Pioveson, W9FX

ACC--Scott DeSantis KB9VRW

SGL--Charles Richey, K9DUE

STM--Roy Eades, KA9MZJ

PIC--Fritz Bock, WD9FMB

TC--John Dinella, WA9IL

OOC--Tim Childers, KB9FBI

ASEC--Curtis Williams, W5DTR

ASEC--Kelly Robertson, KC9FVK

ASEC--Pat Ryan, KC6VVT

ASEC--Pat Stowell, N9PN

ASEC/Digital Ops--Danny Pease NG9R

DEC: Region 2--Lloyd Sherman KB9APW, Region 3--Dale Marzano N9JH, Region 4--Neil Ormos N9NL, Region 6--Gary Shanks

KA9FAJ, Region 7--OPEN, Region 9--Jim Hudson WB9QPM, Region 8--Curtis Williams W5DTR, Region 11--Bruce Talley WA9APQ

From the top…

**I was informed on 4 March that no other nomination petitions were received to oppose me for a sixth term as your Section Manager.

I'm gratified to have another go-round at your service. The rest of the leadership team will stay intact as long as they remain willing. It's a

big hook and nobody gets off. My new term starts on 1 July.

**Nothing more has been heard on HB 5961 which would remove the Amateur Radio exemption from the distracted driving statute. The sponsor of the bill has stopped returning my emails. So much for the direct approach. At this time, the bill is sitting in the Rules

Committee and the General Assembly is in recess for another few weeks. If and when the Bill gets out of the Rules Committee, I'll be

asking you again for calls and contacts with your State Representatives.

**In a statement filed with the FCC on 10 March, the League asked that the FCC not adopt an excessive requirement to notify utilities

before operating on the soon-to-come 2200 and 630 meter bands. We're supposed to get access soon, and there is a possibility of our

being required to notify power companies who control their systems via Part 15 devices.

**The FCC really needs to take a hard look at this requirement. What we have are licensed operators who might be required to notify

unlicensed Part 15 users of a licensed and legal operation. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that kind of action would disembowel the entire

idea of Part 15 which states that those devices cannot cause interference to licensed users and must accept any interference from li-

censed users. As it is, we've had more than our share of encroachments from Part 15 doohickeys, ranging from BPL to Recon Scout

robots to hinky LED ballasts. Any further erosion is not acceptable.

**"Doohickey" is a technical term.

Get informed...

**At the 25th DuPage County Advanced Severe Weather Seminar on 12 March, one of the sessions was a retrospect on the history of

the event, being its 25th anniversary. During that session, the presenter, Tom Mefferd, paid a few minutes tribute to Bob Hajek W9QBH

(SK). Bob's contributions to SKYWARN in the NWS/Chicago area of responsibility were numerous, including the retransmission of the

Page 23 Volume 4, Issue 4

NOAA Weather Wire on 147.06MHz and the Amateur Radio presence at the Weather Service office during storm events. This was

done for many years in 60 WPM Baudot RTTY, and later in 300 Baud ASCII. I considered Bob a friend and mentor, and it was good to

hear his contribution woven into the history lesson. (Adapted from a FB post.)

**The Illinois Repeater Association has scheduled its annual meeting on 16 April. The venue has changed, and the meeting will be held in

Champaign rather than Bloomington. This due to some belt tightening on the part of the Board. ILRA is the sole body governing repeater

standards and coordination for the Section. We are fortunate that we do not have the issues that other states have with multiple coordi-

nating bodies and CB-style nonsense. The entire enterprise is not simple and it is completely taken for granted. On the other hand, I felt

as an individual Amateur that the letter sent late last year was needlessly inflammatory and could have stood some moderation of tone.

You can't make everyone happy, and I get that more than most. So be it, and we can agree to disagree civilly. All things considered, the

Association is doing the job and if you are a repeater owner, is worthy of your support. I urge you to participate by both joining the As-

sociation and attending the Annual Meeting. They need your support and these things don't happen our of thin air or for free.

**The Fermilab/WGN Tornado and Severe Storm Seminar is coming up on 2 April. As has been the custom over the last few years, Don

Whitney K9DRW, has rallied various ARES/RACES components to staff an information table in the lobby of the venue. Unfortunately, the

event has gone to a single session from the two which were historically done, and free tickets had to be obtained from Fermilab's event

coordinators. Consequently, the venue is considered full and no overflow areas as were done in the past are planned. A number of us

were able to get tickets, and we'll be doing our show-and-tell as we have in the past.

Around the Section...

**Peak hamfest season is rapidly approaching. The only way that these events are going to thrive and grow is if you show up. Gas is just

starting to rebound from the lows earlier this year, so fuel cost is less of a factor than it was in years past. Maybe you can even clean out

the shack and find some things to sell yourself. These events are usually the only revenue source for the individual clubs besides member-

ship dues. Get out and support these events.

**Also, it's not too early to add your operation to the League's Field Day Locator. It's the easy way to make sure that you can be found

easily on that weekend.

Ye Olde Traffic Report DE KA9MZJ... Illinois Side Band Net - Net Manager WB9QPM

Daily on 3905 at 1800 local time

QNI 324 QTC 57 Sessions 29

Illinois Phone Net - Net Manager K9GYI

M-F on 3857 at 1645 local time

Sunday on 3940 at 0800 local time

QNI 223 QTC 12 Sessions 25

North Central Phone Net – Net Manager K9HEZ

M-F on 3912 at 0700 local time

QNI 345 QTC 3 Sessions 21

Illinois CW Net (ILN) Net Manager WB8SIM

Daily on 3838 at 1915 local time

QNI 53 QTC 2 Sessions 22

KF9ME and W9NXM reporting

K9MCE QSN is a monthly publication of the Macoupin County Amateur Ra-

dio Club. Our club meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm on

the second floor of the Macoupin County Sheriff Department in Carlinville, IL

Editor: Ron Ochu, KO0Z. ronochu.sky@gmail.com

Repeaters: 444.250 (103.5 pl); 146.865 (103.5 pl).

Website: www.k9mce.org

Webmaster: Isaac Pizzo, WX9SRV

Testing: Bill Ogle, W9FJ 217-685-0711

K9MCE QSN Contact Information:

Jim of Jim’s

Engraving is a

“local” ham —

KF4NBG from

Pocahontas, IL.

Page 24 K9MCE QSN

Macoupin County

Amateur Radio Club

P.O. Box 253 Carlinville, IL 62626-

0253

Page 25 Volume 4, Issue 4

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2April Fool

Hamfest, No-

ble, IL

3Okaw Valley ARC

Net@9:00 pm, 444.250

(103.5 pl)

N9MAF Net, 146.805

(94.8 pl) @ 9:00 pm

4W9VEY Memo-

rial Net @8:30 pm,

146.820

5 6K9MCE informal

dinner 5:00 pm at

Reno’s Pizzeria in

Carlinville, IL. Club

meeting @7:00 pm,

2nd floor Macoupin

County Sheriff Dept.

7Macoupin County

ARC weekly net at

8:30 pm on 444.250

(103.5 pl),WD9HBF

Net Control.

Macoupin County

ARES Net, 148.47

MHz @8:00pm.

8 9

10Okaw Valley

ARC Net@9:00 pm,

444.250 (103.5 pl)

N9MAF Net, 146.805

(94.8 pl) @ 9:00 pm

11W9VEY

Memorial Net

@8:30 pm, 146.820

12 13 14Macoupin

County ARC weekly

net at 8:30 pm on

444.250 (103.5

pl),WD9HBF Net

Control.

Macoupin County

ARES Net, 148.47

MHz @8:00 pm.

15 16

17Okaw Valley

ARC Net@9:00 pm,

444.250 (103.5 pl)

N9MAF Net, 146.805

(94.8 pl) @ 9:00 pm

18W9VEY

Memorial Net

@8:30 pm, 146.820

19 20 21Macoupin

County ARC weekly

net at 8:30 pm on

444.250 (103.5

pl),WD9HBF Net

Control.

Macoupin County

ARES Net, 148.47

MHz @8:00 pm.

22 23 Lewis and

Clark Hamfest,

Godfrey IL

24Okaw Valley

ARC Net@9:00 pm,

444.250 (103.5 pl)

N9MAF Net, 146.805

(94.8 pl) @ 9:00 pm

25W9VEY

Memorial Net

@8:30 pm, 146.820

26 27 28Macoupin

County ARC weekly

net at 8:30 pm on

444.250 (103.5

pl),WD9HBF Net

Control.

Macoupin County

ARES Net, 148.47

MHz @8:00pm.

29 30

K9MCE April 2016

Illinois HF Traffic Nets, Times and Frequencies...

K9MCE QSN BACKPAGE

We’re on the web!

www.k9mce.org

Illinois Side Band Net - Net Manager WB9QPM

Daily on 3905 at 1800 local time

Illinois Emergency Net - Net Manager K9HEZ & Illinois Phone Net

Sunday on 3940 at 0800 local time

North Central Phone Net – Net Manager K9HEZ

M-F on 3912 at 0700 local time

Illinois CW Net (ILN) Net Manager WB8SIM

W9NXM reporting

Daily on 3838 at 1915 local time

IL NOAA NWS WX

Radio Stations Ward Silver, N0AX makes it a point to program his

VHF/UHF FM radios with the seven frequencies na-

tionally assigned to NWS so that when he is on the

road he is within the coverage area of a NWS trans-

mitter. These frequencies are 162.400, 162.425.

162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550.

Keep in mind that not all NWS transmitters have the

same output power. For instance, KD089 out of St.

Louis and WXJ75 out of Springfield, IL have 1000

watts; whereas, KXI79 in Hillsboro runs 300 watts.

A good URL to see the various NWS stations and

their respective output power is http://

www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/Maps/PHP/illinois.php

Besides being up to date with the latest NWS infor-

mation these stations can also serve as good VHF

propagation beacons. Listen to the various frequen-

cies and see where and how well the station is com-

ing in to your location.

Springtime and summer months brings enhanced VHF

propagation during the morning and evening hours.