march 2010 csra txt newsletter

8/9/2019 March 2010 CSRA TXT Newsletter

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THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2010.


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THE CHICAGO SUBURBAN RADIO ASSOCIATION

Illinois Oldest Amateur Radio Club - N9BATCS

RABOARDAN

DCOM

MITTEE

TXT | MARCH 2010 | TWO

CLUB PRESIDENT 2009-2010

708.562.2827 | [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT 2010-2011


SECRETARY


TREASURER


SARGEANT-AT-ARMS/WELCOME & RAFFLES


MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN


TXT EDITOR/PUBLICITY


EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CHAIRMAN


COFFEE & MEETING REFRESHMENTS CHAIRMAN


N9BAT CLUB CALLSIGN TRUSTEE:

CLUB WEBSITE: http://

CLUB EMAIL ADDRESS:

24/7 CSRA HAM HOTLINE:

March 2010

WEE TOOK A TRIP back in time atthe February meeting. John Franta

KA9MJE, Ron Urbaytis K9RWU andEd Schumacher WA9GQK were

nice enough to play shown andtell with their veinge ARC-5transmitters and receivers. All

admitted that they were a work inprogress, but that was a part of

the fun!

As the weather gets nicer and thedaylight lingers, we hope you canmake it to the March meeting and

enjoy some fun and friendship.Dont forget, members are

welcome to bring items to sell orgive away at our monthly club

mini-hamfest. Just remember,whatever you dont sell or give

away, goes back home with you!

And dont forget: club dues are

due as well!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Scott Childers - W9CHI

TXT Editor

TXT copyright 2010
http://www.csraham.com/http://www.csraham.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.csraham.com/


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at Grace Lutheran Churchin the Fellowship Room on the lower level.

Doors open at 6:30pm Meeting begins at 7:30pm

Grace Lutheran Church is located at1101 Manchester Avenue

in Westchester, Illinois.One block north of Roosevelt Road,

just west of 25th Avenue.

Directions and maps on our website athttp://www.CSRAham.com

FRONT PAGE

TXT | MARCH 2010 | THREE

NEXT MEETING Recent events in the Village of Brookfield have sparked a lot of

discussion among area hams and a significant portion of our lasmeeting was spent on the subject. Not to belabor the point but rather toexpand a little, I offer the following for everyone's benefit.

As Federally licensedradio operators we hamsenjoy special privilegesresulting from many hardfought battles in the earlydays of the development ofradio communications. Weare unique in many waysamong users of the radiospectrum yet still enjoyGovernment protection ofour pursuit without the fees charged to most other users. We have alsorecently won a major victory with the publication of PRB-1 protecting usfrom restrictive legislation by local governing bodies regarding our need

for effective antennas. We do indeed have significant rights attached toour licenses which are clearly spelled out in various official documents.

As with other freedoms we enjoy, there also go other responsibilitieswhich are not specifically stated in any government rules and regulationsbut are accepted as common courtesy and consideration of our fellowcitizens. This is precisely the center of the issue which has developed inBrookfield. Though the ham cited by Brookfield is absolutely entitled tokeep his antennas and the Village acted improperly in their misguidedattempt to enforce a blight complaint via an inappropriate ordinancewithout due process, we should still take note of the overall lesson fromthis incident.

We as hams should always strive to setup and operate our stations in

a manner that exhibits the high standards we have been known for. Weafter all, have achieved our licenses after passing stringent tests whichmakes our hobby unique among all others. We are on a par with theCommercial boys as far as the level of our exams and many people stilthink of hams as something special and remember with awe some distanrelative who was "also a ham." Considering that our antennas are abillboard advertising our presence, we should be putting on our besface especially in this area. Sloppy installations or poorly maintainedones say we are not so great. Just as a dirty car or sloppy dress speaksvolumes to others about us without ever exchanging a word, so does theappearance of our antenna systems.

Yes, we do have our rights to our antennas but we also have our prideand social responsibility to put the best face possible on them. They may

not be the thing of great joy to our neighbors that they are to us, but atleast our neighbors can respect the time and effort we put into them toprovide what may be lifesaving communications for someone else inanother part of the world or even to put that neighbor in touch withsomeone in an emergency. We will be far more believable when we lookthe part of what we claim to be and perhaps then even those neighborsmay begin to look on our antennas as objects of community pride rathethan just eyesores.

"Submitted for your approval"

Ed, WA9GQK

O U R R IG H T S , R IG H T O R W R O N G ?

CHECK IN TO OUR CLUB NETS CSRA Info Net

Mondays at 8:00pm146.76 Repeater

CSRA CW NetSundays at 8:00pm

7.100 MHz

1) An Arduino is a type of ________________.a. transistor arrayb. microprocessor prototyping systemc. coax connectord. Italian vacuum tube

2) Which is most likely to have a "bat handle?"a. soldering ironb. rack-mount enclosurec. toggle switchd. torque wrench

3) Which connector family is most closely associated withparallel data interfaces?

a. DBb. USBc. BNCd. Centronics

4) What type of holes does a nibbling tool cut?a. circlesb. squaresc. rectanglesd. irregular

5) What does DIP stand for?a. Drill In Placeb. Dual Interconnection Pinsc. Dual In Line Packaged. Delta Insertion Point

NSWERS APPEAR ON PAGE FIVE

Amateur Radio Quiz: Workbench Wisdom

CSRA CATS NetWednesdays at 7:00pm

21.331 USB +/-
http://www.csraham.com/http://www.csraham.com/


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TXT | MARCH 2010 | FOUR

QRM

Its that time of the year!

CSRA club dues are nowdue. Please remit 10

dollars to club treasurer

Ray Good AA9F at the

next meeting or send your

check or money order to

the club Post Office Box.

CSRA dues remain the

lowest and the best value

in the ham radio

community.

Please continue to support

Illinois oldest amateur

radio club. Your club -

CSRA!

FOR SALEAUTEK RESEARCH WM-1 computing SWR meter w/ manual.

$100 OBO Contact Ed, WA9GQK at roster number (page 2)

CSRA DUES ARE

NOW DUE

QSL OF THE MONTH

Ed WA9GQK provided this months card. The QSL is from a QSO on Dec 16, 2009using ssb and only 100w with a beam heading of approximately. 15 degrees westof due south. The card arrived March 2 from the stateside manager, K1IED.

If you are into a road trip, AES Superfest iscoming up on Friday April 9th andSaturday April 10th at the AmateuElectronics Supply Milwaukee store a5710 Good Hope Road. The fest is free tothe public and is always well attended byequipment manufacturers as well asinteresting forums and a chance to lookat (and buy) some goodies! Gordon WesWB6NOA will once again be on hand athe fest. QSL Card checking will beavailable on Saturday for WAS, DXCCWAC & VUCC. A WTMJ Meteorologist widiscuss storm spotting and safety. Best oall the fest is all indoors at the AESbuilding. Parking and shuttles areavailable.

More details at www.aesham.com.

AES SUPERFESTAPRIL 9 &10

- 2 Meter FM (VHF)- 5.5 Watts (0.5 W selectable)- 107 Total Memory Channels- Great Audio - 300 mW Output (at 7.2V DC)

- CTCSS/DTCS Encode/Decode with Tone Scan- 16 Button DTMF Keypad with Encode

Standard and Decode Optional- Fast Scanning - 40 Channels Per Second- Backlit Alphanumeric LCD- Auto Repeater- Optional PC Programming- Military Rugged Construction- Battery Case for 6 "AA" Batteries

This radio is new-in-box. Never used, nevertaken out of the box or even turned on!

Retails for $115 -

Contact Scott W9CHI at 708/287-1336 oremail [email protected]

FOR

items for sale are welcome here! [email protected]


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Dan Romanchik KB6NUTom Ciciora, KA9QPN

I would like to direct your attention to newly introduced IllinoisHB5761. This bill amends the recently adopted anti-texting law toprovide an exception for persons in possession of a current and valid

Amateur Radio license issued by the Federal CommunicationsCommission.

The definition of 'mobile communications devices' is so broad inthe law as written that it could be interpreted to take in just about anycontraption which could be carried or mounted in a vehicle to conveyinformation. I pointed this out in the News last month. The change isnecessary to lessen our chances of being victimized by uninformedenforcement. To a police officer, a microphone in the handis undistinguishable from a cell phone at fifty yards away throughnormally tinted windows.

NEITHER I NOR THE LEAGUE ADVOCATE MOBILE TEXTING OR DISTRACTEDDRIVING.

You are urged to contact your State Representative asking him orher to join with Rep. John Bradley as a co-sponsor of this bill. Whenyou do contact your representative, please remember that we aren'tentitled to any preferential treatment. Emphasize that amateurs havea long history of being able to use their equipment without distraction,and the law as currently written places an unnecessary limit on ourability to provide supplementary emergency communications. Beclear, concise and do not demand or insist. Politely ask. Say pleaseand thank you. I apologize if some of this sounds basic and patroniz-ing, but you'd be amazed at some of the correspondence to legisla-tors on which I'm copied. Many thanks to those who have alreadyresponded.

Additionally, there is another radio related bill circulating, HB5194.This prevents rebroadcast or retransmission of any signals carried on

the State Police radio system. This does not affect hams directly, butmany of us are also scannists. HB5194, in my own opinion, is generi-cally bad law as it duplicates provisions of the Communications Actof 1934 as amended and is therefore unnecessary. I have receivedcommunication on this bill from concerned hams. We don't have an'official' opinion as it is not our ox being directly gored. You may wishto do your own due diligence on this matter separately. I'd ask thatyou please not tie the two bills together and to use separatecorrespondence for each if you do comment on both bills.

TXT | MARCH 2010 | FIVE

COULD ANTI-TEXTING LAW AFFECTAMATEUR MOBILE OPERATION?

On the Ten-Tec Omni VII Yahoo Group (http:/groups.yahoo.com/group/Ten-Tec-Omni-VII/), one hamwrote: "If I was 17 years-old I would be hacking I-phonesand other items like George Hotz, the 17 year-old from NewJersey who was able to unlock the Apple I-phone so that icould be used on other cell service networks.

"When I was his age, I was hacking dial telephones. Thenone day the phone company showed up at my house. Myparents were not impressed with my technical abilities.

"This morning there is a story that George has just hackedthe 'un-hackable' Sony 3 Play Station. He says the hack wa95% software and 5% hardware.

"A quick check of the modifications site run by that guyover in Denmark, shows that there are NO MODS for theO7...interesting. I just wonder how many strange andwonderful things can be done with those 36 buttonsswitches on the front panel. Can the O7 be made evenbetter?"

In my reply, I asked, "Why stop at pressing some buttonon the front panel? Why doesn't someone really hack theOmni VII and develop a completely new software packagefor it?" Rigs like the Omni VII and the Elecraft K3 would seemto be perfect candidates for this kind of hacking.

Sure, there is an order of magnitude difference betweena $300 iPod and a $3,000 radio, but we're big boys, aren'we? Besides, aside from overdriving the finals, what readamage can you do to the radio? It seems to me that evenif you manage to screw up the software in the rig, you canget back to square one by simply re-loading themanufacturer's software.

Ham radio operators have a long history of modifyingtheir radios. Page through any stack of QSTs or CQ

Magazines from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and you'll findmany articles describing modifications to the popularadios of the day. About the only thing hams do to their rigstoday is to clip a diode to allow it to operate out-of-band.

What does it say about the technical capabilities otoday's hams that we haven't yet done with our gear whasome 17-year-old kid has done with the iPhone and thePlayStation? Why don't we have any third-party software foOmni VII or the K3? I think if a manufacturer actuallyencouraged third-party software development, they'dquickly gain a following and make their brand evenstronger, don't you?

Dan Romanchik, KB6NU, blogs about ham radio

www.kb6nu.com, teaches the infamous One-Day Tech

Class, and operates a lot of 40m CW. E-mail him your

comments and questions at [email protected].

WHERE ARE THE HAMRADIO HACKERS?

In February 2010, the American Hospital Association (AHA) filed a

request with the FCC for a blanket waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3) ofthe Commission's Rules "to permit hospitals seeking accreditation touse Amateur Radio operators who are hospital employees to transmitcommunications on behalf of the hospital as part of emergencypreparedness drills." On March 3, the FCC issued a Public Notice -- WP Docket 10-54 -- seeking comments if the Commission "shouldgrant AHA's request for a blanket waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3) topermit amateur operators who are hospital employees to participatein emergency drills that are conducted by hospitals for accreditationpurposes and that are not government-sponsored. "Section97.113(a)(3) specifically prohibits amateur stations from transmittingcommunications "in which the station licensee or control operatorhas a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of anemployer." (ARRL)

Blanket Waiver to Allow Amateur Radioin Hospital Emergency Drills?

1. b -- www.arduino.cc2. c -- Miniature toggle switches frequently have handles shapedlike a baseball bat.3. d -- Now mostly known as a "parallel port" connector, it wasoriginally developed as a high-speed data interface byCentronics for its printers.4. d -- A nibbling tool is used to cut irregularly-shaped holes insheet metal in a series of small, rectangular bites.5. c -- This is the most common package for through-holecomponents.

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