7

QLF What is QLF you may be asking. Well it

is an unofficial Q-code that originated

years ago as a snarky comment my Navy

and maritime CW operators. If you heard

a station send QLF? The sending station

would be asking the receiving station, “are

you sending with your left foot?”

At this years

Winterfest in

Augusta George

Szadis. K1GDI,

being familiar with

the QLF Q-signal,

set up a QLF

sending station so

hams attending the

event could have a

chuckle attempting

to send CW with

their left foot.

Shoes on or off

were optional.

As you can see in the above photograph,

Maine ARRL Section Manager Bill

Crawley, K1NIT gave it a try and earned

the coveted QLF endorsement by sending

his own call sign with his left foot.

In addition to George’s QLF CW

sending demonstration he ran a successful

auction and raise $150 for the Good

Shepard food bank. George said he

planned to do it again at the Andy Hamfest

and Maine State ARRL Convention in

Lewiston. If you would like to donate old

equipment, radio parts, Ham radio items

you can conduct George at:

k1gdi@arrl.net

George said, “The funds from the auction

is a real plug for Maine Radio Amateurs

since the donation is made on behalf of

hams. The Food Banks need cash to keep

their needed function going.

MARA is again sponsoring off season cruises at great rates.

Notice the spacious accommodations.

Still time to book the Newfoundland cruise. More details to follow. Ship departs

from the Maine State Pier in Portland at 10:00 April first. Contact the booking agent at:

grszadis@aol.com April fools

Oops! In last month’s issue of this newsletter I described how to build a simple little one transistor RF Sniffer. However, my use of the word simple is a bit overstated because my hookup drawing had a major error in it. The two 1N60 diodes were drawn incor-rectly, and if wired up that way the sniffer would not work. The following is a corrected drawing:

Sorry for the confusion. 73, W1ZE

Several years ago, back before my hair

turned gray, I put up a two meter vertical

J-Pole that was made from the 1 ¼ inch

EMT (electrical conduit) that was used

between my rotor and TH3jr Yagi at my

southern California QTH .

I purchased a 10-foot length of EMT at

the local Hardware Emporium. I only

needed a foot and a half for the Yagi to

mount to so the rest of the pipe could be

used to make up a two meter J-Pole

antenna. I measured down from the top of

the mast ¾-wave at 146 MHz (57”) and I

attached a metal bracket with a 19” length

of ½” EMT so it was parallel to the mast.

I found the sweet spot for about 2” up from

the shorting bracket where the SWR was

the lowest at 146 MHz. The result was a

very broadband vertical that let me

communicate all around Orange and

southern LA County.

Since then I have built and

experimented with at least a dozen

different J-Pole designs. So I thought I

would pass along one design that works

well, simple to build and long lasting in an

outdoor environment.

This design is much like the one I

originally built for my Huntington Beach

QTH. The antenna is fabricated from a

ten foot length of ¾-inch EMT; a metal

electrical quad outlet box blank cover and

a handful of stainless steel fasteners.

First step is to cut a 23-inch length off

one end of the 10-foot length of EMT. This

will be used for the quarter-wave matching

stub.

Next measure where to drill the

mounting fastener holes on the blank quad

box plate so that where will be two inches

of separation between the two vertical

elements.

Measure from the top of the mast down

57 inches. That is where the top edge of the

blank cover plate will be secured with

stainless steel nuts, bolts and lock washers.

Now position the 23-inch stub to the

plate so that 19-inches is parallel to the

mast element and secure with fasteners.

You can connect your 50-ohm coax to a

point two inches above the top edge of the

cover plate bracket. I recommend you

attach the coax shield and center

conductors two the feed point with hose

clamps while you verify you have found

the sweet spot (lowest SWR). You can

leave the hose clamps as your connection

method or attack the coax with wire lugs

and fasteners. Cover the electrical coax

connection with electrical tape RTV or

silicone calk to weatherproof the

connections.

At a later date I will show how to add

440 MHz to the same mast making this

J-Pole a dual bander. 73, W1ZE

03/10/2017 ARRL HQ, Newington, CT

International Crystal Manufacturing (ICM)

of Oklahoma City has announced that it will

be going out of business, probably at the end

of May. Royden Freeland Jr., W5EMH, son

of the company’s founder, posted a letter this

week on the ICM website.

“We will be honoring all orders that we have

already taken and will be able to fill a limited

amount of new orders dependent upon raw

materials available,” Freeland said. “We

would like to thank you for your past

business. The success of ICM over the previ-

ous 66 years has been largely due to its amaz-

ing customer base.”

International Crystal produces RF control de-

vices — quartz crystals, oscillators, QCM

crystals, filters, TCXOs/VCTCXOs, and pre-

cision crystals.

Royden R. Freeland Sr. founded International

Crystal in 1950, at first operating out of his

garage. One of his first contracts was to

produce crystals for Collins Radio. The elder

Freeland and his wife died in a 1978 air crash,

and his son took over the company, which

expanded into the production of other

electronics in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, though, it sold off some of its

equipment and distribution business to

concentrate on its core enterprise — the man-

ufacture of crystal and oscillator products.

The announcement caught some manufactur-

ers off guard, and they are seeking to source

the products they had been buying from ICM,

one of the few remaining US-based manufac-

turer of crystal products. Radio amateurs

requiring crystals for projects or as replace-

ment parts for older equipment also will have

to look elsewhere.

Ironically, International boasts on its website

that it’s “a proud supplier to RadioShack,”

which, for the second time in two years,

declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.

September 8: Special Programs September 9 & 10: Flea Market, Exhibitors, All Activities

The ARRL New England Division Convention

at the Boxboro Regency Hotel and Conference

Center off I-495 at exit 28A in Boxborough,

Massachusetts

LARGE FLEA MARKET

MAJOR EXHIBITORS LICENSE-IN-A-WEEKEND

VE EXAMS DXCC CARD CHECKING

DOZENS OF SEMINARS

YOUTH PROGRAM

FRIDAY DX/CONTESTING DINNER

SATURDAY GRAND BANQUET

Featuring Paul Stoetzer N8HM of AMSAT

Effective DX and Satellite Operation with Minimal Antennas

GENERAL ADMISSION (Good for the full

weekend) $15 FREE for full time

student with Student ID