THE QUAD-COUNTY Amateur Radio Club, Inc. proudly presents our 2012 Annual Report, detailing the activities of the past 12 months in this, our 38th year. You may view or download it here:
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Should QCARC continue giving VE Exams before club meetings in even months?
Total Voters: 3  Loading ... |
 Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work 100 countries in one weekend? Would you like to sharpen your operating skill? Do you want to try your hand at contesting and see if you have what it takes?
Well, this weekend is a great opportunity for you to do all that and more! And not only that… there’s food! Peach AB3OG has invited everyone back to Hummingbird Speedway this weekend to take part in the CQ WW DX contest. W3BC and W3TM are providing the radios and other equipment, and Peach will make the racetrack food concession available for our use. This will be a multi-operator, multi-transmitter station, and will be pretty much like another Field Day, except everybody will be trying to work DX. That should be pretty easy, since the bands have been very good, and the solar forecast calls for continued good DX conditions, day and night. You are invited to come out and stay as long as you want. Take your turn on the air, or just sit back and watch — we’re not in it to win it, instead, our reason for doing this is to give our members and other interested hams the chance to learn how to become a successful contester. Think of it as “On-the-Air Training.” Our goal is to make 1 million points, but more importantly we hope to have fun, food and friendship! Please plan to take part if you can, and don’t feel obligated to do anything except have a good time!
Saturday morning found club members Don Jewell KB3LES of Falls Creek and Peach Caltagarone AB3OG of Reynoldsville setting up 2-meter stations at the Red Cross shelters in Brookville and Big Run, with Greg Donahue KB3WKD and Joe Shupienis W3BC setting up in the Red Cross Headquarters in downtown DuBois. All stations set up and were able to maintain and relay communications with the Jefferson County EMA and the Red Cross HQ for the duration of the exercise. The Western Pennsylvania Section scenario was severe weather disrupting power, transportation and communications in the section. The Red Cross disaster drill was coordinated with the WPA master plan, and included simulated tornado damage and hundreds of evacuees in the areas of Brookville and Troutville. As the mission progressed, routine and priority messages were exchanged, including requests for counts of evacuees at each shelter, requests from the shelters for supplies, EMA bulletins, and calls for additional volunteers. Red Cross officials at each shelter were able to communicate with HQ via our Amateur Radio links. Tactical callsigns and plain-language communication techniques were used throughout the drill, and greatly facilitated accurate and effective communications. Several “problems” were simulated, both by EMA and Red Cross officials, and our amateurs were able to quickly and satisfactorily respond to each with appropriate actions. A couple “real” difficulties occurred which added an air of realism to the exercise. This was a great opportunity to put Amateur Radio Public Service on display for the public and the served agencies. We promptly got every message through, overcame difficulties and exceeded all expectations. Red Cross officials remarked on the high degree of realism they witnessed in our communications, and praised the operating skills and knowledge of the Amateur Radio Volunteers. They further indicated their desire to equip the headquarters and shelters with antennas and radios, and hope to plan a Red Cross disaster drill in the spring, with live “victims” and official vehicles actually travelling to shelters in all four counties.
This time I got the inspiration from all the good band openings on 10m. Openings you say, I haven’t heard anything in a long time!! Well, I used to say the same thing, after I scanned the band using my vertical AV-620, which for those of you who does not know what that is, it’s a 6-band vertical covering 6m to 20m, and it’s considered one of the best verticals. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to replace my home built 3 element 10m quad, which couldn’t take the snow/ice, without breaking, and of coarse that’s what happened again last winter/spring. After a research online, I decided to buy an Italian made 4 element beam, the manufacturer is Sirio, and is well known among cb’ers for their lightweight and good antennas. Since the 27mhz is close to 28mhz, its a breeze, to re-tune the antenna to cover the lower end of the 10m band. When I got the new antenna, I saw that the element brackets were already pre installed, so then I only had to put the mast-bracket on, (boom in 2 sections) and assemble the elements, put them in their brackets and install the gamma-match. It took me about half an hour, and a little help to tune the gamma-match for 28,400 Mhz. After it was assembled, I could not find a pipe that was tall enough, so it ended up sitting at the altitude of 2′ above my lawn, but even at that modest height, I heard CE, LU and PY stations with 59 signals!! The next day, I got my “expensive” tower out, (top section) so now the beam was about 12′ up, and able to be turned, once again I hooked it up to my Icom 706, and again I heard a lot of stations, coming in with very good signal strength and so did a whole lot of beacons, I’ve never heard before! While I had the antenna sitting “on the ground” it was hooked up to my Icom using about 100′ RG-58, but still very good signals on the rx and I also made quite a few contacts, to see how good side-lobe and F/B rejection it had, because as you all know, to see it on paper is one thing, but what you really get, is something else, so, when you have about 59+20-30dB on the front of the antenna, and you are getting about 8-9 S units on the back, you know it works! (note: not calibrated S meter!) About a week later, I was lucky enough to get the antenna up in my tower, and results just got better! Since I have been home for almost a month because of my injured shoulder, I have had the fortune to be able to monitor 10m, from when it opens, around 8-8,30 am, towards Europe and Scandinavia, and yes, apart from about 2 days, yes 2 days, the band has been open! Around noon, the west-coast beacons are gaining strength (readable all morning though) but after noon people out there start to show up, and then you will hear FO4BM, with good signal, S 54-55, and then the VK and ZL stations show up, they are all easy to work, when there are no pile-up, and that’s with my old boat anchor Kenwood TS-520!
So, if you say that the band is not open, it might be because you just need a better antenna…. Don’t forget, that even you technician licensees are allowed on 10m, up to 28,500 Mhz, why not give it your best shot? The antenna, Sirio SY 27-4 is about $170 incl from H&Y electronics (the cheapest place I’ve found) and it only took 3 days to get it, the weight is also very low, so a TV antenna rotator is more than adequate. So, now what’s stopping you, get on the fun, get on 10m!
Lars worked DX station after DX station and tuned higher and higher bands as the day progressed and the MUF increased. He agreed that sunspots are a good thing. The weather was very pleasant with scattered clouds and nary a drop of rain. We handed out information packets to those who stopped by, and got the chance to browse through the car show at our own pace. Theater owner Bill Frankhouser was very appreciative of our efforts, and hopes to have us back again next year. Photo Gallery The Baker Trail Ultra Challenge is a 50+ mile foot race. We have offered our services to the race organizers. We will be responsible for helping to provide communications at the 11 Aid Stations along the route. Here is a map of the locations: [google-map-v3 width=”500″ height=”750″ zoom=”10″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” kml=”http://parasiticemission.com/QCARC/GPX/BT2012.gpx” bubbleautopan=”False” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]
“Band conditions weren’t the greatest,” acknowledges Herb, but the team made the most of it with 109 QSOs, 54 grids worked + 5 grids activated, for a total of 7,257 points. “Since W3SO was having technical difficulties, I said, “Let’s go roving!'” continued Herb. Working stations hundreds of miles away is a challenge at VHF and UHF frequencies, which are usually used for local communications within a “line of sight” distance. DuringVHF contests and other VHF activities, hams routinely stretch the distance to several hundred miles, far beyond line of sight. Making these long-distance contacts requires sensitive receivers, high-gain antennas, and lots of operating skill. Hams are up to that kind of challenge!
 The Community House on the Clearfield Fairgrounds The Quad-County ARC would be delighted to welcome you to our Field Day operation. We are located in the Community Building on the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. Here is a map and directions. Directions:
Drive to the Fairgrounds Gate at 700 Weaver Street (B). Say the magic words “Ham Radio” to get in free, then… Turn left immediately and park near (C). Our Field Day operation is in the yellow brick house immediately in front of you! Hope to see you there!
Jeff Rowles KA3FHV held down the fort on the HF rig, and the HF antenna system built by Joe W3BC was given a thorough workout. The results were good, and Jeff reported that he was able to work every station he heard. The entire operation was set up in under an hour and it was great to see so many hands make light work of all the heavy lifting. In a Quad-County first, at no time did anyone discover they had left something important at home!
Jefferson County ARES EC Kevin Snyder KA3YCB, along with assistant EC and Punxsutawney Area Amateur Radio Club President Steve Waltman KB3FPN were both on hand to help out and take part in the activities. Kevin also serves as the Quad-County ARC Public Service Officer, and brought portable tables and chairs for the event. Red Cross Liaison Greg Donahue KB3WKD made sure we had everything we needed, and connected us to the electrical power system for the duration. He also set up PA announcements directing fairgoers to our location. Before the rainstorm hit, we discussed how much fun it was, and our desire to do more events like these. We look forward to the next events: Field Day, Race Day, Car Show, and Baker Trail Marathon. Participants:
We finally stopped talking about it and just did it! Before the April meeting, several members tried their hand at finding W3BC’s hidden UV-3R somewhere on the Penn State DuBois campus. Lars KB3WBT brought his DF tape-measure antenna, and Don KB3LES brought one of his home-built log-periodic antennas with his UV-3R for a receiver.  Ed and Don close in on the fox, as passing drivers gape in wonder... Stomping around the campus with antennas, the hidden transmitter turned out to be harder to find than expected. Lars reported the signal level picked up INSIDE the Swift building, and Don couldn’t get a good direction as he got closer to the fox. The “winner” of the first heat was… Ed KB3VWX, who found it without using either a radio or antenna! We’ll have to call him “Eagle Eyes” from now on! Don took some time to introduce Bev W3BEV to the art of foxhunting before heading out to find the fox. The first to find the fox using proper radio and antenna technique was Don KB3LES. After finding it, he got to silence it, and hide it in a second location. That second location was even harder than the first, utilizing a brick wall, a large flower pot, a metal trash can and a pile of leaves to hide out from the DF antennas. Lars was zeroing in on it when time ran out. Ed “Eagle Eyes” KB3VWX retrieved the radio and we all went inside for the meeting. Reports were all positive, and some areas for improvement were discussed, notably signal attenuation when close to the fox. Others remarked that passing drivers gave us some astonished looks as we marched around campus with “space antennas!” Everyone thought it was a lot of fun, and we look forward to perfecting our setups to do it again next month.
We will do this again on Sunday, April 8th. Please consider joining us. We will be using the K3EDD repeater on 444.625. The purpose of the net is to familiarize area amateurs with the characteristics and capabilities of the 70 Cm band. So circle your calendar and prepare to join in! You might be surprised to see how well UHF works with today’s equipment!
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