CRA UP-LiNK VolII No.13a - qsl.net · documents.) Once accredited, you will receive in the mail a laminated VE Badge and badge clip to wear at test sessions and a wall certificate

Are YOU ready? Got equipment to sell? Need more ‘toys’?

The CRA II HAMFEST is fast ap-proaching. Being held a week or so later this year on Saturday April 5th.

On the preceding Friday, April 4th, afternoon, about 4:00 PM we start setup for next morning’s HAM-FEST. Also, on Friday we elect our Board Members for the 2008 term.

Friday is when many members show up, all pitching in, to make it light work and fun seeing one an-other and updating after a winter’s

season. We still need people for Satur-

day’s activities from 5:00 AM to about 3:00 PM. Can’t stay the entire time? Just come help for a few hours, then.

We need “security” to watch the entrances, “traffic control” for vendor parking, help in the kitchen and serv-ing line, ‘sellers’ to man the CRA Ta-ble and ‘floaters’.

Contact Walt O’Brien (WO2U), Bill Loeffler (N2BL) or us at UP-LiNK to let us know how you can help.

Upcoming Club & Public Service Events - (Check Pages 2 and 3 for important club information) • 2nd Annual Crystal DX Contest - Feb. 9th thru March 15th (W2CRA Members) • HAMFEST! Saturday April 5th at North Hunterdon Regional HS, 1445 State Rt 31, Annandale, NJ • Heart Walk-a-Thon: date to be announced; should be late April or early May

UPUP--LiNKLiNK©© THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

THE CHERRYVILLE REPEATER ASSOCIATION II, INC. Only 75¢

At Select Newstands Everywhere

Board Meeting Tue., March 11th, 2008 VOL. II No. 13 Membership Meeting Fri., March 14th, 2008

The New ARRL Volunteer

Examiner Manual is Now Online

By Glenn Bukowski KC2NXZ

HAMFEST 2008 APPROACHES!

By Marc Lees, KC2MTR

The Ninth Edition of the ARRL VEC/VE Manual is online on the ARRL Web site. The Manual has everything you need to know in order to be an ARRL Volunteer Examiner: http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/vemanual/index.html

The Volunteer Examiner Manual is in Adobe PDF format.

If you'd like to become a volunteer examiner, review Chapter 2 (Becoming a Volunteer Examiner), then complete the required application document(s).

Mail the completed forms to: ARRL VEC 225 Main St Newington CT 06111

and you're on your way to becoming an ARRL VE. (Note: The original application is needed for completion of accreditation since ARRL requires your signature on file for identity conformation on exam documents.)

Once accredited, you will receive in the mail a laminated VE Badge and badge clip to wear at test sessions and a wall certificate suitable for framing.

All of these items are free.

Vendor Contact Information inside on Page 6

Page 2 Vol. II - Number 13 March UPUP--LiNKLiNK©©

It’s election time again and we have a slate of nominees. The elections will be held April 4th at Friday night’s meeting in North Hunterdon Regional High School. This is also the setup for the CRA annual Hamfest the following Satur-day morning, April 5th.

This will be an important year for many of us for a vari-ety of reasons. An uncertain economy, concerns over a new political leadership and the presidency, job security and the usual host of family and friends and the ensuing time commitments.

For CRA II this will be a critical year. Like many volun-teer organizations, member-ship and participation is on a decline. Many organizations are reviewing their structure, re-assessing their resources and even reducing their com-mitments.

We too must conduct a self examination and streamline our operations to meet the new and changing roles of Amateur Radio in our community.

This past year the Board suggested we inventory CRA’s

Up-LiNK is owned and published by The Cherryville Repeater Association II, Inc., P.O. Box 308, Quakertown NJ 08868 and is a free service to its members

It is for the sole purpose of informing its members and the community of the various activities and functions of the club.

We hope to promote the enjoyment and activity of the radio hobbyist. To inform the public of the services and value of the role that Amateur Radio communications can play in public functions as well as in times of an emergency.

storage trailer housing equip-ment that we no longer can use or need. Indeed the trailer itself needs repairs and it may be better to sell it off and replace it with a more manageable unit that can be towed by most any vehicle with towing capacity.

Our repeaters need mainte-nance and perhaps upgrading. Projects that were approved and not completed for lack of manpower, technical gaps or dollars still need to be done.

This brings us to the heart of our, or any organization’s function - people, time and commitment. Like many of us our jobs and families are taking more away from our ‘free’ time for hobbies - the things we en-joy doing.

When participation declines, more work falls on fewer peo-ple. Often this results in frus-tration and possibly further loss of volunteers.

We at CRA have a commit-ted base of people who enjoy the hobby and many are quite gifted whether it be project building, technical expertise, community and emergency ser-

(Continued on page 4)

Editorial Marc Lees, KC2MTR

Outlook 2008

Up-LiNK© Staff & Contact Information

Co-Editors Marc Lees 908-284-0952 KC2MTR Glenn Bukowski 908-304-2892 KC2NXZ

Contributors Ray Babecki KA2YAK Walter O’Brien WO2U Dave Kanitra (ARES) WB2AZE Bill Powell (RACES) WB1GOT And as may be noted... Please send letters, comments and sub-missions to: [email protected]

THE CHERRYVILLE REPEATER ASSOCIATION II CLUB

Club Info Line 908-391-7655 Website www.qsl.net/w2cra Packet W2CRA 145.51 EXECUTIVE BOARD President AB2LW Tim McLaughlin 908-253-8783 [email protected] Vice Pres KC2NXZ Glenn Bukowski 908-304-289 [email protected] Secretary N2MIF Bob Smolarek [email protected] Treasurer AB2XH John McAuley 908-528-2923 [email protected]

MEMBERS AT LARGE KB2RWY Cheryl McLaughlin 908-253-8783 [email protected] N2RDL Brian Campbell 610-559-1509 [email protected] KC2JRM Tom Delvers 908-995-0452 [email protected] KA2OEE Bob Grear [email protected] AB2FG Tom Kachnowski [email protected]

NET SCHEDULE (Weekly) • Hunterdon County Traffic Thursday, 8:00 PM 147.375

and Emergency Net • RACES/ARES Net The 4th Thursday, 8:30 PM 147.375 • SkyWarn Net Thursday 9:00 PM 147.015 • HF Net Tuesday 8:15 Meet first on 147.375 Then to HF MAJOR ANNUAL EVENTS • W2CRA Hamfest April 5, 2008 Talk-in 147.375 PL 151.4 • W2CRA Field Day June 28-29, 2007 147.375

Community Service Through Communication

Page 3 UPUP--LiNKLiNK©© Vol. II - Number 13 March

The Cherryville Repeaters Assoc II Slate of Officers for 2008

As of last night's meeting, the candidates for the 2008 W2CRA Board of Directors are: PRESIDENT: MICHAEL VARAS (KC2CMC)

VICE PRESIDENT: GLENN BUKOWSKI (KC2NXZ)

SECRETARY: STEVEN LEVINE (NK1W)

TREASURER: JOHN McAULEY (AB2XH)

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE:

WALTER O'BRIEN (WO2U)

MARC LEES (KC2MTR)

ROBERT SMOLARECK (N2MIF)

(Normally, there would have only been 2 member-at-large running this year BUT we need to replace Cheryl McLaughlin who will be resigning)

Send any corrections or additions to: [email protected] with the sub-ject line,"W2CRA ELECTIONS, 2008"

Meeting Locations (Standard location & times. These may change for Special Events or Holidays): The Flemington American Baptist Church at Main & Church Streets in Flemington, NJ (Cafeteria - Entrance in back). General Members The 2nd Fri. of the Month at 7:30 PM Board Meetings are held at the Hunterdon County Library Complex The Wednesday before each General Meeting, or as announced at 7:30 PM

Please e-mail or call any of the listed Club Members or Editorial Staff to confirm times and locations

Schedule of Events for 2008

• HAMFEST! : Saturday April 5th 8 AM—2PM at North Hunterdon HS, 1445 SR 31 S, Annandale, NJ

• Annual Crystal DX Contest: February 9 thru March 15 (W2CRA Members)

• Heart Walk-a-Thon: date to be announced; should be late April or early May

• STPR Pro Rally: Fri-Sat June 6th thru 8th. Wellesboro, PA

• FIELD DAY Weekend: June 28th-29th at the Hunterdon County Li-brary Complex, 314 State Rt 12, Flemington, NJ

• Fourth of July Parade: July 4 in Lebanon Twp

• The Hunterdon 4H Fair: W4H August 20th -24th in Ringoes, NJ

• 22nd Annual Skylands Triath-lon: September 27th at Spruce Run Reservoir

• Equestrian Canal Ride: Sunday, November 2nd at Blackwell Mills (Canal)

• The Pine Barrens Express Road Rally: Saturday, November 22nd in the Pine Barrens Area of NJ (Lakewood)

• Turkey Trot: Thursday, Novem-ber 27th in Flemington, NJ

• W2CRA Awards Banquet: Fri-day, December 12th at the Leba-non First Aid Squad Building

• Equipment Auction: Date and location TBA

There is still a chance for you to volunteer to be part of the organiz-ing committees for many of these events and the Chair of several com-mittees are still open.

CRA II

Dues Schedule Regular Membership ~ $30.00 Family Membership ~ $45.00 Senior Membership ~ $20.00

Dues are due at the January meeting for the calendar year. Grace period for continued membership benefits ex-tends until 7:30 PM at the April Club meeting.

Dues must be paid by that time in or-der to be eligible to vote in The Club Elections or continue receiving Uplink and other Club benefits.

Dues can be paid to the Treasurer at the meeting or mailed to:

Cherryville Repeater Association, II, Inc.

P.O. Box 308 Quakertown, NJ 08868

HIGH BRIDGE - Malcolm E. Mayercik, 64, of High Bridge died Friday (Feb. 1, 2008) at the Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan Town-ship. He was born April 30, 1943 in Newark and had lived in Parsippany before moving to High Bridge in 1972. He was the son of the late Emil and Alvina Zrelak Mayercik. He graduated from Newark College of Engi-neering, and was an electrical engineer for Vendor Control Services in Cambridge, Mass. Memberships include the Amateur Radio Op-erators (ARRL) W2TI of New England for 50 plus years, RACES a local radio group, and years ago he was with the High Bridge Civil Defense. Survivors are his wife of 38 1/2 years, Joan R. Mayercik; a son, Robert M. at home; and a daughter, Christine J. Mayercik at home; one brother, David Joseph of Mt. Gretna, Pa., and one aunt, Olga Garnet of Hershey, Pa. Funeral services are 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Naughright-Scarponi Funeral Home, High Bridge. Interment, Somerset Hills Memorial Park, Basking Ridge. Calling hours are 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday. Memorials to High Bridge Emergency Squad, 95 E. Main St., High Bridge, NJ 08829. (From the Courier News)

Silent Key W2TI

Elections will be held Friday, April 4th at the Meeting after

the Hamfest Setup


Winter Driving Its that time of the year again,

time for driving in bad weather, espe-cially snow storms. It has happened to me, and it could happen at any time.....getting stuck in the snow or traffic jam for several hours (like 7 hours). With bad weather, you may have to spend the night in your vehi-cle. here are some tips to make your 'stay' a little easier.

1. If you haven't already, take the time to have your vehicle checked out, have your belts, hoses, tires, fluids, lights and battery checked. Get the car winterized. Replace the fuel filter. Carry road maps. If there is bad weather predicted, fill up the fuel tank. Carry some emergency cash in your wallet. 2. Carry the following items with you. a. a shovel or small spade will do b. high way flares c. first aid kit, flashlight, important medications (samples from Dr. offices) d. fire extinguisher. e. a blanket or sleeping bag. You can get one for $25 at Walmart and they take up very little space. f. food, such as granola bars, they can stay fresh for a couple of weeks g. bottle of water. you can always thaw it out h. a cell phone, and mobile radio/ht i. a small air compressor (to inflate tires) j. bag of sand or kitty litter for traction on ice/snow k. extra gloves/socks/rain parka/emergency blanket (silver mylar from sport stores) l. ice scraper m. empty coffee can n. votive candles, to provide emer-gency heat, they last for hours, but remember to open a window peri-odically to allow fresh air in. o. waterproof matches to light the candle.

vices or just chatting on the air. With changes in RACES pro-

cedures surely ARES will need to modify their functionality for as-sisting in emergencies with local, county and state EOC.

Now you will need a bit more than an FCC Amateur Radio Li-cense. There will be easy (not necessarily simple) course/testing needed to qualify emer-gency personnel for activities.

More time needed to volun-teer? Yes, but hopefully better informed, efficient and organized volunteers.

There will always be change - it is needed to grow and improve. CRA must reevaluate its func-tionality. To do this takes people who, when there are enough of them, can perform wonders.

The HAMFEST is crucial to our fiscal health. The mainte-nance of our repeaters and infra-structure effects all radio opera-tors in Hunterdon and surround-ing counties. Cleaning CRA’s ’house’ will help who knows how many should we need to employ for emergency situations.

As a member (present or prior) and as a HAM utilizing the W2CRA repeaters donate your-self, some time to help us these endeavors this coming year.

If you’re reading this, you are likely a member, former member or perhaps just a HAM in the area? Please, make a concerted effort to come to any of our next meetings to learn and assist in furthering Amateur Radio in Hunterdon County and beyond.

(Continued from page 2)

ARES Corner From Dave Kanitra, WB2AZE

ARRL Members Renewing Soon?

If you are a member of the ARRL and pay your dues annually, you can help the club by renewing your ARRL membership through CRA!

For those renewing through the club CRA gets $2 just for processing your renewal. If you haven't yet joined ARRL, but are thinking about joining, please do so through the club. CRA receives $15 for each new subscription we process!

So, you see, you can really benefit the club just by joining or renewing your ARRL membership through The Cherryville Repeater Association. You don't even have to be a CRA member!

Please contact John McCauley, the club treasurer, for the necessary forms for either process. Don't send your check directly to AARRL, see John first!

If you already are a Lifetime Mem-ber of ARRL, of course there is no re-newal, so no benefit for the club. Oh, well...

Advertising Space in Up-LiNK is available. Please contact the

Editors by phone or e-mail (Pg 2) for more information.

Optional Items: • Battery powered strobe light from

radio shack for $20.00. It runs off a C cell. Stick it on the roof, if you are stuck on back roads it will increase your visibility.

• Thermos..... fill with hot beverage or water before leaving work, but re-member what goes in eventually comes out.

• These should allow you to survive if necessary, it won't beat a hotel room, use your best judgment.

• Remember, all it takes is one idiot to do something stupid and block the road for the rest of us.

Editorial


Inspired by Glenn Bukowski’s recent column, I thought I’d give a brief tour of three generations of vintage receivers in my shack.

Hammarlund HQ-180A (produced 1963-1972) Possibly the last HQ-180A sold new, this radio was the showroom demo model at Lafayette Radio Electronics headquarters in Syosset, L.I., and I always went to look at it while I was waiting for my parts order to be filled. Holy cow, Batman! This thing had triple conversion (above 8 MHz) and more knobs than a nuclear reactor. After Hammarlund ended production, the demo went home with me. Operating this radio is like driving an old sports car with a manual choke, clutch and non-synchromesh transmission: Plenty to keep you busy, but fun and second-nature once you get the hang of it. Select the band, turn the calibrator on, zero the bandspread, trim the front-end, zero-beat the main dial, turn the calibrator off, sweep the bandspread, tweak the trim again, adjust the vernier, adjust the slot filter... If you've forgotten what it was like to DX with both hands, this will remind you. Although it’s a general-coverage receiver, the bandspread is only calibrated for the pre-WARC amateur bands, so the rest of the HF spectrum required a pocket calculator as a tuning aid. It still works well, with nice flexi-bility, good S/N, and rich AM-mode reception. By modern standards, the HQ-180A’s selectivity and stability are sub-par. No Collins mechanical filters, alas. But those 17 tubes and glowing dials will keep you warm in the winter.

By Dave Allaway N2XB

Magnavox Fiesta (circa 1965) A classic six-tube circuit, this ‘kitchen counter’ radio takes a few moments to warm up, but it still delivers acceptable performance on the AM broadcast band, where I got my start in DX'ing. In the 1960’s this ra-dio pulled in PJB on 800 kHz like a local, and XERF on 1570. I scored quite a few QSL cards with it. Manufactured in Fort Wayne, Indiana it always fa-vored WOWO on 1190, like it knew where home was. Talk about simplicity, it has just three controls: on/off volume knob, tune knob, and spinning the ra-dio itself (the large built-in ferrite antenna delivers surprisingly deep nulls). Best of all, it has mechanical vernier tuning, via a concentric shaft in the variable-capacitor, which makes band-scanning in 10 kHz in-crements feasible. Figuring out where you were on the dial, however, required a good memory for sta-tions and formats. I can distinctly remember listening in the very late afternoon, probably DX’ing for distant day-timer signoffs, when news of the Apollo I disas-ter hit the airwaves. I just looked it up, and that was January 1967. So, inexplicably, this radio has turned forty even though I haven’t. I must also confess that my original is long gone (except the variable-capacitor), but I now have an identical and working replacement, acquired in a fit of nostalgia. Viva la Fiesta. Continued on Page 6

Hammarlund HQ-180A (produced 1963-1972)


W2CRA has opened its own online shop for clothing as well as other novel items. Check it out at:

http://www.cafepress.com/w2cra The items you buy show your pride in your club and the ama-teur radio hobby (and, inciden-tally, the club gets a buck or two from every item purchased).

The line of W2CRA items includes caps, shirts, clocks, notebooks and even a teddy-bear. Purchases can be made online and shipped directly to your door (or elsewhere if you’re giving it as a gift).

Only W2CRA Stein $14.99

ANTARCTIC CRUISE AND

DX-PEDITION F5PFP is organizing a 4 week

Antarctic cruise and DX-pedition for January 2009 (Summer).

The trip will start in Ushuaia with stops at King George, Nelson, Greenwich, Livingstone, Decep-cion and 1 or 2 more islands de-pending on sailing conditions.

He is currently searching for 5 passengers who are preferably amateur radio operators. If you are interested and for more details, send him an E-mail at:

[email protected] (F5PFP) (submitted by K2BC for W2GD)

JRC NRD-240 (produced 1991-1997) Fast-forward to the age of microcontrollers, phase-locked loops and digital synthesis. This is a radio you’ll rarely see, if ever. JRC (Japan Radio Co.) has been one of the lesser-known suppliers of SWL and ham equipment for the past three decades; but they’re also a major manufacturer of commercial ma-rine electronics and industrial controls. The NRD-240 is a general coverage HF receiver designed for commercial high-seas communications, and is well-suited to MWBC, SWBC and Utility DX and Amateur use. This was JRC’s first radio designed from the ground-up for microprocessor control, and while it has a few quirks, and lacks some features like PBT and AF filtering, it’s still a pleasure to use. Given its size and intended purpose, it’s hard to resist calling it a modern “boat anchor”. To my knowledge, this receiver was never re-viewed in print, although there was a brief preview in the 1991 Passport to World Band Radio. With dead-on accuracy and stability, this radio excels at FSK and SSB reception. A far-cry from my old Fiesta, a full scan of the dial requires up to 150 thousand turns of the main tuning knob. Of the many JRC receivers I’ve used, this one is my favorite. On his website, former JRC sales manager Paul Lannier (WW2PT) mentions the Automatic Scan Start (ASS) button on the NRD-240, and how he convinced the JRC engineers to NOT use the same terminology on their Amateur models!

73, Dave Allaway N2XB

Continued from Page 5

CRA II HAMFEST Contact Info Please note new contact information for this year’s event! Phone: (908) 391-7655 Email: [email protected] Contacts: Bill Loeffler & Walter O’Brien

Please contact any Board member if unable to reach Bill or Walt.


cheap, so anyone who wants to can join in. AND - it’s a part of amateur radio history.

After we congratulated each other on this high concept, we tackled some of the details. Here are our sugges-tions and the challenge to the rest of the club members:

First: We’re building for the 40M band 7.030 and 7.040 MHZ which frequencies are permitted to holders of a Technician license so ANY li-censed member of the club can par-ticipate.

Second: By mid-April: purchase a TTT kit from Maine QRP or collect the necessary components to scratch build (remember Hamfest is coming).

Third: For the May meeting: bring in your TTT for “Show ’n’ Tell”. We’ll test them out, de-bug and trade oper-ating tips. Most important - we’ll work out the details for a W2CRA QRP Net later that month.

If everyone has fun, and likes what happened, We might make the QRP Net a semi-regular event.

So dust off your CW skills and let’s get building. It’s been a while for many of us so 5WPM is perfectly ac-ceptable and take your time with building (do you remember where your put your soldering iron?;-)

We’ll post progress reports and other information in the W2CRA builder’s group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/w2cra.

If you’re not already a member, please, join us.

Since the 1990s, hams have been re-discovering the “Tuna Tin Two” QRP transmitter. The TTT is a two transistor, low-power rig (250mW) developed by Doug Demaw (W1CER) in 1976. When it was published in QST magazine in May of that year, it was an instant hit.

Developed for readily avail-able parts, hundreds were built and put on the air over the next few years. As hams moved on to new challenges, the design was, largely, shelved. When the original TTT was discovered in a flea market in Massachusetts, and put back on the air (thanks to Ed Ware - W1RFI) the revival began.

Today, the TTT is being packaged and sold in kit form by the Maine QRP Club. It is available through their website

The MICRONAUT: Meanwhile, and just to get you

thinking about building, here’s the schematic for the “Micronaut” 100mW transmitter (below). It’s, kind of, a mini-Tuna Tin Transmitter (a TT1?). The circuit was developed by Dave Ingram K4TWJ. Feed it with 2-18 volts DC. The parts values are given for a 40M transmitter. PARTS LIST:

◊ R1 - 10K C1 - 470pFd ◊ L1 - RF choke - 3 or 4 turns of

#32 wire on a ferrite bead ◊ R2 - 4.7K C2 - 470pFd ◊ L2 - 1.280uHy molded choke. ◊ R3 - 330 ohms ◊ C3 - 470pFd ◊ X1 - 7.030 Mhz or 7.040 Mhz

quartz crystal ◊ C4 - 0.01 mf ◊ T1 - 2N2222 In addition to a chassis (a mini-cat

food can would work), you’ll need to find four sockets; one for the power supply, one for the antenna, one for output to the receiver and one for your key. (RCA Phono sockets will work for the first three and a 1/8” earpiece socket will do for the key). You’ll also need a SPDT toggle switch to select Transmit/Receive. It should build well on a perforated board. LINKS:

Primary resource - http://www.imagenisp.ca/jsm/Tuna.html VE7SL Radio Notebook

Maine QRP Club - http://qrpme.com current supplier of TTT kits - check out the manual they put online

American QRP Club - http://www.amqrp.org/kits/tt2/index.html

NJ QRP Club - Info on building the TTT - http://www.njqrp.org/tuna/tuna.html

Doug Hendricks, KI6DS, on the TTT revival - http://www.njqrp.org/tuna/tuna_text.html

Ed Hare, W1RFI, The Tuna Tin 2 Today - http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/0003037.pdf

W2CRA Bu i lder ’s Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/w2cra/

Hopping on the Tuna Tin 2 Revival!!

By Glenn Bukowski, KC2NXZ

for $25 (+$5 shipping) and comes in a 20M, 30M, 40M or 80M version.

Check out the i r URL at : www.QRPme.com and for more ex-perienced or adventuresome builders, links to the TTT schematic and sev-eral URLs are listed at the end of this article.

So, why am I writing this? It all started over conversations in the parking lot after the general member-ship meeting. Bob KA2OEE, his brother-in-law (unlicensed), Marc KC2MTR, and I were talking about construction projects that might be welcomed by the club and speculating on what might be the best one. Bob began to talk about QRP projects and then brought up the Tuna Tin Two.

“A PERFECT club project”, we all said.

You can easily scrounge up parts at the Hamfest, if you want, but it’s available as a complete kit if you want the scrounging done for you. It’s


Calling ALL Members! ● Do you know what the “REFLECTOR”

is?

● As a CRAII member you need to regis-ter for Reflector at:

http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/w2cra

• As a CRAII Member this email alert service will notify you of major Club updates and functions.

• Get updates of local emergency and major events

Communication within the club is critical for its membership and services to be effective for the community-at-large

This page has been extremely useful for me. It has power/location information (including night/day values). You can also do searches on frequency. It's very useful when trying to deduce what sta-tion you're hearing and it fades out just as they come to their identification, only to return 10 seconds later…

http://www.fcc. gov/mb/audio/

amq.html It also has a nice search for finding

the nearby stations. For example, for 100km around Flemington, it finds 183 stations. It's a neat tool for looking for the nearby low power stations which can have large point values. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to hear any of those yet with this year's BCB radio. This year's design seems a little inferior to last year's.

On another note, it seems that the booming Flemington station on 1040 kHz has gone from Christian to ESPN radio. Also interesting is that they annouce "1050 AM", whereas my digital radio confirms it is 1030 on the dial.

by Steven Levine, NK1W

For Those in the W2CRA Crystal

Contest... MARCH EXAMS SCHEDULED WITHIN 50 MILES OF FLEMINGTON, NJ

1-March: HAM RADIO GROUP OF BETHLEHEM: 11:00AM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: SPANISH COUN-CIL 520 E 4TH ST BETHLEHEM, PA SPLITROCK ARA HAMFEST: 8:45 AM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: PAR-SIPPANY PAL BUILDING US ROUTE 46, PARSIPPANY, NJ 4-March: KINGS COUNTY RA: 7:00 PM (No walk-ins) Location: GUILD FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 260 68TH ST., BROOKLYN, NY A GROUP OF VE'S: 7:00 PM (No walk-ins) Location: LANSDALE LI-BRARY COMMUNITY ROOM, LANSDALE, PA 8-March: PHILMONT MOBILE RA-DIO CLUB: 9:00 AM (Walk-ins al-lowed) Location: AMBLER AMBU-LANCE ASSOCIATION, AMBLER, PA

ELECTRONIC TECH SOCIETY OF NJ: 8:00 AM (Walk-ins allowed) Loca-tion: UNION COUNTY COLLEGE, CRANFORD, NJ 10-March: SPLIT ROCK ARA: 7:00 PM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: HO-PATCONG HIGH SCHOOL, HOPAT-CONG, NJ 15-March: DELAWARE VALLEY RA: 12:15PM (Walk-ins allowed) Loca-tion: HOPEWELL BRANCH-MERCER COUNTY LIBRARY, PENNINGTON, NJ 17-March: RF HILL ARC: 6:30 PM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: INDIAN VALLEY LIBRARY, PRE-REGISTRATION URGED, TELFORD, PA 20-March: WEST JERSEY DX GROUP: 6:00 PM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: SOMERSET CTY OEM TRAINING ACADEMY, HILLSBOR-OUGH, NJ JERSEY SHORE AMATEUR RADIO SOC: 7:30 PM. (Walk-ins allowed) Lo-cation: RIVERWOOD RECREATION PARK, TOMS RIVER, NJ 21-March: LEHIGH VALLEY ARC: 7:00 PM (No walk-ins) Location: AMERICAN RED CROSS BUILDING,

BETHLEHEM, PA 22-March: TRI-CTY RA/ROSELLE BOROUGH OEM: 9:00 AM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: RO-SELLE FIRE DEPT, RO-SELLE, NJ 27-March: PHILMONT MOBILE RADIO CLUB: 7:00 PM (Walk-ins al-lowed) Location: AM-BLER AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION, AM-BLER, PA 29-March: RARITAN VALLEY RADIO CLUB: 9:00AM (No walk-ins) Location: SOMERSET COUNTY FIRE ACAD-EMY, HILLSBOR-OUGH, NJ

THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED PHONETIC ALPHABET

A - ALPHA N - NOVEMBER

B – BRAVO O - OSCAR

C – CHARLIE P - PAPA

D – DELTA Q - QUEBEC

E - ECHO R - ROMEO

F - FOXTROT S - SIERRA

G - GOLF T - TANGO

H - HOTEL U - UNIFORM

I - INDIA V - VICTOR

J - JULIET W - WHISKEY

K - KILO X - X-RAY

L - LIMA Y - YANKEE

M - MIKE Z - ZULU


1. A Kenwood TR-9000 2m All Mode transceiver. It works great, but has no DTMF nor CTCSS. It needs a 12V power supply to run. Includes BO-9 base station which keeps the five (yep, count'em, five) memories intact when powered off via 120 VAC. I have the service manual, and I'll throw in a 30W amplifier that I used to have hooked to it. Works great for 2m packet. No reasonable offer refused. Free to any new ham looking to get on 2m (with the understanding it can't key up most repeaters around here).

2. I used to have an 40-10m Hustler vertical (I have forgotten the model

number) with a 80m add-on attach-ment that went on top. It went into storage for several years, and in the interim, the antenna itself disap-peared except for this 80m attach-ment. It's probably of little use unless you have the same Hustler vertical without the attach-ment. Anyone want it for free? I suspect not, but thought I would ask...

If interested in either, give me a call (Steve, NK1W) at 908-788-7024.

www.amlogbook.com/ www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html All of these sites can help you

track down station information for the broadcast band. The FCC site will give you a LOT of info on any given station (after all, they issued the license) in-cluding the latitude and longitude. For S W s t a t i o n s , t r y h t t p : / /s u p p o r t . r a d i o s h a c k . c o m /support_tutorials/communications/swave-6.htm for a start.

To find the distance to a transmit-

ter: www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/

distance.html is my favorite site. You just have to enter the latitude and longitude of your location and that of the station. It will give you the an-swer in Kilometers or miles.

Remember, for this contest, you need the distance in Kilometers!

• Q: I can’t find the latitude and lon-

gitude of a SW station transmitter. Now what?

• A: Do your best. If you can find the city the transmitter is located in, use the city center as the, probable, location. Make a good-faith effort and work the calcula-tions from your best guess. Some-times that’s all you can do. But try entering the station information you have in a web search, you never know what may turn up. Y o u m i g h t f i n d w w w . e a r t h s i g n a l s . c o m /swfreqs.html to be a useful refer-ence site. Remember: do your best and have

FUN with the contest. The prize we’re competing for is bragging rights, a “suitable-for-framing” certificate, AND a Hershey bar.

W2CRA Xtal DX Contest

FAQs

A few questions have come to my email recently. I thought the an-swers might be useful to everyone in the contest so, here’s the FAQ: • Q: My BCB set is also picking up

SW stations. Can I enter it in both categories?

• A: Yes. Just fill out two separate entries - one for BCB, and one for SW.

• Q: In the shortwave bands, I’ve

received the same station on two different frequencies. Can I count that as two stations (for points) in my log?

• A: I would say “Yes”. Many SW stations transmit on different fre-quencies during their broadcast day to keep up with changing propagation patterns. Receiving the same station on two an-nounced frequencies shows that your set has, at least, that range of sensitivity and the game, after all, is to build the most sensitive set with the broadest range of reception.

• Q: Where do I find information on

the stations I’m hearing? • A: For the contest, you need to

know: Station Name, Transmitter power, and distance from your location. To get the station name - you just have to listen. Stations identify themselves on the hour and half-hour. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and the announcer will say the station name in between features but nothing replaces pa-tience and listening at the right time. Transmitter power: for AM broad-

cast stations: www.ac6v.com/clearam.htm

By Glenn Bukowski, KC2NXZ

Cherryville Repeater Association II P.O. Box 308 Quakertown NJ 08868 “Public Service Through Communications”

Swap & Shop— Whatcha’ Got? Please send in your ‘wanna get rid of’ items that may be of interest to another…space is FREE!

Place Stamp Here…

Post Office will not deliver unless bribed

The CRA II Meets 7:30 PM the 2nd Friday of Each Month At the Flemington American Baptist Church at Main & Church Streets

The Board meets 7:30 PM the Wednesday before the General Meeting at the Hunterdon County Library, or as announced

WANTED A FEW GOOD... We Need YOU!

It’s all about volunteerism. I bet you have a free evening or two each month. I know there’s a block of hours for one weekend a month you could take to do something new or ‘different’.

You can rationalize doing some-thing for the community, helping a deserving organization, but we at CRA know the real reason people volunteer - it makes them feel good!

It feels good to do a job well done. It feels good to work with others to accomplish a task or goal. It ‘s a proud moment to help out and suc-cessfully participate in emergency ex-ercises. It’s fulfilling to learn about how things work and contribute to making them work better, whether it’s a radio, a procedure or a special event.

Feel Good! Call or e-mail Barry Campbell, any Club Official or UP-LiNK Editor from Page 2. You deserve it!

Do You Want to Know When UPUP--LiNKLiNK©© is is Available OnAvailable On--Line?Line?

Well, we’ll be glad to send Well, we’ll be glad to send you an eyou an e--mail when we’ve mail when we’ve

posted it online at:posted it online at:

http://www.qsl.net/w2cra/http://www.qsl.net/w2cra/

Just go to theJust go to the The UpLink Newsletter

link on the left to view the link on the left to view the latest and back issues of latest and back issues of

UPUP--LiNKLiNK©© Psst...check out our scrapbook Psst...check out our scrapbook and other features of CRAIIand other features of CRAII

DID YOU KNOW... ⇒ If you're not already a subscriber to the club's reflector service,

please, sign up now at: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/w2cra

We use the reflector to send time-critical announcements to all members and to send the newsletter before it's posted to our website.

⇒ We've started a club "Builder" group at yahoo. Check it out at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/w2cra/ It has information to get you started on your crystal set for the January/February "Crystal DX Contest" and will have more general construction tips and schematics as we get it up to speed.

⇒ Also, visit our online shop at: www.cafepress.com/W2CRA for club shirts, sweatshirts, clocks and more.

This is YOUR club. The more active you are, the more fun for everyone!

CRA UP-LiNK VolII No.13a - qsl.net · documents.) Once accredited, you will receive in the mail a laminated VE Badge and badge clip to wear at test sessions and a wall certificate

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