Thomasville Amateur Radio Club

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1 Thomas Thomasville Amateur Radio Club January 2015

Upcoming Events Local Nets Special Extras Officers 2015 Gary Alberstadt KA3FO President Jimmy Jones

2 Tune in this month. Page 2-4 Pages 5-12 Page 13 Page 14 Page Page Messages December Minutes Special Occasions Upcoming Events Local Nets Special Extras Officers 2015 Gary Alberstadt KA3FO President Jimmy Jones KK4ZYC/Wally Gunn KJ4KUK Vice Presidents Eleanor Doering AK4QW Secretary Bobby Cooper W4MWW Treasurer Bill Kitchens KW4EF VP Special Events Lowell Rieger NY4D Webmaster William Kornegay WK4WK Newsletter Editor

3 Well here we are at the end of another year to remember. Together, we saw the passing of several close friends, Mike Brown, Walter Childs, and Steve Williams as well as several non-ham members from our Thomasville Family. With the New Year approaching, I am eager to begin my position as President of the Thomasville Amateur Radio Club. I hope to be able to lead the club into a period of growth and advancement in Hope to see you all January 10 th at the monthly meeting that will be held at the Hibachi Super Buffet and Grille in Thomasville, 6 PM. We will meet in Room F (far right in the rear next to the restrooms). The Hibachi is new for our monthly meeting venue. The Buffet, Grille is an all you can eat dinner with a cost is $10.99 plus your drink. When you pay your bill please include a gratuity of 15 20% to help cover the use of the facility. We will not have to worry about slow waitresses or poor service because we serve ourselves. Most of us eat there regularly and have never had a bad experience. We also get a 10% discount for being part of our club activity. You may be asked for a membership card. Items on agenda: Farewell to outgoing officers, meet your new 2015 officers & enjoy fellowship Presentation of 2014 Ham of the Year Award & other Special Awards Upcoming 2015 events 2015 Dues & New Membership cards Message from the President Thank you for all your support and good luck to outgoing president John Swicord, KE4RWR. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our QTH to yours!!! Gary Alberstadt, KA3FZ 2

4 Message from the Vice President I would just like to take a few words to wish all of our club members and your families a very Merry Christmas. Please make some time to relax and enjoy the holiday season. Also, make sure you leave a place for Christ in your holiday. This year was one of enormous change for the club. Three of your dear friends went silent and although I was not fortunate enough to know them, I know that they will be greatly missed. Their absence leaves a tremendous void and shoes that can not be filled. Unfortunately this creates change. No one hates it more than me. Sometimes it is thrust upon us and we just have to deal with the situations as they occur. As we deal with these situations, I will try my best to meet the standards of those that have gone before. I would like to express again my thanks to you all for taking me in and making me feel welcome and a part of the group. As for me I know that the next year holds many challenges and opportunities and I intend to embrace them all with excitement and confidence as we move forward. I ask that you all do the same. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Jimmy Jones KK4ZYC 3

5 Message from Upcoming Secretary Let me introduce myself to all TARC members as the newly elected secretary, Eleanor Doering AK4QW. As you all know, I have been a member for several years when my son Brian married Nell brown s niece Leann Murphy-Doering. I will be using a tape recorder to take all the minutes at the meetings, type them and send them through . This club is so important to me and I am hoping to see everyone at our first meeting of the year at Hibachi Grill on Saturday January 10 th 2015! In the meantime, I want to wish all our Ham s and their families a Very Merry Christmas and the happiest New Year! 73, AK4QW Eleanor 4

6 December Meeting Minutes The December meeting was held on December 6 th at the Swicord Lodge in Attapulgus Georgia. This was the annual Christmas party for the club and as such no official club business was conducted. The party was hosted by John and Dana Swicord and provided the setting. The Club provided the hams and turkeys for John to smoke as well as William Kornegays deep fried a turkey for the occasion. The club also provided beverages as guests were asked to bring side dishes and desserts. A pleasant evening was experienced by all in attendance. The club would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to John and Dana for providing the venue and for preparing everything for the club. de Jimmy, KK4ZYC Secretary 5

7 Christmas at the Farm December

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13 The Magic of the Holidays never ends and its greatest of gifts are family and friends. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! 12

14 John Terry Paul Wittenborn Brandon Swicord Barbara Moody Phil Neidlinger January 8th January 14 th January 18 th January 23 rd January 29 th 13

Jan. 10th January Meeting @ Hibachi Super Buffet 6 PM Jan. 17th Midmonth Breakfast Jan.

15 Jan. 10th January Hibachi Super Buffet 6 PM Jan. 17th Midmonth Breakfast Jan. 17th Test Session 10am TCEOC Jan. 24th GAARES Annual Meeting Forsyth GPSTC (Tentative) 14

16 Local Nets Please monitor and s for any updates and changes to the nets until the issues with the repeaters are resolved. Thursday Night Youth 7:30 PM PL tone Hz Thursday Night 8:00 PM PL tone Hz Southwest District AREs 9:00 PM PL tone Hz 15

Good afternoon, everyone! First, let me say that we appreciate those who are checking in on the Thursday Night ARES net, and wish to encourage anyone who might be interested to join us.

17 Good afternoon, everyone! First, let me say that we appreciate those who are checking in on the Thursday Night ARES net, and wish to encourage anyone who might be interested to join us. With that said, we will not be holding the ARES Nets for the next two Thursdays; the first is Christmas Day and the second is New Year's Day. We hope that each of you has a wonderful day with family and friends. As always, should there be an incident where ARES is needed, we will establish a net to serve the public. Regularly scheduled ARES nets will begin again on January 8th; as is usual, Gary will send out an before the nets and provide repeater information. In other news, the Grady County Emergency Operations Manual is available on our website, at This is a simple text version. If you would like a copy of the manual ed to you, please reply to this and specify if you would like a.pdf,.doc, or.docx. If you would like to look it over and use any parts, or all, of it, simply request the document format that you can edit. The docx is the richest text, but will only work with the latest versions of MS Office or Open Office, the doc format works with older versions of MS Word and Open Office, and the pdf is for viewing and printing only. The manual is the same as previous years, with only changes to personnel and other data. I did not add anything new to it, nor take out anything other than the forms, which are located on our website. Additionally I removed the maps, and added text on gas stations that have emergency power. We also hope next year to begin to rotate the nets to different repeaters, and maybe include a simplex net, so that we can all be better prepared for any type of communication that might be needed. Grady County, GA ARES now has the complete website at: We also have an address at: gradycountyars@gmail.com We wish everyone the best this season, and look forward to hearing you on the nets next year! 73 KJ4ZNK Virgil 16

Dawn Kitchens KJ4KUJ was selected as one of 8 to be awarded the Vigil Honor in 2014. The Vigil Honor is the highest award that a lodge may bestow on an individual arrowman.

Dawn along with 6 others were placed on their trail Friday night December 5th and told to maintain their vigil until morning.

18 Dawn Kitchens KJ4KUJ was selected as one of 8 to be awarded the Vigil Honor in The Vigil Honor is the highest award that a lodge may bestow on an individual arrowman. Only the youth of the lodge on that committee can vote for the candidates. It is truly an honor to be recognized. Dawn along with 6 others were placed on their trail Friday night December 5th and told to maintain their vigil until morning. They were then taken to the place of honor and given their Indian names and English names. Dawn Indian name is Petapan - English translation meaning the coming of day or the Dawn. One other youth is away at college and will take his vigil later this year. All will be presented their certificate at the Lodge meeting in Tifton, GA on January 15th. Dawn recently received her 30 year pin in the Boy Scouts. During that time she has gone from den leader / trainer/ Boy scout district committee, Venturing / Sea Scouting, Wood Badge and Staff, Sea Badge and Staff 16 years on the Area Camping Committee visiting camps in the State of Georgia and Florida. Together Both Bill and Dawn have been to all the scout camps in the state of Florida. In 2008 Dawn had the thrill of a lifetime to work at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM. She worked from May to August in the Seton Musuem and lived in a tent. Dawn holds the following scouting awards: Silver Beaver, District Award of Merit, Commissioner / District Committee Keys, Den Leader, Tiger Cub Leader, Cub Scouter, Sea Explorer Leader Training / Venturing Leader Training Award, Sea Badge, Wood Badge, Wood Badge Staff, Venturing Leadership Award, God and Country Award - Adult - Cross and Flame Award UMC, and Philmont Staff. Congratulations Dawn 17

19 Reminder Yearly dues are due! New members $20.00 a year for single membership and $25.00 for a family membership! Dues can be paid at the January meeting or by mail: My address is: Bobby Cooper...W4MWW 519 Libby Lane Thomasville, Ga TARC address is: Thomasville Amateur Radio Club P.O. Box 6776 Thomasville, Ga 's de Bobby Cooper...W4MWW 18

20 Hello everybody, this is NX4AC Andy Clark, back in the Pineboro Shack. The old freight train has come by and that locomotive horn sure sounds lonesome in the cold and clear air, as it completes the crossing on Highway 37. I m reminded of all the country music songs about trains I heard when I was growing up. I listened to a little transistor radio when I should have been asleep and that was one of the not so secret secrets between my parents and me. Those childhood experiences made me long to be someplace else or at least on my way to someplace mysterious. The best songs could always transport me to faraway locations and tease me so that my imagination would provide the sights and sounds of places I believed I wanted to visit. Then as now, my trusty radio allows me to pay a visit to the exotic and mysterious locations. Which way to go? I acquired a new 2-meter antenna, it s a five element Yagi from one of the known manufacturers. Usually this is a good thing but it has proved a problem. I m too lazy to constantly swap coax connections for different antennas. Who wants to climb over the desk and reach behind the radio for different cables all the time? I could add a manual switch and another cable into the existing coax transmission lines or I can attempt something a little more, shall we say, exotic. The idea has been bouncing around in my periphery for quite a while, so I decided to forge ahead and build a remote coax switch for my two meter rig. I plan on using a 12 volt direct current relay and a simple wall wart to toggle and trigger the relay. I have most of the parts on hand so I ll get started. The first hurdle was choosing the right relay, most are notorious for causing signal loss in their contact arrangement. My stash of relays was examined with low transmission loss in mind. I don t seem to have any RF relays in my junk box so I settled on the BOSCH style of automotive relays. My examinations show that this relay can handle 30 Amps easily and has a high duty cycle. Therefore, these should handle the currents produced in the transmission line and help protect against any unexpected signal loss. The proof maybe in the pudding but I d rather have the extra capacity to protect my equipment. That must be some of that engineering I was exposed to in school. You know, whatever is good, you double it then, double it again. Safe counts, sorry hurts. 19

21 Toggled ON The relay needs to be a single pole double throw to facilitate the routing of the signal to the correct coax connector. Check out the schematic which shows the signal path through the relay when it s energized (on) and when it s deenergized (off). (Figure 1) The relay has two parts to its composition, first there is a spring loaded common contactor which moves between two other contactors and second is a coil. The coil becomes a dc magnet when voltage is applied across it and this causes the magnetic lines of flux to pull a ferrous metal piece towards it and when de-energized, the spring pulls the metal piece back away from the coil. This magnetically controlled movement of the metal piece is really the actuator for the toggle action of the contacts. Apply power to the coil and the common contactor moves to contact the normally open side of the relay contact, take the power away and the common contactor is pulled back to the normally closed side of the relay contact. Normally Open and Normally Closed means just that, the relay is in a normal state when the electricity is NOT applied. Laying in the box or on the workbench is normal. I have always thought that we said it wrong and should try another way to explain contactor condition. I m at a loss though to simplify the explanation, so, maybe you can tell me. I ll continue to view a relay as a basic electric powered toggle switch OFF ON. 20

22 Assembly Phase Once I got all the parts gathered, I began construction of the switch itself. Look over the materials I collected for the switch. (Figure 2) I laid out the locations of the So-239 connectors so expansion of the switching action could be added in the future. It s not too hard to imagine adding additional antenna ports to the switch. The plastic box is very easy to machine and the holes for the SO-239 connectors were easily cut with a spade bit made for drilling holes into wood. I used a 9/16 size bit to clear the connectors. I still had to file the holes a little to get the connectors to go into the freshly made holes. The small mounting bolts require a hole also. So a drill bit was eyeballed in size to allow the 4-40 mounting bolts to clear the holes. After all the holes are drilled, I needed to make the RF connections. I chose to use some RG-8X coax for the short runs inside the box, besides that s what I have on hand. I stripped the jacket down about two inches and then separated the center conductor and dielectric insulation from the braid. This provided enough room for the center conductor to relay connections and also keep the braid from touching in the wrong places. I stripped around 3/8ths of an inch of the dielectric material from the center conductor and tinned the strands to help make the solder connection to the center cups on the S0-239s easier. The big 150 watt gun helps make these connections fast, you just have to be careful and not burn the center insulator material, yes it can be done and I have the melted SO-239 to back up the claim. After the coax is soldered to the connectors, I crimped and soldered on some F connectors to mate with the relay connections. I know this is not recommended but I plan on soldering the joints once I move out of the prototyping stage. I also crimped and soldered on some ring connectors for the braid to S0-239 connections. Later a dab of solder probably will make these better connections also. 21

Still, something is missing Oh yes, RF shielding. (Figure 3) I need to shield from stray RF and help decouple currents from my coax. I used the number one RF helper on the planet, aluminum tape.

23 Still, something is missing Oh yes, RF shielding. (Figure 3) I need to shield from stray RF and help decouple currents from my coax. I used the number one RF helper on the planet, aluminum tape. This stuff is like gold, but its aluminum. Actually it s like aluminum foil with adhesive on one side of it. Very sticky and easily molded to surfaces. Its real purpose is to seal metal heating and air conditioning duct joints so conditioned air will reach the intended area and not leak out. The inside of the small plastic box was lined with the duct tape so that the box is sealed against RF leakage. All the previous drilled holes are cleared of tape so the RF connectors can be installed. The relay control lines are connected to a set of Anderson power poles. I originally wanted to use Molex connectors I had dug out of my junk box but the connectors could not be secured or locked together. The remote switch is designed to be mounted on the tower and not easily accessible. Therefore, a secure connection is essential to keep from having to climb the tower to reconnect the cable. The power poles have a small dimple in each so that when the plugs are mated they form a hole which allows securing the connection. The three SO-239 RF connectors were installed by bolting them to the box, making I attached the braid s ring connector under the nut and washer of the 4-40 bolt. I glued the relay s control power pole connectors into the hole made for them earlier. Then I connected all F connectors to the relay; the RF feed to the common connector tab, one RF connector to the Normally Open tab and one to the Normally Closed tab. The NC tab becomes the default RF output port while the NO is selected when the relay is activated by the power source. 22

24 Official non-independent test center confirmed results The tests on the switch were successful! (Figure 4) The switch worked beautifully. I was able to switch in the different antennas to my 2 meter rig and make contacts as expected. There was no real observable loss of signal but using the switch with the antenna analyzer showed no change in SWR and only 0.51dB amount of signal loss. Yeah! Now I know the switch is not the best design or the most RF efficient but it is a true homebrew item and that makes me happy. I hope your enthusiasm for this hobby makes you happy too, so go ahead do something new. I ll see ya ll on 2 meters so I can use my new custom made coax switch, doesn t that sound exotic. After reading this piece, Sandy said that the exotic stuff stays in the shack, she don t need any of my junk messing up her clean house. I didn t get a chance to explain that the use of the word exotic was simply a metaphor, she wasn t having any of it; closed the door and turned off the lights!! This NX4AC Andy Clark is out, clear and heading for mysterious locations. Move over puppy dog, I m cold. 23

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