newsletter

Howdy folks and welcome to Spring time in Texas.. Still a bit damp but getting better. So as of right now this weekend after the meeting we will go to the roof and fix the guy lines!! Unless of course the weather guys are wrong..

I have been busy this week working on the new tower site equipment and getting it ready for the day we finally get our antenna at the top. The internet is in now and we have activated the live video feed from a single camera with audio from the 145.25 machine.

More cameras and the addition of a link to 52.525 will be added as time allows. For right now you can watch the video and listen to yourself on live video feed. The first time you log in you will use your call and the word guest as a password. (You can change it after you log in).

If you can not get in I have note added you to the list of calls allowed. Please send me an email and I will add you as quick as I can. When I add the 6 meter link you will be able to test that under utilized 6 meter gear you have. The same antenna used for the repeater will also be the 6 meter antenna. This will be fun to test for range.. I will will chat about this more at the meeting.. See you there if all goes well and I don't get called out to fix a problem one of our research ships is having with the S-Band radar interfering with the satellite link.

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Wanted

Grady KE5GIA is looking for a 2m/70cm omni antenna to replace a J-Pole that “disappeared” from his office tower.

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Treasurer’s Report

The monthly meeting of the Fannin County Amateur Radio Club was called to order with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America led by President Mike Durbin K5MJD. There were three visitors and eighteen members present.

Mike then welcomed our visitors and asked Bill Purcell and Kevin Mayberry to tell a little about themselves. Then the members present introduced themselves with their name and call sign.

The minutes were approved as posted in the newsletter after a motion by David Keene W5DBK and a second by Darrell Brewer KE5JHN.

Treasurer Jody Lindsey KE5GIB gave an oral summary of the treasurer’s report which had been posted in the monthly newsletter also. Jay Sims W5GBL made the motion to approve her report and Danny Loyd KE5WDI seconded. Motion passed.

For those who didn’t know Mike Durbin announce that the newsletter is posted on his website at http://k5mjd.us/ . Mike has expressed his willingness to host the clubs web site under his URL account so plans are to make this happen in the near future.

Darrell Brewer KE5JHN announced the High Arc electrical demonstration by the Texas-New Mexico Power Company Saturday, February 27, at 10:00 AM, at the Armory. He also announced the next Technician Class to begin March 1^st from 7-9 PM in the training room at the Sherriff’s Office for Roger Ashcraft, the instructor.

Pictures were taken before the meeting began and will be printed during the program by Mike Durbin at the end for everyone to take with them. Kathy Brewer KE5SLG said she will also come prepared to take pictures again next month for those not present.

March- Work on the guy wires and coax on the VA tower. Come dressed for work. If weather is bad April and March agenda will switch.

May- Radio Repair Depot- Problem solving or just analyzing how good your radio is working. Bring your radio. Mike will bring his test equipment. This month may be meeting at Mike Durbin’s home so he doesn’t have to move the equipment.

June- Annual Field Day Picnic will include soldering class and more, to be the last Saturday of the month, June 26, all day.

September- Annual Bike Rally- Date not set yet. Plans include Easy Pal, APRS for the sag wagons, and the picture CD in cooperation with the photo club. Mike Durbin said he would like to be adding moving pictures to the CD this year. The “pickup” will be made an official part of the club assignment this year. The sag wagons will not bring in bicycles that cannot be repaired or for those that cannot finish the route. This has been done in the past by Freddie Wright KE5DLW and Victor Wright KE5GIP. They both have agreed to do this again this year.

October- A booth and station is planned for the County Fair with a special event call sign.

A suggestion was made that one of the months not planned might be a good time for a “Fox Hunt”, where a transmitter is hidden and directional antennas are used to locate it.

Danny Loyd KE5WDI brought up the idea of “Radio in The Park” that had been suggested by Steve TenEyck at the November meeting. The proposal was tabled until after the first of the year. Danny said he had been reading more about it and many e-mails have been on Fanninhams yahoo group and he thought it was a good idea. Mike Durbin appointed Danny to chair the group and get his volunteers. Danny explained some of the ideas he had for spreading the word to get kids and parents involved.

Danny also reminded everyone about the Net on Tuesday nights at 9:00PM each week and how this is good practice in case we were to have a real emergency and need to know how to control a Net. Mary Hackney KE5WDJ agreed to be Net-controller for the following week.

Mike Lindsey KD5UNY brought up the question of having a class for those interested in getting their General Class license. Possibilities of having a couple of Saturdays where maybe Mike Durbin and David Keene would have a question and answer type class were discussed. Each person would have to study on their own and Mike and David would answer questions or clarify areas of confusion.

Mike Durbin called for a motion to adjourn. Mike Lindsey made the motion and Jennifer Peaco KE5OPS seconded.

Meeting was adjourned. While the badges were being printed, Mike Durbin shared a power point presentation about his travels and what he does. It was very interesting. Thanks Mike

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Coax Cable

Have you ever wondered “What type of coax cable should I use?” The answer is in the “Coax Cable Attenuation Chart”. The chart shown below is by RFI and is a typical chart. This particular chart does not show the impedance, but for almost all RF work, 50 ohms is the proper coax. To use the chart, you need to know how much attenuation your application can stand. While no application is “normal” 3 db indicates a loss of 50% and 6 db is a loss of 75% and many applications can live with this type of loss. Your goal however, should be to minimize the cable loss.

For example, look at RG174. This is the small, approximtely 1/8 inch cable and while it is very handy for connecting your HT, the loss at 2 meters is 10.8db/100ft. So, while 100 ft. would have an excessive loss, 10 ft. would be only 1.08 db and you could probable live with this.

So, it is OK to use 10 ft. of RG174, what should you use for that 100 ft. run up to your roof top antenna? RG58 is the approximately ¼ inch cable and is easy to use but it has 7.1 db loss for the 100 ft. run. Look next at RG8. This is the approximately ½ inch cable and has about 2.2 db per 100 ft and would work very well for our roof top 2 meter antenna. If we also want to feed a 440 mhz antenna, the loss for this same 100 ft. run is 3.1 db and we can live with this also.

If your goal is to have the lowest loss run available, look at some of the “hard line” Heliax cable. For this same 100 ft. run at 440 mhz, the loss runs from 2.3 db to 0.5db, better yet but also rather expensive and difficult to install.

Other factors such as type and number of connectors and the amount of power you want to run also has a bearing on your application.