Squelch Burst Newsletter
 Stamford Amateur Radio Association
October 2008           http://www.ctsara.org/           Issue Number Ten

Repeaters: W1EE 146.655 Out 146.055 In PL-100Hz. W1EE 447.125 Out 442.125 In PL-114.8Hz.

IN PDF FORMAT

Next Meeting: Thursday October 4 ^TH Time: 8:00 pm

Unless noted, meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month in the Mural room of the Senior Center, at the Stamford Government Center, Tresser & Washington B'lvds., Stamford, CT. Meeting starts at 8:00 P.M.

Program: John W1RT to speak at our next meeting. He will be talking about roving and will bring his rover to show.

SARA SUNDAY NIGHT NET. We encourage all of the SARA members to join in the informal net on the Stamford Repeater every Sunday night at 8 PM. After about a half hour of friendly discussion, we play the “Amateur Radio Newsline” with the latest happenings in amateur radio. Make yourself heard, join the net.

Squelch Burst: “To continue the newsletter we need new articles" This is your newsletter so why not write an article related to Amateur Radio. Try to write an article that you feel other members would be interested in. 

CTSARA Mailing List: Encourage others to join the CTSARA Mailing List.  Once you subscribe your message is sent to others on the list. This list is safe and easy to use. Hosted by Mailmam.Qth.Net. More information at: http://www.ctsara.org/subscribers.htm 

V E SESSION - Saturday, November 22, 2008.At the Government Center, 4th. Floor Cafeteria. Bring a payment ( Check preferred to ARRL-VEC) $14.00 –exact change please! Also your current license and a photocopy thereof. Also personal ID and any previous evidence of exams passed. Registration at 9:30am and tests at 10:00am. VE’s are needed! http://www.ctsara.org/VEtest.htm

Norwalk ARES nets are scheduled on the First Monday of each month at 8:00 PM. All Radio Amateurs are welcome, and encouraged to check in. SARA members are welcome and encouraged to check in each month. http://www.ctsara.org/ctsaraARES.htm

Membership List: Ernest, KA1NGG is updating the Membership List that will be distributed at the  SARA monthly meetings. List will NOT be on the internet! If any portions of the SARA Membership List are incomplete or not accurate please contact Ernest. This will include the correct: name, mailing address, e mail address. Please contact Ernest, KA1NGG to make sure all your information is correct. 348-3993. 

We need your ideas and input. What activities would you like the club to participate in? We also need your help in organizing these activities as well as participating in them. How would you increase club membership? Communicate your ideas and comments to any of the board members or to the editors of the Squelch Burst. Your input is very important to the continuing health of the club.

Stan WA2NRV

I have used a 160 meter Horizontal Full Wave Loop antenna with success. With a good antenna tuner the antenna will work 6 thru 160 meters. These Omni directional antennas offer Horizontal polarization, and about 2.1 db of gain. They are much quieter than a dipole or a vertical, have a broader bandwidth and will usually out perform a dipole antenna.

Feed 1 wavelength of wire with a piece of either 50 or 75 ohm coax. I used 50 ohm because I had it handy.

To determine the approximate length in feet of a Full Wave Loop antenna use the formula 1005/Freq in MHz = length in feet. For 160 meters a full wave loop antenna resonant at 1.9 MHz would be about 529 feet long.

For the 75 meter band a full wave loop antenna resonant at 3.85 would be about 261 feet long. A full wave for 3.9 MHz = 257 Feet 8 inches.

These antennas may require some trimming of the wire to obtain a low VSWR. But if you measure carefully you should get very close.

Do not connect the antenna wire to a tower. This type of antenna doesn't depend on an efficient ground system for efficient performance. The impedance of a Full Wave Loop antenna is theoretically in the vicinity of 100 ohms.

Connect one end of the wire to the coax center and Connect the coax shield to the other end of the wire. Be sure and seal the end of the coax against water. Form the wire in a loop and run it horizontally to trees or whatever supports are handy. Be sure to insulate the wire from the supports.

Extend from the wire with Dacron lines if necessary to reach your supports.

On the higher frequency bands a full wave loop antenna can be oriented as a vertical diamond or vertical cube. Fed at the top or bottom corner of a diamond this antenna has horizontal polarization.

"A vertically oriented horizontally polarized one wavelength loop antenna with the bottom of the loop 1/2 wave length above ground is a good antenna".

Do NOT put the bottom of the vertically oriented loop more than 1/2 wave length above ground.

IMPORTANT

Any shape loop will work - octagon, pentagon, etc. The larger the area or aperture inside the loop the better, A circle has the largest area but is impractical. A circle has 1dbd gain over a square. Most people use a square but if you only have 3 supports you can shape it like a triangle. Triangle loops are called Delta loops. A square loop has 1dbd gain over an equal lateral triangle loop. If you use a triangle shape try to make each leg an equal length as this gives the largest inside aperture or area. 

NOTE #1

Don't use a Balun on this Antenna! On a horizontally oriented loop you can feed a corner, center of a side or anywhere it is unimportant. 

NOTE #2

If you know you will be using a Loop, Dipole, Zepp, etc. on Multiple Bands and you want the most efficient performance of the antenna system you will always get less feedline loss if you use Open wire 450 - 600 Ohm window/ladder line.

This Antenna system can be fed as a Top Loaded Vertical fed against ground for use on a lower frequency band than the loop is resonant on.

SARA ARES^®

^{http://www.ctsara.org/ctsaraARES.htm}

From the SET Committee:
 
Although the actual SET (Simulated Emergency Test) scenario remains a top secret we can disclose that it will be held on the weekend of Saturday, October 4th, 2008 and Sunday, October 5th, 2008.
 
As in previous SET events, emergency power will again be an important element in this year’s SET.
 
You have ten days left to make sure your batteries are charged and in good working condition and that you can operate at least a good part of the time on emergency power.
 
You don't have to be an ARES member to participate - all you have to do is be a licensed ham radio operator interested in learning how to operate and provide emergency communications when normal infrastructures are interrupted. Packet and WinLink will also be used so get those TNCs tuned up and operating as well.
 
It promises to be an exciting and busy weekend.
 
We are going to need volunteers so plan ahead.
 
You said you wanted to get involved, well here is your chance to check in and find out what is going on.
 
Remember my saying; there are those of us who have great intentions of getting involved and there are those of us who get involved.
 
On another note, I recently attended the Darien Stamford American Red Cross meeting in Darien. Discussion topic was a debriefing of those volunteers who went down and assisted in the shelters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The folks in the shelter were grateful that the American Red Cross assisted them until all of those Hurricanes passed.

Hurricane Gustav, and Ike grazed by them although they were not directly hit by them. They did sustain damage to their homes and were in the shelters for two weeks. Texas much worse off there are still several hundreds of folks still in shelters two weeks past the hitting of Hurricane Ike.
 
I asked a question to the Red Cross volunteers if they had a chance to use the Amateur Radio Emergency Services down there. They said they were around and assisted however not in the shelters where these particular volunteers were sheltered at. I asked how their communications held up and what type of communications did they utilize. They use satellite cell phones and during the passage of the hurricane they had no communications. They had a generator to recharge their cell phones and used them sparingly.
 
Go to the ARRL.ORG site and read up on how to take radio health and welfare messages, it is a good time to revisit these topics. 
 
Good news and congratulations to Jon Perelstein, KB1QBZ is our newly assigned Assistant Emergency Coordinator. Jon will work with me to get us up and running with all kinds of good energy and ARES.
 
73, Frank Cassella, EC Darien, Stamford & Greenwich

10-11 Oct 2008 x NEAR-Fest IV
New England Amateur Radio Festival
http://www.NEAR-Fest.com
Talk-In: 146.700
Contact: Michael Crestohl, W1RC
Email: info@near-fest.comDeerfield, NH

Deerfield Fairgrounds
Route 43
Div: New England
Sect: New Hampshire

12 Oct 2008 * Connecticut State Convention
Nutmeg Hamfest Alliance, Inc.
http://www.nutmeghamfest.com
Talk-In: 147.36/.96 (no PL)
Contact: John Bee, N1GNV
30 Tremont Street
Meriden, CT 06450
Phone: 203-440-4468
Email: info@nutmeghamfest.com

Wallingford, CT
MountainRidge Resort
300 High Hill Road
Div: New England
Sect: Connecticut

19 Oct 2008 x Flea at MIT
MIT Radio Society, Harvard Wireless Club, MIT Electronics Research Society, & MIT UHF Repeater Association
http://www.swapfest.us
Talk-In: 146.52
Contact: Steve Finberg, W1GSL
PO Box 397082
MIT Branch
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617-253-3776 (Nick Altenbernd, KA1MQX; 9AM-5PM)
Email: w1gsl@mit.edu

Cambridge, MA
MIT Campus
Albany and Main Streets
Div: New England
Sect: Eastern Massachusetts

     http://www.ctsara.org/PublicService.htm

     J/S WB1GRB   Tuesday, September 30, 2008