Moncton Area Amateur Radio Club Inc.

January Edition January 10, 2012

Moncton Area Amateur Radio Club, Inc.

Serving the Community through Amateur Radio

Since 1936

MAARC Website: http://www.maarc.ca

Welcome to QTC Newsletter, official publication of the

Moncton Area Amateur Radio Club, Inc.

QTC Newsletter appears monthly on the MAARC, Inc.

Website with all members immediately advised of its posting.

We encourage and welcome your comments and input.

Next MAARC, Inc. Meeting

January 16/2012 1900 hrs L (7pm AST)
Guest Speaker: Brooke from “Unplugged Power Systems”
"Alternative Poweer for Your Ham Shack" Solar & Wind
Scheduled for 7:30pm

The Prez Sez . . .

Nothing submitted this month.

February 25, 2012 - New amateur radio training course begins.

Basic Course to begin on February 25. Sessions will be held each Saturday at Club Rooms until completed. If you can serve as an Instructor please contact Charles Levasseur, VE9CEL at 381-9997 or by e-mail, ve9cel@rogers.com

Did You Know . . . . . . . . ?

The life of the man who invented some of the most significant and innovative advances in the early years of radio ended tragically less than six decades ago. His name was Edwin Howard Armstrong.

He was born on December 17, 1890 in New York City. His mother was a school teacher and his father was Vice President of the Oxford University Press. Shortly after Armstrong's birth, the family moved to Yonkers where their new home sat on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. In his early teens, Edwin Armstrong's fascination with radio became an obsession to the exclusion of interests normally pursued by young men of his age group. The intensity of his preoccupation was reflected in the homemade wireless equipment that filled his room and the 125 ft. antenna mast on the lawn of his parent's home.

When he was 22 years old, Armstrong began experimenting with Lee de Forest's vacuum tube. He developed a method of feeding the signal back through the tube and found that in doing so, the amplification factor of the circuit increased manifold. He termed this development "regeneration." He also found that if the feedback was increased beyond a certain point, the circuit went into oscillation and generated its own signal. Armstrong's experiments and discoveries clearly demonstrated that the "regenerative" circuit he had devised could be used as a sensitive receiver or an efficient transmitter. Although the receiving application was a significant improvement, the ability to generate signals in this manner was an even greater advancement because it eliminated the need for heavy and bulky alternators then commonly used as radio transmitters. Armstrong patented his discovery in 1913 and licensed it to the Marconi Company.

He next joined the American Expeditionary Force as a Captain and went off to France to fight in WW1. He found, to his dismay, that AEF had little or nothing in the way of radio communication and set about equipping ground units and aircraft with two-way radios. While stationed overseas, he invented a superior receiver called the "superheterodyne" which he sold to Westinghouse in 1920. On November 2, 1920 Westinghouse launched the first broadcast station in the USA, licensed as KDKA, in Pittsburgh, PA. Its first major broadcast was the 1920 Presidential election returns between Harding and Cox and marked the start of the radio broadcast industry. The American holdings of Marconi were incorporated under the Radio Corporation of America. RCA immediately acquired the radio patents of Westinghouse, AT&T and those held by other interests.

At that point, Lee de Forest declared that he was the inventor of "regeneration" and began a legal action in support of his claim. It should have been an 'open and shut' case, but unfortunately, a Supreme Court Judge misunderstood the science and technicalities involved and mistakenly ruled in favour of Lee de Forest.

Armstrong with no legal avenue of appeal then went on with an endeavor that took many years to become an accepted mode in the broadcast industry. Known as frequency modulation or FM, it offered noise free high fidelity reception far superior to AM. To protect their major investment in AM, RCA head, David Sarnoff, led a determined opposition to FM. He resorted to spreading false information and staging bogus demonstrations in a concerted effort to belittle and diminish not only the advantages of FM but, Armstrong himself.

Costly litigation consumed the balance of Armstrong's remaining years. It lead to the break up of his marriage. In January 1954, after writing a final note to his wife, he stepped from a window ledge of his 13th floor apartment. In a statement that was more telling than he undoubtedly intended, David Sarnoff told reporters, "I did not kill Armstrong."

It was a tragic ending to the life of one of the most brilliant electronic inventors of the 20th century. Despite the long years of adversity, the work of Edwin Howard Armstrong secured for himself a well deserved recognition for conceiving several major advances in the development of radio. -VE1WG

Upgrades to Club Station

MAARC Director Charles Levasseur, VE9CEL, reports on two Club Station upgrade projects that are planned for completion this month.

He is currently in the process of resetting the MAARC Packet Station. The associated computer is ready but the radio has to be changed to one that operates on the new Packet frequency. One item required is change of interface cable. The plan is to provide a method for members who currently do not have a Packet Station at home to connect using a browser version of VNC enabling use of the Packet Station. So far, at least five members have indicated interest in this project.

We also have another computer, radio and TNC to set up a new I-Gate. These items have been provided by Marcel, VE9ML and he will host the server at his QTH. Stephen and Charles will be able to VNC into it to support the I-Gate and ensure that it is correctly connected. Required for this project is an interface cable between the radio and TNC. Radio is an ICOM IC-22 that will require re-programming to the correct frequency. By next week we will know the type of TNC required.

Please contact Charles if you can be of any assistance on these projects.

New Edition of ARRL Antenna Book

The ARRL Antenna Book was first published in 1939 and a new edition is made available about every five years. The 22nd Edition is now available with a special offering, while quantities last, of the hard cover edition at the same price as the soft cover version. There are several new chapters on various antenna subjects. The Antenna Book includes a CD-ROM augmenting the book's printed material. There is also a Website: www.arrl.org/antenna-book which augments and constantly updates the Antenna Book. Other software support is also included with this latest edition.

Lead Editor on this edition is Ward Silver, N0AX. He can be reached at: n0ax@arrl.org The Club should give consideration to acquiring a copy of this latest comprehensive Antenna Book which members would find to be a valuable reference.

Milestones in Radio

April 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic and transmittal of the most famous distress signal in the history of radio. One immediate aftermath was a tightening of multi-lateral regulations to ensure the reliability of maritime wireless distress communication.

"World Amateur Radio Day" on April 18, 2012 will celebrate the theme of 50 years of Amateur Radio in space. It began with launch of the first OSCAR satellite in 1961, progressed through Amateur Radio contact with astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL as he orbited the earth on STS-91 and has continued with many contacts with astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

The April issue of QTC Newsletter will feature fuller coverage of these historic events. Meanwhile, Club members are urged to become proficient in the operation of MAARC's Space Station, VE9MSC.

You just might be lucky and make contact with an astronaut aboard the ISS.

Upgrade of MAARC, Inc. Club Antenna System (Click HERE to see!)

Recently, some of MAARC's hardier members volunteered to upgrade the Club's antenna system. A photographic record of their efforts was made and it illustrates that this was no easy task. Taking part in this worthy endeavor were: Bob Cameron, VE9WT; Marcel LeBlanc, VE9ML; Warren MacKnight, VE9MA; Richard Steeves, VE1XL and Mathieu Dugas, VE9MDB.

Club members will want to express their appreciation to the volunteers for ensuring that the Club has a well installed and efficient antenna system. We cannot help but note, that even though Marcel, VE9ML, performed the high altitude tower work, one photo indicates that he needed a little encouragement from Richard, VE1XL.

Congratulations and special appreciation to the volunteer crew for a job well done !!

The Role of Amateur Radio Clubs

The November 2011 QST includes an article by Harold Kramer, WJ1B, Chief Operating Officer of ARRL on the well researched role and activities of local Radio Clubs. Close to 1000 USA Clubs were surveyed, including input from Club Presidents, Club contacts and Club Newsletter Editors. A study of the over 900 responses received is currently underway and from it, ARRL expects to shortly publish a series of recommendations that Clubs will, no doubt, find useful.

Several interesting statistics and areas of particular interest were tallied. The article expresses appreciation to the thousands of Radio Amateurs who support their local Clubs by giving exams, teaching classes, sponsoring Hamfests, participating in DXpeditions and contests, mentoring new Radio Amateurs and performing community service.

Kramer concludes his article by stating that the future of Amateur Radio depends on the success of local Clubs. There is certainly a lesson here for all Clubs. The plans that our President has outlined for MAARC, Inc. will certainly make it successful but, will require the volunteer support of all Club members to achieve any real measure of success.

A follow-up QST article on Clubs will appear in the February issue of QTC Newsletter. Both will be well worth reading in their entirety. -VE1WG

ARRL Diamond DXCC Challenge

2012 is the 75th Anniversary of the ARRL DXCC Award. The world 's preeminent DXing Award continues to be DXCC, so reaching the "Diamond Milestone" is an event that we all want to celebrate. The Diamond DXCC List represents 227 of the 231, 1937 countries. This list is fascinating and leads us to learn more about world history and how geopolitics has changed leading up to today. The Diamond DXCC Challenge is an "Honor Award" and will not require acquisition or inspection of QSLs or proof of confirmation although it still will be fun and useful to seek out cards or LoTW confirmations. We will provide forms on line to use at your operating position to track what you have worked and forms for applying for awards and endorsements. As the year goes on, we will also provide hints and tips about what is happening with the Diamond DXCC Award and for instance who might be on the air from Goa or Gdansk!

The Diamond DXCC Certificate will be available for working 100 of 226 entities, and will be endorseable at 5 levels: 125, 150, 175, 200 and 225. If anyone works all 225, there will be a special award for that remarkable achievement! We hope to publish award recipients' callsigns on line during the year and identify high numbers.

There will be a Diamond DXCC Challenge Honor Roll. The Honor Roll level will be determined by the leader in worked entities submitted to HQ and the bottom of the Honor Roll will be 9 entities less than that of the leader. For complete details on the ARRL 75th Anniveersary DXCC Award see ARRL link on MAARC, Inc. web site.

How Do You Like My Latest Fashion in a Cloth Antenna?

It's an antenna fashioned out of cloth and it works ! Actually it is intended to work at about 400 MHz. The elements are metal fibers imbedded in a flexible lightweight cloth material. It's waterproof and highly resistant to wear and tear.
It's imbedded in a life vest to work in conjunction with Cospas-Sarsat search and rescue beacon transmitter and a Cospas-Sarsat satellite. It immediately and precisely locates the life jacket. Recent field trials have demonstrated that location of someone lost at sea could be pinpointed within minutes. The life vests are designed and sold by Viking-Life Saving Equipment, based in Denmark.

That's QTC Newsletter for January 2012 . . .

We welcome your comments and suggestions. Input from MAARC, Inc. members will make QTC Newsletter a better reflection of member interest and particular pursuits.

Whether you are a new or long time member, a rough draft on any subject you wish to submit for publication is very welcome. Such topics as your on-air experiences with particular modes, DX and contest achievements, unusual items you've found at flea markets, unique on-air experiences, etc., are all of interest to your fellow Amateurs.

To keep members informed on Club administrative matters and future planning, the Executive is encouraged to update members with briefings for publication in QTC Newsletter.

QTC Newsletter will now be distributed by posting to the MAARC Website a few days before the monthly Club meeting with direct notification to each Club member.

Bill, VE1WG,
Website & QTC Newsletter Editor

Larry, VE9ASB,
Webmaster

Moncton Area Amateur Radio Club, Inc.

Serving the Community through Amateur Radio

Since 1936

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