The Carrier - MDARC Newsletter

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The Carrier - Official Newsletter of the Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club

Selected Articles from the Carrier

President's QRM
Jason Legate., W6SN

I wish I could say it’s an April Fool’s joke, but sadly, we got notification from Riley Hollingsworth with the FCC: reduce power output on ATV by 64dB. That puts our allowed output power at roughly 20 microwatts. Unfortunately, that means the signal itself is not receivable anywhere off the mountain itself. As of writing this, we haven’t had our tech committee meeting to discuss our options moving forward, but there are some possibilities on the table.
Ok, now that the bad news is out of the way, time for happiness and cheer. We’ve been given permission to run Field Day this year from Heather Farm Park, in the beautiful city of Walnut Creek. Due to the high profile location, we will need as many operators and helpers as we can muster. If you are interested in helping out, there is a mailing list you can join. There is a link to the list on the main MDARC website. We currently are looking for just general volunteers who can help with setup, teardown, manning the information station, helping with crowd control, etc. Let us know how you can help!
In addition, we have the auction coming up this month. Dust off your checkbook, bring in your old g... wait. Scratch that—reverse it! Just do both! Plenty to be had by all, and you can also use it as a way to get rid of some of your older (but still viable) gear. Reminder: No Boatanchors!
Also coming up this year is the summer season, when public service events begin to go full swing. I haven’t spoken to Pete about it recently, but I know he is always on the lookout for more volunteers for the events. I personally help out with two of the Alcatraz swims, and love almost every minute of it (sometimes the huge swells makes for a bumpy ride!).

Till then,
73 de W6SN

Profile of a Ham
By Jeremiah Blasi, K6BQ

In 1997, I was a teenager living in Macon, Georgia. I had a friend named Ian, who always carried a radio on his belt. I had always had an interest in radio communication, so one day I asked him about it. He told me about his interest in electronics and his hobby as an amateur radio operator with the callsign KF4AON.He explained how he always monitored the local repeater, and thereby kept contact with his dad and other friends. He also told me about autopatch capabilities, worldwide HF communications, and other fascinating aspects of the hobby. In the early days of cell phones, it was fascinating to hear about these capabilities—without paying for airtime!

I was enthralled with the idea of being an amateur radio operator, and began studying Gordon West’s guide for the Technician license. In September, I went to the local club meeting and took the test. After watching the mail daily, I finally received my license as KF4UAR.Shortly after I received my callsign, another ham friend loaned me a 2 meter mobile transceiver. I picked up a 5/8 wavelength mag-mount mobile antenna, and was in business. I enjoyed checking into nets and making new friends. After saving money for several months, I was able to purchase a Kenwood TH-G71 handheld. I joined ARES, where I was introduced to the world of public service under the direction of George, KD4QMY.I was able to help in my first real emergency after I moved to Tennessee.

A friend and I were driving through an intersection in Knoxville, when two other vehicles collided, almost head-on at about 40 mph. We were the only witnesses to the accident, and so we quickly assessed the damage. In one of the vehicles was a lady with three young children. Although the vehicle was totaled, and they were very shaken up, there were no serious injuries. I used the repeater to contact a local ham who was able to make a 911 call. Then I used the autopatch so the lady could call her husband to inform him of the accident. Although the accident was tragic, no one was seriously injured, and I was excited to see the reliability of radio communication during a time of need.

For several years, due to the activity of college life, getting married and having our first child, and working a fulltime+ job, I did not do much with the radio beyond occasionally chatting with a friend on the repeater.

After moving to California, I wanted to become more active. In the Bay area there are a number of repeaters with consistent activity, which were a great help, but I wanted more—it was time to upgrade! I studied the code, passed the necessary exams, and upgraded to General. The HF bug had bitten. My first HF contact was to VY1YT, Martin, in Yukon Territory, Canada while mobile. There is a certain magic involved in radio propagation that I haven’t gotten over. I enjoyed working stations in Asia, Europe, and South America.

One fateful night, I was tuning through 40 meters, listening for a CQ to answer. But there was no activity in the General portion of the band. As I tuned down below 7225 kHz, the band was hopping with QSOs. That did it; I wasn’t content with the bandwidth I had—I wanted to be able to transmit everywhere on the hambands. The only solution was to pick up a copy of Gordon West’s Extra class study guide. Two weeks later, I passed the Extra exam, and upgraded to my current callsign,K6BQ.
Since then, I have been actively pursuing mobile HF QSOs. I have fun with contests, but I really enjoy a good ragchew session with an operator on the other side of the world. I also regularly use the local repeaters (primarily 147.060,W6CX, and 147.045, AD6KV) to chat with friends during the commute.

In the car, I am using a Yaesu FT8900 quad band mobile with a quad-band antenna, and an FT-857 all-band mobile with 100 watts through Hustler resonators on 17, 20, and 40 meters. I also have a Tarheel screwdriver antenna, which I hope to install soon (if you’ve done this before, I could sure use your help!), allowing me the use of all HF bands while mobile without changing resonators!

My current home station is a Kenwood TS-530 running 100 watts through an MFJ tuner to a bent dipole in theattic. Although I have SSB capabilities, I operate almost
exclusively CW from home, with an old J-37 straight key. Currently my speed is only about 10 wpm, but with practice I hope to bump that up.

I also enjoy building kits, and have completed several, my first being a Rockmite QRP CW transceiver for 7040 kHz that works very well! Currently, I am working hard to finish my Elecraft KX1 for portable QRP operations.

I have much to learn about electronics and radio theory, but am enjoying the opportunities to communicate with what I already know. Amateur radio is a great hobby providing many hours of relaxation and opportunities to meet interesting people. Catch you on the air!

73 de K6BQ