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Quarterly newsletter of the

Manly-Warringah Radio Society, VK2MB.
Editor Bob Hawksley VK2GRY

PO Box 186, Brookvale NSW 2100

Tel: 61 2 9450 1746

Meetings every Wednesday from 7.30 p.m. at the Manly-Warringah Volunteer Services Centre, Thompson Drive off Kamber Road, Terrey Hills, NSW 20 84

VK2RMB (Repeaters):
6m: 53.675/52.675, 2 m: 146.875/146.275,
70 cm: 438.175/433.175,
Packet: 144.800,
MWRS 80m net: Daily 0630 on 3.5900 MHz

Home page: http://www.mwrs.org.au

In this issue: Dom’s report and hamming in the US. Project 1950 - proposed 1950s ham shack. Warnings of sus software people. Wednesday, 22nd September - Special Event Day - CW ops needed. Cunning G3TPW Cobwebb HF antenna, September lecture (will take some beating...), Dollar Bill and two new members. Thanks to all contributors.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

I THANK YOU once again for the honour of presiding over this society. You make it easy for me by volunteering for jobs and helping out where you can. I find our society is a pleasure to be part of because of many factors, including the lack of `politics' and simply the friendship of the members. Sadly I missed the AGM this year and I put in my request that if re-elected as President, I be passed over for Lecture co-ordinator. I see that this was duly ignored and that Bob and myself need continue to coerce friends and acquaintances to do lectures. We'll do our best!

The 6m transmitter problem is nearing completion. The transmitter has been repaired by Tim VK2ETJ. The new aerial brackets were constructed by Geoff VK2BT (a classy piece of work) and the new mounting pipe was sourced by him as well. Now we need Tim's stay wire and it can be re-installed. We're getting there!

We've had some more great lectures recently including Jo Harris VK2KAA with The Fisk Connection and Yves VK2AUJ with an enthusiastic aerobatics lecture, complete with video and dynamic cockpit display (involving a plunger!). Outstanding.

By all reports the three communications exercises, held in conjunction with horseriding clubs, have run quite smoothly for all concerned. I was only able to get to the last one with Forest Hills Pony Club and with only 3 participants it was quite involved but still quite fulfilling.

A great suggestion by Col VK2NJC at a recent business meeting was for us as a society to have a few more social functions, such as a BBQ. Well, we've taken that on board and kicked off with a plan to have a social dinner every three months. The first was last Wednesday, 25th August, and was a lot of fun. We had a BBQ at the fireplace behind the club rooms (booked through the VSC) and plenty of members and a few XYL's turned up. We decided that we'll attempt a BBQ dinner gathering every three months on the fourth Wednesday (August, November, February, May, August etc) with the exception that November's is the Christmas get-together (currently the last Friday night of November (26th this year). Good one Col.

The society's Terlin antenna is getting a great workout as members borrow it for testing' purposes. Make sure you feel free to make use of this and other resources as that's part of what we're all about. The club station has been making some late night DX with Roger VK2GHB and the rest of the late night gang (myself VK2JNA, Ted VK2FLB, Geoff VK2BT and Russell VK2BYN) sending it `up the stick'! We are waiting with baited breath for the donation of a multi-band single-trap dipole from James VK2JN when his G5RV is ready to replace it at home. This will certainly enhance our 80/40/20m performance, thanks James.

All in all, another busy three months. 73 DOM BRAGGE VK2JNA

PROJECT 1950

PROJECT 1950 is a proposal to establish a fully operational 1950’s ham shack. At this month’s meeting, Wednesday, 8th September, this idea is to be discussed and we’ll see if we can do it. Once put together a 1950’s shack would be used in the normal way in CW or AM mode (other modes not being available to amateurs at that time!) and hopefully this shack could be a permanent MWRS exhibition, accommodated in a corner of the existing operations room and used and maintained for educational and publicity purposes.

To get it started the station would need only be extremely modest in equipment as indeed were many shacks of that period. In 1950 there were few, if any, commercially available transmitters or transceivers and hams built their own. It could have a simple crystal-controlled one-valve transmitter and a three-valve super-regenerative receiver. As well (and this was a statutory requirement) every ham shack it will have to have a frequency meter. It was common practice after a QSO to measure the frequency upon which it had been made so as to enter it accurately in the log.

Another simple transmitter could have a VFO followed by a buffer and single-valve PA. Fifty years ago the qualities of VFOs were a constant topic of conversation but for stability and tone nothing could beat the Franklin. Another, the Hartley, had an "oily" note (between T7 and T8) but it was remarkably stable and other designs such as the Clapp and the Colpitts had their devotees. In 1950 tone was still a significant factor whereas today all tones are T9 and it is a wonder we (CW users!) still give it.

As well, in 1950, everything that was transmitted had to be logged and that included "failed" CQs and it would not be inappropriate for a 1950s shack to follow this practice. In those days hams would brace themselves for the annual visit from an Inspector of the General Post Office. He (always a "he") who would come around, check the equipment, inspect the log and sign it . In my own log there is this note dated 20th January, 1953 "Please insert times of ending periods of sending, the frequency used not the band, each entry should be complete in itself, where dates, frequency and types of emission repeat dittoes may be used. Examined by ....." These inspectors were mighty men for they had the power to withdraw one’s licence. Perhaps if this practice was followed today our operations room would be tidy...

Exotic test equipment was only to be found in the halls of the manufacturers, the humble ham having, at best, a homemade multimeter or an early mark of AVO. Nearly everything was worked out from first principles such as using a neon lamp and a flashbulb connected across a couple of inches of feeder to determine VSWR. Valves were precious items and were of two types: directly heated and indirectly heated, the latter being the most plentiful. When operating, several types of output valves glowed blue or purple. Sometimes this was OK, at other times it indicated that the valve was going "soft", i.e air had entered the glass envelope.

Power supplies were a serious problem. Hams had to have a stabilised power supply to deliver plus and minus 250 V DC at 1,000 mA and 6.3 V or 12.6 V AC at a minimum of 10 A. Highly prized was enamel-covered or cotton-covered wire (for winding coils) and aluminium sheeting upon which to make equipment. Every ham had a reasonably comprehensive tool kit which contained a variety of drills, nuts and bolts, spanners and disc cutters for cutting large holds in the aluminium in order to mount valve bases. As regards aerials, a 1950s shack would, typically, have a Zeppelin fed dipole or long wire or a coaxial cable fed dipole.

Should MWRS adopt this project it would be hoped that the enthusiasm of members would be challenged to make all the equipment using components of 1950 vintage or before. Many a unit now under a house or hidden in an attic may yet be rescued from obscurity to render up its parts. One wonders what project, if any, will be proposed in 2049? Bob Hawksley VK2GRY 5 September 1999

HAMMING IN THE USA

>From Dom Bragge VK2JNA

I WAS QUITE excited about going to North America for a holiday. especially when realising how I was going to be able to use my H/T over there. I did some pre-work which included finding out reciprocal licensing arrangements between USA and Australia and Canada and Australia. I also built a 110V battery charger (100mA constant current source) so that I could trickle charge my NiCad's from a power point and I ordered a copy of the Repeater directory from the ARRL. I used the World Wide Web on the Internet and came across an FCC website about reciprocal arrangements <http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/amateur/reciparr.html> for hams visiting the Unites States who wish to operate there. This was extremely useful as it let me know that going to an FCC office and filling in a form was now not needed. Also, I could use my own callsign as long as I tacked on a "/W3" (or appropriate) on the end as well.

When I jumped on the AMTRACK train at Penn Station, New York City, headed for Washington D.C., I found I had a few hours to kill. I could've read a book but no, the bug got me! I dug out my trusty FT-530, clipped it to the headrest of the seat in front of me and flicked through the Repeater book looking for 2m repeaters in New Jersey (the state I was now travelling through). It was actually quite a busy time as I had to co-ordinate looking up a map to find out what town we were near, program the next memory channel, listen to the conductor `musically' announcing the next stop (he was quite a comic) and get a few calls out and hold a meaningful QSO before I left the range of the repeater.

It was made more complicated because I had to learn how to program my radio to use CTCSS while transmitting and there are all sorts of offsets to use. Some are -600 kHz, some are +600kHz, some are 1MHz, plus or minus and all over the band, not in a neat group like ours. In the North West of the USA I found there were lots of repeaters and although many of them were "private" (a weird idea for us Aussies to cope with) there were still plenty that were "open" (for all to use). A few times I could access repeaters seemingly easily but got no reply. Sometimes I did get a call back and had a QSO. I was told by one or two people that my accent was so strong that they had trouble understanding me. This might have explained why I didn't get a VHF pile-up. I think that it might be quite rare for them to hear a VK callsign on a local-repeater as well! I programmed in about 23 repeaters along my train route and could access 14 of them. Out of this I had about 8 QSOs on 6 repeaters. It was a lot of fun and those I talked to were quite interested in what I was up to. It was a during a normal work day so that probably kept the contacts down somewhat.

While I was in Washington DC checking out the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, I spent the evening's wandering around ‘The Mall’ and had my H/T on wherever I went. This was great fun. I made some friends on a couple of the local repeaters and chatted regularly with them during the week. They invited me to use their autopatch and in retrospect, I should have, just for the experience, but I didn't think a telephone call back to Oz would be on the cards anyway! The next weekend was ‘Field Day’ all over the United States where a lot of Hams get away from the local power supply and into the field to set up portable stations and rack up the contacts. I was invited to go along to the local club's setup but was sadly unable to change my plans at that late stage.

A week later in the holiday, I had to visit my company in Whippany, New Jersey and I found that the local ham club was in the company! When I booked into the Hilton, I asked to get a room as high up as possible - so they put me on the top (5th) floor. From here I could access the repeater at work and had a dozen contacts that night, more than half of whom work for my company or were retired from there. I was quite amazed that so far in the US I found that there were quite a YL's on the bands as well. Most were wives of Hams and it certainly was refreshing compared to the very male dominated airways in Oz. I made particular friends with one fellow from my work and also talked to his (ham) wife and (ham) son on the air.

The next day I met him for lunch and met some other hams there as well later in the afternoon. They took me to the roof to view their antennas and see that they had stiff competition for roof space from the ‘Wireless’ part of the company as one of their test sites is on the roof as well. When staying in the 35th floor apartment of friends in the middle of New York City, I was able to hit quite a few repeaters. From here I had a few QSOs with people in the city, New Jersey and Connecticut as well. I didn't find the pager interference unacceptable and had a great vantage point. Again I was having fun trying to work out from the Repeater directory which repeaters would be close and which too far away, as most of the names of places were unknown to me. I also got out and visited a couple of Ham Radio Stores in the city, although they were hard to find. The Yellow Pages were almost non-existent for a visitor and even when I got my hands on one, store were listed in the "communications, professional" sections and hardly mentioned anything Ham - I had to telephone them and explicitly ask if they had ham gear. A little bit expensive here.

In Los Angeles I attempted to make some contacts on 2m but I found that their system was like our UHF CB repeater system in Sydney - clogged up with idiots. Even when I could find an open repeater being properly used the stations left no room between overs for a weak station like me to get in so that was no fun at all. Zero contacts! In LA I simply had to put up with going to Ham Radio shops like HRO in Anaheim and Jun's in West Hollywood. This was certainly fun and I brought back a few `presents' (for myself) to round out a good adventure.

THREE WARNINGS

An alert Steve VK2KFJ gives dire warnings about sus software merchants in the US, casts vivid doubt about where our personal information goes to and syggets how to treat unwanted emails

I HAD A PHONE CALL on Sunday morning, from a person with an American accent claiming to be from a company in USA called Software 2000 peddling software utilities. He claimed that he was responding to a survey I had completed for some consumer association and that he would like to send some software on CD for me to trial for 30 days free, for only the small cost of duplication and shipping and that if I liked the software I could ring the local 1-800 number provided that, in Australia, pay for the licence of $60 and, if I did not like the software, I did not have to return it, only to ring the 1-800 number to say I don’t want to purchase it and keep the disk.

At this point I thought "Sounds OK, free trial of a disk, no problem," then he proceeded to check if all my details were correct: name, address and listed the brands of credit cards I had...

Suddenly alarm bells rang. I remembered that when I have completed surveys, that I have never provided my home address or phone number nor credit card details. I always use my work address, so I then realised he had got my details from a credit listing and he then stated if I provided my credit card number he would ship the disk to me for $39.95! I quickly terminated the call.

After that I thought about it. Of course you don’t ever provide credit card details to a stranger that has called you, and for a product which is obviously quoting US$ and not A$, so even if it was possibly legitimate, then US$40 becomes around A$62 which is pretty damned expensive for copying a CD and sending from USA by mail.. I checked the web for this company and the only company by that name was in Germany, not USA. If it is not a legit company, you can bet I would soon have $10k added to my credit card. One of the utilities was a web browser accelerator, which you can download for free, so very suspect.

On a similar subject: I went and had my tax done at an ITP office a month ago, since then we have had heaps of these investment companies from Qld ringing nearly everyday, offering a free seminar on negative gearing and possibly winning a free trip to Qld of all places, so they can peddle an overpriced house on the Gold Coast that one would obviously end up in severe debt over, so it is either ITP or the ATO has sold the information. Has anyone else had the same ?

One last thing. Suspect emails. I checked my hotmail.com email account, I found about a dozen strange emails had arrived from very obscure email addresses, presumably bogus addresses, the headers were full of Ctrl characters and since I had only used the address a couple of times and never advertised it, then it must be a case of hackers trying to dump viruses via email, so I didn’t even bother looking at them and just hit the Delete on the lot. I have not had any bogus email to my start.com address, or my QSL address and only the Russian hams sending emails to my work address asking for money.

SPECIAL EVENT DAY

WEDNESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER

>From 73 Richard VK2SKY.

SEPTEMBER IS UPON US! Jo Harris VK2KAA - who brought us VK2IMD, the only International Marconi Day special event station operating in Australia - is looking for operators for VK2WAH.

VK2WAH was first activated on 22 September 1993 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first wireless message sent directly from the UK to Australia. To celebrate this anniversary, the station is on the air for one day a year and there is always keen interest from DXers and QSL hunters. Anyway, Jo needs operators for the roster. You can operate from home if you wish but we should give the club station a thorough workout, as the 22nd is also a club meeting night. So please email Jo, and get your pick of the bands on the day. Jo is especially keen to have some CW operators!

Jo’s email is: VK2KAA@email.com

SEPTEMBER LECTURE

WEDNESDAY, 15TH September. Phil Matthews will talk on The Electrophysiology of the Heart.

G3PTW COBWEBB HF ANTENNA

>From Bob Hawksley VK2GRY

HAD A QSO the other evening with G5VQ. CW, of course. He bounded in at 589. I was 449 which was good going for me with my self-erected dipole with traps which club members swore blind they would help me with but I only ever saw one who ate my cake and drank my tea and suggested I use a couple of trees and choofed off. Never saw him again. Anyway, G5VQ has sent me details of his ant called a CobWebb which looks like a Hills’ Hoist. It’s an omnidirectional, horizontally polarised antenna for 14 through to 28 MHz bands. Ideal for locations where space is tight. It’s has 2.5-metre sides and essentially has a full size halfwave dipole on each band. Haven’t got the price yet but it’s made in UK and packs down to a parcel 1 metre long and weighing under 6 kg. Airfreighted to any part of the world. It’s fed with a 50-ohm coax and clamps to a 2-inch mast. Further info from SRW Communications Ltd, Astrid House. The Green, Swinton, Malton, North Yorks YO17 OSY England.

WALL STREET CRASHES

By VK2$$S Dollar Bill

OK OK OK. Only joking. Sometimes I get a little sick about hearing about when it’s going to happen - 1987, Nostradamus and all that. The fact is that it WILL happen but not right now and, by the way, Nostradamus was wrong. We are still alive and the Middle East doomsday has never arrived. But let’s not be complacent. Just merely look and study the market. Most certainly it is reaching its twelve o’clock peak. But remember, this peak period once seen approaching may last several years. My guess is that the new millennium will see further growth before stagnancy. Let’s look at the typical warning signs:

Housing interest rates well above 10% with no easing of borrowing.

Current affairs programs start interviewing employers who cannot find anyone to fill positions vacant.

Real estate prices (especial residential) increasing dramatically.

News items containing the headlines "Record Prices Paid for Paintings at Sotheby’s.

Your neighbour, and the one next to him, is also putting in an extension not to mention a new swimming pool.

Dollar Bill is about to purchase a FERRARI (sorry - that’s crossed out. Ed. He might mean it though...)

The above are what I call "affluence indicators" ahhhhhhh - capitalism! Just love it!. But jokes aside, the above indicators, when chiming together, mean CAUTION. Not getting out of the market but just making sure speculative stocks are avoided. Currently I remain positive with 90% invested/10% cash/5 to 10% in speculative.

The bottom line is that NO ONE can forecast the day but always remember that quality stocks recover most of their losses within 12 months, small and speculative stocks sometimes fail and, sadly, this event is usually followed by a recession. BUT not the DOOMSDAY end of the earth!! Merely the cycle. Understanding this big picture enables us to invest with cool relaxed decision and go with the flow. 73 Dollar Bill.

NOTE: The Amateur’s Buck is not the opinion of the Manly Warringah Radio Society and no liability is accepted for the accuracy of the information or forecasts.

NEW MEMBERS

A WARM WELCOME to two new members: Jim Stedman VK2XJX of Davidson and Sam Craigen of Balgowlah. Sam is the grandson of our honourable and distinguished member Colin Craigen VK2XXE.

SIDELIGHT ON THE AGM

DURING THE BRISKLY conducted AGM a motion was raised which was put back to the next millennium. It touched on the relationship between radio societies and WIA and whether or not there should be a measure of support from societies towards the WIA over and above the existing arrangements. During the next few months we can think about this but I would like to refer readers to an April 1999 AR article entitled The WA - Is It Fading Away by John Bennett VK3ZA/VK2SIG.

John’s theme was that, whether we like it or not, the WIA, in its present form, is fading away and unless something is done to restructure it, the WIA may well die. John complained that the WIA was, in many ways, becoming increasingly ‘amateurish’ rather than ‘amateur concerned’.

Needless to say John’s view has raised some QRM which augurs ill for the future. Argybargy is not what is wanted but a steady direction of thought towards what a fast-changing technological scene requires by nature of the administrative structure to promote the cause of ham radio.

But we have to admit that the spark has gone out of amateur radio, that we are no longer moved to wonder what the wild waves are saying. The glory of 60 years ago lies in history. So where is the magic now? That’s not difficult to answer. It isn’t amateur radio - it’s cyberspace and there lie the most dazzling possibilities. We hams are already involved in it and, as before, we will do things the professionals will swear blind cannot be done. But will we need a WIA to help chart these waters?

BOB HAWKSLEY VK2GRY.