April 2005 Newsletter – CVVHF

Current Member Roster:

David Aho                      N9TTX              ARRL                Secretary

Darrell Schreiner           K9AIH               ARRL

Justin Glasener              K9MU               ARRL                Web page editor

Robert Rohrssen            KB9PJL           ARRL                Vice President

Charlie Betz                    N0AKC             ARRL                President

John McDonald              KB9TLV            ARRL

Ray Johnson                   W9RAY            ARRL   

Randy Westerberg         KB9POI            ARRL

Allan Schlaugat               N9ISN               ARRL                Treasurer

Brad Zuelke                     K9BZ                ARRL

Amber Ericksen              KC9FVW

Paul Brooten                   KB9TYC          ARRL                Web page Host

Steve Bluem                    KA9OMY          ARRL   

Bill Noble                          KA9GNG         

Jay Grokowski                 N9CIQ              ARRL

Marvin Opitz                     N9RVV

Wanda Rohrssen            KB9QGL          ARRL

Christian Lantz                W9CDL            ARRL

Mary Slifer                       KC9FVS          ARRL

Kayla Kwitti      

Scott Littfin                      N0EDV

Albert Pichler                  KC9GIQ

 

Events of Interest:

·         April 20, 2005      -  432 Spring Sprint

·         April 23-24, 2005      -  Florida QSO Party & Nebraska QSO Party

·         April 23-24, 2005       -  Helvetia Contest CW/SSB/Digital

·         April 23-25, 2005       -  DX Columbia International Contest

·         April 24-30, 2005       -  FISTS/EUCW CW QRS Contest

·         April 30-May1, 05      -  2 GHz and up World Wide Club Contest

·         May 7, 2005      -  902 and up Spring Sprint

·         May 14-15, 2005      -  50 Mhz Spring Sprint

·         May 20-22, 2005       -  Dayton Hamvention

·         May 28-29, 2005      -  CQ WW CW WPX Contest

·         June 11-12, 2005      -  ARRL June VHF QSO Party

·         June 25-26, 2005      -  Field Day

·         July 9-10, 2005      -  IARU HF World Championships

·         July 16-17, 2005      -  CQ WW VHF Contest

·         Aug. 6-7, 2005      -  ARRL UHF Contest

·         Aug. 20-21, 2005      -  ARRL 10 Ghz+ Cumulative contest

·         Sept. 10-11, 2005      -  ARRL September VHF QSO party

·         Sept. 17-18, 2005       -  ARRL 10 Ghz+ Cumulative contest weekend 2

·         Sept. 24-25, 2005      -  CQ WW RTTY contest

·         Oct. 29-30, 2005      -  CQ WW SSB DX Contest

·         Nov. 5-6, 2005      -  ARRL CW Sweepstakes

·         Nov. 19-20, 2005      -  ARRL SSB Sweepstakes

·         Nov. 26-27, 2005      -  CQ WW CW DX Contest

·         Dec. 3-4, 2005      -  ARRL 160 meter Contest

·         Dec. 10-11, 2005      -  ARRL 10-Meter Contest

 

     The January VHF contest was disappointing, but apparently everyone other than the normal top 10 stations seemed to have trouble.  The scores were telling in this, but for the conditions that were there, they were fairly decent.  In short practically everyone noticed the lack of propagation.  There was no 50 Mhz opening.  We did hear a bit of real faint scatter and the band trying to open, but it was not significant.  144 opened a bit local enhancement wise, but it did not last too long and didn’t open any wider.  On the flip side at least on my end (N9TTX) my 432 worked the best it ever did, and once I figured out my 222 coax problem, that was working like gangbusters also.  We had decent participation in the contest and we all worked one another and seemed to gain attention with our constant chatter up here in EN44.

 

             The various DX contests (ARRL and CQWW) saw some OK propagation in the HF high bands.  Justin and Dave helped out W0AIH at the farm.  The overall propagation was not too good, as the low bands in the contests were quiet or very flaky.  The high bands, especially 15 meters, were the money bands.  10-meters of course was either dead or just barely open.  The low bands opened up later in March, but for February they were not too good.

 

             The middle of March saw the WIQP in which we as a club had a good turnout.  Justin and Dave took the “Blue Whale” out on the road as a multi-op/multi-transmitter effort.  Justin ran his Icom 746 on 40-meters CW, and Dave ran a 2-meter FM rig and KB9PJL’s FT-100D and tuner for 6-meters and down on SSB.  Unfortunately, from the way things were set up and no filters etc…, the CW transmissions kept interfering with the SSB transmissions on all the bands, so nothing was heard very well on the SSB portion of HF.  The phone contacts were predominantly 2-meter FM and 6-meter SSB.  7 hours on the road, lots of contacts, one traffic stop and no tickets, the whale had 11 counties under the tires, and a whopping score.  Thanks to all those in the club who had participated and made everyone else’s score bigger.

 

                    The Antenna Party was a great success again this year.  Thanks again to Charlie for hosting it at his place and for the grill work and lunch.  Not much was constructed, but we got some antennas tuned, built and cleaned up, tested, etc…  Some show and tell was there with equipment and wallpaper. 

             Ray had an interesting shirt that sported the K9CVC Club.  He designed it and printed it on the computer, and after transferred this to his shirt.  Ideas ideas…Hmmmm.  The Club monster is almost redrawn in bold ink instead of pencil, so maybe we can eventually incorporate this into a club logo/name for shirts/jackets or patches in the future.

             For some of the antennas worked on, Darrell got some work done remodeling his 6 meter beam, and work done on his 2 meter loops.  Scott got his 432 wooden boom quagi adjusted and tested.  Justin got his 902 and 1296 loopers tested for matching, and never have I seen that flat of a match…woohoo!  John got a dual-polarization 2-meter yagi and a 222 yagi cleaned, built, and tested.

             Other projects were:  Putting ends on some hard-line of Darrell’s, getting an interference filter project started of Dave’s for Field Day.  Testing John’s 902 transverter, and installing a 1296 module in his 736R, both of which are humming along quite well and seem to be doing what they should.  There may have been other projects that got completed, but with all the busy people, it was hard to keep track.

             Show and tell saw the homebrew 40 meter mobile antenna that Justin used to burn up the airwaves with during the K9CVC mobile operation for WIQP this year, Scott’s 70-cm beacon transmitters, a nice looking tube of Bob’s, various antennas, and a lot of awards and certificates. 

   The demonstration of Bob and Charlie on 10Ghz yielded interesting results.  After finally getting things warmed up and stabilized, the rigs were finally talking to each other down the length of Charlie’s yard.  A few people made 10 Ghz contacts.  The interesting thing was the effect the rain was having on the signal.  In the short distance that we were demonstrating, we noticed that we got rain scatter effects.  A warbling almost aurora sound.  It was also noted that at least once, the signal improved when the dishes were pointed up at an angle instead of at each other.  It was very informative and interesting to say the least.  Thanks guys.

 

     To make it interesting reading and to show what the club members have been up to, past contest scores from September 2004, and awards and certificates earned by members are listed below by contest for scores, and by call for awards.  Additional awards and scores will be posted in each quarterly newsletter.  Good Job to all and keep up the good work!!  The scores listed below are from posted scores (complete and scored contests) and from unadjusted scores submitted by members prior to judging.  If your score is not in the list and you wish it to be, please get it to N9TTX so it can be added and so it can be put onto the webpage.

 

Scores:

September VHF contest 2004

          Call                   Score                QSO            Mult            Class             + Ops

            K9CVC             77,859              425            123       Multi-op             K9MU, K9AIH, KC9FQD, KC9FVW ,N9TTX

            N0AKC             37,430              243             95         Hi-power (B)

            KB9PJL            36,792              251             84         Hi-power (B)

            N9ISN               35,333              287              89         Lo-power (A)

            W9RAY             7,616               135               34         Rover

            N9TTX              1,422                 53               18         Lo-power (A)

           ARRL EME Contest 2004

            Call                   Score                QSO            Mult            Class                Band                 + Ops

            N0AKC             20,400                17         12         Multi-op             144 Mhz      K9MU

            ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes 2005

            Call                   Score                QSO            Mult            Class

            KB9PJL            18,090              204      54         SOHP

            K9MU               12,876              174      58         SOLP

            N9TTX                 5,472             110      32         SOLP

            K9BZ                  5,418              108      42         SOLP

            N0AKC               5,024                89      32         SOHP

            W9RAY               2,295                76      17         SOLP

            W9CDL               1,394                69      17         SOLP

            K9AIH                    450                 39         9         SOLP

            KC9GIQ                 205                 32         5         SOLP

            KA9OMY               104                 22         4          SOLP

       

Member Awards/Certificates:

            N0AKC:    1st Places:  2001 Sept. VHF – SOHP – WI Section- 144, 432, 902, 1296 Mhz

     2003 Sept. VHF – SOHP – WI Section – 902 Mhz

                4th Place:           2004 EME – Multi-operator – World – 144 Mhz

                WAS:                 144 Mhz, 50 Mhz, 28 Mhz, 14 Mhz

                VUCC:  144 Mhz, 50 Mhz

                USA-CA:            # 492 on May15, 1985

 

KB9PJL:  1st Places:  2003 June VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 902 Mhz

                                    2003 Sept. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 1296 Mhz

                                    2004 Jan. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 902, 1296 Mhz

                                    2004 Sept. VHF – SOHP – WI Section – 10 GHz

                VUCC: 50 Mhz (458 grids confirmed)

 

K9MU:      1st Places:   2003 Jan. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50 Mhz (KB9UZV)

                                    2003 June VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50 Mhz

                                    2003 Sept. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 902 Mhz

                                    2004 Jan. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50 Mhz

                                    2004 June VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50, 902, 1296 Mhz

                4th Place:            2004 June VHF – SOLP – US/Canada

                WAS:   50 Mhz

                VUCC:  50 Mhz

                Certificate:            A-1 Operator Certificate

 

K9CVC:    1st Place:            2004 Sept. VHF – Multi operator – WI Section

 

KB9TLV:   1st Place:            2001 VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 432 Mhz

                WAS:   50 Mhz

                VUCC:  50 Mhz

 

N9ISN       1st Places:            2003 ARRL 10-Meter – SOLP – WI Section

                            2nd Places:            2003 June VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50, 144, 432 Mhz

                                    2003 Sept. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50, 144, 432 Mhz

                                    2004 June VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50, 144, 222, 432 Mhz

                3rd Place:            2004 Sept. VHF – SOLP – WI Section – 50, 144, 222,432 Mhz

                WAS:   50 Mhz

                VUCC:  50 Mhz

 

N9TTX      1st Places:            2004 ARRL DX – SOLP – Phone – WI Section

2004     IARU HF World Championships – SOLP – Mixed Mode – WI Section, Zone 8

    WAC:            28 Mhz – Phone

                            CSVHF:            2003-2004 year – 55 States and Provinces above 50 Mhz

                                                          States Above 50 Mhz

                            Other:            Friendship Award – QSO with 26 stations each ending in a

          different letter of the alphabet.

Rag Chewers Club – 1 QSO for 30 minutes or more.

HC8/HD8 DX Diploma – Working a required # of Galapagos

          Islands stations.  Award # 228, endorsement #93 USA –

          #99 NA

 

        Anyone wanting to add their scores or wallpaper please contact N9TTX.  In the future I will only make addendum’s to the list so as not to confuse the web editor when they are submitted.

 

         The membership forms for the club are done, and it would be appreciated if those that have not filled one out to please do so.  The forms may look a bit daunting in what they ask, but they serve a purpose.  The required and most important information on them are the four items we need from each member for ARRL affiliation purposes, and also for contesting purposes when submitting a score for the club to the ARRL.  The other information asked on the form is basically there for club information only dealing with what bands and modes each member is active on, what the interests of the member are etc….  This is to tell us as a club who each member is, what they can offer the club and what they want out of the club.  If there is a form sent along with this newsletter and meeting minutes, please take the time to fill it out and return it.  The member cheat sheets are also enclosed.  Thanks.