Category: WEARC Blog

On November 2, 2019, members of the West Essex Amateur Radio Club embarked on a ham-centered field trip to the battleship New Jersey located in Camden New Jersey. In attendance were members Bret, (AC2NI), Steve, (AC2EI), Phil, (KD2PQZ), Henry (KC2WRQ), Steve, (N2DH), with the group being led by our esteemed president, Don (K2DEG). We were warmly received at the entrance of the boat by members of the New Jersey Battleship Ham Radio Organization, NJ2BB, especially by member Dave Burgess. Dave expedited entry onto the ship and escorted us directly to the ham radio quarters. The setup was phenomenal, with separate stations for voice and CW operation. We were given an executive overview of the antenna array, which was impressive. All members were given the opportunity to operate 40 and 20 meters, with great success. We were also given a private tour of the original World War II radio room, currently under restoration and not open to the general public.

After our meeting with the Battleship Ham Radio Club members, the WEARC members decided to take a tour of the remainder of the battleship. To say this craft is expansive is an understatement. After four hours, we were able to tackle a modest portion of the open displays, each of which was more impressive than the next. This is not an expedition for the faint of legs. Climbing up and down to the different decks as well as into an out of the gun turrets was a chore but enjoyed by all. Making this visit especially memorable was the presence of the various guides on the battleship. Most of them had served on this craft in various capacity in years past and were uniquely qualified to provide concise insight on the daily functioning and operation of the battleship. We were fortunate to be the recipients of their experience and expertise, something which may not be available in years to come.

Subsequent to our tour, we were afforded access to the battleship wardroom. This is the dining hall on the ship where officers ate in years past and where we lunched together as a group. The sense of history that exudes from this craft is simply palpable and was a sentiment expressed by all of our members.. Of greater importance, camaraderie formed between the NJ2BB Ham Radio Group and are WEARC Ham Radio organization remain strong as ever. We will most definitely repeat this field trip in upcoming years both to enjoy the visit to the Battleship New Jersey as well as rekindle the bonds of friendship that ham radio invariably brings.

Tonight’s general meeting turned into a show and tell for DMR Hot Spots, three members showed their personal Hot Spots and these covered the range from home made to commercial supported unit.

You see all three in the photo. The one on the left was from Benett AC2NI who was the first member to build his Hot Spot and use DMR. In turn the middle unit belonging to Bob W2FKG came as part of a package he got from BridgeComSystems. The left unit is a two channel duplex system built by Steve KD2QIP and uses a Chinese Clone of the MMDVM_HS_Hat. All the units run the PI-Star open source software.

Good resources for DMR are:

• Amateur_Radio_Guide_to_DMR​ 
• Playing_with_Pi-Sta​​
• Radio ID (to get your digital ID)

We will consider if making a Hot Spot will be a suitable club project. Benett AC2NI is also planning to hold a presentation evening to discuss and explain DMR.

The following outline is an introduction to the digital mode on hf.

• 1.Get the latest software at https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
• 2.Your computer needs digital audio drivers
• 3.Your computer has to be in sync with the time and must be within +/-.5 seconds https://time.gov/
• 4.Regardless of what band your rig is on it must be in USB
• 5.Each cycle of ft 8 is 15 seconds long.
• 6. Unlike regular SSB everybody is on same rf frequency. each station must use an audio frequency unique to their station in Hz. it is selectable on main page and can be changed any time.
• 7.When the proper hand shake is complete a pop-up window allows you to save the QSO.
• 8.every contact is color coded example bright pink means a new DXCC country, green means you have worked that station already. bright blue means new station not yet worked. in the set up menu there is a color chart with other options.
• 9.Watch the videos on you tube for more details. https://www.google.com/search?q=YOU+TUBE+FT+8&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS780US780&oq=YOU+TUBE+FT+8&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.6665j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

At our general meeting on 6/19/2019 we were about to start planning the upcoming Field Day when a stranger appeared at the door. We think W3??? Announced himself and offered us the remnants of his ham gear because he wanted it to go to a good home. He was downsizing and leaving Ham Radio and had found us from our website. In the excitement to see what he had, we all forgot his call sign which makes him our anonymous donor. If you read this post, please get back in touch or leave your details as a comment. We would like you to get the recognition you deserve.  

Among the donation, I for one was lucky to find an old copy of the ARRL handbook, dated 1955, the year I was born. There was also an old copy of something I had never seen, The Amateur radio Defense, dated Jan, 1942. This is a great read, it has cartoon style strips and a joke (see picture) as well as relevant advice on how to have a successful radio club!

Our May 15th club meeting was used to repair our “new” Alpha Delta Parallel Dipole Antenna. This antenna is a Parallel Dipole Antennas which consist of the Alpha Delta DELTA-C center insulator and end insulators, ISO-RES coils connected to the 80/40/15 meter wires, and separate wires for 20 and 10 meters. You can find details of the antenna here.  

This particular antenna was donated by Steve AC2EI but needed some repair to the wires on the center connector. We hope to install this at our station.

 This is an amazing radio. The receive clarity is outstanding. I am a SSB rag chewer so I really enjoy clean clear audio. My previous rig was the Kenwood TS590S. I enjoyed using that radio. It has excellent clarity but the TS890 take the receive to a new level. The quality of the signals I receive are so clear and crisp. It makes listening much easier. After all my years of playing rock in a band, I really appreciate the quality. It has a 2 position noise reduction button which does a great job. When I used that feature on my 590, it would almost block as much audio as noise. The TS890 does a far superior job. It really helps get rid of the noise while keeping the audio. Big improvement. Having the waterfall is another added benefit. Just touch the screen and the radio jumps to the active frequency. 

As I use the radio a bit more, I will update the post. My next test is to check some microphones. I have 5 mics and my plan is to do a comparison without making any changes to the EQ. I will leave it flat and see what sounds better. The 5 mics are:

1. Kenwood MC60A
2. Heil  HM10 XD
3. Sure SM58
4. Electro Voice RE20
5. AKG D8000M

My interest in ham radio began when I was a sophomore in high school, age 14, and KN2VVN demonstrated his ARC-5 World War II receiver and transmitter. Having told me about all the countries he previously contacted I was somewhat surprised when all I heard were these strange sounds of dots and dashes, and yet, there was something about putting on the headphones and hearing the code for the first time that fascinated me. It was like joining a secret society and thus my beginnings in ham radio.

My first rig was the crystal controlled Heathkit DX 35 and National 300 receiver. I remember the excitement of attaching a dummy load (lightbulb) to the RF output connector fiddling with the driver and antenna controls and watching the bulb light up, Eureka. The dummy load was replaced with a 40 meter halfway dipole fed with twin lead into a balun. A few years later, I graduated to the Heathkit DX 100 and Mosley TA-33 triband antenna mounted on top of a 40-foot telephone pole.

During my college years, ham radio took a backseat aside from my Heathkit 20 meter mobile sideband transceiver mounted in a Volkswagen with a six-volt electrical system. I think my girlfriend at the time was upset when we drove up to Garret Mountain. I wanted to work DX she had something else in mind.

In my late 20’s I got back into the hobby with the Kenwood 820, received my advanced and amateur extra tickets and became addicted to CW. I was so proud to hang up the ARRL 30 words certificate in the bedroom radio ham shack even though no one knew what that meant. It was a time of active repeaters, phone patches, and excellent band conditions.

Ham radio took the second backseat in my 30’s when I became enthralled with computers. Being financially strapped, I sold the Kenwood 820 and purchased the RadioShack TRS 80, 4K, microcomputer complete with cassette storage.My involvement with Basic, Fortran, and assembly languages will discuss at a later time.

Jumping ahead to my seventy plus years, I returned to active ham radio with an Icom 7600, PW-1 amp and two Icom VHF Dstar transceivers. My dream of finally running the full legal limit did not last long. The need to move closer to help rear the grandkids resulted in a move to a condominium where amplifiers and noticeable antennas are a no no.

Thus, the never-ending story continues. I been the treasurer of the Chestnut Ridge Radio Club for the past 7 years and coming late to WEARC meeting, unqualified Vice President for one year.

The WEARC started in 1994 with the main goal to come together in an atmosphere where like-minded amateur radio operators could both discuss and engage in contesting, DX’ing and all modes of ham radio communication. As expected, the annual Field Day is the most-anticipated club event for WEARC, as it is for most amateur radio clubs. Our club will often host or participate in local community events. The club also provides fostering and promoting individuals in all aspects of amateur radio and a commitment to assist those with an interest in entering this exciting hobby an assist in attaining this achievement.

As an organization, WEARC firmly believes in the spirit of community service and outreach

Over the years, as with most organizations, the club fell into a rut and was not growing in attracting new members nor having a lot of new activities.

Upon the recent passing of our long incumbent President, a meeting of members was held, a new direction for the club was established with a commitment of more active participation by all the members, and I was elected to be the new President. For the last few months the change has been astonishing with many more activities scheduled and more participation by the members.

This web page, for which we owe Steve, KD2QIP all of the credit for designing, building out and implementing, has helped galvanize the membership and get them involved

The clubs first step towards a rebirth was the massive cleanup of the club facilities. A group of members, spending a good part of a day, went through all of the years of accumulated equipment, papers and “junque” and managed to fill a dumpster.A lot of “stuff” has been set aside to be taken to a ham flee market. The final act of the day was to set up a permanent operating station so that members and non-members who wish to operate on the first and third Wednesday evening of the month can do so with the mere flip of a switch. This will provide a service for those hams who do not have a station at home and want to get on the air.

Donald Saltzman, K2DEG