| LINEAR LINES |
| The Trident Amateur Radio Club |
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| Official Newsletter |
| News for Amateurs - About Amateurs |
| September 2008 |
Welcome to the Trident Amateur Radio Club (TARC) monthly newsletter. It is published to serve you! We hope you find it informative, useful, and maybe even a little entertaining. The newsletter is dependant on information submitted by its readers, so please get to work and start sending us information you think others would like to read to smeyer1@sc.rr.com. Hello Dallas! Bob, AI4SX
Go ahead and mark your calendar right now to attend the Shelby Hamfest at Dallas next year. It’s a great event! The Shelby Amateur Radio Club pulled off the transition from the Cleveland County Fairgrounds to the Biggerstaff Park in Dallas, NC very well. They posted the following credits on their website, www.shelbyhamfest.net, “Without a great deal of help from the Director of Tourism, the Director of Parks and Recreation, the town of Dallas, the Gaston County Amateur Radio Society and ALL the members of the SARC, this year’s Hamfest would not have been possible.” They also thanked the people of Gaston County for letting them use their park. The Shelby club is looking for feedback on the hamfest and would like any comments from all who attended. They are trying to make next year’s event even better. Please visit the Web site mentioned above and read the complete article. Bob (K4RSP) and I left Charleston in the wee hours of the morning and had an easy drive to Dallas. We arrived on a crystal clear morning just as the sun was topping the trees and had breakfast at the “Bojangles” right next door to the hamfest. The restaurant parking lot was a forest of antennas and it didn’t take much imagination to know who the customers were. From our window we could see cars already arriving at the hamfest and in anticipation of making an early assault on all the good deals, Bob called El Presidente de TARC who was staying in a local hotel to join us. Needless to say (see the next article) he couldn’t join us at the time so we proceeded to the land of good ham deals. The parking was well directed and well prepared. I think that the walk from the venders to most of the parking area was shorter than at the old fairgrounds. This helps out if you need to make several trips to your car with all your goodies. Also I noticed a fair amount of people giving people rides on golf carts. I didn’t ask, but I think if you needed some help they would give you a ride. Since the event was in a park, that is exactly what it looked like, a park! There were plenty of trees to sit under if you got too hot. Tickets and door prize registration were well managed and they had a good PA system for the entire park so you could hear door prize announcements etc. The event had a lot of vendors both big and small. The commercial vendors in the inside area were doing a booming business and I know for personal experience that some more popular items were sold out which seems to hint that the event was bigger than some of the vendors counted on. In any case, my observation was that the commercial vendors had to hustle to fill all the orders being placed. The outside area was where most of the used equipment and more dealers like The Wireman etc. were. They were doing a brisk business as well. A lot of high end, well maintained, used equipment, like Collins was available and Bob had a great time looking at it. I think that I received good deals on a Ham IV rotator and a set of paddles. It sure beat paying new prices and it all works. Brand new camping spaces were put in and you could tell that the utilities had just been run to the campsites because the dirt hadn’t settled in the trenches yet. This didn’t pose a problem to us because most of the action was away from the campsites. We did walk through the camping area and it was obvious that a lot of work had gone in to make it a nice place. I would really like to make a weekend of it and go camping there. To sum it up Bob and Bob had a great time. The event was well planned and managed. Participation by customers and venders was good, and it’s a nice place to visit. I am planning on making this a yearly trip.
Beautiful Young Lady Assists Ham in Distress Bob, AI4SX I mentioned in the previous article “Hello Dallas”, that Bob and I had made arrangements to meet up with Dave, “El Presidente,” and his fellow traveler, Mark (KB4QHI), at Dallas. Here is what happened: While sitting in “Bojangles” and watching the hamfest parking lot fill up, Bob called El Presidente by cell phone. I thought it was quite funny that he answered by cell phone in the shower. I had a vision of El presidente using his shower cap the keep the phone dry. What an ugly sight! Anyway, there we were, watching all the early birds while El Presidente was still lounging around in the shower. He said he would be right over. After quite a while and still no El Presidente we were wondering if he had been kidnapped or something more sinister. Surely he was done primping by now! After much waiting El Presidente called and said he was working on getting his new Toyota Prius started. He had managed to kill the battery and was working with some people to get it started. We were shocked! How do you run down one of the biggest “Energizer Bunnies” known to Man, a radio perchance? Only El Presidente could talk so much! No wonder he was still lounging around in his boudoir while thousands of hams were grabbing the hamfest goodies. He must have been tired from being up all night playing with his “Bluetooth” or something. After much waiting and still no news Bob and I were very afraid. Would you call El Presidente again if you knew his most prized steed was suffering from such abuse? Of course not! It would have been suicide. We chickened out and waited on him to call us. Several hours later we found out that El Presidente had not run down the massive Prius battery but a much smaller battery used to control all the electronics and control circuits. After much ado, all he had to do was boost a little 12 volt battery and that is where the beautiful lady comes into our story. She appeared like a vision in El Presidente’s great hour of need, equipped with a battery booster and a long set of jumpers. El Presidente was a very happy man indeed. But alas, our unfortunate leader was cursed again, her booster had no boost. Dejected and broken hearted, things were looking dark for El Presidente, even while the sun was very bright. It was just then a fellow ham appeared and in only a few short minutes boosted El Presidente’s electronic steed back to life. El Presidente and Mark made their royal appearance at the hamfest. After much ribbing El Presidente claimed that the battery’s demise was caused by an electric cooler that was left running the previous night. I believe him; after all he is El Presidente!
Randy (K4QO) Makes Small Loop Antenna Presentation Bob, AI4SX
During the September TARC meeting, Randy brought in a home brew small loop antenna that he uses with good results. It is made of aluminum bar stock about that has been painted black. His unique way of bending the sides so that only 2 sides are broadsided to the viewer makes the antenna more attractive to the casual observer. The antenna has a remote matching system that uses a variable capacitor driven by an electric screwdriver. He can cover 20 through 10 meters with it. Since this antenna has a relatively large radiating element, it is more efficient than many screwdriver type antennas that are so popular today. Thanks Randy
Carlos, K2CE/TI5KD Visits TARC By Ed K3IXD TI5N/TI5KN
We had a visitor at the September 15, 2008 meeting, Carlos, K2CE/TI5KD. It turns out that Carlos rents out his station and makes his club call available, TI5N. Here is the link to his web site <http://www.yantis.us/ti5kd/>.
Here is the link to one group that was there: <http://www.sedxc.org/ti50dx>.
Maybe one contest I will be there signing with a TI call.
73, Ed K3IXD
Guess the Ham Terms AI4SX
If any of the following guessing games sound familiar let me know the source. If you have a good one, send it in. I would like to publish all the guesses either right or wrong. I think the answers would be entertaining. Last month’s hints were:
It sounds really heavy but I can see the light. Answer, LED
If your kid throws his food at you, you might have a bad case of? Answer, Feedback
What do machinists and modems have in common? Answer, File transfer
This month’s hints are:
A residential building for two families, maxed out
A Roman version of a 450 display
It’s a 50 car …… and the little guns can’t get through
Don’t forget JOTA (Jamboree on the Air) October 18th and 19th Bob, AI4SX
Show up and give a hand. It’s a nice way go get outside and have some fun! Contact any of the club officers and I am sure they can steer you the right way.
I need some one to take JOTA notes and pictures for next month’s newsletter. Please help out.
Please send me your Net and VHF/UHF News! If it is not listed here you didn’t submit it!
VHF Digital Net, net control is Skip (KH6TY). Drop in and visit the net (2100 Sunday, 2000 Wednesday, 144.144.) No repeater is required! The net now operates on DominoEx11 but we will answer you if you are running PSK. If you need any help running DominoEx11 email Skip or contact Bob (AI4SX).
See ya next month.
73, Bob, AI4SX
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