DELARANEWS

DELARA NEWS is the monthly publication of the Delaware Amateur Radio Association, Delaware OH. September 2020 VOL 39 Number 9

Welcome

This is the official newsletter of a great ham radio club! Our DELARA family appreciates what you’re doing with the hobby! Why not take a few minutes and write out what interests you in our hobby! We have room for your article always! Send it to Stan [at] standi.com by the end of the month.

The Prez’s Shack

Summer’s winding down - what’s next?

If you said, “SNOW!” you might be right but not what we’re thinking here. The correct answer is “CONTESTS!” Maybe it’s inbred- sitting at a traffic light and the latest Wizzo-96 pulls to a stop beside you. And for a minute you speculate on how best to jump this guy off the line for the win! But then the arthritis in your gas-pedal-leg reminds you of your age and sanity prevails. Or it could be that online auction for a pristine, completely operational Collins station priced at just $299. You jump on it - and the message “You’ve been outbid! Next bid $4995.00” appears. And you’re off to the races- until you realize you’re eating up your paycheck. At least the other guy’s gonna pay dearly for that one after you bail! What a dream station that would have been! OK. Focus. What about radio? Why, it’s the original social network! The original “friendship around the world” hobby where you sit for long, wonderful conversations with that station in the U.K. about gardening adventures. Until the rare one is spotted. Then, it’s every station for itself- fire up the amp, re-aim the beam to exactly peak on his signal and off to the races we go! Aim the big guns and, “FIRE!” The calling frequency sounds roughly like twenty meters in a 1985 Field Day with 500,000 stations on simultaneously. What’s that?? My last suffix letter!! He heard me!! Callsign Callsign Callsign. Drat!! He was coming back to a W-2. This then is the justification for becoming one of those “darned contesters!” It begins with “my antenna’s bigger than yours!” [the Chevelle 396 vroom vroom] and evolves over time to a crafty, highly skilled endeavor that takes the ionosphere, gray line, MUF, and many other esoteric concepts [The Ferrari F8 Spyder] to know just which multiplier and what speed to send to get that multi-million score. It’s a finely honed science, coupled with the iron-butt ability to slow your breathing (and other bodily functions) to permit longer on-air time in the battle. This fascinating study in the contesting art which involved station construction, proper radio choice, a doctoral-level knowledge of antennas and their function, detail-oriented operating and competition begins fresh every fall. Oh, there are some events to keep from getting too rusty over the summer months but Fall is were you’ll start to notice some fellow club members are quietly missing especially over weekends. This mass effort at warming the atmosphere with massive doses of RF lasts until Spring, after which the process is repeated. Am I mocking this intrepid group? Far from it! I’m very jealous of their ability and tenaciousness! If it hit the fan and I needed highly skilled, accurate operators these are the guys and ladies I’d recruit. In DELARA we have just such a group, and we can all learn a lot about our style of radio from theirs- and typical of DELARA, they are more than willing to share! So raise a cup of really strong coffee and salute the DELARA Contest Team! If all goes well, we may see them resurface in early Spring. If you are intrigued by all this- consider joining the team! You can’t start out world class- you ~can~ start out by having fun in a few contests. You will probably score some rare ones in the meantime- a double win!

We continue to

multi-task!

Or is that multi-MASK?? Reflecting the general population in our land, DELARA members are divided on how we regard this COVID thing. Some have just decided to be done with all the shenanigans, while others are firmly convinced of the need to be protected from the virus. The cool thing is, we don’t have to take a side in DELARA! We can have it both ways! Thanks to Ken’s video expertise we are “Zooming” our meetings so you don’t have to take risks to still attend our meetings! You may know he was big into amateur television in the past-i if you’re interested, corner him! So we do very much welcome you to the Red Cross for our monthly gathering- we can even sit at a proper distance if desired. Or, you’re welcome to catch the link in your club email and just click in to watch! It’s the best of both worlds. Either way, we sincerely hope you continue to participate, ‘cause we welcome you!!

DELARANews

DELARA NEWS is the monthly publication of the Delaware Amateur Radio Association, Delaware OH. September 2020 VOL 39 Number 9

Welcome

The Prez’s Shack

Summer’s winding down - what’s

next?

If you said, “SNOW!” you might be right but not what we’re thinking here. The correct answer is “CONTESTS!” Maybe it’s inbred- sitting at a traffic light and the latest Wizzo-96 pulls to a stop beside you. And for a minute you speculate on how best to jump this guy off the line for the win! But then the arthritis in your gas-pedal-leg reminds you of your age and sanity prevails. Or it could be that online auction for a pristine, completely operational Collins station priced at just $299. You jump on it - and the message “You’ve been outbid! Next bid $4995.00” appears. And you’re off to the races- until you realize you’re eating up your paycheck. At least the other guy’s gonna pay dearly for that one after you bail! What a dream station that would have been! OK. Focus. What about radio? Why, it’s the original social network! The original “friendship around the world” hobby where you sit for long, wonderful conversations with that station in the U.K. about gardening adventures. Until the rare one is spotted. Then, it’s every station for itself- fire up the amp, re-aim the beam to exactly peak on his signal and off to the races we go! Aim the big guns and, “FIRE!” The calling frequency sounds roughly like twenty meters in a 1985 Field Day with 500,000 stations on simultaneously. What’s that?? My last suffix letter!! He heard me!! Callsign Callsign Callsign. Drat!! He was coming back to a W- 2. This then is the justification for becoming one of those “darned contesters!” It begins with “my antenna’s bigger than yours!” [the Chevelle 396 vroom vroom] and evolves over time to a crafty, highly skilled endeavor that takes the ionosphere, gray line, MUF, and many other esoteric concepts [The Ferrari F8 Spyder] to know just which multiplier and what speed to send to get that multi- million score. It’s a finely honed science, coupled with the iron-butt ability to slow your breathing (and other bodily functions) to permit longer on-air time in the battle. This fascinating study in the contesting art which involved station construction, proper radio choice, a doctoral-level knowledge of antennas and their function, detail-oriented operating and competition begins fresh every fall. Oh, there are some events to keep from getting too rusty over the summer months but Fall is were you’ll start to notice some fellow club members are quietly missing especially over weekends. This mass effort at warming the atmosphere with massive doses of RF lasts until Spring, after which the process is repeated. Am I mocking this intrepid group? Far from it! I’m very jealous of their ability and tenaciousness! If it hit the fan and I needed highly skilled, accurate operators these are the guys and ladies I’d recruit. In DELARA we have just such a group, and we can all learn a lot about our style of radio from theirs- and typical of DELARA, they are more than willing to share! So raise a cup of really strong coffee and salute the DELARA Contest Team! If all goes well, we may see them resurface in early Spring. If you are intrigued by all this- consider joining the team! You can’t start out world class- you ~can~ start out by having fun in a few contests. You will probably score some rare ones in the meantime- a double win!