DELARANEWS

Section news

Tom Sly, WB8LCD

This is the “Back to School” issue of the Ohio Section Journal. Sometimes I wish I could go back to school. I’d probably be a much better student now than I was at the time. The important thing to remember is: It’s never too late to take learning seriously. Every week, when I read what’s been written for the PostScript and the Ohio Section Journal, I’m amazed at what I learn just putting this all together. I’ve been to a number of hamfests and club meetings this year so far, and every one of them has been beneficial to my education. I hope that you will take advantage of all the learning and knowledge that’s available to you just because you are a ham. It seems to me there is no subject taught in school that cannot be reinforced with our Ham Radio experience. Saturday I was at the Cincinnati Hamfest. It seemed to be one of the best ones so far, and I think what I’m seeing is that as we get further through this year more and more of you are coming out and the crowds are getting bigger as well as more venders and sellers setting up. I hope the trend continues…… After the Cincinnati Hamfest I sat in with the SWODXA conference. Although I had to duck out early, I did learn a few pretty interesting facts. Especially since I am really looking forward to Cycle 25 taking off ! I learned that of the most rare DX locations in existence, too many have been off limits to DXpeditions in recent times because of “environmental” concerns. We’ve always had to deal with “political” concerns (think N Korea) making an area off-limits, but this is something relatively new. Which leads me to the photo at the beginning of this issue captioned with the question “what’s everybody looking at?” The answer is RIB, which stands for “Radio In a Box”. This is an example of Hams dealing with the problems we face and coming up with unique solutions. This literally is a “Radio In a Box”, while at the same time it is really much more than that! Think “GO-Kit” for places you really can’t go to. Packed along with antennas, and power solutions, these are really sophisticated, high- powered (as in water-cooled amplifiers) remotely operated stations, designed to be put in a rare, and highly restricted area and left with a minimal amount of “human contact” over the time frame of a DXpedition. The stations are run remotely from some location where the humans will not be in a position to be detrimental to the environment simply by their presence. Since these stations are being operated remotely, most humans, and all of their support materials, are kept off of, and out of the rare location, thus lessening the impact of their operations substantially! Hopefully, this is going to help more than a few of us catch a “rare one” during cycle 25. I put together a “shack shot” for my local club newsletter and I’m going to put it in here. I know when I meet a ham, talk to a ham, I’m always thinking and wondering about what kind of station he might be operating from. This will give you just a little peek at my station and some of what my ham interests are. ARS WB8LCD WB8LCD has gone through a lot of iterations through the years. I’m pretty happy with it now. I’m also the receive site for the K8IV repeater. Let’s start outside at the Antennas. The tower is a 55’ crank up / Tilt over. It’s sitting in about 11 yards of concrete at the base. Not going anywhere! On top is a 20’ mast with a Hygain Explorer 14 down near the tower, an M2 3-element 6-meter yagi at the top (about 67’ high) and a 2-meter stick at the top which serves as the receive antenna for K8IV repeater. There’s also a 40 meter/80 meter dipole hung from the top of the tower. The 2-meter antenna feeds into the Icom 2-meter / 220 Mhz cross band transceiver in the basement and sends the 220 signal back to the 220 yagi on a 6’ pole next to the tower. It’s pointed towards KSU where the K8IV repeater transmitter site is located. Inside, at the operating position I’ve got an Elecraft K3S with the matching Elecraft 500 watt amplifier. It’s a nice combination that works well together. For 2-meter FM, I use the Yaesu FT-817 into a short mobile whip located just outside the window well you can see in the picture. I really have to characterize myself as a “casual” operator. There’s a couple contests I like to run each year – OSPOTA and Sweepstakes are probably my two favorite. I’ll occasionally operate others, but, seems like the past few years have not left me too much time for a casual operation! I do enjoy working DX and Special Event Stations. When I get better control of my time I will go back to CW and try to regain my skills in that mode – I was actually pretty good at one time (at least my my pretty loose standards). I still enjoy operating portable and I have an Elecraft KX3 that goes out with me when we travel. My station is a culmination of many years in the hobby. Although there’s a couple other hams here, if you hear a signal coming out of Sugar Bush Knolls – it’s probably me!
DELARANews

Section news

Tom Sly, WB8LCD

This is the “Back to School” issue of the Ohio Section Journal. Sometimes I wish I could go back to school. I’d probably be a much better student now than I was at the time. The important thing to remember is: It’s never too late to take learning seriously. Every week, when I read what’s been written for the PostScript and the Ohio Section Journal, I’m amazed at what I learn just putting this all together. I’ve been to a number of hamfests and club meetings this year so far, and every one of them has been beneficial to my education. I hope that you will take advantage of all the learning and knowledge that’s available to you just because you are a ham. It seems to me there is no subject taught in school that cannot be reinforced with our Ham Radio experience. Saturday I was at the Cincinnati Hamfest. It seemed to be one of the best ones so far, and I think what I’m seeing is that as we get further through this year more and more of you are coming out and the crowds are getting bigger as well as more venders and sellers setting up. I hope the trend continues…… After the Cincinnati Hamfest I sat in with the SWODXA conference. Although I had to duck out early, I did learn a few pretty interesting facts. Especially since I am really looking forward to Cycle 25 taking off ! I learned that of the most rare DX locations in existence, too many have been off limits to DXpeditions in recent times because of “environmental” concerns. We’ve always had to deal with “political” concerns (think N Korea) making an area off-limits, but this is something relatively new. Which leads me to the photo at the beginning of this issue captioned with the question “what’s everybody looking at?” The answer is RIB, which stands for “Radio In a Box”. This is an example of Hams dealing with the problems we face and coming up with unique solutions. This literally is a “Radio In a Box”, while at the same time it is really much more than that! Think “GO-Kit” for places you really can’t go to. Packed along with antennas, and power solutions, these are really sophisticated, high-powered (as in water-cooled amplifiers) remotely operated stations, designed to be put in a rare, and highly restricted area and left with a minimal amount of “human contact” over the time frame of a DXpedition. The stations are run remotely from some location where the humans will not be in a position to be detrimental to the environment simply by their presence. Since these stations are being operated remotely, most humans, and all of their support materials, are kept off of, and out of the rare location, thus lessening the impact of their operations substantially! Hopefully, this is going to help more than a few of us catch a “rare one” during cycle 25. I put together a “shack shot” for my local club newsletter and I’m going to put it in here. I know when I meet a ham, talk to a ham, I’m always thinking and wondering about what kind of station he might be operating from. This will give you just a little peek at my station and some of what my ham interests are. ARS WB8LCD WB8LCD has gone through a lot of iterations through the years. I’m pretty happy with it now. I’m also the receive site for the K8IV repeater. Let’s start outside at the Antennas. The tower is a 55’ crank up / Tilt over. It’s sitting in about 11 yards of concrete at the base. Not going anywhere! On top is a 20’ mast with a Hygain Explorer 14 down near the tower, an M2 3-element 6-meter yagi at the top (about 67’ high) and a 2-meter stick at the top which serves as the receive antenna for K8IV repeater. There’s also a 40 meter/80 meter dipole hung from the top of the tower. The 2-meter antenna feeds into the Icom 2- meter / 220 Mhz cross band transceiver in the basement and sends the 220 signal back to the 220 yagi on a 6’ pole next to the tower. It’s pointed towards KSU where the K8IV repeater transmitter site is located. Inside, at the operating position I’ve got an Elecraft K3S with the matching Elecraft 500 watt amplifier. It’s a nice combination that works well together. For 2- meter FM, I use the Yaesu FT-817 into a short mobile whip located just outside the window well you can see in the picture. I really have to characterize myself as a “casual” operator. There’s a couple contests I like to run each year – OSPOTA and Sweepstakes are probably my two favorite. I’ll occasionally operate others, but, seems like the past few years have not left me too much time for a casual operation! I do enjoy working DX and Special Event Stations. When I get better control of my time I will go back to CW and try to regain my skills in that mode – I was actually pretty good at one time (at least my my pretty loose standards). I still enjoy operating portable and I have an Elecraft KX3 that goes out with me when we travel. My station is a culmination of many years in the hobby. Although there’s a couple other hams here, if you hear a signal coming out of Sugar Bush Knolls – it’s probably me!