Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club

Bucket List Sailing: Memories from New Zealand

The preamble:

My late wife and I have always had the bucket list item of visiting New Zealand. Obviously it’s too late for her and I had kind of let go of that idea when she passed. I do sail with a group of singles called “SOS” otherwise known as “singles on sailboats”. Before you get all excited about it, we’re all old people who have lost loved one and therefore lost their crew on their boat. So we volunteered to be crew for each other’s boat typically sailing up and down the Chesapeake Bay. Members of the group include all the way from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. The group has been active for the last 50 years. Occasionally one member gets a hair braided idea that they want to go on a “bare boat charter” or rent a boat in a foreign land such as Canada or Mexico or Europe. This time around they decided it was New Zealand and I got all excited. Too much was going on in my life so I missed the deadlines and decided I wasn’t going to go. Needless to say a month later, they call back and stated that they needed crew as two members had canceled and one of the boats was short handed. I looked to the sky and realize somebody was talking to me. At the spur of the moment I decided to go and got a one way ticket. I didn’t know whether that was an ominous sign that I wasn’t coming back, but then again the whole trip was being thrown together very spontaneously.

So I had to fly from Greenville to Charlotte, Charlotte to Dallas, Dallas to Auckland. The last leg was 13 hours by itself. I felt I was living on an airplane for the next two days. I left on Thursday morning but didn’t get to Auckland until Saturday morning. Jumping across the international dateline, you lose a day. I met up with three other members of the crew who I had never met before other than on Zoom. I had it in my mind, no matter what, I was going to have a good time and I was gonna make it work. That’s the best attitude to have because that was tested from time to time but we all got along famously. We left Auckland on the boat, which was a 37 foot Bavaria sloop rigged sailboat. I was named the “bursar” which is the person that finances all of this. Somehow, I was getting a feeling like I might be the rookie on this. It turned out quite well, but I did keep track of all expenses. As they say there’s an app for that and I found one on my phone that did the job perfectly. We first went to the grocery store and purchased a week’s worth of food for four people with varying tastes. That was a challenge as well as trying to design, on the fly, a menu for four people, three meals a day for seven days. That being done and stored on the boat, we took off out of Auckland Harbor that Saturday afternoon. We headed up the western side of the bay eventually crossing over to Great Barrier Island and down to Coromandel and then to Waiheke Island (where all the vineyards are located) and then finally back to Auckland. A great circle route through rather open waters. The Hauraki gulf is very open to the ocean on the north and east side, so the ocean swells come in as well as the usual waves generated by the local weather. Part way though the trip we had to stay in port for the day as the tail end of a cyclone (Pacific hurricane) passed by. The islands are very remote and formed by volcanic activity from a more recent geological time. At the end of the week, on the boat “Pure Escape”, we were fast friends and had enjoyed a great time.

Ham Radio experience:

While at Great Barrier Island, I strung an End Fed Half Wave antenna made by Packtenna from the cockpit in the back of the boat, up the mast and down to the bow of the boat mimicking the shape of the rigging. I held it away from the rigging as it would just ground the signal otherwise. At first there was a horrendous noise on the ham bands that lasted an hour but then went quiet. I could then hear signals coming in on my Elecraft KX2 (5 watts on FT8). I hooked up my iPhone running iFTx software connected via DigiRig interface to the KX2. I subsequently made contacts in Argentina (same latitude south), Australia, China, Japan, Eastern Europe. I could hear stations in the US and made one contact but the sheer number of stations on the air in the US, drowns out my QRP signal. (Like someone whispering in the corner of a conference room while everyone is talking, you cannot hear the whisperer). I tried it several other times and had similar results. I would take it down before the next morning as we were sailing.

Island Exploration:

After that week was over, I had talked to my daughter who suddenly got photographic assignments in Australia, Figi and New Zealand! She arrived two days later and we set off in a rented car exploring the north island for 5 days. She had to go on to her assignments and I flew to the south island (Christchurch & Queenstown). I toured in busses and boats catching as much as I could in 5 days before returning home. Of course my trip home had rough spots with the airlines but I made it safely. Yeah, there is a lot more to this story! (More to come) No wonder we do not like traveling!

Random Notes:

A few things that I noticed while visiting New Zealand: the people are quite friendly, but also private. They won’t come up to you and bother you but if they are approached, they’re more than willing to help and talk to you. They drive on the left side of the road, so renting a car in anywhere that used to be a British colony gets to be a real exercise in concentration. Driving down the road isn’t hard on the left side however, going into a parking lot or making a right turn, we tend to cut the corner and wind up in the wrong lane. It’s interesting that in the tourist locations such as Hobbiton, the glowworm caves and other such tourist hotspots, they have arrows painted on the lanes, indicating which direction you should be traveling right around these locations. Obviously the accident rate is a little higher in these locations due to the tourist drivers and they’re trying to keep everybody safe. On a 4 lane highway, everyone drives in the slow lane (far left lane) and only gets into the fast lane (right lane) momentarily for passing. Even the fast cars do this and no one passes on the wrong side like we do in the USA. There were a lot of foreign students from England, Germany, and many other countries working for six months or a year in New Zealand as wait staff or other help. The New Zealand dollar is worth about $0.57 in American money so you get a discount. You first get sticker shot because dinner might be $100 but in reality it’s only $57. So an American coming in with American dollars, you can live like a king for a little while. They do mostly what they call “contactless payments”. That is you use your credit card and flash their terminal with it and it charges the card with New Zealand dollars. This is automatically transferred to your account as US dollars after the exchange rate is compensated for. I used very little cash on the entire trip. They also have a much more relaxed pace to their life, where they are not so hell-bent on profits that they’re willing to sacrifice the quality of life. The quality of the food was excellent as was the coffee or tea. About every bus stop has an espresso machine as their clientele expects high-quality stuff. They do not tip for the most part unless it’s something really special, the reason being is their minimum wage is relatively high, so people are not needing to have tips to make up the difference. This has other ramifications that could be explored, but on the face of it it is rather nice knowing that the price that stated is what you’re going to pay. Before I went, I called ATT and got their international plan activated on my cell phone so that I was not being charged at very high rates for data and calls. This plan limits the cost significantly.

That’s all for now, more to come if desired…
73 Peter N4PVH

CPAP Machine Power Analysis

For those that don’t know what a CPAP machine is, it is a simple air pump that increases the air pressure going into your lungs while you’re asleep. As you get older, things like chronic bronchitis, previous pneumonia, damage from infection like Covid to the lungs and sleep apnea can cause major health problems. I was a “denier”, of course “I do NOT have sleep apnea!” Then I took a sleep test because I was getting up five times at night to go to the bathroom. Yes, as we get older, the prostate gets bigger and you have other problems. Well, after the sleep study, the results were that I had stopped breathing for a significant amount of time 60 times a night. So I reluctantly agreed to try out a CPAP machine. The first night with this thing clamped onto my face was an uncomfortable one. It was also uncomfortable because you felt like you couldn’t breathe, but yet you could. I calm down and decided that I was gonna make this work. I would take a breath in through my nose and breathe out through my mouth until I calm down and then I closed my mouth and started to breathe through the nose and the machine. It was absolutely amazing. Best sleep I have had in 15 years. Only got up once that night to go to the bathroom not five times. My blood pressure dropped. I started to lose weight. A lot of things started to reverse. In the month and a half that I’ve had it, I have had more sleep than I have had in the last 10 years. An amazing difference. The only problem is you’re tied to 110 V outlet to power the machine. They do make a little mini version of the CPAP machine so you can go traveling with it, but once again it uses 110 V. I like to go sailing or camping so what do you do now when there isn’t 110 V readily available all the time? I decided to check out different ways of powering this little mini CPAP machine and here are some of the test results. I managed to purchase a 12 V to 24 V DC – DC 90W converter that the CPAP manufacture ResMed makes. It was a bit expensive and it’s a heavy device so I figured at 90 W it would consume a tremendous amount of power. On a sailboat you also don’t have unlimited power. I also purchased a small 12 V DC – 110 V AC converter so that maybe I could plug-in the 110v small 20W power supply that came with a mini CPAP machine. I figured there’s a chance that that smaller 20 W unit would be a lot more efficient than the bigger 90 W unit. Boy was I wrong. (I’m getting used to being wrong!)

Here’s how I tested it on a 20 amp hour lithium ion battery that I put into an old emergency power supply for starting cars. It’s output is 13.8 V and I made an accessory socket and connected it to an in-line amp meter that would tell me how many watts and amps each unit was using. Below are the pictures of the set up and of the results.

The Results:

I first tried using the ResMed mini on 12 V (20 AH LiFePo battery) and both of them ran very well and you couldn’t tell any difference in performance. The power consumption, however, was quite different. The 12 V ResMed 90 W power supply would use 1.5 W 0.12 A while the AST used 3.5 W at 0.26A in just standby. There was a difference in the amperage draw from 4.2 W or 0.3 A exhaling a breath all the way up to 8–9 Watts, on deep inspiration. The deeper the inspiration, the higher wattage would be required to maintain airway pressure. So the average between the low and the high was the difference between 4.2 and 8. Using an average 6.2 W/hr Ave breathing cycle, 14 breaths a minute, is about 1860w for a 5 hr night power consumption.

ResMed 12v power supply:

Expiration: 4.2 W 0.32 A
Inspiration: 8.5 W 0.65 A
Standby: 1.5 W 0.12 A

——

Using the 12 V – 110 V AC car inverter and the 110v power supply, there was a 40 or 50% increase in the power consumption so that exhaling power consumption was 6.8 Watts, and inspiratory went up to over 11. There’s a very significant difference in the average power consumption rate. It worked very well but was significantly less efficient.

AST inverter to 110v ResMed 20W power supply:

Expiration: 6.8 W 0.52 A
Inspiration: 11.4 W 0.87 A
Standby: 3.5 W 0.26 A

The difference makes sense to me because the ResMed 12v power supply is a DC to DC inverter taking 12 V DC and converting it to 24 V DC for the unit versus the AST converts 12 V DC to 110 AC and then the power supply for the mini takes it from 110 AC to 24 V DC. The good news is I have two ways of powering my CPAP when I’m out on the boat or camping. A 20 amp our lithium iron battery would last all night either way but would last longer with the 90W unit.

Sweet Dreams!
N4PVH

Adding Groups.io to BARC

Dear BARC members: after many years of being a guest to the board meetings, having a path all the way through the different elected and non-elected positions, being the president during a pandemic, I am now back down to just being the webpage manager but noticed a hurdle that the club needs to overcome. The hurdle I’m talking about is really part of the life blood of any organization, that is communication between the officers and the membership. This needs to be a two way conversation that should be easy and free flowing. To that end, I investigated the use of the webpage “Groups.io” to see if we could accomplish these objectives. I have heard people say that we could use Facebook to do that however, the problem with these kind of social media outlets is there really after pumping advertisement to you. They’re also horribly insecure and expose you to problems that the Internet has become famous for. What I’ve discovered is that we can create a “W4AMC” group on the webpage that only members of Brightleaf can see. If you are a member, then you can sign in and post messages to either the group or to the board or to an individual that others can see. Others can then comment on those messages which allows the free flow of ideas between eveyone. The other objective that this accomplishes is that it is quite secure compared to any other way of doing this. It also is self regulating in the sense that you can decide when you need to change your password and adjust your messaging as it fits you. You don’t need to contact anybody else to do that so you’re in full control yourself on your account. For the users this is a free service, for the group it may cost us a total of $10 or $20 a month once we get established after 90 days of trying it out. If we get above 500 members, then the price goes up a little bit but then again I think we could afford that if we had 500 members.

Another feature of this is it allows us to have topics for these messages so that we can group issues such as help about antennas or radios in separate folders. It further allows us to have files in a central location on the cloud where we can put instruction manuals for all the radios that we have in the club and how to run the software to do logging or the digital modes. It is a central depository that is available for all the members where ever they are. It also has an area for the Brightleaf constitution and the documents that we should all have access to.

Another thing that it does really well is it maintains the calendar. You can subscribe to the calendar so that your calendar in your phone gets updated with whatever activity gets added to the group calendar. This means that you’re always informed as to what’s going on in the club and what are the activities that are coming up. With this kind of access, I hope that the membership will be more engaged in the club and more willing to participate in the different areas that the membership may like.

Another feature of it is the roster. The roster is now going to be kept at the Groups page only visible to the members. That also means that if you need to contact anybody or send somebody an email you can directly go to the roster and push a button and send an email to that individual or to the group. It has many other features such as a wiki page that allows us to generate an instruction manual for the group. This will take some time to build, but it can be not only a history of Brightleaf, but also how we like to do things as well as the rules and regulations outlined in the constitution. There are other features that are advantageous to this, but the ones I have listed above would help tremendously in making it easier to run the club as well as getting the message out to the membership so that the officers are doing what the membership would like them to do. Without that level of communication, it’s a guessing game for the officers to try to guess what the membership wants.

At the recent board meeting, we discussed the fact that the webpage and the Facebook groups are what we call “outwardly facing” image of Brightleaf, so that nonmembers can get a taste of what we’re about and hopefully want to sign up and become part of the club. The application forms and the PayPal account is on the webpage for those that want to join. The group.io is really an “internal facing” image of the club just for members to improve member to member communications and help coordinate the activities of the club. That is not for public consumption. This also allows us to have the security that our email addresses and phone numbers don’t get out there on the Internet because we’re all in it together as a club in a scure location. Others that are not club members don’t care whether they publish your personal information or not, this is what I’m trying to guard against by doing it this way. We all must be vigilant to keep our club and our activities safe because there are a lot of bad actors out there. We do want to have new members come on board, but we need to make sure that they are well intentioned and want to join the club for good reasons.

I sincerely hope that everyone will sign up to the group.io page and be part of it. Being a passive member and standing on the sidelines, not messaging or participating in the group, doesn’t make the group stronger. It’s a lot more fun if we all get together and help each other out and participate in the different activities, that’s what Brightleaf is all about. This is an effort to make the club more in tune to the membership as well as making it a lot more fun to do Amateur radio as a group. Because this is just starting, there isn’t a lot there yet, but as the group gets going, and people start using it, I hope it will become a wonderful touchstone for us all to touch and communicate with. After all we are communicators are we not? So please test it out and be patient, we will mold this tool into what we need to do for us all. Thank you very much and see you in the group,

73 PETER N4PVH.

Addendum: I will be adding images to this blog and helpful hints as an initial guide. This is the first edition of this message to the membership. Stay in tune for further changes to this blog.

UPDATE: The bill came due and was not paid so we could not update the calendar. I gave a $200 donation to get access to the site for the next year and corrected the calendar. Please use this and tell me of errors and omission. I will be glad to update it when needed. 73 Peter.

2M Simplex Net Test

January 18, 2024: after having a wonderful breakfast meeting at “Bake My Day” restaurant, we all went home and turned on the radios to 2 m simplex on 146.520 FM. We all got on the air and tried to see who we could hear and who had to work as a relay for others. This is just in case the repeaters go down in an emergency. Here is some of the takeaways from this exercise. Many ham operators joined in from all over the state and into Virginia, spontaneously as this was not an announced exercise but the response was great! It shows that we should be listening to the simplex frequency periodically.

Some of the issues that came up, included the following:

Multiple radio stations talking all at once. This could be handled by sticking to the more formalized net control run network (or etiquette) . All communications have to be approved by the net control by putting a very brief call like this: “Net control, N4PVH” or just “Net control” inserted between other’s communications. Net control directs who can talk next so that duplicate conversations are kept to a minimum. This breaks down when some stations can’t hear net control, listen for a few seconds, doesn’t hear anyone and then starts talking. If we relied on trying to communicate by announcing or calling net control and letting net control, give you airtime, then we don’t talk over each other quite so much. There are goning to be instances where net control can’t hear everybody, more typically at the fringes of our active area, that may interrupt communications. If other operators that can hear both parties, then they can act as a “relay” and call net control with the information.

People not using their call signs frequently: so you’re not too sure who is talking to whom. In CW and on other nets, most people will first say the call sign that they are talking to, “DE” (this is) your call sign. For example: I’m calling Bernie would be like this: “WA4MOK, this is N4PVH, and then the text of what is the message. We sometimes get the adrenaline going and we get going too fast, this does not allow others that may need a relay to catch your call. If I don’t mention my call multiple times and frequently, then nobody knows who to call in case they need a relay. If you’re like me, it takes me at least 1 to 3 times of hearing the call to be able to grasp it memorize it or better yet write it down on the scrap piece of paper as sometimes my ears are “a little slow”.

I cannot hear you: Your squelch needs to be turned down or off as some of the signals are very weak and does not break the squelch but can be still readable. Sometimes the signals fade and grow with the weather or changes in propagation. Readable at times and minutes later, not readable. We need to optimize our radio and antenna stations. Put the antennas in the highest positions, with the most power.

Who is that on the radio? We need our BARC Roster updated and sorted by call sign. Everyone should have this list so as we hear club members come up, we can check them on the list.

I can’t get on the air or no one heard me: By doing a simplex test on a regular basis, we discover what works, what is broken and needs to be fixed. I ran out to my ham shack to use the biggest antenna I have and discovered that my Slim Jim at 60′ was broken and SWR of infinity! The antenna on the eve of the house did work (had a backup) but not the best however.

I do not have the simplex frequency on my radio (aka: how do I get this to be simplex? What frequency do I need?): As I grabbed by HT going out the door, I realized it was years ago that I had programmed my radio/HT and I had forgotten how to do it! We should have the simplex frequencies programmed into a memory channel right at the beginning of the memory list before we need it in an emergency. Get out your programming cable and software and make it so. Have the manual in a convenient place so you do not have to go far to find the information you need. I would suggest putting them both on both sides of a two channel radios so that you can monitor a repeater on one channel and the simplex channel on the other, or….

By the way: National Simplex Calling Frequency:
2M band: 146.520 FM, no tone;
70 CM band: 446.000, FM, no tone.

SOME IDEAS WORTH TALKING ABOUT

If we have another exercise like this (we should do this Q1-2 months on a regular basis) I suggest that everyone keep a list of who you could hear via simplex. At the end of the exercise, send an email to Webmaster@w4amc.com with the following information:
Your Name & call sign:
Station information (Radio, Antenna & height, watts used):
Station location (Grid square, GPS Lat & Long):
Who you heard (Call sign, Signal report):

Here is a table or form you could use to send the information:

Your Name & call sign:
Station information (Radio, Antenna & height, watts used):
Grid square, GPS Lat & Long:
Who you heard (Call sign)	(Signal report):

From this information, a “heat” map of communications can be drawn so that everyone would know who they might be able to contact if every thing goes wild!

Please post comments and corrections below so that we can improve the information on this page. Thanks, N4PVH.

JOYUSING Epicus-DC Model V500 Document Camera, Part 1

Product Review Part 1
by WA4JCK December 17, 2024

Figure 1: Box and Device

If you have been to a recent hamfest, you may have seen this device connected to a monitor showing a close-up of a PCB (Printed Circuit Board). I purchased one at the Shelby Hamfest in 2024. The device is surplus and has no warranty. This article (Part 01) covers the basic connections and features of the device as well as some commentary of my impressions of using the device. Later article(s) will go more in depth of using the device.

I purchased the device with the idea that I would use it as a visual aid to read printed material such as books, snail mail, package labels, etc. I have visual issues that require contrast and large fonts in order to read. My intention all along was to connect it to a separate monitor and use it as a stand-alone reading assistant. I purchased a portable table and a 32” monitor to use with the device. I have not connected it to a computer because A) I do not intend to use it with a computer and B) I do not have the room on my computer desk anyway.

The contents of the box include the following items:

The device itself
Power Supply
A USB Cable
An HDMI Cable
A VGA Cable
Remote Control
CD
Manual

Figure 2: Remote, VGA Cable, & USB Cable

The device has two major parts, the base and the arm. The base contains the external connections, basic controls, and a swivel/flip mount for the arm. The arm has three sections, the lower arm (11”), middle arm (6”), and the head (3.5”).

The cables are a good length and heavy duty. They should last and last.

The remote control takes one AA battery. I have not used it because A) Everything is within easy reach with my setup and B) I cannot read the labels on it anyway.

The CD contains software for Windows, Mac, and Chrome. It installed on my computer quickly. I thought it was a comprehensive instruction manual. However, when I tried to open the program that was installed, it required that the device be connected. Not my preferred configuration so I uninstalled the program. It may provide usefulness in the future.

It comes with something identified as a manual. But it is just a sheet of paper printed on both sides. If Apple Translate is correct, it basically says, “If you figure the device out in English, you let us know.”

Base Connections descriptions from L-R.

Figure 3: Base Connections

SD Card slot – I purchased a 64 GB SanDisk ImageMate microSDXC UHS-I Card with Adapter that works well. I had to format it in the device (takes about two minutes) before I could store images on it, but the card is readable on my PC afterward.

HDMI Output – Connected to my 32” monitor.
VGA in – I have not used.
VGA Out – I have not used.
USB – I connected a wireless USB mouse that works really well with the device and adds some capability beyond what the controls on the base have.
Connection for the Power Supply.

Thumbnail 1: SD Card

The Arm and mount have the following features:

The Lower Arm mount rotates 180° in the base, 90° to the left and 90° to the right.

The Lower Arm flips 135°, from 0° to the front back to 135° with seven locking steps. When extended fully and in the 0° position, the base does not have enough weight to hold the device in the proper position. It will tilt forward. This is not an issue because the head needs to be above what you are trying to display.

The Middle Arm flips about 270° in relation to the Lower Arm. It contains a light with three switch selectable intensity levels.

The Head flips about 120° in relation to the Middle Arm and swivels 90° CCW and 90° CW. The Head contains the camera, a switch selectable light (on/off) and a microphone.

There are many features and capabilities with this device that you cannot see just by looking at a PCB on a monitor. You really have to dig in and have a look. My overall experience so far has been positive. Although there are a couple of things that could be better, I have used it for the reason I purchased it and it works better than a more expensive electronic magnifier that I have and paid much more for. However, the other more expensive magnifier is battery operated and portable.

In Part 02 I will start detailing the software.

73, Dale Jones, WA4JCK

Hurricane Helene and Amateur Radio

Just finished listening to a 3 hour interview podcast with K4SWL, Thomas Witherspoon by the Amateur Radio Workbench group posing questions and getting into the nitty-gritty of the disaster. The podcast is fabulous narrative of the disaster and how the community came together to help each other with trying to put the pieces of their lives back together. Obviously amateur radio became immediately useful in the first days of the disaster, not only getting health and welfare information out to the world outside the disaster zone but also coordinating where resources were needed as all cell phones and power was out completely. One amateur radio repeater survived and was pressed into emergency management immediately. All the hams fell right into net control mode. Other useful information was handled locally by handy talkies that Thomas handed out to his neighbors and organized a twice a day on the air meeting using simplex to meet and check on everyone. There are many more details that are in the podcast and the article he wrote for the QRPer Magazine, check it out here:

Helene Aftermath Update: Adopting an Off-Grid Community Radio Network (Thursday, October 24, 2024)

There are many “pearls of wisdom” that came out of this experience that the rest of us and emergency management could learn. Some of his experience was dictated by luck however being prepared limits the bad luck you might have. He lives in a very isolated area and power outs are not uncommon. He got an opportunity to put in a Tesla Power Wall 2 at a discount instead of a generator. He put solar panels on the roof to replenish the power wall. The beauty of this was that he was the only one that had limited power all the time. He did suffer some tree damage to a few of the solar panels but had enough to run most of the house paying close attention to conservation. Only use what had to be used. The problem with generators is that at some point you will run out of fuel and if the roads are impassable then you are out for a long time. In Thomas’s case, there were a lot of trees down all over the roads, some of the roads and bridges were washed out and egress was a problem. He also had recently ordered satellite internet from Starlink and has been able to send messages and post online blog of his experience. He set up a local radio net that could identify needs and do wellness checks. His article on QRPer is a must read.

It is also very revealing that the bad reports on the news of government entities not providing help or taking over peoples houses and property were totally false. FEMA, Samaritan’s Purse and World Central Kitchen were everywhere helping, clearing roads, providing food and shelter as soon as they could get there. The workbench crew ask that you donate what you can to these organizations as they are really there helping.

Please check out the links and articles and come back here and leave your comments and impressions. We need to take heed of the lessons learned there and start to get ready for the next one!

73 Peter, N4PVH

Satellite photo courtesy of NASA:
https://airs.jpl.nasa.gov/news/287/nasas-airs-instrument-captures-hurricane-helene/

A New Member’s First Field Day Experience:

by Mathew Fish, KQ4KGX

The ARRL website describes Field Day as a ham radio open house that demonstrates hams’ various abilities and skills related to public service, emergency preparedness, and technical capabilities, all packed into one weekend. This annual event started in 1933, and the 2024 Field Day was my first experience, along with several other new BARC club members.

For my shared experience, I wish to focus on something other than the technical aspects of Field Day. We all know it involved hard work and teamwork, and it was a hot weekend. Everyone who participated was needed and vital to the BARC Field Day event. As a new member, the most meaningful thing I took away from Field Day is that the BARC club is full of awesome, knowledgeable people I am grateful to have in my life. In a more and more virtual world where human connection seems more distant, I have found it more difficult to find “real” people who value spending time together, bonding, and building relationships. People who want to talk, learn, and spend time together. So, thank you for being different, humble, and genuine.

Ultimately, I love our radio community, the challenges of learning new things, and having friends willing to mentor and struggle with me. I achieved my Field Day objective by learning how to set up HF antennas, troubleshoot signals, emergency preparedness capabilities, etc. More importantly, I connected with our different BARC members, learning about their interests and life stories. I will always remember my first Field Day as a time for fellowship with what I call my Radio Family! I know Field Day provided and built many new relationships that will be life-long, and I want to thank all of those involved—you’re stuck with me! I’m excited about future Field Days and time with you, the BARC members.

73, Fish – KQ4KGX

2024 Field Day Summary

Another Field Day is in the books for BARC, a very hot and sweaty field day, right from the start. Actually, even before the start, Peter N4PVH did some prep, quite a bit of work, honestly, on the trailer, fixing a tire, dropping off the trailers at Oakwood, prepping laptops, and filling the tanks for the generators, despite the fact that he couldn’t even attend Field Day.

Oakwood was a little bit of a question mark the for the whole time leading up to FD. There was outdoor construction going on for months, and I was assured that it would be wrapped up, and it was. However, there was also indoor construction going on, which started ahead of schedule, so “our” room was in disarray and with tools and drywall stacked in some places, although we are still so grateful to be able to hold the event there. But the whole point is to operate no matter what, so we carried on and set up a 2A event. Thanks in large part to Bernie, WA4MOK, Matt, KQ4KGX, Nick, KQ4PXG, Mark, KG4GVJ, Lou, W3LPR, Susan, WA4AKB, Eric, K4CEB, Nathan, N4CEB, and Dave, W4EJ for getting things set up. From antennas, to signage, to generators, to a lesson, to laptops, these guys do it all. My apologies if I am forgetting anyone. We had a 40 m vertical set up out past the basketball courts, and a tribander set up for 20 m on the trailer, and of course, a flag to top it all off. Radios were both IC 7300s from the ARES trailer with one running FT8 and one SSB, in addition to various filters, power supplies, and miscellaneous items that the club stores in the trailers. We started a little late, but started getting QSOs right away, with no antenna adjustments necessary. I’m so grateful to all the operators we had working all day, and there were a lot of people coming in and out, so I don’t really know who all to list here. Looking at the sign-in list, we had 22 people and we may have missed some too. I love the mix of old friends stopping by and newly licensed hams, or those who have an interest and want to start learning to get a license. I also love our supper gathering and that everyone comes together with a delicious variety of food to share. Our evening crew continued getting QSOs, while some of the others cleaned up after the meal. We shut down for the night around 11 or 11:30 and started up again around 10 on Sunday morning. The QSOs were coming pretty slowly, but we logged a few more. Because of the heat, we were eager to start closing things down as soon as possible. I think we closed the FT8 station around noon and started putting things away. Then shut down the voice station around 1. The Gonzalez boys showed up to help wherever they could and were able to load the tables, wrap up extension cords and coax, help lower antennas safely, and generally do the dirty and sweaty work as directed by Bernie WA4MOK, Matt, KQ4KGX, Nick KQ4PXG, Richard, W4JNC, and the others.

Overall, things went very smoothly. I think one of the keys to that is the organization of the trailers, which my personal clean up crew may have messed up a little. When the heat passes, we really need a day to organize, clean out, and show off the equipment. I think there are newer members who don’t have a clue about our equipment capabilities. Additionally, we need to look into cooling the ARES trailer to make it more functional as its own station. It has fantastic potential that we don’t really utilize because the heat can be so blazing at the end of June. We are already looking forward to next year’s Field Day, and want to be ready.

If you have any photos, please send them to Peter so he can add them.

73 Beth, KN4FZB.

A New Member’s First Field Day Experience:

73, Fish – KQ4KGX

RARS-fest 2024

Four years of a pandemic and I haven’t been to a Hamfest in a long time. It was really nice to go to the big one where everybody was spread out in a large venue. Hardly anyone was wearing a mask as we were spread out in a large hall. Unfortunately I did not win a door prize but I did have a great time. More people that I have not seen in a long time and had wonderful conversations catching up with them. Talked to the group that is trying to repair the W4NBR repeater in Grifton, NC. They need members to support the repeater: ENC Repeater Inc. Please join and support our local repeaters (email to enc (at) inner360.com for Grifton) or help John KE4TZN at https://www.pcra.us/. with the other repeaters in the area.
New and old technology on display and for sale… How about a 12v power management system under development by David Arthur K4DBZ.
See https://tapr.org/

How about a portable electronics work bench and electronics on line classes to be able to develop your own projects. Had a wonderful conversation with Barbara and Marty W4MY about this work bench and the educational program, of course I signed up for it.
See https://phasedock.com/
Marty is well known for his work with the yearly NC QSO party usually held in February of each year.
See https://ncqsoparty.org/

Or add a TARPN node and socialize with others on the network independent from the internet via packet radio? Long talks with Tad and other members of the network were interesting and productive. Jason Rausch is making the boards at RPC ELECTRONICS.
See https://tarpn.net/t/packet_radio_networking.html
See https://ncpacket.net/
See https://www.rpc-electronics.com/

Makers fair was represented by multiple vendors and enthusiasts. Laser cut parts and 3D printed devices were featured.

Ran into my Elmer who ran the Technician classes, for BARC, at the library for years and helped me pass my first test. Murray K4MHM who has moved to Raleigh in the past is involved with teaching an universal language that has been hailed as the language for all people and all countries called “Esperanto”. This might eliminate the misunderstandings and improve communications around the world. This and amateur radio would be a path for better communications.
See https://ttt.esperanto-usa.org/esperanto/
I found an old friend, a Ray Jeff radio direction finder (RDF), my father bought to help us on our sail boat voyages in the 70’s from Miami to the Bahamas that we took each Christmas vacation. My father was in the Navy in the 40’s and learned how to “dead reckon” our position by compass direction, speed and time without electronics. He was looking for a back up system and bought the RDF. On a small sailboat, having a bumpy ride in the middle of the gulf stream, was not the best environment to test the device and we got position fix triangles drawn on the paper chart so big that he stated “we could jump a small dog through the position triangle.” Needless to say, he returned it to the shop. Mom was wondering why we needed anything else as Dad was always spot-on with the dead reckoning. Years later we eventually purchased a Loran C unit when they came out.

Ran into another old friend of BARC and myself, Robert Young NC4RY. He had sold his antenna company years ago but designing and building antennas are in his blood and he cannot get it out. He has started making new antennas with the fantastic engineering with 3D printing and designs that he produces under the new label “Tarheel Designs“. He was featuring a double tarheel antenna in a dipole configuration with tuning control system. Bernie WA4MOK and Robert had done this years ago at one of our field days.
See https://tarheeldesigns.com/

Of course many friends were seen and conversations held. Spotted our illustrious BARC President Beth KN4FZB and her husband Jorge who does not know it yet but has the makings of being an excellent HAM! Many others, too numerous to mention.
Until next year, 73 Peter, N4PVH.

Ok, Call me a Shopper!

So, about a month ago, I got a phone call from a friend telling me he found
a deal that we could not pass up! Thanks KE4TZN!
He spotted a 8 hour sale on Icom D-Star/Analog repeaters at 1/4 price! He twisted my arm HARD! (Yeah, right!). I bit on the 440 Icom repeater with no idea on how to set it up. I guess this is what this hobby is all about. Doing things you have little idea on how to do and you learn by doing it. Boy am I going to need help. There are decisions to be made: Where to put it, what frequencies do we need, what purpose will this device try to fulfill. Which antenna and feed lines, which filter cavities, how many cavities do we need? How about the repeater controller and do we have an internet connection?

Multiple questions and decisions to research and make. I was thinking that having it in the ARES trailer with a pushup mast would be useful at a search and rescue site. It would be useful at any event that may not have good local repeater coverage. It becomes a mobile repeater. I understand that there may be frequencies for this kind of use but will have to investigate further. Having a repeater that can do both D-star and analog is very useful and could include those operators that do not have D-star HT’s.

Guess what? It arrived about a month after placing the order. When I checked on it, I thought it would be 3 months to get it. Surprise, it just got here already! Now the questions need to be answered. I have already thought that the cavity filters need to be a 6 cell rather than the 4 cell type as the higher number seems to mean better filtering so that there is better separation between transmission signal and the incoming signal. I have already seen the youTube videos on tuning the cavities. It is like manually tuning an antenna matcher with twin needle display, simultaneously turning the knob and also tuning the capacitors at the same time to make the filtration curves you need to separate the incoming and outgoing signals.

More to come… Need to find the parts. Stay tuned for part II.
73 Peter N4PVH.

The preamble:

Ham Radio experience:

Island Exploration:

Random Notes:

The Results:

Product Review Part 1by WA4JCK December 17, 2024

by Mathew Fish, KQ4KGX

A New Member’s First Field Day Experience:

Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club

Product Review Part 1
by WA4JCK December 17, 2024