Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
Nov 24th
CAARC Executive for 2015 – 2016
Past President   Bob King VE6BLD
President– Stephen Lee VA6SGL
Vice President– Rod Lins VE6XY
Secretary-Â Sandy Jacobs VE6SND
Treasurer– Karen McKinney VA6LDY
Directors
 Appointments
Repeaters
Skip MacAulay VE6BGT
Emergency Coordinator
Jeff Low VA6JL
Publicity
Bob King VE6BLD
Webmaster
Bob King VE6BLD
Net Control
Bob King VE6BLD
Nov 23rd
Come to the next Club General Meeting November 18, 2015 to qualify for a $1.00 draw ticket for an Icom IC-229H VHF mobile radio.
One ticket per person, must be there to win. Hope to see you all there.
Nov 18th
I bought a package of 10 SO-239 chassis connectors on eBay at a great price. Â The connectors looked good, teflon insulation, gold plated pins. Â However it was not possible to thread a PL-259 male connector on more than 2 or 3 turns.
I then understood why the price was so low. Â I decided that the solution was to re-thread the connectors. Â I looked for a die at local tool stores but no luck – Â I was told that 5/8-24Â was a thread used in electrical connectors but not commonly used by machinists. Â Checking on Amazon it became clear that the proper die was available at reasonable cost as a “gunsmiths” die.
As soon as it arrived I tried it. Â I did not have a holder for this size die so I used a “Quick-clamp” with rubber pads. Â I used lots of cutting oil and took my time cutting the threads. Â The result was a bare brass thread which easily took the Amphenol PL-259 connector.
I don’t know if the manufacturer in China used a 16 mm die in place of 5/8″ or if they failed to take the thickness of the nickle plating into account when cutting threads. Â Whatever the reason now I have the tool to make it right!
The photos tell the story. Â 73 and keep on building. Â Earl VA6TJ
 
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Oct 12th
Had a great weekend with our son and daughter in law in Okotoks. Had a fantastic sunset one night. Here are a few shots. Check the Gallery for more or click the newest image on the home page to link to the Gallery.
Bob
VE6BLD
Oct 11th
Remote tuners are offered by MFJ, LDG and others. Here is my brief review of the LDG RT-100 tuner.
I purchased the tuner new, at what I considered was a competitive price. As you can see from the photo I am using it to tune a horizontal loop antenna close to the feed-point.  The tuner is matching a short section of low loss open wire line and not a long section of coax.  The tuner requires 12V DC at low current so I powered it from a gel cell battery and a small solar trickle charger panel (CND$14). This remote solar power arrangement has been in operation for several months now without issue.
The tuner finds a match from 80 – 10 meters on the random length loop (~130m of #10 multi-strand insulated wire, 10m high).
I have found a few issues with tuning; i.e. failing to find a good match on a band or frequency. As per the instruction manual a tune can be “forced†by changing bands, re-tuning and then returning to the frequency you want to operate on.
The second issue noted is a de-tune with changing weather / moisture conditions. For example rain or heavy dew on the antenna may cause the antenna to re-tune. This does not often happen but it is inconvenient there is a re-tune cycle in the middle of a QSO.
I experimented with different baluns and found that a 4:1 air core balun worked best for me. This balun is very easy and inexpensive to make using parts from the hardware store.   The antenna is maintained at DC ground through the balun and tuner. (Yes, the ground wire should have been green…major fail !)
Using the remote tuner I was able to operate on SSB effectively on multiple bands with a single wire antenna using only 100 W. The loop antenna was found to be very quiet as a receive antenna. On 20m a signal barely audible on a dipole was perfectly Q5 on the loop antenna.
So if your opportunities for erecting antennas are restricted my experience shows that a multi band wire antenna with a remote tuner and one feedline can be an effective way to operate HF.
Sep 30th
Sep 9th
Maxdroid
Modification to add a digital display and continuous frequency selection to VHF/UHF Maxtrac transceivers.
By
Avinoam Albo, 4X1HF Avinoam.albo@gmail.com
December 2014
Conversion of a Maxtrac to a transceiver with display and frequency selection
In this article I will explain how to convert the venerable Maxtrac to a rig more user friendly to radio amateurs. The modification requires  the addition of only a few inexpensive and easily available components. When the modification is completed you will have a rig with digital display and frequency selection enabling continuous  coverage over the whole range of frequencies  where the VCO locks. An external programmer is no longer needed.
Disclaimer: Carrying out the modification described requires basic electronics skills. Any modifications are the sole responsibility of the technician. This modification will likely void type certification for commercial radio service.  This article does not make any specific claims or recommendations.
Specifications of the transceiver after this modification
Required ComponentsÂ
Programming the transceiver More >
Sep 8th
Horizontal Quad Antenna
By: Eli Kovo, 4X4LH (originally published in the IARC newsletter 08/2015 “HaGal†and used with permission of the author.  Translated by: Earl, VA6TJ)
I recently came across an article in an issue of “73 Magazine†from 1978 raving about an antenna called “The German Quad†which [at that time] was used by about half the hams in Germany.  Below I summarize the main points of the article.
The first thing about this antenna is that it works without a tuner on 6 bands, from 10m to 80m and also on 2m. I could not find confirmation that it works on 6m however I am confident that it will also transmit on that band. Compared to a symmetrical dipole, the horizontal quad has the advantage that it can be fed anywhere, even at a point close to the shack as in illustration 1.
Jul 17th
The 45th Anniversary Red Deer Picnic and Hamfest was a huge success. There were 112 people registered.  On Saturday morning Radio World and other flea market vendors enjoyed selling new and used radios and accessories under a beautiful and sunny sky. Greg and Karen and Karen’s parents began the process of roasting of the pig at 3:00 AM! Thanks for your generous donation of the pig and all your time!  Everyone enjoyed the roasted pork and the pot luck dinner Saturday evening.  Following the meal we watched the 45th anniversary video produced by Vance VA6VAN. Thank you Vance, for editing the pictures and videos sent from numerous hams. The weather was great Sunday morning for the pancake breakfast, egg toss and the  draw prizes.
There were many people who helped in various ways to make our 45th anniversary hamfest and picnic a resounding success. A special thank you to Phyllis and the ladies from the 160 gang from Camrose for organizing the fun craft again this year! Â Thank you everyone!
Bob King VE6BLD
CAARC President
Click pictures to see larger files
