Eeting D BARA Bulletin · MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Discuss radio and computer problems Interested in...

Eeting D

Bergen Amateur Radio Association

BARA Bulletin September 2017

Volume 54 Number 9 www.BARA.ORG

October Hamfest 1

Eclipse Affected Propagation 1

September BARA Program 1

Portable Day 1

VE Exam Schedule 2

Public Service Information 2

Link of the Month 2

Ham Humor 3

IARU Concerned Over Spectrum 3

Basic Circuit Explanation 3

Upcoming Events 4

For Sale 5

Solar Eclipse Photo 5

NJ QSO Party 5

FCC looks into Tech. Regs. 5

Route 66 Special Event 6

Exodus 70th Year Spcl Event 6

K2FJ 13 Colonies Award 6

BARA Picnic Photos 7

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Our 54th Year

From the ARRL...

More Professional

and Citizen Research

Suggests Eclipse Briefly

Affected HF Propagation

Both professional and citizen sci-

entists conducted formal and infor-

mal investigations into the effect

of the August 21 solar eclipse on

HF radio propagation. Nathaniel

Frissell, W2NAF, of HamSCI, has

said it will take some time to get a

more scientific analysis of data

that was compiled during the Solar

Eclipse QSO Party. He and others

are investigating whether the sud-

den absence of sunlight during the

eclipse -- and especially of solar

ultra-violet and x-rays -- would

briefly change the properties of the

upper atmosphere.

Professional ionospheric research-

er Dr. Phil Erickson, W1PJE, head

of the Atmospheric Sciences

Group at MIT's Haystack Observa-

tory, said he can say categorically

that there was a definite, large, and

measurable effect in the iono-

sphere from the eclipse.

"We saw a 2X reduction in elec-

tron density during the eclipse for

at least 45 minutes to 1 hour," Er-

ickson told ARRL. "This reduction

had direct impacts on HF propaga-

tion along the bottom side." Erick-

son said many models and obser-

(Continued on page 3)

BARA Hamfest

Saturday, October 7

8 am to 1 pm

Westwood Jr./Sr. H.S.

VE Session 8 to 10 am

DXCC card checking

This event is one of the two fund-

raisers that support BARA. It is

critical that we provide a good

experience for both sellers and

buyers. Did you enjoy the food at

the Family picnic, pizza after the

Fox Hunts and Field Day? Now’s

the time to give back to the club.

Please consider where you can

help for even a short time.

Sign up for a job at the Sunday

Meeting or email K2ZO to volun-

teer.

September BARA

Meeting Program

Steve, WI2W, and Bruce, W2SE,

Will present highlights of their

trip into the eclipse “zone of

totality” in Tennessee.

Also highlights of their return

trip to NJ and their operation

from SOTA (Summits On The

Air) peaks.

Portable Day

Saturday, Sept 23

Memorial Field

1st Street, Fair Lawn

(Location of town pool)

9 AM - 4 PM

With FLARC

Pick up some ideas on portable

operation and operate

one of the stations.


PUBLIC SERVICE

BC RACES NET 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month.

7:45 PM on the W2AKR Repeater

146.790 MHz; PL 141.3 Hz.

Net control is NJ2BC

Directed training net for all authorized

Bergen County RACES stations and

authorized liaison stations.

VE EXAM SCHEDULE

The next Ham License

test session is scheduled for:

September 15

at

Township of Washington

Senior Center

7 pm

The FCC has imposed a

Testing fee of $15.00 per

exam/retest.

Required documents:

Two forms of ID required

for all transactions.

Social Security Number

if unlicensed or FRN

Number if licensed.

Original CSCE if prior

test credit is claimed.

If license upgrade, a

signed copy of current

FCC license

Calculators are permitted, iPhones

and iPads are not permitted.

Questions may be directed to:

Don Younger, W2JEK

201-265-6583

Question Pool Revision:

The Extra exam question pool was

revised on Sepy 1, 2016.

Current Question Pool:

Technician, Element 2-Sepy 1,

2014

General, Element 3 - Sepy 1,

2015

Extra, Element 4 - Sepy 1, 2016

Practice tests and study guides available at QRZ.COM.

www.qrz.com/hamtest

Link of the Month

In case one of you had any thought

on moving to Kentucky, this house

is practically plug and play.

https://www.hamradiohomes.com/

listings/leitchfield-kentucky/

Tnx to Hector, W2NPR

K2BAR NETS BC RACES

Communications Unit Any licensed ham operator in Bergen

County, if not already a member, is

asked to join the BCRACES team by

sending an e-mail to:

[email protected]

with your name, callsign, e-mail, and

municipality.

SSB Net:

Mondays 9:00 pm

10 Meters – 28.375 MHz

Net Control: Jim, K2ZO

FM Nets:

Wednesdays 9:00 pm

2 Meters: 146.79 MHz.

PL 141.3

Net Control: Dan, WA2CLP

Thursdays 8:30 pm

70 cm: 444.100

PL 141.3

Net Control: Marco, KC2ZMA

Thursdays 9:00 pm

Technical Net

Pearl River

NJ2BS Repeater

2 Meters: 146.835 MHz. (-600 kHz)

PL 151.4

Net Control: Gordon, W2TTT

New HF Digital Net

Focused on EMCOMM

The New Jersey Narrow Band

Emergency Messaging System (NJ

-NBEMS) Net meets every Sunday

Morning at 9:30 AM on 7.073

MHz using OLIVIA-8-500. This

net is NOT affiliated with RACES

or ARES, so any Radio Amateur

with appropriate operating privileg-

es may participate.

FLDIGI is the preferred sound card

software because FLAMP and

FLMSG are used for message han-

dling. This is a training net for

new users, so operator error is ex-

pected and well tolerated.

For additional information contact

Bill, KC2VUT at arrl.net, Rick,

N2PHI at comcast.net or Karl,

W2KBF at arrl.net.


PETALUMA, Calif. – In a surpris-

ing move, a local man has taken

his family feud to new heights –

literally. Sunday, Ronnie Hawkins

scaled his 75 foot amateur radio

signal tower and vows he’ll stay

there until his “get down into my

business, never good enough for

their daughter” in-laws and “no-

good, no-job having, drink all my

beer” brother leave his house.

“I had to put some distance be-

tween me and them,” says Haw-

kins. “I thought they were just

coming for a Thanksgiving meal.

Then I found out they planned to

stay until next Tuesday.”

Hawkins, a former production

manager for Brach’s Candies, re-

tired to Petaluma’s south side in

1986. He’s been a ham radio oper-

ator since 1988.

The feud erupted late Sunday after-

noon as the family was planning

the traditional Thanksgiving meals

for the week. A debate over corn

bread dressing versus traditional

dressing and fried turkey versus

oven-baked sparked the fireworks.

“It became apparent that they were

here for the long-haul,” says a sur-

prised Hawkins. “I just didn’t plan

on it. When they leave, I’ll come

back down to terra firma. Until

then, I’m pulling my meals up with

a rope tied to this basket.”

“It went downhill quickly,” says

visiting mother-in-law Mildred

Hayes of Manhattan, Kansas. “He

seemed a little prickly at lunch, but

later in the day he came totally un-

wound.”

The brother, Donnie Hawkins of

vations exist from previous

eclipses that demonstrate these

effects. Erickson said MIT re-

searchers used a "megawatt-class

Thomson scatter radar," which

can directly measure the plasma

state of the ionosphere, including

electron density, across a huge

area in the eastern US.

Bob Reif, W1XP, was in south-

eastern North Carolina where the

eclipse totality was about 97%

with two radios running multiple

bands of WSPR. "Lots of data to

look at," he said, "but what

jumped out was that at almost

the exact time of maximum cov-

erage of the sun at this location,

160 meters opened for about 30

minutes and then closed down

again until the normal gray line.

So, the D layer responded to the

shadow of the Moon to some

extent."

(Continued from page 1) Rio Rancho, New Mexico, sees

the glass as half full.

“Until he comes down, I get to

keep drinking his beer. And sit-

ting in his recliner.”

### hamhijinks.com

M A N C L I M B S

T O W E R , W O N ’ T

C O M E D O W N U N T I L

F A M I LY L E AV E S

IARU Region 1 President

Expresses Concern

Regarding Spectrum

Challenges in Europe

International Amateur Radio Un-

ion Region 1 (IARU R1) President

Don Beattie, G3BJ, told an audi-

ence at Ham Radio 2017

(Friedrichshafen) that he is

“deeply concerned about our abil-

ity to maintain a usable radio spec-

trum in some parts of suburban

Europe.” Beattie said that Amateur

Radio spectrum allocations are of

little value if they are “made unus-

able by the presence of multiple

sources of interference — be it

electrical interference or intruders

in the amateur bands.” Beattie said

the IARU “is deeply involved in

the work of the international

standards organizations, arguing

for common sense in the setting of

emission standards for electrical

and electronic devices.” He cited

solar photovoltaic arrays, wind

generators, digital devices,

VDSL+ and wireless power trans-

fer technology as areas of current

concern. “Some would say that

even with the work we are in-

volved in on standards, much of

the radio spectrum is becoming

unusable in the suburban environ-

ment,”

Basic Circuit

Explanation

"Electricity originates inside

clouds. There, it forms into light-

ning, which is attracted to the

Earth by golfers. After entering

the ground, the electricity hardens

into coal, which, when dug up by

power companies and burned in

big ovens called 'generators,'

turns back into electricity...where

it is transformed by TV sets into

commercials for beer, which

passes through the consumers and

back into the ground, thus com-

pleting what is known as a

"circuit".


BARA BULLETIN

BARA RESOURCES

The BARA Bulletin is published monthly by the Bergen Amateur

Radio Association. Subscriptions are included in the annual member-ship dues. Membership is open to anyone interested in radio communi-cation.

QSL Bureau:

Warren Hager, K2UFM

Public Service:

Club Contesting:

Phil Barber, WA2LXE

VE Exams:

Don Younger, W2JEK

Donnan917’at’aol.com

Hamfests:

Jim Joyce, K2ZO

Webmasters:

wm’at’bara.org

Tony Izzo, K2AMI

David Levine, K2DSL

MEMBERSHIP

APPLICATION

Interested in learning more about amateur radio and meeting new

people? Then join the Bergen

Amateur Radio Association (BARA). Dues are $25 per year. Send your application request to:

David Levine, K2DSL

11 Mackay Ave.

Waldwick, NJ 07463

e-mail to k2dsl’at’arrl.net.

Please include your name, address, town, zip, call sign, license class, and phone number.

Upcoming Events

Sept 9, 10 - ARRL VHF QSO Party

Sept 10 - BARA Business Meeting

Sept 12 - Kit Night

Sept 15 - Ham License Exam Session

Sept 16, 17 - NJ QSO Party

Sept 19 - Kit Night

Sept 22 - 24 - CQ WW DX Contest - RTTY

Sept 23 - Portable Day

Sept 26 - Kit Night

Oct 1 - BARA Business Meeting

Oct 7 - BARA Hamfest

Oct 15 - BARA FoxHunt

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the

people who are evil, but because of the people who don't

do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

BARA KIT NIGHT 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Township of Washington Senior Center

350 Hudson Ave., Township of Washington, 07676

Build a kit related to Amateur Radio (partial BARA funding available)

Diagnose/repair a defective piece of equipment

Discuss radio and computer problems

Technical assistance available

Seek/give technical opinions


For Sale

Icom IC-7410 – (HF/6)

Purchased new from KJI in 2012 and used as my pri-

mary rig until July 2014, then relegated to back-up

status when my Omni VII arrived.

All Documentation: Original and a copy of user

manual

FL-430 and FL-431 roofing filters (dealer installed)

Heil, iCM mic with stand & interconnect cable as

well as Icom HM-36 hand mic

Original packaging

No issues whatsoever, ALC overshoot has never

been a problem. The Model # 7410-02, indicates

that this may have been addressed at the factory. Re-

gardless, I have never had an issue.

$950. OBRO

Contact me via phone at 201-213-6179.

If I’m otherwise engaged, leave a message and

I will call you back.

Jim, K2GMT

Sat. 1200 (noon) EDST (1600 UTC) to 2359 EDST (0359

UTC) and Sun. 1000 EDST (1400 UTC) to Sun. 1600 EDST

(2000 UTC)

Stations outside NJ contact as many NJ amateurs in as many

NJ counties as possible.

NJ stations contact as many amateurs in the US, Canada and

the world as possible.

Suggested frequencies:

CW - 3.550, 7.050, 14.050, 21.050, 28.400

Phone - 3.825, 7.190, 14.250, 21.400, 28.400

See www.k2td-bcrc.org/njqp/njqp_rules.html

for additional info and county abbreviations.

New Jersey QSO Party

September 16 and 17

From the ARRL...

FCC Technological Advisory

Council Investigating Technical

Regulations

The FCC Technological Advisory Council

(TAC) is looking into FCC technical regula-

tions to determine if reforms or changes might

be in order. Greg Lapin, N9GL, represents

ARRL on the TAC and chairs the ARRL RF

Safety Committee. The FCC Office of Engi-

neering and Technology (OET) announced the

TAC public inquiry (ET Docket 17-215),

which seeks comments by October 30 regard-

ing technical regulations and the process for

adopting and updating them.

"To more effectively ensure that its rules keep

pace with the rapidly changing technology in

communications, the FCC has asked its Tech-

nological Advisory Council to help identify

FCC technical rules that are obsolete or may

be ripe for change in light of current communi-

cations technologies," the OET said.

Made up of technological experts in various

areas -- some of them radio amateurs -- who

advise the FCC in technical matters, the TAC

is gathering feedback from users and vendors

of communications technology affected by

technical rules.

The Solar Eclipse as viewed in

New Jersey by Chuck, KC2SST.

He used a Canon 6D camera with

a Celestron 500 mm f 5.6

Cassegrain telescope with a solar

filter.

https://www.fcc.gov/general/technological-advisory-council


Route 66 On The Air

Special Event

September 9 to 17

There will be 21 stations -- two of them "rovers" --

operating in or around the major cities along Route 66

from Santa Monica, California, to Chicago, Illinois.

They will use 1 × 1 W6-prefix special event call

signs.

The Route 66 special event stations will concentrate

activity on these frequencies: CW -- 3.533, 7.033,

10.110, 14.033, 18.080, 21.033, 24.900, 28.033, and

50.033 MHz; SSB -- 3.866, 7.266, 14.266, 18.164,

21.366, 24.966, 28.466, and 50.166 MHz; Digital --

3.580, 7.070, 10.140, 14.070, 18.100, 21.070, 24.920,

and 28.120 MHz.

QSL cards and certificates will be available.

See W6JBT.ORG for complete information.

DX Insights

COCOS ISLAND, TI9

#32 on the DXCC MOST WANTED LIST

Cocos Island, not to be confused with (Cocos Keeling Is.,

VK9C) is an island 340 mi. off the coast of Costa Rica

which has been designated as a National Park by the Costa

Rican Government. The island is approximately 9.21 sq

mi. The only inhabitants are the Costa Rica Park Rangers.

Permission to enter the island can only be granted by the

Park Rangers which allow cruise ship tourists to come

ashore. They cannot stay overnight and are restricted to

certain areas. The climate is wet. The ocean around the

island is abundant with colorful species of fish and makes

the area off shore one of the best scuba diving places in

the world.

Amateur radio DXpeditions on Cocos Is. have been few

and far between. A special permit is required and difficult

to obtain. Jorge, TI9/TI2HMJ was active in November

2015 and continues to visit the island not solely for ham

radio but other business.

As we look forward to the fall season, DX and con-

test conditions will improve. The low bands will allow

some long haul contacts which make this time of year a

time to get active and enjoy our great hobby.

Good Hunting

73,

Harry. W2FT

K2FJ Earns “13 Colonies”

Certificate

Jim, K2FJ, completed a clean sweep of the “13

Colonies” Special Event stations, all CW, to earn

a certificate. He also completed an “all phone”

clean sweep.

Exodus 1947 - 2017

Seventy years after the historic and heroic Exodus

1947 voyage, a 24 hour commemorative voyage

will held starting 0600 UTC September 7.

One hundred of original Exodus 1947 voyage

and 900 will board the ship

MS Golden in Haifa port for t he voyage,

The Israel Amateur Radio Club will operate two sta-

tions during the voyage: on the

ship cruising in Mediterranean, will be on air

during the actual sea voyage and

near v, will be on air from 0600

until 2100 UTC,

All QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW and eQSL.

An operator ho y contacts both stations

ll be eligible to receive a

Certificate requests should be mailed with relevant

QSOs details to certificate coordinator

T n x t o K C 2 Q Y M

mailto:[email protected]


BARA Picnic

2017

Photos curtesy of

K2AMI and KC2VRY



169 Woodland Ave.

Westwood, NJ 07675

President

Jim Joyce, K2ZO

K2ZO ‘at’ ARRL.NET

Vice-President

Tony Izzo, K2AMI

K2AMI ’at’ ARRL.NET

Secretary

Susan Barber, WA2ZZ

WA2ZZ ‘at’ ARRL.NET

Treasurer

David Levine, K2DSL

11 Mackay Ave.

Waldwick, NJ 07463

K2DSL ‘at’ ARRL.NET

Trustees

Bennett Norell, KO2OK

KO2OK ’at’ ARRL.NET

Gordon Beattie, W2TTT

W2TTT ’at’ ATT.NET

Chuck Lemken, KC2SST

CLEMKEN ’at’ HOTMAIL.COM

BARA Bulletin

Phil Barber, WA2LXE, Editor

WA2LXE ’at’ ARRL.NET

Next Business Meeting

Sunday, Sept 10th

at the

Twp. Of Washington

Senior Center

Presidents Emeritus

Bill James, WA2QHL - SK

Dominick Interdonato, NB2F - SK

Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML - SK

Eeting D BARA Bulletin · MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Discuss radio and computer problems Interested in...

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