The ARRL Club News
ARRL Club News for June 2008
ARRL Club Newsletter
June 3, 2008
Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Editor
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ Field Day
+ Field Day Resources
+ Ham Radio Is A Real Value
Field Day June 28 -29
Traditionally the last full weekend in June is ARRL Field Day. This
year the event will be on June 28 -- 29, 2008. With over 3,000
entries Field Day is the most participated on air activity in North
America. For ARRL affiliated clubs filed Day is a great opportunity
to puff out your chest, introduce new people to Amateur Radio and to
bring club members together.
Like many other activities in Amateur Radio there are various ways to
play the Filed Day game. Some clubs treat Field day like an
emergency preparedness drill with a few groups going to the extreme
of keeping the operating location secret until the "starting whistle
blows." For others Field Day is a contest, attempting to work as
many stations as possible and collecting all of the ARRL and RAC
sections. Many clubs make Field day a social event that includes
lots of food and plenty of radio operating.
Whatever your interpretation of Field Day is, training exercise,
radio sport or cookout, the most important thing is to have fun and
do it safely.
Complete Field day rules can be found on the web at:
http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2008/fd.html
Is your club on Logbook of The World?
Visit www.arrl.org/lotw and select the GET STARTED tab for
illustrated instructions.
Questions? Lotw-help@arrl.org
Do you need brochures for Field Day?
www.arrl.org/brochures
Station Locator Service New For Field Day 2008
From ARRL Letter
This year, for the first time, the ARRL has put together a Station
Locator to help amateurs or those interested in Amateur Radio find a
Field Day site near them. According to ARRL Field Day Manager Dan
Henderson, N1ND, many amateurs have been asking for something like
this for many years.
If your group would like to be a part of the Station Locator Service,
it's easy to get started. Just go to the Field Day Station Locator
Web site <http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php>
and follow the instructions.
To help you out, Henderson has prepared a FAQ for the Field Day
Station Locator.
Q) How does our Field Day site get listed on the map?
A) A club official or Field Day Chairman needs to go to the Web site.
Once there, click on the link for "Add a Station" and follow the
instructions.
Q) I put in the name of the park where we will be holding Field Day
but got the message that the program can't find it. What do I do?
A) You should use a street address for the location. Unfortunately,
the mapping program doesn't have a 100 percent complete database of
park names and public site names. You may use a latitude/longitude --
enter the values separated by a comma (e.g. 42.345N, 85.445W) and set
the city to NONE).
Q) I put in a street address but the map locator put me it in a wrong
location on the street. What do I do?
A) While in the data input or edit screen, use your cursor to move
the red "pin" to the correct location on the map.
Q) What if I put in the wrong information or something about our
Field Day operation changes?
A) The person who input the data will be able to edit the entry.
Simply follow the "Add a Station" link and then select "Edit this
entry"
next to the one to correct.
Q). I tried to enter my club's information, but I was denied access.
What do I do?
A) To help ensure that only one person is managing a club's entry,
you must be logged onto the site with your ARRL member ID and
password.
If you are not an ARRL member, ask a member of the club who is to be
responsible for adding the club's information to the site.
Q) I am looking for a Field Day operation to attend. How do I use the
site?
A) Begin by typing in the city and state where you would like to
search, something like "Brooklyn, New York" or "Anaheim, California."
Depending on the geographic location, the map will take you to the
area you list. If a Field Day operation has been registered for that
general area, a red "pin" will show on the map. If you click on the
red pin, the details for that site will appear in the box on the
right hand side of the screen. If you don't see a red pin, scroll out
a level to find one near the location you listed. It is also possible
to drag the map to other areas by holding down the left button on
your mouse and then moving the map around. You can also scroll in and
out using the +/- buttons on the left side of the map.
You may also zoom in and center by double-clicking with the mouse
near the red pin.
Q) I found a red pin near where I will be. Where do I find the
information on that site?
A) Each entry has a contact person with either an e-mail address or
phone number who should be able to help you. It will appear on the
right side of the box when you click on the red pin for an entry.
Q) I found an entry with wrong information. What should I do?
A) Please contact the person whose name appears as the contact person
for that site. ARRL HQ does not have detailed information on the
site.
Q) I want to check on our club's information. What should I do?
A) Type in the call sign that will be used and you will be taken to
the location and club information.
Ham Radio Is A Real Value
(Originally published in AIRWAVES, The newsletter of the Sierra ARC,
May 2008.)
Mike Herr, WA6ARA
As a kid in the '60s I hung around my father, WB6MNX, and his ham
buddies. The talk in those days was pretty much similar to now, what
features their new rig had. But one thing I now note is that each ham
had but one rig, yep, just one rig. It was usually a HF rig, and it
was used both in the house and in the car. Before the 2 meter
revolution everyone, except for the few brave experimenters in the
VHF regions, was on the HF bands. But why did most ops have only one
rig? The answer is simple economics; radio equipment was expensive
back then.
As a novice I would lust over the Heathkit "perfect" novice station,
the DX-60B, HR-10 receiver and HG-10B VFO. Wow! Ninety watts on CW
or AM on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters (In my Novice days we only had
privileges on 80, 40 and 15 meter). But with a price tag of $200 it
was way out of reach for a lot of people, especially for a teenager.
Today ham radios are much cheaper and offer much more features than
rigs available to Amateurs in the mid 1960's. I cannot comment on
every ham's financial situation but when comparing selling prices,
average salaries and technological features, Amateur Radio is a
bargain today.
Let's take a look at the previously mentioned DX-60B, HR-10 and
HG-10B station. In 1965 it cost about $200, only offered two modes
(AM and CW), took up an entire desktop and it generated enough heat
to warm half the house. Adjusted for inflation the "perfect" Heathkit
novice station would cost $1,323.00 today! Compared to entry level
radios today that offer 100 watts on all Amateur bands, all modes
(AM, FM, CW, SSB and digital), dual VFOs, general coverage receive
and all sorts of bells and whistles, not to mention outstanding
dynamic receivers and clean, stable transmitted signals, when
adjusted for inflation, would have cost less than half the price of
the 1965 model.
The Heathkit HW-101, an entry level SSB rig for many operators during
the '60s and 70s, sold as a kit in 1971 for $350. In today's dollars
that same unit would be $1,849, which buys a heck of a lot more radio
the old '101.
The biggest bang for the buck is in a piece of equipment that we all
use, a 2 meter rig. Back at the time the 2 meter revolution was in
full swing FM transceivers were selling for about $300 to $500 which
translates to thousands of dollars today. There were a few
synthesized models but most were crystal controlled which meant
purchasing a pair of crystals, one each for transmit and receive for
each channel that you wanted to operate and were limited to two to
ten channels. They were about the size of a large book and operated
at 2 to 5 watts output. Today you can buy a shirt pocket handheld
or a 65 watt mobile transceiver, fully synthesized 100 channels,
scanning, CTCSS encode/decode, etc for what amounts to about $28 in
1971 dollars.
Ham radio is CHEAP. In the 60s the typical ham had to work for a
month to buy a rig, today it is more like one week. I remember in
1965 when dad bought a SBE-34 and he had to buy it on time because it
was just so expensive. Compared to other hobbies and recreation,
ham radio is a steal. You can be on the air with the local repeater
for about $150. A complete 100 watt HF station including an antenna
is less than $1000. If you are a builder, parts have never been
cheaper or more available. A couple of minutes on the internet and
you can order parts and have them at your house in a couple of days.
No more waiting for the once a year trip to the Hamfest.
Of course you can spend tens of thousands of dollars creating the
ultimate station. There is no limit as to what you can spend on any
hobby but there a tremendous value to anyone who is attracted to
Amateur Radio. Let's compare Amateur radio to other past times. A
decent 4 wheel drive vehicle, with the extras to keep up with others
in the local 4 WD club might set you back $30K. That boat for water
skiing or fishing during the summer is about the same. How about the
home computer? Again, about the cost of a HF rig and you buy a new
one every couple of years or so. Ham radio cost a fraction of what it
did in the past and offers twenty times the features. So get out and
enjoy ham radio and stop feeling guilty about the money.
************************************************************************************************************
Here are some prices taken from advertisements in January 1976 QST
and adjusted for inflation using an inflation calculator. <
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ >
VHF Gear 1976 % mean income 2007
Tempo VHF/ONE 2m synth xcvr-2 chan-10 watts $495.00 3.31% $1,887.98
Yaesu FT-620B 6m AM/CW/SSB $449.00 3.00% $1,712.53
Yaesu FT-221 2m AM/FM/CW/SSB $679.00 4.54% $2,589.77
Midland 13-505 2m FM (plus crystals @ $6.95
ea) $309.95 2.07% $1,182.18
Heath HW-2026 (kit) 2m synthesized $289.95 1.94% $1,105.90
Handheld VHF/UHF
Wilson 1405 SM 5 watts 6 chan (plus crystals @ $6.95 ea) $279.95
1.87% $1,067.76
Heath HW-2021 (kit) (plus crystals @ $6.95 ea) $169.95 1.14% $648.21
$449.00 3.00% $1,712.53
HF Gear $449.00 3.00% $1,712.53
Yaesu
Yaesu FT-101E HF xcvr $749.00 5.01% $2,856.76
FV 101B ext VFO $99.00 0.66% $377.60
XCVR + VFO $848.00 5.67% $3,234.36
Collins
Colins KWM2A xcvr $1,760.00 11.77% $6,712.82
Drake
Drake TR4C $599.00 4.00% $2,284.65
RV4C remote VFO $110.00 0.74% $419.55
XCVR + VFO $709.00 4.74% $2,704.20
R4C rcvr $549.00 3.67% $2,093.94
T4XC xmtr $580.00 3.88% $2,212.18
RX + TX $1,129.00 7.55% $4,306.12
Kenwood
TS-520 $629.00 4.21% $2,399.07
R 599D rcvr $459.00 3.07% $1,750.67
T 599D xmtr $479.00 3.20% $1,826.95
RX + TX $938.00 6.27% $3,577.63
HF Amplifiers
Henry 2K-4 Legal Limit HF Amplifier $995.00 6.65% $3,795.03
Yaesu FL-2100B linear 600 watts out $359.00 2.40% $1,369.26
ARRL Affiliation Milestones for April and May 2008
25 Years in April
*W4
GA Fourlanders Contest Team, Inc. W4NH
TN Mid South VHF Association
*W6
SCV San Lorenzo Valley Amateur Radio Club WR6AOK
*W7
OR Hermiston Amateur Radio Club KC7KUG
*W8
OH Portage Amateur Radio Club, Inc. KB8ZHP
MI South East Michigan DX Association WA8DX
60 Years in April
*W3
EPA Carbon Amateur Radio Club W3HA
*W5
NM Los Alamos Amateur Radio Club W5PDO
*W6
EB East Bay Amateur Radio Club, Inc. W6CUS
SB Paso Robles Arc W6LKF
*W7
OR Salem Amateur Radio Club, Inc. W7SAA
*W9
IL Western Illinois Amateur Radio Club W9AWE
10 Years in May
*W4
NC Stanly County Amateur Radio Club K4OGB
*W5
LA Atchafalaya Amateur DX Association WA5MC
OK Tri-State Amateur Radio Group W5OKT
*W6
SV Friends & Amateur Radio Communications Enthusiasts KF6NNM
*KL7
AK Elmendorf Amateur Radio Society KL7AIR
*W8
OH Medina 2 Meter Group W8EOC
*W9
IN Land of Lakes Amateur Radio Club K9HD
50 Years in May
*W3
EPA West Branch Amateur Radio Association W3AVK
WPA North Hills Amateur Radio Club W3EXW
*W4
GA Northeast Georgia Amateur Radio Club NE4GA
*W8
OH Twenty Over Nine Amateur Radio Club, Inc. K8TKA
*W9
IL St Clair Amateur Radio Club K9GXU
75 Years in May
*W1
EMA Framingham Amateur Radio Association W1FY
EMA Norfolk County Radio Association W1AGR
NH Great Bay Radio Association W1FZ
*W7
MT Anaconda Amateur Radio Club W7VNE
WWA Amateur Radio Association of Bremerton W7VE
*W9
IN Rose Tech Radio Club W9NAA
*W0
IA Iowa City Amateur Radio Club W0JV
SD Sioux Empire Amateur Radio Club W0ZWY
=============================================================================
The ARRL Club News is published on the first Wednesday of each month by
the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur
Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259; www.arrl.org. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.
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Editorial questions or comments: Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, clubs@arrl.org
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Page last modified: 03:09 PM, 15 Nov 2006 ET
Page author: clubs@arrl.org
Copyright © 2006, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
