The Ogemaw Arenac Amateur Radio Society

November 2009 Edition www.k8oar.com

SPECIAL EVENT: According to WD8CJN Paul, the K8W special event station was a success, just not for our local area, nor the immediate surrounding states either. He said most of their contacts were from the 4, 5, 7, 9, and DX areas despite the poor band conditions which hampered operations on all modes and bands. Now you know it was not just you, but everyone in the short path to the south and to the east, and then it skipped the far west as well before jumping off to DX.

They split up the duties as to who was working what. WD8CJN Paul ran the digital operations, AB8YO Louie ran the phone operations, and W8JLT John ran the CW operations.

Paul said there were times when he could chat for ten or fifteen minutes with a contact and at other times they would have to pick the loudest out of the pileup, do the ID, signal report, thanks, and go on to the next loudest in the pileup, while at other times there was no one there at all.

They had quite a variety of antennas in the air, including dipoles and hamsticks, but probably the best turned out to be Louie’s 20 meter Mosley.

Paul also said they recognized some shortcomings in their operation, but looked forward to next time when they could change a thing or two and hopefully the bands would cooperate for even larger success and more contacts.

The answer to your question of why they did not answer your call on our local repeater was this, “Every time John keyed up on CW, their 2 meter rig would default to the weather channel and stay there, so when he was working, they just turned off the 2M rig.”

Congratulations guys! Here hoping for better luck for our locals on your next expedition into the realm of Special Events.

I’m curious guys. Why would three men who all own some kind of modern day means for camping, 5^th wheel, tugger, or pickup camper, choose to spend time putting up and living in a tent?

Oh by the way Louie, rumor has it that “Jabba the Hut’s” antenna system is really neat with it’s crank up and crank down. I also heard that “Jabba the Hut” is not quite a finished product yet, but is just a bit cramped for more that “solo” operations, unless the second operator is taking a nap.

TEE SHIRTS & SWEATS: Look around for more of our members sporting their new tee or sweat shirts soon. They were picked up on the 30^th. So be sure to see yours truly if you put in your order. I would like to see these gone ASAP, preferably by the end of the November Meeting/Auction on Wednesday the 4^th.

USECA SWAP: I heard tell that KC8TXK Dick attended the USECA Swap on the 25^th of October. I also heard that it was a nice swap, but he did not spend much. Hmmm! Now was that because he did not find anything he couldn’t do without or was he just saving all his money for our upcoming auction. Here’s hoping!

And then a bit later I heard that another of our Club Members also attended the swap. AC8CZ Dave also said it was a nice swap with lots of things to see and lots of people. He said there was quite a bit of used equipment. He also said there were the usual dealers for the little stuff like connectors, etc., but no one for new equipment.

PETOSKEY SWAP: October 31^st was another beautiful day, for a swap. I mean what else could better have been done with all the intermittent rain we experienced most of the day? The sun finally broke through all the rain clouds about three-thirty, after I was back home, if only for a few moments as well as the wind started to quiet down a bit. Unfortunately, the temperature started to slide down as well. Such is life here in Michigan.

The swap was small, but we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of nice clean equipment for sale. Some of it had been around for more than a couple of license cycles, but then some of those old “Glow In The Dark” sets still work great.

There was about twenty tables with an assortment of equipment available. One fellow was trying to sell out his collection of four or five of the 30 plastic drawer storage bins of small parts. I chatted with him a bit. He said his wife asked what he was doing and he told her he was just taking them for a ride to the swap and back. He still had them when we left and every drawer was filled. He did say he was not going to “give” them away.

There was a half dozen 2M rigs, mostly older ones. There were both single band and duel band, even an ICOM IC-2100 and a YAESU FT-2800 and an older, but nice ICOM 2M all mode with its matching power supply.

Quite a few power supplies were on hand, a few mics, some digital multimeters, an oscilloscope, a station monitor, a couple of vertical antennas were sitting in a window. I’m not sure whether they were for sale or had already been bought. Under one table was a dish antenna with all the equipment to set up for EME or Satellite, I didn’t ask which. One fellow had one of those mobile antennas where you just plug your lead into a hole in the side of the antenna for whichever band you want to work. A really neat idea, except you have to get out of the vehicle every time you want to change bands, but it’s a whole lot better than having to sort through a hand full of hamsticks.

The obvious thing missing was dealers! There were none! No new equipment of any kind, brand, or size, nor parts, connectors, or wire were available, except for a few small rolls of ladder line which one fellow had bought, but decided not to use.

Was it worth the trip? From a strictly monetary standpoint, probably not. Did we have fun? Yes! Will we do it again? Yes! You ask why. Well its this way. Four of us spent a couple of hours on the ride up discussing a wide variety of topics, some of which even had to do with amateur radio.

We saw one or two people we knew, and got to know one or two others. We went on to have a nice breakfast/lunch, then spent another couple of hours on the ride back discussing our solutions to the worldly problems of the day. One of the guys in the back seat even got a cat nap on the way home.

What could be better than to spend some time with friends? Be there anything better? I have not heard about it yet.

CARBON MONOXIDE WARNING:

“GIVE YOUR GENERATOR SOME SPACE”

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the same folks that bring you WWV, publish a monthly newsletter called NIST Tech Beat. Here's an item from the 10/6/09 issue of NIST Tech Beat that will be of interest to radio amateurs: To subdue the steaming heat of hurricanes or to thaw out during a blizzard, gasoline-powered, portable generators are a lifeline during weather emergencies when homes are cut off without electricity.

But these generators emit poisonous carbon monoxide—a single generator can produce a hundred times more of the colorless, odorless gas than a modern car’s exhaust. New research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows that to prevent potentially dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, users may need to keep generators farther from the house than previously believed—perhaps as much as 25 feet. Up to half of the incidents of non-fatal carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning reported in the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons involved generators run within 7 feet of the home, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Carbon monoxide can enter a house through a number of airflow paths, such as a door or window left open to accommodate the extension cord that brings power from the generator into the house. While some guidance recommends 10 feet from open windows as a safe operating distance, NIST researcher Steven Emmerich says the “safe” operating distance depends on the house, the weather conditions and the unit.

A generator’s carbon monoxide output is usually higher than an automobile’s, he says, because most generators do not have the sophisticated emission controls that cars do. “People need to be aware that generators are potentially deadly and they need to educate themselves on proper use,” Emmerich says.

With funding from CDC, NIST researchers are gathering reliable data to support future CDC guidance. NIST building researchers simulated multiple scenarios of a portable generator operating outside of a one-story house, using both a test structure and two different computer models—the NIST-developed CONTAM indoor air quality model and a computational fluid dynamics model.

The simulations included factors that could be controlled by humans, such as generator location, exhaust direction and window-opening size, and environmental factors such as wind, temperature and house dimensions. In the simulations the generator was placed at various distances from the house and tested under different weather conditions. “We found that for the house modeled in this study,” researcher Leon Wang says, “a generator position 15 feet away from open windows was not far enough to prevent carbon monoxide entry into the house.”

Winds perpendicular to the open window resulted in more carbon monoxide entry than winds at an angle, and lower wind speeds generally allowed more carbon monoxide in the house. “Slow, stagnant wind seems to be the worst case because it leads to the carbon monoxide lingering by the windows,” Wang explains.

Researchers determined that placing the generator outside of the airflow recirculation regions near the open windows reduced carbon monoxide entry.

In the next phase of the study NIST will model a two-story house that researchers believe will interact with the wind differently. NIST researchers also have worked with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on related work. (See: “NIST to Study Hazards of Portable Gasoline-Powered Generators,” NIST Tech Beat, March 5, 2008.)

The generator study can be downloaded at: http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build09/PDF/b09009.pdf. * L. Wang and S.J. Emmerich. Modeling the Effects of Outdoor Gasoline Powered Generator Use on Indoor Carbon Monoxide Exposures. (NIST Technical Note 1637,) 2009.

Thanks for the warning Dan. I’m sure that I’m just one of the many who never gave it a lot of thought beyond setting it up outdoors and getting the power back up in the house. Being prepared for emergencies means more than just having equipment. It also means learning about all the dangers in the setup and operation and then going ahead safely and responsibly.

TEST SESSION: No one came to the October Test Session, so the assembled VE’s retired to Dee’s for some consolation. (Consolation: pizza or pepperoni sticks and coffee or soda pop.)

TOWER PROJECT: Thanks to a group of volunteers from our membership, “It is vertical again!” Thursday the 29^th was “supposed” to be a really nice day. It may have been somewhere I’m sure, but it was a bit damp around the yard yet and not particularly warm when they gathered at my house to hoist the tower.

I had most everything ready, so it was just walk it up as far as possible and put the a-frame under it to hold it up, then a man on the roof to insure the rope was in line with the tower, one man on the ground to install the bolt to hold it up, and four men pulling the brand spanking new rope into two pieces. Yes, that’s right, when these guys get fired up they are supermen!

Fortunately the rope stretched and broke before the tower started to lift and also that Al had a heavier rope in his truck. After removing the broken rope and replacing it, they once again gave it the old college try and up it went just like it was supposed to. Then it was just a matter of installing the bolt and u-bolts that hold it in place, connect the coax and “voila” we are back in business, right after I trim the wire to length. It got stretched out and has a “leeeetle” bit to high swr, it being over 6, but it’s not so bad on the WARC bands. Figure that!

Then it was time to put the tools away, pull off the gloves, and head for the local watering hole for some coffee, soda, chili, burgers, fries or whatever to ward off any hunger pangs and replace all that used up energy. All that and a chance to catch up on the latest. “Thanks again guys”, but I really do think that one of these days we really should invest in one of those bucket trucks, or at least get someone into the club as a member who has one. (P.S. It’s still up as of 4 PM 10-31 even with these heavy winds.)

None Close By

Wednesday 4^th 7:00 PM O.A.A.R.S. Meeting/AUCTION Firehall Alger

Wednesday 18^th 6:30 PM Registration - 7 PM Testing Mills Townhall Skidway Lake

FOR SALE:

40 ft Steel Tower, Top Bearing, Center Thrust Bearing, 22 ft Aluminum 1/8 in wall Mast Pipe, Rotor Plate, $200.00. U-Pick Up in Sears, Mi. near Evart, Mi. Call Art KC8UUP at 231-734-3071 or email to: kc8uup@yahoo.com

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FOR SALE:

(1) MFJ Versa Tuner II 941D--$50 (2) ICOM IC-25A 2M mobile with a hand mic--$35 (3) Micronta 12 volt 8 amp power supply--$10 (4) Heathkit HM-102 SWR meter--$25 (5) MFJ 260-B 300 watt dry dummy load--$20 (6) Shure 444 desk mic wired for ICOM--$50 (7) Turner +2 desk mic--$30 (8) Calrad DM-17 desk mic--$20 (9) D-104 Silver Eagle--$80 (10) Kantronics All Mode TNC--$50 (11) Heathkit HO-10 monitor scope--$80 (12) Kenwood MC-60--$50 (13) Kenwood MC-60 base--$10 Call George N8RBS at 654-2728.