UTARC News

The Official Journal of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club

January 1998

January Meeting

The January general meeting of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, January 15 at 7:30 PM in RLM 5.118 on the UT campus. The topic will be RF Safety, the new FCC rules and how they affect you. Talk in on the 442.15 MHz repeater.
Last Meeting
November's meeting featured a slide show of some of the contest stations from which George Fremin (K5TR) has operated, including his VW Beetle.
Next Meeting
The topic for February may be the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). Want to get a jump-start? The next Travis County ARES meeting will be held on Monday, January 27 at Luby's on North Loop.

License Classes

N2000XU

In an effort to drive the club’s station expansion to new heights UTARC is starting a fund drive to create a radio station on campus to rival that found anywhere else in the country. The campaign, dubbed N2000XU, hints at the coming millenium but hopefully we will start to see results before then. We will do so only with the help of all UTARC members and alumni.

What more does N5XU need? There are plenty of improvements and additional capabilities that can greatly improve the station’s effectiveness and potential:

• New tower to support additional antennas. The current tower is at capacity. Any new antennas will have to go on a new tower.
• Gear for new bands (902, 1296, 2304 MHz and higher). The club is getting more serious about VHF contesting and multiple bands mean more activity and higher scores.
• Spread Spectrum radio. The club made a commitment to purchasing high-speed wireless networking gear. SS is the future of packet radio and is one of the hottest technologies in radio today.
• Satellite communications. Phase 3D is set to launch in the near future.
• 40M beam. Current 40M dipoles are effective but far from ideal. A beam antenna will increase N5XU’s emergency communications, DX and contesting capabilities.
• DSP filters. N5XU is in the middle of large city with lots of noise sources. Modern DSP filters may help remove some of the interference.

These are only some of the possibilities. The interests of the club members and donors will determine which projects are completed first.

A web page has been set up to document the goals and accomplishments of the fund drive. A link to it is available from the main UTARC home page. In order for the drive to be successful we must have participation from everyone. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. Plus, donations are tax deductible. For more information about tax deductible donations please get in touch with Ken (KM5FA) whose contact information can be found at the end of this newsletter.

Phone Sweepstakes

Not terrible, but 90 fewer Q's than last year. With only two ops bothering to help out and one of them having to work over the weekend we did not have "fresh" operators at all times. One or more ops would have been very helpful. On the assumption that at least some people did not show up because they thought they did not have enough experience, I think we'll try and set up some more opportunities in the next year to get people on the air and comfortable with HF operating (10M Contest, NAQP, WPX, etc).

This was the first phone contest using the club's new callsign, N5XU. Because this callsign is based on the old 5XU station that used to be on campus in 1921 we also used a check of 21. That generated far more comments than the previous check we've used in the past, 55 (which was a wild guess at the time). Of course the clubs using "09" and "12" probably got even more comments and requests for repeats. It didn't slow us down too much though.

We worked a sweep again for the second straight year. NM was our last section, which we picked up about 1.5 hours before the end of the contest.

Band	QSOs	Mults
80M	91
40M	240
20M	446
15M	381
Totals	1158	79

Total Score:182,964

We thought AK would be the most difficult mult to get after it along with AR and NM were the last on our list. After running stations on 15M we moved to 20M to work one of the KL7's posted on the PacketCluster. All but one had gone away by the time we got there. KL7J was calling CQ but we were not having much luck right away as the QRM was bad. We quickly checked one of the other KL7 spotted frequencies and voila, there was KL7J who just happened to move to that very frequency and started calling CQ. Got him on the first call. Timing, and luck is everything.

Another weird one happened on Saturday night. After running stations on 40M I decided to spend a few minutes on 80M, hopefully S&P'ing a new mult or two before I had to leave for the evening. One of the stations I hoped to get was W5WMU in LA, since I knew they were on. I looked around, worked a couple of new mults then called some other station (not a mult). I got a request to move up 2 from that QSO and found out W5WMU moved us up to work us! Why? I have no idea, as surely he didn't need STX for a mult.

The ops at W5YM (Univ. of Arkansas) took advantage of the PacketCluster to post their location. It worked for at least one QSO, as we moved to 80M to pick up the new mult.

One of the more interesting QSO's was with NI6R "bicycle mobile" in California!

Other college club stations worked: W2SZ, W2KGY, K3CR, W3EAX, K4KDJ, K4UCF, W4ATC, W5YM, W6BHZ, W6UE, W6YL, W7UNR, W8SH, W8YY, WB9JBF, WO9S and W0EEE. Can't recall how many colleges we worked in the past but 17 clubs seems like a lot so I hope this turns into lots of logs submitted as well.

UTARC alumnus George (K5TR) operated from W5KFT's ranch in Llano, making 1973 QSOs and clean sweep for a score of 309,838. His best hour included 173 contacts! He made 117 band changes throughout the weekend, though some of that can probably be attributed to his use of two radios.

Reflections

Well, another year has come and gone. Upon conclusion of every year I take time to reflect on the previous year and what the coming year will hold for me. This year it was an impressive but scary reflection with many decisions to be made. I say impressive because of all the accomplishments that have been achieved this past year. However, it was scary in the looking ahead to what the new year will hold for me.

January 1997 brought a new semester. May brought the close of a very rewarding semester, an election of Vice President to UTARC, an opportunity to help provide emergency communications for the first time, and joining ARES. June brought another rewarding Field Day. August brought yet another beginning semester and the close of a successful summer semester. September brought increased activity on both 2 meters and 440. October brought the start of a UTARC net on Monday nights. November brought an increase in new faces and voices to learn and get to know. December brought the close of another semester, a 21^st birthday, an election of President to AARC, a surgery, a joyful Christmas, and the close of an overall great year.

Upon this reflection I noticed how many activities I was involved in and how my schooling was not as enjoyable as it should be. The first item I thought was interesting and very impressive. However, the second was not a very good thought. As such, I must change something to make this year go as wonderful as last year did. After much thought and debate, I have decided I should take a year off from school.

Because UT requires that all officers be students, I must resign from Vice President of UTARC. I will however continue to be an active member in the club and help with activities as the officers see fit.

I want to thank all the officers for their support in everything that I have tried this past semester. I also want to thank the members for their support as well. Without the members and officers support, the things such as the nets and the phone list would not have been the success that they were. I encourage the members to get more active in the club and perhaps think about running for an office. I must say that I enjoyed it and enjoyed the feeling of having an idea take off into a successful event.

1997 Sept. VHF QSO Party

Ding! We have a winner! The results of the 1997 ARRL VHF QSO Party have been published in this month's issue of QST (January.) W5EHM placed first in the South Texas section in the limited multi-operator class. Our official score was 123 QSOs x 35 grids for a total of 5,285 points. In the limited multioperator class, we came in second in the West Gulf division and fourth in the Midwest Region. We had the fifth highest QSO total of all non-rover entrants in the division. We even made the soapbox comments this time!

The most important result in this contest is that we out-scored the Oklahoma University Amateur Radio Club, W5TC. They scored 97 QSOs x 31 grids for a total of 3,751 points, and worked stations on the 6M, 2M, 1.25M, and 70cm bands.

W5EHM operators were Jill KC5OJK, Michael KD5AAD, and Ken KM5FA.

Upcoming Swapfests

Here are some upcoming events in the next couple of months. If interest warrants, there will be organized car pools to each of the swapfests and possibly a UTARC swap table. To join us, contact one of the club officers.

Sunday, February 1. Georgetown Swapfest 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at San Gabriel Park. Talk in on 146.64 MHz. For information or table reservations contact Dave (AB5WX) at 1-800-232-6656, ab5wx@aol.com or Jeff (N5MNW) at 255-6753, n5mnw@aol.com.

Saturday, February 21. Bastrop Swapfest.

Saturday, April 18. Belton Swapfest at the Belton Expo Center. For more information contact Mike (WA5EQQ) at 254-773-3590.

APRS Without A Radio

Ever wondered what APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) was like but were not sure if it was worth buying a new TNC and/or radio? Now you can get a taste of what APRS can do via the Internet. The latest version of WinAPRS for Win32 platforms now includes support for connecting to APRSserve servers. APRSserve stations receive APRS packets on the radio and retransmit them via telnet over the Internet. APRSserve stations can also exchange packets with one another.

What you end up with is what appears to be a very busy APRS frequency with position spots from around the country. Sound like fun? You can try it out by downloading WinAPRS or MacAPRS from the TAPR web site at one of the following URLs:

ftp://ftp.tapr.org/tapr/SIG/aprssig/files/winstuff/WinAPRS/

ftp://ftp.tapr.org/tapr/SIG/aprssig/files/macstuff/MacAPRS/

Installation is fairly simple, merely unzipping the file with the "-d" option to create subdirectories as needed. Start up WinAPRS and select the Settings->Station menu so that you can change the callsign N0CLU to your own so that you don’t accidentally send out "clueless" position reports. If you know your longitude and latitude go ahead and put that in as well. To connect to an APRSserve server select the Settings->TCP/IP Connections menu then select one of the servers listed. These servers are listed in the text file aprsserv.txt, which should be in the same directory as winaprs.exe.

Note that for some network environments the default server settings will not work. The TCP/IP port numbers are non-standard, which makes sense if the APRSserve machine wants to allow normal telnet sessions in addition to APRS telnet sessions. However if you’re behind a corporate firewall that does not allow for non-standard port numbers edit the aprsserv.txt file setting the port number of www.aprs.net to 23 (the telnet default). That server apparently also set up the regular telnet port to work and firewalls should pass it without problems.

There appear to be about five areas of the country that have working APRSserve servers on all of the time (New England, Georgia, South Florida, Los Angeles and Seattle). The figure below shows an area map of the southeast US and the position reports from there. The middle of the United States is relatively empty, except for those stations that are sending out positions via the Internet. Might the club be interested in setting up an APRSserve machine?

WinAPRS and MacAPRS are shareware, if you find that you like the software you need to send the registration fee to the authors. Information on how to do this is available with the software.

Operating Notes

Nets
The UTARC net on the 442.15 MHz repeater has been continuing for some time. While not everyone has a radio capable of operating at 440 MHz, a number of people have been showing up last semester (from KC5OJK):

Date	Checkins	Members
10/13	7	4
10/20	6	4
10/27	6	2
11/3	6	3
11/10	5	2
11/17	7	4

The club is looking into an ideally placed 2M repeater for future UTARC nets. Until then please join the rest of the group every Monday at 7:30 PM on the 442.15 MHz machine (186.2 tone).

Over a Decade of SS

Recently UTARC alumnus George (K5TR) compiled the results he had obtained in the phone Sweepstakes contest over the last 19 years. As you can see he has been able to achieve great results for some time now.

Year	Stn	QSOs	Sec	Score
1979	WB5VZL	834	57	95,076
1980	WB5VZL	970	74	143,560
1981	WB5VZL	1054	74	155,992
1982	WB5VZL	1032	73	150,672
1983	N5AU	1594	74	235,912
1984	N5AU	1634	74	241,832
1985	N5AU	1734	74	256,632
1986	N5AU	1592	74	235,616
1987	N5AU	1731	75	259,650
1988	N5AU	1752	76	266,304
1989	N5AU	1723	77	265,342
1990	N5AU	2370	77	364,980
1991	N5AU	2310	77	355,740
1992	N5AU	2187	77	336,798
1993	W5KFT	2097	77	320,166
1994	W5KFT	2217	77	341,418
1995	AB5KD	1982	77	305,228
1996	W5KFT	2075	77	319,550
1997	W5KFT	1961	79	309,838

32,849 Total contacts

Shack Status

As many of you probably remember, the club received a 42 MHz Johnson signal generator based on a 3CX800A tube some time back via Bryan W5KFT and George K5TR. If you've been up in the club station, it's the big gold-colored unit with the white faceplate that weighs 102 pounds. (I'm not kidding) Over the break, George K5TR was able to modify it by removing the low-level transmitter from the circuit and replacing it with T/R switching, a PTT input, and an input coax connector, and re-tuning the amplifier circuit for 50 MHz. With about 10W of drive from the TS-600 the amp outputs about 500W.

NOTE: do not attempt to use this amplifier without first talking to George K5TR (geoiii@kkn.net, 416-0140 or 416-7010) or Ken KM5FA to get advised on how to use it. Above all, do not under any circumstances transmit without the antenna plugged in. This is VERY VERY important.

One problem with the amp that persists at press time is the amp's relay that occasionally does not make good contact when going back to receive. Hopefully this will be fixed shortly.

George has already put the amp to use in working the 6M E-skip opening on January 8. He worked 37 stations from 0150z to 0450z including four new grids (FM18, FM14, FM06 and DN96). The DN96 is also a new state - North Dakota. Most of the contacts were in and around EM95.

A quote by KE4GRW in North Carolina may have said it best when he reported on the Internet, "6 meters open from EM95 to EM10 @ 0414 UTC...N5XU with awesome signal."

Members on the Move

UTARC Vice President Jill Francis (KC5OJK) was recently elected as President of the Austin Amateur Radio Club. Congratulations Jill!

Web Tools

The Tucson Amateur Packet Radio group now has information on-line concerning their Spread Spectrum radio project:
http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/taprfhss.html

Information about the 1997 Digital Communications Conference is also available:
http://www.tapr.org/dcc/

The Voice of America transmitter site in Bethany, Ohio (on the way to Dayton from the Cincinnati airport) was decommissioned and torn down this year. For some information on the historic station and its great antennas check out:
http://www.exit109.com/~jimh/voaohio.html

The Austin area Central Texas DX and Contest Club has a web page at:
http://lonestar.texas.net/~na4m/ctdxcc.htm

Information on KB2AH's big-time 1296 MHz EME station can be found at:
http://www.SignalOne.com/kb2ah/

Misc.

UTARC alumnus Stuart (K5KVH) reports that the Austin QRP Club meets monthly on the second Saturday of the month at various locations around town. The club planned a group trip to the San Antonio swap meet on January 10 and also has plans for kit building nights and other activities. For more information contact one of the club members Glen Reid (K5HGB) at k5hgb@flash.net or Stuart at rohre@arlut.utexas.edu.

A new mail reflector has been set up to discuss the cause and cure of radio frequency interference (RFI), a common problem with Amateur Radio operations. The threads of discussion will focus on technical solutions to RFI problems. To subscribe to the mailing list send a message to rfi-request@contesting.com and put only the word "subscribe" in the message body.

UTARC Officers

Roaming on or near campus? Take your HT with you and listen for other UTARC members on the 442.15 MHz repeater!

Got a project idea for the club? Let the officers know!