UTARC News
The Official Journal of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club
March 1996
The Official Journal of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club
March 1996
The March meeting of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 PM in CPE 2.212 on the UT campus. The topic for this month is Packet Radio and several different facets of Packet will be discussed. Talk in on the 147.18 MHz repeater.
The equipment ordered to help rebuild the shack after the devastating September 1995 wind storm is finally scheduled to arrive within the next few days.
The ordered mast, tower section and coax are now in house at Texas Towers and should have already been sent to the club by the time you read this. The Force 12 antenna is being sent directly from Force 12's factory.
At this rate the club's station might be up and running in time for the WPX contest the last weekend of March.
UTARC would like to welcome the following new members to the club:
Name Call Interests Trevor Smith AB5EU DX'ing
The following operating events are coming in the next couple of months.
CQ WPX Phone Contest March 30-31
HF Grid Location Contest April 13-14
The club's new tower and antenna system should be in place by the time these contests are held. This presents a great opportunity to test both the new equipment and your operating skills.
Everyone is encouraged to participate in getting W5EHM on the air for these events. Contact Robert (KA5WSS) at 837-4051 for more information.
de N5PSS (Brian McMinn)
It's not often that an opportunity comes along to do something way out of the ordinary. That's how I felt for two years as I read about a group of ham radio operators building a satellite in Orlando, Florida. It's one thing to see moon rocks in a museum and quite another to work directly with the people who are building a spacecraft that will soon be launched.
My chance came when the project I was leading was canceled. I found myself (at least temporarily) with far less responsibility for day to day activities. During the month that I helped the old project team to find new work within AMD, I talked with the lab manager at the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) lab in Orlando. Although the number of short term tasks available was few, he found several that I could work on.
Figure 1: An earlier
AMSAT bird, AO-13
I was discussing my plans with a co-worker, Tom Lynch, when he said that he'd like to go to. We found a time when both of us could take off work and when the AMSAT group could use our help and scheduled the trip.
The AMSAT lab and assembly facility is an odd mixture of machine shop, cleanroom, office, RF lab and computer facility. It's immediately clear that THINGS happen here. Given the very low budget available, they deal every day with the multi-part question: "Will that work in the hostile environment of space? For how long? What does it cost? And most importantly, can we do it for less?"
When Tom and I showed up, we were immediately put to work building a full size electrical mock up of the satellite for antenna testing. We started with an existing sheet metal mock of the "front" side of the satellite. We used foil coated foam building board from the local hardware store with an aluminum skeleton for support. Although it was almost 8 feet in diameter and 2 feet thick, the mock only weighed around 40 pounds.
This mock was to be used to test an antenna tuned to a wavelength near 10 meters. In order to do this properly, we had to get the mock satellite away from the effects of the ground. We built a 35 foot high "A" frame and a hoisting mechanism to pivot it to a vertical position. Now the mock could be adjusted on the ground and then hoisted into place for testing. We demonstrated that the whole arrangement worked, but the antennas were not yet ready so we didn't get to participate in the actual tuning.
The satellite itself is quite impressive. It sits in a "cleanroom" environment on a structure that looks like a giant barbeque spit and
allows rotation to any position for assembly. It is a flat hexagon shape almost 8 feet in diameter and two feet thick. The center portion contains 6 spherical fuel tanks arranged around the main rocket engine. The control electronics, radio equipment, solar cells, thermal control and wiring wraps around the periphery of the hexagon. Currently, only the space frame some wiring and the fuel tanks are installed.
If anyone is interested in spending a summer or a semester working with the AMSAT team, they would be interested in talking to you. They say they would be able to pay a student for a summer, but that means they get to be selective about who they hire. I've been on the hiring side of the interview table for a decade now and I assure you that this kind of summer experience will get attention on a resume, even if you're not interviewing for a position as a rocket scientist. I
expect they would be more likely to hire an engineer or programmer, but if you've got a real interest in satellites and radio, go ahead and inquire. You can either contact me at 602-5389 (local Austin) or call the lab manager (Lou McFadin) directly at (407)-859-2344.
Derek (AA5BT) operated the CW Sprint contest from the club station in February. Using only 100 watts he was able to make 161 QSO's and work 43 multipliers. Derek reports that 100 watts and a vertical mean he loses out in a lot of pileups.
Derek was the control op in the club station for Lindsey (aged 11) as she competed in another (Squint - Kid's Sprint Contest) on March 9. Derek reports that Lindsey is handling the pileups well and is gaining a national reputation among the participants.
UTARC alumnus Trey (WN4KKN) also operated this contest from California. His high power effort netted 319 QSO's and 47 multipliers, good enough for an unofficial 5th place finish.
Trey also operated the ARRL DX Phone contest from the Galapagos Islands as HC8N. He made 7250 QSOs during the contest and an additional 1500 contacts before the contest weekend. Derek (AA5BT) serves as his QSL manager. Trey will also operate the phone WPX contest from the Galapagos Islands.
Derek worked HC8N on all bands during ARRL DX and worked Austinite Dave Harper (WD5N, operating at WP2AHW) on all bands but 10M.
UTARC alumnus George (WB5VZL) was part of the W5KFT multi-op team that operated the ARRL DX. In all they made 1786 contacts and worked 389 countries to create a score of 2,084,000. On 15M alone the station worked 397 stations in 100 countries.
Operating Awards
Robert (KA5WSS) is compiling the QSL's required for the club's Worked All States (WAS) award. So far the club has cards for 47 states, with only ND, NV and VT remaining. Cards for the remaining states are being sent out.
Derek reports that the intermittent connection problem on the 40-10M vertical remains and might be getting worse.
Work Done
Nothing to report this month.
Work To Be Done
The UTARC Web page now has a complete list of all current club members. The list includes links for user email addresses and personal web pages if applicable.
The page is also slowly acquiring a new look. Hopefully this will increase the amount of timely information about UTARC. Stay tuned.
The URL for the UTARC web page is:
http://www.utexas.edu/students/utarc/
Figure 2:
A QSL card from the 1980's
UTARC alumnus Trey (WN4KKN) has also been selected as a wildcard team leader for the upcoming World Radio Team Championship to take place in the San Francisco area during the IARU HF Championship Contest. As a team leader Trey will get to chose one other Amateur with whom he will compete against other teams. The WRTC attempts to neutralize equipment advantages in contesting by bringing the best contesters to one city and setting them up in stations that are roughly equivalent.
HamCom of Dallas is the largest annual Ham Convention in Texas. To find out more about the event check out their web page at:
http://www.netbelay.com/~hamcom/index.html
The latest license issuance's by the FCC can be found at:
http://www.lantz.com/htbin/cbs_today
Timewave Technology Inc. makes DSP equipped QRM filters for Amateur Radio use. Information about their products can be found on their new web page:
http://www.timewave.com/index.html
PacComm manufactures Packet Radio equipment. They are expected to introduce 56K radio modems in the near future. Their home page is at:
The ARRL is filing comments with the FCC to expand Amateur use of Spread Spectrum. To find out more about this interesting mode browse the Spread Spectrum Scene home page:
Interested in the history of World War II and radio? A book based on a personal account (with photos) can be found at:
Email from Deck Yoes (NC5E) was received adding a few more details about the history of the club in the 1960's. Apparently the original club station in the Texas Union went without an antenna setup for some time. Mac Lingo eventually set up an end fed wire antenna over the Texas Union lobby.
Dick also created a video about Ham Radio as part of a class he was taking. Unfortunately the video was almost certainly erased soon after it was submitted.
Minor modifications have been made to the club history document. An on-line version of the history can be found on the UTARC web page.
In the February issue of UTARC News reference was made to the DXCC country of Christmas Island (VK9). The correct prefix for Christmas Island is actually VK0.
Figure
3: 1993 Sweepstakes Operators
Since the FCC is once again issuing club callsigns more and more groups are getting club licenses. According to the ARRL Letter the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been allocated a group of Amateur Radio callsigns for use in communicating with Amateur stations in times of emergency. All of the callsigns contain the FEMA letters (i.e. KF1EMA, NF1EMA, etc.).
Here's a list of all known Phone Sweepstakes results recorded by W5EHM. It's part of the history document that can be found on the club's web page.
Year QSOs Sects Score Result Ops
1986 874 72 125,856 3rd in STX KB1CM,KA5WSS,KA5ZVB,
KF5AW,WR5J
1987 1016 75 152,400 1st in STX CE3LAR,WN4KKN,KA5OVB,
KA5QAA,KA5WSS,KA5ZVB,WR5J
N5JGX,WD8EOP
1988 1154 76 175,408 1st in STX KG5KI,WN4KKN,KF5XR,CE3LAR,
N5LZX,WR5J,KA5WSS
1989 1474 77 226,996 1st in STX, 10th WR5J,KG5KI,KA5WSS,KF5XR,
in US KA5CTC,AA5BT
1990 1309 77 178,486 ??? N5RAJ,N5OWG,KB2CLL,AA5NC,
AA5BT,KA5WSS
1992 1311 77 201,894 1st in STX N9IWD,N5SNN,KB5SJN,N5TDI,
KA5WSS
1993 1143 74 169,164 2nd in STX AA5BT,KA5WSS,KB5SJN,N5SNN,
N5TDI,N9IWD
1994 695 73 101,470 4th in STX N5SNN,KB5ELV,KA5WSS
1995 343 72 49,392 Unofficial thus KC5GPG,N1PVB,N1LWI,
far SQ9DDZ,KA5WSS
President: Tony Niesz N1LWI 505-0413 tony_niesz@mail.utexas.edu Vice President: Tom Orzechowski SQ9DDZ 495-5127 orzech@cs.utexas.edu Secretary/Treasurer: Collier Cook N9IWD 495-5015 ifcv645@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu Newsletter Editor: Robert Barron KA5WSS 837-4051 barron@liant.com UTARC Web Page URL: http://www.utexas.edu/students/utarc/ Mail Reflector: utarc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
UTARC News is published by the UT Amateur Radio Club, a registered student organization. UTARC News is not an official publication of The University of Texas at Austin and does not represent the views of The University or its officers.
Contributors: Brian (N5PSS), Derek (AA5BT), George (WB5VZL)
If you have an item you wish to sell or buy you can have a free classified ad placed in a future issue of UTARC News. Contact the newsletter editor if you're interested.
Elections are scheduled to take place during the April UTARC meeting.
The University of Texas ARC
Box 170, Texas Union
Austin, TX 78713