F.C.A.R.C. Inc.

P.O. Box 773

Greenfield, MA 01302

SAT, MAR 6, 9AM, Mt Tom Amateur Radio Association Amateur Radio and Electronics Hamfest, Springfield Turnverein Club, 176 Garden Street, Feeding Hills, MA, $5.00 admission fee.

MON, MAR 8, 7PM E-Board Meeting at AC1L’s house, Greenfield, MA

FRI-SAT, MAR 12-13, MA QRP Convention, Westford Regency Inn and Conference Center www.masscon.org

SAT, MAR 13, 8AM Club Breakfast at Denny’s Restaurant in Greenfield

MON, MAR 15, 7:15PM, Club Program Meeting, Greenfield High School (Visiting Presenter) See program note below.

SAT, MAR 20, FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!

NO OFFICIAL MEETING FOR FEBRUARY.

TOPICS FOR NEW HAMS: AN “EASY-TREAD” RADIO SHELF

I suppose Hams have used just about every variety of home radio shack setup that can be imagined, from computer desks and customized units, to a corner of a home-brewed shelf, or a card table in a corner.

Since I set up my shack (now moved at least once), I’ve used an old table-type university school desk picked up for $15.00. A kitchen expandable storage shelf from Home Depot covered with an acetate sheet, was followed by a particle- board shelf, that eventually sagged and has now been replaced with what I have called the “Easy-Tread Shelf.” This thing is solid with its ends tucked next to the trim board on the table.

I built it from two stairwell tread boards purchased for $9.00 each at Home Depot. These come forty-eight inches long. I used a circular saw to cut one board to the required length, and to cut three, matching-height “legs” from the other board. I made my legs eleven inches high to accommodate raising the radios’ front legs as needed for easy viewing. I then marked three equally spaced holes on the ends of the main shelf board, about ½ inch in from the ends. I also marked three holes at the point at which I wanted to place the third supporting leg. (This leg placement will vary according to your radio equipment sizes and arrangement desires).

The supporting leg pieces will, off course, be the same “depth” as the width of the shelf piece. They can be arranged so that the front rounded edge is used at the front of the shelf, or you can use the flat, matched side of the boards as the front. I preferred the rounded edges facing forward.

After drilling the holes in the top shelf, simply use those holes to measure or mark off the three holes on the three supporting leg edges. Drill these holes only slightly into the top edge of the legs. Now, assemble with 1 ½ or 2- inch deck screws for a sturdy shelf! Start with the middle screw for each shelf; this will support the shelf while you line up each leg and place in the other two screws for each one. Quarter round strips on the inside corners can be used to further strengthen the shelf, but with the sturdiness of stair treads, these are not needed for a shelf sitting flat on another surface.

Paint, stain, or just leave unfinished, depending on your needs for asthetics.

Several detail pictures are shown below. Just remember to measure twice and cut once! – Hyrum, KB1KRS

FOUR NEW LICENSES EARNED AT FCARC-SPONSORED VE SESSION

Congratulations to Steven Fuller of Sterling, MA and Robert Coleman of Athol who earned their General License Class Ticket in Northfield on February 22. Fuller also passed the Technician Class license at the session before taking the General examination. Coleman, K1QED, was upgrading from Technician. John Bergquist of Orange also earned a Technician Class license at the session. Bill Boutwell, N1EWK, Al Woodhull, N1AW, Hyrum Huskey, KB1KRS, were all FCARC volunteer examiners at the session, and welcomed the able assistance of West River Radio Club members Francis Hagerty, WK1L, and Leslie Berg, KJ1W - Editor

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! MARCH AND APRIL MEETING PROGRAMS OF INTEREST TO ALL!

Our March 15 meeting will feature a guest speaker, Jose Castillo, N1BAA,
ex-N4BAA, KG4SB, YI9BAA, and VP5BAX. He is now a Franklin County resident.

Jose is currently setting up for serious contest operation at a new home in
Sunderland. He recently moved from Amherst so he could put up higher
towers than Amherst would permit without a hassle.
Jose wrote: "I have PLENTY of photos.... and experiences on which to draw
from as I speak quite regularly all over the US.... I will put together a
short program in Power Point that addresses operating from a small
footprint to what I have today... AND integrate contesting into it as well
as every day modern logging."

The April 19 FCARC program meeting will have the theme of "Build-It-Yourself".
Several club members will talk about home-brewing projects and kit building, and
will show and talk about some of their projects.
Anyone interested in making a presentation should contact Al, N1AW.
We would like to have each presenter give a 5 minute (+/-) talk on one
project, hopefully with pictures on digital media so we can use the
projection system to make things visible to all. If you don't want to give
a talk, or you have more than one project, bring them along and we'll have
an informal show-and-tell session after the presentations. –Al, N1AW


The SSB weekend of the ARRL DX contest comes up the first weekend in
March. Want to work some DX? Here's my story about the recent CW weekend.
I went out to K1TTT's super station in Peru, MA, on the second day of the
ARRL CW DX Contest. I'm a novice contest operator compared to those who
can copy 30 wpm CW and come from far away to spend 48 hours operating. So
when I go out to Dave's place I don't expect to get scheduled to operate
the 20- meter position during daylight. I operated a morning shift on 40
meters, followed by a few afternoon hours on 10 meters. I worked no DX at
all on 40. Ten meters was actually quite exciting, the sunspots are coming
back. Although most of the stations I heard had already been worked, I did
make a half dozen or so contacts, from Brazil to Alaska, and got a couple
of new multipliers on the band in my three hour shift.
I was home before the contest was over. At 6:30 I thought, well, the
contest has a half hour to run, I wonder what 40 meters sounds like now?
It was crowded, there were stations calling CQ all the way up to 7100 KHz
and above. In less than 12 minutes I worked stations in Trinidad/Tobago,
England, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. All of them were calling CQ between 7090
and 7100. Two of them heard me the first time I called; the other two
required a bit more effort. But it was really a thrill to realize that my
little signal can be heard that far away at the right time for the
frequency. I was putting 5 watts out to my antenna, a mini-G5RV (shortened
dipole).
It was also, of course, not just the right time for the frequency, it was
the end of a contest where my own call had not been heard before, and so it was just the opposite situation from what I had at K1TTT. But when I think that at K1TTT I was using a kilowatt and stacked beams on a 180' tower, well, that's a pretty big difference, too.
I shared this story with Dick, AC1L. He commented, "The 40 meter contacts
you made can be duplicated almost every evening if you use Grey Line
enhancement. It has given me a big boost, and renewed my interest in
chasing DX. I have reached the point where I am maintaining a dupe sheet
to prevent calling someone who may not be looking for me more than once!
Contacts are of the contest variety, but that is OK with me." Al, N1AW

THE COMMUNICATOR is an informational publication for members of the Franklin County Amateur Radio Club. This is your newsletter! Amateur radio information of general interest, club member project descriptions and doings, radio applications to other activities, corrections, or suggestions are all welcome. Individual submissions make for variety! We need more writers! Send to editor’s email or Hyrum Huskey, Tel: 863-8741, by the third Friday of the month, please. Email addresses of Club Officers may be found on the club web site www.fcarc.org

Appreciation, as always, is expressed to Locust Press, Inc. for their regular great service and timely assistance in photocopying and preparing the regular mail copies of The Communicator.

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