Change to CQ’s Contest Policy, p.

8
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com
$6.99

COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER 2022
Our most reliable
product offering in our
21 years of operation!
C O N S TA N T LY I N N O VAT I N G O U R T E C H N O LO G Y

NEW BRUSH/CONTACT ASSEMBLY

1 The new element housing unit (EHU) brush/contact assembly has
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this advantage without affecting product life expectations. The brush
contact combination wears at a similar rate as our previous contacts.
This new brush/contact not only has lower friction and the same
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due to the material properties of the contact.

NEW COPPER STRIP INDEXING

2 The engineering team at SteppIR has completely redesigned our
copper strip indexing and crowning system – this has taken the better
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pitch and repeatability is now producing the most consistent and
reliable material we have ever had.

3 NEW 40/30 SWEEP ASSEMBLY

We always make it a point to listen closely to our customer base –
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and are very thankful to have this resource. Thanks to a great initial
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S-units
dB over S9

F O R P R O D U C T D E TA I L S A N D O R D E R I N G :
w w w. s t e p p i r. c o m 425-453-1910 w w w. s 9 p l u s 2 0 . c o m
 EDITORIAL STAFF
Richard S. Moseson, W2VU, Editor
Jason Feldman, KD2IWM, Managing Editor
Susan Moseson, Editorial Consultant
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Kent Britain, WA5VJB, Antennas
Martin Butera, PT2ZDX / LU9EFO, At-Large
Gerry L. Dexter, The Listening Post
Joe Eisenberg, KØNEB, Kit-Building
John Ferguson, K3PFW, Emergency Communications
Trent Fleming, N4DTF, VHF Plus
Tomas Hood, NW7US, Propagation
John Langridge, KB5NJD, MF/LF Operating
Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, Ham Radio Explorer
Irwin Math, WA2NDM, Math’s Notes
Joe Moell, KØOV, Homing In
Steve Molo, KI4KWR, Awards
Eric Nichols, KL7AJ, Analog Adventures
Ron Ochu, KOØZ, Learning Curve
Jack Purdum, W8TEE, Microcontrollers
Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR, Mobile/Radio Magic
Scott Rought, KA8SMA, QRP
Don Rotolo, N2IRZ, Digital
Bob Schenck, N2OO, DX
Tim Shoppa, N3QE, Contesting
Jason Togyer, W3MCK, Spurious Signals
Gordon West, WB6NOA, Short Circuits
Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ, The Ham Notebook
AWARD MANAGEMENT
Brian Bird, NXØX, USA-CA Custodian
Steve Bolia, N8BJQ, WPX Award
Jose Castillo, N4BAA, WAZ Award
Keith Gilbertson, KØKG, CQ DX Award
CONTEST MANAGEMENT
Andy Blank, N2NT, CQ 160 Meter Contest
John Dorr, K1AR, CQWW DX Contest
JK Kalenowsky, K9JK, CQ VHF Contest
Ed Muns, WØYK, CQ RTTY Contests
John Sweeney, K9EL, CQ DX Marathon
Joseph “Bud” Trench, AA3B, CQWW WPX Contest
BUSINESS STAFF
Richard A. Ross, K2MGA, Publisher
Dorothy Kehwieder, Associate Publisher,
Advertising
Richard S. Moseson, W2VU, Associate Publisher,
Editorial
Emily Leary, Sales Coordinator
CIRCULATION STAFF
Cheryl DiLorenzo, Customer Service Manager
Taylor Gilligan, Circulation Assistant
PRODUCTION STAFF
Elizabeth Ryan, Art Director
Dorothy Kehrwieder, Production Director
Emily Leary, Production Manager, Illustrator
A publication of
CQ Communications
45 Dolphin Lane
Northport, NY, 11768 USA.
CQ Amateur Radio (ISSN 0007-893X) Volume 78, No. 10,
Published monthly by CQ Communications, Inc., 45 Dolphin
Lane, Northport, NY, 11768, Telephone 516-681-2922. E-mail:
cq@cq-amateur-radio.com. Fax 516-681-2926. Web site:
www.cq-amateur-radio.com. Periodicals Postage Paid at
Northport, NY 11768 and at additional mailing offices. Sub-
scription prices (all in U.S. dollars): Domestic-one year $42.95,
two years $77.95, three years $111.95; Canada/Mexico-one
year $57.95, two years $107.95, three years $156.95: Foreign
Air Post-one year $72.95, two years $137.95, three years
$201.95. Single copy $6.99. U.S. Government Agencies: Sub-
scriptions to CQ are available to agencies of the United States
government including military services, only on a cash with
order basis. Requests for quotations, bids, contracts., etc. will
be refused and will not be returned or processed. Entire con-
tents copyrighted 2022 by CQ Communications, Inc. CQ does
not assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Allow six
weeks for change of address.
Printed in the U.S.A.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
CQ Amateur Radio, P.O. Box 1206, Sayville, NY, 11782
2• CQ • October 2022
announcements
OCTOBER
NEW HOLLAND, PENNSYLVANIA — The Red Rose Repeater Association will hold its Hamfest
beginning 8 a.m., Saturday, October 1 at the Garden Spot Fire and Rescue, 331 East Main Street.
Website: <http://w3rrr.org>. Talk-in 147.015. VE exams.
WEST FRIENDSHIP, MARYLAND — The Columbia Amateur Radio Association will hold
CARAfest 2022 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, October 2 at the Howard County Fairgrounds 2210
Fairgrounds Road. Email: <cara@columbiaara.org>. Website: <www.carafest.org>. VE exams.
SLIDELL, LOUISIANA — The Ozone Amateur Radio Club will hold the Slidell EOC 2022
Hamfest and 2022 ARRL Louisiana State Convention from 2-5 p.m., Friday, October 7 and from
8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday, October 8 at the Slidell City Auditorium, 2056 2nd Street. Email:
<hamfest@w5sla.net>. Website: <www.w5sla.net>. Talk-in 147.27+ (PL 114.8). VE exams.
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY — The Bluegrass Amateur Radio Society will hold the Central
Kentucky Hamfest beginning 7 a.m., Saturday, October 8 at 2032 Parallel Road. Contact: David
Richardson, W9KHZ, (859) 983-1380. Email: <centralkyhamfest@gmail.com>. Website:
<www.bluegrassars.org>. VE exams.
MELBOURNE, FLORIDA — The Platinum Coast Amateur Radio Society will hold the PCARS
57th Annual Melbourne Hamfest and 2022 ARRL Florida State Convention from 1 to 7 p.m.,
Friday, October 7 and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, October 8 at the Melbourne Auditorium,
625 E. Hibiscus Boulevard. Email: <hamfest@pcars.org>. Website: <www.pcars.org>. VE exams,
special event station, DXCC card checking.
MITCHELL, INDIANA — The Hoosier Hills Ham Club will hold the 61st Annual Hoosier Hills
Hamfest from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, October 8 at the Lawrence County 4-H Fairground, 11265
U.S. Highway 50 West. Contact: Tim Wray, KB9SNL, (812) 675-6733. Email: <president@
w9qyq.org>. Website: <www.w9qyq.org>. Talk-in 146.73- (PL 107.2). VE exams.
SALEM, OREGON — The Pacific Northwest VHF Society will hold the 26th Annual PNVHFS
Conference from Friday, October 7 through Saturday, October 8 at the Holiday Inn Hotel, 33021
Market Street NE. Contact: Jim, K7ND, <secretary@pnwvhfs.org>. Website: <http://pnwvhfs.org>.
VUCC card checking.
NORTH HAVEN, CONNECTICUT —The Meriden Amateur Radio Club will the 30th Annual
Nutmeg Hamfest and the 2022 ARRL Connecticut State Convention from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday,
October 9 at the Best Western Hotel, 201 Washington Avenue. Contact John Bee, N1GNV, (203)
440-4973 (days only). Email: <nutfest@qsradio.com>. Website: <www.nutmeghamfest.com>.
Talk-in 147.36+. VE exams
SAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA — The Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club will hold Pacificon 2022
and the 2022 ARRL Pacific Division Convention from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, October 14; 7 a.m.
to 11 p.m., Saturday, October 15; and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, October 16 at the San
Ramon Marriott, 2600 Bishop Drive. Email: <info@pacificon.org>. Website: <www.pacificon.org>.
VE exams, special event station, Wouff Hong ceremony.
BOONE, IOWA — The 3900 Club will hold the Hamboree 2022 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday,
October 15 at the Boone County Fair Grounds-Community Building, 1601 Industrial Park Road.
Contact Clay Conrad, WØFS, (515) 838-2285. Email: <hamboree@3900club.com>. Website:
<www.3900club.com>. Talk-in 146.850-. VE exams
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE — The Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club will hold Hamfest
Chattanooga 2022 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, October 15 at the East Ridge Community
Center, 1517 Tombras Avenue. Website: <htttp://w4am.net>.
LYNNVILLE, INDIANA — The Tri-State Amateur Radio Society will hold the Southern Indiana
4th Annual Hamtober Fest from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, October 15 at the Lynnville Community
Center, 416 W. State Road 68. Email: <hamfest@w9og.net>. Website: <www.hamtoberfest.com>.
SEDALIA, MISSOURI — The Sedalia-Pettis Amateur Radio Klub will hold Sparkfest 2022 from
8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, October 15 at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 3700 W. Broadway
Boulevard. Contact: Bret Kuhns (660) 281-6506. Email: <hota2@hotmail.com>. Website:
<www.wa0sdo.org>. VE exams.
KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN — The Kalamazoo Amateur Radio Club and the Southwest Michigan
Amateur Radio Team will hold the Kalamazoo Hamfest from 8 a.m. to noon, Sunday, October 16
at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center and Fairgrounds, 2900 Lake Street. Email: <info@kalama-
zoo0hamfest.com>. Website: <www.kalamazoohamfest.org>. Talk-in 147.030 (PL 179.9). VE
exams.
PERKASIE, PENNSYLVANIA — The RF Holl Amateur Radio Club will hold its Hamfest 2.0
from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, October 16 at the Upper County Campus, Bucks Community
College on Blooming Glen Road. Contact: John Morrell, KB3EWV, (215) 399-7685. Email:
<john@morrelfamily.net>. Website: <www.rfhillarc.club>. Talk-in 145.31- (PL 131.8). VE exams.
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA — The Harrisburg Radio Amateur Clun will hold its
Oktoberfest Electronics Expo and Hamfest from 7-11 a.m., Saturday, October 22 at the Vietnam
Veterans of America, 800 Derry Street. Contact Bab Saber, K3RTS, (717) 574-2608. Email:
<k3rts@w3uu.org>. Website: <www.w3uu.org>. DXCC / WAS / VUCC card checking.
KIRKWOOD, MISSOURI — The Saint Louis Amateur Radio Club will hold its 30th Annual
Halloween Hamfest from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, October 29 at the Kirkwood Community
Center, 111 S. Geyer Road. Contact: Steve Welton, WØSLW, (314) 941-8500. Email: <slwel-
ton@gmail.com>. Website: <www.halooweenhamfest.org>. Talk-in 147.75-. VE exams.
NOVEMBER
CONGRESS, ARIZONA — The Hassayampa Amateur Radio Klub will hold the HARKfest
Tailgate Hamfest from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, November 5 at the North Ranch Escapees RV
(Continued on page 8)
Visit Our Web Site
 ham radio news
ARRL Reports Significant Decline in Investment
Portfolio; Taps Fund to Cover Operations
ARRL Treasurer John Sager, W7JS, reported to the League
board of directors in July that the value of the organization’s
investment portfolio had dropped by 9.2% in the second quar-
ter of 2022 and by 11.1% for the year to date. However,
according to the ARRL Letter (which did not report on the
July board meeting until early September), Sager told the
directors that the portfolio’s value remains higher than it was
in 2020, “(after considering withdrawals for operations).”
Chief Financial Officer Diane Middleton, W2DLM, reassured
the board that the League’s balance sheet remains “solid,”
with “healthy cash balances.”
Two Dozen Clubs Share $270,000 in Grants
The ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program, funded by the
Amateur Radio Digital Communications foundation (ARDC),
has made its first round of grants, A second round of appli-
cations opened on September 7th. The announcement in the
ARRL Letter did not break down the individual grants, only
that a total of $270,000 was split among 24 clubs. In the first
round of applications, a total of 128 clubs requested funding
totaling $1.74 million. The total available this year is
$500,000. Grants were made to fund “transformative projects
that encourage growth of active amateur radio operators and
training opportunities, education programs for student
groups and schools, and club revitalization.” For more infor-
mation, visit <www.arrl.org/club-grant-program>.
A Ham Station on the Moon?
If all goes according to plan (which is never certain when it
comes to space flight), there will soon be a ham station on
the surface of the moon, transmitting a beacon in the 70-cen-
timeter band. According to the AMSAT News Service, the
Japanese OMOTENASHI cubesat is scheduled to be
deployed into lunar orbit by NASA’s Space Launch System
on the Artemis launch, which at press time was scheduled
for its third liftoff attempt in late September or early October.
For details and updates, visit the OMOTENASHI website at
<https://tinyurl.com/4rrtw39h>.
Two Genesis satellites built by AMSAT-EA in Spain are
scheduled to launch on the commercial Firefly booster rock-
et from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch,
originally scheduled for early September, was scrubbed twice
due to weather conditions, and hopefully will have taken
place by the time you read this. If successfully orbited, the
two satellites will provide FM voice and AFSK/FSK repeaters,
including packet and APRS capabilities.
ISS Ham Station Upgrade
Long-awaited upgrades to the amateur radio equipment on
the International Space Station have been completed, giv-
ing hams additional opportunities to use the station as an
orbiting repeater. The ISS cross-band repeater (2 meters up,
70 centimeters down) is now active 24/7, except during
spacewalks, ARISS school contacts, or docking. Plus, the
APRS/packet digipeater (2-meter simplex) is active full-time
as well. For details, see “Gordo’s Short Circuits” on page 81
of this issue.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
In a related story, the “NASA on the Air” program contin-
ues its series of special event operations from various NASA
facilities around the county. See page 46 of this issue for
details.
Milestones: W2HD, K2RM , Frank Drake, SKs
Former ARRL and QCWA president Harry Dannals, W2HD,
became a Silent Key on August 30th at age 95. Dannals
served as ARRL president from 1972-1982, according to the
ARRL, and was named President Emeritus in 1984. He was
also president of the Quarter Century Wireless Association
(QCWA) from 1989-1994, and was later named President
Emeritus of that organization as well. During his time lead-
ing the ARRL, Dannals presided over preparations for the
1979 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-79),
which led to amateur radio’s acquisition of “the WARC
bands,” 30, 17, and 12 meters. Dannals lived in Charlottes-
ville, Virginia.
Bob Miller, K2RM , became a Silent Key on August 27th.
He was 79 and lived in Mesa, Arizona. Miller was a major
player in the amateur radio industry in the latter part of the
20th century, as a vice president of RadioShack. Bob was
responsible for bringing amateur radio gear into the compa-
ny’s product line. He is also considered the father of the
Family Radio Service (and was a longtime friend of all of us
at CQ).
Finally, SETI pioneer Frank Drake (who was not a ham
but influenced many of us) passed away at his home in
California on September 2 nd. He was 92. Drake had a
wide-ranging career as an astronomer, including dis-
covery of a radiation belt around Jupiter and more. But
his life’s passion was always the search for extraterres-
trial intelligence, or SETI. He is perhaps best known for
developing the “Drake Equation” which estimates the
likely number of advanced civilizations in the Milky Way
galaxy.
Look for More African Stations on 60 Meters
The South African Radio League reports that hams in sev-
eral African countries have gained access to the 5-MHz (60-
meter) band, and several more have allocation requests
pending. Hams in South Africa may operate from 5350-5450
kHz, with 5290 kHz designated for WSPR beacons. In addi-
tion, Kenya has authorized hams to use 5275-5450 kHz on
a secondary basis; and Namibia, Eswatini, Mozambique, and
Zimbabwe all permit amateur operations — at 15 watts EIRP
— on 5351.5-5366.5 kHz. Authorizations have been request-
ed from regulators in Botswana, Lesotho, Angola, Zambia,
Malawi, and Tanzania.
Scouts to Hit the Airwaves This Month
The annual Jamboree on the Air / Jamboree on the Internet
(JOTA/JOTI) is scheduled for October 14-16th, with scout-
ing groups around the world teaming up with amateur radio
operators to contact other scouts and any interested hams
via amateur radio. This is the largest and oldest ham radio /
scouting event, dating back to 1958. For information on how
to participate, visit <www.jotajoti.info>.
October 2022 • CQ • 3
 contents OCTOBER 2022 • VOLUME 78 NUMBER 10

10 EMCOMM FROM THE

GROUND UP ... The Story of
20
Poland’s Masovian Amateur
Radio Network
By Maciej “Miles” Muszalski, SQ5EBM
Building an amateur radio emergency
communications network in Poland is
the topic of our cover story (p. 10). In
our photo, Adrian Matusik, SQ5AM
(left) and Michał Wojciechowski,
SP5OSP (right), run net control for the
Emcomm Radio Check net at the “Night
at the Institute of Aviation” in Warsaw,
which draws some 40,000 visitors each
year. Details on page 89. (Cover photo
by Michał Piórczyński, SP5DLX)

features
20 DEVELOPING YOUR RADIO VOICE 38 THE SPACE AGE AT 65: HOW HIGH SCHOOL HAMS
W9JU Describes How to Get Your Message Across TRACKED SPUTNIK
Clearly and Accurately By R.A. “Ral” Leskovec, K8DTS
By Scott Ruesch, W9JU
40 CQ CLASSIC: Dawn of the Space Age,
24 EMCCOMM FROM THE 1950S AND ‘60s ... The L.A. as Chronicled in CQ
Emergency Communications Corps Story Fame and Fortune Via “Sputnik I”
WØRW Gives Us a Glimpse at Ham Radio Emcomm in By Michael Stimac, W8KTZ (January 1958)
Los Angeles, a Half Century Ago
By Paul Signorelli, WØRW 42 ARISS TO THE MAX: Seven Challenger Centers Join in
a Ham Radio Contact with the International Space
26 SIX METERS TO THE RESCUE! Station
Not Your Typical Amateur Radio Emergency KB2JRP Links Seven Disparate Centers With a Ham in
Communications Article Australia to Make a Contact With Astronaut Bob Hines
By Rich Stiebel, W6APZ By Norm Sutaria, KB2JRP

28 AMATEUR RADIO ON THE HOME PAGE 46 NASA ON THE AIR

WØRW Shares an Off-Air Benefit of One Club’s Hams at NASA facilities around the United States have
Relationship With Its Local Sheriff been celebrating milestones of America’s space
By Paul Signorelli, WØRW program all year through its “NASA on the Air” event,
or NOTA.
30 MFJ AT 50 By Bob Granath and Desiree M. Baccus, N3DEZ
MFJ Enterprises Turns 50 This Month and W7SSB
Looks Back at Founder Martin F. Jue and the 48 THE FLUTENNA
Company’s First Half Century A College Radio Club Turns a Flute Into an Antenna
By Don Sherman, W7SSB By David Kazdan, AD8Y
52 ANTARCTIC MEMORIES
32 CQ CLASSIC: Looking Back — A Tour of MFJ
N4XX Reminisces About Hamming From Antartica
MFJ — A Little Bit of Everything
By Ted Cohen, N4XX
By Rich Moseson, W2VU (March 2001)
54 THE CHILL IN ANTARCTICA ... or “Tell Him Hi, But I’ve
37 CALIBRATING SMART BATTERIES WITH Got to Get Back to Work”
IMPEDENCE TRACKING By Stew Gillmor, W1FK
What Makes Batteries So Smart and What Helps Them
Keep Track of Their State of Charge?
By Isidore Buchmann
EMCOMM SPECIAL: Disasters can happen at anytime and it takes a special breed to be ready for the worst at a
moment’s notice. Luckily many hams have been intensely training for that very moment. This month, read how you, too, can
be prepared to help your community on pages 10, 16, 20, 24, 26, and 28. Also this month, CQ looks at Sputnik’s 65th anniver-
sary and ham radio’s role on pages 40, 42, 44, and 81. Plus, MFJ Enterprises turns 50 on pages 30 and 32.

columns
16 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS: “Go Kits” — A 73 ANTENNAS: Really Broad Band Antennas
Philosophical Approach By Kent Britain, WA5VJB
By John Ferguson, K3PFW
76 QRP: The Amazing POTA Race
56 MATH’S NOTES: Simple Low-Cost Test Equipment By R. Scott Rought, KA8SMA
(Continued)
By Irwin Math, WA2NDM 81 GORDO’S SHORT CIRCUITS: Now Twice the ISS
Excitement ... Plus, New Hoops to Jump Through at the
58 THE LISTENING POST: Algeria Opens New Powerful
FCC and the Nominations are Open for Hamcation
Shortwave Transmitter ... Plus “Radio Australia” Returns
Awards
to the Air (With Much Lower Power)
By Gordon West, WB6NOA
By Gerry Dexter
62 KIT-BUILDING: “Power to the People” 86 MAGIC IN THE SKY: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
By Joe Eisenberg, KØNEB By Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR
66 LEARNING CURVE: Cobwebs Anyone? ... 88 ANALOG ADVENTURES: Moving Day ... Or ...
CQ Reviews: MFJ-1836H Cobweb Antenna Keeping the Adventure in Analog Adventures
By Ron Ochu, KOØZ By Eric P. Nichols, KL7AJ

departments
91 VHF PLUS: Huntsville: Flea Market and New VHF+ 101 CONTESTING: ARRL Sweepstakes 2022: Evolutionary
Gear and Revolutionary Rules Changes ... Plus: Putting the
By Trent Fleming, N4DTF Panadapter to Work in Your Contest Station
By Tim Shoppa, N3QE
94 AWARDS: Awards From Hong Kong
By Steve Molo, KI4KWR 106 PROPAGATION: Sunspot Cycle 25 Progression:
Impressive
96 DX: PSE QSL!
By Tomas Hood, NW7US
By Bob Schenck, N2OO

miscellaneous
2 ANNOUNCEMENTS 70 BEHIND THE BYLINES
3 HAM RADIO NEWS 84 SPURIOUS SIGNALS
6 ZERO BIAS 85 OUR READERS SAY
8 CONTEST RULES 89 ON THE COVER
UPDATE 99 LOOKING AHEAD
9 NEWS BYTES 110 OOPS
36, WHAT’S NEW 112 HAM SHOP
60, 95

62

44
 zero bias: a cq editorial
BY RICH MOSESON,* W2VU
Finding Common Ground
L
ong ago and far away (at least it seems that way), when
well-meaning people had different, even conflicting,
views of the best way to deal with a situation, they would
sit down together and seek out common ground. What could
they agree on? On everything else, each “side” would give
a little here and get a little there. Eventually, they would set-
tle on a solution that each group could live with, but that total-
ly satisfied no one. It was called compromise and, in this far-
off place, the ability to reach a compromise was considered
a good thing, a sign that the people involved knew how to
work together to get things done, even if no one got every-
thing they wanted.
This is exactly what happened with regard to CQ’s poli-
cy on contest participation by stations in Russia and
Belarus. As you may be aware, CQ management decided
last spring to join with other international sports federa-
tions in protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (via
Belarus) and subsequent war crimes against the civilian
population by limiting participation in our contests by hams
from Russia and Belarus. In a nutshell, the policy stated
that logs from those countries would be accepted only as
checklogs, with no scores listed in the results, and that
contacts by others with those stations would not count for
contest credit. Please note that, at no time, was participa-
tion by any station prohibited outright. This was actually a
middle-ground approach as some contest sponsors, par-
ticularly in Europe, canceled their competitions entirely in
protest. Others did nothing at all.
Predictably, participation in this year’s CQ WPX contests
decreased as a result of this policy (although Contesting
Editor Tim Shoppa, N3QE, has pointed out that participation
was down in many contests, even those with no restrictions).
As the CQ World Wide season approached, we came under
increasing pressure from leading contesters, major contest-
ing clubs, and even members of our own staff to lift the restric-
tions entirely. We refused to do this since the situation on the
ground had not changed and we could not justify complete-
ly removing the restrictions. We sought out common ground
but when our September issue deadline arrived, we had not
yet found it and we stated that nothing would change.
Here’s the rub, though … and it’s not uncommon … the
“other side” had some valid arguments that needed to be
considered, and we all realized that an “all or nothing”
approach would benefit no one. So we kept talking, even
after the September issue was published, and managed to
find that middle ground that had seemed so elusive just a
couple of weeks earlier. You’ll find the details on page 8, but
here are the basics:
Since we still cannot condone Russia’s actions in Ukraine,
we will not remove all the limitations. But in recognition of the
*Email: <w2vu@cq-amateur-radio.com>
6• CQ • October 2022
fact that the average Russian citizen has little ability to influ-
ence government policy, we are slightly loosening the restric-
tions. Logs from Russia and Belarus will now be accepted
as regular entries, but will be treated in the same manner as
“late logs” (those filed after the deadline). Scores will be list-
ed, but the stations will not be eligible for plaques or certifi-
cates. In addition, contacts by other stations with hams in
Russia and Belarus will again count for regular QSO and
multiplier credit. Finally, CQ will work to identify opportuni-
ties to help channel humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.
The changes were announced online several weeks prior
to this issue’s publication, and generated significant com-
ment, some in favor but mostly opposed (from both sides of
the issue). You can see a representative sample in “Our
Readers Say” on page 85 of this issue. But the key point to
remember is that in a compromise, everybody gets a little of
what they want and nobody gets everything they want. So if
people on both sides of a disagreement are unhappy with
the result, then it’s probably right where it should be.
Hopefully, peace will soon return to Ukraine, the long process
of rebuilding can begin, and we can all get back to ham radio
as usual.
In This Issue…
This is our annual Emergency Communications Special
and, as usual, we’ve got a half dozen stories on various
aspects of amateur radio EmComm, spanning two conti-
nents and two centuries. We also note two significant
anniversaries in this issue — the 50th anniversary of MFJ
Enterprises, the hobby’s leading supplier of station acces-
sories and a whole lot more — and the 65th anniversary of
the launch of the Space Age. Hams were among the first
to monitor the signals transmitted by Sputnik after it was
lifted into orbit in October 1957. Among the first hams to
tune in those beeps was a bunch of high school students
in Ohio. Their story was shared in these pages in 1958 and
reprised here this month, along with reminiscences from
the ham who was president of their radio club at the time.
Amateur radio’s connection with the space program is
strong and ongoing, as outlined in two additional articles,
one on a mega-ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International
Space Station) contact this summer by campers at seven
Challenger Centers around the country and the other on
NASA’s own string of special event operations from ham
clubs at NASA centers around the country taking part in
the yearlong “NASA on the Air” program.
We also take you to Antarctica (following last month’s DX
column on chasing awards for working stations there) and
show you how to make an antenna from a flute! Enjoy the
issue and we hope to hear you on the air October 29th and
30th during the SSB weekend of the CQ World Wide DX
Contest!
– 73, Rich, W2VU
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News From CQ…
Updated CQ Contest Policy Relating to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
PLEASE NOTE: This updates and supersedes the policy discussion in the editorial of the
September 2022 issue of CQ.
Sometimes, deadlines are your friends; sometimes not. This was a “not.” The deadline for the September issue of CQ
arrived while spirited discussions were still taking place regarding possible updates to CQ’s policy regarding stations
from Russia and Belarus competing in CQ contests. Since no agreement had been reached, it was decided to retain
the policy as it had been since last spring. However, discussions continued and we have now agreed on several minor
changes to the policy that will broaden participation in our contests while still joining with sporting federations around
the world to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. The updated policy follows, which supersedes that published in the
September issue of CQ. – The editors
1) Effective with the upcoming CQWW RTTY DX contest on September 24-25, 2022, and all CQ contests going forward,
we will resume accepting Russian / Belorussian log entries as regular logs, publish their scores and credit QSOs / points
/ multipliers in all related logs.
2) However, plaques will not be awarded to otherwise-eligible Russian / Belorussian stations. In the event that one of
these stations has the top score in a given category, the plaque will be awarded to the top-scoring non-Russian / Belorussian
entry in that category.

3) Online certificates will not be awarded to any Russian / Belorussian entry, either as a participant award or based on
ranking.
4) CQ will identify partners with which to initiate a humanitarian program to support the people of Ukraine. This effort will
occur either in collaboration with current activities or be entirely new. Details of this program will be announced as they
develop.
5) Specifics of this policy are subject to future review as developments may warrant.

announcements (from page 2)

Park, 30625 S. Highway 89. Contact: Duane Grooms, KDØKYK,
<djgrooms@yahoo.com>. Website: <www.harkaz.org>. Talk-in 146.620
(PL 162.2). Free VE exams, ARRL card checking.
ENID, OKLAHOMA — The Enid Amateur Radio Club will hold 2022
Enid Hamfest from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, November 5 at the Stride
Bank Center, 301 S. Independence Avenue. Website: <www.enidarc.
org>. Talk-in 147.375- or 444.825+. VE exams.
LAWRENCEVILLE, GEORGIA — The Alfred Memorial Radio Club will
hold the Stone Mountain Hamfest and the 2022 ARRL Georgia Section
Convention from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, November 5 and from 8
a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, November 6 at the Gwinnet County Fairgrounds,
2405 Sugarloaf Parkway. Website: <www.stonemountainhamfest.com>.
VE exams.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA — The Sarasota Emergency Radio Club will
hold the 2nd Sarasota Emergency Radio Club Hamfest from 8 a.m. to 2
p.m., at the Sarasota Red Cross, 2001 Cantu Court. Email:
<serc@n4ser>. Website: <http://n4ser.org>. Talk-in 146.73-
KAUKAUNA, WISCONSIN — The Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club will
hold its 2022 Swapfest beginning 8 a.m., Sunday, November 6 at the
Starlite Club, W2091 County Road JJ. Website: <www.fcarc.club>. Talk-
in 146.76 (PL 100). VE exams.
MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN — The U.S.S. Cobia World War II sub-
marine will air special event station NB8QV from 1400-2100 UTC
Saturday, November 12 and from 1400-2100 UTC, Sunday, November
13 to celebrate Veterans Day Weekend. Frequencies include
7.240± and 14.240± MHz. QSL a #10 SASE to Fred Neuenfeldt, W6BSF,
4932 S. 10th Street, Manitowoc, WI 54220-9121. Website: <www.
qrz.com/nb9qv>.
MARANA, ARIZONA — The Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club will hold
the Tucson Hamfest from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Satuyrday, November 12 at
the Marana Middle School, 11285 West Grier Road. Email: <ham-
fest@tucsonhamradio.org>. Website: <www.tucsonhamradio.org>. VE
exams, ARRL card checking.
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA — The Montgomery Amateur Radio Club
will hold the MARC Hamfest and 2022 ARRL Alabama State Convention
from beginning 8:30 a.m., Saturday, November 12 at the Alcazar Shrine
Temple, 555 East Boulevard. Contact: Lew Nyman (334) 354-1933.
Website: <www.w4ap.org/marc>. Talk-in 146.84- (PL 123). VE exams.
FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA — The Playground Amateur
Radio Club will hold the Boondocks Swampfest and Open House from
8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, November 19 at the club property, 17 First
Street SE. Website: <www.w4zbb.org>.
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA — The Allen County Amateur Radio
Technical Society will hold the 50th Fort Wayne Hamfest & Computer
Expo from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, November 19 and from 9 a.m. to
2 p.m., Sunday, November 20 at the Allen County War Memorial
Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Avenue. Phone: (260) 579-2196. Website:
<www.fortwaynehamfest.com>. Talk-in 146.880-. VE exams, DXCC /
WAS card checking.
NORFOLK, NEBRASKA — The Elkhorn Valley Amateur Radio Club
will hold 2022 Northeast Nebraska Hamfest from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
Saturday, November 19 at the CHC Hall, 105 West Elm Avenue. Contact:
Aaron Mathis, KTØQ, (802) 989-9246. Email: <kt0q.ne@gmail.com>.
Website: <www.qsl.net/evarc>.
DECEMBER
TROY, MICHIGAN — The L’anse Creuse Amateur Radio Club will hold
its 49th Annual Swap & Shop from 8 a.m. to noon, Sunday, December
4 at the Balkan American Community Center, 1451 E. Big Beaver Road.
Contact: Russ Price, N8HAR, <n8har1977@gmail.com>. Website:
<www.n8lc.org>. VE exams.
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA — The Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio
Council will hold the 47th Annual Tampa Bay Hamfest and the 2022 ARRL
West Central Florida Section Convention from 1-6 p.m., Friday, December
9 and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, December 10 at the Strawberry
Festival Grounds-Expo Building, 301 N. Lemon Street. Website:
<www.tampabayhamfest.org>. Talk-in 147.165+ (PL 136.5). VE and com-
mercial exams, DXCC / WAS / IARU / VUCC card checking.
MINDEN, LOUISIANA — The Minden Amateur Radio Association will
hold the MARA Christmas Hamfest from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday,
December 17 at the Minden Civic Center, 520 Broadway. Website:
<http://n5rd.org>. Talk-in 147.300. VE exams.

8• CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Emergency Communications Special:

news bytes
“The Swiss Army Knives of Radio Receivers”
radios have evolved into “the Swiss Army knives of radio
receivers.”
Careless goes on to cite radios by manufacturers with
names that are familiar to many of us, such as C. Crane,
Eton, and Sangean, and interviews their CEOs. The article
provides a fascinating history of this radio niche, as well as

O
ne important element of most emergency “go kits” is
(or should be) an emergency radio receiver that’s a reminder that — if you don’t already have one of these as
capable of monitoring weather service broadcasts as part of your go-kit — you really ought to add one.
well as the AM and FM broadcast bands for news and essen-
tial information. While many VHF/UHF ham rigs let you mon-
itor weather radio frequencies, those radios are likely to be
in use for ham communications. Besides, today’s emergency
radios include such additional features as LED lights, solar
panels, and USB ports to charge your phone.
RadioWorld magazine <www.radioworld.com> — a publi-
cation aimed mostly at broadcast professionals — recently
ran an article in its online edition titled “The Evolution of the
Emergency Radio” <https://tinyurl.com/5vvmevxh>. It traces
the concept back to the first battery-powered transistor radios
that could go anywhere with you and the crank-up Baygen
Freeplay radio of the 1990s that could operate without a bat-
tery. From there, wrote author James Careless, emergency

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 9

Emergency Communications Special:
Amateur radio emergency communications was basically non-existent in
Poland until just a few years ago. “Miles” Muszlski, SQ5EBM, past president
of MASR, the country’s best-known emergency network, explains its origins
and its success in a part-personal, part-organizational, story shared here.

EmComm From the Ground Up

The Story of Poland’s Masovian Amateur Radio Network
BY MACIEJ “MILES” MUSZALSKI,* SQ5EBM

NOTE: All political opinions and characterizations in this arti- receiver. My grandpa was imprisoned by the communists for
cle are those of the author only. the Radio Solidarity illegal transmitter, transmitting freedom
news on top of the official communist news broadcast. My

M
y name is Maciej “Miles” Muszalski, SQ5EBM. I was
born in 1979 in a Soviet-occupied country, in
Warsaw, Poland. You might say that radio was
always there. I remember listening to the Voice of America
and Radio Free Europe, and scanning HF on a broadcast
* Email: <sq5ebm@gmail.com>
<http://qrz.com/db/sq5ebm>
dad, SQ5RTD, was a courier for Solidarity.
From my youngest days, I was aware of how important
communication is and that it can help others. When com-
munism fell, back in 1989/90, my dad bought a CB radio
for his truck. CB was very popular back then as not too
many people had telephone landlines and cell phones
were in the realm of science-fiction. I got hooked on radio
waves.

Figure 1. From an initial group of about 40 hams in and around Warsaw (center of map), MASR has grown to more than
100 members across nearly all of the voivodeship (state) of Masovia. (Map via MASR)

10 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Photo A. MASR has made its presence known in the community by exhibiting amateur radio emergency communications
at fairs and other events. (Photo by MASR)

Some two-to-three years later, my dad

became a volunteer for the EmComm
HQ listening/relay station on CB that was
located in Warsaw City Hall. There was
a Kenwood TS-450 for channel 9 CB and
various direct VHF radios for EMS.
People called on channel 9 and request-
ed medical help (as telephones were still
a luxury). I spent countless nights there
with my dad and other volunteers.
Maaan! That was something! Being able
to help, to pass emergency traffic and to
encounter first-hand that this “toy” can
be useful too. Years passed, I became
a ham (1995 VHF, 1999 HF). I wasn’t
involved in EmComm at the time, but the
memory of how useful ham radio can be
was still there.

An Earthquake Half a World

Away
Then came 2015 and an earthquake in
Nepal. Amir, 4X6TT, if I recall, asked on
Facebook for people who could assist
in comms. Living in Warsaw, I had a 5-
element Yagi (TH5DX) and could work
with about 1 kilowatt. I volunteered, like
others did. I was passing some traffic
from Indian hams who were in contact
with Nepal. The traffic included medical Photo B. Sometimes, a demonstration station is set up in the back of a car to
lists, missing person lists, and so on. show its portability. (Photo by MASR)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 11

There was no way to pass that info to
Polish EMS as Polish civil defense
exists only on paper and EMS / Fire
Department headquarters had no coop-
eration established with hams (on a
central level ... and I lived 60 miles away
from their HQ). The only way I could
relay messages to EMS was via 4X6TT
and via the Fire Department’s press
person, who lived in the same building
as me. You must take into account that
Poland back then, and unfortunately
often still, is struggling with a post-
Soviet mentality in both the common
folk and, most importantly, amongst the
Photo C. MASR offers presentations on amateur radio EmComm at a variety of
community events. (Photo by Michal Piorczynski, SP5DLX)
Photo D. One of the biggest events at which MASR has demonstrated ham radio’s
emergency communications capabilities was the Night in the Institute of Aviation,
a huge fair which draws some 45,000 visitors. (Photo by Radek Padzik, SQ5GLU)
12 • CQ • October 2022
people in power, responsible for crisis
management. There are too many fac-
tors and too many budget issues to
allow hams in, as we are the proof that
you can get things done for a fraction of
what the government spends.
Anyway, as it all was happening, I
helped out in my free time. I was at work
and got a call from the secretary of the
Polish Amateur Radio Union (PZK), ask-
ing me if I would agree to an interview
with the biggest TV news channel about
Nepal and Polish hams assisting others.
So, I ended up with TV cameras and
microphones in my radio shack. You can
see the interview on my YouTube chan-
nel, <https://tinyurl.com/bdz48zf5>.
More or less in the same time period,
Polish ham EmComm was starting to
rise, it had already had some great
moments in 1997 and 2010 floods. It
wasn’t much present in my voivodeship
(similar to a U.S. state). You see,
Poland is a boring-safe country, HI, not
like the U.S. or Italy where natural dis-
asters happen often. Anyway, with con-
stant nagging from Hubert, SP5RE, and
Adrian, SQ5AM, who said they would
not stop nagging until I joined, I became
a member of a quite-freshly formed
MASR (Mazowiecka Amatorska Siec
Radiowa, or Masovian Amateur Radio
Network). Masovia is the name of my
voivodeship and is the central one, the
biggest and most populated — about
5.9 million people, and where all the
government fat cats roam. There were
about 40 of us, mainly from Warsaw and
its suburbs.
Not much was happening on the local
stage. We were trying to get any coop-
eration with central and local emer-
gency management, but it was like hit-
ting your head on a concrete wall.
Hubert, SP5RE, had already put lots of
effort into breaking through to the emer-
gency management office, without suc-
cess. Some time later, I was asked by
SP5RE — who was the head of MASR
— and by other members — to take over
from him. Mind that I never ran an orga-
nization before. We held an election,
and I was chosen to become the head
of MASR. Adrian, SQ5AM, became my
wingman; Tomasz, SQ5T; Michal,
SP5OSP; and countless others fol-
lowed. Though I am far from an agree-
able person — I’m more of a “flashbang,
go! go! go!” kind of guy — people came
and wanted to cooperate. So many
wonderful hams who had and have
great ideas. We expanded to over 100
members all over the voivodeship
(Figure 1). We were present in the
media (radio, press, TV, both local and
nationwide) and pushed forward an
agenda that we need to get out to the
people to be seen and for the public to
understand that ham radio operators
are not only TVI generators. We took
part in countless exhibitions (Photos A,
B and C), many organized by Warsaw
city hall, picnics, etc. We became the
first hams to be invited to have our own
stand at the Night in the Institute of
Aviation, a humongous scientific and air
industry fair which drew over 45,000
visitors, where we presented ham radio
and EmComm (Photo D). We orga-
nized, and kept on doing so, a radio pic-
nic with suburban volunteer firefighter
Visit Our Web Site
Photo E. A presentation at a picnic for firefighters included an amateur radio balloon launch. (Photo by Michal
Piorczynski, SP5DLX)

Photo F. An exercise with EMS services in Upper Silesia turned into a real event. (Photo by MASR)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 13

departments (even helping out with
their communications / repairs and so
on). Each year, we have up to 250 vis-
itors during that picnic in a forest edu-
cation center in Celestynow near
Warsaw (Photo E). In other words — we
became visible in our communities. We
Photo G. The group takes part in many regional exercises, including this one that
had them setting up a station at the top of a ski lift! (Photo by MASR)
Figure 2. Another exercise involved setting up communications between key
postal facilities in the event of infrastructure failures, something the author says
the government had been unable to do. (Map via MASR)
14 • CQ • October 2022
took part in EmComm during the
cyclones hitting Poland and due to lack
of any cooperation between Polish
emergency management agency / civil
defense and hams, we had to relay
important EMS messages through the
regular 112 number (911). We regular-
ly take part in Renegade-Sarex exer-
cises with municipal authorities in
Warsaw, creating maps on audibility of
the civil defense sirens in and around
Warsaw.
MASR became the best-known ham
radio EmComm net in Poland, also the
most visible and active. We’ve organized
and taken part in countless exercises
(Photos F and G), pushing forward for
more outdoor training in portable ops. We
took part in international ones, too (with
Germany and the Netherlands). We even
took part in an official EmComm test of
the Polish Post Office, connecting key
facilities all over Poland on HF through
voice and data, plus local ones on VHF
(Figure 2), something that government
services previously failed to achieve at a
distance of 20 kilometers (12.5 miles).
There was a nice story about us in the
September 2018 issue of QST (and other
ham press). We even managed to sign a
mutual EmComm deal with Warsaw City
Hall to help out when needed and
became permanent members of the EMS
NGOs Council in Warsaw.
A few years back, I read a story about
Winlink and planted the seed in our club.
Tomasz, SQ5T, an IT specialist, took it
upon himself to build the first Polish
node. Hubert, SP5RE, donated a trans-
ceiver, other members helped as well
and the PZK OT37 bureau enabled us
to install the node in their shack. Hence
the first Polish Winlink HF node was
born. Others followed and now there are
a few of them in SP and more are on
the way. We also became the first Polish
EmComm net to be QRV on the QO-
100 satellite (Photo H), and now we
have a couple of satellite “go-boxes.”
MASR did it all without donations, with
our own hands and funds. Our go-boxes
(Photo I) might not be as fancy as ones
in ARES, but we are capable of portable
comms on HF / VHF / SAT with backup
power. We are still learning a lot from
our Italian and American friends.
Passing the Torch
In 2020, my first child was born and
soon afterward, Covid took my mom
(SQ5GM) away. I asked MASR mem-
bers to forgive me but I did not feel fit
for leading anymore, nor could I focus
on EmComm matters nor had the time
anymore. MASR is now under the new
leadership of Tomasz, SQ5T. Recently
PZK and MASR parted as we became
an independent NGO (non-govern-
mental organization) cooperating with
PZK.
Half of Polish EmComm nets and the
ones that were most active did the same
and created a federation of EmComm
Visit Our Web Site

Photo H. The group’s operations include use of the geosta-
tionary QO-100 satellite. (Photo by Michal Piorczynski,
SP5DLX)
NGOs. In fact, PZK EmComm itself is almost non-existent.
The federation consists of those nets that were most active
and dedicated. There is a new chapter to be written for Polish
EmComm. Organized amateur radio emergency communica-
tion in Poland is still in its infancy but we are growing, always
reaching higher and hoping for a mentality change in our gov-
ernment so they would one day open up to EmComm NGOs.
To persuade government officials, especially in Warsaw (as
they are the ones making policy), in a country that is safe and
does not have many natural disasters, of a sense of cooper-
ating with ham NGOs is like persuading an ultra-vegan to go
full carnivore.
Recently we got involved in helping Ukrainian refugees
and Ukraine. Many of our members took part in helping
Photo I. Some of MASR’s emergency “go kits” on display. (Photo by MASR)
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
locally and many helped to gather VHF HTs to provide
Ukrainians with means to communicate during the war.
Here is an interview about it in Ham Radio 2.0: <https://
tinyurl.com/2p8mnuws>.
MASR members have also built a 2-meter repeater in
Radom, southern Masovia, connecting the capital with the
southern part of the voivodeship. It is one of the few in Poland
with backup power.
Keys to Success
I think that what you might call the success of MASR was a
different approach than presented by the older generations.
Involving our members became very important, even a key
issue. Consulting them, delegating tasks, and supporting
their ideas.
Our age span is from 23-75, folks from all walks of life. The
other thing is getting out of our comfy shacks and reaching
out to the populace. That is something older hams gave up
on. If we do not exist in the minds of people whom we’re sup-
posed to help, then we do not exist at all.
EmComm here is different than in the U.S. or countries with
long traditions of NGO-government cooperation. The num-
ber of hams is different (about 14,000 licensed and maybe
3,000 active) and the overall wealth of the society, ergo its
ability to focus on activities other than “basic needs,” is also
different than in the U.S. or “general” western countries. Don’t
get me wrong. It isn’t bad, but we are still on track to a bet-
ter situation. People are just not so much into volunteering
but that changes each year for the better.
We struggle with many issues but we keep on growing and
are always ready to help. We move forward thanks to won-
derful people who are members of MASR, we move forward
working grassroots with our communities and telling people
that ham radio isn’t nothing dangerous for them.
See our website <https://masr.pl/> for more photos and
articles.
October 2022 • CQ • 15
Emergency Communications Special:
emergency communications
BY JOHN FERGUSON,* K3PFW
“Go Kits” – A Philosophical Approach
phil·o·soph·i·cal
(Adjective): Relating or devoted to the study of the
fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and purpose
G o Kit. Wow, yes, I want one; the bestest, biggest, the
ultimate one! Is that what you really want?
This month, we’re going to discuss the process of devel-
oping your Go Kit. Not just a Go Kit, your own personal kit,
because the decisions on what to have in it are going to be
based on your personal style, situation, and conditions that
you anticipate using it in. In other words, personally yours.
I refer to this as “philosophical” because this is an attempt
to get you to think through the process of putting together a
Go Kit that will satisfy your needs, your style, and your appli-
cation. Hopefully, it will get you to examine, carefully, every
* 20116 Donovans Rd.
Georgetown, DE 19947
Email: <K3PFW@cq-amateur-radio.com>
Photo A. Author’s travel Go Kit. HF / VHF / UHF (FT-7800,
Astron SS-25, FT-857A, FC-40, antennas, and accessories
16 • CQ • October 2022
decision of what you eventually put in your kit from your own
personal perspective and not somebody else’s list. Your first
attempt probably didn’t, or won’t, satisfy you. So you’ll try
again. What you will soon discover is, a Go Kit is a work in
progress.
If you are thinking about a Go Kit, you must be thinking
about a deployment. We will only briefly discuss what you
need to know about a deployment before you depart, since
that has been covered in previous columns. Deployments
aren’t for everybody, but you never know when you might
need a “Go Kit”. It doesn’t have to be for emergencies. You
can take it on vacation. I have a travel Go Kit that does HF
/ VHF / UHF. It’s simple and adaptable (Photo A).
Some of you may ask, “so what’s a Go Kit?” A Go Kit is
what you prepare, keep ready, and grab on the way out of
the door when responding to a request to provide auxiliary
Photo B. Sussex County (Delaware) EOC Mobile Command
Unit (MCU), The Sussex County (DE) Department of
Emergency Operations’ $1.6 million “Go Kit”. Four dispatch
positions, two auxiliary dispatch positions and an amateur
radio position (75 meters to 70 centimeters multi-mode capa-
ble), conference room seats 8. Forty-foot mast has a dual-
band gain antenna. Note also the Tar Heel Screwdriver. “Go
Kits” can come in all sizes and prices. (Photo by KB3OLX)
Visit Our Web Site
Photo C. MCU amateur radio position on board. The posi-
tion is comprised of HF / VHF / UHF multimode, 800-MHz,
and the county UHF multi-channel. (KB3OLX photo)
communication support. It could be anything from a sched-
uled event, like a parade, to a developing disaster, for exam-
ple a mutual-aid request from a neighboring county. Your “kit”
should contain all the “stuff” you will, or may, need for at least
a 24-hour assignment.
“For just an event,” you say? There were certainly opera-
tors during the fateful Boston Marathon in 2013 who didn’t
get off as scheduled.
There is always a trade-off in weight and size for the
“absolute necessities” versus the “nice to haves.” Having
something small and compact is better than nothing. It could
even “live” in your car.
It can be as simple as you want. Something is better than
nothing. It can be as snazzy as your wallet will allow (Photo
B). But it needs to be adaptable to the mission, the weather,
and you. “No one size fits all” is very applicable here. Single
band, multi band, VHF, UHF, HF, whatever is needed. It can
be all-band / all-mode, but is that what you really will use?
What’s in a Go Kit will involve some of the most personal
decisions you’ve ever made in ham radio. Your comfort, effec-
tiveness, and safety may depend on it.
Getting started, what’s the first question that comes to your
mind when you think about putting a Go Kit together for your-
self? Most hams say, “What radio do I want?” Yes, that’s very
important if you plan on doing any operating.
But that’s only half of the answer. There’s the issue of keep-
ing you working effectively, but it must also sustain you while
you are deployed. Your creature comforts must be met,
somehow.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
Photo D. One of five “Shelter Go Kits” maintained by the
Sussex AUXCOMM Group at the Sussex County (DE) EOC.
Shelter locations have pre-installed X-50A antennas fed
with LMR 400. Note the LED light bar, handy if you have to
operate in the dark.
Your “Go-Kit” items should fall into two broad categories:
SUPPORT: That which keeps you safe, comfortable, and
functional.
OPERATIONAL: That which you use to perform the mission.
One without the other is sort of like a carriage without a
horse. It looks OK but doesn’t get you anywhere! In the sub-
categories below, only one of the seven involves radios and
associated accessories. Six of the sub-categories fall into the
area of support.
PAPERWORK: Identification, documentation, information
resources, etc.
OPERATIONAL STUFF: Radios, antennas, power sources,
and accessories
ADMINISTRATIVE STUFF: Forms, writing materials, etc.
TOOLS AND MISCELLANEOUS: For fixing and/or “mak-
ing do”
PERSONAL ITEMS AND MEDICATIONS: Prescriptions,
OTC, hygiene, glasses / contacts, hearing aid batteries, cash,
pocket change, etc.
FOOD AND WATER: There may not be any available, or
your special diet can’t be accommodated
SHELTER AND SLEEPING: Staying dry, comfortable, and
able to snooze
Two items most often causing a failure in disaster commu-
October 2022 • CQ • 17

Photo E. “Shelter Go Kit” ready to go out the door with a 100-
amp-hour sealed lead-acid battery.
Photo F. As the District Coordinator for Methodist Disaster
Relief, we joke about Doug Covert, KB3PRW’s, “Go Kit on
Wheels.” It has amateur HF through UHF in multiple radios
in a professional looking installation. It stays stocked and
ready with tools, food, extra clothes, generator, and fuel. Note
the light bar on top, and yes, the truck’s lights can also be
made to flash. (Laws concerning flashing lights on non-emer-
gency vehicles vary from state to state. Check your laws first.)
18 • CQ • October 2022
Photo G. Vest and fanny pack combination.
nications are: Insufficient battery capacity and inefficient
antenna. They are interrelated in reducing your ability to com-
municate. If you can’t consistently communicate at an intel-
ligible level during your assigned operational period, why are
you there?
F A M I L Y F I R S T!
This has been covered in a previous column, and is repeat-
ed here because of its importance in the overall scheme of
life. You should not even consider a deployment until your
family is safe and provided for, because YOU cannot con-
centrate on the mission if your mind is occupied with your
family’s welfare.
Are you ready for assignment? Ok, so here we go with some
critical points to consider:
First: You cannot be of any help to anyone if you are not
well-prepared and in reasonable health.
Second: Be sure to have what you need to sustain yourself
(food, water, medicine, etc.) so others will not have to take
care of you.
Third: Be familiar with, and competent in, the operation of
your equipment and disaster operation procedures.
Fourth: Have your equipment and supplies together and in
one place, so you have everything when you depart.
Fifth: Keep an inventory inside the container itself as “non-
volatile” memory.
In the PowerPoint presentation on Go Kits I do for local
clubs, I use a number of non-ham individuals to inject some
humor, cause people to think, or just for fun. It’s about at this
point I would interject a quote from Harry Callahan, a.k.a.
Dirty Harry, from Magnum Force, “A man’s gotta know his
limitations.”
The mission, the season, the venue, and your individuality
all impact the “absolute necessities” to be included and cer-
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tainly affect the “nice to haves.” If you it waterproof or resistant? Is it clearly Think of how the items in your Go Kit
finish reading this article for the second marked? Can you sit on it when it is will help you meet each of your needs
or third time, and you have a better idea empty? Can you mount the equipment at the five levels.
of how to prepare your own Go Kit, into it or on it? Should you build a shelf- Last but not least of contributors, dur-
great! That is all that I hope for. like framework that fits inside the con- ing some internet research several
Another contributor from history, tainer? Would your antenna fit inside years ago, I ran across Lt. Dan
Julius Caesar – Roman Senator, large PVC pipe with removable end Blackston of the Chula Vista, California,
General, Emperor, Philosopher, and caps? Where’s the duct tape? Do you Police Department and his list, “Seventy
Author, is often quoted from his report have light to see at night? Can you pro- Things That Can Happen in a Disaster.”
to the Roman Senate, “Gallia est omnis vide battery power to others while not Off the top of your head, how many
divisa in partes tres.” Translated to disabling your setup? How do you plan things can you think about that may hap-
English it means, “All Gaul is divided to recharge your batteries? Did you hide pen in an emergency? His list of 70
into three parts”. He might also have some of your favorite candy, gum, included descriptions and some rec-
said, “Ut sic ire debet tibi erit ornamen- health bar, snack, etc. inside one of your ommendations.
tum.” Which is, “As so should your Go equipment boxes in addition to your You can never be sure what you are
Kit be.” Gaul in 58 to 50 BC during the food supply? Do you have a plastic tarp going to see, smell, hear, experience,
Gallic Wars was the land of the to cover yourself and the equipment? Is need, want, wish, or be asked for.
Barbarians, unknown, uncharted, and your equipment and supplies marked Knowing about things in advance,
dangerous. Disaster communication with your name? Oh, and good luck!” maybe not completely understanding
support can be a lot like Gaul. Just ask Looking at the singular work of them, makes them less of an issue
somebody who was in Hurricane Abraham Maslow, noted psychologist, when they appear. Having some idea of
Katrina. Caesar conquered Gaul with and his “Hierarchy of Needs,” some- what you may run into when you’re out
organization, training, discipline, and what simplified and applied to your par- there, and including it in your planning
superior equipment. Not bad attributes ticipation in disaster communications, process, now makes it less of a prob-
to consider for groups planning to sup- the five levels working from the basic lem, because it’s already covered in the
port disaster communications. Plan- creature needs up, are: plan.
ning, another critical aspect of any acti- Can you deal with the unexpected?
vation and response, will be discussed 1. Physiological Needs: Food, water, Can you be flexible? Can you deal
next month. shelter with multiple developing issues? Lt.
So, here’s my suggestion for the 2. Safety: Minimize risk, practice per- Blackston’s number seventy is, “things
three-part Go Kit: One – a reflective vest sonal safety, health considerations will get better … only after they have be-
with pockets and a “fanny pack” for 6- 3. Social / Belonging: Appropriate come exceedingly worse!”
to 12-hour duration assignments, like training, teamwork, fitting in Next month, we will look at one of the
public service events (Photo G). Two – 4. Esteem: Be a resource, be compe- most important aspects of the Incident
a shoulder bag or backpack for 24-hour tent, be effective Command System (ICS), the planning
duration. Don’t go crazy, you may have 5. Self Actualization: Being all you can process, and how it can make “life out
to carry what you have some distance. be to support the team there” a lot better and manageable.
Disasters don’t come with valet parking.
Three – For the 48- to 72-hour dura-
tions, have in your vehicle a large duf-
fel bag or case. These three levels are
complementary and additive.
For the short-duration events, think
about: Identification and documenta-
tion, water and snacks, personal items,
hand wipes, OTC medications, jacket or
poncho (try the “emergency poncho” in
camping stores), HT, “Tiger Tail”, gain
antenna, coax jumper, extra battery,
event information, maps, frequency and
phone lists, cell phone and charging
provision, writing materials, basic first
aid kit, flashlight, whistle, compass,
matches, or lighter. And yes, by choos-
ing wisely you can get all this stuff nice-
ly stowed in a compact way.
For the longer duration assignments,
add to your pile of stuff: Food and water,
personal and hygiene items, extra cloth-
ing, additional antennas and coax,
spare battery(s), first-aid kit (expand-
ed), and an expanded tool kit.
From Gregory Green, WB6FZH, the
following: “Consider the containers you
use for your supplies. Can you carry
them? Can you put wheels on them? Is

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 19

Emergency Communications Special:
Professional broadcasters often have a “radio voice” they use on the air
that may be different from how they sound off the air. What W9JU
describes below isn’t quite the same but the goal is identical: Getting the
message across clearly and accurately.

Developing Your Radio Voice

BY SCOTT RUESCH,* W9JU

I
’m sure you all have heard it. Someone less skilled in radio
communications is not able to properly transmit impor-
tant information over the radio. Whether they added their
own perspective to the message or just could not maintain
accuracy, the result is the same: The intended message
did not get through. That is a shame and it didn’t have to
be that way.
The individual was trying to help but just did not have the
necessary skillset to deliver information over the radio in a
timely, concise, accurate, and understandable manner. The
last thing we want is to be an impediment to communications
during a disaster. The obvious answer is to practice, yet that
is not the whole story. There are many tools available that
can be learned which will go a long way towards excellence
in radio communications. In a previous article, I touched on
finding your radio voice and felt a more in-depth discussion
on the topic is warranted. I’ll start with a couple of questions.

Whar IS Your Radio Voice?

So, what is your radio voice? For you sharp-eyed readers, it
was essentially stated above. It is the ability to deliver infor-
mation over the radio in a timely, concise, accurate, and
understandable manner the first time, every time. It sounds
pretty easy, but in reality, it is not always that way. Things
get in the way and it’s not always equipment malfunctions.
Perhaps the radio communicator was not being an active lis-
tener. It could have been background noise causing inter-
ference with communications. Or maybe the radio operator
is in a stressful situation and that stress carries over to his/her
radio communications. You get the idea. So, what we need
to do is improve our radio voice so these types of things will
be minimized.
Why is it important to improve our radio voice? We all want
to be able to succeed in meeting our definition of radio voice
when we are on the air supporting a disaster. We want to be
proficient communicators, that it becomes second nature —
even when the pressure is on. The world may be crashing
around you, but you cannot let that emotion become appar-
ent over the radio. Radio communicators need to stay calm
and remain formal with communications. If you become emo-
tional on the air, it will spread to others and people will start
focusing on the emotion rather than the issue. I hate to say
it, but you need to become desensitized.

Elements of a Good Radio Voice

There are many elements that are the basis for a good radio
Photo A. It is crucial that net control maintain order with radio voice and these elements should be a part of your pre-job
communications for any event. (Bob, WX8BOB, on left and brief with all radio communicators. I use the term radio voice,
Jared, NØJMP, on right) but it all starts with being an active listener. Focus on your
task at hand and not on other things that will only distract
you. If you don’t have the listening aspect perfected, your
* SATERN Coordinator, radio voice will suffer. To use a catchphrase: “Be Here Now!”
Wisconsin Upper Michigan Division The rest of the elements have no particular order, but the
Email: <sarpb9918@gmail.com> most important element is that your radio voice is unchang-

20 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

ing. I am not talking about a monotone delivery, but rather
consistency. The worst thing you can do is to alter your radio
voice when things get exciting in the field where you are sta-
tioned. At a recent event, there was a scenario in which role
players would attack a Salvation Army Emergency Disaster
Services (EDS) canteen. When the attack did take place, the
Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN)
communicator transmitted back to net control, “We are being
looted!” Unfortunately, the communication was delivered at
a higher pitch, at a louder volume, at a faster speed, and used
the term “looted” which came across to net control as “root-
ed.” It took significant time to sort the message out and
because so much focus was placed on trying to understand
the message, net control never asked if the canteen needed
assistance.
Next is the use of the phonetic alphabet. The use of the
standard phonetic alphabet should also become second
nature to you. If you must think about what a letter’s associ-
ated phonetic equivalent is, then it is not second nature.
Likewise, do not make up your own phonetics just because
you like them. It hinders communication. You hear made-up
phonetics all the time on the air. Don’t do it.
A sister to the phonetic alphabet is communicating num-
bers as single numerals rather than a group. Did the com-
municator say 15 or 50? Over the air they can sound quite
similar so saying one-five or five-zero would eliminate the
issue.
Another important element is the use of repeat backs. This
is where the recipient of the message restates it back to
Photo B. Remaining calm on the air for the real thing or
ensuring it is known radio communications are for a drill
must be made clear to the listeners. (Dave, KC8DJ)
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
sender for confirmation of correctness. My background is in
nuclear power and repeat backs were a way of life. They are
so helpful for preventing misconstrued messages. It also
ensures that the message you thought you sent was actual-
ly received the way you intended it. Did he say 8 p.m. or 8
a.m.? The repeat back clears that up. This is also a plug for
using the 24-hour clock for timekeeping. Mornings or after-
noons become a non-issue.
Generally, an actual event will use a directed net protocol.
Most of us have participated in a directed net. Many net con-
trol stations will explain what a directed net is, but not all of
them do this. In a nutshell, a directed net has all communi-
cation handled through the net control station. Net control
(Photo A) keeps communications orderly and is the only point
of contact from communicators in the field. Net control can
grant permission for two stations to call each other directly.
However, you don’t just call another field communicator at
will. You must have net control’s permission. A few years ago
at a major exercise in which SATERN participated, we had
an individual who was fulfilling a different role and happened
to be an amateur radio operator. However, he did not attend
the pre-job brief and during the exercise, he called other sta-
tions whenever he felt like it. He had to be corrected on the
spot that this was not allowed. If this behavior were allowed
to continue, it would have dissolved all sense of order for
radio communications. In short, a directed net prevents chaos
on the air.
One should also learn to speak slowly. Radio communica-
tions are difficult as it is and speaking rapidly just compounds
the problem. Talking slowly and repeating the message may
help. It is especially important if there is a lot of information
for the receiver to grasp at one time. Break the message into
parts if necessary. Remember, communication comprehen-
sion on the receiving end is not always at the same speed
as transmission.
Similar to speaking slowly, you should also speak clearly.
Don’t mumble your words together. Enunciate! Part of speak-
ing clearly may require explanation at times. Certain words
sound the same but have different spellings and/or mean-
ings (homonyms). Examples would include “led” vs. “lead”
and “four” vs. “fore” vs. “for.” In these cases, if the context is
not obvious, further description is needed to clarify what is
meant, or spell them phonetically.
We need to use ICS-213 forms when passing formal traf-
fic. I like to think of it like this: If I am sending a message that
requires a person to act, then the ICS-213 form should be
utilized. Case in point: Last year at the Patriot North 2021
exercise, I was radio shadow for the Salvation Army EDS
(Emergency and Disaster Services) Incident Commander
(IC). Our liaison in the exercise Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) relayed by phone to the IC that six cases of
water were needed at an airfield. After the call ended, I asked
the IC who was the Point of Contact (POC) and what was the
name of the group making the request? I reminded the IC
that there were hundreds of people plus multiple vehicles and
aircraft participating in the exercise at that airfield. The IC
didn’t know and called the liaison back. Unfortunately, the
individual who provided the liaison with the original message
was gone. So we were on our own. We eventually found the
group requesting the water, but it was very difficult because
we essentially had to go door-to-door asking if they were the
ones. Even if a formal ICS-213 form was not used, the situ-
ation would have not existed if we had those few additional
facts at our disposal. Many of you may have your favorite
versions of ICS forms to use and many organizations prac-
tice with them. Some are great for ensuring no information is
October 2022 • CQ • 21
lost by using word counts, etc. However, I have found it more room started announcing major bad things happening to the
useful to ask the command team what they prefer. Since they plant over the PA system. The conference room I was in at
are typically the recipients or transmitters of formal informa- the time had all eyes on the plant employee who was in the
tion, we should use the versions that they feel best suit their room with us. He also had a look of concern in his eyes. As
needs. In other words, it is not what we want but rather what the PA announcements continued, he remembered that
they want. Remember, they are in charge. there was supposed to be a drill taking place that day and
Another element to consider is minimizing jargon. This started making some calls. Eventually the control room
includes acronyms, colloquialisms, and esoteric information. announced that this was a drill, much to everyone’s relief.
I am guilty of this, especially with acronyms. Make sure you I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, we as amateur radio
know your audience before using acronyms. With SATERN, operators are using the public airwaves and others who are
I am very comfortable using terms like SATERN, EDS, or not part of the exercise may be listening. It behooves us to
TSA (The Salvation Army), but only when we are communi- ensure we do not create anxiety among the public merely
cating internally within our organization. If there are outsiders because they thought our radio communications were events
on the same frequencies that we are using, we revert to the that were really happening (Photo B).
noun name. Likewise, we should avoid colloquialisms (terms
unique to a certain area or group). I remember the first Patriot Not Just on the Radio
North exercise I participated in years ago in which the mili- If you think about it, the elements described above apply to
tary kept referring to a “hot-wash.” I had no clue what that face-to-face communications as well. That means that the
meant, but they sure talked about it a lot. I eventually real- mode of communication has very little bearing on how to
ized they were referring to a post-job briefing held after the communicate. There may be some slight variations because
exercise. This exercise is mostly comprised of Army National we are using radio, but it is all communication nonetheless.
Guard and Air Guard and that is the terminology they use. So how does one develop a radio voice? I probably don’t
Recall my working life was in nuclear power and most of the need to tell you this but the answer is practice — then more
ex-military people there are Navy. The term they use is “tail practice. Not just empty practice, but utilization of the ele-
boarding.” Had they said tail boarding, I would have imme-
diately known what was meant. Lastly, I must mention eso-
teric information. Esoteric information is very specialized and
known only to a select few. Some of the technical aspects of
amateur radio fall into this class. For example, if I start talk-
ing about repeater offsets and CTCSS tones to the incident
command team, I will get blank stares. The point of all this
is to use language that everyone will understand.
Use relays only when absolutely necessary. This seems
obvious because the potential to drop important information
is high. Remember the children’s game of telephone? If you
must use relays, ensure the message is short. Don’t use a
relay for long messages unless there is no alternative.
Know what to do for emergencies. If someone were to be
injured in the field, who do you call? Most of the time it would
be dialing 911, but your event or exercise may have specif-
ic guidelines regarding what to do. The middle of an emer-
gency is NOT the time to try and figure out who to call. Net
control should also be informed of the situation and there are
a couple of things to keep in mind. First, don’t use the vic-
tim’s name over the air. Remember these are public airwaves
and anyone could be listening in, including the media. The
worst scenario would be that the media shows up at the vic-
tim’s house before the family has even been informed of the
accident. Second, know your exact location. Emergency
responders may need to find you and if you don’t know where
you are it makes their job that much tougher and may delay
treatment for the victim. This is one reason I am emphatic
with radio communicators that they need to inform net con-
trol anytime they move to a different location.
Be concise with your radio transmissions. Some people like
to talk and talk and talk. It is not appropriate to rag chew dur-
ing an event or exercise. Get the point across succinctly with
no additional commentary or adjectives that do not help clar-
ify the message. State your communication and get off the
air. Remember, net control is handling all radio communica-
tions and may be very busy. Don’t tie up the frequency any
longer than is necessary.
All radio communications for exercises should either at the
beginning of the transmission or the end must have a state- Photo C. Functioning as net control adds a bit of stress to
ment similar to “this is an exercise” or “this is a drill.” Years the radio communicator and is good practice for the real
ago, I was visiting another nuclear plant when the control thing. (Adam, W7FIZ)

22 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site


Photo D. Speaking across the mic can be effective for clear communication (Dick,
W9AUA, on left and Scott, W9JU, on right; photo by Captain Vinal Lee, KD9LSH)
ments described above. Get involved in
local nets and that includes performing
the function of net control at times
(Photo C). Local nets are normally infor-
mal and a good place to start practicing
your communication chops. Not all nets
do this, but some will enforce things like
a directed net and/or use of phonetics.
Net control will call individuals out if they
are lax on these things. The local net is
a safe environment in which to learn
what works and what does not. You will
hear some bad habits and also ones
that are very good. Learn from both.
Being net control helps because there
is an administrative side to it that adds
some level of complexity to the net. You
may need follow a net script and docu-
ment those who check in. Challenge
yourself a bit with this.
A step up from local nets is partici-
pating in events. This often takes the
form of races in which local radio clubs
provide communications. The radio
communicators are placed at various
checkpoints out in the field. They are
usually tasked with tracking competi-
tors who are in the lead and when the
final participant passes by. Of course,
they are to inform net control of any
issues that arise such as an injury or
competitors dropping out. This adds
some stress to radio communications
because net control is relying on you to
provide necessary information from
your checkpoint.
Lastly would be to get involved in
major exercises. You really need to be
on your game for these. You may be
communicating with people you do not
know. The planned exercise events
happen fast so you must be ready with
whatever is thrown at you. There may
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
even be exercise injects to which you
have to respond. The inject may be that
your antenna breaks, your vehicle does
not start, or a major storm comes
through. You get the idea. Injects help
you prepare for the unexpected.
Additional Tips
There are a few tips that I have learned
over the years that are also worth men-
tioning and may help you as well.
• If you are functioning as a radio
communications shadow for another
individual, remember that you are a
repeater. Do not paraphrase the mes-
sage. A few years ago, at a national
exercise, SATERN provided a radio
communications shadow for the
Salvation Army EDS IC. In the early
afternoon I found the shadow sitting in
a corner of the room being utilized by
the incident command team. He said
the IC told him he was no longer need-
ed. It puzzled me at the time and it
wasn’t until a year later that I learned
the rest of the story. There were mul-
tiple issues but one of the main ones
was that he was paraphrasing the IC’s
messages and doing so incorrectly on
several occasions. The IC grew tired
of it and elected to operate without a
shadow.
• Don’t walk and talk on the radio. It
makes one sound like you are talking
through an electric fan. Stand still when
you transmit.
• The way you hear net control is not
necessarily the way they hear you. It’s
easy to assume that net control can
hear you just as well as you hear net
control. But net control is most likely
using a high-gain antenna on top of a
I hope you have seen just how
important it is to develop your
radio voice. It can’t be learned
by just reading about it. You
must practice. Practicing is done
in a safe environment whether it
is a net, event, or full-blown
exercise.
tall mast whereas in the field you may
be using the rubber duck antenna on
your HT or, at best, a magnetic mount
antenna on your car. It’s not the same.
• Know your radio. Keep your radio’s
mic gain under control. Nobody likes
to listen to an overdriven voice on the
radio, yet people still like to crank up
the mic gain. Utilize headphones for
noisy rooms such as the EOC. It is
only common courtesy and helps you
focus on your primary task of radio
communications.
• Talk across the microphone rather
than directly into it (Photo D). It will min-
imize distortion and sound from breath-
ing or when certain consonants are
used, such as T, P, K, etc.
• Pause after keying the mic before
talking. Sometimes we start talking at
the same time we key the mic and the
first couple of words are not transmit-
ted over the radio. This is especially
important when using repeaters or
cross-banding your radio. A second or
two is required to ensure everything is
linked up. I am guilty of this myself. I
try to remember but I am not always
successful in doing so. To compensate
for this, I start every one of my initial
radio transmissions with “this is” fol-
lowed by my callsign (or the callsign for
the station I am contacting). In that way
if I forget to pause, the most that is lost
is “this is.”
• Net control needs to be stellar in all
of the attributes described in this article.
They are in a leadership position and
everyone will follow their lead. They
need to be the calming voice in the midst
of a hurricane!
I hope you have seen just how impor-
tant it is to develop your radio voice. It
can’t be learned by just reading about
it. You must practice. Practicing is done
in a safe environment whether it is a net,
event, or full-blown exercise. For the
most part, no one gets hurt. But when
we respond to a real event or disaster
as a radio communicator, we want to be
comfortable in the role. We want to be
viewed as an asset, not a hindrance. Be
an example for others. Most of all, pass
on what you have learned.
October 2022 • CQ • 23
Emergency Communications Special:
Providing emergency communications is a century-old tradition in ama-
teur radio. WØRW gives us a glimpse at ham radio EmComm in one major
city — Los Angeles — in the 1950s and ’60s. It seems that the more things
change, the more they stay the same…

EmComm from the 1950s and ’60s

The L.A. Emergency Communications Corps Story
BY PAUL SIGNORELLI,* WØRW

I
n the 1950s, most of the Los Angeles amateur radio emer- because disasters didn’t happen very often. We (the ECC)
gency support was with the LA City Civil Defense / RACES. all took Red Cross training so we could make damage
Ten meters was used for nets with base and mobile sta- assessments and run disaster activities as Red Cross
tions. The State CD, Region 9 (W6PMJ), was running nets Volunteers. We were active in many brush fires and floods.
as was the LA City CD (K6ROC). Our RACES Radio Officers Every fall, there seemed to be a brush fire, followed by a
were required to be employees of the city. Tim Huntley, mudslide in the spring.
W6LIP (SK), and Fred Crowder, W6ELC (SK), were the paid Here are some of the major operations in which we
Radio Officers for LACD. participated:
Later, around 1956, The LA City CD purchased about 30
2-meter Gonset 2Bs (Yellow CD model 3077B) and had them • 1958 Malibu / Zuma Fire, 103 homes lost. This required
placed all around the city at parks, old Ground Observer a mobile relay to be placed at Topanga Lookout to relay
Corps sites, and military bunkers. Art Gentry, W6MEP (SK), around the mountains
provided a repeater for the city that was on top of Mt. Lee • 1960 LAFD portable lighting support in river search
(Mt. Hollywood) where all the city communications were
located.1 This provided an amateur VHF communications
network over the 4,000-square-mile city for the first time.
There were over 200 LACD members across the city.
Several of the original CD activations were hampered by
confusion and poor results. One supply order of 12 sand-
wiches for a shelter was received as 12 dozen sandwiches.
One volunteer assigned to operate a mountaintop relay
switched frequencies and was rag chewing with his friends,
breaking the emergency link. Volunteers across such a large
city were hard to contact and dispatch.

A 100% Commitment
After a few years of volunteer radio operations, it became
obvious that a dedicated tactical communications group was
needed. The Emergency Communications Corps (ECC) was
formed as a California nonprofit corporation on 1 May 1960
(Photo A). ECC members were required to make a 100%
commitment to responding to and coordinating communica-
tion activities at any time all over the city. Most of the mem-
bers were already active in CD/RACES.
The original ECC members were: Jack Sonntag, K6GQU;
Bill Jones Jr., K6HWZ; Robert Perry, W6QCE (SK); Glenn
Berry, K6GHJ (SK); John Cammarata, WA6DWT; Paul
Signorelli, K6CHR; Louie Warnick, K6KIP; Walter Matney,
K6CJJ; Lynn Brackett, WA6HBS (SK); and Dennis Gotreaux.
We had several letters of agreement with LA City CD,
Burbank CD, and the Red Cross. As it turned out, our pri-
mary affiliation was with the LA Red Cross Chapter, which
needed the most help. After a few Red Cross operations, we
found the people assigned to perform damage assessments,
activate shelters, etc., didn’t have too much experience Photo A. The Los Angeles Emergency Communications
Corps, or ECC, was formed in 1960 to provide the city with
* Email: <w0rw1@msn.com> a group of trained, committed, communication volunteers.

24 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Photo B. The ECC communications van and several “portable” radios.
Photo C. The van had official emer-
gency credentials from both the Los
Angeles Board of Education and the
American Red Cross.
• 1961 Belair Fire, 484 homes lost
• 1963 Baldwin Hills dam break found
us on the football field at the Culver City
High School, which was turned into a
heliport and a shelter. This disaster
video is now on YouTube.
• 1964 Weldon Fire, 24 homes lost
• 1965 Watts riots — Radio spectrum
surveillance for LAPD
• 1967 Devonshire Fire, Chatsworth.
48 homes lost. I saw wind-blown fires
sweeping through Chatsworth homes,
taking rows of houses in a line and not
touching adjacent houses.
• 1971 San Fernando Valley earth-
quake that nearly cracked open the Van
Norman Reservoir and had 10,000 peo-
ple evacuated from the central part of
the Valley. The main efforts were to
communicate with shelters and order
supplies. Public telephones at shelters
became inoperative because full coin
boxes. We were unable to provide any
welfare traffic during the first week.
• 1971 Sylmar water tunnel explosion,
five months after the earthquake. This
was the worst tunnel explosion in
California’s history. It is a sad thing to
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
only be able to offer free bologna sand-
wiches to the wives who were waiting
and crying for news of their husbands’
fates.
Multiple Radio Systems
The primary radio communications sys-
tems that we used were Special
Emergency Radio Service, the Red
Cross national frequency, and Mobile
Telephone services. The ECC
Command Post was a 1949 IH Step Van
(Photos B & C) that had about six
Motorola 140D/80Ds, FHTRU / P31 /
P33 / H21 / H23 walkie talkies and even
Gonset Communicators. There were
several city-owned radios, and a pair of
PRC-6s on board.
The main operating area in the
EComm Van had two positions that
could switch into and control any of the
radios. The driver could operate on the
main command channel while respond-
ing to a site. The communications van
was supported completely by donations.
Each ECC member also had to equip
his own vehicle with the necessary
Motorola radios. We were not a bunch
of rich kids. I recall working a local car-
nival for several years, manning a ping
pong ball toss booth, to make money for
the ECC.
Relocating to the Rockies
In the 1970s, the California ECC group
disbanded but re-emerged in Colorado
as the Emergency Communications of
Colorado and a group of local commu-
nications operators performed the
same services for the Red Cross there,
but that is a different story.
Notes:
1. The W6MEP/K6MYK story is in QST,
March 2004, p.52
October 2022 • CQ • 25
Emergency Communications Special:
OK, so this isn’t your typical amateur radio emergency communications
article. But it still involved using amateur radio to help a friend out of a very
slippery situation!

Six Meters to the Rescue!

BY RICH STIEBEL,* W6APZ

I
t was an ice cold but sunny winter day located just south of downtown. Proud On the drive I was calling my friend
in Chicago and I was happily tuning of my new mobile setup, I had made a every few miles but I heard nothing.
the 6-meter band on my car radio on schedule with a fellow ham to talk to him Suddenly, his signal came through loud
my work commute when suddenly I on my commute. I had no idea how far and clear. He had an emergency: He
heard an emergency call. my few watts on 6 meters using the car was trapped in his car at Navy Pier,
Back in the 1960s, operating on the broadcast antenna would communi- which was then being used as a branch
6-meter amateur band was considered cate, but that’s what ham radio is all of the University of Illinois. Asking him
pushing the envelope of what hams about: Build it, try it; if it works, it is a to explain the problem, he told me that
could do. International Crystal Manu- success. Then one can try to improve he had pulled into one of the few park-
facturing made a two-tube PC board the setup. ing places available at the Pier, but he
converter which would convert the 6-
meter band to your HF radio so one
could hear who was talking on 6 meters.
A 6AK5 tube was the RF amplifier and
half of a 6J6 was the oscillator, while
the other half of the 6J6 was the mixer,
providing an untuned output. Sensitivity
was advertised at 1 microvolt minimum,
which was very good for the 1960s. See
converter picture and schematic in
Photo A.
I bought one of these converters with
a crystal that converted 50.0 to 51.0
MHz to the broadcast band so I could
listen to six while in the car. The auto-
mobile antenna, while not a full quarter-
wave for 6 meters, functioned to receive
the band.
For the transmitter, I used a surplus
8.38-MHz FT-243 crystal operating as
a third overtone oscillator putting out
25.15 MHz. Since surplus crystals were
usually not exactly where I wanted
them, I unscrewed the holder and, using
some carbon-tetrachloride and a rough
surface, I was able to grind off enough
of the crystal to move its frequency up
to 8.38 MHz. I was then able to multiply
the 25.15 MHz signal to 50.3 MHz in the
final. I used a pair of 12AU6s as the
modulator and a transistorized DC/DC
converter for the high voltage needed
by the vacuum tubes.
I was commuting from the north side
of Chicago via Lakeshore Drive to
Knight Electronics, which was then
Photo A. International Crystal Manufacturing (ICM) catalog page showing the
* 840 Talisman Drive FCV-1 converter, including its schematic. (Image courtesy of Royden Freeland,
Palo Alto, CA 94303-4435 Jr., W5EMH, the son of ICM’s founder. The company went out of business in
Email: <W6APZ@comcast.net> 2017.)

26 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 found himself between a fence on one
side and another car on the other. He
quickly realized that he was parked on
ice so could not back out. He had no
way to open his car door to get to class.
He was stuck in his car!
Fortunately, Lakeshore Drive went
right past Navy Pier, so I assured him
that I would be there shortly and see
what I could do. Using the radio, he
talked me into his exact location, and
sure enough, he was between a fence
and a Renault Dauphine (Photo B) and
he could not get out. The Renault being
only a small car, I tried to push it, but it
would not move. Also fortunately, I hap-
pened to be driving a Renault Dauphine,
so on a hunch, I tried my key in the door
of the car next to him and it WORKED.
The door opened and I was able to
release the brake, but my key would not
work in the ignition.
I was then able to push the Renault
back so he could get out. Then the two
of us pushed the Renault back into
place and reset the brake. As I relocked
the Renault door, my friend said that he
knew the owner of the Renault and
would see him in class, so he would be
able to get his car out later in the day.
Photo B. The Renault Dauphine was a small car that could be pushed rather The radio rescue was a success! I
easily … once the parking brake was released! (Photo by Arnaud, via Wikimedia continued on my way to work as he went
Commons) off to class.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 27

Emergency Communications Special:
One important element of success in emergency communication is having
a good relationship (before the emergency) with served agencies.
WØRW shares an off-air benefit of one club’s good relationship with the
local sheriff’s department.

Amateur Radio on the Home Page

BY PAUL SIGNORELLI,* WØRW

T
he Mountain Amateur Radio Club <www.nx0g.org>; (Photo A) has initiated
a disaster communications information program in Teller County, Colorado,
that has put amateur radio on the front page of the sheriff’s website.
The Teller County Sheriff’s office (Photo B) has put a link to amateur radio on
the front page of its website <www.tellercountysheriff.com>. It’s in the “Quick
Links” section (Photo C) and takes you to a printable brochure called “Getting on
the Air with Amateur Radio” (Photos D and E).
Connecting with your county’s Emergency Management Manager could allow
you to get a similar connection for your club.

* Email: <w0rw1@msn.com>

Photo C. The “Quick Links” section of

Photo A. The Mountain Amateur Radio Club in Colorado has developed an excel- the sheriff’s home page includes a link
lent relationship with the local sheriff’s office. called “Amateur Radio.”

Photo B. The Teller County Sheriff highlights amateur radio on the homepage of its website.

28 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 HamTestOnline™ƐƚƵĚĞŶƚƐĂƌĞ
ϱϬƟŵĞƐŵŽƌĞůŝŬĞůLJƚŽŐŝǀĞƵƐ
ϱƐƚĂƌƐƚŚĂŶƌĞƋƵĞƐƚĂƌĞĨƵŶĚ
ďĞĐĂƵƐĞƚŚĞLJĨĂŝůĞĚĂŶĞdžĂŵ͊
H+DPQHWUHYLHZV
ϵϯϱ
RXWRIVWDUV
VWDU ϵϭϬ
VWDU ϮϬ
VWDU ϯ
VWDU ϭ
VWDU ϭ
ĞƐƚƐƚƵĚLJŵĞƚŚŽĚ͕ƐƚƵĚLJŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ͕ĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌ
ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ͕ĂŶĚŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞŝŶƚŚĞŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJ͊
www.hamtestonline.com

Photos D & E. Clicking the link on the home page brings you to this brochure pro-
duced jointly by the club and the Teller County Office of Emergency Management.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 29

 Photo A. MFJ Founder and Pre esidennt Martin F. Jue, K5FLU, in his officce in Starkvillle,
Misssisssippii. (Photos courte
esy of the author)

30 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

There’s a very good chance that your shack contains at least one item from MFJ
or one of its sister companies — Ameritron, Mirage, Vectronics, Cushcraft, and
Hy-Gain — which together constitute the
world’s largest radio accessory product
company. MFJ Enterprises is 50 years old this
month, and W7SSB put together this look
back at founder Martin F. Jue, K5FLU, and
the company’s first half century.

MFJ At 50
BY DON SHERMAN,* W7SSB

MFJ
Enterprises, Inc., was founded in 1972 by
Martin F. Jue, K5FLU (Photo A), operat-
ing out of a hotel room in downtown
Starkville, Mississippi. Its first product, which went on sale in
October 1972, was a high selectivity CW filter, the CWF-2
(Photos B and C), that would enable a receiver to separate
one Morse code signal from scores of others sharing a receiv-
er’s passband. The success of this first product, which sold
several thousand units, was the seed that grew into the MFJ
of today.
The company moved several times as it grew before set-
tling into its current network of multiple buildings.

The People Behind the Products

MFJ’s people are almost as diversified as its products. To
quote the company’s website, “From the President, Martin
F. Jue, to the factory worker, MFJ is as ethnically diverse as
a company could possibly be. Martin Jue’s family was origi-
nally from Cantox, on the mainland of China. In the 1860s,
they settled in a small Mississippi delta town called
Hollandale to help build the Union Pacific Railroad.”
Many countries are represented in the MFJ work force. One
recent visitor from the Netherlands was able to speak six dif-
ferent languages during his tour of the MFJ facilities. Diversity
certainly promotes a more creative working environment.
Continual Growth
MFJ Enterprises has expanded through the years and now
consists of MFJ, Ameritron, Mirage, Vectronics, Cushcraft,
and Hy-Gain. Its thousands of products are sold worldwide
through dealers and direct sales. In addition to its dealer net-
work, MFJ travels to many major hamfests each year, bring-
ing a huge inventory of products for immediate delivery to
new and returning customers.
Designing for the Future
New products are constantly under development at MFJ,
which designs and manufactures nearly all of the products it
sells, including some of the components for its antenna
tuners. According to the company, the main source of inspi-
ration for new products comes from its customers, who are
not shy about suggesting new equipment to meet their oper-
ating needs.
* Email: <donssherman@gmail.com>
Photos B & C. MFJ’s first product, the CWF-2 CW filter, was
a big success. It offered greater selectivity than commonly
found in 1970s-vintage receivers, letting you separate one
CW signal from surrounding signals on a crowded band.
I’ll bet every ham shack has at least one MFJ product!
The MFJ 259 antenna analyzer and its variants have sold
tens of thousands worldwide.
MFJ antenna tuners are the best-selling tuners worldwide,
and the MFJ 949E tuner is the #1 seller anywhere.
Ameritron amplifiers are the world’s best-selling amplifiers.
Many a ham has used Hy-Gain and Cushcraft antennas to
get on the air, from a TH 11 for HF to a VHF/UHF antenna
like the A270-10S.
CQ featured a tour of the MFJ factory back in its March
2001 issue. A more recent tour, on video, was conducted by
Tom Medlin, W5KUB, of “Amateur Radio Roundtable.” It can
be seen on YouTube at <https://tinyurl.com/yc5v8vyw>.
As regular customers already know, MFJ offers a one-year
unconditional warranty called the “NO MATTER WHAT” war-
ranty. MFJ will replace or repair (at the company’s option) a
customer’s MFJ unit for a full year. A technical help support
line is also offered toll-free for customers needing help or
advice with a ham radio project.
We wish Martin Jue and the team at MFJ a well-deserved
Happy Birthday and best wishes for another 50 years.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 31

CQ CLASSIC:
Looking Back— A Tour of MFJ
A little over 20 years ago, CQ Publisher K2MGA, Editor W2VU and then-Advertising
Manager WA2OJK visited the headquarters of MFJ Enterprises in Starkville, Mississippi and
got a guided tour of the plant by founder and owner Martin F. Jue, K5FLU. Since MFJ is
celebrating its 50 anniversary this month, we thought it would be fun to reprise our article
about the tour, from the March 2001 issue, even though we’re certain there have been
changes since we were there in late 2000.

CQ takes you behind the scenes at the headquarters of one of America’s

best-known amateur radio equipment manufacturers.

MFJ—A Little Bit of Everything

BY RICH MOSESON, W2VU

This is the second in a planned series of

CQ photo-tours of amateur radio manu-
facturing facilities around the world.
Digital Editor Steve Stroh, N8GNJ, got
us started in the January issue with his
visit to PacComm. Most of us don’t get
the chance to see firsthand where and
how our radios and accessories are built,
so we hope you’ll enjoy these vicarious
visits with the people who make it pos-
sible to enjoy ham radio without having
to build absolutely everything from
scratch. —W2VU

I
t was 10 o’clock at night. The head-
quarters of MFJ Enterprises in
Starkville, Mississippi was dark and
empty except for four people: MFJ
President Martin F. Jue, K5FLU, and
three visitors from CQ—Publisher Dick
Ross, K2MGA; Advertising Manager
Jon Kummer, WA2OJK; and yours truly,
W2VU. As Martin and Dick compared
notes on running their own businesses,
Jon and I had a chance to reflect on the
tour we’d just finished. The main thought
that came to me was this: “They make
everything, a little bit of everything.”
MFJ is perhaps the only company in
the amateur radio industry that makes
in some form virtually every component
of an amateur station (except towers
and feedlines). Think about it—power
supplies, transceivers, microphones,
keyers, speakers, data controllers, out-
board audio filters, antenna tuners,
SWR/power meters, linear amplifiers,
rotators and antennas, and I’m sure I
Photo 1- MFJ founder and president Martin F. Jue, K5FLU, with some of the hun-
dreds of products his company produces. (W2VU photos)
missed some other categories. MFJ or on outside suppliers, MFJ does as
one of its divisions (Ameritron, Mirage, much as possible on its own, from build-
Vectronics, and Hy-Gain) makes some- ing its own inductors and capacitors for
thing for each of them. It would be pos- antenna tuners to printing its own man-
sible— again with the exception of feed- uals. As manufacturing operations go,
line and a tower—to assemble an entire MFJ is small, but it has scaled-down
amateur station with equipment from versions of state-of-the-art electronics
just this one company. I don’t think any manufacturing equipment.
other company in our industry can make
that claim. Let’s Take a Tour
The second thing that impressed me MFJ President Martin F. Jue personal-
during my tour is the extent to which ly escorted us on our factory tour (photo
MFJ makes the components that make 1), and I was also impressed with his
up its products. Rather than depending depth of knowledge about every aspect

32 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 An American Success Story
It’s hard to write about MFJ, the company, without also
writing about the man behind the initials, company founder
and president Martin F. Jue. A descendent of Chinese work-
ers who came to America in the mid-1800s to build the
transcontinental railroad, Jue’s family settled in the
Mississippi Delta, where his parents owned a grocery store
(a beautiful drawing of the store, by one of Jue’s relatives,
sits on an easel in his office).
Martin was born in Vicksburg and came to Starkville in the
early 1960s to earn his electrical engineering degree at
Mississippi State University. He earned a Masters degree
at Georgia Tech in 1967, and after a few years “off” to design
and build electronics for the military, he returned to MSU to
work on his PhD. In 1972, working out of an apartment, he
began building and selling amateur radio accessories. The
business grew into MFJ Enterprises, which today occupies
five buildings in four separate locations in Starkville, includ-
ing the brand names Jue has added to the company through
acquisition—Ameritron, Mirage, Vectronics, and most re-
cently, Hy-Gain. By the way, Martin never did finish his PhD.
While it took him only three semesters to complete the
coursework, his growing business, along with teaching elec-
of his operation. Each product starts out as a prototype in an
engineer’s office (photo 2), and there are about a half dozen
engineers working on new or updated products at any given
time. Once the designing and prototyping are done, pro-
duction can begin (Some items, such as clocks and weath-
er stations, are built overseas and imported. However, if it
inhabits one of those famous MFJ cases, you can be sure it
was built in Starkville).
We started our tour in the metal shop, where a computer-
ized machine stamped out sheet metal destined to become
equipment cases (photos 3 and 4). As I recall, they were
making cases for MFJ-269 SWR Analyzers when we were
there. Another machine bent the punched metal into shape,
after which it was painted and silk-screened with whatever
labels were needed (photo 5). Down the hall, other workers
were building parts, such as the little connectors that hold
the screws that hold circuit boards in place (photo 6).
Photo 2- Jue discusses progress on a new product with engi-
neering student Brian Molen in the MFJ engineering offices.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
trical engineering at MSU, kept him from having the time to
write his dissertation.
Jue is very much a hands-on manager and engineer, in
touch with every aspect of his business and proudest of his
electronic innovations, such as the MFJ “Air Core” roller
inductor and a dual tuning capacitor, both used in his com-
pany’s antenna tuners. Totally unpretentious, he drives a 10-
year-old car with over 100,000 miles on it, and his office is
small and cluttered with boxes. On the other hand, the walls
are covered with bookshelves housing a magnificent collec-
tion of old radios and electronics magazines. And then there’s
Jue’s engineer’s hideaway—a personal workbench behind a
row of bookshelves where he can try out new ideas, work on
projects that may turn into products, and briefly leave behind
the day-to-day worries of business management.
The manager in Martin gets most of the time these days,
though, as his staff of engineers does most of the product
development, and he puts his primary focus on running the
business. From its start as a one-product company in an
apartment, to a multimillion dollar company with four sepa-
rate manufacturing facilities, MFJ—and Mr. MFJ—are
unquestionably an American success story.
In another building circuit boards were being assembled
using one of two modern techniques. Boards with surface-
mount parts had those components inserted robotically by
a machine that had been programmed to take specific com-
ponents from pre-arranged rolls and drop them onto a cer-
tain part on the circuit board (photo 7). The board had been
pre-loaded with a solder paste in the locations where sol-
der would be needed. After the parts were plunked into the
solder paste, the board was moved to a “pizza oven” (photo
8), an oven with a conveyer belt that moves the board
through four separately controlled temperature zones, pro-
viding the control needed for properly melting the solder for
each component.
Boards on which components had to be inserted by hand
were run through a wave-soldering machine (photo 9), which
Photo 3- Aluminum chassis, metal covers, and face plates
for MFJ products are punched into shape, with holes for com-
ponents, by one of two Amada CNC punch machines in
MFJ’s metal shop. The machine follows a pattern uploaded
into a computer by designers.
October 2022 • CQ • 33
Photo 4- K5FLU with a piece of punch-
ed sheet metal. It will become a case Photo 5- MFJ worker Azzie Weaver prepares a silk screen for printing labels onto
for an MFJ-269 SWR Analyzer. newly cut, bent, and painted equipment enclosures.

is really an amazing piece of equipment. At one end the board
passes through a wave of liquid flux, which sticks to the parts
on which the solder will be applied. Everything is heated as
the board passes through to the other end, where it passes
through a second wave, this one of bubbling solder that sticks
to the flux-coated portions of the board (photo 10). After the
board cools, it is ready to be tested and taken to the assem-
bly room.
Final assembly of each product is done by hand (photo 11),
with technicians bringing together the various components,
connecting them, and mounting them in their cases. Once
products are finished, they are packed with manuals into
boxes and delivered to the shipping room (photo 12) for the
final part of the process—delivery to dealers and customers.
Actually, the process doesn’t end there. The MFJ factory
also includes a service center, where warranty repairs are
performed. According to Jue, customers are routinely tele-
phoned soon before their warranties expire (MFJ is serious

Photo 6- Hartono Agustus uses a drill

press in the metal shop to tap threads
into a block of metal that will be cut into
rectangular pieces and used to hold
screws that secure circuit boards
inside a case.
Photo 7- This surface-mount machine automatically selects parts and places
them in specified locations on a circuit board in preparation for surface-
mount soldering.

34 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

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about its “No Matter What” one year
warranty) to make sure their equipment
is still operating properly, and give the
customers one last chance for free war-
ranty service if there is a problem (and
in the process, Jue hopes, helping
make happy customers who come back
for more).
When we visited MFJ last August, the
Hy-Gain antenna division was still in the
process of getting moved into its new
home, and only limited production was
taking place. Even so, for CQ Publisher
Dick Ross, K2MGA, a long-time anten-
na enthusiast, walking into the Hy-Gain
supply room was like walking into Ham
Heaven—shelf upon shelf full of ele-
ments of different lengths just waiting to
be assembled into antennas and pull
DX signals out of the air, and off in the
corner, the sacred machines that make
Ham-IV and Tailtwister rotors.
Want to know the real reason we were
there until 10 o’clock at night? It took us
that long to drag Dick away from all that
aluminum!
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Moravian Falls, NC 28 654
(828) 738-6445 website: www.nii4l.com

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 35

what’s new
Photo 10- Newly wave-soldered board will cool before mov-
ing on to testing and assembly. The solder sticks only to
areas that have been treated ahead of time and covered with
flux when the board enters the wave soldering machine.

MFJ Enterprises Releases the MFJ-1146

Getting too much interference from power lines? MFJ
Enterprises has a solution in its MFJ-1146 filtered
power strip, which provides up to -60 dBm of sup-
pression and keeps the hash out of your rig and away
from your ears. The MFJ-1146 will aid your efforts to
pull out that weak low-band signal! The MFJ-1146 is
rated for a total load of 40 amps at 13.8-volts DC, but Photo 11- Some of the technicians who perform the final
if you blow a fuse, a series of LED indicators tells you assembly - by hand - on most MFJ products. These workers
instantly which one is out. are building antenna tuners.
Worried about RFI getting in after the filters? The MFJ-
1146 has you covered! Properly grounded, the alu-
minum case will help keep RFI out. With four sets of 30-
amp Anderson PowerPoles and two sets of high-current
binding posts, the MFJ-1146 also includes a master fuse
rated at 40 amps, and six channel fuses rated up to 30
amps, as well as safety and RFI grounds.
To set up the MFJ-1146, simply place the unit between
your power supply and your radio while keeping the
power leads going to the radio as short as possible. You
can attach multiple pieces of equipment to the MFJ-
1146, but keep in mind that the maximum current rat-
ing is 40 amps. Drawing more than that, even if the indi-
vidual channels are not near their limits, will burn out
the master fuse.
The MFJ-1146 is available now and has a suggested
retail price of $199.95. For more information, visit <www.
mfjenterprises.com>. Photo 12- Next stop: your favorite ham store? Shipping clerks
Lamont Tucker and Lolita Bell prepare a carton of MFJ prod-
ucts for shipping to a dealer. The material under Ms. Bell’s
arm is packing material made by a machine that scrunches
together two sheets of heavy paper.

36 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Chances are good that at least one of your multitude of “devices” is
powered by a “smart battery.” But what makes those batteries so smart
and what helps them accurately keep track of their “state of charge”?
The answer lies below …
Calibrating Smart Batteries with
Impedance Tracking
BY ISIDOR BUCHMANN*
T
he smart battery was hailed as an engineering marvel
when first introduced in 1994 by Intel and Duracell.
Unlike a regular battery that is being charged by the
algorithm of the charger, the smart battery becomes the host
controlling the charge. The heart of the smart pack is the sys-
tem management bus, or SMBus, which provides state-of-
charge (SoC), captures performance data, and detects
anomalies, in addition to controlling the charge. To enable
accurate data gathering, the smart battery needs periodic
calibration to correct errors that occur with normal charge
and discharge cycles.
Most battery users have little patience for scheduled ser-
vices and instead wait for the inevitable to happen, which
manifests itself in a gradual loss in accuracy of the fuel gauge.
Meanwhile, we drive electric vehicles (EVs) with a similar
battery management system (BMS) that does not need cal-
ibration. Where does this leave us in terms of calibration?
The usable capacity in a SMBus battery is represented by
Full Charge Capacity (FCC). When new, FCC is 100%. The
number decreases as the battery ages.
A modern smart battery with impedance tracking periodi-
cally updates the usable capacity during normal use. Each
battery has a characteristic impedance that varies with use.
Capacity updates occur when the fuel gauge is able to
observe a significant change in SoC while measuring the
energy flowing into or out of the battery. Impedance updates
generally require a learning cycle.
* CEO & Founder of Cadex Electronics Inc.
Website: <www.BatteryUniversity.com>,
<www.cadex.com>
Full-charge Flag
100%
Charge
10%
Full-discharge Flag
Figure 1. Calibration sets the full-charge and empty flags
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
Our analogy in Figure 2 illustrates a battery in the form of
a glass with 20% unusable capacity, 30% old fill, and a 30%
measured new fill. Attaining a SoC of 80% enables the cal-
culation of the usable capacity that is the sum of residual
charge plus the energy added. The formula also applies in
reverse by measuring the discharging energy.
SoC is determined by measuring voltage and temperature
when the battery is in a rested state in which the voltage has
settled after agitation caused by charge and discharge.
Internal tables store the relationship between SoC, voltage
and temperature.
The modern smart battery updates its estimated capacity
whenever it has the opportunity during charge or while being
discharged for an undisturbed time, followed by a sufficiently
long rest period to capture valid SoC readings by voltage. Best
results are achieved by applying a deliberate full cycle with
the manufacturer’s specified learning algorithm, a service that
can take 24 hours and can be done with a battery analyzer.
Similar learning procedures are also recommended for the EV
by allowing the vehicle to rest for a few hours at various SoC
levels before charge. The smart battery is indeed smart but
the reading can still be off by 10-20%. Understanding this
can help you better manage your power resources.
Adding
30%
100%
80%
Rated capacity
New fill Usable
capacity
50%
Old fill
Unusable 20%
Figure 2. Capacity is the sum of residual charge plus
energy added
October 2022 • CQ • 37
Sixty-five years ago this month, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union
launched Sputnik-1 into orbit. A high school ham radio club in Cleveland, Ohio
was better able to track it than the U.S. government and their story was reported
here in CQ (see this month’s “CQ Classic”). One of the participants recalls
the excitement.

The Space Age at 65: How High

School Hams Tracked Sputnik
BY R. A. “RAL” LESKOVEC,* K8DTS

I
n 1957, the United States was pre-
paring for the 1958 International
Geophysical Year, deploying ground
stations to track the 108-MHz signals
from the planned launch of Explorer 1.
But the Russians surprised the world by
launching Sputnik on October 4, 1957,
transmitting on 20.005 MHz. Caught off
guard, the U.S. ground stations were
NOT equipped to tune in that frequen-
cy. However, that was not a problem for
a bunch of ham radio club students at
St. Joseph High School in Cleveland!

“Ooch” it Up!
A recent graduate, John Van Blargan,
W8VBU, heard about the launch on his
car radio and rushed back to our old
high school late that Friday afternoon
and told the gang, who immediately
jumped into action (Photo A).
“Use the 15-meter beam antenna. Photo A. The “Sputnik Gang” at St. Joseph High School in Cleveland, Ohio, mon-
Just tune the HRO-60 to the 20-MHz itoring Earth’s first artificial satellite in 1957. (Photos courtesy of the author)
WWV station, turn on the BFO, and
‘ooch’ it up about 5 kHz, then listen!”
(–hmm. nothing heard.)
Then … slowly coming out of the
noise … beeps! “We hear them! Quick,
turn on the Concertone tape recorder!”
(Photo B)
It lasted about 20 minutes and faded.
The guys quickly realized they would
have to wait some time for it to come
around again. John went off to get the
teacher, Mike Stimac, back to the Photo B. St. Joe’s radio
school. When he got there, no signals
club member Fred Imm,
were to be heard. But soon they came
K8EVB (seated), and
back again! More of us got the news and
teacher / advisor Mike
we rushed back to school, deciding we
Stimac, W8KTZ,
needed to set up shifts to “man the lis-
monitoring Sputnik and
tening post 24 hours a day.” For the next
recording the beeps on
eight days or so, we collected the sig-
the club’s Concertone
nals from successive passes every 90
tape recorder. (Go to
minutes, and amassed about 20,000
<https://sjhrc.org> and
click on “Sputnik Beeps”
* Email: <Robert.Leskovec@gmail.com> to hear the recording)

38 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site


Photo C. The “Orbitometer Satellite Slide Rule” invented by
the students helped them track Sputnik’s orbit and accu-
rately predict overhead passes.
feet of recording tape. (As club president that year, I was run-
ning around getting tape donated by local radio and TV sta-
tions!) A big revelation in rewinding the tapes was the “dis-
covery” of the Doppler Shift on the RF carrier!
The Feds Come Knockin’
Meanwhile, our club got mentioned on the local news. The
FBI quickly showed up and took the tapes. (Eventually we
learned that our basic signal recordings beat the Navy’s by
4 hours!) A couple of weeks later, we literally got our 15 min-
utes of fame on WEWS-TV5, lugging all our gear down to the
station for the “live” presentation, during which they also
showed a film of us re-enacting the tracking.
During the process, we had quickly gotten into plotting the
orbits using paper strips on a globe, predicting the orbits with
increasing precision, and ultimately invented the “Orbito-
meter” circular slide rule. (Photo C ). Later we even applied
for a patent.
In November 1958, Russia launched Sputnik II with a dog
(Laika), and a very serious world “space race” had begun!
Explorer 1 finally did go up in May 1958, but the Russians
had clearly beaten us.
Ham Radio Fame
Meanwhile, our amazing teacher, Mike Stimac, W8KTZ, got
caught up with writing about all the happenings, and we got
the cover story of the January 1958 CQ Magazine (Photo D;
Mike’s article is republished in this issue as this month’s “CQ
Classic”).
It was only 1952 when the school had brought Mike up from
Puerto Rico, where he had been using ham radio in setting
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
Photo D. Club adviser
Mike Stimac, W8KTZ,
wrote the January 1958
cover story in CQ about
the students’ adventure
and the “fame and for-
tune” that followed. See
his article as a “CQ
Classic” elsewhere in
this issue. The cover
photo of Sputnik’s sig-
nals on an oscilloscope
was shot by the club.
up technical training school programs there. Old-timers on
the island were a bit upset that he got the first new call,
KP4AA, when licensing was restructured after World War II.
There’s a lot of talk about STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math) these days as some new innovation
in teaching, but as far as I’m concerned, Mike Stimac invent-
ed it — and we lived it.
Branching Out
In May 1958, Sputnik III went up, but after a few days, it we
lost interest and set our sights on new adventures. Mike start-
ed a flying program, while we were starting to work with SSB
and RTTY and thinking about moonbounce. By 1960, the
club had produced over 100 ham licensees. Meanwhile Mike
raised the bar and we were working on also obtaining Second
and First Class Radiotelephone licenses. Juniors and seniors
were starting to get “adult paying” jobs in communications,
radio, and TV to help pay for college.
In 2007, we had a “50-Year Sputnik Reunion” and I had
built our website at SJHRC.org1 where you can read “the rest
of the story,” and there is much more: By 1961, Mike was
sent to Africa to use his flying and teaching skills to set up
schools, train pilots, and the use of radio to develop medical
transport to remote areas, and started what still exists today
as “Wings of Hope.” In August 2022, he celebrated his 99th
birthday! So, in his “100th year,” we celebrate our 65th
anniversary of tracking the first satellite!
Note:
1. <https://sjhrc.org> Be sure to click on the link labeled “Sputnik
Beeps” to hear the club’s recording of a Sputnik pass
October 2022 • CQ • 39
CQ CLASSIC:
Dawn of the Space Age, as Chronicled in CQ

When the Soviets launched the Space Age (and space race) 65 years ago this month,
students in a high school radio club in Cleveland, Ohio, monitored the “beeps” of Sputnik 1
and developed tools for predicting and tracking its orbits. Their club advisor chronicled the
boys’ achievements in a January 1958 CQ article, which also featured their oscilloscope
photo of the satellite’s signal on the front cover. This “CQ Classic” accompanies a
reminiscence, 65 years later, by the club’s president in October, 1957.

Fame and Fortune Via “Sputnik” I

Michael Stimac, W8KTZ

Many amateurs listened to Sputnik I. Logs were kept

and spot information given to news channels, with unprece-
dented results in publicity for the cause of ham radio. The
St. Joseph High School Radio Club joined the scramble
to do its bit for fun and for whatever help somebody might
get. Little did the gang realize what they would give to
ham radio, and what they themselves would enjoy!
The list of events publicity-wise reads as follows: 6 TV
shows, all or part on the St. Joseph High R.C. work; a
review on a New York TV show over national hookup;
30 radio accounts, and 20 newspaper articles or reports,
before count was lost in both cases, and a science movie
backed by two foundations. This latter job is in the hands
of Ted Coleman who did the film for Wide Wide World
when Cleveland was included recently. Ted has rated the
assignment ideal.
What did the SJH gang do that was so special, if any-
thing? It did several things. One, the fellows cracked the K8GKB, W8UYZ, and KN8EGZ plot orbits and deduce such
observations as below horizon reception, range of reception,
secret of the orbit—then, began to pick it up on sched-
times of fade-in and fade-out, and calculation of satellite alti-
ule—kept it located to as close as 90 miles—established a tude, besides constant determination of position.
reputation so that newspaper men relied for last minute
news on the SJH observers—fed teletype services— caused
the Bureau of Standards to issue a report settling an impor- a great circle on a sphere can be fixed by two points. The
tant question—tracked for 8 days on 20 and 40 mc—made SJH radio club discovered by observation that the 20 mc
discoveries relating to ionosphere, propagation and range— signal range was a consistent 5100 miles; they succeeded
did research on data assembled, and ended up with an also in spotting fairly sharply the fade-in and fade-out
invention relating to the subject, which is now in the hands directions. This was sufficient to locate 2 points 5100 miles
of patent attorneys. from Cleveland in directions about 100 degrees apart—
Extra-enthusiastic reporters around town credited St. which fixed a great circle—one orbit!
Joseph High with beating the Naval Observatory by 5 Since Sputnik traveled always in the same plane, and
hours with specification of the orbit, and later, with first the earth turned under it, the boys used a model orbit and
calling the breakdown of radio equipment of the satellite. holding it in a fixed position, rotated the globe for about
Regarding the orbit, the fellows actually did derive an 23 degrees under it—and there was the next orbit! Having
orbit, useful for predicting location and time of hearing traced out a flock of orbits in this way, they went to work
signals, but let it be said clearly, the work was not con- with calipers and arithmetic, and figured when and where
sidered remotely trustworthy nor complete by us as what Sputnik I would sign in and out. This system worked so
we'd expect out of the Naval Observatory! well that the signal was in there plus minus a minute or
Nevertheless, the St. Joseph High method is very inter- two for orbit after orbit. In fact, the closest measurement
esting. It depends on a solid geometry theorem which says: was off the predicted fade in by only 18 seconds; i.e. the

40 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

KN8EVB, W8BYU, KN8EHP, K8FF, K8GCB, W8VNE, Jim
Kitzmiller, K8EHA, KN8EHO, and Dennis Tomasone. Equip-
ment used was Concertone recorder on left, HRO-60 hidden in
center, and NC-109 on right. Visable also are many parts of the
ham station W8KTZ used by the club.
boys predicted a signal appearing at 4:01 pm est Sunday
Oct. 6. It came at 4:00:42—18 seconds early. This trans-
lates into 90 miles off predicted location, if the ionosphere
were to be considered perfectly uniform. This kind of per-
formance happened also with newsmen around, which was
quite handy for ham radio!
Another result, startling to hams, was the 40 mc range.
One might think that the 40 mc signal should not be too
different from 50 mc. But did you ever hear of consistent
reception of 6 meters over a 3600 mile range? Yet, the
SJH radio hams tracked Sputnik orbit after orbit thru a
range of 3600 miles on the 40 mc signal.
This fact, plus the 5100 mile range for 20 mc gave a
beautifully consistent picture of refraction thru the ionos-
phere. On 20 mc, the satellite had to drop about 35 degrees
below the horizon before fading out, and on 40 mc it faded
out at 26 degrees below. Drawn to scale, considerable
curvature is nicely evident.
Consistent tracking revealed another startling fact: no
skip was occurring! Now, this was a real discovery to
hams. Why no skip? The boys don’t have the answer, but
in 20,000 feet of recording, there is not even 200 gotten
while the satellite was outside the ranges mentioned above,
and the boys did record everything. The signal just didn’t
bounce.
Another real discovery: the range and no-skip charac-
teristics stayed constant for day and night! But hams know
the ionosphere changes, so here is something else to think
about.
The boys went on tracking for 8 days. Except for Monday
night, the early morning orbits were omitted. Monday
night, however, the boys called the radio failure for the
radio services and news wires, and since at that time nobody
was sure if the gadget was was going to stay up, the boys
tracked thru the night. It was a real thriller, being
Cleveland’s first-hand source of information, having access
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
KN8EVB, W8AKH, K8EHA, K8DTS, KN8EHP, K8BFF, Jim
Kitzmiller, Tim Dziak, KN8EGZ, K8DUD, Ray Grubiss, Dennis
Tommasone, and Jim Grubiss do antenna work around beams
for 14, 28, 40, and 50 mc during the Sputnik Tracking. All boys
have taken their tests but some are still awaiting their call letters.
to the press wires, and keeping up with the satellite. The
last beeps were heard at 1:45 Tuesday morning, on the 20
mc frequency. On 40 mc, the last beeps recorded were
heard on the following Saturday, Oct. 12, around 8:30 p.m.
This last recording of beeps brought a thrill of its own,
in another scientific observation. The beeps were notice-
ably more rapid. This was due either to Doppler effect, or
to equipment in the satellite changing. The SJH boys are
at present working equipment into shape to measure the
intervals, among other things. If the beeps slow down on
that same tape, then it will be a beautiful show of doppler
effect. This effect had been noticed in change of tone when
continuous wave was being received, especially on 40 mc,
but it is hard to convince people of the principle and demon-
stration with that. Fast and slow beeps they understand!
St. Joseph High school, where all this took place, is a
modern Catholic high school, dating from 1951. Student
capacity is 2300, courses are academic and vocational,
and the staff is composed of a Catholic religious teaching
order, the Society of Mary, plus many laymen. Radio and
Electricity is one course, with a lab and shop well
equipped. Naturally, the Radio lab grew a ham station,
and a club sprang into being. As many as 100 boys have
been enrolled in some years, but that is too many. 80
members are listed now; 30 have tickets ranging from
Novice to General, and the numbers of tickets level off
at about 40 most years.
Only the licensed fellows were allowed to track and do
the shows. It was thought that the SJH story would be fin-
ished when Sputnik II went up. But when the radio fiz-
zled, the St. Joseph High Radio Club story strangely
became of great interest. It is nice that it happened that
way, for perhaps the fellows had an experience that
rivalled that of Columbus and his crew as they gazed upon
a new world. These lads rode the first satellite into a new
world, literally, for themselves!
October 2022 • CQ • 41
Campers at the Buehler Challenger & Science Center in New Jersey watch and listen — along with campers at six other
Challenger Centers — to an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with NASA Astronaut Bob
Hines, KI5RQT (Photos courtesy of Challenger Centers).

Just about everyone who is not yet technically a senior citizen (age 65+)
has grown up in the space age, yet the lure of space flight and appeal
of talking with an astronaut in orbit never grows old. KB2JRP shares a story
from this summer of a first-of-its-kind Amateur Radio on the International
Space Station contact … connecting seven Challenger Centers
simultaneously — through a ham in Australia — with Astronaut Bob Hines
aboard the ISS.

ARISS to the Max

Seven Challenger Centers Join in a Ham Radio Contact with the
International Space Station
BY NORM SUTARIA,* KB2JRP

A
n Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) contact is hard, yet deeply rewarding work —
there’s no question about that. Connecting seven
Challenger Centers across the U.S. with an amateur radio
ground station in Australia — Shane Lynd, VK4KHZ — is
even more of a technical challenge. But, in the end, all of our
preparation (and tremendous guidance from ARISS) made
* Email: <nsutaria@bcsc.org>
our contact with NASA Astronaut Bob Hines, KI5RQT, a
smooth one.
So How Did All of This Begin?
I started working at the Buehler Challenger & Science Center
in Paramus, New Jersey, in September 2021, just as the
ARISS application window opened for summer 2022. The
Challenger Center network, founded by families of the
Challenger crew, is dedicated to helping students learn about

42 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site


The author talks with campers in New Jersey about ham
radio prior to the contact with the International Space Station.
Campers at the Challenger Center in Hammond, Indiana
stand by to ask their questions.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) prin-
ciples and teamwork while flying simulated space missions.
As a school field trip destination, 5-8th graders (10- to 13-
year-olds) fly one of three missions (Rendezvous with Comet
Halley, Return to the Moon, or Journey to Mars) in our two
simulators.
ARISS held an online application seminar where I gleaned
two important pieces of information: Summertime contacts
are less competitive and successful applications should
demonstrate a large audience / reach.
With 25 summer campers at our location, I knew we
wouldn’t have a large audience. Time to use my gravity assist!
I reached out to 33 Challenger Centers that host summer
camps and six responded; it was a near perfect number as
each center had the opportunity to ask about three questions
each.1 Early on, I had to be very careful to set reasonable
expectations — linking seven classroom locations to a
ground station had never been done before — and while I
could just about guarantee one question, I couldn’t guaran-
tee the remaining two.
Letters of support from all of the centers and local amateur
radio clubs (Fair Lawn Amateur Radio Club and the Bergen
Amateur Radio Association) were gathered and the applica-
tion was submitted the night before Thanksgiving.
We were selected and our ARISS Technical Mentor (and
ARISS International Chair) Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, and
Education Mentor, Kathy Lamont, KM4TAY, were support-
ive every step of the way — and then some!
Lots of Help Needed … and Received
As the enormity of the undertaking hit me and our small three-
person team, I reached out for help from Challenger Center
Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Lauren Fuchs, Sara
Espinosa, Aliyah Rahman, and Lisa Vernal were instrumen-
tal in helping with pre-recorded greetings from former astro-
nauts, run of show, emceeing the livestream, event produc-
tion, and post-event metrics.
Now, to be fair, I was using the Tarwater Elementary School
(Chandler, AZ) ARISS contact in October 2021 as my bench-
mark. They had an entire school district supporting their con-
tact, and their program and livestream were robust. The
Buehler Challenger & Science Center only has three full-time
staffers.
ARISS requests the questions six weeks before the con-
tact and arranging the questions from summer campers
before they arrived for camp presented the next hurdle. I
encouraged fellow centers to reach out to parents with a firm
deadline. After gathering and ranking questions (and elimi-
nating duplicates), we submitted our questions to ARISS.
Some minor rewording / rephrasing took place, but it retained
the tenor of the question.
Frank Bauer also sent along a list of 18 pass opportunities
the week of July 25th and our group picked and ranked nine
of them. As it turned out, the July 28th 16:14 UTC pass over
Shane Lynd’s ARISS ground station, VK4KHZ, in Glenden,
Queensland, Australia, was the best fit! (Totally unplanned
— it was also my birthday!)
Shane and I exchanged emails, he hopped on a few calls,
he is 14 hours ahead of us here in New Jersey, and we had
one call at 6 a.m. his time, where my time was 8 p.m., to test
his radio’s connection to the telephone / Zoom link.
Everything worked great.
We introduced campers at the Buehler Challenger &
Science Center to amateur radio during a 45-minute session.
I spoke about the electromagnetic spectrum, where radio
waves fall and then how VLF, HF, VHF, and UHF are used
October 2022 • CQ • 43
in different contexts. Students had a
chance to see a dipole antenna strung
up outside and listened to HF stations
on 20 meters in Indiana and Oregon.
Perhaps the neatest thing was showing
them the WebSDR website where they
could listen to various conversations
Show time! Campers at the Ramapo, New York, Challenger Learning Center
watch the beginning of the ARISS contact.
My turn! A Challenger Center camper in Bangor, Maine, asks his question to
Astronaut Bob Hines, KI5RQT.
44 • CQ • October 2022
worldwide. The culminating activity was
for them to practice sending and receiv-
ing Morse Code using a battery and
buzzer circuit.
The Contact at Last!
The morning of the contact I set up our
auditorium, primed the students, wel-
comed visitors from Bergen Community
College, and kicked off the program and
the contact.
Surprisingly, we were ahead of
schedule during the livestream and
needed to flow in content (in the form of
videos) on the fly.
Despite the wee hours of the morning
(2 a.m. his time), Shane was gracious
enough to also share how he became
interested in facilitating ARISS contacts
and how, in 1998, he and his sons (ages
6, 8, and 10 at the time) spoke with then
Australian-American astronaut Andy
Thomas. Lynd said his sons were
amazed and the looks on their faces
were priceless.
The contact went by in the blink of an
eye, but all of our planning and re-
hearsals paid off — we were able to ask
18 of the 20 questions from seven dif-
ferent Challenger Centers in a round-
robin format. The smiles that washed
over the faces of our campers were
amazing. A video of the contact may be
viewed on YouTube at <https://tinyurl.
com/vx4y669d>.
I was also very surprised at how emo-
tional the contact was for me — to know
that the International Space Station and
NASA Astronaut Bob Hines were orbit-
ing over Australia and speaking to us
via radio (live!) was stunning. All of the
hard work paid off.
Then we started to total up the num-
ber of participants. We had 208 people
in person at the centers and another
100 tuned in during the livestream,
which was as predicted. As of August
25th, the video recording has been
watched 619 times. We also had 3,432
indirect impacts via various Facebook
and social media postings.
I can’t thank ARISS, Frank Bauer,
Kathy Lamont, Shane Lynd, Fred
Kemmerer (AB1OC), and Drew Deskur
(KA1M), plus the many other unseen
ARISS volunteers, enough. Their
efforts ripple out into the universe,
across our nation and around the world
when it comes to engaging students in
STEM and amateur radio.
Note:
1. Participating Challenger Centers, in addi-
tion to the Buehler center in New Jersey, were:
Challenger Maine (Bangor), Challenger NWI
(Hammond, IN), CLC of Twin Tiers Region
(Allegany, NY), Kentucky Science Center
(Louisville), Ramapo (NY) Challenger Learning
Center, and Scobee Education Center (San
Antonio, TX). For more information on Chall-
enger Centers, visit <www.challenger.org>.
Visit Our Web Site
Playing With Meteors
Exploring the Universe With
Amaateur Radio
By Erric Nichols KL7AJ

Wouldn’t it be a blast to be a master of technology rather

than to be at its mercy? Or better yet, to actually create the next new
thing? While it’s true that a lot of what we consider high-tech involves computer
technology, an equal or greater part of the next new thing is going to involve
wireless, also known as radio. In fact, our entire universe is connected by radio,
and the entire universe is the radio amateur’s sandbox.

In Playing With Meteors, author Eric Nichols takes you on a tour of the
opportunities that amateur radio can bring you, and how you can leverage the
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Hams at NASA facilities around the United States have been celebrating
milestones of America’s space program all year through its “NASA on the
Air” event, or NOTA. There’s still time to get in on the special-event action.
NASA on the Air
BY BOB GRANATH AND DESIREE M. BACCUS,* N3DEZ
C
ommunicating to and from space is challenging, but
NASA has proven its experience and expertise
using radio waves to speak with astronauts on the
International Space Station, rovers on Mars, and with the
crew on the upcoming Artemis Moon Missions.
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
program, or ARISS, is well-known by many hams, but not
everyone knows that many NASA facilities around the
world have active amateur radio clubs, which may be con-
tacted by anyone with a ham license.
From now until the end of this year, NASA is marking
several past and present-day milestones and the NASA
amateur radio clubs at the agency centers and support
facilities across the U.S. plan to celebrate these occasions
with “NASA on the Air” special event stations (see Table
1 for remaining opportunities and Figure 1 for year-long
operations).
“The amateur radio clubs at NASA centers are made up
of civil servants, contractors, and tenants who participate
on their own time,” said Kevin Zari, who has been at
NASA on the Air (NOTA) co-chair and co-author Desiree
Baccus, N3DEZ, of NASA’s Ames Research Center
remotely operating for club station NA6MF from Estes
Lake Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. (All
illustrations courtesy Ames Research Center – Ames
Amateur Radio Club)
* NOTA Co-Chair
Email: <desiree.m.baccus@nasa.gov>
46 • CQ • October 2022
Kennedy Space Center since 1990 and is the Associate
Director for ISS Exploration Research and Technology
Programs. “We all have a common goal to show our sup-
port for NASA and highlight some of the agency’s amaz-
ing accomplishments.”
Zari added that he hopes, if time permits, the astronauts
on the International Space Station can participate using
ham radio equipment aboard the orbiting laboratory 225
miles above the Earth, made possible by the ARISS pro-
gram. Amateur radio has been a part of NASA space flights
since Shuttle Amateur Radio operations started in 1983.
“The plan is to talk about these anniversaries and their
place in the history of NASA,” explains Rob Suggs, who is
Table 1
Upcoming “NASA on the Air” Events (including dates
and events celebrated)
• September 25-Oct. 6 – 25th Anniversary of STS 86
• October 15 – 25th Anniversary of Cassini Launch
• November 1-6 – JPSS Launch Special Event
• December 7-19 – Apollo 17 50th Anniversary
Special Event
Please check the NOTA website regularly as special
event dates are always being added.
There was some important off-air activity as well. Here,
NOTA Co-Chair N3DEZ (right) talks about Amateur Radio
on the ISS and ongoing NASA on the Air activities with
NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana, KC5HBV,
and NASA Ames Deputy Center Director Carol W. Carroll
at the Space Symposium conference in Colorado Springs,
Colorado.
Visit Our Web Site
 Figure 1. List and map of NASA amateur radio club stations participating in
the year-long NASA on the Air (NOTA) special event activity.

Stephen Kuryla, KK6FKD, operates

net control for Ames Amateur Radio
Club Weekly Net from club station
NA6MF.

a member of the Marshall Amateur

Radio Club at the Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“We also want people to know what we
are doing now and what’s coming up in
the near future,” he said.
“We plan to publicize the NASA on
the Air events in amateur radio maga-
zines, on our Facebook site, and web
pages,” said Suggs, who has worked
for NASA since 1994 and is supporting
the Natural Environments for the
Human Landing System Program.
NASA on the Air uses the hashtag
#NOTA when announcing events on Scott Reiff, KB7JWM, NASA Ames employee representing the Ames Amateur
social media sites such as Twitter, Radio Club, NA6MF, operates a NASA special event station from his home
LinkedIn, and Instagram. location in Central Oregon.
Some clubs at NASA centers are
offering commemorative QSL cards
and a special certificate indicating
how many centers a participant con-
tacted on various frequency bands.
Check the NOTA Website for further
details for each center.
NOTA’s Contact Tracking System is
run by Matt McDougal, KAØS, out of
the Marshall Amateur Radio Club,
NN4SA. It is a web-based system for
participants to check their points total
and download a printable certificate
at the end of the event. Points will be
awarded for each center’s contacts.
Learn more about the “NASA on the KB7JWM also operated a NASA on the Air (NOTA) special event from a
Air” events at: <http://nasaontheair. remote mountaintop site near the Pine Mountain Observatory in Bend,
wordpress.com>. Oregon.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 47

There’s a lot of crossover between ham radio and music … for example,
both deal in varying frequencies, bands are important features of both,
and many people have drawn parallels between the rhythms of music
and of Morse code. But here’s a new twist … turning a musical instrument
into an antenna!

The Flutenna
BY DAVID KAZDAN,* AD8Y

T
ransmitting music using amateur radio phone emission
is prohibited. You studied that for your license exam:
The rule is 47 CFR 97.113.1 In contrast, transmitting
using musical instruments is proper and legal. The Case
Amateur Radio Club of Case Western Reserve University,
W8EDU, reports here the first known flute-to-rubber-duck
and flute-to-flute QSOs, or QTF.2
Quarter-wave monopole antennas are remarkably tolerant
of materials and exact dimensions. The Flutenna’s center-
piece is one standard Boehm-system soprano flute (Photo
A). This was “borrowed,” when she wasn’t looking, from the
radio club’s principal flautist, Rachel Boedicker, AC8XY.
Your radio club may have a similarly distractable principal
* Faculty advisor, Case Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU
Email: <dxk10@cwru.edu>
flautist. Other components include a flute stand,3 a bit of
adhesive copper tape, and three or four discarded bass or
violoncello strings (other wire is fine, but those have just the
right flexibility and harmonics harmony). The flute is the
antenna’s vertical radiator, the strings are the radials, and
the flute stand, with its copper-tape flute contactor, holds it
all together. A drilled hole in the stand passes a coaxial cable
and a connector is added to that as suits your transceiver.
Multiple connectors constitute a suite, but this is about per-
formance, not composition.
Your fancy wooden baroque flute won’t work for this pro-
ject, so obey the rules and play no Bach on the phone bands.
A modern concert flute is a metal tube of about 0.66 meters
(26 inches), slightly long for the 2-meter radio purpose. That
length is an acoustic necessity if the flute is going to play well
with others (“others” meaning the rest of the orchestra, tuned

Photo A. N8OBJ and KB3UMD fine-tuning Flutenna

48 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Photo B. Flute-stand slip-ring

to A4=440 Hz ±0.5 Hz as ISO-16:1975

[“Last reviewed in 2017, therefore this
version remains current,” per the ISO lit-
erature] and WWV/WWVH say it should
be4). Even with research-level, back-of-
the-envelope engineering approxima-
tions, 0.66 meters is not a quarter of 2
meters. Flutes are, however, made in
three pieces for convenient tuning and
for fitting into cases between concerts
and contacts. Remove the foot and it
nearly tunes or leave it and the whole
thing looks better. Take your pick.

Step-by-Step (Note-by Note?)
Start the project by obtaining a flute
stand. They’re about $9 from the usual
suppliers (Amazon, Sam Ash Music,
Ebay, not so much DX Engineering).
We used a three-legged one for our 2-
meter waltz.
Next, find a flute. We already had
some. Four officers of the radio club
already play the flute. Two of them play
less often now than they did before this
project started; they do talk more on 2
meters. The club’s bassoonist, Skylar
Dannhoff, KD9JPX, felt left out, but we’re
planning a J-pole next (watch for our next
article with a detail of bassoon con-
struction). The matching network will
thread through the existing bassoon fin-
ger holes quite nicely, we’re pretty sure.
If not, we have wood drills. For Flutenna,
a pre-owned flute is fine, with suitable
instruments spotted on eBay from $15 to
$49,000. Remember, this is ham radio,
“it’s only a hobby.” The all-gold con-
struction of the “fully loaded” handmade
Haynes (that’s really what the ad copy
Photo C. Flautist KE8HVW using the 70-centimeter version from outside the
W8EDU hamshack.
Parts
• Flute stand
• Wires (3) for ground plane — David used bass guitar strings
• Coax with SMA / other connectors — depends on your radio
° Ideally would be:
# Male RP-SMA connector that goes into the flutenna converter
# Female SMA that goes to Baofeng
° We needed an adapter to use the cables we have
• SMA breakout connector
• copper tape
Equipment
• Soldering equipment
• Drill
• Drill bits
° For the connector – 1/4-inch and he rounded it out to be a bit bigger
# I used: 15/64 and 21/64 drill bits. The 15 just barely fit the
threads, the 21 was large enough for the entire connector to fit
through
° For the wire to the copper tape: 1/8 inch
• Hot glue

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 49

Photo D. Principal flautist AC8XY and principal-flautist-elect KB3UMD in world’s first Q-tutti-flutti. This is near-field com-
munications and they remain friends. Later attempts were in far-field and really, the Flutennas worked well.

says) may or may not matter. Let us Find appropriately conductive instru- along the taper of the flute stand to
know. A 35 dB$5 difference may be a lot, ment strings; catgut is quite insulating provide a reliable electrical contact
even for ham radio antennas. and will only match the Baroque flute between the coax center conductor and
A flute’s three pieces are called the mentioned above when Eveready bat- the flute. Make it perfectly smooth so it
head joint, the foot joint, and the body, teries (“nine lives”) are used. The club’s does not scratch the inside of the flute.
not necessarily in that order. The foot violinist, N8KGB, was relieved to hear Scratches will not go over well with the
joint comes in two sizes; student flutes that violin strings are too floppy for this flautist. Do not cross your club’s princi-
go down to C4, 256 Hz in “scientific antenna design.6 Five-string electric pal flautist.
pitch,” but that’s not used anymore and player John Gibbons, N8OBJ, can’t Insert the radial wires into the flute
you’ll be out of tune with everyone if you decide if he plays violin or viola but is stand legs and solder them at the con-
try it, and are just short enough over a guarding his instrument jealously. He is vergence point to the coax braid. Place
professional flute with a B-foot to make quite hard to distract. Cut the radial a dab of hot glue to hold the coax with-
them better for this application. The wires to about a quarter meter. The out strain. Check SWR with an anten-
gold Haynes has a B-foot, so it’s not bet- length is not at all critical, despite what na analyzer if you must and then quit
ter. It has 35-dB theoretical gain over a music critics and our own critics say. worrying about it. Try hitting a repeater.
C-foot flute, as above. You’ll have to Prepare a flute slip ring of the copper This works remarkably well.
decide which you prefer. tape. As shown in Photo B, this goes The flute’s head joint alone worked
perfectly well on 70 centimeters using
the same stand and radials. Repeater
Construction Steps KD8LDE is about 5 kilometers distant
1. Put on copper tape and could be hit from W8EDU even with
2. Drill a hole through the tape for the hot the proverbial wet noodle carefully dried
3. Drill a hole for the connector out. QRP, QRP, QTFer (Photo C). See
4. Solder the wire to the copper tape §97.313 “Transmitter power standards.”
5. Solder the other wire to the ground plane Keep it down.
6. Poke holes for the radials
7. Feed the radials in Building on Success
We made a duplicate with the second
Tests
flautists’s flute for the inaugural QTF, as
1. Test for continuity shown in Photo D. For reasons we won’t
2. Antenna analyzer get into here, the club’s remaining and
3. Make a contact! still-equipped flautists launched into
Mozart’s “Requiem” after the contact.
Our Results: It’s only OK as a flute duet.
First contact: Across the room in Glennan Hall Future Flutenna research involves the
Made it into a repeater several miles away (Photo C) two-flute dipole and the Pingree flute
Delivered to outgoing president Rachel Boedicker and made first flute-to-flute microwave system. Former roommate
contact about 2:35 p.m. EST on 2019-05-10 in the Glennan Lounge (Photo D) Joseph Pingree, WB2TVB (who suf-

50 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

fered through a lot of flute playing back language; or false or deceptive messages, sig- Cleveland Orchestra apparently listens to
in the day, those dorm rooms were small nals, or identification. WWV hourly (except 00 hours UTC when WWV
2. QSO, tutti-flutti (all-flute). This is not to be omits that tuning note. That’s concert time in
and AD8Y’s playing was, well, not so
confused with the aeronautic radiotelegraphy Ohio). Figures, as their intonation is amazing.
tuneful), speculates7 that the flute key QTF, “Will you give me the position of my sta- 5. Decibels relative to cost. Usual common
holes may serve as a slot antenna with tion according to the bearings taken by the logarithm calculation. Multiply by 10, not 20;
the tubing acting as a waveguide at direction-finding stations which you control?” In money is power, not voltage or current.
about 1-centimeter wavelength. He has response, a simple “no” may suffice. Or, “Say 6.Actually, a violin G string would work fine.
been asked to check on this. One of ‘please.’” Since members N8NFE and AD8Y play cello
3. Music stands deserve mention here, too. and viola, respectively, we could have a club
those cheaper eBay flutes may have its
A 15-meter music stand QSO was document- performance of one of the Mozart flute quartets
keys avulsed soon. TVB was nice ed by W7IQI in a Stray, QST 48:11 p. 10 and then have each player donate silence to
enough not to do that to my DeFord 40 (November 1960). the antenna. Reduced noise is good.
years ago. 4. We’re looking at you, New York Philha- 7. Personal correspondence via radiogram;
For lower wavelengths, we note that rmonic, with your nonstandard A-442 tuning. delivery, per ARRL copy on the yellow form,
back-to-back trombones look an awful The authors are proud to say that The was not guaranteed.
lot like a 6-meter dipole. Sporadic-E
DXing seems like a good use of the
club’s trombone section, consisting of
Paula Van Rooy, KD9GYF, and that
student we’re recruiting for next year.
HamSCI’s hornist, Nathaniel Frissell,
W2NAF, is figuring out exactly where in
The Radio Club of
the flare his fingertips tingle, and mez-
zosoprano Kristina Collins, KD8OXT, is
trying to decode the CW in “Der Hölle
Rache” and all those F6 soundings. She
Junior High School 22
may find it. Bass flutes just won’t work,
as there’s no 4-meter amateur band (at
least not in the U.S. … yet – ed.). They
Bringing Communication to
might be good for VHF-low television.
The Music Settlement adjacent to
Education Since 1980
CWRU has a contrabass flute that
doesn’t seem to get much concert use.
All that piper’s pipe must be resonant
somewhere and it looks a little like a
fractal antenna ... gotta check ... Q Tutti-
Flutti!

Update
The events in this article took place in
2019. Here’s what some of the “players”
are up to now:
Outgoing club president Rachel
Boedicker, AC8XY, is now returning to
CWRU and the club as a mathematics
DONATE YOUR RADIO
Ph.D. candidate; the club bassoonist is
now a physics Ph.D. candidate at MIT
Radios You Can Write Off - Kids You Can’t
and a member of the MIT Radio Society,
W1MX; the then-president-elect who Turn your excess Ham Radios and related items into a tax
set all of this into motion, Aidan break for you and a learning tool for kids.
Montare, KB3UMD, is now an engineer
at NIST Time and Frequency Division Donate radios or related gear to an IRS approved 501(c)(3)
in Boulder, Colorado and gets to work
with all the WWV folk. The other flautist, charity. Get the tax credit and help a worthy cause.
Tucker Schmidt, KE8HVW, is now a US
Army officer in artillery — flutes look a Equipment picked up anywhere or shipping arranged.
little like cannons, no?

Notes:
1. Code of Federal Regulations Title 47:
Telecommunication
§97.113 Prohibited transmissions.
(4) Music using a phone emission except as
specifically provided elsewhere in this section; at the Core of the Big Apple
communications intended to facilitate a crimi-
nal act; messages encoded for the purpose of PO Box 1052, New York, NY 10002
obscuring their meaning, except as otherwise E-mail: crew@wb2jkj.org www.wb2jkj.org
provided herein; obscene or indecent words or
Call 516-674-4072
www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 51
September’s DX column on awards for working Antarctica, along with a
hot summer up here in the north, seem to have gotten regular contributors
Ted Cohen, N4XX, and Stew Gillmor, W1FK, thinking about their own
experiences at the bottom of the world. Here are their reminiscences.

Antarctic Memories
BY TED COHEN,* N4XX

I
loved the DX column on working Antarctica in the
September issue. It brought back memories of my research
work on the islands around Chile’s Base O’Higgins on the
North Antarctic Peninsula (CE9AF; Photos A, B and C) and
on Deception and Greenwich Islands in the South Shetland
Islands (the latter, CE9AS), and my maritime mobile (/mm)
operations aboard the Piloto Pardo (CE9AW; Photo D) and
Yelcho (CE9AY; Photo E) during the austral summer of 1961-
62. What an adventure! I’d return in a heartbeat, given the
opportunity. The logs now reside at ARRL HQ.

* c/o CQ magazine

Photo B. “The
key is one I built
in Antarctica out
of scrap wood,
a saw blade,
and other bits of
junk.” – N4XX
Photo A. N4XX operates CE9AF from Base O’Higgins on the
North Atlantic Peninsula in the austral summer of 1961-62.
(Photos A-E courtesy of N4XX)

Photo C. Base O’Higgins in Antarctica. Note the door on the second floor. Ted says it was used during austral winters to
exit when the snowpack was high.

52 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Photo D. N4XX operated maritime mobile from the Chilean Navy ship Piloto Pardo during his travels to Antarctica. The ship
remained in service for the navy until 1997, when it was sold and converted to an Antarctic cruise ship, the Antarctic Dream.
It continued in that role until 2012. According to Wikipedia, it was most recently used to house UN personnel in Yemen!

Photo E. Ted also operated /MM from the ship Yelcho. Upon leaving Antarctica, he recalls, “I gave (my key) to the radioman
aboard the Yelcho ... He was thrilled beyond belief because he now could give up using the straight key he had been using
to communicate with Fleet HQ in Santiago.”

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 53

The Chill in Antarctica
or “Tell Him Hi, But I’ve Got To Get Back To Work”
BY STEW GILLMOR,# W1FK
Photo F. W1FK’s geophysics group poses for a photo outside the Soviet Mirnyy research station in Antarctica on May Day,
1961. (Photos F-G courtesy W1FK)
O
ne of the low points in my 14-
month time as U.S. scientific
member of the 6th Soviet
Antarctic Expedition (1960-62) was in
July 1961. As a last-minute replace-
ment for a candidate fallen ill, I left
Stanford University on a week’s notice
in November 1960 and joined the
National Bureau of Standards in
Boulder, Colorado, to do ionospheric
research (riometer and VLF whistler
studies). Within a week, I flew to Cape
Town, South Africa, with 40 crates of
gear to join the Soviet icebreaker
freighter OBb and head to Antarctica.
The Soviet radio transmitting station
was located on Sopka Radio (Radio Hill),
located about a half mile inland from my
building at Mirnyy Station, on the coast
in eastern Antarctica (66.33’S, 93.00’E),
far inside the auroral zone. The Soviet
station did not have SSB capability but
used AM, CW, and teletype using sev-
# <sgillmor@wesleyan.edu>
54 • CQ • October 2022
eral Soviet Navy transmitters of 1 to 5
kilowatts of power. There was a ham sta-
tion, UA1KAE, which in those days indi-
cated the Leningrad region, as Lenin-
grad was the home base for the Arctic
and Antarctic Research Institute.
Occasionally, if the weather wasn’t
too bad, I could trudge through the snow
up to Radio Hill and operate a 1-kilowatt
transmitter on 20 meters. I tried work-
ing stateside on AM, but nobody
returned my calls so I would use CW. I
worked a number of U.S. hams on CW.
Oddly, when working a Russian ham,
since I did not know the additional code
signs for the extra Russian language
letters, I would try to explain that I was
an American on the expedition. This
apparently “spooked” the Russians and
they would never continue the QSO.
However, I also found that I could break-
in on CW to some U.S. hams using SSB
and have a CW-SSB chat. Fortunately,
I found a ham, Fred, W6QS, in Palo
Alto, California with a good signal and
worked him several times.
Above my bunk at Mirnyy station I had
a photo of a cute Stanford brunette,
Rogene Godding, whom I had dated for
about a year. She graduated in biology
in June 1960 and was working in the
Stanford lab of famous Nobel Prize win-
ner Joshua Lederberg. I still had a
semester of work left to graduate and so
bore down and worked very hard on my
quantum mechanics, thermodynamics,
and engineering fluid mechanics cours-
es [I was essentially a mediocre electri-
cal engineering (EE) / physics minor stu-
dent]. So, I didn’t see this cute brunette
much that fall of 1960. I didn’t know at
the time, but I believe she was then see-
ing a graduate EE student and wasn’t
thinking much about me.
Anyway, I happily set up a phone-
patch plan with W6QS in Palo Alto. I
gave him the telephone number at her
lab, and we set up a sked for about a
week away. The two Soviet radio engi-
neers at Radio Hill got excited about the
sked and word of the plan went around
my building of geophysicists and mete-
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orologists. On the appointed July day,
midwinter at Mirnyy, the temperature
was only about minus 20°F and the wind
was below 30 MPH, so I could go up the
hill alone. For a typical outdoors view,
Photo G. Rogene Godding at work in her lab at Stanford in 1961. She was too
busy to talk with Stew when he called via phone patch from Antarctica … but it
seems they reconnected when he returned. They’ve been married since 1964!
Photo F shows our geophysics group
standing outside our building on May
Day, 1961. Note the wind whipping the
flag. I am the one in light parka with cam-
era bag hanging off my shoulder.
Back to the exciting day of the phone-
patch: I got Fred in Palo Alto, and he
had a 5x9 signal. The two Soviet radio
engineers leaned over the receiver to
hear the SSB chat. I had been in the
Antarctic for eight months, with months
more to go until the Soviet ship returned
and I really wanted to talk with her or at
least hear her voice.
I keyed “Have you called her?”
Fred replied, “Yes.”
“Put her on,” I keyed.
He replied, “She said ‘Hi’, but that she
had to get back to work, and she hung
up…”
The Soviets saw the shock on my
face. Disbelieving, they thought surely
I had misunderstood something. Gloom
descended on the UA1KAE shack and
I trudged back the half-mile to my room
/ ionospheric lab.
I never believed that she really had
to suddenly hang up and go back
to work. In fact, I only learned of the
weakness of her story when, 60
YEARS LATER in an album, I found
this photo of her in her lab at Stanford,
taken in 1961 (Photo G)! My son, now
50 years old and a biology professor
himself, recently said of the story,
“Dad, that was pretty chill of Mom.” We
married in 1964.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 55

 math’s notes
BY IRWIN MATH,* WA2NDM

Simple Low-Cost Test Equipment (continued)

78L12

10K 4 8
220

Test 7 3 10.0V

47μF LM555
9.0K
68K 2
18V 1.0V
6 LM4040DIZ
-10.0-NOPB 1K
1μF 1 5
0.1V

100
0.1μF

Common

Figure 1. Schematic of simple oscilloscope tester

L
ast October, we presented some low-cost test equip-
ment for experimenters, and based upon your requests,
this month we would like to continue. Our current offer-
ing is an inexpensive calibrator for your oscilloscope. While
it is not intended for this to be an ultra-precision device, it will
at least let you know if your scope is working, if the probes
you have are OK and if everything is basically in or at least
close to calibration. Also, since the unit is battery powered,
you can take it with you if you are planning to purchase a
used scope to at least know if it is approximately working.
Referring to Figure 1, you will see that the tester uses two
9-volt batteries in series (18 volts) to drive a 78L12 low-power
voltage regulator. This, in turn, produces 12 volts which is
then used to power an LMC555 astable oscillator, which gen- Figure 2. Suggested layout of tester
erates a 12-volt, peak-to-peak, 10-Hz square wave. This
square wave is then applied to an LM4040, a 1% precision chosen for the frequency of the square wave was that ade-
shunt voltage regulator, where the square wave is clipped to quate time was needed for the Zener to properly regulate
10 volts (+1%). The resulting precision 10-volt output is then during the positive half cycle. Obviously, the flat portion of
also divided to 1 volt and 0.1 volt, all at an accuracy of about the square wave is the most accurate part. Also, to maintain
1%. These levels should be adequate to check that an oscil- the accuracy, do not try to load the outputs. Use only the
loscope and associated probes are basically at least in the high-impedance input settings of the scope and probes you
right ballpark. As a final addition, a push-to-test button is are checking. Do not use a 50- or 75-ohm low-impedance
included to limit the drain on the batteries. input (if present) as the results will load down the outputs and
Since the total current requirement of this circuit is around all values will be wrong.
20 to 30 milliamperes, battery life should be reasonably long. All components are fairly common and the LM4040DIZ-
The three resistors in the divider chain should be 1% values 10.0-NOPB Zener diode is available from most electronic
and the 9K resistor can be composed of two 18K 1% resis- parts distributors for about $2, so this entire project should
tors in parallel. The overall accuracy of all of this is on the not beak the bank. Figure 2 is a suggested housing for the
order of 1%, as we stated, and the LM4040, which is rated tester.
at 1%, helps maintains this accuracy. The reason 10 Hz was I hope this type of test equipment is interesting to the exper-
imenter and will try to provide additional similar types of
*c/o CQ magazine testers as time goes on. – 73, Irwin, WA2NDM

56 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

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 the listening post
BY GERRY DEXTER

Algeria Opens New Powerful Shortwave Transmitter

Plus … “Radio Australia” Returns to the Air (With Much Lower Power)
~ It took a while, but Algeria has final-
ly opened its own powerful shortwave
transmitter site at Bechar / Ouargla, now
being heard on 15340 kHz. It’s also been
noted on 17600 kHz and 15100 kHz. The
new 300-kilowatt giants are airing
Algeria’s Chaine 1 network for the Sahel
region. The French relay (at Issoudun)
is still registered with the HFCC.
do the same thing ... something I urged
them to do just a of couple months ago.
Listener Logs
Your shortwave broadcast station logs
are always welcome. But please be
sure to double- or triple-space between
the items, list each logging according to
the station’s home country and include
your last name and state abbreviation
after each. Also needed are spare
QSLs, station schedules, brochures,
pennants, station photos, and anything
else you think would be of interest. The

~ “Shortwave Australia” ... Wha, wha’d

... he say? Those two words haven’t fist
bumped in quite some time. Radio
Australia gave up on shortwave years
ago, leaving the country with no official
voice, only the religious Reach Beyond
(Australia) and one or two peanut-whis-
tle private broadcasters. Now another
has sprouted with the moniker “Short-
wave Australia” which has opened on
4835 kHz and 2310 kHz at 0500-1000
UTC from a bit north of Bendigo in
Victoria State. The new station is a non-
profit affair hoping to fill the radio void in
the north. It’s operated by David Stuart,
VK3ASE, using 100 watts on both fre-
quencies, although licensed for 5 kilo-
watts, David says 500 watts will be his
limit due to the high cost of power. His
website is <http://crossbandradio.com>.
By the way, he points out that he may not Bechar, a provincial capital, is also home to Algeria’s new shortwave relay.
be on the air consistently.

~ Brazil’s Voz Missionaria seems to

have let the creeping frequency bug
loose and that rascal has escaped to
the 5-MHz band, specifically 5938.48
kHz. In addition, a cousin has scurried
up to 9673.29 kHz. Better grab that can
of Raid, guys!

~ The BBC, in its recently released

annual report, indicates, however
briefly, that its shortwave listenership
makes up about half its worldwide
audience.

~ The BBC also announced the inau-

guration of a new 4-hour transmission
to Ukraine. In his comments, the
Google author, Benjamin J. Sachs of
the Rand Corp., wonders if it isn’t time
for RFE/RL to follow the BBC lead and

*c/o CQ magazine Two of the studio / control rooms at Voz Missionaria in Brazil.

58 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

National Unity
Government
Radio is unfriendly
to Myanmar’s
government and
is headquartered
near Oakland,
California.
same holds for you amateur radio
operators who also listen to shortwave
broadcasts ... I know you’re out there!
You, too, are also most welcome to
contribute!
Here are this month’s logs. All times
are in UTC. If no language is mentioned,
English is assumed.
ALASKA—KNLS via Anchor Point on
7355 with “Profiles in Christian Music” at
1247. (Brossell, WI) On 9580 at 1407 with
“True Stories from the Bible”; on 9795 at
1245 with a preacher. (Sellers, BC)
ALGERIA—Radio Algerienne on 15100
via Bechar at 2022-2157 with woman with
Middle Eastern music, man hosting a
roundtable program, Qur’an recitations,
into contemporary pop music by 2150, off
in mid-sentence at 2157. (Taylor, WI) at
2147-2301 with woman reading the news
in Arabic followed by male and female
announcers, 5 + 1time pips at 2300.
(D’Angelo, PA)
AUSTRALIA—Reach Beyond on 11900
via Kununurra in the Hindi language at
1245. (Brossell, WI)
BRAZIL—(All in Portuguese –GLD)
Voz Missionaria on 5938 via Camboriu
at 0932 in Spanish(?!) with a possible
phone-in and domestic country songs,
also on 9670. (Taylor, WI) On 9667 with
talks at 2216. (Brossell, WI)
Radio Inconfidencia via Belo Horizonte
on 15189 with ending song and woman
and man talking in Portuguese. (Taylor,
WI)
CANADA—Bible Voice on 15310 via
Nauen in Amharic at 1728 with HOA
music, man giving the station ID in
English, off at 1730 after giving website
<www.bvbroadcasting.org>.
CHINA—China Radio International on
7250 via Urumqi with man speaking in
Mandarin to 1210 when wiped out by an
ARO; on 9610 via Kunming at 1156 in
Mandarin, off in mid-sentence at 1157, co-
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
channel Reach Beyond (Australia) at
1159 with IS, English station ID and open-
ing in Kannada. (Taylor, WI) On 11975 via
Mali in French at 2216; on 15410 via Kashi
in Mandarin at 1448. (Brossell, WI) On
13860 via Shijiazhuang in Russian at
1510 with pop vocals over CODAR QRM.
(Barton, AZ)
COLOMBIA—The 4940 unid noted at
0959 with man giving a Bible explanation
in Spanish. (Taylor, WI)
EGYPT—Radio Cairo on 9440 via Abis
in Arabic at 2157; on 9810 via Abis at 2113
with music, 3 + 1time pips at 2115, woman
speaking in English with poor modulation.
(Taylor, WI) On 2124 with woman speak-
ing in an unidentified language, time pips
at 2200, then man reading the news, but
soon went off. (D’Angelo, PA)
ENGLAND—BBC on 11610 via Woof-
ferton in Hausa at 1927. (Brossell, WI) On
Japan is known for attractive QSL cards; this one is from Radio Nikkei.
11810 with news magazine at 0310; on
12095 via Oman in French at 0620, sud-
denly off at 0929. (Barton, AZ)
IBRA Radio/Radio Sama on 15510 via
Woofferton at 1755 with a radio play in
Arabic. (Taylor, WI) At 1806 in Fur with
long talks, apparent station ID at 1829,
instrumental music and a possible lan-
guage change. (D’Angelo, PA)
GERMANY—Deutsche Welle on 15275
via France in Amharic at 1607. (Brossell,
WI)
Channel 292 on 9670 via Rohrbach in
English at 0256 with pop stuff. (Taylor, WI)
GUAM—Adventist World Radio on
12080 via Agat with English sign on at
1600 with station ID, music and female
speaker. (Sellers, BC)
Trans World Radio/KTWR on 12040 via
Agana in Karen at 1231. (Brossell, WI)
HAWAII—WWVH on 10000 at about
equal levels with WWV, with the usual for-
mats at 0921. (Taylor, WI)
ITALY—IRRS on 15400 via Romania in
the Oromo language at 1508 (Brossell,
WI)
JAPAN—Radio Japan on 6190 via
Yamata at 1400 in Korean, good even
after local daybreak here; on 11655 in the
Hindi language at 1530, female vocals,
station ID by man at 1543. (Barton, AZ)
On 11815 via Yamata at 1405 and woman
hosting a newscast, (Sellers, BC) At 1254.
(Brossell, WI)
Radio Nikkei One on 6055 via Nagara
at 0959 in Japanese, long tone at 1000, a
few notes, announcements by man.
(Taylor, WI)
Network Two on 6115 via Nagara at
0927 with man hosting Japanese pop
music program; harmonic on 6055.
(Taylor, WI)
MALAYSIA—RTM-Sarawak FM on
October 2022 • CQ • 59
what’s new
Penta Laboratories RF Vacuum Tubes Now
Available at DX Engineering
DX Engineering has added RF vacuum tubes from Penta
Laboratories to its lineup of products for amateur radio opera-
tors and electronics enthusiasts.
In the ham radio community, special RF power vacuum tubes
are essential replacements for current model amplifiers. They
are also used to revive legacy amplifiers, and some technical-
ly savvy operators build vintage-style homebrew equipment and
other devices using vacuum tubes.
Each tube undergoes the following testing procedures:
• Undergo rigorous testing to enhance performance
• Are burned in for a minimum of 48 hours, dissipating full
power with filament plate and screen voltages that are nor-
mally used in amplifier applications
• All Penta tubes are matched within a 5% variation on all
parameters. Vacuum tubes that pass this phase of testing are
then evaluated on WT-100A original RCA production testers
for plate current, screen current, and transconductance.
DX Engineering will be stocking the following Penta RF vac-
uum tubes:
3-500ZG: High-mu power triode RF vacuum tube with a max-
imum plate dissipation rating of 500 watts. It features a ceram-
ic base, radiation and forced air provide cooling through the
base, along the envelope, and over the plate seal and plate
connector.
572B: Power triode RF vacuum tube designed for use as
an RF oscillator, RF power amplifier, and audio frequency
modulator.
811A: Is capable of outputting up to 160 watts at frequencies
up to 30 MHz.
3CX800A7: Compact power triode ceramic RF vacuum tube
for use as a cathode-driven Class AB2 or Class B amplifier in
RF applications, including VHF. The 3CX800A7 delivers 750
watts PEP and 750 watts key-down CW output power to 350
MHz. Its anode is forced-air cooled for 800 watts of dissipation.
3CX1500A7: It has a maximum plate dissipation rating of
1,500 watts and maximum CW output power to 250 MHz.
4CX1000A: It has a maximum plate dissipation rating of 1,000
watts and maximum CW output power to 110 MHz.
4CX800A-T: Features a maximum plate dissipation rating of
800 watts.
The Penta Labs vacuum tubes are available now with retail
prices varying dependent on the model. For more information
visit DX Engineering <www.dxengineering.com> or call
(800) 777-0703.
60 • CQ • October 2022
9835 via Kajang with contemporary music and woman speak-
ing in Malay. (Taylor, WI) At 1341 in Bahasa Malay, station ID
at 1346, female announcer and short bits of pop. (Sellers, BC)
Wai FM on 11665 via Kajang with Islamic singing at 1215, live-
ly conversation in Malay, two woman in longer session, back to
man. (Taylor, WI) At 1338 with a website announcements, off
around 1442. (Sellers, BC)
MALI—RT du Mali via Bamako on 5995 at 2338 with man
speaking in French hosting local pop music program, and car-
rier off at 0000. (D’Angelo, PA)
MEXICO—Radio Educacion via Mexico D.F. on 6185 at 0530
with “lounge lizard” music, electric guitar, male vocals. (Barton,
AZ)
MYANMAR—Thazin Radio on 7435 via Phin Oo Lyn with
woman speaking in the Shan language at 1238. (Taylor, WI)
NEW ZEALAND—Radio New Zealand Pacific on 5980 via
Rangitaiki on earthquake-caused tsunamis. (Sellers, BC)
NORTH KOREA—Voice of Korea on 9435 via Kajang signing
on at 1302 with national anthem, woman giving English station
ID, and choir. (Sellers, BC)
KCBS on 15180 with talks in Korean at 1242, victory songs.
(Brossell, WI)
OPPOSITION—Sound of Hope (Taiwan to North Korea) on
15340 with man and woman speaking in Mandarin at 2352.
(Taylor, WI)
Dimtse Woyane (via France to Eritrea) on 11570 with woman
speaking in the Tigrinya language, then discussion by several
men followed by short instrumental segments, vocals, and clos-
ing announcements, some jamming. (D’Angelo, PA)
Manara Radio (via France to Nigeria) on 15285 in Hausa at
1611. (Brossell, WI)
National Unity Radio (via Taiwan to North Korea) on 7200 in
Korean at 1223. (Taylor, WI) At 1250. (Brossell, WI)
Nippon No Kaze (Japan to North Korea) on 9685 in Korean at
1510 with long monologue by a man. (Barton, AZ)
Furusato No Kaze (via Taiwan to North) on 9705 in Japanese
at 1454. (Brossell, WI)
Voice of Hope (South Korea to North) on 4880 with man and
woman at 1035. (Taylor, WI) On 9095 at 1250 with violin, man
speaking in Korean on the hour. (Barton, AZ)
Denge Welat (via Bulgaria to Turkey) on 7285 with O/C, group
vocals, man reading the opening announcements. (D’Angelo,
PA)
Radio Dap Loi Song Nui (via Taiwan to Vietnam) on 9670 in
Vietnamese at 1256, off at 1301. (Taylor, WI)
PERU—Radio Logos via Chazuta on 4810 with woman speak-
ing in Spanish and Christian music at 1022. (Taylor, WI).
PHILIPPINES—Far East Broadcasting on 9920 via Iba in the
Hre language at 1256; on 12095 via Bocaue at 1238. (Brossell,
WI) On 11750 via Bocaue at 1425 in the Lahu language, preach-
ing, off after announcements at 1431. (Sellers, BC) On 12095
via Bocaue opening in the Mien language, with female vocal
then a talk by a woman. (Barton, AZ)
PIRATES—Ear Wax Radio on 6931 upper sideband (u) at
0312 with country rock (I’m so tempted to call this “crock”.
But I won’t. –GLD). Stoner Radio Intl on 6931/6933u at 2325
weak with dance music, electronic stuff, woman saying
“greetings.” Ice Man Radio on 6936u at 2358 with a DJ and
comedy songs. CDO on 6960u at 0008 with heavy metal, dis-
tortion. (Hassig, IL)
YHWH on 7475 at 0354 with preaching, poor level. Brownie
Radio on 6955u at 0155 with rock, station ID, and DJ asking for
requests. Stoned Gnome Radio on 6920u with hard rock at 2358,
Slow-Scan TV (SSTVs), CW station ID, and off. WANK on 6925u
at 0146 running Top 40 hits. QRM on 6950 with progressive rock
at 0122. (Taylor, WI)
PREVIOUSLY REPORTED—Ballsmacker Radio, Syco
Radio, Wolverine Radio, Damn Skippy, Corn Desert Outpost,
Visit Our Web Site
WENO, Radio 48, Clever Name Radio, X- voice, brass band at 1230, possible from Germany, Issoudun (France),
FM, Mix Radio Intl, WDOG, Captain Cuban spur? (Taylor, WI) Lampertheim (Germany), and Wooffer-
Morgan, Radio Free Whatever, WHIZ, ton (England). So much for that bit of
Piss Ant Radio, One Dog Radio. As Time Goes By housekeeping.
SAUDI ARABIA—Al-Azm Radio on
~ Radio Nueva Horizonte, Riberalta,
11745 via Jeddah in Arabic at 1242.
(Brossell, WI) At 2201 with a spirited talk.
Bolivia, 4515 kHz at 0340 UTC with its Thank You, Thank You!
(Taylor, WI)
low-power Spanish domestic service on A big thank-you goes to all the good
SINGAPORE—BBC Far East Relay on March 13, 1989. guys who sent in logs this month: Rich
1166 via Kranji at 1122 on civilian tech- D’Angelo, Wyomissing, PA; Robert
nology used in the military, program pro- Just Sayin’ Brossell, Pewaukee, WI; William
mos, unlisted at this time. (Taylor, WI) There are a few relay sites that I often Hassig, Mt. Pleasant, IL; Rick Barton,
At 1335 with sports news and interviews; don’t bother to specify the country El Segundo, AZ; and Harold Sellers,
on 12025 with world news at 1502. involved. Here’s a reminder: Nauen is Vernon, BC, Canada.
(Sellers, BC)
SOUTH KOREA—KBS World Radio on
15575 via Kimjae with commentary /
soundbites in Korean. (Brossell, WI)
TAIWAN—Radio Taiwan Intl on 9405
with news at 1603. (Sellers, BC)
THAILAND—Voice of Thailand on
15590 via Udon Thani at *0000-0029* with
a woman opening English news program
with promos, ads, station IDs, financial WILL YOU BE ON THE AIR WHEN THE GRID GOES DOWN?
news, then off. (D’Angelo, PA)
TURKEY—Voice of Turkey on 7260 via
Emirler at 0120 with woman speaking in
Spanish followed by Turkish vocals; on
9830 at 2202 with woman reading the
MITY GO-BOX MAX GO-BOX
news in English, nice station ID at 2209. 9 to 20 Ah LiFePO4 Battery 12 to 50 Ah Bioenno LiFePO4 Battery
(D’Angelo, PA) On 15375 at 1342 in Powerpole Port - DVM - USB Charger Powerpole Port - DVM - USB Charger
Turkish. (Brossell, WI)
UNITED STATES—Voice of America Available with a 9 Ah to 50 Ah Bioenno Power Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery.
Direct solar panel input to built-in MPPT solar charge controller, 150 or 300 watts.
on 12045 via the Thailand Relay in Korean
Powerpole and Automotive type outlet; USB QC3.0 fast charger and DVM. Rain tight
at 1445; on 12080 at 1235 via the and ready to go for your emergency power requirements.
Philippines in Korean. (Brossell, WI) On
6065 via Madagascar at 0329 with man CHARGED - READY TO GO (866) 747-5277
speaking in Malagasy. (Taylor, WI)
Radio Free Asia on 9900 via Taiwan at
1300; on 11570 via the Kuwait relay in
Tibetan at 1233; on 11985 via the
Northern Marianas relay at 1512 in
Korean. (Brossell, WI)
WMLK via Bethel on 9275 with Jacob
Meyer (?) and long religious talk, station
ID at the top of the hour, then another reli-
gious talk. (D’Angelo, PA)
WJHR via Milton on 15555 at 1432 with
preacher ranting. (Taylor, WI)
VATICAN—Vatican Radio on 15565 via
SM Galeria at 1700 in French, off at the
half hour. (Barton, AZ)
VIETNAM—Voice of Vietnam on 9840
via Sontay coming on with North America
at 1330, welcome then news; on 11885
at 1605 with woman reading the news,
but muffled audio. (Sellers, BC) On 2020
via Sontay in Japanese at 1224.
(Brossell, WI)

Quien Sabe (Who Knows?)

~ Unidentified station on 9449.8 kHz at
1226 UTC in an uncertain language.
Mostly a woman with occasional man.
Later drifted down to 9449.75 kHz,
audio gone by 1233. Next day at 1225-
36 UTC weak but still with a female

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 61

 kit building
BY JOE EISENBERG,* K0NEB
“Power To The People”
T
here isn’t anything more fundamental to any ham shack
or any kit builder’s bench than a good variable-voltage
power supply. Even better yet, how about a power-sup-
ply kit that was originally designed to be a club’s kit-building
project? And on top of that, an analog dual-voltage power
supply, giving you two variable outputs.
This great power supply kit was first produced a few years
ago by the Joplin Amateur Radio Club (JARC) as an educa-
tional group-building project. This is the same club that pro-
duces the JARC Antenna Launcher kit, which is still very pop-
*7133 Yosemite Drive, Lincoln, NE 68507
email: <k0neb@cq-amateur-radio.com>
Hamfest Hotline #5855
The parts for the JARC Dual Variable Power Supply kit are sorted for assembly. (All photos by KØNEB)
62 • CQ • October 2022
ular. The reason we kit builders need a variable-voltage sup-
ply is to be able to have a variety of voltages available to power
our kits. Although 12 volts (actually often 13.8 volts) seems to
be the most popular voltage needed to power kits, many —
including the QRP Labs QDX kit — often work at a lower volt-
age. There are kits that use 9 volts, such as the Four States
QRP Groups’ “Cricket” series, and other kits need 5 volts, etc.
The JARC Dual Power Supply kit has two separate outputs
ranging from 5-16 volts, so you can have more than one
device running at the same time, using different voltages.
Like most lab type bench supplies, this power supply is lim-
ited to approximately 1.5 amps of current draw, still plenty to
power most receiver kits as well as QRP transmitters. Each
output has its own digital voltage display. A great advantage
Visit Our Web Site

The PC board is good quality and is not closely packed, making for a great begin-
ner’s or group kit-building experience.
to this kit is that it comes with a well-
made aluminum case. Although my kit
did not have any front panel markings
on it, the future versions of this kit may
have a front panel label. I used a Brother
P-Touch to make my labels.
There are no toroids to wind and no
ICs as well as a low parts count, mak-
ing this an ideal beginner’s kit. Even bet-
ter is that it now gives you a precision
The two voltage regulators are mounted on a case panel using mica insulators and heat sink grease to help conduct
heat away.
64 • CQ • October 2022
dual-power supply to power any future
kits. This power supply circuit consists
of two separate AC outputs from the
transformer, each followed by a full-
wave bridge rectifier circuit and capac-
itor filtering, followed by a regulator to
produce the variable output. I highly rec-
ommend that builders of this kit look at
the schematic and see how a simple full-
wave bridge circuit works and how this
A closeup look at a regulator with the
three pins bent upwards to connect with
the PC board as it is put in place.
power supply can deliver two separate
variable regulated outputs. Because it
is not a switching-type supply, there is
no RFI coming from the unit.
The instruction manual goes into
detail on how to mount each part as well
as how to mount the front panel voltage
displays. Be sure to carefully follow
these directions to get the displays in
place without a lot of stress. The posi-
tioning of the mica insulators and the
proper installation of the mounting
screws and insulating hardware on the
regulators must be followed closely.
There is a heat sink compound supplied
with the kit to help with proper heat
transfer from the two regulators to the
case. Be sure to do the resistance
checks on both regulators to ensure the
Visit Our Web Site
 ground lead (pin 2) is not shorted to the
case. Because the case is assembled
in multiple pieces, it is easy to complete
the connections to the switches, pots,
and displays. When mounting the tog-
gle switches to the front panel, do not
overtighten them. This type of switch
can be damaged if mounted too tightly.
Be very careful when putting the
stranded wires through the holes in the
PC board. It is possible that a stray
strand can be sticking out and cause a
short circuit. I ended up removing a cou-
ple of strands to ensure the wire prop-
erly fits through the PC board holes
without any strays. The wire supplied
with later editions of this kit may not
have that issue.
Be extra careful to follow the manual
when wiring the line cord to the terminals
on the board. The green wire goes to the
ground lug. I tinned the other two wires
(black and white) prior to putting them
into the TB1 terminals so that tightening
them did not result in any stray strands
A closer look at the main board mounted to the case panel. coming loose. There is a place for an
LED on the PC board, but it is not used
since the two front panel digital voltage
displays light up when power is on.
When I powered up, I checked both
sides of the power supply using my Fluke
77 multimeter to ensure the front panel
voltage display agreed with the meter.
There was sometimes a difference of a
few hundredths of a volt, but that is not
a significant problem. Be sure to use the
line cord pass-through strain relief when
doing the final assembly. As I mentioned
earlier, this kit was designed to be a club
building project, and it would be a great
kit for a club to do as a group.
Watch the JARC website for price and
availability of this great kit. You can find
it here: <http://joplin-arc.org>. If your
club has a kit project like this, please
share it with me and I will review it in
The completed board assembly is mounted in the case along with the front panel these pages.
containing the two displays, the switches, and controls.
Stock Up Your Bench for
Winter
With fall at hand, it is time to look at get-
ting your kit-building bench ready for the
cold weather months ahead. In addition
to the dual power supply featured in this
month’s column, you should have a good
quality soldering station and some 63/37
solder, along with a good set of flush cut-
ters and needle-nose pliers to make your
kit-building time go smoothly. I look for-
ward to seeing everyone at future ham-
fests and group kit-building experiences,
including hamfests in Cheyenne, Wy-
oming and Enid, Oklahoma. Watch these
pages for some exciting new kits coming
The finished power supply, ready to be labeled. soon! – Until next time, 73 de KØNE

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 65

 learning curve
BY RON OCHU, KOØZ

Cobwebs Anyone?
CQ Reviews: MFJ-1836H Cobweb Antenna

I
f you are like me, then I’ll bet you have a few items you’ve fiberglass spreaders and one fiberglass support tube hold-
purchased just sitting in some forgotten corner collecting ing the matchbox which feeds all the wire elements.
dust. That is so true of me and in the interest of complete Electrically, one-quarter wave down the folded wire is an insu-
transparency, the word “few” is a euphemism for me. lator. The second half of the dipole is also a quarter wave
However, I’m here to tell you that I am making slow and steady attached to the other insulator end, thereby forming a half-
progress. wave dipole. The dipole is “folded” to conserve space. The
outermost square is a folded 20-meter dipole. The next inner
The Best Laid Plans … square is a 17-meter folded dipole, followed by additional
Three years ago, while attending the Dayton Hamvention©, folded dipoles for 15, 12 and 10 meters. The Cobweb also
I decided to purchase an MFJ-1836H, a 6- to 20-meter includes a 6-meter corner-fed dipole, beginning at the match-
Cobweb Antenna (Photo A). I’ve always liked the idea of a box, with wires stretching to a spreader arm and draping back
multiband wire antenna using spreaders. My thought at the towards, but not touching, the metal mounting plate.
time was that it could be a good antenna to build and use for With the 20- through 6-meter wire elements laid out, the
Field Day, which would have provided a good opportunity for antenna looks a lot like a spiderweb. In fact, my neighbor’s
club members to put it to the test and to do side-by-side com- kids asked why I was building a spiderweb. The “spiderweb”
parisons (A/B test) with other antennas on site. square is 9 by 9 feet which MFJ advertises as a “neighbor-
However, COVID-19 became a pandemic, and we went into friendly” package. In many ways it looks similar to a square
lockdown mode. To complicate matters even more, I found umbrella clothesline (Photo C) found in hardware stores like
myself moving from central Illinois to eastern Missouri.
Moving a QTH (location) is not a fun chore. Especially more
so when one finds himself in his early 60s. The cobweb pro-
ject got relegated to my garage corner to collect dust (or cob-
webs? – ed.).
A few years later, my shack is taking shape and I’ve put up
a few antennas. I’m back on HF (high frequency) with a Hy-
Gain 14 AVQ vertical, but it operates on the 10- to 40-meter
bands and not on the so-called WARC (World Administrative
Radio Conference) bands of 12, 17, and 30 meters. I love
propagation on those bands.
Meanwhile, I spied the cobweb antenna box (Photo B).
Summer 2022 turned out to be a good time to work on this
project. Admittedly, not my original plan for it, but here and
now is just as good as there and then! I know just the spot in
my suburban backyard to erect it. Best of all, since this anten-
na is basically a folded dipole, I wouldn’t need to put down
ground radials.
Have you ever heard the expression, “my eyes were too
big for my stomach,” or “don’t bite off more than you can
chew?” Both expressions are applicable to me regarding my
original intention for the cobweb. That’s not to infer this is an
“undesirable” antenna — far from it. Rather, it is a commen-
tary about me. I am older, heavier, slower, and not as agile
as in my younger days. However, I still think of myself as a
younger man with an abundance of enthusiasm and stami-
na. So please keep in mind my “senior citizen” status as I
comment on antenna construction. If the project involves
more than lifting a beverage (not the antenna), then I am like-
ly to find it challenging.

Antenna or Cobweb?
Looking at MFJ’s Cobweb instruction manual cover page in
Photo A, one can see five separate squares attached to four
*Email: <ko0z@cq-amateur-radio.com>
Photo A. MFJ’s instruction manual cover page depicts its
cobweb antenna. It looks like a spiderweb. (All photos by
KOØZ)

66 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site


Photo B. My dusty, but not forgotten, box purchased a few years earlier at the
Dayton Hamvention™ containing a yet to be constructed cobweb antenna.
Lowe’s. If one has one too many nosy
neighbors, perhaps socks could be
hung from it to “disguise” the antenna.
The wire elements are thin (approxi-
mately 18 gauge), so I wouldn’t hang
too many socks from it. In addition, MFJ
recommends it be at least 10 feet off the
ground, which would make using it as
Photo C. For nosy, inquisitive neighbors, the cobweb antenna could serve as rudimentary umbrella clothesline to aid in
reducing your carbon footprint…
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
an umbrella clothesline just a wee bit
problematic. It could be mounted at
head level, but SWR tuning and the
antenna’s radiation pattern would be
affected. Speaking of which, MFJ’s cob-
web antenna is omnidirectional and hor-
izontally polarized. Horizontal polariza-
tion tends to make for a quieter antenna.
Most manmade and natural static tends
to be vertically polarized.
Opening the Box
As with any project, the first order of
business is to find a suitable workspace,
open the box and take inventory (Photo
D). MFJ recommends a 12-foot by 12-
foot workspace. MFJ also cautions that
none of the antenna elements be
exposed to any AC (alternating current)
electrical wiring. I used my garage to
shade me from the hot, blazing, July
sun. My concrete floor also made it eas-
ier to find accidentally-dropped screws,
washers, and nuts. Despite my precau-
tions, I somehow still managed to lose
a few parts. Therefore, I recommend
purchasing a few extra stainless-steel
screws, washers, and nuts beforehand.
I hate having to stop a project to go to
the hardware store for lost parts when I
am on a roll. I carefully lay out all the
component bags and I check off the
parts inventory provided with the in-
struction manual. Everything is account-
ed for and the excitement of testing a
new antenna is rising.
Tools and Time
Not too many tools are needed for this
antenna project: A Phillips screwdriver,
5/16 nut driver, pliers, tape measure
October 2022 • CQ • 67
 practice added a few more hours to
assembly time. I always tend to under-
estimate time for a project. I didn’t log
my hours, but I’d estimate that I spent
24 hours altogether on this antenna,
working by myself.

Photo D. Every project should begin with a complete inventory of parts to acquaint
the builder with components.
and a 1/2-inch wrench should fit the bill.
Allow yourself plenty of time to assem-
ble this antenna, and line up anassis-
tant if possible. It is not heavy, but its 9-
foot by 9-foot dimension makes it a wee
bit unwieldy for a single person to han-
dle. I put my antenna on an 8-foot rec-
tangular table so I could easily rotate it
while I strung the wire elements.
Some days, I could only devote a few
hours to this antenna project, so I’d be
forced to take it out of the garage, prop
it up alongside the house, and move my
vehicle back inside the garage. This
What’s Next?
My next order of business was to
assemble the antenna hub and to attach
it to the 43-inch feed tube (Photos E and
F). At the far end, a black, balun/match-
ing box is attached to the insulated feed
tube. Ferrite beads, used to suppress
unwanted current flow on the outside of
the coax, are slipped onto the coax and
then the whole assembly is attached to
the feed tube (Photo G). The matchbox
/ balun serves to match the cobweb’s
folded dipole impedance to 50 ohms.
This matchbox / balun is the heart of
the cobweb. In fact, MFJ offers the 1836
and the 1836H, in which the “H” is the
high-power version. The internal com-
ponents inside the “H” version match-
box are rated for full legal power (1,500
watts or QRO). I’d prefer to have a more
robust matching network. Not that I run
QRO all too frequently, but it’s nice to
be able to use the extra power if need-
ed. Another thing to point out is to notice
the holes drilled into a box cover? These
holes let heat and any moisture out so
it is important to ensure the holes are

Photo E. The cobweb needs a 5/16-inch nut driver and pli-

ers for assembly of the mounting box.

Photo F. Mounting box (for the mast) and the coax feed tube
that will be used for the matchbox and coax attachment.

68 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site


Photo G. MFJ 1836H Matchbox, UHF coax jack (SO-239)
and ferrite beads to reduce RF current flow on the outside
of the coax.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
pointed toward the ground to not let the matchbox fill up with
rainwater.
Spreader Arms
The four 72-inch fiberglass element support tubes (spread-
er arms) are what give the MFJ-1836H its’ spiderweb
appearance. The four tubes are attached to the mounting
box with 6-32 by 1-1/4-inch screws and lock nuts. Along
each spreader are five spaced pre-drilled holes for 6-32 x
1-inch screws with washers and Ny-Lock nuts. These five
sets of screws, washers, and nuts are used to anchor each
band’s wire elements. Remember, this antenna is sym-
metrical. One quarter-wave wire element occupies one half
of the antenna, and the other half has the other quarter-
wave wire element. The two quarters are connected at an
insulated strip with the other ends connected to the black
matchbox.
Wiring the Cobweb
MFJ’s instructions suggest installing the innermost band —
10 meters — first and moving outward to 20 meters. If you
choose to install the 6-meter element, it is corner fed. So, it
extends from the matching box and to a spreader arm and
then back along the spreader arm back toward the mounting
hub. I found it a pain to move the antenna around to install
the 6-meter element after all the other bands are wired. If I
had it over to do again, I would install 6 meters first before
moving on to 10 meters.
The wire elements are made from thin stranded wire. I’m
guessing the elements to be 18-20 gauge. MFJ cautions not
to make the wire elements too taut. I can attest to that. I found
October 2022 • CQ • 69
 behind the bylines...
Maciej “Miles” Muszalski, SQ5EBM (“EmComm From the
Ground Up,” p. 10), brings a wide-ranging and eclectic back-
ground to his hamming. A native of Warsaw, he describes him-
self as the, “happy father of a 2-year-old and husband of a very
ham-radio-compatible XYL.” A political scientist by education,
he has found a career niche as a photographer and photo tech-
nician, first in film and now in print. A second-generation ham,
Miles got his license in 1995 and enjoys many aspects of ama-
teur radio, primarily emergency communications and rag-chew-
ing on HF (He says ham radio has been his primary venue for
learning English.). Miles also enjoys contesting and is current-
ly into 160-meter DXing. In 2020, he was honored by the Polish
Amateur Radio Union (PZK) for his work in promoting emcomm
and ham radio to the general public (examples in his article).
Scott Ruesch, W9JU (“Developing Your Radio Voice,” p. 20),
is a regular contributor to our annual Emergency Communi-
cations Special. He is the SATERN (Salvation Army Team
Emergency Radio Network) Coordinator for the Wisconsin /
Upper Michigan Division of The Salvation Army.
Paul Signorelli, WØRW (“EmComm from the 1950s and
’60s,” p. 24, and “Amateur Radio on the Home Page,” p. 28),
is also a regular contributor, writing mostly about pedestrian-
mobile operating. In these two articles, he looks at amateur Photo H. Matchbox holes for the MFJ 1836H (the H stands
radio emergency communications in both the past and present. for high power) to vent out heat and moisture. It is impor-
tant to have the holes facing towards the ground.
Rich Stiebel, W6APZ (“Six Meters to the Rescue,” p. 26), has
shared previous stories of his work as an engineer for Knight-
Kit in the 1960s. This story, from the same time period, has a
slightly different slant, or should we say, slip-and-slide.
Isidor Buchmann (“Calibrating Smart Batteries with Imped-
ance Tracking,” p. 37), is the founder and CEO of Cadex
Electronics Inc. For three decades, Buchmann has studied the
behavior of rechargeable batteries in practical, everyday appli-
cations, has written award-winning articles including the best-
selling book “Batteries in a Portable World,” now in its fourth edi-
tion. He has written several articles for CQ in the past. For more
information on batteries, visit <www.batteryuniversity.com>;
product information is on <www.cadex.com>.
Robert “Ral” Leskovec, K8DTS (“The Space Age at 65: How
High School Hams Tracked Sputnik,” p. 40), was president of
the St. Joe’s High School radio club at the time of the Sputnik
launch in 1957. He currently maintains the club alumni website
at <sjhrc.org>, where you should be able to listen to a record-
ing of Sputnik’s beeps and stream a video showing events of
the time. He says that anyone who has trouble with either should
contact him at <Robert.Leskovec@gmail.com> and he will email
a copy. The January 1958 CQ article to which he refers is reprint-
ed in this issue as one of our two “CQ Classic” features.
Norm Sutaria, KB2JRP (“ARISS to the Max,” p. 44), is the
Mission Commander at the Buehler Challenger and Science
Center in Paramus, New Jersey. An 11-minute video of the
ARISS contact with Astronaut Bob Hines (with some amazing
questions!) is available on YouTube at <www.youtube.com/
user/ccsse/videos>.
David Kazdan, AD8Y (“The Flutenna,” p. 48), is faculty advi-
sor to the Case Amateur Radio Club at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is retired as Chief of Photo I. MFJ recommends elevating the cobweb to 6 feet for
Anesthesiology Service at the Cleveland VA Medical Center pruning the antenna for optimum SWR. I used my noncon-
and as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Case, where ductive trash cans to hold my cobweb up for tuning. It wasn’t
he remains active as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of off the ground six feet, but I took that into account while short-
Electrical Engineering. David is also very active in HamSCI, ening the wire elements.
the Ham Radio Science Citizen Initiative.

70 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

moving the antenna structure with taut
wires lends itself to snapped wires. Part
of my total assembly time was spent
repairing broken wire elements. I found
some wire “slop” helped. Additionally, I
discovered physically moving my cob-
web around from place to place by
myself can be problematic. If there is
anything the wire elements can snag
on, they will. The other annoyance I
came across is trying to keep the wire
element ends attached to insulator
strips from tangling up with each other.
Two people makes it a whole lot easier
to slowly raise the cobweb to avoid tan-
gling wire elements.

Tune Up
Tuning the cobweb is easier with an
antenna analyzer such as an MFJ -269.
MFJ recommends placing the cobweb
at least 6 feet off the ground to tune it.
I used non-conductive trash cans to
hold my cobweb above the ground
(Photo I). Admittedly, the antenna isn’t
6 feet off the ground, but 4 feet will put Photo J. Upward view of the cobweb silhouetted against the blue sky makes it
me in the ballpark. I’ll have to remem- easy to see the matchbox wire element feed point and the terminated wire ele-
ber that the SWR (standing wave ratio) ments insulator strips.
will be a bit higher because of close
ground proximity, but it will drop when I
get the antenna higher. The cobweb is
tuned by snipping off the excess wire
hanging from both sides of the insula-
tor strips. I snipped 1 inch of wire at a
time on each side, took an SWR read-
ing, recorded it, and then continued to
snip until I approached an SWR of 1.8
to 2.0:1. I didn’t go lower because of the
ground coupling. I knew the SWR would
go lower when the cobweb was up in
the air. Allow yourself plenty of time to
tune the cobweb. Five bands (six if you
include 6 meters) is a lot of wire snip-
ping. My initial SWR values of all W5SWL Electronics
untuned, pre-pruned six bands ranged
from 3.7:1 to 8.2:1 with most being
around 6.2:1. After careful pruning, my
SWR ranged from 1.0:1 to 1.3:1.
Premium Quality
According to MFJ’s literature, “the RF Connectors
cobweb’s folded half-wave elements
have somewhat less bandwidth than Order Direct!
straight-line elements.” I’ve found that
to be true, but my transceiver’s anten- Wide Selection of Connectors
na tuner easily tunes out any reactance • UHF & N • MC MCX & MMCX • Reverse Polarity
when I stray too far from my cobweb’s • BNC & SMA • QMA SMB & SMC • RF Adapters
resonant frequency on each band. So,
what does that mean? Simply put, if you • Mini-UHF & FME • DIN & Low PIM • Bulkheads
tuned your cobweb to be resonant in the • TNC & C
center of a band, the SWR most likely
increases toward the band edges. My And Much More!
antenna tuner handles the reactance at • Dave’s Hobby Shop by W5SWL • RF & Technical Parts
band edges. To get my cobweb up in • Ham Radio Gadgets • New & Surplus Materials
the air, I purchased a 10-foot chain link
top rail. As predicted, my SWR values
became even closer to the ideal 1:1. All Order at www.W5SWL.com
Ships Fast From The Arkansas River Valley

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 71

of the bands are below 1.4:1 SWR. Not too bad for a “senior
citizen,” one-man antenna project.
Antenna Pattern
Admittedly, I’ve only played with my cobweb on the air for a
few weeks before this article went to press. From what I
can tell, the antenna is omni-directional (receives and
transmits in all directions) and it appears to be horizontal-
ly polarized. Doing an A/B comparison with my 14 AVQ
vertical, the cobweb is a bit quieter when it comes to QRN
(static). In addition, for the most part, my cobweb is two S-
units higher in received signal strength as compared to my
vertical antenna. Other times, the cobweb is on par with
the vertical. I haven’t asked any ops to assist me with an
A/B transmit comparison, but that is my next antenna test.
Moving the cobweb up higher would surely lower the anten-
na’s radiation pattern closer to the horizon which would
make it even better for working DX (long distance). On the
other hand, a higher radiation pattern is advantageous to
working nearby states for WAS (Worked All States) or
EmComm (emergency communications)
Proof is in the Pudding
A bowl of chocolate pudding with coconut sprinkles sounds
great right about now, but your editor is on a self-imposed
diet. However, I can offer you an account of my first on-the-
air antenna tests as a pudding substitute. Whenever I test a
Photo K. Completed cobweb antenna, up 10 feet on a chain-
link fence top rail.
72 • CQ • October 2022
new rig or antenna, my hope is to report some exotic DX con-
tact. More often than not, it’s been my experience that my
first contact from Missouri is with Ohio. Not that I have any-
thing at all against Ohio, Ohio just isn’t that far from Missouri.
For once, I’d like to brag about a “super contact” antenna.
Who will my cobweb’s first on the air contact be?
Once I erected the cobweb and ran coax into my shack, it
came time for the moment of truth. Noise levels were high.
We were in the midst of a mild geomagnetic storm. It was
evening locally. I listened to 15-meters phone, and I heard
Marcus, PT2EM, in Brazil calling CQ. I gave him a call and
he gave me a 5 by 3 signal report. Unfortunately, I didn’t have
any more time to devote to radio that evening, but my very
first cobweb antenna contact wasn’t with Ohio. The very next
day, late morning locally, I worked Rudi, OX/DK7PE/P, oper-
ating from Greenland on 17-meter CW (continuous wave,
Morse code). Later, I heard Robert, 3B9FR, on Rodriguez
Island in the Indian Ocean calling CQ, and it was good con-
tacting him. It had been a few years since our last QSO (con-
tact). Since then, I’ve worked Phil, ZF1PB, (Cayman Islands),
and Kimberley, K6YYL, in California (she lives only a few
towns over from where I grew up in SoCal).
WARC Bands
I purchased this antenna with the intention of using it as a
club antenna for Field Day. Unless your club has a vehicle
that can accommodate a 9- by 9-foot square antenna with
five square, thin gauge wire elements, I wouldn’t highly rec-
ommend it. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a lower
profile HF antenna that includes two of the three WARC
bands - 12 and 17 meters - along with 6, 10, 15, and 20
meters, then this antenna is worth considering (Photo J).
Overall Impression
So far, I am pleased with my cobweb’s performance. Granted,
I’ve only put it through its paces for only a few weeks, but it
hasn’t disappointed me. I do have some concerns about
windy days perhaps tangling up the insulated, terminated
wire element ends or frozen precipitation loading down and
snapping the thin wire elements, but time will tell. I am hav-
ing a good time working two of the WARC bands with a new
multiband HF antenna (Photo K). As solar cycle 25 contin-
ues to ramp up, 10 and 12 meters will roar to life.
Feedback
I appreciate reader feedback and I’d like to thank an espe-
cially astute reader, John Scott, K8YC, for suggesting a clar-
ification in my July 2022 column regarding traps. John points
out I wrote, “Simply put, LC circuits react to AC (alternating
current) frequency. RF is AC and as frequency decreases,
inductance decreases and capacitance increases. Inversely,
as frequency increases, inductance increases and capaci-
tance decreases.” John’s point is a reader could mistakenly
think a fixed-value inductor or a fixed-value capacitor
changes its value with frequency. For example, a 20-milli-
henry inductor or a 20-picofarad capacitor will not change
values with applied AC. What will change with frequency is
the component’s reactance (AC resistance) to the increas-
ing or decreasing frequency. The 20-millihenry inductor or
20-picofarad capacitor will remain at 20 millihenry or 20 pico-
farad. It’s the component’s “reactance” to the AC that is vari-
able, not its numeric value. Thank you, John, for bringing that
to my attention! Thank you for reading CQ and I hope to catch
you on the WARC bands. – 73, Ron, KOØZ
Visit Our Web Site
 antennas
BY KENT BRITAIN, WA5VJB

Really Broad Band Antennas

T
his time we are going to cover
some very, very, broad band
antennas. How about 10 to 1 fre-
quency coverages, and more if you
assemble them carefully?
This is an antenna design going back
to the 1930s, even farther if we include
Dr Hertz’s fondness of making anten-
nas out of metal spheres.
In Photo A, we have a planar disk
antenna made out of 13-inch diameter
pie plates. Doesn’t quite get down to 2
meters, but you see a pretty flat 10-dB
return loss out to 3 GHz (Figure 1). In
the SWR world this is a 2:1 or better
SWR.
Find some 16-inch pizza pans, or bet-
ter yet, something near 18-inch diame-
ter and you will really cover most of the
VHF and all the UHF spectrum. This is
a great antenna for that new multiband
VHF/UHF rig or a scanner.
Size of the disks determines the low-
est frequency on which they work, and
how tight you make that gap between

Email: <wa5vjb@cq-amateur-radio.com> Figure 1. 100-MHz to 3-GHz sweep

Photo A. A planar disk antenna for receiving on VHF and UHF.

Photo B. Coax and element gap. Bring the disks as close togeth-
er as possible without shorting them to each other.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 73

the disks sets the upper frequency. So
get them as close as you can without
shorting the disks together (Photo B).
When looking around the local dollar
store or Walmart for antenna elements,
look for the plated steel ones. It’s very
difficult to solder coax onto aluminum.
These antennas can be made in all
sizes. The “little one” in Photo C is a C-
Band, X-Band, Ku-Band antenna for a
satellite backup communications link.

V is for Vivaldi
Next, let’s look at the antenna in Photo
D. It goes by many names: Tapered slot,
exponential slot, or Vivaldi antenna. It’s
much like the planar disk, which is why
it is mentioned here. The width of the
opening determines the lowest fre-
quency, and how fine you can make the
slot sets the highest frequency.
Versions working from 1 to 20 GHz are
possible. Gain is in the 6- to 8-dBi class
with max signal in the direction of the Photo C. Exponential slot or Vivaldi antenna?
opening. Uhhh, just might make a good
future column.
from a circle to an oval. But within their years. Thirty years of service connect-
Pattern rated frequency range, you don’t see ed to my Icom R-7000 receiver.
Back to the planar disk antenna, let’s any nulls in the pattern. So, it’s still an
look at their patterns. On their lower fre- omnidirectional antenna. Space
quencies they look just like a fat dipole A few years ago, I did two planar disk
with the typical dipole pattern. As you Mounting antennas on space-qualified PCB
go up in frequency, those two “V”s off Mounting a planar disk can be very sim- material and they are currently in orbit,
to the sides start acting like Vivaldi ple. I just tied some string to one, drove riding on some Canadian birds. And
antennas. Now max gain is off the sides a nail in a ceiling rafter, and my proto- soon they will have two friends. I am on
of the antenna. So the pattern is going type has been hanging in my attic for 30 the AMSAT GOLF-T team and sug-

Photo C. They can be quite small.

74 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 F

to give me a 435-MHz resonance. That little zigzag is doing

double duty. It’s both a loading coil for the 435-MHz element
and an RF choke to isolate the 435-MHz element from the disks.

Going in Circles
E Finally, from the early work of Dr. Hertz, making similar anten-
nas out of metal spheres would work great. Where we would
Photos E and F. Prototype of three-band planar disk anten- get, and how we would mount, these 2-foot metal spheres is
na for the AMSAT Golf-T satellites. Note the “T”-shaped ele- another question. (Big disco balls? – ed.) I’ve toyed with the
ment to cover 435 MHz. idea of using metalized mylar balloons, but like aluminum pans,
that would be a difficult antenna element to solder to! HIHI

gested a planar disk for the 1269-MHz, 2450-MHz, and 5.8-
GHz receive antenna. One antenna for three bands? Well, it
wasn’t long before I was asked to make a few tiny modifica-
tions. Can it work on GPS? Yep! Can you tweak it so it works
on GPS L1 and L2? Yep.
You know, that SDR could also become the 435-MHz back-
up receiver. Photos E and F show the prototype for that anten-
na. Notice that I have a “T”-shaped element on the back side
Coming Up…
I’m working on an overview of slot antennas for the next col-
umn. But as always, you guys and gals are a great source of
column topics. If you have any antenna question or a possi-
ble column topic, you can use snail mail to my QRZ.COM
address. For email use <wa5vjb@cq-amateur-radio.com>.
For many additional antenna projects, have a look at my web-
site at <www.wa5vjb.com>.

We have two calendars to choose from this year.

The CQ Ham Radio Operator’s Calendar and The CQ Ham Shack Project Calendar.
These 15-month calendars (January 2023 through March 2024) include dates of
important Ham Radio events, major contests and other operating events,
Only $14.95 each or get BOTH for only $26.95 Plus applicable shipping & handling

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 75

 qrp: low-power communications
BY R. SCOTT ROUGHT,* KA8SMA

The Amazing POTA Race

Activation at the Harrietta State Fish Hatchery (K-6824).

R
ecently, I did something a little bit different from the
usual — I took part in a 48-hour adventure that pro-
vided me more excitement than any other activity in
amateur radio. It was more exhilarating than Field Day, more
exciting than CQ’s World Wide DX Contest, and more thrilling
than the time I worked RI1ANC (Vostok Research Station in
Antarctica) with 3 watts SSB, well, maybe almost as thrilling
as that moment – hi. I know this is quite a claim, but it was
an adventure I will never forget, and one I am already look-
ing forward to for next year.
On July 16th and 17th, I took part in the Parks on the Air
(POTA) summer Support Your Parks Event which also dou-
bles as POTA’s annual Plaque Event. For those who are
not familiar with the POTA program, it was started by Jason
Johnston, W3AAX, shortly after ARRL’s National Parks on
the Air program ended in 2016. The purpose of POTA is to
encourage hams to further develop their operating skills
and demonstrate the hobby to the public by activating from
one of more than 30,000 designated parks or entities world-
wide. Four times per year (winter, spring, summer, and fall)
POTA does a Support Your Parks Event during which hams
promote POTA by stirring up activity on the airwaves from
designated entities across the world. The annual Plaque
Event happens once per year in concert with the summer
POTA event. Plaques are awarded to POTA activators
(hams who venture outdoors, set up a portable operation,
and make 10 or more contacts from an entity) and hunters

The logbook — bound and ready for use. Reference maps

*<ka8sma@cq-amateur-radio.com> for entities are included in the back of the book.

76 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

(hams at home contacting those in the
field) in multiple categories. Categories
for hunters include most contacts over-
all, most contacts using SSB, CW and
digital modes (plaque for each mode),
and largest number of unique entities
worked, among others. Plaques are
also awarded to those activators who
make the largest overall number of con-
tacts, including SSB, CW and digital
modes, and other categories including
the Rover, which is awarded to the ham
who activates the greatest number of
unique entities during the 48-hour
event.
As I have done in the past, I was plan-
ning to visit my local state park (K-1547,
Traverse City State Park) and activate
it for a portion of the event, but when I
discovered the event had a Rover cat-
egory, my plans quickly changed. As an
avid watcher of “The Amazing Race” (a
reality show on CBS on which teams of
two travel the globe competing against
one another by completing tasks in spe-
cific locations with the winner being the
first team to arrive at the final destina-
tion), I immediately knew this was my
opportunity to play this game, but com-
peting against other hams roving the
countryside and activating as many
entities as possible in a 48-hour period.
As soon as I told my wife (also a fan of
“The Amazing Race”) about the Rover
The homebrew hitch mount with the SOTABEAMS mast attached. Note the rolling
pin on the rear of the pickup and the location of the PC board / toroid near the
center of the rear window (connecting point for the antenna wire).
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
category, she emphatically said, “let’s
do it.” I was a bit surprised when I heard
her response and even more surprised
when she suggested this needed to be
an overnighter to activate as many enti-
ties as possible. I was awestruck when
she announced that she would be rid-
ing along. Over the next couple of days,
she planned a menu and snacks for the
road, quizzed me about the route I was
planning to ensure it captured as many
entities as possible, and to be sure she
stayed busy while I was setting up and
making contacts at each location, visit-
ed the local knitting store and pur-
chased oodles of yarn for a new project
(I knew there was a catch – hi).
There is no QRP category for this
event. Everyone is on the same playing
field whether you are running QRO,
barefoot (100 watts), or QRP. Although
I was excited about participating as a
Rover, I did not know how well I would
do running QRP, especially SSB. I did
know it would be fun and I wanted to find
out how a QRPer would match up
against others who were using a lot more
power under similar circumstances.
Race Preparations
POTA has a Map of Entities on its web-
site that I studied to determine the most
logical route to activate as many enti-
ties as possible during the 48-hour
event period. My review criteria includ-
ed distance between each entity,
accessibility, and proximity to major
roads. Although I was familiar with the
locations of some of these entities, I
knew I would be traveling at night and
did not want to spend time hunting down
obscure locations in the dark. Once the
route was finalized, a logbook was cre-
ated that contained a log sheet for each
entity and detailed maps with directions
to each location. This was an invaluable
tool as it contained everything needed
for this adventure under one cover. The
log had 11 blank lines to record con-
tacts, making it very easy to keep track
of how many I had made at each entity
(10 being necessary, with one extra in
case of a duplicate or mistake).
Since time spent at each location was
of utmost importance, I needed to have
a portable setup that could be easily
deployed and taken down and operat-
ed from the front seat of my pickup truck.
I decided on the Icom IC-705, the
QRPGuys No-Tune End-Fed Half-
Wave antenna, the SOTABEAMS
Tactical 7000hds collapsible antenna
mast, and a homebrew hitch mount to
which I affixed the mast. The IC-705
was placed on the dashboard of the
pickup with nine feet of RG-8X coaxial
cable connecting the rig to the end-fed
antenna (PC board / toroid secured next
to my rear truck window). I alligator-
clipped either a 62-foot run of 22-gauge
wire for operation on 40 meters, or a 29-
foot run of the same wire for operation
on 20 meters (band dependent) to
round out my antenna. Once attached
to the PC board, the wire travelled
upward to the top of the mast (deployed
on the rear of the truck) then downward
at a 45° angle to a 6-foot fiberglass rod
that I pounded into the ground for use
as an end support. To power the IC-705,
I used a Bioenno 12-volt, 20-amp-hour
Lithium Iron Phosphate battery.
One concern I had was how long
would it take me to set up and deploy
the antenna after I arrived at each des-
tination. I spent an evening working
through each step of the process until I
had it down pat. An idea my wife had
which saved time and allowed me to
complete setup in less than 2 minutes
was the use of a rolling pin for storing
my antenna wire. Wrapping the wire
around the rolling pin allowed me to clip
the loose end of the wire to the PC board
mounted near the truck’s rear window
then walk away while the wire unreeled
itself from the rolling pin. Once unrolled,
I slipped the end of the wire through a
loop fastened to the top of the collapsed
mast then raised each section of the
October 2022 • CQ • 77
mast which pulled the wire upwards. When I was finished and deploy my mast and antenna) in less than 2 minutes, but
operating, I unclipped the wire from the PC board, collapsed by Sunday afternoon I was slowing down and it was taking
the mast, then rolled the wire back onto the rolling pin by spin- nearly 3 minutes to complete the deed. At 2340 UTC, I arrived
ning it with one hand and holding the pin with my other hand. at what I knew would be my last entity. For 18 minutes I
This kept the antenna wire from developing kinks and becom- worked a steady stream of stations on 40 meters and made
ing knotted. Knots would have been a nightmare while rac- 39 contacts. Not a bad way to end the weekend.
ing against the clock.
The Final Tally
Off to the Races I activated a total of 43 entities and made 505 contacts. Out
A few hours before the start of the event, my wife and I head- of that, 57 of my contacts were with stations operating from
ed to our first destination (K-1530, Orchard Beach State Park
in Manistee, Michigan) to scope out the park and grab a pizza
from one of our favorite pizza joints. This was no accident; I
intentionally picked this park so I could start the POTA chal-
lenge on a full stomach and have pizza left over for a night-
time snack. At 0000 UTC (8:00 p.m. eastern) Friday night, I
was set up and ready to activate the park. Like any major
contest, a scroll across the bands at 0000 UTC left no ques-
tion that the event had started. By 0016 UTC I had activated
the park (made 10 contacts) and was packing up to head to
the next location. Setup and takedown at each location went
smoothly, and I was able to activate eight entities before arriv-
ing home late Friday night.
My first activation on Saturday began at 1212 UTC and
ended 10 minutes later, after making 10 contacts. I was on
a roll, activating the first three parks in good time; however,
when I arrived at my fourth location, band conditions started
to change for the worse. It took nearly an hour to activate this
entity — ouch! My fifth destination was not much better (45
minutes), followed by 39 and 30 minutes at my sixth and sev-
enth locations, respectively, of the day. As evening
approached, conditions began to improve and by 2200 UTC
I had a grin on my face as I started to make up for lost time.
My best run for the day was around 2350 UTC when I made
10 contacts in 6 minutes. Band conditions cooperated well
into nighttime hours, allowing me to activate an entity in a
matter of minutes following arrival. I made contacts until 0530
UTC when 40 meters would not give up any more contacts.
I ended that night at K-1546, Thompson Harbor State Park,
and was five contacts short of activating the park when I
decided to pull the plug and start fresh in the morning. There
just were no hams on the air to contact! I guess they were
saner than me and had gone to bed. As I mentioned earlier,
my wife was enthused about this event and had packed two
sleeping bags so we could sleep in the truck. She got the
backseat floor and I had the seat — I’m still trying to figure
out how this happened.
Sunday morning, I gulped down a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich (no time for restaurants or a real breakfast) before
getting back on the air to finish activating this park. Less than
15 minutes later, I had secured the remaining five contacts
needed and we were on our way to the next park. Like
Saturday, Sunday’s band conditions during the afternoon
hours were fair at best with heavy QSB on both 20 and 40
meters. On several occasions stations were answering me
with S9 signals and a moment later they were gone.
Eventually they would return, and I was able to get them in
my log. This rollercoaster ride went on for several hours until
conditions improved later in the day and I was again able to
activate parks in a matter of minutes.
The last few hours of the event were pure adrenaline. I
found myself more than once exceeding the posted speed
limit in haste to get to the next location so I could activate as
many entities as possible by 2359 UTC. The weekend was Activation at Petoskey State Park (K-1533) — one of my
also beginning to catch up with me. At the beginning of the longer activations. No complaints as I had a nice view of Lake
event, I could complete my portable setup (setup the radio Michigan.

78 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

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KA8SMA deploying the SOTABEAMS mast and end fed antenna at Fort Michilimackinac State Park (K-1498) in Mackinaw
City, Michigan.

Tight sleeping quarters Saturday night.
My wife actually wanted the floor!
other entities (Park to Park). When I set
out Friday night, my goal was to acti-
vate over 50 entities; however, less than
desirable band conditions Saturday and
Sunday afternoon precluded me from
activating several locations as quickly
as planned, which reduced my total.
By Saturday afternoon I began rec-
ognizing two callsigns that were con-
sistently showing up in my logbook —
N2BTD and N3XLS. Out of the 43 enti-
ties I activated, N2BTD successfully
hunted me at 38 entities and N3XLS
hunted me at 28. N2BTD also provid-
ed much needed support Saturday
night after a long day of activating
parks. After 0100 UTC, each time we
connected he would wish me safe
travels and indicated he would be lis-
tening for me from my next location.
Sure enough, he was there each time
and in fact, he was the first entry in
my logbook for the last four entities I
operated Saturday night. Thank you,
N2BTD.
Next Year
My wife and I are already planning next
year’s POTA summer adventure. To
maximize the number of entities acti-
vated next year, we are planning to
complete a trial run (prior to the event)
to plan our route. Time was lost this
year trying to find parking / access
areas at some locations which caused
a lot of stress during the last few hours
of the event. Additionally, we discov-
ered that not all wildlife management
areas, state game preserves, recre-
ational areas, and other designated
entities are well marked, which further
impacted our ability to work more enti-
ties. One other item for next year’s
event is more leftover pizza. Pizza is
like rocket fuel and keeps my internal
engine moving forward, especially at
the onset of fatigue. Day-old pizza
would have likely kept my setup time
less than 2 minutes Sunday afternoon.
Also, possibly a camp stove along with
some easily prepared meals (i.e.,
grilled cheese, hot dogs).
By the time you read this, the winners
of POTA 2022 Plaque Event (including
the Rover category) will have been
announced. As of this writing, I have no
idea where I stand, but I do know that
activating 43 parks and making more
than 500 contacts in 48 hours while
practicing the art of “rapid deployment”
suggests that QRP operators can com-
pete against portable / mobile stations
operating 100 watts or more. Tune into
the December column and I will let you
know how things turned out.
– Until December, 73

80 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 gordo’s short circuits
BY GORDON WEST, * WB6NOA
Now Twice the ISS Excitement!
Plus … New Hoops to Jump Through at the FCC and Nominations are Open
for Hamcation Awards
P
lenty of additional news from Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) <www.ariss.org>,
following up on my column in July!
Our space station regularly makes scheduled contacts with
students and educators around the world to take part in
hands-on learning activities tied to space and amateur radio.
Those of us out of school now have two opportunities aboard
the ISS for some exciting contacts, any time the ISS silent-
An HT and the Arrow antenna make it easy to hear the
International Space Station (ISS) cross-band repeater on
437.800-MHz center frequency, which is always on.
*CQ Contributing Editor
2414 College Dr., Costa Mesa, CA 92626
email: <wb6noa@cq-amateur-radio.com
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
ly passes over, day or night, and we don’t need a visual twi-
light pass to work it. You can hear it on a HT.
My favorite free pass-prediction site is <www.heavens-
above.com>, but be sure and LOG IN, including your loca-
tion. Also, be sure to press ALL passes, not just visible pass-
es, on the day you want to communicate with the ISS. Also,
the times listed are your LOCAL location times, not UTC.
The cross-band repeater, a Kenwood D710GA, is located
in the space station’s Columbus module, NA1SS. It will now
be on all the time, except during space walks, school con-
tacts, or docking.
Here’s how to tune your receiver to compensate for Doppler
shift:
• 437.810 MHz FM as it is coming up
• 437.800 MHz FM mid pass
• 437.790 MHz FM last part of pass
Your cross-band transmit: 145.990 MHz FM, tone 67.0 Hz
(maintain single transmit frequency)
Plus Packet / APRS
We now also have 24/7 packet / APRS operation, with an
identical Kenwood D710GA in the Russian Zvezda Service
Module, callsign RSØISS. Use a single frequency for this
mode:
• Packet TX/RX 145.825 MHz FM simplex
You can use RSØISS, ARISS, or APRSAT as the packet
path.
Newbie Tips
New to monitoring the space station? I suggest you first lis-
ten-only during a pass to either UHF around 437.800 MHz
The ISS packet system is on 145.825 MHz, and it’s
always on.
October 2022 • CQ • 81

The ISS antenna system is specifically tuned to ham radio bands.
FM, ±10 or 5-kHz steps, or 145.825
MHz for the sound of packet bursts from
the ISS. For a fun and easy-to-under-
stand ISS website, go to Clint’s
<www.work-sat.com>. It is a site with
personality!
QUIT YELLING!
Repeater owners across the country
need your support. Yes, a local club
using may ask members for an individ-
Heavens-above.com will spot your
next ISS pass once you log in with your
location. It’s free!
82 • CQ • October 2022
ual $5 donation to help support their
system. Pay up — repeater sites are
getting hit with ever-increasing rents,
and need your support.
“Don’t talk so loud” was one repeater
owner’s request to a local club member.
What?
As analog FM repeaters are squeez-
ed by digital systems coming up just-
above and just-below their coordinated
FM channels, the repeater owners have
gone to narrow(er) band, sometimes
cutting their spectrum occupancy in half
from ±5-kHz deviation down to ±3-kHz
deviation.
The result is that moderate to loud
talkers will deviate out of the narrow
For narrow band repeaters, you may need to talk farther away from the mic on
an older HT.
band repeater, chopping out peak voice
syllables.
Easy first fix ... talk more softly, or far-
ther away from the mic, if other stations
on the repeater say you are deviating
out of the pass band, or “breaking up”.
A better fix is to break out the instruc-
tion manual, and see if your radio has
a narrow-band mode. If so, re-memo-
rize that repeater channel, and you will
be set. Most radios, in the VFO-to-
memo mode, will let you store to mem-
ory just that channel for narrow band,
and leave the other memory channels
normal.
FCC Website: Additional
Hoops To Jump Through
Just when you thought helping a new
ham navigate the FCC sites for the
needed FCC Registration Number
(FRN) was a job, there is now one more
back and forth step. All new ham radio
test takers need an FCC Registration
Number, whether they test in person or
remotely at home with one of the VECs
that conducts home exams or via <ham-
study.org/sessions/all>.
Before anyone new can log into the
CORES (Commission Registration
System) site direct to obtain their FRN,
they will first need to set up an FCC user
account! (new, as of July 15, 2022)
Begin the back-and-forth process at
<https://apps.fcc.gov/cores>.
Since a first-time ham applicant likely
does not have a User Name for obtain-
ing their FRN, they will click the REG-
ISTER button, then CREATE NEW
ACCOUNT. Your username is your best
email address where the FCC can send
Visit Our Web Site

You now must first register at the FCC User Registration System to get started
with obtaining your 10-digit FRN number, which is now required for all transac-
tions with the FCC.
Once you are registered, and receive the email verification from the FCC to your
“user name” (email address), you are ready for the CORES application for your
new FRN.
you confirmations and ultimately your
license. Follow the instructions on the
password, and write it down some-
where safe after you list it on this appli-
cation. Do the security question, and go
for something you will remember.
Maybe write that down, too.
Now click the CREATE ACCOUNT
button at the bottom of the screen.
You will next see a CONFIRMATION
screen, where the FCC says it is send-
ing you an email to further verify that the
email address is indeed getting to you.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
Now check for incoming email from
the FCC. That should occur almost
immediately. Got it? Click on the link
they give you to confirm your account
registration. Then they give you a green
light to go for CORES.
Oh, speaking of a green light, you like-
ly will get a short quiz on clicking on red
or green stop lights, or click on all the
magenta motor scooters, or finding the
needle in the hay stack, to satisfy you
are a humanoid, not a robot.
Go to CORES, click REGISTER NEW
Were you first licensed
25 years ago and
licensed today?
Then you should join the
Quarter Century
Wireless Association, Inc.
To Join or Renew,
Visit:
http://www.qcwa.org/join-renew.php
For more information please contact
om@qcwa.org
Young Ladies’ Radio
League, Inc. Since 1939
For 75 years the Young
Ladies’ Radio League,
Inc. (YLRL) has helped
women find their voice
in Amateur Radio with
members of all ages
and interests.
The YLRL sponsors a number
of certificates for both YLs and OMs.
Members can earn special YL
Certificates.
YL-Harmonics is our bi-monthly
publication highlighting what women
are doing in Amateur Radio.
YLRL gives out scholarships to YLs
each year.
For more information on the YLRL, the
current dues amounts, weekly YL Net
locations or how to join please go to
our website at www.ylrl.org or contact
the Publicity Chairwoman, Cheryl Muhr,
NØWBV at n0wbv@earthlink.net. All
Officer information is also listed both on
the website and in each
edition of the magazine
and you may contact any
Officer as well.
With thanks to the OMs
who encourage and
support us.
Visit us at www.ylrl.org
October 2022 • CQ • 83
FRN, select individual and YES if you
are in the U.S. Select CORES REGIS-
TRATION, fill out this new form, provide
your social security number where
asked at this secure site, then click
SUBMIT, and the new FRN number
appears.
YOU DID IT! Keep this FRN handy for
your in-person exam team.

Orlando Awards Looking for a

Home!
The 2023 Orlando HamCation®
Awards Committee is currently accept-
ing nominations for the Hamcation 2023
Carole Perry Educator of the Year
Award and the new Gordon West Ham
Radio Ambassador of the Year Award.
Nominations are due by November 1,
2022.
Carole Perry, WB2MGP, surrounded by Orlando Hamcation® leadership John,
My Ambassador Award is for a volun-
N4JTK (on the left) and Michael, W4MCA (on the right).
teer who lives and breathes the growth
of ham radio — that person or husband- Our individual ham radio ambassador ular training videos and PowerPoint
and-wife team to whom you can turn over is totally unpaid, and not connected to lessons, and who is recognized for
a prospective ham, and KNOW they will a ham business. They are your area’s doing MORE than just getting hams
get top-notch treatment to bring them in GO-TO volunteer ambassador who through the test. Like what we both look
to our service and hobby. They become works the local service organizations, for, getting hams on the air and work-
that prospective ham’s AGENT, keeping boys and girls clubs, county fairs with a ing with their community and local ham
them in with a local club, training class- booth, and works to get more folks firm- organizations to further our hobby and
es, field events on the air — and not only ly involved with our hobby and service. service.
gets them licensed, but actively on the For Carole’s Educator of the Year To score the details on these annual
air with their local ham radio operators Award, it is that individual “Elmer” who awards, and a simple nomination form,
for the “hand-off.” offers dynamite ham classes, spectac- go to <www.hamcation.com/award>.

DITS and DAHS

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BY ED TOBIAS, KR3E

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84 • CQ • October 2022
 our readers say...
We heard from quite a few of you regarding our contest policy
on stations in Russia and Belarus, both in response to our
September editorial stating that the policy announced last spring
would remain in effect and to our subsequent announcement —
made on the internet prior to publication in this issue (see page
8 as well as further discussion in “Zero Bias” on page 6) — that
we were slightly modifying the policy. Here is a representative
sample …
Reaction to the September editorial:
Editor, CQ:
Rich, Sorry I didn’t send this earlier so that you could consid-
er my point of view. I was in Baku in June at a global forum
attended by two former presidents of Ukraine and the former
first lady. Of course, they would support your decision, and I am
sympathetic, but I think it’s a mistake for the reasons noted in
the article. In this case, it might be better to do nothing — or per-
haps condemn it rather than sanctioning the Russian hams. It’s
the unintended consequences that concern me.
– 73, Walt Stinson, WØCP
[Walt attached a link to an article from “The Cadmus Journal”
on the overall effectiveness of economic sanctions over histo-
ry. You can find it at <https://tinyurl.com/49kkv9ss>.]
Editor, CQ:
I want to thank you for the courageous positions you took in
the last CQ editorial. Over the last 10 years, after 50 years of
ham radio operating, I have become active in radio contests. I
have found the contest operators, overall, to be highly skilled
and very technically competent. I have been inspired to become
a better operator and improve my station to be competitive.
I have, however, been very disappointed in the response to
your thoughtful decision about Russian participation in contests.
I won’t attempt to improve on your eloquent explanation of the
magazine’s position. It is, in my opinion, naive to believe that
ham radio is apolitical. As you aptly put it, business as usual is
tacit approval of atrocities not seen on the world stage since the
Second World War.
I completely agree that we need to put ham radio, and contest
operation in particular, in its proper perspective.
– 73, Ira Lipton, MD, WA2OAX
Editor, CQ:
It is a red herring to use a poll indicating 70% of the Russians
support the war. 50% of Republicans believe the 2020 election
was stolen. What does that say about the U.S.? You aren’t going
to make their logs checklogs. That poll only means Russian
media is totally controlled by the government.
When I was in Moscow after WRTC 2010, our tour guide told
us she couldn’t understand why we had air raid drills in schools
because Russia never started a war. (Now they are active shoot-
er drills. What does that say about the U. S.?) When we went to
the Russian history museum, she also said, “Russian history
changes all the time.” She wasn’t referring to temporary exhibits.
– 73, Ken Widelitz, K6LA/VY2TT
Editor, CQ:
100% in agreement with your editorial in September’s CQ,
regarding rules for contests following Russian invasion of
Ukraine.
– Stew Gillmor, W1FK
Editor, CQ:
You start off correctly telling us politics has no place in ham
radio. Absolutely agree! This is where you SHOULD have
stopped. But instead you jump right into ... politics … and your
reasoning is ... political. Where does it end? China maintains
slave labor camps of millions mostly Muslims. Cuba is a com-
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
munist island prison. Venezuela, another communist state, is
starving its citizens. Saudi Arabia executes anyone who opens
a Christian church or a Hebrew temple. North Korea ... I can go
on and on including the USA with endless wars and UN mem-
bers calling our actions “war crimes.”
The U.S. DoS says “war crimes” and your response is counter
to CQ policy — political. I just heard our “President” call 75 mil-
lion Americans “extremists” and “terrorists,” and MAGA as a
“threat to our country”. When will CQ cancel them? Are they next
on your list?
Remember, we don’t need CQ magazine or contests. Your
advertisers need us and you need them. So stick to amateur
radio and stop canceling hams or we will cancel CQ.
– Mike, NY6G
Reaction to the modification announcement:
Editor, CQ:
Seriously, what a joke. OK Russia you can play but no trophy
if you win. We all know that this hobby should not politicize things.
Having said that, the Soviet government should be condemned
for its actions, not the innocent citizens which include most Soviet
hams.
It seems childish to say you can play but you can’t win.
For these reasons I will not be renewing my subscription.
– Theodore Bittner, KQ4MZ
Editor, CQ:
Please note that I’m not ok with your current policy. Therefore,
I will not participate in any contest sponsored by CQ as long as
the war continues.
– Regards, Andy Rehberg
Editor, CQ:
Because you have moderated your response and allowed the
amateur radio operators from Russia and Belarus to continue
as usual, disregarding the vicious human rights violations and
the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children
in Ukraine, I will not be re-subscribing to CQ. I have also copied
all of your listed advertisers and am informing them of my unwill-
ingness now to patronize their businesses for the same reason.
Their advertising dollars support your decision to turn a blind
eye to the millions of displaced Ukrainians as well as the tens
of thousands murdered by the Russians and the Belarusians…
Though amateur radio worldwide certainly makes every
attempt to be apolitical and to create alliances regardless of polit-
ical differences, this is where that must not happen. The differ-
ence is that they are murdering innocent people, taking their
land, and forcing millions to move to other countries. That can-
not be tolerated, even in amateur radio. Please re-consider your
latest decision.
– 73, Dennis, KKØDJ
Editor, CQ:
IDK. Doesn’t make sense to me. Certainly cheapens the plaque
awards if a Russian station really won. I’d say either let them play
or simply accept those as check-logs only. My two cents.
– 73 de AA2MA
Editor, CQ:
Rich, as I sent you a nastygram email last March, this time I
am writing to express that I concur with the most recent deci-
sion of CQ Communications to amend the earlier decision con-
cerning Russian and Belorussian participation during CQ con-
tests. I believe the decision announced on August 31st is a
reasonable compromise to allow the CQ worldwide contests to
go forward and be truly worldwide while messaging to Russia
that everything is not okay. Of course, we all remain hopeful for
some sort of resolution to the horrific conflict ongoing in Ukraine.
– 73, Daniel Handa, W7WA
October 2022 • CQ • 85
 magic in the sky
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
M
y younger brother is a fascinat-
ing guy, partially because he
has so many interests and par-
tially because he’s good at all of them.
I recently visited his rural enclave in
upstate New York and got to see and
drive his latest acquisition, a mint-con-
dition 1947 Plymouth Business Coupe
(Photo A). And I mean totally mint, as it
was never converted into being a hot
rod. It’s genuine down to its anemic flat-
head six, three-on-the-tree manual
transmission, manual steering, vacuum
operated wipers (they work great when
you coast downhill and stop when you
accelerate), unassisted (shoe) brakes,
and 6-volt electrical system powered by
a generator, not an alternator. There
was no radio, but it does have the two
other options (available at extra cost at
the time): turning signals and a heater.
The only “modern” addition to this one-
front-bench-seat relic was lap safety
belts. For younger readers, a business
coupe had no rear seat, making the
trunk space larger for the traveling
salesman’s wares, which might have
been anything from spices to vacuum
cleaners. Among my brother’s many
skills, he’s a pretty good mechanic and
those talents are needed on a car that
has ignition points, a capacitor, an oil-
bath air filter, left-tightening lug nuts on
the left side wheels and about 2,000
“grease job” lubrication points. The
good news is, he’s up to all of that. And
if the big electromagnetic pulse ever
happens, his will be among the few cars
that will still run.
Engage Brain Before
Releasing Clutch
I was given the privilege of driving this
75-year-old trip to yesterday and was
constantly drawn to the contrasts of
how far we’ve come in what constitutes
today’s automotive technology. Instead
of relying on back-up cameras, anti-lock
disc brakes, GPS, power steering, fuel
injection, power windows and other
conveniences, I was thrown back to
memories of my first car that wasn’t
*5904 Lake Lindero Drive, Agoura Hills,
CA 91301
e-mail: <aa6jr@cq-amateur-radio.com>
86 • CQ • October 2022
BY JEFF REINHARDT,* AA6JR
The 1947 Plymouth Business Coupe offers “time travel” to the past! (Photo by
Eric Reinhardt)
much different from his ’47. Specifically,
you had to plan your moves far ahead.
Braking required a lot of distance, turn-
ing required effort from the large (for
leverage) steering wheel, that worked
vaguely through a worm-and-ball steer-
ing box (no rack & pinion) that trans-
ferred energy onto tie rods attempting
to pivot front wheels through king pins
(no McPherson struts or ball joints). Top
speed was maybe 75 but I didn’t even
think of approaching that; cars of that
era were not designed for freeway
speeds and when turnpikes first
appeared, those older cars broke down
quite regularly. Nevertheless, I was a
time traveler connected to a vehicle that
required my full thought and attention.
Now before you think you mistakenly
picked up a copy of Motor Trend instead
of CQ, there is a connection here.
Reflections on that experience took me
back to my youth, sometimes watching
my dad repair radios and TVs in his
basement workshop. The sweet (but
probably toxic) scent of 50/50 solder
would occasionally fill the air as a defec-
tive resistor or capacitor (or was that a
“condenser”?) was replaced and I
became adept at putting the tube
checker through its paces.
On sharing this experience with some
ham friends, stories were recalled
about homebrew transmitters, Heath-
kits that sprang to life, building an anten-
na that actually resonates on the
desired frequency, tuning a “hollow-
state” rig for peak output, retuning a
crystal using toothpaste, and other ful-
filling functions that are fading into the
rearview mirror of our hobby.
Analog to Digital in One
Generation
But don’t get me wrong — the advances
that have washed over our shared pur-
suit have been many and beneficial. I
don’t for a moment regret pressing the
button that activates my automatic
antenna tuner. On one hand, I don’t need
to be concerned about a burned out or
fading tube, on the other hand I know that
if some smoke arises from one of my rigs,
it’s really bad and probably beyond my
ability to repair. And don’t get me start-
ed on repairing an HT — it’s probably
easier to do a reversable vasectomy on
a flea. In sum, microcircuits = good.
Broken microcircuit = finito.
While our cars and radios have
maybe transcended the old feeling of
“being one with the equipment,” we now
can do a lot more with that gear and at
a comparatively lower cost.
The ham equipment we buy today —
radios, antennas, power supplies, etc.
— generally comes ready to play right
out of the box, usually works well, and
requires very little in the way of main-
tenance. Again, that’s convenient but
instead of you or me, there’s a bazillion
microcircuits taking care of all the
tawdry details so we can just enjoy
operating. And that’s the transition
that’s been taking place. Instead of
“feeling at one with the radio” we’re now
Visit Our Web Site
finding satisfaction in what we can make
that equipment do. Some examples
might include more reliable emergency
communications, easily installed mobile
gear, inexpensive HTs that work on mul-
tiple bands, some in analog and/or digi-
tal modes, and software that can make
our radios do everything except stand up
and dance.
So, I’ll put the question to you, fellow
ham and CQ reader: Are we better off
in this solid-state, microprocessor-dom-
inated rendition of our hobby? Or might
we derive even more enjoyment by get-
ting back to some of our “roots” by
homebrewing a device or two? Happily,
we can still do both.
That’s not to diminish another form of
homebrew that deserves everyone’s
respect, which are those hobbyists who
are developing software; perhaps none
greater than the late Bob Bruninga,
WB4APR (SK), who created a whole
new aspect to ham operations with
APRS. I believe we’re richer for features
such as waterfall displays, the digital
mode du jour (most recently FT8) that
was preceded by RTTY, packet,
AMTOR, PACTOR (and all the other
TORs), and the many digital voice for-
mats that have made the scene. And
allow me to give a shout-out to the
experimenters who are having fun with
Arduino and the many creative applica-
tions that are happening in that venue.
element of “high touch” and from some
of the reactions received from some CQ
readers, you do as well, including the
tactile fulfillment of reading an “analog”
(paper) magazine.
A few years back, I wrote this column
in the persona of “Jeff’s Computer,” a
spoof on our hobby becoming so auto-
mated that one could go to work, turn-
ing the computer loose on the airwaves
making automated digital contacts and
coming home to see which awards were
amassed at the end of the day. In a way,
we may not be far away from that con-
dition, but I don’t want the computer to
do the work; I still get a thrill by digging
out that weak signal and confirming the
contact.
Respecting The Classics
So take this as an appeal to enjoy the
many advances we’ve made while main-
taining the “high touch” component that
links all this great technology to our
humanity. I like the randomness of call-
ing CQ and the prospect of making a new
friend over the airways. I enjoy learning
something new, be it technical, geo-
graphical, or even philosophical. It’s a joy
to chat with someone in a faraway coun-
We stock the rugged 1KW transistor
and parts for the 2M and 88-108MHz
amplifier designs. We also stock the
NXP MRF101 LDMOS transistors.
try. I haven’t yet made a voice contact
with the space station but it will be a hoot
when I do. (The packet contact was quite
a thrill!) I greatly appreciate one or more
of my ham friends helping me with a pro-
ject, like putting up an antenna or repair-
ing something I cannot.
“Hams helping hams” is one of our
finest qualities.
Don’t count me among the Luddites
who long only for the simplicity of yes-
terday — I think today’s technology is
great, while our hobby maintains ample
room for the active homebrewers, CW
operators, and AM aficionados. As for
advances, there may be a lot of people
who benefit from self-driving taxis and
some drivers may be better off leaving
the operations to a sophisticated vehi-
cle’s computer. I can’t look at the
images from the James Webb Space
Telescope without a sense of awe and
wonder. But I want to feel a real, tangi-
ble connection to the technology of
today — and tomorrow. Because when
we retain the human element — the
connection between you and me —
there’s still that unquantifiable, undefin-
able sense of wonder that is: The Magic
In The Sky.
RF TRANSFORMERS
2-54MHz

COAX WIRE
Paging Mr. Roboto
Consider a phrase from the not-so-dis-
tant past, “high tech / high touch.” RF400 RF600 RF800 RF1000 RF2000
Advances in our technology have often FLEXIBLE
reduced the “touch” experience. I TC-12 - 10.7 ohm
TC-18 - 17.1 ohm
Communication
recently read a piece from The Atlantic Concepts, Inc.
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the “stick shift” automobile transmission TC-24 - 26.8 ohm Email: cci.dayton@pobox.com
<https://tinyurl.com/y7ce7szr>. Those SM250-50 50 ohm
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of you who know the joy of nailing the SEMI-RIGID Phone (937) 426-8600
apex of a second-gear corner get what UT-141C-25 25 ohm Type “U”
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www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 87

 analog adventures
BY ERIC P. NICHOLS,* KL7AJ
Moving Day ... or ...
Keeping the Adventure in Analog Adventures
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and
he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote
the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering#: and
he fastened it with nails, that it should not be
moved. ~~~Isaiah 41:7
A
fter 45 years of living in the bustling metropolis of North
Pole, Alaska, we have moved about 20 miles north,
just outside of Fairbanks, to a HUGE new QTH. Some
very pleasing family events have allowed us to acquire this
grand piece of property, which has over 2,000 square feet
of shop space in addition to a very large two-car garage. Of
course, my XYL is delighted about the new house (not that
our old one was exactly a shack). This was a very timely and
* 138 Shenandoah Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99712
email: <KL7AJ@cq-amateur-radio.com>
#King Jamesian for soldering
The new QTH — no antennas yet, but stay tuned.
88 • CQ • October 2022
necessary move, as far as AlasKit Educational and Scientific
Resources is concerned. We were absolutely crammed into
our garage-based lab / factory / classroom. I’m still amazed
at what we were able to accomplish at our former digs, but
it is certainly nice to have some serious elbow room!
Not to mention that this location is extremely electrical-
ly quiet. I hope to gradually build my dream station (not
that I’ve had any particular limitations at the old home-
stead, other than our famously miserable propagation).
We’re also at a higher elevation, above the legendary bit-
ter cold inversion layer, so we will not have the -50°F tem-
peratures that we had in North Pole, down in the “cold
hole.” (I’m not exactly decrepit, but I’m not quite as fond
of 50 below as I used to be.)
Moving is always an adventure, even for “normal” folks, but
when you add a 50+ year accumulation of electronics, ham
radio, and test gear to the mix ... including keeping two busi-
nesses running in the process, it is an adventure with an
upper-case A. But we did it.
Our new shop will soon be “ready for the sodering.” There
will indeed be a lot of sodering going on very soon.
Visit Our Web Site

Main shop area
Before — progress isn’t pretty
I want to give a big shout out to John
Antonuk, AL7ID; Kevin Tennant,
KL1PJ; Jonathan Kugler, KL5BL, and
Lisa Roberts, AL6Y, for all the help mov-
ing my electronics. We got it all done in
a day.
My biggest issue is what to do about
my remaining 500 custom-designed
QSL cards with the old address on
them. Jim Massara, N2EST, did a mag-
nificent job on these, and I hate to des-
ecrate them with new address stickers
or some such. But one has to do what
one has to do. Onward and upward.
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
A few photos of the work in progress
are scattered around this month’s col-
umn ... there’s lot more to happen and I
hope you’ll join me on the journey. I
haven’t even begun on the ham station
yet, and I’ll be sure to keep you updat-
ed. As I’ve suggested in a few previous
columns, progress can be messy. But we
finally have a place to get things DONE
without tripping over our own feet.
I believe I’ve mentioned that, in addi-
tion to all the RF stuff that AlasKit
Educational and Scientific Resources is
involved with, we are also an authorized
On the Cover
Ham radio emergency communica-
tions on display in Poland. Adrian
Matusik, SQ5AM (left), and Michał
Wojciechowski, SP5OSP (right), run
net control for the Emcomm Radio
Check net at the “Night at the Institute
of Aviation” in Warsaw. This annual
event promotes all things related to
science and aviation, and draws
some 40,000 visitors each year. The
Mazovian Emcomm Net (featured in
our cover story, “EmComm from the
Ground Up,” on page 10) is the only
ham radio group invited to the event
and to have its own booth. According
to author Maciej “Miles” Muszalski,
SQ5EBM, the net was also used to
coordinate a weather balloon launch
and the booth included a WinLink sta-
tion through which visitors could
(under ham supervision) send an
email to their cellphones.
Adrian is a longtime ham who, coin-
cidentally, went to high school in
Warsaw with SQ5EBM’s future wife
… and Adrian’s wife turns out to be a
distant cousin of Miles’s wife!
Michal is a volunteer firefighter and
medic who had the idea to organize
what has become the biggest ham
radio event in Mazovia, the Mazovian
Radio Picnic in Celestynow (described
in Miles’s article). According to Miles,
Michal is an example of a person who,
while being new to ham radio, “was
and is willing to work hard and promote
it. It was and is my privilege to know
him and be able to help him grow, as
well as getting help from him when I
was a coordinator ... that helped me
grow, too.” (Cover photo by Michał
Piórczyński, SP5DLX)
October 2022 • CQ • 89
Tubes, anyone?

service center for Fender, Yamaha, and

Roland audio electronics, and we are in
the process of getting certified with
Marshall as well. So we have a lot on
our plate ... but now we have a very big
plate so nothing should be slopping
over the edges as in times past. I will
also be putting together a small record-
ing studio in the adjoining shop space
(the photos above show only about a
third of the total floor space)
Just a reminder that we have a vast
inventory of discrete electronic compo-
nents, in addition to the aforementioned
obscenely large store of vacuum tubes
of every kind. If we don’t have it, you
don’t need it.
Well, I could go on and on, but then
I’d have to join On and On Anon, so I’ll
put a sock in it for now. As always, I
appreciate your comments and feed-
back. Thank you for allowing me to
indulge on this little side trip.
– 73 until next time! Eric
Note: The solution I promised last time for the
problem I posed using Kirchhoff’s Laws got
sidetracked by the move. Next time … but
meanwhile, go back to that column and see if
And more tubes! you can figure it out on your own!

90 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 vhf plus
BY TRENT FLEMING,* N4DTF

Huntsville: Flea Market and New VHF + Gear

T
his year I only made it to the Huntsville Hamfest for me know your thoughts about 222-MHz operations and
Saturday. My youngest was invited to sing the nation- equipment.
al anthem at his high school football game Friday
night, so I stayed around to see him sing. I left early Roving Report
Saturday, and made the 3-hour drive without incident. I Pat, W5VY (freshly back from the Central States VHF
found this year’s flea market to be very robust. Like many Conference in July), operated rover in the recent 222-MHz
of you, I don’t “need” much of anything but it never hurts and Up contest. He sent us the following report:
to look, right? There were many “boat anchors” on display,
as well as lots of test gear and more modern radios. Really I went out with 222 thru 10G minus 3400. Never had the
something for everyone. I enjoy the camaraderie of a ham- microwave tripod rig out of the car. Steve, AG4V, was oper-
fest as much as the sales aspect, and am glad I got to see ating from home and the rain-scatter opportunities I was hop-
many old friends and make a few new ones. My purchas-
es were small, just a power supply for my test bench and
a few hardline jumpers for an ongoing antenna project.
Many commercial ham vendors were in attendance as well,
so there was ample opportunity to see and acquire new
equipment if you so desired.
While there was no display of the new Icom SHF Project,
there was plenty of discussion because of the announce-
ment that was going on in Japan at approximately the same
time. We now have more details on what will be an exciting
new development in the microwave bands. This new radio
will offer 144 MHz, 440 MHz, 1.2 GHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.7 GHz,
plus an optional transverter for 10 GHz. I was especially glad
to see the addition of the10-GHz band because of the pop-
ularity of that band among SHF enthusiasts. It may be a while
before this radio is available — maybe at Dayton next year.
But just as important as this particular unit may be the design.
Power over Ethernet (POE) as a concept is not completely
new, but this is the first time a manufacturer has tried to
address signal loss in transmission cables in such a way. I’ll
leave the details to your own investigation, but generally this
is an attractive offering. I do believe that SHF will remain a
builder’s domain, with most folks choosing to develop and
build their own equipment. But the IC-905 will offer a com-
mercial option for those who want to focus more on operat-
ing than building.
One last thought — the IC-905 is another new VHF and
above radio that does NOT include 222 MHz. We get it, this
is a band largely limited to North America. But there remains
a loyal group of 222 operators (see the On the Air section
below) and an increasing interest in the band in North
America. A four-band radio that includes options for 2 meters,
222 MHz, 432 MHz, and 900 MHz or 1.2 GHz would be a
welcome addition to the current slate of commercial VHF and
above gear. I’m thinking about the old Yaesu FT-736r, for
example (which remains in use for many hams). A few years
ago, I would have said 6 meters, but most manufacturers are
including 6 meters on their HF rigs, so the availability of radios
for that band is quite good.
Let’s start a movement — let’s petition the U.S. manufac-
turers (I am talking Elecraft and Flex) to build a VHF plus
radio to complement their HF lines and make 222 a standard
part of that offering. I believe there is a huge market here,
and I for one would be very supportive. Just a thought. Let
A 6-meter antenna loop project completed by Jerome, K8LF.
* <n4dtf@cq-amateur-radio.com> See text for details on construction. (All photos by K8LF)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 91

The 6-meter loop being lifted to its final elevation.
ing for didn’t materialize ... all a bit east of me. I made 26
QSOs and about 20K points. Best QSO was with Dan,
W5AFY. We worked on 222, 432, and 902 MHz, all on the
FT8 mode. Nice signals on 222 and 432 MHz but the run on
902 MHz took about 15 minutes to complete. There was a
huge bulge in signal strength that lasted about a minute —
we could have worked on CW — then it was back to -18 down
in the noise. Also worked Ron, K5LLL, on 222-MHz FT8 and
432-MHz CW. Ron had a big signal on 432.
I spent the contest in western Arkansas. Saturday on Mt.
Magazine … EM35ed mostly. Sunday, I went to Rich
Mountain, EM24tq. I had equipment problems right from
the start of the test. I have a BCD-Decimal band decoder
that drives a couple of SMA multipole relays that connect
the IC-705 to the right transverter or amp. The band-select
lead for 222 MHz broke off flush with the circuit board. I
kludged together a workaround using some #12 stranded
[wire] I carry to turn the 6-meter Moxon into a dipole if I
totally wreck it with tree limbs (which has happened a few
times over the past 10 years). I had to push the #12 down
between the heat sink fins on the 222-MHz transverter to
operate the band-select relay. Then remember to undo it
when I went higher. I managed to work Steve, AG4V, on
222 and 432 MHz from Mt. Magazine and 222, 432, and
902 MHz from Rich Mountain.
92 • CQ • October 2022
Jerome’s 6-meter loop at its final elevation and hanging from
a tree, his favorite place to hang an antenna.
Thanks, Pat, for the report. And THANK YOU to all those
who rove to give out grid squares and multipliers!
Six-Meter Antenna Project
Jerome, K8LF, was kind enough to send us his notes about
a simple 6-meter antenna that will get you on the air quickly
and with good results. Jerome writes:
Attached are some photos of an easy and inexpensive 6-
meter antenna (Photos A to C). A suggestion from another
local ham Steve, K4HX, got me started on the idea. It is built
using two excess 2- x 2- by 30-inch square plastic tubes from
a deck railing. It’s based on a design from Brian, K6STA, for
a 10-meter version. The rectangular-shaped antenna’s size
is 90 inches on each side of a total length of 12 feet. A three-
turn, 6-inch loop of coax is the only matching device. I did
trim it down to move the lowest standing wave ratio (SWR)
to the bottom end of the 6-meter band. Total wire length prob-
ably should be a few inches shy of 12 feet. I like loop anten-
nas because the receive noise tends to be quite a bit lower
than other wire antennas.
So far it works much better than trying to load my lower band
HF antennas on 6 meters. I have heard Portugal and worked
Saint Helena Island on 6-meter FT8. I used the antenna dur-
ing the last three hours of the June ARRL VHF contest and
Visit Our Web Site
made 200 FT4 contacts. I have drilled
the 2 x 2s and cut the wire for a second
one. Maybe I’ll use this second loop for
portable ops. This 6-meter loop rolls up
small and compact. making it ideal for
portable operation. It comes ready to
hang from a tree branch, which is my
preferred method of getting antennas
aloft.
Jerome, good DXing with that anten-
na, and thank you for the idea.
Southeastern VHF Society
Award
Those of us who chase grid squares are
well versed in the layout of those
squares. The Southeastern VHF
Society sponsors an award that recog-
nizes the challenges of completing all
100 grids in the EM region. One hun-
dred is the most squares contained in
any two-letter square area (field). Our
friend Howard, W4HLR, who is in EM56
in northwest Tennessee, recently
worked his last grid to complete the
award. Howard had this to say:
and the VHF channel on Slack, and I’m
now at 41 states. WSJT-X is an amaz-
ing suite of digital modes, fun to see what
can be done with “weak” signals.
222 Activity Night
I have written before about the planned
222-MHz activity nights on Tuesdays,
around 7:30 p.m. local time. Below are
some last-minute reports from August
23rd, just before I completed this
column.
Bob, W4ZST, in EM84 worked the fol-
lowing stations:
• WG8S in EM64, 150 miles on FT8
• KC4AAW in EM85, 100 miles on FT8
• N1GC in EM95, 185 miles on SSB
• K1WHS in FM43, 923 miles on MSK
Bob comments, “this is the second
time Dave, K1WHS, and I have man-
aged 222 MS between us. Want to try
with others.”
Dave, K1WHS, in FN43 worked
approximately 20 stations in a couple of
hours, offered the following comments
about weather and propagation, “W1JR
and WZ1V were complaining about
weak signals in certain directions. We
had some thunderstorm cells rotating
around New England last night. I have
seen the same thing here as well at
other times. Signals that are normally
pretty good are reduced by over 10 dB
due to the atmospheric mixing from
huge up and down drafts in those cells.
I am not sure it is as bad on very long-
haul tropospheric scatter, but I have
seen several dB drops on the WA3EOQ
to K1WHS path. Those storms really
can kill signals at all distances.”
Mike, N1JEZ, in FN44 reported 16
contacts from FN44, or “the boonies,”
as he called it.
Until next time, keep those cards,
letters, and emails coming. I’m always
interested in your on-air activity, your
projects, and suggestions for this
column. – 73, Trent, N4DTF, EM55

“Hello guys, I have been a VHFer for

over 20 years. Today I worked my last
EM grid with Les, KK5KY, in EM03,
which has eluded me for a long time. I
am one happy camper! This award will
be an all single-sideband (SSB) phone
award no CW, no digital. It is increas-
ingly harder and harder for us old hold-
outs who only work phone, as most
have gone digital now. I have 111 coun-
tries worked and 99 confirmed. I need
10 grids to complete Fred Fish. Howard
is STOKED.”

Congratulations, Howard. We are

always interested in our readers’
progress and success toward various
milestones! Visit <www.SVHFS.org>
for more information on this fine group. Making DX Happen
On the Air Since 1983
I’m at 40 states on 6 meters for WAS.
One that has eluded me, including a cou-
ple of contacts who won’t or can’t QSL,
is Georgia. Throughout the summer, I’ve
seen Bry, W3PC, spotted regularly on
WWW.INDEXA.ORG
ϱϬϭ;ĐͿ;ϯͿŶŽŶͲƉƌŽĮƚŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƟŽŶ
DXmaps, so I thought I’d reach out to
him and try a scheduled contact. Of
course, it would be a new grid (EM74)
for me as well. We agreed to try FT8
around 7 a.m. local time but conditions
were less than ideal. We then tried
MSK144, also with no results. Finally, we /Ey ΛŝŶĚĞdžĂͺĚdž
tried Q65, a first for me, and were able
to complete a QSO. Later that morning
it was confirmed on Logbook of the /ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůyƐƐŽĐŝĂƟŽŶ
World (LoTW). We coordinated via text
ϮϯϬϵ>ŝŶĐŽůŶǀĞ͕^ĂŝŶƚůďĂŶƐ͕tsϮϱϭϳϳ͕h^

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 93

 awards
BY STEVE MOLO,* KI4KWR

Awards From Hong Kong

H
ong Kong, formerly VS6, was a British colony for over
a century, under a long-term lease agreement with
China. When that lease expired on July 1, 1997,
administration of Hong Kong was returned to the People’s
Republic of China, which made it a “Special Administration
Region” (“HKSAR”) and changed the amateur radio callsign
prefix to VR2.
The Hong Kong Amateur Radio Transmitting Society
(HARTS), the IARU member society after the 1997 han-
dover, remains and performs the same functions as before.
HARTS is a major supporting organization providing an
important source of volunteers during charitable outdoor
events in Hong Kong. The best-known is the annual Oxfam
Trailwalker. There, HARTS provides amateur radio com-
munication coverage over a 100-kilometer trail across many
of Hong Kong’s parks to support the event’s overall com-
mand, which helps mitigate areas where reliable mobile
phone coverage is unreliable. Each time, HARTS needs to
organize more than 100 support posts and hams for the Photo A. The certificate for the Firecracker Award from the
event, which lasts for more than 48 hours. Being there, Honk Kong Amateur Radio Transmitting Society (HARTS).
physically, inspires non-hams that HARTS members are (Courtesy of HARTS)
helping the community with ham radio.
After the handover in 1997, Hong Kong continued to have only entry level requirements. The requirements to obtain this
its own set of laws, languages, currency, and visa require- certificate are relatively simple.
ments for entry into the territory (unfortunately, this may no
longer be the case. –ed). Actually, if you have friends who 1. You must have made your QSOs after January 1, 1964.
have traveled to China and Hong Kong, they will tell you that 2. You must QSO with six (6) different VR2 (VS6) stations,
it feels like two different civilizations. Hong Kong’s main ban- except for applicants in the areas below.
knotes are issued by commercial banks licensed in Hong 3. You must QSO with 10 different VR2 (VS6) stations for
Kong. You will find that there may be six different designs of those applicants residing in CQ zones 18, 19, and 24-28.
banknotes of the same denomination. Prepare for it, they 4. The application fee is $8 U.S. ($70 HK or 25 IRC)
may confuse you when you receive six $100 notes with six
different designs from three different banks, none of them Nine Dragons Award
issued by the HKSAR Government. Next up is the Nine Dragons Award, which is similar to CQ’s
Hong Kong is easy to travel around, not just because it is WAZ award. Basically, you must make contacts with CQ
small, but also because you will find English signs every- zones, where one of them must be with stations located in
where, which are readable and understandable and a Hong Kong. This certificate features the famous dragon
holdover from a century of British control. Kong Kong’s MTR theme, where legend says that nine dragons symbolize the
(i.e. subway) system has not only Cantonese and Mandarin,
but also English, in the broadcast announcements and on all
the location signage. The cuisine of Hong Kong is borrowed
from many different cultures and would be called fusion cui-
sine in many parts of the world.
With cultural fusion in mind, the HARTS awards program
also embraces many of the island’s distinctive cultures.
HARTS is the only award program in the world that features
Chinese-style artwork but all the award information is in
English. Even the awards applications are in English. Here’s
a look:

Hong Kong Firecracker Award

The HARTS Firecracker award is a basic award and features
a design of firecrackers that are usually used during Chinese
New Year or other festivals on its certificate (Photo A). It has

*Email: <KI4KWR@cq-amateur-radio.com> Photo B. The Nine Dragons Award is similar to CQ’s WAZ.

94 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site


Photo C. The certificate for the Catch-22 Award.
maximum number of dragons that can appear in one event
(Photo B). To qualify for the award, you must:
1. QSO with nine (9) CQ zones: one each with zones 18,
19, and 24-30.
2. QSO with Zone 24 must be with a VR2 (VS6) station.
3. QSOs are required with each zone in these nine (9) zones
including two (2) VR2 stations.
4. Only QSOs made after January, 1, 1979 are valid.
5. The fee is $15 U.S. ($120 HK or 45 IRC)
Catch-22 Award
Catch-22 is not a reference to Joseph Heller’s famous novel,
but to the 22° north latitude line that Hong Kong shares with
the following territories: VR2 (VS6) Hong Kong, XX9 (CR9)
Macau, BY P.R. China, BV Taiwan, XV Vietnam, XW Laos,
XZ Myanmar, S2 Bangladesh, VU2 India, A4X Oman, A6X
United Arab Emirates, HZ Saudi Arabia, ST Sudan, SU
Egypt, 5A Libya, TT8 Chad, 5UT Niger, 7X Algeria, TZ Mali,
5T5 Mauritania, CN Morocco, C6 Bahamas, CO Cuba, XE
Mexico, KH6 Hawaii.
The Catch-22 certificate is a little bit bigger than a sheet of
A3 paper and features a world map on it, which makes it a good
and practical decoration for your radio room wall (Photo C).
Radio stations in Hong Kong must be included in your appli-
cations. Only QSOs made after January 1, 1980 are valid.
Applicants should submit the confirmation of QSOs with ham
stations within the territories along latitude 22° north. The
application fee is $20 U.S. ($160 HK or 60 IRC).
There are three levels for this award:
• Level 3: QSO with minimum 15 territories/countries
• Level 2: QSO with minimum 20 territories/countries
• Level 1: QSO with all 25 territories/countries
what’s new
Buddistick PRO Now Available
Buddipole, a manufacturer of portable antennas and acces-
sories, has released the Buddistick PRO, which is designed as
a multi-band portable antenna that covers the 40- to 6-meter
bands and is compatible with any transceiver with a maximum
output up to 250 watts.
The Buddistick PRO™ comes packaged in a compartmen-
talized 1,000-denier Cordura™ portfolio bag and includes the
Versahub™ feed point, two aluminum arms, one standard tele-
scopic whip, one adjustable coil, three coil clips and elevated
radial system, as well as an operating manual.
The 31-foot wire radial is put up on a line winder and is intend-
ed for use on all bands from 6 to 40 meters. The radial wire is
pre-marked with color-coded indicators for each band and is
intended to be used elevated from 2- to 6-feet above ground.
The Versahub™ is manufactured from a custom injection
mold and utilizes a fiberglass-reinforced nylon material
designed for durability and strength. The coaxial connector is
a BNC connector. On the bottom of the Versahub™ is a thread-
ed insert (1/4-inch x 20 threads) to attach a camera monopod,
tripod, or vertical antenna clamp.
The Buddistick PRO Deluxe Package includes the five-sec-
tion shock cord legs (3), as well as one 25-foot MILSPEC coax-
ial cable with BNC terminations and included SO-239 adapter,
which is removable; and one black oxide-coated eyehook with
cord for staking. The full package comes in at 4 pounds (1.35
kilograms) including the coax and fits into a carrying case that
is 9-inches tall by 14-inches wide, which makes the Buddistick
PRO ideal for portable operations.
The Buddistick PRO is available now and has a suggested
retail price of $299.99. For more information, call: (503)
591-8001, visit <www.buddipole.com>, or email <info@
buddipole.com.

Apply To
Do you have enough QSOs to apply? If you do, you can con-
tact the HARTS award manager at Steven Cheng (VR2YFF),
Awards Manager, Hong Kong Amateur Radio Transmitting
Society (HARTS), P.O. Box 541, Hong Kong General Post
Office, or you can send him an email <info@harts.org.hk>.
You can download your application here <https://tinyurl.com/
eb8bm7m7>. All award certificates will be returned by Air
Mail. There are also single-mode and / or single-band
upgrade stickers available for a fee of $1 U.S. or $10 HK or
3 IRCs. Unsuccessful applications will be returned after
deducting a processing fee of $1 U.S. or $10 HK or 3 IRCs.
Good luck.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 95

 dx
BY BOB SCHENCK,* N2OO

PSE QSL!

I
t’s always good to review some QSL
guidelines, so here we go. Don’t have
paper QSLs? Read on.
As many of you already know, I have
been an active QSL manager for the
past 45 years or so. I keep saying that
I have seen everything, and then some-
thing new comes along. I have received
coins in the mail, cards that were not
filled out, many that were folded like
origami, and even a handi-wipe that
unfortunately leaked along the way.
The list is endless. I have a pretty good
idea of how to properly request a QSL
card, and what not to do, too. So, let’s
look at the basics.
First, prioritize. How much do you
want the QSL? Based on the answer to
this question, decide how you plan to
request the card. Before deciding, it
would be a very good idea to go to
<www.qrz.com> and see what the sta-
tion’s QSL policy might be.
Unless the station specifically says:
“No Paper QSLs,” the options may
include: “mail direct,” “bureau availabil-
ity,” “use of LoTW,” or “QSL Manager
info.” Specific requirements may be one
or more of the following:
1. OQRS if available
2. Direct mail
3. Bureau
OQRS: or “Online QSL Request
Service” has become quite popular in
recent years. Although there are other
systems set up, Club Log <www.
clublog.org> seems to be the most pop-
ular. It also provides you with a free
place to back up your logs. Many log-
ging programs can do quick or even
automatic backup Club Log uploads. I
use N3FJP AC Log <www.n3fjp.com>
for my personal log and the program
can upload to Club Log manually or
automatically. OQRS provides a direct
method to request a QSL. There is a fee
set by the station or QSL Manager in
order to use this service when request-
ing a direct mailed QSL. Bureau QSL
requests are also available. Sometimes
free, but other times a small fee may be
charged. For example, I started charg-
ing $1 for bureau requests for the sta-
tions that I manage on Club Log.
*email: <n2oo@comcast.net>
Payment is via PayPal. Since PayPal
collects a portion of the fee, the amount
that actually goes to the station or QSL
manager from whom you are requesting
a card may be a bit more than what return
postage would actually be. Most impor-
tantly, you must understand that OQRS
is set up to help the station or QSL man-
ager cope with other expenses such as
bureau expense (incoming and outgo-
ing fees and postage), card printing,
labels, and a myriad of other things and
services that he/she may need in order
to process QSLs. In any case, the fastest
way to request and ultimately get a QSL
is probably by using OQRS.
DIRECT MAIL: Hopefully the DX sta-
tion lists a minimum funding amount
required on his QRZ page to answer a
The WAZ Program
SINGLE BAND WAZ
6 Meters
194 ............................................VE3EK, 25 Zones
195 ..............................................UN9L, 25 Zones
196 ..............................................K4SO, 26 Zones
17 Meter Digital
27 ...............................................................K6VVK
20 Meter CW
688 ...........................................................JJ1BDX
689 .........................................................WB4DNL
20 Meter Digital
50 ...........................................................OE3SGU
51 .................................................................UN9L
52 ...............................................................K6VVK
30 Meter CW
170 .............................................................W4VIC
30 Meter Digital
17 ............................................................HB9EFK
40 Digital
26 ................................................................JI2IXA
ALL BAND WAZ
CW
1204 ............................................................NØYY
1205 .........................................................JR1SLU
1206 ........................................................JH1BNC
1207 .......................................................WB4DNL
Rules and applications for the WAZ program may be obtained by sending a large SAE with two units of postage or an address
label and $1.00 to: WAZ Award Manager, Jose Castillo, N4BAA, 6773 South State Road 103, Straughn, IN 47387.. The pro-
cessing fee for all CQ awards is $6.00 for subscribers (please include your most recent CQ mailing label or a copy) and
$12.00 for nonsubscribers. Please make all checks payable to Jose Castillo, N4BAA. Applicants sending QSL cards to a
CQ checkpoint or the Award Manager must include return postage. KC5LK may also be reached via e-mail: <n4baa@cq-
amateur-radio.com>.
direct mail request for a QSL card. If he
does, then be sure to include a self-
addressed envelope (SAE) and the
amount requested. If the DX station
uses a QSL manager in your same
country, then unless otherwise speci-
fied, include a self-addressed stamped
envelope (SASE).
BUREAU: If you are able to request a
bureau card by using an OQRS option,
then that would be the fastest and best
way to do so. The DX station or QSL
manager will get your request immedi-
ately and it will get you in the queue for
his QSL bureau processing. I normally
do my bureau processing about once
every year or so. So, by requesting via
OQRS will definitely get your card start-
ed quicker than if you sent your card via
Digital
375 ............................................................GM2TT
376 ..............................................................DL6JZ
377 ...........................................................JA8LUQ
378 ...............................................................UN9L
379 ..........................................................JH1BNC
380 ..........................................................EA7DAP
381 .............................................................K6VVK
Mixed
10273 .......................................................JA7PPK
10274 .........................................................4Z1KM
10275 .......................................................7J1YAD
10276 .....................................................VE2OWL
10277 ........................................................GM2TT
10278 .........................................................9A5VV
10279 .......................................................JA8LUQ
10280 ...........................................................NZ2Z
10281 ........................................................W5CJF
10282 .......................................................GØOSK
10283 .......................................................JR1SLU
10284 ......................................................SP5BYC
10285 ......................................................JH1BNC
10286..........................................................K1ZJA
10287 .........................................................IK3ITB
10288 .....................................................WB4DNL
10289 ......................................................IZØGXM
10290 .......................................................JA3CYY
10291 .........................................................K6VVK
SSB
5541 ............................................................DL6JZ
5542 ........................................................DL1BSH
5543 .......................................................WB4DNL

96 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

your own bureau. Often, cards that I get
here in my incoming bureau batches are
already 1-2 years old or older by the
time I get them. Then they could sit in
my queue another year or so. So, if you
are not in a big hurry, the bureau is by
far the cheapest way to go, but be pre-
pared to wait.
A full list of the world’s QSL bureaus
can be found here: <https://tinyurl.com/
2jm9745y>. See the sidebar for U.S.-
based incoming QSL bureaus courtesy
of <www.iaru.org>. If you are not set up
to receive your incoming QSL cards,
reach out to the appropriate bureau for
you. It should have a website presence
if you do some searching.
Outgoing QSL Bureau
In order to send your cards via the
bureau in the U.S. the most common
ways are to either use the ARRL out-
going QSL bureau (must be an ARRL
member) or package up your cards and
mail them directly to each bureau as list-
ed on the IARU world’s QSL bureau site
mentioned earlier. Full information
about the U.S. ARRL outgoing QSL ser-
vice can be found here <www.arrl.org/
outgoing-qsl-service>. For the various
DX countries, contact your own bureau
for full information.
Mechanics of QSLing: Don’t
Have QSL Cards?
All of this assumes that you actually
have some sort of paper QSL cards of
your own. There are many ways to cre-
ate, order, or even print your own QSLs.
So, I won’t go into this aspect of QSLing
in this month’s column except to say
please have something in your drawer.
Sooner or later, someone will ask for a
paper QSL, and you really want to be
prepared. The old saying is that the final
courtesy of a QSO is a QSL. Well, that
has long faded. I might change it to read,
“the final courtesy of a QSO is to pro-
vide a QSL if asked for one.” Please
remember that just because you don’t
collect paper QSL cards doesn’t mean
that others don’t. If I want your QSL
badly enough that I go to the trouble of
filling one out and sending it to you, the
least you could do is fill one out and
send it back to me. It’s just a nice way
to promote our extraordinary hobby. Be
nice. QSL if asked.
If you don’t order QSL cards from a
QSL printer, it should be pretty easy to
print some kind of a QSL on your own
printer. But in the worst-case scenario,
take the QSL that was sent to you and
if you worked the station, write clearly
on his card, “I confirm this QSO is in the
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
log of your call” and sign it. Then mail it ply of envelopes. I suggest buying busi-
back with a friendly note saying that you ness size #10 for the outer envelope
ran out of cards or something and hope and size #6 for the inner SASE enve-
this will be OK to confirm the QSO. Note lope. I also suggest getting these with
that if the request is for a particular privacy and self-seal. You can make up
county, grid, or some other designation, the SASEs in advance if you like. For
so make a note of that as well. Another U.S. mail, I suggest putting your
thing that works, especially if you are address in both the mail to area on the
not that active, is to simply fill out the envelope and the return address area.
QSO data on a note card or index card. Also, always use “forever” stamps to
Make it personal. All I ask is that if some- avoid any postage increases that may
one sends you a QSL, please don’t just happen while your QSL is being
throw it away. The ham asking for your processed. Sometimes there can be
QSL has made a sincere effort to get delays while logs are being collected.
yours. Be nice. QSL. IMPORTANT: When inserting your
QSL into the #10 envelope, always
Sending for QSL Cards? insert your QSL inside the SASE along
Let’s talk a bit about how to request a with any extra donation if you are so
card via direct mail. Get yourself a sup- inclined. Then, insert the SASE flap first
The WPX Program
SSB Digital
4440 ......................................................................VU2LOC 1802 ......................................................................KF5MDZ
4441 ........................................................................N8GOU 1803 ........................................................................DM6MA
1804 ........................................................................VK3PIA
Mixed 1805 ......................................................................KD7HSH
4474 ......................................................................WØBNE
4475 ......................................................................KF5MDZ
1806 ......................................................................GQØGLJ
1807 ......................................................................JM1OFJ
4476 ........................................................................DM6MA 1808 ........................................................................AA4CM
4477 ........................................................................VK3PIA
4478 ......................................................................KD7HSH
1809 ......................................................................KI5RQG
1810 ......................................................................HB9TJG
4479 ......................................................................JR5COR 1811..........................................................................N9ATF
4480............................................................................NA8B
4481 ......................................................................JK1DDQ
1812 ......................................................................DS3EXT
1813 ......................................................................JR2CAK
4482 ........................................................................AA4CM 1814 ........................................................................W2TLC
4483 ..........................................................................W4VG
4484 ..................................................................DU1/NFØO
1815 ........................................................................JH7IMX
1816 ......................................................................EA2EPC
4485 ......................................................................HB9TJG 1817 ........................................................................N8GOU
4486 ........................................................................W2TLC
CW: 500: W6WF. 1800: NE6I.
SSB: 550: W6WF.
Mixed: 450: AB9BH, KF5MDZ, VK3PIA. 500: KFØFBK, AA4CM. 550: WØBNE, DU1/NFØO. 650: KD7HSH. 750: HB9TJG.
800: JM1CMA, W9MDB. 850: N7NMC, W4VG. 900: OE7BJT. 1000: JK1DDQ. 1400: W6WF. 1450: K3DFL. 1800: WU9D.
1850: PU4MMZ. 2350: EA3EQS. 2600: NE6I.
Digital: 350: AB9BH, KF5MDZ, DM6MA, GQØGLJ, W2TLC, EA2EPC. 400: JR5COR, N8GOU. 450: VK3PIA. 500: KFØF-
BK, AA4CM, N9ATF. 600: JM1OFJ. 650: KD7HSH. 700: HB9TJG. 750: JR2CAK. 800: W9MDB, OE7BJT. 850: N7NMC,
W6WF. 1000: JK1DDQ. 1200: NE6I. 1450: K3DFL. 1600: WU9D. 1700: PU4MMZ. 2250: EA3EQS.
160 Meters: NE6I, W4VG
80 Meters: W9MDB, EA3EQS, OE7BJT, DM6MA
40 Meters: WØBNE, W9MDB, OE7BJT, JK1DDQ, W6WF
30 Meters: W9MDB
20 Meters: W9MDB, OE7BJT, VK3PIA, KD7HSH, KFØFBK, W6WF, JM1OFJ
17 Meters: JK1DDQ, W6WF, JR2CAK
15 Meters: JM1CMA, W9MDB, EA3EQS. JK1DDQ, DU1/NFØ0
12 Meters: NE6I
10 Meters: W6WF
6 Meters: NE6I
Africa: EA3EQS
Asia: OE7BJT, VK3PIA, KD7HSH, JR5COR, JK1DDQ, W6WF, JM1OFJ, DU1/NFØ0, HB9TJG, DS3EXT, JR2CAK
Europe: JM1CMA, W9MDB, DM6MA, VK3PIA, GQØGLJ, JK1DDQ, W6WF, W4VG, HB9TJG, JR2CAK, EA2EPC
Oceania: EA3EQS, JR5COR, JK1DDQ, JM1OFJ, DU1/NFØ0, JR2CAK
North America: WØBNE, JM1CMA, KF5MDZ, KD7HSH, NA8B, JM1OFJ, AA4CM, W4VG, KI5RQG, HB9TJG, N9ATF,
W2TLC, N8GOU
South America: EA3EQS
Award of Excellence: JF1LMB
160M Bar: JF1LMB
30M Bar: JF1LMB
17M Bar: JF1LMB
12M Bar: JF1LMB
6M Bar: JF1LMB
Digital Bar: JF1LMB
Complete rules and application forms may be obtained by sending a business-size, self-addressed, stamped envelope (for-
eign stations send extra postage for airmail) to "CQ WPX Awards," P.O. Box 355, New Carlisle, OH 45344 USA. Note: WPX
will now accept prefixes/calls which have been confirmed by eQSL.cc. and the ARRL Logbook of The World (LoTW).
*Please Note: The price of the 160, 30, 17, 12, 6, and Digital bars for the Award of Excellence are $6.50 each.
October 2022 • CQ • 97
so the flap is in the bottom of the #10 contact, frequency, mode, and signal couple of things to consider, the letter U
envelope. This helps to avoid slitting the report given. If you print QSO labels, you should have a rounded bottom and a tail,
flap of the SASE when it is opened by the should be all set. If you hand write your the letter V has no tail and a sharp bot-
station or QSL Manager. If you do not QSLs, a few things to consider. First and tom point. The number one (1) should
want to use #10 envelopes, then fold your most important, if you make a mistake, have a line at the bottom, and the letter
#6 SASE and place the QSL in the fold start over on a new QSL. Cross outs and “I” should have a line at the bottom and
and insert the folded part into the bottom scribbles can make your card worthless the top. Zero’s should have a slash, let-
of your outer #6 envelope. If you add any for an award. Clearly print all informa- ter “O”s do not have a slash.
funds, put them inside the SASE. tion, especially the other station’s call. A DATE: Follow the format set on the
ADDRESSING: I strongly encourage
that you invest in a decent self-inking
return address stamp. XStamper
5 Band WAZ
As of September 1, 2022 Callsign Zones Zones
makes a really nice one. It inks through 2407 stations have attained at least the 150 Zone level, Needed
the impression rather than the old “flip” and
1106 stations have attained the 200 Zone level.
KØDEQ 198 22, 26
K1BD 198 23, 26
ink versions. The flip ones work, but can As of September 1, 2022 K2EP 198 23, 24
be a pain to re-ink. The XStamper will The top contenders for 5 Band WAZ (Zones needed on 80 K2TK 198 23, 24
or other if indicated): K3JGJ 198 24, 26
provide years of service. When creat- CHANGES shown in BOLD K3LR 198 22, 23
ing / designing your return address K3WA 198 23,26
Callsign Zones Zones K3XA 198 23,34
stamp, ALWAYS include your country Needed K4JLD 198 18, 24
on the last line. If you send an SASE to AK8A 199 17 K9MM 198 22, 26
DM5EE 199 1 KI1G 198 24, 23 on 10M
Croatia, and they put it in the mail back EA5RM 199 1 KZ2I 198 24, 26
to you, their post office might not know EA7GF 199 1 LA3MHA 198 31 &32 on 10M
H44MS 199 34 N4GG 198 18, 24
that you are in the U.S. if the last line HAØHW 199 1 NXØI 198 18, 23
shows a state and zip. If you get cre- HA5AGS 199 1 ON4CAS 198 1,19
I5REA 199 31 OZ4VW 198 1, 2
ative, you can have logos and other IKØXBX 199 19 on 10M RL3FA 198 2 on 80 & 10M
things added. But the basics are fine. IK1AOD 199 1 UA4LY 198 6 & 2 on 10M
IZ3ZNR 199 1 UN5J 198 2, 7
Your call on the stamp is optional. JA1CMD 199 2 US7MM 198 2, 6
Another option can be pre-printed JA5IU 199 2 W2IRT 198 28, 28
JA7XBG 199 2 W5CWQ 198 17, 18
labels. These can be created on your JH7CFX 199 2 W7AH 198 22, 34
computer, or via many online methods. JI4POR 199 2 W9RN 198 26, 19 on 40M
JK1AJX 199 2 on 10M WC5N 198 22, 26
But again, be sure to add your country JK1BSM 199 2 WL7E 198 34, 37
to the last line. If you must hand write JK1EXO 199 2 Z31RQ 198 1, & 2 on 10M
K1LI 199 24 ZL2AL 198 36, 37
your SASE (or outer envelope), please K1OA 199 28
print clearly, very clearly. K4HB 199 26 The following have qualified for the basic 5 Band WAZ
K5TR 199 22 Award:
K7UR 199 34
Callsign 5BWAZ # Date # Zones
Filling Out Your QSLs KZ4V
N3UN
199
199
26
18
JO4JDU 2397 08/06/2022 178
NØYY 2398 08/06/2022 184
This should be fairly basic, it should N4NX 199 26
AJ6V 2399 08/06/2022 156
N4WW 199 26
include: Call, date of QSO, UTC time of N4XR 199 27
K9BO 2400 08/14/2022 158
JR1VAY 2401 08/14/2022 182
N6PF 199 23 on 10M
W5CJF 2402 08/14/2022 151
N8AA 199 23
JR1SLU 2403 08/14/2022 175
N8DX 199 23
CQ DX Awards Program N8TR 199 23 on 10M
UT6CW
K1TZQ
2404
2405
08/19/2022
08/19/2022
161
156
RA6AX 199 6 on 10M
JI2IXA 2406 08/20/2022 184
New Award CW RU3DX 199 6
JH1BNC 2407 08/21/2022 198
N4RF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887 RWØLT 199 2 on 40M
RX4HZ 199 13 Updates to the 5BWAZ list of stations:
The basic award fee for subscribers to CQ is $6. For RZ3EC 199 1 on 40M
S58Q 199 31 Callsign 5BWAZ # Date # Zones
non-subscribers, it is $12. In order to qualify for the SM7BIP 199 31 NE1B 2370 5/6/2022 194
reduced subscriber rate, please enclose your latest SP9JZU 199 19 on 10M JF3VEC 2365 4/26/2022 156
CQ mailing label with your application. Endorsement USØSY 199 1 on 15M DJ6LZ 2321 9/23/2021 198
stickers are $1.00 each plus SASE. Updates not VK3HJ 199 34 NE1B 2370 5/6/2022 196
involving the issuance of a sticker are free. All VO1FB 199 19 UN9L 2150 8/7/2019 195
updates and correspondence must include an W1FJ 199 24 W6RW 2005 5/2/2018 199
SASE. Rules and application forms for the CQ DX W1FZ 199 26 EA3EQT 1005 5/9/1996 189
Awards may be found on the <www.cq-amateur- W3LL 199 18 on 10M N7TY 2098 12/21/2018 179
radio.com> website, or may be obtained by sending W3NO 199 26
a business-size, self-addressed, stamped envelope W4LI 199 26 New recipients of 5 Band WAZ with all 200 Zones
W6DN 199 17 confirmed:
to CQ DX Awards Manager, Please make checks W6RKC 199 21
payable to the Award Manager, Keith Gilbertson. W6RW 199 22 on 10M
5BWAZ # Callsign Date All 200 #
Mail all updates to Keith Gilbertson, KØKG, 21688 W6TMD 199 34 None
Sandy Beach Lane, Rochert, MN 56578-9604 USA. W9OO 199 18 on 10M
We recognize 341 active countries. Please make all Rules and applications for the WAZ program may be obtained
W9XY 199 22
by sending a large SAE with two units of postage or an address
checks payable to the award manager. Photocopies 9A5I 198 1, 16
label and $1.00 to: WAZ Award Manager, Jose Castillo,
of documentation issued by recognized national DL6JZ 198 1, 31
N4BAA, 6773 South State Road 103, Straughn, IN 47387. The
Amateur Radio associations that sponsor interna- EA5BCX 198 27, 39
processing fee for the 5BWAZ award is $10.00 for subscrib-
tional awards may be acceptable for CQ DX award F5NBU 198 19, 31
ers (please include your most recent CQ mailing label or a
credit in lieu of having QSL cards checked. Docu- F6DAY 198 2 on 10M & 15M
copy) and $15.00 for nonsubscribers. An endorsement fee of
G3KDG 198 1, 12
mentation must list (itemize) countries that have G3KMQ 198 1, 27
$2.00 for subscribers and $5.00 for nonsubscribers is charged
been credited to an applicant. Screen printouts from HB9FMN 198 1 on 80M & 10M
for each additional 10 zones confirmed. Please make all
eQSL.cc that list countries confirmed through their checks payable to Jose Castillo. Applicants sending QSL cards
I1EIS 198 1 & 19 on 10M
system are also acceptable. Screen printouts listing to a CQ checkpoint or the Award Manager must include return
JA1DM 198 2, 40
countries credited to an applicant through an elec- postage. N4BAA may also be reached via email: <n4baa@cq-
JA3GN 198 2 on 80M & 40M
amateur-radio.com>.
tronic logging system offered by a national Amateur JA7MSQ 198 2 on 80M & 10M
Radio organization also may be acceptable. Contact JH1BNC 198 2 on 80M & 10M *Please note: Cost of the 5 Band WAZ Plaque is $100 shipped
the CQ DX Award Manager for specific details. JH1EEB 198 2, 33 within the U.S.; $120 all foreign (sent airmail).

98 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 CQ DX Honor Roll
The CQ DX Honor Roll recognizes those DXers who have submitted proof of confirmation with 275 or more
ACTIVE countries. With few exceptions, the ARRL DXCC Countries List is used as the country standard.
The CQ DX Award currently recognizes 340 countries. Honor Roll listing is automatic when an application
is received and approved for 275 or more active countries. Deleted countries do not count and all totals are
adjusted as deletions occur. To remain on the CQ DX Honor Roll, annual updates are required. All updates
must be accompanied by an SASE if confirmation of total is required. The fee for endorsement stickers is
$1.00 each plus SASE. (Stickers for the 340 level and Honor Roll are available.) Please make checks payable
to the Award Manager, Keith Gilbertson. Mail all updates to Keith Gilbertson, KØKG, 21688 Sandy Beach
Lane, Rochert, MN 56578-9604 USA.

CW

DL3DXX..........339 N4NX ..............339 W7IIT ..............337 AB4IQ ............327 WA4DOU........312

HB9DDZ .........339 N5ZM..............339 K8ME..............336 K6CU ..............326 YO9HP ...........312 Photo A, Example of verification stamp
K4IQJ..............339 N7FU ..............339 W6OUL...........336 KE3A ..............326 W6WF.............309 that is used on QSL cards.
K9MM .............339 N7RO..............339 JA7XBG..........335 EA5BY ............325 KT2C ............. 307
N4MM .............339 NØFW ............339 F6HMJ ............334 KA3S ..............325 K4DGJ ............307
WB4UBD ........339 OK1MP ...........339 K1FK...............334 K7CU ..............324 W4ABW ..........306 QSL if they are pre-made cards. If there
WS9V .............339 W3GH.............339 K9OW ............334 N3RC..............324 K7ZM ..............305 is room, use the abbreviation for the
EA2IA .............339 W4OEL ...........339 PY2YP ............334 N7WO.............324 HA5LQ............301
F3TH...............339 W5BOS...........339 WG5G/ KEØA..............322 RN3AKK .........300
month rather than a number: JAN, FEB,
K2FL .............. 339 W7CNL ...........339 QRPp..........334 YT1VM............322 WA9PIE ..........298 MAR, APR, etc. This will avoid confusion
K2TQC............339 W7OM ............339 WD9DZV ........334 4Z5SG ............321 K4IE................295 between the variations of month / day /
K3JGJ.............339 W8XD .............339 K2OWE...........333 N2LM ..............321 YU1YO ...........295
K3UA ..............339 WK3N .............339 K5UO..............333 ON4CAS.........321 WA2VQV ........292
year or day / month / year that often
K4CN ..............339 WØJLC ...........339 N6AW .............333 W2OR.............320 4XIVF..............286 occur.
K4JLD.............339 WØVTT...........339 W4MPY ..........333 HB9DAX/ K6YR ..............284 Always use UTC time. For frequency,
K4MQG...........339 YU1AB............339 K6LEB ............331 QRPp...........319 PP7LL ............282 use whatever format is set up on the
K5RT ..............339 K8SIX .............338 K9VKY ............331 W6YQ ............319 WR7Q.............282
K7LAY ............339 KA7T...............338 N7WO.............331 HA1ZH............318 N2VW .............280 QSL. If it says BAND, then use 30 for
K7VV ..............339 WA5VGI..........338 OK1DWC........331 N4RF ..............318 K4EQ ..............280 10 MHz for example. If it says FREQ or
K8LJG.............339 W9RPM ..........338 K6YK ..............329 N6PEQ ...........318 W8BLA ...........280 MHZ, then enter 10.1 for 30 meters for
N4AH ..............339 G3KMQ...........337 W9IL ...............329 CT1YH............316 WB5STV.........277
N4CH..............339 KØKG .............337 IKØADY ..........328 EA3ALV ..........315 YO6HSU.........275 example. Another band that is particu-
N4JF ...............339 W1DF .............337 OZ5UR ...........328 RA1AOB .........313 larly important to write correctly is 17
meters. If the format is FREQ or MHZ,
SSB
then for 17 meters enter 18.1, clearly
AB4IQ.............340 OZ5EV ...........340 N7WR.............338 KC2Q .............331 IV3GOW.........312 adding the decimal point between the
DJ9ZB ............340 VE1YX............340 WA5VGI .........338 SV3AQR.........331 N8SHZ ...........312
DL3DXX .........340 VE2GHZ.........340 W2CC.............338 WØROB .........331 K7CU..............311
DU9RG...........340 VE2PJ ............340 W7FP .............338 W6OUL ..........331 OK1DWC .......311
EA2IA ............340 VE3MR...........340 W9IL...............338 XE1MEX.........331 KU4BP ...........310
EA4DO ...........340 VE3MRS ........340 N4FN..............337 KD5ZD ...........330 W6NW............310
HB9DDZ.........340
I8KCI ..............340
VE3XN ...........340
VK2HV ...........340
IØZV...............336
K3LC ..............336
WA4WTG .......330
WØYDB..........330
I3ZSX .............309
G3KMQ ..........308
Looking Ahead
IK1GPG..........340 W3AZD...........340 K8ME .............336 ZL1BOQ .........330 KA1LMR.........308
IN3DEI............340 W3GH ............340 EA3BMT.........335 AD7J ..............329 RA1AOB.........308 Here are some of the articles we’re
K2FL...............340 W4ABW..........340 F6HMJ............335 N3RC ............329 XE1MEX.........308 working on for upcoming issues of
K2TQC ...........340 W5BOS ..........340 HB9DQD ........335 VE7SMP.........329 IK5ZUK...........307
K3JGJ ............340 W6BCQ ..........340 IKØAZG..........335 WØULU..........329 IØYKN ............306 CQ:
K4CN..............340 W6DPD ..........340 IW3YGW ........335 CT1AHU.........328 XE1MW ..........305
K4IQJ .............340 W7BJN ...........340 OE2EGL.........335 N1ALR............328 K4IE ...............304 • Results: 2022 CQ WPX
K4JLD ............340 W7OM ............340 VK2HV ...........335 N2LM..............328 K4ZZR............304
K4MQG ..........340 W8ILC ............340 W4WX ............335 AE9DX ...........327 K7ZM .............303 CW Contest
K4MZU ...........340 W9SS .............340 WB3D.............335 K7HG .............327 4Z5FL/M.........302 • Results: 2022 CQWW
K5OVC ...........340 WB4UBD........340 AA4S ..............334 K6GFJ ............326 K7SAM ...........301 Foxhunting Weekend
K5RT ..............340 WK3N.............340 EA5BY............334 KE4SCY .........326 KA8YYZ .........301
K5TVC............340 WS9V .............340 K9OW.............334 KF4NEF .........325 4X6DK............298 • A Tiny Power Meter
K6YRA ...........340 XE1AE............340 PY2YP............334 W6WF ............325 K2HJB ............295
K7VV ..............340 YU3AA ...........340 VK4LC............334 W9GD ............325 F5MSB ...........293 Plus …
K8LJG ............340 JA7XBG .........339 W8AXI ............334 VE7EDZ .........324 W9ACE ..........291
K8SIX .............340 KØKG.............339 XE1J...............334 WA5UA ..........324 N3KV..............289
• My Dumbest Portable
K9MM.............340 W2FKF ...........339 CT3BM ...........333 F6BFI .............323 W6MAC..........289 Operations
KE5K ..............340 W4UNP ..........339 IK8CNT ..........333 ON4CAS ........323 N5KAE ...........283 • A Visit from “Sherlock”
KZ2P ..............340 W9RPM..........339 K8LJG ..........333 VE6MRT.........323 IZ1JLG ...........282
N4CH .............340 EA3EQT .........338 N6AW.............333 W5GT.............323 WA9PIE..........282
• Strange Radio Signals
N4JF...............340 K3UA..............338 OE3WWB.......333 N6PEQ ...........322 WD8EOL ........281
N4MM.............340 K7LAY ............338 WD9DZV ........333 W4MPY ..........322 IWØHOU ........277 Upcoming Special Issues
N5ZM .............340 K9HQM ..........338 AA1VX............332 K8IHQ ............321 AKØMR ..........276 December: Technology
N7BK..............340 KM2P .............338 KE3A ..............332 KW3W ............320 NØAZZ ...........275
N7RO ............340 N4NX..............338 N2VW.............332 TI8II ................320 SQ7B..............275 February: QRP
NØFW ............340 YU1AB ...........338 N5YY..............332 YO9HP ...........320 June: Take it to the Field
OK1MP...........340 4Z4DX ............338 W1DF .............332 XE1RBV .........317
OZ3SK ...........340 K1UO .............338 K5UO .............331 N7YB..............315
Do you have a hobby radio story
RTTY to tell? Something for one of our
specials? CQ covers the entire
NI4H. . . . . . . . 338 OK1MP . . . . . 337 W3GH . . . . . . 333 N4MM . . . . . . 302 radio hobby. See our writers’ guide-
WB4UBD . . . . 338 K4CN . . . . . . . 334 K3UA . . . . . . . 332 K4IQJ . . . . . . . 300
WK3N. . . . . . . 338 K8SIX. . . . . . . 334 AB4IQ . . . . . . 323 K8ME . . . . . . . 278
lines on the CQ website at
N5ZM . . . . . . . 338 W9RPM . . . . . 334 K4WW . . . . . . 323 IN3YGW. . . . . 275 <http://bit.ly/2qBFOdU>.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 99

18 and the 1. If it is for 160 meters, then enter 1.8. Again,
CLEARLY add the decimal point properly. When designing
your QSLs, I strongly suggest selecting the band format in
order to mostly avoid these issues. MODE and SIG report
should be self-explanatory.
Finally, I like to use a QSL verification stamp on all QSLs
that I send out. This is more important on the rarer DX enti-
ties but not specifically required. I think it adds a nice touch
to the QSL knowing who confirmed your QSO. These are
also available in Xstamper format and can be personalized.
These stamps were always handled by Spence, W9XR, but
he has retired from the business. However, he now sends
people to the Rubber Stamp Warehouse <https://tinyurl.
com/3zs7hf3e>. See Photo A for an example.
I hope that some of these pointers might help you enjoy a
very old and valued slice of this fabulous hobby of ours. QSL
collecting may not be for everybody, but it is still extremely
important to many of us and as such, I ask everyone to at
least find a way to confirm a QSO with a QSL if asked to do
so. It is the final courtesy of a QSO.

Incoming QSL Bureaus for the U.S. and Territories

W, AA-AL, K, N:
W1: YCCC, P.O. Box 73, Marlborough, MA 01752 – 0073
W2: North Jersey DX Association, Box 599, Morris Plains, NJ 07950
W3: National Capitol DX Association, POB 1149, Clinton, MD 20735-5149
W4: Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167
W5: W5 Incoming Bureau, P.O. Box 1060, Mounds, OK 74047
W6: 6th District Incoming QSL Bureau, P.O. Box 7488, Stockton, CA 95267-0488
W7: Willamette Valley DX Club, PO Box 1288, Battle Ground, WA 98604-4687
W8: W8 QSL Bureau, P.O. Box 307, West Chester, OH 45071-0307
W9: NIDXA, P.O. Box 125, Naperville, IL 60566
WØ: WØ QSL Bureau, P.O. Box 907, Florissant, MO 63032
KG4X2: Guantanamo Bay Via SPARC, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167
KH2: Guam QSL Bureau, Marina ARC, P.O. Box 445, Agana, Guam, 96932
KH3: Box 73, APO, AP 96558
KH6-7: KH6 Hawaii QSL Bureau, c/o Ned Conklin, KH7JJ, 2969 Kalalaua Ave., #1004, Honolulu HI 96815 USA
KL: Box 520343, Big Lake, AK 99652 USA
KP2: V.I. QSL Bureau, Virgin Islands QSL Bureau, P.O. Box 25782 Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 00824
KP3-4: Puerto Rico QSL Bureau, Box 9021061, San Juan, PR 00902-1061
SWL: c/o M. Witkowski, 4206 Nebel Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481

DX World Guide-4th Edition

by Franz Langner, DJ9ZB
This is the fourth edition of Franz
Langer’s series of books bearing
the title DX World Guide. This
380-page, fourth edition, full color
throughout, includes information
on well
over 300 DX entities.
Whether used as a desk refer-
ence for the DXer of any level of
proficiency or as a “wish book”
for DXers just starting his or
her DXCC journey, the new
DX World Guide is a worthy
and pleasant companion!

6 X 9 Paperback – $49.95
CD Version–$34.95
uy both for only $68.95
Bu
Plus applicable shipping and handling charge. Single item shipping
charge applies when you purchase both the book and CD together.

CQ Communications, Inc.
516 681-2926
http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com

100 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 contesting
BY TIM SHOPPA,* N3QE

ARRL Sweepstakes 2022: Evolutionary and Revolutionary

Rule Changes
Plus: Putting the Panadapter to Work in Your Contest Station

T
he ARRL has released new rules clusters, if you’re a Twitter user, you computer’s stream. Showing your fre-
for the upcoming 2022 November could announce the presence of some quency on live video stream while call-
Sweepstakes contests. The new of the more rare or interesting stations ing CQ could be considered “solicitat-
version, 1.06, can be found at <https:// you hear on the air, especially when they ing” callers, prohibited by PROH.3. The
bit.ly/3Q0EQ1B>. Let’s run through the are DX entities (e.g., Puerto Rico and definition of spotting assistance in the
evolutionary and revolutionary changes Virgin Islands) or exotic locations like the 2022 Sweepstakes rules names sever-
in this set of rules compared to last year. Canadian Northwest Territories. al modern sources, including “social
Like all ARRL HF contests going for- What about “self-spotting,” which was media, live video streaming, etc.”
ward, the “low power” category is 100 teased as a rule change in the ARRL Another change I welcome in the def-
watts or less in the 2022 Sweepstakes. February 16, 2022 Contest Update bul- initions section, notes that: “Generating
This change away from the old 150-watt letin? Paul pointed out to me that solic- spotting information for other stations is
low power limit, had taken effect earli- itation of contacts via non-ham means, not considered to be spotting assis-
er this year in the ARRL DX contests. including social media and spotting net- tance.” This is the first spelling out of an
This regularizes the ARRL “low power” works, is still prohibited for all classes. explicit permission for operators in an
category with every other major contest The exact clause in the rules is: unassisted category to post spots to
in the world, and is a perfect match to “PROH.3. Arranging, soliciting, or con- spotting networks (Telnet clusters) dur-
the most common 100-watt class of HF firming any contacts during or after the ing the contest. If you are using a
transceiver that has been the entry contest by use of any non-amateur VE7CC-type cluster node, one way to
point into HF contesting for the past half radio means. All required elements of a reject all relevant spots while remaining
century. contact must be exchanged via ama- connected in order to post spots, is to
In a first-ever step for a major contest, teur radio.” issue the command “SET/FILTER
the ARRL now allows by explicit rule, If you are assisted and promoting con- DXBM/REJECT 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 80,
modern social media tools — including testing via live video streaming during 160”. At the end of the contest, remem-
chat rooms and video live streaming — the contest, be careful to avoid show- ber to do a “SET/NOFILTER” to restore
in the 2022 Sweepstakes. These are ing in the video stream your rig’s fre- normal spots.
allowed only for the Single Operator quency, either from the front display of Note that several changes in
Unlimited, School, and Multi-operator the rig or as a number or bandmap Canadian section names that were
categories. The exact text of the rule is: marker on a stream of your logging announced by the Radio Amateurs of
“HCAT.2.2. Entrants are permitted to
use social media, video live streaming,
and internet chat rooms.” ARRL Contest
Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE,
describes this change as, “mainly as a
way to promote amateur radio.”
I’m familiar enough with YouTube,
Twitter, and Facebook to propose sev-
eral ways to promote amateur radio and
contesting if you’re entering in a cate-
gory in which these media are allowed.
Facebook and YouTube users might
stream live video of their happy, enthu-
siastic face excitedly making QSOs all
across North America, as this seems
more dynamic than streaming a picture
of your computer logger’s screen.
Attach in the screen legend or provide
a link to the ARRL Sweepstakes infor-
mation at <www.arrl.org/sweepstakes>
to encourage watchers to get on the air
and join in on the fun. In addition to spot-
ting stations via the traditional Telnet
Table 1. 2022 vs. 2021 contest participation for seven major DX contests. The
“delta” columns represent growth (positive percentage) or loss (negative per-
email: <n3qe@cq-amateur-radio.com> centage) for total entries and appropriate geographic divisions.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 101

Canada effective in 2023, are not yet in effect for the 2022
ARRL November Sweepstakes. So don’t look for the Greater
Horseshoe (GH) and Territories (TER) this fall; these replace
GTA and NT beginning next year.
Contest Participation Gyrates Widely in 2022
I have written repeatedly about the peak in contesting activ-
ity from Spring 2020 onward, coinciding with hams “staying
safe” at home in the first phases of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here in 2022, statistics show that the coronavirus and its
many variants are still racking up many diagnosed cases; but
many restrictions have been lifted and folks are once again
spending more time out of their homes, so I was interested
to compare 2022 contest entry levels with 2021. Table 1 sum-
marizes entry statistics for seven contests held each year
from February through August.
The first two big contests of the year, the two ARRL DX
contests held in February and March 2022, increased in total
participation, with the strongest growth over 2021 coming
from North American hams in the SSB event. I come to the
conclusion that at least in these two contests, the lifting of
Covid restrictions did not appreciably drop on-air activity.
In a typical year, 20-30 Ukrainian stations would have sub-
mitted logs for ARRL DX SSB, but this year there were none
as Ukraine had halted amateur radio operations at the start
of the invasion just 9 days before the 2022 running. Total
European log submission in ARRL DX SSB increased slight-
ly over 2021, despite the loss of Ukrainian activities.

Calendar of Events
All year CQ DX Marathon http://bit.ly/vEKMWD
Oct. 1-2 California QSO Party www.cqp.org/Rules.html
Oct. 1-2 Oceania Phone DX Contest www.oceaniadxcontest.com
Oct. 1-2 SKCC QSO Party http://bit.ly/2Xl2vyx
Oct. 1-2 TRC DX Contest https://trcdx.org/rules-trc-dx/
Oct. 1-2 Worked all Provinces of China DX Contest bit.ly/3AE4d5B
Oct. 2 Peanut Power QRP Sprint www.nogaqrp.org
Oct. 2 RSGB DX Contest https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Oct 2 UBA ON 80M SSB Contest https://bit.ly/3kKYKzj
Oct. 3 German Telegraphy Contest https://bit.ly/3xzuPjw
Oct. 3 RSGB Autumn Series CW https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Oct. 5 432 MHz Fall Sprint https://svhfs.org/2022VHFSprintRules.pdf
Oct. 5 UKEICC 80m Contest SSB https://ukeicc.com/80m-rules.php
Oct. 5 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Oct. 6 SARL 80m QSO Party http://bit.ly/H0IqQf
Oct. 7-9 Nevada QSO Party http://nvqso.com/contest-rules
Oct. 8 QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party www.qrparci.org/contests
Oct. 8 Microwave Fall Sprint https://svhfs.org/2022VHFSprintRules.pdf
Oct. 8-9 Arizona QSO Party www.azqp.org
Oct. 8-9 Makrothen RTTY Contest http://bit.ly/2uZd6oF
Oct. 8-9 Oceania CW DX Contest www.oceaniadxcontest.com
Oct. 8-9 Pennsylvania QSO Party http://paqso.org
Oct. 8-9 PODSX 070 Club 160M Great Pumpkin Sprint http://bit.ly/2RUkcE6
Oct. 8-9 Scandinavian SSB Activity Contest ****CANCELED****
Oct. 8-9 South Dakota QSO Party https://sdqsoparty.com
Oct. 8-9 Veron SLP Contest http://bit.ly/2L9eT1L
Oct 9 UBA ON 80M CW Contest https://bit.ly/3kKYKzj
Oct. 10 10-10 Intl. 10-10 Day Sprint http://bit.ly/1FrFeBc
Oct. 12 RSGB Autumn Series Data https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Oct. 12 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Oct. 15 Feld Hell Spooky Sprint https://bit.ly/3g8gpxD
Oct. 15-16 10-10 Intl. Fall CW Contest http://bit.ly/1FrFeBc
Oct. 15-16 ARRL EME Contest www.arrl.org/eme-contest
Oct. 15-16 New York QSO Party www.nyqp.org
Oct.15-16 JARTS WW RTTY Contest http://jarts.jp/rules2022.html
Oct. 15-16 Worked All Germany Contest http://bit.ly/2uDQRSV
Oct. 16 Asia-Pacific CW Sprint http://jsfc.org/apsprint
Oct. 16 RSGB RoLo CW Contest https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Oct 16 UBA ON 2M Phone / CW Contest https://bit.ly/3kKYKzj
Oct. 16 Illinois QSO Party https://w9awe.org/ilqp
Oct. 17 RSGB FT4 Contest Series https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Oct. 17-21 ARRL School Club Roundup http://bit.ly/MaLmBs
Oct. 19 AGCW Semi-Automatic Key Evening http://bit.ly/2WB74qy
Oct. 19 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Oct. 21-22 Telephone Pioneers QSO Party http://tpqso.tparca.org
Oct. 22-23 Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge www.kkn.net/stew/stew_rules.html
Oct. 22-23 UK/EI DX Contest www.ukeicc.com/dx-contest-rules.php

102 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 The March 2022 running of WPX SSB showed a slight
growth in North American entrants compared to 2021 but a
sharp 26% drop in European entrants. The May 2022 WPX
CW exhibited drops in participation across the world, with
the largest reductions again coming from Europe. IARU HF
Championship participation dropped as well, but this time
the largest drop was in North American entrants. It’s possi-
ble that CQ’s limitations on Russian and Belarusian entrants
in 2022 WPX SSB and WPX CW impacted European inter-
est more than North American levels; additionally, many
civic-minded European hams were busy accommodating
fleeing Ukrainians.
The contest most profoundly affected by the Russian inva-
sion of Ukraine is shown at the bottom of Table 1. The March
2022 Russian DX contest, held just two days after the start
of the invasion, lost more than half its total entries compared
to 2021; this loss came via an amazingly sharp 77% drop in
non-Russian entries.
Boost Your Band Awareness and Scores with a
Waterfall on Your Rig
Panadapters with waterfalls showing recent spectrum usage
have become commonplace on rigs in the past four years.
Just to show the sharp growth, in the 2018 World Radiosport
Team Championship, only one-sixth of entrants brought a
panadapter (generally an external one) to the contest. Today,
even entry-class HF transceivers contain a panadapter with

Oct. 22-24 YLRL DX/NA YL Anniversary Contest https://ylrl.net/contests

Oct. 23 North American SSB Sprint Contest https://ssbsprint.com/rules
Oct.23-24 Fall Classic Exchange CW www.classicexchange.org
Oct. 25-26 Fall Classic Exchange CW www.classicexchange.org
Oct. 26 UKEICC 80m Contest CW https://ukeicc.com/80m-rules.php
Oct. 27 RSGB Autumn Series SSB https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Oct. 29-30 Veron SLP Contest http://bit.ly/2L9eT1L
Oct. 29-30 CQWW DX SSB Contest www.cqww.com/index.htm

Nov. 1 Silent Key Memorial Contest https://skmc.hu/en/rules.html

Nov. 2 UKEICC 80 Meter Contest SSB https://ukeicc.com/80m-rules.php
Nov. 2 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Nov. 5-6 IPARC Contest www.iparc.de
Nov. 5-6 Ukrainian DX Contest *****CANCELED****
Nov. 5-7 ARRL CW Sweepstakes www.arrl.org/sweepstakes
Nov. 6 High Speed Club CW Contest www.highspeedclub.org
Nov. 7 RSGB Autumn Series, Data https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Nov. 9 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Nov. 12 FISTS Saturday Sprint www.fistsna.org/operating.html#sprints
Nov. 12-13 10-10 Digital Fall Contest http://bit.ly/1FrFeBc
Nov. 12-13 ARRL EME Contest www.arrl.org/eme-contest
Nov. 12-13 CQ-WE Contest https://cqwe.cboh.org
Nov. 12-13 JIDX Phone Contest www.jidx.org
Nov. 12-13 OK/OM CW DX Contest http://bit.ly/19rrRjl
Nov. 12-13 Worked All Europe RTTY Contest https://bit.ly/36ubggF
Nov. 12-14 AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 Memorial QSO Party https://bit.ly/2FtzQEn
Nov. 12-14 PODXS070 Club Triple Play Low Band Sprint http://bit.ly/2Cq2yUA
Nov. 13 FIRAC HF Contest www.firac.de/html/contest.html
Nov. 13-14 Fall Classic Exchange CW www.classicexchange.org
Nov. 15-16 Fall Classic Exchange CW www.classicexchange.org
Nov. 16 RSGB Autumn Series, SSB https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Nov. 16 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Nov. 18 YO International PSK31 Contest www.yo5crq.ro/index.htm
Nov. 19 All Austrian 160M Contest https://bit.ly/3fgsiUo
Nov. 19 Feld Hell Turkey Sprint https://bit.ly/3asfcjj
Nov. 19 RSGB 2nd 1.8 MHZ Contest CW https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Nov. 19 SARL Newbie Party http://bit.ly/H0IqQf
Nov. 19-20 LZ DX Contest http://lzdx.bfra.bg/rulesen.html
Nov. 19-20 REF 160-Meter Contest https://bit.ly/3iHzsQU
Nov.19-20 SARL Field Day Contest http://bit.ly/H0IqQf
Nov. 19-21 ARRL SSB Sweepstakes www.arrl.org/sweepstakes
Nov. 19-21 AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 Memorial QSO Party https://bit.ly/2FtzQEn
Nov. 20 FISTS Sunday Sprint www.fistsna.org/operating.html#sprints
Nov. 20 Homebrew & Oldtime Equipment Party www.qrpcc.de/contestrules/hotr.html
Nov. 24 RSGB Autumn Series, CW https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Nov. 26-27 CQWW DX CW Contest www.cqww.com/index.htm
Nov. 28 RSGB FT4 Contest Series https://bit.ly/31qpcJl
Nov. 30 UKEICC 80 Meter Contest CW https://ukeicc.com/80m-rules.php

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 103

waterfall. In the spring of this year, I
bought my first rig with a built-in
panadapter, and have been thinking
critically about the most effective way to
set it up to make it useful in the heat of
a contest. This month I’ll be applying the
five principles in Edward Tufte’s book,
The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information, toward optimizing our
panadapter and waterfall displays. You
can learn more about the high-informa-
tion-content style extolled by Tufte in his
books and presentations through his
website: <www.edwardtufte.com>.
Tufte’s number one principle, “above all
else show data,” is met by first setting up
your station with a panadapter and water-
fall. This comes with most modern HF
rigs; if you have an older rig, it likely can
be interfaced to an external panadapter
(such as the Elecraft K4) or a tiny SDR
attached by USB to your computer.
Tufte’s second principle, “maximize
the data-ink ratio,” tells you optimize the
bandwidth displayed on your screen. I
find that 20-kHz width is useful for the
biggest and densest CW contests, in Figure 1. Typical patterns you’ll see on a panadapter’s waterfall display in a SSB
which four stations may be occupying contest. The dark blue background represents background noise, and different
each kHz, allowing up to 80 active fre- colors represent different signal strengths as shown on a typical false-color water-
quencies to be displayed. In SSB con- fall configuration.
tests, you’ll want to run your panadapter
much wider, often 100 kHz, to show a
similar number of wider-bandwidth SSB
traces. In a smaller-scale event, like a trum and did not have a waterfall, this the band, say under 20 kHz in CW or 50
state QSO party with a more restricted can be a difficult leap. It’s a leap you kHz in SSB. The CURSOR setting is the
range of frequencies expected to have must take, though, because the history most useful of all: I can tune around the
activity, choosing your displayed width of the frequency’s usage over the past band and the waterfall history remains.
to be a smaller chunk of spectrum is minute is much more valuable informa- If I QSY outside the current visual range,
entirely appropriate. tion than an average of recent usage. my rig skews the display, so I’ll often
If your rig or software can remember And Tufte’s fifth principle, “revise and make a big jump up in frequency and
spectrum width and level settings per edit,” requires you to learn the finer set- then start tuning up again from the bot-
band, this is optimal for rapid band tings of your panadapter. The most tom. Other panadapters (notably the
changes in a multi-band contest. important I have found is the scrolling Elecraft P3) “page over” to a new band
Settings will often be radically different rate of the waterfall. For contesting pur- segment, which is at first blank but soon
for the high-background noise and nar- poses, you need at least 20 seconds of fills in with waterfall history. In either
row slice of 160 meters that may be in waterfall history to identify usage of a convention, you’ll be able to quickly
play, than for a packed 15-meter band frequency, as a typical CQ loop might adapt to the CURSOR mode.
during solar maximum. repeat every 5-8 seconds and you’ll Figure 1 shows several important
“Erase non-data-ink,” Tufte’s third need at least two cycles of CQing on the waterfall patterns you’ll soon recognize
principle, is achieved by maximizing the screen to identify the different patterns from a sideband contest, in this case
fraction of the screen showing the you’ll be seeing as you explore the illustrated as a slice of the 10-meter
waterfall and minimizing other display spectrum. If your panadapter can show phone band. With 30 seconds of histo-
icons. On my FTDX101D, I find that acti- a longer timespan of spectrum usage, ry displayed, you can see the alternat-
vating the “EXPAND” button shrinks the you may want to expand to a minute or ing intensities of 28.503 MHz illustrat-
meters at the top and increases the more of waterfall history. ing a recently completed QSO followed
amount of display for the waterfall. Also under “revise and edit,” I include by a CQ. The pattern shown on 28.506
Tufte’s fourth principle, “erase redun- the proper choice of how the visual rep- MHz may be a station who called CQ a
dant data-ink,” leads me to recommend resentation responds when you tune few times and moved to a different
reducing the amount of the display your main VFO around. On my band, or (especially with “long skip”)
showing the spectrum, and maximizing FTDX101D, there are three choices: may have been a search and pounce
the amount showing the waterfall. In CENTER, CURSOR, and FIX. The station on a frequency owned by a
fact, shrinking the spectrum so it CENTER setting on my rig is the least CQing station too far inside your skip
becomes the as narrow in height as useful; turning the VFO skews the zone. The mechanically repetitive pat-
Tufte’s “sparklines” (see his website) is waterfall history. The FIX setting is use- tern on 28.509 MHz is typical of a sta-
optimal. For those who grew up with the ful if all activity will be confined to a rea- tion running their CQ loop, and intend-
panadapters of old that only had a spec- sonably small and predictable portion of ing to keep it occupied.

104 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 A number of non-contest transmis-
sions will make themselves visible on
your waterfall as patterns not typical of
contesting activity. On a phone band,
the solid band at 28.512 MHz may rep-
resent an ongoing ragchew or phone
net; in the CW segment, similar closely
spaced solid bands may represent fre-
quencies used for one-way digital
modes (e.g. WSPR and WSJT) and
wider bands with varying long / short
patterns may represent automatic digi-
tal modes used for traffic handling. With
a panadapter at a wide enough setting,
you’ll be able to visualize activity past
these non-contest activities and make
full use of the band.

October and November

Contest Highlights
Exercise your SSB equipment and skills
in on the evening of October 22nd (North
American time) with the SSB Sprint.
Rapid band changes and the required
QSY in this four-hour contest make it
the liveliest phone event you’ll ever find.
Find full rules and operating tips at
<https://ssbsprint.com>.
After that practice, you and your sta-
tion will be ready for the largest contest
of all, the CQ World Wide DX SSB con-
test, spanning the 48-hour weekend of
October 29th and 30th. Through summer
2022, the solar flux has gone through
wild gyrations; activity on 15 meters will
likely be in play for extended periods Last Year, our members worked thousands of hours for

NO PAY
and, depending on propagation condi-
tions, 10 meters might reward you with
just a sliver of multipliers or hours of non-
stop QSOs. A major DXpedition, J28MD
to Djibouti, is planned for this weekend. And this year are well on their way to doing
Full contest details and a FAQ are at
<www.cqww.com>.
The very next weekend, November 5-
th
6 , switch to domestic activity in the
granddaddy of all North American con-
EVEN MORE!
tests, the ARRL CW Sweepstakes. If
entering assisted, the final hours of this
WHY?
contest, when activity slows down Because they are giving back to their communities! They are
painfully, is the perfect time to hit social
media and stir up activity for all entrants. helping with civic events, motorist assistance AND MORE,
The SSB Sweepstakes follows two
weekends later, November 19-20th.
yes even emergencies and disasters, if needed!
The ARRL has rules and a detailed
information packet at <www.arrl.org/ CONTACT
sweepstakes>.
The last weekend of November, has REACT INTERNATIONAL
the CQ World Wide DX CW contest. 301-316-2900
Again see <www.cqww.com> for more
information, and follow NG3K’s calen- Or write to
dar at <https://bit.ly/3KvK5FE> for an- REACT INTERNATIONAL
nouncements of DXpeditions that will P.O. Box 21064, Dept CQ100
spice up the search for rare multipliers Glendale, CA 91221
in the CW event.
RI.HQ@REACT Intl.org

www.cq-amateur-radio.com October 2022 • CQ • 105

 propagation
BY TOMAS HOOD,* NW7US

Sunspot Cycle 25 Progression: Impressive

Quick Look at Current Cycle 25 Conditions: One Year Ago:
(Data rounded to nearest whole number) (Data rounded to nearest whole number)

Sunspots: Sunspots:
Observed Monthly, July 2022: 93 Observed Monthly, July 2021: 36
12-month smoothed, January 2022: 60 12-month smoothed, January 2021: 17

10.7-cm Flux: 10.7-cm Flux:

Observed Monthly, July 2022: 126 Observed Monthly, July 2021: 81
12-month smoothed, January 2022: 105 12-month smoothed, January 2021: 77

S
olar and geomagnetic activity increased as expected Stay tuned to this column for additional updates and
during August (this column went to press early in forecasts.
September). Solar activity ranged from very low to
moderate levels during the end of August, starting with the October Shortwave Propagation
flare activity originating from Active (Sunspot) Region A change in propagation conditions in the Northern
(AR) 3085 as reported by the National Oceanic and Hemisphere can be observed as we move away from the
Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction long sunlit days of summer into the longer hours of winter’s
Center (NOAA / SWPC). Activity levels picked up on darkness. With the shorter period of sunlight each day, the
August 25th with weak M-class (R1-Minor) activity recorded ionosphere has more time during the dark hours to lose the
from AR 3088 and AR 3089. energy created during daylight hours. This affects the prop-
A further increase in activity was observed on August 26th agation of radio signals by lowering the Maximum Usable
with moderate flaring (R2-Moderate) from AR 3089 in the Frequency (MUF) over many areas of the Earth. However,
form of an M7.2 flare. Then, August 27th saw four M-class the change in the length of daily darkness is not the only influ-
flares from AR 3088, the largest an M4.8, with associated
Type II and Type IV Sweeps and a 130 SFU (Solar Flux Unit)
10.7-cm burst.
LAST-MINUTE FORECAST
R2-Moderate flare activity was then observed on August
Day-to-Day Conditions Expected for October 2022
28th in the form of an M6.7 flare. Associated with this event Expected Signal Quality
was a Type IV Sweep and an 1,800-SFU 10.7-cm burst. Propagation Index (4) (3) (2) (1)
Above Normal: A A B C
Throughout the latter half of the highlight period, a variety 6, 8-10, 16-20, 22,
of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) were seen lifting off the 26-27
High Normal: A B C C-D
Sun’s southwestern limb as observed by LASCO and 4, 7, 14-15, 21,
STEREO coronagraph imagery. These delivered weak 23-25, 31
Low Normal: B C-B C-D D-E
glancing blow effects to Earth. 3, 5, 13, 30
The greater than 10 MeV at 10-pfu protons reached event Below Normal: C C-D D-E E
1, 12, 28
levels (Solar Storm level S1-Minor) the last week of August, Disturbed: C-D D E E
because of a long duration M1.2 flare from AR 3088. This 2, 11, 29
degrades HF propagation, especially over polar regions. Where expected signal quality is:
Active Region 3088 continued to produce multiple M-class A--Excellent opening, exceptionally strong, steady signals greater than S9
B--Good opening, moderately strong signals varying between S6 and S9, with little fading or
solar flares (R1-R2 radio blackouts) as it rotated out of view noise.
by the end of August. The largest of these flares was an M8 C--Fair opening, signals between moderately strong and weak, varying between S3 and S6,
with some fading and noise.
flare on August 29th, one of many additional flares including D--Poor opening, with weak signals varying between S1 and S3, with considerable fading and
noise.
an M4, M3, and a long duration M2 flare. E--No opening expected.
Effects from these events included limited blackouts of HF
radio communication on the sunlit side of the Earth, loss of HOW TO USE THIS FORECAST
radio contact for tens of minutes, and/or degradation of low- 1. Using the Propagation Charts appearing in “The CQ Shortwave Propagation Handbook,
4th Edition,” by Carl Luetzelschwab, George Jacobs, Theodore J. Cohen, and R. B. Rose.
frequency navigation signals for tens of minutes. The dis- a. Find the Propagation Index associated with the particular path opening from the
ruption to the ionosphere had a noticeable impact on ama- Propagation Charts.
b. With the Propagation Index, use the above table to find the expected signal quality asso-
teur radio signals, causing fading or even complete blackout ciated with the path opening for any given day of the month. For example, an opening shown
of propagation at certain frequencies. in the Propagation Charts with a Propagation Index of 3 will be poor to fair on October 1st, poor
on October 2nd, fair to good on October 3rd, good on October 4th, and so forth.
2. Alternatively, you may use the Last-Minute Forecast as a general guide to space weath-
er and geomagnetic conditions throughout the month. When conditions are Above Normal, for
* P.O. Box 110 example, the geomagnetic field should be quiet, and space weather should be mild. On the
Fayetteville, OH 45118 other hand, days marked as Disturbed will be riddled with geomagnetic storms. Propagation of
radio signals in the HF spectrum will be affected by these geomagnetic conditions. In general,
Email: <nw7us@nw7us.us> when conditions are High Normal to Above Normal, signals will be more reliable on a given
@NW7US (https://Twitter.com/NW7US) path, when the ionosphere supports the path that is in consideration. This chart is updated daily
at <https://SunSpotWatch.com> provided by NW7US.
@hfradiospacewx (https://Twitter.com/HFRadioSpaceWX)

106 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

T he S h or t wa v e
P ro p a ga t io n
H a n d b o o k - 4t h E di t i on
Your indispensable guide to HF propagation
for the new sunspot cycle!
Fully updated and expanded to include the latest
propagation forecasting tools, as well as our time-tested
“analog” tables for making your own customized
predictions, the 4th edition of The CQ Shortwave
Propagation Handbook is a must-have resource for any
DXer, contester or emergency communicator.
This 8.5 x 11, full-color title explains the many ways in
which radio signals can travel long distances and how
to use this knowledge to maximize your DX success.
Also, includes sections on low-frequency and VHF/UHF
propagation in addition to its main focus on
shortwave (HF) propagation. Finally, it’s all in plain
English with a focus on practical applications, making it
a valuable reference for the ham radio DXer as well as
the ionospheric scientist and anyone in between.
This fourth edition was spearheaded by propagation
authority Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, merging his
updates with the earlier work of the previous editions’
authors, Dr. Theodore Cohen, N4XX, George Jacobs,
W3ASK, and Robert Rose, K6GKU (SK).

So don’t miss your opportunity to take full

advantage of Solar Cycle 25 as it brings life
back to our shortwave bands!

Order Your Copy Today! By

208-page Paperback—Only $42.95 Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA
Book on CD—$32.95 Theodore J. Cohen, N4XX
Buy Both the Paperback and CD—Only $61.95 George Jacobs, W3ASK
Robert B. Rose, K6GKU (SK)
Plus applicable shipping!

CQ Communications, Inc.
Phone: 516-681-2922 http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com
ence on the propagation of radio waves through the atmos-
phere. The amount and strength of radiation arriving and
passing through our atmosphere varies from season to sea-
son, as well as from the solar cycle minimum to maximum.
During the Northern Hemisphere’s winter months, the Earth
is closer to the Sun than during any other time of its orbit.
This makes the daytime ionization more intense than that of
summer daytimes. In turn, this higher-level energy during the
day causes the average MUF to increase slightly as com-
pared with the same time of day during the summer, over the
same radio signal path.
Then, with the longer winter hours of darkness, the ionos-
phere has more time to lose its electrical charge. This causes
the MUF to dip lower at night than during the summer months.
These conditions cause a wide daily variation in the maxi-
mum frequency that can be propagated by refraction of the
radio waves by the wintertime ionosphere. Many radio enthu-
siasts celebrate the arrival of the winter shortwave season
for these reasons.
Signal propagation on the 160-meter band is improving,
with nighttime paths growing longer in the Northern
Hemisphere. Seasonal static, which makes it difficult to hear
weak DX signals, is starting to decrease as we move into
winter. Expect DX openings during the hours of darkness and
into the sunrise period. These openings will often be weak
due to the relatively high signal absorption during the expect-
ed elevated geomagnetic storminess through the rest of this
year. Look for openings from Europe and the south if you are
listening in the eastern half of the U.S., and from the south,
the Far East, Australasia, and the South Pacific if you are in
the western half of the country. The best propagation aid is
a set of sunrise and sunset curves, since DX signals tend to
peak when it is local sunrise at the easterly end of the path
in question. A good website featuring a gray-line map display
is found at <www.fourmilab.ch/earthview>. Follow the link,
“map of the Earth” showing the day and night regions.
Seventy-five and 80 meters will be coming alive for DXing
in late October. Expect long-range DX on these low bands,
starting right after sunset, and extending farther as the night
develops. Signals here should peak from Europe and from a
generally easterly direction around midnight. DX paths will
move farther west through the night. By morning, openings
from Asia should be common. For openings in a generally
western direction, expect a peak just after sunrise. The

Figure 1. The top plot shows the background X-ray flux which represents X-ray flare energy (as detected near Earth) as
well as sunspot X-ray radiation. As can be seen, there were a few days toward the end of August 2022 when flare activity
picked up (see text). The bottom plot is of the Planetary K (Kp) Index which represents the Earth’s geomagnetic activity
level. When the Kp Index is 5 or higher, the geomagnetic field is in a storm condition, which significantly lowers the Maximum
Usable Frequency of any given radio propagation path (between two stations, by way of the ionosphere). (Courtesy of
NOAA / Space Weather Prediction Center [SWPC])

108 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

Figure 2. In this view at the invisible wavelength of 131
Angstroms, we see the flash of X-ray flare activity on August
29, 2022. During the last weeks of August, the Sun became
much more active with X-ray flares, which caused a number
of minor radio blackouts on the sunlit side of the ionosphere
and Earth (see text). (Courtesy of SDO/AIA)
band should remain open from the south throughout most
of the night. Propagation on these bands is quite like that
expected on 40 meters, expect that signals will be some-
what weaker on average, noise levels will be a bit higher,
and the period for band openings in a particular direction
will be a bit shorter.
Forty meters should be the hottest DX band during the dark
hours as the seasonal static levels are lower than they were
during the summer. The band should be open first for
European DX in the eastern U.S. during the late afternoon.
Signals should increase in intensity as darkness approaches.
During the hours of darkness, expect good DX openings from
most areas of the world. Signals should peak from an east-
erly direction about midnight, and from a westerly direction
just after sunrise. Excellent openings toward the south should
be possible throughout most of the nighttime period.
Paths on 30 through 20 meters are becoming ever more
reliable between North America and Europe in the morn-
ing and between North America and Asia during the late
afternoon hours. The strongest openings occur for a few
hours after sunrise and during the sunset hours. These will
often remain open into many areas late into the night and
will open early in the morning, especially when part of the
propagation path moves through sunlit regions. Twenty
meters is expected to be an excellent band for medium dis-
tance (500 to 1,500 miles) reception during daylight hours.
Longer distance reception (up to 3,000 miles) should be
possible for an hour or two after local sunrise, and again
during the late afternoon and early evening. Thirty meters
will provide medium-distance daytime reception ranging
between 400 and 1,200 miles.
The 17-meter band will provide great daytime DX during
October, opening just before sunrise and remaining open
from all directions throughout the day, with a peak in the after-
noon. Nighttime conditions will favor openings from the south
www.cq-amateur-radio.com
Figure 3. This false-color gold image shows the Sun filtered
at 171 Angstroms, as seen on August 29, 2022 by SDO AIA.
The Sun has become quite active as we witness a faster rise
in solar activity as Solar Cycle 25 ramps up. This is great for
HF propagation, even providing a fair amount of 10-meter
activity (see text). (Courtesy of SDO/AIA)
and tropical areas. Since the Southern Hemisphere has
lengthening daylight hours, DX paths on these bands from
stations in the south will be common.
Seventeen through 10 meters will occasionally open
through October when flux levels reach above 100 (the high-
er, the better). Paths from Europe and the South Pacific as
well as from Asia, at least during days of higher solar flux lev-
els, are common, especially on 17 meters. Look for best con-
ditions from Europe and the northeast before noon and from
the rest of the world during the afternoon hours. Reception
from the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and the Far
East should be possible well into the early evening.
VHF Conditions
Conditions during October should include moderate levels of
trans-equatorial propagation (TE) in which stations in the
southern states and parts of the Caribbean will be able to work
into the northern areas of South America during the late after-
noon. During peak years of a solar cycle, October is one of
the best months for TE activity, especially later in the month.
While sporadic-E (Es) activity is sparse during October in
the northern Temperate Zone, where much of the U.S. is
located, there is some possibility of extended tropospheric
propagation conditions during October because of the chang-
ing weather patterns. Higher VHF is the best frequency range
to watch for this.
For a detailed list of meteor showers, check out <https://
tinyurl.com/f9v7fj2u> for a complete calendar of meteor
showers in 2022.
If you use Twitter.com, you can follow <@hfradiospacewx>
for hourly updates that include the K index numbers. You can
also check the numbers at <https://SunSpotWatch.com>,
where this columnist provides a wealth of current space
weather details as well as links. Please report your observa-
tions of any notable propagation conditions, by writing this
October 2022 • CQ • 109
columnist via Twitter, or via the Space I welcome your thoughts, questions, check out the CQ Amateur Radio mag-
Weather and Radio Propagation Face- and experiences regarding this fasci- azine fan page at <https://fb.me/
book page at <https://fb.me/spacewx. nating science of propagation. You may CQMag>. Also, please check out the
hfradio>. email me, write me a letter, or catch me new alternative social networking ham
on the HF amateur bands. If you are on radio group at <https://amateurhamra-
Current Solar Cycle Progress Facebook, check out <https://fb.me/ dio.locals.com> and please share this
The Royal Observatory of Belgium spacewx.hfradio> and <https://fb.me/ with your amateur radio friends and
reports that the monthly mean observed NW7US>. Speaking of Facebook — clubs. – 73, Tomas, NW7US
sunspot number for July 2022 is 93.03,
up from June’s 71.53 and May’s 92.45.
The 12-month running smoothed sun-
spot number centered on January 2022
is 59.5, up from December’s 55.1. A
smoothed sunspot count of 70, give or
take about 4 points is expected for
October 2022.
The Dominion Radio Astrophysical
Observatory at Penticton, BC, Canada,
reports a 10.7-cm observed monthly
mean solar flux of 125.62 for July 2022.
The 12-month smoothed 10.7-cm flux
centered on January 2022 is 105.0. The
predicted smoothed 10.7-cm solar flux
for October 2022 is 109, give or take 10
points.
Geomagnetic activity level this month
is expected to range from quiet to
stormy, resulting in occasional degrad-
ed propagation. Remember that you
can get an up-to-the-day Last-Minute
Forecast at <https://SunSpotWatch.
com> on the main page.

Oops…
In the July issue’s “Propagation” col-
umn, we should have run the April
sunspot and flux numbers but the May
numbers were already in and we ran
those instead. As we continue to tight-
en up our production schedule to get
the print issues back on time, we’re not
going to be able to reliably have those
numbers in time for each issue. So, in
this issue, we’re repeating the July
sunspot / flux numbers (normally pub-
lished in October but also published in
September this year) in order to get
back on our regular schedule. August
numbers will appear in November, as
they usually do. As for April, yes, there
were sunspots! And more than in
2021!
In last month’s “Digital Connection”
column (pgs. 68-71), we accidentally
swapped two very similar-looking
screenshots in Figures 4 and 5. In
case you hadn’t already figured this
out on your own, the caption for Figure
4 describes the image shown in Figure
5 and vice-versa. We apologize for
Figure 4. The current progression of the Sunspot Cycle 25 shows a continued
any confusion.
uptick in activity levels. With this increase comes more X-ray flare activity which
leads to short-duration radio blackouts. (Courtesy of NOAA/SWPC)

110 • CQ • October 2022 Visit Our Web Site

 ADVERTISERS’ INDEX
OCTOBER 2022
Advertiser Page
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AirBoss, Olah Technologies LLC .................71
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W7DXX Remote .........................................105
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Contact Dottie K, CQ’s Advertising Director
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Advertising Rates: Non-commercial ads are 20 cents per word including abbreviations and addresses. Commercial and organization ads are $1.00 per word. Boldface
words are $1.50 each (specify which words). Minimum charge $2.00. No ad will be printed unless accompanied by full remittance. All ads must be typewritten
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Closing Date: The 10th day in the third month preceding date of publication (example: Jan. 10th for the March issue). Because the advertisers and equipment con-
tained in Ham Shop have not been investigated, the Publisher of CQ cannot vouch for the merchandise listed therein. The publisher reserves the right to reject any
advertisement. Direct all correspondence and ad copy to: CQ Ham Shop, P.O. Box 1206, Sayville, NY, 11782 (e-mail: <hamshop@cq-amateur-radio.com>).
RF Connectors & Gadgets
Parts — Products — More
www.W5SWL.com
FLASH CARDS for all FCC Exams, Amateur and Commercial.
VIS Study Guides <www.visradio.com> 800-655-HAMS and
on Amazon Marketplace.
WWW.CABLEHELP.COM 160M antennas for small spaces.
(662) 332-8454.
For Sale: HF RADIO ICOM IC-78 TRANSCEIVER. New,
unused, perfect condition. Includes power supply. Make offer.
chuck_kaptain@wycliffe.org
WANNA START A RAG-CHEW WITH THE GENERAL PUB-
LIC ABOUT THE VALUE OF AMATEUR RADIO? Introduce
them to Harold, a ham who is trying to keep his day job post-
Pandemic, and his wife, Sabrina, who is hoping to keep her
yarn shop alive. SIDEWALK SALE ACROSS AMERICA,
available Amazon Kindle, paperback. Peg Nichols,
KD0VQO@arrl.net.
FOR S ALE Rare Collins KW-1, serial number 96. Only
150 made and it still works! $16,000 firm. Pictures upon
request. Contact Teressa: <Trjtwo@gmail.com> or via
telephone 805-878-1691.
Wanted: Original set of knobs for my Heathkit HW-8.
Paul, WBØMPG, 538 North Walnut, Wichita, KS 67203.
(316) 351-7717.
Wanted: Old slide rules for personal collection. Send
info to db_cunningham@hotmail.com
Morse Code on a CD. Just want A to Z and Zero to 9 in
code only. Contact Ronald (KD7FWC) (775) 962-5437.
AMECO A C-1 DIY K its: w ww.thenewameco.com
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Recognize the signature CW sounds of over 4000 words!
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Yaesu FT-100D (HF-VHF-UHF). Great mobile rig with
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Keychain QRP: Worlds Smallest HF Transmitter. Handmade
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GET THE F.C.C. “COMMERCIAL” RADIOTELEPHONE
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CallSign Stuff www.hamQRU.com KTØMMY
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QRP J-36: 1/2-Scale Microkey. Full-Functional “BUG” Made
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WANTED: IBM Model M, Space Saving Keyboard, Call KØKG,
(218) 850-1500 or email: <keith.gilbertson@q.com>.
AMATEUR RADIO ELECTRONICS: Home Study Software,
Apps, and eBooks $2.99. <www.eptsoft.com/HomeStudy
POLYESTER ROPE: excellent for antenna support and
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REAL HAMS DO CODE: Move up to CW with CW Mental Block
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112 • CQ • October 2022
hamshop
QSLing SUPPLIES. e-mail: <plumdx@msn.com>.
CASH FOR COLLINS, HALLICRAFTERS SX-88, & DRAKE
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418-9269, e-mail: <radioleo73@gmail.com>.
MicroLog by WAØH
Easy to use logging program.
Free download . . . www.wa0h.com
www.oldqslcards.com
OVERSEAS AIRMAIL POSTAGE plus complete line of airmail
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TOWER ACCESSORIES Gin Pole Kits – stand off brackets –
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Equipment Ltd., 708-337-8172, <http://www.w9iix.com/>.
HOMEBREW! “Recollections of a Radio Receiver” a 565 page
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DXPEDITION DVD VIDEOS: For full description and how to
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ARMS – Amateur Radio Missionary Net. Christian Fellowship
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“World of Keys – Keys III” book features highly detailed views
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HONDURAS DX VACATION: K3, Alpha 86, SteppIR, Meals,
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HY POWER ANTENNA COMPANY <http://www. freewebs.
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NEED ROPE? All kinds, types, including: antenna rope,
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HAWAII DX VACATION: SteppIR antennas, amplifiers, private.
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NEAT STUFF! DWM Communications: <http://qth.com/dwm>
PROMOTIONAL VIDEO: 15-minute DVD describes amateur
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WANTED: OLD QSL CARD COLLECTIONS. Collector seeks
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FT243 AND HC6U CRYSTALS: www.af4k.com
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HF Mobile or Fixed V irtual X Antenna Patent: For Sale or
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FOR SALE: Samlex Power Supply Model SEC 1223, 13.8V @
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