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Happy New Year, PRC members and friends!

As we begin this bright new year there’s no doubt that, like each of us, the PRC confronts challenges. But you can be certain that a club that’s more that 70 years old has seen numerous challenges over nearly three quarters of a century. I’m certain the club’s journey has seen numerous bends in the road and a myriad of steep ups and downs.

The Parma Radio Club’s challenges are not unique. Many amateur radio clubs in the area,as well as across the country, are experiencing similar difficulties. Why? There’s no single answer. For one, there are numerous changes occurring within our hobby daily, including new modes, undependable HF propagation, radio equipment design improvements. The list is endless.

In order to look ahead, it’s always a helpful to focus on what our members want from their club. Yes, they enjoy the social side of the hobby, meeting other people with similar interests. PRC members have long thought of their club as a source of learning and sharing the various technologies in there favorite hobby.

Recalling that “perfect vision” is often described as “20-20” I prefer to think that PRC’s 2020 should be about striving for a Perfect Vision of what our members and future members want. If we pursue Perfect Vision we can create a year of technical programs and activities that meet the interests and needs of everyone.

With that in mind, dedicated members huddled at recent meetings to develop a list of program topics for 2020 that is certain to impress you such as:

Introduction to the CW Skimmer Software, HF propagation, all about Radio Filters and how to use them, 6 meters – the magic band, Sunspots and Propagation, Building practical wire beams, the new VLF bands way down below the AM broadcast band, and more.

It’s going to be a great year with super programs, plus we’ll have our 8th annual Earth Day event on April 18th. Then on to Field Day in June, followed by a QRPicnic where we can eat AND play QRP radio!

Of course, to achieve our goals we have to have financial support through membership. If you haven’t yet sent in your dues, PLEASE do so today. The membership form is available on this site. Or click
Printable Member Application. As always, we sincerely appreciate your your support.

A change in our postings.

Call it a New Years resolution, I guess, but I’ve decided to reduce web site posting to once monthly where possible. The plan is to write a post like this one monthly about the upcoming month. That way you can better plan ahead.

2020 Program Schedule

We will soon post our 2020 Program Schedule. As they say “check this site”.

Meeting cancellations.

As in the past, the Busch Community room will be closed if there is a Parma School closing. If that occurs, we will try to notify you by text so you can avoid an inconvenient trip. Our best advice is you are in doubt, check a local TV station’s web site or other news source for school closing information. By the way, situations like this are why we ask on the member application if you receive texts.

Our January meetings

January 6 – We’ll finalize our program schedule followed by technical discussions and hopefully show and tells of new toys you might have received from Santa.

January 20 – An introduction to the popular software CW Skimmer. A terrific program for copying CW that is not without it’s controversies. Have you used this program in your station? We’d like to hear your experiences, opinions and comments about this program.

January Hamfest

Beat the winter doldrums at the Tusco Amateur Radio Club’s 30th Annual Hamfest, Electronics and Computer Show, Sunday, January 26th. Just $5 at the door. Main prize, a Yaesu FT 891 160-6 meters mobile transceiver. Check their web site for more information. Tusco Amateur Radio Club.

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2020 Board Appointed

At the past meeting officers for 2020 were appointed. All positions were elected by acclimation. President, Vice President and Secretary positions were filled by the incumbents and a the Treasurer position was filled by a new candidate who ran unopposed. So, I’m happy to say that the 2020 board then will be, left to right, Tom Pechnik AC8EH – Treasurer, Hal Rogers K8CMD – President – John Malloy KA8VTV – Secretary, Mike Marganski KE8HBK – Vice President.

Many thanks to Ken Osicki K8OAE for serving the PRC in 2019 and contributing his photography skills in the photo below and many more.

Final meeting

At our final meeting of the year, December 16, we’ll nail down our program line up for 2020. Please come prepared to suggest program topics that would interest you. Also, we have some proposals for the board to consider. So please be present to voice your opinion and cast your vote.to

At this time it appears we will continue the tradition of having a “Roll Out Dinner” in January to kick off 2020. The location has not yet been decided so we’re open for suggestions about your favorite eatery.

Dues are due

Please remember to re-up your dues for 2020. We appreciate your support of the PRC. As in the past, please include a new application for with your payment so that we can be sure your contact information is up to date. On your application, make a note about your particular ham interests and what you’d like the PRC to address in a program, an event or on a net. Your input is very much needed and appreciated.

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Hal Rogers K8CMD, President

Our elections are getting a late start this year. After a short illness on my part and ongoing other family matters, I’m back in action. The good news is that my wife’s 2nd knee surgery is coming along well, although not without a certain amount of pain and discomfort. She was able to drive today and that really makes a difference. I’m losing my designated driver status!

About elections: Our slate of candidates will look very familiar. While all officers are willing to run for another term, anyone interested in running for the office is certainly free to throw their hat in the ring. The Office of Treasurer is open and this time we have no candidate. This is a serious issue for the PRC because in order to be an ARRL sanctioned club all offices must be held member. And our constitution stipulates that the member must be a licensed amateur.

What’s required of the Treasurer? The responsibilities are fairly straight forward: Receive dues payments and deposit them in the bank. A couple times a year you might be asked to write a check on behalf of the PRC. Naturally, most receipts occur during the first quarter of the year.

This is a plea. If you want to see the PRC continue please give thought to stepping up for an office, particularly the office of Treasurer.

The candidates at present are:

Hal Rogers, K8CMD …. President Unopposed

Mike Marganski, KE8HBK … Vice President Unopposed

John Malloy, KA8VTV … Secretary Unopposed

OPEN … Treasurer

2020 Dues, now accepted

We’ve already been receiving payments for PRC 2020 dues. Those members are very much appreciated. Your support is greatly appreciated. Please take a minute to download the membership form and update your information.

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We are working on a re-issue of a tremendous memento. The trully fascinating 1962 Parma Radio Club Call Book. What a club project this was! All hand typed! The PRC Call Book is complete with more than 55 pages full of names, calls, favorite bands of NEO hams, area clubs (25!) and numerous nets, plus ads from all the popular amateur and electronics retailers. It even has authentic, hand written personal notes by former member Robert Morgan, K8RBV.

Thanks to Tom Pechnik, AC8EH for carefully printing this fragile document in PDF form so that we can be share it with you.

** SPECIAL BONUS ** We’re making the historic Parma Radio Club “1962 Call Book” available to eveyone whose dues we receive before December 20th. Don’t wait. Complete and send the link below today. You’ll really enjoy reminiscing as you browse through names and calls of friends and relatives, nets like “Chix on Six” and long gone ham radio suppliers.

2020 PRC Member Application

Looking Ahead

Members are looking forward to the 2020 Earth Day Special Event at Stearns Farm. Mark your calendar for April 18, our 8th Annual Day. Last year was undoubtedly the best ever. What fun it was to see all the young and curious visitors enjoying the activities and talking on the radio to hams locally and in Canada. I can’t wait to see what we come up with for 2020.

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Next Meeting

Hope that you and your family had a good Thanksgiving. There is much to discuss and decide at our next meeting, December 2nd.

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD President

At the last meeting VP Mike Marganski, KE8HBK brought a beautiful old broadcast/ shortwave receiver that he received from a fellow worker. At this time not much is known about the model name and maker. One thing we can see is that the radio is a TRF style.

The three gang variable capacitor is typical of tuned radio frequency receivers, the predecessor of the superhetrodyne. Can you help with identification? As you can see, just examining the chassis was a fun experience for everyone.

This all inspires me to share a vintage amateur radio photo book at the next meeting.

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Sharing knowledge is one of the greatest pleasures in this hobby. Our annual Homebrew Show and Tell meeting in October featured many neat projects, like high amperage rechargeable battery system built by Chuck Mehozonek, K8CVM. What beautiful work, Chuck.

Here Mike checks out one of Chucks smaller batteries.

Then, Rich Nagel, W8KU shared his home made balun. Again, beautiful work. You can’t buy’em like that.

And did I tell you about my latest iambic CW paddle? Nothing like Show and tell.

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Lot’s of important matters to discuss at the November 18th meeting. See you there.

Hal Rogers, K8CMD President

The 62nd Annual Jamboree On The Air will be held on the weekend of Oct 18-20th. Jamboree-on-the-Air, or JOTA, is the largest Scouting event in the world. It is held annually the third full weekend in October. JOTA uses amateur radio to link Scouts and hams around the world, around the nation, and in your own community. This jamboree requires no travel, other than to a nearby amateur radio operator’s ham shack. Many times you can find the hams will come to you by setting up a station at your Scout camporee, at the park down the block, or perhaps at a ham shack already set up at your council’s camp.

To find registered JOTA stations in your area visit https://k2bsa.net/registered-jamboree-on-the-air-stations. If you or your local club is planning a JOTA operation you can register it at https://k2bsa.net/jota-station-registration.   

For additional information on planning your JOTA operations visit:

• JOTA- www.scouting.org/jota
• JOTA- www.arrl.org/jamboree-on-the-air-jota
• JOTA- www.jotajoti.info
• JOTA- https://k2bsa.net/jota
• JOTA suggested frequencies 
• JOTA sample questions

For additional information on Scouting and Amateur Radio visit:

• Scouting & Amateur Radio- Ideas & Resources- tiny.cc/ar-scout 
• Radio Merit Badge
• Girls Scouts Radio Patch 
• Troop Program Feature: Radio

—
Anthony Luscre
K8ZTOhio Section Section Youth Coordinator & Education OutreachARRL – The National Association For Amateur Radio™ 
k8zt@arrl.net (best for Amateur Radio)

The Web Resource Hoarder- www.ZTLearn.com
K8ZT Radio Website- www.k8zt.com
Amateur Radio Resources for Students/Youth – www.k8zt.com/hry

Homebrew Show and Tell is coming!

I can honestly say that Homebrew Show and Tell is my favorite meeting of the year at the PRC. This is the evening many of us look forward to because it’s all about learning old and new technologies. How does it work. Simple. If you have a new toy or tech interest that interests you, bring it and share it with the group. It doesn’t have to be a homebrewed project. It doesn’t have to old or new. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a physical thing. We’re good with concepts. If it’s somewhat technical, we’re interested. See you Monday October 7th.

PRC is looking for a new web platform

At our previous meeting it was announced that the cost of using this web platform is becoming prohibitive for our group. Our pages are published using WordPress and various free plug-ins. We’re hosted by GoDaddy, who also secures for us the parmaradioclub domain name.

Because of the advertising we often hear promoting “free web sites” many people assume that web services are free or inexpensive. While there are some inexpensive web platforms, it is a business and free pages come with trade offs like banner advertising, very structured layouts limited publishing tools.

So this is a call to our members to inform us of web services you’re aware of that you think we should look at. Just write parmaradioclub@gmail.com. Thanks for your help.

Looking back at the Cleveland Hamfest

If you had the opportunity to attend the Cleveland Hamfest we’d be interested in your experience. Personally, I was tied down to a vendor booth. While I enjoyed the day, working a booth restricts your view of an event. So come and tell me what I missed.

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Hal Rogers K8CMD, President

We hope you had a good Labor Day. Here we are in the middle of September and still dealing with heat and heavy rain. It’s really been a strange year weather-wise (and in many other ways).

At our September 16th meeting we’ll take care of business and then have short session on a topic that is always interesting– hamfests. With the Cleveland hamfest approaching on Sunday September 22nd, let’s have a free-flowing discussion about how you “do hamfests.” Do you approach it with plan? A list of things you’re looking for or certain people you want to catch up with? Forums you want to sit in on?

Your comments and experience can be very helpful to new hams or those who haven’t figured out how to get the most from a hamfest.

For information about the Cleveland Hamfest, click www.hac.org

Then I’d like to share some fascinating facts about an amazing radio connectivity technology that is far from new but very new to me – Bluetooth. Where did it come from? How does it compare to wi-fi? Is it better or not even close? And where did that odd name come from? Can anyone explain that intriguing logo? Those answers and much more Monday, September 16th.

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Looking ahead to September… we will not be meeting on Labor Day, the 2nd. Our only meeting in September will be September 16th.

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This has been an unusual summer for my family and me. Without going into too much detail in this space, let me just say that that I’m happy to say that things are looking up. With all the activity I’ve had little time for radio, or the PRC for that matter.

As we learned at the previous meeting, several members have tales of woe in the aftermath of the July 5th flooding storm that left my basement quite soaked. Fortunately we didn’t suffer any major losses. We’re now dried out thanks to the fine work of the Service Master team. After their work I back -filled three tons of top soil against the foundation to make up for long settled soil. Then I discovered a backed up gutter downspout, and opened a neighbor’s leaf-blocked back yard storm drain that was allowing her water to flow onto our back yard. While I still get an uneasy feeling when I notice dark clouds gathering, I’m comfortable that ever bit of my recent efforts will pay off. For now our basement is DRY. It has occurred to me that perhaps my calling should have been as a civil engineer. I certainly can see the benefit of such work.

Hamfests

I haven’t been able to enjoy any hamfests this summer and I understand the DX Engineering ‘fest was a very successful event. With that in mind, we’ll have some personal reports about the activity at our next meeting on August 19th.

The “right way” to do Hamfests

Have you ever attended a hamfest and then spent several hours afterward only to realize that you returned without the “goodies” you needed? How did that happen? We all know there are a lot of distractions at hamfests that make it easy for us to get side tracked. I’ve become convinced that hamfesting successfully, whether as a shopper or as a vendor requires skill! At Monday’s meeting I’d like to hear your suggestions for successfully doing a hamfest, as a shopper or as a vendor. As a bonus, I’m certain that those skills are transferable to other similar situations.

Those strange tones

While enjoying the recent coverage of the anniversary of the moon landing and listening to the thrilling two way conversations between the astronauts and Houston Control I asked myself for the first time, “What are those strange tones we hear during the transmissions?” My research led me to an interesting finding. The tones are called Quindar Tones and they served a major communication function.

With a spinning earth it would have been impossible to maintain constant radio communication with the astronauts from a single fixed location in Houston, Texas. The solution was to have a network of receiving stations and transmitters around the globe. Each station had phone line connection to Houston Control. At any given time one of those sites would have a direct signal to the astronauts. Now here is where the Quindar tones come in. When the astronauts pressed their PTT (push to talk) the Quindar tone from the space craft was picked up by a receiving station and their audio was fed, by phone line, to Houston! Houston’s response went back to space by first traveling back to the receiving station on the same phone line!

For more specifics, I suggest you go to www.wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quindar_tones

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD PRC President

Field Day a Perfect Success

In many respects, this year’s Field Day was a perfect success. We had some challenges with the G5RV antenna mast up but thanks to member experience the crew was able to overcome the issues. Soon, we were on our way to filling out our coverage map… and, most importantly, having fun. We were all surprised at how crowded the bands were and that propagation was quite good.

We enjoyed visits from a number of visitors who were all pleased to “get the tour” of our station. Many thanks to Mike Pardue, N8WHB and family who provided a fabulous dinner tent and a tasty grilled burger meal. Mike Marganski, KE8HBK surprised us with delicious Polish sausage. Then this writer treated all to an energizing Sunday pancake and maple syrup breakfast, and left over Polish sausage. No one goes hungry at our Field Days!

If you took photos from the event, please forward them to us so we can share them.

Join us at our July 1st meeting We’ll have a complete report on the results of the event and critique our efforts, asking “what worked, what didn’t and hearing members suggestions about what we could do to make next year’s event better. In addition we’ll discuss some upcoming events that you might want to participate in.

Alternative energy demonstration

Recently I was introduced to an engine design that I had never heard of. This fascinating invention has absolutely no fuel requirement, yet it’s been used to power autos, boats, and other vehicles. In fact, it’s not an internal combustion engine. At the July 1st meeting we’ll have a short program from Bill Nye “The Science Guy” on the topic, then an actual machine will be demonstrated.

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Hal Rogers, K8CMD Communications Director, President

CW is 175 years old and going strong

I’ve never regretted that when I was introduced to amateur radio in 1961, Morse Code was a requirement. I never questioned it. As a kid I thought Morse Code was the language of fighter pilots, soldiers, and hams everywhere! CW quickly became my go to mode, especially when the bands are noisy or “just not working.”

I think you’ll enjoy this informative article by Eddie King, PhD on The Conversation and in the Washington Post.

The first message sent by Morse code’s dots and dashes across a long distance traveled from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore on Friday, May 24, 1844 – 175 years ago. It signaled the first time in human history that complex thoughts could be communicated at long distances almost instantaneously. Until then, people had to have face-to-face conversations; send coded messages through drums, smoke signals and semaphore systems; or read printed words.

Thanks to Samuel F.B. Morse, (Samuel Finley Breese Morse, ed.) communication changed rapidly, and has been changing ever faster since. He invented the electric telegraph in 1832. It took six more years for him to standardize a code for communicating over telegraph wires. In 1843, Congress gave him US$30,000 to string wires between the nation’s capital and nearby Baltimore. When the line was completed, he conducted a public demonstration of long-distance communication.

Morse wasn’t the only one working to develop a means of communicating over the telegraph, but his is the one that has survived. The wires, magnets and keys used in the initial demonstration have given way to smartphones’ on-screen keyboards, but Morse code has remained fundamentally the same, and is still – perhaps surprisingly – relevant in the 21st century. Although I have learned, and relearned, it many times as a Boy Scout, an amateur radio operator and a pilot, I continue to admire it and strive to master it.

Easy sending

Morse’s key insight in constructing the code was considering how frequently each letter is used in English. The most commonly used letters have shorter symbols: “E,” which appears most often, is signified by a single “dot.” By contrast, “Z,” the least used letter in English, was signified by the much longer and more complex “dot-dot-dot (pause) dot.”

In 1865, the International Telecommunications Union changed the codeto account for different character frequencies in other languages. There have been other tweaks since, but “E” is still “dot,” though “Z” is now “dash-dash-dot-dot.”

The reference to letter frequency makes for extremely efficient communications: Simple words with common letters can be transmitted very quickly. Longer words can still be sent, but they take more time.

Going wireless

The communications system that Morse code was designed for – analogue connections over metal wires that carried a lot of interference and needed a clear on-off type signal to be heard – has evolved significantly.

The first big change came just a few decades after Morse’s demonstration. In the late 19th century, Guglielmo Marconi invented radio-telegraph equipment, which could send Morse code over radio waves, rather than wires.

The shipping industry loved this new way to communicate with ships at sea, either from ship to ship or to shore-based stations. By 1910, U.S. law required many passenger ships in U.S. waters to carry wireless sets for sending and receiving messages.

After the Titanic sank in 1912, an international agreement required some ships to assign a person to listen for radio distress signals at all times. That same agreement designated “SOS” – “dot-dot-dot dash-dash-dash dot-dot-dot” – as the international distress signal, not as an abbreviation for anything but because it was a simple pattern that was easy to remember and transmit. The Coast Guard discontinued monitoring in 1995. The requirement that ships monitor for distress signals was removed in 1999, though the U.S. Navy still teaches at least some sailors to read, send and receive Morse code.

See Eddie King, PhD’s complete article at https://theconversation.com/simply-elegant-morse-code-marks-175-years-and-counting-117069

Field Day 2019 is coming soon

Field Day is June 22-23th this year and once again we’ll be at Top O’ the Ledges in the Hinckley Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. Set up time will be 10 am on June 23rd with operation beginning at 2 pm. At our previous meeting we made a good start at working out our plans to insure another great event. Join us on the 17th to finalize the plans.

Hal Rogers, K8CMD President, Communications Director

Field Day, June 22-23, 2019

Undoubtedly, ARRL Field Day is the most popular amateur radio event of the year. Somebody sure had a great idea years ago! Field Day offers something for everyone starting with emergency preparedness training, then setting up a power source and antennas, radio gear, camping, picnicking, an operating table, operating all kinds of gear for a variety of modes. Then there’s the social aspect providing a wonderful opportunity to get to know fellow hams and club members in a very different setting than a club meeting. Field Day truly is a fabulous part of our hobby.

Some members might not be aware that VP Mike Marganski, KE8HBK actually began work on this year’s event last year securing our FD site permit. Thanks to Mike, we’ll again be operating at Top O’ Ledges in the Hinckley Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks.

So, now it’s time for us all to begin the fun stuff of making sure all aspects of the event are covered by someone. You know, all the details that can be easily overlooked – like tools, food, water, tents, lighting, bug spray, etc., etc. So join us Monday, June 3rd and help us make this another memorable Field Day.

— Hal Rogers, K8CMD President