K7JEB AM Log: 21 Sept - 08 Dec 2007

> In May 2005, Chip Margelli, K7JA, and partner Ken
> Miller, K6CTW, enjoyed their "15 minutes of Amateur
> Radio fame" with an appearance on The Tonight Show with
> Jay Leno on NBC.

* 19-Sept/Wed evening/3870 kcs

Another AMI/West net competently run by Sharon, K6IRD,
until the bottom of the band dropped out at 2130.  K6BT
and WA6FIZ reported OK in response to concerned inquiries
about the wildfire up by Big Bear Lake.

* 12-Sept/Sat morning/3855 kcs

Jerry, K6PKO, checks in from Fresno and mentions his being
licensed since the 1950's.

Ken, K6CJA, is on with his plate-modulated S-Line and
sounding very good.  K7JEB wonders if this might be the best
improvement to that venerable pair in the past 50 years.

The early loss of 'short-skip' propagation during the
previous AMI net prompts speculation that it might be more
expedient to take out-of-state check-ins after those from
California.

George, W8QBG, is out planting trees (possibly palo verde?)
to replace the ficus ones lost last winter from frost.
Damon, W7MD, also reports a gardening note:  He lost a
creosote bush due to over-watering.

W7CPA foresees economic problems ahead and announces his
intention to buy the new Flex-Radio 5000A before the price
goes up.  He also reports being quite impressed with the
user interface design on the new iPhone.

Max, K7CAX, is enjoying the copy on the roundtable through
the 6-kc filter he recently installed in his Collins 75A4.
He, George and Ken have their usual discussion of the fine
points of Chevrolet Corvette mechanical design.

* 25-Sept/Tues evening/144.45 Mcs

Jim, K7SC, is having tube procurement problems with the
usual commercial sources.

Bob, NA7RH, takes off-frequency crystal from K7JEB and
"rubbers" it onto 144.45 in his Seneca transmitter.  K7JEB
does a crude frequency measurement on him and other stations
on the roundtable and comes to the conclusion that his
TS-2000 might be a couple hundred cycles high on 2 meters.

Lock, W1ZD, recommends Ken Burns's latest PBS documentary,
"The War".  K7JEB likes it as well.  Lock continues to
fight the 1625 frequency multiplier in his ART-13.

* 29-Sept/Sat morning/3855 kcs

Ken, K6CJA, has been busy with his "Motorola" home-brew
transmitter that runs a pair of 813's in the final.  The
modulator tubes were converted from 811's to 813's and the
old RCA mod transformer was swapped-out for a more flexible
Peter Dahl unit.  The modulator 813's are running in a
'kind-of' zero-bias state by reducing the screen voltage to
about 24 volts, necessitating the construction and
installation of an additional power supply in the rack.
The rig sounds very good on the air, but a price has been
paid - K6CJA reports a bout of back trouble from hefting
all that mod iron around.

Jim, W8OFC, in Marana, is working on the modulator
companion unit to his Eico transmitter.  He and K6CJA share
a common interest in Corvettes.  Jim also reminds us of
having met FCC examiner W8DX in person in Detroit office.
Jim is looking for a 24-7, "hang-out" frequency for AMers
like they had Back East.  He monitors 3870 at odd times in
the afternoon in hopes of finding activity there.  Jim's
website is http://w8ofc.com/

K7JEB is experiencing splatter from the nearby AM broadcast
station on 1360 kHz.  The last time this symptom presented
itself, that station ended up having to replace the module
backplane in their Harris DX-50 transmitter due to
destructive parasitic oscillations.  Hope that doesn't
again.
 
* 30-Sept/Sun morning/3855 kcs

Shep, W5EOE, is on early with a pair of phased verticals
from Colorado.  The combination of grayline propagation and
low-angle radiation from the setup seems to indicate that
Shep's signal is 'skipping over' Phoenix.  Signal level is
OK, but down from the 3-element wire beam he previously
used.

Martin, K7BDY, returns from Britain with a report that
prices are much higher than he expected, even for common
articles of apparel.

Jon, W5WVI, graces 3855 with his presence and that of his
Johnson Desk.  His robust signal from an Inverted-L antenna
prompts K7JEB to inquire about his 'secret sauce'.  Jon
says it's no secret; he just buried every piece of metal he
could find at the feedpoint to provide as good a ground as
could be mustered with the notoriously poor ground
conductivity in Arizona.

Flex-Radio's discounting policy prompts Randy, W7CPA, to
place an order for the 5000A.

* 02-Oct/Tues evening/144.45 Mcs

George, W8QBG, checks in by *landline*, reporting he has
horrendous powerline noise, basically from DC to daylight.
Even listening to 2-M AM is a tiresome chore.  SRP promises
a response Real Soon Now.  He asks that K7JEB give his
regards to the group.

Some discussion about corporate wrong-headedness,
manufacturing outsourcing and general malfeasance.  K7JEB
thinks it will not be too productive to look to China to be
"The Arsenal of Democracy".

* 03-Oct/Wed evening/3870 kcs

Lock, W1ZD, takes over net control of the AMI net when
short-skip propagation leaves California in the lurch
(again) at 2020 PDT.

K7JEB pushes his receiver audio out on Echolink on node
K7JEB-L and Dave, WJ6W, connects.  Seems to work OK, but
with some DSP/network latency.  Could this be a solution to
the propagation problem, at least for the net control
stations.

* 06-Oct/Sat morning/3855 kcs
 
Martin, K7BDY, has 60 mph winds at his high-country QTH this
morning.  He plans on working on the road into his place
later in the day.  Martin likes his 75A4 but thinks his
Hammarlund receivers have better audio.

K6CJA reports a dusting of snow on the California
mountaintops and gets into a discussion with K7BDY about
Clint Eastwood films
 
Noted absences:  W8QBG, possibly due to high powerline
noise at his QTH, and W8QYT, due in from the UP of Mich.
any day now.

K7JEB is fighting the unexpectedly severe side effects of a
flu/pneumonia shot, but finds some humor on the Internet
from an audiophile website advertising $35,000 speaker
cables.

Jim, W8OFC, from down Marana way, reports getting bit bad
by the external modulator connection on his Eico 720/730.
The original builder used one cloth-covered phono wire for
both sides of the modulated B+ and all it took was one
little shard of shield wire sticking up through the cloth
to zap Jim.

Some traffic between W8OFC and K7JEB regarding the very
simple and easy-to-use MP3 recoding software MP3DirectCut.
It does need the additional LAME encoder linked to it due
to software licensing weirdness.  Nice little program for
grabbing receiver audio directly into MP3 files.  More
details at:  http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

* 07-Oct/Sun morning/3855 kcs

Tom, W8QYT, returns to the air from Sun City and is busy
unpacking and moving in.  This is more of a task this year
because the Michigan QTH was sold and Tom is now with us
full-time.

WA8ULG is working on his G5RV antennas this morning.  The
E-W antenna has a problem but the N-S one is still talking.
Ted is also working on a detailed presentation to ARCA at
its Tucson hamfest meeting showing a very logical and
financially sound process for moving the ARCA 'fest back to
Flagstaff.

Max, K7CAX, is in the process of overhauling his 160-meter
antenna.

Damon, W7MD, is still working the problem of
installing/re-installing the power lift between his garage
and his hamshack.  Ah, the joys of DIY home construction.

* 09-Oct/Tues eve/144.45 Mcs

Tom, W8QYT, still getting moved in.  In response to query
from K7JEB, he reports that progress is being made in
getting Norcal DDS VFO kits assembled and interfaced to his
various transmitters.  Neat little gadgets, the FCC-1 and
FCC-2.  Read more here: http://www.norcalqrp.org/fcc2.htm
Tom also has plans to complete a linear amplifier using a
big, cheap Russian tube in the near future.

George, W8QBG, signs in and out, reporting that the
horrendous noise at his QTH has still not been addressed by
SRP.  The latest glitch in the process:  the SRP RFI truck
is broken down at a filling station somewhere in the East
Valley.

K7JEB has reached the conclusion that his TS-2000 is 200
cycles off at 144.450 MCS.  Probably need to let the xtal
timebase age a little more.  He is also running a bunch of
EZNEC simulations on rhombic antenna configurations WA8ULG
could use at his Parks QTH.  One interesting finding is
that an 800x400-foot rhombic has lousy sidelobes and gain
but an 800x300-foot one has almost textbook patterns.

* 10-Oct/Wed evening/3870 kcs

K7JEB is Echolinking receiver audio again.  WJ6W, K6SXD and
W8OFC connect-in.  Node is K7JEB-L, folks.

* 13-Oct/Sat morning/3855 kcs

Jim, W8OFC, reports that the modulation transformer in his
Eico 720/730 is bad, possibly the result of the bad phono
cable used to interconnect the modulated B+ between the two
chassis.  He tries out his Kenwood 870 on AM with good
results.

George, W8QBG, checks in and reports that his S9+20dB
power-line noise is gone, gone, gone.  It was the usual
deal.  Once the RFI lineman got out there and up the pole
that George had carefully mapped out for him, the problem
was fixed in a few minutes.  Dunno whether it was a bad
component or just a loose connection.

* 14-Oct/Sun morning/3855 kcs

W7MD announced previously that he will be holding an open
house after the Tucson hamfest and now K7JEB publishes a
marked-up satellite photo of the exact location on Desert
Serenity Rd.  K7JEB opines that with a name like that, it's
a natural for a celebrity detox facility.

Randy, W7CPA, discovers the E-Bay atrocity of the week, a
Hallicrafters Hurricane going for $4900.  The TV-7 B+
problem is still puzzling.

Early in the morning, while the band is still "long",
KA6PGN is heard on SSB and then AM from Eureka, CA.  This
is a special-event station operating from LCI-1091, a
museum ship moored at the Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air
Museum.  LCI stands for Landing Craft Infantry.  The ship
was designed to place troops on the beach through a set of
doors in the bow of the ship.  LCI-1091 saw service in
WWII, the Bikini A-bomb tests and the Korean War.

* 16-Oct/Tues eve/144.45 Mcs

More plans for the Tucson hamfest and W7MD open house.
Should we have an FM simplex frequency for coordination?

K7SC is back in Illinois, says to give everyone his regards
via e-mail.

W8QYT and W1ZD recount the woes and pitfalls of teenage
novice rig construction, prompted by NA7RH's use of his
novice rig for all present-day HF AM activities.

* 17-Oct/Wed evening/3870 kcs

K7JEB Echolinks the AMI net (as heard in Arizona).  Sharon,
K6IRD, handles NCS duties.

* 27-Oct/Sat morning/3855 kcs

Lots of So.Cal. fire problems mentioned.  Ken, K6CJA, is
providing shelter for his relatives from the Big Bear area.
High winds (Santa Ana's) giving numerous hams antenna
problems.  John, WA6JUS, is activated by ARES for fire
duty in the San Diego area.

Ted, WA6TJN, works on amp, roots out bad tubes, etc.

Tim, AL0F, is off to the Arivaca swapmeet with a load of
home-smoked salmon to sell.

Martin, K7BDY, returns to the high country after spending a
week helping his daughter with fence construction at her new
QTH NW of Phoenix.

K7JEB breathes a sigh of relief on making it to age 65
today.

* 30-Oct/Tues Eve/144.45 Mcs

George, W8QBG, is unsuccessfully 'phished' by E-Bay
scammer.

Larry, KO6SM, is grateful that his 2M AM activity doesn't
trip his home alarm system like the HF operation does.

Lock, W1ZD, is on the air again after suffering a shorted
6360 driver tube and cremated cathode resistor in the
Johnson 6N2.

A hopeful sign: W8QBG and W1ZD report a 'short-skip' QSO on
40M (7293) AM at noon.

Big discussion on changing brake pads.  These guys ought to
open a brake & muffler shop!

Jack, AD5VO, makes a motor trip over from Dallas and visits
W8QBG and WA8ULG to see what the Arizona contingent has
been doing in the 'big iron' department.

* 31-Oct/Wed Eve/3870 kcs

Streamed AMI Net audio from node K7JEB-L over Echolink.
Heard W6IRD and K6BT early-on.  Receive-only mode due to
illness.

* 03-Nov/Sat morn/3855 kcs

K7JEB is impressed with 10 GHz operation observed at WA8ULG
the previous weekend and is also thinking about getting the
nifty REA AM mod meter.  Getting splatter from the 1360 kcs
operation down the street when they go to 50 kW for some
reason.

W8OFC still has his traveling boots on, comments on
visiting Texas hill country.  Also thinks he might be able
to get some relief in the antenna area from his HOA.  Jim
reports that he has given up on rechargeables for digital
camera use and returned to alkaline batteries.

* 04-Nov/Sun morn/3855 kcs

Ted, WA6TJN, is practically off the air due to power-line
noise.  General comments about bad noise sources.  W7MD
remarks that OTT (?) lights were bad on noise for him.
Larry, KO6SM, had to tame the fluorescents in his garage.

W7MD is still working his way through the leftover Hebrew
National hot dogs from his open house on the 20th of last
month.

Jim, WA9JMU, comes into possession of a TS-950DX and Alpha
78 donated to the local Catholic church and is looking for
buyers.

* 10-Nov/Sat morn/3855 kcs

Ted, WA8ULG, is booming in this morning with a 'new' Zepp
antenna from the Parks QTH.  This prompts the usual
discussion of Zepp vs. dipole and ladder line vs. coax.

The other Ted, WA6TJN, reports his horrendous powerline
noise from the last week has now abated.  He also recounts
an 'interesting' experience with flammable material coming
into contact with the halogen bulb in a Torchiere lamp.

George, W8QBG, confers with Bill, K7VZP, on HVAC issues.

* 11-Nov/Sun morn/3855 kcs

Antique Radio swap meet yesterday not attended by K7JEB.  A
good time was had by all there.

Max, K7CAX, has installed a 6-kc AM filter in his 75A4's IF
and is reveling in the nice sound coming out compared to the
'one-sided' reception previously obtained with the 3-kc
sideband filter.   K7VZP is interested in one of the 'memorial'
K7CAX DX-100's inhabiting Max's garage, preferably the one
with the square-cornered cabinet.

* 13-Nov/Tues Eve/144.45 Mcs

KC0AIZ, Mark in Phoenix, checks in with his Yaesu FT-857D
making a credible AM signal.  Mark is an apartment dweller
and is antenna-restricted, but does work some of the
locals from his J-pole at 12 feet off the ground.

W7QHO, Dennis, is reported received on 40 meters by W1ZD, a
very encouraging sign of recovery from Dennis's recent
surgery.

W8QBG and K7SC make a arrangement about Schottky diodes for
George to use in his Clegg 22er Mk.II.

Discussion about using relatively narrow-bandwidth digital phone
in CW/Data sections of the bands.  Some skepticism that
this might require an unobtainable SNR to be successful.

Recounted wonderful time had by all participants at the AARC
swap meet last Saturday -- the one not attended by K7JEB.

* 14-Nov/Wed Eve/3870 kcs/AMI Net

Wayne and Sharon, W6IRD & K6IRD, are featured on the front
cover of Electric Radio this month (Nov).  Nice picture.

Skip is very long.  WA8ULG in Parks, AZ is used to relay-in
the So.Cal. check-ins.

WJ6W, W8OFC, WB6YEC and K6SXD all make use of the receiver
audio feed over Echolink from node K7JEB-L.  I make a
recording of W8OFC using the built-in recorder in the
Echolink software.  Neat!

* 15-Nov/Thurs morn/3875 kcs

Say hello to the Colorado contingent, W0FD, N0BF, K0OJ.

* 17-Nov/Sat morn/3875/3870/3855 kcs

Early-morning contact with Dave, W4QCU, in Oak Ridge TN.
Make a few recordings for him and ship them out via
Internet.

John, WA6JUS, is on portable from the SCARS swap meet in
Carlsbad, CA with an ARC-5 transmitter and vertical antenna
- spreading the amateur-radio word to the antique-radio
community.

K6CJA is finding his swap meet attendance being cramped by
high gas prices.  Also wishes 10 meters would come alive
sometime soon and afford nice DX for modestly equipped
stations.

Ted, WA6TJN, is on in spite of his "usual" line noise.  He
is repairing and refubishing a nice, old Telonic sweep
generator (DC - 1.4 GHz).  Larry, KO6SM, mentions that he
was able to get a Tektronix scope at the AARC swapper for
$10 US money.

* 18-Nov/Sun morn/3855 kcs

Lotsa SSB noise from Sweepstakes contest this weekend.

Max, K7CAX, is on with a vertical antenna.  He lowered his
dipoles from the palm trees supporting them in preparation
for the dead fronds to be trimmed, a semiannual ritual here
in the Phoenix area.  Unfortunately, the tree trimmer never
returned to actually perform the task, also a recurring
event in the Phoenix area.

The on-the-air meeting of the Society of Automotive
Engineers convenes as W8QBG, K6CJA and numerous others
delve into the intricacies of automotive brake replacement.

K7JEB receives justification material for moving summertime
hamfest back to Flagstaff from WA8ULG via e-mail.  KO6SM
advises Ted that his proposal, which ARCA agreed to poll
their member clubs on, did not fare well at the Thunderbird
Club meeting with the majority of members voting to keep
the 'fest at Williams.

Randy, W7CPA, has a TV-7 tube-tester guru in Chandler lined
up to provide him with enlightenment on the B+
supply/switching scheme in the unit.

* 20-Nov/Wed Eve/3870 kcs/AMI Net

NCS is George, WA6HCX.  No takers for the K7JEB-L audio
feed.  Reduced participation all around due to impending
Thanksgiving day.

* 24-Nov/Sat morn/3855 kcs

Ted, WA8ULG, is busy this morning at his Scottsdale QTH
ferreting out paper capacitors that have turned into paper
resistors.  He advises that he will be moving the hamshack
from his guest bedroom back to his 'shop' now that the tax
advantages of maintaining a business-only R&D facility have
expired.

Ted is not exactly looking forward to the counting of
ballots at the ARCA meeting in Mesa on Dec.01 but will be
in there swinging nonetheless.

Max and Ted have a discussion of Valiant mods (Max
asserts that his Valiant is a 'virgin'), more particularly
whether to use 866, 3B28 or solid-state rectifiers in the
HV power supply.  K7JEB offers his usual, helpful
suggestion of putting a blue, Christmas-tree light behind
the rig to simulate the 'look and feel' of the now
hard-to-find mercury-vapor tubes.

John, WA6JUS, deems his operation at SCARS a success in
generating interest in amateur radio among the wooden-radio
afficionados.  He also discusses the practical ins and outs
of operating an on-location music-recording service.

* 25-Nov/Sun morn/3855 kcs

K7JEB waxes poetic about interfacing station microphone to
computer soundcard for use on Echolink and Skype.  Can't
say enough about Radio Shack ground-loop isolators, aka
1:1 audio transformers (p/n 270-054).  Driving a big VU
meter that can be watched from the operating position and
'talked-up' to the red area of the dial is also a big deal
for JEB.

W8QBG and K6CJA, the Corvette fanboys, are at it again, this
time replacing door panels on CJA's Stingray.  However, a
bit of info is learned about using and replacing
'Christmas-tree' fasteners.

WA8ULG gets his rig moved into his Scottsdale shop without
too much trouble.

Larry, KO6SM, finds the iPhone GUI impressive on a visiting
relative's unit.

Tim, AL0F, is finding his new electric vest to be just the
thing for motorcycle rides in the now-chilly Arizona
mornings.

Randy, W7CPA, finds the new Prometheus solid-state linear
amplifier to be quite impressive, including its $12K price
tag.

* 27-Nov/Tues Eve/144.45 Mcs

It now appears possible that the Mesa hamfest will be
accompanied by rain, the first occurence of such weather in
the Phoenix area in the past 4 months.  K7JEB recalls
similar rain-soaked 'fests at Williams and Scottsdale as
well as the freeze-out at Glendale in January and wonders
if the ham-radio community could alleviate the ongoing
drought in the southwestern US by simply scheduling a
hamfest every other weekend.

Tom, W8QYT, has his Norcal DDS VFO's working and is working
on getting a suitable enclosure designed and fabricated.
Nifty little units those, available here:
http://www.norcalqrp.org/

Quite a bit of discussion on bandwidth needed for digital
modes.  The Shannon-Hartley theorem is repeated here for
reference:

Chan_Cap = BW * log2(1 + S/N)

where: Chan_Cap is Channel Capacity in bits/second
BW is channel bandwidth in hertz
log2 is the base-2 logarithm
S/N is the channel signal-to-noise ratio

This whole topic brought to the foreground by the IARU
bandplan and its specification in terms of occupied
bandwidth rather than emission type.

Dick, W7SV, is petitioning the FCC for a part 97 revision
that would allow US amateurs to transmit phone on the
20-meter band between 14.100 and 14.150, putting them on a
par with the rest of the world.

* 02-Dec/Sun morn/3855 kcs

It did rain the night before and a bit during the Mesa
hamfest, but the AM troops were out there and some serious
trading did take place.  Max, K7CAX, was pleased to be able
to sell a 32V3 and an HT-37 before the brief shower around
9:30 in the morning.  Bill, K7VZP, bought the Alpha 78
amplifier Jim, WA9JMU, brought over from New Mexico.  Art,
KB7LOQ, found a good HF rig for his father, KE7LZE.

* 04-Dec/Tues Eve/144.45 Mcs

Vote at ARCA meeting in Mesa goes 10:6 against WA8ULG's
proposal to move the summer hamfest back to Ft. Tuthill.

Glendale hamfest, scheduled for Jan.12'08 will be indoors
at Thunderbird Graduate School.  K7JEB needs to find a
restaurant close-by for an after-event get-together.

K7JEB also reports hearing "his" IC-746pro robustly on the
air from K7OS down in Tucson, it having just returned from
the tender ministrations of the Icom Service Facility in
Bellevue, WA.  Fairly extensive repairs required to fix
transmit failure -- new driver board and preamp IC.  Phil
still came out ahead on the deal though.  Just hope it
holds together for the long run.

* 08-Dec/Sat morn/3855 kcs

Max, K7CAX, has his 75A4 blow a fuse and die.  He brings
his NC-300 online for the roundtable while he troubleshoots
the Collins receiver.  He also reports having to spend $55
for a spool of #12 stranded house wire at Home Depot.  The
price of copper is going through the roof.

Bob, K7AK, thinks he might still have some hum on his
signal and asks for reports.  If it's there, it is better
than 30 dB down, everyone says.  Bob and Lock, W1ZD, ponder
the best way to stabilize Johnson 6N2 VFO's.  K7JEB, again,
suggests NorCal DDS VFO's.

Ted, WA8ULG, is still licking his wounds from the ARCA
rebuff of his proposal for the summer hamfest.  But he has
a new fight to take on -- the IARU bandplan that greatly
restricts AM operation, including banning it entirely from
160 meters.

Sad to report that Peter Dahl is gravely ill and his
transformer business is closing its doors on Dec. 31.

AL0F is very much concerned about current flood conditions
in Central Washington State.

W1ZD hears a 'popping' sound on K7JEB's signal.  It turns
out to be coming from the greatly amplified squeaking sound
made by the PTT switch in the base of JEB's microphone.

AM HONOR ROLL...
(stations logged this period)

K6BT_______KG6UTS______K6SXD______WA6HCX
NI6Q_______WJ6W________WB6YEC_____W5WVI
W6IRD______K6IRD_______VE7KHZ_____AL0F
W9FGJ______W9AD________K6PKO______K7EWE
KO6SM______K6CJA_______W8QBG______W7MD
K7CAX______W7CPA_______K7SC_______W1ZD
NA7RH______W8OFC_______W5EOE______K7BDY
K6LGL______KO6NM_______WA6FIZ_____W7QHH
WA6KCK_____WB6JAY______WA8ULG_____W8QYT
W7GBI______W6ZD________KG6PAU_____WA6TJN
W7ISJ______KA6PGN______W7GE_______K6RCL
KD6SZB_____K6KOI_______WA6JUS_____K6BW
KC0AIZ_____W0NWA_______K7AK_______W0TNM
K6OR_______K7VZP_______AB6RM______KB7LOQ
W7SV_______W0FD________N0BF_______K0OJ
W4QCU______WA3JBT______KA6PVR_____KC7TIL
W6PSS______WB6BIH______KB6WBO_____W7SVJ