This column probably should have been written for last January’s issue, but that’s hindsight. Like many hobby clubs, we have healthy membership numbers, but only about 20 to 30 active members. It seems clear to me that we need to do more to lure the "ghost" members to our activities. Here is the beginning of a list of things we could possibly do to help solve this problem. Please add to the list. Be anonymous if you want, but bring your ideas forward.

1. Our meetings are usually interesting, but not long enough to allow informal kibitzing and telling of tall tales or of dx deeds done. We need to be out of our meeting hall by 9 pm so we cannot stay later. Some of us are arriving a half hour early, and that seems to be helping in this regard to this socializing. Try it.
   
2. I know that we have potential members in the south part of the county, but suspect that the driving distance keeps some folks away. What about working up a car pool from the Bremerton area to bring folks up to Poulsbo? Russ, KI7PG is doing just this, but he comes from Silverdale.
   
3. There is always a need for new members with new ideas. If a prospective member shows up at a meeting, we need to make an effort to learn his particular interest in this diversified hobby of ours. If we do not, then that person may just fade away. We will have lost potential talent and maybe a new outlook on matters. I am reminded of Steve, W7SG and his recent introduction of mountaintop VHF contesting to the club. Steve expressed an interest some time back in trying this. It took us nearly a year to get going, but once we tried it we found another fun thing to do with the hobby.
   
4. We certainly need to heed Russ, KI7PG’s advice and pursue the younger crowd for membership. Currently we are trying to set up participation in the next Scouts Jamboree-On-The-Air-(JOTA). This is planned for the weekend following the Hamfest, October 19^th and or 20^th.
   
5. Please contribute your suggestions to this list. We will want to give next year’s club officers some direction and input from the members is our best source for this. If you feel you are included among the "ghost" members, come out and let the rest of us know what is needed to keep the group moving forward.

Your Prez is sifting through all the ham treasure in his garage and basement and attempting to get some of it organized for a sale table at the Hamfest, which will soon be upon us. This is taking more time that he had thought. So if you are putting off this task, beware that it takes some time to find, sort, clean and price those goodies. There are still plenty tables available, so if you decide at the last minute to rent one, just let our Hamfest chairman, Russ, KI7PG know. You can find the hamfest info on the club website. See you at the fairgrounds on October 12^th.

73, Ron, N7EM

The NKARC Hamfest is upon us. This Saturday, the doors to the President’s Pavilion at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds will open at 9:00 AM to the annual treasure hunt for the Hams in the North Kitsap and Puget Sound area. After patiently waiting in line and paying the $5.00 admission price (those 12 and under will be admitted free), eager Ham radio operators will rush into the hall in search of the bargain that will enhance the shack or the portable rig in their vehicle. Others will visit the Antique Radio Station operated by the Radio Club of Tacoma and then look around for a vintage radio for their collection. Will you be there helping to run the event or will you be there shopping? Turn the page and see what you can do to help.

Need to reduce the equipment inventory in the shack? The Hamfest offers a great opportunity to present the surplus to a maximum number of customers. Remember there is no such thing as junk in a ham shack. Everything has a use to somebody. If it doesn’t work, somebody can fix it. Get together with another member and share a table rental. If you have doubts about how well a table rental works, contact Burt, W7IIT, and ask him about the success of his venture at last year’s Hamfest.

Want your newsletter as soon as it comes out of the word processor? Send your e-mail address to :

bobtomas@sprintmail.com, 

and it will be mailed out right after the proof reading. Be sure to tell if you are using an Internet browser or an e-mail only account in order to get the right format. Most e-mail only accounts only accept ASCII text format and we oblige with a text only format.

Every ham operator who has been in the "business" for a while has something on the shelf that has been sitting there for a number of years and winds up serving as a haven for spiders. The usual reason for keeping the item is sentimentality ("It’s the rig I had when I made my first QSO."} On the other hand, the XYL is reminding you that the ham shack is looking a "little cluttered" or the garage is not a mini-storage facility. The NKARC comes to the rescue.

NKARC is sponsoring a silent auction table at the Hamfest.. You can drop off that surplus item at the table and donate it for the auction. The club will place it on sale and accept written bids. Proceeds will be used to fund club projects.

The item can be anything that might be useful to another ham. That "boat anchor" not used for many years is just what an avid collector needs to fill out his collection of antique radios. In some cases, it doesn’t even have to be operable. The antenna you took down last spring is just what somebody needs to get back on the air. Clean the shack and support the club. At the same time, put in a bid for that piece to fill the equipment hole you have just created.

Visit the NKARC Web Page at the URL

http://community.silverlink.net/NKARC/ 

You can get the latest copy of the club newsletter -- "SOLID COPY. Click on the handi-talkie graphic and you’ll get a list of links to other web pages giving you an opportunity to connect to the ARRL, FCC, Packet Radio Home Page, AMSAT and many others. Have something to sell? Classifieds is a new addition to the page. The QRZ call sign look-up form is available..

The web page master is Jeff Hasz, KS7H. Submit your comments to Page master, Jeff at

and let him know what you think. If you know of any interesting links, let him know and he will look into it.

Connect to http://www.inhl.net  and you’ll find Solid Copy is one of two Washington state amateur radio clubs newsletters linked on this address. INHL is designed to bring together those newsletters in the US that are transmitted to their members electronically.

Club members Steve, (W7SG), Ron (N7EM), Gary (KA7YOI), and Dick (W7VS) stuck their respective toes into VHF contesting waters on September 14th. Steve and Ron checked out the Green Mountain State Forest site (about 8 miles west of Bremerton near Gold Mountain) the weekend before the contest. It seemed like a practical location except that Gold Mountain partially blocked the VHF view to the southeast and south.

There were also several commercial communications towers nearby with high power VHF/UHF transmitters. These caused considerable cross-modulation products which QRM’d and desensed our receivers somewhat.

The top of the mountain was about a quarter mile uphill from the parking area and the thought of lugging the equipment and batteries up there gave us some second thoughts. But it pays to have folks on your team who know people in high places. Steve contacted someone in the Washington State Department of Natural Resources who would let us thru a locked gate which would let us drive right up to the top. The fellow with the keys dutifully showed up, with Murphy close behind. Seems the chap did not have the right key. So with no further help from Murphy, we lugged our goodies up to the top from the parking area.

Murphy was looking the other way when we discovered that the safety fence at the summit overlook was supported with hollow square fence posts. These posts would hold our antenna masts perfectly without the bother of guy ropes. N7EM brought a slightly modified 10-element 2-meter Cushcraft yagi, which went up quickly putting us into the contest by about noon. Steve brought antennas for 6M and 440 Mhz, which were added to the now radioactive fence row.

Our best window was to the north, so our first contacts were with the big contest stations in British Columbia. We had good reports from stations in the north and east, with a few contacts to the south. Our farthest north was CN99, in British Columbia; farthest east was DN06, in southeast Washington; and farthest south was CN83, in southern Oregon. Perhaps with some fancy filtering we could have worked more stations to the south. The mountain obstructions in that direction were only slightly above the horizon. Many contest points were made with "rover" stations. These were mobiles that sought out rare areas that would add points to contester’s totals. Thank you, rovers!

By about 1630, we started to tear down the equipment for the trip back down to the parking area.

The object of the project was to try out our equipment and planning, not to truly compete. We managed to make 33 contacts on 2 meters, 17 contacts on 6 meters, and 16 contacts on 70 centimeters. We had a total of nine grid squares, for a raw score of 738. However, we did have a good time, incurred some good exercise, introduced a different aspect of ham radio to many passing park visitors and opened a new window on our personal ham experiences.

By W7SG and N7EM

For sale: Vintage Lafayette Amateur Communications Receiver (Model HA-350) covering the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands. The 12 tube receiver employs dual conversion and can receive CW, AM voice and SSB signals. Price: $50.00 plus shipping costs if required. Bob Tomas, N7KTP – (360) 638-1659 or

______________________________

Either a TS570S(g) (2 years old) for $585, or a TS570D (5+yrs) for $500. I will keep the one not sold. Also Radio Shack HYA-20 2m amplifier for hand helds, $40. All excellent condition. Burt, W7IIT 692-9865

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Don’t forget to dispose of those discharged household batteries in a way that helps our environment. This includes alkaline, ni-cad, and regular zinc carbide batteries. The Solid Waste Facility on Hansville Road accepts the batteries as past of the county-wide recycling program. Otherwise, bring them to the meeting., and they will be taken to the proper disposal site. Lead-acid batteries such as used in automobiles or tractors are excepted. They too are accepted at the Solid Waste Facility, but it is your responsibility to dispose of them.

If you are interested in getting information about the DX stations on the air or about propagation conditions to various parts of the world on the various HF bands, turn the VHF beam toward Renton; tune the rig to 145.73 simplex and connect to W7PKT. After you connect to the station, type "? SH" and get a list of the commands available to provide you with a wealth of information about what is happening on the HF bands. Information like the last six DX stations "spotted" on the bands, WWV propagation numbers, the country related to the prefix for the station heard and many other data are available. Monitor the station and the DX spots will be put on screen as they are input into the system.

Are you involved with the Boy Scouts of America or interested in an activity that will bring Amateur Radio to the Scouting community? Each year more than 400,000 Scouts and Guides "get together" over the airwaves for the annual Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA). Modern technology offers Scouts the exciting opportunity to make friends in other countries without leaving home.

JOTA is an annual event in which Boy and Girl Scouts and Guides from all over the world speak to each other by means of Amateur (ham) Radio. Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared via radio waves. Since 1958 when the first Jamboree-on-the-Air was held, millions of Scouts have met each other through this event. Many contacts made during JOTA have resulted

in pen pals and links between Scout troops that have lasted many years.

With no restrictions on age or on the number of participants, and at little or no expense, JOTA allows Scouts to contact each other by ham radio. The radio stations are operated by licensed ham radio operators. Many Scouts and leaders hold licenses and have their own stations, but the majority participate in JOTA through stations operated by local radio clubs and individual radio amateurs

JOTA is held the third weekend in October of each year. JOTA takes place starting Saturday at 0001 hours local time to Sunday, 2359 hours local time, though some activity continues over from Friday to Monday to take advantage of long distance (DX) time differences.

This year, JOTA will be on the weekend of October 19^th. NKARC has participated in JOTA previously using the portable station in Robb Park with Cub Scout dens and Boy Scout troops in the area. At our last meeting there was an indication that many members would like the club to be involved in JOTA activities. The club does not have a business meeting between now and the date for JOTA, although it could be discussed at the presentation meeting. Informal discussions through email might facilitate some planning. If you are interested, contact club president Ron or Horace, W7ORY, and get involved. The equipment is available – Warm bodies are what is required to complete the picture. Will you be there on scout’s honor?

Technical standards were strict for 1942. The carrier frequency could not deviate more than 0.1% in the lower half of each band, and 0.3% in the upper half. In the 2 1/2 meter band, this meant that the signal could not vary more than 112 kc at the lower end, and 340 kc at the upper end. While this sounds incredibly wide today, remember that in the 30's and 40's, almost all "UHF" transmitters used the "modulated oscillator"--cheap to build, but not very stable. The only receiver useful with this type of signal was the superregenerative. Power was limited to 25 watts input, which is about 10-15 watts output.

By default, 2 1/2 meters became the band of choice for W.E.R.S. operations. In fact, it came to be known as "The Civil Defense Band". The most popular radio in W.E.R.S. operation was the TR-4, by Abbott Instruments of New York City. The unit measured only 9" x 8" x 4.5", ran on 6 volts DC or 110 volts AC, had a range up to 75 miles, and cost less than $40.

Although W.E.R.S. served a valuable purpose, it did not satisfy the needs of an active amateur suffering under the wartime radio silence. Fortunately, the WWII amateur had it far better than his WWI predecessor. For one thing, amateurs did not have to disassemble their stations and take down their antennas. Contrary to popular belief, the FCC did not ban shortwave listening. AM broadcasting was still allowed, W1AW was authorized to remain on the air. QST was still published. But, even with all this, the restless amateur wanted more. And, believe it or not, some hams legally got on the air and had QSO's. How?

"Wired Wireless". Have you ever heard of it? In summary, "wired wireless" was a Carrier Current type of operation. A transmitter, usually running 10-25 watts output, was inductively coupled to the AC power line. The signal would follow the power lines throughout the city, up to a maximum of about 5 miles.Anyone within 300 feet or so of the AC power line would be ableto copy the signal. Even though the range was a 5 mile radius from the transmitter, the actual radiation distance was only 300 feet, thus it was legal. Amateurs found that carrier current operations worked best in the longwave spectrum, and set up hundreds of stations in the 160-200 kc range. Ironically, the 160-190 kc segment survives to this day as a legal, unlicensed low power band, with one watt and 50 foot antennas permitted.

Some amateurs experimented with Audio Frequency Induction Field Communications. This involved no RF--an audio oscillator was coupled to a large inductor. At distances of 2000-3000 feet away, an audio amp coupled to a similar inductor received the signal.

QST was active during the War years, running articles on secret communications and ciphers, the latest 112 Mc W.E.R.S. equipment, visual signaling (including the semaphore alphabet), a course in radio fundamentals, a multi part series in Cryptanalysis, and the Japanese Morse Telegraph Code, with notes on the Japanese language. Towards the end of the War, QST ran several articles on the postwar amateur allocations. Two columns focused on amateurs serving in the Armed Forces; "In the Services", and "Hams in Combat". And, as a grim reminder of the horrors of War, the column "Gold Stars" listed those amateurs who made the ultimate sacrifice.

As a postscript, the ARRL has asked that the 160-190 kHz band be reallocated to amateur use. Will the ghosts of the WWII operators be listening as we once again activate that band with CQ's? You decide.

What was the post-war world of amateur radio like? Let's take a look at our hobby as it existed in the late 1940's.

In November 1945, amateurs were allowed back on the air on the 10 meter, 5 meter, and the new 2 meter band. The 5 meter band from 56-60 mc was temporary--by March 1946 we were moved in the great post war frequency shuffle to our new 6 meter home from 50-54 mc. As for the new 2 meter band, it replaced our old 2 1/2 meter allocation which ran from 112-116 mc. Throughout 1946, the military gradually vacated the 80, 75, 40, and 20 meter bands, turning them back over to amateur operations. We lost a few frequencies--the 160 meter band was staying in the hands of the military for LORAN Radionavigation, and we lost the top 300 kc of 10 meters, from 29.7 to 30 mc. To compensate us for this loss, the FCC, in 1946, gave hams an allocation at 27 mc to be shared on a secondary basis with industrial, scientific and medical devices. Dubbed the "11 meter band", it was unique as the only HF allocation where A0 and A2 emissions were allowed

Next month, we’ll take a further look at our hobby as it existed in the late 1940's.

Copyright 1999, 2001 by William Continelli, W2XOY.

All rights reserved.

These columns were originally written for the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association.